Skaz

Skaz is a special form of narration that imitates the oral, spontaneous speech of a narrator from among the common people, reproducing his dialect, intonation, vocabulary, syntax, worldview, and assessments, as a result of which the narrator's voice differs markedly from the literary language of the author. Skaz creates the illusion of a living, immediate telling, brings the reader closer to the folk milieu, and lends the narration coloring and authenticity. The narrator in skaz is a stylized speaker-character, often naive or witty, whose perception of the world mediates the depiction. In Ukrainian literature brilliant examples of the skaz manner were given by the prose of Marko Vovchok (Folk Tales), where the narration is conducted in the name of simple people, and by the humorous 'smiles' of Ostap Vyshnia with their easy folk intonation. Skaz as a stylization of folk speech is an important means of characterization and of expressing the folk worldview, enriching the narrative palette of imaginative prose.