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The Pathetic Hero in Russian Seventeenth-Century Literature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2018

William E. Harkins
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Extract

If Old Russian literature had a typical hero, he was a superman. Whatever the field of his activity, he was able to surmount all obstacles with ease. Either he was described as predestined to success, or as so strong that his success was inevitable. This was as true of religious ascetics and martyrs, whose death was only a sign of their final triumph, as it was of princes or military leaders.

Examples of literary heroes who were not so victorious are rare, almost nonexistent until the seventeenth century. One thinks, however, of the hero of the Igor Tale (Slovo o polku Igoreve), or of the heroes of the chronicle tales which depict Russian resistance to the Tartar invaders. But, though defeated, these historical figures are still characterized as heroes in the grand style, unusual men whose tragic fate is in strange contrast to their superior strength.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , December 1955 , pp. 512 - 527
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1955

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References

1 They are published by Simoni, P., in Sbornik otdelenija russkogo jazyka i slovesnosti Imp. Akademii Nauk, LXXXII, No. 7 (1907), 5-7, 10–12 Google Scholar. A good description and analysis in English is found in Stief, Carl, Studies in the Russian Historical Song (Copenhagen, 1953), pp. 37–46 Google Scholar.

2 Danilov, V., “Sborniki pesen XVII stoletija,” Trudy otdela drevne-russkoj literatury, Institut Russkoj Literatury, Akademija Nauk S.S.S.R. (1934). II, 169 Google Scholar.

3 It is noteworthy that the Letopisnaja kniga, ascribed to Prince Katyrev-Rostovskij, contains a sentimentalized description of Xenia also capable of creating pathos: “When in grief she shed tears, and then her eyes shone most, with great brightness … . Of all women she was the most charitable… .”

4 See Buslaev, F., Istoricheskie ocherki russkoj narodnoj slovesnosti i isskustva (St. Petersburg, 1861), I, 562-64Google Scholar on Russian moral ambivalence toward drink at this time.

5 See A. N. Veselovskij's comments in Galakhov, A. D., Istorija russkoj slovesnosti (St. Petersburg, 1880), I, 474-80Google Scholar.

6 It is of interest that Buslaev also considered Gore to be a reflection of the youth's internal conflicts. See Buslaev, F., op. cit., pp. 582-83, 642 Google Scholar.

7 It is of interest that this boyar was executed in 1634 on charges of betraying the Russians to the Poles. It is apparent that he figures in the story as a villain, opposed to the patriotic hero, Savva. See Skripil', M. O., “Povesf o Savve Grudcyne,” Trudy otdela drevne-russkoj literatury, Institut Russkoj Literatury, Akademija Nauk S.S.S.R. (1936), II, 203 Google Scholar.

8 See Adrianova-Peretc, V. P., Ocherki po istorii russkoj satiricheskoj literatury XVII veka (Moscow-Leningrad, 1937), pp. 14–21 Google Scholar. This source also contains the different variants of the text on pages 21-26.

9 Ibid., p. 17.

10 Rzhiga, V. F., “Iz istorii povesti,” Izvestija Tverskogo pedagogicheskogo instituta (1928), IV, 99 Google Scholar.

11 Ibid., p. 107.

12 See, for example, Nos. 566 and 567 in Sobolevskij, A. I., Velikorusskie narodnye pesni (St. Petersburg, 1890-1902), Vol. VI Google Scholar. See also Stief, Carl, op. cit., pp. 45–46 Google Scholar.

13 Andreev, N. P., “Pesni-ballady v russkom fol'klore,” Russkaja ballada Google Scholar, ed. Chernyshev, V. I. (Leningrad, 1936), pp. xliv-xlv Google Scholar.

14 See Buslaev, F., Moi dosugi (Moscow, 1886), II, 10–11 Google Scholar.

15 Rjazanovskij, F. A., Demonologija v drevne-russkoj literature (Moscow, 1916), p. 61 Google Scholar ff.

16 See Skripil', M. O., op. cit., Ill, 99-134 Google Scholar.

17 See my article, “Russian Folk Ballads and the Tale of Misery and III Fortune,” The American Slavic and East European Review, XIII, No. 3 (October, 1954), pp. 402-13.

18 Adrianova-Peretc, V. P., op. cit., p. 20 Google Scholar.

19 Skripil', M. O., op. cit. , II, 206-14Google Scholar.