Russian literature of the 14th-15th centuries

While in Italy the culture and literature of the High Renaissance flourished, and in the north of Europe, in Germany and Holland, the Northern Renaissance approached its apex, in Russia the level of development of art and literature was very low.

In the 14-15th centuries, the Russian principalities only began to shake off the decay of the long and painful Tatar-Mongol yoke from their shoulders. Not surprisingly, the literature of this time is little different from the chronicles of the Dark Ages.

Early Russian Literature

The medieval literature of Russian principalities consists mainly of chronicles, a significant part of which are anonymous, and biographies of saints. Oral folk literature of medieval Russia consisted of epics and songs. Literature 14-15 centuries, respectively, consists of oral creativity, chronicles and lifestyles. In the second half of the 15th century there was an interest in foreign legends and worldly creativity.

Oral creativity (or folklore) is a collective folk art, passed from mouth to mouth. Folklore conveys the traditions and world outlook of the people, creating unique images and speech. Among the main genres of Russian folk art, a special influence on the further development of literature was provided by bylinas, fairy tales and historical songs.

Genres of oral folk art

Unlike written literature, which was monotonous and almost completely secularized, oral literature of 14-15 centuries in Russia was full of variety of forms and genres. To our day came works that belong to ritual songs, epic epic, fairy tales, and of course, well-known proverbs, sayings, comic and lullabies.

Bylins are an original genre of Russian oral folk art, a peculiar version of the heroic epic, in which real historical accomplishments and people are reflected. Bylins are often supplemented with elements of fiction and hyperbolize the power of heroes.

Fairy tales are fictional stories or epics, retold in plain language and focused on one action or feat, saturated with mythical characters and magic.

Historical songs - the genre of oral folk art, which took shape in the 14th century and represents a rethought epic. Important historical events and personalities associated with them are sung.

Written literature

The literature of the 14-15 centuries had a unique form - all works, including massive chronicles, were copied by monks by hand. There were few books, and they were practically not distributed outside the church.

In addition to the complexity of the copying of works, the literature of the 14-15 centuries in Russia practically did not come across the concept of copyright - any monk who rewrote the work could add or remove the part that he considered necessary at that time. Thus, there is no single work written before the middle of the 16th century, which would be the same in two copies.

Many linguists and literary critics suspect that some chronicles are a product of collective creativity. The basis for this is the language and stylistic mismatch within the same work. This applies not only to the annals, but also to the biographies of the saints.

Genre persistence and emotional saturation

The literature of Russia of the 14th-15th centuries, and even up to the 17th-18th centuries, developed very conservatively. Literary traditions and conventions required writing works in a certain genre. Therefore, the stylistic and genre characteristics of the works changed not sharply, but smoothly, as if emerging from one another. This is how dry and strict ecclesiastical literature became emotional and close to the people.

The pernicious influence of the Tatar-Mongol yoke up to the depths of the soul shocked both a simple peasant or an artisan, as well as a scholar, a devout monk. In a single crying, general sorrow and eternal disobedience, a new Russian literature of the 14th and 15th centuries was born, uniting in itself a dry manner of describing the chronicles, a rich language of the lives, as well as images and the nationality of oral creativity.

The Legacy of Early Literature

Like Christianity, writing and literature came to Russian principalities from outside, probably, therefore, the first chronicles and lives are so similar to Byzantine and so strikingly different from oral folk art. While the language of the chronicles is dry and complex, folk songs, fairy tales and bylinas, despite their vernacular, are full of vivid images and are easily remembered.

Many academics and critics, especially the Slavophiles and adherents of their ideas, believe that Russian literature of the new era, including its golden age, owes its originality not so much to the uniqueness of the Russian soul as to the strange, unexpected combination of dry exposition of facts, deep piety and rich imagery Ancient literature. What in the 11th century was incongruous, like heaven and earth, began to be intermixed in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Early literature is the source of that very Russian spirit. National ideas, nationality and original morality, all that distinguishes Russian literature today, came from the earliest centuries of its existence. Literature of the 14-15th centuries paved the way for Pushkin's magnificent tales, Gogol's incredible tales and Lermontov's poems, which, in turn, had a shaping influence on the future of Russian culture.