Folk literature in works of folklore. Program "Folklore in the works of Russian writers of the 19th century." The place of folklore in Russian literature

Bogatyreva Irina Sergeevna

writer, member of the Moscow Writers' Union and Pen Club, master's student at the Center for Typology and Semiotics of Folklore of the Russian State University for the Humanities

Annotation:

This article talks about the folklore elements present in modern Russian short stories, namely: fairy-tale motifs and architectonics in modern children's literature, motifs of urban legends, children's horror stories, fairy tales, etc., folk songs, mythology of different nations, which can be shown either from the outside or from the inside. The article provides examples of analysis of some novels by modern Russian authors, published in 2008-2015.

This article is a summary of a report read at the International Round Table "Modern Literature: Points of Intersection" at the Institute of Art Education and Cultural Studies of the Russian Academy of Education, and is an introduction to a topic that in itself requires not only more detailed development, but also constant monitoring. For “modern literature” is a stream in which changes occur constantly, so that even those texts that were published in the previous decade are a reflection of processes other than those occurring now. Therefore, in my opinion, for a truly passionate researcher, the analysis of any processes in the current literature can never be completed and risks turning into constant monitoring and recording of certain changes. So this article does not claim any completeness or objectivity of the picture, but can be called a digest of those motifs and elements of folklore that appear in texts familiar to the author of this study from publications in recent years.

Of course, the enrichment of literature with folklore elements always occurs; there is nothing unusual or fundamentally new in this: in fact, literature largely grew out of folklore and does not interrupt this contact to this day. Borrowings can be direct or indirect, sometimes manifested in the form of quotes or captured only at the level of inspiring motives. The purposes for which authors turn to the folklore heritage are different, but the main one, as I see it, is the subconscious desire of writers to find support in material tested by time and confirmed by tradition. In addition, it simplifies the process of entering the reader new text, acquaintance with a new artistic world: seeing familiar characters, recognizing plots, even just intuitively anticipating genre laws, he overcomes the first threshold of acquaintance, which guarantees loyalty to the text in the future.

Therefore - and for a number of other reasons - modern authors like to draw inspiration from folklore, but, as I emphasized above, this in itself cannot be called a trend. In my opinion, something else deserves analysis: what exactly from folklore gets into literature (plots, characters, motive and typological composition, etc.), how these elements are introduced into the text, for what purpose and result, and is it possible to this captures something in common. It seems to me that here it is already possible to trace certain trends that characterize modern literature, and their own for different genres.

Of course, when we talk about folklore origins, children's literature and especially fairy tales come to mind first. This genre has been especially well studied in folklore, but it is also very popular in fiction to this day. However, if we try to conduct a cursory analysis of texts written in this genre in last years, we will unexpectedly discover that there is a direct coincidence with the folk tale in the modern literary fairy tale not so much. What can be considered the main, genre-forming beginning for a folk tale? First of all, this is the functionality of the plot structure. As is known from the famous postulates of V. Propp, a folk tale is constructed in such a way that we are not interested in the characters as such with their characteristic features and individual traits, but what is much more important is what they do and how they behave. The composition of the characters and their roles in the classic folk tale is also well studied, as is the motive composition assigned to each of them. Moreover, if we think about it, we will find that in our perception it is the motive composition that turns into the characteristics of the character: nowhere in fairy tales will you find indications of what Koschey the Immortal looked like, whether he was evil or good, but we perceive him as a negative character in in accordance with the actions and role of the protagonist in relation to the main character. The formal structure of fairy tale narration has also been well studied: traditional speech beginnings, endings and medial formulas, rhythmic insertions and other elements that help the oral transmission, memorization and narration of the text.

Of course, a typical folk tale existed orally, and this explains all the listed features, and in addition, its extreme fixation on the plot: it is the plot that makes the fairy tale, firstly, interesting, and secondly, dynamic and easy to understand. Imagine for yourself: if you retell the content of a film, what will you focus on - on the psychological rationale for the actions of the characters or on the events that took place on the screen? A fairy tale is also a kind of retelling of events: it was its extreme effectiveness that ensured the genre a long life, while the psychology of the characters, as well as the ornate language of the narrative, always remained on the conscience of the storyteller, more or less talented in his field.

However, if you read a sufficient number of modern literary fairy tales, it is easy to notice the following trend: the plot as the basis is not prevalent, it is replaced by descriptions, the invention of unusual characters or worlds, as well as the psychology and rationale for the behavior of the heroes. In fact, a modern fairy tale is as difficult to retell as a text of any other genre, regardless of the age of the reader it is intended for. We can say that it is drifting towards psychological prose, and this is the main thing that distinguishes a modern literary fairy tale from a folklore one. Strange as it may seem, the functionality of the plot - this basis of the fairy tale as such - is almost never included in the modern literary fairy tale. However, all the external, formal markers of the genre are borrowed with pleasure: typical characters (the same Koschey the Immortal, Baba Yaga, Ivan Tsarevich, etc.), verbal formulas, the fairy-tale setting itself and stylistics. In addition, cases are not uncommon when the author, vaguely understanding that different folklore material has a different nature, and therefore different sphere existence, adds to the tale characters of such genres that in tradition under no circumstances could be found within the framework of one text: for example, goblins, pagan gods, otherworldly creatures of other nationalities... Needless to say, the result in such cases is more than dubious.

While preparing for this report, I realized that finding an example of a good literary fairy tale is very difficult. And yet, as an illustration, I can cite A. Oleinikov’s text “The History of the Knight Eltart, or Tales of the Blue Forest” (2015). In itself, the material on which the narrative is built cannot be called traditional: the characters in this tale are either fictional or taken from various European mythological traditions. The same applies to the artistic world of the text in general. However, a good knowledge of folklore laws allows the author to create an original, but tightly stitched text: there are bright characters with their own motive composition, whose actions are determined by plot necessity, and not psychologism, and a well-thought-out functional plot (the grief that befalls the hero at the very beginning requires resolution and becomes the driving motive of his journey), along the way he is accompanied by both assistants and antagonists - in a word, a classic set of roles. All this brings the text closer to folklore prototypes.

However, not only children's literature is enriched with folklore elements. And not only fairy tales become their sources. Other genres of folklore that are gaining popularity in our time, feeding literature, are fables, children's horror stories, urban legends - all those texts whose pragmatics can be defined as the deliberate creation of emotional tension, the desire to scare the listener (reader), as well as convey information about the characters to the actual mythology - brownies, goblins, mermaids, drummers, UFOs, etc., their habits, contacts with people and ways of communicating with them. If we talk about the elements that come from these texts into literature, it is, first of all, the named pragmatic feature - fear, emotional tension with different goals and different ways of resolution. The rest - the characters of current mythology themselves, motives, plots, etc. - also passes into literature, but not so often, and most importantly, not always with the same functions.

As can be seen from a quick review of the borrowed elements, in this case the authors have a lot of freedom: taking some elements, they can ignore others, and still let the reader understand with what folklore sources he's dealing. It is also not difficult to guess what genres of literature we are talking about: first of all, it is science fiction, fantasy, horror... At first glance, it seems that this material itself dictates strict genre laws to the authors who turn to it, however, how will it become as can be seen below, when skillfully working with it, authors can move away from rigid genre forms (so-called formulaic literature) and feel artistically liberated. Thus, these elements fall into texts that are transitional between commercial and non-commercial genres. So, for example, M. Galina feels very free in the novel “Autochthons” (2015), saturating her text with urban legends of a certain real Ukrainian city, sometimes with a very specific geographical reference (or stylizing the text to resemble similar oral examples), updating characters of European mythology, creating the necessary emotional environment - mystical, intense, mysterious - and at the same time, without falling into a rigid genre form. On the other hand, N. Izmailov writes a duology (positioned as novels for teenagers) “Ubyr” (2013) and “Nobody Dies” (2015) in a genre very close to classic horror, filling the text with national flavor not only due to language, but also due to current Tatar mythology and the very construction of the plot, close to a fairy tale in V. Propp’s interpretation as the story of the initiation rite of adolescents. As we can see, this folklore material gives the authors wide artistic opportunities.

A rare folklore genre that falls into fiction, is a folk song. Actually, I know of only one example of working with this material not as a source for quoting, but as a source of borrowing, but it is so vivid that it deserves special mention: this is A. Ivanov’s novel “Bad Weather” (2016). The author, no stranger to formulaic narratives or folklore in general, in this novel found a non-trivial way to create an artistic reality recognizable to the Russian reader: the entire text - both the main characters, the plot, and even the chronotope - was compiled based on Russian folk songs of various genres (ballads, romances, historical, lyrical, bandit, etc. songs), on their motivic composition and imagery. I will not delve into the analysis of the novel from this point of view, my separate article is devoted to it, I just want to say that such work with folklore material, even if it was not done by the author intentionally, but was the result of his attempt to find something archetypal in the Russian character, achieved the goal: the world of the novel is recognizable, and the necessary emotional relationship is immediately established with the characters.

Finally, the most extensive - and perhaps the most non-literary genre of folklore that penetrates modern literature is mythology. Why, in fact, unliterary? Because mythology itself is based not only and not so much on texts. In culture, it can also be manifested non-verbally, in the form of patterns on clothing, everyday behavior, cultural codes; beliefs and mythological ideas may not be formalized textually, but represent a baggage of general knowledge available to representatives of a particular culture. Therefore, an author who draws inspiration from this or that mythology can act in two ways: on the one hand, to recreate with the help of artistic means the tradition, social structure and general worldview of people, knowing their mythology; on the other hand, to recreate mythology based on cultural material. In addition, such basic phenomena as worldview or social structure may not necessarily become the subject of interest of modern authors. Sometimes individual mythological elements appear in the text in the form of constructs, images, basic ideas or systems, they do not form the basis of the text, but represent an important artistic detail, symbol, allusion, etc., opening a dialogue with other texts and expanding the boundaries of the text as such.

Such cases are not rare; many are probably familiar with them. As an example of such work with mythological material in a purely realistic (with historical references) text, I would like to name L. Yuzefovich’s novel “Cranes and Dwarfs” (2008). Two typical mythological motifs can be found in it. The first is duality and the associated motive of impostor, known from world folklore in various genres, from fairy tales to epic tales (if an impostor is a devil posing as a person). The second, a little less obvious, but which became the basis of the artistic series of the novel, is the image of the trickster, basic for world folklore and mythology of different peoples, his behavior that unbalances other characters, his life itself with risks, adventures, contact with another world so much so that even death eventually becomes inaccessible to him. Thus, main character novel, Zhokhov, continues the line of other literary tricksters, from Till Eulenspiegel to Ostap Bender.

If we turn to mythology itself and texts written based on this material, we will find that the author’s gaze can be directed at it in two ways: placed inside the tradition, and also located outside, outside the described world. A significant difference will be in the light in which this or that mythology and the culture generated by it will appear: as one’s own, understandable and attractive, or alien, unpleasant and repulsive. This difference in approaches is known from anthropological research, in which initially there are two tendencies in describing cultures: with attempts to understand it or with comparison with a known one, i.e. own (in this case, the foreign culture always loses).

This “look from the outside” is translated into literature when the author wants to create an image of a “backward” people. Even if the text is not biased, the “look from the outside” will not add the reader’s understanding and empathy to the characters. As an example, we can recall the already mentioned A. Ivanov with his early novels “The Heart of Parma” (2003) and “The Gold of Rebellion” (2005), where traditional Ural cultures are presented from the point of view of an outside observer, and only their external ones are shown elements and attributes of the sacred - shamanic rituals, ritualized behavior, fetish figures, etc., which does not bring the reader closer to understanding these cultures and does not create an idea of ​​their mythology.

Another option, “a view from the inside,” allows the author to show the mythology of a particular people in its entirety, even with a minimum of knowledge about its external manifestations, rituals and the system of relationships within society. The technique of immersion itself allows the author to enter himself and let the reader into the world of people whose culture is distant and incomprehensible, but thanks to this approach does not require translation - it becomes intuitively accessible. Among the texts where such a threshold of immersion in alien mythology was passed, I can name A. Grigorenko’s novel “Mabet” (2011), based on Nenets mythology, as well as my novel “Kadyn” (2015) about the Scythians of Altai. Both texts are written in different materials: ethnographic and archaeological, therefore the degree of artistic admission in them is different. However, both of them are written with immersion in a foreign culture and allow you not only to learn about everyday life, life and social structure society, but the main thing is to penetrate into their mythological representation, to feel a different way of thinking, different from the thinking of a modern urban person, and to understand what in people’s lives could become the basis for certain mythological motives, and vice versa - gave rise to behavioral patterns based on mythological presentation.

Of course, the presented analysis is quite cursory and does not pretend to cover the situation completely - this requires more extensive work. However, I hope that I was able to show trends in modern literature that are obvious to me not only as a folklorist, but also as a professional reader, and the article will help everyone who wants to adjust their reading optics in a new way and more clearly distinguish elements of folklore in modern Russian literature.

1. V. Propp. Morphology of a fairy tale. M., 1969

2. V. Propp. Historical roots of fairy tales. L., 1986.

3. J. Cavelti. "Adventure, Mystery and Love Story: Formulaic Narratives as Art and Popular Culture", 1976.

4. I. Bogatyreva. "Folklore motifs as constructs of recognizable reality." – “October”, 2017, 4.

5. A. Oleinikov. "The Story of the Knight Eltart, or Tales of the Blue Forest." M., 2015

6. M. Galina “Autochthons”. M., 2015

7. N. Izmailov. "Ubyr." St. Petersburg, 2013

8. N. Izmailov. "No one will die." St. Petersburg, 2015

9. A. Ivanov. "Bad weather". M., 2016

10. L. Yuzefovich. "Cranes and dwarfs." M., 2008

11. A. Ivanov. "The Heart of Parma" M., 2003

12. A. Ivanov. "Gold of Rebellion" M., 2005

13. A. Grigorenko. "Mabeth." M., 2011

14. I. Bogatyreva. "Kadyn". M., 2015

Oral folk art is the richest heritage of every country. Folklore existed even before the advent of written language; it is not literature, but a masterpiece of the art of oral literature. The genera of folklore creativity were formed in the pre-literary period of art on the basis of ceremonial and ritual actions. The first attempts to comprehend literary genera date back to the era of antiquity.

Types of folklore creativity

Folklore is represented by three genera:

1. Epic literature. This genus is represented in prose and poetry. Russian folklore genres of the epic kind are represented by epics, historical songs, fairy tales, tales, legends, parables, fables, proverbs and sayings.

2. Lyrical literature. At the heart of everything lyrical works the thoughts and experiences of the lyrical hero are present. Examples of folklore genres of the lyrical direction are represented by ritual, lullabies, love songs, ditties, bayat, haivka, Easter and Kupala songs. In addition, there is a separate block - “Folklore lyrics”, which includes literary songs and romances.

3. Dramatic literature. This is a type of literature that combines epic and lyrical methods of depiction. The basis of a dramatic work is a conflict, the content of which is revealed through the acting of the actors. Dramatic works have a dynamic plot. Folklore genres of the dramatic kind are represented by family ritual songs, calendar songs, and folk dramas.

Individual works may contain features of lyrical and epic literature, therefore a mixed genre is distinguished - lyric-epic, which in turn is divided into:

Works with heroic characters, lyric-epic content (epic, duma, historical song).

Non-heroic works (ballad, chronicle song).

There is also folklore for children (lullaby, nursery rhyme, comfort, pestushka, fairy tale).

Genres of folklore

Folklore genres of folk art are represented in two directions:

1. Ritual works of UNT.

Performed during the rituals:

Calendar (carols, Maslenitsa activities, freckles, Trinity songs);

Family and household (birth of a child, wedding celebrations, celebration of national holidays);

Occasional works - came in the form of spells, counting rhymes, chants.

2. Non-ritual works of UNT.

This section includes several subgroups:

Drama (folklore) - nativity scenes, religious works, theater "Petrushki".

Poetry (folklore) - epics, lyrical, historical and spiritual songs, ballads, ditties.

Prose (folklore) in turn is divided into fairy-tale and non-fairy-tale. The first includes tales about magic, animals, everyday and cumulative tales, and the second is associated with famous heroes and heroes of Rus' who fought witches (Baba Yaga) and other demonological creatures. Also included in non-fairy tale prose are tales, legends, and mythological stories.

Speech folklore is represented by proverbs, sayings, chants, riddles, and tongue twisters.

Folklore genres carry their own individual plot and meaning.

Images of military battles, exploits of heroes and folk heroes observed in epics, vivid events of the past, everyday life and memories of heroes from the past can be found in historical songs.

Stories about the actions of the heroes Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich are epic. The folklore genre of the fairy tale tells about the actions of Ivan the Tsarevich, Ivan the Fool, Vasilisa the Beautiful and Baba Yaga. Family songs are always represented by characters such as mother-in-law, wifey, hubby.

Literature and folklore

Folklore differs from literature in its unique system of constructing works. Its characteristic difference from literature is that the genres of folklore works have starters, beginnings, sayings, retardations, and trinities. Also significant differences in style compositions will be the use of epithet, tautology, parallelism, hyperbole, synecdoche.

Just as in oral folk art (ONT), folklore genres in literature are represented by three genera. This is epic, lyric, drama.

Distinctive features of literature and CNT

Large works of literature, represented by novels, short stories, novellas, are written in calm, measured tones. This allows the reader, without interrupting the reading process, to analyze the plot and draw appropriate conclusions. Folklore contains a saying, a beginning, a saying and a chorus. The technique of tautology is the basic principle of storytelling. Hyperbole, exaggeration, synecdoche and parallelism are also very popular. Such figurative actions are not allowed in literature all over the world.

Small folklore genres as a separate block of CNT works

This system includes mainly works for children. The relevance of these genres continues to this day, because every person gets acquainted with this literature even before he begins to speak.

The lullaby became one of the first works of folklore. The presence of partial conspiracies and amulets is direct evidence of this fact. Many believed that otherworldly forces act around a person; if a child sees something bad in a dream, it will never happen again in reality. This is probably why the lullaby about the “little gray top” is popular even today.

Another genre is nursery rhyme. To understand what exactly such works are, we can equate it to a sentence song or a song with simultaneous actions. This genre promotes the development of fine motor skills and emotional health in a child, key point Plots with finger play “Magpie-Crow”, “Ladushki” are considered.

All of the above small folklore genres are necessary for every person. Thanks to them, children learn for the first time what is good and what is bad, and are taught order and hygiene.

Folklore of nationalities

An interesting fact is that different nationalities, in their culture, traditions and customs, have common points of contact in folklore. There are so-called universal desires, thanks to which songs, rituals, legends, and parables appear. Many peoples hold celebrations and chanting to obtain a rich harvest.

From the above, it becomes obvious that different peoples are often close in many spheres of life, and folklore unites customs and traditions into a single structure of folk art.

The Russian science of folk art - folkloristics - has passed a glorious and difficult path of development. Knowing this path is necessary in order to imagine the entire volume of material to be studied and give it a correct assessment. In order to analyze monuments of folk poetry, it is necessary to know when they were recorded and published, what were the scientific principles of the collectors and publishers who registered these monuments, how they were evaluated by science at different stages of its development. Without knowledge of this set of issues, it is impossible to begin analyzing any work without the risk of making mistakes. To correctly assess the contribution of collectors to folklore, you need to know their work methods and their political views. It is known that P.N. Rybnikov wrote down epics under the dictation of the storytellers, and not during performance. The rhythmic structure of the epics was clearly disrupted during such recording. A.F. Hilferding’s notes are philologically more accurate, but his own political views influenced the selection of texts—he did not write down epics with a strong social orientation.

The historiography of science has practical significance; the attitude towards the science of the past must be highly critical. The science of the past met the requirements of its time, and much of what worried its representatives is of no significant interest to us now. Only from the standpoint of the present, only from the standpoint of today's knowledge, is an adequate assessment of works of folklore possible.

Folkloristics of the 18th century. The history of Russian science of folklore begins along with the history of new Russian literature, in the era of the formation of the Russian national state and the creation of national culture. The 18th century marks a new attitude towards folk poetry and folk culture.

The major transformations that took place in Russia in the first quarter of the 18th century and associated with the activities of Peter I were also reflected in the attitude towards folk art. Peter I did not completely deny antiquity, of course, he fought against various kinds of folk superstitions, but he especially emphasized folk song and restored its rights after the persecution of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. By decree of 1722, Peter I allowed all kinds of folk entertainment on church holidays, after the liturgy. The folk song sounded at the court of Peter, and legend attributes to him, albeit without foundation, the composition of the song “As according to Mother, along the Neva River.” His daughter, Elizaveta Petrovna, lived even more in the power of folk antiquity; some historians claim that she was the author of the song “In the village, the village of Pokrovskoe.” At the court of Catherine II, popular influences intensified even more.

Scientific interest in folklore in the first half of the 18th century is associated with the names of V.N. Tatishchev, V.K. Trediakovsky, M.V. Lomonosov. Tatishchev is known as a geographer, economist, historian, archaeologist, ethnographer, and folklorist. By order of Peter I, he was instructed to compile a book on the geography of Russia, but the scientist became convinced that this was impossible without studying history. In 1737, he drew up the “Proposal,” which was an extensive program that covered all aspects of people’s life. In his research, Tatishchev devoted considerable space to folklore and ethnographic problems; he often refers to works of folk literature. In his work “History of the Russian State” (in four volumes, published after his death), he mentions Russian epics, historical songs, in which he sees an important historical document; Tatishchev's book describes in detail some folk rituals. The publication of Kirsha Danilov's collection is associated with his name. Tatishchev was the first to start developing Slavic mythology, trying with its help to resolve the question of the origin of the Russian people and Slavic tribes in general. He was interested in all folklore genres, and he compiled a small collection of proverbs.

Almost simultaneously with the emergence of interest in folklore as a document of history, interest in it as a material valuable for literature arose. Already A.D. Kantemir raises the question of folk poetry as a form of literary activity. In the notes to the translation of the Epistles, Horace Cantemir writes that the creators of the first poems and songs were “rude shepherds and farmers.” In Kantemir's works there are folklore records: a historical song about Ivan the Terrible, proverbs, sayings, apt phraseological expressions. V.K. Trediakovsky in the book “A New and Brief Method for Composing Russian Poems” (1735), he pointed to folk poetry as the basis for composing poetry in contemporary literature. They defined the principle tonics(a verse built on an equal number of stresses in a line), which is characteristic of folk poetry and therefore should be accepted by poets. Trediakovsky made folklore an object of philological research in his work “Opinion on the beginning of poetry and poetry in general,” in which he writes that folk poetry is the earliest form of poetic creativity, and the first poets were pagan priests. In his works, the poet-theorist contrasted the dominant syllabic system of versification with the syllabic-tonic one, and the discovery of the principle of tonic of Russian folk verse was of great importance for the development of Russian literature. Trediakovsky noted the high aesthetic significance of folk songs; he “followed the people in their songs” (V.G. Belinsky).

M.V. Lomonosova I became interested in folklore issues in connection with works on the theory of Russian verse and the history of language. The poet and theorist was especially interested in the problem of imagery of folk speech (interest in the proverb), the problem of pre-Christian beliefs of the Slavs, ritual and ritual poetry. Lomonosov sees the main meaning and significance of folklore in its historical content; in folk legends he discovers preserved historical evidence that makes it possible to scientifically reconstruct ancient history. Following Trediakovsky, Lomonosov studies folk versification and in his work “Letter on the Rules of Russian Poetry” further develops the theory of syllabic-tonic versification.

Lomonosov was an excellent expert on the Russian language, A.S. Pushkin believed that “Lomonosov has a happy fusion of the book Slavic language with the language of the common people.” He uses folk proverbs and sayings in his works “Rhetoric” and “Russian Grammar”. However, Lomonosov paid insufficient attention to folk tales and songs, denying their aesthetic significance.

The forms of using folk art in the literature of the 18th century are different, just as the understanding of folklorism is different for certain writers; For representatives of the noble culture, turning to folklore was not of fundamental importance. Nominated A.P. Sumarokov the demands for simplicity and naturalness in poetry, and his struggle against didacticism forced him to pay attention to “natural poetry.” In the magazine “Hardworking Bee” he published a note “On the poetry of the Kamchadals”, where he contrasted the artificiality of the poets with “natural poetry” dictated by direct experiences. This interest in folk, “natural” poetry is characteristic not only of Sumarokov and his circle, but of the entire era.

Work on collecting and publishing Russian folklore intensified towards the end of the century. Entire collections began to be dedicated to individual genres of Russian folklore: “Collection of Various Songs” in four parts by M.D. Chulkov, “New and Complete Collection of Russian Songs” in six parts by N.I. Novikova and others. In the collection of M.D. Chulkov, folk songs reflecting social protest are presented for the first time (songs about Stepan Razin, about the execution of Ataman Streletsky, etc.). Chulkov also owns one of the first experiments in systematizing mythological ideas and rituals of the Russian people - “Dictionary of Russian Superstitions”. The magazine “And This and That” published by him publishes folklore material, in particular, folk proverbs.

At the end of the 18th century, special interest was shown in proverbs, collections of them began to be published, one can name “Collection of Ancient Proverbs” by A.A. Barsov, later republished by N.I. Novikov. The poet I. Bogdanovich, close to court circles, turned to the selection of proverbs from an extremely tendentious position. He owns the collection “Russian proverbs collected by Ippolit Bogdanovich” in three parts, in which both the content and form of the proverbs are completely distorted (the poet gave the proverbs the form of couplets or quatrains).

Collections of fairy tales contain much less original material than collections of songs; fairy tales are often reworked by collectors, approaching an adventure story. The most significant collection is “Russian Fairy Tales” by V.A. Levshin (in ten parts), but only three fairy tales from this collection are close to truly Russian fairy tales.

Russian epics and historical songs are presented as separate entries in Chulkov’s collection; they make up a special collection “Ancient Russian poems collected by Kirsha Danilov.” The materials in this collection are of world significance as the first authentic recordings of epics and historical songs.

The Enlightenment attitude towards folklore is characteristic of the entire 18th century and its manifestation to one degree or another is found in all writers of this era, whatever their ideological positions. This era, according to M.K. Azadovsky, was characterized by the manifestation of “interest in a nationality without the masses; it was a nationality alienated from the people and creating deliberately illusory ideas about them.” In the last years of the 18th century, ideological tendencies of democratic consciousness arose and strengthened, the most prominent representative of which was A.N. Radishchev. Radishchev understands in a completely new way the special nature of folklore and its role in the formation of the people's worldview. In “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow,” the writer uses folklore not as evidence of antiquity and not as material for updating language and literature, but as a form of folk thought, as an expression of popular consciousness, as a path to its knowledge and as the basis of folk culture. In this work of his, Radishchev sees the creator and preserver of folk culture in the peasant; he creates a wonderful image of a folk singer, a former soldier, a blind beggar, and reflects the people’s view of art (chapter “Wedge”). Radishev considers the nobles not the creators, but the destroyers of folk art. In the chapter “Sofia,” Radishev makes comments about the coachman’s songs: “There is something in them that drives out spiritual sorrow.” The writer saw in folk songs not fun, not joy, but evidence of the past and present of the people. In “Journey,” Radishev repeatedly uses images of folklore: he quotes a number of proverbs and cites the text of recruit laments. In the chapter “Copper,” Radishchev describes the scene of a folk round dance and uses it to create contrast (the round dance is the sale of peasants at auction). In a parody-fairy-tale form, Radishchev conveys a story about a governor who loved oysters. This story is the first experience of using folk tale images to create socio-political satire (later by Saltykov-Shchedrin). In the chapter “Gorodnya” the writer provides the full texts of the recruitment lamentations, which allows him to reflect the people’s point of view in his work. Radishchev also creates works of art created entirely on a folklore basis: “Bova,” a fairy-tale poem; "Songs sung at competitions in honor of ancient Slavic deities."

The 18th century had not yet created the science of folklore, but it had already come close to this task and created all the necessary prerequisites for its solution. During this period, significant factual material was accumulated and the main problems were put forward, which for a long time became the focus of further folkloristic research. These main problems can be reduced to the following: 1) the question of the need for intensive collection of monuments of folk art; 2) determining the place and significance of folklore in the creation of national literature, its significance in the construction of national history and knowledge national character; 3) the question of the place of Russian folk poetry among other monuments of world folklore and the organic connections between them.

Folkloristics of the first half of the 19th century. The first forty years of the 19th century were a time of further accumulation of materials and the development of scientific views on folk art. In strengthening public and scientific interest The Patriotic War of 1812 and the revolutionary movement of the first quarter of the 19th century played a role in folklore. At the beginning of this period, Russian social thought was faced with the task of publishing a complete collection of monuments of folk art. This task was conceived not only as a literary or narrowly scientific enterprise, but also as a most important national matter, as an enterprise of a huge historical and historical-philosophical plan.

The 20s of the 19th century were a period of rapid flowering of romanticism in Russia. In an effort to develop the national principle in Russian literature, the romantics widely used folklore (plots, images, poetic stylistics) in their work. However, the romantic poets did not have the same attitude towards folklore; they assessed it differently and used it in their work. for example, V.A. Zhukovsky was interested in the reflection of “dear old times”, so he used in his works a description of folk rituals and customs, inserted traditional beginnings and endings, and imitated the style of folk works. National figures who preached the ideas of national identity had a completely different attitude towards folklore.

Decembrists who defended national identity, civic pathos, patriotism, love of freedom in literature and art, could not ignore monuments of folk art. And no matter how far the Decembrists were from the people, they sought to find in folk art feelings that were in tune with their own. In the first place among the representatives of Decembrism there was a question about the role and significance of monuments of folk art in the process of development of the culture of the people. An essential point in the aesthetics of the Decembrists was historicism, which implied not a simple appeal to antiquity, but a search for those aspects in it that formed the basis of the emerging national culture. The Decembrists were looking for a reflection of the “freedom-loving spirit” of the Russian people in folklore, so they paid special attention to those songs that preserved the motifs of freedom and daring, hence their increased interest in old Cossack and bandit songs. The Decembrists were the first publishers and researchers of these songs (N.N. Raevsky). One of the most decisive propagandists of folk poetry was V.K. Kuchelbecker; it was he who in 1820 gave lectures in Europe on “Russian folk poetry.” Kuchelbecker was also a consistent theorist of folk literature, and actively included elements of folklore in his lyrical plays and dramas. The principles of Decembrist folklorism were developed and applied by the famous translator of the Iliad N.I. Gnedich. He also authored a translation of Claude Foriel’s book “Common Songs of Today’s Greeks”; this is one of the first treatises on folk poetry. Gnedich notes the similarity of Greek laments with Russian and Ukrainian laments, notes the presence of spring songs in Greece and Russia, and dwells in particular detail on the issue of the similarities between Greek and Russian folk singers.

The increased interest in folklore was also reflected in the artistic practice of the Decembrists; We meet folklore motifs in the poetry of Ryleev, Bestuzhev, Odoevsky, Kuchelbecker and others. But at the same time, the works of the Decembrists reflected the limitations of their historical concept. The idealization of deep antiquity and the incorrect assessment of modern folklore are reflected in the contrast between the folklore of ancient and modern Rus'. The Decembrists lacked the desire to understand the life of the people in all their originality and integrity.

A.S. Pushkin about the nationality of literature and folklore. Pushkin acted not only as an unsurpassed master of interpretation of folklore works, but also as one of their first collectors and theorists. Pushkin approached folk poetry both as a poet, and as a scholar-researcher, and as a critic; he clearly understood the historical significance of folk poetry, its role in the creation of national literature. For Pushkin, the problem of nationality was at the center of his thoughts; he dwelled on this issue several times and on various occasions. This is the famous note “On Nationality in Literature” (1825), in which the poet speaks out against “pseudo-nationality” and emphasizes that nationality is manifested not in the external signs of everyday life, not in the use of Russian expressions, but in the psychology of the people. Nationality, in his opinion, is determined not by themes, not by plots, but by ideological content; a national writer should not limit himself to narrow national subjects, but should rely on the broad experience of world culture. He confirmed this idea with examples from world literature, pointing out that Shakespeare and Calderon “every minute” transported their readers “to all parts of the world,” while at the same time preserving “the virtues of a great nation” in their works. In Pushkin’s understanding, nationality “is a way of thinking and feeling, there is a darkness of customs, beliefs and habits that belong exclusively to some people.”

Pushkin's collecting activity was extremely intense. By the mid-1930s he had amassed a small but quite varied collection of recordings. He recorded a song about Arakcheev (“You, Rakcheev, sir, have ruined all of Russia”), as well as folk ballads, soldiers’ and family songs, mainly wedding ones. Pushkin planned to publish a collection of folk songs, but his plan was not destined to come true; He handed over his entire collection of songs to P.V. Kireevsky.

Pushkin is especially interested in Cossack songs; in Mikhailovsky, the poet records songs about Stepan Razin. In 1833, he traveled to the Orenburg province to study the Pugachev uprising, where he also recorded several songs about Pugachev.

In 1836, Pushkin, at the request of the French writer Levi-Weimar, made a number of translations of Russian folk songs into French. In total, he translated eleven songs, seven of them “robber” songs, including two songs about Razin and the song “Don’t make noise, mother green oak forest,” which in “The Captain’s Daughter” he calls “Pugachev’s favorite song.”

Pushkin valued the language of folk art very highly. The simplicity of the language of the folk tale, the accuracy and expressiveness of the structure of the phrase in proverbs was noted by him as the perfect form of poetic speech: “What kind of gold are Russian proverbs, but they are not given into the hands, no!” Pushkin's collecting activity is explained not only by the desire to preserve a song or fairy tale, but by the desire to master living folk speech. Researchers note that, although Pushkin did not write special studies in this area, he played a big role in establishing the significance of folklore for the life of the people. Folklore for Pushkin was the self-expression of the people and a form of national self-awareness. The poet did not have a blind idealization of folk art; he noted in it the features of conservatism and the manifestation of all kinds of prejudices.

Pushkin uses folklore motifs and images in his artistic work, for example, the poem “The Robber Brothers” is built on the motifs and material of “robber” songs. The poem “Prisoner” is also inspired by the motives of these songs and reproduces their themes and images. Folk tales captivated and enchanted Pushkin with their artistic charm, their figurative language, rich fantasy, and realistic spirit; in fairy tales the poet saw a kind of synthesis of all the elements of folklore. When creating his fairy tales, Pushkin uses different sources: these are plots from Russian folk tales, these are plots from popular literature, these are plots taken from world folklore (“The Tale of the Golden Cockerel”). Folklore images in Pushkin's fairy tales are either taken from folklore, or reinterpreted by the poet, or invented by him. Pushkin’s statements on folklore issues, his plans for collecting work and understanding of the tasks of study were not only facts of his personal biography, but had an undoubted influence on further development science of Russian literature.

In the 30-40s, folklore collections continued to be published: “Russian Folk Tales” by I.P. Sakharov; “Russian folk songs” by P.V. Kireevsky; “Russian Proverbs” by I.M. Snegirev and others. During these years, the science of folklore was finally taking shape in Russia; two opposing camps were clearly outlined in it. In a certain sense, the Slavophiles (Kireevsky brothers, K.S. Aksakov, A.S. Khomyakov, etc.) and supporters of the theory of “official nationality” (I.M. Snegirev, I.P. Sakharov, A. V. Tereshchenko). Slavophile folkloristics is characterized by the idealization of ancient Russian life with all its conservative sides, the assertion that Russian traditional folklore is fundamentally religious. That is why P.V. Kireevsky published only spiritual poems from his song collection, which, in his opinion, was the most valuable. Supporters of the “official nationality”, through a tendentious selection of folklore material, sought to prove that the Russian people are characterized by such qualities as love of kings, religiosity and obedience. Another camp in the Russian science of folklore in the 30-40s of the 19th century was represented by the emerging revolutionary-democratic folklore studies.

V.G. Belinsky about the nationality of literature and folklore. Issues of folk art were of keen interest to Belinsky, and he paid great attention to them throughout his entire career. He talks about folk poetry in “Literary Dreams”, in reviews of a number of collections of fairy tales, and collections of songs. Particularly important are his comments on folk poetry, expressed in articles about Koltsov, about Lermontov, in the XI article about Pushkin, in reviews of Russian literature for 1844 and 1846, in “Letter to Gogol”, etc. In the 30-40s, the problem the roles of the people in history, and at the same time the nationalities of culture, become fundamental in criticism. Belinsky emphasizes the importance of the problem of nationality in his works. He puts forward as a criterion for the value of a work its correspondence to the interests and needs of peoples, the expression in it of the personality of the people: “Nation is the alpha and omega of the aesthetics of our time. Nationality has become the highest criterion, the touchstone of the dignity of every poetic work and the durability of every poetic glory. Nationality is a great thing both in politics and in life.” By “the spirit of the people,” Belinsky understood the ideology of the peasantry, irreconcilable with the ideology of the ruling classes. The critic noted that in the repertoire of the people there is a lot that is backward, there are works that are alien to them, which give rise to false conclusions. Belinsky quite reasonably argued: not everything that is sung by the people is popular, but everything that is not popular is used by conservative science to create a distorted image of the people. Belinsky put forward the principle of a critical assessment of folklore, as opposed to its unbridled praise. The critic justified this principle by analyzing the living conditions of peasants in feudal and serfdom Rus'.

One of the most important theses of the critic is to substantiate the fact that the poetry of any people is in close relationship with its history. Both poetry and history equally contain the mysterious “psyche of the people,” therefore its history can be explained by poetry, and poetry by history. At the heart of each song, Belinsky looks for an idea. This idea expresses a certain ideal and takes on artistic form. “An artistic concept is historical even when,” writes Belinsky, “when it takes on a completely fantastic form.” Belinsky saw the originality of folk poetry in its realism; he believes that “in Russian fairy tales, as in all folk poetry, there are almost no fantastic elements.” He especially highly appreciated satirical fairy tales, because they clearly reflected the people's mind, the people's view and the people's way of life, they felt “the crafty Russian mind, so inclined to irony, so simple-minded in its craftiness.”

Belinsky, noting the characteristic features of Russian song, wrote: “the sadness of the Russian soul has a special character; a Russian person does not melt into sadness, does not fall under its painful burden... Sadness does not interfere with irony, sarcasm, wild joy, or revelry of youth. This is the sadness of a strong, powerful, indestructible soul.” The critic believed that Russian songs inspired and encouraged the people; they showed the love of freedom, moral and ethical standards of the people.

Articles on folk poetry, written by a critic in 1841, are mainly devoted to the assessment of Russian epics. Belinsky was the first in Russian criticism and in the science of folklore to show that behind the images of epic heroes there are hidden certain social relations, a close unity of the poetry of the people with their history. He emphasizes that “Russian folk poetry is full of heroes,” their strength is combined with courage, daring, and youth. He considers Ilya Muromets to be the main hero, calls him the Russian Hercules, but notes some monotony of his character and straightforwardness in achieving his goal. Belinsky does not use the term “epics”; he calls them “heroic tales” and emphasizes the individual traits in the characters of the heroes.

The critic evaluates the epics of the Novgorod cycle especially highly, considering them “the apotheosis of Novgorod.” Highlighting the image of Vasily Buslaev, the critic explains his actions by the fact that Vasily does not know any activity. He puts first place in the epic repertoire Novgorod epics, especially appreciates the scene of Sadko’s dance at the sea king. Bylinas, according to Belinsky, on the one hand, reflected the great forces of the Russian people, and on the other, “everyday life” that did not give these forces space and outlet. At the same time, there are a number of significant gaps and errors in Belinsky’s assessment of the heroic epic. He mistakenly interpreted the unity of the ideological content of epics as uniformity. Some underestimation of the Russian heroic epic by the critic is explained by the fact that the critic had very meager material at his disposal.

Belinsky was the first to note genre features historical songs, separated them from epics and from “lyrical poetry itself.” Folklore studies associate Belinsky’s name with the appearance of the term “historical songs.” The critic had at his disposal only a collection of poems by Kirsha Danilov, so he was able to highlight only historical songs about Ermak and Ivan the Terrible.

Belinsky highly appreciated the work of folklore collectors and valued the authenticity of the texts of folk works: “What gratitude do those modest, selfless workers deserve who, with unrelenting constancy, collect the treasures of folk poetry and save them from the death of oblivion.”

In Belinsky’s folklore statements, a special place is occupied by the question of the relationship between folk art and literature. The critic emphasized that folk art is the art of the “childhood of humanity”; he contrasts “nationality” and “common people”. Belinsky resolutely rebelled against the “common people,” i.e. false nationality, which, in his opinion, is expressed in the use of folklore, against admiring the life of the people with its backwardness and darkness. Comparing the poetry of the Russian people with world folklore, Belinsky gave it one of the first places: “Our folk poetry will not yield in wealth to any people in the world and is only waiting for hardworking workers who would collect its treasures hidden in the memory of the people.”

Folkloristics of the second half of the 19th century. The 60s of the 19th century are rightly called the “golden decade” of Russian folkloristics in collecting activities. Most of the folklore collections published at that time contain a wealth of factual material that still has scientific significance today. At this time, folklore was collected by the writer V.I. Dal, famous folklorists F.I. Buslaev and A.N. Afanasyev, representatives of democratic folklore P.I. Yakushin, A.I. Khudyakov, P.N. Rybnikov and others. The famous collection of A.N. Afanasyev “Russian Folk Tales” (issues 1-8) is published. In the 60s, folklore collections were published: “Great Russian Tales” by A.I. Khudyakov, “Russian Folk Songs” by P.I. Yakushkin, “Great Russian Spells” by L.N. Maykov, etc. The main content of the collection “Songs collected by P. N. Rybnikov" consists of epics recorded by a collector in the north of Russia.

N.A. Dobrolyubov and N.G. Chernyshevsky about folklore. Of the works of N.A. Dobrolyubov, the following articles are fundamentally important: “On the degree of participation of the nationality in the development of Russian literature”, “Notes and additions to the collection of Russian proverbs by Mr. Buslaev”, his review “Russian folk tales by A.N. Afanasyev”. In these works, Dobrolyubov considers the question of the essence of folk poetry and solves the problem of nationality in Russian literature and the related problem of interaction between literature and folk poetry. He points to the emergence of folklore in the ancient era of the “dominance of patriarchal relations”, outlines the foundations of the scientific periodization of folk poetry, connecting it with the history of Russian society.

Dobrolyubov deepened his understanding of the contradictory nature of folk poetry in a class society and showed that the influence of the ruling classes and the church brought views alien to the people into poetry. The critic harshly evaluates spiritual verses and considers them alien to the people. His statements about the advantages and disadvantages of Afanasyev’s collection are especially important. He highly appreciated the completeness of the texts, the abundance of options, recording during performance, and the thoroughness of the publication. The main drawback of the collection, according to Dobrolyubov, is its academic objectivity and dispassion: “None of the collectors explained the attitude of the people to the fairy tales and legends they tell.” Dobrolyubov demands that collectors not limit themselves only to external accuracy when recording texts, but convey “the entire situation, both purely external and internal, moral,” i.e. recorded the reaction of listeners to the performed works. This requirement, adopted by the collectors of the 60s, subsequently became the cornerstone of Russian criticism of folklore.

N.G. Chernyshevsky was very demanding about folklore collections, realizing that only truly scientific principles of collecting and publishing can contribute to a correct understanding of folk poetry. In this regard, the review of N.V. Berg’s collection “Songs of Different Nations” is of great interest. In the review, all attention is focused on the issue of the responsibility of the compiler for the published material. Of fundamental, methodological significance was Chernyshevsky’s objection to the basic principle that guided the collector - he “tried to collect ancient and rare songs.” Chernyshevsky believes that it is necessary to collect and publish the best, the most important, but not because of rarity, but because of its inner dignity, character and aesthetic beauty. The basic theoretical principles of Dobrolyubov and Chernyshevsky were later shared and put into practice by folklore collectors (I.A. Khudyakov, I.G. Pryzhov, etc.).

ACADEMIC FOLKLORISTICS OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Until the 40s of the 19th century, some work was carried out on collecting and publishing folklore texts, but folklore studies as a science had not yet been formed. The 18th century and the first decades of the 19th century are considered to be the prehistory of Russian science of folk art; it was a time of accumulation of material and its initial theoretical understanding. The theory of Russian folkloristics is born as a result of the development of literary, historical, and ethnographic research in Russia and the use of the scientific experience of foreign scientists. Russian theoretical folkloristics of the 50-60s was formed under the great influence of the mythological school.

Mythological school- a direction in folkloristics, whose representatives considered mythology, its plots and images to be the fundamental basis of folklore. The mythological school originally arose in Germany, where its prominent representatives were the brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, collectors and researchers of German folklore. They believed that folk poetry has “divine origin”, that fairy tales, epics, and legends arose from myth, and folklore is the unconscious and impersonal creativity of the people’s soul. Transferring the methodology of comparative linguistics to the study of folklore, the Grimms traced similar phenomena in the field of folklore of different peoples to a common mythology for them, to a kind of “proto-myth” (by analogy with “proto-language”). The views of the Brothers Grimm were theoretically summarized by them in the book “German Mythology”.

In Russia, the following were associated with this school: F.I. Buslaev, A.N. Afanasyev, O.F. Miller. Representatives of the mythological school sought to prove that the origins of folklore lie in mythology of a religious nature. F.I. Buslaev’s main work, “Historical Sketches of Russian Folk Literature and Art,” is rich in factual material, but at the same time, in it Buslaev insists that mythology and religion are fundamental moments in the development of art. Buslaev did not see any creative changes in folk poetry, considering it frozen in its most ancient forms. In the study “On Russian Proverbs and Sayings,” the author tried to find a mythological explanation for each proverb; the researcher also examines the Russian heroic epic, where he tried to find a mythological beginning in each hero.

At the same time as Buslaev, A.N. Afanasyev spoke out in defense of the mythological school; his work “Poetic Views of the Slavs on Nature” (in 3 volumes) was very famous. Afanasyev also considered religious myths the main source of poetry and tried to find a mythological explanation for each work.

The methodology and conclusions of the mythological school, based on an idealistic understanding of mythology and exaggeration of its role in the history of art, were not accepted by the subsequent development of science. However, at one time, the mythological school played an important role, contributed to the active study of folklore, laid the foundations for comparative mythology and folklore, and posed a number of theoretical problems. The shortcomings of the mythological school (moving away from modernity into the past, excessive archaization of Russian folklore, exaggeration of traces of mythology, etc.) were already noted by their contemporaries and, above all, representatives of revolutionary democratic criticism (N.A. Dobrolyubov, N.G. Chernyshevsky).

School of borrowing (comparativism). Russian and European researchers noticed at the beginning of the 19th century that the plots of folklore works of different peoples were close to each other. This fact gave them reason to conclude that certain subjects of folk works pass from one people to another. They called such plots “wandering” or “wandering.” However, no generalizations have been made about the patterns of wandering plots. Anthropological, ethnographic, and archaeological research carried out at the beginning of the 19th century in newly discovered lands and among newly discovered peoples introduced materials into scientific circulation that posed new questions to scientists. Among peoples who had never had connections with each other, located on different continents, objects of material and spiritual culture were discovered that had much in common. It was necessary to explain similar phenomena in the verbal art of different peoples.

The school of borrowing was founded by the German scientist Theodor Benfey, whose famous book “Panchatantra” (“Pentateuch”) was published in 1859. In it, Benfey explained the commonality of art by borrowing, that is, the possibility of a historical transition of folklore subjects from one people to another, and created a new method for their study. The problem of the similarity of plots was no longer explained by a single origin from the “primary myth”, but by the later cultural and historical communication of peoples; and India was considered the birthplace of most of the plots of European fairy tales, from where they later spread through literary borrowing. There were many points in Benfey's theory that had positive value, it introduced a historical beginning into the abstract schemes of mythologists, revealed the cultural and historical ties of peoples and destroyed the idea of ​​national isolation in the process of historical development.

The theory of borrowing has found its supporters in many countries. The first in Russia to support this theory was the outstanding critic V.V. Stasov in the article “The Origin of Russian Bylinas.” A.N. Pypin also paid tribute to this theory, arguing that the plots of “old stories and Russian fairy tales” were borrowed from other peoples. Work in terms of the theory of borrowing is carried out by F.I. Buslaev, V.F. Miller, M.G. Khalansky and others.

A major figure in Russian science, A.N. Veselovsky, welcoming the idea of ​​the theory of borrowing, wrote: “We have been hovering in the romantic fog of myths and beliefs for so long that we will be happy to come down to earth.” In his numerous works, the scientist analyzes the ways of assimilation of plots and explores the reasons for such assimilation. Veselovsky is not interested in the plots themselves, but ideas, which they express, the folk ideas hidden in them. In each borrowing, Veselovsky assigns an active role to the people, emphasizing that borrowing came not only from East to West, but also from West to East, i.e. there was mutual influence of cultures.

Veselovsky’s most significant amendment to the theory of borrowing was the statement that the similarity of works among different peoples does not mean direct borrowing; he believed that a people, borrowing this or that work from another people, does not leave it unchanged, but reworks it in accordance with its national character . Veselovsky saw the phenomena of borrowing as a two-way process. He studied not only the cultural phenomena of one people that were borrowed, but also the internal conditions of another people that prepared and conditioned these borrowings.

The disadvantage of the works of representatives of the theory of borrowing was that they often exaggerated the role of borrowing and underestimated the national basis of folklore. An important innovative aspect of the borrowing school was that it put an end to the national isolation in folklore studies that was characteristic of mythologists. The borrowing school and the mythological school do not deny, but complement each other. Feeling the powerlessness of mythologists in interpreting works of folk art, scientists turned to its history.

Subsequently, Russian folklorists pointed out that borrowing was always accompanied by creative processing of foreign sources, therefore, in the first place in the history of the development of folklore of any people is the national principle, which determines its originality.

Anthropological school (spontaneous generation). By the 60s of the 19th century, it became clear that the commonality of folklore cannot be explained only by borrowing or origin from one “primary myth.” New data in science broke the framework of established theories and required new explanations. The theory of spontaneous generation or anthropological one tried to give such an explanation, the foundations of which were laid by the English scientist Taylor (he had many followers: E. Lemg, W. Wundt, Freud, Fraser). Taylor's theory was based on the idea of ​​continuous development of humanity, or, in Taylor's own formula, the “theory of the progress of civilizations.” In his famous work “Primitive Culture,” Taylor speaks of the natural unity of the paths of all humanity, explaining this process by the commonality of the psyche and thinking of people.

In Russia, anthropological theory had no direct followers. However, it, along with other theories, was used by A.N. Veselovsky when he wrote “Historical Poetics”. Creating the theory of historical poetics, Veselovsky used the folklore of many peoples of the world; he is interested in the question of the relationship between traditions and innovation, collective and individual principles in the folklore process. He creates a theory of the emergence of various poetic genres (lyrics, epic and drama) from “synthetic art”, examines in detail the emergence and further development of all kinds of stylistic means and compositional forms of various genres of folklore. Unfortunately, the scientist was not able to fully realize his plan, although some of his observations were used in folklore studies of the twentieth century.

Historical school originated in Russia at the very end of the 19th century. Scientists who joined this school put forward the principle of studying folk art on the basis of Russian national history. V.F. Miller theoretically substantiated the historical method and applied it in his research. Since the 90s, the historical school has become widespread worldwide and has determined the scientific research of a number of Russian and foreign scientists. The followers of this school were V.A. Keltuyala, S.K. Shambinago, E.N. Eleonskaya, the Sokolov brothers, etc. The main problems of their scientific research were determined by the task of considering works of folk art in connection with its history, as well as highlighting the role of the people in the history of the creation of folklore works. V.F. Miller and his followers sought to reveal precisely the national-historical basis of Russian folklore, to study the very history of epics. Their works contain valuable observations and information on the questions of where, when and on what specific historical basis this or that epic arose, and what its further historical changes were.

Particularly valuable are the observations of representatives of the “historical school” on the geographical distribution of epics. The work they carried out to collect epics in a number of places in the Russian North was very important, for which a number of expeditions were organized. A.V. Markov, A.D. Grigoriev, N.E. Onchukov recorded epics in little-known areas, in the Olonets province, in the Belozersky region, etc. The results of these expeditions were published in numerous collections, confirmed the active existence of the genre of epics and identified outstanding performers, masters of this genre, which could refute the thesis about the mechanical assimilation by peasants of old examples of the epic. Studying the work of storytellers, researchers emphasized that the personality of the master of folk poetry plays a creative role.

Supporters of the historical school began to view works of folklore (epics) as a strict historical document. They saw their task as finding what specific historical event was reflected in a given piece of folklore. They did not take into account that a work of art does not photograph, but typifies the phenomena of life, therefore, works of folklore are not documentary, but artistic generalizations. Modern folkloristics believes that folklore is indeed a reflection of historical reality, but in artistic form.

Representatives of the historical school put forward the theory of the “aristocratic origin of epics,” which essentially denies the creative capabilities of the masses. In their opinion, epics were created in Russian antiquity not among the masses, but in the princely or princely squad environment. Vs.Miller, who admitted the possibility of their creation among the people, still believed that in this dark environment the epics could only be distorted.

The historical school did not actually engage in ideological and artistic analysis of works, although scientists examined what was depicted in epics, but ignored the question of how what is depicted is interpreted, from what positions it is illuminated. The incorrect concept of the social affiliation of the creators of epics does not reduce the enormous importance of all the work done by this group of scientists. The merit of Vs.Miller, who studied all the existing recordings of epics, is especially great; his essays on the formal side of this genre, their performers and the geography of distribution are valuable. However, the “historical school” also made serious mistakes in its research: in the interpretation of the historical basis of epics, subjectivity and lack of evidence were often allowed. While exploring the historical content of epics, they almost did not touch on their poetics; they could not explain how historical phenomena became manifestations of poetry, which reflected the specificity of the reflection of historical reality in folklore.

M. Gorky about folklore. Gorky knew folklore well, both from collections and in its real life. In the article “Destruction of the Personality,” he emphasized the creative power of the collective, the people as the creator of “spiritual values”; he explains the creation of the epic by the “giant power of the collective.” Speaking about the collective nature of folklore, Gorky did not deny the role of individual gifted individuals. In the essay “Voplenitsa” he recreates the image of the performer of epics and lamentations of the peasant woman I.A. Fedosova. In his numerous articles and speeches covering certain issues of folk art, Gorky put forward the following main theses: about the creation of folklore by the people, about labor activity of the masses as the basis of their creativity, about the collectivity of folklore and its significance as a monument to the history of the people, about the expression in folklore of the people’s worldview, “the aspirations and expectations of the people.” Gorky persistently emphasized that folk art influenced the creation of many works of fiction and art: “Zeus was created by the people, Phidias embodied him in marble.” The writer himself has more than once admitted the great influence that folk tales, songs, and proverbs had on him.

The works of G.V. Plekhanov, written at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, touched upon issues of great importance for folklore studies. In “Letters without an Address,” Plekhanov emphasizes the question of the origin of art; he argues that art is older than religion and owes its birth to the labor process. The critic believes that “labor is older than art”; first, a person looks at objects from a utilitarian point of view and only later sees its aesthetic significance. Plekhanov believes that in pre-class society the most ancient genre of folklore were labor songs, which were performed solo or in chorus.

Folkloristics of the 20th century. The work of folklorists in the twentieth century was carried out in two aspects: 1) collecting and publishing works of folk art and 2) researching traditional and “new” folklore. One of the most important forms of collecting folklore is the organization of folklore expeditions. Continuing the traditions of tree-revolutionary folklore, folklore collectors record fairy tales, epics, songs, ditties, proverbs and sayings; workers' folklore began to be actively collected. Almost all recorded works are published, which makes it possible to compare recordings made at different times.

In the 20th century, a methodologically different view of the analysis of folk works was formed; moreover, it was necessary to evaluate the contribution of Russian scientists to folklore studies of the 19th century. Overcoming the mistakes of the historical school happened slowly. For the first time, Professor A.P. Skaftymov criticized their works in 1924 in his work “Poetics and Genesis of Epics.” In 1936-1937, a discussion took place, as a result of which the theory of the “aristocratic origin of epics” was rejected; the question of the creators of the epic received a different light. After the discussion, the opposite extreme began to be allowed: the question of the class affiliation of the creators of epics was necessarily associated with the problem of their social affiliation and the possibility of creating epics by representatives of the ruling class was denied. In modern folkloristics, the problems of the nationality of the epic are not made dependent on the solution of the question of the class affiliation of the creator of the epics; finally, it became clear that it did not matter much who composed the work if it expressed national progressive tendencies.

The second theoretical issue that required a new interpretation was the question of the relationship between the collective and individual principles in folk art. In the 20s, a lot of work was done to study how the personality of the storyteller manifests itself in the creation, storage and performance of folklore works. In the 30s, works appeared in which the role of the individual in folk art was exaggerated and the role of the collective principle was underestimated; in modern folkloristics the “dual unity” of the author and the collective is recognized.

Great difficulties arose due to the need to create a history of Russian folklore; this issue can only be resolved by a large team of authors. In connection with solving the problem of the historical development of Russian folklore, questions of the genesis and formation of its individual genres, the question of the genre specificity of folklore works, and questions of the poetics of these works are considered.

One of the interesting and not fully explored issues is the development of the problem of the interaction between literature and folklore. Modern folklorists also study the question of the influence of literature on folklore and the existence of songs of literary origin among the people.

In modern science, a significant place is given to the reconstruction of all stages of the science of folklore; here one cannot but mention the book by M.K. Azadovsky “The History of Russian Folklore,” in 2 volumes (1958, 1963).

It should be noted that not all questions raised by scientists have been completely resolved. It has been repeatedly noted that there is no set of subjects of Russian folklore, and the activities of individuals, organizations and methods of folklore research are not always coordinated.

The influence of folklore on literature

Recently, folklore traditions have again become the object of close attention of literary scholars. Research in this area covers a wide range of issues, one of which is the influence of folklore on Russian literature.

According to some scientists (E.A. Kostyukhin, N.Ya. Marra, S.Yu. Neklyudov), between folklore and literature “there are no definite boundaries at all, since both are the art of words.”

Having analyzed the fairy tales of A.S. Pushkin, V.A. Zhukovsky, P.P. Ershov, we came to the conclusion that the authors use not only the composition of a folk tale, but also plot motifs (ban, kidnapping, travel), images of heroes (hero , fool), animal totems (fish, horse, bear) and features of rituals associated with the cult of earth, water, and sun. Moreover, this happens unintentionally, which we managed to find out during the experiment,"

If folklore traditions traced in literary fairy tales are intuitive borrowings, then is it possible to find the same with regard to winter ritual folklore?

For research, we turned to the works of N.V. Gogol and V.A. Zhukovsky.

In N.V. Gogol’s story “The Night Before Christmas” and in V.A. Zhukovsky’s ballad “Svetlana” one can trace the influence of ritual folklore due to the inclusion of the traditional plot of winter Christmastide.

Thus, we were able to confirm the hypothesis regarding the unintentionality of the use of folklore traditions in literary works of various genres.

Content

Introduction. 3

Chapter 1. The influence of folklore on literature 5

Folklore as the art of words 5

The nature of folklore borrowings in literature. 6

Chapter 2. Traditions of ritual folklore in literature 8

2.2. Features of winter ritual folklore 8

2.3 Traditions of ritual folklore in the works of N.V. Gogol and

V.Azhukovsky 10

Conclusion………………………………………………………14

References………………15

Appendix 16

Introduction

Recently, folklore traditions have again become the object of close attention of literary scholars. Research in this area covers a wide range of issues, one of which is the influence of folklore on Russian literature.

In this regard, the problem of folklorism in the work of a particular writer has become the most pressing in literary criticism.

From the middle In the 19th century, active study and classification of folklore borrowings in literature began, which is complicated by the two-sided nature of this process. According to some scientists (E.A. Kostyukhin, N.Ya. Marra, S.Yu. Neklyudov), between folklore and literature “there are no definite boundaries at all, since both are the art of words”1. That is why their mutual influence is constant and diverse.

Observations of the artistic works of Russian writers of the 19th century show that the nature of the influence of oral folk art on literature is poorly understood and requires a completely new approach based on an awareness of the writer’s artistic world as part of national culture.

In this regard, the relevance of this study lies precisely in the study of folklore borrowings in Russian literature of the first half of the 19th century.

Therefore, the goal of our work involves identifying the nature of folklore borrowings and their implementation in works of art.

To achieve this goal, the following tasks must be solved:

1 Kostyukhin E. A. Literature and the fate of folklore / Living Antiquity // magazine about Russian folklore and traditional culture - No. 2 - 1994, p5

comprehend the concept of folklore;

having analyzed a number of studied artistic
works of Russian writers of the first half of the 19th century
century, to identify the nature of folklore borrowings;

characterize the process of influence of folklore on Russian
literature of the 19th century.

The novelty of our research lies in an unconventional view of folklore as a means of intuitively embodying images of folk art and motives of ritual behavior.

The works of V.A. Zhukovsky and N.V. Gogol are analyzed from the point of view of how they reflect the traditions of ritual folk culture.

The object of the study is ritual folklore.

The subject of the study is the implementation of folklore motifs in Russian literature of the 19th century.

The material for this study is the fairy tales of A.S. Pushkin, “The Little Humpbacked Horse” by P.P. Ershov, the collections “Mirgorod” and “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” by N.V. Gogol, the ballad “Svetlana” and fairy tales by V.A. Zhukovsky.

The work consists of an introduction, two chapters and a conclusion.

Chapter 1

The influence of folklore on literature 1.2 Folklore as the art of words

The term “folklore” itself comes from the English folk-lore (“folk wisdom”, or “folk knowledge”) and means “folk spiritual culture in various volumes of its types”2.

For literary studies and folklore studies, folklore is important as an art of words, because in a circle. their interests include “the totality of oral works of art of different genres created by many generations of people”3.

Folk verbal creativity was remembered and transmitted orally and was not written down anywhere.

Folklore has its own artistic characteristics.

The oral form of creation, distribution and existence of works distinguishes it from literature.

Folklore - folk art. Literary works are written by one author, but works of folklore are anonymous, their author is the people. In literature they read and write, in folklore they listen and perform.

Oral works were created according to already known models, and even included direct borrowings. Constant epithets were used (a beautiful maiden, a clear sun, a good fellow), symbols (the road, the thirtieth kingdom, a raven), comparisons (like a pouring apple, like a dark cloud like a swan), traditional composition (for example, for a fairy tale: the beginning, the beginning of the action , climax, denouement, ending). Storytellers, singers, storytellers, screamers sought, first of all,

2 Zueva T.V., Kirdan B.P. Russian folklore: Textbook for higher educational institutions. - M.: Flint:
Science, 1998. -p5 Ibid.

to convey to the listeners what was in keeping with tradition, the main idea of ​​the work (to instill faith in the victory of good over evil). But at the same time, some changes could not help but occur in the text itself. Thus, the repeated fusion of each person’s creativity gave the work a collective character. Over time, only the most talented works, filled with folk wisdom, remained.

The oral artistic tradition became the common cultural fund of the people.

Thus, folklore is “the greatest wealth of the nation..., the perfect creation of many centuries”4, it is the art of folk wisdom.

1.2.The nature of folklore borrowings in literature

The use of traditions of folk art, its artistic images and techniques in literary works is often unintentional, that is, it is an intuitive borrowing. The artist of words subconsciously embodies one or another folklore tradition in his work.

We found it interesting to trace folklore borrowings in works of Russian literature of the 19th century.

Having analyzed the fairy tales of A.S. Pushkin, V.A. Zhukovsky, P.P. Ershov, we came to the conclusion that the authors use not only the composition of a folk tale, but also plot motifs (ban, kidnapping, travel), images of heroes (hero , fool), animal totems (fish, horse, bear) and features of rituals associated with the cult of earth, water, and sun.

4 Anikin V.P. Oral creativity of the Russian people / Living Water. Collection of Russian folk songs, fairy tales, proverbs, riddles. - M.: Det. Lit. 1986, p.24

It is known that in Mikhailovskoye A.S. Pushkin recorded local folklore - songs, fragments of rituals, fairy tales. “In the poet’s acquaintance with examples of Russian folklore, the role of his nanny Arina Rodionovna Yakovleva is generally recognized.”5 In one of the poet’s letters to P.A. Vyazemsky one can read: “I live as an undergrowth, I lie on the couch and listen to old fairy tales and songs”6. Being under their impression, the poet created “The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Bogatyrs”, “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish”, “The Tale of the Golden Cockerel”, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan, his son the glorious and mighty hero Prince Guidon Saltanovich and about the beautiful Swan Princess", "The Tale of the Priest and his worker Balda", "The Tale of the Bear" (not finished). They embodied not only the plots and images of folk tales, but also used the richest reserves of folk verbal wisdom.

Folklore(folk-lore) is an international term of English origin, first introduced into science in 1846 by the scientist William Toms. Literally translated, it means “folk wisdom”, “folk knowledge” and denotes various manifestations of folk spiritual culture.

Other terms have also become established in Russian science: folk poetry, folk poetry, folk literature. Title " oral creativity people" emphasize the oral nature of folklore in its difference from written literature. The name "folk poetry" indicates artistry as a sign by which a folklore work is distinguished from beliefs, customs and rituals. This designation puts folklore on a par with other types of folk art and fiction.

Folklore is a complex synthetic art. His works often combine elements of various types of art - verbal, musical, theatrical. It is studied by various sciences - history, psychology, sociology, ethnology (ethnography). It is closely connected with folk life and rituals. It is no coincidence that the first Russian scientists approached folklore broadly, recording not only works of verbal art, but also recording various ethnographic details and the realities of peasant life. Thus, the study of folklore was for them a unique area of ​​national studies.

The science that studies folklore is called folkloristics. If literature is understood not only as written artistic creativity, but as verbal art in general, then folklore is a special branch of literature, and folkloristics is thus part of literary criticism.

Folklore- This is verbal oral creativity. It has the properties of the art of words. In this way he is close to literature. At the same time, it has its own specific features: syncretism, traditionality, anonymity, variability and improvisation.

The prerequisites for the emergence of folklore appeared in the primitive communal system with the beginning of the formation of art. The ancient art of speech was characterized by utilitarianism - the desire to practically influence nature and human affairs.

The most ancient folklore was in a syncretistic state (from the Greek word synkretismos - connection). A syncretic state is a state of unity, indivisibility. Art was not yet separated from other types of spiritual activity; it existed in conjunction with other types of spiritual consciousness. Later, the state of syncretism was followed by the separation of artistic creativity, along with other types of social consciousness, into an independent field of spiritual activity.

Folklore works are anonymous. Their author is the people. Any of them is created on the basis of tradition. At one time V.G. Belinsky wrote about the specifics of a folklore work: there are no “famous names, because the author of literature is always the people. No one knows who composed his simple and naive songs, in which the inner and outer life young people or tribe. And the song passes from generation to generation, from generation to generation; and it changes over time: sometimes they shorten it, sometimes they lengthen it, sometimes they remake it, sometimes they combine it with another song, sometimes they compose another song in addition to it - and from the songs come poems, of which only the people can call themselves the author.”

Of course, Academician D.S. is right. Likhachev, who noted that there is no author in a folklore work, not only because information about him, if there was one, has been lost, but also because he falls out of the very poetics of folklore; it is not needed from the point of view of the structure of the work. In folklore works there may be a performer, a storyteller, a storyteller, but there is no author or writer as an element of the artistic structure itself.

Traditional continuity covers large historical intervals - entire centuries. According to academician A.A. Potebny, folklore arises “from memorable sources, that is, it is passed down from memory from mouth to mouth as far as memory allows, but it has certainly passed through a significant layer of popular understanding.” Each bearer of folklore creates within the boundaries of generally accepted tradition, relying on predecessors, repeating, changing, and supplementing the text of the work. In literature there is a writer and a reader, and in folklore there is a performer and a listener. “Works of folklore always bear the stamp of time and the environment in which they lived for a long time, or “existed.” For these reasons, folklore is called mass folk art. It has no individual authors, although there are many talented performers and creators who are perfect mastering generally accepted traditional techniques of speaking and singing. Folklore is directly folk in content - that is, in terms of thoughts and feelings expressed in it. Folklore is also folk in style - i.e. in the form of conveying the content. Folklore is folk in origin, in all respects and the properties of traditional figurative content and traditional stylistic forms." This is the collective nature of folklore. Traditionality is the most important and basic specific property of folklore.

Every folklore work exists in large quantities options. Variant (lat. variantis - changing) - each new performance of a folklore work. Oral works had a mobile, variable nature.

A characteristic feature of a folklore work is improvisation. It is directly related to the variability of the text. Improvisation (Italian improvvisazione - unforeseen, suddenly) - the creation of a folklore work or its parts directly in the process of performance. This feature V to a greater extent characteristic of lamentations and crying. However, improvisation did not contradict tradition and was within certain artistic boundaries.

In order to determine how folklore differs from literature, let’s consider what the concept of literature as a whole is.

Literature (lat. lit(t)eratura, - written, from lit(t)era - letter) - in the broad sense of the word: the totality of any written texts.

Most often, literature is understood as fiction, that is, literature as an art form. It has a number of universal properties, unchanged in all national cultures and throughout human history, although each of these properties is associated with certain problems and caveats.

Literature includes author's texts (including anonymous, that is, those in which the author is unknown for one reason or another, and collective, that is, written by a group of people - sometimes quite numerous, if we are talking, for example, about an encyclopedia, but still definite). The fact that the text belongs to a certain author, was created by him, is important in this case not from a legal point of view and not from a psychological one (the author is like a living person, information about whom the reader can try to extract from readable text), but because the presence of a certain author in a text provides completeness to this text: the author puts the last point, and after that the text begins to exist on its own. The history of culture knows types of texts that exist according to other rules - for example, folklore: due to the lack of authorship, the text itself is not finally fixed, and the one who Once again retells or rewrites it, is free to make changes to it, sometimes quite significant.

Another property is connected with the previous property: literature includes written texts and does not include oral ones. Oral creativity historically precedes writing and, unlike writing, was previously not amenable to fixation. Folklore has always been oral (until the 19th century, when written forms began to appear - for example, maiden albums).

Literature includes texts whose material is exclusively the words of the human language, and does not include synthetic and syncretic texts, that is, those in which the verbal component cannot be separated from the musical, visual or any other. A song or an opera is not itself a part of literature.

One more criterion should be added, which relates not to the structure of literary texts, but to their function.

Literature includes texts that themselves have social significance(or designed to have one). This means that private and official correspondence, personal diaries, school essays, etc. are not considered literature. This criterion seems simple and obvious, but in fact it also causes a number of difficulties.

On the one hand, personal correspondence can become a fact of literature (fiction or scientific) if it is conducted by significant authors: it is not without reason that collected works of both writers and scientists include a section on letters, and these letters sometimes contain important and valuable information for literature and science; the same applies to school essays future writers, scientists, politicians. On the other hand, the status of the artistic work of amateur authors, whose texts remain the property of themselves and a narrow circle of their friends and acquaintances, remains problematic: is it legitimate to consider as a literary phenomenon a poetic greeting composed by a group of employees for the birthday of their boss? New difficulties in this regard arose with the advent of the Internet and the spread of free publishing sites, where anyone can publish their works.

The word “literature” also means a whole series and course of events, the correct structure of the text, an interesting plot device, and development of the plot. Literature has a beginning (there is an introduction, an epilogue), a climax, and a denouement.

So, let's systematize all of the above by comparing the main points in the table.

Table 1

Comparison of the concepts of “folklore” and “literature”

Thus, we found out that F. has many specific features that distinguish it from literary creativity. But there are also a number common features, according to which F. can be classified as a special type of literature.

Taking all this into account, we give the maximum short definition folklore given by V.P. Anikin: “folklore is the traditional artistic creativity of the people. It equally applies to oral, verbal, and other fine arts, both to ancient creativity and to new, created in modern times and created in our days."

Folklore, like literature, is the art of words. This gives grounds to use literary terms: epic, lyric, drama. They are usually called childbirth. Each genus covers a group of works certain type. Genre is a type of artistic form (fairy tale, song, proverb, etc.). This is a narrower group of works than the genus. Thus, by genus we mean a way of depicting reality, by genre - a type of artistic form. The history of folklore is the history of changes in its genres. They are more stable in folklore; compared to literary ones, the genre boundaries in literature are wider. New genre forms in folklore do not arise as a result creative activity individuals, as in literature, but must be supported by the entire mass of participants in the collective creative process. Therefore, their change does not occur without the necessary historical grounds. At the same time, genres in folklore are not unchanged. They arise, develop and die, and are replaced by others. So, for example, epics arise in Ancient Rus', develop in the Middle Ages, and in the 19th century they are gradually forgotten and die out. As living conditions change, genres are destroyed and consigned to oblivion. But this does not indicate the decline of folk art. Changes in the genre composition of folklore are a natural consequence of the process of development of artistic collective creativity.

In folklore, as in literature, there are three types of works:

• - epic,
• - lyrical
• - dramatic.

At the same time, epic genres have poetic and prose forms (in literature, the epic genre is represented only by prose works: short story, tale, novel, etc.). Literary genres and folklore genres differ in composition. In Russian folklore, epic genres include epics, historical songs, fairy tales, traditions, legends, tales, proverbs, and sayings.

Lyrical folklore genres include ritual songs, lullabies, family and love songs, lamentations, and ditties.

Dramatic genres include folk dramas. Many folklore genres have entered literature: song, fairy tale, legend (for example, Pushkin's fairy tales, Koltsov's songs, Gorky's legends).

Genres of folklore each have their own content: epics depict the military feats of heroes, historical songs - events and heroes of the past, family songs describe the everyday side of life. Each genre has its own heroes: in epics there are heroes Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich, in fairy tales - Ivan Tsarevich, Ivan the Fool, Vasilisa the Beautiful, Baba Yaga, in family songs - wife, husband, mother-in-law.

Folklore also differs from literature in its special system of expressive means. For example, the composition (construction) of folklore works is characterized by the presence of such elements as a chorus, an opening, a saying, a slowdown in action (retardation), a trinity of events; for style - constant epithets, tautologies (repetitions), parallelisms, hyperboles (exaggerations), etc.

The folklore of different nations has much in common in genres, artistic means, plots, types of heroes, etc. This is explained by the fact that folklore as a type of folk art reflects general patterns social development peoples General Features in the folklore of different peoples can arise due to the proximity of culture and life or long-term economic, political and cultural ties. Similarities also play a big role historical development, geographical proximity, movements of peoples, etc. .