HUMANITARIAN RESEARCHES

Journal of fundamental and applied researches

OVER THE FOREST, OVER THE MOUNTAINS SHOWED THE MAN AN AXE: LIMERICK AND FICTION AS A COLONIAL MENTALITY

2016. №4, pp. 91-99

Yakushenkov Sergey N. - Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Astrakhan State University, 414056, Russia, Astrakhan, 20a Tatishchev st, shulong@mail.ru

The question of correlation of a number of small forms of Russian and English folklore remains open. It is not always possible to find adequate terms for the translation of a number of forms and genres of English folklore in Russian language and Vice versa. However, some of them are very interesting phenomena, reflecting the various periods in the history of our countries. This article analyses such form of English literature as Limerick. The author believes that Limerick, which appeared in the second half of the nineteenth century, reflects the special character of the Victorian era in England, characteristic features of which was the colonial status of the country and changing the cultural norms of the inhabitants of the United Kingdom, which became part of a huge Empire on which the sun never came. Typical representatives of this age are E. Lear, R. Kipling, A. Tennyson - carriers of the special colonial mentality. Therefore, as Limerick, and other forms and genres of Victorian literature were a kind of reflection on meeting with a Stranger. Limerick prepared children for a new reality in which they become a part of a huge world in which they encounter with this Stranger.

Key words: небылицы, лимерик, Эдвард Лир, колониальная литература, викторианская эпоха, Чужой, Другой, колониализм, фольклор, эротизация, fiction, Limerick, Edward Lear, colonial literature, the Victorian era, Stranger, the Other, colonialism, folklore, erotization

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