Russian skazki

[William Ryan]

I think many folklorists will regret Robert's (or his publisher's) 
decision to mix folk tales with literary tales, and I would regret it 
even more if mixture were to be muddied further by the inclusion of the 
Bruce stories. Surely the legends about Bruce and other historical 
persons and events cannot be classified as skazki? They are more 
appropriately called 'legendy' by Baranov in his 1920's collection 
(reprinted as Moskovskie legendy, M., 1993), and since Baranov published 
them from memory their status is a bit dubious anyway. Two strange books 
on Bruce appeared in 2003 and fostered even more legends - see my review 
in Kritika, 6,1, 2005.

Incidentally Bruce is usually called James in the English literature 
about him (Iakov = James and Jacob - both are derived from Latin 
Jacobus) - my own notes (can't find the source at the moment - sorry) 
say that he was christened James, and certainly English ownership 
inscriptions in some of his books read 'James Bruce'.

I would also have some doubt about calling Bruce an alchemist - this 
claim has been made elsewhere and seems to be based mainly, if not 
entirely, on the number of alchemical books in his large library. In 
fact the number of medical books in his library was much larger, but he 
did not practice medicine, although the group of books devoted to the 
cure of gout may indicate a personal interest. I hope no obituarist ever 
draws similar conclusions from the number of books on magic in my library!

Will Ryan

On 11/08/2010 11:38, Muireann Maguire wrote:
> Dear Robert,
>
> Are you including any stories about Iakov Brius' (Jacob Bruce), the 
> real-life general/alchemist/astronomer, who enjoyed a folkloric 
> afterlife as all of the above and as a black magician as well? When I 
> was researching him earlier this year, I came across some startlingly 
> vivid folk tales about Brius' infamous magical exploits. Apparently 
> ordinary people in Moscow and the peasants on Brius' estate continued 
> to tell tall tales about him well into the twentieth century. I am 
> happy to look up the sources if you are interested.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Muireann
>
> Dr Muireann Maguire
> Jesus College
> Cambridge
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