Humanities & Social Sciences 7 (2015 8) 1427-1435 ~ ~ ~ УДК 821 5121 Versions of the “Man – Bear Combat” Plot in the Works of Siberian Writers Natalia A. Nepomniashchikh* Institute of Philology of SB RAS 8 Nikolaev Str., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia Received 21.01.2015, received in revised form 20.02.2015, accepted 14.03.2015 Some typical recurrent plots such as a plot of human – bear interaction are characteristic to the literature of the Native Siberians. <...> This is due both to the circumstances of life in the taiga where it is diffi cult to avoid a meeting with that animal and to the folklore traditions. <...> Many Siberian peoples worshipped the bear; the bear was considered to be the human’s ancestor. <...> The Mansi, Khanty, Nanai, Nivkh, Tofalar, Even, and Evenki peoples celebrated the special bear festival. <...> The fact that it is common for the people belonging to different language groups proves the similarity in their way of living determined by the similar geographic factors. <...> The fi rst version is typical of V. Sangi’s writings. <...> G. Keptuke’s book gives another version of the plot. <...> A character is maimed in a combat because of his conceit and violation of an ancient custom. <...> Keywords: plot, motif, a combat between a man and a bear, Nivkh literature, Evenki literature. <...> The article is fi nancially supported by the Russian State Scientifi c Fund, Project № 14-14 54001 “Complexes of plots and motives in the literatures of the Native Siberians”. <...> In mythology and folklore of the peoples of Siberia the bear has traditionally been one of the main characters. <...> Study of the bear cult is refl ected in numerous works of historians, folklorists and anthropologists (Rassadin, 2013; Kerner, 2003; Sokolova, 2002; Burykin 2001, Vasilevich, 1971). <...> All rights reserved * Corresponding author E-mail address: alkat@ngs.ru # 1427 # Siberian peoples’ literature, including plots of the interaction between a man and a bear, which is probably the most common plot of this literature. <...> The plot of the combat between a man fi ght and a bear is one of the examples of this plot. <...> This can also be explained by the realities of life, in the forest it is diffi cult to avoid a meeting with this beast, and the meeting always becomes memorial, constantly repeated, in more <...>