старобългарската

The issues of aesthetics have always been of great interest to both science and artists. This interest has obviously grown in recent times, thanks to which a lot of research has appeared. Despite this activity, however, there is still no unity among scientists on a number of issues. One of the reasons for this state of affairs is the fact that theoretical generalizations are not always connected with the direct study of the artistic mastery of the individual artist-writer. If this statement is true for modern fiction, how much more so for medieval Slavic literature, especially for old Bulgarian literature. Of course, today it is no longer possible to maintain the view that this literature is purely religious-dogmatic, dry and uninteresting, that it has primarily cognitive significance, helping us to more fully reveal the relevant historical era. To deny any artistry in Old Bulgarian or Old Russian literature is not justified either historically or factually. Because in different centuries there was a different idea of ​​artistry, and when assessing the degree of artistry of a particular monument, we should not take our own point of view, we should not come up with our own claims to artistry, but take into account the understanding of artistry in the society of that era, monuments". 1 which was contemporary to each of these On the other hand, old Bulgarian literature, like Serbian and Russian medieval literature, possesses undoubted artistic merits: it holds the attention of its reader, satisfies his aesthetic sense, acts on his imagination and reason, elevates thoughts and feelings, and gives knowledge of a diverse nature. The stylistic and linguistic form of the works unconditionally corresponds to the appropriate cultural preparation of the reader, so that he can perceive them, be moved by them. Here it is absolutely necessary to observe a certain ratio between the creator and the reader. When this ratio is violated, the impact of the book is insignificant, a reaction begins against it, an opposite movement appears.

Over the past ten years, interest in the issues of Old Bulgarian literature has grown significantly, both among our own and among some foreign scholars. In the first place among foreigners in this regard are the Soviet medievalists D. S. Likhachev,1 I. P. Eryomin,2 Yu. K. Begunov, N. K. Gudziy, M. V. Shchenkina, who in a number of their works shed light on one or another fact of our old literature, express one or another assessment of the phenomena, etc. Following the example of their predecessors - the old Russian Slavists and experts on Old Bulgarian literature - they strive to study the facts well, to systematize them and, on the basis of all this, to draw the appropriate conclusions and inferences. This approach to the phenomena of the development of Old Bulgarian literature is completely correct and leads to positive results. Therefore, the mentioned Soviet scholars can also boast of valuable achievements.

In the recently published article by the prominent Soviet researcher, an excellent expert on Old Russian and Old Slavic literature in general, Professor D. S. Likhachev, a whole series of general and specific questions in the field of medieval Slavic literature are put forward for consideration, which deserve the greatest attention. The author first of all makes an attempt to introduce into literary studies some new concepts and definitions, which is, above all, the concept of "system of literature", that is, "a certain relationship of its parts to each other: the types of literature (translated and original, church, historical, natural science, journalistic, etc.), of its genres, of its individual works". At the same time, he points out that the system or structure of a given literature is subject to continuous change, and differences are discernible in it according to individual historical periods. Professor D. Likhachev sets himself the task of examining the most ancient period of this development, namely the period from the 9th to the 13th centuries, and this concerns the emergence and initial development of literature among the southern and eastern (that is, Russian) Slavs. His attention is directed primarily to Old Russian literature: in his opinion, it presents "an example of those phenomena that are also characteristic of other Old Slavonic literatures." These general considerations represent for the Soviet specialist in Old Slavonic literature only an introduction to the consideration of several partial questions of particularly great interest. First of all, this is the question of the influence of the medieval literatures of the eastern and southern Slavs.

We have always admired the remarkable generalizing thought of D. S. Likhachev and his broad erudition, which allow him to look in a new, extremely original way at a number of problems in old Russian literature - to a large extent problems of Bulgarian literature as well - and to express convincing new views, directing scientific research to unexplored areas. However, his article "Old Slavonic Literatures as a System" (Literary Thought, vol. 1, 1969) particularly excites us, because, as is known, it specifically addresses problems of Old Bulgarian literature and a number of fundamental questions that relate in general to the character and development of Old Slavonic literatures. A large part of the thoughts expressed by D. S. Likhachev are the result of insightful observations and cannot be ignored by Slavic scholars in their scientific research work on their native literature. Other opinions disturb with their categorical generalization or prompt reflection, as they subject traditional concepts and understandings to reassessment. The article by D. S. Likhachev invites a thorough and comprehensive examination of Old Bulgarian literature on the level of modern science.

Lilyana Grasheva's dissertation "Artistic Peculiarities of Old Bulgarian Literature", defended on 5. VI. 1969, is an aesthetic-theoretical study of the artistic originality and aesthetic essence of medieval literature. Learning creatively from Soviet medievalists (primarily from the school of the prominent Soviet literary scholar D. S. Likhachev), the dissertationist makes the first serious attempt to systematically study and comprehend from contemporary ideological and aesthetic positions the poetics of Old Bulgarian literature. The task set requires a deep penetration into the artistic and ideological world of the Middle Ages, rich scientific-aesthetic and methodological preparation. In the defended work, the dissertationist opposes a number of traditional concepts, which are an expression of prejudices and underestimation of the pictorial merits of Old Bulgarian Literature, considering it as a historically determined type of verbal creativity. At the same time, striving to By illuminating the real ideological and aesthetic values, Grasheva avoids the temptations of the modernizing idealization and modernization of the literary material. For the first time, the dissertationist makes a broader comparison of the aesthetic and creative ideas of the Old Bulgarian writers with those of Russian, Byzantine and Western European medieval writers. She proves that the Old Bulgarian writers are fully included in the main philosophical and aesthetic line of the European Middle Ages. The most significant contribution is contained in the third chapter of the dissertation ("Principles and Achievements of Artistic Image"), which presents the author as a researcher with an independent English thought, a keen sense of the artistic specificity of literary phenomena and a rich literary culture.