FORUM FOR ANTHROPOLOGY AND CULTURE

ANTROPOLOGICHESKIJ FORUM
RUS | ENG

Antropologicheskij forum, 2016, no. 29

 

A Review of MARTIN PEGLER, SOLDIERS’ SONGS AND SLANG OF THE GREAT WAR. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2014, 408 pp.; PERVAYA MIROVAYA VOYNA V USTNOM I PISMENNOM TVORCHESTVE RUSSKIKH KRESTYAN: PO MATERIALAM PUSHKINSKOGO DOMA [THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN ORAL AND WRITTEN WORKS OF RUSSIAN PEASANTS: MATERIALS OF THE PUSHKIN HOUSE]. St Petersburg: Pushkinsky Dom Press, 2014, 584 pp.

Rustam Fakhretdinov

European University at St Petersburg
3 Gagarinskaya Str., St Petersburg, Russia
rfakhretdinov()eu.spb.ru

Abstract: This review compares Martin Pegler’s Soldiers’ Songs and Slang of the Great War and The First World War in Oral and Written Works of Russian Peasants. Both books pioneer in representing the folklore of the First World War in the context of British and Russian popular culture. They include not only works that soldiers composed during the war, but also works they used, such as songs by professional songwriters and posters by professional artists. Authors hadn’t ignored obscene folk texts. Both books do not have a bibliography. The first book is criticized for publishing folk texts without comments, which eliminates their scientific value and reduces the field of application. The second book lacks a general introduction to logically connect thematically scattered chapters and to elucidate the background of the topic. Some authors of this book use questionable terminology and cultural stamps. Their articles are more descriptive than they are analytical.

Keywords: First World War, folklore, popular culture, songs, slang.

Для ссылок: Fakhretdinov R., 'A Review of Martin Pegler, Soldiers’ Songs and Slang of the Great War. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2014, 408 pp.; Pervaya mirovaya voyna v ustnom i pismennom tvorchestve russkikh krestyan: Po materialam Pushkinskogo Doma [The First World War in Oral and Written Works of Russian Peasants: Materials of the Pushkin House]. St Petersburg: Pushkinsky Dom Press, 2014, 584 pp.', Antropologicheskij forum, 2016, no. 29, pp. 284–298.

URL: http://anthropologie.kunstkamera.ru/files/pdf/029/fakhretdinov.pdf