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[SOVIET MYSTICS] Serebriannaia priazha [i.e. The silver yarn. The fairy-tales of Ivanovo textile workers]

Kochnev, M.

Item #2101

Moscow: Sovetskiy pisatel, 1946. 260 p. 20x14 cm. Original publisher’s textile binding with floral ornament. Overall good condition.

First and only edition.

Mikhail Kochnev (1914-1974) was a Soviet folklorist and a poet, who was born and raised in Yuriv-Polskiy area of Ivanovo region, close to the
border with Vladimir region. As a young man, he has travelled to Moscow to go to Moscow State University, in 1930s he was working as a journalist
and printing his stories and poems in periodicals. In 1940s he has fought in World War II, and upon return went back to his home region of Ivanovo to collect the local folk tales, which resulted in the publication of this book. Ivanovo (formely known as Ivanovo-Voznesensk) was a very important factory region and was frequently called the Red Manchester in 1900-1910s. Because of the density of the factory workers, it has played a significant part in the revolutionary events of 1905 and 1917, with some of the most known demonstrations and upraising have happened in the region, including the oppression from tsarist police. Many of the early Bolshevik leaders originated from the region, including Mikhail Frunze.
However, this book, unlike the other publications about Ivanovo and its workers, does not glorify the revolutionary past, but actually was written
by Kochnev documenting some stories and folktales, that existed around the factories for decades.
Because of the high percentage of female workers in Ivanovo, most of the main characters in 2o short stories, presented in this volume are women.
Another important attribute of the stories, that somehow slipped away from the ever monitoring eyes of Soviet censors is the large
number of mystical elements in the folklore – that goes along with the folk beliefs of Central Russia, but doesn’t go along with the atheistic principles of Soviet State. In the story ‘Devil’s finger’ the young Yakov tries to reason with the devilry around one factory, in ‘Kind mind’s joy’ the worker Dunya makes a pact with witches, and in ‘Katernia’s happiness’ old weaver Marya decides to ask the spirits of the diseased weavers their opinion on how they were treated on the factory floor and whom to blame – what follows is the conversation between the old-timer and her recently gone colleagues.
All in all, an interesting regional piece of Soviet folklore.

Price: $350.00

Status: On Hold