«Povest’ o Khmele» in the literary process of the 17th century

«Povest’ o Khmele» («A tale about hops») is published for the first time according to the lists of the 18th century sources (RS NL, Q. I, No. 708, p. 335-340), with the text differing from the well-known one in earlier editions. The analytical paper preceding the publication analyzes «Povest’ o Khmele» known in the lists of the 17th - 18th centuries and created on the basis of the earlier works on the topic in question. The study can reveal the direction and methods of creative work of a new circle of scribes who represented well the requests of the readers the circle of whom was also updated and expanded. The main source of «Povest’ o Khmele» was the manuscript «Slovo o Khmele» («The word about hops») the tradition of which was preserved from the 15th to the 19th century, testifying to the interest in it and the unrelenting demand. D. S. Likhachev regarded it as a «premonition» of «Povest’ o Gore Zlochastii» («The Tale of Woe and Misfortune») in the personification of destiny, fate, and appearance, in this connection, of the image of a human double. D. S. Likhachev determined «Slovo o Khmele» to be in «the middle between high literature, turned ironically to the low subject, and skomorokh’s raeshnick (couplets for a peep show)». The analysis of «Povest’ o Khmele», and its source «Slovo o Khmele» made it possible to elucidate the origins of the nature of laughter culture and the themes of duality in the Old Russian literature. Actually, «Slovo o Khmele» anticipates the development of duality in the literature of the 19th and 20th centuries (in the works of F. M. Dostoyevsky, A. A. Blok). «Povest’ o Khmele» is not the only example of processing «Slovo o Khmele». In the 17th century, «A message to a certain monk about Khmel’» showed another approach of eliminating the dubious and dangerous features of the content and form of the source. His author proved to be a skilled professional with a variety of artistic means that made it possible to transform the text that is questionable for content and form into an essay entertaining and satisfying all the requirements of soul-worthiness.

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