Journal article

Publication year: 2017

Pages: 95-130

Journal: Journal of Slavic Studies

Volume number: 62

Issue number: 1

ISSN: 0044-3506

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1515/slaw-2017-0004

Publisher: De Gruyter

Abstract: 
The paper argues for a revision of the textual history of the Old Russian Skazanie o Drakule. According to its editor Lur'e (1963) the text had been produced by Fedor Kuricyn in 1485 and transcribed by well-known copyist Efrosin in 1486 and in 1490. Lur'e characterises the Skazanie as a politically motivated description of a "cruel but righteous sovereign", produced by the diplomate Kuricyn and comparable to Western Renaissance political treatises. Lur'e's statements only argue ex negativo and fail to match the textual evidences. 1: Our paper shows in detail, that the two main redactions of the text, both datable in the 90' s of the 15th c., display mutual dependencies and require a protograph as their common ancestor which needed much more time to develop than is left between Kuricyn's assumed return from Moldavia to Moscow in the middle or at the end of 1485 and Efrosin's first transcription in February 1486. While the textual history of the Skazanie cannot be historically aligned with Kuricyn's mission to Moldavia and his return to Moscow in 1485, there is no argument left to attach the name Kuricyn to the text at all. 2: The reception of the Skazanie until today is based on the assumption that the text would characterise the reign of 'cruel' Ivan IV. There is no objective argument for this suggestion, but numerous counterarguments. 3: The paper characterises rhetoric strategies in the narratives about Drakula, showing, among others, a connection with a South German (Bavarian) episode, and pointing to the possible origin of a historically relevant question (the "sister" of the Hungarian King).

Harvard Citation style: Daiber, T. (2017) Text Form and Author of the Old Russian Narrative of Dracula A Myth of Literary History and Historiography, Journal of Slavic Studies, 62(1), pp. 95-130. https://doi.org/10.1515/slaw-2017-0004

APA Citation style: Daiber, T. (2017). Text Form and Author of the Old Russian Narrative of Dracula A Myth of Literary History and Historiography. Journal of Slavic Studies. 62(1), 95-130. https://doi.org/10.1515/slaw-2017-0004