The historical school in Russian epic studies. Deconstructing the method
https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2023-6-64-82
Abstract
This article presents the attempt in the classification of research approaches used by representatives of the so-called Russian Historical School in epic studies. The classification is based on the choice of material studied rather than on the methodological methods of the researchers. This principle of division aims to avoid confusion when the same researcher employs multiple mechanisms of “historical comparison” in the analysis of bylinas. The material for this study includes works by representatives of the Historical School (such as Vsevolod Miller, Alexey Markov, Vladimir Pimenov, and Yuri Novikov) and texts of byliny. Three main research approaches in the study of Russian epics are preliminarily identified and presented as material for further development: the “material” approach, the “substantive” approach, and the approach that studies the “social context”.
About the Author
Ya. I. PavlidiRussian Federation
Yana I. Pavlidi, postgraduate student
bldg. 1, bld. 82, Vernadskogo Av., Moscow, 119571
6, Miusskaya Sq., Moscow, 125047
References
1. Azbelev, S.N. (1982), Istorizm bylin i spetsifika fol’klora [Historicism of epics and the specifics of folklore], Nauka, Leningrad, USSR.
2. Bukatina, Yu.E. (2005), “Russian bylinas in cultural and historical context: problems of interpretation in the 20th century”, Ph.D. Thesis, History, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia.
3. Froyanov, I.Ya. and Yudin, Yu.I. (1997), Bylinnaya istoriya [Epic history], in Сhistov, K.V. (ed.), Izdatel’stvo Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta, SaintPetersburg, Russia.
4. Ivanova, T.G. (2009), Istoriya russkoi fol’kloristiki 20 veka: 1900 – pervaya polovina 1941 g. [History of Russian folklore studies of the 20th century: 1900 – the first half of 1941], Dmitrii Bulanin, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
5. Koncha, S.V. (2010), “Folk tales (bylinas) on Svyatogor and issue of bylina’s epic historicism”, Ancient Russia. Issues of medieval studies, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 42–55, available at: http://www.drevnyaya.ru/vyp/2010_4/part_4.pdf (Accessed 15 May 2023).
6. Law, J. (2015), Posle metoda: besporyadok i sotsial’naya nauka [After method: mess in social science research], Izdatel’stvo Instituta Gaidara, Moscow, Russia.
7. Lipets, R.S. (1969), Epos i drevnyaya Rus’ [Epic and Ancient Russia], Nauka, Moscow, USSR.
8. Meletinskii, E.M. (1963), Proiskhozhdenie geroicheskogo eposa. Rannie formy i arkhaicheskie pamyatniki [The origin of heroic epic: early forms and archaic monuments], Oriental Literature Publishers, Moscow, USSR.
9. Neklyudov, S.Yu. (2015), Poetika epicheskogo povestvovaniya: prostranstvo i vremya [The poetics of the epic narration: space and time], Forum, Moscow, Russia.
10. Novikov, Yu.A. (2000), Skazitel’ i bylinnaya traditsiya [The singer and the epic tradition], Dmitrii Bulanin, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
11. Petrov, N.V. (2017), Russkii epos: geroi i syuzhety [Russian folk epics. Characters and storylines], Neolit, Redkaya Ptitsa, Moscow, Russia.
12. Zhirmunskii, V.M. (1962), Narodnyi geroicheskii epos: Sravnitel’no-istoricheskie ocherki [Folk heroic epic: comparative historical studies], Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo khudozhestvennoi literatury, Moscow, USSR.
Review
For citations:
Pavlidi Ya.I. The historical school in Russian epic studies. Deconstructing the method. RSUH/RGGU Bulletin: “Literary Teory. Linguistics. Cultural Studies”, Series. 2023;(6):64-82. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2023-6-64-82