Епосът на областта Тай Нгуен във Виетнам и историческата действителност
Vietnamese Epos from the Region of Thai Nguen and Historical Reality

Summary/Abstract: The problem of the relationship between historical reality and epic poetry has been tackled in the present article on the basis of folk epos from the region of Thai Nguen in Vietnam. The comparison of the historical facts to the „epic reality” reveals the existence of complex interrelations. On the one hand, the epic texts reflect with а considerable extent of authenticity the various social institutions, social relations and details from everyday life. On the other hand, community life and the characters are depicted in the epos in conformity with the laws of epic extolment, transforming thus reality into а desired future. At the time of creation of the heroic epos in the region of Thai Nguen the communities have been passing through а period of decay of primitive communism. In the epic poetry however, the actions are described as taking place under the conditions of а centralized state system. This controversy could be explained by means of the function of the epic tradition to convey people’s yearns for social organization. Thus there is а natural co-existence of historical reality and fantasy in the epos, resulting from the concrete way of life of the peoples of Thai Nguen who created that epos.

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