American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages

Bulgarian Folklore: Folk Beliefs, Customs, Folksongs, Personal Names by Assen NicoloffReview by: Charles WukaschThe Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Winter, 1976), pp. 500-501Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European LanguagesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/305917 .

Accessed: 10/06/2014 07:16

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages is collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to The Slavic and East European Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 188.72.127.85 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 07:16:21 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

500 Slavic and East European Journal

formation of Partisan fighters into fat cat bureaucrats with bourgeois tastes, a phe- nomenon against which Djilas revolted, is ignored. He does a better job in describing the various stages in the evolution of the economic and political institutions and the development of national and regional rivalries. His analysis, however, seldom goes beyond offering a reasonably competent and accurate summary which will be, I sus- pect, of limited use to the specialist. As an example of this, one can compare his treat- ment of the causes and events of the 1971 crisis with that of Dennison I. Rustinow in his four American Universities Field Staff Fieldstaff Reports (Southeast European Series), XIX, 4-7.

There are a number of typos or misspellings of names, and errors in Serbian names of groups and institutions, e.g. Horecky and Vuchinich for Horecky and Vucinich in the bibliography, Pius X for Pius XII on page 213, Savet federacija for Savet federaciie in several places. The bibliography is highly selective and, if the selections in the section on literature are any indication, quite inadequate. In spite of all the shortcomings listed above, Singleton's book is an informative, well written, and fast-paced introduction to the post-WW II history of Yugoslavia, its failures and its successes, as well as its prospects for the future. Most of these shortcomings probably stem from Mr. Singleton's obvious fondness for Yugoslavia and its leaders, and his wishes for their success.

Rasio Dunatov, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Assen Nicoloff. Bulgarian Folklore: Folk Beliefs, Customs, Folksongs, Personal Names. Cleveland: by author, 1975. iv, 133, $4.00 (paper). (Dist. by Assen Nicoloff, 1990 Ford Dr., #1115, Cleveland, Ohio 44106.)

In his preface Nicoloff expresses the hope that his book will serve both as an introduc- tion to Bulgarian folklore for the general public and as a source of information for students interested in working on the subject, but unable to use material in the original. He provides a large amount of information and material in three categories: folk beliefs and customs, folksongs, and personal and family names. He also includes a bibliography and a brief sketch of Bulgarian history. Each of the general categories is further divided so that under folksongs, for example, there are sections dealing with ritual songs, mythological songs, songs of folklife, and epic songs. Nicoloff's coverage does not, however, exhaust the major forms of expression one normally associates with folklore. Two important genres-the folktale and the proverb-are ignored. On the other hand, the inclusion of the material on names, although of possible interest to linguists, is of dubious relevance to a folkloric study.

Several omissions detract from this book's possible value to the advanced student of folklore. Nicoloff does not provide a motif analysis of his material (cf. the series Folktales of the World, Richard Dorson, ed., Univ. of Chicago Press). Such an analy- sis would aid the folklorist who wished to compare Bulgarian folklore with that of other cultures. Moreover, he does not make clear to what degree the material in his book represents a living folkloric tradition in Bulgaria today. Although Nicoloff includes a valuable general bibliography, he often fails to provide specific references for his material. For example, he states that a major problem in South Slavic folklore is why Krali Marko, whom history reveals as having had no exceptional talents, should have become such an important figure in the folklore of the area. Several sug- gested further readings would be of value to the researcher who wished to examine this problem in greater detail.

This content downloaded from 188.72.127.85 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 07:16:21 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Reviews 501

In summation, although this book has its limitations, it will serve as a valu- able introduction to certain genres of Bulgarian folklore. A substantial amount of information and material is supplied.

Charles Wukasch, Anatolia College

Vadim Pavlovsky. Vasyl H. Krychevsky: His Life and Work. New York: Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S., 1974. 348 pp., $25.00. [10 color plates and 175 black-and-white illustrations. Main text in Ukrainian. Summary in English.]

The inaccessibility and loss of many original materials renders the task of tracing the artistic development of Ukraine, particularly in the 1920's, a difficult one. This newly published monograph on Vasyl' Kryievs'kyj (1873-1952), one of the most prolific contributors to the history of artistic research and creative activity in Ukraine during the first half of the twentieth century, focuses on the most resourceful and fertile artistic periods in the Soviet Ukraine. Kry'evs'kyj belonged to the circle of artists which stood at the forefront of the renaissance of Ukrainian art, including such personalities as G. Narbut, O. Arxipenko, A. Petrit'kyj and 0. Dovienko, as well as Krycevs'kyj's talented brother, Fedir, and many others. Most of them resided in Kharkiv, the artistic hub of Ukraine in the 1920's.

An architect by profession, though not a product of what he considered stifling academic training, Krydevs'kyj was also an art historian, a painter, graphic artist, and ethnographer. This publication commemorates the centennial of his birth and concen- trates on his creative years between 1897 and 1952. The material gathered for the monograph is the result of many years of research by the author and is based on interviews and documentation from people who knew Kry'evs'kyj as a teacher, col- league, or friend. Much is revealed through the author's own remembrances of the artist in whose home he resided for a time. The author's task was a difficult one, because a great number of the artist's architectural plans, decorative designs, and paintings were either destroyed or lost during his lifetime. The author nevertheless overcomes the inadequacy of resources and reconstructs the artist's career, offering invaluable details about Kryievs'kyj, and revealing the artistic climate of the time as well.

The text is subdivided into eight chapters which center on various facets of Kry-

,evs'kyj's career. The section on his biography is perhaps too sketchy, briefly high-

lighting important events in the artist's life. Unfortunately, this biographic data is repeated in other chapters. These treat such diverse themes as the value of Krycev- s'kyj's art-history research, the importance of his architecture, including a survey of his activities in the realm of ornamental and applied art, his painting techniques, his graphic works, and an especially stimulating chapter on his pedagogic career, recon- structed from the memoirs of his students.

Of considerable importance are the chapters on Kryievs'kyj's contributions to new conceptions in theater and his innovations in cinematographic design. His theater and film decor were conceived as architectural ensembles including both interior and exterior design. With the establishment of the first permanent theater in Kiev in 1907 by the director M. Sadovs'kyj, Kryievs'kyj was invited to be its principal decorator. Aided by his ethnographic knowledge of lifestyles and customs, as well as by his expertise on period dress, Krytevs'kyj became an indispensable asset. He also became a master of decor for historical films elevating the art of cinematographic design to

This content downloaded from 188.72.127.85 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 07:16:21 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions