METHODOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES OF IVAN FRANKO’S FOLKLORISTIC RESEARCH “A SONG ON JUSTICE AND INJUSTICE”

Abstract

The article analyzes the range of methodological principles employed by Ivan Franko in his fundamental folkloristic study “A Song on Justice and Injustice”, which was eventually incorporated in a major research “Studies on Ukrainian Folk Songs”. It has been remarked that the scholar attempted at stereometric reception of the text. In particular, he consistently considered the entire paradigm of the folklore artefact, and identified the crucial factors stimulating active development of the theme. Through the prism of analytic evaluation of the existing variations of the “Song on Justice and Injustice” Ivan Franko traced out the expansion of the ideological and thematic range of the piece and pointed out its essential poetic potential. It has been emphasized that the author of the research put in effort to determine the genesis of the song (establishing its direct connection to the text dating back to the 14-15th c. “A Tale of Justice and Injustice”) and compose its “literary biography” (tracing the development of the popular theme “antagonism of justice and injustice” in European oral lore since the “Parable on Hercules at the Crossroads” dating back to the 5th century BC). The scholar reasonably referred to numerous fairy tales (mostly Ukrainian) where this motif dominated. While scrutinizing the corresponding folklore and literary texts of various nations, Franko accentuated the shared (template formulas, typical situations, traditional ideological imperatives) as well as distinguishing (“domestication” of migrant items, adjustment to national standards) features of the theme reception. The folklorist tackled the ample verbal treasure applying the findings of the cultural-historical school, such as the “retrogressive method” involving primary consideration of the most recent texts followed by gradual regression to older prototypes. Due to this method, Franko was able to prove the primeval Buddhist origin of the antagonism «justice-injustice» represented in fairy tales.