Article

Name: THE VERSIONS OF THE «MAN – BEAR COMBAT» PLOT IN THE WORKS OF V. SANGI, A. NEMTUSCHKIN, G. KEPTUKE AND OTHER WRITERS

Authors: N. A. Nepomnyaschikh

Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Literary Life of the Plot

Abstract: Some typical recurrent plots such as a plot of human – bear interaction are characteristic to the literatures of the Native Siberians. A plot of a combat between a man and a bear is present at the works of almost all Siberian writers. This is due both to the circumstances of life in the taiga where it is difficult to avoid a meeting with that animal and to the folk-lore traditions. Many Siberian peoples worshipped the bear; the bear was considered to be an ancestor to the human. The Mansi, Khanty, Nanai, Nivkh, Tofalar, Even, and Evenk people celebrated the special bear festival. The bear cult is supposed to be very ancient. The fact that it is common for the people belonging to the different language groups is due to the similarity in their way of living determined by the similar geographic factors. The article discusses two versions of the «man – bear combat» plot. The first version is typical to V. Sangi’s writings. It considers a combat as an ordeal which is successfully overcome by a character. G. Keptuke’s book gives another version of the plot. A character is maimed in a combat because of his conceit and violation of an ancient custom. The plot describing an encounter of a man with a bear is one of the most common in the works of Siberian writers.

Keywords: plot, motif, a combat between a man and a bear, nivkh literature, evenk literature

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