MOTIFS OF THE WISDOM LITERATURE IN THE APHORISMS BY KOZMA PRUTKOV

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 socalled 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.