Meletinsky the scholar of the Narts

Abstract

The paper, for the first time in the history of Narts studies in Russia, attempts to describe the contribution made by the eminent scholar of the 20^th century E.M. Meletinsky into the research upon one of the archaic epic works - the Nart sagas, traditional for a number of peoples of North and western Caucasus and some peoples of Transcaucasia. Since the beginning of the 19^th to the middle of the 20^th century various national versions of the Nart sagas had been researched upon by V.F. Miller, G. Dumézil and V.I. Abaev, whose works have taken their rightful place in the history not only of Russian, but also of world Narts studies. The new stage in the history of Narts studies began with works of E.M. Meletinsky, based on a frontal study of all national versions of the Nart sagas available to scholars by that time. In his works, for the first time in the history of Narts studies, the place of the Nart sagas among world literary works, the time of their creation (first millennium BC), their creators (Alans, Sarmatian tribes and Sarmatized Sindi-Maeotae tribes) are defined, Ossetian and Abkhazo-Adyghean versions of the Nart sagas are described in a well-reasoned manner, with the latter substantiated by the scholar as the most archaic. The article highlights the fact that these fundamental conclusions by E.M. Meletinsky became so unanimously accepted by the new generation of the scholars of the Narts that the reader won’t always find a reference to works by E.M. Meletinsky in their writings.