How does a literary fairy tale differ from a folk fairy tale?

Literature is an art form that has existed since time immemorial. Many people are interested in what are the differences between literature and literary criticism. Both terms have become firmly established in people’s lives, but the differences are not immediately clear.

What is literature?

Literature is the art of words, therefore this term is used to refer to any written works that have social significance.

Literature can be technical, scientific, reference, epistolary, journalistic. However, if we focus on the usual and strict meaning of the term, literature should include only works of art.

The term “literature” began to be used only in the 18th century, since before people used to say “beautiful literature”, “poetry”, “poetic art”. The active development of literature began in the middle of the 15th century, when people appreciated the art of words.

Literature begins its development on the basis of oral folk literature, gradually acquiring forms that appear in the 21st century. Literature is related not only to the creative potential of people, but also to the period of formation of the state system, because it is the state that gives rise to developed writing.

Each period of history has unique literary monuments that make it possible to understand in what direction humanity developed. In the most ancient literary monuments, which traditionally include the Tale of Bygone Years, the Bible, and the Mahabharata, a full unification of verbal art, mythology and religion, the foundations of natural and historical sciences, moral and practical instructions is assumed. Analysis of early literary works cannot deprive the works of aesthetic value, because the structure is close to artistic principles and forms the foundation for the further development of literature.

What is literary criticism?

Literary criticism is a science that is devoted to fiction, origin and development, essence. Currently, literary criticism is a complex discipline that is characterized by mobility. This assumes a distinction between three main branches of literary criticism:

Theory of literature. In this case, it is assumed to study the general laws of structure, as well as the principles of the development of literature.
History of literature. It is intended to study the past of literature as an artistic process.
Literary criticism. In this case, the focus is on modern literature, but at the same time there is the possibility of interpreting early literary works on the basis of modern social as well as artistic problems.

In most cases, literary criticism should deal with poetics, which is aimed at studying the following aspects:

The structure of literary works.
Creativity of writers.
Features of various literary trends.
Principles of the literary era.

Plays an important role artistic speech, which should have a unique style. It is assumed that the stylistics of literary speech can be included in the theory of literature, general poetics, literary history, and literary criticism.

If you carefully study the discipline, you can understand how closely interconnected all sectors are. It is necessary to understand that literary criticism develops on the basis of historical and theoretical principles, and the history and theory of literature must take into account and comprehend the experience of criticism for further improvement. It is important to note the possibility of moving disciplines from one series to another, because criticism is gradually becoming the material of the history of literature and historical poetics, and these movements occur under the influence of time.

It should be noted that, along with the main disciplines of literary criticism, there are auxiliary areas:

Literary archival studies.
Bibliography of fiction and literary criticism.
Paleography.
Textology.

Literary and folk tales belong to the same genre, so it is quite difficult to determine how a folk tale differs from a literary one. The only visible differences are the form of the narrative and the internal content. The basis of the plot of any fairy tale is an amazing story about the unprecedented adventures (sometimes misadventures) of the main characters, but in folklore works the plot is built according to a traditional scheme, but in literary works the story has the author’s version of the presentation.

Folk tales

To identify the differences between literary and folk tales, you should study the definitions of these concepts. A folk tale is an ancient cultural heritage that, albeit in an embellished form, preserved the ancestors’ understanding of the relationship between the surrounding world (nature) and man. Here the line between evil and good is clearly demarcated, the basic laws of morality and moral principles of human society are reflected, and the striking features of national identity, beliefs and way of life are demonstrated. Fairy tales, called folk tales, have their own classification:

Magic ("Magic Ring", "Two Frosts", "Frost").
Epic stories (“Bulat-Well done”, “Vavila and the buffoons”, “Dobrynya and the Serpent”).
Household (“Poor Master and Servant”, “Thieves and Judge”, “Expensive Lunch”).
Bogatyrsky ("Ivan - the peasant's son and Miracle Yudo", "Ivan - the cow's son", "Nikita Kozhemyaka").
Satirical (“Good Pop”, “The Fool and the Birch”, “Porridge from an Ax”).

A separate niche in the presented classification is occupied by animals ("Geese-Swans", "Goat-Dereza", "Masha and the Bear"). Experts associate their occurrence with ancient pagan rituals and beliefs.

Literary tales

When comparing folk and literary fairy tales, it is definitely worth considering that the latter arose much later than the first. Thanks to the introduction of educational ideas into European literature, in the 18th century the first author's readings and adaptations of folk tales appeared, and already in the 19th century, traditional fairy tale plots began to be widely used by writers. Among those who have been particularly successful in this field are A. Hoffmann, C. Perrault, G. H. Andersen and, of course, the Brothers Grimm - recognized classics of the genre.

The similarities between literary and folk tales are determined by the fact that in both folklore motifs are repeated and magical attributes are necessarily present, but in the literary, the development of the plot and the choice of the main characters are strictly subordinated to the author’s will. Also, from the second half of the 19th century, the literary fairy tale became very close to short stories and even stories. A striking example is the works of Russian writers: L. Tolstoy and A. Pogorelsky, and European ones: S. Lagerlöf, and L. Carroll.

General. Folklore traditions

When comparing the features of folk and literary fairy tales, special attention should be paid to the folklore traditions of the author's fairy tale, which unites it with folk tales:

Writers use plot motifs from folklore in their works (moral and moral temptation - the test of the main character, the presence of helper animals, the miraculous origin of the characters, hatred of the stepmother's stepdaughter, etc.).
According to the respected Russian folklorist V. Ya. Propp, writers use traditional, familiar from childhood, images of central characters who perform certain functions (antagonist, protagonist, assistant to the main character, donor, mischievous saboteur, stolen object, false hero).
In their creations, storytellers create time and space in accordance with the unwritten laws of the fairy-tale folklore world: the place is fantastic, sometimes indefinite: the distant kingdom, a dilapidated dugout, etc.
The use of poetic speech techniques: triple repetitions, constant epithets, verbal formulas, vernacular, proverbs and sayings, phraseological units.

Such close attention to folklore sources allows us to see the appeal of fairy tale writers to them and the specificity of the literary fairy tale.

Differences

To understand how a folk tale differs from a literary one, it is worth paying attention to the uniqueness of form and content, namely:

In the author's fairy tale, figurativeness is more clearly expressed, that is, the appearance, emotions of the characters, the scene and events are described in more detail, detail and, most importantly, colorfully.
In a literary fairy tale there is psychologism, a more in-depth and detailed study of the inner world, feelings and emotions of the characters.
The characters of the author's legend are not generalized types, they have unique individual ones. For example, writers such as Ershov, Pushkin, Odoevsky, pay attention to the psychological motives of the actions and actions of the heroes.
Like any literary work, fairy tales by writers are characterized by a pronounced, stable tone that determines its emotional tone. For example: “The Tale of Tsar Saltan...” - pure, bright, noble; “The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights” is elegant, tender, sad; “The Tale of the Priest and His Worker Balda” is humorous and mocking; "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish" is ironic but sad.

How does a folk tale differ from a literary one? The fact that the author's work allows the reader to recognize the author's face, his spiritual world, passions and This is the fundamental difference between a folklore legend, in which the ideals of an ethnic group are reflected, and the personality of a particular narrator is erased.

Briefly about the main thing

So, how does a folk tale differ from a literary one? The latter is a work of authorship, unlike the former, which emerged as a result of collective creativity as an epic subgenre. A literary legend is an established, recognized genre of fiction, and a folk tale is a special type of folklore genre, the characteristic of which is oral retelling.

Favorite literary genre of kids

Literary fairy tales are one of the most revered literary genres among children. Even the school reading program contains works by such writers. S. Pushkina, V.F. Odoevsky, P.P. Ershova, V.A. Zhukovsky, which are included in the golden fund of domestic and world literature for children. Reading them contributes to the rapid formation of moral and aesthetic ideas of children, develops their literary horizons and general culture. But most importantly, such works contribute to the development of creative abilities, imagination and unconventional thinking of the young reader.

In literary criticism there is still no single definition of the genre of a literary fairy tale, and no single classification has been created. There are a considerable number of definitions of a literary fairy tale, which can be divided into two types. The first type of definition is a listing of individual characteristics that are usually inherent in a literary fairy tale, but in specific works these characteristics may be absent. Example – definition by L. Braude:

Literary fairy tale– ϶ᴛᴏ author's artistic prose or poetic work. Based either on folklore sources, or invented by the writer himself, but in any case subordinate to his will; the work is predominantly fantastical, depicting the wonderful adventures of fictional or traditional fairy tale characters and in some cases aimed at children; a work in which magic and miracle play the role of a plot-forming factor and help characterize the characters (L. Braude).

The second type of definition is an attempt at a generalized universal definition. Eg:

Literary fairy tale- a genre of literary work in which moral, ethical or aesthetic problems are solved in a magical, fantastic or allegorical development of events and, as a rule, in original plots and images in prose, poetry and drama. (Yarmysh Yu.F.).

However, a single comprehensive definition of a literary fairy tale has not yet been created.

Literary tales- these are fairy tales born thanks to an individual author, and not to the people. Literary fairy tales were written by many Russian, German, French and other foreign writers. Basically, writers use available folk fairy tales, motifs, or create their own original fairy tales, populating them with new fictional characters and heroes.

The foundation of the literary fairy tale was a folk tale, which became known thanks to the records of folklorists.

Differences between a literary fairy tale and a folk tale:

1. Unlike a folk tale, a literary fairy tale belongs to a specific author and has an unchanged text that did not exist in oral form before publication.

2. A literary fairy tale, especially in prose form, is characterized by figurativeness. The author describes in detail and colorfully the scene of action, the appearance and character of the characters, their experiences. But still, the author pays more attention to the extraordinary, magical adventures that happen to the heroes of the fairy tale.

3. A literary fairy tale is characterized by a clearly expressed author’s position. The reader immediately understands which of the characters the author sympathizes with, who he empathizes with, and who he has a negative attitude towards.

The literary fairy tale as a separate literary phenomenon emerged in the 19th century and has long become a full-fledged literary genre.

A literary fairy tale intertwines elements of fairy tales about animals, everyday and fairy tales, adventure and detective stories, science fiction and parody literature.

Among the folklore sources of literary fairy tales, folk fairy tales mainly predominate. The author's fairy tale is mainly characterized not only and not so much by the development of plots and motifs common in Russian folklore, but by the desire to master the system of images typical of a folk tale, its language and poetics. As you know, a folk tale, especially a fairy tale, has a strict form. Its hero is schematic, there is no psychological reasoning and detailed description of details, nature is depicted only for the development of action and, mainly in the form of traditional formulas (dark forest, sea-ocean, etc.), it is turned to an indefinite past time, its events unfold in the distant kingdom, there is a clear antagonism between good and evil. The author's fairy tale is very free in the choice of material and in the choice of form. However, the literary fairy tale is a borderline genre; it reveals features characteristic of both folklore and literature. The literary fairy tale grew on the basis of the folklore fairy tale, inheriting its genre characteristics, developing and transforming them.

A literary fairy tale is always connected with socio-historical events and literary and aesthetic trends. A literary fairy tale reflects the social environment, as well as the worldview and literary and aesthetic views of its author. A literary fairy tale is a whole trend in literature, a universal genre that covers all phenomena of the surrounding life and nature, achievements of science and technology.

Folk and literary fairy tales belong to the same genre, but have significant differences. This applies to both the form of the narrative and the internal content of the works. The basis of all fairy tales is the story of the wonderful adventures of heroes, however, in folklore plots it is built according to a traditional scheme, and in literary ones it can have an arbitrary multifaceted version of the presentation.

Folk tales- the oldest cultural heritage that preserved the idea of our ancestors about the relationship between man and nature. They reflect the moral principles of the existence of a community of people in conditions of constant struggle for survival, define a clear line between good and evil, and reveal expressive features of national character, beliefs, and way of life.

Folk tales are classified as magical, everyday, epic, heroic, and satirical. A special place in this classification is occupied by tales about animals, the emergence of which researchers of oral folk art associate with pagan rituals.

Literary fairy tale arose much later. In the second half of the 18th century, with the development of educational ideas in European literature, author's adaptations of folk tales appeared, and in the 19th century, traditional fairy tale plots began to be used by C. Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, G.H. Andersen, A. Hoffmann are writers whom the whole world recognized as classics of this genre.

Most literary fairy tales repeat folklore motifs and contain magical paraphernalia borrowed from pagan rituals, but the development of the plot, as well as the choice of characters, are subject to the will of the author. A fairy tale becomes a work of art with a complex system of metaphorical images characteristic of a parable.

The genre feature of the literary fairy tale from the second half of the 19th century is manifested in its closeness to the short story and even the story. An example is the works of Russian writers A. Pogorelsky, L. Tolstoy, and in Western European literature O. Wilde, S. Lagerlöf, L. Carroll.

"Alice in Wonderland" L. Carroll

Conclusions website

A literary fairy tale is an author’s work, in contrast to a folk tale, which arose as a small epic genre as a result of the collective creativity of an ethnos.
A literary fairy tale is a genre of fiction, while a folk tale is one of the folklore genres, the peculiarity of which is oral retelling.
A literary fairy tale can have a free plot invented by the author. In a folk tale, the plot line is strictly subordinated to a certain pattern, which the narrator must adhere to in order to maintain the outline of the story.
The system of images in a literary fairy tale is arbitrary, while in a folk tale it is determined by traditions and ideas about good and evil forces.
A folk tale in artistic form reflects a deep layer of collective consciousness and belongs to the oldest type of oral folk art. A literary fairy tale can continue national traditions, but is a figment of the author’s imagination and, in genre terms, is close to modern types of adventure and fantasy literature.