RUSSIAN AND BELARUSIAN CRUEL ROMANCES: PLOT STRUCTURE AND NATIONAL IDENTITY
Unlike the Russian cruel romance, Belarusian cruel romance is seen as a separate independent genre of folklore and became the subject of field gathering and scientific study as late as only in 2010. A specific feature of the existence of this genre among related peoples (Russians and Belarusians) is that the subjects of most Russian cruel romances are found in the repertoire of Belarusians ones as well. As a rule Belarusians do not have original plots of cruel romances that one would not find in Russia. However studies show that the late genres of folklore usually do not have a plot, but a typological similarity. Story similarity indicates borrowing. It means that the cruel romance in Belarus is not the Belarusian folk song itself, but a form of “trasyanka”, although the Belarusian national consciousness perceives itself as a non-Russia. As one of the few exceptions to this rule, the paper considers the novel “Po Donu guljaet kazak molodoi”. The existence of the same genre among neighbouring peoples testifies to their interaction and affects their national identity.