IVAN FRANKO’S SHORT STORY “AT THE WOODSHOP”: THE FOLKLORE CONTEXT

In the short story “At the Woodshop,” while outlining the trials a village boy faces in adapting to the urban environment, Ivan Franko added a remarkable layer of oral lore. He employed the songs and narratives popular among the Drohobych craftsmen to explicate how the schoolboy from Nahuievychi village came to understand his surroundings and got accustomed to the city life. The writer revealed numerous common features and a significant number of variations between the folklore of Nahuievychi and Drohobych. He particularly noted the active circulation of craftsmen’s narratives, known as ‘workshop stories,’ which reflected the traditional way of life of the working class and became a unique legacy of urban culture. For example, one story recounts the tale of a master watchmaker who suffered because of his skill. Additionally, Ivan Franko focused on a particularly popular group of spiritual songs, mostly church carols known as ‘pastoral songs,’ which originated in printed hymnals. These works, richly embellished with everyday details and marked by a straightforwardness of expression while preserving significant poetic appeal, were in high demand among the townspeople of Drohobych and held leading positions in their modest and generally unpretentious repertoire. In addition to direct references to the oral texts heard in the suburbs of Drohobych in the 1860s, the writer provided a detailed description of family life, highlighting the obvious signs of predominant female element in this Halychyna town. Considering the subject area of contemporary humanities, these observations fall within the competence of cultural anthropology. Franko, as a master of literature, demonstrated not only the keen observation characteristic of a true belle-lettrist but also the ability to comprehend and explain the genesis of a complex cultural phenomenon.