Each nation or nation, country or locality has its own cultural history. A large segment of cultural traditions and monuments is literature - the art of the word. It reflects the way of life and life features of any people, by which one can understand what these people lived in past centuries and even millennia. Therefore, probably, scientists consider literature the most important monument of history and culture.
History of Russian literature
Not an exception, but rather, confirmation of the foregoing - the Russian people. The history of Russian literature has a long history. Since the advent of writing in Russia, more than a thousand years have passed. Researchers and scientists of many countries study it as a phenomenon and the clearest example of verbal creativity - folk and author. Some foreigners even specifically study the Russian language, and yet it is considered not the easiest in the world!
Periodization
Traditionally, the history of Russian literature is divided into several main periods. Some of them are quite lengthy. Some are more concise. Let's look at them in more detail.
Pre-literary period
Before the adoption of Christianity (Olga in 957, Vladimir in 988) in Russia there was no written language. As a rule, if necessary, used Greek, Latin, Jewish. More precisely, it was its own, even during pagan times, but in the form of dashes or notches on wooden tags or sticks (called: features, cuts), but literary monuments were not preserved on it. Works (fairy tales, songs, epics - mostly) were transmitted orally.
Old Russian
This period passed from the 11th to the 17th century - a rather long time. The history of Russian literature of this period includes religious and secular (historical) texts of Kievan, and then - Muscovite Russia. Vivid examples of literary work: “The Life of Boris and Gleb”, “The Tale of Bygone Years” (11-12 centuries), “The Word about Igor’s Regiment”, “The Legend of the Mamaev Massacre”, “Zadonshchina” - describing the period of the yoke, and many others.
18 century
We call this period historians - “Russian enlightenment”. The foundation of classical poetry and prose is laid by such great creators and enlighteners as Lomonosov, Fonvizin, Derzhavin and Karamzin. As a rule, their work is multifaceted, and is not limited to one literature, but extends to science and other forms of art. The literary language of this period is a bit complicated for perception, as it uses outdated forms of circulation. But this does not interfere with the images and thoughts of the great enlighteners of their time. So Lomonosov constantly sought to reform the language of literature, to make it the language of philosophy and science, and advocated the rapprochement of literary and folk linguistic forms.
The history of Russian literature of the 19th century
This period in the literature of Russia is the “golden age”. At this time, literature, history, and the Russian language enter the world stage. All this happened thanks to the reformist genius of Pushkin, who actually introduced the Russian language into the literary routine, as we are used to perceive it. Griboedov and Lermontov, Gogol and Turgenev, Tolstoy and Chekhov, Dostoevsky and many other writers made up this golden clip. And the literary works created by them forever entered the classics of the world of word art.
silver Age
This period is quite short in time - only from 1890 to 1921. But in this turbulent time of wars and revolutions, a powerful flourishing of Russian poetry takes place, bold experiments in art as a whole arise. Blok and Bryusov, Gumilev and Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva and Mayakovsky, Yesenin and Gorky, Bunin and Kuprin are the most prominent representatives.
Soviet era and modern times
The time of the collapse of the USSR, 1991 marks the end of the Soviet period. And from 1991 to the present, this is the newest period that has already given Russian literature new interesting works, but descendants will probably judge this with greater accuracy.