Михаил Арнаудов и българският фолклор
Mihail Arnaoudov and Bulgarian Folklore

Summary/Abstract: This article is devoted to the work of Prof. Mihail Arnaoudov, the great Bulgarian scholar, literary historian and folklorist, who died on 18 February, 1978, when he was almost one hundred years old (he was born on October 5, 1878). Arnaoudov belongs to the group of Bulgarian scholars who laid the foundations of Bulgarian folklore on a sound basis in the first decades after the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman bondage. The author maps out the formation of Arnaoudov's scholarly interests in folklore, stressing the merit of his teacher, Prof. Ivan D. Shishmanov, and considers his principal contributions in the sphere of folklore. His works are divided into eight groups: 1) general questions of folklore; 2) history of Bulgarian folklore; 3) researches on folk-songs; 4) researches on the folk ballad; 5) the folk story; 6) short genres; 7) researches on folk rituals and customs; 8) collecting and publishing folkloric works. Mihail Arnaoudov was a scholar of great culture and wide scientific interests. Gifted with an unusual capacity for work, his writings form in themselves a whole library. They can be called an encyclopaedia of Bulgarian folklore. His researches on the story, the ballad and folk rituals and customs are particularly valuable. Arnaoudov was dealing with the problems of folklore to the last days of his life. In 1976 and 1977 two large volumes of his anthology of Bulgarian folklore appeared; the third volume is to appear in 1978. This is very serious edition, accompanied by a detailed commentary.

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