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- Abstract:
In the archive of I.P. Sakharov (1807–1863) there is a set of letters and folklore materials, which were sent to him in 1839 by Grigorii Ivanovich Parikhin, a merchant from Tikhvin. This Tikhvin collector sent Sakharov 22 songs, 70 riddles, 16 magic spells, 1 fairytale and other texts, which were partly published later in Sakharov’s compilations, such as The Russian People’s Tales of Their Ancestors’ Family Life and Russian People’s Songs. A comparative textual analysis has shown that Sakharov edited and abridged texts sent to him by Parikhin. The letters from Tikhvin clarify facts from one of the first Russian folklore collectors’ biography, his literary taste, and his relationships with those who surrounded him. The materials published are also important in respect of the history of reading and library science. The second letter to Sakharov contains a peculiar autobiography in which Parikhin describes his life as a history of searching out new books and reading them. Parikhin’s acquaintance with literature started with reading the captions of Lubki (classic Russian prints made for the general public, used for entertainment and home decor) and developed as he read Russian and foreign fairytales and novels. Parikhin not only ordered books from St. Petersburg, but also lent them to those who were interested in reading and created a small private library. In his letters, Parikhin revealed his literary tastes, in particular, his attitude to A.S. Pushkin’s poetry and A.A. Marlinsky’s prose. In terms of stylistics these letters could be interpreted as an example of mixture of styles, both business correspondence and that of Marlinsky’s romantic prose. In Parikhin’s letters there are many dialect words and colloquialisms written phonetically, which makes it possible to reconstruct everyday merchant speech of the 1830s.
- Keywords: history of folklore studies, I.P. Sakharov, G.I. Parikhin, A.A. Kraevskii, songs, riddles, magic spells.
- For citation:
Toporkov Andrei L. An episode from the history of Russian folklore studies: G.I. Parikhin’s letters to I.P. Sakharov. Literary fact, 2018, no. 8, pp. 68-203.
- References:
G…i P…n <Parikhin G.I.> Provintsial'nye uveseleniia (o posidelkakh, ili posudukhakh) [Provincial entertainments (about young people's gathering or talking)]. Literaturnye pribavleniia <k “Russkomu invalidu”> [Literary additions to “Russian invalid”]. St. Petersburg, 1839, no 2. (In Russ.)
Istoriia Tikhvina v litsakh: Biobibliograficheskii ukazatel' [The history of Tikhvin in personal biographies: Bio-bibliographical index], comp. by A.A. Titova et al. Tikhvin, 2004, issue 1, part 1 (XIII−XIX centuries), pp. 96−101. (In Russ.)
Novikov N.V. G.I. Parikhin i ego fol'klornye zapisi v sbornike I.P. Sakharova (po arkhivnym materialam) [G.I. Parikhin and his folklore records in I.P. Sakharov’s compilation (based on archival materials)]. Russkii fol'klor: Materialy i issledovaniia. T. 4 [Russian folklore: Materials and studies, Vol. 4]. Moscow, Leningrad, USSR Academy of Sciences Publ, 1959, pp. 141−154. (In Russ.)
<Parikhin G.I.> Russkie narodnye zagadki [Russian folklore riddles]. Maiak sovremennogo prosveshcheniia i obrazovannosti [The beacon of modern enlightenment and education]. St. Petersburg, 1842, vol. 6, book 11, part 3, pp. 47−78. (In Russ.)
Parikhin G. Starinnye sviatochnye pesni [Old Christmas Songs]. Maiak sovremennogo prosveshcheniia i obrazovannosti [The beacon of modern enlightenment and education]. St. Petersburg, 1840, part 6, ch. 3, pp. 86−93. (In Russ.)
Skazaniia russkogo naroda o semeinoi zhizni svoikh predkov, sobrannye I.P. Sakharovym [The Russian people’s tales of their ancestors’ family life collected by I.P. Sakharov]. St. Petersburg, I. Sakharov’s Press Publ., 1841, vol. 1, book 1–4. 82+128+276+82 p. (In Russ.)
Toporkov A.L. “V nashikh Skazaniiakh ne vse to pomeshcheno, chto izvestno v seleniiakh” (Fol'klornye zapisi iz arkhivnogo sobraniia I.P. Sakharova) [“Not everything known in villages is published in our Tales” (Folklore records from I.P. Sakharov’s archive collection)]. Traditsionnaia kul'tura, 2014, no. 4, pp. 141–154. (In Russ.)
Toporkov A.L. Zagovory ot vrazheskogo oruzhiia v kontekste fol'klornykh fal'sifikatsii I.P. Sakharova [Magic spells for an enemy weapon in the context of I.P. Sakharov’s folklore forgeries]. Russian Literature, 2017, no. 93/94, pp. 103–130. (In Russ.)
Vinogradov V.V. Parikhin Grigorii Ivanovich. Russkie fol'kloristy. Biobibliograficheskii slovar'. XVIII–XIX vv.: V 5 t. [Russian folklorists. Biobibliographical dictionary, in 5 vols.], IRLI RAN, ed. by T.G. Ivanova. St. Petersburg, Dmitrii Bulanin Publ. Vol. 4 (in print). (In Russ.)
