| Title of the article: |
FOLKLORIC ELEMENT IN N. M. KARAMZIN`S “HISTORY OF THE RUSSIAN STATE” |
| Author(s): |
Lazarescu О. G. |
| Section: |
Philological sciences |
| Year: |
2016 |
| Issue: |
№ 4 (42) |
| Pages: |
135-142 |
| Index UDK: |
УДК 82-94 |
| Index BBK: |
ББК 83.3(2=411.2)+ 82.3(2=411.2) |
| Abstract: |
The paper was supported by the Russian Foundation for Humanities, grant № 15-04-00494 “N. М. Karamzin. Encyclopedic dictionary.”
Abstract: Karamzin introduces to the palette of literary genres those ones that basically are not literary, e.g. letters, historiographic works, journal articles, etc. Their functioning as literary genres is largely determined by the use of a folkloric element with inherent moral law reproducing the “spirit of a nation,” its character, the level of cultural development at any given historical moment. Most evidently this is displayed in “History of the Russian State,” where a bare fact, representing an absolute value for Karamzin as a historian, becomes “encircled” by plenty of details in the form of word-of-mouth legends, stories, sagas, fairy tales, proverbs etc., having a common definition of “basnoslovie” (fabling). Karamzin moves from the mythological layer that forms the moral standard to a historical fact, and vice versa. “Basnoslovie” (fabling) is essential for him, because it is exactly the latter and not the fact itself, that establishes the moral norm. Karamzin clearly distinguishes history from “fairy tale” or “novel,” but perceives them as posthumous repository for the spirit of great historical figures. In “History…,” due to the use of folkloric elements, facts and fables become intertwined, “novel and life” are equalized and reinforce each other. |
| Keywords: |
history, folklore, tradition, genre, novel, legend, proverb, story, fact, myth. |
| Bibliography: |
1 Abasheva D. V. Tsennostnyi mir poslovitsy v russkoi literature [The value world of a proverb in Russian literature]. Obraz narodnoi kul'tury v literature (Monografiia) [The image of folk culture in literature (Monograph)], ed. D. V. Abasheva. Cheboksary, Chuvash. gos. ped. un-t Publ., 2016. 204 p. (In Russ.) 2 Berkov P. N. Derzhavin i Karamzin v istorii russkoi literatury kontsa XVIII – nachala XIX veka [Derzhavin and Karamzin in the history of Russian literature at the end of the XVIII – beginning of the XIX century]. XVIII vek. Derzhavin i Karamzin v literaturnom dvizhenii XVIII – nachala XIX veka [XVIII century. Derzhavin and Karamzin in the literary movement of the XVIII – beginning of the XIX centuries]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1969. Issue 8. 354 p. (In Russ.) 3 Gerder Iogann Gotfrid. Idei k filosofii istorii chelovechestva [Ideas for the philosophy of the history of mankind], transl. and comment. A. V. Mikhailov. Мoscow, Nauka Publ., 1977. 703 p. (In Russ.) 4 Karamzin N. M. Istoriia gosudarstva Rossiiskogo. Izdanie chetvertoe [History of the Russian State. Fourth edition], Izhdiveniem knigoprodavtsa Smirdina [By provision of a bookseller Smirdin], V tipografii vdovy Pliushar s synom [In the printing house of a widow Plushar and son]. St. Petersburg, 1833–1835. (In Russ.) 5 Karlova T. S. Esteticheskii smysl istorii v tvorcheskom vospriiatii Karamzina [Aesthetic significance of history in Karamzin’s creative perception]. XVIII vek. Derzhavin i Karamzin v literaturnom dvizhenii XVIII – nachala XIX veka [XVIII century. Derzhavin and Karamzin in the literary movement of the XVIII – beginning of the XIX century]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1969. Issue 8. 354 p. (In Russ.) 6 Makogonenko G. P. Drevniaia Rossiia, otkrytaia Karamzinym [Ancient Russia discovered by Karamzin]. N. M. Karamzin. Predaniia vekov. Skazaniia, legendy, rasskazy iz “Istorii gosudarstva Rossiiskogo” [N. M. Karamzin. Centuries-old stories. Sagas, legends, tales from “History of the Russian State”], comp. and introd. G. P. Makogonenko, comment. G. P. Makogonenko, M. V. Ivanov. Moscow, Pravda Publ., 1987. 768 p. (In Russ.) 7 Sorokin Iu. S. Iazyk i stil' karamzinskoi prozy v otsenke sovremennikov i posleduiushchikh pokolenii (180 let s nachala sporov vokrug “novogo sloga”) [Language and style of Karamzin’s prose in the perception of his contemporaries and posterity (180 years of continuing controversy over the “new style”)]. Ocherki po stilistike russkikh literaturno-khudozhestvennykh i nauchnykh proizvedenii XVIII – nachala XIX v. [Essays on stylistics of Russian literary and scientific writings of the XVIII – beginning of the XIX centuries], ed. Iu. S. Sorokin, Z. M. Petrova. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 1994. 235 p. (In Russ.) |
| PDF file: |
 Download |
