How history becomes folklore: folklorization mechanisms of war and Holocaust stories
https://doi.org/10.28995/2658-5294-2023-6-3-61-87
Abstract
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries folklorists used to believe that folklore can be a historical source. But soon this belief was refuted, and any attempts to correlate folklore and reality began to look unscientific and even ridiculous for many years. Folklore texts began to be spoken of as stable structures in which the narrative pattern dominates the details. However, the corpus of folklore texts about recent historical events, such as the Great Patriotic War and the Holocaust, is still being formed in our time. Based on interviews dedicated to the memory of the occupation and collected during expeditions to Rostov-on-Don, the Bryansk region and the North Caucasus, we described two mechanisms by which the narrative of real events turns into quasi-historical folklore narratives. The first folklorization mechanism is adding specific details to evoke strong emotions in the listener and force him to pass the text on. The second mechanism that distinguishes the evidence from the quasi-historical folklore narrative is the “moral” message contained in the text. In such stories, the perpetrators always are punished, and the people who have acted right are rewarded.
Supporting agencies: The publication was prepared within the framework of the research work BLTP STEPS ION RANEPA “Folklore ideologies and behavioral strategies in a modern city”; The publication was prepared within the framework of the project “Jewish commemorative practices and the modern cult of Victory” of the Jewish Museum and Center for Tolerance. The authors of the article would like to thank Alexandra Arkhipova, Anna Kirzyuk, Maria Mayofis, Ilya Kukulin for the valuable advice.
About the Authors
S. V. Belyanin
Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Sergei V. Belyanin
82, Vernadsky Av., Moscow, 119571
E. A. Zakrevskaya
Russian State University for Humanities; Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Ekaterina A. Zakrevskaya
6, Miusskaya Sq., Moscow, 125047
51/21, Nahimovsky Av., Moscow, 117418
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Review
For citations:
Belyanin S.V., Zakrevskaya E.A. How history becomes folklore: folklorization mechanisms of war and Holocaust stories. Folklore: Structure, Typology, Semiotics. 2023;6(3):61-87. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2658-5294-2023-6-3-61-87
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