The Study of Parallels in the Development of Persian and Russian Folklore

The present paper addresses the interrelation between folklore and literature in Iran and Russia in different periods of their cultural evolution, and identifies the commonalities and peculiarities of this development. The study of the interaction between Persian folklore and classical literature in the age of Persia's Islamization, has led to the hypothesis of similar processes taking place in the development of oral tradition in Russia. Using historical and typological research methods, this study refers to the Russian folklore of the 20th century and presents a contrastive-comparative analysis of small genres in the oral tradition, literature and their sources in folklore. Moreover, it calls attention to the specific features of new genres which are derived from the existing («classical») genres, and looks into the prospects for their further existence and research. Considering the experience of classical Persian literature and folklore this research identifies a number of identical features in the oral tradition of both countries, as well as common factors impacting the emergence of new genres in the so-called «post-folklore» in Russia. In this regard, it is necessary to draw attention to the specifics of West Asian culture: the common inherent features in the human worldview that clearly manifested in folklore. The knowledge of folklore and history of Iran would help the Russian citizens to bring the cultures closer together, to understand the worldviews of Iranian and Tajik people, to form new relationships with representatives of other nations in a multicultural world.

The Study of Parallels in the Development of Persian and Russian Folklore Keywords:

Persian folklore , Russian folklore , Islamization of literature , folklorization of literary texts , Iranian and Russian cultural cooperation