What books are read almost from tapes? Of course, fairy tales. These are the very first stories parents tell their children. From them we learn the first lessons: good is stronger than evil, it will always win. And although the path is sometimes not easy, you must not give up and you need to believe in yourself and your strength. Wise, good tales - this is a huge world that opens to a child from the first days of life.
He learns to think, to distinguish bad from good, to evaluate the actions of fairy-tale heroes. Fairy tales prepare the child for adulthood, teach how to behave in this vast world. When it comes to a fairy tale, it’s impossible not to remember the great “storyteller” - Alexander Nikolaevich Afanasyev, because without him we would never have known either “Turnips”, or “Ryaba Chicken”, or “Kolobok”.
Life path
Afanasyev Alexander Nikolaevich (1826–1871) was born in the Voronezh region, the city of Boguchar. Father served as a lawyer and therefore tried to give his children a good education. After graduating from the Voronezh gymnasium, Afanasyev goes to Moscow, where he enters the university. After graduating, he teaches literature and Russian history, and a year later enters the service in the archive.
Perhaps it was the years of work in the archive that became the most fruitful in a creative sense. Here he gets acquainted with many documents of historical value, but inaccessible to most. Afanasyev publishes the journal Bibliographic Notes, and materials related to the work of famous Russian thinkers, poets and writers saw the light of day. Alexander Afanasyev writes a lot, acts as a researcher and journalist. One of the few publications of these years:
- "N. I. Novikov. "
- "Russian book trade."
- "Satires of Cantemir."
- "Literary polemic of the last century."
What could not be published in Russia was transported abroad and appeared in London in the Polar Star almanac, one of the publishers of which was the Russian revolutionary A. I. Herzen. In 1862, Afanasyev was dismissed from service, accused in connection with London propagandists. Alexander Afanasyev was without permanent work for several years, and in 1865 he entered the Duma as an assistant secretary, two years later he transferred to the post of secretary. The great writer died at the age of 45 from consumption.
Historical activity
A great lover of antiquity, Afanasyev explores everything related to the history of Russia, acquires ancient manuscript books. He owns numerous works devoted to the history of Russia, he publishes them in the journal Sovremennik (State Economy under Peter the Great, Pskov Judicial Charter, etc.). He writes reviews of historical literature in the publication of the “Society of History and Antiquities” at the university. He is a member of the “Society of Lovers of Literature", explores archives, speaks and publishes articles on the creation of people. Under the most difficult and unfavorable conditions for him, Afanasyev finished and published the main work of his life - "Poetic views of the Slavs on nature."
Literary activity
Since 1850, Alexander Afanasyev switched completely to research related to folklore, mythology and ethnography of the people. His research is of tremendous value. It opens before us the distant past, the origins of the modern language. It brings to the masses the ancient customs, beliefs, folklore and metaphors of Slavic literature. At this time, publishes in numerous publications over 60 articles, including:
- Mythology study “Brownie Grandfather”.
- "The Sorcerer and the Witch."
- "Zoomorphic deities among the Slavs."
- "A few words about the relationship of language with popular beliefs."
- "Pagan traditions about the island of Buyan."
- "Russian satirical magazines 1769-1774 gg.".
Folk Russian fairy tales
A. Pypin, a Russian literary critic and ethnographer, wrote about Afanasyev’s fascination with fairy tales. In a review of the first edition of fairy tales, he noted that Afanasyev’s comparisons of fairy tales were successful and very precise. Nevertheless, he immediately condemned him for the fact that the author was trying to give a mythical explanation to the smallest events. Chernyshevsky N.G. also indicated this, but added that one cannot disagree with Afanasyev’s explanations.
To many critics, Alexander Afanasyev replied that mythology is the same science and only in that case can a complete picture of antiquity be recreated if the smallest detail is investigated. He argued that legends, folklore, mythology are inseparable from the history of the people. Many legends are somehow connected with natural phenomena, for which there is no explanation, which once again confirms their mythical meaning. Critics' lack of understanding of the scientific value of his research on mythology was painfully experienced by Afanasyev.
The first collection of fairy tales
The publication of fairy tales by Afanasyev in those conditions is a kind of feat. He writes a letter to the editor of "Fatherland Notes" and asks for a place in the publication for folk tales. Explains the example of the Brothers Grimm that this is valuable material that deserves interest. But the material in the journal never appeared, because the volume that Afanasyev had at that time far exceeded the magazine’s capabilities.
In 1952, the Russian Geographical Society handed over to Afanasyev the collection of fairy tales that he had in the archives. By that time, the writer already had about 1000 fairy tales handed over to him by Dal V.I. Both of them and other materials required careful processing, as they were collected by different people, the recordings were distinguished by both quality and style. In 1855, the first edition of Russian Folk Tales was published.
There were tales of Alexander Afanasyev in several issues. A total of eight issues included more than 600 titles. He selected the most interesting children's fairy tales for publication. It was then that readers first met Koshchei and Baba Yaga, learned about the Firebird and Kolobok, heard about Teremka and Marya Morevna. This is the largest fairy tale collection in the world at that time.
Classification of fairy tales
In the further preparation of the material, Afanasyev thought through and classified it. He divided the tales into sections: epic stories, mythological, animal epics, tales of sorcerers and the dead, everyday tales and humorous. Later, after the death of the writer, the classification was somewhat simplified: fairy tales about animals, social and magical. But it was based on the principle that Alexander Afanasyev created.
Books could not but cause dissatisfaction with the clergy and authorities. Censorship in every way impeded the activities of Afanasyev. Meanwhile, in Geneva, a collection of "Treasured Tales", which has an anti-church and anti-bar character, has already been released. The publication of Afanasyev's collections is a major event in the social and scientific life of Russia. After his release, many well-known critics and literary critics of the time made reviews.
Forbidden Tales of Afanasyev
In addition to children's fairy tales, Afanasyev owns a collection of fairy tales for adults, published in Geneva: "Russian folk tales are not for print." The collection of “Legends, Legends and Parables” was also banned in Russia and published abroad. The authorities saw in its content a harmful direction of thoughts. It included texts about greed, stupidity, the devil, mythical monsters and evil spirits. A collection of great value regarding the spiritual heritage of the people.
Over the years of persecution by censorship, many collections have appeared under various names. For example, fairy tales with erotic content came out under the name: “Balaam. Year of obscurantism. " This book has been banned for a long time. It was released in Russia for the first time in 1997. The famous collector of folklore has many works that are still being published.
Therefore, they are often confused with the works of our contemporary, whose pen belongs to the book "Zone of infection." Alexander Afanasyev is a contemporary author writing in the genre of action movies. But his work is in no way connected with the tales of the great namesake, who devoted his whole life to collecting folklore. In total, the collection of Afanasyev Alexander Nikolaevich is about two thousand fairy tales. He went down in the history of Russian culture as the first publisher of a collection of folk tales.