ews 
The Newsletter of the Slavic & East European Folklore Association 

Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 1996 

The second SEEFA 
Newsletter 
Much has happened 
since the meeting at 
AAASS a year ago 
when we approved By­
laws, elected officers, 
and decided to seek af­
fIliation with MASS. 

Our SecretaIy-Treas­
urer Jeanmarte 
Rouhier-Willoughby 
has labored mightily 
and has at last applied 
for approval to receive 
non-profit status from 
IRS. We have also re­
quested affiliation with 
MASS, a matter that 
should be settled at this 
year's conference in Bos­
ton November 14-17. If 
approved, this would al­
low us one "free" ses­
sion and a meeting 
room. Special apprecia­
tion has to be expressed 
to those "founding con­
tributors" who helped to 
pay for vartous applica­
tions required to receive 
non- profit status and 
for the first newsletter. 
They are: Ronelle Alex­
ander, James Bailey, 
Margaret Beissinger, 
Charles Gribble, Nor­
man Ingham, Linda 
Ivanits, Natalie 
Kononenko, Lyubomira 

President's Message 

Parpulova, Jan Perk­
owski, Jeanmarte 
RouhierWilloughby,and 
Robert Rothstein. 

SEEFA at AAASS 

We will have three ses­
sions on folklore and 
two related sessions at 
this year's AAASS con­
ference (see the en­
closed list). We will 
have a bUSiness meet­
ing at 3:00 on Satur­
day at a place to be 
announced. In particu­
lar we need to discuss 
the make up of the 
newsletter and Web 
page, the involvement 
of foreign folklorists, 
and the broadening of 
SEEFA to cover the 
folklore of all countries 
in CIS. We trust that 
members will come for­
ward to organiZe pan­
els for next year's 
AAASS conference in 
Seattle to be held No­
vember 20-23. 

With the present news­
letter we are experi­
menting by presenting 
brief surveys about 
folklore activities and 
publications in several 
East European coun-

tries. We have also 
started including re­
ports about confer­
ences on folklore 
(Ronelle Alexander), 
short reviews (Mar­
garet Beissinger), and 
remarks by three Rus­
sian folklorists. All of 
these items, some in 
expanded form, will be 
made available in 
SEEFA's web page by 
our Newsletter Editor 
Bruce McClelland. We 
hope that all this schol­
arly information will be 
useful to the members 
of SEEFA, especially 
those who are actively 
teaching folklore 
courses today. We 
would appreciate your 
comments, sugges­
tions, and contribu­
tions to future 
newsletters, and we 
would welcome ideas 
about other activities 
that SEEFA might be­
come involved in. A few 
such items are re­
search in progress, 
translations, course 
materials and syllabi, 
folklore courses and 
programs, and ex­
change programs. 

My personal thanks 
go to all those who have 

contributed to the sec­
ond newsletter. Re­
sponse has been so 
large that we will have 
plenty of materials for 
the third letter. 

James Bailey, President. 

Special appreciation 
has to be expressed to 
those '.founding 
contributors" woo 
helped to payfor 
various applications 
required to receive 
non- profit status and 
for the first 
newsletter. 

Inside 

AAASS Panels 2 
Treasurer's Note 3 

· Editor's Note 3 
· Book Review 3 

Coriferences 4 
· Folklore Dictionary 4 

EthnoTTULSicology 4 
· Bibliographic Series 5 

~~~~ 
Folklore 6&7 



2 SEEFANEWSLETTERFALL 1996 

1996AAASS CONVENTION: FOLKLORE PANELS 

There will be four, rather than three, sessions on folklore at the 
MASS convention in 1996, as well as two related sessions of inter­
est. The list below is an update of the list published in the previous 
newsletter. 

Thursday, November 14, 5:30 

Ritual and Custom in Slavic Folklore. 

Organized and chaired by: Snejana Tempest 

Jeannette Lacoss, "Contemporary Childlore: Coping with Dissolution and Change 

Olga Strakhov, "Negation Formulae in Slavic Incantations and Spells." 

Linda Ivanits, "Death Ritual in the Volgograd Area Today" 

Discussant: Natalie Kononenko 

Friday, November 15,1:15 pm 

Homage to A.B. Lord: Parry-Lord Theory in the 90s 

Organized by: Ronelle Alexander 

Chair: Matthew Kay. 

Ronelle Alexander, 'Tradition and Performance from the Singer's Point of View." 

Natalie Kononenko, "The Learning Technique of Ukrainian Minstrels: Dictated an, 
Sung Texts." 

Lyubomira Parpulova-Gribble, "Traditional Formulas as Points of Convergence 
between Orality and Uteracy" 

Discussant: Margaret Beissinger: 

Saturday, November 16,4:15 pm 

Teaching Slavic Folklore 

Organized by: Guntis Smidchens 

Chair: Robert Bowie. 

Jan Perkowski, "The Lure of Dracula" 

Guntis Smidchens, "Russian Ethnographic Methods in the American Folklore 
Classroom" 

James Bailey, "Should American Students Read Propp?" 

Discussant: lzaly Zemtsovsky 

Sunday, November 17, 12:30-2:30 pm, Section 14-23 

Childlore, Slang, and Folk Humor of Post-Soviet Russia 

Chair: Emil Draitser 

Snejana Tempest, "Gender Roles in Childlore" 

Nellee Holmes, "Fishki i prikoly pri prepodavanii russkogo slenga" 

Emil Draitser, 'where the Russian Jokes Go: Folk Humor of Post-Soviet Russia" 

Saturday, 10:15 am 

The Interface of Folklore and Literature: The Slavic Middle Ages" 

Sunday, 8:00 am 

"Shamanism in Siberia and Inner Asia." 



This just in ... 

Note from the Treasurer 

As you know from the last newsletter, SEEFA is pur­
suing non-profit status with the IRS. The first step 
was to submit articles of incorporation for a non­
profit corporation with the state of Kentucky, where 
our funds are located. The articles were filed and 
quickly approved. 

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the ap­
proval of our non-profit status. The materials were sub­
mitted over three months ago and a decision was ex­
pected by October. However, in August IRS requested 
additional information about our activities as well as an 
amendment to our articles of incorporation. As of Sep­
tember 23, the revised materials have been submitted so 
that we are waiting a final decision on the application. 

We had a burst of interest in membership early last 
year, but over the summer applications dwindled. Our 
membership currently totals 40. We ask that you please 
pass information about how to join SEEFA to those who 
may be interested in the field. 

Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby. secretary-Treasurer. 

Brief Review: Albert Lord's Final Book 

Albert Lord's final-and posthumous-book, The Singer Resumes 
the Tale (edited by Mary Louise Lord) was issued last summer 
(1995) by Cornell University Press. Lord had already written sub­
stantial portions of the book when he passed away in July 1991. 
Thanks to the extraordinary dedication and perspicacity of his 

widow, the classicist Mary Louise Lord, the volume was completed 
and edited in the several years following Lord's death. It offers a 
wealth of interpretation and analysis in ten chapters that range 
from studies of the "nature and kinds of oral literature" to transi­
tional texts. Lord's later-in-life project on the lyric Latvian 
"dainas" is presented, as are valuable contributions to the study of 
Homer, Anglo-Saxon poetry,. ballad, and Serbo-Croatian epic. A 
wonderful chapter entitled "Rebuttal" nearly comes to life as one 
can "hear" the dignified and almost-defiant "voice" of Albert Lord 
take on a number of his critics and successfully defend his claims 
to the orally composed nature of much of traditional poetry. The vol­
ume is a fitting final statement from a scholar who revolutionized 
critical thinking on oral literature in the 20th century. 

Margaret Beissinger 

Farewell from the Editor 

111ere was, last year, some concern expressed by 
SEEFA's Board of Directors, when I appliedfor 
the position of newsletter editor, that I might soon 
be gOing to Eastern Europe under the auspices of 
IREX. Well, that concern has been borne out, but 
not in the expected way. For, rather than going 
off to do ethnographic .fieldwork on vampires in 
Bulgaria under an IREX research grant, I have in­
stead. accepted the position of Director of !REX' s 
Eurasia Internet Programs. 

So this will be the second. and last, newsletter in 
which I will have been involved.. 111e editorship of 
the newsletter has been passed into the able 
hands of Jonathan Perkins, afolklorist at Univer­
sity of Kansas. His appointment to replace me 
was una.rUmously approved by the SEEFA Board 
of Directors. 

In terms of plans for the newsletter, I must con­
fess that I did not have enough time to implement 
many of the suggestions and wishes of the mem-
bership and the board.. I will pass to my succes­
sor my own wish listfor the newsletter as it 
grows to accommodate a growing membership. 
111e specific areas that I would have liked to en­
hance over the first two issues include: incorpora­
tion of more materials concerning Eastern Europe, 
including Romania; inclusion of more notices of 
upcoming events supplied by members; and. fi­
nally, a greater emphasis on the design andjunc­
tionality of the Web page, using it to Unk to sites 
concerned withfolklore all over the world. 

I wilL of course, stay in touch with SEEFA, al­
though I will be living in Moscow for the next two 
years. Since I will be spending most of my time 
traveling to many places lying between Vladivos­
tok to Moldova, and between Minsk and Tblisi 
and Almaty, there is even a good chance I will be 
able to supply some actual D.eI.US to SEEFA as I 
encounter it. 

I amgladfor my chance to have helped SEEFA 
get off the ground. and thank the Board of Direc­
tors for giving me that chance. 

-Bruce McClelland 

SEEFANEWSLETTERFALL 1996 3 



SEEFANews 

Dictionary of 
the Language 
of Russian 
Folklore 

A scholarly 
school for the study 
of linguo-folkloris- . 
tics has been 
formed under the di­
rection of Professor 
AT. Khrolenko in 
the ancient Russian 
city of Kursk. Study 
of the language of 
Russian folklore rep­
resents the basic 
purpose for the ac­
tivities of the school. 
Main emphasis is 
placed on investiga­
tion of the seman­
tics of the folk-po­
etic word. AT. 
Khrolenko's mono­
graph The Seman­
tics of the Folklore 
Word (Voronezh, 
1992) sums up 
many years of work 
in this area. 

The lexicological 
research of the 
Kursk linguo-folklor­
ists has established 
a reliable base for 
realizing an ex­
tremely complex 
and laboriOUS pro­
ject called Diction­
ary of the Language 
of Russian Folklore. 
No such lexico­
graphic work exists 
either in Russia or 
in other countries, 

- although work in 
this area is being 
conducted by three 
other groups. These 
are: 1) the Moscow 
schoolofethnolin­
guistics under the 
direction of the re­
cently deceased 

Page 8 

CONFERENCES 

Fifth Albert Bates 
Lord Conference 
held in Almaty 

The Fifth Albert Bates 
Lord international confer­
ence was held 20-25 Au­
gust, 1996, in Almaty, 
the capital city of Kazak­
stan. As at previous Lord 
conferences, the meeting 
included a blend of schol­
arly papers and encoun­
ters with Singers 
representing a living tradi­
tion. The conference was 
hosted by the Almaty Kur­
mangazy State Conserva­
tory of Music, and was 
held concurrently with 
the 150th anniversary of 
the birth of the Kazak 
epic Singer Dzhambul 
Dzhambaev. Members of 
the Lord conference were 
thus able to attend events 
connected with this larger 
celebration, noteworthy 
among which were a con­
cert featuring epic singers 
who had won in competi­
tions across Central Asia, 
and a country fair featur­
ing lavish meals in color­
fully decorated yurts and 
an elaborate horse race. 

Morning sessions of the 
conference were devoted to 
scholarly papers, and after­
noon sessions to encoun­
ters with traditional per­
formers. One afternoon 
seminar was centered 
upon the traditional epic 
of the Mangistau region, 
and the other on the epic 
tradition of the Sir valley. 
The topic of this latter 
seminar was the epic sing­
ing tradition from the re­
gion of Kzyl-Orda, and was 
organized by Almas Alma­
tov and Alma Kunan­
baeva. Singers from this re-

4 SEEFANEWSLETTERFALL 1996 

gion gave a convincing 
demonstration not only of 
their art but also of their 
awareness of it as a con­
tinuing tradition. At the 
conclUSion of the confer­
ence, it was announced 
that a School of Kazak Tra­
ditional Epic, under the di­
rection of Almas Almatov, 
was being founded in Kzyl­
Orda. Since Almatov and 
several of his singers have 
attended practically all the 
Albert Lord conferences, 
and since one of the major 
goals of the Lord confer­
ences is to bring singers 
and scholars together in a 
mutual learning experi­
ence, it seemed especially 
fitting that the founding of 
his school should be an­
nounced at this Fifth con­
ference. 

In addition to formal 
conf~rence events, foreign 
visitors also enjoyed the 
baths of Almaty (said to be 
the best of the entire for­
mer USSR), and were 
treated not only to an ex­
cursion into the beautiful 
mountains right outside 
Almaty but also to several 
outstanding feasts. The 
hospitality and friendship 
of the Kazak hosts left an 
unforgettable impression 
on all those who were 
lucky enough to attend. 
We look forward to further 
interaction with Central 
Asian singers at sub­
sequent Lord conferences, 
either in Central Asia itself 
or elsewhere in the world. 

Ronelle Alexander 
University of California, Berkeley 

'thnomusicology in 
ussia in Recent Yecus 

From the 1950s 
through the 1970s in 
the USSR, when state 
<esthetics conSidered 
the highest value of 
music written by com­
posers to be its connec­
tion with folklore 
traditions, musical folk­
loristics, or ethnomusi­
cology, had close 
connections with gen­
eral musicology. The 
Composers' Union 
brought together spe­
cialists in the folklore 
section, financed expe­
ditions, conferences, 
and publications, and 
founded the Folklore 
COmmission where a 
catalogue was devel­
oped and an ~normous 
number of songs was 
collected. In the 1970s, 
scholarship about the 
folk song was en­
grossed with cartogra­
phy and developed 
contacts with other 
fields, especiallyeth­
nography. 

In the 1980s, the folk­
lore ensemble move­
ment started-small 
groups of urban sing­
ers wished to perform 
anCient songs in an 
authentic manner, car­
ried out expeditions to 
learn how to sing di­
rectly rom rural sing­
ers, and made musical 
tranScriptions. This in 
tum has led to efforts 
to change ethnomusi­
cology from a research 
into a performance dis­
Cipline and has influ­
enced the training of 
new personnel. 

In the past, ethnomu­
sicologists used to meet 
at conferences with col-



SEEFANews 

Ethnomusicology, cont'd 

leagues from the former un­
ion republics, but such 
meetings have practically 
ceased for financial reasons. 
The publishing houses 
"Nauka" and "Sovetskii kom­
pozitor" used to publish folk­
lore materials, but since 
1991 they have not brought 
out a single new collection 
of songs or a single book 
about folk music. Although 
new collections have been 
appearing in the proVinces, 
they are difficult to obtain 
and leave much to be de­
sired. The series "Compila­
tion of Siberian Folklore" 
and its splendid publication 
ofYakut Olonkhos are ex­
ceptions. 

WOrried about the loss of 
a national musical tradition. 
schools in Russia have 
started teaching Russian 
folk music as a special sub­
ject: musical colleges and 
higher educational institu­
tions have opened folklore 
departments for the prepara­
tion of teachers. A utilitar­
ian approach predominates 
so that the "ethno-" is 
strengthened at the expense 
of" -musicology." Formerly 
a mUSiCian-folklorist had to 
know harmony, polyphony, 
playing the piano. orchestra­
tion, and the history of mu­
sic just as well as any other 
musicologist, but this no 
longer is always the case. 

While many ethnomu­
sicologists interested in 
practical performance 

_ have come together in a 
union of folklore ensem­
bles, ethnomusicologists 
interested in research 
have grouped themselves 
around the Russian Acad­
emy of Sciences and the 
association "Musical Folk­
lore" at the Institute for 
the HiStory of the Arts. 
Two other important de-

tant developments need to 
be mentioned. First. the in­
fluence of the school of 
E.V. Gippius (1903-1985), 
with its interest in struc­
tural typology of Russian 
folk melodies, is steadily 
growing thanks to his stu­
dents, the late B. B. 
Efimenkova and M. A. En­
govatova at the Gnesin Mu­
sical Academy in Moscow. 
Second. V. V. Mazepus' 
school in Novosibirsk fo­
cuses on studying the tra­
ditional singing of the 
minor peoples in Siberia. 
In these ways the scholarly 
potential of Russian eth­
nomusicology, to all ap­
pearances, is being 
preserved. 

Mikhail Lobanov 
Russian Institute for the History of the 

Arts. Sl Petersburg, Russia 

CALL FOR WEBSrrES 

SEEFANews, which is 
· currently available on the 

Web at 

http:// faraday.clas. 
virginia.edu/ -bam4c/ 
seefa.htm 

· is seeking to build links to 
· Slavic, East European. and 
· folklore-related Web sites. 
· Please send URLs of inter-
· esting sites to the editor of 
: SEEFANews. 

Bibliographic Series 
"Russian Folklore" 

Since 1961, bibliog­
raphic indexes of Russian 
folklore have been pre­
pared at the Institute of 
Russian literature 
(Pushkin House). Russian 
Academy of Sciences, St. 
Petersburg. Russia. 
Mikaela Melts, who 
founded the bibliographic 
series "Russian Folklore." 
published five volumes (in 
six books) covering materi­
als from 1901 to 1975. She 
established the subject of 
the bibliographic system 
and the structure of the in­
dex. The bibliographies in 
the series contain informa­
tion about works devoted 
to Russian oral poetry and 
published in Russian in 
the former Soviet Union. 

According to the tradi­
tions of Russian folkloris­
tics. the term "folklore" is 
understood to involve 
works of oral literature, 
folk beliefs and mythologi­
cal conceptions, rituals, 
and customs. The materi­
als in the bibliography are 
grouped by a generic-the­
matic principle, that is. ep­
ics, tales, songs, ritual po­
etry. works on the history 
of Russian folkloristics, 
and works on the interrela­
tions of oral and written 
traditions. An auxiliary 
name and geographic in­
dex facilitates a search for 

information in the bibli 
raphy. 

The last four volume 
the bibliography have b 
prepared by Tatyana G. 
lvanova, who has pub­
lished two books devote 
to contemporary folklori 
tics for the years 1976-
1980 (Leningrad, 1987) 
and for the years 1981-
1985 (St. Petersburg. 
1993). She also prepare 
retrospective volume for 
the years 1881-1900 (L 
ingrad, 1990). The new 
vate publishing house 
"Dmitrii Bulanin" in 19 
brought out the volume 
covering the years 1800 
1955. This firm, whose 
dress is Institute of Rus 
sian literature, 
Naberezhnaia Makarov 
dom 4, St. Petersburg, 
sia 199034, specializes 
publishing scholarly lite 
ture in the humanities. 
Thus a bibliography of t 
initial period in Russian 
folkloristics has now be 
made available. The ne 
volumes of the bibliog­
raphy for the years 198 
1990 and 1991-1995 a 
being compiled at the p 
sent time at the Institut 
Russian literature. 

Tatyana G. Ivanova. Institute of 
Russian Literature. 

Invitation to Visit the 
Milman Parry Collection 

Margaret Beissinger has arranged a visit to the Milman Parry Collection after the 
session "Homage to A. B. Lord" 1: 15 to 3: 15 on Friday November 15th. She will hand 
out directions and will lead all those interested to meet in room "C" at Harvard Widener 
Library at 4: 15. Mrs. Lord plans to come to the session and to speak, along with Tom 
Butler, during the get-together at the collection. Because of the long day. unfortu­
nately it will not be possible for Mrs. Lord to invite us to visit her home to see Albert 
Lord's study after the public reception for the Harvard Slavic Department from 5:00 
to 7:00 in the Rotunda of Widener library. 

SEEFANEWSLETTERFALL 1996 5 



SPECIAL INSERT 

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MA TERIALS ON RUSSIAN FOLKLORE 

James Bailey, The University of Wisconsin, Madison 

As everyone who has tried to follow and perhaps to pur­
chase recent books about Russian folklore knows. there no 
longer is any certain way of finding out what is actually 
published in Russia. The whole system has changed. old 
publishing houses have vanished. new ones have ap­
peared. many items appear in provincial cities. and there is 
no central listing of current or planned publications. Short 
bibliographies appear in the somewhat popular journal 
"Zhivaia starina" which is coming out for the third year. 
The present bibliography offers a selection of books that 
have appeared since 1990 and sUIveys trends that may be 
taking place. 

While a rather broad interest exists in publishing items con­
cerned with Russian nationality. ethnography. ethnomusi­
cology. folklore. customs. and beliefs. there also are many 
books that have a popular appeal. have questionable schol­
arly qUality, and reflect an interest in astrology. the occult. 
or the supernatural. One disturbing sign is that very few 
collections of Russian folklore itself are coming out. per­
haps because private publishers see little demand for it. 
but this may also reflect the fact that institutions have few 
funds to finance expeditions to collect folklore in the field. 
Because of publishing costs. plans for bringing out the long 
desired compendium of Russian epics. for instance. have 
been shelved once again. At the same time there are several 
positive signs for the study of Russian folklore today be­
cause a number of new fine scholarly works are appearing. 
many older "classics' are being republished. basic reier­
ence works are coming out. and neglected genres such as 
incantations. memorates (bylichki). and spiritual verses 
(dukhovnye stikhi) are being published in anthologies. Only 
occasional efforts seem to be made to adapt the study of 
Russian folklore to American "Dorsonism" although S. lu. 
Nekliudov in his article "Posle fol'klora." "Zbivaia starina." 
no .. 1 (1995): 2-4. pleas for such an approach to collect and 
study contemporary folklore. Here I will cite just a few 
items. See the web page for the bibliography. 

"Folklor i etnograficheskaia deistvitelnost." Ed. A K. 
Baiburin. St. Petersburg: Nauka. 1992. (A collection of arti­
cles about mythological texts and rituals. reconstrution of 
archaic concepts. and analysis of folklore texts.) 

lvanova. T. G. "Russkaia folkloristika v biograficheskikh 
ocherkakh." Studiorum Slavicorum Monumenta. vol. 1. 
SPb.: RAN. 1993. (A study of nine Russian folklorists 
around the tum of the twentieth century.) 

Ivleva. Larisa. "Riazhene v russkoi traditsionnoi kulture." 
SPB.: Rossiiskii institut istorii iskusstv. 1994. (A fascinat­
ing study by the late Larisa Ivleva.) 

Jazyk russkogo fol'kIora. Ed. Z. K. Tarlanov. Petrozavodsk: 
Petrozavodskij gosudarstvennyj universitet. 1996. (The lat­
est volume of a series edited by Tarlanov.) 

Khrolenko. A T. "Semantika folklornogo slova." Voronezh: 
Voronezhskii universitet. 1992. 

"Narodnye znaniia. folklor. narodnoe iskusstvo: Svod et­
nograficheskikh ponjatii i terminov." Eds. B. N. Putilovand 
G. Shtrobakh. Moscow: Nauka. 1991. 

Nekrylova. A F .• and N. I. Savushkina. compo "Narodnyj 
teatr." Moscow: Sovetskaia Rossiia. 1991. (Probably the fin-

6 SEEFANEWSLETTERFALL 1996 

est and most complete anthology of folk plays. Petrushka. 
vertep. and urban folklore including the raek.) 

Nikitina. S. E. "Ustnaia narodnaia kultura i iazykovoe 
soznanie." M.: Nauka. 1993. (A specialist on Old Believers 
writes about the differences between the written and spo­
ken word in folklore.) 

Novichkova. T. A "Russkii demonologicheskii slovar." SPb.: 
Petersburgskii pisatel. 1995. (Contains many memorates 
and draws upon archival materials.) 

"Pesennaia lirika ustnoi traditsii." Compo and ed. I. I. Zemt­
sovskii. SPb.: Rossiiskii institut istorii iskusstv. ("Folklor i 
folkloristika") (A recent volume in the excellent series "Folk­
lor i folkloristika" put out by this institut now under its 
older name.) 

Putilov. B. N. "Folklor i narodnaia kultura." SPb.: RAN. 
1994. (The latest volume by one "dean" of Russian folkloris­
tics.) 

"Russkii folklor: Bibliograficheskii ukazateI1800-1855." T. 
G. lvanova. compo St. Petersburg: Institut russkoj litera­
tury. 1996. (The latest volume in the indispensable series 
of bibliographies on Russian folklore.) 

"Skomorokhi: Problemy i perspektivy izucheniia." Ed. V. V. 
Koshelev. SPb.: Rossiiskii institut istorii iskusstv. (Collec­
tion of papers given at a conference November 22-26. 1994 
and organized by Koshelcv who has revitalized study of the 
skomorokhs.) 

"Slavianskaia mifologiia." V. lao Petrukhin. et al .. ed. M.: El­
lis Lak. 1995. 

"Slavianskie drevnosti." Vol. 1. A-G. Ed. N. I. Tolstoi. M.: 
Mezbdunarodnye otnosheniia. 1995. (The frrst volume of an 
encyclopedia being prepared by the lnstitut slavi­
anovedeniia i balkanistiki.) 

Smimov. Iu. I.. and T. S. Shentalinskaia. eds. and comps. 
"Russkaia epicheskaia poeziia Sibiri i Dalnego Vostoka." No­
vosibirsk: Nauka. 1991. 

Sokolov. B. M. "Bolshoi stikh 0 EgOrii khrabrom." M.: Nasle­
die. 1995. (Although this book was written long ago by one 
of the finest Russian folklorists in the twentieth century. it 
was published only recently.) Vlasova. M. "Novaia abevega 
russkikh sueverii." SPb.: Severo- zapad. 1995. (An illus­
trated dictionary of folk beliefs.) 



SPECIAL INSERT 

RECENT BOOKS: UKRAINIAN FOLKLORE 

Natalie Kononenko, University of Virginia 

Generally little seems to be happening in regard to folklore 
in Ukraine. What is most disappointing is that the classics 
are not being reissued as they are in Russia. More pre­
cisely, the classics are being reissued, but in a condensed 
and popularized form rather than by reprinting the origi­
nal. Chubyns'kyi's book just came out, but it is expensive 
and contains only two volumes of excerpts. Language may 
be an issue since many of the classics were in written Rus­
sian with texts in Ukrainian, often even in dialect and fairly 
close to the actual oral text. Since the Ukrainians are try­
ing to be purely Ukrainian, folk classics in Russian may be 
unacceptable. Kulish's collection "Zapiski 0 luzhnoi Rusi" 
came out in an edition printed in Kiev by the respectable 
publishing house Dnipro in 1994. It is difficult to under­
stand why Dnipro does not republish more works of this 
kind. Kulish's book is not my favorite either because I find 
him pompous, self-aggrandizing and condescending to the 
folk, but at least the volume is a start. Many of the things 
that are popular in Russia today are also popular in 
Ukraine: incantations, herbal medicine, and demonology. It 
would be wonderful if Hnatiuk's three-volumed book on de­
monology were reprinted. The collection of incantations 
was a disappointment-a lot of paper but not much text, 
and more a popular edition than a scholarly one. Some of 
the herbalist books and the herbalism/ ecology books seem 
to be good. 

The following is a list of recent acquisitions of Ukrainian 
folklore. I cannot guarantee that other things have not 
come out and have escaped my attention. I would appreci­
ate it if readers of the SEEFA newsletter would add their 
own comments and fill out my list. 

1. "Zapiski 0 Iuzhnoi Rusi, v dvukh tomakh." Sostavlenie i 
izdanie Panteleimona Kulisha. Originally published in 
1856, repUblished in 1994, Kyiv: Dnipro. A reprint of a clas­
sic that contains all kinds of things-epic poetry and its 
performers, legends and beliefs, tales and their tellers, and 
songs-in Russian. 

2. "Ukraiins'ki prykazky, prysliv'ia i take inshe zbirnyky 
Markovycha ta inshykh uklav M. Nomys." Originally pub­
lished in 1864, reissued Kyiv: Lybid', 1993. Another reprint 
of a classic collection of proverbs and sayings. 

3. "Ukraiintsi: Narodni viruvannia, povir'ia demonolihiia." 
Kyiv: Lybid', 1991. A collection of articles, many by well­
known scholars of the past-RyI's'kyi, Franko, Hnatiuk, 
and Efimenko. 

4. Pavlo Chubyns'kyi. "Mudrist' Vivkiv." 2 vols. Kyiv: Mystet­
svo, 1995. Pavlo Chubyns'kyi's work is a classic that has 
wonderful materials on wedding rituals, funerals, epics, 
and many other things. However, the 1995 "Mudrist'" is 
NOT the same as the original and can best be described as 
"Chubyns'kyi lite." It is still a useful book, but I was hoping 
for a republication and was disappointed. 

5. "Ukraiins'ke narodoznavstvo." Eds. S. P. Pavliuk, H. I. 
Horyn', R. A Kyrchiva. L'viv: Feniks, 1994. A basic volume 
containing information on all sorts of things-house con­
struction, farming techniques, beliefs, and folk food. The 
book is probably heavier on material culture than on spiri­
tual cultural but is still quite useful. 

6. "Dvanadtsiat'misiatsiv: Narodnyi kalendar." Iu. S. Kova­
lenko. Kyiv: Ukraiina, 1993. This volume goes through the 

year month by month but is a little on the "cute" side. 
Chubyns'kyi's book above covers the yearly cycle in suc­
cinct form-I prefer it. 

7. ·Ukraiins'ki Zamovliannia." M. N. Moskalenko, M. O. 
Novikova. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1993. A collection of charms that 
has lots of pictures and wide borders but not much text. 
Nevertheless, this seems to be the best there is even if it 
does not have an ideal format or presentation. 

8. "Ukraiins'ka narodna meditsyna: istoriia i praktika Zori­
ana Boltarovych." Kyiv: Abrys. 1994. I haven't had a 
chance to look at this volume carefully, but it shows how 
interest in folklore medicine is as high in Ukraine as else­
where. 

10. "Ukraiins'ke narodne maliarstvo XII-XX stolit'." V. I. 
Sventsits'ka, V. P. Otkovych. Kyiv: Mystetsvo, 1991. A vol­
ume of Ukrainian folk painting that is gorgeous and expen­
sive but is worth it. Look at "Christ the Grapevine." 

11. "Ukraiins'ki perekazy." M. Vozniak. Krakiv /L'viv: Ukrai­
ins'ke vydavnytsvo, 1994. This collection, which contains 
mainly historical legends, is essentially popular rather than 
scholarly. For example, the second half claims to be derived 
from oral sources and lists Vozniak as collector, but noth­
ing is stated about whom he collected each piece from, 
where, or when. 

12. "Heroiichnyi epos ukraiins'kohoh narodu: khrestoma­
tiia: O. M. Talanchuk and F. S. Kuslyi. Kyiv: Lybid', 1993. 
Epos in the RUSSian/Ukrainian sense-epics, historical 
songs, legends, tales, and also carols. A useful but not 
ground-breaking publication. 

SEEFANEWSLETTERFALL 1996 7 



jrompage4 
Academician N.I.Tolstoy, 2) S.E. 
Nikitina's Moscow group work­
ing on a thesaurus for the lan­
guage of the Russian lament 
and spiritual verses, and 3) the 
Polish school under the direc­
tion of Jerzi Bartminski. 

The Kursk project is distin­
guished by its maximum empha­
sis on linguistics. The semantics 
and pragmatics of the oral-poetic 
word is elUCidated only by consid­
ering all the textual and extra-tex­
tual connections of the lexeme be­
ing described, an approach that 
avoids subjectivism in the evalu­
ation of linguistic facts. The pro­
ject of the Kursk linguo-folklor­
ists has been supported by the 
Russian Humanities Scholarly 
Fund. Interim results (such as 
preparing a conference, glossa­
ries, or trial dictionary entries) 

are being published by Kursk 
scholars in a series called "Folk­
lore Lexicography." Five issues of 
this series have already come out 
during the years 1994-1996, and 
the sixth and seventh issues are 
now in press. 

Practical work on the diction­
ary has stimulated active theoreti­
cal research and has placed into 
investigators' hands an extremely 
promising methodology by which 
it is possible to delineate what 
has been impossible to achieve 
by other scholarly means. The 
Kursk linguo-folklorists, particu­
larly by comparing dictionary en­
tries based on Russian and Eng­
lish folk songs, have revealed the 
individuality of the folklore men­
tality of both ethnic groups. Pre­
liminary results have been pre­
sented in O.A.Petrenko's 
monograph "Ethnic Mentality 
and the Language of Folklore" 

SLAVIC & EAST EUROPEAN FOLKLORE ASSOCIATION 

(Kursk, 1996). On the basis of 
the dictionary being compiled, 
promising theoretical research is 
being carried on in regard to 
questions such as the territorial 
differentiation of the language of 
folklore, the evolution of folk-po­
etic speech, its genre charac­
teristics, the morphemics of the 
folklore word, and others. 

The Kursk linguo-folklorists 
are prepared to collaborate With 
speCialists of other countries in 
contrastive and comparative re­
search on the folklore language of 
various ethnic groups. 

Inquiries may be addressed to: 
A. T. Khrolenko. ul.Gogolia, d. 
25, kv. 19, Kursk, Russia, 305004 

A. T. Khrolenko. 
Kursk, Russia 

109 Cabell Hall University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22903 

Inside 

President's Message 1 

AAASS Panels 2 
Treasurer's Note 3 
Editor's Note 3 
BookReview 3 

Coriferences 4 
Folklore Dictionary 4 
Ethnorrwsicology 4 

Bibliographic Series 5 
Soecial: Biblioarap!w of 
I(ussian and Okrauuan 
Folklore 6&7