Epic Tale Research Articles

A Perspective Study of Infamous Classic Women in the Novels of Vaishnavi Patel’s ‘Kaikeyi’ and Kavita Kane’s ‘Karna’s Wife: the Outcast’s Queen’

Abstract Indian Mythology has many complex characters that reflect contemporary issues. Vaishnavi Patel and Kavita Kane, renowned women writers, have reinterpreted the epic tales of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata through a modern perspective. This paper examines human behaviour using a psychological approach in Patel’s “Kaikeyi”and Kavita Kane’s “Karna’s Wife: The Outcast’s Queen”. Patel’s“Kaikeyi”explores the protagonist’s optimistic traits, her childhood longings, and her feminist qualities. Traditionally depicted as a villain in the Ramayana, Kaikeyi is recognized as Rama’s stepmother who instigates his exile. However, before assuming this role, she experienced a difficult and challenging childhood in the Kingdom of Kekaya. The novel sheds light on the darker aspects of Kaikeyi’s past, providing a deeper understanding of her character. Kavita Kane’s interest lies in unveiling the complexities of classic women in her literary works. In “Karna’s Wife”, Uruvi, the protagonist, is portrayed as the marginalized wife of Karna, who belongs to the Sutapura lineage. Uruvi, a princess from the Kshatriya family of Pukeya kingdom is depicted as an optimistic character with great skills, knowledge, and mental strength.These two novels focus on the lives of classic women, their behavioural changes, and their insecurities in different situations. Women are inherently multifaceted and encounter various challenges throughout their lives. Different approaches are required to address these challenges. According to Sigmund Freud, the human psyche consists of three aspects that interact and influence each other to create complex human behaviour. Freud’s psychological theory can be used to analyse the characters of Kaikeyi and Uruvi in these novels. The study attempts to highlight the need for women to overcome feelings of insecurity, emotional dependence, to achieve self-realization, and build resilience, which are essential qualities in the contemporary era.

ЛИНГВОКУЛЬТУРНЫЕ ЦЕННОСТИ В ЭПИЧЕСКОМ ДИСКУРСЕ (на материале якутского и алтайского эпических текстов)

This article is devoted to the identification of universal and national values in the epic texts Mighty Er Sogotokh and Maadai-Kara. The relevance of the study of the problem is due to the growing interest in the comparative study of linguistic and cultural features in multi-system languages based on the material of epic texts. The following methods are used in the work: the continuous sampling method, linguistic and cultural and interpretative analyses, and the comparative method. The material for the analysis was extracted by a continuous sampling method from the original texts of epic tales, provided with a line-by-line translation into Russian. The purpose of the work is to identify and describe universal and national-specific attitudes in the value perception of the surrounding world, reflected in the linguistic units of epic tales. The study revealed that both texts enshrine such basic values as family, attention to people, safety, respect for parents, Homeland, justice, health, etc., which show their relative stability in the temporal and spatial dimensions. The vital, cultural, moral, spiritual, terminal, and other values available in each community exist collectively in one context. It is also revealed that the life-affirming imperative is translated from the position of the characters, for example, the father and mother of the main characters or on behalf of the mistress of Altai, who have significant experience in pragmatic communication with the outside world and the nature of the worldview of the inhabitants of the space of their existence. Thus, a general picture of values is formed for transmission to the inexperienced, the young, or those who are looking for value supports to know themselves and others, are in search of answers to the multifaceted questions of human existence, etc. The prospect of further work is seen in a more detailed and in-depth development of the dominant values that determine the norms of behavior in various discursive practices of related languages.

Gender balance: A new lens for reading and studying the Bible, Part 1

This two-article submission suggests a new lens through which to read and study the Bible. This lens generates new perspectives for teaching, preaching, and writing about the Bible. Called gender balance, the lens applies to both the Old and New Testament.Gender balance not only is simple, but also is in plain sight. If there is a story, passage, theme, or text about a man, look for a similar one about a woman; if there is a story, passage, theme, or text about a woman, look for a similar one about a man. The accounts often not only complement each other, but also provide additional details and insights.Combining canonical and literary methodologies, these two articles acknowledge the preponderance of biblical references to men. However, they show that a similar reference to a woman can usually be found quickly.Given that these two articles represent a survey with examples, an extensive exegesis is not provided. Comments on each gender balance entry are brief and framed in supplemental scholarship. The examples incorporate a conscious choice of looking for a similar story, passage, theme, or text about the opposite gender. The examples illustrate the premise that gender balance is clearly within the Scriptures.While a new way, a new lens of looking at the Bible, is presented, the first article supplies an extensive literature review showing it is a new idea. It then proceeds with examples of gender balance from the Old Testament and ends with a short conclusion and a bibliography. The second article contains New Testament examples of gender balance, a longer conclusion, and a bibliography.Contribution: The concept of looking at the Bible through a new lens – that of gender balance – may be both revolutionary and revitalising. It may be a tool for evangelism (for it consciously seeks to show stories about men and women); it may prove a more effective way to teach, preach, study, and write about the Bible (for it seeks complementary passages for both genders). These articles – by illustrating the concept through literary tools such as round and flat characterisation and literary categories such as epic tale – offer more ways to address the Bible’s wonderful diversity. These two articles advocate making gender balance a standard practice in reading the Bible. They illustrate that the lens of gender balance offers new perspectives and insights on the Bible. After all, it is in plain sight! Gender balance affirms the Bible’s glorious, wide-armed, concluding invitation to all – Jew or Greek, slave or free, rich or poor, male or female – ‘Come’ (Rv 22:17a).

Первая запись якутского эпоса в контексте традиции

The paper considers the first text of the Yakut heroic epic, recorded by A. Middendorf in the 1840s from an anonymous storyteller, later known as “Eriedel Bergen.” An attempt is made to determine the specific features of the text in terms of its local attribution. The study also provides an opportunity to discuss concrete historical and methodological observations. For a more comprehensive analysis, the author has used a representative sampling of records of the Yakut epic and other genres of narrative folklore of the peoples of Siberia, including Yakut, Russian, and Evenki fairy tales and mythological stories. The structural and semantic features of the recording were revealed that demonstrate the similarity to the texts of the Central Yakut epic tradition, in particular, to the variants recorded later near the Amginskaya Sloboda, Megino-Kangalassky, and Boturussky uluses of Yakutia. The analysis has identified some locally specific motifs and “common places” of the Yakut heroic epic, with the principles of their differentiation and study tested. It is suggested that the traditional international plot about the swapped bride, present in the text of the olonkho, appears to have originated from Evenk folklore rather than Russian fairy tales. A conclusion is made that the local specificity in Yakut epic tales is primarily evident in the specific motifs of the “exterior” plan while having a minimal effect on the core plot elements that remain broadly consistent across the genre’s various “dialect” versions. It would be considerably valuable in the future to map or catalog them.

Gatotkaca Costume Analysis in Satria Dewa Movie and It's Impact to Gatotkaca's Character Brand Image

Indonesia has many folklores that passed down generation to generation. One of the famous folklore is the epic tale of Mahabharata. The story is about the long last war between good and evil. The god side represented by Pandawa, and the bad side represented by Kurawa. This Mahabharata epic tale, has one character that take interest as one of the main character, the name is Gatotkaca. The story of Gatotkaca was turn into live action movie by Satria Dewa Studio. This movie reshapes the image of traditional Gatokaca into a new one started by redesigned Gatotkaca. Changing the looks with a new costume creates a new impact and perspective especially the brand image about Gatot Kaca in this movie. This paper analyses Gatotkaca new costume in the movie. The methodology approach is qualitative method with descriptive literature study approach. The result of this research is Gatotkaca new costume is changing the image, and gives new meaning in term of representation about character, make the Mahabarata epic story for suitable for young generation as they become the new targeted audience of the movie.
 Keywords: brand; image; costume; movie.

ЭПИЧЕСКОЕ НАСЛЕДИЕ БАШКИР РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ В ЗАПИСЯХ СЕРЕДИНЫ ХХ В.

The article is devoted to the topical issue of studying archival records of epic monuments recorded outside the Republic of Bashkortostan, in particular in Orenburg, Kurgan, Chelyabinsk, Samara, and Saratov regions, some of which have been published, and variants are taken into account in the comments to the volumes. In the first monograph devoted to the Bashkir heroic epic, its author A. N. Kireev noted that expeditions to the regions of the Russian Federation listed above gave a lot of new information about the Bashkir folk epic. This article is aimed at the study of epic material recorded precisely outside the Republic of Bashkortostan. The objectives of the article are to identify texts included in the volumes of the scholarly code “Bashkir folk art” and texts that have not yet been published; possible repeated recordings; determining the area of distribution of this or that epic tale, the age and gender of the informants. To solve the tasks, a statistical method was used to characterize the repertoire; the method of comparative analysis was used as the main one, an element of structural analysis and a comparative-descriptive method was also used in the study of repeated recordings in line with experimental approaches developed by V. M. Gatsak in the field of the theory of the preservation of the epic in time. The methodological basis of the article was the works of Russian, including Bashkir, researchers-predecessors in the field of epic studies: A. N. Kireev, S. A. Galina, M. M. Sagitova, V. M. Gatsak, I. V. Pukhov, etc. The study will allow us to present the content, volume of material, distribution areas of the Bashkir epic in the regions of the Russian Federation where Bashkirs live compactly. When studying archival materials, it turned out that epic works about animals and social and everyday ones were particularly widespread there. In the future, archival texts will be published and put into active scientific circulation. It is a subject for special research, including dissertations, on various genres of folklore of the Bashkirs of the Russian Federation, both from the folkloristic and linguistic point of views (dialects are interesting, both archaisms and Russian words are used, even characters of Russian folklore are found in the texts).

Շիրակի վիպական բանահյուսությունը

Epic folklore occupies a special place in the folklore heritage of the Armenians of Shirak. The genres of Shirak's epic folklore (fairy tales, common tales, animals, epic tales, epic love stories, realistic tales, stories, traditions, legends, fables, jokes, unrealistic fables, memorials, etc.) represent local variants of pan-Armenian plots and motifs, with their own characteristic features.

Analyzing the Contextualization of English Translations of Sanguo Yanyi: Exploring the Portrayal of Liu Bei's Image through Translation

Sanguo Yanyi, as an original Chinese episodic novel, has captivated numerous readers with its grand narrative, formidable characters, and gripping portrayal of war. Not only has this epic tale gained immense popularity within China, but it has also crossed borders and been translated into English in three distinct versions. The first translation, undertaken by C.H. Brewitt-Taylor in 1925, was shaped by the specific historical and cultural context of its time. This was followed by Moss Roberts' translation in 1991, and most recently, Yu Sumei's in 2014. Each translation bears its own unique characteristics influenced by their respective historical and cultural backgrounds. Through a combined quantitative and qualitative approach, this research delves into the translation of Liu Bei's image as a case study, aiming to explore the impact of historical and cultural contexts on the English adaptation of Sanguo Yanyi. The findings of this study will not only contribute to a deeper understanding of the dissemination and representation of Chinese culture but also provide valuable insights for future endeavours within this field.

Image features of epic characters in Tatar and Slavic folklore

The ethno-epic heritage of the Russian and Tatar peoples’ traditional culture is based on epic tales, including the heroic epic of the people, the ethnos. The core of traditional culture is the subject’s ideas about the ideals of wisdom, heroism and beauty, about good and evil, about man’s place in the world, as well as religious and mythological views on man’s relationship with supernatural, higher forces as a kind of life of an ethnic group’s world. Our culturological analysis of the main characters from epic tales, including the comparison with Slavic epic characters, allows us to assert that the epic image of a batyr expresses a single complex of national historical concepts and ideas about the ideal man – a warrior in the best manifestation of all his virtues, the one who realizes and implements the age–old aspirations of the people, that is, an objectified view of the world. The image of a batyr, a hero in Tatar and Slavic folklore is of interest due to its complexity and versatility. He is both a fighter against the enemies of his native land and a hero who destroys evil forces; he is an ideal warrior who can make even the khan feel fear; at the same time, he can resort to cunning and deceit at times. Thus, batyrs win not only owing to their best qualities, but also to those that are usually pushed into the shadows when positive characters are described, as if they were non-existent. Perhaps, this is where lies the excessive love and trust of the people for epic works and their heroes.

Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB), the Observable and Non-Observable Universes, and Their Respective Distances

Guided by the monumental Big Bang theory, this research paper embarks on a captivating exploration of cosmic vistas, delving into the enigmatic origins of the universe, the enigmatic cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR), and the intricate interplay between observable and non- observable universes. Intricately woven into this cosmic fabric are the pioneering observations of the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), and the Planck satellite. These scientific sentinels have charted the CMBR's temperature fluctuations, offering windows into the universe's earliest epochs. COBE's revelation of temperature variations in 1992 solidified the Big Bang theory. WMAP, launched in 2001, delved deeper, unraveling the CMBR's anisotropies and refining cosmic parameter measurements. The Planck satellite, soaring into space in 2009, etched precision onto the cosmic canvas, encapsulating the universe's age, composition, and evolutionary trajectory. This narrative unfolds the epic tale of emergence from a minuscule singularity and the subsequent grand cosmic inflation. At the heart of this cosmic odyssey lies the CMBR, a whispered echo from the universe's primordial dawn that unfolds the saga of its early epochs and the daring journey of the first light. The tapestry of time itself is probed, unveiling the temporal intricacies of these realms shaped by phenomena like redshift and the relentless cosmic expansion. Across a 13.8-billion-year narrative, our observational prowess extends to reveal galaxies within a 46.5 billion light-year radius—43% visible, 57% veiled. Anchored by elegant mathematical frameworks like Hubble's Law, this journey through cosmic mechanics nurtures the growth of understanding and discovery. An expedition both poetic and scientific, this paper unearths the blueprint of the universe, resonating with themes of curiosity and evolution that span unfathomable eons.

Ритуал имянаречения в шорских героических сказаниях

В данной статье на примерах шорских сказаний, в основном еще не опубликованных, описывается общее место имянаречение алыпа, являющееся важным мифопоэтическим мотивом, связанным с инициацией ребенка. Дескриптивными и сравнительно-сопоставительными методами исследования была выявлена структура обряда имянаречения, его лингвистические репрезентации, варьирование обряда в зависимости от пола алыпа и его роли в сказании, проанализирован внешний облик человека, дающего имя, а также показана его скрытая божественная сущность, описана структура высказывания, провозглашающего богатырское имя и содержащего, помимо самого акта наименования, благопожелания герою и его главному помощнику – коню. The article deals with the naming ritual in the epic tales of Shors recorded by N. P. Dyrenkova, A. I. Chudojakov, L. N. Arbachakova, and Shors' narrators; some have not been published yet. The naming ceremony is one of the most important poetic and mythological motifs in all traditional oral cultures; it is associated with initiation. In folklore, it is treated as one of the so-called "epic formulas" or “commonplaces” as a standardized form of expression for folkloric motifs. Using descriptive and comparative methods, we have shown the general structure of the naming ceremony and its variability depending on the gender of the epic character and its role in the epic narrative. The article also describes the manifestations of naming an epic hero and his inner divine status. Special attention was paid to the linguistic representation of the naming ceremony and the epic formulas used. In the heroic stories of the Shors, the name of an epic hero has a great symbolic effect; the one who gives him a name is highly respected and honored. An epic hero is born miraculously. The boy (rarely a girl) grows very fast and gains all his power in just a few hours or days after an epic sleep. When he awakens, his parents or other close relatives send him to the coast or a mountain's steps to receive a name. They give him a drink to take to the person who will do the naming. Only if he has a heroic name can he fight the invaders, perform other glorious deeds or find a bride. The naming ceremony of the Shors consists of several parts: The child leaves the parental palace and goes to the place of the ceremony, he calls for a person who will give him a name, the name-giver comes, receives the drinks brought by the boy, announces the name and the blessing, the name-giver disappears and returns to his palace. During the naming ceremony, the name is first given to the epic hero's horse and only then to himself, followed by blessings and good wishes for him and his horse to be invincible and overcome all obstacles.

An Odyssey without Homecoming

Abstract Recent scholarship has drawn attention to the impact of war, occupation, and the Holocaust on Stanisław Lem's literary work. This article attempts to further explore this subject. Its aim is to show how Lem in Powrót z gwiazd [Return from the stars, 1961] depicts the return from space travel as analogous to coming home from war. This analogy is based on a complex interplay between the science fiction narrative on the one hand and references to the Homeric epic poem The Odyssey on the other. The article highlights some peculiarities of this intertextual fabric of Return from the Stars. From this point of view, the science fiction work forms, in Adorno's term, a “constellation” with the epic tale. In this constellation the science fiction narrative exposes in its transtextual interplay with the Greek tradition the deheroization of the hero as well as the ambiguities of a biopolitically organized society in the future. With the transtextual reassessment of the mythical narrative and the emerging literary representation of an odyssey without homecoming, Lem's novel exemplifies a fundamental dismantling of positivity. Seen from this angle, the science fiction novel can be situated in the context of postwar Polish literature which in its attempts to come to terms with the traumatic experiences of war and occupation challenges or even rejects a cultural heritage of traditions and values that have—in the wake of World War II—lost their immanent value.

ON SYNONYMS IN THE EPIC TALES OF THE OKHOTSK EVENS

ON SYNONYMS IN THE EPIC TALES OF THE OKHOTSK EVENS

Science across the Meiji divide: Vernacular literary genres as vectors of science in modern Japan.

Histories of Japanese science have been integral in affirming the Meiji Restoration of 1868 as the starting point of modern Japan. Vernacular genres, characterized as "premodern," have therefore largely been overlooked by historians of science, regardless of when they were published. Paradoxically, this has resulted in the marginalization of the very works through which most people encountered science. This article addresses this oversight and its historiographical ramifications by focusing on kyūri books - popular works of science - published in the years following the Restoration, when there was unprecedented public interest in science. It asks, what if we take these kyūri books on their own terms as science books, just as those of the time saw them? This article explores three genres of kyūri books, namely fictionalized formats, such as the epic tale (monogatari); epistolary guides; and genres, such as the sutra, that drew on religious textual practices. It argues that these literary genres provided interpretive frameworks that shaped readers' encounters with "modern" science. This exploration underscores the importance of engaging with vernacular genres to understand the emergence of science as a global category in the nineteenth century.

Unmasking the Red Death: Introduction

During the so-called High Lockdown in the UK (March to June 2020) a group of staff and students from University College London’s School of European Languages and Cultures (SELCS) gathered weekly for a Summer Book Club (SBC) to discuss works as diverse as Thomas Mann’s epic tale of convalescence and philosophical exploration The Magic Mountain and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s captivating comparison of the experience of race in Nigeria, the UK, and the US in Americanah. Among the true “pandemic-lit” that we chose to focus on was Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”. In discussing this tale, we could not help noticing the parallels between ourselves and Prince Prospero and his courtiers, who—in the face of devastating disease sweeping the realm—devoted themselves to aesthetic pleasures within their castellated abbey, just as we too found refuge in (closed) community and culture. Another of our book choices revealed a similar and uncanny parallel: in Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven a band of actors and musicians roam a devastated America, putting on Shakespeare for the survivors of another deadly pandemic. Their motto, “Because survival is not sufficient”, a quotation from Star Trek, chimed with our sense too that, in the face of the pandemic, culture had a central role.

Сибирский улус Джучи: кочевые традиции в преддверии имперских инноваций

Research objectives: To determine the principles of Chingis Khan’s giving of an appanage to his son Jochi after the submission of the peoples of Southern Siberia in 1207 and to correlate the criteria for the territorial division of the ulus with information from the epic folklore of Southern Siberia and Central Asia. Research materials: “The Secret History of the Mongols,” the court chronicles of the Mongol Empire of the 13th–14th centuries, the heroic epos of the peoples of Southern Siberia and Central Asia, and the historiography of the Mongol Empire of the first half of the 13th century. Results and novelty of the research: As a result of comparisons of the realities of the early Mongol Empire with the patriarchal foundations of the Turkic-Mongolian nomadic society reflected in epic tales, a projection of the traditional norms of the organization of the nomadic ulus on the situation with the endowment of Jochi in the conquered lands of Southern Siberia can be discerned. Just as in heroic tales, the son, on the orders of his father, conquers neighbouring tribes living in the north and west of their native nomadic lands and receives them in governing. In this situation, not only the paradigm of relations between the indigenous and annexed population of the ulus bequeathed by the ancestors but also the archaic scheme of descending sacrality from the North to the South and from the East to the West played its role.

The “Occupation/Employment” Concept in the Epic Tale Picture of the World

The “Occupation/Employment” Concept in the Epic Tale Picture of the World

Актуальные проблемы изучения нартского эпоса

The research aims to identify the main issues in the study of the Nart epic and to reveal the picture of the epic universe by providing insight into archaic semantics of mythoepical images, motifs and episodes. The paper analyses approaches to solving the issue of determining the national primary basis of the epic. The paper addresses the inconsistency of determining the original core of epic tales based on typologically similar plots and motifs; identifies the plots and motifs in the Nart legends of the Ossetians reflecting the three-part model of the world; substantiates the necessity of studying the Nart mythological worldview in all the national versions in order to clarify their relationship. Scientific novelty of the research lies in proposing a new approach to determining the primary basis of the epic through the analysis of the Nart mythological worldview in the national versions. The research findings have allowed the author to determine the plots and motifs characterising the national features of the Nart mythological worldview in the epic tales of the Ossetians. Revealing the Nart worldview makes it possible to distinguish between the national and the typological features of plots and motifs, which in turn helps to identify the genesis of the national versions of epic tales.

Steinbeck, Race, and Route 66 in The Grapes of Wrath

Abstract Despite its advocacy for tenant farmers, laborers, Okies, and other poor migrants across the United States, John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath seemingly ignores the Black Americans among them and effectively erases the history of African Americans even as it elevates Route 66 and the overlooked and forgotten trials and tribulations of White, rural, faming families who lived along it. This article surveys the state of scholarship on Steinbeck’s relation to racism and racial issues, and sets the novel’s depiction of African Americans in historical and well as critical contexts. In its bulk, the article examines one crucial historical fact that Steinbeck omits from his epic tale of the Joad family emigrating from Oklahoma: the many all-Black towns situated along Route 66 and its “tributary side roads” featured in the novel. Ultimately, readers of Steinbeck learn about the contexts that Steinbeck ignores but that nonetheless provide an opportunity to highlight with the fame he’s brought to the so-called “Mother Road.”

Pimachesowin for the Sakha (Yakut) People of Northeastern Siberia

This article provides a case study of the Sakha (Yakut), an Indigenous People in Northeastern Siberia, and their concept of Aiyy Yorege, which shares a similar meaning as pimachesowin (making a good life), a Cree word. The Sakha (Yakut) concept is reflected in the fundamental epic tale known as Olonkho, which constitutes the framework for the belief, culture, traditional knowledge, laws, and language of the Sakha (Yakut) People. The article introduces the main ideas of the tale and its narrative whereby people find the basis for their self-determination. Furthermore, this article elucidates the political events of the Soviet period and the ways it impacted the Sakha (Yakut) People with their traditional culture silenced under the policy of unification, and how this was followed by a period of resurgence in the late twentieth century after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Throughout the article, parallels are drawn between the Sakha (Yakut) and the Cree People in Northern Saskatchewan, specifically in relation to the aspiration of sustaining a good way of living. This article is a chapter in the open textbook Indigenous Self-Determination through Mitho Pimachesowin (Ability to Make a Good Living), developed for the University of Saskatchewan course Indigenous Studies 410/810 and hosted by the Northern Review.