Coursework Old Russian folklore as a means of expressing self-consciousness and a historical source. Historical document of the feudal period as a folklore source (source notes)

Over time, folklore becomes an independent science, its structure is formed, research methods are developed. Now folklore is a science that studies the patterns and features of the development of folklore, the nature and nature, essence, themes of folk art, its specificity and common features with other types of art, features of the existence and functioning of texts of oral literature at different stages of development; genre system and poetics.

According to the tasks specially set for this science, folklore is divided into two branches:

History of folklore

folklore theory

History of folklore- This is a branch of folklore that studies the process of emergence, development, existence, functioning, transformation (deformation) of genres and the genre system in different historical periods in different territories. The history of folklore studies individual folk poetic works, productive and unproductive periods of individual genres, as well as a holistic genre-poetic system in synchronous (horizontal section of a separate historical period) and diachronic (vertical section historical development) plans.

folklore theory is a branch of folklore that studies the essence of oral folk art, features of individual folklore genres, their place in an integral genre system, as well as the internal structure of genres - the laws of their construction, poetics.

Folkloristics is closely connected, borders and interacts with many other sciences.

Its connection with history is manifested in the fact that folklore, like all humanities, is historical discipline, i.e. considers all phenomena and objects of research in their movement - from the prerequisites for the emergence and origin, tracing the formation, development, flourishing to death or decline. And here it is required not only to establish the fact of development, but also to explain it.

Folklore is a historical phenomenon, therefore it requires a staged study, taking into account historical factors, rice and events of each particular era. The objectives of the study of oral folk art and to identify how new historical conditions or their change affect folklore, what exactly causes the emergence of new genres, as well as in identifying the problem of the historical correspondence of folklore genres, comparing texts with real events, the historicism of individual works. In addition, folklore can often itself be a historical source.

There is a close connection between folklore with ethnography as a science that studies early forms material life (household) and social organization people. Ethnography is a source and base for the study of folk art, especially when analyzing the development of individual folklore phenomena.

The main problems of folklore:

Question about the need to collect

The question of the place and role of folklore in the creation national literature

The question of its historical essence

The question of the role of folklore in cognition folk character

The modern collecting work of folklore materials poses a number of problems for researchers that have arisen in connection with the peculiarities ethnocultural situation end of the twentieth century. For regions, these Problems the following:

Ø - authenticity collected regional material;

(i.e. the authenticity of the transmission, the authenticity of the sample and the idea of ​​the work)

Ø - phenomenon contextuality folklore text or its absence;

(i.e., the presence / absence of a condition for the meaningful use of a particular language unit in speech (written or oral), taking into account its language environment and the situation of speech communication.)

Ø - crisis variability;

Ø - modern "live" genres;

Ø - folklore in the context of modern culture and cultural policy;

Ø - problems publications modern folklore.

Modern expeditionary work faces a major challenge authenticating regional model, its occurrence and existence within the area that is being surveyed. Certification of performers does not bring any clarity to the issue of its origin.

Modern mass media technology, of course, dictates its tastes to folklore samples. Some of them are played regularly by popular performers, others do not sound at all. In this case, we will record a "popular" sample at the same time in a large number of places from performers of different ages. Most often, the source of the material is not indicated, because assimilation can proceed through the medium of magnetic recording. Such "neutralized" variants can only testify to the adaptation of texts and quirky integration of options. This fact already exists. The question is not whether to recognize it or not, but how and why this or that material is selected and migrates, regardless of the place of origin, in some invariant. There is a risk of attributing to modern regional folklore something that, in fact, is not.

folklore like specific context has now lost the qualities of a stable, living, dynamic structure. As a historical type of culture, it is undergoing a natural reincarnation within the developing collective and professional (author's, individual) forms of modern culture. There are still separate stable fragments of context in it. On the territory of the Tambov region, these are Christmas caroling (“Autumn clique”), meeting spring with larks, individual wedding ceremonies (purchase and sale of the bride), nurturing a child, proverbs, sayings, parables, oral stories, anecdotes live in speech. These fragments of the folklore context still make it possible to fairly accurately judge the past state and development trends.

Living genres oral folk art in the strict sense of the word remain proverbs and sayings, ditties, songs of literary origin, urban romances, oral stories, children's folklore, anecdotes, conspiracies. As a rule, there are short and capacious genres; the conspiracy is experiencing a revival and legalization.

Reassuring presence paraphrase- figurative, metaphorical expressions that arise in speech on the basis of existing stable oral stereotypes. This is one of the examples of real reincarnations of tradition, its actualization. Another problem is aesthetic value such paraphrases. For example: a roof over your head (protection of special persons); the tax inspector is not a dad; curly-haired, but not a ram (an allusion to a member of the government), just "curly-haired". From the middle generation, we are more likely to hear variants of paraphrases than variants of traditional genres and texts. Variants of traditional texts are quite rare in the Tambov region.

Oral folk art is the most specific poetic monument. It already exists as a grandiose recorded and published archive, folklore, again as a monument, as aesthetic structure, "is animated", "comes to life" on the stage in the broadest sense of the word. Skillful cultural policy favors the preservation of the best poetic examples.

Literature and library science

The main problems of modern folklore. Modern folkloristics has the same problems as new academic schools. Problems: the question of the origin of folklore. problems of studying new non-traditional folklore.

11. The main problems of modern folklore.

Modern folkloristics inherits the richness of academic schools, while removing exaggerations.

Modern folkloristics has the same problems as academic schools + new ones.

Problems :

The question of the origin of folklore.

Storyteller problemcorrelation of individual and collective beginnings in folklore.

Was placed in XIX century, but decided in XX century.

Dobrolyubov: “The principle of life beginning”- it is not known who and when wrote down the folklore text.

There are different types of storytellers.

In XX the problem was dealt with by M.K. Azadovsky

- the problem of interaction between literature and folklore.

Folklore is necessary for an adequate perception of a literary text.

D.N. Medrish

- the problem of studying various folklore genres and specific works.

The problem of collecting folkloreit is necessary to have time to collect what is still remembered; new genres of folklore appear.

- problems of studying new, non-traditional folklore.

Non-traditional folklore:

Children's

School

Girls' and demobel albums

- "colloquial" folklore talking on the phone, talking in public transport.

student folklore.

After the collapse of the USSR, magazines about folklore began to appear again:

"Living Antiquity"

Arbem mundi "("World Tree")

In XX century, problems were solved from the point of view of either mythological or historical school.

Comparison of folklore works with data extracted from historical documents is one of the most important methods of historical study of folklore (along with comparative-historical, genetic-typological and other methods).

Folklore researchers are usually interested in historical documents: 1) to identify elements that have passed into writing from the oral tradition; 2) to get acquainted with historical facts that are the same or similar to those depicted in folklore, or 3) to extract facts necessary for historical, everyday, linguistic, etc. commenting on folklore works. This section will deal mainly with the second group.

A comparison of folklore with historical documents is not yet a comparison with historical reality itself. Historical documents are created for specific purposes (social, everyday, legal, political, religious, etc.), and this predetermines the selection of facts, their evaluation and image techniques. As a rule, only that which was of special, heightened interest was fixed, and that which was impossible not to be fixed. Folklore works arise on the basis of the same reality, however, they represent only certain aspects of it and through such techniques that are characteristic of various genres of folklore, their practical purpose or aesthetic function.

The most important problems facing folklorists working with historical documents could be formulated as follows:

a) distinction between “primary” facts, which are a direct reflection of reality, and “secondary” facts, which underwent aesthetic processing in the written tradition and in the oral tradition that preceded it;

b) development or improvement of methods for identifying folklore elements reflected in historical documents for the reconstruction of folklore themes, plots, genres, stylistic devices, etc., contemporary to these documents.

Different types of historical documents contain far from equivalent data for the reconstruction of the history of various folklore genres.

With the characteristic of the period of feudalism (especially in its early stages) the relative underdevelopment of the means and methods of accumulating historical knowledge, oral tradition was one of the most important sources and channels for its accumulation, dissemination and preservation. The active use of historical genres (epic and historical songs, legends) in historical documents was also facilitated by the syncretism of the historical, informational and aesthetic functions of both.

For the early stage of the development of writing, it is very difficult to differentiate between historical documents and; literary works, since most of them are ambiguous in nature and function. Historical documents often acquired aesthetic qualities precisely through the use of elements of oral tradition (stylistic, plot, etc.).

In contrast to the so-called historical genres of folklore, fairy tales, lyrical songs and lamentations, if used in historical documents, are mainly used to reflect aspects of reality that have not yet been mastered by writing^; The comparison "historical document - historical folklore" needs further clarification. Along with folklore narratives about historical events of the past (epic past, Sagenplusquamperfekt, etc.) ”which should be correlated with written historical works (chronicles, chronicles, historical stories, etc.), stories about present, which are correlated with a peculiar circle of modern current documentation. Both of them performed primarily the function of actual information. The aesthetic element in stories about the present, as a rule, is derived from the desire to convey information in the best possible way (expressively).

Two levels of current documentation and stories about the present can be distinguished.

A. Local or household level - stories related to "lower" mythology or local Christian "miracles" or unusual events, stories about treasures, local robbers and other incidents. Similar events were reflected, as a rule, in local documentation, sometimes in cases related to lawsuits.

b. Social or political level - stories about wars, political and dynastic or intra-church struggle, which were interpreted in the spirit of peasant aspirations of freedom, legends about "deliverers", about distant "free lands", about anti-feudal uprisings, about robbers whose actions acquired social character and more or less wide scope, about "miracles" that acquired national social or political significance. The documents corresponding to them are current records in national or local chronicles (chronicles), denunciations, investigative documents, sentences, reports of officials, foreign ambassadors and travelers, private correspondence, etc. , news, news, etc.) received a much wider, sometimes even nationwide distribution; their perpetrators, as a rule, were persecuted, they were opposed by official reports, prohibitions, decrees, etc.

The oral way of transmitting relevant information, dissatisfaction with official interpretations of events, distrust of them forced the narrators (or simply transmitters of "news", "talk", "rumors") to look for their own, sometimes fantastic ways of explaining events (establishing relationships and causes, personification, localization) or make assumptions about the further development of events, etc. At the same time, real facts (not necessarily gradually and only later, as researchers often write about this!), As a rule, immediately, in the process of their primary transmission (mastering, explaining or supplementing the desired ), were intertwined with fiction (conjecture), which, however, did not have an open aesthetic function and purpose, but very often figurative in nature (primarily due to the non-theoretical thinking of the environment in which such stories existed).

In this regard, as the experience of studying Russian materials shows, historical documents reflected not only real facts, but also legends formed in the process of information dissemination, and even events related to the reaction to legends that were perceived as equivalent to facts (for example, legends about tsars or princes - "deliverers", etc.).

The geographical and chronological uneven distribution of stories about the present gave rise to their peculiar relationship with reality. Thus, one can note extremely characteristic and, it would seem, theoretically paradoxical cases:

a) the development of the “legend” could overtake reality (cf., for example, the dating of the legend about the death of Tsarevich Alexei, the son of Peter I, which is discussed in the next chapter);

b) the “legend” could be based on the interpretation of quite real facts that retained their historical outlines;

c) at the same time, the facts could be deformed beyond recognition or simply fictional.

The study of historical documents reflecting the process of formation oral stories on current political topics, allows you to penetrate into the complex mechanism of multiple convergent origin of plots on the basis of a similar explanation of similar historical events when using the running motifs and artistic techniques of historical legends, epic songs, ballads, fairy tales and other genres as “building material”. This will be discussed in the chapter "The Legend of the 'Redeemer44 and the Problem of the Repeatability of Folklore Plots'".

ON THE PROBLEM OF DATING FOLKLORE WORKS

For the historical study of folklore, one of the most elementary and, at the same time, the most complex problems, the dating of folklore works, is of no small importance. We called it elementary, since there is no need to prove its importance, practical and theoretical. However, it is always difficult.

A folklore work, as we usually know it in writing, is not only the result of a collective artistic activity carriers of folklore who participated in its dissemination. Any folklore work in one way or another grows out of tradition and, having arisen, undergoes certain changes in the process of existence, which are accumulated and fixed in the text. Therefore, in striving for dating, we should ideally recreate the entire history of the text and at the same time keep in mind that some of its constituent elements could have arisen before the addition of the text whose history we have learned. That is why, as a rule, datings based on the chronological timing of one of the motifs that form the plot of interest to us do not justify themselves.

Recognition of the prehistory of the text and its dynamism (and, in connection with this, the equivalence of variations reflecting various moments of its history) does not remove the question of the time of the initial emergence of this or that folklore work as some kind of relatively stable and qualitatively unique artistic and ideological system. Of course, very different cases can occur in this sense as well. If it is possible, for example, to assert with certainty that the proverb "What a Swede perished near Poltava" did not arise before June 27, 1709, that is, the day of the battle of Russian and Swedish troops near Poltava, then the study of the history of some fairy tale can take us through a series of plot transformations into the archaic depths of primitive folklore. In the latter case, it will not be easy to decide which of the transformations (even if we manage to

renovate their sequence) laid the foundation for the fairy tale known to us in its later quality.

All these difficulties are aggravated by the fact that folklore works are created orally and for oral performance. Therefore, their written fixation (if we are talking about a time when folklore as a science did not yet exist) is always more or less accidental. The vast majority of folklore works are known in later records, and in the end, guesses about their history can only be hypothetical.

All that has been said determines what we have already said - folklore studies are usually forced, like archeology and ethnography, to be satisfied with relative chronology, only occasionally, under especially favorable conditions, breaking through to specific dates (i.e., to absolute chronology).

As the experience of studying Russian epic and historical songs has shown, even the so-called " historical genres”are aimed at a generalized and artistic, rather than an empirical, pragmatic depiction of the historical past. Therefore, only datings based on an analysis of ideas or ideas expressed in an epic or historical song, ballad, artistic thinking far from being sufficiently studied, and some possibilities in this sense are lost, apparently irretrievably.

Slow development of everyday life, ideas, beliefs, forms artistic creativity The feudal peasantry, which was the main carrier of folklore for a long time, determined the centuries-old popularity of many folklore works. On the other hand, the heterogeneity of folklore of any period, the simultaneous existence of archaic and new forms, the usual inclusion of folklore traditional elements into more recent aesthetic systems, creates a situation in which folklorists can at best establish hypothetical "lower" chronological boundaries of the phenomena they know, and very rarely can say anything about the "upper". It is quite natural at the same time that researchers strive to extract as much as possible from the elements of folklore.

lore work, which could become, in the language of archaeologists, "dating details".

Such, for example, are images or references in the text to any events that actually took place, names known from historical documents, geographical names associated with certain historical episodes, etc.

We will not analyze the folklore practice of comparing folklore and historical facts. Let's just say that the successes or failures of researchers along this path are associated not only with greater or lesser historical erudition, courage or caution of individual scientists. To no lesser extent, they are connected with the correct understanding of the artistic nature of the folklore zhair, to which the researcher refers. The purpose of the genre, its artistic orientation always determine a certain type of reflection of reality, i.e. attention to some of its aspects and neglect of others, the selection of facts necessary for narration, the way they are aesthetically processed, a peculiar combination of facts of reality and fiction, the nature of this artistic fiction, etc. So, for example, historical traditions primarily informative function. They greatly value the names of heroes, the names of the places of their activity, the specific features of their individual feat. aesthetic function legends, as a rule, is expressed very weakly - their text, as a rule, is amorphous. In contrast, epic heroic songs (for example, Russian epics or epic songs of the southern Slavs) are very developed aesthetically. Their text has distinct formal qualities. Everything in them is subordinated to the depiction of the monumental image of the hero-hero. Consideration of the nature of those elements of epic songs that, it would seem (given the historical orientation of the epic) could be used as "dating details", leads to the conclusion that some of them were held very steadfastly and were directly related to the plot of the epic song, to its main content. Such, for example, are the mentions of Kyiv (or Novgorod) and Prince Vladimir in Russian epics. Without them, the epic is unthinkable, they could not be replaced by anything. However, even in these seemingly clearest cases, well-known chronological riddles arise. In most epics, in which the action takes place in Kyiv or near Kiev, Prince Vladimir appears and the Tatars besiege Kyiv or threaten it. At the same time, the Tatars appeared in Rus' at the beginning of the 13th century, and Prince Vladimir reigned in Kyiv from 978 to 1015. Researchers explain this contradiction in two ways. First: the epics about the siege of Kiev were formed in the X-XI centuries, but they talked about the Polovtsy, who later, under the influence of the events of the XIII-XIV centuries, were replaced by the Tatars. Second: the epics known to us were formed in the "Tatar" time on the basis of idealized memories of the heyday ancient Russian state in the X-XI centuries. ("epic time"). Thus, even in such cases, dating is debatable. As for the majority of other names and geographical names found in epics, they, apparently, were of secondary importance for storytellers and listeners and could be more or less freely replaced, distorted, forgotten, etc. In the chapter “Variation as a problem of the theory of folklore » we demonstrated the variability of the name of the city that Ilya Muromets liberates on the way to Kiev. The Tatar Khan leading the horde to Kiev can be called Kalin Tsar, Batyga, Mamai, Kudrevanka, Skurla, Badan, Koshish, Idolshts, etc. It is obvious that one should rely on such widely varying details to date the emergence of the epic impossible. Apparently, it was not so important for the performers under which city and which Tatar khan the Russian hero defeated, but it was very important that he defeated him, Ilya Muromets responded, acted during the time of Prince Vladimir and accomplished his feat on the way to Kiev.

It would seem that historical events depicted in folklore are more reliable. The relationship between historical and folklore fact at first glance should be elementary and clear: first something actually happens and only then (or at least relatively simultaneously) this event can find an artistic reflection in folklore. So, for example, there is no doubt that the song about the capture of Kazan could only be composed after Kazan was taken. However, upon closer examination, it turns out that this problem is also quite complicated.

Even with relatively definite indications, it is sometimes difficult to decide which particular person or event is reflected in a folklore work, since two or more similar historical factors (or persons) are found. For example, it is not clear which of the historical Vladimirs - Vladimir Svyatoslavovich or Vladimir Monomakh (or both of them) - served as the prototype of the epic Vladimir, what kind of battle on the Kosovo field is depicted in the Serbian epic, etc. In other cases, the event that is depicted in the epic, is even more generalized and it is generally not possible to correlate it with one or another specific historical fact. So, despite the coincidence of the names of the epic and chronicle Dobrynia, so far no one has been able to convincingly enough prove that in the epic

about the battle of Dobrynya with a snake, we are not dealing with a traditional archaic plot, but with a direct reflection of the fact - the baptism of Novgorod by the historical Dobrynek, or at least with the adaptation of an inherited plot to depict this event. The arguments available to supporters of the historicity of the epic Dobrynya (coincidence of names and the tradition of allegorical depiction of paganism in ancient writing and iconography) are neutralized by at least equivalent arguments of their opponents (the name of Dobrynya was probably quite widespread in Russia, the plot " fight with a snake "- exists in the folklore tradition of many peoples as completely independent and not having an obligatory allegorical meaning).196

And, finally, even in the case when, it would seem, there should not have been any doubt about the connection between a folklore motif (or plot) and a certain historical fact, theoretically unforeseen, paradoxical circumstances may occur. Thus, for example, most researchers correlate the Russian historical song "The Wrath of the Terrible on His Son" with the murder of Ivan IV's son in 1581.197 However, this does not prevent dating this song in a variety of ways. I will list the dating options: 1581, 1580-1590, first quarter. XVII

V. We will not consider the argumentation of the supporters of each of these dates - it is known. Of considerable interest to us is the suggestion made by V. Ya. Propp and B. N. Putilov (and somewhat earlier, for other reasons, by A. A. Morozov). It lies in the fact that the song could have appeared before 1581.198 This assumption was met with disbelief. It was more customary to think that the song could have arisen after 1581 as a reflection of the real murder of Tsarevich Ivan. “Individual” inconsistencies (not Tsarevich Ivan, but Tsarevich Fedor appears in the song, the Tsarevich was not executed, etc.) did not bother - the song in its original form could “more accurately” reflect the historical fact, but in the process of existence be subject to distortions. Here the inertia of distrust towards later records, characteristic of the old folklore, was at work. It was assumed that any distortion could occur. In this regard, we would like to recall an extremely expressive fact that we already mentioned in the book Russian Folk Socio-Utopian Legends of the 17th-19th Centuries,199 and examine it specifically in the aspect that interests us. It seems interesting to us, because, on the one hand, we are talking about a similar historical event - the murder of Tsarevich Alexei by Tsar Peter I, on the other hand, it seems possible to operate not with more or less convincing logical arguments, but with a reliably dated document, indicating that the legend of Peter's attempt on his son's life arose at least 13 years before his actual death.

In 1705, Peter's ambassador in Paris, A. A. Matveev, wrote to General-Admiral F. A. Golovin about a rumor that had penetrated from Russia through Poland to France: “From Paris, November 17, 1705 .. . Moreover, he (Deberville, a French royal official, - K. Ch.) asked me if it was true that this month (the number is illegible - K. Ch.) their king wrote from Poland with the Post that our great sovereign at the amusements of some, he was angry with his son. He ordered Prince Alexander (that is, Prince A. D. Menshikov, - K. Ch.) to execute him, who, having mercy, then ordered an ordinary soldier to be hanged instead of his son.

The next day, the sovereign seemed to miss: “Where is my son?” Then Prince Alexander said that something had been done to him, which he indicated. Then, from sadness, he seemed beside himself. Then Prince Alexander came, saw that the sovereign felt sorry for him; immediately in front of him alive the prince brought, which caused joy inscrutable to him. 200

The retelling of A. A. Matveev is very reminiscent of the song "The wrath of the Terrible on his son." This document gave occasion II. I. Kaletsky, who met him through the faulty publication of S. M. Solovyov, to consider that we are talking about -

about the prose transmission of a song about the Terrible, in which Peter replaced the Terrible, Alexei - Fedor,201 and Menshikov - Nikita Romanovich. The study of the legends about Alexei showed that there is no basis for such a conclusion. A. A. Matveev retold one of his contemporary and completely independent legends about Tsarevich Alexei. In those years, there were other stories about Peter's assassination attempt on Alexei.202 Considering that the conflict between Tsar Peter and his son was very protracted (it began as early as 1697-1698, during the Streltsy rebellion in Moscow, and lasted until 1718 d.), then it should be recognized that the popular imagination overtook the real development of events and created a plot that did not rely on already existing facts, but naturally followed from the situation of a protracted conflict that worried the whole country.203 It should be noted that such a possibility is not allowed when study of the relationship between folklore works and reality.

In the XIX - early XX century. developed the basic methods of recording and studying folklore.

Method of "Included observation"(used in the stationary form of collecting work). When using this method, conditions for easy communication are created during the collection of material. Informants constitute the natural communicative environment of the collector. The specificity of the collection work is that the texts are recorded in the situation of a conversation, but not a specially organized interview, so in such an environment it is not always possible to use a voice recorder, some of the texts are recorded from memory. The advantages of the material collected in this way are that the texts are observed in a natural setting, the conversation with the informant is provoked only by the interest of the collector, and not by the questions of the questionnaire. At the same time, the context of the conversation, status, gender and age characteristics of the interlocutors are fixed. The disadvantages of collecting material by the method of "participant observation" include, firstly, a small number of texts, which is determined by the conscious inactive position of the collector, and secondly, the inaccuracy of fixing texts (both phonetic characteristics and designations of rhythmic periods of conversation, separate introductory words necessary for the analysis of illocutionary attitudes of the text.

Statistical method(was developed by B.K. Malinovsky) - is carried out on the basis of drawing up maps and tables.

System (complex) method involves a comprehensive study of folklore, in relation to certain everyday, ethnographic realities.

cartographic method aims to identify the geography of distribution of certain genres of folklore, the study of folklore phenomena "in space and time." This is a strategic method designed for long-term research. Mapping can be carried out according to ethnic, territorial, temporal principles and allows you to trace the prevalence and forms of existence of folklore genres among various peoples and ethnic groups in different periods their stories. The study of folklore by the method of mapping requires a lot of preparatory organizational and collecting work, and, as a rule, requires the unification and coordination of folklorists. Thus, a mapping program is preliminarily drawn up, work is carried out to identify and systematize the available materials, gaps are identified, special maps are compiled, and principles for applying materials to the map are developed.

In the XIX - early XX century. the main directions (schools) of researchers of folk art were formed.

founder mythological school became a folklorist f.I. Buslaev, who, following the brothers Grimm, established the connection between folklore, language, mythology, singled out the principle of the collective nature of the artistic creativity of the people.

School of Borrowing pointed out the amazing similarity of many folklore works among the peoples of the West and the East, raised the question of cultural and historical ties between folk art different peoples. The borrowing theory found many followers in Russia (G.N. Potanin, F.I. Buslaev).

The most influential in the XIX - early XX century. was historical school. The principles of the historical school finally took shape in the mid-1990s. HGH c. in the generalizing work of V. F. Miller “Essays on Russian Folk Literature”. So, the researcher of epics, for example, had to answer four basic questions: where, when, in connection with what historical events it was created and what poetic sources its creators relied on. They studied the monuments of folklore and ancient Russian literature, extracting from the annals numerous parallels with real story people. So the prototypes of epic heroes, names, as well as real events that formed the basis of the epic plot situations were established.

Despite the harsh criticism of opponents who reproached scientists for the "theory aristocratic background epics”, traditions of the historical school in Russian folklore of the 20th century. developed.

So, B.A. Rybakov, answering his opponents, insisted on clarifying the deep connections of the epic with the specific history of Ancient Rus'. In his research, Rybakov made extensive use of chronicles, historical and archeological facts 14 .

Among the modern methods or approaches to the study of folklore, it is necessary to name typological, explaining not individual facts, but establishing patterns. Thus, typological similarity is manifested in the folklore of different peoples in a specific type of folk art (orality, collectivity, traditionalism, variability, etc.). Typologically similar forms and ways of being. Typology explains those striking facts of similarities and coincidences that cannot be explained either by borrowing or by the genetic relationship of peoples.

Thus, the variety of approaches in the study of folk art spoke of the attempts of folklore, which is undergoing its formation, to cover the entire subject as a complex system of many genres.

In the 20th century, for a number of folklorists, the methods of formal research became an alternative to the simplified sociological approach: structural-typological method analysis, involving the identification of invariant models of genres, plots, motives and historical-typological method, involving the study of folklore works in a historical and ethnographic context.

The processes of the history of folklore explores historical poetics, created as a special direction by A.N. Veselovsky. 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 fine arts.

IN Lately the trend of a comprehensive study of folklore, language, mythology, ethnography, folk art as components of a single culture of the people was clearly outlined.

Any method involves reliance on facts. New technologies have entered the life of folklorists that improve the accuracy and quality of records, simplify the mechanical operations of accounting and systematizing material, and finding the necessary information.

There are centers for philological, musicological, choreographic study of folk art, regional folklore centers and houses of folk art with their own archives, periodicals and scientific publications.

The study of folk choreography. A special problem is learning Russian traditional dance. It should be noted that even today, in many respects, folklore dance remains poorly understood, and our ideas about it are more often based not on scientific facts, but on “myths”. The root cause of the current situation should be sought in the apparent insufficiency of expeditionary research practice. Comparing two closely related areas of ethnography: ethnomusicology and ethnochoreology, it is impossible not to notice huge difference in their development. Over the past two centuries, thousands of folk songs, hundreds of songbooks have been published. During the Soviet period, a number of research centers appeared with extensive audio funds, which are systematically replenished and processed. Constant scientific research and discussions have allowed the formation of several schools of ethnomusicologists.

The situation with ethnochoreology was quite different. Recordings and publications of authentic dances were extremely rare. The descriptions of the dances were not given in exact accordance with the authentic originals, but in adaptations or in the author's interpretation and were often passed off as originals. There was practically no research on folk terminology. Specialists studying folk dance were not trained by any educational institution, which did not contribute to the emergence of an extensive and fruitful scientific discussion.

In 1987, the International Folk Dance Forum was held in Novgorod under the auspices of UNESCO. Forum members from different countries recommendations to Russian choreographers were adopted, including 18 points. Let's list some of the recommendations: “raising the question of the need for serious training of choreographers in folk traditions”; “organization of creative workshops and scientific symposiums”; "creation of a working group to clarify the terms used in folk choreography and choreology"; "creation of national archives of folk dances...".

All these questions remain relevant and practically unresolved today. To increase the level of knowledge folk dance the basis of future research should be the regional nature of traditional dance. In the all-Russian choreographic tradition, several

Rybakov B.A. Ancient Rus'. Legends. Epics. Chronicles. - M., 1963.

Original regional performing styles that differ in dance vocabulary, performance style and genre and repertoire composition. It is this originality of different regions that makes up the richness of Russian traditional dance.

However, recently there has been a positive trend in addressing the origins of Russian folk choreography, work has begun on finding and fixing authentic originals of folk choreography, which in the last five years has become the subject of expeditionary practice by many folklore and research teams. New repertory collections have appeared, scientific research in the field traditional choreography, a more active appeal of choreographers to folk themes give hope for the further development of research on folk choreography in Russia, including in the study of the entire spectrum of Russian regional dance styles.

Methods of studying folk art (arts and crafts and folk arts and crafts). The study of folk art is one of the youngest branches of the humanities. This branch of science takes shape in the second half of the 19th century. During this period, the foundations of folklore were laid, in parallel with the study of folklore, the collection of objects of Russian antiquity began. The first archaeological excavations and archival research are being undertaken. The concept of national heritage is expanding, the first publications appear. Of great importance are the works of the outstanding philologist, a brilliant connoisseur of Russian literature F. I. Buslaev, who turned to the most important problems of the origin, evolution, and also the nationality of Russian art. Buslaev raised the question of the close connection and interaction of folk poetry with folk art, publishing a number of interesting, previously unknown monuments.

I. E. Zabelin, who belonged to the number of scientists who first turned to the study of the history of the culture of our country, considered Russian art as a deeply distinctive phenomenon. He owns the idea of ​​a national, original system of artistic thinking, inherent in Russian traditional art.

The founder of the science of Russian arts and crafts was V.V. Stasov, he first revealed artistic value contemporary peasant art, seeing in it deep ties with ancient culture, and sought to oppose the original beginning of ancient Russian art to Byzantine influence. For us, the significance of his works, in essence the first serious analytical work in the field of folk art, is extremely great. Stasov's innovation was also reflected in the fact that he considered works of folk art not only as objects for collecting: he suggested that contemporary artists use folk art in their practice as a genuine art with deep national traditions. However, defending the originality of Russian culture, Stasov attached too much importance to the influence of the cultures of the Middle and Near East on it.

At the end of the XIX century. interest in folk life and creativity is expanding more and more. There are various publications not only of ancient monuments, but also of works of modern folk art.

IN late XIX- early XX century. the press reflects the attempts of a number of zemstvo figures, including artists who worked directly with handicraftsmen, to support the declining crafts, to preserve the treasures of folk art. So, S. A. Davydova left a number of works on women's folk crafts, in particular on Russian lace, the history of this traditional craft, production techniques, and individual lace-making centers. In the collection "Handicraft industry of Russia" interesting information was published on such women's crafts as embroidery, gold embroidery, weaving.

During this period, zemstvo organizations played a very significant role in the fate of folk crafts. Surveys of handicraft industries undertaken by them, with the aim of providing them with real assistance, are recorded in reports, articles, reference books. Information on statistics, economics of crafts and production techniques, carefully collected by zemstvo figures, is the most valuable factual material for scientific research. Zemstvo organizations published multi-volume illustrated collections of handicrafts throughout Russia and individual regions, descriptions of folk art exhibitions, and proceedings of congresses of handicraft industry workers.

At the beginning of the XX century. there are studies devoted to certain types of folk art production, which is revealed as a great national art.

So, during the years 1910-1912. 12 releases of the album by A. A. Bobrinsky, united common name. It was a great contribution of the author to the culture of Russia. Albums

introduced readers to the treasures of Russian art, and also served as material for the work of researchers and artists. Bobrinsky's work is the richest source of extensive material not only conscientiously collected, but also systematized by the author. Here, for the first time, an attempt was made to accurately indicate the places of existence of most of the products.

Along with such works generalizing a wide range of material as Bobrinsky's albums, publications appear devoted to individual folk crafts, with a description of the history of their occurrence and production techniques.

A prominent role in the study of folk art was played by N. D. Bartram, an artist by profession, the organizer of the Toy Museum, unique in its collection. In the past, a member of the Zemstvo, who worked with handicraftsmen, he paid great attention the study of the economics of fisheries. Among the artists - members of the "World of Art" association, who defended aesthetic views, an environment that seemed to be far from the problems of the development of folk art, there is the greatest interest in it. A. Benois, speaking about the originality of folk art, ardently protests against the forcible introduction into crafts alien influences leading to decline - artistic culture. The same thoughts are heard in the articles by I. Bilibin, I. Grabar, who speak of the need to save folk art at all costs from the death that threatens it.

At the end of the XIX century - the beginning of the XX century. museums are active. The Stroganov School, the Moscow Historical Museum and others systematically collect materials on national art, organize expeditions to different regions of Russia. Among private collections, the unique collection of Russian costumes from different provinces and various items of folk arts and crafts by N. Shabelskaya are especially valuable. The publication of outstanding examples of folk art belonging to Shabelskaya was devoted to special issue magazine "Studio". Thus, in the second half of the nineteenth century at the beginning of the twentieth century. valuable material was collected, comprehended and partially published.

New stage in the study of folk art comes after the revolution. In the context of development Soviet culture there is a new attitude to folk art, which contributed to the emergence of a branch of art history science devoted to the problems of the art of folk crafts and the study of their origins. Domestic science of the Soviet period sought to actively intervene in the fate of crafts, its main goal was to promote the development of folk art. Many works of the 1920s and 1930s are a sharp controversy on the issue of restoring the foundations of folk art. Therefore, the issues of studying the best traditions of Russian art and their creative processing become especially relevant. Among the achievements of Soviet science is the organization of exhibitions in the State Historical Museum in 1922-1923, which for the first time widely familiarized the public with peasant creativity. These were the first scientifically built expositions, where extensive material was systematized. Strictly scientific selection of material allowed scientists to identify certain patterns in the development of folk art, to make a number of theoretical generalizations.

Of particular importance for Russian art criticism is the work "Peasant Art" by V. S. Voronov, one of the leaders of expeditions and organizers of exhibitions in Historical Museum. In it received scientific development issues of local identity. V. S. Voronov develops a convincing method for describing and analyzing monuments of folk art, which makes it possible to reveal its specificity. In the works of Voronov, devoted to carving and painting on wood, the provisions are further developed, only outlined in their time in the writings of Bobrinsky; Voronov gives a classification folk ornament and establishes the existence of schools of artistic painting: Severodvinsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Gorodets. This classification has been preserved in art history to the present day.

In the 1920s and 1930s, issues of folk art were of interest to a wide range of researchers. The works of archaeologists and ethnographers make a great contribution to the comprehensive study of folk art. Among the historical and archaeological works, an article by V. A. Gorodtsov is significant, devoted to the question of the origin of a number of ancient motifs preserved in folk art. His work contains detailed iconography of ancient images that have become traditional in folk art.

The works of ethnographers based on the field collection of material, containing detailed descriptions of household items, the technique of their production, and ornamental decorations, are extremely valuable. The most interesting and full coverage of issues related to folk clothing, in the works of N. P. Grinkova, M. E. Sheremetyeva, N. I. Lebedeva, E. N. Kletnova.

In the 1930s, along with extensive collecting and scientific activity, a great deal of practical work began directly with the existing folk crafts. During these years, the Handicraft Museum (now the Museum of Folk Art) launched an active activity, on the basis of which the Scientific Research Institute of the Art Industry (NIIKhP) was created in 1931, which carried out the artistic management of crafts. Such prominent scientists as V. S. Voronov, A. V. Bakushinsky, and later V. M. Vasilenko became the heads of the Institute. The collection of material in museums and crafts was carried out by L. I. Sviontkovskaya-Voronova, the author of a serious work on carved bone, V. Ya. Yakovleva, Z. D. Kashkarova, and E. G. Telyakovsky.

This period was most vividly reflected in the works of the prominent scientist A. V. Bakushinsky, who combined scientific, literary work with practice. He found a new method of research and analysis of works of folk art.

Research methods and views of A. V. Bakushinsky are further developed in the works of V. M. Vasilenko, created on the basis of the extensive material he collected. M. Vasilenko in his works of the 30s, devoted to certain types of crafts, gives a vivid description of folk art, focusing on the art of the pre-Soviet period. His monograph "The Northern Carved Bone" is dedicated to the Kholmogory carvers.

As a result of the activities of the 1930s in the field of science and practical work with crafts, the Institute of Art Industry prepared a collection "Folk Art of the USSR in Artistic Crafts". A. V. Bakushinsky, V. M. Vasilenko, V. S. Voronov, G. V. Zhidkov, E. M. Schilling and others took part in writing the articles. Short story and characteristics of the fisheries, in an accessible and vivid form it was told about creative achievements masters of folk art for two decades of Soviet power.

A new stage in the development of art history is associated with the works of Russian scientists in the post-war period, which is characterized by an appeal to a much wider range of materials that were previously unknown.

A significant event in historical science was the publication of the work of B.A. Rybakov "The Craft of Ancient Rus'", summing up the author's many years of research work in the field of archeology. Rybakov's extensive work introduced scientists to a whole group of previously unknown wonderful decorative items made by masters of the distant past. New archeological data made it possible to speak more confidently about the degree of development of folk crafts in ancient times, their prevalence and diversity.

The study of the origins of folk art made it possible to raise the question of its origin, development and specifics more broadly. Deepening the research of V. A. Gorodtsov, Rybakov pays great attention to the origin of folk ornament motifs, emphasizing their artistic significance and trying to find a link between the compositions that exist in modern embroidery and their ancient prototypes.

L. A. Dintses worked in the field of studying the roots of Russian folk ornament; his works “Ancient Features in Russian Folk Art”, “Russian Clay Toy” are devoted to this topic. Among ethnographers, E. E. Blomqvist, N. I. Lebedeva, and G. S. Maslova dealt with issues related to folk art. The extensive material collected by them contains valuable and detailed information about people's dwellings, clothing, patterned weaving.

Thus, the fundamental works of historians and ethnographers, articles and publications in the journals "Soviet Ethnography" and "Soviet Archaeology" contained a lot of new data on the development of Russian culture.

In the 40-50s, the leading works in Soviet art criticism were the works of A. B. Saltykov. Working mainly in the field of ceramics, he touched upon in his writings a number of common problems development of folk art, continuing what Stasov, Voronov, Bakushinsky started. He was the first to pose many questions about the specifics of decorative art. A. B. Saltykov focused on issues of tradition and innovation, wrote about the features of the solution artistic image in the work of folk masters, concerned the problem of synthesis, as a characteristic feature of decorative art.

The method of A. B. Saltykov consisted in a creative approach to traditional art: he was looking for ways to use the traditions of the past in contemporary art in relation to modern life.

For the Research Institute of the Art Industry, the post-war years were a period of intense activity for the further collection and publication of materials on

folk art and practical work with crafts. Begins teamwork on the creation of a series of books "Artistic crafts of the RSFSR". Thus, all modern Russian crafts were represented, many of which had not previously been covered in the literature. Processing expeditionary materials, comparing them with things from museum collections lead to new discoveries, make it possible to clarify the centers of crafts, to localize art schools. Particularly interesting results are obtained by complex expeditions of employees of institutes and museums: historians, architects, and art historians. I. E. Grabar played a leading role in organizing this work.

The State Russian Museum in Leningrad published a number of works dedicated to folk wooden sculpture, embroidery and lace.

It is necessary to mention the contribution to the science of folk art made by local collectors M. Rekhachev, D. V. Prokopiev, M. P. Zvantsev, I. N. Shatrov, who published a number of monographic studies on individual folk crafts in the pre-war years and after the war.

Among scientific publications the works of V. M. Vasilenko are significant. His monograph "The Art of Khokhloma" is devoted to the issue of stylistic artistic features Khokhloma painting. A big event was the organization in 1957 of the publication of the journal "Decorative Art of the USSR", on the pages of which articles are published on various issues folk art. The first issue of the magazine was entirely devoted to folk art.

Big role The work of M. A. Ilyin “Russian Decorative Art” (M., 1959), translated into several foreign languages, played in the popularization of Russian folk art.

In 1960, the work of S. M. Temerin “Russian Applied Art” was published, highlighting the work of both craftsmen and industrial artists. The author paid great attention to the Soviet applied arts 30s, very little touched upon in the literature, and characterized him from the standpoint of his contemporary aesthetic views.

On present stage there are certain difficulties in the analysis of sources, since the newly published works are mainly of a highly specialized art history character.

By studying the works of folk art created in different periods, one can identify in the techniques of craftsmanship, in plots and ornaments, a living connection with the centuries-old national culture. In the conditions of handicraft production, there was also an active assimilation of the achievements of simultaneously working masters. Technical improvements, inventions and new motifs, plots and compositions quickly became common property.

Common were not only the skills of work in the field of embroidery, weaving, painting and woodcarving, but also the range of things created, their shape and character. decorative design. As a result, the traditional circle of images and techniques of folk decorative art was continuously enriched with new themes, motifs and plots.

It can be assumed that at present art crafts are both an industry and an area of ​​folk art.

A combination of tradition and innovation, stylistic features and creative improvisation, collective beginnings and views individual, man-made™ products and high professionalism character traits creative work of craftsmen and craftsmen.

per century technical progress, machines and automation, standard and unification, handicrafts, made mainly by hand, mostly from natural materials, have acquired special significance.

Thus, to date, the following issues of research into folk art have emerged:

1. Ethnological research, revealing the relationship of the traditional way of life, national character and the originality of the artistic creativity of a particular people.

2. Folklore studies, fixing samples of folk art and studying the history of Russian folklore.

3. Art studies aimed at analyzing the artistic and aesthetic features of amateur art (self-taught artists, amateur authors).

4. Sociological research that reveals the role and place of the NHC in the life of an ethnic group, trends and social factors development.

5. Pedagogical research of the NHC, helping to determine the spiritual and moral values ​​and creative abilities of the individual in the process of non-professional artistic activity.

Modern Russian scientists use a variety of scientific research methods:
empirical methods; questioning; observation; testing, conversations, sociometry; analysis
and content analysis; system analysis; pedagogical modeling; pedagogical

experiment that allows them to perform theoretical studies NHC (identification of the essence, principles, functions, patterns of development of NHT) and applied research (study of specific processes and phenomena in the development of NHT).

Questions and tasks for self-examination:

1. Expand the essence of the concept of "folklore"

2. Tell us about the main stages in the development of Russian folklore.

3. Describe the research methods of folk art (arts and crafts).

4. List the main methods of collecting and studying folk art.

5. Prepare a report on the topic “Formation and development of Russian folklore”, “The first collections of folklore works in Russia”, “Creativity of outstanding collectors and researchers of folklore (Kireevsky, V.I. Dal, A.N. Afanasyev, G.S. Vinogradov , E. A. Pokrovsky, V. Y. Propp, B. N. Putilov and others, to choose from)”.

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