Perm Variants of the Fairy Tale Type SUS 502 “Copper Forehead”: Between Book and Folklore Traditions

В статье рассматриваются два вновь выявленных текста волшебных сказок сюжетного типа СУС 502 «Медный лоб» (ATU 502 “Wild Man”). Два текста, представленных в статье, относятся к импровизационным формам, созданным сказочницами на основе книжных вариантов сказки. Под влиянием книжной традиции сказочники интересуются психологией персонажей, их внутренними переживаниями. В рассматриваемых текстах много разнообразных деталей предметного мира, размышлений сказочника о своих героях и т. д. Сказочники легко и очень органично сочетают мотивы разных сказок в одном тексте, у них появляются детали и образы из кино- и мультфильмов, но особое внимание они уделяют книге. Преимущественно это адаптированные тексты из сборника А. Н. Афанасьева. В основе сказок Е. Н. Новиковой и Н. А. Чечихиной лежат книжные версии сюжета 502. У Евдокии Николаевны источник можно назвать точно - это текст из сборника Афанасьева, для сказки Нины Андреевны прямой параллели нет, но книжное влияние на исполнительскую манеру сказочницы очевидно. This article analyzes two newly identified texts of fairy tales with the plot type SUS 502 “Copper Forehead” (ATU 502 “Wild Man”). The two texts are improvisational, created by storytellers based on book versions of the text. Under the influence of the book tradition, storytellers are interested in the psychology of the characters and their inner experiences. In the texts under consideration, there are many varying details concerning the characters’ world and the storyteller’s reflections on his heroes. Storytellers easily and organically combine motifs from several fairy tales in one text, and they may also include details and images from movies and cartoons, but they pay special attention to the book. Mostly, these are texts adapted from of A. N. Afanasyev’s collection. The fairy tales of E. N. Novikova and N. A. Chechikhina are based on book versions of the plot 502. Evdokiya Nikolaevna’s source is specified as from Afanasyev, while there is no direct parallel for Nina Andreyevna’s version, although the influence on her performance of books is obvious.

La verdadera historia de don Pedro Gonzales, el «hombre salvaje» de Tenerife que llegó a ser profesor de la Sorbona de París

"Don Pedro Gonzales, the “wild man,” as he was nicknamed by his contemporaries, suffered from hypertrichosis, a rare disease that caused uncontrollable growth of hair on his face and all over his body. Until now, truly little was known about his life, especially about his stay at the court of the kings of France. New documents found in French archives show that despite his illness, he not only managed to lead a normal life with his wife and children, but also became an influential member of his community and of the court."

Unmasking a wild man: scientific analysis of Bertoldo di Giovanni’s Shield Bearer in The Frick Collection

Bertoldo di Giovanni (ca. 1440–1491) was the primary sculptor and medal worker for Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449–1492). Despite being one of the most prominent Italian Renaissance artists working in Florence, little is known about his workshop and practice. The Frick Collection, New York, owns a Shield Bearer, one of a small number of bronze statuettes attributed to Bertoldo predominantly based on stylistic grounds. This article presents the results obtained from the scientific analysis of The Frick statuette, including a detailed technical characterization of the casting alloy, gilding, solder, organic coatings, and other later alterations. An array of analytical techniques was employed, including X-radiography, micro- and portable X-ray fluorescence (μXRF and pXRF) spectroscopies, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), Raman and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopies, and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). This work supported a larger technical study of Bertoldo’s statuettes and reliefs related to an exhibition organized by The Frick, which brought together a select group of medals, as well as eleven bronzes ascribed to the artist, including the museum’s statuette. Close collaboration between conservators, curators, and scientists was critical throughout the study of the Shield Bearer, which also included extensive visual examination of the object in order to understand details of manufacture, identify sampling sites, and interpret the collected data. This study confirmed that The Frick figure was cast from the same brass alloy as a second very similar Shield Bearer in the Liechtenstein Collection, Vienna, suggesting that the two are a pendant pair that was likely cast simultaneously. In addition, analysis supported the assertion that the copper base on The Frick sculpture is original and assisted in identifying later alterations in both works. This focused research has expanded the current knowledge of the sculptor’s materials and methods, enabling scholars to better contextualize his artistic production within the framework of Italian Renaissance sculpture.

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Chapter 1 gives a reading of the Mesopotamian The Epic of Gilgamesh. At the outset an account is provided of the historical context of the work in antiquity and its discovery and translation in the nineteenth century. An interpretation is given of the creation of the wild man Enkidu. Parallels are pointed out between this story and that of the Fall in Genesis. The nature of the Mesopotamian gods is also explored in the context of an interpretation of the episode featuring the goddess Ishtar. Angered by Gilgamesh’s rejection of her advances, Ishtar sends the Bull of Heaven to destroy Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu manage to kill it, but only after it has caused much death and destruction. Enkidu insults Ishtar, and she in turn causes his death. Gilgamesh is deeply distraught by the death of his friend and goes in search of a solution to the problem of human mortality. He has many adventures and ultimately finds Utnapishtim, the Mesopotamian Noah, who survives the Flood and is made immortal. An account is given to the parallels of this episode and that of the Flood in Genesis. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh about a magic plant that can restore youth. Gilgamesh manages to find it, but he loses it right away to a snake. The story is interpreted as a statement of the finitude and limitations of the human condition.

Espiritus de Invierno

In many parts of Europe and especially in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, and the Basque Country), archaic and mysterious figures regularly haunt carnival rites since the Middle Ages (but referring, according to some specialists like A. Darpeix, member of the historical and archaeological society of Perigord, to a distant shamanic and Neolithic antiquity). They are masks adorned with skins of animals, vegetables, and straw, surrounded by bells and bones, often crowned with horns and pieces of wood. Thus arises the wild man within modern paganism to symbolize the rebirth of nature emerging from winter. The figures are essentially ambiguous, at the crossroads of nature and culture. The masks always speak of the mysteries of existence: in traditional societies, they were or still are the figures of ancestors and spirits of the dead, that of protective or evil spirits.

Cyprian Bazylik autorem Proteusa abo Odmieńca

Cyprian Bazylik as the Author of Proteus The anonymous poem Proteus was published in 1564 as the first literary response to Jan Kochanowski’s Satyr albo Dziki mąż (Satyr, or the Wild Man). In this article, authorship of Proteus is attributed on the basis of literary network analysis, the confessional sympathies that are present in the text (the influences of anti-trinitarianism), and the connections to the court of Mikołaj Radziwiłł the Black. The author of Proteus is Cyprian Bazylik, a poet, musician, printer, and translator who in the 1560s was associated with Radziwiłł’s court and was a follower of anti-trinitarianism.