The “Yuletide Theater” of Voronezh Village, Chernigov Province

Статья предваряет публикацию архивных материалов, посвященных традиционным святочным представлениям, исполнявшимся в селе Воронеже Черниговской губернии в конце XIX в. Записи принадлежат уроженцу села, собирателю и краеведу И. С. Абрамову. Абрамовым собран значительный материал по фольклору и этнографии Воронежа, большая часть которого до настоящего времени не опубликована и хранится в РГАЛИ. Среди записей собирателя материалы по фольклорному театру занимают немаловажное место. Им зафиксированы три варианта народной драмы «Царь Максимилиан». Публикуемые ниже материалы расширяют картину бытования произведений фольклорного театра в Воронеже и шире на Черниговщине. Они показывают, что в селе Воронеже на Святки исполнялся целый ряд в различной степени ритуализованных представлений (колядование, щедрование, засевание, хождение с козой и звездой, драма), которые в своей совокупности можно назвать «святочным театром». В плане распространения обрядово-игровых форм Воронеж не был исключением для восточной части Черниговской губернии, в частности, на рубеже XIX-XX вв. здесь было записано шесть вариантов драмы «Царь Максимилиан». В статье приводятся сведения об исполнителях, от которых сделаны записи, дается характеристика материалов. В период 1916-1937 гг., когда производились записи, представления с козой, звездой и народная драма «Царь Максимилиан» уже вышли из активного бытования, что свидетельствует об усилении процесса изменения традиции в первую треть XX в., в том числе и под влиянием таких социальных катаклизмов, как Первая мировая война и революция. Таким образом, публикуемые ниже записи отражают тот этап жизни одного из сегментов традиции, когда он становится частью народной памяти. This article precedes the publication of archival materials devoted to the traditional Christmas (Yuleytide) plays, performed in Voronezh Village, Chernigov Province, in the late nineteenth century. This material was gathered by a native of the village, the collector and ethnographer I. S. Abramov. Abramov assembled a significant amount of material on the folklore and ethnography of Voronezh, a large part of which, stored in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, has not yet been published. Materials on folk theater occupy an important place among Abramov’s records. For example, he recorded three versions of the folk drama “Tsar Maximilian.” The materials published in this article expand our picture of folk theater in Voronezh and in the larger Chernigov Province. They show that in Voronezh a number of ritualized performances (including “kolyadovanie,” “shchedrovanie,” “zasevanie,” walking with a goat and a star, drama) were performed at Yuletide, which taken together may be called “Yuletide theater.” In terms of the distribution of ritual forms of play, Voronezh was no exception for the Eastern part of Chernigov Province. For example, at the turn of the nineteenth - twentieth century, six versions of “Tsar Maximilian” were recorded in the region. The article describes the records that have been preserved and information about the performers who left them. During the period 1916-1937, when these records were made, performances with goat, star and “Tsar Maximilian” had already become a thing of the past, reflecting the changes that came about due to the cataclysm of the First World War and Revolution. Thus, the records reflect the stage of life of one portion of the tradition when it was becoming part of the people’s memory

Performing Arts and BarkaNaach of Dangaura Tharus as Folk Drama

This article examines different elements of folk drama in the BarkaNaach of Dangaura Tharus. It attempts to present the multiple features of the folk drama in the folk community. Based on the basic features of vernacular theatre, the study spotlights the key dramatic elements like ritual rule, context, narrative, stage and setting, characters and semiotic implication, song, dance and language as well as musical instruments and costumes in the presentation of BarkaNaach. The analysis of such drama in the light of elementary facet underlines the multiple sides of folklore as it embodies the cultural identity and value of Tharus. In doing so, I also argue that its theatrical aspects like plot and storyline are not unfamiliar to the rural farmers. Consequently, the study concludes that ritualistic performance of folk drama does not bring the unexpected happening, but it is repeated with their routinized act of cultural memory whatever performed in the past days of the ancestral force.

А. М. REMIZOV AND FOLKLORE: ON THE ISSUE OF RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The article presents a critical review of research works on the topic “Folklore-literary interaction in the creative activity of A.M. Remizov” published in Russian. The study of the topic has been conducted mainly within the framework of literary criticism. Meanwhile, for a writer known for his commitment to preservation and innovative approach to traditional literary genres, folklore is one of the dominant sources of creativity. Currently, Remizov studies cannot boast of generalizing works on folklorism in the writer’s creative activity and on the influence of oral folk art genres on his artistic system, so one of the aims of the article is to attract scholarly interest to the issue and stimulate further research in this area. The publication gives a brief description of the current state of research on the problem, identifies the main vectors of its consideration and reveals the academic lacunae. The author analyzes the works, which deal with the creative heritage from the point of view of folklore studies and address the problems of the typology of folklorism and mythologism of the writer, clarify the range of folklore sources and the specificity of working with them, as well as the role and function of the author’s comments on the miniatures of Posoloni. These notes to the texts were created under the influence of a literary scandal related to the accusation of the writer of plagiarism. The assessment of the events around this incident by specialists in Remisov studies and folklorists does not coincide, the article outlines prospects for further research. The author undertakes a detailed description of the influence of the texts of calendar rite, spiritual verses, fairy tale, conspiracy-spell tradition, folk drama, children’s folklore and Russian folk pictures on the writer’s creative activity. For the first time, the author poses a hypothesis about the possible influence of the aesthetics of rayok (“World Cosmorama”) on the work of A. M. Remizov by the example of the fairy-tale novella “What is Tobacco”, which which depicts the reformatting of the apocryphal model by artistic means of lubok and rayok. The analysis of numerous studies made it possible for the author of the article to conclude that the writer’s creative activity does not only reflect the real diversity of folklore genres but also such specific features of them as oral format and variability. The results of the study can be used in the design of the course of the history of Russian literature and folklore studies of the beginning of the early 20th century, in the studies dealing with folklore-literary interaction, and in popularization and publication of folklore texts.

Experimental Novels by Nikolay Nekrasov and Feodor Dostoevsky in the Light of Ethnopoetics

The article considers novels The Life and Adventures of Tikhon Trostnikov (1843) by N. A. Nekrasov and Humiliated and Insulted (1861) by F. M. Dostoevsky as experimental works in which the authors sought to combine European and national traditions. The reference to biographical material, the use of the structural method allowed to discover the similarity in genre content of the works and the difference of ideological attitudes of the authors. Both novels were created as autobiographical works, adventurous and satiric, included elements of “natural essay”, but each of the authors sought to use national genre content: Nekrasov's is a folk drama, and Dostoevsky refers to the traditions of Old Russian calendar literature, a literary story that shows the verification of the Holy Scriptures. Nekrasov failed to create a complete work, largely due to the narrative form, in which in some cases the parody begins to appear. But Dostoevsky managed to bring the novel to a new level, especially in his last works The Raw Youth and The Brothers Karamazov. Performing the task of “restoring the lost man”, Dostoevsky turns to the church calendar, Gospel allusions and parable plot.

Folk Theater and History: Constructing Indian Identity through The Khyal of Amar Singh Rathore

Folklores can epitomize the nation as a unifying principle crossing the horizons of regional divisions and subcultures. The connecting factors of folklores among regional and local levels give an understanding of manifold and contextual-based identities. The collective/coalesce of social memory is understood through the folk narratives. There is a cognitive and affective deliberation that structures the manner in which memory is interpreted. These narratives shape and reconstruct “identity” as they consist of a trans-subjective truth value providing ever new understanding of reality. The present research focuses on the Marwari folk Drama The Khyal of Amar Singh Rathoretranslated by Cecil Thomas Ault and folk performing art Khyal that constitutes meanings and symbols. Khyal, a popular folk dramatic art, is especially linked to martial and romantic ballads of Rajputana. It is indicative of the gap between past and present with spontaneity and originality and is seen as a transmissible entity with reference to the performing arts in the northern region of India. There is an exploration of the dynamics of the origin of the folk narrative of Amar Singh Rathore, a source of Rajasthani culture and identity thus paving way for the other folk narratives that form the pan-Indian identity. The folk literature draws cartographies of a nation or region giving a historical depth and continuity. The dissemination of historical folk anecdotes and their retellings are plausibly a move towards identification. The historical imagination and socio-cultural memory, mostly drawn from Rajasthani rural landscape, influences and reshapes history and culture of Rajasthan, thereby making it a historical artifact providing abidance and insights into folklore as a heritage/national construct. The research reflects and projects the values, feelings, ideas and identity of the groups which identify with and perform this art. Another dimension of the present study formulates an understanding of the forms and style of Khyal folk theater of Rajasthan and how The Khyal of Amar Singh Rathore communicates and travels through linguistic and cultural boundaries constructing new spatial cartographies serving as evidence of connectivity and consistencies.

Riders to the Sea between Regionalism and Universality: A Cultural Perspective

This study aims at discussing Riders to the Sea; it aims to investigate nationalism and cultural identity as two significant ways against the English cultural colonialism. Though many critics regard J.M. Synge as; and thus consider him as an example of regional dramatist because his works are related to the local Irish material. However; this study aims to correct this vision of Synge as only about Irish Celtic culture, but as an innovator of the Irish theatre and as a culturalist who shifted Irish theatre into a universal scope. Thus, though Synge's fame is due to his treatment of the "folk" drama; still, he finds in Ireland’s folk tales, myths, and traditional legends a rich source for universal interests. By tracing the reinforcement of the Irish setting and oral culture for a cultural function which aims at establishing the Irish identity and reviving its national heritage, the study argues that Synge's dramatic presentations were not only of regional or local value; but also of international and cultural significance. That is though J.M. Synge introduces his theme in a local Irish context, with a particular focus on peasants; he was able to transform the Irish theatre from the local context to universality.