Plots and motifs of the literatures of Siberian indigenous peoples in the twentieth century: topical research issues

The literatures of the indigenous peoples of Siberia, who had no written languages before the Soviet period, were the outcome of the state-sponsored project and were to become “national by their form and soviet by their content.” However, the authors, subjects, and topics of these literary texts were initially associated with a certain ethnonym, culture, and mentality. They were also isolated from other literature texts due to institutional and infrastructural reasons: the works of indigenous writers were published as special book series by specialized publishing houses. As a result, a corpus of literary texts with similar topics, subjects, plots, and motifs was formed. This similarity goes beyond the common sources in the mythology and folklore. The authors’ introspection on ethnical self-identification and writers’ reflections on the ill-fated disappearance of their cultures and peoples become the main plot and motif “generators” in books of the second half of the 20th century. The study has identified four main groups of plots: 1) childhood plots: everyday life descriptions including detailed descriptions of rites and rituals, the plot of a wise old man/woman’s death, the motifs of loss and memory, idyllic topoi; 2) hunting plots: the most common plot is about breaking a taboo or rule and the consequences; 3) shaman plots and related plots about journeys to other worlds, literal and symbolic, and oneiric motifs; 4) plots about interactions with outsiders. It is concluded that the literatures concerned proved to be mostly writers’ reflections on the fate of their peoples and native culture.

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