To the question "what is rake" there are several answers. The word is ambiguous, which only in the field of entertainment has two meanings. First of all, this is the theater gallery mentioned by A. S. Pushkin in the novel “Eugene Onegin”, which has always been distinguished by democratic mores from a swaggering stall. While in the front rows and lodges they lorgue each other, examining and discussing outfits, “in the district eagerly splash”, demanding the beginning of the performance.
Diversity of concept
The morals possessed by the theater ryok were also described by A.P. Chekhov in the story for children “Kashtanka”. The gallery is the cheapest and therefore accessible to many places located high-high "under the skies." Hence, one of the variants of the name is somewhere near paradise. And translated from French, paradis, the so-called gallery there, means "paradise", so the theater in the theater is cheap, top places. But there was another ryok, beloved by the audience, fair. It was a box with thick (magnifying) glass, popularly called it “bellied”, looking into which the viewer could observe moving pictures with content on a specific topic. It is clear that initially the content of the pictures was only religious. Then a second version of the name arises: all the plots set the audience on a righteous lifestyle, the ultimate goal of which is to go to heaven. The booth
puppet theater, or nativity scene, was also called the district committee. There are several more explanations of what a rake is. This term was called faceted glass, by analogy with "with a bellied". And then a prism showing objects in rainbow colors. And already by identity with it, the name was assigned to the eye iris, which is a membrane with a window-pupil. In the old days this word had a lot of meanings, almost out of use now.
Fair action
At one time, both the booth puppet theater and the box with convex glass were very popular among the people because, as a rule, they were accompanied, especially traveling pictures, with funny comments, comic jokes, rhymed, often sarcastic jokes. This was later, when the religious theme was completely supplanted by everyday plots. There were, of course, thematic shows dedicated to major cities of the world, but the plots from the surrounding life, shown during the festivities, were particularly successful. So the answer to the question “what is a rake” might be quite appropriate: a funny fair panorama. And poems and jokes, comments by rashnik, even became a certain genre of folk art, which V.V. Mayakovsky very successfully applied later in his “Windows of GROWTH”. In fact, the text accompanying the showing of the pictures, questions from the public, and the answers of the rashnik, which took into account that the audience waiting for their turn, also needed to be “warmed up” so that they would not get bored, represented comments on the most pressing topics.
Rayok as an informant
In this regard, the question "what is rake" can be answered that this is an oral newspaper. Therefore, the popularity of these panoramas among the people throughout the 19th century was so great. These ideas arose following the example of Western booths brought to Russia from the last third of the 18th century. But while foreign guest performers used only biblical stories or “Paradise action” in their shows, the Russian bar did not bypass such epic heroes as Ilya Muromets and Mikula Selyaninovich. Later, the satire was aimed at statesmen - Napoleon and Bismarck, at the people popular at that time - Suvorov and Stenka Razin, even at the dancer Fanny Elstler. Plots devoted to the glory of Russian weapons were very popular among the people. The need for comment was also explained by the fact that the viewing window was small, and not everyone knew how to read in order to parse the text under the pictures. The responsible task lay on the shoulders of the rashnik to make the action sparkling. Therefore, as a rule, he became a person more than gifted with artistic talent.
Art synthesis
Not only should he be able to speak in different voices, he should be able to imitate the voices of animals, the sound of rain and wind, be able to wittyly respond to remarks, have a certain supply of knowledge that includes all that is valuable in Russian folklore. That is, the presenter, as it were, synthesized many types of art, and
this accompaniment of viewing had a definite name - “race”. Along with the emotional, they were deliberately unemotional. To attract the public, all methods were used: cries, songs, poems and jokes. Raeshnik had to have the perfect gift of improvisation, be able to change the text depending on the public in order to be popular among all segments of the population. In addition, often, if not always, the owners of the districts were offers. This term has a lot of synonyms: these are peddlers and hobbyists, cantiologists and art painters, salespeople, mastiffs, and opulents. That is, the rashnik haggled with popular prints on the theme of the displayed action and other goods. There is evidence that it was their activity that contributed to a powerful surge in popular print. As a satirical act, these panoramas were so popular that they became a household name. So, some opus artists who make fun of opponents were called rayons. The most famous was the Rayok of Modest Mussorgsky, written by him in 1870 and ridiculing the detractors of The Mighty Handful, to which the composer belonged. Then, using his experience, from 1948 to 1968, Dmitry Shostakovich wrote his satire, aimed at condemning formalism in music, under the name "Anti-formalistic ryek".