Abylina (Russian:былина,IPA:[bɨˈlʲinə];pl. былины,byliny,Ukrainian: Билини,Belarusian: быліны) also popularly known as astarina (Russian:старина),[1] is a type of Eastern Slavicoralepic poem.[2][3][4][5]
Byliny deal with all periods of Eastern Slavic history.Byliny narratives are loosely based on historical fact, but greatly embellished with fantasy orhyperbole.[6]Byliny originate from the times ofKievan Rus', but had only survived in northern Russia by the time they were collected.[7]
In a strict academic sense,byliny can be defined as a specificverse meter known from certain Slavic sung epics,ballads and humorous songs.[8]
The wordbylina derives from the past tense of the verb "to be" (Russian:был,romanized: byl) and implies "something that was".[9] The term most likely originated from scholars ofRussian folklore (folklorists); in 1839,Ivan Sakharov, a Russian folklorist, published an anthology of Russian folklore, a section of which he titled "Byliny of the Russian People", causing the popularization of the term.[1] Later scholars believe that Sakharov misunderstood the wordbylina in the opening ofThe Tale of Igor's Campaign as "an ancient poem." The folk singers ofbyliny called their songsstariny (Russian:старины,IPA:[ˈstarʲɪnɨ];sg.старина,starina) orstarinki (Russian:старинки), meaning "stories of old" (Russian:старый,romanized: staryj).[6]
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, scholars and popular writers typically referred tobyliny asskazki, since it "applied to any folk narrative, whether in prose or in verse".[10] At this point,skazki were not classified into specific groups.[10] In the second half of the 19th century,Vsevolod Miller classifiedskazki into three groups which are now commonly accepted: fairy tales, tales of everyday life, and animal tales.[11] The acceptance of the termbyliny in the mid-19th century for folk epics was due to increasing awareness of the differences between them and the fairy tales.[12] According toOrest Miller: "Thebylina connects the primal mythical base common to all folklore genres, with historical places and events. Theskazka does not have such connections."[13]
According toRussell Zguta,byliny originate from the times ofKievan Rus'.[7] Zguta describes thebyliny as rooted in the heroic tales sung in a stately, sober manner by the Kievangusliari or court poets.[7] FollowingChristianization, both thegusliari and the Western-inspired, much more flamboyant Kievanskomorokhi orminstrel-entertainers were pushed out of Kiev by the puritan clerics.[7] The two groups and traditions melted into one, with the new resultingskomorokhi bards, who entertained a much lowlier public than the former court poets, embellishing thegusliari repertoire with humour and fantastic elements.[7] They had to flee to the more permissive regions to the north and north-east, such asNovgorod andVladimir, where theirbyliny survived until modern times.[7] This is, in Zguta's opinion, the reason why this type of heroic epic disappeared from the folklore of the area it originates from, i.e. the medieval territories which would become Ukraine, instead being adopted and preserved further to the north and north-east, in the modern territories of Russia.[7]
Alternatively, religious pilgrims or beggars known askaliki may have brought them to northern Russia.[14] Along with theskomorokhi, they appear as characters inbyliny.[14] As wanderers, thekaliki sung religious and other kinds of serious verses.[14]
Other hypotheses that explain its spread in northern Russia have also been proposed.[15] According to one theory, theNovgorodians spread thebylina to areas they colonized in the far north, as well as in theUral region.[15] Another theory suggests that areas where ethnic Russians were in close contact with other peoples had preserved thebylina due to the other groups having their own epic traditions, and thus the Russians were encouraged to retain their own heritage.[15]
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the singing ofbyliny was preserved in northern Russia, particularly in theOnega,Pechora andArkhangelsk regions.[16] It belonged to non-professional performers and tended to be performed by poor people who needed additional work.[16] As a result, both men and women could singbyliny.[16] Sincebylina-singing was long and requiredperformance poetry, they were usually sung by one person.[16] These performers typically sang atposidelki, which were courtship parties for young unmarried women.[16]
The living tradition ofbyliny declined due to modernization with the increasing availability of mass media and improved communications with northern Russia.[17] The new Soviet government viewedbyliny as heroic and able to fit Soviet ideals, with government-sponsored folklorists encouraging the composition of new epics known asnoviny (новины), derived from the wordnovyy ("new").[17] Although unsuccessful in creating a new oral tradition, the government brought heroes frombyliny into pop culture with films such asSadko (1953) andIlya Muromets (1956).[18]
According toVsevolod Miller, the prototype of the Old Russianbyliny were sacred northern legends, read according to a certain "bylinic technique", passed "from generation to generation, by the teacher to the student".[19] Regarding the time of the origin of thebyliny,Leonid Maykov wrote:
All the content ofbyliny, including the most old traditions, is presented in such an edition, which can be dated only to the ancient historical period. The content of byliny was developed at a very early period, perhaps even before the formation of the Old Russian state.
Finally, according toOrest Miller, the great antiquity ofbyliny is proved by the fact that they depict a defensive policy, not an offensive one.[19]
Anthologists played an important role in the narration and preservation ofbyliny. After Sakharov, there were numerous other anthologists who contributed to its development, particularly during the 18th century. For example, Kirsha Danilov produced a compilation of 70byliny. His sources were believed to be miners living in thePerm area. The works of these folklorists provided insights into the transition of the Russian literary tradition from one that was focused on religious subjects to secular literature. The first transcriptions ofbyliny are attributed toRichard James, an Englishman who traveled to Russia from 1617 to 1619.[21] The texts that he was able to record are now preserved in theBodleian Library at Oxford.
There was also a known German translation of thebyliny and this was published anonymously in 1819.[22] Overall, interest in these epic poems continued to the point that comprehensive and wide-ranging materials were sourced from virtually all ofGreat Russia. Although these were preserved, according to Kahn et al., only thosebyliny from "northern Russia, the areas ofArkhangelsk,Olonetsk, theOnega region, and parts ofSiberia" were actively preserved into the 20th century.[23]
The advent of the mythological school began in the 1860s and was represented byAlexander Afanasyev,Fyodor Buslaev, andOrest Miller.[24] These scholars primarily interpretedbyliny through the lens of mythology, seeking to trace the origins of folklore through pre-Christian mythic traditions.[24] Although they considered all folklore to originate from ancient religious beliefs, they did not see a direct relationship betweenskazki (fairy tales) andbyliny; instead, the latter had emerged over time and was an evolution.[13] As the mythologists were the first to present broad interpretations of thebylina, they distinguished between "older" and "younger heroes", and believed that the heroes were related to mythological figures likePerun.[25]
The comparative school advanced the theory that the subjects of folklore originated from theEastern world.[13]Vladimir Stasov presented the theory that Russianbyliny are related to the Eastern world, having been borrowed from Asia, and thus were not Russian in origin.[13] In contrast to the mythological school, he considered thebylina to be older than the fairy tale.[26]
By the end of the 19th century, the historical school gained prominence, with its key representative beingVsevolod Miller.[26] As Russian chronicles contained key information about historical events and figures, Miller considered it important for folklorists to search these chronicles for specific names and events that may have inspired the creation of a particularbylina.[27] The heroDobrynya Nikitich for example was identified withDobrynya, the uncle ofVladimir the Great.[27]
Byliny have been collected in Russia since the 17th century; initially they were published for entertainment in prose paraphrases. The CossackKirsha Danilov compiled the most notable of the early collections in the Ural region for the mill ownerProkofi Demidov in the middle of the 18th century.[28][29] In the middle of the 19th century,Pavel Rybnikov traveled through the region ofLake Onega and rediscovered that thebylina tradition, which was thought to be extinct, still flourished among the peasants of northwest Russia. A storm stranded Rybnikov on an island in Lake Onega where he heard the sound of abylina being sung; he persuaded the singer to repeat the song and wrote down his words. He proceeded to collect several hundredbylina, all of which he recorded from spoken paraphrase, and published them from 1861 to 1867 in several volumes entitledSongs Collected by P. N. Rybnikov.[30]
Another influential collector,Alexander Gilferding, published one collection entitledOnega Bylinas Recorded by A. F. Gilferding in the Summer of 1871. He improved upon Rybnikov's work by transcribing thebyliny directly from the sung performance rather than the spoken retellings. He noticed that the rhythm differed between the sung and spoken versions, and asked the performers to pause for a longer period of time between lines to allow him time to record the words from the song itself. He also organized his collection by singer rather than subject and included short biographical sketches of the performers with their collected songs, thus focusing on the singer's role in the composition of the song.[31] Most of the texts arebyliny, butYermak Timofeyevich andStenka Razin were also mentioned in the songs.[32] Following the work of Rybnikov and Gilferding, many more scholars searched forbyliny everywhere in northern Russia, and obtainedbyliny from the shores of the White Sea and the rivers flowing to the north.[33]
There are several ways to categorizebyliny, and scholars disagree on which classification to use. Scholars from the mythological school differentiate betweenbyliny about "older" and "younger" heroes. The "older" heroes resembled mythological figures, while the "younger" heroes resembled ordinary human beings. The historical school classifiesbyliny based on the principality in which the story took place, as in Kievan, Novgorodian, and Galician–Volhynian cycles. The mythologicalbyliny of giants and the like probably originated long before the Kievan state was founded, and cannot be classified easily by principality. Scholars of the historical school often consider mythologicalbyliny separately. Other scholars groupbyliny based on content, including heroic, fairy tale type, novella type and ballad-byliny. Most scholars prefer classification based on principalities or cities.[34]
Mythologicalbyliny, the group considered to be the oldest, cannot be linked to datable events.[35] These are followed by the Kievan cycle ofbyliny and are usually centered onPrince Vladimir; the Kievan cycle includes the most well-known heroes, such asIlya Muromets,Dobrynya Nikitich andAlyosha Popovich.[36] The Galician cycle is sometimes considered to be separate to the Kievan cycle and includes heroes such asDuke Stepanovich andChurilo Plenkovich.[37] The Novgorodian cycle is considered to be the newest cycle; rather than tsars or princes, merchants likeVasily Buslayev andSadko are often present.[38]
Because of their nature as performed pieces,byliny singers employ basically linear and easy to follow structure.[39]Byliny structure typically includes three basic parts, introduction, narrative portion and epilogue. The introduction sometimes includes a verse to entice the audience to listen. Introductions often describe heroes at a feast being given a task or setting out on a mission. The narrative portion relates the adventure with exaggerated details and hyperbole to make the story more exciting. The epilogue refers to the reward for the mission, a moral or a reference to the sea, sincebyliny were often performed to attempt to calm the sea.[40] To help listeners grasp the story, singers used 'tag lines' to preface speeches or dialogues, setting up for the audience who is talking to whom.[39]
Scenes common tobyliny include a hero taking leave of his mother, saddling a horse, entering a council chamber, bragging, departing over the wall of a city, going on a journey, urging on his horse, in battle, dressing in the morning, exchanging taunts with an enemy, becoming blood brothers with another hero, and asking for mercy. Singers may use their telling of these scenes in many of their songs, incorporating different elements in song after song. Themes in manybylina include the birth and childhood of a hero, father and son fighting, battling a monster, the imprisoned or reluctant hero returning in time to save his city, matchmaking or bride taking, a husband arriving at the wedding of his wife, and encounters with a sorceress who turns men into animals.[41] Christian beliefs mixed with pre-Christian ideas of magic and paganism inbyliny, for instance, saints would appear to defend mortals against darkness.[42]
Majorbylina characters are Russian epic heroes known asbogatyrs.
| Russian name | English name | Prototype |
|---|---|---|
| Илья Муромец | Ilya Muromets | SaintIlya Pechersky [ru], monk ofKiev Pechersk Lavra |
| Добрыня Никитич | Dobrynya Nikitich | Dobrynya,Kievanvoivode. |
| Алёша Попович | Alyosha Popovich | Rostovboyar Alexander (Olesha) Popovich. |
| Святогор | Svyatogor | East Slavic pre-Christian folk tales. |
| Микула Селянинович | Mikula Selyaninovich | Personification of the Russian peasants. |
| Князь Владимир | Prince Vladimir [ru] | Vladimir the Great |
| Вольга Святославич | Volga Svyatoslavich[43] | Prince Oleg |
| Евпатий Коловрат | Evpaty Kolovrat | Ryazan nobleman with the same name. |
| Садко | Sadko | |
| Никита-кожемяка | Nikita the Tanner | |
| Василий Буслаев | Vasily Buslayev | |
| Дюк Степанович | Duke Stepanovich | |
| Змей Горыныч | Zmey Gorynych | Slavic variation of theEuropean dragon. |
| Солове́й-Разбо́йник | Nightingale the Robber |
