ON THE ISSUES OF CREATING A UNIFIED CATALOG OF ALTAI EPICTELLERS (from the 19th–20th centuries)

Abstract

The article deals with the need to systematize all available materials about epictellers with their repertoire. The first mentions of the names of Altai epictellers are found in the works of researchers of Altai folklore and ethnography in the 19th century and rare information about their repertoire or fixation of a particular text of the legend from them. More complete information is found in scholarly publications of the mid-20th century concerning the biographies of now famous epictellers with an indication of their teachers. Several ethical rules contributed to the preservation of the names of epictelling teachers by their students: the faith of the epictellers themselves in the magical gift of epictelling and the veneration of the names of their mentors as sacred guides to the world of legends. So, in this article we define approaches to collecting information to create a unified catalog of Altai epictellers. Upon completion of the compilation by ethnic regions, prerequisites may be created for the formation of and additions to the Catalogue of epictellers of Russian and Eurasian epictellers. The relevance of such a study is dictated by the fact that when presenting information about the work of Altai epictellers about their teachers in publications of the mid-19th–mid-20th centuries, information is limited. This does not make it possible to reveal their repertoire in detail, but at the same time, separate indications of the names of texts, places of recording contribute to clarifying the places of distribution in different periods of a particular text of legends. Such a summary work contributes not only to the comprehensive identification of the Altai epictelling repertoire as a whole, taking into account the early periods of fixing epic texts, but also to clarifying the epic context of the work of famous Altai rhapsodies against the background of the revealed names of lesser-known epictellers. The goals and objectives of the study are the need to restore the names and, if possible, their repertoire of Altai epictellers of the 19th and early 20th in order to compile a Unified Catalog of epictellers in the future, based on information, taking into account archival and field materials recorded from their disciples – epictellers. The article reflects a summary search work to restore the names of epictellers based on published materials of researchers of the 19th and 20th centuries, who did not pursue a specific task of systematizing the names and repertoire of epictellers, but fixed one or another epicteller. However, it is the systematic cataloging that will contribute not only to the full identification of the list of names of Altai epictellers with an indication of their repertoire, but also to the clarification of the epic context of the work of famous Altai rhapsodies against the background of the revealed names of lesser-known epictellers. The main conclusions, the results of the study are that an attempt was made to restore the names and repertoire of epictellers from the 19th to the 20th century, available from publications and archival materials, and the stability of the plot composition of Altai legends is also being clarified.

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