The current state of folklore. The main problems of modern folklore Folklore at its present stage of development

XVIII century - the birth of folklore as a science. Appeal of scientists, writers, public figures of the era to the study of the life of the people, their way of life, poetic and musical creativity. The emergence of a new attitude to folk culture with the issuance of the decree of Peter I of 1722.

Collecting and research activities historian V.N. Tatishchev, ethnographer S.P. Krashechnikov, poet and theorist V.K. Trediakovsky, poet and publicist A.N. Sumarokov, their contradictory attitude to folk art.

The first recordings and publications of folklore material of the 18th century: numerous songbooks, collections of fairy tales and proverbs, descriptions of folk images and superstitions: "Collection of various songs" by M.D. Chulkov, his own Dictionary of Russian Superstitions, songbook by V.F. Trutovsky, a collection of fairy tales by V.A. Levshina and others.

The role of N.I. Novikov in maintaining a number of folklore initiatives. Requirements for the collecting activities of folklorists and the publication of genuine folklore material.

The interest of the Decembrists in traditional folk art and their collecting activities (N. Raevsky, V. Sukhorukov, N. Ryleev, A. Kornilov, A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky). A.S. Pushkin is the spokesman for the progressive ideas of Russian folklorism.

The beginning of the formation of research schools of folklore and their scientific value. The position of interpretation of the phenomena of folk art of the mythological school. F.I. Buslaev, A.N. Afanasiev are prominent representatives of this school.

School V.F. Miller and her historical foundations in learning national epic. School of borrowing. The activities of the Russian geographical and archaeological societies in the study and collection of folklore. Functions of the musical and ethnographic commission of the ethnographic department of the Society of Lovers of Natural Science, Anthropology and Ethnography at Moscow University.

The development of the collection of folk art. The first large-scale collecting activity of Kireevsky P.V.

Orientation to the study and scientific interpretation of folk art. Fundamental works of scientists of the ethnographic direction: Sakharova I.P., Snegireva I.M., Tereshchenko A., Kostomarova A. and their significance for the theory of folklore. Collection and development of folklore in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

A new milestone in the development of national folklore. Changing themes and images of folklore works.

Orientation to the creativity of socialist myths Soviet era. Ideological pathos of folk art. Active genres of folklore of the Soviet period - song, ditty, oral story. The withering away of the original traditional genres (epics, spiritual verse, ritual songs, conspiracies).

The Civil War is the first stage in the development of the folklore of the Soviet period. Autobiographical nature of oral poetry civil war. The fight against the old foundations of the past are the main themes of folk art in the 1920s and 1930s. The popularity of folklore material of acute social content. The idea of ​​internationalism and its influence on folklore independence. The negative role of Proletcult in the fate of folklore.

Activation of interest in the historical past of their fatherland. The first folklore expeditions 1926 - 1929, the creation of a center for folklore work under the Union of Soviet Writers.

Folklore Conferences 1956 - 1937 - an attempt to scientifically comprehend folklore in a new ideological situation, the search for a specific folklore research method.

Genres of folklore during the Great Patriotic War. Post-war complex expeditions of the institutes of ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the history of art of Moscow State University (19959 - 1963), Department of Russian Folk Art of Moscow State University (195 - 1963).

The theoretical contribution of scientists of the Soviet period to Russian folklore, to the study of its main problems, genres (A.I. Balandina, P.G. Bogatyrev, V.E. Gusev, brothers B.M. and Yu.M. Sokolov V.Ya. Propp, V. I. Chicherov, K. V. Chistova).

Contribution of M.K. Azadovsky in the development of national folklore. Two-volume M.K. Azadovsky on the history of Russian folklore is a large-scale work on the two-century development of Russian folklore.

New wave the revival of interest in folklore during the period of change of official ideology and totalitarianism. The problem of a single methodological approach to the understanding and interpretation of folklore.

The role and place of folklore activity in modern cultural space. A variety of subcultures of the modern city, generating different kinds and genres contemporary folklore.

The problem of preservation and revival of folk art, the development and implementation of targeted regional programs for the development of culture. New technologies for the revival and development of folklore at the regional level in dissertation research.

The multifaceted activities of the leading folklore organizations: the All-Russian Center of Russian Folklore, the Russian Folklore Academy "Karagod", the All-Russian state house Folk Art, State Museum of Musical Culture.

Educational activities creative universities with departments for the training of specialists in folklore: St. Petersburg Conservatory. ON THE. Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian Academy music to them. Gnesins, Moscow State University culture and arts, etc.

New aspects in holding folklore festivals, competitions, scientific and practical conferences.

Modern audiovisual technology in the collection and study of folklore. Effective capabilities of computer technology and modern technologies in the storage and processing of folklore material of a particular region, genre, era.

What is "folklore" for modern man? These are songs, fairy tales, proverbs, epics and other works of our ancestors, which were created and passed from mouth to mouth a long time ago, and now remain in the form of beautiful books for children and the repertoire of ethnographic ensembles. Well, maybe somewhere unimaginably far from us, in remote villages, there are still some old women who still remember something. But this is only until civilization comes there.

Modern people do not tell each other fairy tales, do not sing songs at work. And if they compose something “for the soul”, then they immediately write it down.

Very little time will pass - and folklorists will have to study only what their predecessors managed to collect, or change their specialty ...

Is it so? Yes and no.

From epic to ditty

Recently, in one of the LiveJournal discussions, a sad observation of a school teacher flashed by, who discovered that the name Cheburashka did not say anything to his students. The teacher was prepared for the fact that the children were unfamiliar with either Tsar Saltan or the Mistress of the Copper Mountain. But Cheburashka?!

Approximately the same feelings were experienced two hundred years ago by the whole of educated Europe. That which had been passed down from generation to generation for centuries, that was as if dissolved in the air and that it seemed impossible not to know, suddenly began to be forgotten, crumble, disappear into the sand.

It was suddenly discovered that everywhere (and especially in cities) a new generation had grown up, to which the ancient oral culture was known only in meaningless fragments or was unknown at all.

The response to this was an explosion of collecting and publishing samples of folk art.

In the 1810s, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm began to publish collections of German folk tales. In 1835, Elias Lenrot published the first edition of Kalevala, which shocked the cultural world: it turns out that in the most remote corner of Europe, among a small people that never had their own statehood, there is still a heroic epic, comparable in volume and complexity of structure to ancient Greek myths! The collection of folklore (as in 1846 the English scholar William Thoms called the totality of folk "knowledge" that exists exclusively in oral form) grew throughout Europe. And at the same time, the feeling grew: folklore is disappearing, carriers are dying out, nothing can be found in many areas. (For example, not one of the Russian epics has ever been recorded where their action takes place, and indeed in the historical “core” of the Russian lands. All known records were made in the North, in the lower Volga region, on the Don, in Siberia - that is, in Siberia. that is, in the territories of Russian colonization of different times.) You need to hurry, you need to have time to write down as much as possible.

In the course of this hurried gathering, something strange more and more often found its way into the records of folklorists. For example, short chants, unlike anything that was previously sung in the villages.

Precise rhymes, the correct alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables made these verses (folk performers themselves called them "chastushkas") related to urban poetry, but the content of the texts did not reveal any connection with any printed sources. There were serious disputes among folklorists: should ditties be considered folklore in the full sense of the word, or is it a product of the decomposition of folk art under the influence of professional culture?

Strange as it may seem, it was precisely this discussion that made folkloristics, still young then, take a closer look at the new forms of folk literature that were emerging right before our eyes.

It quickly became clear that not only in the villages (traditionally considered the main place of existence of folklore), but also in cities, a lot of things arise and circulate that, by all indications, should be attributed specifically to folklore.

A caveat should be made here. In fact, the concept of "folklore" refers not only to verbal works (texts), but in general to all the phenomena of folk culture that are transmitted directly from person to person. Traditional, centuries-old pattern of embroidery on a towel in a Russian village or choreography ritual dance African tribe is also folklore. However, in part objective reasons, partly due to the fact that texts are easier and more complete to record and study, they have become the main object of folklore from the very beginning of the existence of this science. Although scientists are well aware that for any folklore work, the features and circumstances of performance are no less (and sometimes even more) important. For example, an anecdote necessarily includes a storytelling procedure - for which it is absolutely necessary that at least a part of those present do not know this anecdote yet. An anecdote known to everyone in this community is simply not performed in it - and therefore does not “live”: after all folklore only exists during execution.

But back to modern folklore. As soon as the researchers peered into the material that they (and often its carriers and even the creators) considered “frivolous”, devoid of any value, it turned out that

"new folklore" lives everywhere and everywhere.

Chastushka and romance, anecdote and legend, rite and ritual, and much more, for which there were no suitable names in folklore. In the 1920s, all this became the subject of qualified research and publications. However, already in the next decade, a serious study of modern folklore turned out to be impossible: the real folk art categorically did not fit into the image " Soviet society". True, a certain number of folklore texts themselves, carefully selected and combed, were published from time to time. (For example, in the popular magazine "Crocodile" there was a column "Just an anecdote", where topical anecdotes were often found - naturally, the most harmless, but their action was often transferred "abroad" just in case.) But the scientific study of modern folklore was actually resumed only in the late 1980s and especially intensified in the 1990s. According to one of the leaders of this work, Professor Sergei Neklyudov (the largest Russian folklorist, head of the Center for Semiotics and Typology of Folklore of the Russian State Humanitarian University), this happened largely according to the principle “if there were no happiness, but misfortune helped”: without funds for normal collecting and research expeditions and student practices, Russian folklorists shifted their efforts to what was nearby.

Omnipresent and multifaceted

The material collected was striking in its abundance and diversity. Each, even the smallest group of people, barely realizing their commonality and difference from all others, immediately acquired their own folklore. Researchers have known the folklore of individual subcultures before: prison, soldier, student songs. But it turned out that its own folklore exists among climbers and skydivers, nature conservation activists and adherents of non-traditional cults, hippies and “goths”, patients of a particular hospital (sometimes even departments) and regulars of a particular pub, kindergarten students and students lower grades. In a number of such communities, the personal composition changed rapidly - patients went to the hospital and were discharged, children entered kindergarten and graduated from it - and folklore texts continued to circulate in these groups for decades.

But even more unexpected genre diversity contemporary folklore

(or "post-folklore", as Professor Neklyudov suggested calling this phenomenon). The new folklore did not take almost anything from the genres of classical folklore, and what it did take was changed beyond recognition. “Almost all old oral genres– from ritual lyrics to fairy tales,” writes Sergey Neklyudov. But more and more space is occupied not only by relatively young forms (“street” songs, jokes), but also by texts that are generally difficult to attribute to any certain genre: fantastic "historical and local history essays" (about the origin of the name of the city or its parts, about geophysical and mystical anomalies, about celebrities who visited it, etc.), stories about incredible incidents ("one medical student bet that he would spend the night in dead...”), legal incidents, etc. The concept of folklore had to include both rumors and unofficial place names (“we meet at the Head” - that is, at the bust of Nogin at the Kitai-Gorod station). Finally, there is whole line“medical” recommendations that live according to the laws of folklore texts: how to simulate certain symptoms, how to lose weight, how to protect yourself from conception ... At a time when alcoholics were usually sent for compulsory treatment, the “embroidery” technique was popular among them - which must be done to neutralize or at least weaken the effect of the “torpedo” implanted under the skin (capsule with an antabuse). This rather sophisticated physiological technique was successfully transmitted orally from the old-timers of the "medical and labor dispensaries" to the newcomers, that is, it was a phenomenon of folklore.

Sometimes, right before our eyes, new signs and beliefs are formed - including in the most advanced and educated groups of society.

Who hasn't heard of cacti supposedly "absorbing harmful radiation" from computer monitors? It is not known when and where this belief arose, but in any case, it could not have appeared before any widespread use of personal computers. And it continues to develop before our eyes: "not every cactus absorbs radiation, but only with star-shaped needles."

However, sometimes in modern society it is also possible to discover well-known phenomena - however, they are so transformed that in order to see their folklore nature, special efforts are needed. Moscow researcher Ekaterina Belousova, having analyzed the practice of treating women in labor in Russian maternity hospitals, came to the conclusion that the notorious rudeness and authoritarianism of the medical staff (as well as many restrictions on patients and the obsessive fear of “infection”) is nothing more than modern form the birth rite, one of the most important "rites of passage" described by ethnographers in many traditional societies.

Word of mouth over the Internet

But if in one of the most modern social institutions, under a thin layer of professional knowledge and everyday habits, ancient archetypes are suddenly discovered, is the difference between modern folklore and classical folklore so fundamental? Yes, the forms have changed, the set of genres has changed - but this has happened before. For example, at some point (presumably in the 16th century), new epics ceased to take shape in Russia - although already folded ones continued to live in the oral tradition until late XIX and even before the 20th century – and they were replaced by historical songs. But the essence of folk art remained the same.

However, according to Professor Neklyudov, the differences between post-folklore and classical folklore are much deeper. First, the main organizing core, the calendar, fell out of it. For a rural dweller, the change of seasons dictates the rhythm and content of all life, for an urban dweller, perhaps only the choice of clothing. Accordingly, folklore is “detached” from the season - and at the same time from the corresponding rites, it becomes optional.

Secondly,

in addition to the structure of folklore itself, the structure of its distribution in society has changed.

The concept of “national folklore” is to some extent a fiction: folklore has always been local and dialectal, and local differences were important for its speakers (“but we don’t sing like that!”). However, if before this locality was literal, geographical, now it has become more socio-cultural: neighbors on the landing can be carriers of completely different folklore. They don’t understand each other’s jokes, they can’t sing along to a song ... Independent performance of any songs in a company is becoming a rarity today: if a few decades ago the definition of “popularly known” referred to songs that everyone can sing along, now - to songs that everyone has heard at least once.

But the most important, perhaps, is the marginalization of the place of folklore in human life.

All the most important things in life - worldview, social skills, and specific knowledge - a modern city dweller, unlike his not so distant ancestor, receives not through folklore. Another important function, the identification and self-identification of a person, has almost been removed from folklore. Folklore has always been a means of claiming belonging to a particular culture – and a means of verifying this claim (“ours is the one who sings our songs”). Today, folklore fulfills this role either in marginal and often opposing "big" society subcultures (for example, criminal), or in a very fragmentary way. For example, if a person is fond of tourism, then he can confirm his belonging to the tourism community by knowing and performing the relevant folklore. But besides being a tourist, he is also an engineer, an Orthodox Christian, a parent – ​​and he will manifest all these incarnations of his own in completely different ways.

But, as Sergei Neklyudov notes,

A person cannot do without folklore either.

Perhaps the most striking and paradoxical confirmation of these words was the emergence and rapid development of the so-called "network folklore" or "Internet lore".

In itself, this sounds like an oxymoron: the main and universal feature of all folklore phenomena is the existence in oral form, while all network texts are, by definition, written. However, as Anna Kostina, deputy director of the State Republican Center for Russian Folklore, notes, many of them have all the main features of folklore texts: anonymity and collective authorship, polyvariance, traditionalism. Moreover: the network texts are clearly striving to “overcome writing” - due to both the widespread use of emoticons (allowing at least to indicate intonation), and the popularity of “padonian” (deliberately incorrect) spelling. In the same time computer networks, allowing instant copying and forwarding of texts of significant size, give a chance for a revival of large narrative forms. Of course, it is unlikely that something similar to the Kyrgyz one will ever be born on the Internet. heroic epic"Manas" with its 200 thousand lines. But funny untitled texts (like the famous “radio conversations between an American aircraft carrier and a Spanish lighthouse”) are already widely circulating on the net - absolutely folklore in spirit and poetics, but incapable of living in a purely oral transmission.

It looks like in information society folklore can not only lose a lot, but also gain something.

Literature and library science

The main problems of modern folklore. Modern folkloristics has the same problems as new academic schools. Problems: the question of the origin of folklore. problems of studying new non-traditional folklore.

11. The main problems of modern folklore.

Modern folklore studies inherit the wealth of academic schools, while removing exaggerations.

Modern folkloristics has the same problems as academic schools + new ones.

Problems :

The question of the origin of folklore.

Storyteller problemcorrelation of individual and collective beginnings in folklore.

Was placed in XIX century, but decided in XX century.

Dobrolyubov: “The principle of the vital principle is not observed in Afanasyev’s book” - it is not known who and when wrote down the folklore text.

There are different types of storytellers.

In XX the problem was dealt with by M.K. Azadovsky

- the problem of interaction between literature and folklore.

Folklore is necessary for an adequate perception of a literary text.

D.N. Medrish

- the problem of studying various folklore genres and specific works.

The problem of collecting folkloreit is necessary to have time to collect what is still remembered; new genres of folklore appear.

- problems of studying new, non-traditional folklore.

Non-traditional folklore:

Children's

School

Girls' and demobel albums

- "colloquial" folklore talking on the phone, talking in public transport.

student folklore.

After the collapse of the USSR, magazines about folklore began to appear again:

"Living Antiquity"

Arbem mundi "("World Tree")

In XX century, problems were solved from the point of view of either the mythological or historical school.

Introduction.

Folklore - artistic folk art, artistic creative activity of the working people, poetry, music, theater, dance, architecture, fine and decorative arts created by the people and existing among the masses of the people. In collective artistic creativity, the people reflect their labor activity, social and everyday way of life, knowledge of life and nature, cults and beliefs. The folklore that has developed in the course of social labor practice embodies the views, ideals and aspirations of the people, their poetic fantasy, richest world thoughts, feelings, experiences, protest against exploitation and oppression, dreams of justice and happiness. Having absorbed the centuries-old experience of the masses, folklore is distinguished by the depth of artistic development of reality, the truthfulness of images, and the power of creative generalization. The richest images, themes, motifs, forms of folklore arise in the complex dialectical unity of individual (though, as a rule, anonymous) creativity and collective artistic consciousness. For centuries, the folk collective has been selecting, improving and enriching the solutions found by individual masters. The continuity and stability of artistic traditions (within which, in turn, personal creativity is manifested) are combined with variability, the diverse implementation of these traditions in individual works. It is characteristic of all types of folklore that the creators of a work are at the same time its performers, and the performance, in turn, can be the creation of variants that enrich the tradition; it is also important that the performers have the closest contact with people who perceive art, who themselves can act as participants creative process. The main features of folklore also include the long-standing indivisibility, the highly artistic unity of its types: poetry, music, dance, theater, and decorative arts merged in folk ritual actions; in the folk dwelling, architecture, carving, painting, ceramics, embroidery created an inseparable whole; folk poetry is closely related to music and its rhythm, musicality, and the nature of the performance of most works, while musical genres are usually associated with poetry, labor movements, and dances. The works and skills of folklore are directly passed down from generation to generation.

1. Wealth of genres

In the process of existence, genres of verbal folklore experience “productive” and “unproductive” periods (“ages”) of their history (emergence, distribution, entry into the mass repertoire, aging, extinction), and this is ultimately associated with social and cultural and everyday changes. in society. The stability of the existence of folklore texts in folk life is explained not only by their artistic value, but also by the slowness of changes in the way of life, worldview, tastes of their main creators and keepers - the peasants. The texts of folklore works of various genres are changeable (albeit to varying degrees). However, in general, traditionalism has an immeasurably greater power in folklore than in professional literary creativity. The richness of genres, themes, images, poetics of verbal folklore is due to the variety of its social and everyday functions, as well as the methods of performance (solo, choir, choir and soloist), the combination of text with melody, intonation, movements (singing, singing and dancing, storytelling, acting out , dialogue, etc.). In the course of history, some genres have undergone significant changes, disappeared, new ones appeared. In the most ancient period, most peoples had tribal traditions, labor and ritual songs, and incantations. Later, magic, everyday tales, tales about animals, pre-state (archaic) forms of the epic appear. During the formation of statehood, a classic heroic epic was formed, then historical songs and ballads arose. Even later, an extra-ceremonial lyrical song, romance, ditty and other small lyrical genres and, finally, working folklore were formed ( revolutionary songs, oral stories, etc.). Despite the bright national coloring of the works of verbal folklore of different peoples, many motives, images and even plots are similar in them. For example, about two-thirds of the plots of the tales of European peoples have parallels in the tales of other peoples, which is caused either by development from one source, or by cultural interaction, or by the emergence of similar phenomena on the basis of general patterns of social development.

2. The concept of children's folklore

It is customary to call children's folklore both works that are performed by adults for children, and those composed by the children themselves. Children's folklore includes lullabies, pestles, nursery rhymes, tongue twisters and incantations, teasers, rhymes, absurdities, etc. Children's folklore is formed under the influence of many factors. Among them - the influence of various social and age groups, their folklore; mass culture; existing ideas and much more. The initial sprouts of creativity can appear in various activities of children, if the necessary conditions are created for this. The successful development of such qualities depends on upbringing, which in the future will ensure the participation of the child in creative work. Children's creativity is based on imitation, which serves as an important factor in the development of the child, in particular his artistic abilities. The task of the teacher is, relying on the tendency of children to imitate, to instill in them skills and abilities, without which creative activity is impossible, to educate them in independence, activity in the application of this knowledge and skills, to form critical thinking, purposefulness. At preschool age, the foundations of the child's creative activity are laid, which are manifested in the development of the ability to plan and implement it, in the ability to combine their knowledge and ideas, in the sincere transmission of their feelings. Perhaps folklore has become a kind of filter for the mythological plots of the entire totality of the Earth's society, letting the universal, humanistically significant, and most viable plots into literature.

3. Modern children's folklore

Sat on the golden porch

Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry,

Uncle Scrooge and three ducklings

And Ponka will drive!

Returning to the analysis of the current state of traditional genres children's folklore, it should be noted that the existence of such genres of calendar folklore as incantations and sentences remains almost unchanged in terms of text. The most popular are still appeals to the rain (“Rain, rain, stop ...”), to the sun (“Sun, sun, look out the window ...”), to ladybug and snail. The half-belief traditional for these works is preserved in combination with the playful beginning. At the same time, the frequency of use of incantations and sentences by modern children is decreasing, there are practically no new texts, which also allows us to talk about the regression of the genre. Riddles and teasers turned out to be more viable. Remaining popular in the children's environment, they exist both in traditional forms (“I went underground, found the little red cap”, “Lenka-foam”), and in new versions and varieties (“In winter and summer in one color” - Negro , dollar, soldier, dining room menu, alcoholic's nose, etc.). Such an unusual variety of the genre as riddles with drawings is rapidly developing. Folklore records of recent years contain a fairly large block of ditties. Gradually dying out in the adult repertoire, this type of oral folk art is rather readily picked up by children (this happened at one time with works of calendar folklore). Ditty texts heard from adults are usually not sung, but recited or chanted in communication with peers. Sometimes they "adapt" to the age of the performers, for example:

Girls hate me

They say that he is small in stature,

And I'm in the kindergarten Irinka

Kissed me ten times.

Such historically established genres as pestles, nursery rhymes, jokes, etc., almost completely disappear from oral use. Firmly fixed in textbooks, manuals and anthologies, they have now become part of the book culture and are actively used by teachers, educators, are included in the programs as a source of folk wisdom, filtered for centuries, as a sure means of developing and educating a child. But modern parents and children in oral practice use them very rarely, and if they reproduce, then as works familiar from books, and not transmitted by word of mouth, which, as you know, is one of the main distinguishing features of folklore.

4. Modern genre of children's horror stories.

Children's folklore is a living, constantly renewing phenomenon, and in it, along with the most ancient genres, there are relatively new forms, the age of which is estimated at only a few decades. As a rule, these are genres of children's urban folklore, for example, horror stories. Scary stories are small stories with a tense plot and a frightening ending, the purpose of which is to scare the listener. According to the researchers of this genre O. Grechina and M. Osorina, “traditions merge in a horror story fairy tale with the actual problems of the real life of the child. It is noted that among children's horror stories one can find plots and motifs traditional in archaic folklore, demonological characters borrowed from bylichki and anecdotes, however, the group of plots in which objects and things of the surrounding world turn out to be demonic beings is predominant. Literary critic S.M. Loiter notes that being influenced by a fairy tale, children's horror stories acquired a clear and uniform plot structure. The task inherent in it (warning or prohibition - violation - retribution) allows us to define it as a "didactic structure". Some researchers draw parallels between the modern genre of children's horror stories and older literary types of scary stories, for example, the writings of Korney Chukovsky. Writer Eduard Uspensky collected these stories in the book "Red Hand, Black Sheet, Green Fingers (scary stories for fearless children)".

Horror stories in the described form, apparently, became widespread in the 70s of the XX century. Literary critic O. Yu. Trykova believes that "at present, horror stories are gradually moving into the" stage of conservation. Children still tell them, but there are practically no new plots, and the frequency of performance also becomes less. Obviously, this is due to a change in life realities: in the Soviet period, when an almost total ban in the official culture was imposed on everything catastrophic and frightening, the need for the terrible was satisfied through this genre. Currently, there are many sources, in addition to horror stories, that satisfy this craving for the mysteriously frightening (from news releases, various newspaper publications savoring the "terrible" to numerous horror films). According to the pioneer in the study of this genre, psychologist M. V. Osorina, fears that a child copes with in early childhood on his own or with the help of his parents become the material of the collective consciousness of children. This material is worked out by children in group situations of telling scary stories, fixed in the texts of children's folklore and passed on to the next generations of children, becoming a screen for their new personal projections.

The main character of horror stories is a teenager who encounters a “pest” (stain, curtains, tights, a coffin on wheels, a piano, a TV, a radio, a record, a bus, a tram). Color plays a special role in these items: white, red, yellow, green, blue, indigo, black. The hero, as a rule, repeatedly receives a warning about a trouble threatening from a pest, but does not want (or cannot) get rid of it. His death is most often due to strangulation. The hero's assistant is a policeman. horror stories are not reduced only to the plot, the ritual of storytelling is also essential - as a rule, in the dark, in the company of children in the absence of adults. According to the folklorist M.P. Cherednikova, the involvement of a child in the practice of telling horror stories depends on his psychological maturation. At first, at the age of 5-6, the child cannot hear scary stories without horror. Later, from about 8 to 11 years old, children are happy to tell scary stories, and at the age of 12-13 they no longer take them seriously, and various parodic forms are becoming more common.

As a rule, horror stories are characterized by stable motifs: “black hand”, “bloody stain”, “green eyes”, “coffin on wheels”, etc. Such a story consists of several sentences, as the action develops, the tension increases, and in the final phrase it reaches its peak.

"Red spot". One family received new apartment but there was a red stain on the wall. They wanted to delete it, but nothing happened. Then the stain was covered with wallpaper, but it appeared through the wallpaper. And every night someone died. And the stain after each death became even brighter.

"The black hand punishes theft." One girl was a thief. She stole things and one day she stole a jacket. At night, someone knocked on her window, then a black-gloved hand appeared, she grabbed a jacket and disappeared. The next day, the girl stole the nightstand. At night, the hand reappeared. She grabbed the nightstand. The girl looked out the window, wanting to see who was taking things. And then a hand grabbed the girl and, pulling her out the window, strangled her.

"Blue Glove" Once upon a time there was a blue glove. Everyone was afraid of her, because she pursued and strangled people who returned home late. And then one day a woman was walking along the street - and this street was dark, very dark - and suddenly she saw that a blue glove was peeking out of the bushes. The woman was frightened and ran home, followed by a blue glove. A woman ran into the entrance, went up to her floor, and the blue glove followed her. She began to open the door, and the key got stuck, but she opened the door, ran home, suddenly - a knock on the door. She opens, and there is a blue glove! (The last phrase was usually accompanied by a sharp movement of the hand towards the listener).

"Black House". In one black, black forest stood a black, black house. This black, black house had a black, black room. In this black, black room there was a black, black table. On this black, black table is a black, black coffin. In this black, black coffin lay a black, black man. (Until this moment, the narrator speaks in a muffled monotonous voice. And then - abruptly, unexpectedly loudly, grabbing the listener by the hand.) Give me my heart! Few people know that the first poetic horror story was written by the poet Oleg Grigoriev:

I asked the electrician Petrov:
“Why did you wrap a wire around your neck?”
Petrov does not answer me,
Hangs and only shakes bots.

After him, sadistic rhymes appeared in abundance in both children's and adult folklore.

The old woman suffered for a short time
In high voltage wires,
Her charred carcass
Scared the birds in the sky.

Horror stories are usually told in large companies, preferably in the dark and in a frightening whisper. The appearance of this genre is associated, on the one hand, with the craving of children for everything unknown and frightening, and on the other hand, with an attempt to overcome this fear. As they grow older, horror stories cease to scare and cause only laughter. This is also evidenced by the appearance of a peculiar reaction to horror stories - parodic anti-horror stories. These stories begin just as intimidating, but the ending turns out to be funny:

Black-black night. A black-black car was driving along a black-black street. On this black and black car was written in large white letters: "BREAD"!

Grandfather and grandmother are sitting at home. Suddenly, the radio transmits: “Throw away the closet and refrigerator as soon as possible! A coffin on wheels is coming to your house!” They threw it away. And so they threw everything away. They sit on the floor, and they broadcast on the radio: “We broadcast Russian folk tales.”

As a rule, all these stories end with no less terrible endings. (These are only "official" horror stories, in books, combed to please the publisher, sometimes they are provided with happy endings or funny endings.) And yet, modern psychology considers creepy children's folklore a positive phenomenon.

"Children's horror story affects different levels- feelings, thoughts, words, images, movements, sounds, - psychologist Marina Lobanova told NG. - It makes the psyche, with fear, not get up with tetanus, but move. Therefore, a horror story is an effective way to work, for example, with depression. According to the psychologist, a person is able to create his own horror film only when he has already completed his own fear. And now Masha Seryakova shares her valuable psychic experience with others through her stories. “It is also important that the girl writes using emotions, thoughts, images that are specific to the children's subculture,” says Lobanova. “An adult will not see this and will never create it.”

Bibliography

"Mythological stories of the Russian population of Eastern Siberia". Comp. V.P. Zinoviev. Novosibirsk, "Nauka". 1987.

Dictionary of literary terms. M. 1974.

Permyakov G.L. "From proverb to fairy tale". M. 1970.

Kostyukhin E.A. "Types and forms of the animal epic". M. 1987.

Levina E.M. Russian folk tale. Minsk. 1983.

Belousov A.F. "Children's Folklore". M. 1989.

Mochalova V.V. "The World Inside Out". M. 1985.

Lurie V.F. "Children's Folklore. Younger teenagers. M. 1983

Over time, folklore becomes an independent science, its structure is formed, research methods are developed. Now folklore- this is a science that studies the patterns and features of the development of folklore, the nature and nature, essence, themes of folk art, its specificity and common features with other types of art, the features of the existence and functioning of texts of oral literature at different stages of development; genre system and poetics.

According to the tasks specially set for this science, folklore is divided into two branches:

History of folklore

folklore theory

History of folklore is a branch of folklore that studies the process of emergence, development, existence, functioning, transformation (deformation) of genres and the genre system in different historical periods on different territories. The history of folklore studies individual folk poetic works, productive and unproductive periods of individual genres, as well as a holistic genre-poetic system in synchronous (horizontal section of a separate historical period) and diachronic (vertical section historical development) plans.

folklore theory- this is a branch of folklore that studies the essence of oral folk art, the features of individual folklore genres, their place in a holistic genre system, as well as the internal structure of genres - the laws of their construction, poetics.

Folkloristics is closely connected, borders and interacts with many other sciences.

Its connection with history is manifested in the fact that folklore, like all humanitarian sciences, is historical discipline, i.e. considers all phenomena and objects of research in their movement - from the prerequisites for the emergence and origin, tracing the formation, development, flourishing to death or decline. And here it is required not only to establish the fact of development, but also to explain it.

Folklore is a historical phenomenon, therefore, it requires a stage-by-stage study, taking into account historical factors, figures and events of each specific era. The objectives of the study of oral folk art and to identify how new historical conditions or their change affect folklore, what exactly causes the emergence of new genres, as well as in identifying the problem of the historical correspondence of folklore genres, comparing texts with real events, historicism individual works. In addition, folklore can often itself be a historical source.

There is a close connection between folklore with ethnography as a science that studies the early forms of material life (everyday life) and social organization people. Ethnography is a source and base for the study of folk art, especially when analyzing the development of individual folklore phenomena.

The main problems of folklore:

Question about the need to collect

The question of the place and role of folklore in the creation of national literature

Question about it historical essence

The question of the role of folklore in cognition folk character

The modern collecting work of folklore materials poses a number of problems for researchers that have arisen in connection with the peculiarities ethnocultural situation end of the twentieth century. For regions, these Problems the following:

Ø - authenticity collected regional material;

(i.e. the authenticity of the transmission, the authenticity of the sample and the idea of ​​the work)

Ø - phenomenon contextuality folklore text or its absence;

(i.e., the presence / absence of a condition for the meaningful use of a particular language unit in speech (written or oral), taking into account its language environment and the situation of speech communication.)

Ø - crisis variability;

Ø - modern "live" genres;

Ø - folklore in context modern culture and cultural policy;

Ø - problems publications modern folklore.

Modern expeditionary work faces a major challenge authenticating regional model, its occurrence and existence within the area that is being surveyed. Certification of performers does not bring any clarity to the issue of its origin.

Modern mass media technology, of course, dictates its tastes to folklore samples. Some of them are played regularly by popular performers, others do not sound at all. In this case, we will record the "popular" sample at the same time in in large numbers places from performers of different ages. Most often, the source of the material is not indicated, because assimilation can proceed through the medium of magnetic recording. Such "neutralized" variants can only testify to the adaptation of texts and quirky integration of options. This fact already exists. The question is not whether to recognize it or not, but how and why this or that material is selected and migrates, regardless of the place of origin, in some invariant. There is a risk of attributing to modern regional folklore something that, in fact, is not.

folklore like specific context has now lost the qualities of a stable, living, dynamic structure. As a historical type of culture, it is undergoing a natural reincarnation within the developing collective and professional (author's, individual) forms of modern culture. There are still separate stable fragments of context in it. On the territory of the Tambov region, these are Christmas caroling (“Autumn clique”), meeting spring with larks, individual wedding ceremonies (purchase and sale of the bride), nurturing a child, proverbs, sayings, parables, oral stories, anecdotes live in speech. These fragments of the folklore context still make it possible to fairly accurately judge the past state and development trends.

Living genres oral folk art in the strict sense of the word remain proverbs and sayings, ditties, songs of literary origin, urban romances, oral stories, children's folklore, anecdotes, conspiracies. As a rule, there are short and capacious genres; the conspiracy is experiencing a revival and legalization.

Reassuring presence paraphrase- figurative, metaphorical expressions that arise in speech on the basis of existing stable oral stereotypes. This is one of the examples of real reincarnations of tradition, its actualization. Another problem is aesthetic value such paraphrases. For example: a roof over your head (protection of special persons); the tax inspector is not a dad; curly-haired, but not a ram (an allusion to a member of the government), just "curly-haired". From the middle generation, we are more likely to hear variants of paraphrases than variants of traditional genres and texts. Variants of traditional texts are quite rare in the territory Tambov region.

Oral folk art is the most specific poetic monument. It already exists as a grandiose recorded and published archive, folklore, again as a monument, as an aesthetic structure, is "animated", "comes to life" on the stage in the broadest sense of the word. Skillful cultural policy favors the preservation of the best poetic examples.