Pasakojimo etnografija: nepažintas pasakotojo pasaulis

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Tautosaka; Pasakotojai; Pasakos; Folkloro naratyvai; Folklore; Narrators; Fairy tales; Folklore narratives.

ENAlthough quite a number of articles and reviews have already been devoted to particularly talented informants and lots of archived materials have been collected, still there is lack of research works analyzing separate problems and summarizing the results. This work is focused on the narrator of folktales, both the one communicating from manuscripts and the one recently encountered and interviewed in person. Thus our aims include an attempt to look at the personality of the folktale teller through the available manuscript of the text, revealing the inner world of this person reflected in the narrative, as well as ways and reasons of his / her personal manifestations. This publication also aims to reveal the meanings of the tale adopted in contemporary contexts, especially when the researcher can both observe the performance situation and evaluate it in terms of modern folkloristics. Our special focus is on the cases ofmerging the personal and the communal features, i. e. traditional tales incorporating a number of personal details and interpretations, which normally are quite rare and present results of narrator's creativity. Therefore the fairytales told in first person have been selected for interpretation here, i. e. those characterized by the alleged intention of the narrator to persuade the listener in real and argumentative character of the narrated events. Such choice of the research materials is primarily influenced by the reason of fairytales being regarded as a genre conveying the centuries-old verbal information, which at the time of its recording used to be perceived as an entertainment (making fun for the children and providing pleasurable listening for the adults) rather than communication of true facts.Of course, a number of details pertaining to real life have been recorded in these texts as well, including customs, glimpses from the peasant everyday life, and fragments of people's world-views. The first person mode of narration, which is supposed to reveal personal experiences, appears quite frequently to deal with military thematic. A number of cases can be found among the Lithuanian fairytales, the protagonist of which, experiencing wonderful adventures and receiving the well-earned award is none other than a soldier. And although the narrator asserts having learned the tale from someone else, the first person narrative is highly likely to reflect certain autobiographical moments, or its narrator unwillingly communicates his / her personal experience. The image of the storytelling soldier is very handy for the narrative communication, because military activities used to involve a higher degree of mobility, including not only moving around one's native locality, but also being transferred to remote territories and taking temporal residence there. Legends in turn belong to the genre of folklore which is typically related in first person in order to emphasize truthfulness of the narrated events. Personal encounter with supernatural world both thrills and attracts the listener. The tremendum et fascinans feeling provokes verisimilar experience of horror, which is felt while listening to a frightening story. Analogical feeling is in some cases experienced also by the listener of a fairytale. The self-identification of the narrator with the protagonist of the story is meant to persuade the listener in the true character of the story, but in the cases in question it is used as artistic means of expression designed to captivate the listener's attention. Performance of fairytales used to be a natural way of enhancing the sense of unity, information, and communication.At present one is frequently left to regret the decline of the old tradition of relating the fairytales, its remnants being recorded solely as memories of certain moments from the past. Still, it is possible to record the old traditional genres of folklore even nowadays, only their interpretations would be different. For example, one female informant keeps remembering and relating the fairytale plots on certain occasions precisely because she perceives them to be certain images of reality, still relevant nowadays. She clearly opposes the notion of fairytale being based on fantasy, and due to be accepted as an invention, as something designed for entertainment. On the other hand, a traditional narrator can also be encountered, characterized by an abundant repertoire of classical narratives and particular sensitivity to detail. That is a rare kind of narrator, while listening to whom one can mentally get transferred to a peasant's house of the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20t h century, and enjoy an authentic narrative. Fairytale as a narrative allows a huge space for expression of the narrator's capacities. Therefore it's quite possible that "atypical" narrative or a tale narrated in a singular, unexpected manner represents piece of the individual self-expression and an inherent part of the "self", thus it should be accepted and analyzed the way it is. While appreciating the individual and creative self-expression of contemporary humans, one cannot reject the possibility of similarly creative people having existed in the past as well. Researchers of the Lithuanian folktales have to acknowledge the existence of the narrator-author lurking behind the text, weaving his / her personal experienc e into the tale and making it into a kind of personal narrative. This narrator should be granted the right to spontaneous self-expression. [From the publication]