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 the people and get an idea of their worldview and psychology. This knowledge makes it possible to understand history more deeply.
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 engaged in the study of folklore. The use of folklore material in history lessons in grades 6-7 is especially effective.
In the works of folklore, we can see the description of Russian cities. For example, according to epics, one can get an idea of Kyiv, as it was before the defeat by the Tatar-Mongols in 1240. Kyiv is always called the capital city and great - it was for a long time the capital of the ancient Russian state. The city was surrounded by a city (city) wall, at the corners of the wall there were corner towers.
“Jump over the city wall, through that corner tower,” Batu, the leader of the enemy army, says 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, red-hot 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 Apraksia, the youngest daughter of the Politovsky king. Separate versions of the epic preserved the historically reliable answer heard by the prince’s matchmakers from the Politovian king: “Yes, how your prince is small in himself,” and also: “And the prince - from Volodymyr and being a serf.” The chronicle under 980 tells that even during the 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, saying that she did not want to “take off the shoes of the robichich”. In the wedding ceremony, “undress the groom” meant becoming a wife, and “robichich” meant 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. Therefore, epics speak of “Politovskaya land”.
Talking about the invasion of Batu into Rus', one can cite an excerpt from the epic “Ilya and Kalin-Tsar”.
A lot of force is driven,
As from a cry from a human,
Like the neighing of a horse.
The human heart desponds;
Mother earth shook from the army;
There was no red sun to be seen in the horse top,
And the bright moon from a pair of horses faded west ...
The noise of convoys captured by the epic, screams, neighing, suffocating horse fumes, dust that darkened the sky are historically reliable.
The epic talks about how events could have turned out if the mutual enmity and disagreement between 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 noun for the biblical killer Cain.
In the study of the political life of Novgorod XII - XIII centuries. you can use the epic about Stavra. Stavr is a historical figure. He really lived in Novgorod in the X-XI centuries. and was the leader of a hundred. In the epic, Stavr is a merchant-usurer. He boasts of lending money to the poor. The prince of Kyiv is angry with Stavr for his boasting. What is the reason for his anger? Here it should be said about the existence of the charter of Vladimir Monomakh on interest. The prince of Kyiv, wishing to weaken the power of the Novgorod usurers, limited them in collecting interest on growth. Vladimir was angry with Stavr for his boast of wealth.
The events of epics are of great importance for the fate of the people and the state. The epics poetically depict the military-political clashes and social situations characteristic of Ancient Rus'.
Bylin "About Vasily Buslaev" reproduces the struggle of Novgorod political parties. Since childhood, Vaska Buslaev has had a spirit of hostility towards the trading post. Especially often he beats his peers from the suburb. Posad peasants threaten to “make the river Volkhov dirty” - to drown Vaska: convicts in Novgorod were thrown off the bridge. This is how serious crimes were punished. To protect himself, Vaska recruits a squad. Eminent Novgorod people kept armed servants with them. Vaska is of a noble family, literate and rich. The squad was not just good fellows, able to withstand the blow of a scarlet elm on a violent head. They are united by a common hostility to the settlement. These are people from different classes and even from other cities. Among them - Kostya Novotorzhanin, a daring from Novy Torzhok, two brothers are mentioned - a boyarch and men from some Zalesye - “Zaleshana”, “Sbrodovichi brothers”, roamers, the prototype of the “Ushkuiniki”, who went in boats far beyond the borders of Novgorod land. Vaska and his comrades appear at the feast, where the townspeople have gathered, and start a quarrel. The belligerents hit on a mortgage - to give the beaten all the state and be in submission. The side of the settlement was taken by the prince, the archbishop. Vaska threatens to beat “the whole of Novgorod”, although he means precisely the settlements - “men of Novgorod”, “rich merchants”. Posad took so much power in Novgorod that it connected with the concept of the city. In the same sense, “the whole of Novgorod” is also named in the ancient acts of business writing. Vaska's dispute with the trading post reproduces a serious urban clash. In Novgorod XII-XIII centuries. ball very strong "Suzdal party", which consisted of wealthy merchants. Their benefits depended on ties with the northeastern principalities. With 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 peculiar life of the trading republic is widely shown. There are no military feats here. The trading power of Novgorod, its wealth, its rivalry with Moscow are described. It contains many details of the life of a medieval city - for example, fistfights are depicted - a favorite pastime of the ancient Novgorodians.
In the 7th grade, studying the period of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, one can refer 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 particulars in the depiction of the siege of Kazan, the song variants speak in the most detailed way about what happened near its walls. The gunners rolled a barrel of gunpowder into a tunnel under the Kazan wall and placed a candle on one of them. The candle will burn down to the base - an explosion will occur and destroy the wall. The same candle for control was placed in the field near the royal tent. And then the outer candle burned out, and the one in the dungeon should also burn out, but there is no explosion. The tsar-sovereign "gets angry - gets angry", wants to execute the gunners of the lighters. He suspected treason. All the big people were frightened, and the young gunner stepped forward and said:
“Oh, you are a goy, Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich!
Do not order, sovereign, to execute, hang,
Order you, sovereign, to pronounce the word.
In the wind, the candle will soon burn,
In the wilderness, a candle glows for a long time.
He just spoke out - barrels of gunpowder exploded. Russian soldiers entered the gap, and Kazan fell. The singers said that the king is suspicious, he sees treason even where it does not exist. The sharpness 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 portrayed many authentic features of the siege of Kazan. In many variants, the “topography” of the siege is also reproduced:
Approached the Kazan kingdom for fifteen miles,
They became a mine under Bulat (Bulak) - the river,
They came under another under the river - the river under Kazanka ...
The river Sviyaga, Sviyazhsk-fortress, Sulai-river are also mentioned.
The historical song about Ivan the Terrible's anger at his son Fyodor is very interesting. In it, the people expressed their attitude to the oprichnina. The evidence of folklore is all the more valuable because Grozny's biography has been completely silent for a number of years and there is no information about his family relationships and affairs.
According to the variants, the song names the reason for Ivan the Terrible's anger at Fedor in different ways. As if he opposed his father - he saved the inhabitants of the cities in which the king committed mass executions. The cities in which, according to the songs, executions took place are different: Novgorod, Pskov, Moscow, even Tsargrad, but most often the name is missing. Numerous indications are also indicative of the scale of the country's coverage of repressions. Grozny himself and his henchmen from the oprichnina with Malyuta Skuratov at the head are depicted as tormentors. On the street where they were traveling, “and the chicken did not drink” - all living things were exterminated: the king “cut everyone, and stabbed, and planted on a stake”.
Fedor confronts the tsar and the oprichnina. Terrible appears hasty in action and wrong. Singing Malyuta Skuratov is a real historical person, Grigory Skurata-Belsky. His name became a household name, a synonym for the executioner.
In the 7th grade, studying the history of the Time of Troubles, a song about Grigory Otrepyev can be cited as an example. In it, the people denounce the impostor. He is a violator of good Orthodox customs. Otrepiev married “Marishka the daughter of Yuryevna” not on the “decree day”. This is stated in the earliest song that has come down to us in the recording:
And the wedding was on a spring holiday,
On the spring holiday, Mikolin's day:
Mikolin's day was on Friday,
And Grishka had a wedding on Thursday...
The wedding of Gregory and Marina Mniszech was really played on Thursday, May 8, 1606, on the eve of St. Nicholas Day. The song says that the Moscow boyars are going to the matins, “Grishka and Marishka went to the bayna”, the boyars go from matins, and “Grishka and Marishka from the bayna go”. Inappropriate behavior exposed the impostor as both 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. Under the agreement of 1609, acting at the will of the king, he managed to get a mercenary Swedish army. Combining his actions with the actions of the Volga rati F.I. Sheremetiev, he began a liberation campaign in May. Victories were won in districts along the Volga, in the Vladimir-Suzdal land, the siege was lifted from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, Dmitrov was taken. In March 1610 Moscow welcomed the winners bell ringing, and in April, at the moment of his highest fame and glory, the successful young governor died. This happened after the christening at Prince I.M. Vorotynsky. The song gives an idea of the event and the mood of that time. The death of Skopin is mourned by the "guests" of Moscow: these are artisans and merchants, the predominant part of the inhabitants of Moscow.
“And now our heads are bent,
What did not become our governor
Vasilyevich Prince Mikhail!
Otherwise they perceive the news of the "princes-boyars" -
And they spoke to each other,
And they said a word, grinned:
“High the falcon has risen
And I hurt the earth on the mother’s cheese!”
Names of ill-wishers are named. Among them - "Mstislavskaya, Prince Vorotynskaya." F.I. Mstislavsky - the head of the seven boyars who replaced Vasily Shuisky. I.M.Vorotynsky is his associate, an influential boyar. At the christening, it was at Vorotynsky's, 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" as if they did not speak Russian. The Swedes mourned the commander - they were connected with Skopin by military affairs, and their grief was an expression of personal affection for the successful commander.
The Germans ran to Nov-gorod
And they locked themselves in Nove-Gorod.
Indeed, the remnants of the Swedes-mercenaries after the defeat near Smolensk, led by Jacob Delagardie, retreated to Novgorod, and a year later, in 1611, here, taking advantage of the current situation, they began to act against the Novgorodians.
And many world-people have been destroyed,
And turned into the Latin land.
The song about Skopin directly echoes the “Scripture on the Presentation and Burial of Prince Mikhail Vasilievich Shuisky, recommended by Skopin”. It is believed that "Scripture" was created on the basis of folk songs.
The creators of the song “Yaik is flowing quickly, snatching steep banks ...” call Razin “the soul of a thieves' chieftain”. The words "thieves", "thief" in the modern sense are associated with a negative assessment. In the old language, others used it in a condemning sense: “thief”, and theft was accordingly called “tatba”. “Theft” was not called a secret, but an open attack. For this reason, the combination “the soul of a thieves' chieftain” did not contain a contradiction and an openly negative meaning .. The song said a lot to the contemporaries of these events. The Razin community united people loyal to each other. Their rallying around “father” Stepan was so close and close 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 its life. Folklore for many centuries 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 educating character, the best human qualities: patriotism, courage, courage, stamina, honesty, kindness. Folklore is a true encyclopedia of the poetic knowledge of the people, which gives a complete picture of the ideological and aesthetic riches of their work. Therefore, folk works are the most valuable material for studying the popular worldview of many centuries and its historical evolution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Anikin V.P. Russian oral folk art: Textbook / V.P. Anikin. - M .: Higher. school, 2001. - 726s.
- Bakhtin V.S. From the epic to the counting rhyme: Tales of folklore / Republished .; rice. S. Islands. - L .: Det. lit., 1988. - 191s., ill.
- Epics / Compilation, introductory article and notes by S.N. Azbelev.-L .: Lenizdat, 1984.-398s. - (B-ka of folk poetry).
- Bychko A.K. Folk Wisdom of Rus': An Analysis of a Philosopher. - K .: Higher. school Publishing house at Kyiv. Univ., 1988. - 200p.
- 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 p., ill.
- Putilov B.N. Russian historical and song folklore of the XIII-XVI centuries. M.-L., 1960.
- Rybakov B.A. Ancient Rus'. Legends. Epics. Chronicles. M., 1963.
- Shimbinago S.K. Ancient Russian dwelling according to epics // Anniversary collection in honor of Academician V.F. Miller. M., 1990.
At present, it is hardly necessary to prove that any art, including folklore, goes back to historical reality and reflects it, and that one of the tasks of researchers is to show this on the material that they study. 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 currents are clearly outlined in modern folklore. 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 an external and internal political order; I would like to emphasize this attitude towards events. Events can always be accurately dated. They are caused by actions^ mi, deeds 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 task of the researcher is to show what events and what historical figures are reflected in individual monuments of folklore, and to date them accordingly.
Another 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, such a narrow understanding of history is not enough. The driving force of history is the people themselves; faces are a derivative of history, and not the driving beginning of it. From this point of view, everything that happens to a people in all epochs of its life belongs in one way or another to the realm of history. In the study of 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 up to the smallest details everyday order in relations between the boyar and the smerds, the landowner and the serf, the priest and the farm laborer. There are no names, no events, but there is a story. The history of marriage forms and family relations, which determine wedding poetry and a significant part of the lyrics, belongs to the field of history. In short, with a broad understanding of history, the historical basis means the totality of the real life of the people in the process of its development in all epochs of its existence.<...>
For a correct understanding of the historical foundations of folklore, it must be borne in mind that there is, in fact, no single folklore as such, that folklore is divided into genres. Pre-revolutionary folklore did not even use this word, while in Soviet folklore the study of genres is gradually becoming the center of attention. Genre is the primary unit from which the study must proceed.<...>One of the main features of the genre is in the unity of poetics or the 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 devices has not only a formal meaning. It reflects a different attitude to reality and defines different ways of depicting it. Each genre has naturally conditioned and determined boundaries, beyond which it never goes and cannot go, or one genre develops into another, which also takes place in folklore. Bylina, for example, can be reborn into a fairy tale. Until the features of the genre are studied or at least outlined, the individual monuments that make up the genre cannot be studied.
Each genre is characterized by a special attitude to reality and the way it is depicted in art. Different genres are composed in different eras, have different historical fate, pursue different goals and reflect different aspects of the 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:
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Can. Therefore, speaking about the historical basis of folklore and about the methods of its study, it is necessary to talk about each genre separately, and only after that it will 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, one way or another, the reality of various 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, the prerequisite for its historical study. The typology of incantations, 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. In the future, the whole Russian peasant life of the XIX century. can be subtracted from fairy tales, songs, lamentations, proverbs, dramas and comedies. There are no historical events or names here, but their historical study is possible, although not all epochs and not all centuries will be covered equally. This is, as it were, one type of genre, the study of which can be carried out from the point of view of that broad understanding of history, which was mentioned 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 would like to dwell on these genres in 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 is very small. In contrast, in Western Europe, Sage is in the spotlight, with international congresses gathering to explore the genre. By their nature, Sage are very diverse and fall mainly into legends or legends of mythological and historical. A few words about historical legends.
Apparently, this genre is very ancient. Naturally, we have no records of the period of pre-Kievan Rus and the Russian Middle Ages. In such cases, one can judge by analogy with other peoples. In 1960, a magnificent publication prepared by G. U. Ergis, “Historical Traditions and Stories of the Yakuts,” was published. G. U. Ergis characterizes them as follows: “Traditions and historical stories contain stories about real events related to the activities of specific individuals, reflect economic and cultural
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Tourist 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 heroic epic and the genre of legends are never mixed by the people. The researchers do not mix them either. Ergis writes: “Historical traditions, stories and legends, in contrast to the actual artistic genres of oral and poetic creativity, can be called historical folklore 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 Vilyui and Kobyai by the Yakuts, the entry of Yakutia into the Russian state. There are special traditions about childbirth, on the basis of which branched genealogical tables can be compiled. This is somewhat reminiscent of the Icelandic tribal sagas.
Did the Eastern Slavs have historical traditions? We can assume that they were. Fragments of them are preserved in chronicles and other sources. Such legends preserved by the annals are considered in the book by B. A. Rybakov 3 . The folklorist is accustomed to dealing with records from the lips of the people. There are records of legends about Razin, Peter I, Pugachev, the Decembrists, some tsars and others, which are still little studied.
V. I. Chicherov in a deep and interesting article “On the problem of historical and genre specifics of Russian epics and historical songs” indicates: “In historical traditions and legends, the narrative is about events and people as about what happened in reality” 4; “As for the historical tradition, it, preserving the memory of the past event and speaking of the heroic behavior of some 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 character. It should also be added that from the artistic point of view, these legends are usually weak, little skillful. This genre is not aesthetic, as Ergis says about it. Neither consciously nor unconsciously the narrator does not seek to verbally blossom.
1 G. U. Erg and s, Historical Traditions and Stories of the Yakuts, Part I, M.-L.,. 1960, page 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, p. 264.
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embellish the story. He only wants to convey what he considers to be reality.
In this respect, legends differ sharply from historical songs. We have an enormous literature on the question of historical songs. Historical songs were the subject of particularly close study in the Soviet era. The essence and genre nature of these songs have been and are being debated. But the following signs of historical songs seem indisputable: the characters are not fictional characters, but real historical figures, moreover, usually on a 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 fantasy, artistic fiction. But these cases do not contradict the nature of historical songs. The historicism of these songs does not consist in the fact that they correctly depict historical figures and tell historical events or those that the people consider to be real. Their historicism lies in the fact that in these songs the people express their attitude to historical events, persons and circumstances, express their historical self-consciousness. Historicism is a phenomenon of an ideological order.<...>
A historical song is created by direct participants in the events or their witnesses.<^...>
The time of the appearance of historical songs is usually dated without any difficulty. More complicated is the question of when the genre itself appeared. On this question, Soviet scientists do not yet have a complete unanimity of opinion. What is certain is that the flourishing of historical song began in the 16th century, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible.<...>For the sudden flourishing of this genre, it was in the 16th century. there are reasons. The main historical desire of the people, expressed in the epic - the creation of a monolithic centralized state and complete liberation from the Tatar-Mongol yoke - was realized. It was also time for a cultural break. The whole nature of warfare is changing radically. The invention of firearms and the rapid development of Russian artillery overshadow the epic heroes with their swords, spears and clubs, heroes who win an easy victory, brandishing a wiry Tatar and laying streets and alleys in the enemy army. Now, instead of lone warriors, an army appears, led by the command, and instead of easy victories - heavy, bloody battles, so that "the earth is filled with willows -
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on blood." Such is the general historical background for the appearance of the historical song genre. The monumentalism of the epics is being replaced by the realism of the historical song.
I will confine 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, first of all, images of historical events and personalities. This does not exclude the study of them from a broader historical point of view. Most historical songs are military songs. They widely reflect the life of a soldier, sometimes down to the smallest detail in the description of clothing, food, etc.
The same can be said about the poetry of the workers. The working song, in some respects, is, as it were, the successor to the historical song. In the songs of the workers, everyday reality, the conditions in which the Russian proletarian lived and worked, are depicted with even greater force. Foreign policy events are touched upon comparatively less often - they are reflected in the songs of the historical ones themselves. 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 the brighter they depict, it depicts and not involuntarily reflects the whole life of workers, starting with mine songs of the 18th century, in which all the details of the life of workers in the barracks are outlined - from waking up at five o'clock in the morning to a detailed image of "driving" through the system and sending in hospital. The presentation is dry and factual. But the song can also rise to the greatest pathos, as, for example, in the description of the events of January 9 and in the curses to Nicholas II. Such events from the life of workers as strikes, demonstrations, clashes with the police, arrests, 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 deliberately bypassed the question of the historicism of epics for the time being. This question is the subject of discussion, and therefore I would like to highlight it in particular. There are heated, sometimes passionate disputes in our science on this issue.
When in 1863 L.N.
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named after the historical school. Maikov systematically studied all the historical deposits in the Russian epic. He understood that the content of the epics was fictitious, 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. Consideration of the realities leads Maykov to the conclusion that the content of the epics of the Vladimirov cycle developed during the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries, and was established no later than the time of Tatar rule, that is, in the 13th-14th centuries. Somewhat generalizing Maykov'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 subsequent centuries before the Mongol invasion.
This point of view was 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 is created long before the formation of the state. The Great October Socialist Revolution opened our eyes to those innumerable epic treasures that the peoples inhabiting the USSR have, before the revolution, lived in everyday conditions created during the tribal system. The epic is possessed by peoples who lived before the revolution in the most archaic forms of life; these are the peoples of the Paleo-Asiatic group - the Nivkhs, Chukchis, etc. At present, the most archaic of all the epics known to us, the epic of the Nenets 6, has been published. We got to know and studied the epos of the Karelians better. Magnificent, exceptional in scope and artistic merit, the epic was created by the Yakuts. No less perfect epic Altai peoples; We know the Shor epic especially well. The richest epic among the Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Kazakhs, Kirghiz, among the peoples of the Caucasus. All this leads to a completely accurate conclusion that the epic as a special kind of folk art arises before the state is created. The Eastern Slavs were not and could not be an exception in this respect. The presence of an epic in them is a historical pattern. The epic of the Eastern Slavs was created before the formation of the Kievan state. The epics of the peoples have a different degree of
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or different forms, depending on the stage of socio-historical development of the people. All these observations and provisions form the basis of my book on the Russian epic 7 . Unfortunately, the section devoted to the epic of the peoples of the USSR had to be significantly reduced, and therefore it probably came out unconvincing.
The point of view that the Russian epic originated within the so-called Kievan Rus is still held. Yes, acad. 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 the bourgeois historical school, tore Russian epics from historical reality in general, declaring that a significant part of the epic originated even under the primitive communal system” 9 . In these words, the primitive communal system is generally not recognized as historical reality. The point of view of L. N. Maikov 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 originates before the state, the task of historical research should be, first of all, to establish, by comparing the epics of different peoples at different stages of their development, which plots were created before the emergence of the state and which after it.
The number of pre-state plots in the Russian epic is extremely large - more than it might seem at first glance. Plots in which the hero meets with some kind of monster (Serpent, Tugarin, Idolishche, etc.) or goes to woo a bride and sometimes fights with 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 whom he marries (fight between father and son), and some others could not be created or invented in the conditions of state life. In Kievan Rus, the plot of snake fighting could not have arisen, this is impossible historically. All of the aforementioned 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 (“Epos during the period of 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 its study
When a nation 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 struggle against the Tatars, etc.). The ideology of the tribal system clashes with the interests of the young state. The clash of two ideologies in the old plots 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 captivates the Russian people, the people of Kiev. The hero is already freeing not the girl, but Kyiv from the attacks of the snake. Such is the plot of the Russian epic about the snake fighter Dob-ryn 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 are not born on the same day or hour or year, their occurrence is the result of a long historical process. If, therefore, Maikov was mistaken in referring the emergence of the epic to the 10th-12th centuries, then he was still right in establishing historical realities. The epic, getting into a new historical environment, absorbs it into itself. The absorption process continues later. The epic is similar to such layers of the earth, in which there are deposits of various geological epochs.
Maykov's initiative was not supported by subsequent Russian science. In the works mainly of Vsevolod Miller and his followers, the historical formulation of the study of the epic was extremely narrowed. True, both life and other historical realities were studied. These works or these pages are among the most valuable and will never lose their value. 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 the epics and what year the emergence of the studied epics can be dated. But since there are no direct, clear traces of historical events in the epics themselves, the epics are declared to be a distorted depiction of events by uneducated, ignorant peasants, and the task of science is to eliminate the distortions introduced by the people into the presentation of events. A long series of works began, dedicated to the establishment of prototypes of the heroes of the Russian folk epic. It turned out, for example, that Nightingale Budimirovich is not Nightingale Budimirovich at all, but the Norwegian king Garald; Duke is the Hungarian king Stephen IV; Potgk is the Bulgarian Saint Michael from the town of Potuki; serpentine-
On the historicism of folklore and methods of its study 125
Dobrynya’s legacy 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 Vol-ga are especially variegated.<...>
What's the matter here? Why such diversity? Maybe the researchers lacked erudition? But such an assumption is no longer valid: they are all the greatest scientists and experts. The reason is different here. It lies in an erroneous methodology. A.P. Skaftymov in his book “The Poetics and Genesis of Epics” (Saratov, 1924) convincingly showed how such conclusions are obtained with the help of what stretches. The attitudes of the so-called historical school were subjected to serious criticism. But this only temporarily suspended attempts at similar historical interpretations. At present, we can talk about the revival of the historical school of Vsevolod Miller. They try 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 - they try to avoid, but basically everything remains the same. B. A. Rybakov writes that the epic epic should be approached, “again checking and expanding the historical comparisons made a hundred years ago” 10 . These words mean that we must remain on the same positions as a hundred years ago, and only quantitatively expand the material, re-verify it, and everything will fall into place. One cannot agree with this at all. What is needed is not a quantitative increase in the 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 proceeds from one basic premise, which is that the people in epics want to portray the current political history and really depict it. So, M. M. Plisetsky writes: “Songs arose with the aim of fixing historical events.” “If this premise is correct, then 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 trend is collapsing.
This premise is wrong. Moreover, it is anti-historical. She attributes to ancient Russian man such aesthetic
10 Ibid., p. 43.
and M. M. Plisetsky, Historicism of Russian epics, M., 1962, p. 141.
On the historicism of folklore and methods of its study
cial aspirations and a form of their implementation, which could not have taken place before the XIV-XV centuries. Russian man early medieval could not depict reality in his verbal art. This aspiration, as a leading one, will appear in folklore much later, only in the 16th century, when the historical song begins to develop widely. It was said above that there are two types of folklore genres: in some, reality is reflected regardless of the will of the creator, in others, its depiction is the main goal of the artist. Bylina does not belong to those genres where a conscious goal was set - the depiction of actual history. Their historicity lies on a different plane. For comparison, we can refer to the fine arts of ancient Russia. Russian icon painting, like any art, arises on the basis of 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 portrait and everyday painting is alien to icon painting. The icon painter does not depict events and does not portray 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 - Savior on Nereditsa), Boris and Gleb. But even in these rare cases, the image is conditional and subordinate to the style of this art. To attribute to icon painting the desire to depict 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.
Fundamentally, the same is true of verbal art. If in the icon the 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 perform. Therefore, one cannot talk about these feats, one can only sing about them.
The mistakes of the followers of the old historical school stem from a misunderstanding of the genre; the nature and specifics 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“ Peter the Great ”), then“ why is this not allowed by epics? It’s very simple why: because these are genres of different eras, different social orientations, different aesthetic
06 historicism of folklore and methods of its study 127
sky systems. Bylina is not Tolstoy's 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. The formulation of the question of the depiction of historical reality, which is legitimate for the genre of legends and for historical songs, is illegal for epics. But the followers of the historical school consciously deny the difference between these genres. For them, what an epic, what a historical song, what a legend is one and the same. So, M. M. Plisetsky is trying to completely erase the difference between the epic and the historical song, which was emphasized by some Soviet scientists. 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 to imagine the participants in such events as the transfer of Svyatogor's power to Ilya Muromets? Only two people act here - which one of them composed the epic? What witnesses could see, and therefore sing the dance of the sea king at the bottom of the sea to the play of Sadko on the harp? On this issue, I would like to express my solidarity with the views of VI Chicherov. He has two works: one early - "On the Stages of Development of the Russian Historical Epos" 13 , another late article, already mentioned by us - "On the Problem of the Historical and Genre Specificity of Russian Epics and Historical Songs". In these works, different, one might say opposite, views are expressed. 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. Bylina is nothing but the most ancient 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 hard and hard on historical song. This is evidenced by at least an anthology published in the Poet's Library. Now he clearly saw and understood with his own eyes what a profound 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 its study
I would like to seriously consider this issue. “Historical songs are built differently than epics,” he briefly formulates his view. They are distinguished by the era of their origin, other principles of artistic reflection and depiction of reality, different poetics and aesthetics. This is opposed by the thesis of M. M. Plisetsky, who says: “Such a difference in genres (epics and historical songs.- V.P.) completely unfounded." After a wonderful collection of historical songs, the first volume of which has been released Pushkin house, the study of historical song as a genre has a solid base in the materials, and the doctoral dissertation of B.N. theoretical basis for a correct understanding of this issue 15 .
A few words about the methods of historical study of folklore. I believe that in folklore 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. Deduction prevailed here, that is, the path from a general theory or hypothesis to facts, which were considered from the point of view of pre-established postulates. Some sought to prove without fail that epic folklore is the remnants of the cult of the sun, others tried to substantiate the Eastern, Byzantine, Romano-Germanic origin of folk art, others argued that the heroes of epic poetry are historical figures, the fourth - that folk art is thoroughly realistic , etc. And although there is some truth in each of these hypotheses, the methodological basis should be different. In the presence of a biased hypothesis, it is not scientific evidence that is obtained, but the fitting of the material to pre-compiled theses. Many works of folklorists are based on this.<...>
Basically, a truly historical method can only be comparative in the broadest sense of the word. In this respect, the international congresses of the Slavists taught us a lot. So, for example, the plot of the epic about Ivan Godinovich is usually interpreted as primordially Russian, even attempts are made to determine the time and place of its occurrence. Meanwhile, this plot is typical for the pre-state epic. One 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 XIII-XVI centuries, M.-L., 1960.
On the historicism of folklore and methods of its study129
example: the plot of the epic about the Danube and his trip for a bride for Vladimir is compared with the story of Russian chronicles about the marriage of Prince Vladimir to Rogneda. Here, therefore, there are two objects of comparison. Meanwhile, B. M. Sokolov in a large special article compared this plot with the cycle of tales about Koltom, with the cycle of Germanic tales about the marriage of Gunther to Brynhilde in all its versions (Nibelungs, Elder Edda, Younger Edda, Velsungs saga, Tidreksaga) , with Russian chronicle materials and with all variants of the epic 16 . There are no longer two objects of comparison, but many more. The international character of this plot, with all the differences in national specifics, becomes quite obvious. But representatives of the modern historical school ignore this work of Sokolov and do not even consider it necessary to argue about it.
Further, speaking of 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 an epic, the plot, as a rule, does not have the character of only adventurous, plot entertainment. He always expresses known idea, and this idea must be able to understand and define. But ideas are born not by themselves, but at a certain time and in a certain place. The historical study of the epic consists in establishing in what era the idea embodied in this art form could have arisen. 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 collisions 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, 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 proved on the basis of one fact - the construction of a church by him. 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, its 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 the epic). - Scientific notes of the Saratov University, vol. I issue 3, 1923, page 69-122.
9 Zach. 80
130 On the historicism of folklore and methods of its study
etc. are not studied by representatives of the so-called historical school; this is all pure fiction and therefore they are not interested. 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 have been explained.
In explaining the historical fate of the plot, historical realities can be of great help. 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 in the most careful way. Among such realities may be both historical names and geographical names, which should be studied in accordance with modern onomastics and toponymy, and not by completely guessing approximations, by approximate sound similarity.
How richly the most diverse realities are represented in the epic can be seen in the example of a relatively late epic about Mikul Selyaninovich. Here, for example, the following questions can be posed: what is the act of assigning cities to Prince Volga from a historical point of view? What rights and obligations were accompanied by such challenges 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 the name Volga and how did it get into the epic? What is the Volga squad? What is the legal and social position of the peasant in relation to the prince in the epic? On whose land does Mikula plow? How is his plow arranged? How is he dressed? What land relations are depicted in the epic? In the epic, Mikula goes for salt. What is the route of this trip? Isn't natural economy reflected here? In the epic there are obscure traces of taxation of the 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 collision of the plowman Mikula and Prince Volga can be revealed only 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 respect contributes to the disclosure of its primordially historical meaning. Here for the historian a wide expanse. Here the folklorist is waiting for the help of the historian. But representatives of the method of narrow-historical study snatch out only two out of the whole complex of questions: what cities are depicted in the epic, who is the historical prototype of the Volga? The idea that Volga may not have a prototype at all
06 historicism of folklore and methods of its study 131
the fact that cities are named arbitrarily and that their names are not essential for historical study is not allowed. Mikula, as a character clearly fictional, has not been studied from this point of view. If he was studied, then on the basis that he was smartly dressed, he was declared a representative of the kulaks and kulak ideology (B. M. Sokolov). This is what the study of 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 at the present time is based on various and many-sided comparisons. Meanwhile, neither the technique nor the methodology of comparison have been developed in our country. Therefore, many folklore works both in the past and now are full of false analogies and erroneous conclusions.<\..>
STRUCTURAL
AND HISTORICAL STUDIES
FAIRY TALE
The book "Morphology of a Fairy Tale" was published in Russian in 1928. "It at one time caused twofold responses. On the one hand, some folklorists, ethnographers and literary critics greeted it kindly. On the other hand, the author was accused of formalism, and such accusations repeated to this day.This book, like many others, was probably would forgotten, and only specialists would occasionally recall it, but now, a few years after the war, it was suddenly remembered again. It was talked about at congresses and in the press, it was translated into English 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 became possible thanks to the use of new precise and precise methods of research and calculations. The desire to apply exact methods has also spread to the humanities. Structural and mathematical linguistics appeared. Other disciplines followed linguistics. One of them is theoretical poetics. Here it turned out that the understanding of art as a kind of sign system, the method of formalization and modeling, the possibility of applying 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, L., 1928.
2 V1. Rgor, 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
ty and the terminology used by modern sciences. And again, the attitude to 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. Levi-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 a Fairy Tale, which he considers formalistic, and by its example outlines 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 not is for the reader to judge. But when a person is attacked, he tends to defend himself. Against the arguments of the opponent, if they appear to be false, one can put forward counter-arguments 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. Levi-Strauss tossed me a glove and I pick it up. Readers of the Morphology will thus be witnesses to the duel and will be able to take the side of whom they consider the winner, if any.
Prof. Levi-Strauss has one very significant advantage over me: he is a philosopher. I am an empiricist, moreover, an incorruptible empiricist, who first of all peers intently at the facts and studies them scrupulously and methodically, checking his premises and looking back at every step of reasoning. Empirical sciences, however, are also different. In some cases, the empiricist may and even has to be content with a description, a characterization, especially if a single fact serves as the subject of study. 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 C. 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 version of the book by V. Ya-Propp). - Ed.
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not only private interest, but disposes 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. Lévi-Strauss knows my book only from the English translation. But the translator allowed himself one impermissible liberties. 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 savagely 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 supposed to express what the book itself does not say. The crown of any science is the discovery of regularities. Where the pure empiricist sees scattered facts, the empiricist philosopher sees the reflection of the law. I saw the law in a very modest area - in one of the types of folk tales. But even then it seemed to me that the disclosure of this law could have a broader meaning. The very term "Morphology" is not borrowed from such manuals of botany, where the main goal is systematics, and also not from grammatical works, it is borrowed from Goethe, who under this title combined the works of botany and osteology. Behind this term, Goethe reveals a perspective in recognizing 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 herbaria, sees nothing but dust in them, then the aging Goethe, armed with the method of exact comparisons in the field of natural science, sees through the individual - the great penetrating all of nature general and whole. But there are no two Goethes - a poet and a scientist; Goethe "Faust", striving for knowledge, and Goethe, the naturalist, who has come to knowledge, are one and the same Goethe. Epigraphs to individual chapters are a sign of admiration for him. But these epigraphs must 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 common laws for them that can be studied by similar methods. This thought, vaguely looming then, now underlies the search for exact methods in the field of the humanities, which was discussed 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 get tired
Structural and historical study of the fairy tale 135
to innovate some kind of broad generalizations, the possibility of which is expressed in epithets, and that the goal was purely professional and folklore. Yes, prof. Lévi-Strauss twice asks himself a bewildered 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 I do not have the material of mythology, I do not know it. Further, I have no idea of the true relationship between fairy tale and myth (pp. 16, 19) 4 . In short, my interest in fairy tales is due to my insufficient scientific horizon, otherwise I would probably have tried my method not on fairy tales, but on myths.
I will not enter into the logic of these theses (“since the author does not know myths, he is engaged in fairy tales”). The logic of such statements seems weak to me. But I think that no scientist should be forbidden to study one thing and recommended to him to study another. These remarks by Prof. Levi-Strauss show that he imagines the matter as if a scientist first has a method, and then he begins 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 it never happens in science, and it never happened to me. The matter was quite different. Russian universities of tsarist times provided philologists with very poor literary criticism. In particular, folk poetry was in a complete corral. To fill this gap, after graduating from the university, I took up the famous collection of Afanasiev and began to study it. I attacked a series of fairy tales with a persecuted stepdaughter, and then I noticed the following: in the fairy tale "Morozko" (No. 95 according to the numbering of Soviet publications), the stepmother sends her stepdaughter to Morozka in the forest. Frost tries to freeze her, but she answers him so meekly and patiently that he spares her, rewards her and releases her. The old woman's own daughter does not stand the test and dies. In the next tale, the stepdaughter no longer ends up with Frost, but with the goblin, and in the next one, with the bear. But it's the same story! Morozko, the goblin and the bear test and reward the 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 to be different? It is quite obvious that Morozko, the goblin and the bear in different forms commit
136 Structural and historical study of the fairy tale
the same act. Afanasiev considers these tales to be different because different characters act. It seemed to me that these 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 in terms of what characters do in a fairy tale in general. Thus, by entering into the material, and not by abstractions, a very simple method of studying a fairy tale was born according to the actions of the characters, regardless of their appearance. The actions of actors, their actions, I called 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 found that other plots are based on the repetition of functions and that in the end all the plots of a fairy tale are based on the same functions, that all fairy tales similar in structure.
But if the translator did a bad service to the reader by omitting the 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". In order to give the book more interest, the editor crossed out the word "magic" and thereby misled readers (including Professor Levi-Strauss) as if the regularities of the fairy tale as a genre in general were being considered here. A book with such a title could be on a par with etudes 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 a complex and diverse genre of a fairy tale as such. It considers only one type of it, which differs sharply from all its other types, namely fairy tales, and only folk tales. This is, therefore, a special study on the particular issue of folklore. Another thing is that the method of studying narrative genres according to the functions of the characters can be productive not only in application to fairy tales, but also to other types of fairy tales, and perhaps also to the study of works of the narrative nature of world literature in general. But it can be predicted that the specific results in all these cases will be quite 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 tales are based can be found and determined, but their schemes will turn out to be completely different from those of fairy tales. There are thus
Structural and historical study of the fairy tale 137
different types of narratives, which can, however, be studied by the same methods. Prof. Levi-Strauss cites my words that the conclusions I have found are not applicable to the fairy tales of Novalis or Goethe and, in general, to artificial fairy tales of literary origin, and turns them against me, considering that in this case my conclusions are erroneous. But they are by no means erroneous, they just do not have the universal meaning that my respected critic would like to give them. The method is broad, while the conclusions are strictly limited to the kind of folklore narrative creativity, on the study of which they were obtained.
I will not answer all the accusations leveled against me by Prof. Levi-Strauss. I will focus only on a few of the most important ones. If these accusations turn out to be unfounded, others, smaller ones and arising from them, will fall away of their own accord.
The main accusation is that my work is formalistic and therefore cannot have cognitive significance. Precise definition of what is meant by formalism, prof. Levi-Strauss does not give, limiting himself to pointing out some of its features, which are reported in the course of the presentation. One of these signs is that the formalists study their material without reference to history. He attributes this formalistic, non-historical study to me as well. Wanting, apparently, to soften his harsh sentence somewhat, prof. Lévi-Strauss informs readers that, having written Morphology, I then abandoned formalism and morphological analysis to devote myself to historical and comparative research on the relationship of oral literature (as he calls folklore) to myths, rituals and institutions (p. 4) . What these investigations are, he does not say. In the book "Russian Agrarian Holidays" (1963) I applied exactly the same method as in "Morphology". It turned out that all major major agrarian holidays consist of the same elements, differently decorated. But about this work, Prof. Levi-Strauss could not yet know. Apparently, he is referring to the book "Historical Roots of a Fairy Tale", published in 1946 and published by the Einaudi publishing house in Italian. But if Prof. Levi-Strauss looked into this book, he would have seen that it begins with a presentation of those provisions that are developed in the 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-
138 Structural and historical study of the fairy tale
manent laws of form, and that it lies in the realm of early history or, as some prefer to say, prehistory, i.e., that stage in the development of human society, which is studied by ethnography and ethnology, was clear to me from the very beginning. Prof. Levi-Strauss is quite right when he says that morphology is sterile unless it is directly or indirectly fertilized by ethnographic data (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 revealed through a comparative study of the plots of a fairy tale. "Morphology" and "Historical Roots" are, as it were, two parts or two volumes of one great work. The second follows directly from the first, the first is the premise of the second. Prof. Lévi-Strauss quotes my words that morphological investigations "should be connected with the study of history" (p. 19), but again he uses them against me. Since in "Morphology" such a study is not actually given, he is right. But he underestimated that these words are the expression of a certain principle. They contain also some promise in the future to produce this historical study. They are a kind of bill of exchange, on which, although many years later, I nevertheless honestly paid. If, therefore, he writes about me that I am torn between the “formalist ghost” (vision formaliste) and the “nightmarish necessity of historical explanations” (l "obsession des explications historiques - p. 20), then this is simply not true. I, according to opportunities, strictly methodically and consistently, I turn from a scientific description of phenomena and facts to an explanation of their historical causes.Not knowing all this, Prof. Levi-Strauss even attributes to me the repentance that made me abandon my formalistic visions in order to arrive at historical investigations.But I feel no remorse and no remorse.Professor Lévi-Strauss himself considers that the historical explanation of fairy tales in general is virtually impossible, "because we know very little about the prehistoric civilizations where they originated" (p. 21). He also complains about the lack of texts for comparison, but the point is not in the texts (which, however, are available in quite sufficient quantities), but in the fact that the plots are often waiting for the way of life of the people, their life and the resulting forms of thinking in the early stages of human community development and that the appearance of these plots is historically logical. Yes, we still know little about ethnology, but nevertheless, a huge fact has accumulated in world science.
Structural and historical study of the fairy tale 139
material which makes such investigations quite reliable.
But the point is not how the "Morphology" was created and what the author experienced, but in matters of fundamental principle. Formal study cannot be separated from the historical and opposed to them. Quite the opposite: a formal study, a precise 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 study of individual plots: they are given in large numbers in the works of the so-called Finnish school. However, when studying individual plots in isolation from each other, supporters of this trend do not see any connection between the plots, they do not even suspect the existence or possibility of such a connection. Such an attitude is characteristic of formalism. For formalists, the whole is a mechanical conglomeration of disparate parts. Accordingly, in this case, the fairy tale genre is presented as a collection of separate plots that are not interconnected. For the structuralist, the parts are considered 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 between plots as a kind of whole, as a kind of system, instead of studying the plot, as is done in the works of the Finnish school, which, in spite of all its merits, it seems to me, is rightly reproached for formalism. . Comparative inter-plot study opens up broad historical perspectives. First of all, it is not individual plots that are subject to historical explanation, but the compositional system to which they belong. Then a historical connection will open up between the plots, and this paves the way for the study of individual plots.
But the question of the relation of formal study to historical study covers only one side of the matter. The other concerns understanding the relation of form to content and how to study them. By formalistic study is usually understood the study of form without regard to content. Prof. Levi-Strauss even speaks of their opposition. Such a view does not contradict the views of modern Soviet literary critics. 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 look at literature as a sum of techniques, mechanical
140 Structural and historical study of the fairy tale
conglomerate 3 . To this one could add something else: for the formalists, the form has its own laws of self-sufficiency 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 by any means be called formalistic, although Prof. Levi-Strauss is far from being the only accuser. Not every study of form is a formalist study, and not every scholar who studies the artistic form of works of verbal or visual art is necessarily a formalist.
I have already quoted Prof. Levi-Strauss that my conclusions about the structure of a fairy tale are a phantom, a formalistic ghost - une vision formaliste. This is not a randomly dropped word, but the deepest conviction of the author. He believes that I am a victim of subjective illusions (p. 21). Out of 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 so many separate tales" (p. 25). That my abstraction, as the scheme I have drawn, is called by prof. Levi-Strauss does not reveal the causes of diversity - this is true. This is taught only by historical consideration. But that it is pointless and is an illusion is not true. The words of prof. Lévi-Strauss show that he simply did not seem to understand my completely empirical concrete detailed study. How could this happen? Prof. Lévi-Strauss complains that my work is generally difficult to understand. It can be seen that people who have many thoughts of their own find it difficult to understand 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 I was convinced that it was worth expressing some observation or some thought, as everyone would immediately understand and share it. Therefore, I expressed myself extremely briefly, in the style of theorems, considering it superfluous to develop or prove my thoughts in detail, since everything is already clear and understandable at first sight. But in this I was wrong.
5 Yu. M. Lotman, Lectures on structural poetics. Issue. I (Introduction, Theory of Verse), Tartu, 1964 (Scientific Notes of the Tartu State University, issue 160. Works on sign systems, I), one hundred. 9-10.
Structural and historical study of the fairy tale141
Let's start with terminology. I must admit that the term “morphology”, which I once treasured so much and which I borrowed from Goethe, putting into it not only a scientific, but also some kind of philosophical and even poetic meaning, was not chosen very well. To be absolutely precise, it was necessary to say not “morphology”, but to take a much narrower concept and say “composition”, and call it “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 whole analysis proceeds from the observation that in fairy tales different people perform the same actions or, what is the same, that the same actions can be carried out in very different ways. This has been shown in variants of the group of tales about the persecuted stepdaughter, but this observation is true not only for variants of a single plot, but for all plots of the fairy tale genre. So, for example, if the hero leaves home on some kind of 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 magic carpet, as well as on a flying ship, on the back of the devil, etc. We will not give all possible cases here. It is easy to see that in all these cases we have the hero's 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 magnitudes and variable, changeable magnitudes. Another example: the princess does not want to get married, or the father does not want to marry her to a candidate who is objectionable to him or her. The groom is required to do something completely impossible: he would jump on a horse to her window, bathe in a cauldron of boiling water, solve the riddle of the princess, get a golden hair from the head of the sea king, etc. A naive listener takes all these cases for completely different - and in his own way he is right. But an inquisitive researcher sees behind this diversity some kind of unity, established logically. If in the first series of examples we have a crossing to the place of search, then the second one represents the motive of difficult tasks. The content of tasks can be different, it varies, it is something variable. The assignment of tasks as such is a stable element. These stable elements I have called the functions of 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, to see in what sequence they are given. Result-
Folklore in the "broad" sense - all folk traditional peasant spiritual and partly material culture. In the "narrow" sense - the oral peasant verbal artistic tradition, "oral literature", "oral folk literature". Folklore has specific features that fiction does not have - the art of the word.
The international term "folklore" appeared in England in the middle of the 19th century. It comes from English. folk-lore ("folk knowledge", "folk wisdom") and denotes folk spiritual culture in a different volume of its types.
a) folklore - simply transmitted orally folk experience and knowledge. This refers to all forms of spiritual culture, and with the most extended interpretation - and some forms of material culture. Only a sociological restriction (“common folk”) and a historical and cultural criterion are introduced - archaic forms dominating or functioning as remnants. (The word "popular" is more definite than "folk" in sociological terms and does not contain an evaluative meaning ("people's artist" "people's poet");
b) folklore - folk art or, according to a more modern definition, "artistic communication". This concept allows us to extend the use of the term "folklore" to the sphere of music, choreography, visual arts, etc. folk art;
c) folklore is a folklore verbal tradition. At the same time, from all forms of common folk activity, those that are associated with the word stand out;
d) folklore is an oral tradition. At the same time, oral language is of paramount importance. This makes it possible to single out folklore from other verbal forms (first of all, to oppose it to literature).
That is, we have the following concepts: sociological (and historical and cultural), aesthetic, philological and theoretical and communicative (oral direct communication). In the first two cases, these are the "broad" use of the term "folklore" and in the last two - two variants of its "narrow" use.
The unequal use of the term "folklore" by the supporters of each of the concepts testifies to the complexity of the subject of folklore, its connections with various types of human activity and human life. Depending on which connections are given particular importance and which are considered secondary peripheral, the fate of the main term of folklore is also formed within the framework of one or another concept. Therefore, the named concepts in a certain sense not only intersect, but sometimes do not seem to contradict each other.
So, if the most important features of folklore are recognized as verbal and oral, then this does not necessarily entail a denial of connection with other artistic forms of activity, or even a reluctance to take into account the fact that folklore has always existed in the context of folk everyday culture. That is why the dispute that flared up more than once was so empty - is folklore a philological or ethnographic science. If we are talking about verbal structures, their study must inevitably be called philological, but since these structures function in folk life, they are studied by ethnography.
In this sense, folkloristics is at the same time an integral part of both sciences at every moment of its existence. However, this does not prevent it from being independent in a certain respect - the specificity of the research methods of folklore inevitably develops at the intersection of these two sciences, as well as musicology (ethnomusicology), social psychology, etc. It is characteristic that after disputes about the nature of folklore (and not only in our country), folklore studies noticeably philologized and at the same time ethnographized and moved closer to musicology and the general theory of culture (the works of E.S. Markaryan, M.S. Kagan, the theory of ethnos Yu.V. Bromley, semiotics of culture, etc.).
So, folklore is the subject of study of various sciences. Folk music is studied by musicologists, folk dances by choreographers, rituals and other spectacular forms of folk art by theater experts, and folk arts and crafts by art historians. Linguists, historians, psychologists, sociologists and other scientists turn to folklore. Each science sees in folklore what interests it.
Folklore - the art of the word, the totality of oral artistic works of various genres created by many generations of the people; everyday artistic creativity traditional for the people and its result, reflecting the self-consciousness of the people, formed as a result of centuries of history and manifested in oral form and in a large number of variants of works.
Imagine the general evolution of folklore from ancient times to the present day.
About availability primitive forms of folklore among our distant ancestors are evidenced by many data. Already during the formation of the Eastern Slavic tribes, peculiar games and rituals were common, which were accompanied by round dances, singing, playing the simplest musical instruments, dances, games, a complex of ritual actions.
Items for household and labor purposes found today by historians and ethnographers, as well as the simplest artistic tools, give reason to speak of quite developed forms of folklore (in the current sense) human practice on the territory of pre-Christian and early Christian Rus'. Perhaps this can be referred to as the form early traditional folklore. In one of the first documents of Ancient Rus' - "The Tale of Bygone Years" it is said that "games were organized between villages, and they converged on these games, on dances and on all sorts of demonic songs, and here they kidnapped their wives in collusion with them."
This document reflects its time - the time of early Christianity - and bears its signs. In particular, it assesses folklore as a demonic occupation bearing pagan influence. It is also important to note something else: the development, social organization and practical meaning of such games, which could not appear overnight, which means they had a long prehistory.
The Christianization of Rus' is far from being an unequivocal phenomenon for folk culture, which was rooted in paganism and retained its powerful influence, gradually being included in a new religious and spiritual system. pagan roots are the first and main sign in the development of early traditional folklore. Folk tales, round dances and songs, epics and thoughts, colorful and deep in meaning wedding ceremonies, folk embroideries, artistic carving on wood - all this can be historically meaningful only taking into account the ancient pagan worldview.
Paganism determined the special flavor of Slavic folklore. Pagan romance gave a special brilliance to Russian folk culture. All heroic fairy tales turn out to be fragments of ancient Slavic myths and heroic epic. The ornamentation of peasant architecture, utensils and clothing is associated with paganism. Complex, multi-day wedding ceremonies are imbued with pagan motifs. A significant part of the song repertoire is imbued with pagan worldview. Vivid, unfading form of ritual dance, accompanied by music and singing, are colorful village round dances.
The main pagan rites, holidays and songs are mainly related to agriculture. The folk calendar, which we are trying to reanimate and adapt to new conditions today, is an agricultural calendar, which means that all ritual folklore bears the features of a pagan character.
It is impossible to ignore or underestimate the fact that early traditional folklore, having its origins since pagan times, was subjected to constant pressure from Christian ideology, which was the church. This was most clearly manifested in the struggle against buffoonery, some rituals and customs, and musical instruments in Rus' in the 15th-17th centuries.
It can be said with a certain degree of conventionality that folk musical instruments, singing, elements of dramatic play and dance were widespread in all groups of the population, as well as applied art and crafts (in the current sense). Life, life, labor practices were permeated with myths, rituals, rituals, festivities.
At the initial stages of culture, folklore in its diverse forms and manifestations captured a vast sphere of life, and its share in the artistic culture of the Middle Ages was more significant than in the art system of modern times. Folklore filled the vacuum created by the absence of written forms of secular musical creativity. Folk song, the art of folk "gamers" - performers on musical instruments were widespread not only among the working classes, but also in higher strata society up to the princely court.
Until the era of Peter I, folklore remained the dominant artistic system in Rus'.
At the same time, it is necessary to note another important regularity - the gradual growth of the layer of peasant folklore due to the growth of the mass of the peasantry.
Folklore has a specific historical coloring and a specific historical meaning: sacred, ritual, aesthetic, pragmatic. Within the boundaries of historical eras, various folklore waves arose associated with specific historical events. At the same time, each folklore genre is distinguished by its own patterns of emergence, flourishing, fading, inclusion in culture. Its development does not coincide in its time frame with the boundaries of the phenomenon that caused them. Historical songs, stories about the Pugachev or Razin uprisings were born by them, but remained in culture even after their suppression.
Throughout a long historical period, peasant folklore remained the most powerful and integral worldview and cultural system. The traditional centuries-old culture of the Russian village is not only a source of information of interest to us about its roots. At the same time, they are the roots on which the mass of the working peasantry stood for a thousand years, the roots that nourished not only the village, but also the urban settlement.
Due to the peculiarities of the social development of Russia, which entered the capitalist path of development only in the second half of 19th century., peasant folklore remained the dominant form of folk art until the beginning of XX in. At the same time, we should talk about the emergence of new, and the attenuation and disappearance of the old genres of folklore. Behind these changes are objective historical prerequisites that ensure the adequacy of folk art to the fundamental requirements that were associated with the social, economic, political situation in Russia.
Under the influence of powerful social factors since the second half of the XIX century. peasant folklore undergoes a transformation, goes to the periphery artistic culture. This could not but affect cardinally the nature of his existence, development, inclusion in the general context of life.
The emergence and development of other social groups, each of which developed its own specific forms of folklore creativity (today they talk about student, intelligentsia, petty-bourgeois, worker folklore), led to its complication and differentiation.
The folklore of a certain group performs specific functions in relation to this group, has its own tasks, features and characteristics. Folklore, transferred from the peasant environment to the princely court or perceived by the working environment, becomes a different phenomenon, from an aesthetic point of view, because it begins to play a different role. The creativity of various groups naturally comes into contact, borderline borrowings arise. However, the specificity of each of the streams is always expressed quite clearly, even in the case of deep transformations. This applies to all genres and types of folklore of peasants, intellectuals, workers, etc., without exception.
With the complication of the forms of social and spiritual life of society, folklore forms of peasant creativity were perceived and actively developed by representatives of the newly emerging classes and groups. The formation of the working class in Russia in the middle of the 19th century, its entry into the historical arena, the increase in numbers, the growth of political consciousness - all this was accompanied by the formation of a specific ethno-folklore environment. Forms of artistic creativity appeared that corresponded to the spirit and tasks of the proletariat and were called workers' folklore.
We can talk about the existence in Russia of the XIX century. the folklore culture of the estates of landlords and nobles, the Russian intelligentsia, which declared itself in full voice since the beginning of the 19th century, and then the students, workers and the city as a whole. Despite a certain difference in the forms of creativity, genre and species composition, artistic imagery, in the folklore of all social groups there was a lot in common. Only with time, gradually, did their own features appear in the folklore of each social group.
Beginning with late XIX in. folklore, under the influence of objective geopolitical and economic processes taking place in the country, experienced increasing pressure from other layers of culture, lost its most stable peasant origins. Mass depeasantization, the destruction of the natural way of life of the peasantry, accompanied by the physical destruction of a significant part of it, led to the global destruction of the peasant layer of culture. Its erosion, observed for more than half a century, has become an irreversible process.
Planting in the mass consciousness the ideology of intolerance towards traditions, towards folklore culture, led to the fact that they were really expelled from life, allegedly because of their patriarchal and outdated nature. Folklore fell out of the field of attention of the powerful and extensive system of state and public assistance to folk art. All pre-revolutionary mass publications on traditional culture and folklore were closed and re-profiled (for example, the Zhivaya Starina magazine, etc.). Practice focused on the creation of folklore forms of amateur performances. This approach was dominant, defining. Some specialists laid a "scientific" basis for the process of the withering away of folklore and considered it necessary to pay increased attention to the creation of "novelties"—Soviet folklore.
The idea spread in folk art to use folklore opportunities to praise the victories and achievements of socialism, the personalities of Lenin and Stalin, and other leaders of the state.
Meanwhile, the participants of scientific expeditions noted the presence of strong foundations for the development and existence of folklore. The village remained largely archaic. Former traditions and customs were maintained by artificial "freezing" of the village (its inhabitants could not change their place of residence without special permission until the 60s). Many rituals remained in active use - weddings, christenings, funerals, folk singing, playing the harmonica, balalaika. Really outstanding folk performers were still alive, whose skill, knowledge of folklore, the ability to create it took shape at a time of active existence of traditions. They formed a folklore environment around them. In general, the intra-village way of life retained the features of the pre-revolutionary one. New phenomena did not lead to fundamental changes in the cultural way of life.
Folklore in the prewar decades had not yet been destroyed as an integral aesthetic phenomenon. In its depths, often implicitly, the most complex evolutionary processes took place, affecting primarily the qualitative aspects of its future existence.
The rate of destruction of the cultural and everyday way of life accelerated significantly after collectivization, and then during the Great Patriotic War. If collectivization laid the foundation for this process, then the war, having displaced hundreds of millions of people from their original places of residence, destroyed the folklore environment in essence throughout the entire European part of the territory of the USSR.
Folklore of the second half of the 40s - early 70s is folklore that exists, as it were, outside the socio-spiritual framework that has developed in society. Not only did he not fit into them, but he was artificially taken out of the artistic life of the masses. A situation arose when, despite the fact that the folklore tradition was still vital, retained its bright forms, it did not receive proper support, it turned out to be crushed and opposed to amateur art. Neglect of folklore traditions took sharp forms of rejection of traditional forms of folk life.
Planting among the masses, both in the city and in the countryside, the values of pseudo-folk culture or culture that they do not perceive (in particular, opera, symphonic music, fine arts, classical ballet, etc.), led to the erosion of an accessible culture close to the people - traditional. The goal of introducing everyone to the heights of the musical, choreographic, dramatic, and visual arts came into conflict with the needs of the vast majority of the population, who could not accept these values in their mass.
Today, folklore is actively collected and studied by researchers, since modern society came to understand its value and great educational value.
Folk verbal creativity was kept in the memory of people, in the process of communication, works passed from one to another and were not recorded. For this reason, folklorists should be engaged in so-called "field work" - go on folklore expeditions to identify performers and record folklore from them. Recorded texts of oral folklore works (as well as photographs, tape recordings, diaries of collectors, etc.) are stored in folklore archives. Archival materials can be published, for example, in the form of folklore collections.
Folklore has its artistic laws. The oral form of creation, distribution and existence of works is the main feature that gives rise to the SPECIFICITY of folklore, causes its difference from literature.
1. Traditional.
Folklore is mass creativity. Works of literature have an author, works of folklore are anonymous, their author is the people. In literature there are writers and readers, in folklore there are performers and listeners.
Oral works were created according to already known patterns, even including direct borrowings. The speech style used constant epithets, symbols, comparisons and other traditional poetic means. The works with a plot were characterized by a set of typical narrative elements, their usual compositional combination. In the images of folklore characters, the typical also prevailed over the individual. Tradition required the ideological orientation of the works: they taught goodness, contained the rules of human behavior in life.
Storytellers (performers of fairy tales), songwriters (performers of songs), storytellers (performers of epics), wailers (performers of lamentations) sought, first of all, to convey to the listeners what corresponded to the tradition. The repeatability of the oral text allowed for its changes, and this allowed an individual talented person to express himself. There was a multiple creative act, co-creation, in which any representative of the people could be a participant.
The oral artistic tradition was the common stock. Each person could choose for himself what he needed.
Not everything newly created was preserved in oral existence. Repeatedly repeated fairy tales, songs, epics, proverbs and other works passed "from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation." Along the way, they lost what bore the stamp of individuality, but at the same time revealed and deepened what could satisfy everyone. The new was born only on a traditional basis, while it had to not just copy the tradition, but supplement it.
In folklore, a creative process constantly proceeded, which supported and developed the artistic tradition.
2. Syncretism.
The artistic principle won in folklore not immediately. AT ancient society the word merged with the beliefs and everyday needs of people, and its poetic meaning, if any, was not realized.
Residual forms of this state were preserved in rituals, incantations and other genres of late folklore. For example, a round dance game is a complex of several artistic components: words, music, facial expressions, gesture, dance. All of them can exist only together, as elements of a whole - a round dance. Such a property is usually denoted by the word "syncretism" (from the Greek synkretismos - "connection").
As time went on, syncretism historically faded away. Different types the arts have overcome the state of primitive indivisibility and stand out on their own. In folklore, their late compounds began to appear - synthesis.
3. Variation.
The oral form of assimilation and transmission of works made them open to change. There were no two completely identical performances of the same piece, even if there was only one performer. Oral works had a mobile, variant nature.
Variant (from lat. variants - "changing") - each one-time performance of a folk work, as well as its fixed text.
Since a folklore work existed in the form of multiple performances, it existed in the aggregate of its variants. Any variant differed from others, told or sung at different times, in different localities, in different environments, by different performers or by one (repeatedly).
Oral folk tradition sought to preserve, to protect from oblivion what was most valuable. The tradition kept the changes of the text within its borders. For variants of a folklore work, it is important what is common, repeated, and secondary, how they differ from one another.
4. Improvisation.
The variability of folklore could practically be realized thanks to improvisation.
Improvisation (from Latin improviso - "unforeseen, suddenly") - the creation of the text of a folk work, or its individual parts, in the process of performance.
Between acts of performance, the folklore work was kept in memory. Each time the text is voiced, it seems to be born anew. The performer improvised. He relied on the knowledge of the poetic language of folklore, selected ready-made artistic components, and created their combinations. Without improvisation, the use of speech "blanks" and the use of oral poetic techniques would be impossible.
Improvisation did not contradict tradition; on the contrary, it existed precisely because there were certain rules, an artistic canon.
The oral work obeyed the laws of its genre. The genre allowed for this or that mobility of the text, set the boundaries of fluctuation.
In different genres, improvisation manifested itself with greater or lesser force. There are genres focused on improvisation (lamentations, lullabies), and even those whose texts were one-time (fair cries of merchants). In contrast to them, there are genres designed for accurate memorization, therefore, as if not allowing improvisation (for example, conspiracies).
Improvisation carried a creative impulse, generated novelty. It expressed the dynamics of the folklore process.
In the XX century. for several decades, creative thought was fettered by ideological dictates. Simplistic sociological research was encouraged. For folkloristics, the ideas of Marxist theorists were recognized as obligatory. In Soviet science in the 30-50s. dominated by dogmatic concepts. The term "Marxist folkloristics" appeared, denoting the direction that developed the problems of the history and theory of folklore, taking into account the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Lunacharsky and other Marxists. His followers were interested in the connection of folklore with the liberation movement, the expression of a class reflex in folk works, etc. The achievements of domestic and foreign "non-Marxist" science were hushed up, downplayed or denied. Outstanding scientists of the "pre-Marxist" period (F. I. Buslaev, A. N. Veselovsky, V. F. Miller, and others) were subjected to criticism. Under these conditions, an attempt was made to create a general history of Russian folklore1 and a history of Russian folklore2.
For a number of folklorists, the methods of formal research became an alternative to the vulgar sociological approach. In the field of the study of narrative folklore, structural-typological analysis has been developed. Its representatives began to identify invariant models of genres, plots, and motives. They considered the phenomena of typological relations in a synchronous plan (from the Greek synchronos - "simultaneous"), i.e. characterized the state of a particular folklore system for one period of time. Later, structural-semiotic folkloristics appeared, which seeks to establish the general patterns of constructing folklore texts as sign systems3.
With the liberation from dogmatism, science gradually began to return to full-fledged historical research. The historical-typological method has been developed, which considers the phenomena of folklore typology in a diachronic plan (from the Greek dia - "through, through" and chronos - "time"), i.e. at different stages of the historical development of folklore, in its genesis and evolution . At the same time, folklore works are studied in a historical and ethnographic context.
Synchronic and diachronic approaches are dialectically interconnected, because folklore exists both in space and in time. It can be said that in formal studies, interest in the form of works prevails, and in historical studies, in their content. However, it should be noted that form and content are not equal. “In folklore,” wrote the founder of structuralism, V. Ya. The general task of folkloristics can be considered the search for a universal theory that can organically combine the directions of the formal and historical type. This is also expressed by discussions that periodically arise in the press: about the historicism of epics, about the place of folklore in the system of other sciences, etc.
The processes of the history of folklore are explored by historical poetics, created as a special direction by A. N. Veselovsky, and subsequently developed by V. M. Zhirmunsky, E. M. Mele-
tinskiy, V. M. Gatsak and other researchers1. Within its framework, poetic genera, genres, stylistic systems are considered - both in general and in their specific manifestations. Historical poetics explores the connections of oral folk art with written literature, music, and visual arts.
In recent years, there has been a clear trend towards a comprehensive study of folklore, language, mythology, ethnography and folk art as components of a single spiritual culture of the people. Here, in the field of reconstruction of Slavic paganism and mythology, the work of the staff of the Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences is especially productive (this work long years headed by the ethnolinguist N. I. Tolstoy)2.
Any method involves reliance on facts. Electronic computing and other techniques have entered the life of folklorists, which significantly increases the accuracy of records, simplifies mechanical operations for accounting and systematizing material, searching for the necessary information. "Modern folkloristics," noted N.I. method, constantly improving it theoretically and technically.<...>Along with it, the comparative typological method and the old, tested and at the same time constantly updated and tested on new material comparative historical method are widely used. This method was proposed and successfully applied more than a century ago by the remarkable Russian scientist A. N. Veselovsky ... "3.
In the self-determination of modern folklore studies as an independent scientific discipline, significant events were the first vocabulary of folklore terms and concepts (based on the material of three East Slavic peoples)4, as well as the book by V.P. Anikin "Theory of Folklore"5.
Now the sections of folklore are: the historiography of the science of oral folk art, the theory and history of folklore, the organization and methodology of field work, the systematization of archival funds, and textual criticism.
There are centers for the philological study of Russian folklore, with their own archives and periodicals. These are the State Republican Center of Russian Folklore in Moscow (publishing the journal "Live Antiquity"), the sector of Russian folk art of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg (yearbook "Russian Folklore: Materials and Research"), the Department of Folklore State University. M. V. Lomonosov (collections "Folklore as the Art of the Word"), as well as regional and regional folklore centers with their archives and publications ("Siberian Folklore", "Folklore of the Urals", "Folklore of the Peoples of Russia", etc.).
LITERATURE TO THE TOPIC
Sokolov Yu. M. Historiography of folklore // Sokolov Yu. M. Russian folklore. - M., 1941. - S. 34-121.
Azadovsky M.K. History of Russian folklore: In 2 volumes - M., 1958 (vol. 1); 1963 (vol. 2).
Bazanov V. Russians revolutionary democrats and folklore. - L., 1974.
Academic schools in Russian literary criticism / Ed. ed. P. A. Nikolaev. - M., 1975.
Putilov B. N. Methodology of comparative-historical study of folklore. - L., 1976.
Toporkov A.L. The theory of myth in Russian philological science XIX century / Rev. ed. V. M. Gatsak. - M., 1997.
Introduction
Folklore is the main means of folk pedagogy. Folk pedagogy is an academic subject and type of activity of adults in educating the younger generation, a set and interconnection of ideas and ideas, views and opinions and beliefs, as well as the skills and techniques of the people on the development of the upbringing and education 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 the Belarusians, which was formed by 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 saturated with pedagogical experience and folk wisdom. On the basis of folklore, a huge layer of ethical and pedagogical ideas was created: respect for elders, diligence, tolerance, goodwill, tolerance for other people's opinions.
Tolerance, tolerance, virtue, as traditional Christian virtues, gradually became the hallmarks of Belarusians. Moreover, they coexist with such qualities as personal dignity, purposefulness, and activity.
Folklore with educational content, household traditions, holidays, Belarusian classical literature - these are the concepts that have a huge impact on the formation of a national character. It contributes to the creative development of 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, interest in the history and culture of the people.
Thus, folklore is the main source of knowledge about the principles of education that have developed in the culture of different peoples, its moral, religious and mythical foundations. The figurative and symbolic nature of 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 impact.
Consideration of this course topic is relevant and interesting at the same time.
The educational potential of folklore is unlimited. Today, our society is reviving the forgotten traditions of antiquity, 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 education and development of a person, has been especially active in the socio-pedagogical environment in recent years. This is due to the functional features of the genres of folklore, with the deep spirituality and wisdom of folk art, with the continuity of the process of transferring national culture from generation to generation.
At the beginning of the new century, there is an increased interest in national culture, to ethnic processes, traditional artistic creativity, to folklore. Scientists note a special growth of the historical and national self-consciousness of each nation, explaining this by socio-psychological, political reasons.
The preservation and development of the national culture, its roots is the most important task that requires careful attitude to monuments of history and culture, to traditional folk art. The revival of folklore, folk customs, rituals and holidays, traditional arts and crafts and fine arts is an urgent problem of our time. Folklore, its genres, means, methods most fully fill the whole picture of people's life, give a vivid picture of the life of the people, their morality, spirituality. Folklore reveals the soul of the people, its dignity and features. From the point of view of science, folklore is a phenomenon that deserves special study and careful evaluation.
The purpose of the course work is to reveal the significance of folklore in the system of national education.
Objectives of the course work:
- to characterize the phenomenon of folklore and its educational value;
- to characterize the main genres of folklore, based on the educational potential of each;
- to show the practical application of the main folklore genres in education.
The object of this course is the multifaceted phenomenon of national folklore, and the subject is the genres of folklore and their educational potential.
The methods used in writing the term paper are descriptive, comparative analysis, analysis 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, woodcarving, etc.), and sometimes 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: an integral part of folk life, closely intertwined with its other elements. From the beginning of the 20th century the term is also used in a narrower, more specific sense: verbal folk art.
Folklore (English folklore) - folk art, most often it is oral; artistic collective creative activity of the people, reflecting their life, views, ideals; poetry created by the people and existing among the masses of the people (tales, songs, ditties, anecdotes, fairy tales, epics), folk music (songs, instrumental tunes and plays), theater (dramas, satirical plays, puppet theater), dance, architecture, visual and arts and crafts.
Folklore is the collective and tradition-based creativity of groups and individuals, determined by the hopes and aspirations of society, which is an adequate expression of their cultural and social identity.
According to B.N. Putilov, there are five main variants of the meanings of the concept of "folklore":
1. folklore as a combination, 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 the actual artistic creativity, it also covers what can be called the mentality, traditional beliefs, folk philosophy of life;
3. folklore as a phenomenon of the artistic creativity of the people;
4. folklore as a sphere of verbal art, that is, the field 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 indeed the most developed area of folklore, which has made a huge contribution to the development of the science of literature - a direct descendant, "successor" of oral folk art, genetically associated with 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, folk art.
The oldest types of verbal art arose in the process of the formation of human speech in the era Upper Paleolithic. 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 the primitive man sought to influence the forces of nature, fate, were accompanied by words: spells, conspiracies were pronounced, various requests or threats were addressed to the forces of nature. The art of the word 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 that needed to be passed on to the next generations, the role of verbal information increased. The separation of verbal creativity into an independent form of art is the most important step in the prehistory of folklore. Folklore was a verbal art, organically inherent in folk life. The different purpose of the works gave rise to genres, with their various themes, images, and style. In the most ancient period, most peoples had tribal traditions, labor and ritual songs, mythological stories, conspiracies. The decisive event that paved the line between mythology and folklore proper was the appearance of a fairy tale, the plots of which were perceived as fiction.
In ancient and medieval society, the heroic epic took shape. There were also legends and songs reflecting religious beliefs (for example, Russian spiritual verses). Later appeared historical songs, depicting real historical events and heroes, as they remained in the people's memory. With changes in the social life of society, new genres arose in Russian folklore: soldier's, coachman's, burlak's songs. The growth of industry and cities brought to life romances, anecdotes, worker, school and student folklore.
For thousands of years, folklore has been the only form of poetic creativity among all peoples. But even with the advent of writing for many centuries, up to the period of late feudalism, oral poetic creativity was widespread not only among the 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 a national property.
1.2 Specific features of folklore
Collectivity is one of the most important specific features of folk oral art. Each work of oral folk art not only expresses the thoughts and feelings of certain groups, but is also collectively created and distributed. However, the collectivity of the creative process in folklore does not mean that individuals did not play any role. Talented masters not only improved or adapted existing texts to new conditions, but sometimes created songs, ditties, 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, peculiar professions arose associated with 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 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: of many works, the people choose and preserve the best, similar to their thoughts and aesthetic views. The collective beginning in folklore is not opposed to the individual. Folklore is characterized by an organic combination of the collective and the individual, while the collectivity does not interfere with the manifestation of the individual abilities of writers and performers.
The oral form of the existence of folklore is organically connected with the collectivity of folk art. Folklore appeared earlier than writing and originally existed only in oral transmission. The oral form of the existence of folk poetry leads to the appearance of variants of the same folklore work - this is another specific feature of folklore - variability.
Folklore is different from fiction features of the art form. These features include, first of all, the traditional poetics developed by the people over the centuries. Traditional folk symbols, constant epithets, metaphors give folk art a specific flavor.
Folklore differs from written literature in the peculiarities of typification. Literature is characterized by the creation of typical characters in a typical setting. A typical character, reflecting the main features of his social environment and his era, manifests itself through the individual qualities of the hero, through an individual and unique appearance. Images of oral folk art do not have such individualization.
1.3 Functions and educational potential of folklore
Firstly, folklore contributes to the deepening of knowledge about the folk spiritual culture in its past and present. Folklore introduces the life, traditions, customs of one's 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 people 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 determines his likes and dislikes, comprehends folk ideas about human beauty. Wise folk proverbs and sayings inform about behavioral norms.
Thirdly, with the help of folklore, it is possible to cultivate a respectful attitude towards the culture of one's own ethnic group, as well as a tolerant attitude towards other ethnic cultures. Studying folklore, the child realizes that the people are the creator, the creator of the cultural heritage that needs to be admired and proud of. Folklore - centuries old folk labor, which stores 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 seeks to understand what means the people use in their work, 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. cognitive
aesthetic function folklore lies in the fact that it forms in children artistic taste, develops the ability to appreciate and understand the beautiful, contributes to the formation of a harmoniously developed personality.
essence educational function lies in the fact that oral folk art, being a means of folk pedagogy, forms the qualities of a human character. Proverbs, sayings, fairy tales are filled with high moral and ethical meaning and give characterological assessments of a person from the standpoint of "good" and "bad".
The cognitive value of folklore It is concluded that this is a way of introducing the child to the outside world.
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 a well-aimed figurative saying of an instructive nature, typifying the most diverse phenomena of life and having the form of a complete sentence.
Proverbs satisfied many spiritual needs of the working people: cognitive-intellectual (educational), production, 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 evaluated 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 the people's ideals, expectations and aspirations. (6; 36)
The proverb is created by all the people, therefore it expresses the collective opinion of the people. It contains the people's assessment of life, the 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 favorable for memorization, which enhances their significance as ethnopedagogical means. Proverbs are firmly embedded in memory. Their memorization is facilitated by a play on words, various consonances, rhymes, rhythm, sometimes very skillful. The ultimate goal of proverbs has always been education, since ancient times they have acted as pedagogical means. On the one hand, they contain a pedagogical idea, on the other hand, they have an educational impact, carry out educational functions: they tell about the means, methods of educational influence that correspond to the ideas of the people, give characterological assessments of the personality - 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.
There is a lot of practical material in the proverbs: worldly advice, wishes in work, greetings, etc.
The most common form of proverbs is admonitions. From a pedagogical point of view, teachings of three categories are interesting: teachings that instruct children and youth in good morals, including the rules of good manners; teachings that call adults to decent behavior, and, finally, instructions of a special kind, containing pedagogical advice, ascertaining the results of education, which is a kind of generalization of pedagogical experience. They contain a huge educational and upbringing material on the issues of upbringing. positive and negative traits According to proverbs, personalities are presented as the goals of education and re-education, suggesting an all-round improvement in the behavior and character of people. At the same time, it is noteworthy that all peoples recognize the infinity of human perfections. Any person, no matter how perfect he is, can climb one more step of perfection. This step leads not only man, but also mankind to progress. Many proverbs are motivated and reasoned calls for self-improvement.
In the "Literary Encyclopedia" the riddle is characterized as "an intricate poetic description any object or phenomenon that tests the ingenuity of the guesser. The definitions of the riddle are based on the same signs:
- the description is often framed in the form of an interrogative sentence;
- the description is concise and the rhythm is inherent in the riddle.
So the riddle is short description an object or phenomenon, often in poetic form, containing an intricate task in the form of an explicit (direct) or alleged (hidden) question.
Riddles are designed to develop the thinking of children, to teach them to analyze objects and phenomena from various areas of the surrounding reality; moreover, the presence a large number riddles about the same phenomenon made it possible to give a comprehensive description of the object (phenomenon). But the significance of riddles in mental education is far from being exhausted by the development of thinking; they also enrich the mind with information about nature and knowledge from the most diverse areas of human life. The use of riddles in mental education is valuable in that 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 the child's memory, his imaginative thinking, the speed of mental reactions.
The riddle teaches the child to compare the features of various objects, to find common things in them, and thereby forms in him the ability to classify objects, to discard their insignificant features. In other words, with the help of a riddle, the foundations of theoretical creative thinking are formed.
The riddle develops the observation of the child. The more observant the child, the better and faster he guesses 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 and questionnaires, to identify the degree of observation, ingenuity, mental development, as well as the level of creative thinking of the child.
A proverb - 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 thicken their content; this is not an abstract formula of the idea of the work, but a figurative allusion to it, taken from the work itself and serving as its deputy (for example, “a pig under an oak”, or “a dog in the manger”, or “he takes out dirty linen from a hut”)
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), folk poetry grows.
Song genres of folklore are represented by epic songs and ballads, ritual and lyrical songs, ditties, labor 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 design of the idea - ethical, aesthetic, pedagogical. Beauty and goodness in the song act in unity. Good fellows, sung by the people, are not only kind, but also beautiful. Folk songs have absorbed the highest national values, focused only on good, on the happiness of man.
Songs are a more complex form of folk poetry than riddles and proverbs. The main purpose of the songs is to instill a love for the beautiful, to develop aesthetic views and tastes. The song is characterized by high poeticization of all aspects of folk life, including the upbringing of the younger generation. The pedagogical value of the song is that beautiful singing was taught, and it, in turn, taught beauty and kindness. The song accompanied all the events of folk 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 the life of a person from birth to death. Songs are sung to a baby in a cradle who has not yet learned to understand, an old man in a coffin who has already ceased to feel and understand. Scientists have proven the beneficial role of gentle songs in the mental development of a child in the womb. Lullabies not only lull the baby to sleep, but also caress him, soothe, 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. Small children sing other songs of adults with special enthusiasm. Therefore, we can only talk about the predominant performance of certain songs at a particular age.
Noteworthy means of educational influence are pestle and nursery rhymes. In them, the growing child completely occupies the attention of an adult. Pestushki got their name from the word to nurture - to nurse, to carry in their arms. These are short poetic refrains that accompany the movements of the child during nurturing.
Pestushki make sense only when accompanied by their tactile reception - a light bodily touch. Gentle massage, accompanied by a cheerful unpretentious song with a distinct pronunciation of poetic lines, causes a cheerful, cheerful mood in a child. In pestles, all the main points of the physical development of the child are taken into account. When he begins to stand on his feet, he is told one thing; a child taking the first steps is taught to stand firmly on its legs and at the same time other pests speak.
The pestles gradually turn into nursery rhymes that accompany the child's games with fingers, arms, legs. In these games, there is often also a pedagogical one - instruction in diligence, kindness, friendliness.
The song is a complex form of folk poetry. The main purpose of songs is aesthetic education. But they are aimed at the implementation of other aspects of personality formation, i.e. are a complex means of influencing the personality.
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 poetic word songs. The influence of folk songs on peasant youth has always been enormous, and their significance has never been limited to the beauty of verse and melody (external beauty, beauty of form). The beauty of thoughts, the beauty of content are also related to strengths folk songs.
And the words of the songs themselves, and the conditions, and the nature of their performance contribute to the strengthening of health, the development of diligence. The songs glorify health, it is called happiness, the highest good. The people have always believed that songs develop the voice, expand and strengthen the lungs: “To sing loudly, you must have strong lungs”, “A sonorous song expands the chest”.
The importance of the song in the labor education of children and youth is invaluable. As mentioned above, the songs accompanied and stimulated the labor process, they contributed to the coordination and unification of the labor efforts of the workers.
Fairy tales are an important educational tool, worked out and tested by the people over the centuries. Life, folk practice of education convincingly proved the pedagogical value of fairy tales. Children and a fairy tale are inseparable, they are created for each other, and therefore acquaintance with the fairy tales of one's people must be included in the course of education and upbringing of each child.
The most characteristic features of fairy tales are nationality, optimism, the fascination of the 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. In the beliefs of the people there was a lot of superstitious and dark. This dark and reactionary is a consequence of the difficult historical past of the working people. Most of the fairy tales reflect the best features of the people: diligence, talent, loyalty in battle and work, boundless devotion to the people and homeland. The embodiment of the positive traits of the people in fairy tales made fairy tales an effective means of transmitting these traits from generation to generation. Precisely because fairy tales reflect the life of the people, their best features, cultivate these features in the younger generation, the nationality turns out to be one of the most important characteristics 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, the sufferings of the positive hero and his friends are transient, temporary, joy usually comes after them, and this joy is the result of a struggle, the result of joint efforts. Optimism children especially like fairy tales and enhances the educational value of folk pedagogical means.
The fascination of the plot, imagery and fun make fairy tales 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. In the hero, those main character traits that bring him closer to the national character of the people are usually very convex and vividly shown: courage, diligence, wit, etc. These features are revealed both in events and through various artistic means, such as hyperbolization. Thus, as a result of hyperbolization, the feature of industriousness reaches the maximum brightness and convexity of the image (in one night to build a palace, a bridge from the hero’s house to the king’s palace, in one night to sow flax, grow, process, spin, weave, sew and clothe the people, sow wheat , grow, harvest, thresh, grind, bake and feed people, etc.). The same should be said about such traits as physical strength, courage, courage, etc.
Imagery is complemented funnyness fairy tales. The wise educator-people took special care to make fairy tales interesting and entertaining. In the folk tale, there are not only bright and lively images, but also subtle and cheerful humor. All peoples 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 of all peoples of the world are always instructive and instructive. It was precisely noting their instructive nature, their didacticism, that A.S. Pushkin at the end of his "Tale of the Golden Cockerel":
The tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it!
Good fellows lesson.
Due to the features noted above, fairy tales of all peoples are an effective means of education. Fairy tales are a treasure trove of pedagogical ideas, brilliant examples of folk pedagogical genius.
The folk theater, which exists in forms organically connected with oral folk art, originated in ancient times: the games that accompanied the hunting and agricultural holidays contained elements of reincarnation. Theatricalization of the action was present in calendar and family ceremonies (Christmas costumes, weddings, etc.).
In the folk theater, a theater of live actors and a puppet theater are distinguished. The Russian theater of Petrushka was close to the Ukrainian nativity scene, the Belarusian batleika.
The most characteristic feature of the folk theater (as well as folklore art in general) is the open conventionality of costumes and props, movements and gestures; during the performances, the actors communicated directly with the audience, which could give lines, intervene in the action, direct it, and sometimes take part in it (sing along with the choir of performers, portray minor characters in crowd scenes).
The folk theater, as a rule, had neither a stage nor scenery. The main interest in it is focused not on the depth of disclosure of the characters of the characters, but on the tragic or comical nature of situations and situations.
The folk theater acquaints young spectators with verbal folklore, develops memory, figurative thinking. Comic characters ridicule the vices of people, dramatic ones teach empathy. By participating in their simple productions, the child learns to speak correctly and beautifully, to make a speech in front of the public, to overcome shyness.
Folk dance is one of the oldest types of folk art. The dance was part 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, expressing new features of life.
The peoples engaged in hunting, animal husbandry, reflected in the dance their observations of the animal world. The nature and habits of animals, birds, domestic animals were conveyed figuratively and expressively: the Yakut bear dance, the Russian crane, the gander, etc. grape). The folk dance often reflects the military spirit, valor, heroism, battle scenes are reproduced (Georgian horumi, 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 Baino quadrille).
Dance allows you to develop plasticity, special coordination of movements, methods of correlation of movement with music. Children learn to move rhythmically, to communicate with each other in motion (round dance, stream).
In folk arts and crafts, the non-voluminous, eternally living soul of the people, their rich practical experience and aesthetic taste are immortalized. In Belarus, woodworking, pottery, weaving, painting, weaving and embroidery were the most developed.
In some features of folk art, the 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 object, the plastic form, 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 discovery of the present. Children from an early age were involved in work, helping their parents. Joint work helps children to better master the craft, learn from the experience of a mentor (parents), instills diligence.
2. The practice of using folklore and folklore genres in the system of national education
Folklore contributes to the creative development of children and youth in the world of fairy tales, epics, legends. Findings of the centuries-old history of spiritual traditions, systematized in folklore, should be used in the construction of a modern model of education.
Consider the practical application 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 duty of parents, and then of educational institutions and other public institutions. That is why there are a great many proverbs praising labor and ridiculing laziness among the peoples of the whole world.
Not the one who is good-looking is good, but the one who is good for business (Russian proverb).
Great in body, but small in deed (Russian proverb)
A small deed is better than a big idleness (Russian proverb)
If you like to ride - love to carry sleds (Russian proverb)
You have to bend down to drink from the stream (Russian proverb)
Gultay for work, and mazol by the hand (Belarusian proverb)
Love for the motherland native land- the most important topic in the education of patriotism.
That bird is stupid, which does not like its nest.
Motherland is a mother, know how to stand up for her.
Someone else's food has a different taste.
Each sandpiper praises his swamp.
Where the pine has grown, there it is red.
The steppe is useless for the swan, the lake for the bustard.
In his swamp the frog sings.
Houses and walls help.
On his street and the dog is a tiger.
Pile hut, like a native uterus.
A special place in the system of aphorisms is occupied by proverbs that teach respect for elders.
Shanuy people, then i tsyabe plow. (4; 302)
Pavage the old one, pavuchay the little one.
Proverbs and sayings in artistic images recorded the experience of a lived life in all its diversity and inconsistency.
unraveling riddles develops the ability to analyze, generalize, forms the ability to independently draw conclusions, conclusions, the ability to clearly identify the most characteristic, expressive features of an object or phenomenon, the ability to clearly and concisely convey images of objects, develops in children a “poetic view of reality”.
Reflecting the picturesque landscapes of the motherland, full of colors, sounds, smells, riddles contribute to the education of aesthetic feelings.
fluffy carpet
Not hand-woven,
Not sewn with silk,
With the sun, with the moon
Shines silver (snow)
Riddles help children learn about the world around them, introduce them to the world of things.
Here are examples of riddles about household items.
Two rings, two ends, carnations in the middle (scissors)
I don’t have legs, but I walk, I don’t have a mouth, but I’ll tell you when to sleep, when to get up, when to start work (hours)
Riddles draw on 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 hives in summer (bear)
Shaggy, mustachioed, prowling through pantries, looking for sour cream (cat)
I will get round, ruddy from the tree (apple)
Low and prickly, sweet and fragrant, you pick berries - you 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 way of life, experience, flora, fauna, the world as a whole, and to this day has great artistic significance in the upbringing of children.
Fairy tales, being works of art and literature, they were at the same time for the working people 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 with children in the fact that the simplicity and immediacy of folk art correspond to the same properties of child psychology.
Fairy tales, depending on the topic and content, make listeners think, suggest reflections. Often the child concludes: “It doesn’t happen like that in life.” The question involuntarily arises: “What happens in life?” Already the conversation of the narrator with the child, containing the answer to this question, has a cognitive value. But fairy tales contain cognitive material directly. It should be noted that the cognitive significance of fairy tales extends, in particular, to individual details of folk customs and traditions, and even to household trifles.
For example, in the Chuvash fairy tale “He who does not honor the old, he himself will not see the good” tells that the daughter-in-law, not listening to her mother-in-law, decided to cook porridge not from millet, but from millet and not on water, but only on oil. What came of it? As soon as she opened the lid, millet grains, not boiled, but roasted, jumped out, 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 worldly experience, otherwise you will be punished. But for children, it also contains educational material: they fry in oil, not boil it, therefore, it is ridiculous to cook porridge without water, in oil alone. Children are usually not told about this, because in life no one does this, but in a fairy tale children are instructed that everything has its place, that everything should be in order.
Here is 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 each “star” of fat in the soup. When the old woman was adding oil, the tailor encouraged her: “Lay, put, old woman, more, do not spare oil, because I ask you not without reason: I will pay a penny for every “star”. The greedy old woman put more and more butter in order to get a lot of money for it. But all her efforts gave an income of one penny. The moral of this story is simple: don't be greedy. This is the main idea of the story. But its educational value is also great. Why, - the child will ask, - did the old woman get one big "asterisk"?
In fairy tales, the idea of the unity of education and upbringing in folk pedagogy is implemented to the maximum extent.
Folk lyric song significantly different from other genera and
types of folklore. Its composition is more diverse than the heroic epic, fairy tales and other genres. Songs were created at far from the same time. Each time composed its own songs. The duration of the life of each song genre is not the same.
Childhood songs are a complex complex: these are adult songs composed specifically for children (lullabies, nursery rhymes and pestles); and songs that gradually passed from the adult repertoire to the children's (carols, stoneflies, chants, game songs); and songs composed by the children themselves.
In infancy, mothers and grandmothers lull their children with gentle lullabies, entertain them with pestles and nursery rhymes, playing with their fingers, arms, legs, tossing them on their knees or on their hands.
Well-known: "Magpie-crow, cooked porridge ..."; “Okay, okay! Where were you? -
By Grandma…".
Pestushki - songs and rhymes that accompany the first conscious movements of the child. For example:
"Oh, sing, sing
Nightingale!
Ah, sing, sing
Young;
young,
Pretty,
Pretty."
Nursery rhymes - songs and rhymes for the first games of a child with fingers, arms, legs. For example:
"Sniffs, little pigs!
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 for?
- On a bipod, on a harrow,
On an oatmeal sheaf
On a rye spike.
Sentences are verbal appeals to someone. For example, they say in the bath:
From gogol - water,
From a baby - thinness!
Roll off all.
Special place in song folklore takes a lullaby.
The foxes are sleeping
All in pieces
The martens are sleeping
Everything is in mints,
The falcons are sleeping
All in nests
The sables are sleeping
Wherever they please
little kids
They sleep in cradles.
In lullabies, mothers talk about the surrounding reality, think aloud about the purpose and meaning of life, pronounce their worries, joys and sorrows. In a lullaby, a mother finds an outlet for her feelings, an opportunity to speak out to the end, speak out and get a 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 a child is still a helpless creature that requires constant caring attention, love and tenderness, without which he simply cannot survive.
AT folk songs joy and sorrow, love and hate, joy and sadness. The songs reveal the best features of the national character of the Belarusians: courage, courage, truthfulness, humanism, sensitivity, diligence.
Conclusion
The experience of public education among all ethnic groups, nations and peoples is very rich. As an analysis of the traditional culture of upbringing has shown, this experience is characterized by almost the same requirements for the qualities of the personality being formed and the system of means for its upbringing and education. It is a kind of (common to all mankind) folk wisdom, a system of universal values, proven over the centuries. But this does not mean that it is necessary to use the entire arsenal of folk remedies and upbringing factors without changes and critical evaluation. It is necessary to take those of them that work today and correlate with our ideas about humanism and universal values.
It is in vain to think that oral folk art was only the fruit of popular leisure. It was the dignity and mind of the people. It formed and strengthened his moral image, was his historical memory, festive clothes of his soul and filled with deep content his whole measured life, flowing according to the customs and rituals associated with his work, nature and veneration of fathers and grandfathers.
Folklore in parenting plays important role. Dividing it into genres allows at a certain age the child to enrich his spiritual world, develop patriotism, respect for the past of his people, the study of its traditions, the assimilation of moral and moral norms of behavior in society.
Folklore develops the oral speech of the child, affects his spiritual development, his imagination. Every genre children's folklore teaches certain moral standards. So, for example, a fairy tale, by likening animals to people, shows the child the norms of behavior in society, and fairy tales develop not only imagination, but also ingenuity. Proverbs, sayings teach children folk wisdom, tested for centuries and has not lost its relevance in our time. The epic epic is a heroic narrative about the events that took place in antiquity. And although epics are not so easy for children to perceive, they are nevertheless aimed at fostering respect for the past people, at studying the traditions and behavior of people at all times, at the patriotism of the Slavic people, who, in spite of everything, remained faithful to their homeland and defended it in every possible way. Song lyrics also have an impact on the upbringing of children. It is mainly used when the child is still very young. For example, lullabies are sung to a baby to calm him down, to put him to sleep. Also, the song lyrics include ditties, jokes, pestles, tongue twisters, counting rhymes. Here they are just aimed at the development of hearing and speech in children, since they use a special combination of sounds.
Thus, the introduction of a child to folk culture begins from childhood, where the basic concepts and examples of behavior are laid. Cultural heritage is passed down 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 preschoolers. M., 1995.-S. 7–8.
2. Belarusian folklore. Reader. vyd. 2nd dap. Sklali K.P. Kabashnikau, A.S. Lis, A.S. Fyadosik, I.K. Tsishchanka Minsk, Higher School, 1977.
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5. Berezhnova, L.N. Ethnopedagogy: textbook. allowance for students. Higher Proc. institutions / L.N. Berezhnova, I.L. Nabok, V.I. Shcheglov. - M .: Publishing house. Center "Academy", 2007. - 240 p.
6. Volkov, G.N. Ethnopedagogy: Proc. for stud. 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. Riddles. M., 1964, v. 2, p. 970.
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