Russian World in Yakut Heroic Epic Olonkho
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2024-13-5-256-273
Abstract
This article evaluates the impact of Russian culture on the Yakut epic, Olonkho. The emergence and evolution of the Russian character in Olonkho are analyzed. Texts from various local traditions and time periods of Olonkho serve as the research material. The study employs a historical poetics approach, showcasing the evolution and changes in the portrayal of the Russian character in Yakut epic texts, considering the territorial and temporal differences in the texts and the individual characteristics of storytellers. It is determined that the semantics of this character transform from “foreign” to “native”. The Russian character in Yakut heroic epic texts initially appears through epic formulas, comparisons, and epithets, manifesting foreignness and alienation. Subsequently, the Russian individual becomes a character participating in the Olonkho plot. A transition from “foreign” to “different,” “other” is observed: intermediary zones (the meeting place of heaven and earth, forests, mountains) start resembling objects belonging to Russians. When Russian material culture aligned with the life and customs of the Yakuts, objects adopted from Russians began resembling parts of the main hero’s (bogatyr) body, vividly demonstrating the incorporation of the Russian character into the category of “ours.” References to certain realities of Orthodox Christianity are also made in Olonkho. Images of Baba Yaga, Zmey Gorynych, the forest spirit, motifs of path selection are borrowed from Russian fairy tales and myths. Russian names, names of Russian cities and places, among others, are mentioned.
Keywords
Yakut heroic epic Olonkho,
Russian character,
influence of Russian culture,
epic formulas,
folklore character
Supporting agencies: I would like to express my gratitude to the Center for Collective Use of Scientific Equipment at the Yakutian Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences for the opportunity to conduct research on the scientific equipment of the Center under grant № 13.CKP.21.0016.
About the Author
A. A. Kuzmina
The Institute for Humanities Research and Indigenous Studies of the North of the Siberian branch of the Russian
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Aitalina A. Kuzmina - PhD in Philology, Department of Folkloristics and Literary Studies.
Yakutsk
Scopus AuthorID 57188965803
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For citations:
Kuzmina A.A. Russian World in Yakut Heroic Epic Olonkho. Nauchnyi dialog. 2024;13(5):256-273. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2024-13-5-256-273
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