Even epic tradition: collection, local specificity, characteristic features

The paper is devoted to the Even epic samples of nimkans, a stable and well-established system with an oral form transmitted from generation to generation by storytellers since ancient times. In the epic tradition of the Evens, the song-prose and prose epic coexist to the present day, while earlier there was also a true song epic, performed entirely in song form. Nimkan is the name of the whole epic, with the standard being a prose narrative with song form dialogues presented by a nimkalan. The Even epic tale samples have been present in the scientific turnover since the 18th century. The systematic collection and publication of Even folklore began in the 1930s. According to the recording place, dialectal affiliation, linguistic and ethnographic facture, the author systematizes and classifies local groups, including five types of epic tradition representation: the Okhotsky epic, the Momsky epic, the Kolymsky epic, the Oymyakon-Tomponsky epic, and the Northern epic. Epic works are described in terms of plot structure, poetics, and their relation to other genres (fairy tales and legends). One of the distinctive features of the Even epic is the plausibility of the content. There is no indication of the hero’s ethnicity or genealogy, there being many nameless heroes. The Even epic features a lack of poetic means. Unlike fairy tales, it was not influenced by the eastern and northeastern neighbors’ folklore - the Yukaghirs, Chukchi, or Koryaks. The Yakut vocabulary in the Even epic is not numerous and refers to borrowings associated with communicative practices.

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