Motifs of The Wisdom Literature in the aphorisms by Kozma Prutkov

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Abstract

The article analyzes one of the possible sources of Kozma Prutkov’s parody aphorisms. It is suggested that the subject matter for the aphorisms was the biblical sayings of the so-called Wisdom Literature, in particular the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the deuterocanonical book of Ben Sirah. A number of Prutkov’s aphorisms are not only textually close to these sources but are also structured in the same way as the Biblical meshalim. The parodies target numerous collections of aphorisms that gained popularity in the Russian literature since the beginning of the 19th century.

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About the authors

Evgeniya Borissovna Smagina

Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences

Author for correspondence.
Email: esmagi54.54@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9816-6997

Head of the Department of History and Culture of Ancient Orient

Russian Federation

References

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