Rehepapi 150 aastat: muutuvad tõlgendusindeksid rehepapi-teksti näitel
150 Years of Old Barney: Changing Interpretation Horizons Based on the Old Barney Character

Summary/Abstract: This article explores the textual corpus of the Old Barney, a village sage character. Originating from oral folklore traditions and written down by nineteenth-century folklorists, we are particularly interested in the contemporary adaptations of the character by the novelist Andrus Kivirähk and the film director Rainer Sarnet. We demonstrate how a modified version of Algirdas Julien Greimas’s method of analysis, based on oppositions, can be used to interpret the changing ‘expectation horizons’ regarding the textual corpus of the Old Barney. Following Walter Ong’s conception of how written prose led to the creation of more complicated, yet aesthetically playful texts, we show how the more simple ‘flat’ characters from the folk tradition have become ‘rounder’ and more complex in the novel and film versions. However, considering that both versions make use of complicated round characters, such as Old Barney, we illustrate how the changes between the novel and the film are not caused by medium specificity but rather by the fact that the creators attempted to meet expectations related to the different media. We conclude by arguing that the novel more directly targets the local audience, while the film aims for a more universal appeal and thus switches the dominant discourse of the novel.

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