Samodelova E. A.

Grandmother’s Tales by S. A. Yesenin: its folklore-ethnographic and literary contexts   Р. 122

UDC 821.161.3-1.09«19»

DOI: 10.37724/RSU.2023.79.2.012

Abstract. The article deals with the dating of the text of the poem by S. A. Yesenin Grandmother’s Tales and its various creative influences. We specify the dating according to the time of Yesenin’s participation in the Surikov Literary and Musical Society in Moscow and publication in the Good Morning! journal. The paper shows that there existed an ideological and thematic impact on Sergei Yesenin’s poem from earlier classical authors and contemporary poets, as well as the author’s personal memories of his childhood in the village of Konstantinovo, Ryazan Governorate. Yesenin knew about the telling of fairy tales from the poems of I. Z. Surikov and A. N. Pleshcheyev, as well as from his contemporary, friend and editor, the poet I. A. Belousov. We look into the historical and cultural context of Yesenin’s poem Grandmother’s Tales. The title of the poem goes back to titles of some classical poems and also to the editions of fairy tale classics in the 18th–19th centuries. The tradition of telling and listening to fairy tales involved all layers of Russian society, from tsars to peasants. We come across images of storytellers in historical documents, and such personalities entered Yesenin’s memory (from his older relatives and pilgrims wandering in villages and monasteries). Of course, Yesenin also got acquainted with the images of storytellers from his school textbooks and Russian anthologies. The poem describes winter evening engaged in telling of fairy tales, which were typical of Russian household and festive traditions (especially at Christmas time and Maslenitsa (Pancake Week). The same event was recorded by folklorists, including Yesenin’s contemporaries, and reflected in works with fairy tale themes. For children, their winter day included sledding and further listening to fairy tales in a peasant’s home or a nobleman’s mansion. The current article is intended to enter The Yesenin Encyclopedia.

 

Keywords: Grandmother’s Tales by S. A. Yesenin, Grandmother and Grandson by A. N. Pleshcheyev, Childhood by I. Z. Surikov, In Winter by I. A. Belousov, bakhar — storyteller, winter entertainment, The Keys of Mary by S. A. Yesenin, tradition of telling fairy tales, folklorism of S. A. Yesenin.

 

 

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