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ПАМЯТЬ КУЛЬТУРЫ Cultural Memory
A.S. Mironov
ON THE TIME IN RUSSIAN BYLINAS AND ITS AXIOLOGICAL NATURE
А.С. Миронов О ценностном характере былинной темпоральности
Перевод А.И. Парфенова*
The idea that the epic time is ideal, sacral, and «insular» — as if existing in its own particular universe absolutely distinct from the everyday reality of both the bylina narrator and his audience — is equally shared by different schools of Russian epic studies.
Thus, the followers of the so-called Historical School (L.N. Maykov, V.F. Miller, B.A. Rybakov, MM. Plisetsky, S.N. Azbelev, V.G. Smo-litsky, etc.) argued that Russian bylinas should be treated as mirroring real historical events translated, however, through the images of the abstract «epic epoch». D.S. Likhachev extended some M.M. Bakhtin's principles to Russian heroic songs — the rules which had been previously formulated by the scholar to describe the epic in general (i.e., as distinct from the novel). According to the latter, «an absolute epic distance separates the epic world from contemporary reality, that is, from the time in which the singer (the author and his audience) lives»1. In this regard, D.S. Likhachev specifies that the past of bylinas is «an ideal "antiquity" with no direct transition to modern times»2. The scholar is convinced that «bylina time is closed, and closed as though with a doubly closed character»: «in the first place, epic time itself, which occupies a seemingly "insular position" in Russian history, and is not connected with any transitions to the rest of Russian history, is closed, and in the second place the action of the bylina itself is closed»3. In D.S. Likhachev's view, «time begins in the bylina ... with the start of the story and finishes with the end of the story»4.
The Neomythologists (or the Ritualists) are of the opinion that Russian epic poetry should be treated as indicative of archaic magical prac-
* Translated by A.I. Parfenov (Moscow State Institute of Culture, Khimki City, Moscow region, Russia).
tices with their imagery of the «original time» — the epoch when the «cultural heroes» established rituals and taught people how to use these or those basic technologies. Thus, ac cording to S.U. Nekludov, «the epic epoch — taking into account its isolation — is analogous to the mythological "time before time itself'»5. The «nostalgia for the golden age» — the quality about which E.M. Meletinsky writes with regard to Russian bylinas6 — is attributed by the Neomythologists to the fact that the mythological time is an «original time», a time when all happened — excuse our tautology — for the first time: «.. .first appearance of a certain thing is relevant, while all subsequent appearances of this very thing are without such relevance»7.
* * *
Nonetheless, anyone familiar with Russian bylinas feels that the time of the epic Prince Vladimir is perceived neither by the narrator nor by his listeners, nor by the very heroes as an «original time». This perception is absolutely impossible. In bylinas, nobody can be considered as the first man or progenitor, as a cultural hero establishing a certain order of things, certain laws, arts, and crafts. Mikula Selyaninovich isn't the first plowman in history, his activity quite ordinary and habitual; moreover, there are a lot of other plowmen around him (this is why the hero doesn't «give» plow to the humankind, but, on the contrary, hides his one behind a brittle-willow bush). Also, Dobrynya Nikitich acts as a serpent-fighter not for the first time: his father Nikita previously played this role. Ilya Muromets encloses his parents' plot, grubs out the stumps, and removes the stones, but it is absolutely impossible to say that this work is done by the hero for the first time in the history of the epic Russia. As for Prince Vladimir, this character neither establishes princely power nor usurps it: he just takes it over trying to preserve the existing order of things. In general, the chronotope of the prince's feast is perceived as a sort of «con-temporaneity in the past» precisely because the listener can intuitively understand either the phycology of the characters or the rules of conduct adopted at the court (at one's house, on the battlefield, etc.); there are neither mysteries nor enigmas, nor specific archaic rituals. The spirit of everyday life permeates Novgorodian epic songs to an even larger extent: neither Sadko nor Vasily Buslaev can be regarded as first men, progenitors or cultural heroes.
At first glance, the case of Volkh Vseslavevich is more complex; according to the Neomythologists, this hero invents and then gives to mankind certain technologies (first of all, those of hunt, but also, as it seems, the «much wisdom» — i.e., turnskin knowledge and magic). However, if we carefully reread the variants of the epic song, we will see that the hero doesn't teach his warriors how to hunt: he hunts for them using his unique method — his ability to turn into different animals. At that, Volkh Vseslavevich doesn't teach anyone to this practice; it remains his
exclusive knowledge. So, the hero is neither a teacher nor a founder; as rendered in Russian bylinas, he is an individualist, a person unwilling to share his knowledge with anyone. Even assuming that Volkh Vseslavev-ich teaches his warriors how to hunt (providing certain examples of this trade for them), we'll have to reject such an assumption on the ground that the men already know how to track and kill animals — even if they commit these or those mistakes in practice.
In our view, the formula «original times» (vremena pervonachalnye; from Kirsha Danilov's famous collection) highlighted by certain scholars8 doesn't merit serious attention. Firstly, we find this formula in the skomorokh song about a man harnessing his own mother and wife to a cart (The Ancient Russian Poems.., p. 176); here, the word-combination produces a comical effect (or burlesque) arising from the discrepancy between the low theme and the high style by which this very theme is represented. Secondly, the epithet «original» is applied not to the times of Prince Vladimir, but to the period «When formidable Tsar Ivan Vasilev-ich / Ascended his throne, began to reign» (The Ancient Russian Poems.., p. 171, vv. 3-4), which confirms our opinion that the epic time is open to the features of later epochs.
It is also inconceivable that bylinas (as we know them from the existing records) were performed with certain ritual purposes, including, for example, the healing of illnesses, as it is supposed by those scholars who focus on mythological studies (their opinion based on the postulate of mythological consciousness according to which the narration of a certain object's or phenomenon's «original story» puts this very object or phenomenon in good order). Thus, the bylina about Sadko (or any extracts from it) can't be narrated in order to become rich or to learn how to play the psaltery. Axiological analysis clearly demonstrates that both the wealth and the desire to be the best psalterer act as temptations for the hero, as sources of his future misfortunes; in particular, the Sea Tsar tries to spiritually capture Sadko precisely through these two passions.
According to the Ritualists, the action of folklore is set in the «ritual time», the one «seen by the audience both as a rupture in the worldly, mundane time and a breakthrough into the sacred, eternal time»9. However, numerous events of the bylina world cannot be regarded as relating to this temporal category under any circumstances. For example, the image of the knight who rides ridiculously in his saddle because the wandering minstrels «gave him a lot of lashes on the ass» (Bylinas in 25 vols., vol. 2, p. 23, v. 116) — we find this scene in the bylina about the forty wandering minstrels (sorok kalik) which absolutely cannot be regarded as a skomorokh song. And not only Alyosha Popovich [in Russian the patronymic Popovich literally means «a son of the priest»] (in respect to whom, it may be theoretically inferred, some epic singers are prejudiced, seeing this character as a representative of the clergy) finds himself in such a situation, but also Dobrynya Nikitich, a hero deeply beloved by all Russian people. The latter gets «two ass-kicks» (Bylinas in 25 vols., vol.
1, p. 373, v. 83) from the travelling knight known as nakhvalhchik (literally «braggart» or «boaster») after which is seated by him backwards on the charger — once again, all this takes place neither in a skomorokh song nor in a parodic epic, but in the solemn and profound bylina depicting Ilya Muromets's tragic meeting with his own son. In our view, any effort to represent this scene as a vestige of ritual derision is a clear example of forced argumentation.
If the culture of Classical Antiquity — as well as its successor, Western European cultural paradigm — presupposes a strict dichotomy between the sacral and the profane (inter alia, in terms of genres), Russian bylinas organically merge the low and the laughable with the «ascents to those spiritual spheres that may be reached only through numerous efforts, struggle, and suffering»10. As is well known, the Homeric Odysseus returns home to deal brutally with Penelope's suitors — and this kind of action certainly fits into the category of «sacral time»; but what about the bylina scene in which Dobrynya Nikitich comes back and beats Alyosha Popovich, an unsuccessful fiancé now, with his own psaltery in such a way that «Alyosha's groans were muffled / By these very strikes and blows» (Bylinas in 25 vols., vol. 1, p. 259, vv. 269-270)? This quite realistic, devoid of sublime pathos scene can't be interpreted as presupposing any sacral temporality or sacredness as such — except possibly the sacred feelings of love and mercy which prevent Dobrynya Nikitich (as opposed to the mentioned Homeric personage) from killing his ill-fated love rival.
As can be seen from the above, the artistic time of Russian bylinas doesn't involve any traits of the «original time». It is important to point out that the two temporalities (i.e., the time of bylina action and the time of bylina performance) have something in common: a single system of axiological coordinates equally shared by the heroes and the listeners. In this lies the principle difference between the bylina narration and the mythological narrative discourse, the characters of the latter above the audience's moral judgment, as if «concealed» from its critical gaze by their height and distance.
In the case of Russian folk epics, the general rules according to which the hero should be morally assessed (the rules applicable to the hero himself — as well as to other personages of the bylina world, to the epic singer and his audience) merge the epic time with the temporal reality of everyday life. The listener realizes that the spiritual laws connecting heroes' acts with their consequences are no less relevant today: they work equally in his own mundane time and in the epic Kiev. This understanding joins a flow of time: the present continuous of the epic singer and his listeners emerges as a natural extension of the heroes' epic past. Critically examining the deeds of the epic knights (even committed by his favorite characters), the bylina narrator invites the listeners to acknowledge the relevance of bylina spiritual laws in respect to their own everyday life.
According to M.M. Bakhtin, in the case of epic, «the valorized em-
phasis is not on the future and does not serve the future, no favors are being done it (such favors face an eternity outside time); what is served here is the future memory of a past, a broadening of the world of the absolute past, an enriching of it with new images (at the expense of contemporaneity)»11. However, Russian epic consciousness appreciates not the past per se, but timeless spiritual laws illustrated through the images of the past — the laws equally applicable to any epoch. Therefore, in the case of bylinas, the value emphasis lies not on the past, but rather on the future which may (and should) become an axiological extension of the ancient times.
As for the suggestion that the artistic time of Russian heroic songs should be described as static, it is not confirmed by the analysis of existing bylina records. Quite on the contrary, the favorite plot of Russian folk epics may well be identified as the appearance of an «unexpected» new hero. Among these heroes are Alyosha Popovich and Dobrynya Ni-kitich, Ilya Muromets and Vasily Buslaev; later on, they are replaced by Mikhaylo Danilovich, Yermak Timofeevich, Duk Stepanovich, and Konstantin Saulevich. We can say that bylinas act as songs about new heroes, that they are permeated with the anticipation of heroic deeds committed by warriors of a new generation — the ones who are successors of Svya-togor, Samson Samoylovich, and other «old» knights.
From our point of view, the idea that «the universe rendered at the beginning [Of Russian bylinas. — A.M] is perfect and harmonious, completely devoid of any evil»12 should also be treated as dubious. This observation may be correct in the case of myths or in relation to the folk epics created by hunter-gatherer societies. As for the opening lines of Russian heroic songs, they often picture how the previous order of things is disturbed by the birth of a new knight: thus, the nature trembles with fear when Volkh Vseslavovich is born and, in another bylina, evil forces are terrified upon learning that Dobrynya Nukitich has come into this world. Bylinas usually begin with a certain novelty, which highlights that Russian epic consciousness is focused on the future, on the new models of the universe. The traditional beginning depicting Prince Vladimir's feast is also far from any harmony allegedly intrinsic to the bygone era: the feast is inevitably connected with this or that problem (the Prince is upset or he wants to marry; he has to pay tribute; he have lost Russian knights at cards; he suffers from his Princess's impudent favorite; he is notified about a crop damage or an enemy invasion; he finds out that a certain knight abandoned his knightly mission, etc.). A problem, a new «evil» is inherently a key element of the bylina universe; it is rendered here from the beginning of the plot. Taking this into account, it may be said that any bylina is a song about a «new» time, its opening lines indicating a dramatic transition to the mentioned temporal category.
Indeed, in the case of Russian bylinas, the «absolute past» is broadened by the images of contemporaneity — but not because the epic singer tries both to preserve the memory of the past and to affirm its value. Quite
on the contrary, the memory of the past — in particular, of bygone value systems — is not an end in itself, but should contribute to the listener's moral development, to his personal future.
M.M. Bakhtin wrote that «contemporaneity for its own sake (that is to say, a contemporaneity that makes no claim on future memory) is molded in clay; contemporaneity for the future (for descendants) is molded in marble or bronze»13. However, in the case of Russian folk epics, we find a different temporal type — the one not fitting into the dichotomy between the «clay» and the «marble». The target audience of the Russian epic singer includes not «descendants», but those specific people who listen to his songs here and now, all of them with their particular spiritual problems and challenges which may be solved through a correctly designed set of motives. Therefore, bylinas «work» for contemporaneity, their function is to produce a therapeutic effect (and not a memorialization, which is a means, not an end). Consequently, Russian folk epics should be seen neither as the «contemporaneity for its own sake» (like folk lyrical or labor songs) nor as the «contemporaneity for the memory»; they are precisely the «memory for contemporaneity».
According to some modern scholars, the ideas about an «insular», isolated time of Russia folk epics — or, in other words, about an impassable «chronological distance» between the moment of narration and the time of a certain event rendered in bylinas — should be treated as «one of the fundamental and systematically important constants defining the bylina poetics»14. It is known, however, that Russian epic songs embrace traces of different historical epochs, their action open to the distant past (including the time of the Old Testament: for example, see the bylina about Soloman Tsar [Bylinas in 25 vols., vol. 4, pp. 583-591]) — as well as to later epochs (among them, in particular, the Tsardom of Russia with its capital in Moscow and imperial Saint Petersburg). Thus, the action of the bylina about Ilya Muromets's encounter with stanichniks (literally «the inhabitants of stanitsa», possibly Cossacks) begins at once in «the middle of the Moscow Tsardom, / In the middle of the Russian State, / In central Moscow, in the City of Kremlin» (ArkhangelskBylinas..., vol. 1, part. 1, p. 454). We read that the father of an epic knight (here, Dobrynya Nikitich or Vasily Buslaev is implied) «didn't argue with» the «New Cities» (Veliky Novgorod, literally «great new city») and «didn't contradict» «stone Moscow» (Bylinas in 25 vols., vol. 1, p. 220); that beautiful Apraksiya never was «in holy Russia, in stone Moscow» (Bylinas in 25 vols., vol. 1, p. 551, v. 62) before her marriage to Prince Vladimir. Du-nay Ivanovich strolls «from horde to horde, from Moscow to Lithuania» (Belomorsk Starinas..., p. 219, v. 75). Returning to Russia, Dobrynya Nikitich asks the nuns he meets about the fate of «stone Moscow» (Belomorsk Starinas..., p. 633, v. 53); and the riddle about «stone Moscow» is proposed to Gleb Volodevich by guileful Marinka Kaydalovna (Belomorsk Starinas..., p. 356, vv. 149-153). We are of the view that these and similar passages can't be regarded as bylina narrators' mistakes: in terms
of epic consciousness, «the capital city Kiev» and «Mother» Moscow have the same axiological-semantic role.
One might presume that the epic singers of the 19th century mechanically replaced Kiev with Moscow (and vice versa, as, for example, in those historical songs which describe how «the formidable Tsar» (in Russian, groznyy tsar (cf. Ivan Groznyy [literally «Ivan the Formidable»]), a traditional Russian appellation for Ivan the Terrible) eradicated traitors in Kiev [Ancient Russian Poems..., p. 281]). However, in a number of bylina records, Moscow and Kiev are intentionally brought together into a single space-time position: thus, one of A.M. Krukova's epic songs renders the situation in which Ilya Muromets's letters (the «quickly-written labels», erlytski skoropistsyaty) «Come quickly to the city of Kiev, / Like to Mother Moscow made of stone» (Belomorsk Starinas..., p. 57, vv. 232-233).
«Ministers» (ministry) and «generals» (generaly) act in the bylinas of the Kievan cycle; here, Prince Vladimir is often mentioned as «Tsar» and his feasts are described as taking place on the banks of the Neva River. Both a boyar's son and a general's son (eneralskiy syn) serve under Ilya Muromets at the heroic outpost (Bylinas 1938, p. 90). In the epic Kiev, Duk Stepanovich makes arrangements with Alyosha Popovich «to ride, on our steeds, into the Neva River» (The Bylinas of Pechora, p. 87, v. 65), and Ilya Muromets is travelling towards «the capital city Kiev on the Neva River» (BelomorskStarinas..., p. 359, v. 185); passing by «the fine city of Kiev», the aurochs see that the Blessed Virgin Mary «has stepped into the Neva River, the waters up to Her waist» (Belomorsk Starinas..., vol. 4, p. 414, v. 26).
The fact that the Neva River is «placed» in Kiev can't be attributed to the poor geographical knowledge: quite the contrary, the epic singer knows perfectly well that, proceeding from Veliky Novgorod (not Kiev) and going down by the Neva River, one can reach the sea and, subsequently, the Holy Land (BelomorskStarinas., vol. 4, p. 514). The amalgamation of the Russian capitals — «fine» Kiev, «stone» Moscow, and the imperial city on the Neva River — can be regarded neither as a mistake nor as a fortuity, but as an intentionally composite image of the universal — and, consequently, «eternal» — Russian metropolis. Nevertheless, the fact that bylinas include certain details belonging to later historical epochs was interpreted by some epic scholars as artistically extraneous or even as an indication that the epic songs were damaged during their existence in the peasant milieu15. Affirming the idea that bylinas are focused on the archaic past only, E.V. Pomerantseva underscored the absence of «fundamentally new images» in Russian heroic songs, where, according to the scholar, there are exclusively «new words and new household details»16. In this regard, E.V. Pomerantseva entered into a controversy with R.S. Lipets who was of the opinion that the continuous process of introducing modern images and notions into traditional bylina plots must be seen as «an artistic principle, and not as a superficial
modernization of the text»17.
It is natural that bylinas accept neither the phenomena of the Soviet epoch (communes, collective farms, and Komsomol) nor the new types of heroes (Pavlik Morozov, Felix Dzerzhinsky, etc.); but the events of the Soviet history fall well within the logic of the spiritual laws rendered in Russian folk epics. Bylinas include a number of symbolic topoi which may be regarded as relevant to the 20th century, including the one of insurrection (with certain God-defying motifs: see, for example, Ilya Mu-romets's «revolt» or outrageous deeds committed by Vasily Buslaev) — as well as the metaphorical themes of main heroes' disgrace and «repressions». Thus, the plots about defamed «Ilya Murovlenin» and rejected Solovey Budimirovich were mentioned by F. Kmita-Chernobylsky (with regard to his own experience of a king's disfavor) in his «message of tidings» (vestovaya otpiska) sent to Ostafy Volovich on 5 August 1574 [cited by Veselovsky 1881,p. 64]. In the Soviet time, these universal plots could be enriched by new features — the ones selected by the epic singer on the principle of spiritual analogy — if the oral circulation of bylinas weren't brought to an end.
In the case of Russian folk epics, new historical events are rendered neither through the «superficial modernization of the text» (i.e., through the introduction of new words such as «market-place» [rynok], «galoshes» [kaloshi], «uniform» [obmundirovanie], etc. into the heroic songs) nor through the inevitable enculturation of important events taking place in contemporary social life (as it was supposed by E.V. Pomerantseva and R.S. Lipets correspondingly). Epic consciousness selects from new life experience those facts which illustrate the relevance of «eternal» spiritual laws for the audience—we mean, as above, the laws connecting the motivation for a certain heroic deed with its consequences. The functional poetics of Russian bylinas implies that symbolical, universal images of ancient history should be constantly enriched by new, axiologically «co-valent» features — the ones mirroring the present and predicting the future.
The bylina plot about Skurla/Kudrevanko/Kalin easily embraces the events separated from each other by more than five centuries of Russian history precisely because it renders a situation which may be designated as axiologically «model» or «standard». According to A.M. Panchenko, this situational type also includes the Battles of Kulikovo, Poltava, and Borodino — the «compulsory» battles emerging, however, as national «moral achievements»18. The features of different historical events are rendered into epic images on the principle of spiritual analogy (or, in other words, value coordinates' similarity). Thus, performing the bylina about Kalin Tsar, Maria Dmitrievna Krivopolenova associates the Tatar invasion — the one depicted in the epic song — with the events of the Great War, adding, in particular, that Kalin Tsar acted «just like the Germans did in our time» (IlyaMuromets, p. 467).
In order to «open» a certain bylina plot to the latest historical realities,
the epic singer intentionally includes into it the features belonging to different nations and cultures; as a result, the central event — in terms of its spiritual meaning — is represented not as historical, but as «metahistori-cal», i.e., typical and recurring. However, from the times of A.N. Vesel-ovsky, the numerous examples of this literary device were treated by epic scholars as indicative of bylina narrators' «confused geographical knowledge»19.
Meanwhile, from the epic singer's perspective, the emphasis should be placed not on temporal and geographical coordinates of a certain event, but on its axiological dimension: when these or those events are identical in terms of their axiological nature, the narrator can correlate them regardless time and space differences (even if the latter are especially vast).
Thus, the bylina plot about a handsome, impudent, and extremely rich favorite — the one beloved by the Princess and publicly dishonoring the institution of highest authority — (i.e., Tugarin the Serpent) could be seen as relevant by the contemporaries of A.D. Menshikov and Catherine I — or by the persons living at the times of Andrey Osterman, Ernst Johann von Biron, and Anna Ioannovna.
As it is known, the knights rendered in Russian folk epics often use shotguns and spyglasses. But not only «modernized» objects of knightly life, but also a lot of value-meaningful transitions — or «bridges» — connect the «insular» time of Russian folk epics with other historical epochs: the epic Kiev is attacked either by Lithuanian troops or by «the Poles-Uhlans» (pany-ulanovya), or by Kalin Tsar (this character lives in the place called «Elesina Fields» [Elesina-polya] (Champs-Elysees) and orders — just like Napoleon did — to organize stables in Orthodox churches). The epic Kiev is connected not only with subsequent historic epochs, but also with Biblical times: thus, proceeding from this city, one can reach the Holy Land and Jerusalem, meeting with Samson the Knight and Soloman Tsar on his way.
The conqueror of Tsargrad Idolishche Poganoye and Ilya Muromets's travel to the Greek Land (in order to liberate this country from the invader) open up before the audience a prophetic perspective, a number of meanings which were relevant, for example, during the Russian military aid to the Balkan Slavs. And when bylina heroes have their chess fights with Bukhar Tsar (Bukhara) these episodes may well be seen as reminiscent of M.D. Skobelev's Asian campaigns.
Among the main heroes connecting bylinas with historical songs is the «junior knight» Yermak Timofeevich who supersedes Kiev warriors as they «grow old». It is no coincidence that Russian people included both the heroic songs about Kiev knights and the historical songs dedicated to Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, etc. under the same title, starinas (literally «something old»). In other words, the spiritual laws of Kiev bylinas remain active in the world where Yermak Timofeevich and the brothers Borisovich of Tver live (the latter are known as the killers
of Shchelkan Dudentevich: according to certain historical songs, he was literally «tore apart» by them). Axiologically, the world image proposed by epic consciousness is common to both bylinas and historical songs (and it is not by chance that historical songs were initially designated by scholars as «Moscow bylinas»). This fact rules out the possibility that the time of Kiev and Novgorod heroes is isolated or «insular».
An example of «bridge» providing a kind of reverse transition — from the epic time to the present continuous of the bylina narrator and his audience — may be found in the finale of the heroic song entitled «Vasily Ignatevich and Batyga». Perceiving these lines, the listener as if moves through historical epochs (from «stone» Moscow to Saint Petersburg) — and, simultaneously, through the Russian space (from the south to the north):
There are broad expanses near Kiev, There are the high Sorochinsk Mountains, There are churches in stone Moscow, There is a ringing, a tolling in Novgorod, Ah, there are fine white loaves in Valday, Ah, there are dressy lasses in Yaroslavl, And cheap kisses in the Belozersk part, And sweet beverages in Petersburg, There are mosses, bogs down to the blue sea, There are stony beaches in the north, There are wide skirts on Pudozh women, Oak-dyed sarafans on Onega maidens, There are fat wenches near Lyokshmozero, Ah, wenches goggled-eyed near Pashozero.
(Bylinas 1938, p. 137, vv. 183-196)
S.U. Nekludov makes mistakes in asserting that bylinas — as opposed to folk fairy tales — don't know transitions from the epic era to the present time (and this fact is treated by the scholar as indicative of a connection, maybe genetic, existing between the epic epoch and the mythical «time before time itself»20). Leading his audience from Kiev to the river Onega and the lake Lyokshmozero (and, at the same time, through several historical epochs), the narrator as if highlights that there is a successive connection with the heroic past of Russian bylinas. As the listeners «return» to their own time, the epic singer's tone gradually changes, becoming more pragmatic, even derisive — but we can't find here any sharp opposition between the «sacral» reality of heroic songs and the «profane» nature of everyday life (as is characteristic of folk fairy tales, where the fictitious presence of the narrator at the imaginable feast necessarily implies the accentuated absence of real viands and drinks).
In the finale of the heroic song, the optics of the epic singer changes
gradually, without leaps or gaps — thus, for example, «Petersburg» with its «sweet beverages» could fully belong both to the reality of Russian folk epics (depicting the «green wine» [zeleno vino], the «barley beers» [pivy yachnye], etc.) and to the listeners' daily life in which they can come to Saint Petersburg to taste the «sweet beverages» themselves. As a result, the audience becomes convinced that the realism of everyday life is naturally connected not only with the choronotopes of Novgorod and «stone» Moscow, but even with the ones of the epic Kiev and the Soro-chinsk Mountains.
Asserting that epic consciousness presupposes an unbridgeable gap between the heroic past and everyday life, the scholars sometimes refers to epic singers' remarks allegedly indicative of quantitative distinction separating the former chronological category from the latter — «some-thing wasn't/was previously vs. something isn't/is now»21. In our view, the existence of such remarks can be attributed not to the «gap» between the listener's and the hero's chronological dimensions, but to the fundamental distinction demarcating the epic traditional communication from the bylina performance as undertook on the record. Perceiving a certain cultural and axiological «otherness» of the collector, the epic singer tried to «help» him or her by providing brief historical comments; indeed, it is hard to imagine the traditional listener as needed to be elucidated that «there had been archery in the old days» (The Bylinas of the North..., vol. I. № 1, vv. 45-46) or that room had been previously called gridnya (The Bylinas of the North., vol. I. № 12, v. 39).
Now, one more argument of the Neomythologists should be touched upon: we mean the idea that Russian bylinas preserve such a mythological feature as the hero's constant — or timeless — age (replacing, however, the phase of «knightly childhood»). The proofs for this position include the one that Ilya Muromets's traditional characteristic is «old» (staroy), while Dobrynya Nikitich is often mentioned as «young» or «youthful» (mlad, mladeshenek). But the designation «old» is Ilya Muromets's permanent sobriquet, a kind of his «middle name». Every epic singer and every listener knew what it meant to perform a bylina about «the old man», since, except for Ilya Muromets, there were no other «old» knights in Russian heroic songs. There are even variants in which the hero («the old experienced man», star mater chelovek [Archangels Bylinas..., vol. I, pp. 434-435]) is never named — because the audience already understands who he is.
Firstly, the sobriquet «old man» indicates that Ilya Muromets is a chief or «foreman» of all Kiev knights (thus, in Russian peasant families, head of the house was traditionally referred to as «old man» [staroy], while his wife was commonly designated as a «big one» [bolshukha]); moreover, Ilya Muromets is «the Old Cossack», i.e., the forebear of all Russian Cossacks. Secondly, unlike other knights, the hero takes up his knightly mission not in his early youth (as, for example, Volga, Dobrynya Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich, Duk Stepanovich, Vasily Buslaev, Yermak
Timofeevich, and Mikhaylo Danilovich do), but when he is thirty, i.e., at an age when a person cannot be considered as young.
In contrast to Dobrynya Nikitich — the hero who, in front of the audience, passes through his three development stages (boyhood, the «foolish adolescence», and the «mature adolescence») before he is thirty — Ilya Muromets passes through his three ages after his thirty birthday. Conditionally speaking, they are maturity (from the hero's healing to his battle with Sokolnik), active ageing (from the battle with Sokolnik to the confinement to the «deep cellars»), and senility (when the hero is already «swaying in his saddle»). At that, the changes in the character's age are denoted not by formal epithets («young», «old», etc.), but by qualitative shifts in his value center. In other words, any new age presupposes a new state of Ilya Muromets's axiological paradigm; proceeding from his reactions and deeds, the listener feels that the personage has morally developed, changed, grew older.
For example, there is an obvious difference between Ilya Muromets's value center as rendered at the beginning of his knightly mission (when the hero agrees to the adulterous liaison with Svyatogor's wife and even, according to some variants of the bylina, frequently visits her after the death of her husband) — and at the end of his life, when the hero refuses a sexual intimacy with the beautiful princess under the pretext that he often can't «retain urine» [The Onega Bylinas..., p. 312].
It is clear that the hero's value center changes with age, this process relevant to his other weaknesses and passions. Thus, among Ilya Muromets's weaknesses is his propensity to boast before a certain feat is committed (since the hero knows perfectly well that «he can't die on the battlefield» and this awareness sometimes provokes him to commit such a sin). But, throughout the bylina cycle, the hero demonstrates his attitude towards boasting on three occasions. As for maturity («the first age»), he boasts before the battle with Sokolnik (and is almost killed by the latter). In old age («the second age»), the hero receives as a gift from Prince Vladimir a fur coat and, before a victory over Kudrevanko Tsar, boasts that he will drag this foreign ruler by his hear just like he now drags the fur coat given to him by his sovereign (the retribution for this boasting is Ilya Muromets's long-term confinement in «deep cellars»). And finally, we find the hero's value center profoundly transformed at the moment when other knights boast of their victory over the strongest enemy and threaten to «fell» (prirubit) the very powers of heaven. Having passed through the temptation of boasting, Ilya Muromets knows that the ones committing this sin will be inevitably punished:
«You, tumultuous brothers Brodovich,
Brothers Brodovich, Petrovich brothers!
Don't boast about what you can't achieve»
(Arkhangelsk Bylinas., vol. III, p. 480)
And in another variant:
It's a perilous trick, guys, a great mistake;
Do you think you'll get away with it?
(Belomorsk Starinas..., p. 363)
The example of Dobrynya Nikitich demonstrates how a new status of value center is connected with a true qualitative shift in one's age. Initially, we see the hero as a youth, «playing his rough tricks» in his native Ryazan and, subsequently, leaving the city to serve to Prince Vladimir; this period covers at least nine years («Dobrynushka served as a courtier for three years», etc.). The second age of the hero is his «foolish» adolescence when he falls on evil days entering into a relationship with Marinka Potravnitsa, leaves Kiev to «trample down» the little snakes (the so-called zmeenyshi or zmeenyshes), and battles with the Snake for the first time to conclude with her a peace treaty. Finally, his third age is represented through the arduous nine (or twelve) years spent by the hero apart from his family — as well as through his subsequent homecoming upon which Dobrynya Nikitich finds a wedding of his own wife. Let us note that, in this latter plot, the knight — who by then has defeated the Snake, resisted the temptation of «gold, steed, and lechery», and, being faithful to his wife, rejected the love of Prince Vladimir's niece — acts differently than the previous «foolish» Dobrynya Nikitich do; as a consequence, the epic singer never applies this epithet — «foolish» — to the hero as rendered in the concluding song.
The Novgorodian heroes Sadko and Vasily Buslaev pass through two stages in their life. It is no coincidence that there are two bylinas about each of them: in the first ones, we see their adolescence with its boisterous passions (pride and compulsion to be the best in the case of Sadko, pride-cum-willfulness in the case of Vasily Buslaev) and, in the second ones, we learn about their crimes and punishments (with varying outcomes for each character).
Other knights (Mikhaylo Potyk, Duk Stepanovich, Sukhman, Kaza-rin, Khoten Bludovich, Stavr Godinovich, etc.) are «timeless» in our eyes only because there is only one song about each of them. However, if we assume that Mikhaylo Potyk and the chieftain of the forty wandering minstrels (sorok kalik) is one and the same person, then we also find here two age periods: boisterous adolescence (with its drunkenness and lechery which force the hero even to lie to Prince Vladimir) and maturity (when the chieftain of the forty wandering minstrels overcomes his passion and rejects Princess Apraksiya's indecent proposal).
The commonplace notion — seemingly arising by analogy with the demigods of mythological consciousness — that Russian epic knights are «immortal» enabled certain scholars to correlate them with demons,
ancestral spirits, the undead, etc. Thus, I.Ya. Froyanov and Yu.I. Yudin asserted that Ilya Muromets «is blessed with a personal immortality after his water healing» [Froyanov, Yudin, p. 45]. T.A. Novichkova treated the alleged immortality of Russian epic knights as an evidence of their relation with the ancient «cult of the dead» [Novichkova, p. 6], which the scholar attributed to the Slavs taking into account I.I. Tolstoy and S.M. Tolstaya's views [Tolstoy, Tolstaya, p. 78]. Meanwhile, as was demonstrated by F.M. Selivanov, Russian folk epics do not imply that their heroes are immortal [Selivanov 1976, p. 73]. Even in the case of Ilya Muromets, we can speak only of the fact that the hero «can't die on the battlefield», but is mortal in other situations; as is well known, the knight turns into stone after the Kamsk Battle.
So, in the case of Russian bylinas, we can't find any traces of the «original time» — the temporal category for which the «familiar» time of the epic performance should allegedly be neglected or disregarded. Quite on the contrary, bylinas appear as a pragmatic communicative act implying a dynamic transmission of traditional meanings both to the present and to the feature. The past isn't a goal of the epic narration, but just a means, while its true goal is the present continuous of the listeners and — even more so — their future.
In 1991, Russian epic scholar V.I. Kalugin made the following important observation: «the way ancient Russian painting presupposes a reverse perspective . folk epics presuppose a reverse historical perspective, an "invertedness" through which the events of the 13th-16th centuries are brought to the 10th century, to the "epic time" of Prince Vladimir»22. Indeed, we can assume that both the composition of Orthodox icons and the space-time relations of the bylina universe similarly reflect the world-view of the Russians, their sense of beauty. In the case of ancient Russian icons, reverse perspective as if devalues the foreground, the very position of the spectators, emphasizes their humble role — and once the spectators recognize themselves as «subordinate», «mean», they are immediately «drawn» into the sacral perspective of the iconic image, being thus — so to speak — raptured from their subordinate position, from their everyday life. Or more precisely, the sacral space opens for the viewers, ruches into their world, «encloses» them on all sides — since the «vanishing point» of the parallel lines suddenly turns out to be behind the recipients, not in front of them. In that way, the viewers become however minor but real participators — or co-existers — of the sacred event depicted in the icon.
Similarly, the «reverse historical perspective» of Russian folk epics — the one focused neither on the «foreground» nor on the listener's mundane experience (but on the events of the distant past which suddenly become near, even unfolding) — «encloses» the audience. However, if the icon «encloses» its viewers through space relations, bylinas act through temporal ones, that is to say spread the axiological structure of the epic time to their listeners, as if compelling them to obey to the ancient, «avital» values — and thus enter into the heroic epoch.
In this sense, the «borders» of Russian antiquity are treated as borders of a specific axiological system, while the time itself is perceived by the listeners as a «field» (or, more correctly, as a flow steadily generated by the bylina performance) of well-structured elements translating a certain axiological worldview. Consequently, the transition from one chronological category to another is experienced by the listener precisely as a personal transition from one value system to another.
Let us add that the necessary condition to «draw» the audience into the epic chronotope is the positioning of plotlines' «vanishing point» «behind» the listener — i.e., in his or her personal everyday space and personal time focused on individual future. As a result, the present time of the audience becomes an organic part of the epic continuum; the listeners as if took their places at Prince Vladimir's table23 (they sit at the «low» part of the table, but without them the feast would be barren of meaning).
This transposition is possible only if the listeners are ready to admit their own initial state as «low» or «mean», axiologically subordinate — just like a man lessens himself in front of an icon, obeying the laws of the reverse perspective and accepting his «minor» role imposed by these very laws.
* * *
As can be seen from the above, the axiological analysis of Russian folk epics leads us to acknowledge the bylina temporality as a value-bearing phenomenon. The literary device according to which the features of different historical epochs should be accumulated or summed up in the epic song (on the principle of value coordinates' similarity) is typical for the bylina poetics; this device naturally entails that different toponyms can (and should) be included into the same image. Hence, B.N. Puti-lov's well-known formula («every epic plot arises at the crossing of the coordinates belonging to the reality and the ones belonging to the tra-dition»24) must be complemented by the third axiological dimension (a certain event may have different coordinates in terms of its «reality» and «tradition», but exclusively through the value identity the texture of different historical events is molded into a single imagery form).
We also come to the conclusion that the borders of the three «time positions»25 belonging to the hero, the narrator, and the listener coincide with the borders of their axiological paradigms. At that, the task of the epic singer is to change the listener's value center demonstrating that the spiritual laws of bylinas (i.e., the cause-and-effect relationships existing between the motivation, the action, and the consequences of this very action) are current not only for the «heroic time», but also for the everyday reality of the audience. The conception according to which the artistic temporality of Russian bylinas is closed and isolated — detached from the moment of narration and, simultaneously, from the time of the
listeners before and after the epic performance — must be recognized as erroneous.
Notes Примечания
1 Bakhtin M.M. Epic and Novel (Toward a Methodology for the Study of the Novel) // Bakhtin M.M. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Austin; London, 1981. P. 13.
2 Likhachev D.S. The Epic Time of Byliny // Likhachev D.S. The Poetics of Early Russian Literature. Lanham, 2014. P. 226.
3 Likhachev D.S. The Epic Time of Byliny // Likhachev D.S. The Poetics of Early Russian Literature. Lanham, 2014. P. 227.
4 Likhachev, D.S. The Epic Time of Byliny // Likhachev D.S. The Poetics of Early Russian Literature. Lanham, 2014. P. 227.
5 Неклюдов С.Ю. Поэтика эпического повествования: пространство и время. Москва, 2015. С. 37, 38.
6 Мелетинский Е.М. Избраннее статьи. Воспоминания. Москва, 2008. С. 367.
7 ЭлиадеМ. Аспекты мифа. Москва, 2010. С. 43.
8 Ткаченко В.В. Время и пространство в «Древних российских стихотворениях» Кирши Данилова // Древняя Русь. Вопросы мидиевистики. 2017. № 2 (68). С. 76-88.
9 Толстая С.М. Время // Славянская мифология: Энциклопедический словать. Москва, 1995. С. 124.
10 Сиротинин А.Н. Беседы о русской словесности. 3-е изд. Санкт-Петербург, 1913.С. 42.
11 Bakhtin M.M. Epic and Novel (Toward a Methodology for the Study of the Novel) // Bakhtin M.M. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Austin; London, 1981. P. 19.
12 Неклюдов С.Ю. Поэтика эпического повествования: пространство и время. Москва, 2015. С. 39.
13 Bakhtin M.M. Epic and Novel (Toward a Methodology for the Study of the Novel) // Bakhtin M.M. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Austin; London, 1981. P. 19.
14 Игумнов А.Г. Актуальная поэтика былины: Статья 2 // Вестник Бурятского государственного университета. 2016. № 5. С. 203.
15 Миллер В.Ф. Очерки русской народной словесности. В 3 т. Т. 1. Москва, 1897. С. 18.
16 Померанцева Э.В. Русские былины в конце XIX и в XX в. // Основные проблемы эпоса восточных славян. Москва, 1958. С. 85.
17 Липец Р.С. Былины у промыслового населения русского Севера XIX - начала XX века // Славянский фолклор: Материалы и исследования по исторической народной поэзии славян. Москва, 1951. С. 209.
18 Панченко А.М. Русская культура в канун петровских реформ. Ленинград, 1984. С. 201.
19 Веселовский А.Н. Южно-русские былины. Т. 2. Санкт-Петербург, 1884.
20 Неклюдов С.Ю. Поэтика эпического повествования: пространство и время. Москва, 2015. С. 37.
21 Игумнов А.Г. Актуальная поэтика былины: Статья 2 // Вестник Бурятского государственного университета. 2016. № 5. С. 203.
22 Калугин В.И. Предисловие // Былины. Москва, 1991. С. 34, 35.
23 Морозов А.А. Марья Дмитриевна Кривополенова: Жизнь и творчество // Кривополенова М.Д. Былины, скоморошины, сказки. Архангельск, 1950. С. 30.
24 Путиов Б.Н. Об эпическом подтексте (На материале былин и юнацких песен) // Славянский фольклор. Москва, 1972. С. 3.
25 Селиванов Ф.М. К вопросу об изображении времени в былинах // Русский фольклор. T. 16: Историческая жизнь народной поэзии. Ленинград, 1976. С. 80.
Author, Abstract, Key words
Arseny S. Mironov - Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor, Rector, Moscow State Institute of Culture (Khimki City, Moscow Region, Russia)
arsenymir@yandex.ru.
The subject matter of the given study is both the artistic time of Russian heroic epics and its relationship with the present continuous of traditional bylina narration. Based on the results of bylina axiological analysis, the author criticizes the existing stereotype (produced by M.M. Bakhtin, D.S. Likhachov, and other scholars) according to which the epic time should be described as ideal, sacral, and "insular" (an "original time") - i.e., as separated from the ordinary time of the epic singer and his audience.
According to the author, Russian folk epics do not imply any features of the sacral "original time", but absorb traits of different historical epochs into themselves on the principle of identical "spiritual codes", their temporality essentially open to the present and future of the epic singer and his audience. The convergence between the "ancient" epic time and the "familiar" time of the audience is due to the single system of value coordinates which, in turn, are equally applicable for the assessment of acts committed either by epic knights or listeners themselves. For this reason, the events belonging to different historical periods are rendered in Russian bylinas as subordinate to and comprehended by the universal logic of spiritual laws - the ones immanent to the consciousness of the hero and his traditional audience.
The author concludes that the temporality of Russian folk epics is subjected to the law of "reverse perspective" according to which the past shouldn't be represented as distant and vague, but, on the contrary, as realistic and near, placed in the foreground of the recipient's perception, in the field of the present. At that, the necessary condition to "draw" the audience into the epic chronotope is the positioning of plotlines' "vanishing point" "behind" the listener - i.e., in
his or her personal space and personal time focused on individual future. As a result, the present time of the audience becomes an organic part of the epic continuum, while the "epic knights' time" is perceived by the listener as a number of well-structured elements translating a certain axiological worldview. The transition from the "familiar" time to the «relevant epic» one is experienced by the listener precisely as a personal transition from one value system to another.
Slavs, Ancient Russia, Medieval Russia, Russian culture, history of culture, epic, bylina, artistic time, chronotope, Mikhail M. Bakhtin, Dmitry S. Likh-achev.
References (Articles from Scientific Journals)
1. Igumnov, A.G. Aktualnaya poetika byliny: Statya 2 [A Relevant Bylina Poetics: Article 2-nd.]. Vestnik Buryatskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2016, no. 5, pp. 199-211. (In Russian)
2. Tkachenko, V.V. Vremya i prostranstvo v "Drevnikh rossiyskikh stikhot-voreniyakh" Kirshi Danilova [Time and Space in "Ancient Russian Poems" by Kirsha Danilov.]. Drevnyaya Rus. Voprosy medievistiki, 2017, no. 2 (68), pp. 76-88. (In Russian)
(Monographs)
3. Bakhtin, M.M. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. University of Texas Press, 1981, 434 p. (In English)
4. Eliade, Mircea. Aspects du muthe. Gallimard Education, 1988, 250 p. = Eliade, M. Aspekty mifa [The Aspects of A Myth.]. Moscow, 2010, 256 p. (In Russian)
5. Likhachev, D.S. The Poetics of Early Russian Literature. Lexington Books, 2014, 363 p. (In English)
6. Miller, V.F. Ocherki russkoy narodnoy slovesnosti [Essays on Russian Folklore.]. In 3 vs. Moscow, 1897, vol. 1, 464 p. (In Russian)
7. Neklyudov, S.Yu. Poetika epicheskogo povestvovaniya: prostranstvo i vremya [The Poetics of Epic Narration: Time and Space.]. Moscow, 2015, 214 p. (In Russian)
8. Panchenko, A.M. Russkaya kultura v kanun petrovskikh reform [Russian Culture at the Eve of Peter the Great's Reforms.]. Leningrad, 1984, 205 p. (In Russian)
9. Sirotinin, A.N. Besedy o russkoy slovesnosti [The Conversations about Russian Folklore and Literature.] 3-rd ed. St. Petersburg, 1913, 335 p. (In Russian)
Автор, аннотация, ключевые слова
Миронов Арсений Станиславович - канд. филол. наук, доцент, рек-
тор, Московский государственный институт культуры (Химки, Московская область)
arsenymir@yandex.ru
Предметом исследования является художественное время русского героического эпоса и его соотнесенность с настоящим длящимся временем традиционного акта исполнения былины. На основании результатов аксиологического анализа былин автор подвергает критике устоявшееся представление (М.М. Бахтин, Д.С. Лихачев и другие) об идеальном, «островном» эпическом времени («первовремени»), которое якобы отделено от повседневного времени певца и аудитории.
Автор утверждает, что русский эпос не имеет черт сакрального первовремени, более того, по его мнению, былина не только вбирает черты различных исторических эпох на основе тождества «духовного кода» аналогичных событий, но ее темпоральность принципиально открыта настоящему и будущему певца и его аудитории. Сближение «древнего» эпического времени и «фамильярного» времени слушателей обусловлено единством системы ценностных координат, равно приемлемых для оценки поступков былинных богатырей и самих слушателей. По этой причине события разных исторических периодов в былине осмыслены и подчинены универсальной логике духовных законов, имманентных сознанию певца и его традиционной аудитории.
Автор приходит к выводу о том, что темпоральность русского эпоса подчинена закону «обратной перспективы»: «надвинувшиеся» реалистично изображаемые события далекого прошлого помещены на передний план восприятия реципиента, в область настоящего. При этом условием «втягивания» аудитории в хронотоп эпоса является размещение «точки схода» сюжетных линий в личном пространстве слушателя, в его индивидуальном будущем. В результате настоящее время аудитории становится органичной частью эпического времени и пространства, «время богатырей» ощущается слушателем как поток упорядоченных элементов целостной картины мира. Переход от «фамильярного» времени к «актуальному былинному» переживается слушателем именно как личный переход от одной ценностной системы к другой.
Славяне, Древняя Русь, Средневековая Россия, русская культура, история культуры, фольклор, эпос, былина, художественное время, хронотоп, М.М. Бахтин, Д.С. Лихачев.
