FF Network 57

Folklore Fellows’ NETWORK No. 57 | 2023 www.folklorefellows.fi • www.folklorefellows.fi • www.folklorefellows.fi Folklore Fellows’ NETWORK No. 1 | 2023 FF Network is a newsletter, published yearly, related to FF Communications. It provides information on new FFC volumes and on articles related to cultural studies by internationally recognised authors. Contents The Awe Before Constant Change 2 Heidi Henriikka Mäkelä Publisher The Kalevala Society Foundation, Helsinki Hearth and Heath 3 Bansari Mitra Cosmological and Eschatological Space-Time Editor Heidi Henriikka Mäkelä heidi.haapoja-makela@helsinki.fi Continuum in Turkic Heroic Epics Editorial secretary Petja Kauppi secretary@folklorefellows.fi FFC Publication News in 2023 Folklore Fellows on the internet http://www.folklorefellows.fi ISSN-L 0789-0249 ISSN 0789-0249 (Print) ISSN 1798-3029 (Online) Subscriptions http://www.folklorefellows.fi 10 Gunel Kamran gizi Jannatova Cover photo: Petja Kauppi 2023 16 Editorial The Awe Before Constant Change Heidi Henriikka Mäkelä University of Helsinki & University of the Arts Helsinki D ear all, it is a pleasure to meet you! While the former editor-in-chief of this bulletin, Dr. Frog continues his necessary and demanding task of taking care of the Folklore Fellows’ Communications publication, I will step into his big shoes and start to lead this already over 30 years old information channel of Folklore Fellows. I am a Helsinki-based folklorist and a non-tenured associate professor who passionately tries to understand the complex relationships between this ‘post-post-modern’ world and concepts such as tradition and cultural heritage. As you all know, this topic will not come to an end very soon and will probably surprise even us folklorists many times, as traditions and heritages are constantly in a process of change, re-formation and re-imagining in this open-ended world. For instance, I have encountered myself analyzing how Karelian-Finnish sexual traditional poetry has been used in Finland lately in post-national progressive contexts in which #MeToo and transnational body politics play a significant role. Had someone told me about this topic approximately 24 years ago when I was in high school singing rather virtuous traditional songs dressed in a national costume, I might have been interested, but a certain amount of disbelief would probably have colored the discussion. However, the awe before constant change and the endless possibilities of cultural processes is one of the reasons why the field of folklore studies still intrigues and always feels relevant. Speaking of change has belonged to the metacultural discourses of folklorists since the beginning of the discipline. Symptomatically, the titles of the editorials of this bulletin have mentioned the words ‘change’, ‘new life’, ‘renewal’, and ‘new era’ at least five times during the 21st century, and, as you probably noticed, the title of this editorial will add its contribution to this chain. Even the first editorial of the FFNB by the professor Lauri Honko in year 1991 embraced the ideas of change and renewal: The science of folklore itself has undergone a shift of paradigms, too. The possibility of reconstructing archetypes or original forms for various products of folklore hardly exists anymore, the ideas of “folk” as well as “lore” have altered, the basic concepts of variation and reproduction of folklore differ from the thinking of the classical historical-geographical method and the premises of comparative research have been questioned and redefined” (Honko 1991, 1–2). Heidi Henriikka Mäkelä I dare not begin to count the questionings and redefinitions that have taken place after Honko’s statement – I would sooner wrap myself in the sometimes exciting but oddly comforting idea that nothing unchangeable has ever existed. Thus, I will not write about a new era, even if it would be tempting in the time of large language models and AI. As JoAnn Conrad (2014) puts it, time, change, and temporality are interwoven and intrinsic in the paradigm, as well as in the concept of folklore, as the disciplinary narrative has been somewhat dependent on the idea of loss, and ‘narrative’ itself is a concept in which temporality plays a significant role. Let us thus embrace the multi- and trans-temporalities of folklore, memory, and life itself! Even though time and especially the experience on temporality often sets limits for mundane work such as writing, I urge you to send us texts that are interesting for the community of folklorists. Conference reports, book reviews, and short articles are all welcome! Written texts may be, after all, one of the few semi-permanent things that survive to the future, as for instance this text will be archived in many national and local databases. Contribute to the change! Conrad, JoAnn. 2014. ”The Storied Time of Folklore”. Western Folklore 73 (2–3): 323–52. Honko, Lauri. 1991. Introduction. Folklore Fellows Network Bulletin 1: 1–2. Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 2 Hearth and Heath Inner and Outer Spaces in Jane Eyre Bansari Mitra Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston I: The Wicked Stepmother “No wonder you have rather the look of another world [...] so you were waiting for your people when you sat on the stile?” “For whom, sir?” “For the men in green: it was a proper moonlight evening for them. Did I break through one of your rings, that you spread that damned ice on the causeway?” I shook my head. “The men in green all forsook England a hundred years ago,” said I, speaking as seriously as he had done. “And not even in Hay Lane, or the fields about it, could you find a trace of them” (Brontë 1971: 107). Charlotte Brontë’s heroine, Jane Eyre, has a lively verbal skirmish here with the hero, Mr. Rochester. She speaks boldly to him because they can think along the same lines, whereas Mrs. Fairfax, the housekeeper, is at a loss. Her prosaic simplicity contrasts sharply with Rochester’s quick perception of Jane, because he is the only person who detects an unearthly quality in her, “fairy-born and human-bred.” Mrs. Fairfax cannot fathom these depths in her. The lack of empathy between a maternal figure and Jane creates the central conflict in the novel. This passage gives us a clue to the theme of inadequate mothers. There are many fairytale themes like Bluebeard, Beauty and Beast and Rapunzel, but the paradigmatic one is Cinderella, recurring at five stages of Jane’s progress from Gateshead to Ferndean. Jane triumphs over her stepsisters by her virtues. The purpose of this article will be to examine the repetitive patterns in the plot and see how wicked stepmothers alternate with fairy godmothers. Jane’s conflict with this mother fails to reach a resolution. Until her final union with her true mother takes place, the novel cannot end. Jane leaves Gateshead when she is rejected by her aunt, Mrs. Reed. Cinderella perhaps goes in search of Prince Charming, because competition between Jane and her stepsisters is an outstanding theme; but there is a fundamental conflict between a hostile mother-figure and Jane, temporarily thrown into relief by ephemeral godmothers. Cinderella wins the heart of Prince Charming, but disappears at midnight, and later the prince identifies her by her glass slipper. The fairy-tale heroine wins after a detour into a forest or a palace. Jane also travels a lot, but her progress is hampered, because at each stage she meets a different set of characters and makes a break with her past. She triumphs over her stepsisters, but her wedding is interrupted after she visits Gateshead. Another set of stories follow, but she cannot settle down until she finds her true mother. When we first see Jane, she is hidden at the window-seat, and she is unhappy because her seclusion is caused by exclusion. Mrs. Reed’s rejection makes Jane very bitter. It is an unequal battle between an adult and a child who defies her, reaching a climax when Jane screams: “I declare I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed” (31). The reason why Jane hates John is because he has such a firm hold on his mother’s affection, whereas she has none. Halfway through the novel, John Reed is killed off and at the end, another Saint John is approaching his death by self-sacrifice. Saint John has affinities with John Reed; the latter bullies her physically and the former bullies her psychologically, almost forcing her to go to India, which has a rough climate. The wicked stepbrother recurs throughout, with a pair of stepsisters, like Lord Ingram with Blanche and Mary, and Richard Mason with Bertha and Grace. Many critics note the plot’s repetitive patterns, in the iteration of the name “Mary” in the pairs of good and bad stepsisters, along with the dominant sister who often has a classical or French name: Eliza Reed, Helen Burns, Blanche Ingram, Bertha Mason and Diana Rivers. We remember Bruno Bettelheim’s analysis of the tale as one based on sibling rivalry (239). The child feels resentment against younger siblings who usurp the mother’s affection; as feelings of rejection grow, the child develops an ambivalent relationship with the mother. The good mother of the nursery is dead, and she is resurrected as a fairy godmother. The bad mother who adores her own offspring is the wicked stepmother. Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 3 Bansari Mitra: Hearth and Heath Illustration by F. H. Townsend for Jane Eyre 1897, p. 30. The confrontation between Mrs. Reed and Jane gives us a clue about this fundamental conflict in the novel. Mrs. Reed hates Jane because there is a total lack of affinity that sets them apart. Jane reflects later: “How could she like an interloper not of her race [...] an uncongenial alien permanently intruded on her own family group” (13). Mrs. Reed’s antipathy stems from the difference between this “alien” creature and herself; it is Jane’s otherness that she cannot recognize, because she lacks imagination and sensitivity. Jane scarcely recognizes it, when she looks at her own image in the Red Room: “The strange little figure there [...] had the effect of a real spirit. I thought it like one of the tiny phantoms, half fairy, half imp, Bessie’s evening stories represented as coming out of lone, ferny dells” (11). When Jane gets hysterical, Mrs. Reed brutally thrusts her back into the Red Room. Her dislike stems from the fact that Jane is incomprehensible. She recollects that Jane once resembled “a fiend” in her anger. When she complains to Mr. Brocklehurst, she does not call her a liar out of malice, but because she feels puzzled. Even at the end, no rapport is established between Jane and this mother-figure. She is very much wounded by her rejection: “My fingers had fastened on her hand which lay outside on the sheet: had she pressed mine kindly, I should at that moment experienced true pleasure [...] Mrs. Reed took her hand away” (202). After Mrs. Reed’s death, Jane’s wedding is interrupted; the visit to Gateshead causes this, because she learns about her uncle, John Eyre. When she requests his blessing, he sends Richard Mason to prevent her marriage. Mrs. Reed, from her grave, seems to reach out a ghostly hand to throw an impediment on Jane’s path. After this, there is a sharp break in the narrative, because Jane goes to Marsh End and starts a new life amidst strangers. In the fairy tale, the stepmother impedes the wedding, but in Jane Eyre, a stepbrother like Richard Mason does it. Jane encounters this figure at every stage of her progress: John Reed, Theodore Ingram, Richard Mason, even John Rivers. Brontë renovates the original tale, by pitting a plain Cinderella against her beautiful and heartless stepsisters or switching gender roles in the recognition scene with Rochester disguised as a crone and Jane recognizing him like Prince Charming. However, the dominant figures are the stepmother and stepbrother; because she keeps meeting this unkind mother, she goes adrift. After leaving Gateshead, she meets two stepmothers at Lowood and Thornfield. Though she is happy in school, there is Miss Scatcherd who keeps persecuting her good sister, Helen. Helen accepts her punishments with resignation, but Jane is furiously indignant. The anger she feels is for herself as much as for Helen. In Thornfield, Jane again feels pain, when her status as an alien creature is pointed out by Lady Ingram and her daughter. They regard Jane as an object of scorn. Jane does not participate in the conversation, and stays half-hidden by the window curtain, yet hears scathing remarks about herself. Competition between Cinderella and her stepsisters becomes fiercest when they try to win the heart of the prince. Blanche is the most dangerous of Jane’s rivals, because Jane thinks that Rochester will marry her. Blanche shows an immense dislike of Jane. Blanche’s hostility is evident, but Jane’s covert jealousy is caused by the feeling that she is loved and cherished by her mama, a love from a mother that she longs for and has failed to find so far. Jane is sarcastic whenever the dowager addresses her daughter as “my queenly Blanche” or “my lily-flower.” Jane realizes they lack breeding, notwithstanding their silks and jewels. She may feel superior, but there is anger at being shunned and left out of all activities. It reminds her of Christmas at Gateshead: “From every enjoyment, I was, of course excluded” (23). Her unhappiness is caused not merely by lack of money or beauty, but by the pain of not being accepted. Jane triumphs over the Ingrams by virtue of courage and reliability. Blanche, flamboyant and proud, has little to justify her pride. She and her mother are agitated when they hear a scream at midnight, but Jane is poised Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 4 Bansari Mitra: Hearth and Heath and calm, knowing that Rochester will rely on her and dismiss the Ingrams with contempt. However, while Cinderella may defeat one pair of stepsisters, another pair will thwart her wedding plans. Here, a strand from another fairy tale gets woven into the narrative. When Beauty visits her sisters, they prevent her from returning to the Beast, so that the latter nearly dies pining for her. Jane’s visit to the Reeds ruins her plan to marry Rochester. Jane sets off on a different path, to Marsh End, and even there she fails to establish a harmonious relationship with a mother-figure. Hannah tries to drive Jane away, when she is about to die of exhaustion. Jane feels more anguish at being rejected than physical pain. Hannah begrudges shelter to a starving person, even though, as a matronly woman, she is supposed to be kind. The wicked stepmother refuses to feed the child and becomes evil like a witch. In a village where these folktales originated, every mouthful for the stepchild must have been grudged by the stepmother, who had hardly enough to feed her own. The same theme of hunger pervades Brontë’s novel, along with inadequate mothers. It is because Jane is so entirely waiflike who does not fit in anywhere, that she does not get sustenance from her down-to earth, insensitive mothers. Her folks are fairies and elves who haunt the countryside on a moonlit night, as Rochester puts it succinctly. II: The Fairy Godmother In the original tale, the fairy godmother steps in at a crucial moment, by giving Cinderella a silk gown, but she cannot protect her from tyranny. We find that pattern in Brontë’s novel: Bessie Lee, Miss Temple and Mrs. Fairfax are ineffective, and they fail to satisfy Jane’s needs. Many images of hunger permeate the novel, serving as a metaphor for Jane’s spiritual hunger for love. Jane recollects: “When thus gentle, Bessie seemed to me the best, the prettiest, kindest being in the world [...] and had a remarkable knack of narratives” (24). Bessie, with her capacity for storytelling, comes closest to sensing this trait in Jane, though she cannot define it properly: “You’re such a strange child Miss Jane [...] a little, roving, solitary thing” (33). She is a simple rustic girl who nurtures Jane’s imagination with tales of adventure and romance. Bessie cannot protect her from punishments, but she intervenes when she sends for the apothecary, Mr. Lloyd. Lloyd helps Jane to escape from Gateshead to Lowood. However, Bessie’s comforting of Jane when she brings her cake, is too late. She cannot help Jane because she is powerless. Later, she visits Jane at Lowood and restores her confidence with her praises, but she disappears from the story like a fairy. Miss Temple becomes a better mentor for Jane than Bessie, because she is judicious and calm, whereas Bessie has “a capricious and hasty temper.” She defies Brocklehurst’s injunctions to provide bread and cheese to famished girls, thus mitigating their lot; but her efforts are futile when the girls, due to lack of food and warm clothing, die of typhus. When she offers tea to Jane and Helen in her room, she warms up the fireside with her benevolent presence. She performs an important act in vindicating Jane, when Brocklehurst disgraces her in the school as a liar. She disproves this accusation by bringing a testimony from Lloyd, thereby counteracting Mrs. Reed’s harmful treatment of Jane. However, she does not understand her attitude, because her mind has little passion or fancifulness. She speaks in strictly legal language when she says: “Defend yourself to me as well as you can. Say whatever your memory suggests as true; but add nothing and exaggerate nothing” (62). Jane, warned by Helen, tells her everything in a subdued manner: “I told her all the story of my sad childhood [...] I infused into the narrative far less of gall and wormwood [...] I felt as I went on that Miss Temple fully believed me” (62). Miss Temple has more of a kinship with Helen and Jane hears their discourse on Virgil with envy. The austere placidity of her countenance resembles a Greek statue. Helen and Miss Temple share classical features, not merely in their names but also in their intellectual capacities; even their brows are similar: Miss Temple’s “pale and large forehead” resembles Helen’s “intelligent and benign-looking forehead.” Jane, however, is small and wraithlike. In her, the heart holds a greater sway than the head, which Miss Temple fails to notice, and Helen does deprecatingly. Helen effaces herself out of existence but Jane emerges triumphant, as a teacher at Lowood. Even a good sister, who has the first place in Miss Temple’s heart, dies conveniently, so that Jane can supplant her, thus emphasizing the undercurrent of jealousy running throughout the plot: “Helen she held a little longer than me: she let her go more reluctantly; it was for her she breathed a sad sigh” (64). Though Jane can form a more permanent bond with Miss Temple than with Bessie, she loses her mother again when Miss Temple’s marriage casts her out into the world. When Jane meets Mrs. Fairfax and Adele at Thornfield, it seems that she can form an adoptive family among people without living relatives. This kind, matronly widow provides refreshments to a tired, hungry girl. Jane values her good nature and tranquil regard for herself. The prospects look bright, when Mrs. Fairfax, Jane and Adele form a close-knit group: “A sense of mutual affection seemed to surround us with a ring of golden peace, I uttered a silent prayer that we might not be parted far or soon; but when, as we thus sat, Mr. Rochester entered unannounced, and looking at us, seemed to take pleasure in the spectacle of a group so amicable” (216). It is Rochester who breaks up their group later, by proposing to Jane. By courting Jane, he sows the first seed of alienation between her and Mrs. Fairfax. Jane mistakenly assumes that Mrs. Fairfax’s disapproval is due to suspicion Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 5 Bansari Mitra: Hearth and Heath of Rochester’s dishonorable intentions toward her. Unable to stand this censure, she urges him to clear her of blame: “Communicate your intentions to Mrs. Fairfax, sir: she saw me with you last night in the hall, and she was shocked” (231). She entirely misses the significance of the remark: “Mr. Rochester, I daresay, is fond of you [...] I have been a little uneasy at his marked preference, and have wished to put you on your guard” (233). It is what Mrs. Fairfax fails to do; she only protests about the unsuitability of the match. Her objections might be due to her knowledge of his past. She and the village gossips had suspicions about Bertha, but she does not warn Jane that Rochester might be married already. When Jane writes to her for news of Rochester, she cannot supply it, because she is in an unknown region. While this failure is unintentional, it indicates her ineffectiveness. She fails to comfort Jane at a period of great crisis. After the interrupted wedding, Jane is devastated and feels keenly the lack of a comforting word from Mrs. Fairfax: “No message has been sent to ask how I was, or to invite me to come down” (262). Their last farewell is unspoken: “’Farewell, kind Mrs. Fairfax!’ I whispered, as I glided past her door” (281). After Mrs. Fairfax disappears, it is Rochester who comforts her as a surrogate mother. One may wonder that the hero can become a maternal figure; but there are subtle themes of cross-dressing and reversal of gender roles, as when Rochester dresses up as a gypsy woman. There are also fairy godfathers and wicked stepbrothers. It is not surprising that Rochester can function briefly as a mother for Jane, for he alone proves to be to be the most perceptive reader of her character. One notices the implications of certain passages, especially Rochester’s passionate remorse: “If a man who had but one ewe lamb that was dear to him as a daughter [...] had by some mistake slaughtered it at the shambles, he would not have rued his bloody blunder more than I rue mine.” (262). In the scene where Jane is exhausted with starvation and misery, Rochester restores her with food and wine: I had become icy cold in my chamber. He put wine to my lips; I tasted it and revived; then I ate something he offered me, and was soon myself [...] he stooped towards me as if to kiss me; but I remembered caresses were now forbidden. I turned my face away, and put his aside. “What! How is this?” he exclaimed hastily. “Oh I know! You won’t kiss the husband of Bertha Mason? You consider my arms filled and my embraces appropriated?” “At any rate, there is neither room nor claim for me, sir” (263). It is not as if Prince Charming, by some error of judgement, has married the stepsister of Cinderella. There is the hidden theme of sibling rivalry that becomes manifest when Jane says there is no room for her in Rochester’s embrace, just as in her mother’s arms, there is a hated rival that has precedence. Even though John Reed and Helen Burns die, other Illustration by Edmund H. Garrett for Jane Eyre, 1897. rivals like Blanche or Bertha resurface. Jane cannot cleanse herself of this hatred until she faces the truth within herself; it is poor plain Jane, who is jealous of her stepsisters rather than vice versa. This jealousy has sown seeds of enmity between siblings and bitter alienation between mother and child. As Bettelheim points out, there is an inverted form of envy in the Cinderella complex. Cinderella thinks her stepsisters are jealous of her, but she wants to exclude them from the maternal embrace by being the sole darling. Jane says there is no room for her in Rochester’s arms. If other competitors for mama’s love exclude Jane, then Bertha shuts her out from the embraces of the prince, as well as mama’s. And who can function better in that role than Rochester, who understands her better than all the imperceptive mothers? When Jane faces a revelation that jealousy exists within herself, there is a new direction in her path of progress. She is now willing to forgive her stepsisters, as well as be forgiven. At Gateshead, she fails to establish a truce with her aunt, but she is no longer pained by the rejection of her initial pair of stepsisters. Although they disclaim her as a relative, they become amenable later, when Jane paints Georgiana’s portrait and helps Eliza with the funeral arrangements. She learns from them a lesson about jealousy proving to be the ruin, not only of others, but also of one’s own self. When Eliza delivers that tirade: “Georgiana, a more vain and absurd animal than you, was certainly never allowed to encumber the earth,” Jane realizes: “True, generous feeling is made small account of by some: but here were two natures rendered, the one intolerably acrid, the other despicably savorless for want of it” (208). Eliza, through Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 6 Bansari Mitra: Hearth and Heath envy of her sister’s beauty, has put an end to her chances of a brilliant match. In a world where beauty is the only asset valued in a woman, spite has made Eliza fanatical and Georgiana vapid. Jane learns more from this exchange than from Helen about the destructiveness of being unforgiving toward others. What follows the dialogue between the Reed sisters is a confession by Mrs. Reed, about the harm she has done to Jane, by lying to John Eyre about her supposed death. She has deprived Jane of the family she earnestly longs for; her uncle would have given her a comfortable home and acknowledgement as his adoptive daughter. Mrs. Reed’s deed is very similar to Eliza’s. She says as much: “I disliked you too fixedly and thoroughly ever to lend a hand in lifting you to prosperity [...] Bring me some water! Oh make haste!” “Dear Mrs. Reed,” said I, as I offered her the draught she required, “think no more of all this” (210). Jane learns the meaning of forgiveness, but her education is not complete. She must establish peace with her Reed cousins, show concern for her rival Blanche, and learn to pity the woman who is the obstacle to her happiness, before she can purge herself of her rages. When she first sees Bertha, her tone of hatred is unmistakable: “the clothed hyena stood up and stood tall on its hind feet” (258). Later, she shows pity, when she says that she cannot help being mad. After this incident, a new movement begins, which culminates in the sororal trinity that she forms with the Rivers girls, enabling her to experience the joys of sisterhood instead of the pangs of jealousy. However, before this final reconciliation can take place, she must attain a union with her long-lost mother, without which she cannot begin to be a whole person, but must remain a fierce, rebellious child. III: Mother Nature When Rochester proposes to Jane, an ill omen appears in a tempest: What ailed the chestnut tree? It writhed and groaned [...] a livid, vivid spark leapt out of a cloud [...] in the morning, little Adele came running in to tell me that the great horse-chestnut at the bottom of the orchard, had been struck by lightning in the night, and half of it split away (225). The lightning is perhaps the wrath of a being who is indignant at the deception of Rochester, trying to trap Jane into an illicit relationship. It is the wrath of Mother Nature, represented in the novel almost as a pagan goddess. At the beginning, the landscape is a powerful symbol, representing the forces of nature. Jane enjoys looking at the bleak winter scene while reading, and her first encounter with Rochester occurs on a hilly path, and he proposes to her in the garden. She is happy out of doors, because she is nature’s foster child. Rochester describes her, half-jestingly, to Adele: “I am to take Mademoiselle to the moon.” [...] “She will have nothing to eat: you will starve her,” observed Adele [...] “And her clothes, they will wear out: how can she get new ones?” [...] “How would a white or a pink cloud answer for a gown, do you think? And one could cut a pretty enough scarf out of a rainbow.” “She is far better as she is,” concluded Adele [...] “Mademoiselle is a fairy” (234–235). This “badinage” has prophetic significance. Rochester says they will live in an isolated area like the moon; at Ferndean, a manor amidst a dense forest, they can find such a secluded spot. The moon appears to be a kindly beacon that saves Jane from pitfalls and keeps reiterating as a goddess in classical and Biblical guises. The moon represents nature’s benign aspect, when she keeps a vigil over Jane in the heath, or appears to her at a crucial moment, when Rochester tempts her. At this climactic moment, Jane receives her summons and views her long lost mother: She broke forth as never yet moon burst from cloud: a hand first penetrated the sable folds and waved them away; then, not a moon, but a white human form shone in the azure, inclining a glorious brow earthward. It spoke to my spirit [...] “My daughter, flee temptation!” “Mother, I will.” So I answered (281). This is the first time in the novel that anyone addresses Jane as “my daughter” and she replies, “Mother, I will.” Jane’s wanderings lead her to remote regions, when she searches for her identity, her home and her mother. She even declares: I have no relative but the universal mother, Nature: I will seek her breast and ask repose [...] I thought she loved me, outcast as I was; and I, who from man could anticipate only mistrust, rejection, insult, clung to her with filial fondness. Tonight at least, I would be her guest—as I was her child” (284–285). When Jane is in the “golden desert,” all the betrayals she has experienced from human beings are washed away in the presence of this great mother. Her healing powers start a process of regeneration in Jane, a renewal of spring, after a winter frost has blighted all her hopes; it culminates in the final efflorescence of Ferndean. Jane’s reunion with Rochester can only take place when her primeval mother can approve of it, because it is only from her that Jane can find the love that she could not find from her stepmothers or godmothers. There is a complete submergence of identity in Jane, when she goes from door to door seeking food. She evokes suspicion because of her loss of identity: “an ordinary beggar is frequently an object of suspicion; a well-dressed Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 7 Bansari Mitra: Hearth and Heath Oriana Georgiana Reinagle, A large chestnut (?) tree, 27 July 1860. beggar, inevitably so” (289). After her illness, when she is slowly rehabilitated, she functions for a while under the pseudonym, “Jane Elliott.” When St. John discovers her real name, he traces her origins, her relationship to John Eyre and the Riverses, so that she can acquire a family. Before Jane acquires a family, she goes through a break with her past, until she rediscovers herself in the heath. There is a mighty revelation when she is alone with Mother Nature; astonishingly, she can achieve a sense of wholeness through a loss of identity. When she wanders around in the countryside as a waif, the otherworldly trait in her comes out, enabling her to form a lasting union with her earth mother. She cannot attain this union without going through a crisis, when she faces the most important conflicts in her mind. She is searching for her mother, who can give her a sense of belonging somewhere; so far, she has failed in her search. It is this sense of rootlessness that causes her conflict. Until her anger burns itself out like Thornfield, she cannot be free. When she forgets the ghosts from her past, the Reeds, Ingrams and Masons, a new movement begins with her arrival at the Rivers home, where finally she will receive maternal care. When Jane is in a state of crisis, Nature always rescues her. The moon mother who comes to her aid is a representative of her. The Rivers girls also function as archetypal mothers who save Jane by their tender ministrations. Diana, the moon goddess in classical mythology is a virgin, and Mary, the Holy Virgin is the mother of Christ. Diana is the more vigorous character of the pair: Diana [...] broke some bread, dipped it in milk, and put it to my lips. Her face was near mine: I saw there was pity in it, and I felt sympathy in her hurried breathing [...] “Try to eat.” [...] “No more at present sister. Try if she can speak now— ask her name.” I felt I could speak, and I answered—my name is Jane Elliott” (296–297). Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 8 Bansari Mitra: Hearth and Heath Jane Eyre has lost her name, but found a home with her sisters. The Rivers girls conform to the recurring pattern of good sisters, but they somehow represent Mother Nature; for after Jane has found her true mother, she will never lose her again. At the end, Jane again needs her mother’s aid, to resist temptations of the spirit, instead of those of the flesh; once again, Mother Nature intervenes, through supernatural agency. When St. John proposes to Jane, she lifts her eyes to heaven, pleading for guidance. It comes in a haunted moonlit scene, as if her moon mother must rescue her daughter from misconceptions about heroic self-sacrifice: Works Cited Bettelheim, Bruno 1985. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Knopf. Brontë, Charlotte 1971. Jane Eyre. Ed. Richard Dunn. New York: Norton. Images in Order of Appearance Brontë, Charlotte 1897. Jane Eyre. An autobiography. Illustrated by F. H. Townsend. London, Service & Paton. Digitalized by the Gutenberg Project. Image source https://www.gutenberg. org/files/1260/1260-h/images/p30b.jpg “Show me, show me the path!” I entreated of Heaven [...] The one candle was dying out: the room was full of moonlight. My heart beat fast and thick [...] I heard a voice somewhere cry— “Jane! Jane! Jane!” [...] Brontë, Charlotte 1897. Jane Eyre. An autobiography. illustrated by Edmund H. Garrett. London, Walter Scott. Public Domain. Image source https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/ edmund-garretts-illustrations-to-jane-eyre “Down superstition! “ I commented, as that specter rose up black by the black yew at the gate. “This is not thy deception, nor thy witchcraft: it is the work of nature. She was roused, and did—no miracle, but her best” (369–370). Oriana Georgiana Reinagle, A large chestnut (?) tree, 27 July 1860. Pencil on cream wove paper. 241 mm x 278 mm. © Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 Deed. Image source https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/ work-of-art/a-large-chestnut-tree After this rescue by Nature, Jane never goes back to urban life and the novel acquires a rural setting. She steps into a wilderness until she arrives at her secure nook. Ferndean, overgrown with mosses and creeping vines, where Rochester resides like “a caged eagle,” turns out to be a home of bliss, when she reunites with him. Jane, like Rapunzel, effects a transformation of Rochester, of his ruined spirit with the words that sum up the glorious fertility of Ferndean. Rochester can now be described in images of nature: Garrett, Edmund H. 1894. Bookplate (Detail). University of Delaware. Public Domain. Image source https://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Edmund_Garrett_Bookplate.jpg “I am no better than the lightning struck chestnut-tree in the Thornfield orchard,” he remarked ere long. “And what right would that ruin have to bid a budding woodbine cover its decay with freshness?” “You are no ruin sir—no lightning struck tree: you are green and vigorous. Plants will grow about your roots, whether you ask them or not, because they take delight in your bountiful shadow” (391). The riven chestnut-tree’s image is softened into a benign one. Mother Nature herself approves of this union, which takes place in this green wilderness, where Jane will begin a new life of her own with Edward Fairfax Rochester. The changeling child has at last come home. Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 9 Cosmological and Eschatological Space-Time Continuum in Turkic Heroic Epics Based on the epic The Book of Dede Gorgud Gunel Kamran gizi Jannatova Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Folklore T he all-Turkic heroic tradition with an ethnoculturally rich internal structure has different branches. One of these branches is the Oghuz epic tradition. The special place of this tradition in the all-Turkic tradition of narration is determined by the fact that the epic Oghuzname, represented by numerous variants, forms a huge epic system. The epic The Book of Dede Gorgud, which has come down to us in the form of manuscript, occupies a special place in the epic series Oghuznam. In the epic, which is made up of twelve parts-epics, all forms of time are intertwined, including historical time and mythological time. Here it is very difficult to determine the boundaries of historical time-space, the moments of its transition with myth. The reason for it is that the epos Dede Gorgud, starting from the myth of Gorgud and until the period when it was written, developed without interruption and integrated all the time-space stages of the Oghuz people into its poetic space. The quality of being able to combine different time dimensions has turned the epic Dede Gorgud into the transcendental monument that stands above the past, present and future. Investigation The epic The Book of Dede Gorgud is a magnificent monument, the mother book of the nation, a masterpiece that reflects the various stages of the history of national-ideological thought in artistic words, describes the history, culture, ethno-psychological characteristics, traditions, mental values, perceptions of nature, society and time, views of the past, present and future, mythological-religious views of the Oghuz peoples from the mythological epoch to the 16th century. The epochal time mixture created from the confluence of times and places in the epic was defined by Yashar Garayev figuratively, within the time-space boundaries of about five thousand years. According to Garayev, the 1,300-year-old monument can become a symbol of spiritual-cognitive renaissance and revival today, combining the pre-1,300-year history and the 1,300-year history that will come after it (2001: 4–10). In the epic, The Book of Dede Gorgud, there are such parts that it is necessary to restore the mythological spacetime content. For example, the mythological time-space of the part is at the root of the plots such as about Dirsa Khan sitting in a black tent, Dirsa Khan’s son killing the bull, injuring his son Bughaj with an arrow by Dirsa Khan, Khizir’s appearance next to him and giving the ointment “the mother’s milk and mountain flower” for the wound. There is also a mythological structure in the part of The Mad Domrul, the son of Dukha Goja. The time of this part is a purely mythological time. In the structure of the part Basat killed Tepegoz the mythological time-space is also seen. The events in the parts such as when Salur Gazan’s house was looted, Gazan bey’s son Uruz bey was arrested, Ganli Goja’s son Ganturali, Gazilig Goja’s son Yeynek, Bekil’s son Amrah, Ushun Goja oglu Sagray and Beyrek’s death, these events were reflected in the historical consciousness of time. But in the part of being prisoner Salur Gazan sent his son Uruz, the historical time-space and mythological space-time are observed in pairs. The Oghuz mythological place is connected with the name of the Oghuzs’ first father, ancestor Oghuz Kaghan. This mythological space in the epic operates within the boundaries of Oghuz mythology. This place can also be called Oghuz space. The myth of Oghuz appeared in this place and was formed on the basis of the structure of the Turkic myth. In ancient myths about Oghuz, he is described as bull-headed. But another zoomorphic sign of Oghuz Kagan is a bird. The patriarchal society created the Oghuz mythological space. Oghuz mythological space is also an astral space. Oghuz cosmogonic myths also give extensive information about this astral space. The astral images of the Oghuz myth can become epic heroes in the process of historical consciousness. In the epic, The Book of Dede Gorgud, Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 10 Gunel Kamran gizi Jannatova: Cosmological and Eschatological Space-Time Continuum in Turkic Heroic Epics Deli Domrul’s khatun became an animated creature of an astral image. According to the astral mythological imagination, the female sacrifices were to be given to the dragon that swallowed the Moon. It was based on the conditions of the soul motif instead of the soul. Deli Domrul’s khatun is also an anthropomorphized character that fulfills the conditions of the soul motif instead of the soul. In the deepest layers of the mythological space of Oghuz the place of Gunortaj of Oghuz is the place where the Sun stands at the top point. It depends on the name Oghuz which is a cosmic name and Gunortaj is the place of the Sun, as Basat says Qalarda-qoparda yerim Gunortaj (“The place where I stay, from where I rise, Gun-Ortach (Place of the Sun in the sky at noon)”) (Zeynalov 1988: 102). Basat’s mythological association with the lion and the Sun shows that his mythological place, like Oghuz, is Gunortaj. The cosmic space Gunortaj acts as a projection of the mythological space of Oghuz in space. So, not only did Basat live in a mythological cosmic time, but Salur Gazan, Dede Gorgud, Bugaj and Beyrek also lived in this cosmic space. It can be concluded from this that the Oghuz mythological space is a cosmic space. Seyfeddin Rzasoy notes that “Basat’s place in the galarda-goparda is as Gunortaj in the sky, the place of Tepegoz standing in reverse projection to the sky is in the underground (2007: 144). The archetype of the time-mythological space combines with the action and hero archetypes and participates in the creation of archaic myths related to the epic. Later, these archaic myths are forgotten, but their signs remain in the structure of new texts, including the epic The Book of Dede Gorgud. For example, totem myths are forgotten, but its signs live in Salur Gazan’s cult-level belief in trees, water and wolf in The Book of Dede Gorgud. Salur Gazan is informed with water, trees and wolf in his mythological place. This belief system places Salur Gazan’s mythological place into the epic. Without the mythological place Salur Gazan would not have been able to meet his cults. Therefore, mythological space-time is always active in the epic. The main factors that form the mythological space are language, memory, time, and myth. Rahim Aliyev writes: “It is the ability to manage and actualize the treasure of vivid images in memory through words that can act as their sign and stimulus” (2008: 120). In general, the word has a controlling force. Having a certain meaning it passes through consciousness under the influence of irritation, controlling thought. Myth is also the word and controls thought. After creating the Gods and Goddesses of Oghuz time-space the mythological consciousness also forms its functions. Even Oghuz gives the demiurgical feature to the God, according to the Ongonian thinking of mythological consciousness, he describes it zoomorphically. The thought of Oghuz in the form of an animal (ox) also dominates the idea that he is a two-horned god. And it is the symbol and the formula that create the idea of God in mythological thinking. This process can be understood as follows: The human mind has a necessary measurement system. This system creates a generalizing mold-form based on the magnificent word, sentence, and poetic expressions of an idea to express an instant idea. This mold is a formula. When this mold combines with a symbol, it serves for its poetic expression and becomes artistic speech. Kamil Veli Narimanoglu writes that “… the arbitrary epic lives as a language embedded in the human brain, the speech acquires reality during performance and all speech formulas appear as the expression formulas of that language” (2000: 128–131). One of the main factors creating the Oghuz mythological space is the mythological consciousness of the ancient Oghuzs living there, the spatial symbols and spatial formulas created by their mythological consciousness. Such symbols and formulas refer to the topographical (geographical) spaces. A feature of the topographical places is their legend in the epic. Such topographical spaces are out of history, they can be imaged because of the artistic paintings. The place formulas and symbols are also related to is epic space. As the Oghuz space and the infidel space are imaged, it forms both a spatial formula and a spatial symbol in the epic. The concepts of own and other space also come from here (Aliyev 2001: 12). There are no unknown topographical places in Oghuz mythological space. These are the lands inhabited by the Oghuzs or infidels. The Oghuzs live in these cities, travel from these places and return back. The names of the places where the events took place during the trip are neighboring areas of Oghuz. No matter how powerful the infidels are in their historical places and fortresses from the point of view of political and social state, they are physically distinguished from the Oghuzs. It is the demand of epic poetics. In order to show the power and magnificence of the Oghuz, the poetics of the epic describes the infidels as cruel, savage and stronger than the Oghuzs: At üzərindən ikisi qıvraşdılar, dartışdılar, kafirin gücü ziyadə, oğlan zəbun oldu (“Both of them fought on the horseback, the pagan had a lot of strength, the boy became weak and lost his strength”) (Arasli, ed. 1977: 32), and Ya Cəbrayıl, var, şol quluma qırx ərcə qüvvət verdim (“Oh Ye,Gabriel, go ahead and give my servant strength equal to the strength of forty wrestlers”) (Arasli, ed. 1977: 133). In this part one can see that the topographical space formula indicated by the number is expressed precisely: Doqquz tümən Gürcüstanın xəracı gəldi (“The fee of Georgia of nine thousand tuman currency has arrived”) (Arasli, ed. 1977: 125). It is observed that the space is also uncertain: Ağ ban evini qara yerin üzərinə tikdirmişdi (“He built his house with a white roof on black soil according to traditions no one was allowed to build white tent except a leader”) (Arasli, ed. 1977: 125). Here, qara yer (“the black place”) means land and is a sign of the general Oghuz area. Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 11 Gunel Kamran gizi Jannatova: Cosmological and Eschatological Space-Time Continuum in Turkic Heroic Epics While the historical place in the epic is the man’s place, the Oghuz mythological place was a place of woman in its archaic layer. The space of a woman is based on the ancient mythological views about the mother-woman in material, spiritual, ritual, family and marriage spheres. In the mythological society the woman is the ruler, the protector of the family. In the eposes the wives give advice to their husbands, protect their family and show the right way to their husbands. Goddesses always protect women’s rights and children’s health in the Oghuz mythological space (Nabiyev 2009: 100). Oleng, Humay, and Ayiisit are female goddesses. Their function is to protect the women from evil forces of the female gender, for example, al arvad, albasti (“evil demon – a woman who harms women in labor”) and so on (Agayev 2008: 98). Umay (Humay), the scientist Mammadhuseyn Tahmasib shows that she is the friend of any child. It is clear how important that a child’s companion is in the life and development of the child in the mother’s womb. This natural-material taking on a supernatural form and essence in the mythical thought, was elevated to the status of a goddess and in the later stages of own development, shadow and protection, it turned into a mythical bird that gives happiness such as a state, a child to the people (Tahmasib 2010: 163). Ganturali, who is using his male rights, wants to punish Seljan Khatun for fighting with his enemy without permission. Because Oghuz society is a patriarchal society. In the patriarchal society the male rights are considered superior. In the epic thought, one can observe the narrowing of the male Oghuz mythological time-space, its symbolization by acquiring the opposite meaning (woman) in the form of a cave. The cave is a symbol of that world in the Oghuz mythological worldview. This cave is a place where Oghuz’s enemy Tepegoz lives. But Tepegoz was born in the light world and after acquiring the nature of evil, he came to the place of evil. Thus, the cave is a symbol of evil. Here we can say that Tepegoz and its place are in opposite proportion to the Oghuz mythological space, as evidence that shows the essence of the Oghuz mythological space and proves its belonging to the Oghuz. Here one can meet the process of spatial change. Tepegoz changes its location because it is hostile to the Oghuz space. This space change also belongs to some Oghuz heroes. For example, Ganturali coming out of the Oghuz space enters the evil space. This space change is to prove the power of the Oghuz. Ramazan Gafarli writes: “… The symbols played a special role in generalizing the idea, narrowing the broad content and placing it in the meaning capacity of a word in the formation of artistic techniques” (2010: 102). Tepegoz also participates in the part as a symbol of evil in a hyperbolic form. But Basat prevents the degradation of the Oghuz society in the good content of the meaning. His fight with Tepegoz also takes place in the cave. Therefore, the meaning of the cave is close as a narrow space, but Tepegoz reflects the broad meaning in its content. The people eaten by Tepegoz are considered its victims. According to Oghuz mythological consciousness, if an Oghuz person changes his world or dies, he will be resurrected and live in cosmic space. The usual act of death is described next to the bridge of Deli Domrul. But in Deli Domrul’s speech the words, Savaşım, çəkişim, dirəşim, yaxşı igidin canını qurtarayım (“I am here to fight, I am here to argue, I am here to resist, just save the life of a brave man”) (Arasli, ed. 1977: 87), the idea of bringing the dead back to life and imagining the dead alive in the Oghuz afterlife is also hidden. The Oghuz mythological space is divided into two places: Ich Oghuz and Dash Oghuz. These spaces in the Oghuz mythological space the bird models of heroes live in their names in parallel with their animal models. Both bird and animal models are equal members of the structure of the Oghuz mythological space. In this mythological space, the ongon birds are protector birds. For example, the bird tulu (“eagle”) protects Salur Gazan; it is his ongon and the sacred bird of the Oghuz space. In the mythological origin of many Dede Gorgud heroes stands the bird tulu. The word bamsi (“eagle”) in the name Bamsi Beyrak, determines the ongon ethnicity of the name Beyrak in the archaic thought (Garfarli 2015: 454). In ethnogenesis Bamsi’s son Beyrek is stronger than Gurd’s son Beyrek. According to this strong influence after the end of the mythological period the ongon and totem names remain as signs in a person’s name. Oghuz mythological space can be restored in the minds of many heroes of The Book of Dede Gorgud. In this regeneration process the bird and animal archaism of the hero, connected to the past, plays a powerful role in his reincarnation. The connection to the past period is felt in characters such as Salur Gazan, Beyrek, Basat, Aruz, Deli Domrul, Dirse Khan and Bughaj, but one can see the historical connection in the characters such as Gazan Khan, Bayandir Khan and Ganturali. A hero connected only to the historical place cannot descend into the mythological place or fight with a dragon. But as Salur Gazan is also connected with the mythological place of Oghuz, he can go down to this place and fight with the dragon. In the epic “The part of being prisoner Salur Gazan sent his son Uruz” it is observed clearly that Salur Gazan is connected with Oghuz mythological space: Qlağolsuz yol başaran Qazan ər idim, Yeddi başlı əjdərhayə yetib vardım. Heybətindən sol gözüm yaşardı Hey gözüm, namərd gözüm, müxənnət gözüm. Bir yılandan nə var ki, qorxdun! – dedim. (Arasli, ed. 1977: 146) (I used to be Gazan, a hero wandering without a guide Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 12 Gunel Kamran gizi Jannatova: Cosmological and Eschatological Space-Time Continuum in Turkic Heroic Epics I reached to the seven-headed dragon I got tears in my left eye because of fear Oh, ye my coward, coward, treacherous eye You are afraid of just one snake, I said.) In these verses Salur Gazan’s battle with the dragon in the sub-mythological Oghuz area is confirmed. This fact indicates that Salur Gazan was able to descend into the lower mythological space at any time, his spatial changeability. The spatial change of Salur Gazan takes place according to the historical anthropomorphizing feature of time. It means that Salur Gazan is also an anthropomorphic image of the time. Salur Gazan realizes the mythological time in the myth, but Gazan Khan realizes the historical time. According to the above mentioned we can say that the mythological place of Oghuz has passed through two historical stages. The first of them is the era of matriarchy. In this period the archaic mythological thought of the mythological place not named Oghuz and the structural units of this thought were formed. The second stage is the period associated with patriarchal society. In this period the mythological consciousness was already formed, its structures related to the mythological world model were created and acted, then this activity weakened, as a result of it the transition to historical consciousness took place. This period can also be considered the period of epic activity of our ancestors. The formation of the oldest Oghuzname also appears in this period. In all mythological and historical periods, the mythological place of Oghuz influenced the epic activity and played a role in the creation of a great epic as The Book of Dede Gorgud. Amin Abid writes about Oghuzname: Oghuzname is the most ancient work of folk literature that the Azerbaijanis had before the period of feudalism. According to its current status, Oghuzname means the first work of Azerbaijani literature (Abid 2016: 240). Oghuzname is a national system of thought. The ancient legends are reflected in its historical plot. The eschatological time that predicts the end of the Oghuz time-space system is marked as a certain time dimension that occurs as a result of the influence of eschatological myths on the epic. This time type has a very complex system as well as being very abstract. Because the concepts of time in cosmogonic, anthropogonic, calendar, religious and shamanic myths do not enter the epic as they do. The duration and dimension of time in these myths are described in the epic abstractly or concretely. Eschatological time is not simply understood, the characters of the epic act as the direct participants of this time form. They accept this time form with the presence of details. One way of perceiving it is sleep. In the part of Salur Gazan’s house pillage, as a sign of eschatological time, the dream shows the arrest of the Salur Gazan’s family to him (Arasli, ed. 1977: 34). Under the consciousness the explanation of this dream is mythological. In order to explain the dream, Salur Gazan’s brother, Garagune, appears in the role of a dreamer. In the eschatological myths and in the epic the ideas about the savior of the world are understood clearly. This is also mentioned in the religious thoughts. In the above-mentioned example, it is noted that Salur Gazan is the person who can save the Oghuz world from the future apocalypse. There is also a connection between his dream and the function of salvation. In the eschatological teachings there are also ideas about the afterlife of people after the end of the world. The people’s ideas about that world are also reflected in Islamic teachings. This thought is also met in the proverbs spoken by Dede Gorgud: Əzəldən yazılmasa qul başına qəza gəlməz. Əcəl vədə irməyincə kimsə ölməz. Çıxan can geri gəlməz (Arasli, ed. 1977: 14). Sağış günündə ayna görklü (Arasli, ed. 1977: 16). (Without God’s writing, no harm befalls a person Nobody dies unless it’s time to die a person’s soul left once won’t return to his body once again out of the days of the week, Friday is the beautiful one) Eschatology of the individual is also connected with the general day of resurrection. Nikolai Berdyaev names these two eschatologies individual and universal disaster and writes: “On the one hand, after the death of a person an individual resolution of his personal fate is confirmed. On the other hand, it is expected that the fate of the whole world and humanity will be decided at the end of time and history. Free time occurs between two perspectives. Eternal fate cannot be isolated, it is connected with the fate of history, the world and humanity. The world, the universal destiny is my destiny, and vice versa, the universal destiny of the world cannot be decided without me” (Berdyaev 2003: 550–551). Eschatological time is observed as a product of both the ozan and his eschatological thinking of different individuals. Salur Gazan is the hero of the epic who later acquired the eschatological outlook. The capture of his family can be considered a small doomsday for him. This small eschatological time period ends when he fights against Shoklu Malik and kills him. The eschatological myth is based on Salur Gazan’s eschatological time. In the myth Salur Gazan fights with the pro-image (dragon) of Shoklu Malik and restores the eschatological time structure of the myth. The evolution of the eschatological myths can be observed not Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 13 Gunel Kamran gizi Jannatova: Cosmological and Eschatological Space-Time Continuum in Turkic Heroic Epics only in The Book of Dede Gorgud, but also in fairy tale plots with the same content. In these texts the end of the mythological cycle indicates the end of the world. The eschatological worldview begins from the starting point and continues to the final point. Here the features of evolution reflecting the transformation from the mythological worldview into the religious worldview, from the mythological text into the religious text are observed. In the religious worldview the concept of eschatological time appears more clearly and gets the religious character. Mircea Eliade writes: “In the religions of the primitive and Eastern peoples the thiogenic and cosmogonic ideas are seen very much, which are associated with the idea of an eternal struggle between two trends in the life of space – its destruction and reshaping. In this regard, the distinction between Biblical eschatology and eschatological plots in other religions is divided into two parts for the forms of expression of eschatological moods and ideas: mythological and eschatological-historical types” (1995: 224). Both mythological and historical types of eschatology are found in The Book of Dede Gorgud. In the part where Basat killed Tepegoz, the ideas about the end of the world are explained in the mythological aspect. Metaphysical ideas about the end of the world are in the lower layer of this part. Here we meet the eschatological description of an archaic myth. In the part the eschatological time ends with the death of Tepegoz. M.Eliade notes: “In short, these myths about the end of the world express the same ancient and very widespread idea that suggests a more or less absolute re-creation of a new universe, the regular degradation of space, which requires its cyclicality, destruction and restoration. From these myths about the recent catastrophe, which at the same time heralded the inevitable revival of the world, arose and developed in the era of prophetic and nationalistic trends of primitive societies” (1995: 68). Eschatological myth and eschatological destruction arose as a product of the subconsciousness of the ancient people. Conclusion In all Oghuznames, including in the oghuzname The Book of Dede Gorgud, the mythological core of space-time is the image of Oghuz Kagan. This image combines all the diachronous and synchronous parameters of Oghuz spacetime as a universum. Oghuz space-time is organized by anthropological, ethnic, political, and geographical levels. All of these levels are marked in the Oghuz universum. As every individual is considered Oghuz in the world of Oghuz, the nation, state and geography he lives in are also called Oghuz. The Oghuz universe is also a model of communication among all individuals, generations, ancestors and heirs in Oghuz time and space. From this point of view, each level of Oghuz time-space embodied in the mind of Oghuz man, merges with each other in the Oghuz spatial model creating a single spatial system. The core of the Oghuz time-space model is the image of Oghuz Kagan. The Oghuz Kaghan is the beginning, basis and source of the Oghuz space in the historical-diachronic context. Because all the elements that form the Oghuz space – all the elements of society and nature are originated from Oghuz Kaghan. From this point of view, the whole structural scheme of Oghuz epic-mythological space is embodied in the myth of Oghuz Kaghan. Oghuz Kaghan’s six sons named Day, Moon, Star, Sky, Mountain, and Sea are the ancestors of both the elements of nature and the elements of society. From this point of view, nature and society in the Oghuz space are the components of a single system according to the genetic point of view. Oghuz as a space world of the time-space continuum is closely and inextricably connected with the world of chaos. Oghuz chaos forms the basis of the construction of Oghuz space. Each Oghuz goes to the world of individual chaos and returns from there renewed. From this point of view, the space of chaos plays the role of the foundation and material for the construction of the Oghuz cosmic space. The epic The Book of Dede Gorgud is closely connected with cosmogony, in fact, it is a stage of the process of creation, as in the world epic-mythological thought, eschatology, which literally covers ideas about the end of the world, man, life, time. As in the proverb it is said “If one does not die, the other will not be resurrected”, the Oghuz perceived the end of time as the beginning of a new time. The concept of death, which is the concept of eschatological endings in the formula “The world of the future, the world of the departed, // the last end of the mortal world” in the epic, means the mechanism of creation that combines coming and going, that is, birth and death. In The Book of Dede Gorud the eschatological time also means the point where epochal time periods diverge and converge. The expression Rasul aleyhisselam zamanina yaqin (“Close to the time of the messenger (of God), greetings to him”), which indicates the time of birth of Dede Gorgud in the epic, is the formula of epoch-making time and shows that the Oghuz imagined the world in which Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 14 Gunel Kamran gizi Jannatova: Cosmological and Eschatological Space-Time Continuum in Turkic Heroic Epics they lived as a process consisting of two times – the old time before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad and the new time that began with his birth. However, in the eschatological concept of time of the epic, the concepts of Islam and Oghuz time have merged and parallelized. As an ethnos, the Oghuz who converted to Islam tried to remain attached to their godly identity at the same time. In this regard, if the point Rasul aleyhisselam zamanina yaqin indicates the finality of the pre-Islamic time, then the breaking off of a hero who is called a father, who is afraid of his stale stature, that is, the birth or emergence of the old time before fear, represents the reunion of the new time that began with fear. This, in turn, shows the parallelization of their own chronometry and Islamic chronometry in the eschatological and generally time-related thoughts of the Oghuz. Works Cited Abid, A. 2016. History of Literature of Azerbaijani Turks. Baku: Elm ve tehsil. Agayev, E. 2008. Azerbaijan Mythology Science and Mirali Seyidov. Baku: “MBM”. Aliyev, R. 2008. Theory of Literature. Baku: Mutarjim. Aliyev, O. 2001. Poetics of Azerbaijani Fairy Tales. Baku: Sada. Arasli, H. (ed.) 1977. The Book of Dede Gorgud. Baku: Elm. Berdyaev, N.A. 2003. The Experience of Eschatological Metaphysics. Activity and objectification // Spirit and reality. Moscow: AST. Eliade, M. 1995. Aspects of Myth. Moscow: Invest-PPP. Gafarli, R. 2010. Mythology of the Azerbaijani Turks/(abstract of the dissertation of Doctor of philology). Baku. Gafarli, R. 2015. Mythology [in 6 volumes]. Mythogenesis: reconstruction, structure, poetics. Baku: Elm ve tehsil, volume 1. Garayev, Y. 2001. Book of all peoples and eras/“Researches on oral folk literature of Azerbaijan”. X book. Baku: Seda, volume 2. Nabiyev, A. 2009. Gene Source of Similar Values–Genealogical Theory. Baku: Elm ve tehsil. Narimanoglu, K.V. 2000. Formula Theory // Encyclopedia “The Book of Dede Gorgud”, II. Baku: Yeni Neshrler Evi. Rzasoy, S. 2007. Oghuz Myth and Oghuzname Epic. Baku: Nurlan. Tahmasib, M.H. 2010. Selected works: in 2 volumes. Volume I /M.H.Tahmasib. Baku: Mutarjim. Zeynalov, F. & Alizade, S. (eds.). 1988. Dede Gorgud Transcription and Introduction. Baku: Yazichi. Cosmological and Eschatological Space-Time Continuum in Turkic Heroic Epics Image Oghuz Khan on the commemorative coin of Turkmenistan. Central Bank of Turkmenistan, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 15 Folklore Fellows’ Communications Series FFC Publication News in 2023 T he Foklore Fellows’ Communications Series, also known as FFC, is a refereed monograph series in the following fields of research: folkloristics, comparative religion, cultural anthropology and ethnology. It focuses on the non-material aspects of traditional culture, especially oral literature, belief systems, myth and ritual, methodology and the history of research. FFC has been published for the Folklore Fellows’ Network since 1910, first by the Academia Scientiarum Fennica (Finnish Academy of Science and Letters), and since 2021, by the Kalevala Society Foundation. The publication’s funding comes as a yearly grant from the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies and from the book sales. What Have We Published in 113 Years? We have published type indices such as ATU, covering both local and global folklore, and research literature delving into, for example, representations of fear in Ancient Roman folk narrative (Asplund Ingemark & Asplund 2020), folklore and Old Norse mythology (Frog & Ahola, eds 2021), or to finding out how to envision a global history of European folklore studies (Ó Giolláin2022). And so much more. The entire catalogue of all FFC volumes, since 1910, can be perused at our website https://www.folklorefellows.fi/ ffc-catalogue/ . Where to Buy? Most of the 326 volumes in the FFC series are still for sale. Our distributor is the Bookstore Tiedekirja. They are happy to be at your service both in the Helsinki bookstore and at the webstore https://tiedekirja.fi/en/. Digital Publications Inevitably, some of the titles are long sold out and hard to come by. However, we have recently started our own Open Access digital library at https://edition.fi/kalevalaseura. We opted for a grand opening, providing all three volumes of The Types of International Folktales (Uther 2011) there for everyone to read and use! This is a classic in folklore studies, and still actively used and much sought after – and very hard to access before this. PUBLISHED IN 2023 The Meanings of Enchantment: Wondertale Symbolism Revisited Francisco Vaz da Silva This study posits that the meanings of enchantment can be rationally described, but wondertales need to be elucidated in their own terms, as opposed to bringing preset external theories to bear on the stories. The argument sets out to reveal the symbolic framework of wondertales as a genre. It underlines the stability of symbolic patterns in tales across space and time, as well as the adaptability of the myriad variants to specific historical settings—hence, the evolution of the texts in tune with their contexts. Going beyond rigid distinctions of oral vs. literary vs. cinematic retellings, this book shows The Kalevala Society that the comparison of all sorts of variants is helpful to understand the tales. It would not be Folklore Fellows’ Communications 326 wrong to say that it proposes a mental ethnography of the wondertale—a cartography of its Helsinki 2023 symbolic landscape—up to the present day. Along the way, it revisits a number of received 218 pages ideas (such as the centrality of male protagonists, the inherent victimhood of feminine characISBN 978-952-9534-05-0 Available at the Tiedekirja bookstore, ters, and the immanent misogyny of the tales) in light of oral retellings and older literary strata 28 € of the wondertale tradition. Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 16 FORTHCOMING IN 2023 Shamanism in Norse Myth and Magic, vols 1 and 2 – NEW EDITION Shamanism in Norse Myth and Magic Shamanism in Norse Myth and Magic VO LU M E O N E VOLUM E T WO C LI VE TO LLE Y R E F E R E N C E M AT E R I A L S T H E K A L E VA L A S O C I E T Y CL IV E T OL L EY T H E K A L E VA L A S O C I E T Y Clive Tolley In this study, Clive Tolley presents the main features of Siberian shamanism, as they are relevant for comparison with Norse sources, and examines the Norse texts in detail to determine how far it is reasonable to assign a label of “shamanism” to the human and divine magical practices of pre-Christian Scandinavia, whose existence, it is argued, in many cases resides mainly in the imaginative tradition of the poets. In Press. The God Perkūnas of the Ancient Lithuanians: In Language, Folklore, and Historical Sources Nijolė Laurinkienė Perkūnas, the Lithuanian god of thunder, is examined from a historical and genetic perspective. Parallels from the Baltic peoples and from traditions of other ethnic groups with which they came into contact, are used to reveal his evolution in mythology. PUBLISHED IN 2022 Narrated Communities: Individual Life Stories and Collective Figures of Thought Exotic Dreams in the Science of the Volksgeist. Towards a Global History of European Folklore Studies Ulf Palmenfelt Narrated Communities explores accounts of memories and their relationships to narrating and life stories. It brings into focus prominent elements belonging to collective traditions, elements that become points of reference when presenting personal memories, and explores how people situate their views in relation to these. The concern for the relationship The Kalevala Society between individual and collective traFolklore Fellows’ Communications ditions leads into an examination of 324 the smallest collectives, such as two Helsinki 2022 individuals with shared memories, Available at the Tiedekirja alongside types of experiences that bookstore, 32€ can be considered universal. The work reveals how elements of worldview manifest as frames of reference for positioning, which makes them foundational to the narrative construction of communities as the mooring posts of collective value systems. Diarmuid Ó Giolláin The emergence of folklore studies is usually attributed to specifically European circumstances in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This book argues that influences from and the consequences of the expansion of powerful states beyond the bounds of Europe informed folkloristics as much as did conditions within. Such reflection on and observation of The Kalevala Society Folklore Fellows’ Communications non-European peoples and their cul325 tures resounded through Europe and Helsinki 2022 were a key influence on the elaboration Available at the Tiedekirja of a folkloristic discourse. ‘Domestic’ (i.e. bookstore, 42€ European) ethnography was, despite surface differences, part of a general ethnography. The book’s argument is illustrated with chapters on the development of the ethnological sciences in France, Italy and Ireland within their different political, social and cultural contexts. Folklore Fellows’ Network Bulletin 57, November 2023 17