Pavel Falev and his “Nogai Legend of Idegey” (on the history of the epos study)

Abstract

Research objectives: This article is the publication of a fragment of an unpublished study by Pavel Alexandrovich Falev (1888–1922), “The Nogai Legend of Idegey”, dedicated to the epic of Idegey, as well as a brief overview of the study and collection of various Turkic versions of the epic (primarily in the Tatar language). Research materials: Pavel Falev’s unpublished work is kept as a manuscript in the Archive of Orientalists of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg and consists of 16 copybooks which are of considerable interest to researchers, both turkologists and folklorists. It represents a certain stage in the field of study regarding Turkic epic in general and the epic of Idegey in particular, and, of course, needs a annotated publication. The main feature of this work is, first of all, that Pavel Falev consi­ders all versions of the Turkic legend of Idegey known to him at that time. Results and novelty of the research: The archive of Pavel A. Falev has already attracted the attention of researchers, but not by itself and only in connection with the research works of other Turkologists. In Falev’s text there is furthermore an overview of the versions of the epics known to the author, and the need to study and collect various versions of the legend of Idegey is quite clearly stated – only this, according to Pavel Falev, would allow for recreating the full picture of its distribution.

Keywords

• turkic epic
• epic tale of idegey
• archive of orientalists of the institute of oriental manuscripts of the ras
• pavel falev