The fame of nineteenth-century Russian folklorist Aleksandr Afanas'ev is primarily based upon his work as a collector and editor of Russian folk tales. However, his role as an outstanding scholar of Slavic mythology and folk beliefs is often sadly overlooked. This book, based on A. N. Afanas'ev's fundamental study, Poetic Views of the Slavs toward Nature, and inspired by the wealth of knowledge it contains, attempts to reconstruct the ancient Slavic pantheon in the way it was seen by Afanas'ev. It dedicates particular attention to one pagan Slavic deity of paramount importance Perun, the God of Thunder. Perun's role among other Slavic deities is examined, as are: his relation to similar mythological figures in Indic, Classical, Germanic, and other mythologies; his mythological roots, attributes, relationships to the world of animals, plants; and meteorological phenomena. A special chapter shows how, often quite unexpectedly, Perun's presence manifests itself in popular works of Russian literature.

Autorentext

The Authors: Mark Yoffe received his Ph.D. in Russian Literature from the University of Michigan. He is Curator of the International Counterculture Archive and a Slavic Librarian at the Gelman Library of the George Washington University. He teaches courses on Slavic folklore and culture for the Departments of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Anthropology at the same university. His scholarly interests include study of popular music, urban folklore, witchcraft and demonology, countercultures and contemporary Russian culture.
Joseph Krafczik received his M.A. in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Michigan. He has been a member of the Russian Faculty at the University of Wyoming since 1988. Slavic folklore and mythology are his primary research and teaching interests. In addition to teaching Russian language, literature, and folklore, he also has served as Coordinator for the Wyoming-Saratov Student Exchange Program since 1993.