Experience by roles: percipient, confident and others (communicative basis of the composition of mythological narratives in the Russian North)

Abstract

The article presented the study of the narrative structure of the non-fiction folklore. The material for the analysis is the corpus of the mythological narratives recorded during the folklore and anthropological expeditions to the Russian North (Arkhangelsk and Vologda regions) undertaken at the end of the 20^th and the beginning of the 21^st centuries. The communicative analysis of this corpus revealed that a large part of stories has a specific composition. These stories look like a play, performed by the narrator "by roles". They present themselves a consequence of replicas of participants of events. We focused on the composition, where those replicas cite the "first story" about this event performance. The "first story" is addressed by the "percipient" (person who was involved into a mythological events) to a so called "confidant" (person who can interpret supernatural experience). Confidant's response is both an interpretation and a nomination of supernatural events. This expert's opinion determine the work of percipient's experiencing. We conclude that the specific narrative composition with the "first story" citation revealed the collective character of the existential experience (loss of loved ones, life critical situations) in a folklore nonfiction narrative.