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Russian humour

December 15, 2023

Russian humour gains much of its wit from the inflection of the Russian language, allowing for plays on words and unexpected associations. As with any other culture's humour, its vast scope ranges from lewd jokes and wordplay to political satire.[1]

Literature edit

17th century edit

According to Dmitry Likhachov, Russian comedy traditions in literature could be traced back to Praying of Daniel the Immured by Daniil Zatochnik, a Pereyaslavl-born lower class writer who lived between the 12th and 13th centuries.[2][3] However, it wasn't until the early 17th century when comedy developed into a separate genre as a reaction to the Time of Troubles. A whole line of independent anonymously published works gained popularity; the term "democratic satire" is used by researchers to describe them.[2] All had close ties to the folklore of Russia and were rewritten both in prose and as poems, including nebylitsa (a variation of nursery rhymes).

Most famous are The Tale of Yersh Yershovich and The Tale of Shemyaka's Trial that satirized the Russian judicial system: the first described a trial against a sleazy ruffe, with different fish representing different social classes, while the second focused on a corrupted judge Shemyaka who is often linked to Dmitry Shemyaka.[4][2] Another outstanding work, The Tale of Frol Skobeev, was inspired by picaresque novels. Satire on Church was also very popular (The Tale of Savva the Priest, The Kalyazin Petition, The Tavern Service) which included parodies of religious texts. Mikhail Bakhtin and Dmitry Likhachov agreed on that many tales were created by low-ranking clergy who made fun of the form rather than content.[5] There were also straight-up parodies of literary genres such as The Story of a Life in Luxury and Fun.[2]

Lubok was one of the earliest known forms of popular print in Russia which rose to popularity around the same time. Similar to comic strips, it depicted various — often humorous — anecdotes as primitivistic pictures with captions. Among the common characters was The Cat of Kazan which appeared in one of the most famous lubki The Mice Are Burying the Cat described by various researchers as a parody on the funeral of Peter the Great, a celebration of Russian victories over the Tatars during the late 16th century or simply an illustration to an old fairy tale.[6][7]

18th century edit

Next century saw the rise of a number of prominent comedy writers who belonged to the upper class. The most renowned is Denis Fonvizin who produced several comedy plays between 1769 and 1792, most famously The Minor (1781) about a nobleman without a high school diploma. It satirized provincial nobility and became a great success and a source of many quotes, inspiring many future generations of writers.[8][9] Other names include Antiochus Kantemir who wrote satirical poems and a dramatist Alexander Sumarokov whose plays varied from a straight-up satire against his enemies to comedy of manners as well as the Russian Empress Catherine the Great who produced around 20 comedy plays and operas, most famously Oh, These Time! (1772) and The Siberian Shaman (1786).[9]

Satirical magazines edit

During the second half of the 18th century satirical magazines rose to popularity, providing social and political commentary. Those included Pochta dukhov (Spirits Mail) and Zritel (The Spectator) by Ivan Krylov who later turned into the leading Russian fabulist, Zhivopisets (The Painter) and Truten (The Drone) by Nikolay Novikov and even Vsyakaya vsyachina (All Sorts) established and edited by Catherine the Great herself.[10][11] Alexander Afanasyev's 1859 monograph Russian Satirical Magazines of 1769—1774 became an in-depth research on this period and inspired a famous critical essay Russian satire during the times of Catherine by Nikolay Dobrolyubov who argued that the 18th-century satire wasn't sharp or influential enough and didn't lead to necessary socio-political changes.[12][13]

Jokes edit

Main articles: Russian jokes and Russian political jokes

The most popular form of Russian humour consists of jokes (анекдоты — anekdoty), which are short stories with a punch line. Typical of Russian joke culture is a series of categories with fixed and highly familiar settings and characters. Surprising effects are achieved by an endless variety of plots and plays on words.[14]

Toasts edit

Drinking toasts can take the form of anecdotes or not-so-short stories, which tend to have a jocular or paradoxical conclusion, and ending with "So here's to, let's drink for the..." with a witty punchline referring to the initial story.[15]

Chastushka edit

Main article: Chastushka

A specific form of humour is chastushkas, songs composed of four-line rhymes, usually of black, sarcastic, humoristic, or satiric content.

Black humour edit

Apart from jokes, Russian humour is very sarcastic and it is expressed in word play. Sometimes there are short poems including nonsense and black humour verses, similar to the Little Willie rhymes by Harry Graham, or, less so, Edward Lear's literary "nonsense verse".[16]

Often they have recurring characters such as "little boy", "Vova", "a girl", "Masha". Most rhymes involve death or a painful experience either for the protagonists or other people. This type of joke is especially popular with children.[16]

A little boy found a machine gun —
Now the village population is none.
Маленький мальчик нашёл пулемёт —
Больше в деревне никто не живёт.

See also edit

Bibliography edit

  • Dmitry Likhachov, Alexander Panchenko (1976). The World of Laughter of Ancient Rus'. Leningrad: Nauka.
  • Lev Dmitriev, Dmitry Likhachov (1989). A History of Russian Literature, 11Th-17th Centuries // Democratic satire and humorous literature. Moscow : Raduga Publishers ISBN 978-5050017154
  • Sannikov, Vladimir (1999). Russian Language in the Mirror of the Language Game. Moscow: Languages of Russian Сulture. ISBN 5-7859-0077-7 McFarland, WI: Book on Demand Ltd. ISBN 978-5519571241
  • Sannikov, Vladimir (2003). Russian Lingual Joke: From Pushkin to Our Days. Moscow: Agraph. ISBN 5-7784-0263-5

References edit

  1. ^ Patel, Neha (2018-09-15). "7 popular characters who often feature in Russian jokes". www.rbth.com. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  2. ^ a b c d A History of Russian Literature, 11Th-17th Centuries // Democratic satire and humorous literature / ed. by Lev Dmitriev, Dmitry Likhachov. — Moscow : Raduga Publishers, 1989 ISBN 978-5050017154
  3. ^ Andrew Kahn, Mark Lipovetsky, Irina Reyfman, Stephanie Sandler (2018). A History of Russian Literature. — Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 56—57 ISBN 9780199663941
  4. ^ Companion to Russian Studies. Volume 2. An Introduction to Russian Language and Literature / ed. by Robert Auty, Dimitri Obolensky. — Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977, p. 101 ISBN 978-0521280396
  5. ^ Dmitry Likhachov, Alexander Panchenko (1984). The World of Laughter of Ancient Rus'. — Leningrad: Nauka, pp. 11—14
  6. ^ Mice Burying the Cat at the National Library of Russia
  7. ^ Sagit Faizov. The Cat of Kazan: A Tatar and a Tsar in a Russian perception after the conquest of Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian Khanates report from the 2006 All-Russian Science Conference "Kazan during the middle and early modern ages" (in Russian)
  8. ^ Denis Fonvizin at Britannica
  9. ^ a b Catherine the Great (1998). Two Comedies by Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia: Oh, These Times! and The Siberian Shaman // trans. and ed. by Lurana Donnels O'Malley. — Harwood: Harwood Academic Publishers, p. 15—79 ISBN 90-5755-022-9
  10. ^ Gary Marker (1985). Publishing, Printing, and the Origins of the Intellectual Life in Russia, 1700—1800. — Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 96—97 ISBN 0-691-05441-X
  11. ^ Ian Grey (2016). Catherine the Great. — New Word City, ISBN 9781612309644
  12. ^ Alexander Afanasyev (1859). Russian Satirical Magazines of 1769—1774. — Moscow: Bauknecht and Company Printing House, 282 pages
  13. ^ Nikolay Dobrolyubov (1987). N. A. Dobrolyubov. Collection of Works in Three Volumes. Volume 2. Articles and Works 1859 // Russian satire during the times of Catherine. — Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura, pp. 536—797
  14. ^ Chamberlin, William Henry (1957). "The "Anecdote": Unrationed Soviet Humor". The Russian Review. 16 (3): 27–34. doi:10.2307/125941. ISSN 0036-0341. JSTOR 125941.
  15. ^ Mikheev, Alexey; RBTH, special to (2013-12-26). "The basics of the best Russian drinking toasts". www.rbth.com. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  16. ^ a b Valery Belyanin, Irina Butenko (1996). Anthology of Black Humour. Moscow: PAIMS, pp. 148-153 ISBN 5-87664-069-7

External links edit

  • Richard W. F. Pope. Review: Fools and Folly in Old Russia, Slavic Review Vol. 39, No. 3, September 1980
  • Hammer & tickle, Prospect Magazine, May 2006, essay by Ben Lewis on jokes in Communist countries
  • Tatiana Stolar, Maria Komarova. Remembering, loving, laughing: Anthology of Russian humour, Esquire, December 2021 (in Russian)

December 15, 2023
russian, humour, gains, much, from, inflection, russian, language, allowing, plays, words, unexpected, associations, with, other, culture, humour, vast, scope, ranges, from, lewd, jokes, wordplay, political, satire, contents, literature, 17th, century, 18th, c. Russian humour gains much of its wit from the inflection of the Russian language allowing for plays on words and unexpected associations As with any other culture s humour its vast scope ranges from lewd jokes and wordplay to political satire 1 Contents 1 Literature 1 1 17th century 1 2 18th century 2 Satirical magazines 3 Jokes 4 Toasts 5 Chastushka 6 Black humour 7 See also 8 Bibliography 9 References 10 External linksLiterature edit17th century edit According to Dmitry Likhachov Russian comedy traditions in literature could be traced back to Praying of Daniel the Immured by Daniil Zatochnik a Pereyaslavl born lower class writer who lived between the 12th and 13th centuries 2 3 However it wasn t until the early 17th century when comedy developed into a separate genre as a reaction to the Time of Troubles A whole line of independent anonymously published works gained popularity the term democratic satire is used by researchers to describe them 2 All had close ties to the folklore of Russia and were rewritten both in prose and as poems including nebylitsa a variation of nursery rhymes Most famous are The Tale of Yersh Yershovich and The Tale of Shemyaka s Trial that satirized the Russian judicial system the first described a trial against a sleazy ruffe with different fish representing different social classes while the second focused on a corrupted judge Shemyaka who is often linked to Dmitry Shemyaka 4 2 Another outstanding work The Tale of Frol Skobeev was inspired by picaresque novels Satire on Church was also very popular The Tale of Savva the Priest The Kalyazin Petition The Tavern Service which included parodies of religious texts Mikhail Bakhtin and Dmitry Likhachov agreed on that many tales were created by low ranking clergy who made fun of the form rather than content 5 There were also straight up parodies of literary genres such as The Story of a Life in Luxury and Fun 2 Lubok was one of the earliest known forms of popular print in Russia which rose to popularity around the same time Similar to comic strips it depicted various often humorous anecdotes as primitivistic pictures with captions Among the common characters was The Cat of Kazan which appeared in one of the most famous lubki The Mice Are Burying the Cat described by various researchers as a parody on the funeral of Peter the Great a celebration of Russian victories over the Tatars during the late 16th century or simply an illustration to an old fairy tale 6 7 18th century edit Next century saw the rise of a number of prominent comedy writers who belonged to the upper class The most renowned is Denis Fonvizin who produced several comedy plays between 1769 and 1792 most famously The Minor 1781 about a nobleman without a high school diploma It satirized provincial nobility and became a great success and a source of many quotes inspiring many future generations of writers 8 9 Other names include Antiochus Kantemir who wrote satirical poems and a dramatist Alexander Sumarokov whose plays varied from a straight up satire against his enemies to comedy of manners as well as the Russian Empress Catherine the Great who produced around 20 comedy plays and operas most famously Oh These Time 1772 and The Siberian Shaman 1786 9 Satirical magazines editDuring the second half of the 18th century satirical magazines rose to popularity providing social and political commentary Those included Pochta dukhov Spirits Mail and Zritel The Spectator by Ivan Krylov who later turned into the leading Russian fabulist Zhivopisets The Painter and Truten The Drone by Nikolay Novikov and even Vsyakaya vsyachina All Sorts established and edited by Catherine the Great herself 10 11 Alexander Afanasyev s 1859 monograph Russian Satirical Magazines of 1769 1774 became an in depth research on this period and inspired a famous critical essay Russian satire during the times of Catherine by Nikolay Dobrolyubov who argued that the 18th century satire wasn t sharp or influential enough and didn t lead to necessary socio political changes 12 13 Jokes editMain articles Russian jokes and Russian political jokes The most popular form of Russian humour consists of jokes anekdoty anekdoty which are short stories with a punch line Typical of Russian joke culture is a series of categories with fixed and highly familiar settings and characters Surprising effects are achieved by an endless variety of plots and plays on words 14 Toasts editDrinking toasts can take the form of anecdotes or not so short stories which tend to have a jocular or paradoxical conclusion and ending with So here s to let s drink for the with a witty punchline referring to the initial story 15 Chastushka editMain article Chastushka A specific form of humour is chastushkas songs composed of four line rhymes usually of black sarcastic humoristic or satiric content Black humour editApart from jokes Russian humour is very sarcastic and it is expressed in word play Sometimes there are short poems including nonsense and black humour verses similar to the Little Willie rhymes by Harry Graham or less so Edward Lear s literary nonsense verse 16 Often they have recurring characters such as little boy Vova a girl Masha Most rhymes involve death or a painful experience either for the protagonists or other people This type of joke is especially popular with children 16 A little boy found a machine gun Now the village population is none Malenkij malchik nashyol pulemyot Bolshe v derevne nikto ne zhivyot See also edit nbsp Comedy portal nbsp Russia portalKozma Prutkov Novyi Satirikon KVN Fitil Yeralash for kids Puppets Comedy Club Russia Bibliography editDmitry Likhachov Alexander Panchenko 1976 The World of Laughter of Ancient Rus Leningrad Nauka Lev Dmitriev Dmitry Likhachov 1989 A History of Russian Literature 11Th 17th Centuries Democratic satire and humorous literature Moscow Raduga Publishers ISBN 978 5050017154 Sannikov Vladimir 1999 Russian Language in the Mirror of the Language Game Moscow Languages of Russian Sulture ISBN 5 7859 0077 7 McFarland WI Book on Demand Ltd ISBN 978 5519571241 Sannikov Vladimir 2003 Russian Lingual Joke From Pushkin to Our Days Moscow Agraph ISBN 5 7784 0263 5References edit Patel Neha 2018 09 15 7 popular characters who often feature in Russian jokes www rbth com Retrieved 2019 11 04 a b c d A History of Russian Literature 11Th 17th Centuries Democratic satire and humorous literature ed by Lev Dmitriev Dmitry Likhachov Moscow Raduga Publishers 1989 ISBN 978 5050017154 Andrew Kahn Mark Lipovetsky Irina Reyfman Stephanie Sandler 2018 A History of Russian Literature Oxford Oxford University Press pp 56 57 ISBN 9780199663941 Companion to Russian Studies Volume 2 An Introduction to Russian Language and Literature ed by Robert Auty Dimitri Obolensky Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1977 p 101 ISBN 978 0521280396 Dmitry Likhachov Alexander Panchenko 1984 The World of Laughter of Ancient Rus Leningrad Nauka pp 11 14 Mice Burying the Cat at the National Library of Russia Sagit Faizov The Cat of Kazan A Tatar and a Tsar in a Russian perception after the conquest of Kazan Astrakhan and Siberian Khanates report from the 2006 All Russian Science Conference Kazan during the middle and early modern ages in Russian Denis Fonvizin at Britannica a b Catherine the Great 1998 Two Comedies by Catherine the Great Empress of Russia Oh These Times and The Siberian Shaman trans and ed by Lurana Donnels O Malley Harwood Harwood Academic Publishers p 15 79 ISBN 90 5755 022 9 Gary Marker 1985 Publishing Printing and the Origins of the Intellectual Life in Russia 1700 1800 Princeton Princeton University Press pp 96 97 ISBN 0 691 05441 X Ian Grey 2016 Catherine the Great New Word City ISBN 9781612309644 Alexander Afanasyev 1859 Russian Satirical Magazines of 1769 1774 Moscow Bauknecht and Company Printing House 282 pages Nikolay Dobrolyubov 1987 N A Dobrolyubov Collection of Works in Three Volumes Volume 2 Articles and Works 1859 Russian satire during the times of Catherine Moscow Khudozhestvennaya Literatura pp 536 797 Chamberlin William Henry 1957 The Anecdote Unrationed Soviet Humor The Russian Review 16 3 27 34 doi 10 2307 125941 ISSN 0036 0341 JSTOR 125941 Mikheev Alexey RBTH special to 2013 12 26 The basics of the best Russian drinking toasts www rbth com Retrieved 2019 11 04 a b Valery Belyanin Irina Butenko 1996 Anthology of Black Humour Moscow PAIMS pp 148 153 ISBN 5 87664 069 7External links editRichard W F Pope Review Fools and Folly in Old Russia Slavic Review Vol 39 No 3 September 1980 Hammer amp tickle Prospect Magazine May 2006 essay by Ben Lewis on jokes in Communist countries Tatiana Stolar Maria Komarova Remembering loving laughing Anthology of Russian humour Esquire December 2021 in Russian Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Russian humour amp oldid 1080684182, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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