Монголоведение (Apr 2021)
Ballads in 20th-Century Kalmyk Poetry: A Perspective from Genre Synthesis
Abstract
Introduction. The ballad genre in Kalmyk poetry, having no national folklore analogues, is based on the Russian literary ballad of the Soviet period. The article examines ballads in 20th-century Kalmyk poetry in the aspect of genre synthesis — the ballad and the poem proper. The relevance of the work is determined by that the Kalmyk literary ballad remains understudied both in the genre paradigm and in the dialogue of cultures. Goals. The article aims to examine the Kalmyk literary ballad in its synthesis with the genre of the poem. Materials and Methods. The investigated materials are works by N. Tamarchenko, D. Magomedova and others. Works by Mikhail Khoninov, Aksen Suseev and Erdni Eldyshev in the original and literary translations serve as sources for the study. The main research methods comprise the historical-literary, comparative methods, and that of descriptive poetics. Chronologically, the study covers the mid-to-late 20th century. Results. The study reveals, firstly, a synthesis of ballad and poem traced through the example of Mikhail Khoninov’s ‘Салькнла бǝǝр бǝрлдснǝ туск баллад’ (‘The Ballad of the Battle against the Wind’) and its poem-type transformation in Russian translation, the latter being also evident in the second edition of the original text; secondly, the genre of the poem in Aksen Suseev’s ‘Semen Nimgirov’ (Russ. ‘The Ballad of Civic Duty’) and Erdni Eldyshev’s ‘Marinesko’ gets transformed into that of the ballad when in their Russian translations; thirdly, the work identifies the prototype of Suseev’s main character. Conclusions. The ballad proves a most constant genre in M. Khoninov’s poetry, and the innovative synthesis of ballad and poem in the original text can also be found in his other work — ‘Хальмг күүкнǝ туск баллад’ (‘The Ballad of the Kalmyk Woman’). The authors A. Suseev and E. Eldyshev wrote no ballads, and their intentions had been initially aimed at the genre of the poem. This reveals certain differing strategies of the author and the translator resulting in the genre differentiation of a selected work on the latter’s way to the reader.
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