Antropologicheskij forum, 2019, no. 41

A Review of S. YU. NEKLYUDOV, LEGENDA O RAZINE: PERSIDSKAYA KNYAZHNA I DRUGIE SYUZHETY [THE LEGEND OF RAZIN: THE PERSIAN PRINCESS AND OTHER STORIES]. Moscow: Indrik, 2016, 552 pp.

Dmitriy Antonov
Russian State University for the Humanities
6 Miusskaya Sq., Moscow, Russia
The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration
82 Vernadskogo Av., Moscow, Russia
antonov-dmitriy()list.ru

Abstract: The review is devoted to S. Yu. Neklyudov’s book The Legend of Razin: The Persian Princess and Other Stories. As the title indicates, the key theme of the monograph is the motif of the legendary robber drowning the Persian princess in the river Volga. In Russian texts of the 19th–20th centuries, this motif varied and formed a number of different plot schemes. Moreover, the book discusses other less popular but numerous motifs associated with Razin and the strategies of the mythologization of the robber. As the review shows, the strategies of describing Razin in folklore, as analyzed by Neklyudov, are similar to those that were used by different authors of the 17th century in the description of another historical character of the time: the impostor false Dmitry, who held the Moscow throne between 1605 and 1606. The legendary stories about these characters were framed by two main themes — the demonological and the apocalyptic. Both the ataman and the impostor turned into sorcerers who possessed supernatural powers, were damned sinners associated with the devil, etc. Similar motifs and narrative patterns can be traced not only in folklore — legends and historical songs — but also in the booklore of the 17th century. On the basis of several texts of the epoch, the review demonstrates the interaction of oral and written texts.

Keywords: Stepan Razin, False Dmitry, impostor, folklore, booklore.

To cite: Antonov D., ‘A Review of S. Yu. Neklyudov, Legenda o Razine: persidskaya knyazhna i drugie syuzhety [The Legend of Razin: The Persian Princess and Other Stories]. Moscow: Indrik, 2016, 552 pp.’, Antropologicheskij forum, 2019, no. 41, pp. 161–171.

doi: 10.31250/1815-8870-2019-15-41-161-171

URL: http://anthropologie.kunstkamera.ru/files/pdf/041/antonov.pdf