Usually, a certain list of Krylov’s fables remains in the consciousness of an educated person from the course of the school curriculum in literature. But they think about their author much less often. Let's try to make up for this annoying omission and take a closer look at the person who wrote these well-known fables for us.
Against the background of the classics
The fabulous poet lived and worked at the same time as Pushkin, Karamzin, Zhukovsky and Vyazemsky. He was friendly with many of the figures of the golden age of Russian culture and did not get lost in their shadow. The creative heritage of Ivan Andreevich Krylov occupies a special place in Russian literature. Quite often, the characters of his works become the first artistic images that a person encounters when he learns to read. The list of Krylov's fables is very extensive, and for all occasions there are images and situations that are most suitable for them. The characters in these stories have been living their fictitious life for about two hundred years. And this fact can be explained only by the fact that they were deduced by the hand of a talented master of the artistic word.
Biography and Creativity Facts
Ivan Andreevich Krylov lived a long life. His creative biography is full of many events. Before finding the only true poetic form, thanks to which he became famous, the writer Krylov managed to try himself in many genres. He composed prose and drama, and it cannot be said that his works went unnoticed. But real literary fame was brought to him by short poetic sketches with bright recognizable characters. Krylov’s dramatic miniatures were decorated in the form of a traditional genre - fables. This form itself has been known since antiquity and was widely represented in almost all contemporary Krylov literature in Western Europe. It will not be an exaggeration to say that the teachers of the Russian fabulist were Aesop, Lafontaine and Beranger. He turned out to be a capable student and in many ways surpassed teachers. Fables of Ivan Krylov have their own unique flavor. And their characters, sometimes exotic, perfectly adapted to Russian reality.
Features of the genre
The list of Krylov's fables consists of about two hundred names. The scenes of these poetic miniatures impress with the brightness of colors, the completeness of the plots and the enchanting variety of flickering images. The fact that these images are often hidden under the masks of various representatives of the animal world, can not mislead anyone. This is not about animals, but about people. And the visible similarities between them powerfully work on the completeness of the disclosure of artistic design. We can agree with the statement that “these are not portraits, but caricatures”, but the cartooning of images only gives them great expressiveness. Nothing more vividly illustrates the relationship between people than time-quoted passages from Krylov’s fables. People are usually happy to recognize their acquaintances in these literary images, and with much less joy - themselves. This is a little awkward.
Drama of the Krylov characters
Of course, the brightness of the images and situations in Krylov’s fables is due to the fact that the author previously wrote a lot for the theater and knew a lot about drama. And the highest literary skill requires conciseness. Not every playwright is able to cope with such a task - to say everything necessary in a limited space of a small literary form, which is a fable. And there is absolutely nothing surprising in the prevailing practice, when applicants of theatrical and cinematographic educational institutions at the entrance exam are offered a list of Krylov's short fables as a test task. Where else, if not on the example of these dramatic miniatures, will the future actor be able to convincingly demonstrate what he is capable of? Moreover, any proposed scene can be played both independently and in collaboration with partners.
Krylov's characters around us
What is the success of Krylov’s fables and what ensured them such a long life? Perhaps, in the universality of human types and the relations arising between them. In the two hundred years of the existence of the heroes of Krylov’s fables, if the person has changed, it’s not so much that they no longer recognize him behind the masks of the animals brought out by the fabulist. Do not deceive yourself and others that the poet did not write about us about everyone, but only about his contemporaries. Yes, about them, but also about us, and about our descendants. Therefore, there is not the slightest reason to assume that the list of Krylov's fables from the school curriculum will someday become outdated. If this is destined to ever happen, then this will obviously not happen in our lifetime. And today, in order to watch the entire gallery of Krylov’s characters, just click a button on the TV remote. They are here, and in no hurry to leave.