Welcome to Russian History Retold, episode 238 of Russian Literature, Part 1.

Last time, we covered the numerous plagues in epidemics in Russian history.

Today, we go into a completely different direction.

Our journey today is to learn about the development of literature in Russian beginning with the primary chronicle,

play of Igor's campaign and the life of Avakum.

I'll be leaving on four books for today's episode.

First is the history of Russia 8th edition by Nicholas Ryasanovsky and Mark D. Steinberg.

Then Medieval Russia's epic chronicles and tales edited by Sergei Zenkovsky.

Then we have Natasha's dance, a cultural history of Russia by Orlando Faiji's and Land of the Firebird,

the beauty of old Russia by Suzanne Masi.

According to Wikipedia, quote,

Literature broadly is any collection of written work,

but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form,

especially prose fiction, drama and poetry.

Most of the writings of Medieval Russia relates to the lives of saints and of the Russian Orthodox Church,

also tales, instruction manuals, travel logs and letters.

Examples of these type of works include instructions to his children by Vladimir Monomak,

lives of Saint Theodosius, Alexander Nyevsky, Prince Dovmo and Demetri Dansekoi,

along with the writing of Daniel the prisoner and the travels of Athanasia nicotine.

Of course, the most famous of all works from Medieval Russia is the primary chronicle.

Unlike Europe, literature in Russia was a late bloomer.

While the West had Greek and Roman literature to draw upon,

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