Why Was a Baby Devil Born: The Legend about a Blasphemous Communist, Monstrous Births, and the Limits of Religious Didactics
Journal Title: Studia Litterarum - Year 2018, Vol 3, Issue 2
Abstract
In 1923, the Russian ethnologist and archaeologist Vasily Smirnov published an article entitled “A Devil is Born. (Contemporary Legend)”. The article dealt with an unusual demonological legend that had appeared short time ago in Soviet Russia. It told a story of a baby devil who was an offspring of one communist. In his commentaries, Smirnov pointed at some parallels between European folk narratives, legends about miraculous icons, the story about the burning bush in the Book of Exodus, beliefs related to succubi and incubi, legends about the birth of antichrist, and Christian eschatology in general. However, those observations require certain corrections. In fact, the narrative about the baby devil is an international legend, and its history can be the ground for general discussion about evolution and functions of didactic stories in Christian culture.
Authors and Affiliations
Alexander A. Panchenko
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL SELF-IDENTIFICATION IN SCANDINAVIAN CULTURE AND LITERATURE
The article examines the development of national self-identification in the three main countries of the Scandinavian region — Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. All the three countries have been interconnected for centuries,...
ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE ON DMITRY MEREZHKOVSKY IN WARSAW
No Abstract
ANDRÉ GIDE’S RETOUR DE L’U.R.S.S. AND ITS PUBLICATION HISTORY: A VIEW FROM THE KREMLIN
The article discusses the publication history of André Gide’s book Return from the USSR written after his trip to the Soviet Union. It explains how the Kremlin gathered information about the book and how ofcial Soviet...
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE “CIVIL WAR IN SPAIN, EIGHTY YEARS SINCE. PERCEPTION AND MEMORY”
No Abstract
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...