Byliny

• Main Author: Kononenko, Natalie
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 2023
• Subjects: Russian North
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190080778.013.45; https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/43182/chapter/410940754

Abstract In the period of Romantic Nationalism when epic received attention across Europe, Russia still had a living oral tradition. Important collections of Russian epic, byliny, were made in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Most byliny sing about events in what is now Ukraine, indicating that they likely originated there and were carried northward by professional musicians. The performers in the Russian north were non-professionals and sang without instrumental accompaniment. Their songs were complex, dealing with human struggles and portraying powerful figures, both male and female. Communist authorities seized on byliny and Sovietized them to valorize the Soviet state. Efforts to create noviny, new epics about Soviet accomplishments, failed; but sanitized versions of traditional byliny were successful in popular culture as stories for children. Currently, the heroes Ilia Muromets, Dobrynia Nikitych, and Alesha Popovich represent the essence of Russian folklore and are especially popular in animated film.