The purpose of this article is to provide information about such a great monument of ancient Russian literature as Zadonshchina. Year of creation, author, compositional and artistic features - we will discuss all these issues with you.
Historical conditions
In 1380, an event took place that played a large role in the life of not only Russia, but the whole world. This refers to the Battle of Kulikovo, in which the Tatars were defeated. This event once and for all dispelled the rumors about the invincibility of the enemy, and Russia had the hope of getting rid of a long yoke. It also served as a prerequisite for the unification of the principalities around the center, Moscow, which marked the beginnings of a future state. So one should not be surprised why the great victory was so often covered in the literary monuments of the old Russian era. Researchers are talking about the Kulikovo cycle, which includes the work of interest to us.
Zadonshchina: year of creation, general information
A glorious monument of literature, a highly artistic creation ... The indisputable proof of the authenticity of the "Word ..." - all these characteristics are applicable to the military novel called "Zadonshchina." Who wrote it is a moot point and hardly resolved. There are suggestions that the author was Sophony Ryazantsev. This name is indicated by the text of Zadonshchina and another work, Tales of the Mamayev Massacre. Literary scholars do not have other information about Ryazantsev. But a reference to his name suggests that Sophonius created some literary monument that did not reach us. An unknown author was guided by him, from whose pen came Zadonshchina. The year of the creation of this military story is not exactly known (which is not surprising for Old Russian literature). They suggest this: the work was a direct response to events, which means that the creation of Zadonshchyna falls on the border of the 80–90s of the XIV century.
The story is presented by six lists. The earliest that has come down to us, scientists date back to 1470 years. Its other name is the Efrosin list. A variant is a reduction of some initial lengthy text and therefore differs in a large number of errors, distortions, omissions. By the way, only in the list of Efrosin is the name "Zadonshchina" used. The year of creation of the latest version of the story is also not established (approximately the 17th century), and there the work is designated as “The Word about ... Prince Dmitry Ivanovich”. The same applies to all other versions of the literary monument. They are also defective, but allow literary scholars to reconstruct the original text.
Composition and plot
Glorification of the victory of the Russian troops over the enemy — Zadonshchina has such a storyline. At the same time, the author deliberately draws a parallel with the "Word ...", however, the appeal to the great monument is not due to blind imitation, but to a deliberate comparison of the present and the past (and not in favor of the latter). The mention of the "Word ..." makes it clear that exclusively the disagreement of the princes entailed disaster on the Russian land. But this remained in the past, now a victory over the conquerors was won. Calls with the "Word ..." are found both at the level of individual techniques (transferring the narrator from one geographical point to another in one moment) and plot components. For example, Dmitry Donskoy, on the way before the start of the battle, the sun shines - this is the story of Zadonshchina. The author of the "Word ..." (by the way, also nameless) mentions the eclipse as a bad omen.
The story consists of two parts. They are preceded by an introduction, with the help of which the author sets the reader in a special, solemn manner, and also tells him the true goals that the creation of Zadonshchyna pursues. The introduction also emphasizes the optimistic tale of the story, states that Moscow - as the current center of statehood - is a continuation of Kiev, etc. The first part of the work is “pity”. The narrator depicts the defeat of the Russian troops, the mourning of the deceased by the princesses and nobles. However, nature suggests: soon the "filthy" will be defeated. And so it happened in “praise”, when the enemies rushed to the hilt, and the Rusich got rich prey.
Artistic features
The poetry of Zadonshchyna is largely determined by its resemblance to the “Word ...”. The reader is faced with the same anthropomorphic images, epithets, which are clearly of folkloric origin. At the same time, more images of religious significance are observed here, and there are no references to paganism at all. This story is significantly different from pretext. The work "Zadonshchina" is very heterogeneous in style. So, along with poetic texts are fragments that are very reminiscent of business prose. Her traces also appear in chronological details, close attention to the titles of princes.
"Zadonshchina" and "Word ..."
As already mentioned, “Zadonshchina” is also valuable in that it is a proof of the authenticity of the “Word”. The latter is called into question not only because until the sudden discovery of the monument by Musin-Pushkin in 1795, the “Word ...” nobody had ever seen, but also because of the extraordinary artistic value of the poem. This suggested a fake (and there were precedents). Her reference to Zadonshchina was supposed to put an end to the dispute, but ... There were suggestions that this "Word ..." was created following the example of a supposedly subsequent monument. Well, the question of the origin of both works of Old Russian writing remained unresolved.