VLADIMIR IVANOVICH DAL AND MEDIEVAL RUSSIAN LITERATURE

The topic of folklore in Vladimir Dal’s work is well studied. In contrast, the original and persistent connection of his work with the style, plots and genres of medieval and early modern Russian literature still remains unexplored. Plots of Dal’s first tales often followed popular lubok prints and books. They were published in large number of copies for that time and, for that matter, populated not only chivalric romances, but also the lives of saints and folk satire, like Dal’s “Tale of Shemyaka’s Judgement”. Dal’s tales made a strong impression with their virtuoso language and cascades of prefaces, where he usually used the stylistic device of amplification filled with everyday features. Dal was well acquainted with medieval manuscript books. As a result, his writings contain numerous echoes of medieval Russian texts, including The Tale of Igor’s Campaign. Among Dal’s writings there are also texts that especially correspond to genres of medieval Russian literature. Dal was the first to compose a systematically ordered monthly folk calendar and to use the Herbal and the Physiologus books in his lexicological research. Dal acknowledged that the study of twelfth-century texts written in Old East Slavic (Old Russian) strengthened his intention to compile the Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language. This work is no less important in the history of Russian culture than the legacy of Russian classics.