RUSSIAN

Literature
Objective
s
At the end of the lesson, the
students should be able to:
a.identify the different contributions
of the authors to Russian Literature;
and

b.develop an understanding of the

cultural, historical, and political
contexts that have influenced Russian
literature over time.
Content
About Russia
s Russian Literature
Old Russian
Imperial Literature
Post-revolutionary Literature
Post-soviet Literature
Russian authors
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor
Dostoevsky
Russi
a Capital City: Moscow
Official Language:
Russian
Location: Transcontinental (Eastern Europe and
Northern Asia)
Government: federal dominant-party, semi-
presidential
Russian
Literature
Russian literature refers to the
literature of Russia and its émigrés
and to Russian-language literature.
The roots of Russian literature can
be traced to the Middle Ages, when
epics and chronicles in Old East
Slavic were composed.
Russian
Periods Old Russian
Imperial
Literature
Post-revolutionary Literature
Post-soviet Literature
Old Russian (10th - 17th )
Old Russian literature covers the period from the tenth century through the seventeenth century.
Old Russian literature is the source of the civic spirit and ideological content found in Russian
literature of the modern period. Old Russian literature passed on to Russian literature of the modern
and most recent period its noble ideals, vast experience, and rich flexible language and imagery.

10th-13th century -Old Russia turned from an unstable alliance of tribes into a united feudal state. Close
diplomatic, trading and cultural ties with its southern and western neighbours brought the country into the
sphere of European politics. The acceptance of Christianity marked a most important stage in the history of
Kievan Russia.
*The Emergence of Old Russian Literature
*Translated Literature of the Eleventh to Early Thirteenth Centuries
*Literature as an Intermediary. Genres of Translated Literature
-Patristics
-Vitae
-Paterica
14th century -as in the preceding period, a bitter struggle continued between the Russian principalities for
political and economic supremacy.

LITERATURE FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE THIRD QUARTER OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY
*Chronicle-Writing
- The Tale of Shevkal
*Hagiography. The Tale of Dovmont
-The Tale of Michael of Tver, Son of Yaroslav
-The original redaction of The Life of Metropolitan Peter
- Translated Tales
*The Tale of the Indian Empire
-The Tale of Macarius of Rome
-The Lay of the Twelve Dreams of Emperor Shakbaishi
15th century saw the formation of a united Russian state. Novgorod and the extensive Novgorodian lands (which
had an outlet for the White Sea and the Arctic Ocean) were joined to Muscovy, together with Tver, Yaroslavl, and other
lands, and also Vyazma, Gomel and Chernigov, which were won back from Lithuania; in the early six- teenth century
Pskov, Ryazan and Smolensk also joined the Russian state

LITERATURE OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY

*Historical Narrative. Fifteenth-Century Chronicle Compilations
-Chronicle Stories of the Victory Over Novgorod
-The Russian Chronograph
-The Tale of Tsargrad (Constantinople)
- Hagiography
*The Life of St Michael of Kopek
-The Tale of Peter of the Horde
*Translated Tales
-Trojan Tales
16th century was the period of the final formation and establishment of the Russian centralised state. During
this period Russian architecture and painting continued to develop and book printing began

The Main Ideological Phenomena of the Sixteenth CenturyCentury

* The Epistle on the Monomachos Crown and The Tale of the Princes of Vladimir
*Philotheus the Monk’s Theory of “Moscow as the Third Rome”
*The Great Menology
*The Household Management
*Hagiography
*The Tale of Peter and Febronia
*Historical Narrative
*Tales of the Capture of Pskov
*The Tale of the Death of Basil III
17th century has gone down in Russian history as an age of revolt. Between the Time of Troubles and 1698,
the year of the last revolt by the Streltsy, there were several large-scale popular uprisings, and many
minor ones.

LITERATURE OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

-Translated Tales of Chivalry and Adventure
-The Tale of Bova, the King’s Son
-The Tale of Bruncvik
-The Tale of Peter of the Golden Keys
-The Tale of Sukhan
-The Tale of Vasily the Golden-Haired, Prince of the Czech Land
-The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn
-The Tale of Woe-Misfortune
-Translated and Original Novellas. The History of the Seven Wise Men
Imperial Literature ( 1721-1917)
Russian imperial literature is often characterized by its exploration of
universal themes such as love, death, and the search for meaning, as
well as its engagement with political and social issues of the time,
such as the struggle for freedom and social justice.
The literature of this period was heavily influenced by Romanticism, a
literary and cultural movement that emphasized emotion,
imagination, and individualism. Russian writers drew on Romantic
themes and motifs, such as the beauty of nature, the power of the
individual, and the search for meaning and transcendence.
The rise of the novel was a significant development in Russian imperial
literature. Many writers, such as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, produced
lengthy novels that explored complex characters and themes. These
novels are known for their psychological depth, intricate plots, and
realistic portrayal of life in Russia.
Post-Revolutionary
Literature
The Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Bolshevik revolt later in the same
year created another major divide, eventually turning “official” Russian
literature into political propaganda for the communist state.
The Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917 radically changed Russian literature.
After a brief period of relative openness compared to what followed in the
1920s, literature became a tool of state propaganda. Officially approved writing
the only kind that could be published by and large sank to a subliterary level.
Censorship, imprisonment in labour camps, and mass terror were only part of
the problem. Writers were not only forbidden to create works that were
rebellious, formally complex, or expresses disapproval, but they were also
expected to fulfill the dictates of the Communist Party to produce
propaganda. Writers were called upon to be “engineers of human souls”. As a
result of Bolshevik rule, the literary tradition was fragmented.
Post-soviet
(Contemporary Russian
Literature
Literature)
The period of glasnost (verbal openness) under Gorbachev and
the subsequent collapse of the U.S.S.R. led first to a dramatic
easing and then to the abolition of censorship.
Citizenship was restored to émigré writers, and Solzhenitsyn
returned to Russia. Doctor Zhivago and We were published in
Russia, as were the works of Nabokov, Solzhenitsyn, Voynovich,
and many others.
Post-soviet
The divisions between Soviet and émigré and between official and
Literature
unofficial literature came to an end. Russians experienced the
heady feeling that came with absorbing, at great speed, large
parts of their literary tradition that had been suppressed and with
having free access to Western literary movements.
A Russian form of postmodernism, fascinated with a pastiche of
citations, arose, along with various forms of radical
experimentalism. During this period, readers and writers sought to
understand the past, both literary and historical, and to
comprehend the chaotic, threatening, and very different present.
Russian
Authors
Leo To l s t o y
a master of realistic fiction and one of
world’s
the greatest novelists
Tolstoy is best known for his two longest works,
War and Peace (1865–69) and Anna Karenina
(1875–77), which are commonly regarded as
among the finest novels ever written. War and
Peace in particular seems virtually to define
this form for many readers and
critics.
Russian
Authors
"Happy families are all alike;
every unhappy family is unhappy
in its own way."
—Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

“We can know only that we know

nothing. And that is the highest
degree of human wisdom.”
—Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
 Russian
Authors
Leo To l s t o y

• Childhood
• The Cossacks
Russian
Authors
N i k o l a y Go g o l
Ukrainian-born humorist, dramatist, and
novelist whose works, written in
significantly
Russian, influenced the direction of
Russian literature.
His novel Myortvye dushi (1842; Dead
and his
Souls) short story “Shinel” (1842;
Overcoat”)
“The are considered the foundations of
the great 19th-century tradition of
realism.
Russian
 Russian
Authors
Nikolay Gogol

• The Nose
• The Viy
Russian
Authors
A n t o n Ch e k h o v
Russian playwright and master of
modern
the short story.
Chekhov’s best plays and short stories lack
complex plots and neat
Chekhov's
solutions. gun is a dramatic principle that
states that every element in a story
be necessary,
must and irrelevant elements
should be removed. Elements should
appear
not to make "false promises" by
coming
never into play.
Known for the
The
plays: Seagull, Uncle Vanya,
and The Cherry
Orchard.
 Russian
Authors
Anton Chekhov

The Seagull Uncle Vanya The Cherry Orchard

Russian
Authors
F y o d o r Dostoevsky
Russian novelist and short-story writer
whose psychological penetration into the
darkest recesses of the human heart,
together with his unsurpassed moments
of illumination, had an immense
influence on 20th-century fiction.
Known for the novels Crime
Punishment,
and The Brothers Karamazov,
and The
Idiot
 Russian
Authors
Fydor Dostevsky

The Brothers Karamazov The Idiot

Realism It has several classic elements to
the writing giving away that a story
is a piece of literary realism.

Realistic characters and setting

Comprehensive detail
about everyday occurrences
Plausible plot (a story that
could
happen in your town)
Real dialects of the area
Character development
How much land does a man need important
by Leo Tolstoy I mportanc in depicting
e class social
Existentialism
It is based on the view that humans define
their own meaning in life and try to make
rational decisions despite existing in an
irrational universe. It focuses on the
question of human existence, and the
feeling that there is no purpose or
explanation at the core of existence. It
holds that, as there is no God or any other
transcendent force, the only way to
counter this nothingness (and hence to
find meaning in life) is by embracing
existence.
 Crime and

P u n i sh m e n t
The novel is a psychological analysis of the poor former
student Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, whose theory that he
is an extraordinary person able to take on the spiritual
responsibility of using evil means to achieve humanitarian
ends leads him to murder. The act produces nightmarish guilt
in Raskolnikov. The story is one of the finest studies of the
psychopathology of guilt written in any language.
 American Murder:
The Family Next Door
Russian liter atur e
S u mmary
r efer s to th e liter atur e
of Russia an d its
émigrés and to Russian-language literature.
Old Russian literature covers the period from the tenth century
to seventeenth century.
The 17th century began with a period of political chaos.
Russian imperial literature is characterized by its exploration of
universal theme, such as (love, death, and the search meaning)
and engagement with political and social issues of the time.
Imperial literature was influenced by Romanticism.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Bolshevik revolt later in
the same year created another major divide, eventually turning
“official” Russian literature into political propaganda for the
communist state.
 s u mmary
Russian form of postmodernism.
During Post-soviet literature, readers and writers sought
to understand the past, both literary and historical.
Leo Tolstoy- a master of realistic fiction and one of
the
world’s greatest novelists.
Nikolay Gogol - Ukrainian born humorist, dramatist,
and novelist.
Anton Chekhov- Russian playwright and master of
the
modern short story.
Fyodor Dostoevsky- Russian novelist and short-story
writer whose psychological penetration.
Thank you!