Russian Literary Tradition

Smithsonian Journeys: Waterways of Russia

Resources for Further Study

The Russian literary tradition is rich in folk art and fairy tales.

1.  Лубок  Lubok

Lubok or Lubki (plural) arose in folk art primarily in the early 18th century as savvy and often cutting-edge commentaries on politics and society. They have a very old “look” to them, but are filled with contemporary commentary about events people would have known and cared about. They also illustrate edge takes on familiar folk and fairy tales. The one below is called “The Mice are Burying the Cat’ and makes reference to the policies of Peter the Great.

Lubok
The Mice are burying the Cat

 

2. Сказки – Skazki (singular skazka) / Fairy Tales

This name comes from the Russian verb “to tell”  сказать. Russian fairy tales often feature as the hero the youngest son of the tsar (tsar-evich) known as Ivan Tsarevich. He battles evils of all kinds, including the archetypcal characters Baba Yaga, the classic Russian witch, and Koschei bessmertny or Kaschei the Immortal.

800px-Ivan_Bilibin_Koshchey
Bilibin, Kaschei the Immortal, 1901

 

Ivan Tsarevich is aided in his tasks by archetypcal magical creatures including the Firebird and the Grey Wolf.

Vasnetsov
Vasnetsov, Ivan Tsarevich on the Grey Wolf, 1889

 

We owe a great deal to the great 19th-century collector of Russian fairy tales, Alexander Afanasiev (Алекса́ндр Афана́сьев, 1826 –1871). He assembled so many of these tales, published them, and helped preserve the legacy. His work is on the same par as that of the Brothers’ Grimm.

3. Folk Tales

Of great importance, and a testament to Russian romantic stirrings, is a collection of verse folk tales collected by Ivan Krylov (1769-1844). They are short, rhymed, and punchy in their meaning, similar to Aesop’s Fables. My favorite is Kvartet, in which a quartet made p of a rascal monkey, donkey, billy goat, and klunky bear tries in vain to play a string quartet. They keep rearranging who sits in which chair, but  to no avail. It concludes: “And you, my friends, no matter your positions, 
Will never be musicians!’ You can read more about Krylov’s importance and wit here.