Storytelling art as a part of the spiritual culture of the Yakut people

Abstract

The role of folklore in the social life of Yakutia is becoming more and more noticeable, its roots are being restored. The art of storytellers takes many forms. It is obvious that the study of the problem of storytelling art as part of the spiritual culture of the Yakut (Sakha) people is always relevant. The art of storytelling of Olonkho-tellers as bearers of the epic tradition is still the subject of modern epic studies. Considering the theoretical approaches of domestic, Soviet and Yakut science, which were used in the study of storytelling art, the authors set the main goal to comprehend the problems of storytelling as a complex phenomenon of a unified system of spiritual culture of an ethnic group. To achieve this goal, academic and theoretical studies related to the performing arts of the storyteller are considered. Based on the works of the past years and on the historical-typological and comparative-typological research methods developed by domestic, Russian and foreign scholars, the authors strive to reveal and understand the world of storytelling art of the Yakut people even deeper. And relying precisely on the academic and theoretical works of many researchers on the problems of storytelling art, the authors were able to systematize their scientific knowledge and tried to present it to the scientific environment. Thus, this article provides a general overview of the academic works by A. F. Middendorf, I. A. Khudyakov, V. L. Seroshevsky, E. K. Pekarsky, G. V. Ksenofontov, P. A. Oyunsky, G. U Ergis, I. V. Pukhov, N. V. Emelyanov, V. V. Illarionov on the Yakut storytelling art, which have been carried out since the nineteenth century until present. An in-depth analysis of the works of predecessors showed that storytelling art, as a phenomenon of traditional culture, is preserved in the minds and hearts of its ancestral keepers and carriers – talented storytellers and in their epic repertoires. The Yakut people had their own criteria and the established system of storytelling art of Olonkho-tellers. The traditions of Yakut Olonkho-tellers have not been forgotten; they continue in the cultural and creative activities of talented improvisers of folk song art, but only at a different level of aesthetic and ideological development of the spiritual heritage.

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