Alexander Afanasiev and his works

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

What books are read almost from tapes? Of course, fairy tales. These are the very first stories that parents tell their children. From them we learn the first lessons: good is stronger than evil, it will always win. And although the path is sometimes difficult, you must not give up and you need to believe in yourself and your strengths. Wise, kind fairy tales are a huge world that opens up to a child from the first days of life.

He learns to think, to distinguish bad from good, to evaluate the actions of fairy-tale characters. Fairy tales prepare the child for adult life, teach how to behave in this vast world. When the conversation turns to a fairy tale, it is impossible not to remember the great "storyteller" - Alexander Nikolaevich Afanasyev, because without him we would never have known either "Turnip", or "Ryaba Hen", or "Kolobok".

Life path

Afanasiev Alexander Nikolaevich (1826–1871) was born in the Voronezh region, the city of Boguchar. The father served as a lawyer and therefore tried to give his children a good education. After graduating from the Voronezh gymnasium, Afanasiev went to Moscow, where he entered the university. After graduating from it, he teaches literature and Russian history, and a year later he entersfor service in the archive.

Perhaps, it was the years of work in the archive that became the most fruitful in terms of creativity. Here he gets acquainted with many documents of historical value, but inaccessible to most. Afanasiev publishes the journal Bibliographic Notes, and materials related to the work of famous Russian thinkers, poets and writers saw the light. Alexander Afanasiev writes a lot, acts as a researcher and journalist. One of the few publications of these years:

• "N. I. Novikov.”
• Russian Book Trade.
• "Satires of Cantemir".
• "Literary controversy of the last century."

What could not be published in Russia was transported abroad and appeared in London in the anthology "Polar Star", one of the publishers of which was the Russian revolutionary A. I. Herzen. In 1862, Afanasyev was dismissed from service, accused of having links with London propagandists. Alexander Afanasiev was without a permanent job for several years, and in 1865 he entered the Duma as an assistant secretary, two years later he moved to the post of secretary. The great writer died at the age of 45 from consumption.

Historical activity

A great lover of antiquity, Afanasyev explores everything connected with the history of Russia, acquires old handwritten books. He owns numerous works on the history of Russia, he publishes them in the journal Sovremennik (State Economy under Peter the Great, Pskov Judicial Charter, etc.). Writes reviews of historicalliterature in the edition of the "Society of History and Antiquities" at the university. He is a member of the Society of Lovers of Literature, researches archives, speaks and publishes articles about the word creation of the people. Under the most difficult and unfavorable conditions for him, Afanasiev completed and published the main work of his life - "The Poetic Views of the Slavs on Nature."

Literary activity

Since 1850, Alexander Afanasiev switched completely to research related to folklore, mythology and ethnography of the people. His research is of great value. It reveals to us the distant past, the origins of the modern language. Brings to the broad masses the ancient customs, beliefs, folklore and metaphors of Slavic literature. At this time, he publishes more than 60 articles in numerous publications, including:

• Research on the mythology of "Grandfather Brownie".
• "Wizard and Witch".
• "Zoomorphic deities among the Slavs".
• "A few words about the relationship between language and folk beliefs."
• "Pagan legends about Buyan Island".
• "Russian satirical magazines 1769-1774".

Folk Russian fairy tales

The Russian literary critic and ethnographer A. N. Pypin wrote about Afanasiev's passion for fairy tales. Nevertheless, he immediately condemned him for the fact that the author is trying to give a mythical explanation to the smallest events. Chernyshevsky N. G.also pointed this out, but added that one cannot but agree with Afanasyev's explanations.

To numerous critics, Alexander Afanasiev replied that mythology is the same science, and only if it is possible to recreate a complete picture of antiquity if the slightest detail is explored. He argued that legends, folklore, mythology are inseparable from the history of the people. Many legends are somehow connected with natural phenomena that have no explanation, which once again confirms their mythical meaning. The lack of understanding by critics of the scientific value of his research on mythology was painful for Afanasyev.

The first collection of fairy tales

The publication of fairy tales by Afanasiev in those conditions is a kind of feat. He writes a letter to the editor of Otechestvennye Zapiski and asks for a place in the publication for folk tales. Explains, using the example of the Brothers Grimm, that this is a valuable material that deserves interest. But the material never appeared in the journal, since the volume that Afanasiev had at that time far exceeded the capabilities of the journal.

In 1952, the Russian Geographical Society gave Afanasiev a collection of fairy tales that he had in the archives. By that time, the writer already had at his disposal about 1000 fairy tales, handed over to him by Dal V. I. Both those and other materials required careful processing, as they were collected by different people, the records differed in both quality and style. In 1855, the first edition of Russian Folk Tales was published.

Fairy tales by Alexander Afanasyev were published in several editions. Just eightissues included more than 600 titles. He selected the most interesting children's fairy tales for publication. It was then that readers first met Koshchei and Baba Yaga, learned about the Firebird and Kolobok, heard about Teremka and Marya Morevna. This is the largest collection of fairy tales in the world at that time.

Classification of fairy tales

During the further preparation of the material, Afanasiev thought over and classified it. He divided the tales into sections: epic stories, mythological, animal epic, stories about sorcerers and the dead, everyday tales and humorous ones. Later, after the death of the writer, the classification was somewhat simplified: fairy tales about animals, social and fairy tales. But it was based on the principle that Alexander Afanasiev created.

Books could not but cause discontent of the clergy and authorities. Censorship in every possible way prevented the activities of Afanasiev. In the meantime, a collection of "Treasured Tales" has already been published in Geneva, bearing an anti-church and anti-bar character. The publication of Afanasiev's collections is a great event in the social and scientific life of Russia. After its release, many well-known critics and literary scholars of the time made reviews.

Forbidden Tales of Afanasyev

In addition to children's fairy tales, Afanasiev owns a collection of fairy tales for adults, published in Geneva: "Russian folk tales are not for publication." The collection Tales, Legends and Parables was also banned in Russia and published abroad. The authorities saw in its content a harmful line of thought. It included lyrics about greed,stupidity, the devil, mythical monsters and evil spirits. A very valuable collection in relation to the spiritual heritage of the people.

During the years of censorship persecution, many collections came out under different names. For example, fairy tales with erotic content came out under the title: “Valaam. Year of darkness. This book was banned for a long time. In Russia, it was released for the first time in 1997. The well-known collector of folklore owns many works that are still being published.

Therefore, they are often confused with the works of our contemporary, who wrote the book "Contamination Zone". Alexander Afanasiev is a contemporary action writer. But his work is in no way connected with the tales of the great namesake, who devoted his whole life to collecting folklore. In total, the collection of Afanasyev Alexander Nikolaevich is about two thousand fairy tales. He entered the history of Russian culture as the first publisher of a collection of folk tales.