A short retelling of the story native land. Analysis of the book "Native Land" by Likhachev. A contemporary of Russian history

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Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev
Land Native

To our readers!

The author of the book brought to your attention, Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, is an outstanding Soviet scholar in the field of literary criticism, the history of Russian and world culture. He is the author of more than two dozen major books and hundreds of research articles. D. S. Likhachev is a full member of the Academy of Sciences Soviet Union, twice laureate of the State Prize of the USSR, honorary member of many foreign academies and universities.

Dmitry Sergeevich’s erudition, his pedagogical talent and experience, the ability to speak about complex things simply, intelligibly and at the same time vividly and figuratively - this is what distinguishes his works, makes them not just books, but a significant phenomenon of our entire cultural life. Considering the many-valued questions of moral and aesthetic education as an integral part of communist education, D.S. Likhachev relies on the most important party documents calling for the cultural enlightenment of the Soviet people, and especially young people, to be treated with the greatest attention and responsibility.

The propagandistic activity of Dmitry Sergeevich, who constantly cares about the ideological and aesthetic education of our youth, his persistent struggle for a careful attitude to the artistic heritage of the Russian people, is also widely known.

In his new book, Academician D.S. Likhachev emphasizes that the ability to comprehend the aesthetic, artistic perfection of the unfading masterpieces of the cultural past is very important for the younger generation, contributes to the education of truly high civil positions patriotism and internationalism.

From Author

Fate made me a specialist in ancient Russian literature. But what does "fate" mean? Fate was in myself: in my inclinations and interests, in my choice of faculty at Leningrad University, and in which of the professors I began to take classes with. I was interested in old manuscripts, I was interested in literature, I was attracted to Ancient Rus' and folk art. If we put it all together and multiply it by a certain perseverance and some stubbornness in conducting searches, then all this together opened the way for me to a careful study of ancient Russian literature.

But the same fate, which lived in me, at the same time constantly distracted me from my studies in academic science. By nature, I am obviously a restless person. Therefore, I often go beyond the boundaries of strict science, beyond the limits of what I am supposed to do in my "academic specialty." I often speak in the general press and write in "non-academic" genres. Sometimes I am worried about the fate of ancient manuscripts, when they are abandoned and not studied, then about ancient monuments that are being destroyed, I am afraid of the fantasies of restorers, sometimes too boldly "restoring" monuments to their liking, I am worried about the fate of old Russian cities in the conditions of growing industry, I am interested in education in our youth of patriotism and much, much more.

Many of my non-academic worries are reflected in this book now open to the reader. I could call my book "the book of worries". Here are many of my worries, and I would like to convey the worries to my readers - to help instill in them an active, creative - Soviet patriotism. Not patriotism, satisfied with what has been achieved, but patriotism striving for the best, striving to convey this best - both from the past and from the present - to future generations. In order not to make mistakes in the future, we must remember our mistakes in the past. We must love our past and be proud of it, but we need to love the past not just like that, but the best in it - what we can really be proud of and what we need now and in the future.

Among lovers of antiquity, collectors and collectors are very common. Honor and praise to them. They saved a lot, which then ended up in state depositories and museums - donated, sold, bequeathed. Collectors collect in this way - rare for themselves, more often for the family, and even more often to bequeath then to the museum - in hometown, village or even just a school (in all good schools there are museums - small, but very necessary!).

I have never been and never will be a collector. I want all values to belong to everyone and serve everyone, while remaining in their places. The whole earth owns and stores the values, the treasures of the past. This is a beautiful landscape, and beautiful cities, and the cities have their own monuments of art, collected by many generations. And in the villages - traditions folk art, labor skills. Values are not only material monuments, but also good customs, ideas about the good and beautiful, traditions of hospitality, friendliness, the ability to feel one's goodness in another. Values are language, accumulated literary works. You can't list everything.

What is our Earth? This is a treasury of extraordinarily diverse and extremely fragile creations of human hands and the human brain, rushing through outer space with incredible, unimaginable speed. I called my book "Native Land". The word "land" in Russian has many meanings. This is the soil, and the country, and the people (in the latter sense, the Russian land is spoken of in the "Lay of Igor's Campaign"), and the entire globe.

In the title of my book, the word "earth" can be understood in all these senses.

The earth creates man. Without her, he is nothing. But man also creates the earth. Its safety, peace on earth, the multiplication of its wealth depend on a person. It depends on a person to create conditions under which the values of culture will be preserved, grow and multiply, when all people will be intellectually rich and intellectually healthy.

This is the idea of all sections of my book. I write about many things in different ways, in different genres, in different manners, even at different reading levels. But everything I write about, I strive to connect with a single idea of love for my land, for my land, for my Earth ...

***

Appreciating the beautiful in the past, we must be smart. We must understand that, in admiring the amazing beauty of architecture in India, it is not at all necessary to be a Mohammedan, just as it is not necessary to be a Buddhist in order to appreciate the beauty of the temples of ancient Cambodia or Nepal. Are there people today who would believe in ancient gods and goddesses? - No. But are there people who would deny the beauty of Venus de Milo? But it's a goddess! Sometimes it even seems to me that we, the people of the New Age, value ancient beauty more than the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans themselves. She was too familiar to them.

Isn't that why we, the Soviet people, began to perceive so sharply the beauty of ancient Russian architecture, ancient Russian literature and ancient Russian music, which are one of the highest peaks of human culture. Only now we are beginning to realize this, and even then not fully.

Of course, developing their attitude and fighting for the preservation of monuments artistic culture past, one must always remember that, as F. Engels wrote about the historical conditioning of the form and content of medieval art, "the worldview of the Middle Ages was predominantly theological ... The Church gave religious consecration to the secular state system based on feudal principles ... It naturally followed from this that church dogma was the starting point and basis of all thinking" (Marx K., Engels F. Sobr. soch., vol. 21, p. 495).

Appreciating the beautiful in the past, protecting it, we thereby follow the testament of A. S. Pushkin: "Respect for the past is the feature that distinguishes education from savagery ...".

Word to the young

Your profession and your patriotism

It is very difficult to say parting words to the youth. Much has already been said, and said very well. Nevertheless, I will try to say what I consider the most important and what, it seems to me, every person entering into a great life should be firmly aware.

A lot of what a person achieves in life, what position he occupies in it, what he brings to others and receives for himself, depends on himself. Luck does not come by chance. It depends on what a person considers luck in life, how he evaluates himself, what position in life he has chosen, what, finally, is his goal in life.

Many, many people think something like this: I am smart, I have such and such abilities, I will be engaged in such and such a profession, I will achieve a lot in life, I will become a person "with a position." No, this is far from enough! Random failure in entrance exams (let's say really random, and not supposedly random), random error in one's abilities (boys often exaggerate them, girls too often underestimate themselves), "accidentally" appear influential enemies in life, etc. and etc. And now everything in life is gone. By old age, a person feels deep disappointment, resentment towards someone, or "so, in general."

Meanwhile, he himself is to blame - with the possible exception of very rare cases ...

Think carefully about what I'm about to tell you, young friends. And don't just think that I just want to "read the moral" to you.

Each person, in addition to small and "temporary" personal goals, in life must certainly have one big personal goal, and then the risk of failure will be minimized.

Indeed. In small goals, the proportion of possible failure is always large. We set ourselves the goal of a purely everyday task - to buy good things, but you got second-class things.

This happens often. If this small task was the main thing for you, you will already feel miserable. But if this small goal was “passing” for you and you were aware of it as “passing” and small, you won’t even pay much attention to your “failure”. You will take your "failure" quite calmly.

Give yourself a bigger challenge. For example, to become a good doctor. There will be fewer accidental failures. Firstly, it will depend on you to prepare well for the entrance exams in medical institute. But let's say you were approached unfairly at the entrance exams (or it seemed to you - unfairly). There is no big disaster yet. Your task has only moved away, but it will depend on you so that the time until the next entry is not wasted for you. But even here there can still be failures. This must be acknowledged.

Well, if you set yourself a transpersonal goal, let's assume the most general one: to bring as much benefit to people as possible? What "fatal" failures here can prevent you from fulfilling this great life task of yours? You can strive to fulfill it in any circumstances, but what about failures? "Zero result", and only in some cases ... But in general, success will accompany you - success and recognition of others. And if in achieving this task you will be accompanied by personal success, then happiness will be provided to you.

"To bring as much benefit to people as possible!" Is the task too general and abstract? Yes, of course, let's try to concretize this life position of a person so that it can really guide his life.

It is not at all necessary for the transpersonal life task to turn into torment for a person. If helping others - direct or indirect - does not bring joy to those who provide it, is done with effort and only "out of principle", - this is also bad for the cause.

You need to be passionate about your profession, your business, those people to whom you directly provide assistance (this is especially necessary for a teacher or doctor), and those to whom you bring help "from afar", without seeing them. The latter is especially difficult, but not unattainable. And I want to talk about this last thing as clearly as possible.

Love plays a huge role in human life. First, it is love for your parents, for your family. Then it is love for your school, for your class - class comrades and girlfriends; to your village or city. Another important step is love for one's people, for one's country.

Love for one's country and one's people is that transpersonal principle that truly sanctifies (makes a saint) all human activity, brings him real happiness, saves him from troubles, minor personal failures.

If a person is a careerist, he always runs the risk of falling under the wheels of a car of careerism built by himself, experiencing terrible disappointments. If the desire to take a better position in life is corrected by the fact that this personal position will give him the opportunity to be more useful to his compatriots, then this or that official failure will not be a collapse, but simply a "zero result" - that's okay.

And how transpersonal goals reduce the risk of failure! In science, if a scientist seeks only the truth, he will always achieve more solid and reliable results than someone who wants to "become famous." The search for spectacular and astonishing results rarely leads to great discoveries, and often leads (especially in the humanities, where an experiment that provides the most accurate verification is rare) to rigged, "fireworks" hypotheses, dangerous even for those who seek to launch them into the air.

Care for the truth is brought up by love for people who need this truth, it is brought up by patriotism. Patriotism, precisely Soviet patriotism, as a class-conscious feeling of love for one's Motherland, for its long-suffering and heroic history, to its wonderful traditions of culture - this is a great and uplifting feeling. M. I. Kalinin said: “The preaching of Soviet patriotism cannot be torn off, not rooted in the past history of our people. It must be filled with patriotic pride in the deeds of its people. After all, Soviet patriotism is the direct heir to the creative deeds of our ancestors, who moved forward the development of our people ... So, Soviet patriotism takes its roots in the deep past, starting from folk epic; he absorbs all the best created by the people, and considers it the greatest honor to cherish all his achievements.

However, patriotism should not be confused with nationalism. Patriotism is love for one's people. Nationalism is neglect, disrespect, hatred for other peoples. Really, if you think about what I said, one is incompatible with the other.

If you love your family, if your family is friendly, then it always has many friendly families who love to visit your family and love to invite them to their place. A close-knit family radiates an atmosphere of friendliness outside... This is a happy family, no matter what illnesses and deaths it may visit.

If you love your mother, you will understand others who love their parents, and this trait will be not only familiar to you, but also pleasant.

If you love your people, you will understand other peoples who love their nature, their art, their past.

Everyone knows how, for example, the Bulgarians love their small country. But this is what makes them so hospitable to everyone who comes to them.

We must strive to master the cultural achievements of the whole world, all the peoples inhabiting our small planet, and all the cultures of the past. One must develop intellectual flexibility in oneself in order to understand achievements and be able to separate the fake from the genuine and valuable.

You need to know other cultures, the cultures of our time and the past, you need to travel a lot - not necessarily "with your feet", moving from place to place, from one country to another, but "travel" through books, with the help of books (books are the greatest of the greatest achievements human culture), with the help of museums, with the help of their own intellectual mobility and flexibility. Interested in others mostly unlike ourselves, original. Then you will truly appreciate yourself.

And the first "journey" that a person has to make is a "journey" through his own country. Acquaintance with the history of one's country, with its monuments, with its cultural achievements is always the joy of the endless discovery of the new in the familiar, the joy of recognizing the familiar in the new. Acquaintance and familiarization of others (if you are a true patriot) is a careful attitude to your antiquity, to your history, because your country, in addition to measuring in space, also has a "fourth dimension" - in time.

If you love your parents, then you love them "in all dimensions": you love to look at old photo albums - as they were in childhood, before marriage, young and old (oh, how beautiful old faces good people!). If you love your country, you cannot but love your history, you cannot but cherish the monuments of the past. You cannot but be proud of the glorious traditions of the Land of the Soviets.

And this love for the past of their people should be in people of all professions, all scientific and non-scientific specialties. For patriotism is that great transpersonal super-task of all your activities, which will save you from too acute troubles, personal failures and correctly, along an unmistakable path to direct your activities in search of truth, truth and reliable personal success.

Just do not make a mistake in the position you have taken in life. Always set big and transpersonal goals for yourself, and you will achieve big and reliable things in your life. You will be happy!

On the upbringing of Soviet patriotism, on continuity in the development of culture

We often meet with the opposition of the natural sciences, which are considered exact, to "inexact" literary criticism. This opposition is the basis of the attitude to literary criticism as a "second-class" science.

However, the natural and social sciences are hardly very different. Basically, nothing. If we talk about the fact that the humanities are distinguished by a historic approach, then among the natural sciences there are historical sciences: the history of flora, the history of fauna, the history of the structure of the earth's crust, and so on and so forth. The complexity of the study material distinguishes geography, ocean science and many other sciences. The humanities deal primarily with the statistical regularities of random phenomena, but many other sciences deal with the same. Likewise, perhaps, other features are relative.

In the absence of fundamental differences, there are practical differences. The so-called "exact" sciences (and among them there are many not at all "exact" ones) are much more formalized (I use this word in the sense in which representatives of the "exact" sciences use it), they do not mix research with popularization, messages are already previously obtained information - with the establishment of new facts, etc.

When I say that the humanities do not differ fundamentally from the "exact" sciences, I do not mean the need to "mathematize" our science. The question of the degree of possibility of introducing mathematics into the humanities is a special issue.

I mean only the following: there is not a single deep methodological feature in the humanities, which, to one degree or another, would not exist in some of the non-humanitarian sciences.

And finally, a remark about the very term "exact" sciences. This term is far from accurate. Many sciences seem to be exact only from the outside. This also applies to mathematics, which at its highest levels is not so precise.

But there is one aspect of literary criticism that really distinguishes it from many other sciences. This is the ethical side. And the point is not that literary criticism studies the ethical problems of literature (although this is not done enough). Literary criticism, if it covers a wide range of material, has a very great educational value, raising the social qualities of a person.

All my life I have been engaged in ancient Russian literature. Ancient Russian literature belongs to a special aesthetic system, incomprehensible to an unprepared reader. And it is extremely necessary to develop the aesthetic susceptibility of readers. Aesthetic sensitivity is not aestheticism. This is a social feeling of great importance, one of the aspects of human sociality, which opposes the feeling of national exclusivity and chauvinism, it develops in a person tolerance towards other cultures little known to him - foreign-language or other eras.

The ability to understand ancient Russian literature opens the veil before us over other, no less complex aesthetic systems of literature, for example European Middle Ages, Middle Ages Asia.

The same is true in fine arts. A person who is truly (and not in a fashionable way) able to understand the art of ancient Russian icon painting cannot but understand the painting of Byzantium and Egypt, Persian or Irish medieval miniatures.

Literary critics have a big and responsible task - to educate "mental susceptibility". That is why the concentration of literary scholars on a few objects and questions of study, on only one era or on a few problems, contradicts the main public sense the existence of literary criticism as a science.

Literary criticism needs different themes and great "distances" precisely because it struggles with these distances, strives to destroy the barriers between people, peoples and centuries.

Literary criticism has many branches, and each branch has its own problems. However, if we approach literary criticism from the side of the modern historical stage in the development of mankind, then we should pay attention to the following. Now more and more peoples are included in the orbit of the cultural world. The “population explosion” that humanity is currently experiencing, the collapse of colonialism and the emergence of many independent countries - all this leads to the convergence of the progressive sides of various cultures on the globe, contributes to their fruitful mutual influence and interpenetration, under the indispensable condition of preserving the national face of all cultures. Therefore, the humanities face the most difficult task - to understand, to study the cultures of all the peoples of the world: the peoples of Africa, Asia, South America. The sphere of attention of literary critics therefore includes the literatures of peoples standing at the most diverse stages of social development. That's why they're buying now great importance works that establish the typical features of literature and folklore, characteristic of certain stages of the development of society. One cannot confine oneself to the study of the contemporary literatures of highly developed peoples at the stage of capitalism or socialism. The need for works devoted to the study of the patterns of development of literatures at the stages of feudalism and tribal society is now very great. The methodology of the typological study of literatures is also of great importance.

One of the problems of literary criticism is to clearly separate research tasks from popularizing ones.

Mixing the tasks of research with the tasks of popularization creates hybrids, the main drawback of which is their scientific nature. Scientism is able to displace science or drastically reduce the academic level of science. This phenomenon is very dangerous on a global scale, as it opens the gates to literary criticism for various kinds of chauvinistic or extremist tendencies. National borders in the literatures are very shaky. Therefore, the struggle for the national identity of this or that writer, for this or that work, even just for a valuable old manuscript, is now becoming more and more acute in different parts of the world. Stop this fight for cultural heritage only high science can do it: a detailed philological study of works of literature, texts and their language, conclusiveness and impartiality of arguments.

And here we return to the starting point of our reflections: to the question of exact and inexact sciences. If literary criticism is an inexact science, then it must be exact. The conclusions of literary criticism should have full evidentiary power, and its concepts and terms should be distinguished by rigor and clarity. This is required by the high social responsibility that lies with literary criticism.

***

Now, when we are striving to build a new, communist culture, it is especially important for us to know its origins. New forms of culture are never created from scratch, V. I. Lenin spoke about this.

In the village of Sholokhovskoye, Rostov Region, the guys created a circle to study "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" and called their circle "Boyan". They elected me an honorary member of the circle. A correspondence ensued. I suggested that the guys hold a debate on the topic "What gives a person love for the Motherland?".

I got acquainted with the materials of the dispute and answered the guys:

"Dear members of the Boyan circle!

The materials of the dispute sent by you "What gives a person love for the Motherland?" interesting, and I will try to use them ...

But here I have a question for you. You write that love for the Motherland makes life easier, brings joy and happiness. And all this is certainly true. But is love for the motherland the only joys? Doesn't it sometimes make you feel grief, suffer? Doesn't it sometimes bring difficulties? Think about it. And why is it still necessary to love the Motherland? I will tell you in advance: the difficulties in human life are inevitable, but having a goal, caring for others, and not about yourself, it is always easier to endure any difficulties. You are ready for them, you do not vegetate, but live actively.

Love for the motherland gives meaning to life, turns life from vegetating into a meaningful existence.

I love Ancient Rus'. IN Ancient Rus' there were many aspects that were by no means to be admired. But nevertheless, I love this era very much, because I see in it the struggle, the suffering of the people, an extremely intense attempt in various groups of society to correct shortcomings: among the peasantry, and among the military, and among writers. It is not for nothing that journalism was so developed in Ancient Rus', despite the most severe persecution of any manifestation of hidden or explicit protest against exploitation and arbitrariness. This side of ancient Russian life: the struggle for better life, the struggle for correction, the struggle even just for a more perfect and better military organization that could defend the people from constant invasions - this is what attracts me.

Knowledge of the distant past of the Fatherland, long-suffering and heroic, allows you to better understand, see the true roots of selfless, courageous service to the interests of your native land, the interests of your people.

Patriotism is a creative principle, a principle that can inspire a person's whole life; his choice of his profession, the circle of interests - to determine everything in a person and illuminate everything. Patriotism is a theme, so to speak, of a person's life, his creativity.

Patriotism must certainly be the spirit of all the humanities, the spirit of all teaching. From this point of view, it seems to me that the work of local historians in rural school very revealing. Indeed, patriotism first of all begins with love for one's city, for one's locality, and this does not exclude love for our entire vast country. Just as it does not exclude love for one's school, let's say, love first of all for one's teacher.

I think that the teaching of local history at school could serve as the basis for the education of real Soviet patriotism. In the last grades of the school, two or three years of a course in local history, connected with excursions to historical places, with the romance of travel, would be extremely useful.

I adhere to the view that love for the motherland begins with love for one's family, for one's home, for one's school. She is gradually growing. With age, it also becomes love for its city, for its village, for its native nature, for its countrymen, and when it matures, it becomes conscious and strong, until death, love for its socialist country and its people. It is impossible to skip over any link in this process, and it is very difficult to reattach the entire chain when something has fallen out in it or, moreover, was absent from the very beginning.

Why do I consider interest in the culture and literature of our past not only natural, but also necessary?

In my opinion, every developed person should have a broad outlook. And for this it is not enough to be familiar with the main phenomena and values only of one's own modern national culture. It is necessary to understand other cultures, other nationalities - without this, ultimately, communication with people is impossible, and how important this is, each of us knows from his own life experience.

Russian literature XIX V. - one of the pinnacles of world culture, the most valuable asset of all mankind. How did it come about? On a thousand-year experience of the culture of the word. Ancient Russian literature remained incomprehensible for a long time, as did the painting of that time. Genuine recognition came to them relatively recently.

Yes, the voice of our medieval literature is not loud. Nevertheless, it strikes us with the monumentality and grandeur of the whole. It also has a strong folk humanistic principle, which should never be forgotten. It has great aesthetic value...

Remember "The Tale of Bygone Years"... This is not only a chronicle, our first historical document, it is an outstanding literary work that speaks of a great sense of national self-consciousness, a broad view of the world, the perception of Russian history as part of world history, connected with it by inextricable ties.

***

The craving for ancient Russian culture is a symptomatic phenomenon. This craving is caused primarily by the desire to turn to their national traditions. Modern culture is repelled by all kinds of depersonalization associated with the development of standards and patterns: from the faceless "international" style in architecture, from the Americanizing way of life, from the gradually eroding national foundations of life.

But it's not only that. Each culture is looking for connections with the past, refers to one of the cultures of the past. Renaissance and classicism turned to antiquity. Baroque and Romanticism turned to Gothic. Our modern culture refers to the epochs of great civic upsurge, to the epochs of the struggle for national independence, to heroic themes. All this is just deeply represented in the culture of Ancient Rus'.

Finally, we note such a seemingly private, but very important phenomenon. Ancient Rus' attracts our contemporaries aesthetically. ancient Russian art, as well as folk art, is distinguished by brevity, colorfulness, cheerfulness, courage in solving artistic problems.

Interest in ancient Russian culture is now characteristic of the youth of the whole world. Books on ancient Russian culture, literature, art are published and republished everywhere. Suffice it to say that the first twenty volumes of the Proceedings of the Department of Ancient Russian Literature of the Institute of Russian Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Pushkin House) were reprinted abroad twice - in the USA and Germany. Such monuments as "The Tale of Bygone Years", "Kiev-Pechersk Patericon", "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", "The Prayer of Daniel the Sharpener", "The Life of Archpriest Avvakum" and many others are repeatedly published abroad. I note that literary monuments Ancient Rus' are translated and published even in Japan. Collections "Ancient Rus'" are published in the old capital of Japan, Kyoto. It is impossible to list all the editions and reprints of the monuments of Ancient Rus' in the West and in the East.

Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev

Land Native

To our readers!

The author of the book brought to your attention, Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, is an outstanding Soviet scholar in the field of literary criticism, the history of Russian and world culture. He is the author of more than two dozen major books and hundreds of research articles. D. S. Likhachev is a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, twice a laureate of the State Prize of the USSR, an honorary member of many foreign academies and universities.

In his new book, Academician D.S. Likhachev emphasizes that the ability to comprehend the aesthetic, artistic perfection of the unfading masterpieces of the cultural past is very important for the younger generation, and contributes to the education of truly high civic positions of patriotism and internationalism.

Among lovers of antiquity, collectors and collectors are very common. Honor and praise to them. They saved a lot, which then ended up in state depositories and museums - donated, sold, bequeathed. Collectors collect in this way - rare for themselves, more often for the family, and even more often to bequeath then to the museum - in their hometown, village or even just a school (all good schools have museums - small, but very necessary!).

I have never been and never will be a collector. I want all values to belong to everyone and serve everyone, while remaining in their places. The whole earth owns and stores the values, the treasures of the past. This is a beautiful landscape, and beautiful cities, and the cities have their own monuments of art, collected by many generations. And in the villages - the traditions of folk art, labor skills. Values are not only material monuments, but also good customs, ideas about the good and beautiful, traditions of hospitality, friendliness, the ability to feel one's goodness in another. Values are language, accumulated literary works. You can't list everything.

In the title of my book, the word "earth" can be understood in all these senses.

***

Youth is all life

When I was at school, it seemed to me that when I grow up, everything will be different. I will live among some other people, in a different environment, and everything will be different in general. There will be a different environment, there will be some other, “adult” world that will have nothing to do with mine. school world. But in reality it turned out differently. Together with me, my comrades at school, and then at the University, entered this "adult" world.

The environment changed, but it also changed at school, but in essence remained the same. My reputation as a comrade, as a person, as a worker, remained with me, passed into that other world that I had dreamed of since childhood, and if it changed, it did not start anew at all.

I remember that my mother's best friends until the end of her long life were her school friends, and when they departed "to another world", there was no replacement for them. The same with my father - his friends were friends of youth. As an adult, it was difficult to make friends. It is in youth that the character of a person is formed, and the circle of his best friends is formed - the closest, most necessary.

In youth, not only a person is formed - his whole life, his entire environment is formed. If he chooses his friends correctly, it will be easier for him to live, easier to endure grief and easier to endure joy. Joy, after all, also needs to be “transferred”, so that it is the most joyful, the longest and most durable, so that it does not spoil a person and gives real spiritual wealth, makes a person even more generous. Joy not shared with intimate friends is no joy.

Keep youth until old age. Keep youth in your old but young friends. Keep youth in your skills, habits, in your youthful “openness to people”, immediacy. Keep it in everything and do not think that as an adult you will become “completely, completely different” and will live in a different world.

And remember the saying: "Take care of honor from a young age." It is impossible to completely leave your reputation created in your school years, but it is possible to change it, but it is very difficult.

Our youth is also our old age.

Art opens up a big world for us!

The greatest and most valuable feature of Russian culture consisted in its power and kindness, which is always possessed by a powerful, truly powerful start. That is why Russian culture was able to boldly master, organically incorporate Greek, Scandinavian, Finno-Finnish, Turkic, etc. principles. Russian culture is an open culture, a kind and courageous culture, accepting everything and creatively comprehending everything.

Such was the Russian of the Russians, Peter I. He was not afraid to move the capital closer to Western Europe, change the costume of the Russian people, and change many customs. For the essence of culture is not in the external, but in its internal internationalism, high cultural tolerance ...

Different artists (French, Armenians, Greeks, Scots) have always been in Russian culture and will always be in it - in our great, wide and hospitable culture. Narrowness and despotism will never make a firm nest in it.

Art galleries should be propagandists of this latitude. Let's trust our art historians, trust them, even if we don't understand something.

The value of great artists is that they are “different”, that is, they contribute to the development of our ... culture of its diversity.

Let us love everything Russian, primordially Russian, let us love, say, Vologda and the frescoes of 1 Dionysius, but let us tirelessly learn to appreciate both what world progressive culture has given and will continue to give, and what is new in ourselves. Let's not be afraid of the new and let's not kick off everything that we haven't understood yet.

It is impossible to see in every artist new in his method a swindler and a deceiver, as little-informed people often do. For the diversity, richness, complexity, "hospitality", breadth and internationalism of our ... culture and art, we will appreciate and respect the wonderful work that art galleries do, introducing us to different art, developing our taste, our spiritual susceptibility.

Understanding math is learning.
To understand music is to learn.
To understand painting - you also need to learn!

Learn to speak and write

When reading a headline like this, most readers will think, “This is what I did in early childhood". No, you need to learn to speak and write all the time. Language is the most expressive thing a person has, and if he stops paying attention to his language, and begins to think that he has already mastered it sufficiently, he will retreat. One must constantly monitor one's language - oral and written.

The greatest value of a people is its language, the language in which it writes, speaks, and thinks. Thinks! This must be understood thoroughly, in all the ambiguity and significance of this fact. After all, this means that the entire conscious life of a person passes through his native language. Emotions, sensations only color what we think about, or push the thought in some way, but our thoughts are all formulated in language.

Much has been written about the Russian language as the language of the people. This is one of the most perfect languages in the world, a language that has developed over more than a millennium, giving in the XIX century. the best literature and poetry in the world. Turgenev said about the Russian language: "... one cannot believe that such a language was not given to a great people!"

This article of mine is not about the Russian language in general, but about how this language is used by this or that person.

The surest way to know a person - his mental development, his moral character, his character - is to listen to how he speaks.

So, there is the language of the people as an indicator of its culture and the language of an individual as an indicator of his personal qualities, the qualities of a person who uses the language of the people.

If we pay attention to a person's manner of holding himself, his gait, his behavior, his face and judge a person by them, sometimes, however, erroneously, then a person's language is a much more accurate indicator of his human qualities, his culture.

But it also happens that a person does not speak, but "spits words." For every common concept, he has not ordinary words, but slang expressions. When such a person speaks with his “spitting words”, he wants to show that he doesn’t care about anything, that he is higher, stronger than all circumstances, smarter than everyone around him, laughs at everything, is not afraid of anything.

But in fact, he calls certain objects, people, actions with his cynical expressions and mocking nicknames because he is a coward and timid, unsure of himself.

Look, listen, what does such a “brave” and “wise man” speak cynically about, in what cases does he usually replace words with “spitting words”? You will immediately notice that this is all that frightens him, from which he expects trouble for himself, which is not in his power. He will have "his own" words for money, for earnings - legal and especially illegal - for all kinds of fraud, cynical nicknames for people he is afraid of (there are, however, nicknames in which people express their love and affection for this or that man is another matter).

I specifically dealt with this issue, so, believe me, I know this, and not just guessing.

The language of a person is his worldview and his behavior. As he speaks, so, therefore, he thinks.

And if you want to be a truly intelligent, educated and cultured person, then pay attention to your language. Speak correctly, accurately and economically. Do not force others to listen to your long speeches, do not show off in your language: do not be a narcissistic talker.

If you often have to speak in public - at meetings, meetings, just in the company of your friends, then, first of all, make sure that your speeches are not long. Keep track of time. This is necessary not only out of respect for others - it is important that you are understood. The first five minutes - listeners can listen to you attentively; the second five minutes - they still continue to listen to you; after fifteen minutes they only pretend to listen to you, and at the twentieth minute they stop pretending and start whispering about their affairs, and when it comes to interrupting you or starting to tell each other something, you are gone.

Second rule. For a speech to be interesting, everything you say must be interesting to you as well.

You can even read the report, but read it with interest. If the speaker tells or reads with interest for himself and the audience feels it, then the audience will be interested. Interest is not created in the audience by itself, interest is inspired by the speaker. Of course, if the topic of the speech is not interesting, nothing will come of trying to inspire interest in the audience.

Try so that in your speech there is not just a chain of different thoughts, but that there is one, the main idea to which all others must be subordinate. Then it will be easier to listen to you, there will be a theme in your speech, intrigue, “waiting for the end” will appear, the audience will guess what you are leading to, what you want to convince them of - and will listen with interest and wait for how you formulate your conclusion at the end. main idea.

This "waiting for the end" is very important and can be maintained by purely external means. For example, a speaker speaks two or three times in different places about his speech: “I will say more about this”, “We will return to this”, “Pay attention to ...”, etc.

And not only a writer and a scientist needs to be able to write well. Even a well-written letter to a friend, freely and with a certain amount of humor, characterizes you no less than your oral speech. Through the letter, let me feel yourself, your mood, your looseness in addressing a person you like.

But how do you learn to write? If in order to learn to speak well, one must constantly pay attention to one's speech and others, write down sometimes successful expressions that accurately express the thought, the essence of the matter, then in order to learn how to write, one must write, write letters, diaries. (Diaries should be kept from a young age, then they will be simply interesting to you, and at the time of writing them you not only learn to write - you involuntarily report on your life, think about what happened to you and how you did it.) In a word: “ To learn how to ride a bike, you have to ride a bike.”

Dmitry Likhachev

1 Fresco (Italian fresco - fresh) - a picture painted with paints diluted in water and applied to fresh plaster.

Questions

You have read several chapters from D. S. Likhachev’s book “Native Land”, which is written in the journalistic genre, that is, the genre that illuminates the topical, modern issues of our life. What did the author draw our attention to? How did you understand the chapter “Art opens up a big world for us!”?
How do you understand the saying: "Take care of honor from a young age"? Why can't we completely get away from the reputation created in school years?
How cultures of different nationalities are combined in ordinary life? What exhibitions, art crafts "live" in your region?

Enrich your speech

Prepare a message on the topic “The art of my native land"(orally or in writing - to choose from).

Use the advice of D.S. Likhachev, expressed in the chapter "Learning to speak and write", for example: 1. In order for the speech and speech to be literate, you can not use slang words ("spitting words") in the message and in the conversation. 2. Make sure that the speech is not long - it should be accurate and economical. 3. For a performance to be interesting for everyone, it must be interesting for you, etc.

The first parts of the work contain instructions to young people: it is important to strive to achieve the right, non-material and purely personal goals in life, to be intelligent regardless of lifestyle and environment, to cultivate a sense of beauty and respect for one's family, country, and its past and culture. Much is said about the inextricable connection between the past and the present: this is the culture of communication between young people and the elderly, and the continuity of generations, and the influence ancient culture to modern perception.

Book Likhachev D.S. serves an important task of educating people in culture, spirituality, patriotism and intelligence.

Read a summary of Likhachev Native land

Word to the young. Your profession and your patriotism

All achievements depend on your actions, it's not about luck. In addition to minor tasks in life, there should be one most important, global one. A patriot loves his country, and a nationalist feels hatred for other peoples, and these concepts cannot be equated. Patriotism begins with affection and interest in one's parents, in one's family past. All real cultures are connected with the cultural heritage of past centuries.

About intelligence

Intelligence is required, regardless of your environment, occupation, level of education and other factors. It is far from always connected with the literary classics read, it is more a level of understanding and awareness of life.

Don't be funny

Just as one cannot pour out one's sorrows on others, one cannot seem ridiculous in their eyes. This should be evident even in clothing, especially in men.

Big in small

Life should be dedicated to achieving small goals, but ultimately, all your actions should lead to one big goal.

Purpose and self-esteem

Depending on what a person wants, one can accurately determine who he sees himself as. A noble goal is the only one that allows you to live your life with dignity.

Art opens up a big world for us!

Russian culture and Russian art are multifaceted and deserve close attention and recognition, but at the same time it is worth joining the world heritage.

Learn to speak and write

Acquiring writing and reading skills is not just a task for young children. Every person must learn to understand his native language throughout his life.

You need to be able to relate to reading without self-interest, not for the sake of completing a school assignment or because of the popularity of the author. Literature must be approached sincerely and consciously.

Raise each other

It is not easy for young people to have conversations with the elderly: they do not hear well, they are offended, they constantly mumble about something with displeasure. But only they can pass on the experience of past years to new generations.

Memory

Memory is the only mechanism that can hold back the destruction of time. It is only through memory that morality can exist.

Spaces and space

All Russian culture, even the Russian language, has absorbed the fundamental concepts of "will" and "space", the absence of boundaries and restrictions.

Russian nature and Russian character

The nature of the Russian region could not help but influence the development of the Russian character. It is impossible to separate man and nature - they are interconnected, and this connection is very strong.

Nature of Russia and Pushkin

In the work of A.S. Pushkin clearly traces his own path, his own geography. There should be a reverent and thrifty attitude towards Pushkin's places.

Ecology of culture

Speaking of ecology, one cannot mean only its biological aspect. Biological non-ecology can destroy the human body, and cultural non-ecology kills morality and soul.

Monuments of culture - national property

Cultural heritage is not the property of one generation, it belongs to our descendants, and our direct duty is to keep it intact for many centuries.

Russian culture of modern times and Ancient Rus'

Peter's reforms affected the cultural heritage of Ancient Rus', changing it beyond recognition. Only the peasant life and culture of the lower strata of the population remained without attention. Hence followed the erroneous judgment that the ancient Russian culture existed at the level of peasant life.

A contemporary of Russian history

We are talking about Nizhny Novgorod - the commercial, political and cultural center of Rus'. It is this ancient city managed to become a shield for ancient Russian culture during the Tatar-Mongol invasion.

The first 700 years of Russian literature

Our literature is much older than ancient European. It owes its appearance to the appearance of writing, which in turn came out of folklore.

The past must serve the present!

The Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian peoples are fraternal in their origin, culture and language. The cultural heritage of past generations does not exist separately from the present, but is its base, foundation and has a huge impact.

Picture or drawing Likhachev - Motherland

Word to the young

Professor, academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev talks about patriotism and vocation, intelligence and culture, reading and memory. The author believes that each person should have a great personal goal and be passionate about their profession. The work we do should bring joy, be a calling.

True happiness comes from patriotism. Loving your people begins with learning about their past. The author loves Ancient Rus' and admires its writing and art. The study of ancient Russian history can spiritually enrich us and suggest a lot of new things.

The author talks about intelligence, which is manifested in respect for parents, in the ability to quietly help one's neighbor, in everyday human behavior. Intelligence is also expressed in a person's ability not to be ridiculous, to behave with dignity.

Intelligence is the ability to understand, to perceive, it is an attitude towards the world and towards people.

Man's behavior corresponds to his purpose. If the goal is great and wise, then the means by which it is achieved are also worthy.

A person acquires his character and best friends in his youth. It is childhood friends that make adult life easier for us.

The author considers the language of the people to be the greatest value. The Russian language is one of the richest in the world. A sign of a cultured person is not only the ability to write well in their native language, but also knowledge of classical literature.

The author calls to elevate each other, awakening their best features in those around them and not noticing the shortcomings. This is especially true for the elderly, for whom attention helps to brighten up last years. Old people remember the past better, and memory is the overcoming of time and death. The memory of the old helps to better understand the new. The present arose from history.

Notes about Russian

The author notes that the most "Russian traits" of character are pity, friendliness. The concept of will for Russians is reflected in wide spaces, and melancholy is associated with tightness. Russian courage is daring, broad, daring courage.

Since the 12th century, human culture has been opposed to nature. According to, "natural man" is close to nature and therefore uneducated. He also thought so, opposing the peasantry to the intelligentsia.

Ignorance or semi-knowledge is almost a disease.

Human culture softened the sharpness of the Russian landscape, and nature smoothed out all the imbalances made by man.

Russian landscape painting is devoted mainly to the seasons, natural phenomena and man in nature. The nature of each country was shaped by the culture of the people living in it, and in gardens and parks, nature is “humanized” and akin to art.

The attitude to the past is of two kinds: as a spectacle, and as a monument to the past. The author is a supporter of the second kind of relationship. Culture is the same park where ennobled nature is merged with art. All the beauty of Russian nature was discovered for us by Pushkin, whom Dostoevsky considered the ideal of the Russian person.

Culture must be measured according to the national ideal created by the people, which leads away from spiritual avarice, narrowness and philistinism, from vindictiveness and nationalism. This ideal also existed in ancient Rus'.

Ecology of culture

The author considers urban planning based on the study of the history of urban development to be the ecology of culture. As an example, he considers the construction of ancient Russian cities, in particular, Veliky Novgorod. During its construction, attention was paid to the views from the houses. The layout of Novgorod created a feeling of spaciousness.

Monuments of the past are important for the ecology of culture, because if nature can heal the wounds inflicted by man or the elements, then the loss of monuments - ancient buildings, monuments, manuscripts, frescoes - is irreplaceable.

If a person is indifferent to the historical monuments of his country, he is, as a rule, indifferent to his country.

Unfortunately, their storage system in Russia is poorly organized. Many manuscripts and frescoes have been lost or ruined by inept restoration, but many have been preserved and even published in the Library of World Literature.

The author is pleased that the ancient Russian culture began to come into fashion, but upset in many respects by the ugly forms that this phenomenon takes. However, he hopes that people will see the beauty that lies in the culture of Ancient Rus'.

Novgorod the Great

Veliky Novgorod, a huge city at that time, was a port of four seas and was an independent republic. It was ruled by the feudal aristocracy and the merchants, and the people could freely express their opinion at the Novgorod veche.

Novgorod stood on the trade route from Scandinavia to Byzantium, so famous architects, icon painters, translators flocked to it, who formed Novgorod art. Birch bark letters of the 13th-14th centuries found by scientists. ekov testify that almost all Novgorodians were literate.

Novgorod art, brought up in an atmosphere of free competition with European art schools, is one of the most national Russian and one of the most original.

Urban planning discipline was also strong in Novgorod - all the buildings in the city center did not exceed the height of Hagia Sophia. The improvement of the city surpassed many European capitals, and numerous churches were built with great skill.

There was no Renaissance in Ancient Rus', so the flowering of Novgorod art fell on the XIV century - the time of the Pre-Renaissance. This era enriched the painting and literature of Rus'.

Joining Muscovite Russia, Novgorod retained its culture. Although it lost its independence, the Muscovite princes always treated Novgorod with respect and enjoyed its cultural riches. From that moment, Novgorod culture acquired national features and global significance.

Old Russian literature and modernity

The author recalls the besieged Leningrad. During the blockade, he, in collaboration with the archaeologist M.A. Tikhanova, wrote the brochure "Defense of Old Russian Cities" to remind people of the history of the sieges of the cities of Ancient Rus'. The author noted that the war brings into use forgotten ancient Russian words and concepts - ditches, ramparts, gouges, people's militia.

In Leningrad, as in the besieged cities of Ancient Rus', female labor was used. Women built fortifications, nursed the wounded and mourned the dead. Both in Old Russian and in contemporary literature many women's lamentations.

Russian women's cries are an unusual phenomenon. They are not only an expression of feelings - they are a comprehension of what has happened.

The author addresses the topic of the history of culture, which not only records changes, but also discovers something new in the old, accumulates cultural values. The study and evaluation of the culture of the past allows people to rely on cultural heritage.

World culture expanded unevenly, it met with misunderstanding and hostility and lost many valuable monuments. Until the 20th century, the literature of Ancient Rus' was not recognized on a global scale. It has not been appreciated until now, since it contains neither, nor. Old Russian literature closely connected with history, folklore, ritual poetry, but this does not make it less valuable.

The author recalls the cycle of poems "On the Kulikovo Field", after which he delves into the history of the great battle that liberated the Russians from the Mongol-Tatar yoke. This liberation led to the rise of ancient Russian culture. The author also notes the role of Kievan Rus in the development of Russian culture and unity. He believes that we should be grateful sons of the great mother - Ancient Rus'.