Elkina Maria
Scientific and practical conference research work students "Youth. The science. Culture"
Scientific direction: Literary studies
Genre classification of Russians folk tales
student of Municipal Educational Institution Secondary School No. 2
Scientific supervisor: Shitova I.G.,
teacher of Russian language and literature
Noyabrsk, 2009
Content
Introduction
The magical world of Russian folk tales... It excited me from early childhood, when, as a very little girl, they were read to me at night. Time passed, but the passion for fairy tales remained. Only the perception has changed. Previously, it was exclusively emotional and evaluative (I plunged into this world and lived in it together with the characters, feeling the vicissitudes of their fate), now it has become analytical (I looked at the fairy tale as special genre, which I wanted to explore). That is why I chose fairy tales as the object of my research. But it would seem that a lot of research has been written about fairy tales, what else can be discovered in them? A long study of literature led me to such a controversial issue - this is the problem of the genre classification of fairy tales.
So, reasons for turning to the research topic:
1. The controversial issue of genre classification of fairy tales, the conventionality of each of the currently known ones, the dissatisfaction of folklorists and literary scholars with the classifications existing in this moment.
2. Personal interest in fairy tales, the desire to study and systematize them for the convenience of further comprehension.
3. There is also a reason of a universal human nature, which lies in the formula: “The fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it...”. Will I not find answers to the questions that concern me among this whole world of magic and transformations?!
So the main purpose of work is an attempt to create our own version of the genre classification of Russian fairy tales. To achieve the goal, the following were set tasks:
1. Study the currently existing classification options, identifying their pros and cons.
2. Determine the tools (select criteria) to create a classification option.
3. Offer your version of classification.
4. Distribute Russian folk tales from Afanasyev’s collection into categories using the created classification.
So, object of study- Russian folk tales. The key reason for contacting them: personal interest and passion. Subject of study- classification of fairy tales. The key reason for the appeal: the lack of a complete, complete and indisputable classification in folklore studies at the moment.
Hypothesis: An indisputable classification can be created provided that successful criteria are chosen to help distribute texts into groups, and taking into account the disadvantages of known genre classifications.
Stages of work:
1. Statement of the problem, choice of topic, formulation of a hypothesis.
2. Collection of material:
A) bibliographic search on the problem of genre classifications of fairy tales;
B) analysis of existing classifications;
B)reading Russian folk tales in order to identify
criteria for creating your own classification.
3. Confirmation of the hypothesis by distributing fairy tales according to the classification compiled.
4. Conclusions.
Chapter 1. The problem of genre classification of fairy tales
Currently, there are several variants of classifications of fairy tales proposed by various literary scholars and researchers. For the sake of completeness and objectivity of the work, I present them in my research:
Classification 1.
Sreznevsky sets out his point of view in “A Look at the Monuments of Ukrainian Folk Literature.” According to the nature of the content, he divides them into:
· mythical (epic);
· tales about persons, historical events and privacy;
Fantastic and humorous.
Classification 2.
In the 60s of the 19th century, Snegirev in connection with Afanasyev’s collection in “ Popular prints Russian people in the Moscow world" is divided into:
· mythical;
· heroic;
· everyday.
Classification 3.
Bessonov in “Notes to Kireyevsky’s Songs” divides it into:
· former, heroic;
· historical, but not heroic;
· popular prints;
· household (this also includes animals).
Classification 4.
Mythologists, having interpreted Afanasyev’s collection in their own way, are trying to create a different classification. Orest Miller proposes the following division into:
· mythical tales (he also divides 343 of them from Afanasyev’s collection into 10 plot circles);
· moral and mythical (about the soul, fate, truth);
· about animals;
· on heroic subjects;
· arose under the influence of books;
· “Purely morally descriptive of the character of a particular protester... in the form of satire.”
In fact, this is the first scientific classification. But, although Miller considered it historical, it is, in general, formal.
Classification 5.
M.P. Drahomanov in "Little Russians" folk legends and stories” identifies 13 headings. Veselovsky accuses Drahomanov of not maintaining the stated principle: the past is original, ancient, pagan and new Christian.
Classification 6.
Romanov divides fairy tales into:
· about animals;
· mythical;
· humorous;
· household;
· cosmogonic;
· cultural.
Classification 7.
V.P. Vladimirov in his “Introduction to the History of Russian Literature” tries to use the principle of motive when dividing fairy tales. He reveals three types of motives:
· motives of the animal epic;
· mythological character;
· ancient cultural character.
Classification 8.
In 1908, Khalansky divided fairy tales and plots without definition into general headings.
Classification 9.
A.M. Smirnov in his “Systematic Index of Themes and Variants of Russian Folk Tales” divides them into:
· tales about animals;
· about animals and humans;
· about the fight against evil spirits.
Classification 10.
An unconventional approach to classification was used by Wundt in The Psychology of Nations. He divides fairy tales according to forms of development from the most ancient to the latest formations:
Later education: comic tale, moral fable.
Classification 11.
It was proposed by Afanasyev himself, forming the collection, then by N.P. Andreev in 1927-28. compiled the “Index fairy tales" Fairy tales are divided into:
· about animals;
· magical;
· household.
This classification is now the most common, but in the future in my work I will point out all its disadvantages. In addition, the authors themselves of numerous textbooks on oral folk art note that a unified classification of fairy tales has not been developed at present, that is, there is no correct classification today.
Before I get to detailed description 11th classification, I would like to note the disadvantages of all the above classifications.
Thus, according to Sreznevsky’s classification (1), the second block seems overly extensive and unclear: tales about persons, historical events and private life. In addition, it is not clear where, in his opinion, animal epic should be classified. The same question can be addressed to Snegirev’s classification (2). Error
Bessonov (3) can be considered to include fairy tales about animals into the category of everyday ones, since a contradiction “fantasy-non-fiction” arises. In Miller's classification (4), the focus on form leaves aside diverse heroes like characters. Violation of the basic principle by Drahomanov (5)
Veselovsky also discovers.
It is difficult to establish the fundamental principle in Romanov's classification (6). Vladimirov (7) when dividing fractionally according to motives takes into account only 40 of them, and there are much more of them (so Sumtsev calls 400). Kholansky's classification (8) sins of dividing into subjects without defining a general rubric, and in general, almost all researchers are currently considered outdated. A.M. Smirnov (9) creates even more confusion without even finishing his work. Wundt's classification is interesting for its unconventional approach, but, unfortunately, not all fairy tales fall into it.
Chapter 2. Analysis of the Afanasyev classification
2.1 Tales of animals
Tales about animals are divided into the following thematic groups: about wild animals, about wild and domestic animals, about domestic animals, about humans and wild animals
The origins of fiction are due to the ancient views of man, which endowed animals with intelligence. The consequence of this is that the behavior of animals in fairy tales is similar to that of humans.
Here is how the poetic features of animal tales are determined:
1. Fiction in them arises as a result of a combination of contradictions: human world and the animal world - the water space, in one sphere. A special, grotesque world of mixed real ideas arises, in which the incredible must be perceived as probable.
2. There is no idealized hero. The mind is opposed to brute force and wins, but there is no single bearer of this quality.
3. Not all fairy tales about animals end happily, but despite this, there is no tragic sound.
4. Fairy tales about animals have a potential allegorical ability; human everyday situations are easily guessed in them.
5. The plot in fairy tales about animals is simple. There are few events in them. Most often it is developed based on a meeting. The duration of action is indicated by a system of repetitions. A fairy tale can consist of one episode, several episodes, or a chain of episodes in which one moment is repeated. In compositional terms, one can distinguish between single-plot fairy tales, multi-plot tales, and those built on the principle of a chain, with the repetition of all episodes - cumulative (a + ab + abc + abvg + ...).
6. The most common form of fairy tales about animals is narrative-dialogical.
7. The didactic, edifying plan of the tale is very clear. At the end of a fairy tale, a conclusion is always summed up, expressed either by a proverb or a general phrase.
8. In fairy tales about animals, traditional fairy tale formulas are used during the narration, less often at the beginning and middle of the tale, more often at the end.
2.2.Fairy tales
The fairy tale took shape in its main features during the period when ideas primitive man about the world developed simultaneously in two dimensions: there was a visible, real world in which a person lived, and an imaginary, unreal world, inhabited by evil and good forces that, as it seemed to him, had a direct impact on life. Both of them in the consciousness of primitive man constituted a single reality.
Based on the nature of the conflict, there are two groups of fairy tales: in one, the hero comes into conflict with magical powers, in the other - with social ones.
Here is how the poetic features of fairy tales are determined:
1. A conflict in a fairy tale is always resolved with the help of miraculous forces, miraculous helpers, with the relative passivity of the hero.
2. The action unfolds in two space-time planes. From the beginning of the hero's action to his feat and marriage, many events take place; the hero crosses large spaces, but time does not concern him; he is forever young; sometimes epic time is at hand To real: year, month, week and so on. This is one plan that reveals the life of the hero. In another, spatial plane, the hero’s opponents and wonderful helpers live. Here time flows slowly for the hero, but quickly for opponents and wonderful helpers. Fairy tale time is associated with the perception of fairy tale rhythm. The “one-act” or “multi-act” nature of an action is measured by a system of repetitions. They create the rhythm of fairy tale time. Rhythm organizes anticipation and includes the listener in the tale. The rhythm creates tension until the moment the hero performs a feat. Until this point, time passes slowly, repetitions maintaining a state of anticipation in the listener. After the hero accomplishes a feat, a rhythmic decline begins - the tension of expectation is relieved, and the fairy tale ends.
3. In fairy tales there are two types of heroes: a “high” hero, endowed magical power from birth or who received it from a magical assistant (Ivan the Tsarevich) and “low” (Ivan the Fool).
4. In a fairy tale, description is replaced by poetic formulas. Knowing these formulas makes it incredibly easy to “construct” a fairy tale. A mandatory feature of the formula is repetition in a number of fairy tales. There are initial formulas (sayings), endings (endings), narrative ones, which are in turn divided into formulas of time (“Is it close, is it far, briefly, soon the tale is told, but the deed is not done soon”), into formulas-characteristics (“Such beauty “What cannot be said in a fairy tale cannot be described with a pen”), on etiquette formulas (“he placed the cross in a written way, bowed in a learned way”).
2.3.Everyday tales
The term "everyday tale" combines several
intra-genre varieties: adventure fairy tales, short stories (adventurous-novelistic), social and everyday (satirical), family and everyday (comic).
These are the poetic features that are characteristic in general for everyday tales:
1. The conflict in everyday fairy tales is resolved thanks to the activity of the hero himself. A fairy tale makes the hero the master of his own destiny. This is the essence of idealizing the hero of an everyday fairy tale.
2. Fairy-tale space and time in an everyday fairy tale are close to the listener and the storyteller. The moment of empathy plays an important role in them.
3. Fiction in everyday fairy tales is based on the depiction of illogicality. Up to a certain point, a fairy tale is perceived as an everyday, completely plausible story, and its realism is aggravated by specific descriptions. Alogism is achieved by a hyperbolic depiction of any quality of a negative character: extreme stupidity, greed, stubbornness, and so on.
4. An everyday fairy tale can have different composition: novelistic and adventurous tales based on adventure motifs, large in volume, multi-episode. Comic and satirical tales They always develop one episode - an anecdotal or sharply satirical everyday situation. Multi-episode and comic tales are combined into a cycle according to the principle of increasing comic or satirical effect.
2.4.Discrepancy in ranks
Let me remind you once again that these characteristics of the three fairy tale genres were written according to the textbook “Russian Folk Poetry” edited by A.M. Novikova, but if you take and look at the same question in the textbook by Anikin V.P. and Kruglova Yu.L., then with a similar typology a number of contradictions can be detected. I'll point out a few. So, when characterizing fairy tales about animals, Anikin, unlike Novikova, places emphasis on humor and satirical beginning. If Novikova talks about the absence of an idealized hero in these fairy tales, then Anikin writes that a sharp distinction between positive and negative is in the nature of fairy tales about animals. And when characterizing fairy tales, even different interpretations of the same lexical content are revealed. So, according to Novikova’s textbook, the expression “soon the tale is told, but not soon the deed is done” is presented as a poetic formula, and according to Anikin, as the presence of signs of the everyday in a fantasy world.
Thus, based on all these contradictions, we can once again be convinced that a problem with the typology of Russian folk tales really exists.
Chapter 3. Creating a new classification option
To create any classification, the basis and operation of two principles are necessary: criteria and logic. So, based on all the above facts, I took Afanasyev’s classification as a basis, but specified it and expanded it, using two criteria: heroes and compositional features.
In total, I identified 17 categories:
1. Classic animals (“Fox the Midwife”, “Fox, Hare and Rooster”, “Fox the Confessor”, “Sheep, Fox and Wolf”, “Fox and Crane”, “Fox and Crayfish”, “Cat, Rooster” and the fox”, “Wolf and goat”, “Goat”, “Winter quarters of animals”, “Crane and heron”). The characters in such tales are exclusively animals, in which human behavior is read, their volume is small, the composition is simple, and there is a good ending.
2. Tragic stories about animals (“The Pig and the Wolf”, “Mizgir”). Meets all the requirements of the first category in terms of heroic features, but has a tragic ending, which no longer allows us to call them classic animals.
3. About animals with everyday context (“Animals in the pit”, “Fox and black grouse”, “Frightened bear and wolves”). In these tales, in contrast to the first category, it is not the compositional plan that becomes more complicated (as in the second category), but the heroic plan: people appear, but they are still only a background for the animal heroes, people are not participants in the events, they are only mentioned.
4. About animals with tragic everyday context (“Tower of the Fly”). As is already clear from the principle of division, this category includes fairy tales that meet the requirements for the third category, but with a tragic ending.
5. Animals (“Little Fox and the Wolf”, “For the Lapotok - a Chicken, for the Chicken - a Goose”, “A Man, a Bear and a Fox”, “Cat and a Fox”, “Fool Wolf”, “The Tale of a Goat” peeled”, “The Kochet and the Hen”, “The Hen”, “The Tale of Ruff Ershovich, Shchetinnikov’s son”, “The Tale of the Toothy Pike”, “Daughter and Stepdaughter”, “The Rooster and the Millstones”, “The Hunter and His Wife”). This category includes fairy tales with the compositional features of fairy tales about animals, but here, along with the main animal characters, people act on equal rights, sometimes even engaging in combat.
6. Animal-domestic tragedies (“Bear”, “Bear, Dog and Cat”). They meet the requirements of the 5th category, but have a tragic ending.
7. Animal-domestic tragic stories with magical elements (“Kolobok”, “The Little Cockerel”, “Kroshechka-Khavroshechka”). They meet the requirements of the 6th category, but the structure of these fairy tales is even more complicated due to the appearance of magic (these can be either magical secondary characters or magical objects).
8. Animals with magical elements (“Baba Yaga”, “Geese-Swans”, “Horse, Tablecloth and Horn”, “Cunning Science”, “Nesmeyana the Princess”, “ Magic ring"). The composition of animal fairy tales here is complicated by the introduction of either magical heroes or magic items.
9. Classical magic (“Marya Morevna”, “Ivan Tsarevich and Bely Polyanin”, “Legless and Armless Heroes”, “Fake Illness”, “Wonderful Shirt”, “ Sea king and Vasilisa the Wise”, “The Tsar Maiden”, “The Feather of Finist is a clear falcon”, “Elena the Wise”, “The Princess Solving Riddles”, “The Enchanted Princess”, “The Petrified Kingdom”, “Knee-deep in gold, up to the elbow of the arm in silver", "Golden Slipper". Fairy tales with complicated compositional structure, which is based on Propp’s well-known formula: here there are symbolic numbers, and the action of inanimate and magical objects, and magical heroes, a happy ending is required.
10. Classical everyday stories (“Treasure”, “Slandered Merchant’s Daughter”, “Soldier and Tsar in the Forest”, “Robbers”, “Medicine Man”, “Thief”, “Thieving Man”, “ Soldier's riddle"", "The Fool and the Birch", "The Daring Farmhand", "Foma Berennikov", "The Proving Wife", "Husband and Wife", "Dear Leather", "How a Man Weaned His Wife from Fairy Tales", "The Miser"). Fairy tales with a simple composition of everyday stories, noted in the Afanasiev classification. A mandatory requirement is the complete absence of magic.
11. Magical and everyday (“The Witch and the Sun’s Sister”, “Morozko”, “Vasilisa the Beautiful”, “The Korolevich and His Uncle”, “Three Kingdoms” - copper, silver, and gold”, “Frolka-seat”, “Ivan-bykovich”, “Nikita-kozhemyaka”, “Koschei the Immortal”, “ Prophetic dream", "Arys-field", "Night dances", "Dashing one-eyed", " Good word", "The Wise Maiden and the Seven Thieves", "Doka on Doka" and others). Fairy tales in which, based on the Proppian formula, the structure is complicated by the introduction of everyday heroes.
12. Magical-everyday ones with animal characters (“Baba Yaga and Zamoryshek”, “Tereshechka”, “Crystal Mountain”, “Kozma Skorobogatiy”, “Firebird and Vasilisa the Princess”, “Sivko-Burko”, “Animal’s Milk” "). An even greater complication of the eleventh category due to the introduction of animal heroes.
13. Magical-pagan with everyday context (“Tales of the Dead”, “Tales of Witches”, “Death of the Miser”, “Fiddler in Hell”, “Leshy”, “Careless Word”). A special series of fairy tales that have a composition of everyday ones. Their peculiarity lies in the fact that they introduce heroes who personify evil spirits - echoes of paganism.
14. Domestic tragedies (“Ivanushka the Fool”, “The Stuffed Fool”, “Mena”, “The Wrangling Wife”, “The Prophetic Oak”). The composition and characters could classify these tales as being in the tenth category, but there is one feature - a tragic ending.
15. Household with an open ending (“Lutonyushko”). A special category of fairy tales that violates all traditional fairy tale structures - they have no ending.
16. Everyday story with a dialogic structure and inanimate characters (“Good, but bad”, “If you don’t like it, don’t listen”, “Mushrooms”). Fairy tales that have a special structure - a form of dialogue.
17. Everyday ones with inanimate heroes of a tragic tone (“Bubble, Straw and Bast Shot”). The structure of an everyday fairy tale, the heroes are inanimate objects.
Conclusion
Thus, I will summarize some of the work done:
1. I analyzed the current classifications of Russian folk tales.
2. Russian folk tales were carefully read and inconsistencies with existing classifications were found.
3. The basis and principles for creating your own classification are determined.
4. A new classification has been created, and tales from Afanasyev’s collection are distributed according to it.
In general, during the process of work, I became interested in the problem of oral folk art. So, today I already see the imperfection of the classification of oral non-fairy prose. In the future I intend to address this very issue.
Bibliography
1. Russian folk tales by A.N. Afanasyeva. – M., 2004.
2. Fairy tales: Library of Russian folklore. Book 1-2. – M, 1988, 1989.
Research:
1. Anikin V.L., Kruglov Yu.L. Russian folktale. – M., 2001.
2. Zueva T.V. The wonderful world of fairy tales and historical reality// East Slavic fairy tales. M., 1992. P. 3-28.
3. Korepova K.E. The Magic World // Russian Fairy Tale: An Anthology. M., 1992. P. 5-18.
4. Novikova A.M. Russian folk poetry. – M., 2002.
5. Propp V.Ya. Index of plots // Afanasyev A.N. Russian folk tales: In 3 volumes. M., 1957. T. 3. P. 454-502.
6. Pomerantseva E.V. The fate of a folk tale. – M., 2006.
7. Propp V.Ya. Historical roots fairy tale – L., 1976.
8. Comparative index of plots. East Slavic fairy tale. – L., 1979.
9. Streltsova L.E., Tamarchenko N.D. Verb and good: Magic and everyday tales. Tver, 2005.
The fairy tale has always kept pace with the times. The fairy tale once and for all set a sharp line between good and evil. She is a harsh accuser, able to simply and bluntly explain what is really good and what, on the contrary, is worthy of merciless condemnation. The fairy tale “gives” all its love and sympathy to good, and tries to destroy evil by any means available to it.
Fairy tales can be folklore (a genre of written and oral folk art) and literary.
Literary fairy tales have one or more authors. The characters of literary fairy tales, as well as folklore ones, are fictitious. The text of fairy tales of this kind is unchanged, recorded in writing.
Folklore tales are the creativity of the people themselves. They are passed down from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation. These tales reflect national ideals.
Folk tales are often characterized by a certain measure - “and I was there, I drank honey, it flowed down my mustache, but it didn’t get into my mouth.” The poetic character of fairy-tale language is also expressed in ordinary epic repetitions, usually up to three times– the hero’s feat, an important saying, a key meeting is repeated. There are often three heroes of a fairy tale - three brothers, three sisters.
What types of folk tales are there?
Magical, everyday, about animals, boring.
Fairy tales in which a miraculous beginning, supernatural events and persons predominate are called magical. The characters in them are Koschey the Immortal, the Sea King, Morozko, Baba Yaga, the Golden-Maned Horse, the Firebird, Sivka-Burka, and Pig the Golden Bristle. In them we also encounter wonderful objects - living and dead water, a flying carpet, an invisible hat, a self-assembled tablecloth.
It is believed that all this is the personification of the forces of nature. So, for example, Koschey the Immortal, a dry and angry old man with white hair, this is winter. The king of the sea is the sea, his daughters are the waves of the sea. The Firebird is the sun, Sivka-Burka is the horse from which the earth trembles, smoke comes out of his ears, and flames burst from his nostrils - thunder and lightning. Dead and living water– rain, flying carpet – wind...
The hero of a fairy tale, acting among these creatures and objects, is an ordinary person, most often, Ivan Tsarevich, or simply Ivanushka. The hero of the fairy tale struggles with various forces, suffers, but in the end emerges victorious, most often he is helped by mythical characters.
The hero of a fairy tale is often at first humiliated, despised by others, considered a fool, but then he rises above those who despise him. This is already a moral element in the fairy tale; it probably appeared later.
There are fairy tales in which the moral idea is invisible. And, for example, in the fairy tale about Koshchei the Immortal, who kidnapped Princess Marya and imprisoned her within the walls of his castle, Ivan Tsarevich, the bridegroom, defeats the enemy with his moral virtues: firmness of will, patience, kindness.
We also see a moral principle in the fairy tale about Morozk, who rewarded a kind girl-stepdaughter and punished the evil daughters of her stepmother.
In some fairy tales, in addition to wonderful people and events, there is an image of modern life. So, in the fairy tale about Little Thumb, peasant life is depicted: a woman does housework, a man plows in the field. The son brings lunch to his father in the field and helps him plow. This picture of agricultural life is a later layering in a fairy tale, the mythical basis of which, perhaps, formed even earlier than organized agriculture.
In an everyday fairy tale, wonderful events and characters are relegated to the background, and the main place is occupied by showing a person with all his advantages and disadvantages. Such tales belong to a later period than fairy tales. The main thing in these fairy tales is the depiction of characters and moral thought.
Everyday fairy tales are the closest to real life; there is a certain fiction in it, with the help of which negative aspects are revealed, or, conversely, the ingenuity and kindness of the characters are shown. In everyday fairy tales we can observe pictures of real, everyday life.
Tales about animals occupy an important place. These tales originate from ancient times, to those times when man looked at animals as beings similar to himself, gifted with reason and the gift of speech. These tales have survived to this day in a fairly unchanged form. Fairy tales of this kind are fun for children, although they have a moralizing moment.
The heroes of fairy tales about animals are the animals that are found in the country. In our Russian fairy tales, the main characters are a fox, a bear, a wolf, a cat, a rooster, and a ram. Fairy tales of this kind are distinguished by their artistry, both in language and in the depiction of characters - each animal with its own original appearance is described briefly, but often in many ways.
Boring tales- a subject of special discussion. They are small in size and have the character of jokes. Boring tales are built on wordplay. In fairy tales of this kind, light humor and irony are certainly present.
Russian folk tales: types, principles of storytelling
The word “fairy tale” has been known since the 17th century. Until this time, the term “fable” or “fable” was used, from the word “bayat”, “tell”. This word was first used in a letter from Voivode Vsevolodsky, where people who “tell unprecedented tales” were condemned. But scientists believe that the people used the word “fairy tale” before. There have always been talented storytellers among the people, but there is no information left about most of them. However, already in the 19th century, people appeared who set out to collect and systematize oral folk art.
A.N. Afanasyev was a prominent collector. From 1857 to 1862 he created collections of Russian folk tales.
Fairy tale - narrative work oral folk art about fictional events
Russian folktale - this is a treasure of folk wisdom. She is distinguished by the depth of ideas, richness of content, poetic language and high educational orientation("the fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it").
The Russian fairy tale is one of the most popular and beloved genres of folklore, it has an entertaining plot, amazing characters, there is a feeling of true poetry, which opens the reader to the world of human feelings and relationships, affirms kindness and justice, and also introduces Russian culture, to the wise folk experience , to the native language.
2. Classification of fairy tales. Characteristics of each species
To date, the following classification of Russian folk tales has been accepted:
1. Tales about animals;
2. Fairy tales;
3. Everyday tales.
Let's take a closer look at each type.
Animal Tales
Folk poetry embraced the whole world, its object was not only humans, but also all living things on the planet. By depicting animals, the fairy tale gives them human features, but, at the same time, records and characterizes habits, “way of life,” etc.
Man has long felt a kinship with nature; he truly was a part of it, fighting with it, seeking its protection, sympathizing and understanding. The later introduced fable, parable meaning of many fairy tales about animals is also obvious.
Fairy tales differ from beliefs - in the latter, big role plays fiction related to paganism. The wolf is believed to be wise and cunning, the bear is terrible. The fairy tale loses its dependence on paganism and becomes a mockery of animals. Mythology in it turns into art. The fairy tale is transformed into a kind of artistic joke - a criticism of those creatures that are meant by animals. Hence the closeness of such tales to fables ("The Fox and the Crane", "Beasts in the Pit").
Tales about animals are allocated to a special group based on the nature of the characters. They are divided by type of animal. This also includes tales about plants, inanimate nature (frost, sun, wind), and objects (a bubble, a straw, a bast shoe).
There are several genres in a fairy tale about animals. V. Ya. Propp identified suchgenres How:
1. Cumulative tale about animals. (Boring fairy tales, such as: “About the white bull,” Turnip”);
2. A fairy tale about animals;
3. Fable (apologist);
4. Satirical tale.
Leading place In fairy tales about animals, comic tales occupy a place - about the pranks of animals ("The Fox steals fish from a sleigh (from a cart"), "The Wolf at the Ice-hole", "The Fox coats its head with dough (sour cream), "The beaten one carries the unbeaten", "The Fox-midwife" and etc.), which influence other fairy-tale genres of animal epic, especially the apologist (fable).
Fairy tales
Fairy tales of the fairy type include magical, adventure, and heroic. These tales are based onwonderful world .
Wonderful world - This is an objective, fantastic, unlimited world. Thanks to unlimited fantasy and a wonderful principle of organizing material in fairy tales with a wonderful world of possible “transformation”, amazing in their speed (children grow by leaps and bounds, every day they become stronger or more beautiful). Not only is the speed of the process surreal, but also its very nature."Conversion" in fairy tales of the miraculous type usually occurs with the help of magical creatures or objects .
A fairy tale is based on a complexcomposition , which hasexposition, plot development, climax and resolution .
At the coreplot A fairy tale contains a story about overcoming loss with the help of miraculous means, or magical helpers. In the exhibition of the fairy tale there are consistently 2 generations - the older (the king and the queen, etc.) and the younger - Ivan and his brothers or sisters. Also included in the exhibition is the absence of the older generation. An intensified form of absence is the death of the parents.The beginning fairy tale is that main character or heroinediscover the loss or am I present heremotives for the ban , violation of the ban and subsequent disaster. Here is the beginning of counteraction, i.e.sending the hero from home.
Plot development is a search for what is lost or missing.
The climax of a fairy tale is that the protagonist or heroine fights an opposing force and always defeats it.
Denouement is overcoming a loss or lack. Usually the hero (heroine) “reigns” at the end - that is, acquires a higher social status than he had at the beginning.
Meletinsky, identifying five groups of fairy tales, tries to resolve the issue historical development genre in general, and plots in particular.
The tale contains some motifs characteristic of totemic myths. Absolutely obviousmythological origin universally widespreada fairy tale about marriage with a wonderful “totem” creature , who has temporarily shed her animal shell and taken on a human form (A husband is looking for a missing or kidnapped wife (a wife is looking for her husband): “The Frog Princess”, “The Scarlet Flower”, etc.).
A tale of visiting other worlds for the release of the captives there ("Three underground kingdoms", etc.). Fairy tales about a group of children falling into power are popular evil spirit, monsters, cannibals and those who are saved thanks to the resourcefulness of one of them (“The Witch’s Little Thumb,” etc.), or about the murder of a mighty snake (“The Snake Conqueror,” etc.).
In a fairy tale, we are actively developingfamily theme (“Cinderella”, etc.).Wedding for a fairy tale it becomes a symbolcompensation for the socially disadvantaged ("Sivko-Burko"). The socially disadvantaged hero (younger brother, stepdaughter, fool) at the beginning of the fairy tale, endowed with all the negative characteristics from his environment, is endowed with beauty and intelligence at the end ("The Little Humpbacked Horse"). The distinguished group of tales about wedding trials draws attention to the narrative of personal destinies.
Everyday tales
A characteristic feature of everyday fairy tales is the reproduction of everyday life in them. . The conflict of an everyday fairy tale is often thatdecency, honesty, nobility under the guise of simplicity and naivetyopposes those personality qualities that have always caused sharp rejection among the people (greed, anger, envy ).
As a rule, in everyday fairy tales there is moreirony and self-irony , since Good triumphs, but the randomness or singularity of its victory is emphasized.
The diversity of “everyday” fairy tales is characteristic : social-everyday, satirical-everyday, novelistic and others. Unlike fairy tales, everyday fairy tales contain a more significant elementsocial and moral criticism , she is more definite in her social preferences. Praise and condemnation sound stronger in everyday fairy tales.
IN Lately In the methodological literature, information began to appear about a new type of fairy tales - fairy tales of a mixed type. Of course, fairy tales of this type have existed for a long time, but they were not given much importance, because they forgot how much they can help in achieving educational, educational and developmental goals. In general, fairy tales of a mixed type are fairy tales of a transitional type.
They combine features inherent in both fairy tales with a wonderful world and everyday fairy tales. Elements of the miraculous also appear in the form of magical objects, around which the main action is grouped.
Fairy tales in different forms and scales strive to embody the ideal of human existence.
Fairy tales broaden one's horizons, awaken interest in the life and creativity of peoples, and foster a sense of trust in all the inhabitants of our Earth engaged in honest work.
3. Principles of telling a fairy tale.
Fairy tale - this is a means of working with the inner world of a person, amazing in its psychological power, and a powerful tool for development. Fairy tales surround us everywhere.
E.A. Flerina, the largest teacher in the region aesthetic education, sawThe advantage of storytelling over reading is that the narrator conveys the content as if he were an eyewitness to the events taking place.She believed that storytelling achieves a special immediacy of perception.
Every teacher should master the art of telling fairy tales, because... It is very important to convey the originality of the fairy tale genre.
The tales are dynamic and at the same time melodious. The speed of development of events in them is perfectly combined with repetition. The language of fairy tales is very picturesque: it contains many apt comparisons, epithets, figurative expressions, dialogues, songs, and rhythmic repetitions that help the child remember the fairy tale.
To the modern child It’s not enough to read a fairy tale, color images of its characters, and talk about the plot.With a child of the third millennium it is necessary make sense of fairy tales, search together and find hidden meanings and life lessons.
Principles of working with fairy tales:
PrincipleMain focus
A fairy tale is a specific phenomenon that combines several genres. Russian fairy tales are usually divided into the following genres: about animals, magical and everyday (anecdotal and novelistic). Historically, fairy tales are a rather late phenomenon. The prerequisite for their creation in every nation was the decomposition of the primitive communal system and the decline of the mythological worldview. The most ancient are tales about animals; later, fairy tales and anecdotal tales arose, and even later, novelistic tales.
The main artistic feature of fairy tales is their plot. The plot arose thanks to the conflict, and the conflict was generated by life. The basis of a fairy tale is always the antithesis between dream and reality. In the world of fairy tales, dreams triumph. A fairy tale always features a main character, and the action unfolds around him. The victory of the hero is an obligatory setting of the plot; the fairy-tale action does not allow for violation of chronology or the development of parallel lines, it is strictly consistent and unilinear.
Fairy tales can be combined into one narrative. This phenomenon is called contamination (from the Latin contaminatio - “mixing.”
Fairy-tale plots have the usual epic development: exposition - plot - development of action - climax - denouement. Compositionally, a fairy tale plot consists of motifs. A fairy tale usually has a main, central motive. Fairy-tale motifs are often tripled: three tasks, three trips, three meetings, etc. This creates a measured epic rhythm, a philosophical tonality, and restrains the dynamic speed of the plot action. But the main thing is that the triplications serve to reveal the idea of the plot. Elementary plots consist of only one motif (this was probably the case in ancient myths). More complex look are cumulative plots (from the Latin cumulare - “increase, accumulation”) - resulting from the accumulation of chains of variations of the same motif. When telling fairy tales, they used traditional beginnings and endings - initial and final formulas. They were used especially consistently in fairy tales. The most typical are: In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived...(beginning); They made a feast for the whole world. And I was there, I drank honey-beer, it flowed down my mustache, but it didn’t get into my mouth.(ending). The beginning took listeners away from reality into the world of a fairy tale, and the ending brought them back, jokingly emphasizing that a fairy tale is the same fiction as that very mead beer, which It didn't get into my mouth.
Tales about animals (or animal epics) are distinguished by the main feature that their main characters are animals. Structurally, the works of animal epic are varied. There are single-motive tales ("The Wolf and the Pig", "The Fox drowns the jug"), but they are rare, since the principle of repetition is very developed. First of all, it manifests itself in cumulative plots different types. Among them is a three-time repetition of the meeting (“Bast and Ice Hut”). There are known plots with a multiple line of repetition ("The Fool Wolf"), which can sometimes pretend to develop into a bad infinity ("The Crane and the Heron"). But most often, cumulative plots are presented as repeatedly (up to 7 times) increasing or decreasing repetition. The last link has the resolving capability.
Contamination is of great importance for the composition of animal tales. Only a small part of these tales present stable plots; for the most part, the index reflects not plots, but only motives. Motifs are connected to each other in the process of storytelling, but are almost never performed separately.
The genre form of the fairy tale was determined in folklore quite late, only after the decline of the mythological worldview. Hero of a fairy tale - a common person, morally and economically disadvantaged as a result of the historical reorganization of the way of life. The fairy-tale conflict itself is a family conflict; it is in it that the social nature of the fairy tale genre is manifested. Two conflicts of different historical depth - mythological and family - were united within one genre thanks to the image of the main character, who in all his modifications combines mythological and real (everyday) features.
From mythology, the fairy tale inherited two types of hero: “tall” (hero) and "low" (fool); the fairy tale itself generated the third type, which can be defined as “ideal” (Ivan Tsarevich). A hero of any type, as a rule, is the third, younger brother and goes by the name Ivan.
The most ancient type of hero is the hero, miraculously born from a totem. Endowed with enormous physical strength, it expresses the early stage of human idealization. Around the extraordinary power of the hero. The main role of the heroine of a fairy tale is to be an assistant to the groom or husband. A fairy tale is one of the largest narrative forms of classical folklore. All its plots retain the traditional uniformity of composition: your kingdom - road to another kingdom - V another kingdom - road from another kingdom - your own kingdom. According to this narrative logic, a fairy tale combines a chain of motifs into a whole (plot).
In the construction of fairy-tale plots, traditional style played a certain role: beginnings, endings, as well as internal formulas of a compositional nature.
The presence of formulas is a clear sign of the style of a fairy tale. Many formulas are of a figurative nature, associated with wonderful characters, and are their unique markings.
The fairy tale actively used poetic stylistics common to many folklore genres: similes, metaphors, words with diminutive suffixes; proverbs, sayings, jokes; various nicknames for people and animals. Formulas depicting the wonderful horse, Baba Yaga, are widely known. Some fairy-tale formulas go back to conspiracies; they retain obvious signs of magical speech (summoning a wonderful horse,
Everyday tales. Everyday fairy tales express a different view of man and the world around him. Their fiction is based not on miracles, but on reality, people's everyday life.
The events of everyday fairy tales always unfold in one space - conventionally real, but these events themselves are incredible. Thanks to the improbability of events, everyday fairy tales are fairy tales, and not just everyday stories. Their aesthetics require an unusual, unexpected, sudden development of action. In everyday fairy tales, purely fantastic characters sometimes appear, such as the devil, Woe, Share. The plot develops thanks to the hero’s collision not with magical forces, but with difficult life circumstances. The hero comes out unscathed from the most hopeless situations, because a happy coincidence of events helps him. But more often he helps himself - with ingenuity, resourcefulness, even trickery. Everyday fairy tales idealize the activity, independence, intelligence, and courage of a person in his struggle in life.
The artistic sophistication of the narrative form is not characteristic of everyday fairy tales: they are characterized by brevity of presentation, colloquial vocabulary, and dialogue. Everyday fairy tales do not tend to triple the motives and generally do not have such developed plots as fairy tales. Fairy tales of this type do not know colorful epithets and poetic formulas.
Of the compositional formulas, the simplest principle is common in them Once upon a time, there were as a signal for the beginning of a fairy tale. It is archaic in origin
The artistic framing of everyday fairy tales with beginnings and endings is not mandatory; many of them begin right from the beginning and end with the final touch of the plot itself.
Anecdotal tales. Researchers call everyday anecdotal tales differently: “satirical”, “satirical-comic”, “everyday”, “social everyday”, “adventurous”. They are based on universal laughter as a means of resolving conflict and a way to destroy the enemy. The hero of this genre is a person humiliated in the family or in society: a poor peasant, a hired worker, a thief, a soldier, a simple-minded fool, an unloved husband. His opponents are a rich man, a priest, a gentleman, a judge, a devil, “smart” older brothers, and an evil wife.
No one accepts such stories as reality, otherwise they would only cause a feeling of indignation. An anecdotal tale is a cheerful farce, the logic of the development of its plot is the logic of laughter, which is the opposite of ordinary logic, eccentric. The anecdotal tale developed only in the Middle Ages. It absorbed later class contradictions: between wealth and poverty, between peasants. Fairy tales use realistic grotesque - fiction based on reality. The fairy tale uses the technique of parody, comic word creation. Anecdotal tales can have an elementary, single-motive plot. They can also be cumulative (“A complete fool”, “Good and bad”). But their especially characteristic property is their free and mobile composition, open to contamination.
Novella fairy tales. Everyday short story tales introduced a new quality into narrative folklore: interest in the inner world of man.
The theme of fairy tales-short stories is personal life, and the characters are people related to each other by premarital, marital or other family relationships. The heroes of short story tales are separated lovers, a slandered girl, a son expelled by his mother, an innocently persecuted wife. According to the content in this genre, the following groups of plots are distinguished: about marriage or marriage (“Signs of a Princess,” “ Unsolved mysteries"); about the testing of women ("Dispute about the wife's fidelity", "Seven Years"); about robbers ("The Robber Groom"); about the predetermination of the predicted fate ("Marko the Rich", "Truth and Falsehood"). Often the plots are " wandering", developed at different times and among many peoples.
In Russian fairy tales, many novelistic plots came from folk books of the 17th-18th centuries. along with extensive translated literature - chivalric novels and stories. Short story tales have a structure similar to fairy tales: they also consist of a chain of motifs of different content. However, unlike fairy tales, short stories do not depict the entire life of the hero, but only some episode from it.
Fairy tales are very important genre in literature. This is where young children begin to become acquainted with the world of prose and poetry. But what do they mean, what is the history and specificity of the author's fairy tales? Let's look at all this below, as well as a list of Russian literary fairy tales with their authors and features.
Definition
A fairy tale is a genre in literature, usually based on folklore. It can be both prosaic and poetic. However, this is mainly folklore prose, and each nation has its own fairy tales. The main difference for them is usually the presence of mythical creatures and/or fantasy, fantastic, and magical elements.
But unlike folklore works, fairy tales always have an author. Often there is an obvious struggle between good and evil, bad and good. Usually there is a main character - the “favorite” of the author and, as a result, the reader. And there is also an antihero - a mythical villain.
Story
As mentioned above, fairy tales originate from folklore. However, not always, because they can also be purely copyrighted. They appeared a long time ago in the form of folklore works, passed on “from mouth to mouth.” In Rus', for a long time, their own folk tales existed and spread.
Some works can be classified as very old fairy tales. For example, many folklore tales of Ancient Rus' and church parables of the Middle Ages, in many ways reminiscent of the genre we are considering.
Further, fairy tales began to appear in Europe in the usual sense for people: the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault and many others. But on the territory of modern Russia, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was previously (and still is) very popular. In the 18th century, in general, many writers loved to take a basis from folklore and thus create new works.
In the 20th century, even more fairy tales appeared. Such great writers as Maxim Gorky, Alexei Tolstoy and others were known as authors of this genre.
Specifics
Author's fairy tales are also called literary. As already described above, they are distinguished from folklore works by the presence of an author. Of course, even the very old had their creators folk tales, but the authors as such were lost, because for centuries the stories passed orally from one person to another, sometimes even significantly modified, since each person could interpret and retell differently, and so on for a long time.
Another difference between an author’s fairy tale and a folk tale is that it can be in both verse and prose, while the second can only be in prose (initially it was only oral). Also, folklore usually touches on the theme of the confrontation between good and evil, while in literary works this is not necessary.
Another difference is that folk tales have more superficially described characters, while in literary tales, on the contrary, each character is clearly expressed and individual. In folklore there is also a beginning, a saying and peculiar figures of speech. They also tend to be even smaller than literary ones. This is all due to the fact that it was transmitted orally, so much was lost, and the size was shortened because it was forgotten over generations. But nevertheless, the tendency to different speech patterns, characteristic only of Russian fairy tales, has been preserved. For example, “once upon a time,” the epithet “good fellow,” and in Pushkin: “in the distant kingdom, in the thirtieth state,” etc.
The most amazing: precise definition the author's fairy tale as such does not exist. Yes, it came from folklore and has changed greatly, which helps in defining this term. Fantastic creatures have been preserved, which change depending on the people. Fairy tales are usually small in size. There is definitely some fiction in them. But you can always find some kind of morality, which is main goal fairy tales. This distinguishes it from fantasy, where the emphasis is not on morality, but on the narration of the plot, which also differs in that it more adventures, breathtaking events. Also, fantasy works and epics are long in size. And the world described in them usually has no folklore basis. It is often a fiction of an author who has completely created his own reality. In fairy tales, on the contrary, there is fiction, but it is within the framework real world.
Kinds
Many researchers divide literary fairy tales into several categories. E. V. Pomerantseva, for example, divides them into 4 genres:
- adventure-novelistic;
- household;
- about animals;
- magical.
But the domestic folklorist V. Ya. Propp divides fairy tales into large quantity categories:
- About inanimate nature, animals, plants, objects. Everything is simple here: fairy tales tell about this, respectively, about animals or inanimate nature as the main element. An interesting fact here is that such works are rarely Russian or European. But similar tales are often found among the peoples of Africa, North America.
- Cumulative fairy tales refer to those works where the plot is repeated several times until the denouement reaches the climax. This makes it easier for children to perceive them. A striking example is the stories about the turnip and the kolobok.
- The everyday (novelistic) genre tells about different people by character. For example, a fairy tale about an evil deceiver or a stupid person.
- Boring fairy tales are designed to lull children to sleep. They are very short and simple. (For example, a fairy tale about a white bull).
- Fables about something that could not happen in reality. It is worth noting that all fairy tales have a share of fiction, but fables contain the most fiction: talking animals, humanized bears (they live like people, communicate, etc.). As a rule, all subspecies overlap with each other. It is rare that a work belongs to only one of them.
In Russian fairy tales, heroic and soldier branches are also distinguished.
The most interesting thing is that fairy tales as a genre are studied very seriously. In Europe, A. Aarne wrote the so-called “Index of Fairy-Tale Types” in 1910, which also contains divisions into types. Unlike the typology of Propp and Pomerantseva, here we add the well-known European fairy tales about fooled devils and jokes. Based on the works, Aarne created his index of fairy-tale plots and S. Thompson in 1928. A little later, folklorist N.P. Andreev and many other researchers worked on this typology, but with the introduction of Russian (Slavic) types.
Above we looked at the main subspecies, which relate more to folk art. Author's fairy tales, as a rule, are much more complex, and it is not easy to type them into a certain subgenre, but they have adopted a lot from folklore and the types described above as their basis. Also, plot motifs are taken from many sources. For example, the hatred of stepdaughter and stepmother, popular in works.
Now let's move on to the lists of folk and literary fairy tales.
Fairy tales for 1st grade
The list is large, since children begin their introduction to reading with stories and fairy tales, because they are small and easy to remember and master. In first grade it is recommended to read:
- Small folk tales. Often they are about animals: “The Cat and the Fox”, “Kolobok”, “Crow and Crayfish”, “Geese-Swans”, as well as “Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka”, “Porridge from an Ax”, “A Man and a Bear”, “ Cockerel-golden comb”, “Morozko”, “Bubble, straw and bast shoe”, “Teremok”, “At the command of the pike”, etc.
- Charles Perrault, "Little Red Riding Hood".
- Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich, "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" and other short stories.
Literary fairy tales: 2nd grade, list
- Folk tales adapted by A. N. Tolstoy.
- The works of the Brothers Grimm, for example " The Bremen Town Musicians".
- E. L. Schwartz, "The New Adventures of Puss in Boots."
- C. Perrault: "Puss in Boots" and "Little Red Riding Hood".
- Tales of Hans Christian Andersen.
- As well as small works by A. S. Pushkin, D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak, P. Ershov, P. Bazhov, K. D. Ushinsky and others.
List of literary fairy tales for grade 3
In these classes they also read fairy tales, but they are longer, and there are also fewer folk tales and more literary ones. For example, everyone famous fairy tale Lewis Carroll about Alice Through the Looking Glass. As well as larger fairy tales by Mamin-Sibiryak, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Pushkin, Bazhov, Zhukovsky, Tchaikovsky, Perrault, Andersen and many others.
4th grade
List of literary fairy tales:
- Garshin V. M., “The Tale of the Toad and the Rose”;
- Zhukovsky V. A., “The Tale of Tsar Berendey”, “There the skies and waters are clear”;
- E. Schwartz "The Tale of Lost Time."
5th grade
Literary tales in high school in the reading program they are much less common than in grades 1-4, but nevertheless there are such works. For example, fairy tales by Andersen and Pushkin, which are also available in primary grades. The list of literary fairy tales for grade 5 does not end here. There are also works by Zhukovsky, Schwartz and many others for children of this age.
Instead of a conclusion
A fairy tale is a very interesting genre, which is still studied by various researchers, and children read according to the school curriculum. Initially, they were only folk, transmitted orally. But then author’s literary fairy tales began to appear, which usually take folklore plots and characters as a basis. Such works are small, they contain fiction and a special narrative. But this is precisely what makes the fairy tale genre special and distinguishes it from others.
