The Poetics of Things in the Book of Skaz (Folk Tales) «The Malachite Casket» by P. P. Bazhov

Abstract

The article deals with P. P. Bazhov’s world of things as an aesthetic unity. The book of skaz (folk tales) of the Ural writer is a unique artistic world, the structure of which is defined by a system of several basic oppositions. It is a world extremely full of things, such as household items (people’s everyday lives), clothes (social status, the «us-them» divide), instruments and tools of craft (key topics of handicraft / craftsmanship) etc. A special role in this objective world is played by artisan products that combine the functions of a household item, an artefact and a magical object, and magical objects per se that are received from a donor but are usually different in function from their proper fairytale counterparts, which are common to the traditional Russian folklore and literary fairytales based on folklore stories. Bazhov’s system of images-things also includes a specific «human as a thing» category that is connected with the main conflicts of the book depicting serfdom-based mining civilization. Generally, the peculiarity of the world of things in «The Malachite Casket» is defined by the «borderline» nature of the skaz genre, its complex relationship with folklore and the unique character of Bazhov’s aesthetic experiment.