@ARTICLE{Пигин_Александр_Toward_2021,
 author={Пигин, Александр},
 volume={vol. LXX},
 number={No 2},
 pages={299-315},
 journal={Slavia Orientalis},
 howpublished={online},
 year={2021},
 publisher={Komitet Słowianoznawstwa PAN},
 abstract={In the Russian handwritten Tale of the Boastful Scholar, two themes are developed: the limits of human comprehension of book wisdom and the dependence of the posthumous fate of a monk on the time and circumstances of his tonsure. The Tale was first studied by V.I. Malyshev (1964), who published the only copy known to him; he concluded that the Tale was created by Russian Old Believers in the XVIII century. This article analyzes the previously unknown copies of the Tale, allowing us to revise Malyshev’s perspective. Based on the eight copies of the Tale from the early XVII-XX centuries, two editions were distinguished. One of them has a monastic origin, and its earliest copy from the beginning of the XVII century was included in the collection of instructions for newly tonsured monks titled Starchestvo. Another edition was created by an Old Believer scholar at the turn of XVIII-XIX centuries. The earlier edition is a didactic parable about the futility of human efforts to fully comprehend book knowledge. The second edition is a satirical story about the confrontation between two scribes – a true sage and a fake one. The opposition of true and false book knowledge in this edition could be perceived by Old Believer readers in the context of the church schism of the XVII century and the disputes about the correction of religious books. Another difference between the copies of the Tale is the way the problem of tonsuring a person facing death is discussed – an issue quite relevant for the Old Russian society. The episode of the Tale featuring a blue tit trying to drink off the sea is indicative of the author’s intent to combine the traditions of book narration and folklore in his work. The article contains also the text of the earliest copy of the Tale found in the Starchestvo collection from the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.},
 type={Artykuły / Articles},
 title={Toward the Study of the Tale of the Boastful Scholar},
 URL={http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/120413/2021-02-SOR-02-Pigin.pdf},
 doi={10.24425/slo.2021.137511},
 keywords={Russian tales, parables, book wisdom, monastic tonsure, eschatology},
}