SLAV 512, September 9, 2003
Review &endash; the various articles
In a sense, folklore is everything
It is objects AND words AND actions
We did not talk about part in Brunvand about who are the folk
He says that old definition was rural, associated with the past
Now, everyone is folk
You can have urban folklore
Folklore of academe (we did a panel on this topic at AAASS &endash; Slavic grad school) &endash; so what you do is limit it to a group &endash; a bit like the esoteric/exoteric notion &endash; term folk group in Brunvand; it is essentially a group that has lore in common
So all of these are attempts at limiting the mass and trying to define what you are working with
Brunvand's (and actually more widely accepted) 3 areas
It is the material with a certain type of function (Bascom)
When you are dealing with verbal material, it is that which has certain characteristics
(Olrik, Epic Laws)
To me, expression of a belief is very important
It is belief common to a particular group (and you need to define which group you are taking as your object of study)
It is belief expressed in artistic form
The art may not be what high culture calls art
It has different esthetic criteria, values
Its process of creation is different
But it is art
Purpose of art in human existence is, to me, a big issue and figuring this out through folk art is most worthwhile effort
To me, folklore always has to do with some point of social tension
It comes into play when things are ambiguous &endash; not so clear how to act and what to do
Part of culture urges you to do one thing and another part urges you to do something else
Proverb examples
Blond jokes again
Epic soon
Decorative arts &endash; you decorate those points that you believe to be vulnerable
Stories, not about things going smoothly and going well, but about things going wrong
Not sure that folklore so much resolves the conflict as gives it expression
How much people want you to listen to them and to validate what they say
Back to genres and classification
So you have a mass of stuff
You really can't deal with it unless you limit it in some way
If you make categories, then you are limiting
Instead of dealing with a mass, you are working with groups and each group is a
unit
The number of group units is much smaller than the number of units in the mass and much easier to work with
If you are going to work with this stuff and exchange your ideas with others, it helps if you and the others share the definitions of what the group units are
This is Propp's point
And he gives you the criteria for determining group units that he assumes all can agree on
Abrahams article
Problems of classification
To a certain extent, sitting around the dinner table and talking about what happened is governed by tradition
Visit to the gynecologist as folklore
Line hard to draw
Genre distinctions applied
You prepare a book of Russian folklore (or other folklore for that matter)
You are dealing with oral culture alone &endash; the stories and the songs
You want to give a nice selection, a nice picture of the tradition
You try to include as many genres as possible
You pick the nicest examples of each genre
You do have space constraints
Now you are going to arrange
How do you arrange and what does it say about the tradition?
The point is that, even when you are trying to be objective, you provide an interpretation, whether you mean to or not
Look at the khrestomatii that they brought
Importance of the first publication of a folklore collection or of the presentation of a single genre.
The impressions that the first experience with something makes
After this we will start looking at the genres themselves
Start with epic
Find a collection of epic poetry
List of major editors, suggested for you to look at:
Rybnikov
Gil'ferding
Astakhova
Sokolovy
Bailey
Hapgood
Chadwick
Curtin
Please read at least ten of the following narratives:
Volkh Vseslavievich
Sviatogor
Volga i Mikula
Ilia Muromets and the Wandering Beggars
Ilia Muromets and Nightingale the Robber
Ilia Muromets and Idolishche
Ilia Muromets and Kalin Tsar
Dobrynia and the Dragon
Dobrynia and Marinka
Aliosha Popovich and Tugarin Zmeevich
Dobrynia and Aliosha
Mikhailo Potyk
Ivan Godinovich
Dunai
Solovei Budimirovich
Churila Plenkovich
Stavr Godinovich
Sadko
I would like at least some of you to read them in Russian. I have given the major collections above. Most major collections come in several volumes, with many variants of the same epic recorded from a number of performers. Thus, several of you could use one collection.
We will start discussing the epics soon, like when we finish discussing the problem of genres and classification
What are these poems about?
What is the tone?
What sorts of things strike you?
Ending
Genre relations
What makes a hero heroic
Position of the ruler
What is epic like &endash; at least Russian epic
Formal characteristics
Meter
Rhyme
Line length
Musical accompaniment
Performer
Audience