Rethinking of old Russian literature genres traditions in poetic works of V.S. Solovyov

The article tells about the transformation of old Russian literature genre traditions in the poetic legacy of V.S. Solovyov. When analyzing some of Solovyov's poems of 1890s it may be seen that the poet proved to be receptive to the traditions of some separate old Russian genres, despite the fact that his attitude to old Russian literature in general was pretty reserved. Solovyov knew perfectly the greatest monuments of old national folklore. He interpreted the legacy of the Russian literary antiquity as a single whole that had a doubtless positive value, but he reduced its significance to the historical aspect only. Sometimes Solovyov did not even admit that old Russian folklore was the base of the Russian classical literature. This stage in the history of the national literature was not momentous for him despite its close connection with religion. The reason of this probably was the passive position of the artist-author who did not aim to influence the life reality and did not have the theurgy function. Solovyov as a poet paid attention to lament, word, vision and sign genres. Their canons were rethought, but some separate features were preserved for the effect of recognition. As a whole the poet took the old genre form and put new, often comic, sense in it. Words, signs and visions preserved their integral character in his system of genres. In his poetic works the genre of lament is represented not as a whole but with the help of separate elements, themes and techniques ("Otvet na "Plach Yaroslavny"("Answer to The Lament of Yaroslavna"), "Dve sestry. Iz islandskoy sagi"("Two sisters. From an Icelandic saga")). The conceptual aspect of the word genre was notably transformed by Solovyov, but some components were preserved ("Das Ewig-Weibliche. Slovo uveshchevatelnoye k morskim chertyam"("A word of admonition to the sea-devils")). Solovyov followed the fundamental rules of vision and sign genres ("Son nayavu"("A waking dream"), "Zna-meniye"("The sign")), but at the same time he rethought the vision and created its comic variant ("Videniye. Sochineno v sostoyanii naturalnogo gipnoza" ("A vision. imposed under the natural hypnosis")). In general it may be said that Solovyov operated with the synthesis form most convenient for him. He combined lyric poems with separate elements of old Russian genres that were typical and recognizable. The genre name was usually stated in the subtitle in order to update the reader's memory and to focus on these or those genre peculiarities. Solovyov's experiments with the genres of word, lament, vision and sign show that this layer of national culture was demanded by the Russian lyrics at the end of the 19th century and that literary traditions are carried on through the centuries.

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