Narrative Strategies for Overcoming Trauma in Old Russian Literature of the 13th–14th Centuries

The subject of this study is the purposeful and meaning-forming work carried out by Old Russian literary monuments of the 13th–14th centuries during the ideological crisis caused by the Mongol invasion and subsequent yoke. The object of the study comprises key texts of the era, examined as an interconnected system: The Tale of the Ruin of the Russian Land, The Tale of the Destruction of Ryazan by Batu, The Sermons of Serapion of Vladimir, The Life of Alexander Nevsky, and Zadonshchina. This article explores such aspects of the topic as the narrative strategies through which collective trauma and the "stored memory" of the catastrophe were transformed into a "functional memory." Special attention is paid to analyzing the evolution of collective consciousness and historical imagination—from the state of "lament" for a lost "golden age" to an active "confidence" in the chosenness and future revival of the Russian people. The study also examines how these texts participated in consolidating society, legitimizing new political centers, and laying the foundations of national self-awareness. The methodological basis of the work consists of the principles of narrative analysis, as well as theories of collective memory (M. Halbwachs) and cultural memory (J. and A. Assmann). The novelty of the research lies in considering literary monuments not as a passive "mirror" of events, but as an active tool for ideological construction and the formation of historical consciousness. The main conclusions of the study are as follows: (1) Old Russian scribes deliberately employed interconnected narrative strategies: theodicy of the "scourge of God" to make sense of the catastrophe, epic writing to create an imagined all-Russian unity, and the ethics of martyrdom to reevaluate heroism. (2) The evolution from The Tale of the Ruin to Zadonshchina reflected a shift in collective memory from trauma to confidence. (3) The formation of the image of the "saint-ruler" (Alexander Nevsky) became the personification of a complex survival strategy combining spiritual fortitude and political pragmatism. A particular contribution is the analysis of this image as an element of a new functional memory. Thus, the research demonstrates how narrative practices during a crisis era laid the foundations for key features of Russian national self-awareness.