The story of Savva Grudtsyn is a monument of 17th century Old Russian literature . It is a prosaic text that combines both the elements characteristic of medieval literature (teaching, religious motives, the theme of soul salvation), and the characteristic features of the literature of the transition period from ancient Russian literature to new (description of the feelings of the hero, the life story of a specific person, details life).
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 Savva escorts his father. Illustration from the manuscript "The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn." Artist I. Blinov . 1919 | |
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Basic Information
About 80 copies of the story have survived to this day, most of which date back to the 18th century . At the same time, notes with city names found on the sheets of some manuscripts indicate a wide distribution of the text. As M. Skripil notes, the reader was primarily interested in the adventurous, romantic side of the story. This was due to changes that the text of the "Tale" underwent in the XVIII century . Both the beginning of the text (mention of the Time of Troubles ) and its final part (description of miraculous healing) underwent abbreviations. These topics were already less relevant for readers, among whom were representatives of the merchants, the provincial clergy, as well as philistines. Over time, not only the plot but also the language of the story underwent some processing, from which archaic words and constructions disappeared. In modern editions of The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn, the text, as a rule, is given according to one of the oldest lists.
The plot and its features
In the plot of the story, you can distinguish two layers that are close to different types. One of them includes a description of the sins of the hero, his punishment, repentance and miraculous healing. He is associated with a religious legend . The second layer corresponds to a fairy tale and includes elements such as the gifts of a magical helper, a triple victory over the heroes. The author of the story alternately follows one or the other plot scheme, which was practically impossible in the literature of previous periods.
Bibliography
- Texts of the Tale of Savva Grudtsyn (Library of Literature of Ancient Russia / RAS. IRLI; Edited by D. S. Likhachev, L. A. Dmitriev, N. V. Ponyrko. - St. Petersburg: Nauka, 2006. - T. 15: XVII century - 530 p.)
- Skripil M. O. The Story of Savva Grudtsyn // History of Russian Literature: V 10 t. / M .; L .: Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1941-1956.
- Skripil M. O. The Story of Savva Grudtsyn // TODRL, T. II, M.-L., 1935 - contains the history of the study of the story, information about possible prototypes of the characters, a study of the historical background on which the plot develops.