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Culture and Art
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Folklore and folklorism in the cultural aspect

Gutsalenko Ol'ga Valer'evna

ORCID: 0009-0005-1268-2525

PhD in Cultural Studies

Postgraduate student, Department of Philosophy of Culture and Cultural Studies, Saratov National Research State University named after N.G. Chernyshevsky

410028, Russia, Saratov region, Saratov, Volskaya str., 10A, building 12

olga.gutsalenko@yandex.ru

DOI:

10.7256/2454-0625.2023.9.44004

EDN:

XJWPJN

Received:

07-09-2023


Published:

14-09-2023


Abstract: The subject of the study is the concepts of "folklore" and "folklorism". The purpose of the study is to identify the peculiarities of these concepts in culture. Folklore and folklorism are two concepts that are closely related to each other, but at the same time have their essential differences. Folklore is folk art, transmitted from generation to generation by oral or other means. It is a reflection of the cultural and spiritual life of the people, their beliefs, customs and traditions. While folklorism is the use of folklore elements in the creation of new works of art or culture. However, it should be noted that the distinction between these two concepts can be quite elusive. Some researchers argue that all statements of any author are the result of a combination of folklore elements and the author's personal style. Thus, it can be argued that every work contains both elements of folklore and elements of the author's personality. Comparisons are made in order to consider similarities and differences of terminological features of these concepts. Scientific methods of research are: cultural-historical, descriptive, and comparative analysis. This topic is relevant and understudied in culture, which constitutes the scientific novelty of the work. The article for the first time considers the term "folklorism" in comparison with the term "folklore". The vagueness and instability of the term "folklorism" was the reason why researchers rarely used it. Having considered various points of view, it should be concluded that folklorism, on a par with folklore culture, permeates many aspects of ethnic life, being not only a symbol of traditional culture, but also a means of promoting and preserving the national spirit of the people. In addition, such a study can be useful for the further development of folk culture and preservation of its values.


Keywords:

folklore, folklorism, folklore culture, traditional folklore, oral folk art, folk culture, literary fairy tale, folktale, cultural phenomenon, modern culture

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The problem of studying the difference between folklore and folklorism is quite relevant. The boundaries and scope of the concept of "folklore" are quite multifaceted and complex. Folklore is an independent specific area of artistic activity of an ethnic group.

Folklore forms folklore culture. According to the Soviet folklorist B. N. Putilov, folklore culture [1] is understood as a diverse, extensive in forms, rich, multi-component phenomenon of culture. This is a specific phenomenon, which is characterized by creative patterns, vital connections with the world and language. Folklore itself is at the center of folklore culture, as well as new "folklore formations" – folklore, postfolklor, internetlor, faklor. In different historical periods, under the influence of socio-cultural factors, there is a modification of folklore culture, namely its periphery.

Folklore culture is based on the properties of folklore, and if melon properties are absent, then the phenomena lose their "folklore" and cannot belong to folklore culture.

For this period of time, all folklore phenomena are transformed, function, interact according to the laws that are inherent in folklore, using its cultural form and mechanisms. Therefore, folklore has a central position in folklore culture. Folklore, postfolklor, internetlor, faklor historically originated from folklore. Folklore is their progenitor. Thanks to him, they began their existence and are developing in modern culture.

Traditional folklore can be considered a deep, rooted phenomenon in culture. In turn, "folklore formations" can satisfy the immediate needs of culture, but most often they are short-lived and their works are not durable.

Let's take a closer look at the differences between folklore and folklorism. The dynamics of folklore differs significantly in the historical segment. One or another genre of folklore, spreading in all countries of the world, absorbs many elements of local culture and acquires peculiar local features, thereby losing its original functions.These changes lead to a social and household orientation. The ethnos does not seek to convey the original meaning of a particular genre, but to a greater extent perform the educational-ethetic function of familiarizing the ethnos with the original folklore works.

Based on the above, there is a transformation of traditional folklore into a specific folklore, which at the moment is a characteristic form for the modern world.

There are two types of folklore:

1. Commercial folklore is spreading in the tourism industry;

2. The productive form of folklore is the process of transformation and reproduction of traditional folklore in modern society.

For the first time the term "folklorism" was proposed in the XIX century by the French folklorist Paul Sebeio. He wanted to use this term to denote various hobbies in folklore. But subsequently, the meaning of this term has significantly expanded. One of the problems of artistic folklore was the relationship between literature and folklore.

In modern life, the concept of "folklorism" began to include all ways of transforming traditional folklore in public life, art and culture of an ethnic group.

P. G. Bogatyrev and R. O. Yakobson in 1929 expressed an interesting idea related to folklore. In their opinion, the secondary use of folklore ceases to be folklore in its basic properties. Can we say that this opinion leads us to the concept of "folklore"?

A prominent representative of folklore was A. P. Platonov. Through his works, the author conveyed the people's worldview. Thus, he wanted to show folklore by the method of comprehending, understanding and depicting the modern world, modern ethical and aesthetic ideas of modern man about folklore. Without folklore, a person loses the origins of culture, history and psychology of an ethnic group. Platonov showed us the folklorism of his creativity by processing folk works. In his ideas, he saw the ideals of the future through popular ideas, thereby creating his own philosophy and ideas about man and the world as a whole.

Also in his theoretical essays, E. V. Gusev gave a broad definition of folklore. This is "the process of transformation of folk traditions in mass amateur art and in artistic crafts. Various forms of reproduction and distribution of works of folk art by means of mass communication, print, radio, television, sound recording, in the organization of permanent expositions and exhibitions in ethnographic and art museums are becoming widespread" [2, pp. 13-14]. According to the author, this direction is a productive element of modern culture.

Folklore was considered in three main aspects:

1. The interaction of the oral-poetic tradition in the artistic work of individual writers.

2. Literary work in folklore existence.

3. The creativity of writers (typical for the XIX-XX centuries), who associate their activities with the collection and research of folklore.

For many writers, folklore was the main source of knowledge of the spiritual life of the people. Thus, they enriched their artistic works with elements, plots, images, motifs and forms of oral folk art.

At the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. there is a need for awareness of national cultural identity. Many researchers seek to understand the peculiarities of the national character, language, and literature of the people. This term began to be used in Russia since the 1930s and was related only to literary forms of folklore, but later it became applicable to secondary forms of folklore, such as amateur art, the tourism industry, etc.

One of the main objectives of the study of folklorism is the direct and direct impact of traditional folklore not only on individual works of art, but also on the writer's work as a whole. The study of this area of folklore allows you to expand the creative possibilities of using various folklore plots, motifs, images in different genres of literature.

As an example, one of the phenomena of culture can serve as a literary fairy tale.

A more precise definition of a literary fairy tale was given by V. P. Mineev: "A literary fairy tale is a genre of the author's fantastic literary work, originating in a folk tale, borrowing from it the concept of "fairy–tale reality" as a genre-forming factor and not of a scientific nature" [3, p. 73]. This definition notes that etymologically literary and folklore fairy tale are related. From the definition of L. V. Ovchinnikova it follows that "a literary fairy tale is a multi–genre type of literature realized in an infinite variety of works by various authors. Each of the genre types of a literary fairy tale has its own dominant (harmonious world image, adventure, educational aspect)" [4]. A literary fairy tale can combine folklore traditions, legends, legends, mythological elements, since a modern author has the opportunity to rely on domestic, world culture and folklore.

Based on the research of many scientists such as V. P. Anikin [5], M. M. Meshcheryakova [6], M. N. Lipovetsky [7], V. Suteev [8], L. K. Braude [9] conclude that the author's fairy tale is a perfect, unique species formation. It is a figment of the author's imagination and is always subject to his will. Magical and wonderful elements help the author to carve out a plot, to embody his ideas and dreams in characters.

For example, L. V. Ovchinnikova singled out the classifications of a literary fairy tale: 1) folklore and literary, they include writers' reworking of folk tales. The writers of this direction are S. Pisakhov, A. Tolstoy, A. Platonov, E. Schwartz and many others. 2) individual author's fairy tales. Representatives of this direction are N. Nosov, A. Volkov, K. Chukovsky, A. Milne, Yu. Olesha and many other writers. Fairy-tale genres have their own special artistic fictions, they are far from the folklore source.

The literary fairy tale is endowed with a unique artistic world and has an original aesthetic concept.

Folklore fairy tale has its own peculiarity, it has a space of magic, for example, "in a certain kingdom, in a faraway state ...", which cannot be said about a literary fairy tale, because the space has changed over time, the traditional space disappears. The composition and plot in a literary fairy tale are subject to the author's imagination and will. A literary fairy tale has an unusual beginning, which is why it differs from the folklore tradition, it has a realistic character, the author gives his hero an individuality that is not found in a folklore fairy tale. Even if you take the end of the work, you can see that in a literary fairy tale it can be ambiguous, since the author has the right to bring life bitterness into it.

From the above, we can conclude that a literary fairy tale is written by one author, in writing, the hero has a personal personality, and the composition is not limited to any motives. But, despite the differences between literary and folklore fairy tales, we understand that a literary fairy tale cannot develop without a folklore beginning.

"At the heart of a literary fairy tale is a very special author's "world-feeling", the ability not only and not so much to stylize fairy-tale techniques, but to express belonging to moral and philosophical principles that are based on the harmony of the sensual and aesthetic and constitute the essence of folk art as a whole" [10].

folklore and literary fairy tales have distinctive features in the following parameters: 1) by origin – a literary fairy tale is written by a specific author, a folklore fairy tale is created by the people, and is a collective creation; 2) by narrative form – a literary fairy tale has a fixed, written version, a folklore fairy tale exists orally, is passed from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation, until the researcher puts it on paper 3) in terms of content – a literary fairy tale is a multi–plot genre that conveys real reality, while a folklore fairy tale is compressed by certain plots; 4) a compositional and literary fairy tale has less strict rules than a folklore fairy tale; 5) volume – a literary fairy tale can be both short and long, whereas a folklore fairy tale the fairy tale is short; 6) the language of writing is different, because a literary fairy tale does not adhere to strict traditional forms, its vocabulary is much richer and more complex, not characteristic of a folk tale.

From the above, we can conclude that there is a regression of traditional folk culture, in our case, traditional folklore. But if we consider this pattern objectively, we come to the conclusion that the change of one type of culture by another type leads us to the creation of new values.

To date, folklore in some genre directions has not received an official status in modern society, since no general methodological guidelines have been chosen.

Folklore and folklore are interrelated concepts, but not identical, because they are based on different foundations. Folklore has a mandatory appeal to folklore and is a mandatory indicator of folklore. Folklore can be captured at the level of the language system.

Folklorism is an expression of the autobiographical "I" with the use of traditional folklore.

Summing up, we can say that in the process of the historical development of the nation, folk culture becomes an important, sometimes determining factor of national identity.

Folklore can be considered as an independent field that deserves more in-depth attention and research. It can also be distinguished as a separate direction in science. Folklore of a particular genre is a promising and important process for culture.

References
1. Putilov, B. N. (1994). Folklore and folk culture. Spb.: Nauka.
2. Gusev, E. V. (1993). Russian folk art culture (theoretical essays). Moscow: SPGITMiK.
3. Mineev, V. P. (2002). On the genre specificity of the literary fairy tale. Problems of Children's Literature and Folklore. Collection of scientific works. Petrozavodsk: Publishing House of Petrozavodsk University.
4. Ovchinnikova, L. V. (2003). Russian literary fairy tale of the XX century. History, Classification, Poetics. Moscow: Flinta: Nauka.
5. Anikin, V. P. (1985). Russian folklore. Moscow: Prosveshchenie.
6. Mescheryakova, M. M. (2003). Literature in Tables and Schemes. Moscow: Iris-Press.
7. Lipovetsky, M. N. (1992). Poetics of Literary Fairy Tale. Sverdlovsk: Ural University Publishing House.
8. Suteev, V. (2002). Tales and Pictures. Moscow: AST, Planet of Childhood.
9. Braude, L. K. (1977). To the history of the concept of "literary fairy tale". Izvestia AS USSR. Series of literature and language. Vol. 36. Moscow: Nauka.
10. Tsikusheva, I. V. Genre features of literary fairy tale (on the material of Russian and English literature). Retrieved from https://cyberleninka.ru/article/v/zhanrovye-osobennosti-literaturnoy-skazki-na-materiale-russkoy-i-angliyskoy-literatury

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The author submitted his article "Folklore and folklorism in the cultural aspect" to the journal "Culture and Art", in which the concepts of "folklore", "folklorism", their similar characteristics and the problems of their differences were studied. The author proceeds in the study of this issue from the fact that folklore and folklorism are identical concepts, but by no means identical. Unfortunately, the author does not provide material on the relevance, practical significance and scientific novelty of the study. The purpose of the study is to consider the problem of the difference between folklore and folklorism. In the course of the study, both general scientific research methods (analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction, generalization) and comparative and cultural analysis were used. The theoretical basis was the works of such researchers as B.N. Putilov, P.G. Bogatyrev, R.O. Yakobson, E.V. Gusev, V.P. Mineev and others. To identify the differences between folklore and folklorism, the author examines these phenomena in detail. Analyzing the current situation, the author notes that traditional folklore is being transformed into a specific folklorism, which at the moment is a characteristic form for the modern world. Folklore is defined by the author as a specific phenomenon characterized by creative patterns, vital connections with the world and language. Folklore itself is at the center of folklore culture, as well as new "folklore formations" – folklore, post-folklore, internetlor, faklor. In different historical periods, under the influence of socio-cultural factors, there is a modification of folklore culture, namely its periphery. a specific phenomenon characterized by creative patterns, vital connections with the world and language. As the author notes, all folklore phenomena are transformed, function, interact according to the patterns that are inherent in folklore, using its cultural form and mechanisms. Therefore, folklore has a central position in folklore culture. Folklorism, historically derived from folklore, began its independent functioning and development in modern culture. Folklorism in the author's research is defined as the process of transformation of folk traditions in mass amateur art and in artistic crafts. The author notes the dissemination of works of folk art by means of mass communication, print, radio, television, sound recording, in the organization of permanent exhibitions and exhibitions in ethnographic and art museums. The author sees one of the main tasks of the study of folklorism in the fact that in this case there is a direct and direct impact of traditional folklore not only on individual works of art, but also on the writer's work as a whole. The study of this area of folklore allows you to expand the creative possibilities of using various folklore plots, motifs, images in different genres of literature. As an example, the author cites the work of the writer A.P. Platonov. The author pays special attention to the study of the literary fairy tale as a cultural phenomenon and a vivid example of the transformation of traditional folk culture. He analyzed the essence of a literary fairy tale, gave a classification of species, and presented an analysis of its differences from a folklore fairy tale. In conclusion, the author presents a conclusion on the conducted research, which contains all the key provisions of the presented material. It seems that the author in his material touched upon relevant and interesting issues for modern socio-humanitarian knowledge, choosing a topic for analysis, consideration of which in scientific research discourse will entail certain changes in the established approaches and directions of analysis of the problem addressed in the presented article. The results obtained allow us to assert that the study of the process of dynamics of changes in traditional folk culture is of undoubted scientific and practical cultural interest and deserves further study. The material presented in the work has a clear, logically structured structure that contributes to a more complete assimilation of the material. This is also facilitated by an adequate choice of an appropriate methodological framework. However, the bibliography of the study consisted of 10 sources, which seems insufficient for generalization and analysis of scientific discourse on the subject under study due to the vastness of its subject. The author fulfilled his goal, received certain scientific results that allowed him to summarize the material. It should be stated that the article may be of interest to readers and deserves to be published in a reputable scientific publication after these shortcomings have been eliminated.