p The first surviving works of Old Russian original literature date from the mid- eleventh century. Their creation was conditioned by the growth of a political, patriotic consciousness on the part of early feudal society in its efforts to consolidate new forms of government and to affirm the sovereignty of the Russian land. Substantiating the idea of Rus’s religious and political independence literature strove to fix new norms of Christian feudal ethics and secular and spiritual authority as well as to show the stability and “immortality” of feudal relations and norms of law and order.

p The literary genres of this period were primarily historical (legends, tales) and religious, with didactic intent (panegyric sermons, precepts, vitae, pilgrimages). Historical genres, drawing on corresponding folk genres for their development, worked out specific literary forms of narration “according to the events of the day”. The leading genre of this type was the historical tale that gave an extremely detailed account of events.

p Didactic, religious genres were influenced by Byzantine literature, but at the same time display original Old Russian features.

p Vladimir Monomakh’s Instruction and The Lay of Igor’s Host have a special place in the system of genres. The first is tied to the religious tradition of the precept and yet it deals with secular matters, boldly injecting autobiographical elements into the narrative. The second develops a new genre, the lyric-epic narrative based both on the traditions of the folk epic and the historical military tale.

p Depending on the events related in the tales they could be “military”, or tales of the crimes of princes. Each type of historical tale acquired its own stylistic features.

p As a rule historical genres were not found in isolation, but as part of the chronicles, while religious, didactic works were included in special collections ( Svyatoslav’s Izbornik of 1073, Zlatoust, Zlatostrui, Izmaragd, Chetyi-Minei and Prologue). These collections contained edifying sermons and hagiographical literature, vitae designed to instruct monks and laymen and to be used in the worship service. The chronicle should not be seen as a literary genre, but rather as a form which contained primarily secular genres. The principle of yearly entries allowed for the inclusion of a variety of material: the so-called pogodnaya zapis (resume of the events of a year), and the short or extended tale. These historical genres were concerned with important events connected with military campaigns, the struggle against Rus’s foreign enemies, buildings constructed during the reign of a given prince, civil wars and extraordinary natural phenomena—signs from heaven. At the same time the chronicle included religious legends, elements from saints’ lives, vitae, and legal documents.

One of the oldest extant historical-literary texts is The Tale of Bygone Years, composed in the early twelfth century.