MCLC: Boris Riftin in memoriam

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: James A. Flath <jflath at uwo.ca<mailto:jflath at uwo.ca>>
Subject: Boris Riftin in memoriam
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Boris Riftin in memoriam

Boris L’vovič Riftin (7. 9. 1932 – 3. 10. 2012), known to many as Li Fuqing 李福清, will be remembered as a pioneer in the study of Chinese popular literature, folklore and visual culture.

Boris Riftin began his studies at Leningrad University in 1950, and spent the summer of that year with a Dungan (Chinese Muslim) family in Kazahkstan. The family had fled China during the Qing dynasty, but in retaining their language and traditions were able to entertain their Russian guest with songs and tales of the Three Kingdoms hero Zhuge Liang. Riftin recorded these tales in Cyrillic, and on returning to Leningrad he furthered his study of Chinese and Eastern Mongol tales and epos under the guidance of the folklorist Vladimir Ya. Propp (1895-1970). [i]

After his initial visit to China in 1958 Riftin published his first monograph, Сказание о Bеликой  стене  и  проблема  жанра в  китайском фольклоре [The Tale of the Red Cliff and the Problems Concerning the Genre in Chinese Folklore] (Мoscow, 1961). He subsequently defended his doctoral thesis on the written and oral versions of the Three Kingdoms cycle, which was published in Russian as Историческая эпопея и фольклорная традиция  в  Китае. Устные  и  книжные  версии  Троецарствия [Historical Epos and Popular Tradition in China. Oral and Written Versions of Romance of the Three Kingdoms], (Мoscow, 1970), and later in Chinese as Sanguo yanyi yu minjian wenxue chuantong 三國演義與民間文學傳統 [Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Tradition of Popular Literature], (Shanghai, 1997). In the meantime Riftin continued his research on oral-derived popular stories, spending a year at Peking University (1965/66), and building the foundation for his many later works such as ‘Zhuge Liang chuanshuo chutan 諸葛亮傳説初探’ [‘Initial Research on the Zhuge Liang Legend’] in Christina Neder et al. eds. China and her Biographical Dimensions. Commemorative Essays for Helmut Martin. Wiesbaden, 2001); and in От мифа к  роману. Эволюция  изображения  персонажа  в китайской  литературе [From Myth to Novel. Evolution of a Character’s Portrayal in Chinese Literature], (Мoscow, 1979).



In the 1990s, Riftin taught for more than five years at Tsing-hua University on Taiwan, where he gained valuable contacts with Western sinologists, including the eminent scholar of Chinese storytelling Vibeke Børdahl. Riftin took part in the conferences she later organized and contributed to the resulting volumes The Eternal Storyteller: Oral Literature in Modern China (Richmond, Surrey, 1999), and The Interplay of the Oral and the Written in Chinese Popular Literature (Copenhagen, 2010).

Riftin’s work has appeared also in English and German, but he published more extensively in Chinese, including Zhongguo shenhua gushi lunji 中國神話故事論集 [Collected Discussions on Chinese Fairy Stories], (Beijing, 1987; and Taibei, 1991); Zhongguo gudian wenxue yanjiu zai Sulian 中國古典文學在蘇聯 [Research on Ancient Chinese Literature in the Soviet Union], (Beijing, 1988; and Taibei, 1991), Hanwen gu xiaoshuo lunheng 漢文古小説論衡 [Essays on Ancient Chinese Novels], (Nanjing, 1992); Li Fuqing lun Zhongguo gudian xiaoshuo 李福清論中國古典小説 [Li Fuqing (Riftin) Discusses Ancient Novels of China], Taibei, 1997), Cong shenhua dao guihua:Taiwan yuanzhumin shenhua gushi bijiao yanjiu 從神話到鬼話: 臺灣原住民神話故事比較研究 [From Fairy Stories to Ghost Stories: Comparative Research on Taiwanese Aboriginal Fairy Stories], Taibei, 1998), etc. [ii]

In the profusely illustrated Guangong chuanshuo yu Sanguo yanyi 関公傳説與三國演義 [Legends of Guangong and Romance of the Three Kingdoms], (Taibei, 1997; 1999), he indulged his interest in using folk woodblock prints as one of the key sources in the study of popular literature. These folk prints, often referred to as ‘new year pictures’ (nianhua 年畫), became his main preoccupation later in life.[iii] Riftin had been introduced to these works by another of his mentors, V. M. Alekseev (1881-1951), who had assembled a large collection of these prints in China before they fell out of production and nearly disappeared in the early 20th century. Although Alekseev never published extensively on the subject, Riftin was involved in a project that published his notes posthumously as Китайская народная картина [Chinese Folk Prints: Spiritual Life of China in Old Images], (Moscow, 1966). Having enjoyed access to these and other print collections in Russia, Riftin wouldemerge as one of the world’s leading experts in the field of popular wood-block print. He was the pivotal force in publishing, together with Wang Shucun 王樹村, and Liu Yushan 劉玉山, the rare Chinese New Year prints collected in the Soviet Union as Sulian cang Zhongguo minjian nianhua zhenpin ji 蘇聯藏中國民間年畫珍品集 [Selected Chinese Folk Prints Collected in the Soviet Union], (Beijing, 1989). He went on to collaborate with the Feng Jicai Institute at Tianjin University (天津大学冯骥才文学艺术研究院), joining in the production of the multi-volume complete edition of Chinese woodblock prints, Zhongguo muban nianhua jicheng:中國木板年畫集成 [Complete Collection of Chinese Woodblock Nianhua], and editing the volume Eluosi cangpin juan俄羅斯藏品卷 [Volume on Russian Collections], (Beijing, 2009). In the fall of 2011, at the age of 80, Boris Riftin joined an international symposium at the Feng Jicai Institute for the unveiling of this monumental work.

Many of us remember him as he was then: friendly, charismatic, incredibly vital; unparalleled in his scholarly vigor and in the intoxicating excitement of his research. He will be greatly missed.

Lucie Olivová
James Flath

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[i] Riftin’s collection of Dungan tales was later published as Дунганские народные сказки и предания (Dungan Folktales and Sayings, Moscow 1977). The Dungan tales were also published in Czech by Věna Hrdličková as Kouzelná tykev. Pohádky z Dálného východu (Magic Gourd. Folktales from the East, Prague, 1981). There also is a recent Chinese version, co-edited by Professor Hai Feng 海 峰from Xinjiang University: Donggan minjian gushi chuanshuo ji東干民間故事傳説集 (Collected Folk Stories and Legends of the Donggan, Shanghai, 2011), reviewed by Ivo Spira in Chinoperl Papers, No. 31, 2012. Riftin’s original manuscripts of the tales are now being scrutinized by Spira, of Oslo University.



[ii] A more complete account of his works on Chinese literature can be found in ‘Selected Bibliography of Works in Chinese, English and German’ (in Vibeke Børdahl, The Eternal Storyteller. Oral Literature in Modern China. Richmond: Curzon Press, 1999, p. 340-343), and in „Список научных трудов (1952-1992)”, Петербургское востоковедение [St. Petersburg Eastern Studies] 1993.3, pp. 383–393. His bibliography covering the years 1993 tо 2002 will be published in the journal Восток [East] 2012, № 6.


[iii] A more comprehensive survey of his work on wood-block prints is available in Ellen Johnston Laing ‘Boris Riftin and Chinese Popular Woodblock Prints as Sources on Traditional Chinese Theater’ (CHINOPERL Papers No. 29, 2010, 184-208).


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