WHY THE LESHY HAS THE GOAT’S FEET: TRACES OF ANTIQUITY IN THE TREATMENT OF THE FOLKLORE CHARACTERS IN THE RUSSIAN LITERATURE OF THE LATE 18TH — EARLY 19TH CENTURY

The article deals with the influence of the Antiquity reminiscences on the Russian literary demonology of the late 18th — early 19th century, using the leshy stories as the case study. Because of the general cultural orientation towards the mythological system of the Antiquity, the Slavic leshy was associated with the antique satyr and looked like one in the works of art. The late 18th century interest in the national mythology gave rise to ethnographic research, as well as to the composition of the lexicons of Slavic superstitions, describing the characters of the Russian folklore. Still, in these lexicons the Slavic demons tended to retain the features of their ancient prototypes: the leshys had strong resemblance to satyrs, the mermaids to nymphs. Such reminiscences introduced tensions to the representations of the demonological characters, that were later reflected in the Russian literature.