Folklore in the Debates of the Westernizers and Slavophiles

Abstract

Russian folklore played an important role in the debates of the Slavophiles and Westernizers about national identity. Some Slavophiles adduced folksongs as evidence of the essential Christianity of the Russian people, while Westernizers, in good part, viewed folklore as a primitive stage in the development of a national literature that reflected the oppression and dejection of the masses. English-language studies of the Slavophile-Westernizer controversy contain at best passing mention of folklore. My essay hopes to partially remedy this situation by offering an overview of the role of folklore in the skirmishes between the early Slavophiles and Westernizers.