Остров пародии в океане заговорного жанра

Abstract

This article systematises and analyses parodies of East Slavic incantations and charms. Although these texts sporadically came to the attention of folklore researchers in pre-revolutionary Russia (N.I. Nadezhdin, P.S. Efimenko) and the Soviet Union (G.S. Vinogradov, J.I. Smirnov), they have rarely been viewed as parodies of real-life verbal magic. This was due partly to lack of study into incantations and charms, and partly to the ideology of official Soviet folkloristics, which pushed to ignore research into East Slavic magic practices and declared them gone irrevocably into the past. The article gives an overview of the characteristics of incantation parodies common in oral folklore. This is supplemented by a description and study of two works of fiction by A.P. Chekhov (‘Home Remedies’) and M.M. Zoshchenko (‘The Medic’), which make playful deformations of oral and written incantations against illnesses combined with various ceremonial actions. The article also analyses parodic incantations which emerged from the “energetic” rituals developed and promoted by V. Dolokhov and V. Gurangov as part of a popular esoteric “psychotraining” programme. Finally, the article elucidates the mechanisms determining the origins of parodic incantations and charms that can be found in Internet folklore.