Сучасне баладознавство на південнослов’янських наукових теренах

Abstract

The analysis of still relevant problem of the lyric-epic genre of ballads functioning in the South Slavic region is suggested in the following investigation. In particular, it is planned to consider the specificity of this genre existence in the South Slavs and its analysis in the studies of scholars-folklorists, namely Serbs, Croats, Bulgarians, Bosnians, Macedonians, Slovenes. A priority area of the research concerns to terminological aspect when considering the specific features of the ballad genre. The folk ballad as a scientific problem continues to be the object of contradictions at the present time. The discussions touch on the main issues: the definition of ballad concept, its distribution, genre specificity, place in the system of folklore heritage in general and in the hierarchy of lyric and epic works in particular; the existence of international plots in the ballad, national originality of the ballads, classification of ballad works, ballads poetics, etc. In general it is difficult to determine a common chronology of ballad works existence for European countries; since the very name ballad has a historical character, it is hardly possible to speak on a single and natural scheme of development of the ballad as a folklore genre form. Terminological vagueness and uncertainty are not an accidental phenomenon here, as this denomination has been associated classically with the features that often have no clear link and genetic inheritance between them. The ballad is defined by its own genre specificity, and the researchers of South Slavic folk ballads determine common features of the ballad genre. The ballad is aimed at the depicting the private world of ordinary people, the world of human passions, reproduced in a tragic way. And, accordingly, the main attention is paid to the solution of a key conflict.