Sources for studying folklore. Modern folkloristics
Introduction
Folklore is the main means of folk pedagogy. Folk pedagogy is an educational subject and type of activity of adults for the upbringing of the younger generation, the totality and interrelation of ideas and ideas, views and opinions and beliefs, as well as the skills and techniques of the people on the development of education and training of the younger generation, reflected in folk art. This is the mentality of the nation in relation to the younger generation, and educational traditions in the family and society, and the connection and continuity of generations.
Folklore is an invaluable national treasure. This is a huge layer of the spiritual culture of Belarusians, which was formed through the collective efforts of many generations over many centuries. At the present stage of national revival, it is necessary to return to what was achieved by our ancestors.
Belarusian national folklore is one of the richest in the Slavic world. It is full of pedagogical experience and folk wisdom. On the basis of folklore, a huge layer of ethical and pedagogical ideas was created: respect for elders, hard work, tolerance, goodwill, tolerance for other people's opinions.
Tolerance, tolerance, virtue, as traditional Christian virtues, gradually became the distinctive features of Belarusians. Moreover, they coexist with such qualities as personal dignity, focus, and activity.
Folklore with educational content, everyday traditions, holidays, Belarusian classical literature - these are the concepts that have a huge impact on the formation national character. It promotes creative development children and youth in the world of epics, fairy tales, legends. Proverbs and sayings can serve as the basis for moral precepts, helping to develop thinking, logic, and interest in the history and culture of the people.
Thus, folklore is main source knowledge about the principles of education that have developed in the culture of different nations, its moral, religious and mythical foundations. Figurative-symbolic nature artistic creativity, its impact on the emotional and sensory sphere of the individual makes it the most adequate means of unobtrusiveness and at the same time effective educational influence.
Consideration of this course topic is relevant and interesting at the same time.
The educational potential of folklore is limitless. Today, our society is reviving forgotten ancient traditions, using folk experience, creating new models of educational theories and practices.
Attention to folklore, ancient layers of culture, tradition in general, as an inexhaustible source of human education and development, has been especially active in recent years in the socio-pedagogical environment. This is due to the functional characteristics of folklore genres, the deep spirituality and wisdom of folk art, and the continuity of the process of transmitting national culture from generation to generation.
At the beginning of the new century there is an increased interest in national culture, ethnic processes, traditional artistic creativity, folklore. Scientists note a special growth in the historical and national self-awareness of each people, explaining this by socio-psychological and political reasons.
Preservation and development of national culture and one’s roots is the most important task, which requires careful treatment of historical and cultural monuments, and traditional folk art. Revival of folklore, folk customs, rituals and holidays, traditional arts and crafts and visual arts– this is a pressing problem of our time. Folklore, its genres, means, and methods most fully fill out the entire picture of people's life, giving a vivid picture of the life of the people, their morality, and spirituality. Folklore reveals the soul of a people, its virtues and characteristics. From a scientific point of view, folklore is a phenomenon that deserves special study and careful evaluation.
Target course work– reveal the significance of folklore in the system of national education.
Coursework objectives:
– characterize the phenomenon of folklore and its educational value;
– characterize the main genres of folklore, based on the educational potential of each;
– show the practical application of the main folklore genres in education.
The object of this coursework is the multifaceted phenomenon of national folklore, and the subject is the genres of folklore and their educational potential.
Methods used when writing coursework - descriptive, comparative analysis, analysis of literary sources.
folklore educational genre
1. Folklore is a means of national education
1.1 The concept and essence of folklore
The term “folklore” (translated as “folk wisdom”) was first introduced by the English scientist W.J. Toms in 1846. At first, this term covered the entire spiritual (beliefs, dances, music, wood carving, etc.), and sometimes the material (housing, clothing) culture of the people. In modern science there is no unity in the interpretation of the concept of “folklore”. Sometimes it is used in its original meaning: component folk life, closely intertwined with its other elements. Since the beginning of the 20th century. the term is also used in a narrower, more specific meaning: verbal folk art.
Folklore (eng. folklore) – folk art, most often oral; artistic collective creative activity of the people, reflecting their life, views, ideals; poetry created by the people and existing among the masses (legends, songs, ditties, anecdotes, fairy tales, epics), folk music (songs, instrumental tunes and plays), theater (dramas, satirical plays, puppet theater), dance, architecture, fine and arts and crafts.
Folklore is the collective and tradition-based creativity of groups and individuals, determined by the hopes and aspirations of society, and is an adequate expression of their cultural and social identity.
According to B.N. Putilov, there are five main variants of the meaning of the concept “folklore”:
1. folklore as a set, a variety of forms of traditional culture, that is, a synonym for the concept of “traditional culture”;
2. folklore as a complex of phenomena of traditional spiritual culture, realized in words, ideas, ideas, sounds, movements. In addition to artistic creativity itself, it also covers what can be called mentality, traditional beliefs, and folk philosophy of life;
3. folklore as a phenomenon of artistic creativity of the people;
4. folklore as a sphere of verbal art, that is, the area of oral folk art;
5. folklore as phenomena and facts of verbal spiritual culture in all their diversity.
The narrowest, but also the most stable of these definitions is the one that connects it mainly with the genres of oral folk art, that is, with verbal, verbal expression. This is truly the most developed area of folkloristics, which has made a huge contribution to the development of the science of literature - a direct descendant, “continuator” of oral folk art, genetically related to it.
The concept of “folklore” also means all areas of folk art, including those to which this concept is usually not applied (folk architecture, folk arts and crafts, etc.), since it reflects an indisputable fact, all types and genres of professional art have their origins in folk art and folk art.
The most ancient types of verbal art arose in the process of the formation of human speech in the Upper Paleolithic era. Verbal creativity in ancient times was closely connected with human labor activity and reflected religious, mythical, historical ideas, as well as the beginnings of scientific knowledge. Ritual actions, through which primitive man sought to influence the forces of nature, fate, were accompanied by words: spells and conspiracies were pronounced, and various requests or threats were addressed to the forces of nature. The art of words was closely connected with other types of primitive art - music, dance, decorative art. In science this is called “primitive syncretism.” Traces of it are still visible in folklore.
As humanity accumulated more and more significant life experience, which needed to be passed on to subsequent generations, the role of verbal information increased. The separation of verbal creativity into an independent art form is the most important step in the prehistory of folklore. Folklore was a verbal art organically inherent in folk life. The different purposes of the works gave rise to genres, with their various themes, images, and styles. In the ancient period, most peoples had tribal traditions, work and ritual songs, mythological stories, and conspiracies. The decisive event that paved the line between mythology and folklore itself was the appearance of fairy tales, the plots of which were perceived as fiction.
In ancient and medieval society, a heroic epic took shape. Legends and songs reflecting religious beliefs also arose (for example, Russian spiritual poems). Later, historical songs appeared, depicting real historical events and heroes, as they remained in people's memory. With changes in the social life of society, new genres arose in Russian folklore: soldiers', coachmen's, barge haulers' songs. The growth of industry and cities gave rise to romances, jokes, worker, school and student folklore.
For thousands of years, folklore was the only form of poetic creativity among all peoples. But with the advent of writing for many centuries, right up to the period of late feudalism, oral poetic creativity was widespread not only among working people, but also among the upper strata of society: the nobility, the clergy. Having arisen in a certain social environment, the work could become national property.
1.2 Specific features of folklore
One of the most important specific features of folk oral creativity is collectivity. Each piece of oral folk art not only expresses the thoughts and feelings of specific groups, but is also collectively created and disseminated. However, collectivity creative process in folklore does not mean that individuals played no role. Talented masters not only improved or adapted existing texts to new conditions, but sometimes also created songs, ditties, and fairy tales, which, in accordance with the laws of oral folk art, were distributed without the name of the author. With the social division of labor, unique professions arose related to the creation and performance of poetic and musical works (ancient Greek rhapsodes, Russian guslars, Ukrainian kobzars, Kyrgyz akyns, Azerbaijani ashugs, French chansonniers, etc.). Collectivity is not a simple co-authorship, but a special long-term process of improving songs, fairy tales, legends, proverbs and sayings. Collectivity is most clearly manifested in the constant process of selection and polishing of works of folk poetry: from many works, the people choose and preserve the best, similar to their thoughts and aesthetic views. The collective principle in folklore is not opposed to the individual. Folklore is characterized by an organic combination of the collective and the individual, while collectivity does not interfere with the manifestation of the individual abilities of writers and performers.
The oral form of existence of folklore is organically connected with the collectivity of folk art. Folklore appeared earlier than writing and initially existed only in oral transmission. The oral form of existence of folk poetry leads to the emergence of variants of the same folklore work - this is another specific feature of folklore - variability.
Folklore works differ from fiction in the features of their artistic form. These features include, first of all, traditional poetics developed by the people over the centuries. Traditional folk symbolism, constant epithets, metaphors give folk art a specific flavor.
Folklore differs from written literature in its typification features. Literature is characterized by the creation of typical characters in typical settings. Typical character, reflecting the main features of his social environment and his era, manifests itself through the individual qualities of the hero, through his individual and unique appearance. The images of oral folk art do not have such individualization.
1.3 Functions and educational potential of folklore
Firstly, folklore helps to deepen knowledge about folk spiritual culture in its past and present. Folklore introduces you to the life, traditions, and customs of your own and the “neighboring people.”
Secondly, with the help of folklore, the assimilation of moral and behavioral cultural norms and values enshrined in the culture of a nation is carried out. Moral and behavioral norms and values are expressed in a system of images. Revealing the characters of fairy-tale characters, delving into the essence of their actions, the student understands what is good and what is bad, thereby easily determining his likes and dislikes, and comprehending popular ideas about human beauty. Wise folk proverbs and sayings inform about behavioral norms.
Thirdly, with the help of folklore it is possible to develop a respectful attitude both towards the culture of one’s own ethnic group and a tolerant attitude towards others ethnic cultures. By studying folklore, a child realizes that the people are creators, creators of cultural heritage that should be admired and proud. Folklore is centuries old people's labor, preserving the history of the ethnic group.
Fourthly, folklore contributes to the development of aesthetic taste. The child feels the beauty of folk thought, he has a need to communicate with the people. He strives to understand what means people use in their creativity, and tries to apply them in the future.
Belarusian folklore occupies a special place in the national culture of Belarusians and performs the following functions:
1. aesthetic
2. educational
3. educational
Aesthetic function folklore lies in the fact that it forms artistic taste in children, develops the ability to appreciate and understand beauty, and contributes to the formation of a harmoniously developed personality.
The essence educational function lies in the fact that oral folk art, being a means of folk pedagogy, shapes the qualities of human character. Proverbs, sayings, and fairy tales are filled with high moral and moral meaning and give characterological assessments of a person from the standpoint of “good” and “bad.”
Cognitive significance of folklore lies in the fact that this is a way for a child to get acquainted with the world around him.
1.4 Genres of folklore
All folklore genres are usually grouped, as in literature, into three groups or three types: dramatic, prose and song.
Any folklore originates in small genres, which include riddles, proverbs and sayings.
A proverb is understood as an apt figurative saying of an edifying nature, typifying a wide variety of life phenomena and having the form of a complete sentence.
Proverbs satisfied many of the spiritual needs of workers: cognitive-intellectual (educational), industrial, aesthetic, moral, etc.
Proverbs are not antiquity, not the past, but the living voice of the people: the people retain in their memory only what they need today and will need tomorrow. When a proverb talks about the past, it is assessed from the point of view of the present and the future - it is condemned or approved depending on the extent to which the past reflected in the aphorism corresponds to people's ideals, expectations and aspirations. (6; 36)
A proverb is created by the entire people, therefore it expresses the collective opinion of the people. It contains a popular assessment of life, observations of the people's mind. A successful aphorism, created by an individual mind, does not become a popular proverb if it does not express the opinion of the majority.
Folk proverbs have a form that is favorable for memorization, which enhances their significance as ethnopedagogical tools. Proverbs remain firmly in memory. Their memorization is made easier by the play of words, various consonances, rhymes, rhythms, sometimes very skillful. The ultimate goal of proverbs has always been education; since ancient times they have acted as pedagogical tools. On the one hand, they contain a pedagogical idea, on the other hand, they have an educational influence and carry out educational functions: they tell about the means and methods of educational influence that correspond to the ideas of the people, they give characterological assessments of the individual - positive and negative, which, in one way or another, determine the goals of personality formation , contain a call for education, self-education and re-education, condemn adults who neglect their sacred duties - pedagogical, etc.
Proverbs contain a lot of practical material: everyday advice, wishes in work, greetings, etc.
The most common form of proverbs is instructions. From a pedagogical point of view, instructions of three categories are interesting: instructions instructing children and youth in good morals, including the rules of good manners; teachings calling on adults to behave decently, and, finally, instructions of a special kind, containing pedagogical advice, stating the results of education, which is a kind of generalization of pedagogical experience. They contain a huge amount of educational material on issues of upbringing. Positive and negative traits Individuals, according to proverbs, are presented as the goals of education and re-education, implying every possible improvement in the behavior and character of people. At the same time, it is noteworthy that all nations recognize the infinity of human perfection. Any person, no matter how perfect he is, can rise to another level of perfection. This step leads not only a person, but also humanity to progress. Many proverbs are motivated and reasoned calls for self-improvement.
The Literary Encyclopedia describes a riddle as “an intricate poetic description of an object or phenomenon that tests the ingenuity of the guesser.” The definitions of a riddle are based on the same features:
– the description is often framed in the form of an interrogative sentence;
– the description is laconic and the riddle has rhythm.
Thus, a riddle is a brief description of an object or phenomenon, often in poetic form, containing an intricate task in the form of an explicit (direct) or implied (hidden) question.
Riddles are designed to develop children's thinking, to teach them to analyze objects and phenomena from various areas of the surrounding reality; Moreover, the presence of a large number of riddles about the same phenomenon made it possible to give a comprehensive description of the subject (phenomenon). But the significance of riddles in mental education is far from being limited to the development of thinking; they also enrich the mind with information about nature and knowledge from various areas of human life. The use of riddles in mental education is valuable because the totality of information about nature and human society is acquired by the child in the process of active mental activity.
Riddles contribute to the development of a child’s memory, imaginative thinking, and speed of mental reactions.
A riddle teaches a child to compare the characteristics of different objects, to find commonality in them, and thereby develops his ability to classify objects and discard their unimportant characteristics. In other words, with the help of a riddle the foundations of theoretical creative thinking are formed.
A riddle develops a child's observation skills. The more observant a child is, the better and faster he solves riddles. A special place in the process of raising children is occupied by the diagnostic function of the riddle: it allows the teacher, without any special tests or questionnaires, to identify the degree of observation, intelligence, mental development, as well as the level of creative thinking of the child.
A saying - from the simplest poetic works, such as a fable or a proverb, can stand out and independently turn into living speech, the elements in which condense their content; this is not an abstract formula of the idea of the work, but a figurative hint of it, taken from the work itself and serving as its substitute (for example, “a pig under the oak tree,” or “a dog in the manger,” or “he washes dirty linen in public”)
A saying, unlike a proverb, does not contain a generalizing instructive meaning.
Proverbs and sayings are comparative or allegorical statements and contain the worldly wisdom of the people. From these two sprouts, metaphors (in riddles) and figurative comparisons(in sayings), and folk poetry grows.
Song genres of folklore are represented by epic songs and ballads, ritual and lyrical songs, ditties, work songs and improvisations. Lamentations also join the song genre.
The songs reflect the age-old expectations, aspirations and innermost dreams of the people. The songs are unique in their musical and poetic presentation of the idea - ethical, aesthetic, pedagogical. Beauty and goodness appear in unity in the song. Good fellows, praised by the people, are not only kind, but also beautiful. Folk songs have absorbed the highest national values, focused only on goodness, on human happiness.
Songs are a more complex form of folk poetry than riddles and proverbs. The main purpose of songs is to instill a love of beauty, to develop aesthetic views and tastes. The song is characterized by a high poeticization of all aspects of people's life, including the education of the younger generation. The pedagogical value of the song is that beautiful singing was taught, and it, in turn, taught beauty and goodness. The song accompanied all events of people's life - work, holidays, games, funerals, etc. The whole life of people passed in a song that the best way expressed the ethical and aesthetic essence of the individual. A complete song cycle is a person’s life from birth to death. Songs are sung to a baby in a cradle, who has not yet learned to understand, to an old man in a coffin, who has ceased to feel and understand. Scientists have proven the beneficial role of gentle song in mental development baby in the womb. Lullabies not only put the baby to sleep, but also caress him, soothe him, and bring joy. Some categories of songs are designed for specific age groups, although, of course, most songs cannot be sharply demarcated and distributed by age. Some adult songs are sung by small children with special enthusiasm. Therefore, we can only talk about the predominant performance of certain songs at a given age.
Noteworthy means of educational influence are pestles And nursery rhymes. In them, the growing child occupies the entire attention of the adult. Pestushki got their name from the word to nurture - to nurse, to carry in one’s arms. These are short poetic refrains that accompany the child’s movements during nurturing.
Pestlets make sense only when accompanied by a tactile device - a light bodily touch. A gentle massage, accompanied by a cheerful, simple song with clear pronunciation of poetic lines, puts the child in a cheerful, cheerful mood. All the main points are taken into account in the pestles physical development child. As he begins to find his feet, he is told one thing; a child taking his first steps is taught to stand more firmly on his feet and at the same time other pestles speak.
Pestushki gradually turn into nursery rhyme songs that accompany the child’s games with fingers, arms, and legs. These games often also contain pedagogical instruction in hard work, kindness, and friendliness.
Song is a complex form of folk poetry. The main purpose of songs is aesthetic education. But they aim to implement other aspects of personality formation, i.e. are a comprehensive means of influencing the individual.
The songs reveal the external and internal beauty of a person, the meaning of beauty in life; they are one of the best means of developing aesthetic tastes in the younger generation. Beautiful melodies enhance the aesthetic impact of the poetic words of the songs. The influence of folk songs on peasant youth has always been enormous, and their significance has never been limited only to the beauty of verse and melody (external beauty, beauty of form). The beauty of thoughts and the beauty of content are also among the strengths of folk songs.
And the very words of the songs, and the conditions, and the nature of their performance contribute to the strengthening of health and the development of hard work. The songs glorify health, it is called happiness, the highest good. People have always believed that songs develop the voice, expand and strengthen the lungs: “To sing loudly, you need to have strong lungs,” “A sonorous song expands the chest.”
The importance of songs in the labor education of children and youth is invaluable. As mentioned above, songs accompanied and stimulated the labor process; they contributed to the coordination and unification of the labor efforts of workers.
Fairy tales are an important educational tool, developed and tested by people over centuries. Life and folk education practices have convincingly proven the pedagogical value of fairy tales. Children and fairy tales are inseparable, they are created for each other, and therefore familiarity with the fairy tales of one’s people should be included in the education and upbringing of every child.
The most characteristic features of fairy tales are nationality, optimism, fascinating plot, imagery and fun, and, finally, didacticism.
The material for folk tales was the life of the people: their struggle for happiness, beliefs, customs, and the surrounding nature. There was a lot of superstition and darkness in the beliefs of the people. This is dark and reactionary - a consequence of the difficult historical past of the working people. Most fairy tales reflect the best features of the people: hard work, talent, loyalty in battle and work, boundless devotion to the people and homeland. Incarnation in fairy tales positive traits people and made fairy tales effective means transmission of these traits from generation to generation. Precisely because fairy tales reflect the life of a people, their best features, and cultivate these features in the younger generation, nationality turns out to be one of the most important characteristics of fairy tales.
Many folk tales inspire confidence in the triumph of truth, in the victory of good over evil. As a rule, in all fairy tales there is suffering positive hero and his friends are transient, temporary, joy usually comes after them, and this joy is the result of struggle, the result of joint efforts. Optimism Children especially like fairy tales and enhance the educational value of folk pedagogical means.
The fascination of the plot, imagery and fun make fairy tales a very effective pedagogical tool.
Imagery- an important feature of fairy tales, which facilitates their perception by children who are not yet capable of abstract thinking. The hero usually very clearly and clearly shows those main character traits that bring him closer to the national character of the people: courage, hard work, wit, etc. These features are revealed both in events and through various artistic means, such as hyperbolization. Thus, the trait of hard work as a result of hyperbolization reaches the utmost brightness and convexity of the image (in one night build a palace, a bridge from the hero’s house to the king’s palace, in one night sow flax, grow, process, spin, weave, sew and clothe the people, sow wheat , grow, harvest, thresh, thresh, bake and feed people, etc.). The same should be said about such traits as physical strength, courage, boldness, etc.
Imagery is complemented funnyness fairy tales The wise teacher-people took special care to ensure that fairy tales were interesting and entertaining. A folk tale contains not only bright and lively images, but also subtle and cheerful humor. All nations have fairy tales, the special purpose of which is to amuse the listener.
Didacticism is one of the most important features of fairy tales. Fairy tales from all peoples of the world are always instructive and edifying. It was precisely noting their instructive nature, their didacticism, that A.S. wrote. Pushkin at the end of his “Tale of the Golden Cockerel”:
The fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it!
Good fellows lesson.
Due to the features noted above, fairy tales of all nations are an effective means of education. Fairy tales are a treasure trove of pedagogical ideas, brilliant examples of folk pedagogical genius.
Folk theater, existing in forms organically related to oral folk art, originated in ancient times: the games that accompanied hunting and agricultural holidays contained elements of transformation. Theatricalization of the action was present in calendar and family rituals (Yuletide dressing up, weddings, etc.).
In folk theater, a distinction is made between live theater and puppet theater. The Russian Petrushka Theater was close to the Ukrainian nativity scene and the Belarusian batleyka.
The most characteristic feature of folk theater (as well as folk art in general) is the open conventionality of costumes and props, movements and gestures; During the performances, the actors directly communicated with the public, who could give cues, intervene in the action, direct it, and sometimes take part in it (sing along with the choir of performers, portray minor characters V crowd scenes).
The folk theater, as a rule, had neither a stage nor decorations. The main interest in it is focused not on the depth of revealing the characters of the characters, but on the tragic or comical nature of situations and situations.
The folk theater introduces young spectators to verbal folklore, develops memory and imaginative thinking. Comic characters make fun of people's vices, dramatic characters teach empathy. By participating in his simple performances, the child learns to speak correctly and beautifully, give a speech in front of an audience, and overcome shyness.
Folk dance is one of the oldest species folk art. The dance was part of folk performances at festivals and fairs. The appearance of round dances and other ritual dances is associated with folk rituals. Gradually moving away from ritual actions, round dances were filled with new content that expressed new features of everyday life.
Peoples engaged in hunting and animal husbandry reflected their observations of the animal world in their dance. The character and habits of animals, birds, and domestic animals were conveyed figuratively and expressively: the Yakut dance of the bear, the Russian crane, the gander, etc. Dances on the theme of rural labor appeared: the Latvian dance of reapers, the Hutsul dance of woodcutters, the Estonian dance of shoemakers, the Belarusian lyanka, the Moldavian poame ( grape). Folk dance often reflects the military spirit, valor, heroism, and reproduces battle scenes (Georgian khorumi, berikaoba, Cossack dances, etc.). The theme of love occupies a large place in folk dance art: dances expressing the nobility of feelings, respectful attitude towards a woman (Georgian kartuli, Russian Baynov square dance).
Dance allows you to develop plasticity, special coordination of movements, techniques for relating movement to music. Children learn to move rhythmically, communicate with each other in motion (round dance, stream).
Folk arts and crafts immortalize the vast, ever-living soul of the people, their rich practical experience and aesthetic taste. In Belarus, artistic woodworking, pottery, weaving, painting, weaving and embroidery were the most developed.
In certain features of folk art, norms of work and life, culture and beliefs can be traced. The most common element is the ornament born in antiquity, which helps to achieve the organic unity of the composition and is deeply interconnected with the technique of execution, the feeling of the subject, the plastic form, and the natural beauty of the material. Folk craftsmen have been highly valued since ancient times. The secrets of their craft were passed down from generation to generation, from father to son, combining the wisdom and experience of the past and the discoveries of the present. Children from an early age were involved in work and helping their parents. Working together helps children better master a craft, learn from the experience of a mentor (parents), and instills hard work.
2. The practice of using folklore and folklore genres in the system of national education
Folklore promotes the creative development of children and youth in the world of fairy tales, epics, and legends. Nakhodki centuries-old history spiritual traditions, systematized in folklore, should be used in building a modern model of education.
Let's look at practical applications and potential proverbs in national education.
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of labor education in the general system of folk pedagogy; it really is its core. Since ancient times, the labor education of children and youth has been the most important responsibility of parents, and then of educational institutions and other public institutions. That is why there are a great many proverbs praising work and ridiculing laziness among the peoples of the whole world.
He is not good who has a handsome face, but he is good who is good at business (Russian proverb).
Great in body, but small in deed (Russian proverb)
A little deed is better than a lot of idleness (Russian proverb)
If you love to ride, love to carry a sleigh (Russian proverb)
You have to bend down to drink from a stream (Russian proverb)
Gultay for work, and mazol by the hand (Belarusian proverb)
Love for one's homeland native land- the most important topic in the education of patriotism.
The bird that is not happy with its nest is stupid.
The Motherland is your mother, know how to stand up for her.
Someone else's food has someone else's taste.
Each sandpiper praises its swamp.
Where the pine tree grows, there it is red.
A swan has no use for the steppe, a bustard has no need for a lake.
Even the frog sings in his swamp.
Houses and walls help.
On his street there is a dog - a tiger.
A pile hut, like a native womb.
A special place in the system of aphorisms is occupied by proverbs that teach respect for elders.
Shanuy people, then I will pashanuytsya. (4; 302)
Old man, please, little man, please.
Proverbs and sayings in artistic images recorded the experience of life lived in all its diversity and inconsistency.
Solving riddles develops the ability to analyze, generalize, forms the ability to independently draw conclusions, inferences, the ability to clearly identify the most characteristic, expressive features of an object or phenomenon, the ability to vividly and succinctly convey images of objects, develops in children a “poetic view of reality.”
Reflecting the picturesque landscapes of the homeland, full of colors, sounds, smells, riddles contribute to the education of aesthetic feelings.
Fluffy carpet
Not fabric with your hands,
Not sewn with silks,
In the sun, in the month
Shines like silver (snow)
Riddles help children understand the world around them and introduce them to the world of things.
Here are examples of riddles about household items.
Two rings, two ends, nails in the middle (scissors)
No legs, but I walk, no mouth, but I’ll tell you when to sleep, when to get up, when to start work (clock)
Riddles pay attention to the habits of animals; in riddles about vegetables and fruits, plants and berries, special attention is paid to the features of appearance.
Sleeps in winter, stirs up hives in summer (bear)
Shaggy, mustachioed, scouring the pantries, looking for sour cream (cat)
I will get a round, ruddy apple from the tree
Low and prickly, sweet and fragrant, if you pick the berries, you will rip off all your hands (gooseberry)
The value of the riddle is that in a highly poetic form it reflects the economic and labor activity of a person, his life, experience, flora, fauna, the world as a whole, and to this day it has great artistic significance in raising children.
Fairy tales, being artistic and literary works, they were at the same time for workers and an area of theoretical generalizations in many branches of knowledge. They are a treasury of folk pedagogy; moreover, many fairy tales are pedagogical works, i.e. they contain pedagogical ideas.
The great Russian teacher K.D. Ushinsky had such a high opinion of fairy tales that he included them in his pedagogical system. Ushinsky saw the reason for the success of fairy tales among children in the fact that the simplicity and spontaneity of folk art correspond to the same properties of child psychology.
Fairy tales, depending on the topic and content, make listeners think and make them think. Often a child concludes: “This doesn’t happen in life.” The question involuntarily arises: “What happens in life?” Already the conversation between the narrator and the child, which contains the answer to this question, has educational significance. But fairy tales also contain educational material directly. It should be noted that the educational significance of fairy tales extends, in particular, to individual details of folk customs and traditions and even to everyday trifles.
For example, in the Chuvash fairy tale “He who does not honor the old will not see the good himself,” it is said that the daughter-in-law, not listening to her mother-in-law, decided to cook porridge not from millet, but from millet and not in water, but only in oil. What came of this? As soon as she opened the lid, millet grains, not boiled, but fried, jumped out and fell into her eyes and blinded her forever. The main thing in the fairy tale, of course, is the moral conclusion: you need to listen to the voice of the old, take into account their everyday experience, otherwise you will be punished. But for children it also contains educational material: they fry in oil, not boil, therefore, it is absurd to cook porridge without water, in oil alone. Children are usually not told about this, because no one does this in life, but in the fairy tale children are given instructions that everything has its place, that there should be order in everything.
Here's another example. The fairy tale “A penny for a miser” tells how a smart tailor agreed with a greedy old woman to pay her one penny for every “star” of fat in her soup. When the old woman was putting in the butter, the tailor encouraged her: “Put it in, put it in, old woman, don’t skimp on the butter, because it’s not for nothing that I ask you: for every “star” I’ll pay a penny.” The greedy old woman put more and more oil in order to get a lot of money for it. But all her efforts yielded an income of one kopeck. The moral of this story is simple: don't be greedy. This is the main idea of the fairy tale. But its educational meaning is also great. Why, the child will ask, did the old woman get one big “star”?
In fairy tales, the idea of the unity of teaching and upbringing in folk pedagogy is realized to the maximum extent.
Folk lyrical song differs significantly from other genera and
types of folklore. Its composition is more diverse than the heroic epic, fairy tales and other genres. The songs were created at far from the same time. Each time composed its own songs. The lifespan of each song genre is also not the same.
Children's songs are a complex complex: these are songs of adults, composed especially for children (lullabies, nursery rhymes and pestushki); and songs that gradually passed from the adult repertoire to the children's repertoire (carols, spring songs, chants, game songs); and songs composed by the children themselves.
In infancy, mothers and grandmothers lull their children to sleep with affectionate lullabies, entertain them with nursery rhymes and nursery rhymes, play with their fingers, arms, legs, and bounce them on their knees or in their arms.
Well known: “The magpie-crow was cooking porridge...”; “Okay, okay! Where were you? –
By Grandma…".
Pestushki are songs and rhymes that accompany the child’s first conscious movements. For example:
"Oh, he sings, he sings
Nightingale!
Oh, he sings, he sings
Young;
Young,
Pretty,
Pretty."
Nursery rhymes - songs and rhymes for a child’s first games with fingers, arms, and legs. For example:
“Stretchers, stretchers!
Rotok - talkers,
Hands are grasping,
Legs are walkers."
Calls - children's song appeals to the sun, rainbow, rain, birds:
- Spring is red! What did you come with?
- On a bipod, on a harrow,
On a sheaf of oatmeal,
On a rye ear.
Sentences are verbal addresses to someone. For example, they say in the bathhouse:
From Gogol - water,
From a baby - thinness!
Roll away, all of you.
The lullaby occupies a special place in folklore.
Foxes are sleeping
Everything bit by bit,
Martens are sleeping
Everything is in order,
Falcons are sleeping
All in nests,
The sables are sleeping
Where they wanted
Little kids
They sleep in cradles.
In lullabies, mothers talk about the surrounding reality, think out loud about the purpose and meaning of life, and express their worries, joys and sorrows. In the lullaby, the mother finds an outlet for her feelings, an opportunity to fully speak out, express herself and get mental release.
The lullaby is the greatest achievement of folk pedagogy; it is inseparably connected with the practice of raising children at that very tender age, when the child is still a helpless creature requiring constant caring attention, love and tenderness, without which he simply cannot survive.
Folk songs contain joy and sorrow, love and hatred, joy and sadness. The songs reveal the best features of the national character of Belarusians: courage, bravery, truthfulness, humanism, sensitivity, hard work.
Conclusion
The experience of public education among all ethnic groups, nations and peoples is very rich. As an analysis of the traditional culture of education has shown, this experience is characterized by almost identical requirements for the qualities of the personality being formed and the system of means of its upbringing and training. It represents a unique (common to all mankind) folk wisdom, a system of universal human values, proven over centuries. But this does not mean that it is necessary to use the entire arsenal of folk remedies and educational factors without changes and critical assessment. It is necessary to take those that work today and correlate with our ideas about humanism and universal human values.
It is in vain to think that oral folk art was only the fruit of popular leisure. It was the dignity and intelligence of the people. It formed and strengthened his moral character, was his historical memory, the festive clothes of his soul and filled with deep content his entire measured life, flowing according to the customs and rituals associated with his work, nature and the veneration of his fathers and grandfathers.
Folklore plays a role in raising children important role. Dividing it into genres allows the child to enrich it at a certain age spiritual world, develop patriotism, respect for the past of one’s people, study of its traditions, assimilation of moral standards of behavior in society.
Folklore develops a child’s oral speech, influences his spiritual development and his imagination. Each genre of children's folklore teaches certain moral standards. So, for example, a fairy tale, by likening animals to people, shows a child the norms of behavior in society, and fairy tales develop not only imagination, but also ingenuity. Proverbs and sayings teach children folk wisdom that has been tested for centuries and has not lost its relevance in our time. An epic epic is a heroic narrative about events that took place in ancient times. And although epics are not so easy for children to understand, they are still aimed at instilling respect for the past people, at studying the traditions and behavior of people at all times, at the patriotism of the Slavic people, who, despite everything, remained faithful to their homeland and defended it in every possible way. Song lyrics also have an impact on raising children. It is mainly used when the child is still very young. For example, lullabies are sung to a baby to calm him down and put him to sleep. Song lyrics also include ditties, jokes, pesters, tongue twisters, and counting rhymes. They are specifically aimed at developing hearing and speech in children, since they use a special combination of sounds.
Thus, the introduction of a child to folk culture begins in childhood, where basic concepts and examples of behavior are laid down. Cultural heritage is passed on from generation to generation, developing and enriching the child’s world. Folklore is a unique means for transmitting folk wisdom and educating children at the initial stage of their development.
Bibliography
1. Baturina G.I., Kuzina T.F. Folk pedagogy in the education of preschool children. M., 1995.-S. 7–8.
2. Belarusian folklore. Haunted. Issue 2nd dap. Sklali K.P. Kabashnika, A.S. Lis, A.S. Fyadosik, I.K. Tsischanka Minsk, “Higher School”, 1977.
3. Bel. vusna – paet. creativity: Padruchnik for students of Phil. specialist. VNU / K.P. Kabashnika, A.S. Lis, A.S. Fyadosik i insh. – Mn.: Minsk, 20000. – 512 p.
4. Belarusians. T.7. Great creative creativity / G.A. Bartashevich, T.V. Valodzina, A.I. Gurski i insh. Redcal. V.M. Balyavina i insh; Institute of History, Ethnagraphy and Folklore. – Mn.: Bel. Navuka, 2004.-586 p.
5. Berezhnova, L.N. Ethnopedagogy: textbook. aid for students Higher Textbook institutions / L.N. Berezhnova, I.L. Nabok, V.I. Shcheglov. – M.: Publishing house. Center "Academy", 2007. – 240 p.
6. Volkov, G.N. Ethnopedagogy: Textbook. for students avg. and higher ped. textbook institutions / G.N. Volkov - M.: Publishing center "Academy", 1999. - 168 p.
7. Volodko, V.F. Education / V.F. Volodko; BNTU – Minsk: Law and Economics, 207 – 230 p.
8. Literary encyclopedia. M.A. Puzzles. M., 1964, vol. 2, p. 970.
9. Chernyavskaya Yu.V. Belarusian: touches to a self-portrait. Ethnic self-image of Belarusians in fairy tales / Chernyavskaya Yu.V. – Mn.: “Four Quarters”, 2006. – 244 p.
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What do we mean by the term "folklore"? If we take the etymology of this word, then translated from English we get: “folk” - people, people, “lore” - knowledge (knowledge in any area). Therefore, folklore is folk knowledge. In the etymology of this word we see a deep meaning, very important for discussions about the nature of folklore. Actually, folklore itself is “the knowledge of the people,” as the American folklorist F.J. Childe (281, p.291).
The German philosopher I. Herder (see: 1, pp. 118-122; 91, pp. 458-467; 167, pp. 182-186) can be considered the founder of folklore as a science, although the term “folklore” that is familiar to us for He did not use the designation of folk art. I. Herder became not only one of the first collectors of folk poetry and songs, publishing the work “Voices of Peoples in Songs” in 1778, but also published scientific works “Fragments on German Literature”, “Critical Groves”, “On Ossian and songs of the ancients”, etc., in which he put forward the principle of a historical approach to the phenomena of folk culture. He paid attention to the collection and study of folk poetry and songs, considering them the source of poetry in general. He had the following external reasons for this.
In 1760-65. poet and collector of ancient Scottish ballads and legends J. Macpherson, based on them he wrote poems under the general title “Songs of Ossian, son of Fingal.” In the next century, the folk authenticity of the Songs of Ossian proved problematic, but in that century his works aroused enormous public interest in folk poetry and antiquity.
In 1765, the Englishman, writer and publisher T. Percy, using a folk handwritten collection of the 17th century, also published a book of ancient English songs“Monuments of English Poetry”, accompanied by three scientific articles on the work of ancient bards and medieval minstrels.
I. Herder, becoming interested in these publications, introduced into science the concept of “folk song” (Volkslied), as he called the ancient and contemporary folk songs preserved in folk life, as well as the poetry that existed among the people at that time. Noting the historical role of the people in the creation of national culture, I. Herder wrote that the poetry of each people reflects its morals, customs, working and living conditions. I. Herder deserves great credit for defining folklore as a source for the creation of national literature and art, which was later developed by romantic artists.
The term "folklore" was proposed in the mid-19th century. by the English cultural historian William John Toms in the article “Folk-Lore”, in the magazine “The Athenaeum” in 1846 (published under the pseudonym A. Merton). In the article, W. J. Toms called for collecting folk art, and in the very title of the article he emphasized that folklore is “folk knowledge” (2, pp. 179-180). Later, in 1879, in the magazine "Folk-Lore Record", W. J. Thoms emphasized that folklore is the oral history of a people, the remnants of former beliefs, traditions, customs, etc. In defining the meaning of the term "folklore" W. J. Toms has a noticeable connection with the ideas of I. Herder and the aesthetics of the German romantics (F. Schelling, J. and I. Grimm, etc.).
In 1870, the Folk-Lore Society was created in England. The magazine "Folk-Lore Record" gives the following meaning of the term: folklore is "ancient mores, customs, rites and ceremonies of past eras, turned into superstitions and traditions of the lower classes of civilized society", and in a broader sense - "the totality of forms of unwritten history people,” and further: “We can say that folklore covers the entire culture of the people, which was not used in official religion and history, but which is and which has always been its own work.” .
The spread of the term “folklore” and its introduction into scientific use is associated with the works of V. Mannhardt, E. Tylor, E. Lang and others.
Thus, the term “folklore” appeared in science as a designation for the totality of archaism, traditions and folk culture, with a clearly expressed “ethnographic” approach to folklore, and its boundaries were very wide.
In 1874, the American scientist F. J. Child published an article in Johnson’s Universal Encyclopedia “The Poetry of the Ballad”, where he did not use the terms “folk” and “folklore”, using others instead - “people” (people) and “popular” "(folk). With these themes he characterized folk culture as a whole. Expressing his attitude to the problem of the authorship of the ballad, he wrote that folk poetry “will always be an expression of the mind and heart of the people, as an individual, and never of the personality of an individual person” (281, p. 291).
F. J. Childe was the creator of the American school of folklore and separated his theory of folk poetry from the ideas of the German “romantic” school. In 1892, in Johnson's Universal Encyclopedia, a student of F. J. Childe, W. Nevel, developing the ideas of F. Childe, defined folklore as the formally universal customs and beliefs of an entire ethnic community, preserved through conservative and less educated classes. He noted as the main characteristics of folklore - “oral creativity”, “oral tradition”, an addition to literature.
In parallel, the term “folklore” in the science of Western countries was accompanied by other names - Poesie populaire, Traditions populaires, Tradizioni populari (folk traditions), Volkdichtung (folk poetry), Volkskunde (folk art). Only in the 20th century. the term "folklore" became commonly used. In its broad meaning, i.e. as “folk traditions”, “folk art”, it began to be used by the majority of scientists in Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, the USA, Latin America and other countries. In the science of the Scandinavian countries and Finland, folklore is defined as collective traditional knowledge transmitted through word and action.
In 1949-50 In the USA, the two-volume encyclopedic “Standard Dictionary of Folk Mythology and Legends” was published. It contains more than 20 articles about folklore, belonging to scientists from different countries and scientific fields, who gave different definitions of folklore and methods of its research.
The Mexican scientist M. Espinoza defines that “folklore consists of beliefs, customs, superstitions, proverbs, riddles, songs, myths, legends, tales, ritual ceremonies, magic, both of primitive and illiterate people, and of the masses of people in a civilized society... Folklore can be called a direct and true expression of the memory of primitive man" ["Standard dictionary of folklore...", p. 399].
Similar views are held by other authors in the mentioned “Dictionary”. Thus, M. Barbier includes in folklore everything that relates to “ traditional culture» - right down to culinary recipes; B. Botkin writes that “in a purely oral culture everything is folklore” [ibid., p. 398].
In 1960, Argentine folklorist K. Vega published the work “Folkloristics. Subject and notes for its study in Argentina". K. Vega called folklore such manifestations of folk culture: myths, legends, fairy tales, fables, riddles, songs, games, rituals, beliefs; peculiarities vernacular, housing, furniture, utensils, etc.
K. Vega speaks of the presence of two different levels of culture, which correspond to the conditionally “enlightened classes” and the “people” itself. Folklore acts as a cultural “relic”, which 50-100 years ago was widespread among the “enlightened” classes, but was gradually forced out among the masses, especially rural ones, where it is preserved and continues to function (176, pp. 174-192 ).
We believe that the above-mentioned authors, firstly, take fairly broad boundaries to define folklore and connect it with folk studies; secondly, they underestimate the essence of the folklore-historical process, which ensures both the continuity of traditions and innovation, updating the system of types and genres of folklore.
In domestic science in the 18th-19th centuries. concepts such as “folk poetry” and “oral folk literature” were used. The concept of “folklore” was introduced only in the 1890s. - beginning XX century E. Anichkov, A. Veselovsky, V. Lamansky, V. Lesevich, which expanded the subject of research itself.
But even later, in Soviet folkloristics, the designation “oral folk art” was used for a long time, which limited the very subject of research. Along with the importance of the oral transmission of folklore, the collective nature of its creation (or anonymity of authorship) and variability have always been emphasized.
A common belief is that folklore is "folk art". It is possible that such an interpretation is appropriate in cases where we are talking about concert performances of folklore. But this type of “folk art” is almost always presented in the processing and arrangements of professionals, but is also “taken out” of the context of folk life.
Note that back in 1938-41. in the work “Russian Folklore” by Yu.M. Sokolov wrote about the impossibility, due to the close connection of folklore with folk culture, genetic connection with myth, etc., of its interpretation only as art and the application of the term “oral folk poetic creativity” to it (216, pp. 7-8) .
A recognized authority in world science, V.Ya. Propp called folklore verbal creativity and musical and song genres. He wrote: “What is meant by folklore in Western European science? If we take the book of the German folklorist I. Meyer “Deutshe Volkskunde”, then we see the following sections there: village, buildings, courtyards, plants, customs, superstitions, language, legends, fairy tales, folk songs. This picture is typical for all Western European science. We call folklore what in the West is called folk traditions, folk poetry. And what is called folklore in the West can be called “popular scientific homeland studies” [V.Ya. Propp. "Folklore and reality", 1976, p. 17-18].
V.Ya. Propp wrote: “By folklore we mean only spiritual creativity, and even already, only verbal, poetic creativity. Since poetic creativity is almost always associated with music, we can talk about musical folklore and distinguish it as an independent scientific discipline" [ibid., p. 18].
The works of domestic researchers of the 20th century reflect ideas about folklore as part of traditional peasant culture, the remaining layers of culture in the peasant environment throughout subsequent periods in the history of society. (3. Chicherov V.I. Winter period Russian folk agricultural calendar of the 16th-19th centuries. Essays on the history of folk beliefs. M., 1957; Propp V.Ya. Russian agricultural holidays. M., 1963; Rozhdestvenskaya S.B. Russian folk artistic tradition in modern society. M., 1981; Nekrasova M.A. Folk art as part of culture. M., 1983; Chistov K.V. Folk traditions and folklore. Essays on theory. L., 1986. Gusev V.E. Russian folk artistic culture. (Theoretical essays). St. Petersburg, 1993, etc.).
M.S. Kagan associated folklore primarily with peasant creativity and therefore spoke about the extinction of folklore, considered it as pre-art, etc.
V.E. Gusev in the article “Folklore as an Element of Culture” and others writes that at present three main aesthetic approaches to folklore have been identified:
1 - folklore is only oral folk art,
2 - folklore is a complex of verbal, musical, dance and entertainment-game types of folk art,
3 - folklore is folk art culture in general, including fine and decorative arts.
The disadvantages of the first approach to folklore lie in the severance of multifunctional connections that actually exist in culture; its correlation only with the word, without noticing its non-verbal syncretic manifestations; studying the specifics of folklore only from the side of language, connections with literature, etc.
The second approach is based on highlighting the artistic specificity of folklore, differentiation between “visual” and “expressive” types of artistic activity. In “Aesthetics of Folklore” V.E. Gusev classified folklore into epic, dramatic and lyrical types of art; verbal, musical, dance, theatrical forms, etc. He determined the genre specificity of folklore by artistic form, poetics, everyday use, connection with music, etc. .
In the third approach to folklore, we see the desire to unite in the concept of “folklore” all folk culture as a whole, blurring its specific and genre boundaries. Undoubtedly, folk costume (clothes, shoes, jewelry), ritual objects, musical instruments and even the manner of playing them also play a big role in folklore; folk architecture, for example, as a “visual and decorative background” against which the action takes place (Russian wedding, etc.). In this regard, we note that there is such a concept as “plastic folklore,” that is, folk decorative and visual creativity (see: 236, 237).
The essential characteristics of folklore by domestic researchers were mainly determined, first of all, by its artistic characteristics, its comparison with literature, which directed researchers to characterize it as a specific type of art - “folk art”. indeed, its like art. But in such an approach to folklore, it must have all the specific features of art, as well as the fullness of its characteristics as a form of social consciousness.
This leads to an underestimation of folklore, which has a specific connection with both the material, everyday, and spiritual and artistic spheres of the historical and cultural process. First of all, folklore is a folk everyday and artistic tradition with a variety of sociocultural functions. K.S. Davletov writes about the most important social function of folklore - “the function of folk history, folk philosophy, folk sociology” (65, p. 16).
Characterizing its sociocultural functions in the past, K.V. Chistov notes that folklore then satisfied not only the artistic needs of the people. “In modern language, it was an oral book, an oral journal, an oral newspaper, a form of amateur performance, and a way of consolidating and transmitting historical, legal, meteorological, medical and other knowledge” [K.V. Chistov. Folklore and modernity //S.I. Mints, E.V. Pomerantseva. Russian folkloristics. Reader. M.: High. school 1965. p. 453].
We see the reasons for the above approaches in defining folklore in the differences in methodological, ideological and professional principles of researchers.
Folklore is characterized by a complex interweaving of artistic and non-artistic principles: with some properties it enters the sphere of art, with others it leaves it. Folklore is genetically related to myth in many ways. In addition, the cognitive, aesthetic, ritual and everyday functions in it constitute one syncretic whole, enclosed in a figurative and artistic form.
It is clearly insufficient to look at folklore as merely an oral tradition. The first recorded literature was always or almost always folklore, wrote V.Ya. Propp. These are the ancient Greek “Iliad” and “Odyssey”, the Indian epics “Mahabharata” and “Ramayana”, etc. Medieval writers wrote down the ancient German epic “Song of the Nibelungs”, the ancient English “Beowulf”, Celtic folk tales about King Arthur, Icelandic sagas; the fruit of knightly creativity are the epic “Song of Cid”, “Song of Roland”, etc. With the spread of literacy, “folk” handwritten books appeared, which were distributed and revised (“The Romance of the Fox”, “The Tale of Doctor Faustus”, etc. ).
The first Russian chronicles are associated with folklore stories and legends. One can note the use of folklore symbols, images, etc. in chronicle sources. Such is the epic “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” discovered in a manuscript in 1792. Count Musin-Pushkin in one of the monasteries. (For Russian culture, the problem of his authorship is no less important than the famous question about the author of the Iliad and Odyssey).
The writing of medieval Rus' (“the golden age of folklore”) was represented mainly by Christian literature, and only chronicles and folklore performed secular cultural functions. The chroniclers included both historical legends and folklore, even buffoons (for example, “The Prayer of Daniel the Imprisoner”). The Moscow chronicle of Photius (15th century) included epics from the Kyiv cycle.
In Rus', popular popular prints were signed, for example, depicting the performance of buffoons: “a bear and a goat are chilling, having fun with their music,” etc. By the 17th century. include handwritten stories “The Tale of the Mountain of Misfortune”, “The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn”, “Shemyakin’s Court” and others, which did not retain the names of the authors, and are essentially handwritten folklore. In Russia, such a genre of folklore as spiritual poetry was written down, and this tradition was preserved until the 20th century. Old Believers. Thus, in addition to oral transmission, the first recordings of Russian folklore arose.
This applies especially to the content of Russian folklore of the 18th-19th centuries, because, starting from the second half of the XVIII century, peasant folklore was not only recorded, but also published, thanks to which it became widespread in the urban environment. Without limiting folklore to the peasant tradition, it should be recognized that at this time the genres of urban, soldier, etc. folklore were intensively developing.
In Russian folklore, along with oral tradition, the collective nature of its creation was emphasized. However, talking about both the collective and individual nature of folklore creativity, or the lack of authorship, is a rather complex problem. “The concept of collectivity, if we take into account real facts,” writes K.S. Davletov, can only be applied to the content of folk art, to its quality, specificity, while the question inevitably arises about the dialectic of the individual and the collective, characteristic of folklore.”
The collective nature of folklore creativity does not exclude the personal creativity of ancient rhapsods, bards, akyns, ashugs, storytellers, such Russian epic storytellers as T.G. Ryabinin and others. Entire families of folk storytellers were found by M.K. Azadovsky in the 20-30s. XX century in the villages of Siberia.
M.K. Azadovsky considered folklore creativity not a relic of antiquity, a tradition of the past, but as a process of living individual creativity developing within the framework of a folk collective. He noted that the literacy of storytellers is not an obstacle to the development of folklore, but, on the contrary, is a new stimulus for creativity for them: “We are breaking with impersonal ethnography and entering the circle of master artists, where the overall work is marked by the stamp of the bright individuals who create and lead it.” . Likewise K.S. Davletov writes that folklorists have established the existence of very specific authors for a number of songs, ditties, etc., “the nationality of which cannot be denied by any theoretical bias.”
The problem of collective authorship in folklore is manifested as follows. In folk art, the personal, authorial principle dissolves in the general flow of folk art, when the individual creativity of a singer, poet, etc., which is passed on as folk art to subsequent generations. The essence of the folklore creative process is that the new, most often, merges into traditional forms as processing, alteration of old material and then varied by other performers. In this way, folklore reflects the collective consciousness of the people. Collective national consciousness, as a community of “spirit” and subconscious artistic and creative impulses, prevail and therefore in the process of creativity are not divided into the personal and the general. The personality of the author, due to this, is anonymous, and his creation expresses the very “spirit of the people.”
V.Ya. Propp noted that the historical development of folklore shows that there is folklore that arose in prehistoric times in the system of some ritual and has survived in oral transmission to the present day, and has variants on an international scale, and folklore that has arisen in modern times as individual creativity , but circulating as folklore.
Of course, between ritual folklore, which originates from pagan times, and a tourist song, literally transmitted “by ear,” there is a significant difference. In the first case, we see the earliest genres of folklore in genesis, associated with mythological culture; in the second case, we see modern folklore of amateur poets.
There are examples of collective creativity, such as fairy tales, in which the individuality of the author is expressed in the skill of the storyteller, his ability to vary, improvise, and perhaps even present its content to listeners in a new way.
Calendar-agricultural songs of Russian folklore are an example of collective creativity, historical songs are an example of the anonymity of the author or group of authors, and lyrical songs and ditties are an example of the author’s emerging creative individuality.
Today, many popular songs among the masses, which we call and consider “folk” (folklore), can often turn out to be adaptations of the poems of one of the little-known (and even famous) authors of the 19th century, which were set to music by the people and circulated as folklore, and they are followed by being.
Genres such as art song, which clearly gravitate towards folklore, reveal their authors when searching. For example, in the 40-60s. XX century The songs “Brigantine” (the poems were written by the young poet P. Kogan, who died in the war) and “Globe” (in which only the first three stanzas belong to M. Lvovsky, the rest - by anonymous authors) spread among students. The music for these songs was composed by amateur musician G. Lepsky. These songs were closely associated with self-awareness and, of course, became folklore of the 20th century. They are not forgotten even today. (“When the soul sings.” The most popular songs of the twentieth century. Compiled by Yu.G. Ivanov. Smolensk, 2004).
The very idea of the descent into folklore of “higher” cultural layers is not new. At one time, the idea of Vs. was criticized in Russian folkloristics. Miller about the creation of epics by princely druzhina singers and supporting this idea in the 20-30s. XX century V.A. Keltuyalu. However, this process still takes place in folklore, both European and domestic. P.G. also paid great attention to this circumstance. Bogatyrev in the article “Folklore as special shape creativity" (27, pp. 369-383). We would call this cultural process “folklorization” of everyday cultural material, as V.Ya. also wrote about. Propp.
One of the specific features of folklore is its connection with everyday culture and national professional art.
The problem of traditions in the folklore process and innovation in folklore means that an unambiguous solution to this issue is impossible.
As we see, the problem of the specificity of the “orality” of folklore, as well as the “collectivity” of creativity, has a close connection with both the problem of authorship and the problem of “folklorization” of literary and other sources. Literary works can also be included in the sphere of folklore circulation. For example, children can tell and “act out” the fairy tale “Cinderella” by C. Perrault, which the children read, and perhaps saw in the movies. The authorship of N.A.’s poems has almost been lost. Nekrasov, on which the people composed the song “Korobochka”, etc. But as soon as such fairy tales, songs, etc., begin to change among the people, are performed differently, and versions are created, they already become folklore if they are fixed in folk practice. A characteristic feature of Russian folklore in the 20th century. became the “folklorization” of mass choral songs (M. Zakharov, I. Dunaevsky, B. Mokrousov, M. Blanter, etc.), which were sung by the whole people.
It is obvious that Russian historical songs, based on factual material and having many specific historical names (including Pugachev, Suvorov, Ataman Platov and many others), initially had their own authors. It is possible that when composing a song, these authors wrote down their lyrics. But later, as a result of oral transmission, acquiring changes and variations, such a song became folklore. However, the self-awareness of the authors of these songs is characterized by the use of the plural - “we will stand up”, “we will win”, etc., and in relation to a historical figure - “he said”, etc. Collectivity is reflected in the very nature of the consciousness of folk authors .
So, the problem of the collectivity of creativity in folklore should be considered not so much as a problem of personal authorship, but as a problem of the collectivity of national consciousness. The collective nature of consciousness in folklore in no way excludes the presence of personal creativity of individual storytellers and singers; on the contrary, it presupposes it. Ancient legends speak of the creative power of Orpheus, Ossian, Boyan and other singer-poets.
At the same time, the creative power of folklore lies precisely in its collectivity. For example, unlike any theatrical performance, where on the one hand there is the author of the text, actors - performers, etc., and on the other - the audience, in such a folklore act as a traditional wedding ceremony, such a division does not and cannot have such differentiation . Despite the obvious distribution of social and everyday roles of the groom, the bride, matchmakers, groomsmen, numerous relatives, as well as the villagers present, they are not spectators, but participants in one traditional folk ritual. There, songs, dances, etc. are usually performed on a massive scale.
The French scientist Arnold van Genner noted that folklore is a universal object with a specific element, which lies in the definition of “folk” (Le folrlore. Paris, 1924, p. 21). The national image of the world reflects the national mentality, which is the result of the heredity of an ethnic group (genetic inclinations in the psyche) and the development of culture (established folk traditions, customs, preferential choice of a particular religion), which include historical experience ethnic group, formed in the process of its long formation.
We do not deny the role of the development of social relations, material factors in the formation of the social psychology of the masses, the emergence of differentiated forms of social consciousness as culture develops, because even in relation to “archetypes” and “symbols” that lie as the “collective unconscious” at the very foundation of culture, K. Jung believed that “only social experience reveals them, makes them visible” (270, p.92).
K. Jung spoke about “archetypes” and “symbols” that give rise to myth, as a single psychobiological foundation that arose at the dawn human history. The origin of such genres of folklore as fairy tales, folk rituals and some other genres goes back to the problems of myth, magic and the preservation of the rudiments of mythological consciousness in folklore, paganism, which determine the design features of these folklore forms.
We note a long period of cultural development, and a significant difference in the manifestations of the national character of culture, noted already by ancient thinkers. Given the similarity of myths among many peoples of the world (in particular, among the Indo-European peoples), we note that the most characteristic manifestation of the national principle in folklore is music, songs, dances, etc., since each ethnic group differs only in its one inherent combination of temperament, such as thinking and worldview.
It seems to us that the entire people, in the totality of their classes, estates, etc., are the bearer and custodian of their language, their folklore and original artistic culture, for only in the “ethnic field” does a constant process of folk art take place, which is preserved in the historical memory of the people as having specific features of its language, different from the folklore language of other peoples.
At the same time, musical and other non-verbal components of folklore do not remain historically unchanged. Over several centuries, the black population of America has so transformed and synthesized both European and African elements in music, singing, and dance that this folklore began to be perceived as nationally significant for each of the peoples of the countries of America where they live.
V.Ya. Propp genetically brings folklore closer not to literature, but to language, “which was also not invented by anyone” and has no authors. It arises and changes completely naturally and independently of the will of people, wherever appropriate conditions have been created for this in the historical development of peoples” (186, p. 22). We can talk about the metaphorical nature, artistic imagery of folklore language (A.N. Afanasyev, A.N. Veselovsky, etc.), the specificity of the reflection of folklore and fairy-tale time and space in the language (D.S. Likhachev).
It should be noted that the artistic language of folklore in many cases, to one degree or another, is syncretic and has not only a verbal (verbal), but also a non-verbal sphere of its “I”, which reflects the specificity of the folk spirit within the boundaries of the artistic reflection of the world.
The concept of “language” cannot in any way be reduced only to the oral and written speech of a person, to the word. It includes other various methods and forms of receiving, recording and transmitting non-verbal information (for example, the languages of music, dance, facial expressions, gestures, colors, etc. in folklore), as well as the human ability to reproduce it. In the language of folklore, we note both the verbal sphere (word) and non-verbal (music, dance, game, ritual, folk holiday, etc.). A particularly striking ethnic dominant in folklore is its non-verbal language sphere, which reflects the characteristics of national temperament, etc., as a result of the subconscious-sensory exploration of the world. There is even a sensory-unconscious feeling of the Motherland, and a person’s stay in a foreign land causes “nostalgia”, including due to the absence of the usual sound of folk music, songs, dances, etc.
E. Sapir and B. Whorf, who put forward the hypothesis of linguistic relativity, spoke about the conditioning of perception and thinking by the specific structuralization of language (107, p. 163). They believe that language skills and norms of the unconscious determine the images (pictures) of the world inherent in speakers of a particular language. The further the languages are separated from each other, the greater the difference between these images. The grammatical structure of a language imposes a way of dividing speech and describing the surrounding reality. The role of language here is formative. The absence in the language of words to express a number of concepts does not mean the impossibility of their presence in consciousness. G.D. also writes about national images of the world. Gachev (42).
Thus, in the communicative and information sphere of folklore, ethnic features manifest themselves in a noticeable and recognizable shell, and one can note not only the verbal side of folklore, but also the specificity of the non-verbal. Therefore, it is impossible to translate folk dance and music into “another” language (they can only be reproduced, stylized), just as the translation of the verbal text of a folk song into another language, which will change its national specificity, will be inadequate.
In connection with the above, the interpretation of folklore as oral folk art, given the syncretism of artistic elements and everyday functions of folklore, seems to us illegitimate. In folklore, the word appears in synthesis with other elements; the word itself is poetic-rhythmic, musical-intonation, even if it is a narrative (epic recitative, fairy tale, etc.). In historical, drawn-out, lyrical Russian folk songs, the word is combined with a musical melody, a clear rhythm, and often instrumental accompaniment. In fast and dance songs, ditties, the word is even more connected with motor rhythm, movement, dancing, and active facial expressions. The artistic syncretism of folklore is also present in the ornamentation of folk clothing, the symbolism of the color scheme, and in jewelry that is associated with traditional national psychological attitudes. At the same time, syncretism should not be considered a specific feature of the artistic sphere of folklore, the combination of verbality and nonverbality of its language. The syncretism of folklore should be understood in a special “totality” of folklore phenomena with folk traditions, holidays, and rituals, in which it manifests itself fully as a cultural and aesthetic phenomenon. However, in a folk holiday, the folklore “aimed” word is the leading component of the action. This is both a proverb and a saying spoken in time. The word is also organically combined with music in song genres, ditties, which are certainly associated with dance, and in game genres. In addition to words, expressive facial expressions and a successful gesture are just as important as adherence to traditions.
For folklorists of the 19th and early 20th centuries, as mentioned above, it is typical to contrast a certain “pure” peasant folklore, patriarchal folk culture with the “pernicious and corrupting” urban influence of folklore. They sought to record such disappearing genres as epics and ritual folklore. They considered the folk theater "Petrushki", folk booths, bourgeois ballads, everyday, gypsy and "cruel" romances, ditties to be phenomena of the "degeneration" of folklore. Recognizing the aesthetic value of only peasant traditional folklore, folklorists declared historically inevitable connections with urban creativity and literature “destructive” for it. However, the people loved both the booths and the puppeteers’ nursery rhymes, as the return of the “buffoonery”.
Folklore, despite long-term contacts with literature and other types of art, exists as a type of mass creativity quite independently, forming through its specificity, reflecting through the characteristics of folk psychology the “core” of artistic forms and traditions, which also constitutes its specificity, distinguishing it from other forms of social consciousness, including art. Let us note that the development of folk art consciousness reproduces not only the previous forms and genres of folklore, closely related to folk life, but also gives rise to new creativity as a reflection of the changing forms of worldview.
Currently, there are several forms of existence of folklore. There is a living form, and there is a historical form of its existence (what functioned traditionally in the recent past) and remains for us in the form recorded by folklorists - records, books, notes, objects of material and artistic culture. There is also such a form of today’s functioning of folklore as reproduction, which has passed into concert halls, processed by professionals, including in folk choirs, etc.
Less noticeable is the study of folklore of the 20th century itself: the development of amateur creativity of the masses - amateur poetry and song (for example, student, army folklore), new ditties, amateur laughter festivals, for example, humorins, KVN, April 1 holiday, etc., anecdotes, fables - about poltergeists, drummers, folklorization of bard and mass songs, tourist songs, historical legends-memories of the heroes of the civil and Great Patriotic War, etc. Obviously, in this case it should be said about a certain time distance necessary for so that one or another new genre, the plot of folklore entered organically into the people's consciousness as blood-related, and was artistically polished among the masses.
Folklore exists as an unshakable foundation of the people's mentality, a collective cultural and aesthetic experience, which is characterized by a special, sensory knowledge of the surrounding world and nature. The artistic specificity of folklore allows us to consider it in the context of key categories of folk ethics and aesthetics.
All of the above allows us to draw the following preliminary conclusions about the phenomenon that we see behind the concept of “folklore”:
Folklore is a manifestation of everyday artistic consciousness and is characterized by the following level features: syncretism (connection with other forms of social consciousness - myth, religion, art, etc.), active and practical nature, close connection with collective social psychology, widespread mass existence, traditionality of basic images and forms.
In this regard, it is necessary to see, first of all, the national originality of folk art consciousness as a whole, which distinguishes it from other forms of social consciousness, including from art as a specialized professional, supranational, “reference” form of social consciousness. If in art the forms of artistic expression (creating and reading a text) are secondary and subordinate to aesthetic comprehension, then in folklore these two sides are more equivalent, and inversion in their semantic interaction is possible.
The main features of the difference between folklore and art as a form of everyday consciousness are the ethnic origin, its qualitatively higher level of artistic and everyday syncretism, etc. In folklore, an aesthetic rethinking of many aspects of everyday consciousness and life is carried out, all of them are presented in the form of a traditional specific folklore text. In part, this circumstance makes folklore similar to ritual-ritual, syncretic forms of magic and myth. Speaking about folklore consciousness, it is important to emphasize the special, transformative, formative role of the aesthetic function.
The specificity of folklore consciousness is determined by the laws of the everyday level of social consciousness. The identification of folk art consciousness as a special form of social consciousness is possible only in connection with the recognition of the plurality of its sides in everyday consciousness.
The question of the undifferentiation of folklore as a form of social consciousness should be reconsidered in connection with the historical development of society, the emergence of class states, etc., therefore, the development of differentiated levels and forms of social consciousness among which it exists. Folklore actually emerged in a clan-patriarchal society (as evidenced by the creation of myths, fairy tales, heroic-epic genres, etc.), gradually differentiated from myth, and then from other forms of social consciousness, maintaining connections with them. It continues to develop and exist in new sociocultural conditions (for example, antiquity, the Middle Ages, modern times and the present day).
Speaking about the specifics of folklore, it is worth dwelling on such a feature of it as social consciousness, in which collective consciousness prevails over the personal and individual. This allows us to include in the methodological aspect of the study such a phenomenon of social psychology as collective consciousness.
The essence of folklore can be considered not only as a social phenomenon (public consciousness), but also through knowledge of the individual human psyche, in which there is a layer of the subconscious and the “collective unconscious”. This may explain his genetic connection with myth and some unconscious impulses in folklore activity.
It seems to us that folklore consciousness is a broader phenomenon than folklore itself (with its system of types and genres). Folklore consciousness as artistic consciousness manifests itself in all other forms of folk art: arts and crafts, folk crafts, folk architecture, etc.
Folklore is not only “cultural texts” (forms, genres), but also a way of creative folk activity for their creation, existence (traditions, rituals, etc.), mechanisms for their transmission from generation to generation (peculiar singing “schools” , craft cooperatives, etc.). Folklore should be considered in the context of folk culture as an integral system, comprehended and regulated by folklore artistic consciousness as a whole.
"Old Russian folklore as a means of expressing self-awareness and a historical source"
Content:
Introduction
______________________________ __________________________3
I Main part _________________________ _________________________4
1. What is folklore______________________ _________________________-
2. Factors that influenced the formation of folklore_____________________ 5
3. The difference between literature and folklore ______ ___________________________7
4. About the genres of Russian folklore ___________ __________________________9
5. Functions of folklore_____________________ ________________________10
6. Mythological ideas in non-ritual folklore____________12
II About some folklore genres ________________________ ______14
- Epics_________________________________ ______________________________ -
Historical songs_________________________ _________________15
Song lyrics___________________________ _____________________16
Conspiracies______________________ ___________________________________ 21
List of used literature ____________________ ___________23
Introduction.
Folklore has repeatedly been the subject of study as part of the culture of Ancient Rus' and the culture of the previous so-called “prehistoric” time. In particular, folklore often served as material for establishing ritual and magical concepts and ideas generated by the traditional agrarian and agricultural occupation of the population of Rus'.
Folklore is poetic creativity that grows on the basis of the labor activity of mankind, reflecting the experience of thousands of years. Folklore, being older than written literature and passed on from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation, is the most valuable source for knowledge of the history of every nation, no matter what stage. social development he didn't stand.
Folklore still represents a significant part of modern culture. It reflected the entire set of psychological, pedagogical and religious-magical views, ethical and aesthetic ideals of the ethnos, its poetic and musical talent, artistry, history of family and marriage relations, folk humor and rich word creation. That is why representatives of various branches of knowledge turn to the study of folklore, including, in addition to folklorists, for example, ethnographers and linguists, philosophers and historians, psychologists, lawyers, creative workers, clergy, teachers, etc.
The significance of folklore as a cultural heritage and, at the same time, modern folk art, as material important for the study of the philosophy of the people, their history and art, has now become theoretically generally accepted. The study of ancient Russian folklore is necessary to understand the national mentality as the basis of ancient culture. Without knowledge of the history and customs of one’s people, without introducing a young person to folk culture, it is impossible to raise a worthy citizen of the Fatherland. That is why I consider the topic of my essay relevant.
Main part.
I. 1 . What is folklore
The debate about what folklore is and what its specifics are still ongoing. This question is far from idle. Folklore is not just folk epics and songs, fairy tales and legends, proverbs and conspiracies. Folklore is special kind information, a special type of folk art, a special form of collective creativity.
Yu.M. Sokolov gave a general definition of folklore, which is the most accepted today. “By folklore,” he wrote, “one should understand the oral poetic creativity of the broad masses.”
The word “folklore” is gradually replacing such equivalent terms as “oral literature” and even “folk poetry”. The English word "folklore", i.e. folk wisdom, folk tradition, is most often used in relation to folk poetic art, but at the same time they also talk about musical and visual folklore. This term is international, although it is understood differently in different countries.
Folklore is poetry created by the people and existing among the masses, in which they reflect their work activities, social and everyday life, knowledge of life, nature, cults and beliefs. Folklore embodies the views, ideals and aspirations of the people, their poetic fantasy, the richest world of thoughts, feelings, experiences, protest against exploitation and oppression, dreams of justice and happiness. This is oral, verbal artistic creativity that arose in the process of the formation of human speech. M. Gorky said: “... The beginning of the art of words is in folklore”
In a pre-class society, folklore is closely connected with other types of human activity, reflecting the rudiments of his knowledge and religious and mythological ideas.
2. Factors that influenced the formation of folklore.
The peculiarities of the formation of Old Russian culture are revealed already at the initial stage of the formation of the ethnic self-awareness of the Slavs, before the adoption of Christianity by Russia, and have a close connection with those times that the Slavs themselves called the “Trojan Ages” or the Old Time. “There were, brothers, the times of Troyan,” writes the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” She calls Boyan “ancient Nightingale”, and Prince Igor “mighty grandson Troyanov”.
The memory of this time is also preserved in folklore: in songs and epics the names of the distant ancestors of Russian heroes are mentioned, but still the very space of ancient Russian culture begins to be created from the finally determined “place of development”.
Among the factors that influenced the formation of the core of Russian culture, natural and climatic conditions were of paramount importance, and they, in turn, were determined by the peculiarities of the geographical location. How were the relations of the Slavs with the space around them? The forest played a significant role in the process of forming the “life and concepts” of man in ancient Rus'. It became a habitat and provided a wide variety of “services” to the ancient Slavs. The forest fed, clothed, shod, warmed the ancient Slavs, and served as the most reliable refuge from enemies. Despite this, man was afraid of the forest, inhabiting it with all kinds of fears.
The understanding of space in Russian culture occurred through the steppe. It formed an attitude towards space as the absence of visible boundaries and limits and at the same time as a threatening space, behind which began the “unknown” side, alien, encroaching on the space that in the minds of the ancient Slavs was already designated as “theirs”, images of Russians heroes in oral folk art embodied the desire to protect themselves from this danger, thus, the steppe and the forest combined two opposite principles - boundlessness and border, element and the desire to organize space.
Perhaps only the river gave the ancient Slavs a clear coordinate system and formed the skills of joint activity, organization and order.
Natural conditions were complemented by climate features, which in turn influenced the formation of the type of economic activity, psychological make-up, habits, traditions - everything that is called the mentality of the people. The climatic conditions of the East European Plain - the zone of settlement of the Eastern Slavs in the 6th century - differed from those in which the people of Western European countries had an idea of work. The continental climate, with its long and cold winter, short spring, hot summer and short autumn, required the farmer to exert enormous effort during the harvest period and a leisurely and contemplative attitude to work during the winter.
The complexities of climatic conditions shaped the idea of work activity as an interrupted process. During the harvest, as well as the “conquest” of space from the forest for cultivating the land, the role of collective labor increased. This is how collectivism took shape; the prerequisites for individualism were weakly visible, since there were no motives for competition in work. When working in a team, people did not strive to stand out from others, since collective activity was more effective.
This was the circumstance that ensured the development of folk poetry in the past, according to N. G. Chernyshevsky, the absence of “sharp differences in the mental life of the people.” “Mental and moral life,” he points out, “is the same for all members of such a people—that’s why the works of poetry generated by the excitement of such a life are equally close and understandable, equally sweet and related to all members of the people.” Such historical conditions works appeared created “by the whole people, as one moral person.” Thanks to this, folk poetry is permeated by a collective principle. It is present in the emergence and perception by listeners of newly created works, in their subsequent existence and processing. Collectivity manifests itself not only externally, but also internally - in the folk poetic system itself, in the nature of the generalization of reality, in images, etc. portrait characteristics heroes, in individual situations and images of folklore works there are few individual characteristics that occupy such a prominent place in fiction.
As a rule, at the moment of creation, the work experiences a period of particular popularity and creative flourishing. But there comes a time when it begins to become distorted, destroyed and forgotten. New times require new songs. The images of folk heroes express the best features of the Russian national character; the content of folklore works reflects the most typical circumstances of folk life. At the same time, folk poetry could not help but reflect the historical limitations and contradictions of peasant ideology. Living in oral transmission, the texts of folk poetry could change significantly. However, having achieved complete ideological and artistic completeness, works were often preserved for a long time almost unchanged as the poetic heritage of the past, as cultural wealth of enduring value.
3. The difference between literature and folklore.
Folklore and literature can and should be correlated not only as two types of artistic culture (in a synchronous consideration), but also as two stages, two stages, one of which (folklore) preceded the other (literature) in the historical movement of forms and types of culture (then is in diachronic consideration). Even the most ancient literatures of the world (for example, Sumerian, ancient Egyptian, etc.) arose no more than 4,000 years ago, while folklore genetically dates back to the era of the formation of human speech, that is, it arose 100,000-13,000 years ago. Among the Eastern Slavs, with the same age of folklore tradition (rooted in the proto- and pre-Slavic ethnic environment), the age of literature is much more modest - only about 1000 years.
Consideration of the differences between literature and folklore is usually based on a series of contrasts (oppositions). We list the most important of them:
| Sign | Folklore | Literature |
| Social determination | People's environment | Other social strata |
| Ideological differences | Popular ideology | Non-national ideology |
| Stylistic differences | Folk tradition | Literary tradition |
| The relationship between tradition and innovation | Dominance of tradition | Innovation Dominance |
| The nature of creativity | Collective, unconscious, spontaneous | Individual, striving for theoretical self-awareness |
| Concept of authorship | Impersonal creativity | Personal creativity |
| Form of text existence | Variation | Stability |
The question of the origin of many works of folk poetry is much more complicated than that of literary works. Not only the name and biography of the author - the creator of this or that text - are unknown, but the social environment in which the fairy tale, epic, song, time and place of their creation is also unknown. The author’s ideological intention can only be judged from the surviving text, which is often written down many years later, because in folklore the original text of a work is almost always unknown, since the author of the work is unknown. The text is passed on from mouth to mouth and survives to this day in the form in which the writers wrote it down.
4. About the genres of Russian folklore.
The genres of Russian folklore, like the folklore of other peoples, are extremely diverse: some of them - epics, ballads, songs, ditties - are songs and are inextricably linked with folk music, others - fairy tales, traditions, legends, tales and incidents - narrative (prosaic), others - mummers, folk plays ("Tsar Maximilian" and "Boat", etc.), puppet shows ("Petrushka"), numerous games, round dances and the wedding ceremony, multi-genre in its composition, is dramatic. Epics, legends, fairy tales, love lyrics live outside of connection with the ritual; lamentations, sentences, friends, carols, spring flowers are closely related to family or calendar rituals; lullabies and nursery rhymes are common among children; epics, historical songs, legends are the property of only adults, etc.
The connection of individual folklore genres with everyday life, with reality, with the living conditions of the Russian people is also different, which determines their historical destinies.
At the same time, all genres of verbal folklore have common characteristics: they are all works of verbal art, in their origins they are associated with archaic forms of art, they exist mainly in oral transmission, and are constantly changing. This determines the interaction of the collective and individual principles in them, a unique combination of tradition and innovation. Thus, the folklore genre is a historically developing type of oral poetic work. To one degree or another, all folklore genres are connected with the history of the people, with the reality that brought them to life and determines their further existence, their flourishing or extinction. “Tell me how the people lived, and I will tell you how they wrote” - these wonderful words of the great Russian scientist academician A.N. Veselovsky can also be attributed to oral creativity: as the people lived, so they sang and told stories. Therefore, folklore reveals folk philosophy, ethics and aesthetics. A.M. Gorky could rightfully say that “ true story one cannot know the working people without knowing oral folk art.”
Processes associated with the impact of one of the folklore genres on the traditions of others can be identified. They can be called historical-genre. This is the connection between the traditions of ballad songs, which were initially formed on the basis of the transformation of the traditions of historical songs, and subsequently were influenced by epics and a number of lyrical genres: songs, laments.
The processes of formation of national-folk specific traditions in folklore, which emerged from general composition poetic culture of related peoples. These are historical and national traditions. These are the processes of formation of the traditions of ritual folklore and epic creativity among various Slavic peoples.
Historians have long noted the historical migration process, which can be traced by studying cultural interactions when analyzing the international distribution and national processing of certain fairy tales, proverbs, and riddles.
5. Functions of folklore.
It is the function of a folklore work, its everyday purpose that is one of the defining, but, of course, not the only feature in the concept of genre.
So, for example, the magical function gave rise to the main features of conspiracies, which were supposed to give health, well-being, good luck in hunting, etc., and ritual poetry, which supposedly ensured a good harvest, wealth, happiness in family life. At the same time, this function is not the only genre feature of charms and ritual songs: they differ from each other in the nature of the performance, individual or collective, tale or song, and the peculiarities of the construction of the poetic system. The information function is the main one, but to varying degrees for historical legends, tales about goblins, mermaids and brownies, songs about Ivan the Terrible, Stepan Razin and Emelyan Pugachev. However, this does not give us grounds to consider all works that are profoundly different in their other characteristics as one genre. We see that a fairy tale and a legend, although they differ in their function, have, since they are genres of oral prose, a number of common features, just like epics and historical songs, which are works of epic song, or such functionally extremely different small genres as proverbs and riddles. However, it is the function that most tangibly expresses the genre difference in works that are largely similar to each other. It is this function that gives grounds to divide oral prose into fairy-tale prose, for which the main thing is aesthetic function, and non-fairytale when the informative function dominates.
The sphere of folklore covers very diverse genres, and if some of them are characterized by the dominance of the aesthetic function, then for others - the dominance of the non-aesthetic and the secondary nature of the aesthetic function. Therefore, for example, in order for a predisposition to utter a funeral lament to arise, it is not enough to tune in to perceive the text with certain aesthetic qualities. Someone's death must occur, and the everyday tradition of the social group to which the performer and her listeners belong must prescribe that a certain type of funeral rite be performed in connection with this, providing for the mourning of the deceased with a lament. Consequently, the pronunciation of a folklore text can be stimulated by ritual situations and the ritual functions of the text in such situations. However, this does not mean that a text that arose or was reproduced under such conditions should be devoid of aesthetic qualities. Folklorists rightly speak about the poetics of lamentations, incantations, ritual songs, etc., meaning that their aesthetic qualities arise in the process of ritual activity. Or, in other words, aesthetic activity appears here in a complex complex of forms and types of activity, it accompanies them, arises in connection with them. At the same time, genres characterized by the dominance of aesthetic functions are well known in the folklore of all nations. There are no traditional instructions for them when they should be pronounced. However, their connection with peasant life could be expressed in the fact that in certain situations they could not be uttered: for example, fairy tales should be performed during Lent. If tradition did not prescribe ritual fun, then fairy tales could not be performed on days when there was a dead person in the village, etc.
In some genres, for example, in a fairy tale or song, the aesthetic function clearly prevails, in others, for example, in legend, it fades into the background, subordinated to the informative function, even if we have a highly artistic text. It can be minimal, as, for example, in a conspiracy or a lament, the meaning of which is entirely contained in their utilitarian meaning, which does not prevent them, depending on the talent of the performer, from rising to the heights of poetic art.
The relationship between functions also changes; it is determined by the time, place, conditions of performance, and depends on the degree of talent and the nature of the performer’s creativity. The nature of the work, and therefore its genre, depends on whether the narrator or singer seeks to entertain his listeners, amaze them with his skill, read them some kind of moral lesson, impart some knowledge, information, subordinate them to his will, or the task of the performer – cause good luck, health, prosperity.
6. Mythological ideas in non-ritual folklore
All arts (with the exception of newly invented ones, such as cinema) - literature, music, dance, visual arts, theater - in one way or another go back to the ritual performance of traditional societies. From the point of view of origin, they are nothing more than the late result of the decomposition of the original ritual unity and the oblivion of the original mythological meanings. The highest, from the point of view of modern man, achievements of the spirit, manifested in art, would seem, perhaps, to a traditional person to be complete nonsense and a sign of the final decline of the world, evidence of its imminent end. But it should be noted that the oral tradition itself underwent a similar evolution, the development (or decline) of which also followed the path of oblivion. The original meaning of customary rituals, which lost their “legitimacy” and “legal” status with Christianization, increasingly faded from people’s memory; they gradually became customs (i.e., something that exists out of habit, almost out of habit), accompanied by beliefs, beliefs (i.e., what a traditional person knew, however, they believed in, and in this sense, his way of thinking is very close to the scientific-rational one). The verbal (verbal) side of the ritual, without completely separating from the “active” (actional), gave rise to a completely new phenomenon, bearing to varying degrees the features of traditional and written culture - non-ritual folklore. Strictly speaking, only it should be called “oral folk art”, since ritual texts are inextricably linked with the corresponding actions (for example, “curling a beard” from ears of corn), excluding the very concept of creativity as the free generation of new texts: the meaning of the ritual is in its invariably precise reproduction that guarantees effectiveness. There can be no talk of creativity, even collective creativity – there are only slow evolutionary changes in orally existing texts.
Numerous reflections of mythological motifs in folklore and, more importantly, its very organization with the help of a traditional set of binary oppositions (binary oppositions), the reproduction of the ancient model of the world indicate that tradition not only did not collapse with Christianization, but completely retained its position as a universal regulator of human behavior, only partially ceding this function to popular faith at the mass level. At its core, folk life remained traditionally pagan. But Christianization opened up new opportunities for the work of the spirit, and written book culture opened up new opportunities for the mind, rational thinking.
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About some folklore genres.
1. Epics.
Bylinas (Russian heroic epic) are a wonderful heritage of the past, evidence of the ancient culture and art of the people. Originated in the XI-XV centuries. epic songs about the capital city of Kiev and its struggle with nomads, about the trading city of Novgorod, its wealth and wide international connections, songs about ancient Russian heroes, brave warriors, successful merchants and dashing ushkuiniki were passed on from mouth to mouth for several centuries and partially survived in oral tradition to this day. The Russian heroic epic has been preserved in living oral history, perhaps in its original form of plot content and main principles of form. The epic got its name from the word “byl”, which is close in meaning. This means that the epic tells about what once really happened, although not everything in the epic is true. The epics were written down from storytellers (often illiterate), who adopted them according to tradition from previous generations. The majority of the stories were created within the Kyiv state, that is, in the places depicted in them. The source of each heroic song was some kind of historical fact. In the epic, as in the folk tale, there is a lot of fiction. Bogatyrs are people of extraordinary strength, they gallop on mighty horses through rivers and forests, and lift weights on their shoulders that no man can bear.
The epic is an old song, and not everything in it is clear; it is told in a leisurely, solemn tone. Many Russian epics talk about the heroic deeds of the people's heroes. For example, epics about Volga Buslaevich, the conqueror of Tsar Saltan Beketovich; about the hero Sukhman, who defeated his enemies - nomads; about Dobrynya Nikitich. Russian heroes never lie. Ready to die, but not leave their native land, they consider service to the fatherland their first and holy duty, although they are often offended by princes who do not trust them. The epics told to children teach them to respect human labor and love their homeland. They united the genius of the people.
The epics of the Kyiv cycle associated with Kiev, with the Dnieper Slavutich, with Prince Vladimir the Red Sun, and heroes began to take shape at the turn of the 10th – 11th centuries. They expressed in their own way the social consciousness of an entire historical era, reflected the moral ideals of the people, and preserved the features of ancient life and events of everyday life. “The value of the heroic epic lies in the fact that, by its origin, it is inextricably linked with the people, with those smerd warriors who plowed the land and fought under the Kiev banners with the Pechenegs and Polovtsians.”
2. Historical songs
Historical songs are a separate genre of folklore. Their artistic originality remains insufficiently studied. In pre-revolutionary science, they were often recognized as a degradation of the heroic epic, similar to epics, and in this regard, their advantage was considered to be the motifs, images and stylistic devices common to the epics (as if residual phenomena). I beg to differ. “Song of prophetic Oleg”, “Songs about Stepan Razin” can be placed today on a par with “The Captain’s Daughter”, “The History of Pugachev” and other historical works. They are also of great artistic value. This is an expression of the historical self-awareness of the people. The Russian people realized their historical significance in their historical songs. It is also a work of art history about the past. Its attitude to the past is active: it reflects the historical views of the people to an even greater extent than historical memory. The historical content in the songs is conveyed by the storytellers consciously. The preservation of what is historically valuable in the epic (be it names, events, relationships) is the result of the conscious, historical attitude of the people to the content of the epic. The people in their creativity proceed from fairly clear historical ideas about the time. Awareness of the historical value of what is being transmitted and the peculiar ideas of the people, and not just mechanical memorization, determine the stability of the historical content of the songs.
3. Song lyrics.
Lyrical songs retained connections with certain rituals (weddings, round dances) or originated from gaming rituals. In the lyrics of such songs, the influence of the traditional model of the world with its set of basic oppositions, as well as some mythological motifs, is still fully restored.
Consider a lyrical song.
I'll go out the gate
I'll look far away.
The mountains are high there
The lakes are deep.
In these lakes
The pike fish lives
White beluga.
I’ll throw the net -
I'll take the fish out alive.
Where to sit
Do I live to clean fish?
I'll sit down and sit down
To the green garden;
I'll sit down again
To the valley of the valley,
On the summer path.
Wherever my dear goes -
etc.................
At the present stage of development of society, the problem of turning to Russian folklore as a historical source is relevant. The chosen topic is especially relevant in the modern world, as it helps to trace the historical life of a people and get an idea of their worldview and psychology. This knowledge makes it possible to gain a deeper understanding of history.
The history of folklore is inseparable from the history of the people. Researchers of such sciences as philosophy, history, philology, ethnography, archeology, etc. have been and are studying folklore. The use of folklore material in history lessons in grades 6-7 is especially effective.
In works of folklore we can see descriptions of Russian cities. For example, from the epics one can get an idea of Kyiv as it was before the defeat by the Tatar-Mongols in 1240. Kyiv is always called a capital city and great - it was for a long time the capital of the ancient Russian state. The city was surrounded by a city wall; at the corners of the wall there were coal towers.
“Jump over the city wall, over that corner tower,” says the leader of the enemy army, Batu, to his ambassador in one of the epics. Almost all old Russian cities have preserved such walls and such towers. At first they were wooden, and then stone. We can find out what weapons the heroes had: a tight bow, hardened arrows, a club, a Murzavets spear (from the Tatar word “Murza” - “prince”), a dagger, and sometimes a saber.
In 6th grade, when studying the topic “The Reign of Prince Vladimir and the Baptism of Rus',” you can use the epic about Vladimir’s matchmaking with Apraxia, the youngest daughter of the Politovian king. Some versions of the epic have preserved the historically reliable answer that the prince’s matchmakers heard from the Politovsky king: “Yes, your prince is not big in appearance,” and also: “And the prince is from Volodymyr and was a slave.” The chronicle of 980 says that even during his reign in Novgorod, Vladimir sent matchmakers to Polotsk to ask Prince Rogvolod for the hand of his daughter Rogneda. The proud Polotsk princess refused the ambassadors, declaring that she did not want to “take off Robichich’s shoes.” In the wedding ceremony, “taking off the groom’s shoes” meant becoming a wife, and “robichich” was the son of a slave (Vladimir was indeed the son of the housekeeper Malusha and Prince Svyatoslav). Rogneda insulted the prince. Vladimir ruined Polotsk and took Rogneda as his wife by force. The Principality of Polotsk was located on the western outskirts of the Russian lands and later for some time was included within the borders of Lithuania. That’s why epics talk about “Politovskaya land”.
When talking about Batu’s invasion of Rus', one can cite an excerpt from the epic “Ilya and Kalin the Tsar.”
A lot of strength has been generated,
Like a shout from a human,
Like a horse neighing.
The human heart becomes sad;
The mother earth shook from the army;
There was no red sun to be seen in the horse swamp,
And the bright month was darkened by a couple of horses...
The noise of the convoys, screams, neighing, suffocating horse fumes, and the dust that darkened the sky, captured in the epic, are historically reliable.
The epic talks about how events could have developed if the mutual enmity and disagreement of the prince and the soldiers had been forgotten. The name of the leader of the Tatar hordes does not correspond to the name of the historical Batu. Kalin is a slightly distorted common name for the biblical killer Cain.
When studying political life Novgorod XII - XIII centuries. you can use the epic about Stavr. Stavr is a historical figure. He really lived in Novgorod in the 10th - 11th centuries. and was the leader of a hundred. In the epic, Stavr is a merchant and moneylender. He boasts that he lends money to the poor. The Kiev prince is angry with Stavr for his boasting. What is the reason for his anger? Here it should be said about the existence of Vladimir Monomakh’s charter on interest. The Kiev prince, wanting to weaken the power of the Novgorod moneylenders, limited them in charging interest rates. Vladimir was angry with Stavr for his boasting of wealth.
The events of epics are of great importance for the fate of the people and the state. The epics poetically depict military-political clashes and social situations characteristic of Ancient Rus'.
The epic “About Vasily Buslaev” reproduces the struggle of the Novgorod political parties. Since childhood, Vaska Buslaev has had a spirit of hostility towards the trading settlement. He especially often hits his peers from the posad. The townspeople are threatening to “drown the river Volkhova” - to drown Vaska: convicts in Novgorod were thrown from the bridge. This is how they punished serious crimes. To protect himself, Vaska recruits a squad. Famous Novgorod people kept armed servants with them. Vaska is of noble family, literate and rich. The squad was made up of more than just fellows who could withstand the blow of a scarlet elm on a violent head. They are united by a common hostility towards Posad. These are people from different classes and even from other cities. Among them is Kostya Novotorzhanin, a daredevil from Novy Torzhok, two brothers are mentioned - a boyar woman and men from some Zalesye - “zaleshana”, “Sbrodovich brothers”, wanderers, the prototype of the “ushkuiniki”, who sailed in boats far beyond the Novgorod land. Vaska and his comrades appear at a feast where the townspeople have gathered and start a quarrel. The warring parties make a bet - to give the beaten man his entire fortune and be subordinate. The prince and the archbishop took the side of the posad. Vaska threatens to beat “the whole of Novgorod,” although he means precisely the settlement – “the men of Novgorod,” “the rich merchants.” Posad took so much power in Novgorod that it merged with the concept of the city. In the same sense, “all Novgorod” is named in ancient acts of business writing. Vaska’s dispute with the trading post reproduces a serious urban clash. In Novgorod, XII-XIII centuries. ball of a very strong “Suzdal party”, consisting of wealthy merchants. Their benefits depended on connections with the northeastern principalities. During the enmity of Novgorod with the Vladimir-Suzdal principalities, they suffered losses. Speaking against wealthy merchants, Vaska fights against the grand ducal claims to power over Novgorod.
Novgorod in epics is glorious and great. The unique life of the trading republic is widely shown. There are no military exploits here. The trading power of Novgorod, its wealth, its rivalry with Moscow are described. It contains many details of the life of the medieval city - for example, fist fights are depicted - the favorite pastime of the ancient Novgorodians.
In the 7th grade When studying the period of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, you can turn to the historical song “The Capture of the Kazan Khanate.” The capture of the Kazan Khanate in 1552 was approved by the people. Regardless of the details in the depiction of the siege of Kazan, the song versions speak in the most detailed way about what happened at its walls. The gunners rolled a barrel of gunpowder into a tunnel under the Kazan wall and placed a candle on one of them. If the candle burns down to the ground, an explosion will occur and destroy the wall. The same candle was placed in the field near the royal tent for control. And so the outer candle burned out, the one in the dungeon should also burn out, but there was no explosion. The Tsar-Sovereign “gets inflamed - angry”, wants to execute the gunners and lighters. He suspected treason. All the big people were scared, and the young gunner stepped forward and said:
“Oh, you are a goy, Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich!
Do not order, sir, to execute or hang,
Order you, sir, to utter a word.
In the wind the candle will soon burn out,
In the wilderness the candle burns for a long time.”
As soon as I spoke, barrels of gunpowder exploded. Russian soldiers entered the breach, and Kazan fell. The singers said that the king is suspicious, sees betrayal even where there is none. The poignancy of the song's intention is understandable if we recall that in Rus' under Ivan the Terrible there was a mass extermination of the innocent population. The singers depicted many authentic features of the siege of Kazan. The “topography” of the siege is also reproduced in many versions:
We approached the Kazan kingdom fifteen miles away,
They became a mine under the Bulat (Bulak) river,
We approached another river - the river near Kazanka...
The Sviyaga River, Sviyazhsk Fortress, and Sulay River are also mentioned.
A very interesting historical song about Ivan the Terrible’s anger at his son Fyodor. In it, the people expressed their attitude towards the oprichnina. The evidence of folklore is all the more valuable because in the biography of Ivan the Terrible, a whole number of years are passed over in complete silence and there is no information about his family relationships and affairs.
According to the variants, the song differently names the reason for Ivan the Terrible’s anger at Fedor. As if he opposed his father - he saved the inhabitants of cities in which the king carried out mass executions. The cities in which, according to the songs, executions took place are different: Novgorod, Pskov, Moscow, even Constantinople, but most often the name is missing. The numerous instructions are also indicative of the scale of the country's repression. Both Grozny himself and his henchmen from the oprichnina, led by Malyuta Skuratov, are depicted as torturers. On the street where they were traveling, “not even a chicken drank” - all living things were exterminated: the king “flogged, and stabbed, and impaled everyone.”
Fyodor confronts the Tsar and the oprichnina. Grozny appears hasty in his actions and wrong. Song Malyuta Skuratov is a real historical figure, Grigory Skurata-Belsky. His name became a household name, synonymous with executioner.
In 7th grade, studying the history of the Time of Troubles, a song about Grigory Otrepiev can be cited as an example. In it, the people denounce the impostor. He is a violator of good Orthodox customs. Otrepiev played a wedding with “Marishka Yuryevna’s daughter” not on the “designated day”. This is stated in the earliest recorded song that has reached us:
And the wedding was on a spring holiday,
On the spring holiday, Mykolin Day:
Mikolin's day was Friday,
And Grishka had a wedding on Thursday...
The wedding of Gregory and Marina Mnishek actually took place on Thursday, May 8, 1606, on the eve of St. Nicholas Day. The song says that the Moscow boyars are going to matins, “Grishka and Marishka went to the baina,” the boyars are going from matins, and “Grishka and Marishka are going from the baina.” Inappropriate behavior exposed him as an impostor and a sinner, and a violator of piety.
Also of interest to history is a song about the hero of the liberation struggle, the governor - Prince Mikhail Vasilyevich Skopin-Shuisky. The nephew of Tsar Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky, the young governor Skopin became famous for his brilliant victories over his enemies. According to the treaty of 1609, acting at the will of the king, he managed to obtain a hired Swedish army. Having combined his actions with the actions of the Volga army of F.I. Sheremetyev, he began a liberation campaign in May. Victories were won in the districts along the Volga, in the Vladimir-Suzdal land, the siege was lifted from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, and Dmitrov was captured. In March 1610, Moscow greeted the victors with the ringing of bells, and in April, at the moment of its highest fame and glory, the successful young governor died. This happened after the christening of Prince I.M. Vorotynsky. The song gives an idea of the event and the mood of that time. Skopin’s death is mourned by Moscow “guests”: these are artisans and traders, the predominant part of Moscow residents.
“And now our heads have fallen,
Why our governor is gone
Vasilyevich Prince Mikhail!
The “prince-boyars” perceive the news differently -
And they said a word to each other,
And they said a word and grinned:
“The falcon rose high
And I hurt myself on the ground!”
The names of ill-wishers have been named. Among them is “Mstislavskaya, Prince of Vorotynskaya”. F.I. Mstislavsky is the head of the seven boyars who replaced Vasily Shuisky. I.M. Vorotynsky is his like-minded person, an influential boyar. It was at Vorotynsky’s christening, as they said in Moscow, that Skopin was poisoned.
The mention of the sadness of the “Svetsky Germans” is very interesting. All foreigners were called “Germans” because they did not speak Russian. The Swedes mourned the military leader - they were united by military affairs with Skopin, and their grief was an expression of personal affection for the successful commander.
The Germans ran to Novgorod
And they locked themselves in Novo-Gorod.
Indeed, the remnants of the Swedish mercenaries, after the defeat at Smolensk, led by Jacob Delagardi, retreated to Novgorod, and a year later in 1611, here, taking advantage of the current situation, they began to act against the Novgorodians.
And they destroyed many world-people,
And they turned it into a Latin land.
The song about Skopin directly echoes the “Scripture about the presentation and burial of Prince Mikhail Vasilyevich Shuisky, the recommended Skopin.” It is believed that the “Scripture” was created on the basis of folk songs.
The creators of the song “The Yaik Flows Quickly, Snatching the Steep Banks...” call Razin “the soul of a thieves’ atamanushka.” The words “thief”, “thief” in the modern meaning are associated with a negative assessment. In the ancient language, others used “thief” in a condemnatory meaning, and theft was accordingly called “thief.” “Theft” was not a secret attack, but an open attack. For this reason, the combination “soul of the thieves’ chieftain” did not contain a contradiction and an overtly negative meaning. The song said a lot to contemporaries of these events. The Razin community united people who were loyal to each other. Their unity around “father” Stepan was so close and intimate that his fellows called themselves “sons.”
Thus, we see that folk poetry, having originated in ancient times, for a long time, before the advent of writing, was the only “unwritten history” of the people, artistically reflecting the most important stages of their life. For many centuries, folklore has served the people both as a “textbook of life”, passing on from generation to generation their wisdom, worldly philosophy, ethics, and as a means of character education, the best human qualities: patriotism, courage, courage, perseverance, honesty, kindness. Folklore is a true encyclopedia of the poetic knowledge of the people, giving a complete idea of the ideological and aesthetic riches of their creativity. Therefore, folk works are the most valuable material for studying the folk worldview of many centuries and its historical evolution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Anikin V.P. Russian oral folk art: Textbook/V.P.Anikin. – M.: Higher. school, 2001. – 726 p.
- Bakhtin V.S. From epics to counting rhymes: Stories about folklore / Reprint; rice. S. Islands. – L.: Det. lit., 1988. – 191 p., ill.
- Epics / Compilation, introductory article and notes by S.N. Azbelev.-L.: Lenizdat, 1984.-398p. – (B-ka of folk poetry).
- Bychko A.K. Folk wisdom of Rus': analysis of a philosopher. – K.: Higher. school Publishing house in Kyiv. Univ., 1988. – 200 p.
- History of Russia from ancient times to the end of the 17th century / A.P. Novoseltsev, A.N. Sakharov, V.I. Buganov, V.D. Nazarov; resp. ed. A.N.Sakharov, A.P.Novoseltsev. – LLC Publishing House AST-LTD, 1997. – 576 pp., ill.
- Putilov B.N. Russian historical song folklore of the XIII-XVI centuries. M.-L., 1960.
- Rybakov B.A. Ancient Rus'. Tales. Epics. Chronicles. M., 1963.
- Shimbinago S.K. Ancient Russian dwelling based on epics // Anniversary collection in honor of Academician V.F. Miller. M., 1990.
At present, there is hardly any need to particularly prove that all art, including folklore, goes back to historical reality and reflects it, and that one of the tasks of researchers is to show this using the material that they study. The difficulties begin with how one should understand the process of history and where and in what one should look for its reflection. In this regard, two trends are clearly emerging in modern folkloristics. One continues the understanding of history and historical reflections that was developed in pre-Soviet science. History is understood as a chain of events of foreign and domestic politics; I would like to emphasize precisely this attitude towards events. Events can always be accurately dated. They are caused by the actions of people. These are historical figures, specific people with specific names. Accordingly, the historical basis of folklore is understood in the sense that historical events and historical figures are depicted in folklore. The researcher’s task is to show which events and which historical figures are reflected in individual folklore monuments, and date them accordingly.
The other direction comes from a broader understanding of history. This direction, firstly, strictly differentiates genres. The historical basis of the genres is different. There are genres for which the interpretation of folklore as images of events and persons is quite possible. For others, this narrow understanding of history is not enough. Driving force history is the people themselves; faces are a derivative of history, and not the driving principle of it. From this point of view, everything that happens to a people in all eras of its life, one way or another belongs to the field of history. When studying folklore, the main attention should be paid to what we call the basis;
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First of all, these are forms of labor, for the folklore of the feudal era - especially forms of peasant labor. The development of forms of labor ultimately explains the development of forms and types of thinking and forms of artistic creativity. The field of history covers the history of social forms and social relations down to the smallest details of the everyday order in the relations between the boyar and the serfs, the landowner and the serf, the priest and the farm laborer. There are no names or events, but there is a story. The field of history includes the history of marriage forms and family relationships, which determine wedding poetry and a significant part of the lyrics. In short, with a broad understanding of history, the historical basis means the entire totality of the real life of a people in the process of its development in all eras of its existence.<...>
For proper understanding historical foundations folklore, it is necessary to keep in mind that there is, in fact, no single folklore as such, that folklore is divided into genres. Pre-revolutionary folkloristics did not even use this word, but in Soviet folkloristics the study of genres is gradually becoming the focus of attention. Genre is the primary unit from which study must proceed.<...>One of the main features of the genre is the unity of poetics or poetic system of works. There are other signs of the genre, but this one is the most important. Each genre has specific features. The difference in poetic techniques is not only of formal significance. It reflects different attitudes towards reality and determines different ways of depicting it. Each genre has naturally determined and defined boundaries, beyond which it never goes and cannot go, or one genre develops into another, which also occurs in folklore. An epic, for example, can be reborn into a fairy tale. Until the features of the genre are studied or at least outlined, individual monuments that are part of the genre cannot be studied.
Each genre is characterized by a special attitude to reality and the way it artistic image. Different genres are formed in different eras, have different historical destinies, pursue different goals and reflect different sides political, social and everyday history of the people. So, for example, it is quite obvious that a fairy tale reflects reality differently than a funeral lament, and a soldier’s song differently than an epic. The question of genres has not yet been sufficiently developed in our country, but we can no longer do without the concept of a genre and without attention to its features:
118 About the historicism of folklore and meta-aahs, its study
Can. Consequently, speaking about the historical basis of folklore and the methods of its study, it is necessary to talk about each genre separately, and only after that will it be possible to draw conclusions about folklore as a whole.
It is quite obvious that from the point of view of a broad understanding of history, absolutely all genres of Russian folklore can be studied. In each of them, in one way or another, the reality of different eras is refracted - from very ancient times to the present.<...>Historical study must be preceded by formal study. The study of the morphology of a fairy tale is the first step, a prerequisite for its historical research. The typology of conspiracies, the poetics* of riddles, the structure of ritual songs, the forms of lyrical songs - all this is necessary to reveal the most ancient stages of their formation and development. Subsequently, the entire Russian peasantry life XIX V. can be read from fairy tales, songs, laments, proverbs, dramas and comedies. There are no historical events or names here, but historical study of them is possible, although not all eras and not all centuries will be covered equally. This is, as it were, one type of genres that can be studied from the point of view of the broad understanding of history discussed above.
But there are other genres in which the depiction of historical reality is the main goal of the work. They can be studied from the point of view of a narrower understanding of history and historicism. I want to dwell on these genres in a little more detail. Here, first of all, it is necessary to name the genre of legends. Traditions in Russian folklore have been studied very little. Collectors were almost not interested in them; the number of records was very small. In contrast, in Western Europe, Sage is at the center of attention, with international congresses convening to explore the genre. By their nature, Sage is very diverse and falls mainly into legends or tales, mythological and historical. A few words about historical legends.
Apparently this genre is very ancient. Naturally, we do not have records from the period of pre-Kievan Rus and the Russian Middle Ages. In such cases one can judge by analogy with other nations. In 1960, a magnificent publication prepared by G. U. Ergis was published - “Historical Legends and Stories of the Yakuts.” G.U. Ergis characterizes them as follows: “Legends and historical stories contain narratives about real events related to the activities of specific individuals, reflect economic and cultural
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tour achievements of the people" >. The presence of such a genre among the Yakuts is especially interesting for us because the Yakuts have a magnificent, highly developed and very artistic epic. But the genre of heroic epic and the genre of legends are never confused by the people. Researchers do not confuse them either. Ergis writes: “Historical legends, stories and legends, in contrast to the actual artistic genres of oral and poetic creativity, can be called historical folklore of the Yakuts, based on real events and phenomena of the past” 2. The main thematic cycles of these legends are the resettlement of the Yakuts from the south to the Lena River, clashes with hostile tribes and peoples, the settlement of Vilyuy and Kobyai by the Yakuts, and the entry of Yakutia into the Russian state. There are special legends about childbirth, on the basis of which branched genealogical tables can be compiled. This is somewhat reminiscent of the Icelandic ancestral sagas.
Did the Eastern Slavs have historical legends? We can assume that they were. Fragments of them are preserved in chronicles and other sources. Such legends preserved by chronicles are discussed in the book by B. A. Rybakov 3. The folklorist is accustomed to dealing with records from the mouths of the people. There are known records of legends about Razin, Peter I, about Pugachev, the Decembrists, about some kings and others, as yet little researched.
V. I. Chicherov in a deep and interesting article “On the problem of historical and genre specificity Russian epics and historical songs" indicates: ""In historical traditions and legends, the narration is about events and persons as what happened in reality" 4; "As for historical tradition, it, preserving the memory of the event that took place and talking about heroic behavior of any figure, lives in the memory of the people as an oral, unwritten history "5. I think that these observations are correct, despite the fact that many legends are of a fantastic nature. It should also be added that from an artistic point of view, these legends are usually weak , little skillful. This genre is not aesthetic, as Ergis also says. Neither consciously nor unconsciously the narrator strives to verbally flower,.
1 G. U. Erg and s, Historical legends and stories of the Yakuts, part I, M.-L.,. 1960, p. 13.
2 Ibid., p. 15.
3 B. A. Rybakov, Ancient Rus'. Tales, epics, chronicles, M., 1963, pp. 22-39.
4 V.I. Chicherov, Questions of the theory and history of folk art.. M., 1959, p. 263.
5 There same, page 264.
120 On the historicism of folklore and methods of studying it
decorate the story. He only wants to convey what he considers to be reality.
In this respect, legends differ sharply from historical songs. We have a huge literature on the issue of historical songs. Historical songs were the subject of particularly close study in Soviet times. There have been and are ongoing debates about the essence and genre nature of these songs. But the following features of historical songs seem indisputable: the characters are not fictional characters, but real historical figures, and usually of large scale.<...>The plot is usually based on some real event.<...>True, both the characters themselves and the actions do not always fully correspond to the actual story. The people here give free rein to their historical imagination and artistic invention. But these cases do not contradict the nature of historical songs. The historicism of these songs does not lie in the fact that they correctly depict historical figures and tell historical events or those that the people consider to be valid. Their historicism lies in the fact that in these songs the people express their attitude towards historical events, persons and circumstances, and express their historical self-awareness. Historicism is a phenomenon of an ideological order.<...>
A historical song is created by direct participants in events or their witnesses.<^...>
The time of origin of historical songs is usually dated without any difficulty. A more complicated question is the time of origin of the genre itself. Soviet scientists do not yet have complete consensus on this issue. What is certain is that the flowering of historical song began in the 16th century, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible.<...>For the sudden flowering of this genre precisely in the 16th century. there are reasons. The main historical aspiration of the people, expressed in the epic - the creation of a monolithic centralized state and complete liberation from the Tatar-Mongol yoke - was realized. The time has come for a cultural change. The entire nature of warfare is changing radically. The invention of firearms and the rapid development of Russian artillery pushes into the background the epic heroes with their swords, spears and clubs, heroes who win an easy victory by swinging a wiry Tatar and laying out streets and alleys in the enemy army. Now, instead of lone heroes, an army led by a command appears, and instead of easy victories, there are difficult, bloody battles, so that “the earth is full of willows.”
On the historicism of folklore and methods of studying it 121
on the blood." This is the general historical background emergence of the historical song genre. The monumentalism of epics is being replaced by the realism of the historical song.
I will limit myself to these remarks. Their purpose is to show the applicability to historical songs and the legitimacy of the methods of the old historical school, which seeks in folklore primarily images of historical events and personalities. This does not exclude studying them from a broader historical point of view. Most historical songs are songs of military content. They widely reflect the soldier's life, sometimes down to the smallest details in the description of clothing, food, etc.
The same can be said about the poetry of workers. The work song, in some respects, is, as it were, the successor to the historical song. The workers' songs depict with even greater force the everyday reality, the conditions in which the Russian proletarian lived and worked. Foreign policy events are touched upon relatively less frequently - they are reflected in historical songs. These events are touched upon only when they arouse popular anger, as, for example, in soldiers' and sailors' songs about the Russo-Japanese War. But all the more vividly they depict, precisely depict and not involuntarily reflect, the entire life of workers, starting with the mine songs of the 18th century, which outline all the details of the life of the workers’ barracks - from wake-up at five o’clock in the morning to a detailed depiction of “driving” through the ranks and dispatch in hospital. The presentation is dry and factual. But a song can rise to the greatest pathos, as, for example, in the description of the events of January 9 and in the curses of Nicholas II. Events from the life of workers such as strikes, demonstrations, clashes with the police, arrests, and exiles are depicted realistically.
With all of the above, I wanted to illustrate the thesis that there are, as it were, two types of genres: in some, historical reality is reflected only in general terms and against the will of the performers, in others it is depicted quite specifically, they describe historical events, situations and characters.
I have deliberately avoided the question of the historicism of epics for now. This question is the subject of discussion, and therefore I would like to highlight it in particular. There are heated, sometimes passionate debates on this issue in our science.
When L. N. Maikov’s master’s thesis “On the epics of the Vladimir cycle” was published in 1863, this meant the emergence of a new direction in folkloristics, semi-
122 On the historicism of folklore and methods of studying it
who gave the name of the historical school. Maikov systematically studied all historical deposits in the Russian epic. He understood that the content of the epics was fictional, but that the setting was historical. The book consists of three chapters, of which the central second is “Consideration of epics as monuments of folk life.” Here the historical realities of Russian epics are explored: the court of the prince and his squad, buildings, feasts, armor, weapons, utensils, food and drinks, etc. Issues such as land relations and some others are also explored. An examination of the realities leads Maykov to the conclusion that the content of the epics of Vladimirov’s cycle was developed during the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries, and was established no later than the time of Tatar rule, i.e. in the 13th-14th centuries. Somewhat generalizing Maikov's point of view, we can say that, in his opinion, the Russian epic as a genre was created in the era of Kievan Rus and the subsequent centuries before the Mongol invasion.
This point of view has been dominant for a long time, and now there are still some scientists who share it. However, the overwhelming majority of Soviet scientists adhere to a different point of view: the epic was created long before the formation of the state. The Great October Socialist Revolution opened our eyes to the countless epic treasures that exist among the peoples inhabiting the USSR, who before the revolution lived in living conditions created under the tribal system. Epic is possessed by the peoples who lived before the revolution in the most archaic forms of life; these are the peoples of the Paleo-Asian group - Nivkhs, Chukchis, etc. Currently, the most archaic of all epics known to us - the Nenets epic 6 - has been published. We learned and studied the Karelian epic better. The Yakuts created a magnificent epic, exceptional in scope and artistic merit. The epic of the Altai peoples is no less perfect; We know the Shor epic especially well. The richest epic is among the Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and the peoples of the Caucasus. All this leads to a completely accurate conclusion that the epic as a special type of folk art appears earlier than the creation of the state. The Eastern Slavs were not and could not be an exception in this regard. The presence of an epic among them is a historical pattern. The epic of the Eastern Slavs was created before the Kievan state was formed. The epics of peoples have varying degrees of diversity
On the historicism of folklore and methods of studying it 123
development and different forms, depending on what stage of socio-historical development the people stood at. All these observations and provisions form the basis of my book about the Russian epic 7. Unfortunately, the section devoted to the epic of the peoples of the USSR had to be significantly shortened, and therefore it probably turned out to be unconvincing.
The point of view that the Russian epic arose within the so-called Kievan Rus still holds true. Yes, academician B. A. Rybakov writes: “Epics, as a genre, appear, obviously, simultaneously with Russian feudal statehood” 8. This is far from obvious. Objecting to me, B. A. Rybakov declares: “V. J. Propp, fighting against the bourgeois historical school, tore Russian epics away from historical reality altogether, declaring that a significant part of the epic originated under the primitive communal system” 9. In these words, the primitive communal system is not recognized at all as a historical reality. The point of view of L. N. Maykov and his modern followers that the epic originated within the so-called Kievan Rus cannot be supported and is not supported by the majority of Soviet folklorists. If it is true that the epic arose earlier than the state, the task of historical research should be, first of all, to, by comparing the epics of different peoples at different stages of their development, accurately establish which plots were created before the emergence of the state and which after it.
The number of pre-state subjects in Russian epic is extremely large - more than it might seem at first glance. Plots in which the hero meets some monster (Snake, Tugarin, Idolishche, etc.) or goes to woo a bride and sometimes fights a monstrous opponent (Potyk, Ivan Godinovich), plots in which he finds himself in an unearthly world (Sadko in the underwater kingdom), plots in which women such as the Amazons act, with whom the hero enters into a relationship or with whom he marries (a fight between father and son), and some others could not be created or invented in the conditions of state life. The plot of snake fighting could not have arisen in Kievan Rus; this is historically impossible. All of the above-mentioned plots were created earlier, and all of them can be documented in the epic of the peoples of the USSR.
7 See: V. Ya. Propp, Russian heroic epic, M., 1958, pp. 29-59 (“Epic during the period of the decomposition of the primitive communal system”).
8 B. A. Rybakov, Ancient Rus', p. 44.
9 Ibid., p. 42.
124 On the historicism of folklore and methods of studying it
When a people enters the stage of state building, its epic undergoes significant changes. The old epic is being reworked, and at the same time a new one is being created, already reflecting the state and state interests (epics about the fight against the Tatars, etc.). The ideology of the tribal system collides with the interests of the young state. The clash of two ideologies in old stories is subject to detailed study. Such a study can be called historical. The snake, which used to kidnap women, now not only kidnaps women, but will captivate the Russian people, the people of Kiev. The hero no longer frees the girl, but Kyiv from the serpent’s raids. This is the plot of the Russian epic about the snake fighter Dobryna in the light of comparative data. This is just one of many possible examples. From all this it is quite obvious that it is impossible to date such epics. They were not born in one day or hour or year; their emergence is the result of a long historical process. If, therefore, Maykov was mistaken in attributing the origin of the epic to the X-XII centuries, then he was still right in establishing historical realities. The epic, finding itself in a new historical situation, absorbs it into itself. The absorption process continues later. The epic is similar to layers of the earth in which there are deposits of different geological eras.
Maikov's initiative was not supported by subsequent Russian science. In the works of mainly Vsevolod Miller and his followers, the historical setting of the study of the epic was extremely narrowed. True, everyday life and other historical realities were studied. These works or these pages belong to the most valuable and will never lose their significance. However, the main, most important, almost the only question of research has now become the question of the historical prototypes of epic heroes, what events are depicted in epics and what year the origin of the epics under study can be dated. But since in the epics themselves there are no direct, clear traces of historical events, the epic is declared to be a distorted depiction of events by uneducated, ignorant peasants, and the task of science is reduced to eliminating the distortions introduced by the people into the presentation of events. A long series of works began dedicated to establishing the prototypes of the heroes of the Russian folk epic. It turned out, for example, that Solovey Budimirovich is not Solovey Budimirovich at all, but the Norwegian king Harald; Duke is the Hungarian King Stephen IV; Potgk is the Bulgarian Saint Michael from the city of Potuki; snake catcher-
On the historicism of folklore and methods of studying it 125
The birth of Dobrynya is not snake fighting at all, but the baptism of Novgorod, etc.
There was no unity in the opinions of scientists, and they disputed each other. In this regard, opinions about the historical prototype of the epic Volga are especially varied.<...>
What's the matter here? Where does this discrepancy come from? Maybe the researchers lacked erudition? But such an assumption disappears: all of these are major scientists and experts. The reason here is different. It lies in an erroneous methodology. A.P. Skaftymov in his book “Poetics and Genesis of Epics” (Saratov, 1924) convincingly showed with the help of what stretches such conclusions are reached. The tenets of the so-called historical school were subject to serious criticism. But this only temporarily suspended attempts at similar historical interpretations. Currently, we can talk about the revival of the historical school of Vsevolod Miller. They are trying to avoid some of her mistakes - the assertion that the epic arose in an aristocratic environment, as well as neglect of the artistic features of the epic - but basically everything remains the same. B. A. Rybakov writes that the epic epic must be approached by “re-checking and expanding the historical comparisons made a hundred years ago” 10. These words mean that we must remain in the same positions as a hundred years ago, and only quantitatively expand the material, check it again, and everything will fall into place. We cannot agree with this. What is needed is not a quantitative increase in material, but a qualitative revision of the methodological premises. What was progressive a hundred years ago in bourgeois science cannot be considered progressive in today's Soviet science. The methodology of the representatives of the so-called historical school is based on one basic premise, which is that the people in epics want to depict current political history and actually depict it. Thus, M. M. Plisetsky writes: “Songs arose with the purpose of recording historical events.” If this premise is correct, the direction that seeks images of political events and historical figures in epics will be legitimate. If this premise is incorrect, the entire methodological basis this direction is collapsing.
This premise is wrong. Moreover, it is ahistorical. She attributes Old Russian man such aesthetics
10 Ibid., p. 43.
and M. M. Plisetsky, Historicism of Russian epics, M., 1962, p. 141.
On the historicism of folklore and methods of studying it
aspirations and such a form of their implementation that could not have taken place before the XIV-XV centuries. Russian people of the early Middle Ages could not depict real reality in their verbal art. This aspiration, as a leading one, will appear in folklore much later, only in the 16th century, when historical song began to develop widely. It was said above that there are two types of folklore genres: in some, reality is reflected independently of the will of the creator, in others, its depiction is the main goal of the artist. The epic does not belong to those genres where a conscious goal was set - the depiction of factual history. Their historicity lies on a different plane. For comparison, we can refer to the fine art of ancient Russia. Russian icon painting, like any art, arises from reality and indirectly reflects it; this is the art of the Russian Middle Ages. It depicts different types of people: young and old, men and women, bearded and beardless, stern and tender, etc. But the art of realistic portraiture and everyday painting is alien to icon painting. The icon painter does not depict events or portrait people. He elevates and transforms them in his own way, he creates the faces of saints. This does not exclude the fact that in some cases real people were also depicted: Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (1199 - Spas on Nereditsa), Boris and Gleb. But even in these in rare cases the image is conventional and subordinate to the style of this art. To attribute to icon painting the desire to depict real reality means not to understand the differences between Rublev’s icon and Repin’s painting and to attribute to ancient Russia the aesthetic aspirations of the 19th century.
The situation is fundamentally the same with verbal art. If in the icon faces are transformed into faces, then in the epic people are transformed into sublime heroes who perform the greatest feats that an ordinary person cannot accomplish. Therefore, these feats cannot be talked about, you can only sing about them.
The mistakes of the followers of the old historical school stem from a misunderstanding of the genre; nature and specificity of the epic. Characteristic is the statement of M. M. Plisetsky, who argues as follows: if specific events are depicted in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” in songs about the capture of Kazan, about Razin, in good historical novels (he even refers to Leo Tolstoy’s novels “War and Peace” ” and A. N. Tolstoy’s “Peter the Great”), then “why is this not allowed for epics?” It’s very simple why: because these are genres from different eras, different social orientations, different aesthetics.
06 historicism of folklore and methods of its study 127
ski systems. The epic is not a Tolstoy novel. The epic arises on historical soil, it reflects it, but the active depiction of current historical reality, current events is not included in the artistic tasks of the epic, does not correspond to its aesthetics and poetics. Raising the question of depicting historical reality, which is legitimate for the genre of legends and for historical songs, is unlawful for epics. But followers of the historical school deliberately deny the difference between these genres. For them, an epic, a historical song, a legend are one and the same. Thus, M. M. Plisetsky is trying to completely erase the difference between the epic and the historical song, which some Soviet scientists emphasized. He objects to the point of view according to which the historical song is composed by participants and witnesses of events, which we do not have in epics. “Of course,” he writes, “epics, like other heroic-historical works, were created by participants in the events or arose in the environment closest to them” 12. But how can we imagine the participants in such events as the transfer of power from Svyatogor to Ilya Muromets? There are only two people acting here - which of them composed the epic? What witnesses could see, and therefore sing, the dance of the sea king at the bottom of the sea while Sadko played the harp? On this issue, I want to express my solidarity with the views of V.I. Chicherov. He has two works: one early - “On the stages of development of the Russian historical epic” 13, the other late, the article we have already mentioned - “On the problem of the historical and genre specificity of Russian epics and historical songs.” These works express different, one might say opposing, views. In the first, the very term “historical epic” shows that, following Vsevolod Miller and others, he believed that both epics and historical songs were based on specific events. The epic is nothing more than the oldest form of historical song. There are no fundamental differences between them. “Historical epic” is a collection of epics and historical songs. But after that, V.I. Chicherov worked a lot and persistently on historical song. This is evidenced by at least the anthology published in the “Poet's Library”. Now he clearly saw and understood with his own eyes what a deep difference there is between the epic and the historical song. I will not repeat the arguments given by Chicherov, but simply refer to his work those who
12 Ibid., p. 109.
13 Historical and literary collection, M., 1947, pp. 3-60.
128 On the historicism of folklore and methods of studying it
I would seriously like to think about this issue. “Historical songs are structured differently than epics,” is how he briefly formulates his view. They differ in the era of their origin, different principles of artistic reflection and depiction of reality, different poetics and aesthetics. This is opposed by the thesis of M. M. Plisetsky, which states: “Such a difference in genres (epic and historical song.- V.P.) completely unfounded" 14. After the remarkable collection of historical songs, the first volume of which was published by the Pushkin House, the study of historical song as a genre has a solid basis in materials, and the doctoral dissertation of B. N. Putilov, dedicated to the historical song folklore of the 13th-16th centuries, provides a theoretical basis for a correct understanding this question 15.
A few words about the methods of historical study of folklore. I believe that in folkloristics the method can only be inductive, that is, from studying the material to conclusions. This method was established in the exact sciences and in linguistics, but it was not dominant in the science of folk art. Here deduction prevailed, that is, the path from a general theory or hypothesis to facts that were considered from the point of view of pre-established postulates. Some sought to prove that epic folklore is the remnants of the cult of the sun, others tried to substantiate the Eastern, Byzantine, Romano-Germanic origin of works of folk art, others argued that the heroes of epic poetry are historical figures, and fourth - that folk art is completely realistic , etc. And although there is some truth in each of these hypotheses, the methodological basis must be different. In the presence of a preconceived hypothesis, what is obtained is not scientific evidence, but the adaptation of material to pre-compiled theses. Many works of folklorists are based on this.<...>
Fundamentally, a truly historical method can only be comparative in the broad sense of the word. In this regard, the international congresses of Slavists have taught us a lot. For example, the plot of the epic about Ivan Godinovich is usually interpreted as originally Russian, and even attempts are made to determine the time and place of its origin. Meanwhile, this plot is typical of pre-state epic. We can only talk about the Russian form of this plot. Another
14 M. M. Plisetsky, Historicism of Russian epics, p. 103.
16 Historical songs of the XIII-XVI centuries. The publication was prepared by B. N. Putilov and B. M. Dobrovolsky, M.-L., 1960; B. N. Putilov, Russian historical and song folklore of the 13th-16th centuries, M.-L., 1960.
On the historicism of folklore and methods of studying it129
example: the plot of the epic about the Danube and his trip to pick up a bride for Vladimir is compared with the story in Russian chronicles about the marriage of Prince Vladimir to Rogneda. Here, therefore, there are two matching objects. Meanwhile, B. M. Sokolov, in a large special article, compared this plot with the cycle of tales about Koltom, with the cycle of German tales about the marriage of Gunther to Brünnhilde in all its versions (Nibelungen, Elder Edda, Younger Edda, saga of the Welsungs, Thidrexaga) , with Russian chronicle materials and with all variants of epic 16. There are no longer two objects of comparison, but many more. The international nature of this plot, with all the differences in national specifics, becomes completely obvious. But representatives of the modern historical school ignore this work of Sokolov and do not even consider it necessary to debate about it.
Further, speaking about the method, it should be emphasized that the most important thing in the epic is its plot, the plot as a whole. This plot must be established with all the details, in all its versions. This is the main subject of study. In epics, the plot, as a rule, does not have the character of only adventurous, plot-based entertainment. It always expresses a known idea, and this idea must be understood and defined. But ideas are not born on their own, but at a certain time and in a certain place. The historical study of epics consists of establishing in what era the idea embodied in a given artistic form could have originated. In most cases, in epics one can trace the deposits of several eras or periods, the ideas of which may collide. The presence of such clashes and collisions is one of the most interesting, but also the most complex phenomena of the epic epic.
8 determining the historical meaning and significance of the ideological content of the epic, in establishing when such a complex formation could have been created, is the task of historical research.
In many works, historicity is determined not by the whole, not by the plot and its historical significance, but by various particulars. So, for example, the historicity of the epic about Sadko is proven on the basis of one fact - his construction of a church. The hero of the epic is declared identical to the chronicle character, and this is supposedly the whole historicism of the epic. The plot as a whole, the conflict between Sadko and Novgorod, his immersion in water, the figure of the sea king
16 B. M. Sokolov, Epic Tales about the marriage of Prince Vladimir, ^German-Russian relations in the field of epic). - Scientific notes of Saratov University, vol. I, issue 3, 1923, p. 69-122.
9 Zach. 80
130 On the historicism of folklore and methods of studying it
etc. are not studied by representatives of the so-called historical school; This is all pure fiction and therefore does not interest them. Meanwhile, even if it turned out that the image of the epic Sadko reflected the historical Sotko Sytinich, the historicism of the plot of this epic would not be explained.
Historical realities can be of great help in explaining the historical fate of the plot. The epic is very rich in such realities, and the number of realities gradually increases as the epic develops. All these realities must be studied most carefully. Among such realities there may be historical names and geographical names, which should be studied in accordance with modern onomastics and toponymy, and not through completely guesswork, based on approximate sound similarity.
How richly the most diverse realities are represented in the epic can be seen in the example of the relatively late epic about Mikul Selyaninovich. Here, for example, the following questions can be posed: what is the act of allocating cities to Prince Volga from a historical point of view? What rights and obligations were such challenges accompanied by and which of them are reflected in the epic? In what era were such endowments possible? Is it possible or impossible to find these cities on the map? How to interpret Volga’s name and how did it get into the epic? What is Volga's squad? What is the legal and social position of the peasant in relation to the prince in the epic? Whose land is Mikula plowing on? How does his plow work? How is he dressed? What land relations are depicted in the epic? In the epic, Mikula goes to buy salt. What is the route of this trip? Is subsistence farming reflected here? In the epic there are unclear traces of taxation of salt trade. What monetary system is reflected in the epic? The development of such details does not yet reveal the essence of the plot as an ideological and artistic whole. The meaning of the meeting and clash between the plowman Mikula and Prince Volga can only be revealed by studying the artistic fabric of the work. But the development of historical realities helps to establish all the historical coordinates of the plot and, in this regard, contributes to the disclosure of its original historical meaning. There is a wide expanse for the historian here. Here the folklorist awaits the help of the historian. But representatives of the method of narrow historical study pick out only two questions from the entire complex of questions: which cities are depicted in the epic, who historical prototype Volga? The idea that Volga may not have a prototype at all
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It is not allowed that cities are named arbitrarily and that their names have no significant significance for historical study. Mikula, as a clearly fictional character, has not been studied from this point of view. If he was studied, then on the basis of the fact that he was smartly dressed, he was declared a representative of the kulaks and kulak ideology (B. M. Sokolov). This is what studying details in isolation from the whole leads to. In conclusion, I want to say the following: as I have already noted, any study of folklore nowadays is based on diverse and multifaceted comparisons. Meanwhile, we have not developed either a technique or a methodology for comparison. Therefore, many folkloristic works, both in the past and now, are replete with false analogies and erroneous conclusions.<\..>
STRUCTURAL
AND HISTORICAL STUDY
MAGICAL TALE
The book “Morphology of a Fairy Tale” was published in Russian in 1928. At one time it caused twofold responses. On the one hand, it was greeted kindly by some folklorists, ethnographers and literary scholars. On the other hand, the author was accused of formalism, and such accusations are repeated to this day. This book, like many others, was probably would forgotten, and only specialists would occasionally remember about it, but a few years after the war they suddenly remembered it again. It was talked about at congresses and in the press, it was translated into English language 2. What happened and how can this renewed interest be explained? Huge, stunning discoveries have been made in the field of exact sciences. These discoveries were made possible through the use of new, precise and precise methods of research and calculations. Commitment to Application precise methods has also spread to the humanities. Structural and mathematical linguistics appeared. Linguistics was followed by other disciplines. One of them - theoretical poetics. It turned out that the understanding of art as a kind of sign system, the method of formalization and modeling, the possibility of using mathematical calculations were already anticipated in this book, although at the time when it was created, there was no such circle of understanding
1 V. Propp, Morphology of a fairy tale, Leningrad, 1928.
2 V1. R g o r r, Morphology of the Folktale. Edited with an Introduction by Svatava Pirkova-Jacobson. Translated by Laurence Scott, Bloomington, 1958 (“Indiana University Research Center in Anthropology, Folklore and Linguistics, Publication Ten”) (Reprints: International Journal of American Linguistics, vol. 24, no. 4, pt 3, October 1958; “ Bibliographical and Special Series of the American Folklore Society", vol. 9, Philadelphia, 1958); V. Propp, Morphology of the Folktale. Second Edition. Revised and Edited with a Preface by Louis A. Wagner. New Introduction by Alan Dundes, Austin - London .- Ed.
133
ties and the terminology with which modern sciences operate. Once again, the attitude towards this work turned out to be ambivalent. Some considered it necessary and useful in the search for new, refined methods, while others, as before, considered it formalistic and denied any cognitive value behind it.
Among the opponents of this book is Prof. Lévi-Strauss. He is a structuralist. But structuralists are often accused of formalism. To show the difference between structuralism and formalism, Prof. Lévi-Strauss takes as an example the book “Morphology of the Fairy Tale,” which he considers formalist, and uses it to outline this difference. His article “La structure et la forme. Reflexions sur un ouvrage de Vladimir Propp" is attached to this edition of "Morphology" 3. Whether he is right or wrong, let the readers judge that. But when a person is attacked, he tends to defend himself. Against the opponent's arguments, if they seem false, you can put forward counterarguments that may turn out to be more correct. Such controversy may be of general scientific interest. Therefore, I gratefully agreed to the kind offer of the Einaudi publishing house to write a response to this article. Prof. Lévi-Strauss threw down the gauntlet to me, and I'm picking it up. Readers of "Morphology" will thus become witnesses to the duel and will be able to take the side of whomever they consider the winner, if there is one at all.
Prof. Levi-Strauss has one very significant advantage over me: he is a philosopher. I am an empiricist, and an incorruptible empiricist, who first of all looks closely at the facts and studies them scrupulously and methodically, checking my premises and looking back at every step of reasoning. Empirical sciences, however, are also different. In some cases, an empiricist can and is even forced to be content with a description or characterization, especially if the subject of study is a single fact. Such descriptions are by no means devoid of scientific value, if only they are made correctly. But if a series of facts and their connections are described and studied, their description develops into the disclosure of a phenomenon, a phenomenon, and the disclosure of such a phenomenon already has
3 S. Levi-Strauss, La structure et la forme. Reflexions sur un ouvrage de Vladimir Propp, - "Cahiers de l"lnstitut de Science economique appliquee", serie M, No. 7, mars, 1960 (reprint: "International Journal of Slavic Linguistics and Poetics", III, s"Gravenhage, 1960; in Italian, the article is included as an appendix to the Italian edition of the book by V. Ya-Propp).- Ed.
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not only of private interest, but also conducive to philosophical reflection. I also had these thoughts, but they are encrypted and expressed only in the epigraphs that accompany some of the chapters. Prof. Levi-Strauss knows my book only from the English translation. But the translator took one unacceptable liberty. He did not understand at all what epigraphs were for. Outwardly, they are not connected with the text of the book. Therefore, he considered them unnecessary decorations and barbarously crossed them out. Meanwhile, all epithets are taken from a series of works by Goethe, united by him under the general title “Morphology,” as well as from his diaries. These epigraphs were meant to express what was not said in the book itself. The crown of all science is the discovery of laws. Where the pure empiricist sees isolated facts, the empiricist-philosopher sees a reflection of the law. I saw the law in a very humble place - in one of the types of folk tales. But it seemed to me even then that the disclosure of this law could have a broader significance. The very term “Morphology” was not borrowed from such manuals on botany, where the main goal is systematics, nor from grammatical works, it was borrowed from Goethe, who combined works on botany and osteology under this title. Behind this term, Goethe reveals a perspective in recognizing the patterns that permeate nature in general. And it is no coincidence that after botany Goethe came to comparative osteology. These works can be strongly recommended to structuralists. And if the young Goethe, in the person of Faust, sitting in his dusty laboratory and surrounded by skeletons, bones and herbariums, sees in them nothing but dust, then the aging Goethe, armed with the method of exact comparisons in the field of natural science, sees through the individual - permeating all of nature - the great general and whole. But there are not two Goethes - the poet and the scientist; Goethe of “Fausta,” striving for knowledge, and Goethe, the natural scientist who came to knowledge, are one and the same Goethe. Epigraphs to individual chapters- a sign of admiration for him. But these epigraphs should also express something else: the realm of nature and the realm of human creativity are not separated. There is something that unites them, there are some laws common to them that can be studied using similar methods. This idea, vaguely emerging then, currently underlies the search for exact methods in the field of the humanities, which was mentioned above. This is one of the reasons why the structuralists supported me. On the other hand, some structuralists did not understand that my goal was not to establish
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to introduce some broad generalizations, the possibility of which is expressed in epithets, and that the goal was purely professional and folkloristic. Yes, Prof. Lévi-Strauss twice asks himself a perplexed question: what reasons prompted me to apply my method to a fairy tale? He himself explains to the reader these reasons, of which, in his opinion, there are several. One of them is that I am not an ethnologist and therefore do not have mythological material at my disposal, I do not know it. I, further, have no idea about the true relationship between fairy tale and myth (pp. 16, 19) 4. In short, the fact that I study fairy tales is explained by my insufficient scientific horizon, otherwise I would probably have tried my method not on fairy tales, but on myths.
I will not go into the logic of these theses (“since the author does not know myths, he deals with fairy tales”). The logic of such statements seems weak to me. But I think that no scientist should be prohibited from doing one thing and recommended to do another. These arguments by Prof. Lévi-Strauss shows that he imagines the matter as if a scientist first had a method, and then he began to think about what to apply this method to; in this case, for some reason the scientist applies his method to fairy tales, which does not really interest the philosopher. But this never happens in science, and it never happened to me. The situation was completely different. Russian universities of tsarist times provided philologists with very weak literary training. In particular, folk poetry was completely suppressed. To fill this gap, after graduating from university, I took up Afanasyev’s famous collection and began to study it. I came across a series of fairy tales with a persecuted stepdaughter, and then I noticed the following: in the fairy tale “Morozko” (No. 95 by numbering Soviet publications) the stepmother sends her stepdaughter to the forest to see Morozka. Morozko tries to freeze her, but she answers him so meekly and patiently that he spares her, rewards her and lets her go. The old woman's own daughter does not stand the test and dies. In the next fairy tale, the stepdaughter no longer ends up with Morozka, but with the goblin, and in the next one, with the bear. But this is the same fairy tale! Morozko, the goblin and the bear test and reward their stepdaughter in different ways, but the course of action is the same. Did no one notice this? Why do Afanasyev and others consider these tales different? It is quite obvious that Morozko, the goblin and the bear in different forms commit
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the same action. Afanasyev considers these tales different because they different characters. It seemed to me that these fairy tales are the same because the actions of the characters are the same. I became interested in this and began to study other fairy tales from the point of view of what the characters generally do in the fairy tale. Thus, by entering into the material, and not through abstractions, a very simple method was born for studying a fairy tale based on the actions of the characters, regardless of their appearance. I called the actions of the characters, their actions, functions. The observation made on the tales of the persecuted stepdaughter turned out to be the tip by which one could grab the thread and unwind the whole ball. It was discovered that other plots are based on the repetition of functions and that ultimately all the plots of a fairy tale are based on the same functions, that all fairy tales are of the same type in their structure.
But if the translator did a disservice to the reader by omitting epigraphs from Goethe, then another violation of the author’s will was committed not by the translator, but by the Russian publishing house that published the book; its title was changed. It was called “Morphology of a Fairy Tale.” To give the book more interest, the editor crossed out the word “magical” and thereby misled readers (including Prof. Lévi-Strauss) into thinking that the laws of fairy tales as a genre in general were being considered here. A book with such a title could be on a par with studies such as “Morphology of a Conspiracy”, “Morphology of a Fable”, “Morphology of a Comedy”, etc. But the author by no means had the goal of studying all types of the complex and diverse genre of fairy tales as such. It examines only one type of it, sharply different from all its other types, namely fairy tales, and only folk ones. This is, therefore, a special study on a particular issue of folklore. Another thing is that the method of studying narrative genres based on the functions of the characters may prove productive not only when applied to fairy tales, but also to other types of fairy tales, and perhaps to the study of works of a narrative nature in world literature in general. But it can be predicted that the specific results in all these cases will be completely different. For example, cumulative fairy tales are built on completely different principles than fairy tales. In English folklore they are called Formula-Tales. The types of formulas on which these fairy tales are based can be found and defined, but their schemes will turn out to be completely different from those of fairy tales. There is, therefore,
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different types of narratives, which can, however, be studied using the same methods. Prof. Lévi-Strauss quotes me as saying that the conclusions I found are not applicable to the fairy tales of Novalis or Goethe and, in general, to artificial fairy tales literary origin, and turns them against me, believing that in this case my conclusions are erroneous. But they are by no means wrong, they just do not have the universal meaning that my respected critic would like to give them. The method is broad, but the conclusions are strictly limited to the type of folklore narrative creativity from the study of which they were obtained.
I will not answer all the accusations brought against me by Prof. Lévi-Straussom. I will only focus on some of the most important ones. If these accusations turn out to be unfounded, other, smaller ones that follow from them, will disappear by themselves.
The main accusation is that my work is formalistic and therefore cannot have educational significance. Accurate definition what is meant by formalism, prof. Lévi-Strauss does not give it, limiting himself to pointing out some of its features, which are communicated in the course of the presentation. One of these signs is that formalists study their material without regard to history. He attributes such formalistic, ahistorical study to me as well. Wishing, apparently, to soften his harsh sentence somewhat, Prof. Lévi-Strauss informs his readers that, having written Morphology, I then abandoned formalism and morphological analysis in order to devote myself to historical and comparative research on the relationship oral literature(as he calls folklore) to myths, rituals and institutions (p. 4). What kind of investigation this is, he does not say. In the book “Russian Agrarian Holidays” (1963) I used exactly the same method as in “Morphology”. It turned out that all the major agricultural holidays consist of the same elements, differently decorated. But about this work prof. Levi-Strauss could not yet know. He is apparently referring to the book The Historical Roots of the Fairy Tale, published in 1946 and published by Einaudi in Italian. But if prof. Lévi-Strauss looked into this book; he would have seen that it begins with a presentation of the principles developed in Morphology. The definition of a fairy tale is given not through its plots, but through its composition. Indeed, having established the unity of the composition of fairy tales, I had to think about the reason for such unity. That the reason lies not in them -
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manent laws of form, and that it lies in the area of early history or, as some prefer to say, prehistory, that is, that stage of development of human society that is studied by ethnography and ethnology, was clear to me from the very beginning. Prof. Lévi-Strauss is absolutely right when he says that morphology is sterile unless it is, directly or indirectly, fertilized by the data of ethnography (observation ethnographique - p. 30). That is why I did not turn away from morphological analysis, but began to look for the historical foundations and roots of the system that was discovered through the comparative study of fairy tale plots. “Morphology” and “Historical Roots” are like two parts or two volumes of one large work. The second directly follows from the first, the first is a prerequisite for the second. Prof. Lévi-Strauss quotes my words that morphological research “should be connected with historical study” (p. 19), but again uses them against me. Since such a study is actually not given in Morphology, he is right. But he underestimated that these words were the expression of a well-known principle. They also contain some promise to carry out this historical study in the future. They are a kind of promissory note, which, although many years later, I still honestly paid. If, therefore, he writes about me that I am torn between the “formalistic ghost” (vision formaliste) and the “nightmarish necessity of historical explanations” (l "obsession des explanations historiques - p. 20), then this is simply false. I, according to possibilities strictly methodically and consistently, I move from the scientific description of phenomena and facts to their explanation historical reasons. Without knowing all this, Prof. Lévi-Strauss even attributes to me the repentance that forced me to abandon my formalistic visions in order to come to historical research. But I do not feel any remorse and do not feel the slightest remorse. Prof. himself Lévi-Strauss believes that a historical explanation of fairy tales at all is virtually impossible, “since we know very little about the prehistoric civilizations where they originated” (p. 21). He also laments the lack of texts for comparison. But the point is not in the texts (which, however, are available in absolutely sufficient quantities), but in the fact that the plots are generated by the way of life of the people, their lives and the resulting forms of thinking in the early stages of human social development and that the appearance of these plots is historically natural. Yes, we still know little about ethnology, but still a huge fact has accumulated in world science.
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tical material that makes such searches quite reliable.
But the point is not how “Morphology” was created and what the author experienced, but about questions of absolutely fundamental importance. Formal study cannot be separated from historical study and cannot be contrasted. Quite the contrary: formal study, an accurate systematic description of the material being studied is the first condition, a prerequisite for historical study and at the same time its first step. There is no shortage of scattered studies of individual subjects: they are given in large numbers in the works of the so-called Finnish school. However, studying individual plots in isolation from each other, supporters of this trend do not see any connection between the plots and do not even suspect the existence or possibility of such a connection. This attitude is characteristic of formalism. For formalists, the whole is a mechanical conglomerate of disparate parts. Accordingly, in this case, the fairy tale genre is presented as a collection of unrelated individual plots. For the structuralist, the parts are viewed and studied as elements of the whole and in their relation to the whole. The structuralist sees the whole, sees the system where the formalist cannot see it. What is given in “Morphology” makes it possible to study the genre inter-plot as a whole, as a system, instead of studying the plot, as is done in the works of the Finnish school, which, despite all its merits, it seems to me, is rightly reproached for formalism . Comparative cross-plot study opens up broad historical perspectives. What is primarily subject to historical explanation is not individual plots, but the compositional system to which they belong. Then a historical connection will be revealed between the plots, and this will pave the way for the study of individual plots.
But the question of the relationship between formal study and historical study covers only one side of the matter. Another concerns understanding the relationship of form to content and how to study them. Formalistic study usually refers to the study of form without regard to content. Prof. Lévi-Strauss even talks about their opposition. This view does not contradict the views of modern Soviet literary scholars. Thus, Yu. M. Lotman, one of the most active researchers in the field of structural literary criticism, writes that the main flaw of the so-called “formal method” is that it often led researchers to view literature as a sum of techniques, a mechanical
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conglomerate 3. To this we could add one more thing: for formalists, form has its own self-sufficient laws and immanent laws of development, independent of social history. From this point of view, development in the field of literary creativity is self-development, determined by the laws of form.
But if these definitions of formalism are correct, the book “Morphology of a Fairy Tale” cannot in any way be called formalistic, although prof. Lévi-Strauss is far from the only accuser. Not every study of form is a formalist study, and not every scientist who studies the artistic form of works of verbal or visual art is necessarily a formalist.
Already above I quoted the words of Prof. Levi-Strauss that my conclusions about the structure of a fairy tale represent a phantom, a formalistic apparition - une vision formaliste. This is not a casually dropped word, but the deepest conviction of the author. He believes that I am a victim of subjective illusions (p. 21). From many fairy tales I construct one that never existed. It is “an abstraction so pointless that it teaches us nothing about the objective reasons why there are many individual tales” (p. 25). That my abstraction, as the diagram I derived, is called by prof. Levi-Strauss does not reveal the reasons for diversity - this is true. Only historical consideration can teach this. But that it is pointless and represents an illusion is not true. Words from Prof. Lévi-Strauss show that he apparently simply did not understand my completely empirical, concrete, detailed study. How could this happen? Prof. Lévi-Strauss complains that my work is generally difficult to understand. You may notice that people who have a lot of their own thoughts have difficulty understanding the thoughts of others. They do not understand what an open-minded person understands. My research does not fit the general views of Prof. Levi-Strauss, and this is one of the reasons for such a misunderstanding. The other lies within myself. When the book was written, I was young and therefore was convinced that as soon as I expressed some observation or some thought, everyone would immediately understand and share it. Therefore, I expressed myself extremely briefly, in the style of theorems, considering it unnecessary to develop or prove my thoughts in detail, since everything is already clear and understandable at first glance. But I was wrong about that.
5 Yu. M. Lotman, Lectures on structural poetics. Vol. I (Introduction, theory of verse), Tartu, 1964 (Scientific notes of Tartu State University, issue 160. Works on sign systems, I), hundred. 9-10.
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Let's start with terminology. I must admit that the term “morphology,” which I once valued so much and which I borrowed from Goethe, investing in it not only a scientific, but also some kind of philosophical and even poetic meaning, was not entirely well chosen. To be completely precise, it was necessary to say not “morphology”, but to take a much narrower concept and say “composition”, and call it that: “Composition of a folklore fairy tale.” But the word “composition” also requires a definition; it can mean different things. What is meant by this here?
It has already been said above that the entire analysis is based on the observation that in fairy tales different people perform the same actions or, what is the same thing, that the same actions can be carried out in very different ways. This was shown in variants of a group of fairy tales about a persecuted stepdaughter, but this observation is true not only for variants of the same story, but also for all plots of the genre of fairy tales. So, for example, if a hero leaves home on some search and the object of his desires is very far away, he can fly there through the air on a magic horse, or on the back of an eagle, or on a flying carpet, or on a flying ship, on the back of the devil, etc. We will not give all possible cases here. It is easy to notice that in all these cases we have the hero crossing to the place where the object of his search is located, but that the forms of this crossing are different. We, therefore, have stable quantities and variable, changeable quantities. Another example: the princess does not want to get married, or the father does not want to marry her to a suitor he or she dislikes. The groom is required to do something completely impossible: jump on a horse to her window, bathe in a cauldron of boiling water, solve the princess’s riddle, get a golden hair from the head of the sea king, etc. The naive listener takes all these cases as completely different - and in his own way he is right. But an inquisitive researcher sees behind this diversity some kind of unity that is established logically. If in the first row of examples we have a crossing to the place of search, then the second represents the motive of difficult tasks. The content of tasks can be different, it varies, it is something variable. Setting tasks as such is a stable element. I called these stable elements the functions of the actors. The purpose of the study was to establish what functions are known to a fairy tale, to establish whether their number is limited or not, and to see in what sequence they are given. Result
