Doctor Collins, Ivan the Terrible and the ‘First Recorded’ Russian Folktales
Jonathan Roper
The Present State of Russia (1671) contains important records traditional narratives relating to Tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible) collected by Samuel Collins, an Englishman who served as Alekse's surgeon in the 1660s. While status such instances international folktales has been broadly accepted, it is helpful consider them representing two different traditions – one popular Russian discourse, which a good figure, punishing wicked nobles and officials rewarding his honest humble subjects, other expatriate stories current among resident foreigners Moscow, depicted arbitrary cruelty. Some from first tradition are found later tradition, while many appear particularly earlier or contemporaneous writings about learned western central Europeans. Placing sets within these respective corpora allows us better perceive their meaning. It also worth attending Collins's English relation ‘Russian’ stories, possesses its own characteristic narrative style.
Fabula