The cultural hero archetype in E. Aipin’s story “Waiting for the First Snow”

Abstract

The article presents the mythopoetic analysis of the story “Waiting for the First Snow” (1979) by the Khanty prose writer E. D. Aipin and characterizes the mythopoetic image of the protagonist. The object of the study is the cultural hero archetype, widely spread in any mythology, which allows us to talk about the ways of the classical cultural myth creative interpretation in the modern prose of the Khanty peoples. The protagonist’s activity in this story, like that of the mythological cultural hero, is aimed at maintaining the natural order of things, protecting the sacred land of the ancestors. The violation of taboos and the departure from the usual way of life is a kind of reflection of the hero’s initiation. In E. Aipin’s story, the protagonist, in accordance with the mythological structure, three times breaks the ancient precepts in search of his own meaning of life. The hunt for a new beast oil becomes a test of his strength and a means of personality formation. Mythopoetic images transmit the peculiarities of national culture, reflect the experience and traditions of the indigenous people. The use of archetypal and mythopoetic images is intertwined with the gradual disclosure of the protagonist’s character psychology, which indicates the author’s transformation of the archetypal image of the bogatyr in the story “Waiting for the First Snow”.