While the culture and literature of the High Renaissance flourished in Italy, and in the north of Europe, in Germany and the Netherlands, the Northern Renaissance reached its zenith, in Russia the level of development of art and literature was very low.
In the 14-15 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 not much different from the chronicles of the Dark Ages.
Early Russian literature
The medieval literature of the Russian principalities mainly consists of annals, a significant part of which are anonymous, and biographies of saints. The oral folk literature of medieval Russia consisted of epics and songs. Literature of the 14th-15th centuries, respectively, consists of oral art, annals, and lives. In the second half of the 15th century, interest in foreign legends and worldly creativity arose.
Oral creativity (or folklore) is a collective folk art transmitted by word of mouth. Folklore conveys the traditions and worldview of the people, creating unique images and speech turns. Among the main genres of Russian folk art , epics, fairy tales and historical songs had a special influence on the further development of literature.
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 a variety of forms and genres. Works that belong to ritual chants, epic epics, fairy tales, and of course, well-known proverbs, sayings, funny and lullaby songs have survived to our days.
Bylina is an original genre of Russian oral folk art, a peculiar version of the heroic epic, which reflects real historical achievements and people. Epics are often supplemented with elements of fiction and hyperbolize the strength of the heroes.
Tales are fictional stories or epics retold in simple language and focusing on one action or feat, saturated with mythical characters and magic.
Historical songs are a genre of folklore that took shape in the 14th century and represents a rethought bylina. Important historical events and personalities associated with them are sung.
Written literature
The literature of the 14th-15th centuries had a unique form - all the works, including the massive annals, were handwritten by the monks. There were few books, and they were practically not distributed outside the church.
In addition to the difficulty of copying works, literature of 14-15 centuries in Russia practically did not encounter the concept of copyright - any monk who rewrote a work could add or remove the part that he considered necessary at that time. Thus, there is not a single work written before the middle of the 16th century that would be the same in duplicate.
Many linguists and literary critics suspect that some annals are a product of collective creativity. The reason for this is the linguistic and stylistic discrepancy within the same work. This applies not only to chronicles, but also to the biographies of saints.
Genre constancy and emotional richness
Russian literature of the 14-15th centuries, and even up to the 17-18th centuries, developed very conservatively. Literary traditions and conventions required the writing of works in a particular genre. Therefore, the stylistic and genre characteristics of the works did not change dramatically, but smoothly, as if flowing out of one another. That is how dry and strict church literature became emotional and close to the people.
The pernicious influence of the Tatar-Mongol yoke to the depths of their soul shocked both a simple peasant or craftsman, and a scientist, a devout monk. In a single cry, common sorrow and eternal disobedience, new Russian literature of the 14-15th centuries was born, combining the dry manner of presenting the annals, the rich language of life, as well as the images and folklore of oral creativity.
Legacy of early literature
Like Christianity, writing and literature came to the Russian principalities from the outside, which is probably why the first chronicles and lives are so similar to the Byzantine ones and are so dramatically different from folklore. While the language of the annals is dry and complex, folk songs, tales and epics, despite the vernacular, are full of vivid images and are easy to remember.
Many academics and critics, especially 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, but to a strange, unexpected combination of dry exposition of facts, deep piety and rich imagery ancient literature. What in the 11th century was incompatible, like heaven and earth, began to mix in the 14-15 centuries.
Early literature is the source of the very Russian spirit. National ideas, nationality and distinctive morality, all that distinguishes Russian literature today, came from the very first centuries of its existence. It was literature of the 14th-15th centuries that paved the way for the magnificent fairy tales of Pushkin, the incredible stories of Gogol and the poems of Lermontov, which, in turn, had a formative influence on the future of Russian culture.