chronographic order
Afanasy Nikitin “Going beyond three seas”
“Going beyond the three seas of Afanasy Nikitin” (see its full text) – a description by a 15th century Russian man of his journey to far India.Afanasy Nikitin was a Tver merchant. In 1466, he joined the embassy of Grand Duke Ivan III, who was traveling to Azerbaijani Shemakha. Nikitin went to Shamakhi for commercial purposes, but on the way he was robbed by the Tatars, who took everything from him, even the Bible, which, as a very religious man, he never parted. Then he decided to try his luck and continue to trade: he did not want to return home empty-handed. So he made his trip “for three seas” (the Caspian, Black and Indian), and got by dry road to India before the famous navigator Vasco da Gama. Continue reading
Ariosto, “Furious Roland”
Poem Ludoviko Ariosto “Furious Roland” had more than 80 editions in the XVI century. The elegant and at the same time simple language brought her a quick triumph over the poem Boyardo. The adventures of Furious Roland are no less varied and much better narrated; the fantasy is rich, youthful fresh, courageous; the poem is imbued with a tender feeling that charmed women. Far surpassing Boyardo by the power of poetic creativity, Ludovico Ariosto surpasses her and his successor, Torquato Tasso. Even those scenes full of voluptuousness are depicted in Ariosto with tenderness and modesty. Continue reading
English theater of the era of Shakespeare
Along with the development of dramatic poetry in England, the stage production of plays was also improved. The great importance of Shakespeare’s dramas arouses interest in the design of the theater in his time. The knowledge of the stage situation is necessary for understanding the drama of Shakespeare, as the dramas of Sophocles and Euripides become clear only with the knowledge of the structure of the Greek theater. The English drama, like the Greek, is derived from religious plays. The Catholic Church allowed a comic element in the mysteries and morals; Reformation did not tolerate it. England adopted Calvinism in a gentle form given to him by the government. Continue reading
