The Petrozavodsk archive of E.M. Meletinsky

Abstract

In 2001 the documents from the file of E.M. Meletinsky, who was arrested in May 1949 during the campaign against cosmopolitism, were transferred to the library of Petrozavodsk University from the FSB. In this archive section we publish some of those documents, namely: a cover letter from the FSB; positive characteristics from E.M. Meletinsky’s mentors B.I. Purischev and V.M. Zhirmunsky, who also became victims of the campaign against “cosmopolitism” in MSU and LSU; the article “On some social motifes in fairy tales” (1949) which is an extract of the postdoctoral thesis written under influence of A.N. Veselovsky’s ideas; as well as the paper “Social motifs in Karelo-Finnish runes about Kullervo” (1949) written together with E.G. Karhu, who came from an Ingrian Finnish family, subjected to forced deportation in the beginning of the 1930s.