Russian Folklore & Culture

: Kim's Little Library

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How I Began To Collect Books About Russian Folklore and Culture

          Back in my university days, I gained experience in various areas such as working in a publishing agency, an institute for Russian and East European Studies, literary workshops, and literary studios for critics. In addition, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to publish my12 articles in several journals. Through these experiences, I began to study harder and harder along with job as a journalist.

          At the same time, I came to be faced with some fundamental problems. I realized the more I studied in Russian literature, the more I questioned the essence of "Russianness." I had pondered over this theme for a long time, comparing various literary works I had read. To be honest, at that time I completely did not figure out some details and passages while reading literary works. In particular, I felt that in many works, there were certain folkloric elements and themes about religious connotations, symbols and motifs.

          For instance, "the left and right sides" of the Russian mind have many interesting connotations involving religious painting, ritual, art and literature, even in everyday life. Usually, Russian people believe that the left side is associated with the sinister, bad, secular etc. By contrast, in Russian thought the right side has more positive connotations such as being auspicious, good, and sacred. This binary concept, as far as I know, spreads over all literary and artistic genre. Likewise, one can meet it in Russian everyday life.

          Interestingly, I found that these elements continuously appear in many areas regardless of writer, genre and specific period. From then on, as soon as I have encountered those elements, I have begun to note them painstakingly. Finally, I drew the conclusion that these elements converge on one common point: "Russian culture." In other words, the question of the so-called 'what is Russianness?' or 'what is the essence of the Russian mind?' belongs to Russian culture. As other countries do, Russian culture makes the foundation of what the Russian mind will become. Therefore, we cannot explore the roots of the Russian mind without understanding Russian culture. The turning point in my studies began from this experience.

            For this reason I have been collecting various books pertaining to Russian folklore and culture. I pay especially attention to some categories such as old Russian literature, folklore, Orthodox Church, pagan religion and its rituals, oral traditions (proverb, riddle and poetry), Russian everyday life, etc. As of now, the books I have almost add up to 4,000 volumes. Along with collecting books, I collect articles. In my opinion, articles are easier and more useful to understand specific themes for the following reasons: 1) the theme that the article tackles is relatively narrow and concrete, 2) therefore, reading articles does not take too much time, 3) noting and summarizing articles are more effective than dealing with books. Thus, I have been collecting interesting articles on my favorite themes, the total sum of them is estimated to be 830 items.  I have classified these items (books and articles) by subject and period:

• Slavic Folklore
• Introduction to Folklore and Its Relationship with Literature
• Old Russian Literature, Folklore and Culture
• 17th-18th Century Russian Literature, Folklore and Culture
• 19th-20th Century Russian Literature, Folklore and Culture
• Russian Folklore, Culture and Religion
• Russian Paganism and Women's Problem
• Orthodox Church and Icons
• Russian Calendar

            What I recommend you to read the lists of my collection, as a part of what I have, contains some outstanding examples that show the overall contour of Russian folklore and culture. They do not function as five separate entities but are closely related and together from the basic structure of what Russia is today.

• The Meaning of Orthodox Calendar and Its Role in 19th-20th Centuries Russian Literature.
• The Sense of Four Seasons in Russian Mind.
• An Interpretation of Russian Culture in Light of Three Categories: pechka, samovar and ikona.
• Russian Folk Narratives about the Supernatural.
• Russian Paganism.
• An Interpretation of Russian Culture in Light of Baby's Baptism and Funeral Ceremony.
• Russian Wedding Culture.
• The Role and Meaning of Women in Folk Traditions.
• Russian Folk Prints Luboki.
• The Mentality of Russian Peasant.
• Folkloric Elements in Pushkin's Literary Works.
• Folkloric Elements in Lermontov's Literary Works.
• Folkloric Elements in Gogol's Literary Works.
• Folkloric Elements in Turgenev's Literary Works.
• Folkloric Elements in Dostoevsky's Literary Works.
• Folkloric Elements in Tolstoy's Literary Works.
• Folkloric Elements in Leskov's Literary Works.
• Folkloric Elements in Saltykov-Shchedrin's Literary Works.
• Folkloric Elements in Anton Chekhov's Literary Works.
• Folkloric Elements in Village Prose Writers' Literary Works.
• New Trends and Changes in Soviet Folk Culture.

wifelove@hotmail.com wifelove@hanmail.net

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This page is maintained by Sang Hyun Kim. Last updated Oct. 3, 1998.