Epos of the Mongolic Peoples: Publications within the Bilingual Academic Book Series ‘Epos of the USSR’s Peoples’

Abstract

As for the multinational Soviet folkloristics, the 1940–1960s witnessed the two alternating trends, namely: excessive idealization of folk epic patterns was repeatedly replaced by their vulgar sociological interpretations that often resulted in that epic compositions would be excluded from the list of greatest monuments of the world epic heritage. The national academic circles — with the support of some party and state organs — organized a number of folklore scientific conferences that finally re-established justice in evaluations of the epic monuments. Republican research institutions in co-operation with the Institute of World Literature published 20 epic monuments representing the rich epic heritage of different Soviet peoples. The article provides an overview of activities related to the preparation and publication of the heroic epics of the Kalmyks (Jangar) and Buryats (Gesar).

Keywords

• bilingual academic book series ‘epos of the ussr’s peoples’
• kalmyk heroic epic of jangar
• buryat heroic epic of gesar