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A “wild man” from the island of Soqotra: a new text in its comparative setting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2023

Anastasia Belozerova Open the ORCID record for Anastasia Belozerova [Opens in a new window] ,
Anna Kharitonova Open the ORCID record for Anna Kharitonova [Opens in a new window]  and
Ahmad ‘Isa al-Da‘arhi
Anastasia Belozerova*
Affiliation:
HSE University, Moscow, Russia
Anna Kharitonova
Affiliation:
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg, Russia
Ahmad ‘Isa al-Da‘arhi
Affiliation:
Independent scholar
*
Corresponding author: Anastasia Belozerova; Email: unpindownable@gmail.com
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Abstract

The article presents an annotated edition of a newly recorded Soqotri text about a wild man. The authors attempt to locate the story within a wide range of “wild/feral” men narratives. The protagonist of the Soqotri story displays a set of features cross-culturally ascribed to wild men, and the narrative pattern of the account demonstrates a sequence of plot elements and motifs characteristic of this tale-type. The article includes a comparison of the Soqotri tale to the Enkidu narrative known from the Akkadian Epic of Gilgameš. Although both focus on the contact between human society and a wild outsider, the two stories develop the subject differently: while Enkidu loses his wild traits and becomes “civilized”, the Soqotri hero dies unable either to join the human community or to preserve his wild nature once people have interfered with his life.

Keywords

Soqotriwild manfolklore of Soqotrafolklore motifsModern South ArabianEnkidu
Type
Article
Information
Bulletin of SOAS , Volume 86 , Issue 3 , October 2023 , pp. 561 - 580
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London

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