Russian Literature Ancient Literature Russian literature has the same origin as Ukrainian and Belarusian literature. It originated at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries after Kievan Rus established Christianity as the state religion in 988.

From then until the beginning of the 17th century, Russia experienced constant foreign aggression and internal strife, which affected the development of literature. Some works appeared, mostly integrating religion and history.

There is only "Igor's Expedition" by an unknown author at the end of the 12th century. It describes in an epic and vivid writing style the Novgorod-Sevelsky Grand Duke Igor's lonely expedition to the south in 1185, the defeat and capture of the Polovs and the final

The experience of returning home runs through the idea of ??unity to resist aggression, and its content and technique are comparable to France's "Song of Roland" and Germany's "Niebelungenlied".

Since the mid-17th century, Russian literature has gradually become richer due to the formation of the All-Russian market and the development of international cultural exchanges.

The "Acts" of the priest Avakum (1620 or 1621-1682) and the creation of the court poet Simeon Polotsky (1628-1680) show the new development of religious literature.

There also appeared "The Legend of Gore-Zlochasky", "The Legend of Savva Grutzen" and "The Legend of Flor Skobeev", as well as "The Story of the Seminyak Court" and "The Legend of Seva Grutzen".

"The Story of Spiny Bass" and other secular legendary stories that reflect social life and have a democratic tendency.

18th-century literature In the Russian literature of the 18th century, taking the social reforms of Tsar Peter I as an opportunity, classicism, which opposed conservatism and ignorance and promoted enlightened monarchs and enlightenment ideas, took the dominant position.

Its main representatives include scientist and poet Lomonosov (1711-1765), tragedian Sumarokov (1717-1777), satirical magazine editor and publisher Novikov (1744-1818),

The odes include the allegorical court poet Gerchavin (1763-1816) and the author of the famous satirical play "The Young Man" Feng Weixin (1744-1792).

At the end of the 18th century, influenced by the literature of Britain, Germany, France and other countries, the aristocratic writer Karamzin (1766-1826) and the revolutionary Radishev (1749-1802) broke the taboos of classical aesthetics and introduced the image of the humble into literature.

The former's novels describe the love tragedies of ordinary young men and women, while the latter uses his "travel diary" from Petersburg to Moscow to express the suffering and indignation of farmers.

Their styles are very different, but they are all characterized by exaggerating the protagonist's sad inner feelings, marking the rise of Russian sentimentalist literature; at that time, Dmitriev (1760 ~ 1837) and his poetry also belonged to this genre.

creation.

Literature in the 19th century was influenced by the rise of national consciousness and social unrest triggered by the victory in the Anti-Napoleonic War in 1812. Russian literature in the early 19th century changed rapidly, with the nature of a transition between the old and the new.

Although Krylov's fables and Griboyedov's (1795-1829) comedies follow the norms of classical poetry, the Russian social conflicts, plots, images and vivid language displayed are already distinctly realistic.

ism characteristics.

Sentimentalism was quickly replaced by romanticism; the poems of Zhukovsky and Bachushkov (1787-1855) were born out of Karamzin, pursuing inner freedom and harmony, and revealing a pessimistic reclusive mood; Ryleyev (1787-1855)

The poems and novels of Decembrists such as 1795-1826) and Malinsky (1797-1837) more inherited the tradition of Radishev and were filled with revolutionary ideas of opposing tyranny and fighting for freedom.

Starting from about the mid-1820s, due to the failure of the aristocratic revolution in 1825 and the strengthening of autocratic serfdom, romanticism in Russian literature quickly gave way to an emphasis on observing and describing life calmly and objectively, and requiring the creation of typical environments.

Typical characters are the main features of realism.

Pushkin, who turned out to be an active romantic poet along with the Decembrists, has since then created a large number of realistic dramas, novels and poems. Therefore, he is revered as the father of modern Russian literature.

Later Lermontov was first of all a romantic poet, and Gogol also started in romanticism and always maintained a romantic temperament. However, the former's novel "Modern Heroes" and the latter's plays and novels are all grim realities.

They further enriched and consolidated Pushkin's realist art from two different aspects: psychological analysis and humorous satire.

Critic Belinsky laid a solid theoretical foundation for realism (called naturalism at the time) mainly through analysis and comments on the creations of these three writers, making it the main trend of Russian literature for more than half a century.

Since then, Herzen, Goncharov, Turgenev, Nekrasov, Dostoevsky, Ostrovsky, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Tolstoy and

Chekhov and others are world-class masters of novels, poetry, and drama.

Those belonging to or close to this main school at that time also included the critical works of Dubryuropov and Pisarev, the poetry of Tyuchev, Kolizov and Nikki, as well as Pishemsky, Grigo

Novels and features by Rovich, Leskov, G. Uspensky, etc.