The Plot and Its Modifications in the Temporal and Generic “Space”

Journal Title: Studia Litterarum - Year 2017, Vol 2, Issue 4

Abstract

With the loss of mythological beliefs, traditional plots become decompensated by their new interpretations. For example, when a tribe borrows a plot from a neighboring tribe but does not share the beliefs of the authentic “bearers” of this folklore, we may observe the plot’s transformation that often results in its deformation and eventual transfer to a different generic category. For example, a leitmotif of a hero, tribe leader searching for a great river and new lands for his tribe as presented in the epic legends by Lianja (and Nsong’a) transforms into a residue motif in the secondary variants that focus only on the moment of the “movement” itself. Motifs concerned with the magic become autonomous of the main character and prompt the inclusion of magicians. We encounter similar examples of plot transformation in Mandinka epos devoted to the development of medieval Sudan state in the 13th century Mali. Comparison of the more archaic texts about the “patron of the water” with the more recent heroic narratives about the “guard of the water,” demanding the sacrifice of female victims in exchange of the water, reveals a variety of plots — from archaic myths to numerous transitional texts and epic legends. In the more recent texts, the guard of the water replaces the patron of the water, and water does not disappear after his death. A young stranger who redeems people from the obligatory sacrifices by killing the serpent, commits a heroic act and gains a reward. The image of mythological trickster with whom Khoisan tribes associated all their mythological events also underwent radical metamorphosis. The more recent texts accentuate not his properties of the demiurge but his humoristic and comic traits of a simpleton or a fool. In general, plot deformation and underestimation of the ideal epic hero image lead to the reorientation of the original legend and to the destruction of the epic genre.

Authors and Affiliations

Еlena S. Kotlyar

Keywords

Related Articles

Who is Vasily Travnikov? Between Literary Hoax and Literary History

The Life of Vasily Travnikov (1936) by V. Khodasevich is a literary hoax that introduces a fictional poet, the predecessor of Pushkin, and plausibly tells about his life and work. This character is Khodasevich’s twin o...

RUSSIAN FOLKLORE AS A REFLECTION OF NATIONAL CHARACTER IN THE WORK OF BORIS VYSHESLAVTZEV

The essay is focused on the spiritual crisis of Russian culture at the beginning of the 20th Century and on the search of philosophical alternatives to overcome the crisis within the framework of Russian philosophical...

GOGOL AND THE WESTERN SLAVOPHILIA IN CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE

The essay examines Gogol’s heritage from a new and somewhat “unusual” perspective: the writer is seen as one of the main Russian ideologists of the Slavic unity. Gogol’s views are therefore placed in the context of dif...

TRAGICOMEDY OF CARLO GOLDONI

Goldoni’s tragicomedies while being less popular and lesser studied than his comedies nonetheless provide us with rich material for the study of the genre’s general properties. Goldoni’s tragicomedies fall into two grou...

Corneille’s Heroic Comedies

The article deals with a special type of drama specified by Corneille himself as heroic comedy. The playwright placed it somewhere in between two major types of drama, comedy and tragedy, and at the same time distinguis...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP26201
  • DOI 10.22455/2500-4247-2017-2-4-362-377
  • Views 291
  • Downloads 12

How To Cite

Еlena S. Kotlyar (2017). The Plot and Its Modifications in the Temporal and Generic “Space”. Studia Litterarum, 2(4), -. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-26201