Russian folklore in the works of S.T. Aksakov
The article is concerned with folk songs, proverbs and sayings as well as some other genres of Russian folklore used in a creative way in the books written by an outstanding Russian author Sergey Timofeevich Aksakov (1791-1859). The study aims to establish the meaning and the role of folk genres, motives and images of the Russian poetic folklore in the works of art, autobiographical prose, articles and notes by S.T. Aksakov both well-known ones and those of a mostly historic and cultural value. Only a fairy tale “A little scarlet flower” has been the subject of research by some Russian scholars. Even an in-depth monographic study by S.I. Mashinsky “S.T. Aksakov: Life and works” (1973) barely mentions the issue of folklore in the works of S.T. Aksakov even though it does consider the impact of folk language on the speech structure of his works. On the whole, the researchers do not pay due attention to such genres of folklore in Aksakov's works as folk songs, proverbs and sayings, calendar-ritual and family-ritual poetry, which the article mainly focuses on. It should be emphasized that the writer does not just cite folklore, but folk images and motives are an integral part of his style and artistic writing, which is organically interwoven into the general narrative structure. Aksakov subtly, skillfully draws the folklore to characterize the situation, recreate folk coloring, depict nature, reveal the personality and psychology of a particular character, as well as the features of their speech. Such features of Aksakov's style as accuracy, clarity, plasticity, largely come from folklore, a living folk language.