“Alphabet Scribe” in the History of Russian Literature

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the study of the most significant and popular Old Russian scribe - “Alphabetical”, written in the late 16th - early 17th century according to researchers. The assumption is made that it was replenished and adjusted over several decades, quickly responding to the demands of the times and reflecting the main processes that took place in Russian literature of the 16th and especially the 17th century. The scribe reflected the central feature of this period: the interaction of the traditional and the new, with an emphasis on the new. It demonstrates such new aspects of Russian literature of the 17th century as secularization, democratization, fiction, and individualization. It is rather telling that the vast majority of sample messages are private letters written for relatives and friends. Particularly noteworthy are the samples of ‘anti-friendly’ letters, some of which are parodies of friendly letters. They make up an organic part of the 17th century parodies, namely such satirical texts as Kalyazinsky Petition, The Dowry Document, The Tale of Ersh Ershovich, The Service of the Tavern. As it is known, parodies play a crucial role in the turning periods of literary development, which was the 17th century. In this era, first of all, the most stable and therefore most recognizable genres were parodied: business (petitions, dowry, court documents, etc.) and church (hagiographies, prayers, akathists, church services, etc.) writing. Quite noteworthy is the appearance along with these parodies of the parody of the epistolary genre, indicating that it had fully developed, and occupied a proper place in the system of literature genres, and was unmistakably recognized by authors and readers. Moreover, a new, ‘secular’ version had developed and was recognized: friendly letters, which were by no means educational, unlike those popular in Ancient Russian literature of previous centuries.