|
DOI: 10.25136/2409-8698.2023.3.39788
EDN: KEAXGE
Received:
14-02-2023
Published:
04-04-2023
Abstract:
The article examines the folklore intertext of the novel "Elnet" by the classic of Mari literature Sergey Grigoryevich Chavain at the level of folk songs, reveals their place in the artistic structure of the novel text, analyzes their role in revealing the people's perception of the world and the nature of the creative personality of the intellectual-Mari, in the expression of the author's ideas. The song texts of the novel, directly borrowed from folklore or reworked by the author, as well as created by Chavain himself in the likeness of the content and stylistics of folk-poetic works, give the artistic narrative romantic sublimity, poetry, drama and national specificity, strengthen the author's concept of the world and character. The methodology of the research is determined by the structural and semantic analysis of the works. The article for the first time identifies and describes in detail the semantic and typological components of the folklore-song intertext of Chavain's novel "Elnet", its significance for the expression of its artistic content. It is proved that the song texts of the novel mostly reveal the traditional cultural way of life of the Mari people, their natural existence, orientation to myths and ideals (labor songs; ritual songs: wedding, including lamentation songs; lyrical, mainly love and orphan songs). They are directly related to the national issues of the novel and the author's concept based on the uniqueness of the Mari people and their culture. A lot of space is occupied by songs that highlight the difficulties of the pre–revolutionary social life of the Mari people, the inequality of ethnonational existence, which became the reason for the formation of revolutionary predilections in the popular environment (recruiting - about seeing off to war, orphans, lamentations). This folklore intertext helps to clarify the ideological and moral quest of Mari in the pre-revolutionary era, the search for ways of social and national liberation brewing in the depths of the people.
Keywords:
Mari literature, Sergej G. Chavain, The novel, «Elnet», folklore intertext, folk song, artistic structure, artistic concept, poetics, artistic functions
This article is automatically translated.
In this context, selflessness and self-denial for the benefit of a loved one, self-reflection, understanding of punishment, a premonition of trials for oneself and the people, laid down by the author in the image of the intellectual Vetkan, are of interest; the ability to resist the everyday hardships of the poor peasant son Sakar, who later acquires "truly heroic strength in the revolutionary worldview" [10, p. 170]; the movement of the image Chachi (from the unfortunate victim of social circumstances – to spontaneous protest in everyday life, literacy and spiritual self-realization). The author's concept of the novel, of course, contained the idea of the potential strength of the people, their ability to reach a new level of consciousness – everyday and social. But we note that the active entry of the people (by the example of the fate of the key characters of the novel) into a new state and a new worldview (according to K. K. Vasin, the emergence of "its revolutionary-democratic and socialist culture" [10, p. 172]), which, according to the author, could lead him to happiness and which It is presented in the second, unfinished book of the novel "Elnet", devoid of the abundant folk song accompaniment that was noted when depicting his contradictory pre-revolutionary life (the first book and the beginning of the second book of the novel) – with the idealization of the natural and primordial mythological existence of Mari and with the drama of his social and national existence.
References
1. The axiological paradigm of Mari literature of the XX–XXI centuries: collection. monograph. (2019). R. A. Kudryavtseva, T. N. Belyaeva, G. E. Shkalina, etc.; comp. and scientific ed. by R. A. Kudryavtseva. Yoshkar-Ola.
2. Bassel, N. M. (1985). Problems of interethnic community of Estonian Soviet literature. Tallinn.
3. Belevtsova, V. O. (2011). The traditional wedding ceremony of the Mari: a structural and typological analysis. Sociology and social Anthropology, 2, 182-198.
4. Broitman, S. N. (2023). From lectures on historical poetics. Word and image. Retrieved from https://nashaucheba.ru/v5585/ëåêöèè_ïî_èñòîðè÷åñêîé_ïîýòèêå.
5. Vasin, K. K. (1980). History and literature: On the problem of historicism in Mari literature. Yoshkar-Ola.
6. Vasin, K. K.(1975). Enlightenment and realism: On the problem of the genesis of socialist realism in Mari Literature. Yoshkar-Ola.
7. Vasin, K. K. (1987). Sergey Grigoryevich Chavain: Life and creativity. 2nd ed., add. Yoshkar-Ola.
8. Dzhanumov, S. A. (2020). Folk songs and small genres of folklore in the tragedy of A. S. Pushkin "Boris Godunov". Literature at school, 1, 32-44.
9. Ivanov, A. E. (1993). Mari literature. Yoshkar-Ola.
10. History of Mari literature. (1989). Ed. by K. K. Vasin, A. A. Vasinkin. Yoshkar-Ola.
11. Kudryavtseva, R. A. (2011). Genesis and dynamics of the Mari story in the context of the literatures of the peoples of the Volga region: monograph. Yoshkar-Ola.
12. Medrish, D. N. (1980). Literature and folklore tradition: questions of poetics. Saratov.
13. Essays on the history of Mari literature. Part II (1960). Yoshkar-Ola.
14. Fokeev, A. L. (2023). Inexhaustible source. Oral folk art. Recruitment rites. Lamentations. Retrieved from https://deepcloud.ru/articles/chto-takoe-rekrutskiy-folklor.
15. Chavain, S. G. (1981). Vozyzho kum tom dene luktaltesh. Volume 3: Play-vlak, "Elnet" novel. Yoshkar-Ola.
16. Chavain, S. G. (1988). Elnet: a novel. Translated from mar. V. Muravyov. Yoshkar-Ola.
Peer Review
Peer reviewers' evaluations remain confidential and are not disclosed to the public. Only external reviews, authorized for publication by the article's author(s), are made public. Typically, these final reviews are conducted after the manuscript's revision. Adhering to our double-blind review policy, the reviewer's identity is kept confidential.
The list of publisher reviewers can be found here.
The correlation of literature with folklore is defined by both Russian and foreign researchers as the most important problem of Finno-Ugric literary studies and as the main typological criterion for the comparative study of literature. Undoubtedly, folklore and literature are inseparable from each other, although they are clearly contrasting. The object of the research of the reviewed article is S.G. Chavain's novel "Elnet", which captures all spheres of Mari life and the main contradictions of 1912-1918. The subject area of the work correlates with the definition of the role of Mari folk songs in the structure of this work. It seems that these guidelines of study are quite justified, because "the artistic functions of the songs in the novel "Elnet" have not been studied at all to date. In traditional literary criticism, which has presented a fairly detailed analysis of the artistic structure of the novel, there are only general judgments on this issue ...". Thus, the article is focused on the heuristic highway, it gives a full-fledged unfolding of the stated topic. The methodology of the analysis is reduced to traditional types, the comparative factor still prevails in this study. In part, this is not a bad thing, since the text of S.G. Chavain's novel was created within the framework of classical literature, the author did not have a difficult experimental guideline. At the beginning of the work it is noted that "in the novel "Elnet" we have identified 9 texts (fragments) of Mari folk songs. They are analyzed without dividing them into folklore proper, reworked or composed by Chavain himself according to the similarity of the content and stylistics of oral poetic song texts. It should be noted that the actual textual work aimed at such a systematization and differentiation of the "song passages" of the novel should be the subject of a separate special study. For the most part, the songs are noted in the first book of the novel, in which the ethnographic component of the artistic content is strong." It can be assumed that the work on studying the legacy of S.G. Chavain will be carried out further. The text of the article is divided into separate semantic blocks / levels. I think that in this way it is more convenient and natural to follow the development of research thought. Most of the analytical theses are objective, understandable, and accessible even to an unprepared reader. For example, "in our opinion, such a stage in relation to the literary work of the Mari people could be considered the beginning of the twentieth century – at that time the formation of Mari fiction began", or "when depicting peasant life and peasant heroes, the song sounds against the background of nature, which inspires them to a poetic worldview, suggests the emotional experience of some real or imagined /expected events in their lives. Chavain presents such a connection between nature and human life as the natural state of a peasant character, building a natural concept of a folk character," or "song lines are inextricably fused with a landscape description; a song that arose in a vividly positive, pacifying natural context corresponds to the natural worldview of the character," or "songs performed by girls occupy a lot of space in the novel-Marie (lyrical and ceremonial). They allow the author to present to the reader the peculiarities of the Mari folk way of life, ritual and spiritual culture. Such songs in the novel are accompanied not so much by any labor actions as by everyday (sometimes "near-work") scenes and pre-wedding ritual traditions. They convey the naturalness of the performers' feelings, reflect the characteristic style of relationships and interactions that developed in the folk environment; their pathos and tonality were in full harmony with the event and psychological plans of the narrative," etc. The style of work is close to the scientific type, although the available language composition could be strengthened and complicated. Terms and concepts are introduced into the text of the essay from the correct connotative positions, no serious violations have been identified. I would like to note that in the course of the study of S.G. Chavain's novel, folk songs are not only manifested, nominated, their functional role is also determined: revealing the character, describing the traditional culture of Mari, outlining national issues, etc. There are a sufficient number of examples, references, and an illustrative base in the work. Perhaps some kind of uniformity should be given to the quotations – "..." [2, p. 567]. The unity of the text makes it easier to understand, and the author of the article often uses the so-called (...) secondarily marked inserts, which play the role of a comment, although in some cases they are full-fledged and significant. For example, "a more indirect connection with folklore (stylization for works of oral folk art, artistic creativity itself, in the structure of which folklore themes and folklore visual means still continue to play a decisive role, further – the complete subordination of the folklore elements used in the work to the literary intention of the writer) will be a characteristic phenomenon of Mari prose only in the 1920s" etc . It is also appropriate to translate a number of text inclusions into the novel by S.G. Chavain, [translated from Mari by our – R. K.]). The final block is logically connected with the main one, in particular, this fragment indicates that "the song texts of the novel mostly reveal the traditional cultural way of life of the Mari people, their natural existence, focus on myths and ideals (labor songs; ritual songs: wedding, including lamentation songs; lyrical, mainly love and orphan songs). They are directly related to the national issues of the novel and the author's concept based on the uniqueness of the Mari people and their culture", "a lot of space is occupied by songs that highlight the difficulties of the pre-revolutionary social life of the people and the inequality of ethnonational existence, which became the reason for the formation of revolutionary predilections in the popular environment (recruiting – about sending off to war, orphans, lamentations). This folklore intertext helps to clarify the ideological and moral quest of Marie in the pre-revolutionary era, the search for ways of social and national liberation brewing in the depths of the people," etc. It is also attracted by the fact that the problem of studying the legacy of S.G. Chavain is actualized: "the active entry of the people into a new state and a new worldview could lead them to happiness and which is presented in the second, unfinished book, the novel "Elnet", which is deprived of that abundant folk song accompaniment." I think that the work has a verified conceptual basis, it represents a pre-stage for further study of S.G. Chavain's work, but also in this form it is interesting, knowledge-intensive, informative. A number of the basic requirements of the publication are still taken into account, the presented bibliography is used throughout the text. The article "Mari folk songs in the artistic structure of S.G. Chavain's novel "Elnet" can be recommended with minor technical corrections (citations) for publication in the magazine "Litera".
|
© 1998 – 2024 Nota Bene. Publishing Technologies. NB-Media Ltd.
