THE DEFINING ROLE OF FOLKLORE IN H. APPAEV’S NOVEL “BLACK CHEST”

Abstract

The article examines the role of folklore in the work of North Caucasian novelists in the 1920s–30s. At the same time, the primary attention is paid to the study of such motifs in the work of the first Karachay novelist H. Appaev (1904–1938), called “Black Chest”, which was written in 1935–1937. This choice was made by the author due to the reason that this novel is one of the most characteristic works, combining traditional motifs of the mountain peoples on the one hand and the influence of the foreign-language realistic novel on the other hand. The article examines the the Karachay folklore influence on the images of the characters of the novel, its ideological and semantic content and the development of the plot. The influence of folklore and mythological motifs in “Black Chest” is investigated in connection with other political, economic and cultural trends characteristic of the 1930s, which also influenced this literary work.