A. A. Smirnov and the Christian point in Old Irish narrative tradition: a case of "nativism" in Early Russian Celtic Studies?

Abstract

The article is devoted to the concepts contributed by Alexander Smirnov about the Irish Church and the role of Christian culture to the Old Irish narrative tradition in general. Archival records shows that so-called "Christian element" was entirely accepted by him and was emphasized in an initially neutral formula; later, however, passages about the ‘undoubted Christian influence’ related to some motifs were replaced by such markers as "late interpolations" or "artificial insertions". The turn from a comprehensive approach to an intensive search for the archaic "Celtic basis" has affected all aspects of Smirnov’s discourse: from the interpretation of particular motifs to the characteristics of Christianization and Irish Church organization in general. Due to these observations, we suppose to depict such Smirnov’s conceptions as the truly ‘nativist’ position.

The author gives special gratitude to the National Library of Russia, the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences for an opportunity to work and consult with their founds and record series.