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- Alexander Veselovsky on the myth: conceptual and methodological aspects of the scientist’s thesis (based on materials from the scientist's personal archive)
- Tatyana V. Govenko. Alexander Veselovsky on the myth: conceptual and methodological aspects of the scientist’s thesis (based on materials from the scientist's personal archive). Vestnik of Kostroma State University, 2021, vol. 27, № 3, pp. 71–76 (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2021-27-3-71-76
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2021-27-3-71-76
- УДК: 82.01
- Publish date: 2021-08-18
- Annotation: The article deals with the main provisions of the thesis of the outstanding Russian philologist Alexander Veselovsky. This work belongs to the early period of his scientific work. It has never been published and is kept in the archive of the scientist in the Manuscript Department of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In this work, there is still no place for a detailed criticism of the doctrines of «natural mythology» and «comparative mythology», but Alexander Veselovsky's priorities in choosing the inductive method and the method of comparative analysis in the study of myth are quite obvious. In the course of his research, he gave anthropological interpretations of the mythical process, touched upon the historical genesis of the wolf symbol in ancient mythology, and made an extensive comparative excursion into world culture. Bringing to the fore the problem of changing paradigms of worldview, Alexander Veselovsky identified three significant periods in the evolution of the myth – symbol and image of the wolf and argued his point of view with examples. This text is of particular interest to us, as it shows that even as a student Alexander Veselovsky abandoned the hypothetical excursions of the «mythological school» in favour of cultural-historical and comparative-typological interpretation of sources and recognised the myth as the original model of human cognition of the surrounding world, with its syncretic structure, aesthetic purpose, history and evolution. This principle, as can be seen from his later writings, he had adhered to afterwards.
- Keywords: Alexander Veselovsky, ancient mythology, wolf symbol, anthropology, historical genesis, evolution of myth & consciousness, world culture.
- Literature list: Veselovsky A.N. Zametki i somneniya o sravnitelnom izuchenii srednevekovogo eposa (1868) [Notes and doubts about the comparative study of the medieval epic (1868)]. Sobraniye sochineniy A.N. Veselovskogo [Collected Works of A.N. Veselovsky]. Moscow, Leningrad, Academy of Sciences of the USSR Publ., 1938, vol. 16, pp. 1–82. (In Russ.) Veselovsky A.N. Poetika syuzhetov [Poetics of plots]. Veselovsky A.N. Istoricheskaya poetika [Historical poetics]. Moscow, Leningrad, Khudozhestvennaya literatura Publ., 1940. (In Russ.) Veselovsky A.N. Otchety o zagranichnoy komandirovke (1862–1864) [Reports on a foreign business trip]. Veselovskiy A.N. Izbrannoye: Na puti k istoricheskoy poetike [Favorites: On the way to the historical poetics]. Moscow, Avtokniga Publ., 2010, pp. 39–76. (In Russ.) Veselovsky A.N. Opredeleniy poesii [Definition of poetry]. Veselovsky A.N. Izbrannoye: Istoricheskaya poetika [Selected works: Historical poetics]. Moscow, ROSSPEN Publ., 2006, pp. 81–170. (In Russ.) Gerye V.I. Granovskiy v biograficheskom ocherke A. Stankevicha [Granovsky in the biographical sketch of A. Stankevich]. Vestnik Yevropy [Bulletin of Europe], 1869, No. 5, pp. 424–440. (In Russ.). LevyBruhl L. Pervobytnoye myshleniye [Primitive thinking]. St. Petersburg, Akademicheskiy Proyekt Publ., 2015, 432 p. (In Russ.) Leontyev P.M. O poklonenii Zevsu v Drevney Gretsii [About worshiping Zeus in ancient Greece]. Moscow, 1850, 344 p. (In Russ.) Rovda K.I. Aleksandr Veselovskiy. Mif i simvol [Alexander Veselovsky. Myth and symbol]. Predisloviye, publikatsiya, primechaniya K.I. Rovdy [Preface, publication, notes K.I. Rovda]. Russkiy folklor [Russian folklore]. Leningrad, 1979, vol. 19, pp. 186–199. (In Russ.). Feuerbach L.A. Izbrannyye filosofskiye proizvedeniya: v 2 t. [Selected philosophical works: in 2 vol.]. Moscow, Politicheskaya literatura Publ., 1955, 942 p. (In Russ.). Schelling F.V.Y. Vvedeniye v filosofiyu mifologii. Sobraniye sochineniy: v 2 t. [Introduction to the philosophy of mythology. Collected Works: in 2 vols.]. Moscow, Mysl' Publ., 1989, vol. 2, 636 p. (In Russ.). Creuzer G.Fr. Symbolik und Mythologie der alten Völker, besonders der Griechen. Leipzig, 1820, 1008 pp. (In Germ.).