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Timestamp: 2019-04-26 16:19:19+00:00

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This article considers representations of disability in Russian fairytales. More particularly, the author focuses on anomalies of speech and muteness in fairytale characters. The article refers to classic collections of Russian fairytales, regional publications of the 20th and 21st centuries, and archival records of field materials. Considering the intricate genre interaction, multi-functionality, and correspondence of literary and oral traditions, the author makes an attempt to reveal the peculiarities of the representation of disability in Russian fairytales and folklore tradition. She demonstrates that contrary to other disabilities, muteness in fairytales is always imaginary or simulated. The inability of characters to speak is either a means of disguise, a way to hide their true nature, or a form of ritual behaviour necessary to carry out a magical act. Upon achieving the desired result, the characters begin to speak. Using elements of everyday or ritual practices, fairytale fantasy tends to change or intensify them. When it comes to speech, it copies the ritual and only changes the context and manner of the deed. A prohibition against speaking is only actualised when the characters find themselves in another world and when they have to communicate with supernatural forces. Both in life and in fairytales, silence is regarded as a form of universal protection and as a prerequisite for the successful implementation of a specified task. In fairytales, the imitation of muteness is always a voluntary act and silence is a choice of the character. In case of speech, it is the inability to speak which is the driving force of the plot: a silent fool defeats the serpent and liberates the tsarevna, while a numb beauty uses nettles to knit shirts and thus returns to her brothers their real appearance. In this case, muteness signifies that the characters have been chosen for their mission because of their capacity to perform a magical feat. Other forms of disability usually result from actions of the character’s enemy and are a real loss which cannot be repaired.
PhD (Philology), Head of the Sector of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Centre of Culture of the Peoples of Russia, Polenov State Russian House of Folk Art of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.
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