THE MONOMYTH STRUCTURE IN THE KARACHAI-BALKAR FOLKLORE. THE SONG-LEGEND “BIENEGER”

Abstract

The article examines the classic example of the Karachay-Balkar hunting myth, the song-legend “Biyneger” in the framework of the psychoanalytic theory of myth by the American scholar Joseph Campbell. An attempt is made to trace “hero’s journey” in this song-legend, based on the monomyph scheme proposed by Campbell: the journey of the archetypal hero, consisting of three structural elements – alienation, initiation, and death (new birth) or return. A comparative analysis of the plot interpretation of the myth and its psychological interpretation is carried out. The authors of the article aim to show how the structure of the monomyth, superimposed on the plot of the song, reveals the turning points that mark the transition from archaic consciousness to historical consciousness, not of a single person, but of the entire ethnic whole, the people to which the hero of this song belongs.