Fairy Tale Genre Research Articles

W. Morris’s tradition in J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy

This article offers a comprehensive review of W. Morris influence on the epic fantasy of J.R.R. Tolkien. The purpose of the research is to reflect how Morris tradition influenced the development of Tolkiens fantastic prose - which later formed a separate subgenre of epic fantasy - and the whole fantasy genre. The objectives of the study include tracing the history of the development of fantastic element in literature - which served as a basis for the works of both authors - and finding poetological similarities and differences between W. Morris and J.R.R. Tolkien. The comparative study is based on the works of V. Gopman and K. Massey as well as on the original writings of Morris and Tolkien. The result of the study is the justification for W. Morris as the natural literary precursor of Tolkien. Based on the influence and partial borrowing of Morris imagery and motifs, Tolkin develops the theoretical foundation for the genre of magical fairy tale, which will later be called fantasy.

From the fairy tale to the epic

This work analyses how Tolkien uses elements of the fairy tale and the epic genre to write his novel The Hobbit. Published in 1937, J. R. R. Tolkien's first published novel is frequently seen as a fairy tale. In addition, by using the author's essay "On Fairy Stories" to analyze his own fiction, it is possible to argue that it has most of the characteristics he ascribes to the fairy tale genre: it takes place in a consistent secondary world, it satisfies several human desires, such as the one of glimpsing other worlds and the one of conversing with other beings; more importantly, it has a "happy ending", which is, par excellence, the essence of the genre for the author. However, a close reading of such fiction reveals that its light tone is slowly replaced by a darker one, typical of ancient narratives like the epic poem Beowulf. This research, therefore, investigates how Tolkien builds a narrative that begins with the sobriety of the fairy tale, reaches a climax characteristic of the epic, and closes with a bittersweet taste that mixes traces of both genres. To do so, I rely on Tolkien's own theories concerning such genres.

PRESENT OF TRADITIONAL TALES LIVING FORMS

The article provides an extensive analysis of the current living forms of traditional fairy tales. The question of the survival of traditional fairy tales has not been studied at all in our folklore. Besides, it is inevitable that this issue will be the focus of our fairy-tale studies with all its contradictions and complexity. It identifies a number of components that make up the process of living the fairy tale. КEY WORDS: traditional fairy tales, fiction, fairy tale genre, literary tales, figurative tales.

Prve literarne pravljice francoskega salonskega vala: hibridna žanrska zvrst

Del ideološke zapuščine romantičnega 19. stoletja je prepričanje, da naj bi pravljice odsevale motiviko ljudskih pripovedi. Literarnozgodovinska veda dokazuje, da so pravljice hibridna literarna zvrst, ki je vzniknila v okviru francoskega salonskega gibanja ob koncu 17. stoletja. Salonske pisateljice, ki so bile nosilke novega žanra, so se skupaj s Perraultom naslonile na že obstoječe literarne predloge predstavnikov renesančne novele in srednjeveškega viteškega in pastoralnega romana. Iz žanra renesančnih novel so prevzele narativni prijem okvirnih pripovedi, v katerih so opisovale salonsko okolje in pripovedne načine, na katere so nastajale nove pripovedi, ki so jih okvirile še drugače. Vsako pravljico so opremile s posvetilom in uvodom, na koncu pa še s pojasnilom, največkrat v obliki opombe, pri čemer so predstavile svoja teoretska razmišljanja in literarne vire, po katerih so se zgledovale. Iz žanra srednjeveškega viteškega in pastirskega romana so prevzele arhetipskost aristokratske dvorne kulture in neotipljivost prostora in časa, ki ga podčrtuje družbena nezaznamovanost, kar je pravljicam dalo pečat tipske statičnosti. Tem predelavam in dopolnitvam literarnih predlog zgodnejših obdobij so dodale še elemente magičnega, ki so si jih izposodile deloma iz antične mitologije in deloma iz čudežnih pripovedi, značilnih za ljudsko pripovedništvo, s poudarkom na vilah in njihovi magični moči.

Editor’s Introduction

Editor’s Introduction

Peculiarities of national cultural adaptation of Grimm's Fairy Tales when translated into Russian

This article is dedicated to the analysis of fairy tales as a special genre of children's fiction literature with unique features and a long history. In the course of this work, the author gives definitions to the key concepts; examines correlation between the literary fairly tale and folk fairy tale, evolution of fairy tale genre, namely the works of Brothers Grimm. The article the stages of establishment of fairy tales as an independent genre in the history of literature. An attempt is made to determine the genre similarities that make fairy tales comprehensible within the framework of other linguocultures. Special attention is turned to the specificities of national cultural adaptation in translation of fairy tales from German into Russia, taking into account the peculiarities of translation transformations. The conducted analysis allows concluding that children’s fairy tale literature is a reflection of the national linguistic worldview, and largely depends on the existing in the society national cultural traits, mentality and perception of the world. These facts indicate that translation and adaptation of fairy tale literature requires the translator to understand the uniqueness of worldview of the people affiliating to different cultures, as well as convey the national cultural identity and specificities of foreign perception and mentality of the representatives of various linguocultures.

Обучение младших школьников умению создавать сказки

The article reveals the content of the work on the development of creative abilities of primary schoolchildren in the Russian language lessons and literary reading in the process of creating children own texts in the genre of fairy tales. Using specific examples, we consider the methodological conditions and techniques for effectively teaching younger students how to write fairy tales, and provide examples of texts in this genre.The creative works of primary schoolchildren in the Komi Republic are presented.

Propp Revisited: A Structural Analysis of Vuk Karadžić’s Collection Serbian Folk Fairy Tales

Summary In the mid-19th century Vuk Stefanović Karadžić collected folk tales in the broader South-Slavic region and published them in a collection titled Serbian Folk Tales. Folk fairy tales make the major part of the collection. In this paper, the authors determine the folk fairy tale structure according to the methodology proposed by Vladimir Propp in the Morphology of the Folktale. The aim of the paper is to investigate, whether these fairy tales can be fully described using Propp’s Morphology. Propp’s model of the meta-folk fairy tale was developed inductively based on a rich, comprehensive, yet limited, corpus of Russian folk fairy tales, which opens up space for further testing of the proposed model. The hypothesis was set that the analyzed folk fairy tales completely conform to the plot structure of the meta-folk fairy tale with a maximum of 31 functions as proposed by Propp. The hypothesis is grounded in: 1. the time when the folktales were collected (mid-19th century, the same time as the Russian collection analyzed by Propp) and 2. the similarity of the South Slavic peoples with the peoples of the Slavic East. However, after categorial and structural analyses of the corpus were performed, it was clear that the hypothesis could not be accepted in its entirety. In the analyzed folk fairy tales, no new functions were found as compared to the 31 functions identified by Propp, but some of these functions were altered as compared to those to be expected in folk tales. This alteration occurred not only regarding the changed order of functions, assimilation and cases of dual morphological meanings of functions, but also in terms of the fantastic category of the marvelous, which is the core feature of the fairy tale genre, whose nature was changed. The study identified the rationalization of some magical motifs, which partially mitigates the quality of the miraculous in the fairy tale and found out that, in some cases, the marvelous was mitigated and “shifted” towards the (merely) fantastic. This was achieved by introducing oniric elements. One of the important conclusions of our study of the fairy tale is that these fairy tales, although labeled as folk tales, feature significant authorial intervention.

The Estrangement Effect in Three Holocaust Narratives: Defamiliarising Victims, Perpetrators and the Fairy-Tale Genre

Holocaust literature has often been described as producing disruption and estrangement. As the Holocaust challenges traditional forms of expression, writers have used alternative techniques, sometimes blurring genres and registers. This is the case with Holocaust narratives that rewrite fairy tales or use fairy-tale motifs and structures: they produce an estrangement effect in that their intertexts are defamiliarised as a strategy for opening up the possibilities of representation. This article focuses on three works of this kind, by authors Lisa Goldstein, Louise Murphy and Rachel Seiffert. Specifically, it considers how they constitute an alternative to the sanctioned metanarrative of the Holocaust, which is victim centred and facilitates the reader’s empathy. Indeed, the works discussed here complicate the categories of victim and perpetrator, thus problematising our engagement with the characters in a way that furthers the abovementioned estrangement effect. Attention is paid to the role played by secrecy in each narrative, as I contend that it is the secret and its effects in the diegesis that keep the characters at a distance, “estranged” from the reader. This distance precludes easy identification and invites critical discussion on the limitations of familiar categories and binaries, such as the victim/victimiser opposition and the public/secret dichotomy.

Обучение младших школьников умению создавать сказки

The article reveals the content of the work on the development of creative abilities of primary schoolchildren in the Russian language lessons and literary reading in the process of creating children own texts in the genre of fairy tales. Using specific examples, we consider the methodological conditions and techniques for effectively teaching younger students how to write fairy tales, and provide examples of texts in this genre.The creative works of primary schoolchildren in the Komi Republic are presented.

Компаративный анализ художественной специфики сказок о животных (на материале британских и русских сказок)

The purpose of the study is to provide an insight into artistic originality of the British and Russian animalistic fairy-tales. Specificities of this type of fairy-tales are reflected in composition techniques, original plots and images, use of particular linguistic means. Scientific novelty of the research lies in conducting a comparative analysis of the animalistic fairy-tale genre within two folklore traditions. It has been found that composition of the British and Russian animalistic fairy-tales is based on repetition, which helps to convey the main idea of a folklore work. Plots of the British fairy-tales deal with various moral aspects of life, reflect nationally accepted notions of moral and ethical standards and principles. The Russian animalistic fairy-tales, apart from addressing didactic problems, highlight social issues, especially those related to unfair legal proceedings.

Why Wicked Never Wins: An Examination of the Early Origins of the Evil Female Villain of the Fairy Tale Narrative

Why Wicked Never Wins: An Examination of the Early Origins of the Evil Female Villain of the Fairy Tale Narrative

The problems of Ukrainian studies of fairy tales in the paradigm of research

Studying the folk epic genres of the epic fantasy for two centuries was a discursive expression of the positions of representatives of different folkloric schools. Starting in the 19th century with commentary collections, the fairy tale genre has gained tremendous scope for study in synchrony and diachrony, affecting a wide range of tangible sciences: philosophy, history, sociology, archeology, anthropology, biology, geography, cultural studies, psychology, linguistics and dialectology. Encouraged by the rich folk-poetic heritage and scientific research of the preceding scientists of the nineteenth century and folklorists of the twentieth century prepared the ground for a deep exploration of the fairy tales. It has become a cultural phenomenon, the object of studies and researches in various fields of knowledge (mostly humanitarian), natural sciences and exact (mathematical) sciences. The nature of the fairy tale, in its very basics, is philosophical: it is wise, effective (fairytale therapy), explains many phenomena of being in a society. According to comparativists, a fairy tale is a philosophy of a certain ethnos in verbal and non-verbal (semiotic, text) form. The article is deals with evaluation of the discourses in the Ukrainian fairylore concerning various aspects of the studying of folk tales: putting texts on paper, studying different folkloristic schools, the relationship of the storyteller’s personality with his social role, etc. Attention is drawn to the dynamics of fairylore as a separate branch of science, with a sufficiently well-developed apparatus for studying folk epics. The theoretical concepts are illustrated with practical references to sources, native and foreign scientists, and scientific centers that are authoritative in various professional discourses on the study of fairytale narrative. Conclusions have been made about the need for further comprehensive study of folk tales, production of generalizing works on Ukrainian fairylore, separate analytical monographs on history, theory and practice of this subject. The analyzed discourses around the folk tale have become a positive factor in the dynamics of Ukrainian fairytale in general.

“LITERARY TALES” BY L. S. PETRUSHEVSKAYA IN THE CONTEXT OF THE MODERN LITERARY PROCESS

The article is devoted to “Literary Tale” by Lyudmila Petrushevskaya in the context of modern literary process. For this reason, two aspects were analyzed: the main characteristics and phenomena of contemporary literature of the era of postcolonialism and postmodernism, and the individual manner of mastering and transforming Lyudmila Petrushevskaya’s fairy tale, related to these phenomena. In the article analyzed scientific sources and found that literary studies and, to a lesser extent, the linguistic and stylistic, dramatic, prose and tale specificity of Lyudmila Petrushevskaya’s creativity have repeatedly been the subject of study by a number of domestic and foreign scholars. Scientists explored L. Petrushevskaya’s tales in particular in comparative, compositional, figurative, cognitive (metalinguistic), anthroponymic aspects. Researchers analyzed connection with folklore, literary fairy tale of other authors, modern trends of literature, postmodern trends in art. Also we found that the common approach is the formal choice of fairy tales as objects of study: by period, by collection, by cycle. However, the preliminary analysis revealed that there are almost none comprehensive studies of the formation of the literary fairy tale genre in the writer’s work. Methods. Following methods are used in the research: analysis of secondary sources (literary studies), structural analysis, linguistic and stylistic analysis of expressive means, elements of phenomenological, deterministic (causes and effect) and comparative analysis. Results. We proved that the choice of the fairy tale genre as a frame (a common genre creation of fairy tale characters) by modern writers and, in particular, by L. Petrushevskaya fully responds to the needs of readers. Readers consume a “literary product” as a collage, a new combination of proven and even archetypal narratives, against which the problems of the modern urban philistine world are particularly striking. Postmodern features are present in the author’s works in concentrated form, but they have evolved, in comparison with the first dramatic works of the author, towards to universality and timelessness (by interpenetration of archaic and innovative realities). These factors can explain the great popularity of the author’s tales. Conclusions. We found that the contemporary literary fairy tale of Lyudmila Petrushevskaya is created on the basis of: a) typical archetypal narrative structures; b) the author’s own sensual and cognitive experience; c) individual existential treatment by the writer of all available cultural experience in the context of the trends of postmodernism. The fairy tale can no longer be an isolated system and undergoes constant transformations, both at writing and at perception. Based on the aforesaid, we found that the author’s fairy tale of Lyudmila Petrushevskaya has a number of features related to contemporary literary trends, namely: a) author’s poetry based on the play; b) the presence of the author’s image and the inability to fully describe the artistic picture and the idea of her work; c) quest plot’s type and new binary categories that drive conflict; d) synthetics and heterogeneity of genre-forming features; e) intertextuality and allusion; f) transformation of typical fairytale structures; g) changes in time dimension; h) modernization of magical objects and magical transformations.

СТРУКТУРНО-СЕМАНТИЧЕСКАЯ ТИПОЛОГИЯ МЕТАМОРФОЗНО-ОРНИТОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО СЮЖЕТА ВОСТОЧНОСЛАВЯНСКОЙ СКАЗКИ (СУС 425М)

In Russian research on fairy tales, there are two approaches to the tale of the wife of the water snake. One approach (that of E.A. Kostyukhin) denies that such plot type belongs to the fairy-tale genre and relates it to the folk novella. Another one (that of G.I. Kabakova) focuses on the etiologic finale, perceiving it as an alternative to compensating the fairy tale shortcoming. The author applied the structuralist method in the analysing of fairy tales about wife of a water snake. As a result, a typology of the plot type 425M was created. He managed to identify its invariant scheme, as well as describe all digressions from it (variations and variants). Characteristic of the 425M plot invariant is the complicated initial part, in which the author suggests to single out a block of zero, or imaginary, shortcoming, and a block of true, actual shortcoming. The structural-semiotic plot scheme correlates with the motivational scheme proposed by G. Kabakova, but enhances it with an emphasis in inversion of the basic semantic opposition of its own, human and alien, non-human, which makes it possible to explain why the final transformation becomes the compensation for the shortcoming. The final transformation of the heroine (and / or her children) into birds and reptiles is considered to be an example of mythological mediation. The heroine eliminates the shortcoming with an action asymmetrically opposite to the action of the antagonist action, namely, with the transformation, due to which a new opposition “cuckoo – water snake” is formed, which removes the former – “insider – outsider”. The daughter triumphs over her mother without causing the latter direct harm, and is reunited with her husband.

The typology of backstory inter-character conflicts as a core action in the plot

Abstract Using material from classic fairy tales, the author defines three fundamental types of conflict between literary characters in the text model of the fairy-tale world: overt, covert and potential. Their attributes are evidenced and demonstrated via specific texts and their universal (transcultural) analogues are shown in the archnarratives, which go beyond the classic fairy tale genre. At the end of the interpretation, the author proposes a (hypo)thesis that the presented typology could be a starting point for creating a backstory of conflicts as an action-formative factor also in other art genres, and that it can be used as a source for a much broader and modern (and current in contemporary art) diapason of “dramatic” storylines.

СКАЗОЧНОСТЬ ФЭНТЕЗИ: СПЕЦИФИКА СООТНОШЕНИЯ ЖАНРОВЫХ ЭЛЕМЕНТОВ

The article provides a summarized characteristics of one of the most popular genres at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries - a fantasy. The paper aims to describe the specificity of the fantasy genre and to identify correlation of fantasy and fairy tale genres. The analysis of the fantasy genre origin allows revealing its specificity and interrelation with the fairy tale genre. Several classifications of the fantasy genre are presented. Similarities and differences between a fantasy and a fairy tale are identified. The conclusion is made that fantasy is a complicated genre structure that only partially incorporates genre features of a fairy tale, and fabulousness of fantasy remains a debatable issue.

Bir Peri Masalı Örneği: Ludwig Tieck’in Elfler Adlı Masalı Üzerine Bir İnceleme

İlk kez 14. yüzyılda görülmeye başlayan peri masalları; içerisinde gizemi, büyüyü ve olağanüstüyü barındıran bir yazın anlayışına karşılık gelir. Gizem, insanoğlunda merak duygusunu tetikleyen ve bu bağlamda ilgi uyandıran başlıca olgulardan biridir. Peri masalı türü, içinde yaşanılan dünyanın gerçekliğe dayalı döngüsü içerisinde olağanüstüyü deneyimlemeye, gerçek yaşam düzleminin içerisine yerleştirilen bu olağanüstü deneyimlerden anlamlar çıkarmaya ve bu anlamlar doğrultusunda gizemin sır perdesini aralamaya hizmet eder. Türün görülmeye başlanmasından kısa bir süre sonra çok sayıda eserler verilmesinin ve bu denli ilgi görmesinin asıl sebebi de budur. İnsanoğlunun gizem karşısındaki ilgisi, Charles Perrault, Grimm Kardeşler ve Hans Christian Andersen gibi peri masalı yazarlarının popülarite kazanmasını sağlar. Her üç yazarın peri masalı (fairy tales) türündeki eserlerinin birçoğu (Kırmızı Başlıklı Kız, Uyuyan Güzel, Külkedisi, Pamuk Prenses v.b) ilk kez yayımlandığı yıldan günümüze değin hemen her çocuğun hayatında önemli ölçüde yer alır. Çocuklukta başlayan bu serüven hayat boyu sürer ve peri masalları artık yetişkinliğe erişmiş olan okurun ilgisini çekmeye devam eder. Çalışmada, peri masalı türü ekseninde Alman Romantik Dönemi yazarı Ludwig Tieck’in Elfler adlı masalı ele alınacak ve masal, peri masalı türünde sıklıkla yer alan öğeler ve karakterler bağlamında incelenecektir. Ayrıca çalışmada, kuramcıların peri masalı hakkındaki verileri esas alınacak ve masal, metin odaklı yöntem kullanılarak çözümlenecektir.

Engaging English Learners Through Literature, Fairy Tales, and Drama

Use of literature in the English language classroom deepens student engagement, and fairy tales add magic to the mix. This article details the benefits of engaging English learners in literature and fairy tales, and explores how drama can be enlisted to further mine their riches. An educator’s case studies of language teaching through literature and drama projects are described, and the research question driving them highlighted: What is the impact of dramatizing literature on students’ engagement in novels and second language acquisition? Research on the effects of literature, drama, and the fairy tale genre on second language education is reviewed. Reading and acting out literature and fairy tales hones all four language skills while also enhancing the Seven Cs life skills: communication, creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, commitment, compromise, and confidence. Adding the frame of project-based learning to the instructional strengths of literature and drama forms a strong pedagogical triangle for second language learning. Fairy tales are easily enacted. English educators and learners can download free fairy tale scripts and spice them with creative twists of their own creation or adapted from film and cartoon versions. Providing maximum student engagement, tales can be portrayed with minimum preparation. Using a few simple props and a short script, English learners can dramatize The Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, or Snow White in class with little practice. Engagement increases when teams act out tales on stage for an audience of family, friends, classmates, and educators. In fairy tale enactment projects, whether in class or on stage, students apply their multiple intelligences when choosing team roles: script-writing, acting, backstage, costumes, make-up, sound and lights, reporter, advertising, usher, writer’s corner, or stage managing. The article concludes with a list of engaging language activities for use with fairy tales, and a summary of the benefits of fairy tale enactments for English learners.

MULTICULTURAL SPACE: THE STUDY OF KAZAKHSTAN FOLKLORE

This article is written in the framework of modern linguistic trends and is devoted to the analysis of theoretical and practical peculiarities and difficulties in translating the folklore of over a hundred ethnicities living in Kazakhstan (on the basis of Kazakh, Russian, Tatar, Ukrainian, Polish, Ingush, Armenian and German tales). The main objective is to identify and analyze the ways of translating national cultural peculiarities in folk tales of the ethnicities of Kazakhstan into English. The relevance of this study is determined by the growing interest in folklore, the identification of national and cultural specifics within the modern anthropological paradigm, disclose us the features of linguocognitive content, connection and correlation with the objective world and culture of the ethnos, with the character and national and cultural specifics of the linguistic picture of the world. The article deals with the study of language and culture, which gives possibility to study the link of the language and the language consciousness among representatives of different ethnic groups. The genre of fairy tales in the era of globalization, the spread of mass culture, universal modernization preserves the national and cultural worldview and cultural values ​​of the people. The scientific novelty of this study is displayed through the analysis of the practical experience of translating fairy tales of the Kazakhstani ethnicities into English, which is based on certain theoretical provisions for the translation of the folklore text. The article reveals the results of the ethnic folklore translation into English. The research priority of this study is conceptology, which studies current issues of modern reality, problems of translation, reflecting specific requirements for translating folklore.