Demonological Story: Definition and History of the Term

Abstract

The research is focused on the genre of the demonological story, its stratification is studied, as well as the issue of the etymology of the term and the history of its functioning. The origin of the term and its content are considered in historical retrospective, from the times when attention to the demonological tradition as such has livened up, that is, from the early 19th century, the period of creation of the Ruthenian Trinity circle. It should not be forgotten that its representative Ya. Holovatskyi has described mainly the guidelines for the differentiation of folk prose in the mid to late 19th century. Later other prominent representatives of Ukrainian culture have also studied such problems. These are, in particular, a member of the same circle I. Vahylevych, and later M. Drahomanov, I. Franko, V. Hnatiuk, F. Kolessa. The trends in the definition of the genre variety of the demonological story from the turn of the 19th to the 20th centuries are considered in the article. The period has been characterized by the beginning of the perception and understanding of demonological narratives, as well as attempts of their classification, systematization and scientific justification and comprehension. Classification of the texts in Folkloristics during the Soviet period, as well as in the modern times, is not left out of consideration in the study. The purpose of the article is to trace the process of entering the term demonological story into folkloristic science to denote folk works about the meeting of a person with a demonic creature. The limits of its use are shown; the landmarks in the definitive question are outlined; the specificity of demonological stories as a variety of genre in the context of non-fairy-tale prose is clarified. The general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis are used in the article. The historical method has helped to identify, trace and analyse the attempts of theoretical comprehension of the works of demonological content by Ukrainian researchers of oral literature, as well as the post-Soviet space.