Archaic genres of oral tradition interpretations in early literatyre (On the problem of textualization in folklore and in literature)

Abstract

The paper reviews considerably rare, even for early literature, cases of utilization of the most archaic folklore genres. Comprehensive imitations of folklore genres become a recurring format in the creative output of A.E. Kulakovsky – the first Yakut poet. The frequency of their use gives evidence of the author’s retention of the characteristic to them type of construction of the oral text. In case of the small genres the formula development in text gets into the spotlight, while when replicating the incantation genres the determinative element is the binary contrast of genres in oral tradition, such as praise and damnation. In the early literature, replication of relics pertaining to the earliest mythological semantics is found to occur. Kulakovsky’s poetic prowess when imitating folklore genres translates into skill in structuring the oral text by the formula. The texts under consideration are not folklore pastiche but rather a sterling simulation of folklore genres. The first Yakut poet, without resorting to the old genre forms and employing forms not known to exist in folklore, reimagines the long-standing genre traditions. Given that, we are talking about the forms of textualization in widely different categories of folklore and literature.

Keywords

• oral tradition
• early literature
• oral text
• archaic genres
• archaization
• formulaic language
• poetic diction
• short verse