Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/424

* RUSSIAN LITERATURE. 384 RUSSIAN LITERATURE. Beyoml the Don," a ichasliing of an earlier work, with senseless additions from the Song of lyoi's Baud. On the fall of the South Slavic uionarchics in the fourteenth century, the schol- ars of the south began to migrate into Russia. For almost two centuries there was, however, practically no revival of literature. At a coun- cil held at Moscow in 1557 at the conniiand of Ivan IV., the first Czar of Russia, it was enacted that only revised books were henceforth to be used in "the church. As no one in Russia was capable of undertaking the task of redaction, Maxim the Greek (1480-1356) was intrusted with the work. Perhaps the most important monument of this period is the famous Doniofilroii, '•Household Regulation," of the priest iSylvcstcr,' adviser of Ivan IV. (1547-15GO). Written for his son, it comprises a mass of regulations concerning every phase of life, from questions of morality and religion to the mi- nutest details of cuisine. The polemic of five letters from Prince Kurbski (1528-87) in Po- land to Ivan is remarkable for the literary eon- ti-ast between the style of the learned and gifted Kurbski and that of the Czar, equally gifted, biting, and well read, though possessing no systematic education. His other work, a IJis- torij of the Miiscorite Czar, is a logical, though partisan, recital of the development of Ivan the Terriblc's character. The seventeenth century brought with it new ideals, and the writers of that century, Yuri Krizhaniteh, the Servian, in his Poliiii, and Grigori Kotoshikhin (16.30- 67), in his Russia in the Reign of Alexei Mik- hniloviteh, appeal for education, the greatest need of the young State. Other important literaiy events of Ale.Kei's reign (1645-76) were the es- tablishment and publication of the first Russian newspaper, although in manuscript fonn, and the foundation of the theatre at Moscow. (3) Period of Western European Influence (eighteenth century). The connection between Russia, wrapjjed up in her Greek orthodox faith, and Western Europe was very slight during the Tatar domination. Only after the return of Peter the Great in 1698 did Russia become again a European State, and her literature more or less a replica of the theories and views current in Western Euroije. Peter's reforms encompassed even the simplification of the alphabet in con- formity with Roman characters; new words were introduced, constructions were modeled upon the French and German, and liberal rewards were paid for translations of useful books into Russian. In his labors the Czar was assisted by the Bishop Feofan Prokopovitch, an erudite writer and man of great political sagacity. Kan- temir (q.v. ), an ambassador in Western Europe, with his satires represents a great step forward. They were the first germ of modern Russian real- ism. Tredyakovski (1703-69), through a study of the Russian national poetry, discovered its tonic metre, though his verse was clumsy. The great name of Russian literature in the eighteenth century is Lomonosoff (1711-65). His works on rhetoric, grammar, and versification laid the permanent basis of modern Russian literature by limiting the use of Old Church Slavic forms in literary language. His contemporary. Sumaro- koff (1718-77). established the pseudo-classical tragedy, with his dramas written in servile imi- tation of Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire. But the real elements of progress for Russian Tet- ters lay in his comedies and fables and satires, where much genuine native wit and luunor is displayed. His greater successor, Fonvizin (1745-02), wrote two comedies, The Iliigadier and Xgcdorosl, "The Minor," in which lie ridi- culed the deeply rooted ignorance that lay concealed imder the thin veneer of education ob- tained from foreign tutors. The reign of Catha- rine II. found a spirited panegyrist in Derzhavin (q.v.), whose hrics and odes are characterized by strong imager}' and vigorously plastic form. The Academy established at Saint Petersburg (1726) and the first Russian university at Mos- cow (1755) produced a number of native schol- ars. A taste for literature, intensified by the vogue of Bogdanovitch's Diishctika, was growing up. Tlic opportunity was seized by Novikoff (1744-1818), a man of letters and a publisher of popular literary magazines. The end of the century witnessed the rise of sAitimentalism in Russia, as in the rest of Europe. This movement found immediate re- sponse in Russia. Here belongs the work of Karamzin (q.v.). His short stories, imitations of 'family novels,' and his Letters of a Russiati Traveler,' modeled after Sterne's Sentiinenlal Journey, created a demand for literature, and his History was an event in Russian letters. (4) The Nineteenth Century Romanticism. In Russia the romantic movement found repre- sentatives in Zhukovski (1783-1852), a gifted poet, famous for his remarkable translations of Goethe, Schiller, Byron, Tasso, and Homer (Odys- sey), and Batyushkoff (1787-1855), who worked in similar fields. The exclusive domination of French models in Russian literature was broken. The Russian verse as perfected by Zhukovski and BatyushkofT was awaiting a great master to take advantage of its technical perfection for original work. That master was Pushkin (q.v.) (1799- 1837). His epic Ruslan and Lyudmila (18'20) was the first successful attempt to draw mate- rial from Russian antiquity and popular legends. He sounded geiuiine national notes in his drama Boris Godiinoff (1825), written under the in- fluence of Shakespeare, and in his Yevgen Onye- gin (1825-32). After Pushkin Russian literature becomes an independent branch of European lit- erature. Besides the circle of his literary dis- ciples and colleagues, like Ryleyeff. Baratynski, Prince Odoyevski, Prince Vj'azemski, Bestuzheff, and others, two great names are prominent — Ler- montoft' (1814-41) and Koltsoff (1808-42). Ler- montoff, strongly tinged with Byronism, was Pushkin's direct disciple, but his individuality marks him as an independent poet, second only to his teacher. In his novel. -A Hero of Our Time, he produced a masterpiece fully equal to Pushkin's Yevgen Onyegin. Koltsoff created the art-song, all the motives and themes being those of the people, and invested it with perfect artistic form. Grib- oyedoff's (1795-1829) remarkable comedy-satire, The Misfortune of Being Too Clever, ridiculed society for aping the fads and fashions of Europe and disdaining the old native simplicity. Another great poet was the fabulist KrylofF (q.v.) (1768- 1846), who cast into the shade his predecessors Khenimtser ( 1745-1784), Dmitriyeft' (1760-1837), and Sumarokofi". Though he wrote much in other lines, his fame rests on his fables, which are