2.2 The study of American folklore

The study of American folklore is still a relatively young and flexible academic discipline, either in its own boundaries or as applied to outside subjects [9, p 44].

American scientists who turned to issues of systematization of Indian folklore, leading him in the system of folklore U.S. special and rather isolated place. The problem is not only in scale and a strongly pronounced originality of national and poetic creativity of Indians of North America: some of its «isolation» is considerably connected with traditions of its perception in the USA. The attitude of the euroamericans to oral national creativity of Indians is difficult to separate from the fate of of all culture of natives, which has influenced the specific historical and political factors connected with methods of development of the North American continent. Steady representation that American Indian, native there is no national-American, but something alien to America in the sense of prospects for social development, prevailed in American society for centuries [11, p.86].

Thus, it is necessary to remember a sharpness of a problem of American Indian heritage of the USA, which emerged at the dawn of the American state and the American culture, when the native population of North America was a "natural" political antagonist of languages of newcomers from Europe. Historical dispute on the ground possession, being solved every possible violent methods, up to genocide, found reflection and in "conflict" of esthetic values.

In process of continent development by Europeans, in process of deepening of their contacts to American Indian tribes the overall picture of American Indian folklore little by little cleared up. However, a very long time, many of the crucial elements of its components were not considered - in fact, until the last quarter of the XIX century [16, p.39].

Some genres of American Indian folklore were perceived by Anglo-Americans more readily, causing analogies to the European cultural experience [7, p.65]. So. the dominant place in American science, turned to the study of Indian folklore, long since was occupied by the myth in variety of its stadial modifications, ethnic and genre types. The tradition goes back to G. R. Skulkrafta who not only collected for the first time narrative folklore of one tribe, but also described a mythological cycle about Manabozo; the American anthropology showed subsequently classical models of research of American Indian myths and was engaged in active development of the theoretical aspects connected with myths.

Meaning of myth as a priority subject of study in anthropology remains in anthropology USA today. However, at the present time in his study of the observed one-sidedness. In the second half of the XX century when under the influence of historical circumstances interest to the myth revived on a new basis, studying of the myth appeared in the power of various formalistic schools. The myth is perceived today by scientists, as well as "popularizers" like J. Rothenberg as a system of formally organized elements of the text; it came down to find a variety of formulas, in accordance with the methodology of the school Perry-Lord. Scientists are interested primarily with recording and interpreting the text.

What humanists and social scientists share when they study folklore is an interest in finding out how, why, and which traditional cultural mentifacts, sociofacts, and artifacts develop, vary, and are passed on. From observations and records of these materials they hope to reconstruct something of the unrecorded intellectual life of people of the past and present [7, p.102]. The findings of such folklore research are applicable to many fields. Some literary scholars are interested, for instance, in the folk roots of epic and other narrative poetry and in the stylistic or thematic use of folklore in literature. Students of the fine arts may similarly consider the background of their subjects in folk music and folk art. Historians find that oral traditions, although seldom factually accurate, furnish insights into grass-roots attitudes toward historical events. Psychologists have long held that folklore, in common with dreams and other manifestations of fantasy, contains clues to the subconscious. Sociologists may study folklore (especially protest lore) along with other data on group life and behavior. While such applications of folklore study to other fields (such as the natural sciences) are still in an early stage, other and new applications (such as studying the efficacy of folk medicine) are also emerging. In fact, probably every field of study involving people and their works will in some way eventually make use of evidence from folklore as folklorists continue to refine and publicize their work. And the unified (or holistic) approach of recent folklore research holds even more promise for the application of findings to other fields [1, p.280].