The article dwells upon connection between the two most important Kyrgyz traditions: shamanism ( bakshylyk ) and storytelling ( zhomokchuluk ). It considers the general cultural and social field that forms some features that are characteristic of both shamans and storytellers, as well as the traces of pre-Islamic culture that can be found in the world of the Kyrgyz epic. Special attention is paid to the post-folklor version of the epic “Manas” - the dastan “Aykol Manas” and the public discussion around that literary work. The discussion reflects, on the one hand, specific aspects of the understanding of the Kyrgyz epic tradition, and on the other hand, a number of characteristic features that accompany modern transformations of Kyrgyz shamanism.

The article deals in the substantive aspects of the Xinjiang Oirat version of the epic “Dzhangar”, was developed in line with the original national epic tradition, enriched with borrowings from the traditions of closely related Mongol-speaking peoples. The main objective of the research is to study forming the corpus of the version texts and to consider the plot composition, the issues of plot composition, the intertextual relationships and the contamination and innovation in the late epics. The text corpus of the Xinjiang Oirat version is rather heterogeneous in its qualitative composition. Along with the authentic samples, it includes consolidated texts subjected to certain treatment, as well as the texts borrowed by tradition. There is a large number of text variants. The plot structure is characterised by typological unity and is represented by the epic samples of different stages (archaic, classical and polystadial). In the plots of the late epics, it is possible to notice the processes of transformation, associated with a decrease in the level of heroic idealisation, the actualisation of the fabulous and everyday archaic, the contamination of plots, the book texts influence of book texts. One may also trace the dominance of some plots in the tradition, influencing the emergence of new plots, while retaining the invariant essence, they are modified and transformed at the plot-structural and motive levels.

The article deals in the historical legends about Mazan-batyr, a popular hero of the Kalmyk folklore, in which he thwarts hostile khan - the rival of the Kalmyk ruler. Although less popular than other types of narratives about that hero, the corresponding texts have been still regularly recorded from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day. It appears that by now enough material has been accumulated for an analytical study of such a layer in oral tradition. The main plot of those legends seems to be loosely based on the events of 1671-1672, during when the Khoshut taishi Ablai (Ovla tәәsh) invaded the Kalmyk nomad territories, but was defeated by Ayuka Khan. While there is no evidence that the historical Mazan participated in those events, the folklore accounts often make him one of the central figures in the conflict, usually as the leader of Kalmyk forces who defeats the forces of Ablai, and in a single combat champions over Taishi himself and captures him. This particular discrepancy, as well as the number of other features, is generally viewed as a result of the influence of the oral epic poetry on the legendary narratives. Another interesting feature of the plots is a relatively high degree of historical accuracy, as far as the historical accuracy in folklore studies goes. The most part of the characters in these legends can be correlated with the various figures of Kalmyk history, also a number of the events described in them are confirmed by different written sources, and the tactical techniques used by Mazan-batyr have direct analogues in the traditional warfare of the Mongol people.

The article analyses the contribution of Meletinsky to Caucasian epic studies. The role of Caucasian epic traditions in the study of the problem of the origins and the early forms of the epos is considered. A significant number of the comparative-typological studies of Meletinsky are based on the materials of mythoepic cultures of Caucasus mountain people. The scholar singled out the Caucasian epics, along with some other traditions, as the special early stage in the history of the epic. Meletinsky was one of the pioneers in the fundamental studies of the Caucasian Nart epics. Based on the analysis of materials available to him at that time, Meletinsky comes to the fundamental conclusions on the genre nature, national versions, images, subjects and motifs of the Nart epic. The scholar considered Sataney and Sasrykua to be the earliest characters in the epic, whose images clearly reflected the features of a cultural hero, especially in the close Abkhaz and Adyg versions. Furthermore, according to Meletinsky, the Transcaucasian legends about the chained heroes - Abkhaz Abryskil, Armenian Mger and Georgian Amiran - represent a kind of interweaving of mythological epic and heroic tales, in which the motives of cultural exploits are largely supplanted by episodes of the heroic struggle with Giants. In the studies of Meletinsky, the epic traditions of the people of the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia are subjected to the deepest analysis at a very high level of comparative studies.

The article contains a commented publication of a fragment from the unpublished work of a Sinologist Wolfram Eberhard (1909-1989) “Über die Erzählungen des Dede Korkut” (“On the legends of” “Dede Korkut”). “The Book of Dede Korkut” always was the object of particular interest to scholars engaged in comparative research and typology of folklore. It is generally accepted that the formation of some of the legends, included in “Kitab-i Dedem Korkut”, was strongly influenced by both the Byzantine, Greek folklore, and archaic plots of the earlier period, what became the starting point of the research in W. Eberhard’s unpublished work. An important feature of Eberhard’s work distinguishing it from the actual Turkological studies of “The Book of Korkut” and Turkish folklore in general, is an attempt to make comparisons with Greek myths, many monuments of the Indian and Persian literary tradition, thus placing the Oghuz epic in the broad context of the history of world literature. The published excerpt dwells with the legend of the possessed Domrul as part of the Turkish book epic “The Book of Dede Korkut”, its origin and parallels with the ancient mythology and plots of the “Ocean of Legends” by Somadeva and “Mahabharata”.

The article considers the main stages in formation of the method for the comparative historical typology the first steps of which were made by A.N. Veselovsky in the second half of the 19^th century. For example, the point elaborated upon in “Historical Poetics” concerning consequential evolution of genres and poetic forms that reflect social reality became the starting point for the further development of that method. Work in this direction was continued later on by V.M. Zhirmunsky. At the beginning of his career in academia he dwelled upon the issues of literary theory and - while keeping “Historical Poetics” in high regard - continued Veselovsky’s work in the field of literary studies. However, turning to folklore material, he managed to develop the basic principles of the comparative historical method: first of all, he had analysed and systematised the extensive epic material, what allowed him to reveal in the folklore work the national and the general, for the successful search and analysis of which the method was necessary. The author analysis of the works of Zhirmunsky, that contain his main ideas, and considers not only his suggestions on how to work with folk material, and also the features of the comparative typological method, as well as the development of Zhirmunsky’s ideas in the works of his students, followers and scientists who came to a similar result on their own (for example, V.Ya. Propp) and influenced further refinement of the methods of comparative typology.

This paper presents the reviews upon two monographs on Kyrgyz epics, which were published a few years ago in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan in Russian. The first one was written by a researcher and popularizer of the epic “Manas’’ Talantaaly Bakchiev and is dedicated to the traditional narrators of tales - manaschi. The monograph considers the folklore ideas about the gift of storytelling, the stages in the future storyteller formation and training, as well as some modern aspects of the singing the epic tales. The book summarizes previous studies in that area and contains new ethnographic and biographical data. The second study is dedicated to the motifs of dreams and apparitions of characters in the epic of “Manas”, and was written by the folklorist and literary critic Nelya Bekmukhamedova. Based on a fairly representative set of records, the author of the monograph consistently analyses the means of the text expression and the symbolism of the motifs of dreams and apparitions of the epic characters, identifies their plot functions and proposes their classification.

Since the middle of the last century, the research of the Mongolian epic “Geser” in China can be divided into three stages: 1950 - mid 1960s; early 1980s - late 1990s; early 20^th century - now. In course of those three stages numerous versions of written texts of “Geser” were collected, published and translated. At the same time a large number of oral versions was recorded from Mongolian storytellers in different provinces in China. And it is worth mentioning that the collection of both the Mongolian manuscripts and oral versions of the tale is still going on in China, and more and more new written and oral texts of “Geser” are being published. By now the research focus of Mongolian “Geser” shifted from the epic general research to analyzing the more specific texts or certain local “Geser” traditions.