Mythological school in folklore. Mythological school - the latest philosophical dictionary

Mythological literary criticism.
A way of perceiving, analyzing and evaluating creativity, in which the fundamental basis of creativity is religion, folklore, religion.
As a special method, mythological literary criticism was formed in the 30s of the 19th century. in Western Europe, although since the Middle Ages there has been hermeneutics - the interpretation of sacred esoteric texts, which had a philological and mythological understanding. The same method is used in Jewish hermeneutics in connection with the doctrine of bondage, where the Bible is perceived as a kind of encrypted text, bondage provides the key, the code to decipher the Bible. It is interesting that the letters of the Hebrew alphabet were perceived
are understood as signs of a secret teaching - each word can have additional semantic meanings.
Slavic literacy assumed a hidden isoteric (isoteric reading), which remained in the name of Church Slavonic letters. The very pronunciation of the alphabet was understood as a philosophical religious message.
The philosophical basis of the classical mythological school was the aesthetics of Schelling and the Schlegell brothers, who argued that mythology is the basis of all culture and literature. Ideas began to develop purposefully during the formation of romanticism, when interest in the legendary past and folklore genres was revived.
The theory of the European mythological school was developed by folklorists the Brothers Grimm in the book “German Mythology”. Using the principles of the comparative method, folklorists contrasted fairy tales in order to identify common models, images, and plots. The source of Indo-European folklore is Panchachakra. In Russia, the mythological method spread in the mid-19th century. His classics are Buslaev, Afanasyev, Propp.
Buslaev considered myth from an etymological point of view, as a linguist and cultural scientist, arguing that mythological plots are based on objective facts and phenomena. Concerns toponymic myths that explain various names. (The Tale of Bygone Years explains the name of the city of Kyiv. For example, many fairy tales reflect various natural phenomena: the tale of the kolobok is associated with the image of the moon. The fundamental work of the Russian mythological school is Afanasyev’s book “Poetic views of the Slavs in nature.” Afanasyev systematizes Slavic mythology; not striving for a simplified naive way of explaining the images and symbols of mythology. Therefore, the book has important historical significance. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the mythological school became ethnographic. (2 volumes), which lists the system of mythical characters.
During the formation of modernism, the mythological school was revived within the framework of the aesthetics of symbolism. There is a term - neo-mythological school.
The symbolists sought to form a new mythological consciousness, relying 1) on folk tradition; 2) on the neo-mythology of Vl. Solovyov, sophiology. The neo-mythological type of thinking is in the articles of the symbolists “2 elements in modern symbolism” by V. Ivanov; “On the current state of Russian symbolism
Ma" by Blok, "Individualism in Art" by Volosh., "Emblematics of Meaning" by A. Bely.
All symbolists of the 2nd wave are associated with the concept of unity and mystical teachings about Sophia. In addition to the Symbolists, this concept was developed by Russian religious thinkers: Florensky “The Pillar, or the Statement of Truth”; Bulgakov S.N. "Non-evening light."
In modern times, the largest representative of the neo-mythological school is Losev A.F. (“Dialectics of Myth”, “Symbol and Problems of Realistic Art”).
In the first book, Losev, using the language of dialectics permitted by Marxism, formulates the very phenomenon of mythological consciousness; myth – 1) objective reality; 2) miracle.
The formula of myth becomes supernatural. The main phenomenon of myth is the indistinction between two realities: the expansion of physical reality to metaphysical reality. Myth is not primitive fantasy, but a universal type of worldview that presupposes faith in miracles. Miracle is understood as a form of reality. A miracle is a fact, an image in which the usual causes - the investigative connection and the usual space-temporal relationships - are destroyed. In artistic reality, a miracle becomes a powerful, expressive figurative means, because... enriches and complicates the linear picture of the world. Thus, myth is a form of expression of mystical experience. Therefore, it has religious and psychological significance. In a religious sense, myth objectifies spiritual experience, spiritual experiences. For example, religious symbols - temple symbols (icons, for example)
Myth allows us to explain the supernatural, which is what theology deals with in the doctrine of liturgy.
In psychology, myth is associated with the study of the unconscious, because mythological images embody collective memory and experience; allow one to penetrate beyond the sphere of daytime consciousness into nighttime consciousness. This is revealed in the symbolism of dreams, which has been actively studied by psychoanalysis. In the field of literary criticism, the mythological school involves identifying symbolic subtext, symbolism, because symbol - “a folded myth; the symbol contains a certain mythological plot.” The task of mythological reading is the study of symbolism.
Thus, the category of symbol in literary criticism can be considered aesthetically and mythologically. Poetry scholar Gasparov, in his study “Poetics of the Silver Age,” considers myth as an aesthetic category, a type of tropes. He calls the symbol anti-enphase (a trope that expands figurative, artistic
real reality). For Losev, the symbol is not so much formal as it is meaningful, because Any trope can be symbolic. Artistic means establish horizontal connections, and symbols establish vertical connections, i.e. symbolic imagery appears where there is a hidden meaning, where there is a way out to a mystical perception of reality. Losev contrasts the symbol with allegory and emblem, because in these images the connection between the sign and the content is conditional, but in symbolism it is objective, independent of the will of the artist - the symbol is a form, a sign of gnosis (knowledge of the supernatural).
The mythological school tries to systematize symbols by origin and form of expression. By origin, symbols are divided into: 1 cultural and historical:
1) cultural and historical, which are borrowed from ready-made mythologies and knowledge systems. For European culture, this is Ancient mythology (Prometheus, Mars);
2) biblical symbolism (both Old Testament, New Testament, and apocalyptic).
3) occult (isoteric): astrology, alchemy, numerology, chiromancy, etc.)
4) at the end of the 17th century. non-occult symbolism appears (theosophy, anthroposophy).
P individually creative (symbolism that is consciously created by the artist himself, suggesting revelation) (in the creativity of symbols - the myth of Russia, the symbol of Sofia).
In terms of form of expression, symbols can be pictorial, musical and intellectual.
Picturesque symbolism is associated with color and light (the most developed color symbolism is: A. Bely’s article “Sacred Hoves”, Flor. “Heavenly Signs”; Blok’s “In Memory of Vrubel”. Musical symbolism evokes not visual, but intuitive images: visual images turn out to be blurred , unclear, which is characteristic of Blok’s aesthetics. Intellectual symbolism is associated with the use of abstract vocabulary, philosophical concepts (truth, goodness, beauty). Appearing in works, such signs lead to an expansion of meaning - A. Platonov.
The mythological school has different directions in modern literary criticism:
1) etymological direction: “Makovsky’s Dictionary “Indo-European Symbolism”, where the emphasis is on the semantic layers of words and images;
2) ethnographic direction (cultural): Toporov “Russian people” (encyclopedia);
3)mytho-poetic direction (emphasis on myth as an artistic device; its aesthetic possibilities): Miletinsky “Poetics of Myth” (Although Miletinsky did not
perceives myth as a form of universal consciousness);
4) classical hermeneutics (associated with the interpretation of myth as a type of lexical consciousness): in Western literary criticism - the isoteric Rene Guenon “Symbols of the sacred science” (reveals various esoteric traditions that influenced European, Eastern (Islamic) civilization; proceeds from the fact that there is a single secret knowledge that is preserved by secret spiritual societies, although he argues that the tradition has been interrupted: modern secret societies are self-proclaimed).
In modern philology, the method of myth restoration is actively developing (the founder is S. Telegin): it comes down to the discovery of mythological symbols, origins that are read behind the external plot).

Schools (directions) unite researchers whose works are based on a common scientific concept and are similar in their problems and methodology. The names “school” and “direction” (sometimes “theory”) are conventional, assigned to one or another group of researchers.

Academic schools were largely connected with Western European science, applying its methods to Russian and all Slavic material.

Mythological theory arose in Western Europe at the beginning of the 19th century, during the heyday of romanticism. Its founders, the German scientific brothers W. and J. Grimm, were influenced by romantic aesthetics, which contained the thesis about the “national spirit” of each people. Mythology was recognized as the source of art. The Grimm brothers set out to recreate German mythology, for which they began studying the folklore of the language of the ancient Germans Scientists first pointed out that the roots of national culture are connected with ancient folk beliefs - paganism. The main work of J. Grimm "German Mythology" ("Deutsche Myfologie", 1835) gave the name to the first theoretical direction of folkloristics.

The Russian mythological school took shape at the turn of the 1840s-50s. Its founder was F.I. Buslaev, “the first Russian genuine scientist-folklorist.” Buslaev was a philologist of a wide range (linguist, researcher of ancient Russian literature and folk poetry). Following the brothers Grimm, Buslaev established the connection between folklore, language and mythology, highlighted the principle of collective the nature of the artistic creativity of the people. He applied mythological analysis to Slavic material. Buslaev’s works developed the idea that folk consciousness manifested itself in two most important forms: language and myth. essays on Russian folk literature and art." Later, the scientist appreciated the positive aspects of other trends in folklore and showed himself in them.

The Brothers Grimm and Buslaev were the founders of mythological theory. The “younger mythologists” (the school of comparative mythology) expanded the scope of the study of myths, attracted the folklore and language of other Indo-European peoples, and improved the method, which was based on the comparative study of ethnic groups. In Europe, and then in Russia, the mythological school received a number of varieties. The meteorological (or "thunderstorm") theory linked the origin of myths with atmospheric phenomena; solar theory saw the basis of myths as primitive ideas about the sky and the sun - and so on. At the same time, all mythologists were united by the conviction that the ancient religion was the religion of nature, the deification of its forces.

In Russia, the school of comparative mythology had many followers. The solar-meteorological concept was developed by O. F. Miller ("Ilya Muromets and the heroism of Kiev. Comparative and critical observations of the layer composition of the Russian folk epic." - St. Petersburg, 1869). Having carefully selected a huge amount of material, the author tried to highlight layers of different antiquity in the Russian epic, to separate historical and everyday elements from mythological ones.

The most famous representative of the Russian school of junior mythologists was A. N. Afanasyev, who went down in the history of folklore not only as the compiler of the famous collection “Russian Folk Tales”, but also as a major researcher. Commentaries on the tales of his collection, highlighted in the second edition in a separate, fourth volume, formed the basis of Afanasyev’s major work “Poetic views of the Slavs on nature. Experience in the comparative study of Slavic legends and beliefs in connection with the mythical tales of other related peoples.”

Afanasyev acted as a student of F.I. Buslaeva, a follower of the Brothers Grimm and other Western European scientists. However, he introduced something new into mythological theory. Afanasyev attracted such enormous factual material that “Poetic Views...” immediately became a striking phenomenon in world science and still remains a valuable reference book on Slavic mythology.

Afanasyev outlined his theoretical views in the first chapter, which he called “The origin of myth, the method and means of studying it.”

The origin of myths is explained by the history of language. Referring to dialects and the language of folklore, Afanasyev argued: “In ancient times, the meaning of roots was tangible”; “Most of the names were based on very bold metaphors!” However, over time, a darkening of the metaphors occurred, the metaphorical comparison began to be perceived as a real fact - and a myth was born. “One had only to forget, to get lost in the original connection of concepts, for the metaphorical comparison to acquire, for the people, all the meaning a real fact and served as the reason for the creation of a number of fabulous tales. The winding lightning is a fiery serpent, the fast-flying winds are endowed with wings, the lord of summer thunderstorms is endowed with fiery arrows."

“On the question of the essence of myths, the scientist was a follower, first of all, of the “meteorological” theory, according to which the basis of most myths is the deification of thunderstorms, thunder, lightning, wind, clouds. Afanasiev wrote: “The miraculous of fairy tales is the miraculous of the powerful forces of nature.”<...>The opposition of light and darkness, heat and cold, spring life and winter deadness - this is what should have especially struck the observing human mind. The wonderful, luxurious life of nature, loudly sounding in millions of different voices and rapidly developing in countless forms, is determined by the power of light and heat, without it everything freezes. Like other peoples, our forefathers deified the sky, believing her eternal kingdom there, for the sun’s rays fall from the sky, from there the moon and stars shine and fruitful rain pours down.”<…>“In the spring thunderstorms that accompany the return of the sun from distant wanderings to the kingdom of winter, the imagination of the most ancient peoples depicted: on the native side, the wedding celebration of nature, watered by the seed of rain, and on the other, quarrels and battles of warring gods; in the thunderclaps shaking the earth, one could hear the cries of wedding joy, then warlike calls and abuse.

Throughout history, myths have undergone significant revision. Afanasiev highlighted three fundamentally important points.

“First, the “fragmentation of mythical tales.” “Most of the mythical ideas of the Indo-European peoples go back to the distant time of the Aryans; standing out from the general mass of the ancestral tribe and settling in distant lands, peoples, along with a richly developed word, took with them their very views and beliefs.”

Secondly, “bringing myths down to earth and attaching them to known localities and historical events.” "...Put into the conditions of human life, the warlike gods lose their inaccessibility, descend to the level of heroes and mix with long-dead historical figures. Myth and history merge in the popular consciousness; the events narrated by the latter are inserted into the framework created by the first; poetic legend receives a historical coloring, and the mythical knot is tightened even tighter."

Thirdly, the moral (ethical) motivation of mythical tales." With the emergence of state centers, myths are canonized, and in a higher environment. They are brought into chronological sequence, a hierarchical order is established: the gods are divided into higher and lower. The society of gods is organized according to the model of the human, state union, and at its head becomes the supreme ruler with full “royal power.”

For Afanasyev, folklore is an important and reliable source of mythological research. The researcher examined riddles, proverbs, omens, conspiracies, ritual songs, epics, and spiritual fairy tales. About fairy tales he wrote: “A comparative study of fairy tales living in the mouths of Indo-European peoples leads to two conclusions: firstly, that fairy tales were created on the motives underlying the ancient views of the Aryan people on nature, and secondly, that throughout Most likely, already in this ancient Aryan era, the main types of fairy-tale epics were developed and then carried by divided tribes in different directions - to the places of their new settlements." This explained the international similarity of fairy tales and images.

Afanasyev posed significant theoretical problems in folklore: about the essence of myths, about their origin and historical development. He proposed a coherent concept. At the same time, this work reflected the shortcomings of the romantic theories of linguists and folklorists of the mid-19th century. Already contemporaries criticized Afanasyev for the lack of clear criteria and for subjectivity in specific interpretations.

“Poetic views of the Slavs on nature” contributed to the intensification of the study of folklore and influenced the literary work of Russian writers (P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky, S. A. Yesenin, etc.).

The ideas of the mythological school were used in all subsequent years by many areas of philology. There was a bright outbreak of interest in myth in the 50-60s. XX century, when neo-mythological theory took shape in Western Europe and America. It was based on ethnological works of the late 19th - first half of the 20th centuries related to the development of the anthropological concept (see below). The most significant was the study of the English scientist D. Frazer - the 12-volume book “The Golden Bough”. Using enormous material, Frazer showed the mythological commonality of primitive cultures and tried to prove that the same myths underlie the imaginative thinking of modern civilized people.

The most important source of neo-mythological theory is the doctrine of archetypes by the Swiss psychiatrist C. Jung. Jung came up with the idea of ​​intuitive human comprehension of the experience of the ancients. The content of this experience consists of universal human prototypes (archetypes). Most of the plots and images of folklore and literature go back to symbolically reinterpreted archetypes, to the motifs of ancient myths, which are “stored” in every person’s unconscious.

K. Jung investigated the manifestation of folklore and mythological motifs in the psyche. He wrote: “The unconscious, as the historical subsoil of the psyche,” contains in concentrated form the entire successive series of imprints that have determined the modern psychic structure from immeasurably ancient times. ...These imprints of functions are presented in the form of mythological motifs and images that are found among all peoples, ...they can be traced without difficulty in the unconscious materials of modern man<…>.

In all problematic matters, our understanding falls - rarely consciously, in most cases unconsciously - under the strong influence of certain collective ideas that form our spiritual atmosphere. These collective ideas are in the closest connection with the life understanding or worldview of past centuries and millennia. ...These images are sediments accumulated over many thousands of years of experience of adaptation and struggle for existence.”

The main goal of the mythological school was to reconstruct mythology and ancient folklore. This problem remains relevant. Myth will always attract researchers. In modern works on mythology, two main trends are distinguished: etymological (dealing with the linguistic reconstruction of myth) and analogical (based on the comparison of myths that are similar in content).

Zueva T.V., Kirdan B.P. Russian folklore - M., 2002

Mythological school

a trend in folklore and literary studies of the 19th century that arose in the era of romanticism. Its philosophical basis is the aesthetics of F. W. Schelling and the brothers A. and F. Schlegel, who perceived mythology (See Mythology) as a “natural religion.” For M. sh. Characteristic is the idea of ​​mythology as “a necessary condition and primary material for all art” (Schelling), as “the core, the center of poetry” (F. Schlegel). The thoughts of Schelling and F. Schlegel that the revival of national art is possible only if artists turn to mythology were developed by A. Schlegel and developed in relation to folklore by the Heidelberg romantics (L. Arnim, C. Brentano, I. Görres). Finally M. sh. took shape in the works of the brothers W. and J. Grimm (“German Mythology”, 1835). According to their theory, folk poetry is of “divine origin”; from myth in the process of its evolution arose a fairy tale, an epic song, a legend and other genres; folklore is the unconscious and impersonal creativity of the “folk soul”. Using the method of comparative study, the Brothers Grimm explained similar phenomena in the folklore of different peoples by a common ancient mythology. M. sh. spread in many European countries: Germany (A. Kuhn, W. Schwarz. W. Manhardt), England (M. Müller, J. Cox), Italy (A. de Gubernatis), France (M. Breal), Switzerland (A . Pictet), Russia (A. N. Afanasyev, F. I. Buslaev, O. F. Miller). M. sh. developed in two main directions: “etymological” (linguistic reconstruction of the initial meaning of the myth) and “analogical” (comparison of myths with similar contents). The first is represented by the works of Kuhn (“The Descent of Fire and the Divine Drink,” 1859; “On the Stages of Myth Formation,” 1873) and Muller (“Essays in Comparative Mythology,” 1856; “Readings on Science and Language,” 1862-64). Using the “paleolinguistic” methodology, Kuhn and Muller sought to reconstruct ancient mythology, explaining the content of myths by the deification of natural phenomena - luminaries (“solar theory” by Muller) or thunderstorms (“meteorological theory” by Kuhn). In Russia, the principles of the “etymological” study of myths were originally developed by F. I. Buslaev (“Historical Sketches of Russian Folk Literature and Art,” 1861). He raised the heroes of epics to myths about the origin of rivers (“Danube”), about giants living in the mountains (“Svyatogor”), etc. The solar-meteorological theory received its extreme expression from Miller (“Ilya Muromets and the heroism of Kiev,” 1869). Within the “analogical” direction, the “demonological” or “naturalistic” theory of Schwartz (“The Origin of Mythology,” 1860) and Manhardt (“Demons of the Rye,” 1868; “Forest and Field Crops,” 1875-77; “Mythological Research”) arose. ", 1884), who explained the origin of myths by the worship of “lower” demonic beings. A unique synthesis of various theories of M. sh. - “Poetic views of the Slavs on nature” (1866-69) A. N. Afanasyev a. Principles of M. sh. appeared in the early works of A. N. Pypin (“On Russian folk tales,” 1856), A. N. Veselovsky (“Comparative mythology and its method,” 1873). Methodology and a number of theoretical conclusions M. sh. rejected by the subsequent development of science (including representatives of migration theory (See Migration theory) and former “mythologists” - Buslaev, Veselovsky). At the same time, M. sh. played an important role in the development of science: expanded ideas about mythology, turning, along with ancient ones, to the myths of the ancient Indians, Iranians, Germans, Celts, Slavs; contributed to the active collection of folklore of different peoples, posed a number of important theoretical problems (including the problem of folk art); laid the foundations for the comparative study of mythology, folklore and literature (see Comparative-historical literary criticism). Critically assessing the exaggeration of M. sh. the role of mythology in the history of art, the directions that came to replace it continued to study the problem of “mythologism” of folklore and literature, using the extensive materials it obtained. For neo-mythologism, see Ritual-mythological school.

Lit.: Sokolov Yu. M., Russian folklore, M., 1941; Azadovsky M.K., History of Russian folkloristics, vol. 2, M., 1963; Gusev V. E., Problems of folklore in the history of aesthetics, M. - L., 1963; Meletinsky E. M., The origin of the heroic epic, M., 1963 (introduction),

V. E. Gusev.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .

One of the earliest academic literary systems in Russia. A myth is a fictional legend, the result of collective national creativity, in which natural phenomena are transferred to human life. Mythology arises and exists in the form of images of pagan (pre-Christian), Christian, post-Christian collective thinking of the people, and in literature it is associated with romanticism, which was universally established in European countries at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. At this time, the mythology of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome became widespread.

The principles and techniques of the mythological school are laid down in the works of German scientists - brothers J. Grimma(1785-1865) and V. Grimma(1786-1859), who stood at the origins of German literary scholarship. Jacob Grimm was especially active in this regard, who collected and published various legends of European peoples, including Slavic ones. In 1812, the Grimm brothers published their famous collection of “Fairy Tales,” and in 1819, Jacob Grimm began publishing the multi-volume “German Grammar,” in which, instead of a logical principle, he proposed a historical principle for teaching and learning language.

In 1835, Jacob Grimm published the monograph “German Mythology”, in which he derived from myth all genres of folk art - epics, fairy tales, songs, legends.

In Russia, the principles of comparative mythological study of language, following J. Grimm, were proposed F.I. Buslaev(1818-1897), famous Russian philologist, founder of the Russian mythological school, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, professor at Moscow University.

Buslaev is attracted by the teaching of J. Grimm about language as a carrier of forms of national thinking that go back to ancient legends and myths. Working as a teacher of the Russian language in gymnasiums and at Moscow University, Buslaev created a comparative-mythological system of studying and teaching the language, which he demonstrates in the fundamental work “Essays on Teaching the Russian Language,” published in 1844. The principles of the historical study of language are also proposed by Buslaev in the work “On influence of Christianity on the Russian language. Experience in the history of language according to the Ostromir Gospel,” published in 1848 based on the materials of his master’s thesis.

Like J. Grimm, Buslaev believes that the semantic and poetic forms of language go back in their origins to the primary tradition embedded in myth. Having deciphered the meaning of the myth using the comparative historical method of studying, one can come to the image. Buslaev is engaged, as it were, in linguistic archaeology: through comparative mythology, he reconstructs linguistic sources, as if restoring their original meaning. This meaning is inherent in the myth. The system of myths associated with oral folk art, in turn, goes back to folk thinking and acts as a result of its collective creativity. As you can see, the mythological system of J. Grimm - Buslaev is built on three levels: myth - language - poetry. Folk poetry, according to Buslaev, is closely related to language. Buslaev actively works within the framework of pagan and Christian mythology. In 1858 he published “An Experience in the Historical Grammar of the Russian Language”, in 1861 – “Historical Grammar of the Church Slavonic and Old Russian Languages” and two volumes of “Historical Sketches of Russian Folk Literature and Art”. The “Buslaev school” of comparative mythology arises in philological science, in the conclusions of which major Russian scientists showed interest - N.S. Tikhonravov, A.N. Pypin, S.P. Shevyrev and others. Buslaev deals with problems of literature, especially folk art, and its symbolism. He develops the problems of folk epic genres, in particular the historical story and fairy tale. He offers his classification of folk epic, distinguishing between the genres of theogonic and heroic epic. Exploring literary monuments using the mythological system, he achieves great success in restoring texts and explaining their poetic meanings.

Much of Buslaev’s work acquired the significance of deep discoveries for his contemporaries. Buslaev's mythological system turned out to be especially adequate when applied to ancient monuments, a considerable part of which was rediscovered by him. Carried away by his successes in myth analysis, Buslaev was ready to extend his method to the study of contemporary fiction. Experimenting in the etymological sphere of language, he seemed to involuntarily limit himself to the framework of form with its inevitable one-sidedness and subjectivism. He is looking for the opportunity to trace the meanings of words to a common Indo-European language. Buslaev associates the names of the heroes of Russian epics with myths denoting rivers. For him, the Danube is a symbol of a giant.

A follower of Buslaev, a continuer of the tradition of the mythological school in Russia, was his younger contemporary A.N. Afanasiev(1826-1871).

Unlike Buslaev, Afanasyev did not achieve any academic degrees, although he graduated from Moscow University in the Faculty of Law. He held minor bureaucratic posts and published in various magazines, not at all in the legal profession, but in the history of Russia and folklore. Problems of folk art became Afanasyev’s life’s work. He is passionate about the ideas of comparative mythology of Buslaev. In the 1850s - 1860s, he published articles “The Sorcerer and the Witch”, “Witchcraft in Rus' in the Old Time”, “Zoomorphic Deities among the Slavs: Bird, Horse, Bull, Cow, Snake and Wolf”. And in the period from 1855 to 1863, following the type of J. Grimm, Afanasyev published a collection of “Russian Folk Fairy Tales” in eight volumes, which brought him wide fame.

The methodological principles of research into works of folk art were presented by him in the three-volume monographic work “Poetic Views of the Slavs on Nature” (1865-1869). Like J. Grimm and Buslaev, Afanasyev considers myth to be the source of folk art. But, unlike Buslaev, he does not consider it necessary to study in detail the evolution from myth through language to image: he takes mythological theory as a given and is engaged in myth-making himself, usually at the level of mythological images. He recreates the meaning of the myth not on the basis of etymological research, as was the case with Buslaev, but through the convergence and dissolution of the religious core of the myth in a specific historical event or the image of a folk hero. Afanasyev traced Indo-European myths mainly to Aryan sources.

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