A TYPOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE EPIC MONSTERS ABAASY OF THE LOWER WORLD (BASED ON EARLY RECORDS)

Abstract

The article deals with the images of Abaasy monsters – the inhabitants of the Lower World of the Yakut Olonkho epos. The material for the study is an academic publication “Samples of Yakut Folk Literature”, published in 1907-1918 under the editorship of E.K. Pekarsky. These folklore texts are of great scientific value, recognized as one of the archaic materials in content and language. The retellings of the plots of the 8 olonkho epics, recorded in 1890-1891 by V.L. Priklonsky, are also an informational source. Relevance of the work lies in the fact that nowadays there are no special works studying typological peculiarities of the images of epic monsters of Abaasy. In order to address this issue, the semantics of the concept of “abaasy” are examined, the system of images and functions are classified, and types of characters are identified. The descriptive method is used to identify the images; the comparative and comparative methods are used for typological research. When classifying the system of images and their functions V.Y. Propp’s method of “circles of action” is also applied. As a result, two different images of monsters abaasy emerge: an antagonist and a helper (a positive image). Four types of monster abaasy characters are formed, showing their mythological origin: anthropomorphic; types with bodily asymmetry; zoomorphic; ornithomorphic. Most common are monster abaasy characters with some kind of body flaw: one-eyed, one-legged, and one-armed.