Abstract
This paper examines the problem of the formation of an «epochal hero» using the example of Medieval literary stories as predecessors of stories («histories») of Peter the Great’s time, the process of formation of his consciousness and worldview. Personality is a «mirror» of a historical era, formed in specific sociocultural realities. In this regard, the question of differentiation of the literary hero and his types arises. The development of the epoch-making hero was facilitated by a change in historical self-awareness; it is this phenomenon that becomes especially curious in the process of studying the formation of personality in the literature of the 18th–19th centuries. In the literary tradition, a certain understanding of the character of the Russian person has developed, a typology of literary heroes has emerged, this phenomenon is due to the «challenge of the era». When considering the problem of the formation of an «epoch-making hero», it is necessary to trace his evolutionary path: the process of formation of consciousness and worldview. To do this, it is worth resorting to considering the literature of the Middle Ages; it is in it that we first meet a hero who reflects the epochal, historical system, way of life, and cultural environment of the era. In the narrative, characters appear as «expressors» of time, with the help of which the author demonstrates to the reader the social principles of life. And although the fiction of the Middle Ages was not isolated into an autonomous area of collective consciousness, it played an important connecting role with traditional human values: religion, folk tradition. It is in Medieval literature that we increasingly encounter a personality reflecting the epochal, historical system, way of life, and cultural environment of the era. In the stories, characters appear – the «voices» of time, with the help of which the author demonstrates to the reader the social principle of life.
Keywords
Peter's Epoch, literary ancestor, everyday stories, epochal hero, exponent of time, historicism, literary tradition.