EPIC

EPIC, a genre of the Bashk. folklore and folk literature. A narrative which could exists in different forms: poetic, prosaic, and mixed (poetic and prosaic). One of the oldest genres of folk poetry. E. reflects the people’s ideas about nature and life, their beliefs and customs. The Bashk. epic is distinguished by co‑existance of both prosaic and poetic epics. The epic tales main storyline is held by prosaic narration, while the emotions, brightest moments, dialogues and the storyteller’s attitude to the events are told through the Kubair verse performed in a recitative manner (khamak, khalmakkyuy). In ancient times, the poetic part of E. was performed to the accompaniment of dumbyra. The E. genre varieties include: the kubair, the plot of which describes the struggle of the main character for the interests of the clan, tribe, people and the victory, which is often achieved at the cost of the character’s own life; the irtyak (an epic tale on social and household topics), the dastan, the kissa and the khikayat. Among the irtyaks, the epic cycle devoted to the sacred animals and the appearance of the first horses and cows plays an important role, for example Kara-yurga, Kungyrbuga, etc. The Bashk. E. contains some specific storylines (Akbuzat, Ural-Batyr, etc), as well as common storylines with E. of other Turkic peoples (Alpamysha and Barsynkhylu, Kuzyykurpyas and Mayankhylu, etc). Romantic dastans and kissas, which appeared in Turkic literature under the Oriental literature influence, are widely spread (Kissa and Yusuf, Tahir and Zukhra, etc). The genre exists as a folklore genre in different national cultures.