Sesen Ivanovich Bolo: Creative Portrait and Technology of Collecting Folklore

Abstract

The article is devoted to the life of one of the founders of the Yakut field folklore S. I. Bolo. The relevance of the work is determined by the increased interest in folk textology and insufficient study of biography and scientific heritage of Yakut researchers. The novelty of the research is in the fact that the methods and principles of fixing the folklore text of S. I. Bolo are analyzed for the first time. His characteristic as a collector of folklore is given. The term “technology of collecting folklore” is proposed, which means a set of methods, principles, means of fixation of oral folk art. Based on the study of the key moments of life and activity of S. I. Bolo his creative portrait is created. As the author of the article shows, the phenomenon of S. I. Bolo is that he, despite the lack of appropriate education, has made significant progress in the field of folklore, has developed its own work technology. It is reported that in the conditions of hand-written fixation of folklore texts, he tried to accurately convey their linguistic features. It is noted that among all the genres of oral folk art, he was most interested in historical legends about ancestors, on the basis of which he built his theory of the origin of the Yakuts and compiled pedigrees tables. The author points out that the negative consequences of Stalin’s repressions and national policy in Yakutia prevented the wide dissemination of S. I. Bolo’s ideas and publication of the materials.