Markov, Aleksei
Markov, Aleksei Vladimirovich
Born May 20, (June 1), 1877, in Moscow; died Aug. 31, 1917, in Tbilisi. Russian folklorist.
Markov graduated from the historical and philological faculty of Moscow University in 1900. He won renown for his collection White Sea Byliny (White Sea Epic Folk Songs), published in 1901. Markov revealed his democratic aspirations in his studies The Poetry of Novgorod the Great and Its Vestiges in Northern Russia (1909) and A Survey of the Works of V. F. Miller on Folklore (1916). He favored the historico-sociological school in folkloristics (the article “On the Question of the Method of Investigating Byliny,” 1907). Nonetheless, Markov could not overcome the essential shortcomings of the historical school.