Title of the article:

SOVIET HEROIC CHARACTERS IN THE BELARUSIAN WAR FOLKLORE

Author(s):

Anastasia A. Hulak

Information about the author/authors

Anastasiya A. Hulak — PhD in Philology, Associate Professor of the Department of Traditional Belarusian Culture and Contemporary Art, Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, Rabkorovskaya St., 17, 220007 Minsk, Belarus. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8031-7806. E-mail: rudolfina.hulak@tut.by

Section

Philological sciences

Year

2021

Volume

Vol. 62

Pages

pp. 152–165

Received

December 16, 2020

Date of publication

December 28, 2021

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37816/2073-9567-2021-62-152-165

Index UDK

398.8(=161.3)"1941/1945"

Index BBK

82.3(4Беи=411.3)-433

Abstract

Based on materials collected by Belarusian Soviet folklorists in the first and later post-war expeditions, the paper examines manifestations of folklorization as part of assimilation and reinterpretation of different texts by the oral tradition. It focuses primarily on non-canonical war folklore, the examples of which are clustered around the three elements of the character code of Soviet heroics. Common songs about Kolya the Tractor Driver belong to the semantic field of the myth of the so-called “fiery tractor driver” — Pyotr Dyakov. They demonstrate that official art that could meet popular ideas of the war as a social and personal trauma were mostly open to folklorization. Folk songs about Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya vividly embody the motifs of suffering and demonstrate an expressive shift of the genre and content boundary from Soviet heroics to late traditional ballad forms. They substantively reveal the tragedy of human collision with the world of war. Songs about Zaslonov, popular among Belarusian partisans are derived from a productive ballad story about the death of a soldier. They steadily retain the semantics of the hero — people's defender. The revitalization of plots with such heroes — nation`s protectors is characteristic of the oral tradition of the period of social cataclysms. Songs about Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya and Konstantin Zaslonov are among the few that retained elements of their characters’ personal features in spite of being a part of the popular repertoire of the post-war period.

Keywords

folklorization, folk song, mass culture, Soviet heroics, Konstantin Zaslonov, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. 

References

1 Baiburin A. Sovetskii pasport: Istoriia — struktura — praktiki [Soviet Passport: History — Structure — Practice]. St. Petersburg, Izdatel'stvo Evropeiskogo universiteta v Sankt-Peterburge Publ., 2017. 486 p. (In Russian)

2 Barag L. G., Meerovich M. A. Belorusskie narodnye predaniia i skazki-legendy o Zaslonove i Kovpake [Folk Tales and Legends about Zaslonov and Kovpak]. Sovetskaia etnografiia, 1948, no 2, pp. 147–155. (In Russian)

3 Giunter Kh. Sotsrealizm i utopicheskoe myshlenie [Socialist Realism and Utopian Thinking]. In: Sotsrealisticheskii kanon: Sbornik statei [Social Realistic Canon: Collection of Articles]. St. Petersburg, Gumanitarnoe agentstvo “Akademicheskii proekt” Publ., 2000, pp. 41–48. (In Russian)

4 Dobrenko E. Sotsrealizm i mir detstva [Socialist Realism and the World of Childhood]. In: Sotsrealisticheskii kanon: Sbornik statei [Social Realistic Canon: Collection of Articles]. St. Petersburg, Gumanitarnoe agentstvo “Akademicheskii proekt” Publ., 2000, pp. 31–40. (In Russian)

5 Zhorstkі ramans: Fal'klornyia pesnі [The “Cruel” Romance: Folk Songs], compiled by A. Kukresh. Minsk, Knіgazbor Publ., 2010. 435 p. (In Russian)

6 Kolpakova N. Tipy narodnoi chastushki [Types of Folk Ditties]. Russkii fol'klor, 1966, vol. X, pp. 264–288. (In Russian)

7 Komovskaia N. D. Narodnyi rasskaz Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny [Folk Story of the Great Patriotic War]. In: Sovremennyi russkii fol'klor: Sbornik statei [Contemporary Russian Folklore: Collection of Articles]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1966, pp. 153–168. (In Russian)

8 Lobanov M. A. Tantseval'naia ballada i voennaia tema [Dance Ballad and Military Theme]. Zhivaia starina, 2012, no 2, pp. 5–8. (In Russian)

9 Lur'e M. Narodnaia ballada “V odnom gorode bliz Saratova…” (postanovka voprosov i publikatsiia variantov) [Folk Ballad “In a city near Saratov...” (Raising Questions and Publishing Variations) ]. Vestnik RGGU, 2009, no 9/09, pp. 216–258. (In Russian)

10 Lur'e M. “Pro odin koshmarnyi sluchai ia khochu vam rasskazat'”. Gorodskie pesni-khroniki 1920-kh godov: k voprosu o tipologicheskikh granitsakh i sotsial'nykh kontekstakh funktsionirovaniia (post)fol'klornykh iavlenii [“I want to Tell You About One Dreadful Сase”. Urban ballad chronicles of the 1920s: on the Issue of Typological Boundaries and Social Contexts of the functioning of (post) folklore phenomena]. In: Kњizhevna istoriјa: chasopis za nauku o kњizhevnosti, 2018, part L (164), pp. 9–50. (In Russian)

11 Materialy po istorii pesni Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny: Teksty s kommentariiami [Materials on the Song History of the Great Patriotic War: Texts with comments], pod red. V. Iu. Krupianskoi, S. I. Mints. Moscow, Izdatel'stvo AN SSSR Publ., 1953. 210 s. (In Russian)

12 Miller F. Stalinskii fol'klor [Stalinian Folklore]. St. Petersburg, Akademicheskii proekt Publ., DNK Publ., 2006. 188 p. (In Russian)

13 Mukharinskaia L. S. Belorusskaia narodnaia partizanskaia pesnia: 1941–1945 [Belarusian Folk Partisan Song, 1941–1945]. Minsk, Belarus' Publ., 1968. 63 p. (In Russian)

14 Nekliudov S. Iu. “Vse kirpichiki, da kirpichiki…” [“All the bricks and bricks all the way…”]. In: Shipovnik. Istoriko-filologicheskii sbornik k 60-letiiu R. D. Timenchika [Rosehip. Historical and Philological Collection for the 60th Anniversary of R. D. Tymenchik]. Moscow, Vodolei Publishers Publ., 2005, pp. 271–303. (In Russian)

15 Sovremennaia ballada i zhestokii romans: Sbornik pesen [Ballad and “Cruel” Romance: Song Collection], compiled by S. Adon'eva, N. Gerasimova. St. Petersburg, Limbakh Publ., 1996. 413 p. (In Russian)

16 Fedaraў L. M. Muzychnaia chastka [Musical Part]. In: Prypeўkі [Ditties]. Mіnsk, Navuka і tekhnіka Publ., 1989, pp. 246–249. (In Russian)

17 Chistov K. V. Fol'klor. Tekst. Traditsiia [Folklore. Text. Tradition]. Moscow, OGI Publ., 2005. 270 p. (In Russian)

18 Iagubov B. A. Funktsionirovanie zhanroobrazuiushchikh mekhanizmov “zhestokogo” romansa [The Functioning of the Genre-forming Mechanisms of the “Cruel” Romance]. Filologicheskie nauki. Voprosy teorii i praktiki, 2014, no 8, part 2, pp. 209–214. (In Russian)

PDF-file

Download