2013/11/08 by David Hopkin · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies #Linguistics and Cultural Studies #Context (archaeology) #Politics #History #Reading (process) #Feudalism #Dozen #Section (typography) #Ethnography #Ethnic group #Oral tradition #Genealogy #Literature #Resistance (ecology) #Classics #Anthropology #Sociology #Art #Archaeology #Law #Linguistics #Philosophy
paper · doi:10.1093/ehr/cet271
openalex publication_date 2013/11/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
These hundred legends were chosen from the thousands of items of Caucasian oral literature recorded since the mid-nineteenth century and subsequently published in Russian translation. The collection is indicative rather than representative of the oral traditions of more than a dozen different cultural communities, some of which, such as the Ubykhs, have since been eradicated. A portion of the material was transcribed before the Revolution by Imperial ethnographers and local narodniki, but the bulk was recorded by Soviet-era folklorists. In the latter case we are provided with sparse details about the original narrator, but this information is lacking for some of the earlier performances. Context matters, as Hunt explains in his introduction, because oral performers shape their stories to the expectation of their audiences, but this is basically a collection of texts without much commentary on how they came into being. They are grouped into twelve themes—legends concerning foreign invaders, resistance to feudalism, hunting, rustling, blood vengeance and so on—and Hunt provides introductions to each section setting out some regional social history. Nonetheless, much remains opaque: the complexities of the ethnic, religious and political histories of the region, necessary to fully appreciate these stories, would require a lifetime’s further reading. But a map, at least, would have been welcome, given how many legends refer to particular geographical locations.