SLAV 512, November 11, 2003
Mark speaks on zagovory
Give out list of legend readings
Then look back at tales
When dealing with verse, we have distinctions in content between the genres. We also have distinctions in form.
Review epic &endash; historical song &endash; ballad
Religious song
When we deal with tales, we do not have differences in form
Tales are all ONE genre
What we do have is differences in content
The list I gave out.
A simplified version of this is to make a 3-way distinction
Animal tales
Magic tales
Tales of everyday life
Ask them for examples
Most people that write about tales write about magic tales
(What are magic tales also called?)
Get tale list and ask them to retell some of the animal tales on the list
One way to look at these is that they are related to the concerns of the young child
A not-quite-Freudian look would say that there are many stories about food
What you can and cannot eat
To what extent the body can serve as food
What can you do with the body in general
What is alive and what is not and what is the difference
Even language and proper social behavior on a real basic, elementary level
Show this in tales
Watch in Nu pogodi cartoon
Terem-teremok is a traditional example, redone in cartoon version for Soviet point of view
Please note that, when dealing with Zipes type "subversion," this subversion is not necessarily intentional or even conscious
Individual reflects own issues because they are his or her issues
People writing cartoon scripts in Soviet era picture the world in Soviet terms
Everything tells them that that is THE way the world should be seen
Magic tales are stories of the quest type
Protagonist ventures out
Whether the out is seen in terms of the real, external world
Or in terms of exploring the internal world of the self (Jung)
These are the concerns of an older person
A pre-teen, perhaps younger
As quest and adventure stories, magic tales have an appeal to all ages
These are the stories that you see in movies, on TV
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are cartoon versions of magic tales
Same for the Lord of the Rings series
Same for Harry Potter
Tales of everyday life are amusement for older folks
How husband stops wife from gossiping
Look at erotic tales
Notice that some of the issues of animal tales are present there
So &endash; the nice 3-way distinction, like all distinctions, has its flaws
When it comes to legends and tales, the distinction is MUCH clearer
Legends purport to be fact, tales are once upon a time, three times nine kingdoms away, in a certain kingdom, in a certain land, once there was, etc.
They give me some of the typical Russian openings
Legends are true
Difference legend, fabulate, memorate
Russian: predanie
Legenda
Bylichka
Byval'shchina
But things are still not all that simple
Vampire &endash; which is a legend (under what circumstances, how told?)
But can have tale 2nd half tacked on to it and become a tale
Before we start these &endash; how to do folklore research
Witchcraft article (or Sten'ka Razin)
Take lots and lots of texts on a particular topic and start looking for things that repeat.
For example, with the witchcraft stories, I could have looked at what animals witches supposedly turn self into
From that &endash; patterns
Which animal under what circumstances
Is there a pattern to the animals themselves
Are they all domestic animals
Are they all animals of masculine/feminine grammatical gender
Who do witches interact with
At what time of day/night
The purpose of this type of work is to extract an element of Russian folk belief
Other belief systems are articulate
Religious belief is stated in religious tracts
Political belief is stated in laws
Neither is unproblematic
There are inconsistencies
Between one law and another
Between law and the reality that you have to deal with
And new laws need to be drafted
In the case of religion
Your priest or minister interprets for you in the sermon
Pope issues papal bulls, epistles
In the case of folklore, there is no official tract
To extract belief from its expression
The expression is almost by definition some sort of art form
The songs, stories, rituals, objects of material culture
So, you can look at clothing and see importance of motherhood
Importance of nursing and milk beliefs
The importance of the border &endash; protection of clothing edges
And you can find the same beliefs elsewhere
Border &endash; material culture and houses
Epic and dealing with foreign things
Stories of house and other spirits
Back to oral lore and possible topics, ways of handling them
Sten'ka Razin
How is he like other bandit heroes
How is he different
Issue of vermin
Where else does vermin appear
How is Sten'ka Razin treated in prose as opposed to verse
Stories about devils
Size
Love of music
How are devils tricked
How do they trick people
Stories about treasure, about return of the dead
Epic heroes whose stories are told in tale form
What is the pattern of differences
What does this tell us
From epic you can extract elements of belief about the relationship between the foreign and the domestic
Who is the enemy
What makes a hero
Who does the hero fight for
For folktales &endash; animal tales
Which animals
Which issues &endash; body? Food?
Wild versus domestic
What happens when a wild animal enters the domestic sphere, reverse?
Magic tales &endash; which animals are helpers
Who has external, transposed soul
Where is this soul
Philippa's dissertation about doll stories
Dundes' case book series