Issue 2 (55)
| ‘A LANDLORD FLEW, FELL ON THE WATER WITHOUT MAKING A STIR’: THE LANDLORD (BARIN) IN THE RUSSIAN FOLK RIDDLES | |||
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| Year | 2017 | Number | 2 (55) |
| Pages | 131-138 | Type | scientific article |
| UDC | 398.61(470) | BBK | 82.3(2)+63.521(=411) |
| Authors | Shapovalov Vladimir A. |
Topic | ETHNOGRAPHY AND FOLKLORE |
| Summary | Despite their ancient origin the folk riddles have been largely ignored by researchers as a potential historical source. The reason could be the absence in these texts of descriptions of large-scale historical events or social relations. Nonetheless the metaphoric correlation of the inanimate and the living nature objects with a landlord (barin), highlighted, from a peasant’s point of view, some important behavioral stereotypes of the landlords. The analysis of riddles containing a ‘barin’ (‘barynia’) metaphor provided for a stratified approach to identification of a particular category of landlords implied in the riddles. The targeted social stratification of riddles with regard to the ruling classes off ered an opportunity to develop new approaches to the study of the peasantry's social psychology in the context of their relationships with various groups of the local nobility. The use of ‘barin’ (‘barynia’) metaphors in a number of riddles clearly demonstrated the existence of the noble dignity magic in the peasants’ mind, as well as the worship of ‘blue-blooded’ class whose way of life was both incomprehensible and highly attractive to the peasants. All this reflected a rather complex and controversial nature of the social perception of the landlords’ power by the peasantry, as well as the controversial nature of social antagonism in the Russian countryside, and thus made it possible to refer to the folk riddles as a valuable historical source. | ||
| Keywords | Folk riddles, barin, peasant, folklore, metaphor | ||
| References |
Аникин В. П. Русское устное народное творчество. М., 2004. |
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