THE RECEPTION OF TURKIC EPICS IN THE WEST

Abstract

This contribution aims at presenting an overview of the sources for the study of Turkic epics published in the West. This serves the double aim of offering to the colleagues’ bibliographical data on publications that are often difficult accessible, while at the same time opening up an access to the field to students who as yet lack sufficient knowledge of the source language and of Russian needed for deeper study. Topics addressed are: the difficulties with the definition of the genre, review the academic works written by turkologists and generalists, the role of performance in the reception of the epic, possible connections of the content with historiographically tangible happenings in the past, translations and the global place of Turkic epics, as well as relationship between oral and written epics. One of the conclusions emerging from this survey is that in the West most studies are executed not by turkologists, but by medievalists, students of the general theory of epics, or even by anthropologists. As texts the epics are clearly of great importance for turkology. Editions together with translations are important tools for us to get students acquainted with and interested in the fascinating world of epics.          

References

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