The Tale of Peter and Fevronia
Author | Hermolaus-Erasmus |
---|---|
Original title | Повесть о Петре и Февронии Муромских |
Translator | Serge Zenkovsky |
Country | Russia |
Language | Russian |
Genre | Tale, hagiography |
Publication date | mid-16th century |
The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom (Russian: Повесть о Петре и Февронии Муромских, Povest o Petre i Fevronii Muromskikh) is a 16th-century Russian tale by Hermolaus-Erasmus, often referred to as a hagiography.
Plot summary
The Text
Redactions
There exist four redactions and abundant copies of the tale, indicating the immense popularity of this piece in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Authorship
The author of the tale is Hermolaus-Erasmus (Ермолай-Еразм), who came to Moscow from Pskov in the mid 16th century to become a protopope of one of the palace cathedrals. In the 1560s he became a monk and is thought to have left Moscow. Despite the established authorship of the piece, most scholars posit that its basis lies in the oral legends of Murom.[1]
Origins
Dmitry Likhachev asserts that the story of Peter and Fevronia existed in written form already in the 15th century, before Hermolaus-Erasmus. This assertion is supported by a recorded church service from the 15th century, which praised the Murom prince Pyotr (Peter), the victor over the snake, and his young wife Fevronia with whom he was buried in the same grave. It is surmised that the main characters of the piece are historical figures. Pyotr stands for the Murom prince David Yurievich (Russian: Давид Юрьевич), who reigned in Murom but died as a monk in 1228. This prince supposedly married a peasant woman. However a lot of the details about the prince in the tale are imaginary and were created and modified over time in the oral legends of Murom.[2]
Genre and Literary Importance
The
Soviet scholars have looked at The Tale of Peter and Fevronia as the initial stage of the secularization of Russian literature.[2] Many scholars notice the personalized nature of the piece, its focus on the life of an individual. This indicates the growing interest and attention of the society to the individual and foreshadows the development of the Enlightenment values in Russia.[3]
Folkloric Motifs
Many of the motifs found in the tale come not only from Russian folklore, but can also be found in Western
Adaptations
The Tale of Peter and Fevronia served as one of the sources to the Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov opera The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya (Russian: Сказание о невидимом граде Китеже и деве Февронии, Skazaniye o nevidimom grade Kitezhe i deve Fevronii).
Translations
An English translation is available as "Peter and Fevronia of Murom" in Medieval Russia's Epics, Chronicles and Tales by S. Zenskovsky (New York: Meridian, 1974).
References
- ^ Kuskov, V. V. (2001). Drevnerusskie kniiezheskie zhitiia. Moskva, Krug.
- ^ a b Likhachev, D. i. S. and Institut russkoi literatury (Pushkinskii dom) (1980). Istoriia russkoi literatury X-XVII i.e. desiatykh-semnadtsatykh vekov : uchebnoe posobie. Moskva, Prosveshchenie.
- ^ R. P. Dmitrieva, Povest' o Petre i Fevronii (Leningrad: Nauka, 1979)
External links
- Full Old Russian text online http://old-russian.chat.ru/10fevron.htm