Techniques for Portraying a Main Character in Yakut Epic: Investigating Olonkho Texts of Nyurgun Bootur the Swift by P. Oyunsky and Kulun Kullustuur the Obstinate by I. Timofeev-Teploukhov

Introduction. The article examines Yakut heroic olonkho epics — Nyurgun Bootur the Swift by P. Oyunsky and Kulun Kullustuur the Obstinate by I. Timofeev-Teploukhov — for techniques employed to create portraits of main characters. According to N. Yemelyanov, the olonkho Kulun Kullustuur the Obstinate recorded from taleteller I. Timofeev-Teploukhov clusters with earliest patterns of archaic epic, while that of Yakut writer P. Oyunsky (Nyurgun Bootur the Swift) is the first literary adaptation of olonkho texts. The study attempts an insight into how and which particular portrayal techniques were used by P. Oyunsky and I. Timofeev-Teploukhov to depict main characters of theirs. The comparative approach to the narratives recorded in different periods shall make it possible to trace the use of portrayal techniques, which shall underline the unique artistic features characterizing each of the taletellers, and show how such portrayal patterns developed to gain deeper associative essentials in further olonkho texts. Goals. The study aims to identify some distinct features inherent to the techniques of creating main characters’ portraits in the olonkhos Nyurgun Bootur the Swift and Kulun Kullustuur the Obstinate, and outline ethnic specifics in portrayal characteristics. To facilitate this, the paper shall classify portrayals, articulate types of techniques and their functions in portraying a main character, identify stable formulas employed to depict heroes, determine specific features of portrayal as a key technique for the making of an epic hero. The work reviews the existing types of epic portraits, their functions and attributes, examines some visual means serving to unveil the images of main characters. Results. The study attests to the examined narratives are characterized by an increased stability of depictive portrayals with peripheral parts (artistic and emotional epithets) tending to vary. Each such depictive portrayal proves multifunctional, semantically wide, and technically relevant. The descriptions of the heroes’ appearances are somewhat idealized and rich in comparisons, repetitions, evaluative epithets. Portrayal agendas of P. Oyunsky vary through history and depend on actual artistic methods and style employed by the author who pays special attention to fictional details depicted in the context of folk traditions. The study of the techniques helps identify which innovative tools P. Oyunsky used when he was creating his Nyurgun Bootur the Swift.

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