L.G. Kaianidi, K.O. Vysokovich, L.L. Stepchenkov, V.V. Fedorenko. Folklore Archive of V.K. Efremenkov: materials and research. Smolensk: Madgenta, 2018. 188 p.

Abstract

The reviewed book is the first full-scale publication of the folklore heritage of Vasily K. Efremenkov (1913–1989) – a local historian and collector of folklore. Fairy tales, legends, songs, and rhymes recorded by V.K. Efremenkov in the Smolensk region in the 1930s and 1940s and extracted from various archival collections, accompanied by academic commentaries, give an opportunity to get an idea of the folklore tradition of this region in the first half of the twentieth century. The name of V.K. Efremenkov was undeservedly forgotten, and the richest collection of materials collected by him was dispersed in different archives of Russia, for a long time remaining out of sight of researchers. Publications of texts are followed by analytical articles, which reveal the thematic, structural and poetic features of the samples of folklore of the Smolensk region. Documents related to the work of V. K. Efremenkov in the Smolensk Regional Bureau of Local History give an idea of the methodology and scope of the collection work in the Smolensk region in the 1930s. The folklore collection of Vasily K. Efremenkov is extremely important in the study of the dynamics of the folklore tradition of the Smolensk region and can serve as a valuable source in the study of later materials recorded in this region and is still waiting for publication. Each publication of authentic regional folklore, especially relating to the first half of the twentieth century, becomes a real gift for folklorists, and this book about the heritage of Vasily K. Efremenkov is not an exception.