Cultural life of the 17th century as well as public life of that epoch in general was at the crossroads, where “the antiquity and the novelty were mixed together”, according to contemporaries. Researchers conclude that it was the time of cultural revolution meaning transition from Old Russian culture to that of modern age. The determining attribute of that shift was addressing the personality of an individual.

The modern researcher of Russian culture A.M. Panchenko points to the roots of this cultural phenomenon of the 17th century. In the Time of Troubles “literature was almost free from nonliterary bans, and governmental and church control”, whereas the Russian writer had the freedom of speech and the right for ideological choice. While gauging the book characters the author was not limited by their social or religious status or even the state hierarchy... It promoted unfolding the character in art as a whole, which became an irreversible gain”.