Ornithological Mythologeme Falcon in «The Tale of Igor’s Campaign» and Ancient Chinese Literature

Abstract

The image of a falcon in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and ancient Chinese literature is analyzed. The material for the study was the original text of “The Tale”, its translations and comments to them by Chinese literary scholars Wei Huangnu and Li Xiyin, as well as famous ancient Chinese works. One of the main motives of the artistic and pictorial ornithology of “The Tale” is examined in detail — the individual and personal images of the falcons-Russian princes, opposing the spontaneity, chaos of the bird flock as an enemy horde. In ancient Chinese literature, the ornithological figurative complex serves as a symbol, firstly, of elite divisions, strong troops; secondly, a person filled with high motives, both heroic and career ambitious; thirdly, the authority of the monarch or some other important person in power. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that for the first time the mythologeme falcon of “The Tale” is considered in intertextual comparison with the works of ancient Chinese literature. It is concluded that the symbolic connotations of the falcon both in ancient Chinese literature and in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” are closely related to the real qualities of this bird’s behavior in its natural environment: bravery, courage, dexterity.