Historical roots of the fairy tale. Read online "the historical roots of a fairy tale"
Chapter I. BACKGROUND 113
I. Main question. 113 2.3 the meaning of the premises. 113 3. Identification of fairy tales. 114 4. A fairy tale as a phenomenon of a superstructural nature. 116 5.Fairy tale and social institutions of the past.118 6.Fairy tale and ritual.119 7.Direct relationship between fairy tale and ritual. 120 8. Rethinking the ritual with a fairy tale. 120 9. Conversion of the rite. 121 10. Fairy tale and myth. 123 11. Fairy tale and primitive thinking. 127 12.Genetics and history. 128 13.Method and material. 129 14.Fairy tale and post-fairy tale formations. 130 15.Prospects.130
Chapter II. TIE 132
I. Children in prison 132 1. Absence. 132 2.3 restrictions associated with absence.133 3. Frazer on the isolation of kings.133 4. Isolation of royal children in a fairy tale.134 5. The imprisonment of the girl.136 6. Motivation for the conclusion. 138 7.Results.140
II.Trouble and opposition 141 8.Trouble.141 9.Equipping the hero for the journey. 142
Chapter III. MYSTERIOUS FOREST 146
1. Further composition of the tale. It is worth saying - getting a magic remedy. 146 2.Types of yati. 147 3. Rite of Initiation. 147 4. Forest. 151 5. Hut on Chicken Legs. 152 6.Fu, fu, fu.158 7.Drinking and feeding.160 8.Bone leg.163 9.Blindness of the yaga.165 10.Mistress of the forest. 168 11.
It is worth noting that the main tasks of yaga. 172 12. Sleep test.173 13. Children expelled and taken into the forest.175 14. Kidnapped children.178 15. Sale.178 16. Bila-bila.180 17. Madness.182 18. Severed finger. 183 19.3 signs of death. 184 20. Temporary death. 185 21.Chopped and revived. 186 22. Yagi oven. 190 23. Tricky science. 194 24. Magic gift. 197 25. Yaga - mother-in-law. 198 26. Travesty.199 27.3 conclusion.202
Chapter IV. BIG HOUSE 203
I. Forest Brotherhood 203 1. House in the forest. 203 2. It is important to know that there is a big house and a small hut. 207 Z. A laid table. 208 4. Brothers. 208 5. Hunters. 209 6. Robbers. 209 7. Distribution of responsibilities .210 8. "Sister".211 9.Birth of a child.215 10.Beauty in the coffin.216 11.Cupid and Psyche.219 12.Wife at her husband's wedding.221 13.Uncleaner.223 14.Dunno.225 15.Bald and covered with a cover.226 16.Husband at his wife’s wedding.228 17.3prohibition of boasting.229 18.3forbidden closet.230 19.3conclusion.234
II. Afterlife donors 235 20. Deceased father.235 21. Deceased mother.239 22. Grateful dead.239 23. Death's head.240 24.3 conclusion.241
III. Donors-helpers 243 25. Grateful animals. 243 26. Copper Forehead. 246 27. Ransomed captives, debtors, etc. 252
Chapter V. MAGICAL GIFTS 253
I.Magic assistant 253 1.Helpers.253 2.Transformed hero.254 Z.Eagle.254 4.Winged horse.257 5.Nursing the horse.258 6.Grave horse.259 7.Rejected and exchanged horse.260 8.Horse in the basement.261 9.Suit of the horse.262 10.Fiery nature of the horse.263 11.Horse and stars.266 12.Horse and water.266 13.Some other helpers.267 14.Development of ideas about the helper 271
II. Magic item 277 15. Item and assistant 277 16. Claws, hair, skins, teeth.278 17. Tool items.279 18. Items that summon spirits.281 19. Flint.281 20. Wand.282 21. Items , giving eternal abundance.282 22. Living and dead, weak and strong water.283 23. Pupas.285 24.3 conclusion.286
Chapter VI. CROSSING 287
1.Crossing as a compositional element.287 2.Crossing in the form of an animal.287 H.Sewing in skin.288 4.Bird.292 5.On a horse.294 6.On a ship.295 7.On wood.296 8.On a ladder or belts.297 9.With the help of a counselor.298 10.Conclusion.298
Chapter VII. BY THE RIVER OF FIRE 299
I. The snake in the fairy tale 299 1. The appearance of the snake. 299 2. The connection with water in the fairy tale. 300 Z. The connection with the mountains. 300 4.3 the snake-kidnapper. -absorber.302 8.Danger of sleep.303 9.The original enemy.303 10.Fight.304 11. Literature about the snake. 305 12. Prevalence of snake fighting. 306
II. Snake-devourer 307 13.0 ritual absorption and coughing up. 307 14. The meaning and basis of this ritual. 309 15. Bird language. 311 16. Diamonds. 313 17. Absorber-carrier. 314 18. Fighting fish as the first stage of snake fighting. 316 19. Traces of absorption in late cases of snake fighting. 322 20.3 conclusion.324
III.Hero in a barrel 324 21. Carrier boat. 324 IV. Snake-stealer 327 22. Shape of a serpent.327 23. Death-stealer.329
24.Introducing an erotic moment.332 25.Abduction in myths.333
V. Water serpent 334 26. Water nature of the serpent. 334 27. Extortions of the serpent. 339 28. Myths. 342
VI. The serpent and the kingdom of the dead 344 29. The guardian serpent. 344 30.Kerberus.345 31. Transfer of the serpent to heaven. 346 32. The guard role of the heavenly serpent; Yakuts.349 33.Serpent in Egypt.351 34.Psychostasis.353 35.The connection of the serpent with birth.354 36.The death of the serpent from the serpent.356 37.3conclusion.358
Chapter VIII. FAR NINE EARTHS 360
I. The Thirtieth Kingdom in a fairy tale 360 1. Locality. 360 2.Connection with the sun.362 3.Gold.363 4.Three kingdoms. 364 5. Note that the theriomorphism of the thirtieth kingdom.365
II. That light 366 6. Early forms of the other world. 366 7. The mouth and the crushing mountains. 367 8. Crystal. 368 9. The land of abundance. 369 10. The solar kingdom. 371 11.Antiquity.374
Chapter IX. BRIDE 376
I. Seal of the princess 376 1. Two types of princess. 376 2. Branding of a hero. 377
II.Difficult tasks 381 3.Difficult tasks.381 4. Nationwide cry 381 5.
It is worth noting that the main tasks in response to matchmaking. 382 6. The tasks of the princess who escaped and was found again. 382 7.3 the tasks of the princess kidnapped by false heroes. 383 8. The main tasks of Vodyanoy. 383 9. The main tasks of the teacher-sorcerer. 384 10. Hostile father-in-law. 385 11. Tasks given to the old king. 386 12. Main tasks for the search. 387 13. Palace, garden, bridge. 389 14. Bathhouse test. 392 15. Food test. 394 16. Competitions. 395 17. Hide and seek. 398 18. Find out the person you are looking for. 400 19. Wedding night .402 20.Preliminary conclusions.407
III. The accession of a hero 408 21. Frazer on the change of kings. 408 22. Succession to the throne in a fairy tale. 410 23. Old age. 411 24. Oracles. 411 25. The killing of a king in a fairy tale. 413 26. The False Hero. 415 27. The Rope Bridge. 415 28. Boiling milk.416 29.3 conclusion.417
IV. Magical escape 418 30. Escape in a fairy tale. 418 31. Escape with throwing a comb, etc. 419 32. Escape with transformations. 420 33. Transformation of a snake into wells, apple trees, etc. 422 34. Escape and pursuit with successive transformations. 422 35. Decisive obstacle. 426
Chapter X. THE TALE AS A WHOLE 427
1.Unity of a fairy tale.427 2.Fairy tale as a genre.430
112
Chapter I. BACKGROUND 113
I. Main question. 113
2. The significance of the premises. 113
3. Identification of fairy tales. 114
4. A fairy tale as a phenomenon of a superstructural nature. 116
5. Fairy tale and social institutions of the past.118
6. Fairy tale and ritual.119
7. Direct correspondence between fairy tale and ritual. 120
8. Rethinking the ritual with a fairy tale. 120
9. Conversion rite. 121
10. Fairy tale and myth. 123
11. Fairy tale and primitive thinking. 127
12.Genetics and history. 128
13.Method and material. 129
14. Fairy tale and post-fairy tale formations. 130
15.Prospects. 130
Chapter II. TIE 132
I. Children in prison 132 1. Absence. 132
2.3 restrictions associated with absence.133
3. Frazer on the isolation of kings.133
4. Isolation of the royal children in the fairy tale.134
5.The conclusion of the girl.136
6.Motivation for the conclusion. 138
7.Results.140
II. Trouble and opposition 141
8.Trouble.141
9.Equipping the hero on the road. 142
Chapter III. MYSTERIOUS FOREST 146
1. Further composition of the tale. Getting a magic remedy. 146
2.Types of yati. 147
3.Rite of Passage.147
4.Forest.151
5. Hut on chicken legs. 152
6.Fu, fu, fu.158
7. Gave me something to drink and feed. 160
8.Bone leg.163
9. Blindness of Yaga.165
10. Mistress of the forest. 168
11. Yaga tasks. 172
12.Sleep test.173
13.Children expelled and taken into the forest. 175
14. Kidnapped children.178
15.Resale.178
16.Bila-bila.180
17.Madness.182
18. Severed finger. 183
19.3 signs of death. 184
20. Temporary death. 185
21.Chopped and revived. 186
22. Yagi oven. 190
23. Tricky science. 194
24. Magic gift. 197
25. Yaga - mother-in-law. 198
26. Travesty.199
27.3 conclusion. 202
Chapter IV. BIG HOUSE 203
I.Forest Brotherhood 203 1.House in the Forest.203
2. Big house and small hut.207
Z. Set table.208
4.Brothers.208
5.Hunters.209
6.Robbers.209
7.Distribution of responsibilities.210
8."Sister".211
9. Birth of a child. 215
10.Beauty in the coffin.216
11.Cupid and Psyche.219
12.Wife at her husband's wedding.221
13. Unwashed.223
14. Dunno.225
15. Bald and covered with a sheath.226
16. Husband at his wife’s wedding.228
17.3prohibition of boasting.229
18.3closet closet. 230
19.3 conclusion.234
II. Afterlife donors 235 20. Deceased father.235
21.Dead mother.239
22.Grateful Dead.239
23.Death's head.240
24.3 conclusion.241
III. Donor-helpers 243 25. Grateful animals. 243
26.Copper Forehead.246
27. Ransomed captives, debtors, etc. 252
Chapter V. MAGICAL GIFTS 253
I.Magic assistant 253 1.Helpers.253
2. Transformed hero.254
Z. Orel.254
4. Winged horse.257
5.Feeding the horse.258
6.Grave horse.259
7. Rejected and exchanged knight.260
8.Horse in the basement .261
9. Horse suit.262
10.Fiery nature of the horse.263
11.Horse and stars.266
12.Horse and water.266
13.Some other assistants.267
14.Development of ideas about the assistant 271
II.Magic item 277
15.Item and assistant 277
16. Claws, hair, skins, teeth.278
17.Items-tools.279
18.Items that summon spirits.281
19.Flint.281
20.Wand.282
21.Items that give eternal abundance.282
22. Living and dead, weak and strong water.283
23.Pupae.285 24.3conclusion.286
Chapter VI. CROSSING 287
1.Crossing as a compositional element.287 2.Crossing in the form of an animal.287
Z. Sewing into skin.288
4.Bird.292
5.On horseback.294
6.On the ship.295
7. On wood.296
8.By stairs or straps.297
9.With the help of a counselor.298
10. Conclusion. 298
Chapter VII. BY THE RIVER OF FIRE 299
I. The snake in the fairy tale 299 1. The appearance of the snake. 299
2.Connection with water in a fairy tale.300
Z. Connection with the mountains.300
4.3mei-kidnapper.301
5. Extortion of the snake.301
6. Serpent - guardian of borders.302
7.3mei-absorber.302
8.Danger of sleep.303
9.Original opponent .303
10.Fight.304
11. Literature about the snake. 305
12. Prevalence of snake fighting. 306
II. Snake-devourer 307
13.0 ritual absorption and coughing up. 307
14. The meaning and basis of this ritual.309
15.Bird tongue. 311
16.Diamonds.313
17. Absorbent-transporter.314
18. Fighting fish as the first stage of snake fighting. 316
19. Traces of absorption in late cases of snake fighting. 322
20.3 conclusion.324
III.Hero in a barrel 324 21. Carrier boat. 324 IV. Snake-stealer 327
22.The Form of a Serpent.327 23.Death the Thief.329
511
24.Introducing an erotic moment.332
25.Abduction in myths.333
V.Water Serpent 334
26. Water nature of the snake.334
27. Extortion of the snake .339
28.Myths.342
VI. The Serpent and the Kingdom of the Dead 344
29. Guardian serpent. 344
30.Kerber.345
31. Transfer of the serpent to heaven. 346
32. The guard role of the heavenly serpent; Yakuts.349
33.Serpent in Egypt.351
34.Psychostasis.353
35. Connection of the serpent with birth.354
36. The death of the serpent from the serpent.356
37.3 conclusion. 358
Chapter VIII. FAR NINE EARTHS 360
I. The Thirtieth Kingdom in a fairy tale 360 1. Locality. 360
2.Connection with the sun.362
3.Gold.363
4.Three kingdoms. 364
5. Theriomorphism of the thirtieth kingdom.365
II.That light 366
6.Early forms of the other world.366
7. Mouth and pushing mountains.367
8.Crystal.368
9. Land of abundance.369
10. Solar kingdom. 371
11. Antiquity. 374
Chapter IX. BRIDE 376
I. Seal of the princess 376 1. Two types of princess. 376 2. Branding of a hero. 377
II.Hard problems 381 3.Hard problems 381
4. National cry 381
5. Tasks in response to matchmaking. 382
6. The tasks of the fleeing and newly found princess.382
7.3 tasks of the princess kidnapped by false heroes.383
8. Problems of Vodyanoy.383
9.Tasks of the teacher-sorcerer. 384
10. Hostile father-in-law. 385
11. 407
III.The accession of a hero 408
21. Frazer on the change of kings.408
22.Succession to the throne in a fairy tale.410
23. Old age.411
24.Oracles.411
25. The killing of the king in a fairy tale.413
26. False hero.415
27.Rope bridge.415
28. Boiling milk.416
29.3 conclusion. 417
IV.Magical escape 418
30. Escape in a fairy tale.418
31. Escape with throwing a scallop, etc. 419
32. Escape with transformations.420
33. Transformation of snakes into wells, apple trees, etc. 422
34. Escape and pursuit with successive transformations.422
35. Decisive obstacle. 426
Chapter X
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Book: Propp, V.Ya. Historical roots of a fairy tale / V.Ya. Propp. - ed. 4th. - M: Labyrinth, 2000. - 336 p.
Annotation: Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp is a classic of the 20th century humanities, a folklorist, one of the founders of semiotics and structuralism. Studying fairy tales, V.Ya. Propp noticed that their plots follow the same pattern. The hero of a fairy tale leaves home, then meets a helper who gives him a wonderful gift, then the hero is harmed, he is given a difficult task, etc. Propp traced the genetic roots, the basis of this scheme, connecting it with ethnographic materials and primitive mythology. He saw this basis in initiation rites. He connected with them not individual plots, motives or characters, but the entire genre of fairy tales as a whole. According to V.Ya. Propp, the plot scheme of a fairy tale goes back to the explanatory myth of initiation, and its “existence” - to the dramatization of myths when teaching beginners.
Format: Djvu.
Size: 10.6 MB.
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Table of contents
PREFACE
Chapter I. BACKGROUND
1. Main question
2. Importance of premises
3. Highlighting fairy tales
4. A fairy tale as a phenomenon of a superstructural nature
5. Fairy tale and social institutions of the past
6. Fairy tale and ritual
7. Direct correspondence between fairy tale and ritual
8. Rethinking the ritual with a fairy tale
9. Conversion rite
10. Fairy tale and myth
11. Fairy tale and primitive thinking
12. Genetics and history
13. Method and material
14. Fairy tale and post-fairy tale formations
15. Prospects
Chapter II. TIE
I. Children in prison
1. Absenteeism
2. Prohibitions related to absence
3. Frazer on the isolation of kings
4. Isolation of the royal children in the fairy tale
5. The girl's conclusion
6. Motivation for the conclusion
7. Results
II. Trouble and opposition
8. Trouble
9. Equipment for the hero's journey
Chapter III. MYSTERIOUS FOREST
1. Further composition of the tale. Getting the Magic Remedy
2. Types of yaga
3. Rite of Passage
4. Forest
5. Hut on chicken legs
6. Fu, fu, fu
7. Gave me something to drink and feed
8. Bone leg
9. Yaga's blindness
10. Mistress of the Forest
11. Yaga tasks
12. Sleep test
13. Children expelled and taken into the forest
14. Kidnapped children
15. Lost
16. Bila-bila
17. Madness
18. Severed finger
19. Signs of death
20. Temporary death
21. Chopped and revived
22. Yagi oven
23. Tricky science
24. Magic gift
25. Yaga - mother-in-law
26. Travesty
27. Conclusion
Chapter IV. BIG HOUSE
I. Forest Brotherhood
1. House in the forest
2. Big house and small hut.
3. Set table
4. Brothers
5. Hunters
6. Robbers
7. Distribution of responsibilities
8. "Sister"
9. Birth of a child
10. Beauty in the coffin
11. Cupid and Psyche
12. Wife at her husband's wedding
13. Unwashed
14. Dunno
15. Bald and covered with a sheath
16. Husband at his wife's wedding
17. Prohibition of boasting
18. 3secret closet
19. 3 conclusion
II. Afterlife donors
20. Dead father
21. Dead mother
22. The Grateful Dead
23. Death's Head
24. Conclusion
III. Donor-helpers
25. Grateful animals
26. Copper Forehead
27. Ransomed captives, debtors, etc.
Chapter V. MAGIC GIFTS
I. Magic Helper
1. Assistants
2. Transformed hero
3. Eagle
4. Winged horse
5. Feeding the horse
6. Grave horse
7. Rejected and exchanged horse
8. Horse in the basement
9. Horse suit
10. Fiery nature of the horse
11. Horse and stars
12. Horse and water
13. Some other helpers
14. Development of ideas about the assistant
II. Magic item
15. Item and assistant
16. Claws, hair, skins, teeth
17. Items-tools
18. Items that summon spirits
19. Flint
20. Stick
21. Items that give eternal abundance
22. Living and dead, weak and strong water
23. Dolls
24. Conclusion
Chapter VI. CROSSING
1. Crossing as a compositional element
2. Crossing in the form of an animal
3. Sewing into the skin
4. Bird
5. On horseback
6. On the ship
7. On wood
8. By stairs or straps
9. With the help of a counselor
10. Conclusion
Chapter VII. BY THE RIVER OF FIRE
I. Snake in a fairy tale
1. The form of a serpent
2. Connection with water in a fairy tale
3. Connection with the mountains
4. 3mey the kidnapper
5. Extortion of the snake
6. Serpent guardian of borders
7. Serpent-devourer
8. Danger of sleep
9. The Original Enemy
10. Fight
11. Literature about the snake
12. Prevalence of snake fighting
II. Serpent-devourer
13. Ritual absorption and coughing up
14. The meaning and basis of this ritual
15. Bird tongue
16. Diamonds
17. Absorber-transporter
18. Fighting fish as the first stage of snake fighting
19. Traces of absorption in late cases of snake fighting
20. Conclusion
III. Hero in a Barrel
21. Carrier boat
IV. Snake Snatcher
22. Form of a serpent
23. Death the Snatcher
24. Introducing an erotic moment
25. Abduction in myths
V. Water Serpent
26. Water nature of the snake
27. Extortion of the snake
28. Myths
VI. The serpent and the kingdom of the dead
29. Serpent Guardian
30. Kerber
31. Transfer of the serpent to heaven
32. The guard role of the heavenly serpent; Yakuts
33. Serpent in Egypt
34. Psychostasia
35. Connection of the serpent with birth
36. The death of the serpent from the serpent
37. Conclusion
Chapter VIII. FAR NINE EARTHS
I. The Thirtieth Kingdom in a fairy tale
1. Locality
2. Connection with the sun
3. Gold
4. Three Kingdoms
5. Theriomorphism of the thirtieth kingdom
II. That light
6. Early forms of the other world
7. The mouth and the pushing mountains
8. Crystal
9. Land of abundance
10. Solar kingdom
11. Antiquity
Chapter IX. BRIDE
I. Seal of the princess
1. Two types of princess
2. Branding a hero
II. Difficult tasks
3. Difficult tasks
4. National cry
5. Tasks in response to matchmaking
6. The tasks of the escaped and newly found princess
7. The tasks of the princess kidnapped by false heroes
8. Vodyanoy’s tasks
9. 3tasks of a teacher-sorcerer
10. Hostile father-in-law
11. Tasks given to the old king
12. Search tasks
13. Palace, garden, bridge
14. Bathhouse test
15. Food challenge
16. Competitions
17. Hide and seek
18. Find out what you are looking for
19. Wedding night
20. Preliminary conclusions
III. A Hero's Reign
21. Frazer on the change of kings
22. Succession to the throne in a fairy tale
23. Old age
24. Oracles
25. The killing of the king in a fairy tale
26. False Hero
27. Rope Bridge
28. Boiling milk
29. Conclusion
IV. Magical escape
30. Escape in a fairy tale
31. Escape with throwing a comb, etc.
32. Escape with transformations
33. Transformation of snakes into wells, apple trees, etc.
34. Flight and pursuit with successive transformations
35. Decisive obstacle
Chapter X. THE TALE AS A WHOLE
1. Unity of a fairy tale
2. Fairy tale as a genre
Textual commentary
Literature Cited
Abbreviations
Character index
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The proposed work is provided with an introductory chapter, and therefore the preface can be limited to some technical remarks.
The book often contains references to fairy tales or excerpts from them. These excerpts should be considered as illustrations and not as evidence. Behind the example lies a more or less common phenomenon. When analyzing the phenomenon, one should give not one or two illustrations, but all available cases. However, this would reduce the book to an index that would be larger than the entire work. This difficulty could be circumvented by reference to existing indexes of plots or motifs. However, on the one hand, the distribution of fairy tales by plot and plot by motive, adopted in these indexes, is often very arbitrary; on the other hand, references to fairy tales appear several hundred times in the book, and it would be necessary to provide references to the indexes several hundred times. All this forced me to abandon the tradition of giving a type number for every plot. The reader will understand that the materials provided are samples.
The same applies to examples from the field of customs, rituals, cults, etc. All the given facts are nothing more than examples, the number of which could be arbitrarily increased or decreased, the given examples could be replaced by others. Thus, the book does not report any new facts, only the connection established between them is new, and it is the center of gravity of the entire book.
It is necessary to make another reservation regarding the method of presentation. The motifs of a fairy tale are so closely related to each other that, as a rule, not a single motif can be understood in isolation. It has to be presented in parts. Therefore, at the beginning of the book there are often references to what will still be developed, and from the second half - to what has already been stated above.
The book is one whole and should not be read from the middle for reference on individual topics.
In this book the reader will not find an analysis of many of the motives that he has the right to look for in such work. Much did not fit in it. The emphasis is on the analysis of the main, most important fairy-tale images and motifs, the rest has been partly published before and is not repeated here, and partly, perhaps, will appear in the form of separate essays in the future.
The work came out of the Leningrad Order of Lenin State University. Many of my workmates supported me, willingly sharing their knowledge and experience. I especially owe a lot to the corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, prof. Ivan Ivanovich Tolstoy, who gave me valuable instructions both on the ancient material I used and on general issues of the work. I offer him my deepest and sincere gratitude.
Chapter I. Background
1. Main question
What does it mean to specifically research a fairy tale, where to start? If we limit ourselves to comparing fairy tales with each other, we will remain within the framework of comparativism. We want to expand the scope of our study and find the historical basis that brought the fairy tale to life. This is the task of studying the historical roots of a fairy tale, formulated so far in the most general terms.
At first glance, it seems that there is nothing new in the formulation of this problem. Historically, there have been attempts to study folklore before. Russian folkloristics knew a whole historical school headed by Vsevolod Miller. Thus, Speransky says in his course on Russian oral literature: “When studying the epic, we try to guess the historical fact that underlies it, and, starting from this assumption, we prove the identity of the plot of the epic with some event known to us or their circle "(Speransky 222). We will neither guess historical facts nor prove their identity with folklore. For us, the question is fundamentally different. We want to explore what phenomena (not events) of the historical past the Russian fairy tale corresponds to and to what extent it actually conditions and causes it. In other words, our goal is to find out the sources of the fairy tale in historical reality. The study of the genesis of a phenomenon is not yet the study of the history of this phenomenon. The study of history cannot be carried out immediately - this is a matter of many years, the work of more than one person, it is a matter of generations, a matter of the Marxist folkloristics that is emerging in our country. The study of genesis is the first step in this direction. This is the main question posed in this work.
2. Importance of premises
Each researcher proceeds from some prerequisites that he has before he starts work. Veselovsky, back in 1873, pointed out the need, first of all, to understand one’s positions and to be critical of one’s method (Veselovsky 1938, 83-128). Using the example of Gubernatis's book "Zoological Mythology", Veselovsky showed how the lack of self-examination leads to false conclusions, despite all the erudition and combinatorial abilities of the author of the work.
Here we should give a critical outline of the history of the study of fairy tales. We won't do this. The history of the study of the fairy tale has been outlined more than once, and we do not need to list the works. But if we ask ourselves why there are still no completely solid and universally accepted results, we will see that this often happens precisely because the authors proceed from false premises.
The so-called mythological school proceeded from the premise that the external similarity of two phenomena, their external analogy testifies to their historical connection. Thus, if the hero grows by leaps and bounds, then the hero’s rapid growth supposedly responds to the rapid growth of the sun rising on the horizon (Frobenius 1898, 242). Firstly, however, the sun does not increase for the eyes, but decreases, and secondly, an analogy is not the same as a historical connection.
One of the premises of the so-called Finnish school was the assumption that the forms that occur more often than others are also inherent in the original form of the plot. Not to mention the fact that the theory of plot archetypes itself requires proof, we will have occasion to repeatedly see that the most archaic forms are very rare, and that they are often replaced by new ones that have become widespread (Nikiforov 1926).
There are a lot of such examples that can be cited, and in most cases it is not at all difficult to find out the fallacy of the premises. The question arises: why didn’t the authors themselves see their mistakes, which were so clear to us? We will not blame them for these mistakes - the greatest scientists made them; the fact is that they often could not think differently, that their thoughts were determined by the era in which they lived and the class to which they belonged. In most cases, the question of prerequisites was not even raised, and the voice of the brilliant Veselovsky, who himself repeatedly revised his premises and retrained himself, remained a voice crying in the wilderness.
For us, this implies that we need to carefully check our premises before starting the study.
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Analysis of the book by V.Ya. Propp “Historical roots of a fairy tale” (chapters 1-2)
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Biography
PROPP, VLADIMIR YAKOVLEVICH(1895–1970), Russian folklorist, one of the founders of modern text theory. Born April 17 (29), 1895 in St. Petersburg. In 1914–1918 he studied Russian and German philology at Petrograd University, and subsequently taught German at universities in Leningrad. Since 1932 - teacher, since 1938 professor at Leningrad State University, successively in the departments of Romance-Germanic philology, folklore and, until 1969, Russian literature. Propp died in Leningrad on August 22, 1970.
One of Propp’s first publications (after several articles) was a small book, The Morphology of a Fairy Tale, published in Leningrad in 1928, which was met with sympathy, but in the next three decades was known only to a narrow circle of specialists. Subsequently, Propp continued his research within the walls of Leningrad State University; Thanks to the books The Historical Roots of a Fairy Tale (1946) and the Russian Heroic Epic (1955, 2nd ed. 1958), he gained a reputation as a venerable folklorist. In 1958, an English translation of Morphology of a Fairy Tale was published in the United States, followed by American reprints and translations into many other languages. Propp's early work became a world-class scientific bestseller, and in the USSR in 1969, more than forty years after the first publication and just before the death of the scientist, the second Russian edition of the Morphology of Fairy Tales appeared, which almost immediately became almost the same bibliographic rarity as the first (up to reissues of the 1990s).
The exceptional resonance caused by the publications of Morphology of the Fairy Tale in the West, and its subsequent enormous influence, were due to the new context in which this book found itself at the turn of the 1950s–1960s: the widespread dissemination of structural-semiotic (see STRUCTURALISM) methods and the appearance of an early version generative grammar. Propp, in the late 1920s, proposed a relatively small set of deep functions that define the seemingly infinite variety of narrative structures of fairy tales, as well as a formal apparatus for generating these surface structures. More than three decades later, all this, on the one hand, turned out to be consonant with the ideas of early generative grammar, and on the other, demonstrated the applicability of such methods to structures of a higher level than the sentence. It is not surprising that Propp’s work became one of the most important starting points for the formation of text theory and narrative analysis in the 1960s and attracted the attention not only of specialists in folklore, semiotics and literary criticism, such as C. Lévi-Strauss, A. Greimas (1917– 1992) or S. Bremont, but also a wide range of linguists, and somewhat later, in the 1970s, also specialists in discourse theory, artificial intelligence and cognitive science - D. Rumelhart and others (see DISCOURSE). References to Propp (sometimes as part of polemics with them) became mandatory in their works, and in the 1970s, many domestic linguists first learned about the scientist by reading foreign publications.
The world fame of the Morphology of Fairy Tales forced us to take a different look at the later and far from structuralist works of Propp, whose creative legacy, including articles, is now considered as a single whole and published with this in mind.
Bibliography
- Propp V. Ya. “Historical roots of a fairy tale” - L. Leningrad State University Publishing House, 1986 - 364 p.
- Propp V. Ya. “Folklore and reality” - M.: Nauka, 1989. - 233s.
Historical roots of fairy tales
The main problem in the assigned work
The book is one whole, and one topic smoothly flows into another. And each topic presented is fully revealed by the author. There are also detailed premises. The main problem posed in this work is to expand the scope of study and find the historical basis that brought the fairy tale to life and find out the sources of the fairy tale in historical reality.
In fairy tales there is no precise reminder of any particular stage of culture: here various historical cycles and cultural styles mix and collide with each other. Only patterns of behavior that could exist in many cultural cycles and at different historical moments have been preserved here.
The fairy tale is so rich and varied that it is impossible to study the entire phenomenon of the fairy tale in its entirety and among all peoples. Therefore, the material must be limited, and we will limit it to fairy tales.
Terminology
Chapter 1
"Magic Tales"- these are special fairy tales that can be called magical.
"Morphologies of fairy tales" - in this book, Propp identified the fairy tale genre quite accurately; the author divides fairy tales into type and complexity of the plot
Genesis-(Greek)origin, emergence, (be)birth.
"Historical past" - the study comes down to determining under what social system individual motives and the entire tale were created .
"Build" - the concept is very general.The study comes down to determining under what social system the individual motives and the entire fairy tale were created. Fairy tales can be compared not with the clan system, but with the institution of the clan system.
Exogamy- the prohibition of marriage relations between members of a kinship (clan, phratry) or local (for example, community) collective, which existed both in the era of the primitive communal system and at a later time. Numerous theories of the origin of exogamy are combined mainly into 3 main groups, which suggest that the transition to exogamy is due to:
1) the need to avoid harmful consequences from marriages between blood relatives (L. G. Morgan and others);
2) the desire to expand social contacts and establish relationships with other groups (E. Taylor, A. M. Zolotarev, C. Levi-Strauss);
3) the need to establish social peace in the team, since sexual relations and the conflicts accompanying them were taken outside its boundaries (S. P. Tolstov, Yu. I. Semenov).
"Rethinking»- convenient in the sense that it indicates the process of change that has taken place; the fact of rethinking proves that some changes have occurred in the life of the people, and these changes entail a change in motive. These changes must in any individual case be shown and explained.
« Prerequisites"-it is necessary to decipher the concept of the historical past, to determine what exactly from this past is necessary to explain the fairy tale.
"Motives of a fairy tale"- are explained by the fact that they reflect the institutions that once existed, but there are motives that are not directly related to any institutions, and so not everything is explained by the presence of certain institutions.
"Rite" - a set of conditional, traditional actions, devoid of immediate practical expediency, but serving as a symbol of certain social relations, a form of their visual expression and consolidation. Some religions use rituals to consolidate certain religious ideas in the minds of believers and strengthen faith in almighty forces.
"Folklore"- This is a type of collective verbal activity that is carried out orally. The main categories of folklore are collectivity, traditionality, formulaicity, variability, the presence of a performer, and syncretism. Folklore is divided into two groups - ritual and non-ritual.
"Myth"-( Greek) Myth here will be understood as a story about deities or divine beings in whose reality people believe. The point here is about faith not as a psychological factor, but as a historical one.
"Pedantry"-(from Italian pedare, to educate) is a phenomenon that occurs in various areas of life, but most often accompanies scholarship and pedagogical activity.
"Semantics"-(French and Greek. denoting) in the broad sense of the word, the analysis of the relationship between linguistic expressions and the world, real or imaginary.
"Genetics"-(Greek: coming from someone)study of the origin of phenomena.Genetics precedes history; it paves the way for history.
Chapter 2
"Absences" - a special mood, a mood of epic calm, this calm is only an artistic shell, contrasting with the internal passionate and tragic, comic-realistic dynamics.
"Frizer"-about the isolation of kings (a phenomenon of early statehood, the king or leader is credited with magical power over nature, the sky, rain, people, livestock, and the well-being of the people depends on his well-being).
"Insulation"- royal children in the fairy tale (in the fairy tale all types of prohibitions that once surrounded the royal family were preserved: the prohibition of light, sight, food, contact with the earth, communication with people).
"The Girl's Conclusion"-(this fear leads to the fact that menstruating girls are subjected to imprisonment in order to protect them from dangers, a ban on cutting hair, which was considered the seat of the soul and magical power, but the ban on cutting hair is not stated directly anywhere in the fairy tale, nevertheless, the long hair of the imprisoned princess - a frequently occurring feature that gives special attractiveness);
"Trouble and opposition" - the main form of the plot, from which a plot is created, the forms of which are varied, they cannot be considered together.
« Equipment for the hero on the road"(the movement is never outlined in detail, it is always mentioned in only two or three words, but first of all we must know where the hero ends up on his path);
Each researcher proceeds from some prerequisites that he has before he starts work.
The history of the study of the fairy tale has been outlined more than once, and we do not need to list the works. But if we ask ourselves why there are still no completely solid and universally accepted results, we will see that this often happens precisely because the authors proceed from false premises.
For us, this implies that we need to carefully check our premises before starting the study.
"Fairy tales" - Propp's first premise
In fairy tales, Propp identifies a special line of plots that underlies other fairy tales. The tale begins with damage and the desire to have something, then the hero is sent from home to meet an assistant who will help find the object of the search. What follows is a duel, a return and a chase; on the way home the hero is again tested. But later the hero again arrives in the kingdom and gets married. This scheme allows us to consider all fairy tales with the same plot; the variety of fairy tales is given by the many characters.
The first premise is that among fairy tales there is a special category of fairy tales, usually called fairy tales. These tales can be isolated from others and studied independently. The very fact of isolation may raise doubts. Isn't the principle of connection in which we must study phenomena violated here? However, in the end, all the phenomena of the world are interconnected, meanwhile, science always distinguishes the phenomena that are subject to its study from among other phenomena. It's all about where and how the border is drawn.
The emergence of a fairy tale is not connected with the production basis on which it began to be written down from the beginning of the 19th century. This leads us to the next premise, which for now is formulated in a very general form: the fairy tale must be compared with the historical reality of the past and its roots must be sought in it.This premise contains the concept of “historical past”. The concept of “historical past” leads us to the fact that the fairy tale has preserved traces of disappeared forms of social life. For example, the fairy tale contains different forms of marriage than now.
We, therefore, need to decipher the concept of the historical past, determine what exactly from this past is necessary to explain the fairy tale.
If a fairy tale is considered as a product that arose on a production basis, then it becomes clear what forms are reflected in it. But in the study of the sources of the tale there will be no advance from the object or technology. The study comes down to determining under what social system the individual motives and the entire fairy tale were created.The concept of "build" -the study comes down to determining under what social system individual motives and the entire tale were created. The premise is that the fairy tale has preserved traces of vanished forms of social life, that these remains need to be studied, and that such study will reveal the sources of many of the fairy tale's motifs.Many motifs in the tale, however, are explained by the fact that they reflect institutions that once existed, but there are motifs that are not directly related to any institutions. Therefore, this area is not enough as a material for comparison. Not everything is explained by the presence of certain institutions.
Description of work
PROPP, VLADIMIR YAKOVLEVICH (1895–1970), Russian folklorist, one of the founders of modern text theory. Born April 17 (29), 1895 in St. Petersburg. In 1914–1918 he studied Russian and German philology at Petrograd University, and subsequently taught German at universities in Leningrad. Since 1932 - teacher, since 1938 professor at Leningrad State University, successively in the departments of Romance-Germanic philology, folklore and, until 1969, Russian literature. Propp died in Leningrad on August 22, 1970.
