Ancient Russian literary tradition as a root of images of the chronicler and the God’s Fool in A.S. Pushkin’s tragedy “Boris Godunov”

INTRODUCTION. The study examines the influence of the ancient Russian literary tradition on the images of the chronicler and the God’s Fool in A.S. Pushkin’s tragedy “Boris Godunov”. The relevance of the research is due to the insufficient study of the connections of A.S. Pushkin’s work with the medieval Russian literature and the need to study his works in the historical and literary aspect. MATHERIALS AND METHODS. The research material is the tragedy of A.S. Pushkin “Boris Godunov”. Comparative historical and literary-historical approaches are used. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. During the analysis, the image of Pimen is considered as a cultural and historical type of the Russian chronicler created by A.S. Pushkin. The exposition of the principles of the work of the ancient Russian scribe in Pushkin’s work is correlated with the chronicle tradition of Ancient Russia. . Revealed origins of the image of the God’s fool as stemming from medieval popular laughter culture and staginess. Structural-comical aspect of Pushkin’s work has been analyzed. СONCLUSION. Pimen’s chronicle principles reflect medieval beliefs about the sacred nature of words, books, and letters. Structural-comical aspect of the Boris Godunov tragedy dates back to the ancient Russian laughing culture. The comical element is represented in a concentrated form in the scene “The Square in front of the Cathedral in Moscow”, the organizational center of which is the image of the God’s fool Nikolka. Convergence of sacred and profane as well as unity of tragic and comical revealed in the Puskin’s play.