Olonkho of Olekminsk District in 19th and 20th Centuries: Traditions and Transformations

Abstract

The situation of traditional storytelling is considered in terms of adherence to the canons of archaic olonkho. The material for the study consists of olonkho texts that were in circulation in the Olekminsky district of Yakutia. Texts were selected for analysis, among which early recordings of olonkho variants from the mid-19th century reveal transformations that distinguish them from traditional olonkho. These transformations are analyzed from the perspective of modern folklore studies — the preservation of the original archaic features of the epic. The author studied the plot-compositional structure, motif fund, and imagery system in early recordings of olonkho from the 19th and 20th centuries in Olekminsky. Deviations from established epic canons were identified. Structural-typological and comparative-comparative methods were applied. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that this aspect of the epic heritage of the Olekminsky district is being studied for the first time. As a result of the study, motifs from world, including Russian, fairy tales were discovered in the content of early recordings of Olekminsky olonkho. This is explained by the unique socio-cultural conditions of the region, in particular, the coexistence of several nationalities. The author attributes such additions to violations of the epic traditions of Yakut storytelling. It is noted that such violations are not found in the epic works of storytellers of the 20th century.