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Фиалков, Лев и Лариса Фиалкова (сост.). Народы мира о жизни и 
смерти, здоровье и болезнях, больных и врачах. Пословицы и 
поговорки. [Fialkov, Lev and Larisa Fialkova (compilers). Peoples of the 
World on Life and Death, Health and Illness, Patients and Physicians. 
Proverbs and Sayings]. Haifa: JKDesign, 2009. Bibliography. 166 pp. 
ISBN 978-965-7391-08-2. 
 
Proverbs and sayings are the smallest genre of oral narrative. People the 
world over employ them in the most varied situations. Proverbs and 
sayings are used at work and during leisure and they reflect both 
happiness and sorrow. Proverbial performance is accepted by every 
social group, in both urban and rural settings, and in every part of the 
world. Proverbs and sayings help establish a connection to ancient folk 
wisdom and this helps us to come to terms with everyday troubles and 
misfortunes, to accept our destiny, or to find a solution in tragic 
circumstances. The folk philosophy that was transmitted from generation 
to generation has been augmented via expressions that arose in more 
modern times, right up to and including the folkloric visions of the 
twentieth and twenty first centuries.  

Proverbs tend to reflect humankind’s concern with fundamental 
issues such as life and death and the ephemeral nature of objective 
reality. They mirror the folk philosophy of rational thinking, optimism, 
and commonsense. In this sense they are the opposite of fairytales and 
legends, which tend to allow for fantasy and irrationality. The present 
anthology of folkloric expressions collected by two authors, a physician 
father and folklorist daughter, represent a thematic compilation of 
proverbs and sayings devoted to human health, life and death, and texts 
dedicated to medicine. This method of presentation is rather atypical: the 
authors do not arrange the pronouncements on human life, death, and 
illness that they have collected according to geographic origin. Rather 
they organize the collected texts from different ethnic regions according 
to common themes and articulated visions on life and health. This allows 
them to celebrate the similarity of folk wisdom in its global diversity.  

The book contains ten chapters, each divided into several thematic 
sections. The first chapters present proverbs that deal with the nature of 
life. There are assorted proverbs that express the fact that human life is 
fleeting while the world remains eternal. There are proverbs about love 
of life and work, proverbs that counsel patience in sorrow, and proverbs 
that remind us of the inevitability of death. Proverbs presented in this 
section reflect the folklore about the different characteristics of the 

FOLKLORICA 2009, Vol. XIV



REVIEWS 

FOLKLORICA 2009, Vol. XIV 

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phenomenon of human existence from birth through death. We, of 
course, find the old insight that “смерть не выбирает” [death is not 
choosey (or picky)] and that “перед смертью все равны” [everybody is 
equal before death]. The chapter devoted to age contrasts old age and 
youth.  

The largest part of the book is a collection of proverbs that reflect 
different aspects of human health, illnesses, healing, doctors, and 
patients. In every culture people appreciate good health, strength of the 
body, and longevity and notice the connection between the health of the 
body and the health of the soul. The authors observe that the famous 
Latin expression “A healthy spirit in a healthy body” (V zdorovom tele 
zdorovyi dukh) is often held to be a local saying by many nations (58). 
Moreover, the proverbs from this section emphasize the universality of 
health as a foremost human value. In this section, proverbs articulate folk 
understandings of the etiology of illness and outline the mental and 
physical conditions of being ill. Appreciation of healing and various 
aspects of medical ethics is the subject of the chapter devoted to doctors. 
All cultures teach us to respect the skills of the healer and to pay homage 
to the physician. There is, however, a special section dedicated to quack 
doctors and sorcerers who, in many cultures, are represented by negative 
characterizations. Patient behavior is another aspect of folklore covered 
in the texts presented, along with the process of curing and the use of 
remedies.  

The two last chapters are connected to health indirectly: good sleep 
is a synonym of good health for many peoples, while the use of alcohol 
is associated with mental ill health. For all cultures represented in the 
book, alcohol and drunkenness reveal the blemishes of human nature. 
Alcohol also leads to losing one’s mental and one’s physical health and, 
eventually, to an untimely death. According to the authors, the saying 
“More people drown in glasses than in rivers” has many international 
counterparts (157-8).  

The book ends with a bibliography, giving the sources of the 
proverbs and sayings from many countries that are presented in the book. 
The list itself can be a valuable starting point for those researchers of 
popular culture, social customs, and folk medicine, who are interested in 
learning more about the smallest genre of oral narrative. The general 
reader who is interested in folklore will find resources for further reading 
as well. Unfortunately, the bibliography is not complete. The authors 
miss, for example, a thematic compilation of proverbs and aphorisms by 
Gavrikov V. A. and N. A. Gavrikov. Мудрое слово о здоровье и 



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долголетии: изречения, афоризмы, пословицы, поговорки 
(Krasnodar: Krasnodarskoe knizhnoe izdatel’stvo, 1984). This collection 
would have added many topical proverbs to their texts and enriched the 
spectrum of books listed in the bibliography.  

Finally, as a thematic compilation of proverbs that is addressed 
predominantly to the general reader, the book lacks explanatory material. 
There is only a short foreword. Extended introductory articles, or 
introductions to each of the chapters, are missing. Such introductory 
material could have served to better outline the authors’ approach and to 
help the reader situate the texts. Also, researchers of oral narrative will 
find that all ethnic proverbs and sayings have been translated from their 
original languages into Russian, thus likely losing some elements of their 
authenticity. To be sure, if one were to conduct further research on this 
subject, one would need to go directly to the primary sources and not rely 
on a translated compilation such as this. In so far as the anthology relies 
on translated texts, whose originals were meant to convey the proverbs’ 
authentic meaning, it does not necessarily provide the firmest ground for 
scholarly research. It does, however, supply much in the way of 
furnishing the general reader with an expanded global vision and a broad 
understanding.  

 
Hanna Chuchvaha 
University of Alberta  
Edmonton 
Alberta, Canada