Legends in P. Kulish's Historical Novel “Black Council. Chronicle of 1663”

Abstract

The article examines legends are functioning in the Russian-language novel by P. Kulish “Black Council. Chronicle of 1663”. The features of the genre have been determined. It is proved that folk legends emphasize the artistic action of the text in question, give it a touch of mythology. It was found that the legends in the Russian-language novel by P. Kulish “Black Council. Chronicle of 1663” appear in the form of artistic inclusions, which in turn emphasize the historical meaning of the work. The synthetic unity of legend and historical narrative emphasizes the content of the novel, gives it signs of metatextuality. Artistic inclusions of legends in the “Black Council. Chronicle of 1663” presents the author's vision of history. The proposed study examines mythological, apocryphal and historical-heroic legends using the example of a little-known historical work of the author. Mythological legends arose earlier than other types of legends. They were based mainly on pagan traditions, which eventually got lost and left the remnants of ancient ideological thinking. Mythological legends are represented in the Russian-language novel “Black Council” by the stories about the mysterious people of the "dancer", the legend about the fabulous betrothed Lesya and the legend about the Cossack character. The novel by P. Kulish also represents apocryphal legends, the content of which is marked by the reproduction of characters and events from the sacred history, devoid of signs of canonicity. Apocryphal legends in the work under consideration is the legends about Archbishop John and the devil. It also contains a legend that combines the features of both apocryphal and mythological legends – a narrative about the origin of the “Cossack sun”. In the text “Black Council. Chronicles of 1663” by P. Kulish, there is also a historical and heroic legend, which is characterized by a more realistic reproduction of events. An example of a historical and heroic legend in the novel is the legend “Khmelnitsky and Barabash”. Its plot is well known. It coincides with the plot of the folklore Duma of the same name. However, in the interpretation of Kulish, the emphasis is mainly put on such artistic details as Barabash's ring. The proposed article proves that folk legends are informative material for studying of the past, P. Kulish's worldview beliefs, and his reproduction of the historical process.