Anna Mikhaylovna Astakhova (russian: Анна Михайловна Астахова, – 30 April 1971) was a Soviet scholar notable for her studies of the

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

(primarily

bylina A ( rus, были́на, p=bɨˈlʲinə; pl. ) is an Old Russian oral epic poem. Byliny narratives are loosely based on historical fact, but greatly embellished with fantasy or hyperbole. The word derives from the past tense of the verb '' ...

s) of the Russian North. Astakhova was born in

Kronstadt Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for "crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of ...

, close to

Saint-Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, in 1886, and graduated from the Women Pedagogical Institute in 1908. Until 1931, she worked as a schoolteacher, from 1931 as a researcher at the

Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography The Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography or N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (russian: Институт этнологии и антропологии им. Н.Н. Миклухо-Маклая; abbreviated as ИЭА ...

. Astakhova then worked as a researcher at the Institute of Russian Literature in Leningrad between 1935 and 1965. She earned the degree of a

Doktor nauk Doctor of Sciences ( rus, доктор наук, p=ˈdoktər nɐˈuk, abbreviated д-р наук or д. н.; uk, доктор наук; bg, доктор на науките; be, доктар навук) is a higher doctoral degree in the Russi ...

(

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

) in 1945. Astakhova was a professor at the Pokrovsky Pedagogical Institute in Leningrad (now Saint-Petersburg) between 1945 and 1950. Anna Astakhova died in Leningrad in 1971. Between 1921 and 1935 and then in 1940s and 1950s, Astakhova and her students organized and performed a number of field studies on the White Sea coast, and also in the river basins of the

Pinega Pinega (russian: Пинега) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a settlement), formerly a town, in Pinezhsky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Pinega River (hence the name). It se ...

, the Mezen, and the

Pechora Pechora (russian: Печо́ра; kv, Печӧра, ''Pećöra'') is a town in the Komi Republic, Russia, located on the Pechora River, west of and near the northern Ural Mountains. The area of the town is . Population: History Pechora wa ...

. The goal of these expeditions was to write down the folklore samples such as bylinas. She published academic editions of bylinas, put forward a theory of the development of the genre, and classified the bylinas into types. She also was the first scholar to present a literary analysis of the Northern folklore, in particular, by Marfa Kryukova.

Selected works

* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Astakhova, Anna 1886 births 1971 deaths People from Kronstadt People from Petergofsky Uyezd Soviet folklorists Soviet educators Academic staff of Herzen University