Who wrote "The Tale of Igor's Campaign? The mystery of the monument of ancient Russian literature

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

One of the greatest monuments of ancient Russian literature is "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". This work is shrouded in many secrets, starting with fantastic images and ending with the name of the author. By the way, the author of The Tale of Igor's Campaign is still unknown. No matter how hard the researchers tried to find out his name - nothing succeeded, the manuscript keeps its secret even today.

We will not talk about the history of finding the manuscript, about the role of A. Musin-Pushkin, A. S. Pushkin, N. Karamzin and other researchers in the restoration, translation and publication of an ancient monument of literature, but let's move on to the most important question of who wrote The Tale of Igor's Campaign.

Beginning to analyze the work, the researchers paid special attention to the beginning - in it appears the image of Boyan the storyteller, an ancient mythical singer who glorified the heroic campaigns of the princes, "spreading his thoughts on the tree", with laudatory words soaring "a gray eagleunder the clouds. In contrast to the generally accepted canons of honoring heroes, the one who wrote The Tale of Igor's Campaign departs from traditions and tells in his own words about the events that took place in Russia after the reign of Vladimir the Red Sun. The narrator allows himself to introduce lyrical digressions in which he talks about his inner feelings and thoughts, harmoniously fitting them into the characterization of the images and ongoing events.

Mythical characters, animals, the battlefield, feasts, Svyatoslav's word and Yaroslavna's cry - the poet in an amazing way seems to animate and endow these images with characters. They become independent characters, which once again proves that the one who wrote "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" passionately loves his homeland and worries about its future. In this regard, special attention should be paid to the image of Prince Igor, the central character, whose campaign is dedicated to the work.

The campaign against the Polovtsians in 1185 ended in failure, and the author-singer mourns over the loss of the princely army near the Kayala River, involuntarily comparing this battle with the battles of Prince Oleg, grandfather Igor - constant strife, death of princes and warriors, princely quarrels - all this led to a sad result.

The peculiarity of the storyteller's language takes us to the past, and we see the events through his eyes - the question of who wrote "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is no longer so important. Igor, defending the interests of his homeland and wanting to gain even greater fame, goes on a campaign almost aloneon the Polovtsians. He does not pay attention to bad omens (eclipse, Diva's cry), rushes into battle and is captured. A brave, courageous, desperate warrior - this is Igor's characteristic.

“The Word of Igor’s Campaign” is based on the Ipatiev and Laurentian Chronicles, but this does not in any way mean that its author was a historian. On the contrary, Academician Likhachev claims that the author who wrote The Tale of Igor's Campaign is not a chronicler, not a historian, but a literate, well-read person who is not alien to the fate of the entire state.

One way or another, "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is a magnificent monument of historical fiction, the riddles of which have not yet been fully solved.