Propp, V.Morphology fairy tale/
V. Propp. – M.: Labyrinth, 2006. – 128 p.
“Morphology must still be legitimized as a special science, making as its main subject what is treated in others on occasion and in passing, collecting what is scattered there, and establishing a new point of view that allows us to easily and conveniently examine the things of nature. The phenomena she deals with are highest degree significant; those mental operations with the help of which it compares phenomena are in accordance with human nature and are pleasant to it, so that even a failed experience will still combine benefit and beauty.” (Goethe)
The word morphology means the study of forms. In botany, morphology refers to the study of components plants, about their relationship to each other and to the whole, in other words, the doctrine of the structure of plants. In the field of folk tales, consideration of forms and establishment of structure patterns is possible with the same accuracy with which the morphology of organic formations is possible.
Classifications of fairy tales
The most common division of fairy tales is into fairy tales with wonderful content, everyday fairy tales, and fairy tales about animals. [Suggested by V.F. Miller. This classification essentially coincides with the classification of the mythological school (mythical, about animals, everyday).] At first glance, everything seems correct. But the question inevitably arises: don’t fairy tales about animals contain an element of the miraculous, sometimes very to a large extent? And vice versa: don’t animals play a very important role in wonderful fairy tales? Can such a sign be considered sufficiently accurate?
In his famous work"Psychology of Nations" Wundt suggests the following division:
1) Mythological fairy tales and fables.
2) Pure fairy tales.
3) Biological tales and fables.
4) Pure fables about animals.
5) Tales of "origin".
6) Playful tales and fables.
7) Moral fables.
This classification is much richer than the previous ones, but it also raises objections. Fable (a term that occurs five times in seven categories) is a formal category. What Wundt meant by this is unclear. The term “playful” fairy tale is generally unacceptable, since the same fairy tale can be interpreted both heroically and comically. The next question is: what is the difference between a “pure animal fable” and a “moral fable”? Why are “pure fables” not “moral” and vice versa?
The classifications discussed concern the distribution of fairy tales by category. Along with the distribution of fairy tales by category, there is a division by plot.
In 1924 a book appeared about the fairy tale of an Odessa professor R. M. Volkova(Volkov). Volkov determines from the very first pages of his work that a fantastic fairy tale has 15 plots. These plots are as follows:
1) About the innocently persecuted.
2) About the foolish hero.
3) About three brothers.
4) About snake fighters.
5) About getting brides.
6)O wise maiden.
7) About the sworn and enchanted.
8) About the owner of the talisman.
9) About the owner of wonderful objects.
10) About an unfaithful wife, etc.
How these 15 plots are established is not specified. If you look closely at the principle of division, you get the following: the first category is determined by the plot, the second - by the character of the hero, the third - by the number of heroes, the fourth - by one of the moments in the course of the action, etc. Thus, there is no principle of division at all. It really turns out to be chaos. Thus, this classification is not a scientific classification in the precise sense of the word, it is nothing more than a conventional index, the value of which is very doubtful.
Having touched on the issue of classification of plots, we cannot pass over in silence the index of fairy tales Antti Aarne. Aarne is one of the founders of the so-called Finnish school. The works of this school currently represent the pinnacle of fairy-tale study. Representatives of this school extract and compare variants of individual plots according to their worldwide distribution. The material is grouped geo-ethnographically according to a well-known, previously developed system, and then conclusions are drawn about the basic structure, distribution and origin of the plots. However, this technique also raises a number of objections. Plots (especially the plots of fairy tales) are closely related to each other. It is possible to determine where one plot with its variants ends and where another begins only after an inter-plot study of fairy tales and an accurate fixation of the principle of selection of plots and variants. But this is not the case. Mobility of elements is also not taken into account here. The works of this school are based on the unconscious premise that each plot is something organically integral, that it can be snatched from a number of other plots and studied independently.
The methods of this school first required a list of subjects. Aarne undertook the task of compiling such a list. This list has entered into international use and has provided the greatest service to the study of fairy tales: thanks to Aarne’s index, the encryption of the fairy tale is possible. The plots are called Aarne types, and each type is numbered. Brief symbol for fairy tales (in in this case- a link to the index number) is very convenient.
But along with these advantages, the index also has a number of significant disadvantages: as a classification, it is not free from the mistakes that Volkov makes. The main categories are as follows:
I. Tales about animals.
II. Actually fairy tales.
III. Jokes.
Fairy tales, according to Aarne, cover the following categories:
1) a wonderful opponent,
2)wonderful husband (wife),
3) a wonderful task,
4) a wonderful helper,
5) a wonderful item,
6) miraculous strength or skill,
7) other wonderful motives.
In relation to this classification, objections to Volkov’s classification can be repeated almost verbatim. What to do, for example, with those fairy tales in which a wonderful task is solved by a wonderful helper, which is exactly what happens very often, or with those fairy tales in which a wonderful wife is a wonderful helper?
The situation with the classification of the fairy tale is not entirely successful. But classification is one of the first and most important stages of study.
Fairy tale plots
Talked very little about the description of the fairy tale A. N. Veselovsky. But what he said is of great importance. Veselovsky understands a plot as a complex of motives. The motif can be associated with various subjects. “The plots vary: certain motifs are intruded into the plots, or the plots are combined with each other.” “By plot, I mean a theme in which different situations and motives scurry about.” For Veselovsky, the motive is something primary, the plot is secondary. For Veselovsky, the plot is already an act of creativity, connection. This implies for us the need to study not so much by plots, but primarily by motives. The plot is not a unit, but a complex; it is not constant, but changeable; one cannot proceed from it in the study of a fairy tale. But Veselovsky’s teaching about motives and plots represents only a general principle. Veselovsky’s specific interpretation of the term motive can no longer be applied. According to Veselovsky, a motive is an indecomposable unit of narrative. “By motive I mean the simplest narrative unit.” “The hallmark of a motif is its figurative, single-member schematism; these are the elements of lower mythology and fairy tales that cannot be further decomposed.” However, the motives that he gives as examples are decomposed. If a motive is something logically whole, then every phrase of a fairy tale gives a motive ("a father has three sons" - a motive; "a stepdaughter leaves the house" - a motive; "Ivan fights with a snake" - a motive, etc.). Thus, contrary to Veselovsky, we must argue that the motive is not single-membered, not indecomposable. The last decomposable unit as such does not represent a logical whole. Agreeing with Veselovsky that the part is more primary for description than the whole (and according to Veselovsky, the motive is more primary in origin than the plot), we will subsequently have to solve the problem of identifying some primary elements differently than Veselovsky does.
The existence of fairy tales as a special category is allowed as a necessary working hypothesis. For now, fairy tales are understood as fairy tales, identified by Aarne-Thompson.
We are undertaking cross-plot comparison of these tales. For comparison, we identify the components of fairy tales according to special techniques and then compare the tales according to their component parts. The result will be morphology, i.e. description of a fairy tale by its component parts and the relationship of the parts to each other and to the whole.
What methods can an accurate description of the tale be achieved? Let's compare the following cases:
1. The king gives the daredevil an eagle. The eagle carries the daredevil to another kingdom (Aph. 171).
2.Grandfather gives Suchenka a horse. The horse takes Suchenko to another kingdom (132).
3. The sorcerer gives Ivan a boat. The boat takes Ivan to another kingdom (138).
4. The princess gives Ivan a ring. The fellows from the ring take Ivan to another kingdom (156); etc.
In the above cases, there are constant and variable quantities. The names change (and with them the attributes) characters, their actions or functions do not change. Hence the conclusion is that fairy tales often attribute the same actions to different characters. This gives us the opportunity study a fairy tale based on the functions of the characters.
Under function is understood as the act of an actor, defined from the point of view of its significance for the course of action.
The above observations can be briefly formulated as follows:
I. The constant, stable elements of a fairy tale are the functions of the characters, regardless of who and how they are performed. They form the main components of a fairy tale.
II. The number of functions known to a fairy tale is limited.
III. The sequence of functions is always the same.
IV. All fairy tales are of the same type in their structure.
Since we study fairy tales according to the functions of the characters, the use of material can be suspended at the moment when it is discovered that new fairy tales do not provide any new functions. We take Afanasyev’s collection, begin the study of fairy tales from issue No. 50 (according to Afanasyev’s plan, this is the first fairy tale of the collection) and bring it to No. 151.
Functions of the actors
For each function the following is given: 1) summary its essence, 2) an abbreviated definition in one word, 3) symbol her. (The introduction of signs will make it possible to subsequently compare the construction of fairy tales schematically).
A fairy tale usually begins with some initial situation. Family members are listed, or future hero(for example, a soldier) is simply introduced by giving his name or mentioning his position. Although this situation is not a function, it still represents an important morphological element. We define this element as the initial situation. Conventional sign - i.
The initial situation is followed by the following functions:
I. One of the family members leaves home
(definition: absence, designation e)
II. The hero is approached with a ban
(definition - prohibition, designation b)
III. The ban is violated
(definition - violation, designation b)
A new face now enters the tale, which can be called antagonist of the hero(pest). His role is to disturb the peace of a happy family, cause some kind of misfortune, cause harm, damage.
IV. The antagonist is trying to conduct reconnaissance
(definition - scouting, designation in)
V. The antagonist is given information about his victim
(definition - issue, designation w)
VI. The antagonist tries to deceive his victim in order to take possession of him or his property
(definition - catch, designation g)
VII. The victim succumbs to deception and thereby unwittingly helps the enemy
(definition - complicity, symbol g)
VIII. An antagonist causes harm or damage to one family member
(definition - sabotage, designation A)
This function is extremely important, since it actually creates the movement of the tale. Absence, violation of a ban, extradition, success of deception prepare this function, create its possibility, or simply facilitate it. Therefore, the first seven functions can be considered as the preparatory part of the tale, while sabotage opens the plot. The forms of sabotage are extremely diverse.
VIII-a. One of the family members lacks something, he wants to have something
(definition - shortage, designation a)
IX. Trouble or shortage is reported, the hero is approached with a request or order, sent away or released
(definition - mediation, connecting moment, designation B)
This function introduces a hero into a fairy tale. Upon closer analysis, it can be decomposed into its component parts, but for our purposes this is unimportant.
The heroes of a fairy tale can be twofold:
1) If a girl is kidnapped and disappears from the horizon of her father (and with it from the horizon of the listener), and Ivan goes in search of the girl, then the hero of the fairy tale is Ivan, and not the kidnapped girl. Such heroes can be called seekers.
2) If a girl or boy is kidnapped or expelled and the fairy tale goes with the kidnapped, expelled person, without being interested in what happened to those who remained, then the hero of the fairy tale is the kidnapped, expelled girl (boy). There are no seekers in these tales. Such heroes can be called damaged heroes.
X. The seeker agrees or decides to resist
(definition - beginning counteraction, designation C)
This moment is characterized, for example, by the following words: “Let us find your princesses,” etc. Sometimes this moment is not mentioned in words, but a volitional decision, of course, precedes the search. This moment is typical only for those fairy tales where the hero is a seeker. Exiled, killed, bewitched, replaced heroes have no volitional desire for liberation, and here this element is absent.
XI. The hero leaves home
(definition - dispatch, designation?)
ABC elements? represent the beginning of a fairy tale. The course of action then develops.
A new person enters the fairy tale, who can be called the donor or, more precisely, the provider. Usually it is found by chance in the forest, on the road, etc. (see Chapter VII - forms of appearance of characters). From him the hero - both the seeker and the victim - receives some remedy (usually magical), which allows him to subsequently eliminate the misfortune. But before receiving the magic remedy, the hero is subjected to some very various actions, which, however, all lead to the fact that a magical remedy falls into the hands of the hero.
XII. The hero is tested, interrogated, attacked, etc., which prepares for him to receive a magical remedy or assistant
(definition - the first function of the donor, designation D)
XIII. The hero reacts to the actions of the future donor
(definition - hero’s reaction, symbol G)
In most cases, the reaction can be positive or negative.
XIV. The hero gets a magical remedy at his disposal
(definition - supply, receiving a magical remedy, designation Z)
The following can serve as magical means: 1) animals (horse, eagle, etc.); 2) objects that serve as magical helpers (a flint with a horse, a ring with fellows); 3) objects that have magical properties, such as clubs, swords, harps, balls and many others; 4) qualities bestowed directly, such as strength, the ability to turn into animals, etc. All these transmission objects are called by us (for now conditionally) by magical means.
If we base the definition of types on the forms of transmission of the magical remedy, then we can identify two types of connections:
1) The theft of a magical remedy, associated with an attempt to destroy the hero (fry, etc.), with a request for division, with an offer of exchange.
2) All other forms of transmission and receipt associated with all other preparing forms.
XV. The hero is transported, delivered or brought to the location of the subject of the search
(definition - spatial movement between two kingdoms, travel guide; symbol R)
XVI. The hero and antagonist come into direct combat
(definition - fight, designation B)
This form should be distinguished from a struggle (fight) with a hostile donor. These forms can be distinguished by their consequences. If, as a result of a hostile meeting, the hero receives a means for further searches, then we have element D. If, as a result of victory, the very object of the search for which he was sent falls into the hands of the hero, then we have element B.
XVII. The hero is being tagged
(definition - branding, mark, designation K)
XVIII. The antagonist is defeated
(definition - victory, designation P)
XIX. The initial problem or shortage is eliminated
(definition - elimination of trouble or shortage, designation L)
XX. The hero returns
(definition - return, designation?)
The return is usually carried out in the same forms as the arrival. However, there is no need to fix a special function here after the return, since the return already means overcoming space. This is not always the case when going there. There, after departure, a means is given (horse, eagle, etc.), and then flight or other forms of travel take place, but here return occurs immediately and, moreover, for the most part in the same forms as arrival. Sometimes the return has the character of an escape.
XXI. The hero is being persecuted
(definition - pursuit, pursuit, designation Pr)
XXII. The hero escapes persecution
(definition - salvation, designation Sp)
Many tales consist of two rows of functions, which can be called moves. New trouble is created new move, and thus sometimes combined into one story a whole series fairy tales
XXIII. The hero arrives unrecognized home or in another country
(definition - unrecognized arrival, symbol X)
Two cases can be seen here. 1) Arrival home. The hero stops with some artisan: a goldsmith, a tailor, a shoemaker, and becomes his apprentice. 2) He arrives to another king, enters the kitchen as a cook or serves as a groom. Along with this, sometimes it is necessary to indicate simple arrival.
XXIV. The false hero makes unreasonable claims
(definition - unfounded claims, designation F)
If the hero arrives home, then the brothers make claims. If he serves in another kingdom, they are presented by a general or a water carrier, etc. The brothers pose as breadwinners, the general as the winner of the serpent. These two forms could be considered special categories.
XXV. The hero is given a difficult task
(definition - difficult task, symbol 3)
XXVI. The problem is being solved
(definition - decision, designation P)
The forms of the solution, of course, exactly correspond to the forms of the problems. Some problems are solved before they are asked, or before the asker demands a solution. We will denote such cases of a preliminary decision with the sign *P.
XXVII. The hero will be recognized
(definition - recognition, designation Y)
XXVIII. The false hero or antagonist is exposed
(definition - exposure, designation O).
XXIX. The hero is given a new look
(definition - transfiguration, designation T)
XXX. The enemy is punished
(definition - punishment, designation N)
XXXI. The hero marries and reigns
(definition - wedding, designation C**).
This is where the fairy tale ends. It should also be noted that some actions of fairy-tale heroes in some cases do not obey and are not determined by any of the above functions. There are very few such cases. These are either forms that cannot be understood without comparative material, or forms transferred from fairy tales of other categories (anecdotes, legends, etc.). We define them as unclear elements and denote them with N.
We see that, indeed, the number of functions is very limited. Only thirty-one functions can be noted. Within the framework of these functions, the action of absolutely all the fairy tales of our material develops, as well as the action of very many other fairy tales of the most various peoples. Further, if we read all the functions in a row, we will see how, with logical and artistic necessity, one function follows from another. We see that, indeed, no function excludes the other. They all belong to one rod, and not to several rods, as noted above.
We see that it is very large number functions are arranged in pairs (prohibition-violation, scouting-extradition, fight-victory, pursuit-rescue, etc.). Other functions can be arranged in groups. So - sabotage, sending, the decision to counteract and sending from home (A B C?) make up the plot. The test of the hero by the donor, his reaction and reward (D G Z) also form a whole. Along with this, there are single functions (absence, punishment, marriage, etc.).
Some other elements of the tale
A. Auxiliary elements for connecting functions with each other
It can be observed that the functions do not always follow directly one after the other. If successive functions are performed by different characters, then the second character must know what happened before. In this regard, a whole system of information has been developed in the fairy tale, sometimes in artistically very vivid forms; sometimes a fairy tale misses this information, and then the characters act ex machina, or they are omniscient; on the other hand, it is also used where it is essentially not at all necessary. With these awarenesses, during the course of action, one function is associated with another.
B. Auxiliary elements for triplings
Both individual details of an attributive nature (three heads of a snake) and individual functions, pairs of functions (pursuit - rescue), groups of functions and entire moves can be arranged. Repetition can be either uniform (three tasks, serve for three years), or repetition gives an increase (the third task is the most difficult, the third battle is the most terrible), or a negative result is given twice, and a positive result once.
C. Motivations
Motivations are understood as both the reasons and goals of the characters that cause them to take certain actions. Motivations sometimes give a fairy tale a very special, bright coloring, but still motivations belong to the most fickle and unstable elements of a fairy tale. In addition, they represent an element less clear and defined than functions or connectives.
Distribution of functions among actors
Many functions are logically combined in well-known circles. These circles generally correspond to the performers. These are circles of action. The fairy tale knows the following circles of action:
1) The range of actions of the antagonist (pest). Covers: sabotage (A), combat or other forms of struggle with the hero (B), pursuit (Pr).
2) Circle of actions of the donor (supplier). Covers: preparing the transfer of a magical remedy (D), supplying the hero with a magical remedy (Z).
3) Circle of actions of the assistant. Covers: spatial movement of the hero (R), elimination of trouble or shortage (L), salvation from persecution (Sp), resolution of difficult problems (P), transfiguration of the hero (T).
4) The circle of actions of the princess (the desired character) and her father. Covers: setting difficult tasks (3), branding (K), reproof (O), recognition (U), punishment of the second pest (N), wedding (S*).
5) Circle of actions of the sender. Covers only the reference (connecting moment, B).
6) The hero’s range of actions. Covers: going on a quest (S?), responding to the donor's demands (G), wedding (C*). The first function (C?) is characteristic of the seeker hero, the victim hero performs only the others.
7) The range of actions of the false hero also covers going on a quest (C?), reacting to the demands of the donor - always negative (Gneg) and, as a specific function, deceitful claims (F).
Thus, the fairy tale knows seven characters. The functions of the preparatory part are also distributed over these same characters (e, b - b, c - w, g - g), but the distribution here is uneven, and characters cannot be determined by these functions. In addition, there are special characters for connections (complainers, informers, slanderers), as well as special traitors for function w (distribution of information: a mirror, a chisel, a broom indicate where the desired victim is). This also includes characters such as One-Eyes, Two-Eyes and Three-Eyes.
Ways to include new faces in the course of action
Antagonist(pest) appears twice during the action. The first time he appears suddenly, from the side (flies in, sneaks up, etc.), and then disappears. The second time he enters the tale as a character discovered, usually as a result of a guidebook.
Donormet by chance, most often in the forest (hut), or in a field, on the road, on the street.
Magic Helper included as a gift. This moment is indicated by the sign Z.
Sender, hero, false hero , and also princess are included in the initial situation. When listing the characters in the initial situation, sometimes nothing is said in words about the false hero, and only later does it become clear that he lives at court or in a house. The princess appears in the fairy tale, like a pest, twice. The second time she is introduced as a found character, and the seeker can see either her first and then the pest (the snake is not at home, dialogue with the princess), or vice versa.
About the attributes of characters and their meaning
“The doctrine of forms is the doctrine of transformations.” Goethe.
Under attributes we understand the totality of all the external qualities of the characters: their age, gender, position, appearance, features of this appearance, etc. These attributes give the fairy tale its brightness, its beauty and charm. The study of a character’s attributes creates only the following three main headings: appearance and nomenclature, features of appearance, and housing. To this is added a number of other, smaller, auxiliary elements.
The fairy tale retains in its depths traces of ancient paganism, ancient customs and rituals. The fairy tale gradually metamorphoses, and these transformations and metamorphoses of fairy tales are also subject to known laws. All these processes create such diversity that it is extremely difficult to understand.
And, nevertheless, this study is still possible... The constancy of functions is preserved, and this will make it possible to bring into the system those elements that are grouped around functions.
How to create this system?
The best way is to create tables . Veselovsky also spoke about the tabulation of fairy tales, although he did not really believe in its possibility.
Fairy tale as a whole
A. Ways to combine stories
Morphologically a fairy tale any development from sabotage (A) or deficiency (a) through intermediate functions to wedding (C*) or other functions used as a denouement can be called. The final functions are sometimes rewarding (Z), mining or even eliminating trouble (L), saving from pursuit (Sp), etc. We call this development progress. Each new injury or damage, each new deficiency creates a new move. One fairy tale can have several moves, and when analyzing the text, you should first of all determine how many moves it consists of. One move can follow directly after another, but they can also intertwine, the development that has begun is suspended, and a new move is inserted. It is not always easy to identify a move, but it is always possible with complete accuracy. However, if we conditionally define a fairy tale as a move, this does not mean that the number of moves exactly corresponds to the number of fairy tales. Special techniques of parallelism, repetition, etc. lead to the fact that one fairy tale can consist of several moves.
The connection of moves can be as follows:
1) One move immediately follows another. An approximate diagram of such connections.
2) A new turn begins before the first one ends. The action is interrupted by episodic progress. After the end of the episode, the end of the first turn comes.
3) The episode, in turn, can also be interrupted, and then quite complex patterns can result.
4) A fairy tale can begin with two harms done at once, of which first one can be completely eliminated, and then the second. If a hero is killed and a magical remedy is stolen from him, then first the murder is eliminated, and then the theft is eliminated.
The question arises: under what conditions do several moves form one fairy tale, and when do we have two or more fairy tales? Here, first of all, it must be said that the method of connecting moves does not have any effect. There are no absolutely clear signs. But several clearer cases can be pointed out.
We have one fairy tale in the following cases:
1) If the whole fairy tale consists of one move.
2) If a fairy tale consists of two moves, one of which ends positively and the other negatively. Sample: move I - the stepmother expels the stepdaughter. Her father takes her away. She returns with gifts. Move II - the stepmother sends her daughters, the father takes them away, they return punished.
3) When tripling whole moves. The snake kidnaps the girl. Moves I and II - the older brothers take turns going to look for her and get stuck. Turn III - the youngest goes and helps out the girl and brothers.
4) If in the first turn a magical remedy is obtained, which is used only in the second. Sample: move I - the brothers leave home to get horses for themselves. They get them and return. Turn II - the snake threatens the princess. The brothers are leaving. With the help of horses, they reach the goal. - Here, apparently, the following happened: the extraction of the magical remedy, usually placed in the middle of the tale, in this case is pushed forward, beyond the main plot (the threat of the serpent). The acquisition of a magical remedy is preceded by an awareness of a shortage, not motivated by anything (the brothers suddenly want to have horses), but causing a search, i.e. move.
5) We also have one fairy tale, if, before the final elimination of the trouble, some kind of lack or shortage is suddenly felt, which causes new searches, i.e. new move, but not a new fairy tale. In these cases, a new horse is needed, an egg - the death of Koshchei, etc., which gives rise to a new development, and the begun development is temporarily suspended.
6) We also have one fairy tale in the case where the beginning involves two acts of sabotage at once (expulsion and bewitchment of the stepdaughter, etc.).
7) We also have one fairy tale in the texts, where the first turn includes a fight with a snake, and the second begins with the brothers stealing the spoils, throwing the hero into the abyss, etc., and then follows the claims of the false hero (F) and difficult tasks. This is the development that became clear to us when listing all the functions of a fairy tale. This is the most complete and perfect form of fairy tales.
8) Fairy tales where the heroes part at a roadside post can also be considered complete fairy tales. It should be noted, however, that the fate of each brother can give a completely separate tale, and it is possible that this case will have to be excluded from the category of integral fairy tales.
In all other cases we have two or more tales.
A fairy tale is a story built on the correct alternation of the given functions in various types, in the absence of some of them for each story and in the repetition of others. - With this definition, the term magical loses its meaning, because one can easily imagine a magical, enchanting, fantastic tale constructed in a completely different way (cf. Goethe’s tale of the snake and the lily, some of Andersen’s tales, Garshin’s tales, etc.). On the other hand, some few non-magical fairy tales can be constructed according to the above scheme. A certain number of legends, isolated tales about animals and isolated short stories reveal the same structure. Thus, the term magical must be replaced by another term. It is very difficult to find such a term, and we are temporarily leaving the old name behind these tales. It can be changed in connection with the study of other classes, which will make it possible to create appropriate terminology. Fairy tales could be called fairy tales that follow a seven-character scheme. This term is very accurate, but very inconvenient. If we define this class of fairy tales from a historical point of view, then they deserve the ancient, now discarded name of mythical fairy tales.
Correct classification can be done in three ways:
1) by varieties of one characteristic (deciduous and coniferous trees);
2) by the absence and presence of the same character (vertebrates and invertebrates);
3) according to mutually exclusive characteristics (artiodactyls and rodents among mammals).
Within one classification, techniques can only change according to genus, species and varieties or other degrees of gradation, but each degree of gradation requires consistency and uniformity of technique.
The general thesis of the work: complete uniformity of the structure of fairy tales .
If all fairy tales are so uniform in their form, does this not mean that they all come from the same source? The morphologist has no right to answer this question. Here he transfers his conclusions to the historian or he himself must turn into a historian. Single source It can be psychological, historical-social or everyday.
The storyteller is bound, not free, does not create in the following areas:
1) In the general sequence of functions, a number of which develop according to the above scheme.
2) The storyteller is not free to replace those elements whose varieties are associated with absolute or relative dependence.
3) The storyteller is not free in other cases to choose some characters in terms of their attributes if a certain function is required.
4) There is a known relationship between the initial situation and the following functions. So, if you need or want to use function A2 (kidnapping an assistant), then this assistant must be included in the situation.
The storyteller is free and uses creativity in the following areas:
1) In choosing those functions that he misses or, conversely, that he applies.
2) In choosing the method (type) in which the function is carried out. It is in these ways that new variants, new plots, new fairy tales are created.
3) The storyteller is completely free to choose the nomenclature and attributes of the characters. Theoretically, freedom here is complete. A tree can show the way, a crane can give a horse, a chisel can spy, etc. This freedom is specific feature only fairy tales. It must be said, however, that the people here do not make too much use of this freedom. Just as functions are repeated, so are characters. Here, as already indicated, a well-known canon was developed.
4) The storyteller is free to choose linguistic means. This rich area is not subject to study by a morphologist who studies the structure of a fairy tale. The style of a fairy tale is a phenomenon that must be studied specifically.
Question about composition and plot, about plots and options
The entire content of the tale can be presented in short phrases, like the following: parents go to the forest, forbid their children to go outside, a snake kidnaps a girl, etc. All predicates give the composition of fairy tales, all subjects, objects and other parts of the phrase determine the plot. In other words: the same composition can be the basis of different plots. Whether the snake kidnaps the princess or the devil kidnaps the peasant's or priest's daughter is indifferent from the point of view of composition. But these cases can be considered as different stories. We admit another definition of the concept plot, but this definition suitable for fairy tales.
“Is it permissible in this area to raise the question of typical schemes... schemes passed down over a number of generations as ready-made formulas capable of being enlivened by a new mood and causing new formations?.. Modern narrative literature, with its complex plotting and photographic reproduction of reality, apparently eliminates the very possibility of such a question; but when for future generations it appears in the same distant perspective as for us antiquity, from prehistoric to medieval, when the synthesis of time, this great simplification, having passed through the complexity of phenomena, reduces them to the size of points going deep, their lines will merge with those that are revealed to us now, when we look back at distant poetic creativity, and the phenomena of schematism and repetition will be established throughout" (Veselovsky).
I was completely convinced that a general type based on transformations ran through all organic beings, and that it could be clearly observed in all parts along some average section.
First of all, let's try to formulate our task. As already mentioned in the preface, the work is devoted to fairy tales. The existence of fairy tales as a special category is allowed as a necessary working hypothesis. For now, fairy tales are understood as fairy tales, identified by Aarne-Thompson as Nos. 300–749. This is a preliminary, artificial definition, but subsequently the opportunity will arise to give a more precise definition based on the conclusions obtained. We undertake a cross-plot comparison of these tales. For comparison, we identify the component parts of fairy tales according to special techniques (see below) and then compare the fairy tales according to their component parts. The result will be morphology, i.e. a description of the fairy tale according to its constituent parts and the relationship of the parts to each other and to the whole.
By what methods can an accurate description of a fairy tale be achieved? Let's compare the following cases:
1. The king gives the daredevil an eagle. The eagle carries the daredevil to another kingdom (Aph. 171).
2. Grandfather gives Suchenka a horse. The horse takes Suchenko to another kingdom (132).
3. The sorcerer gives Ivan a boat. The boat takes Ivan to another kingdom (138).
4. The princess gives Ivan a ring. The fellows from the ring take Ivan to another kingdom (156); etc.
In the above cases, there are constant and variable quantities. The names (and with them the attributes) of the characters change, but their actions do not change, or functions. Hence the conclusion is that fairy tales often attribute the same actions to different characters. This gives us the opportunity to study a fairy tale based on the functions of the characters.
We will have to determine to what extent these functions really represent repeated, constant values of the tale. The formulation of all other questions will depend on the resolution of the first question: how many functions is known to the fairy tale?
The study will show that the repeatability of the functions is amazing. So, Baba Yaga, and Morozko, and the bear, and the goblin, and the mare’s head test and reward the stepdaughter. Continuing observations, we can establish that the characters of a fairy tale, no matter how diverse they are, often do the same thing. The very way of performing functions can change: it is a variable quantity. Morozko acts differently than Baba Yaga. But the function as such is a constant quantity. For the study of fairy tales, the important question is what the fairy-tale characters do, and the question of who does it and how they do it are questions only for incidental study.
The functions of the actors are those components that can be replaced motives Veselovsky or elements Bedier. Let us note that the repetition of functions under different performers has long been noticed by historians of religion in myths and beliefs, but has not been noticed by historians of fairy tales. Just as the properties and functions of gods are transferred from one to another and, finally, even transferred to Christian saints, in the same way the functions of some fairy-tale characters are transferred to other characters. Looking ahead, we can say that there are extremely few functions, but there are extremely many characters. This explains the dual quality of a fairy tale: on the one hand, its amazing diversity, its diversity and colorfulness, on the other, its no less amazing monotony, its repetition.
So, the functions of the characters represent the main parts of the tale, and we must first of all highlight them.
To highlight functions, they must be defined. The definition must come from two points of view. First, the definition should in no way be taken into account by the performing character. The definition is most often a noun expressing an action (prohibition, questioning, flight, etc.). Secondly, action cannot be defined outside of its position in the course of the narrative. It is necessary to take into account the value that this function has in the course of action.
So, if Ivan marries a princess, then this is completely different from a father’s marriage to a widow with two daughters. Another example: if in one case the hero receives one hundred rubles from his father and subsequently buys himself a prophetic cat with this money, and in another case the hero is awarded money for perfect heroism and the fairy tale ends there, then we have before us, despite the same actions (transfer of money ), morphologically different elements. Thus, the same actions can have different meaning and vice versa. A function is understood as an act of an actor, defined in terms of its significance for the course of action.
The above observations can be briefly formulated as follows:
I. The constant, stable elements of a fairy tale are the functions of the characters, regardless of who and how they are performed. They form the main components of a fairy tale.
II. The number of functions known to a fairy tale is limited.
If the functions are isolated, then another question arises: in what grouping and in what sequence do these functions occur? First of all, about consistency. It is believed that this sequence is random. Veselovsky says: “The choice and order of tasks and meetings (examples of motives - V.P.)… presupposes an already known freedom" (Veselovsky 1913, 3). Shklovsky expressed this idea even more sharply: "It is completely incomprehensible why, when borrowing, the random (Shklovsky's discharge - V.P.) sequence of motives. In witness testimony, it is the sequence of events that is most distorted" (Shklovsky 1925, 23). This reference to witness testimony is unsuccessful. If witnesses distort the sequence, then their story is useless, but the sequence of events has its own laws, and similar laws have fictional story. Theft cannot occur before the door is broken. As for the fairy tale, it has its own completely special, specific laws. The sequence of elements, as we will see below, is strictly the same. Freedom in sequence is limited to very narrow limits that can be given exactly. We obtain the third main thesis of our work, subject to further development and proof:
III. The sequence of functions is always the same.
It should be noted that this pattern applies only to folklore. It is not a feature of the fairy tale genre as such. Artificially created fairy tales are not subject to it.
As for the grouping, first of all it should be said that not all fairy tales provide all the functions. But this does not change the law of consistency at all. The absence of some functions does not change the routine of others. We will dwell on this phenomenon later, but for now we will deal with groups in the proper sense of the word. The very formulation of the question raises the following assumption: if the functions are isolated, then it will be possible to trace which tales give the same functions. Such tales with the same functions can be considered of the same type. On this basis, an index of types can subsequently be created, built not on plot features, which are somewhat vague and vague, but on precise structural features. Indeed, this will be possible. But if we further compare structural types with each other, we get the following, completely unexpected phenomenon: functions cannot be distributed among rods that exclude each other. This phenomenon in all its concreteness will appear before us in the next and in last chapters. In the meantime, it can be explained as follows: if we denote the function that occurs everywhere in the first place by the letter A, and the function that (if there is one) always follows it by the letter B, then all famous fairy tale functions will be placed in one story, none of them falls out of series, none excludes the other or contradicts it. Such a conclusion could no longer be predicted. One should, of course, expect that where there is function A, there cannot be known functions belonging to other stories. It was expected that we would receive several rods, but there is only one rod for all fairy tales. They are of the same type, and the compounds mentioned above are subtypes. At first glance, this conclusion seems absurd, even wild, but it can be verified by the most exactly. This uniformity represents a very complex problem that will have to be discussed further. This phenomenon will raise a number of questions.
Morphology of a fairy tale
Vladimir Propp
Morphology of a "magic" fairy tale
(Collected works)
Morphology of a fairy tale
Historical roots fairy tale
Russian fairy tale
Russian heroic epic
Russian agricultural holidays
Poetics of folklore
Problems of comedy and laughter
Stories. Diary. Memories
Moscow Labyrinth
V.Ya.Propp
(Collected works)
[to see the text online I had to replace some characters in the book:
1) I replaced the up arrow with an open curly brace (
2) I replaced the down arrow with a closed curly brace)
3) in one case I replaced the underlining of characters with a regular underline,
in another case, I also added hc (top line) in the superscript hc.
In graphic files, accordingly, everything is like in a book.
All comments to the first and second work are at the end of the second work (i.e. in “Historical roots of a fairy tale”).
The insert with the diagrams is at the end of the first one (i.e. here).
I will repeat in this book (as well as in homo ludens) that graphic files in browsers look worse than they are, so by saving the html in Word.doc you can calmly look at them. Write about errors either in my guestbook or [email protected], because Maxim already has enough worries]
Table of contents
MORPHOLOGY OF A MAGICAL TALE 5
Preface 5
I. To the history of the issue 6
II. Method and material 18
III. Functions of actors 23
IV. Assimilation. Cases of double morphological meaning of one function 51
V. Some other elements of the tale 54
A. Auxiliary elements for connecting functions with each other 54
B. Auxiliary elements for triplings 56
C. Motivations 57
VI. Distribution of functions among actors 60
VII. Ways to include new faces in the course of action 64
VIII. On the attributes of characters and their meaning 66
IX. Fairy tale as a whole 69
A. Ways of combining stories 69
B. Analysis Example 73
C. Question of classification 75
D. On the relationship of particular forms of structure to the general structure 79
E. Question about composition and plot, about plots and options 87
Conclusion 89
APPENDIX I 91
APPENDIX II 97
APPENDIX III 103
NOTES ON INDIVIDUAL DIAGRAMS 104
APPENDIX IV 108
INSERT
Appendix V Transfer of the numbering of pre-revolutionary editions of Afanasyev's fairy tales to the numbering of post-revolutionary editions
Schemes for analysis of fairy tales Beginning Ending
Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp. Morphology of a fairy tale. Historical roots of fairy tales. (Collected works of V. Ya. Propp.) Comments by E. M. Meletinsky, A. V. Rafaeva. Compilation, scientific editing, textual commentary by I. V. Peshkov. - Publishing house "Labyrinth", M., 1998. - 512 p.
For the first time, the famous dilogy about a fairy tale is published as a single work (as intended by the author). Extensive commentary articles, a bibliography, a name index, and an index of characters turn the book into a textbook and reference book on fairy tales, and the unusually wide coverage of humanitarian material, the depth of its mastery and an intelligible style of presentation have long ago introduced its constituent works into the global cultural fund of a modern educated person.
Morphology of a MAGIC TALE
Preface
Morphology still needs to be legitimized as a special science, making as its main subject what is treated in others on occasion and in passing, collecting what is scattered there, and establishing a new point of view that allows us to easily and conveniently consider the things of nature. The phenomena with which she deals are extremely significant; those mental operations with the help of which it compares phenomena are in accordance with human nature and are pleasant to it, so that even a failed experiment will still combine benefit and beauty.
Goethe.
The word morphology means the study of forms. In botany, morphology is understood as the study of the constituent parts of a plant, their relationship to each other and to the whole, in other words, the study of the structure of the plant.
Nobody thought about the possibility of the concept and term morphology of a fairy tale. Meanwhile, in the field of folk tales, consideration of forms and establishment of structure patterns is possible with the same accuracy with which the morphology of organic formations is possible.
If this cannot be asserted about the fairy tale as a whole, in its entire volume, then in any case this can be asserted about the so-called fairy tales, about fairy tales “in the proper sense of the word.” The real work is dedicated to them only.
The experience offered is the result of quite painstaking work. Such comparisons require some patience from the researcher. But we tried to find a form of presentation that would not overly tempt the reader’s patience, simplifying and shortening where possible.
The work went through three phases. Initially, this was a broad study with a large number of tables, diagrams, and analyses. It turned out to be impossible to publish such a work due to its large volume. A reduction was undertaken, designed to minimize volume while maximizing content. But such an abbreviated, condensed presentation would be beyond the capabilities of some
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to the first reader: it looked like a grammar book or a harmony textbook. The form of presentation had to be changed. True, there are things that are impossible to express popularly. They are also in this work. But still, it seems that in its present form the work is accessible to every fairy tale lover, if only he himself wants to follow us into the labyrinth of fairy-tale diversity, which will ultimately appear before him as a wonderful uniformity.
In the interests of a more concise and lively presentation, much that a specialist would have valued had to be sacrificed. In its original form, the work covered, in addition to those parts given below, also the study of the rich field of attributes of the characters (that is, the characters as such); she dealt in detail with the issues of metamorphosis, that is, the transformation of a fairy tale; large ones were included comparison tables(only their titles remain in the appendix), the entire work was preceded by a more rigorous methodological outline. It was intended to provide a study not only of the morphological, but also of the completely special logical structure of the fairy tale, which prepared historical study fairy tales The presentation itself was more detailed. The elements which are here only highlighted as such have been subjected to detailed consideration and comparison. But the selection of elements constitutes the axis of the entire work and predetermines the conclusions. An experienced reader will be able to complete the sketches himself.
I. TO THE HISTORY OF THE ISSUE
The history of science always takes very important view at the point where we are; We value, however, our predecessors and to a certain extent thank them for the service they rendered us. But no one likes to consider them as martyrs, whom an uncontrollable attraction led into dangerous, sometimes almost hopeless, situations; and yet, among the ancestors who laid the foundation for our existence, there is often more seriousness than among the descendants who outlive this heritage.
Goethe.
In the first third of our century scientific literature about the fairy tale was not too rich. In addition to the fact that few works were published, bibliographic summaries showed the following picture: most of the texts were published, there were quite a lot of works on specific issues and relatively few works general. If they did exist, then in most cases they were not of a strictly research nature, but of a philosophical and amateurish nature.
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They resembled the works of erudite natural philosophers of the last century, while we needed accurate observations, analyzes and conclusions. This is how Prof. characterized this situation. M. Speransky: “Without stopping at the conclusions reached, scientific folk studies continue their research, considering the collected material still insufficient for a general construction. Thus, science again turns to collecting material and processing this material in the interests of future generations, and what will these generalizations be? , and when we will be able to do them is unknown" (Speransky 400).
What is the reason for this impotence, this dead end into which the science of fairy tales found itself stuck in the 1920s?
Speransky blames this on the lack of material. But many years have passed since the above lines were written. During this time, the major work of I. Bolte and G. Polivka, entitled “Notes on the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm” (Bolte, Polivka), was completed. Here, for each fairy tale in this collection, options from all over the world are summarized. Last volume ends with a bibliography containing sources, i.e., all collections of fairy tales and other materials containing fairy tales known to the authors. This list covers about 1200 names. True, among the materials there are also random, small materials, but there are also major collections, such as “A Thousand and One Nights” or the Afanasyevsky collection with its 400 texts. But that's not all. A huge amount of fairy-tale material has not yet been published, some of it has not even been described. It is stored in the archives of various institutions and private individuals. Some of these collections are available to the specialist. Thanks to this, the Bolte and Polivka material can be increased in some cases. But if this is so, then how many fairy tales do we have at our disposal in general? And further: how many researchers are there who have covered at least one printed material?
Under such conditions, it is completely unnecessary to say that “the collected material is still insufficient.”
So, it's not about the amount of material. The point is different: in the methods of study.
While the physical and mathematical sciences have a coherent classification, a unified terminology adopted by special congresses, a methodology that has been improved by continuity from teachers to students, we do not have all this. The variegation and colorful variety of fairy-tale material lead to the fact that clarity and accuracy in posing and solving questions is achieved only with great difficulty. This essay does not aim to give a coherent account of the history of the study of the fairy tale. This is impossible in a short introductory chapter, and there is no great need for this, since this story has already been told many times. We will only try to critically illuminate attempts to resolve several basic problems of fairy tale study and, at the same time, introduce the reader to the range of these problems.
There can hardly be any doubt that the phenomena and objects around us can be studied either from the point of view of their composition and structure, or from the side of their origin, or from the side of the processes and changes to which they are subject. It is also completely obvious and does not require any proof that the origin of any phenomenon can be discussed only after the phenomenon has been described.
Meanwhile, the study of the fairy tale was carried out mainly only genetically, for the most part without attempts at a preliminary systematic description. We will not talk about the historical study of fairy tales for now, we will talk only about their description - for talking about genetics without special coverage of the issue of description, as is usually done, is completely useless. It is clear that before elucidating the question of where a fairy tale comes from, it is necessary to answer the question of what it is.
Since the tale is extremely diverse and, apparently, cannot be studied in its entirety at once, the material should be divided into parts, that is, classified. Correct classification is one of the first stages of scientific description. The correctness of further study also depends on the correctness of the classification. But, although classification forms the basis of any study, it itself must be the result of a certain preliminary study. Meanwhile, we see just the opposite: most researchers begin with classification, introducing it into the material from the outside, and not deducing it from the material essentially. As we will see later, classifiers, in addition, often violate the most simple rules division. Here we find one of the reasons for the impasse that Speransky talks about.
Let's look at a few samples.
The most common division of fairy tales is into fairy tales with wonderful content, everyday fairy tales, and fairy tales about animals*. At first glance, everything seems correct. But the question inevitably arises: don’t fairy tales about animals contain an element of the miraculous, sometimes to a very large extent? And vice versa: don’t animals play a very important role in wonderful fairy tales? Can such a sign be considered sufficiently accurate? Afanasiev, for example, classifies the tale of the fisherman and the fish as
________________
*Suggested by W. F. Miller. This classification essentially coincides with the classification of the mythological school (mythical, about animals, everyday).
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fairy tales about animals. Is he right or wrong? If wrong, then why? Below we will see that the fairy tale with the greatest ease attributes the same actions to people, objects and animals. This rule is mainly true for so-called fairy tales, but it also occurs in fairy tales in general. One of the most famous examples in this regard is the tale of dividing the harvest (“For me, Misha, the tops, for you the roots”). In Russia, the deceived is the bear, and in the West the devil. Consequently, this fairy tale, with the involvement of the Western version, suddenly falls out of the series of fairy tales about animals. Where will she end up? It is clear that this is not everyday tale, for where has it been seen that in everyday life the harvest was divided in this way? But this is not a fairy tale with wonderful content. It does not fit into this classification at all.
Nevertheless, we will argue that the above classification is fundamentally correct. The researchers here were guided by instinct, and their words do not correspond to what they actually felt. It is unlikely that anyone would be mistaken in attributing the tale of the firebird, and gray wolf to fairy tales about animals. It is also completely clear to us that Afanasyev was mistaken with the fairy tale about the goldfish. But we see this not because animals appear or do not appear in fairy tales, but because fairy tales have a completely special structure, which is immediately felt and determines the category, although we are not aware of it. Every researcher, saying that he classifies according to the given scheme, actually classifies differently. But, contradicting himself, he is doing the right thing. But if this is so, if the division is subconsciously based on the structure of a fairy tale, which has not yet been studied or even recorded, then the entire classification of fairy tales should be put on a new basis. It needs to be translated into formal, structural features. And in order to do this, these signs should be studied.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves. The situation outlined has remained unclear to this day. Further attempts provide essentially no improvement. So, for example, in his famous work “Psychology of Nations” Wundt proposes the following division (Wundt 346 ff.):
1) Mythological fairy tales and fables (Mythologische Fabelmarchen).
2) Pure fairy tales (Reine Zaubermarchen).
3) Biological tales and fables (Biologische Marchen und Fabein).
4) Pure fables about animals (Reine Tierfabeln).
5) Tales of "origin" (Abstammungsmarchen).
6) Playful tales and fables (ScherZmarchen und ScherZfabeln).
7) Moral fables (Moralische Fabein).
This classification is much richer than the previous ones, but it also causes
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objections. Fable (a term that occurs five times in seven categories) is a formal category. What Wundt meant by this is unclear. The term “playful” fairy tale is generally unacceptable, since the same fairy tale can be interpreted both heroically and comically. The next question is: what is the difference between a “pure animal fable” and a “moral fable”? Why are “pure fables” not “moral” and vice versa?
The classifications discussed concern the distribution of fairy tales by category. Along with the distribution of fairy tales by category, there is a division by plot.
If the situation is unfavorable with the division into categories, then with the division into plots complete chaos begins. We will not talk about the fact that such a complex, vague concept as plot is either not specified at all, or is specified by each author in his own way. Looking ahead, we will say that dividing fairy tales into plots is essentially impossible. It should also be put on new rails, like division by categories. Fairy tales have one peculiarity: the components of one fairy tale can be transferred to another without any changes. Below this law of mobility will be discussed in more detail, but for now we can limit ourselves to pointing out that, for example, Baba Yaga can be found in a wide variety of fairy tales, in a wide variety of plots. This feature is a specific feature of the fairy tale. Meanwhile, despite this feature, the plot is usually defined as follows: one part of the fairy tale is taken (often random, simply striking), the preposition “o” is added, and the definition is ready. So a fairy tale in which there is a fight with a snake is a fairy tale “about fighting snakes,” a fairy tale in which there is Koschey is a fairy tale “about Koschey,” etc., and there is no single principle in the choice of defining elements. If we now recall the law of mobility, then with logical inevitability we get confusion, or, to put it more precisely, cross-division, and such a classification always distorts the essence of the material being studied. Added to this is the lack of consistency in the basic principle of separation, i.e., another of the most elementary rules of logic is violated. This situation continues to this day.
We will illustrate this point with two examples. In 1924, a book appeared about the fairy tale of Odessa professor R. M. Volkov (Volkov). Volkov determines from the very first pages of his work that a fantastic fairy tale has 15 plots. These plots are as follows:
1) About the innocently persecuted.
2) About the foolish hero.
3) About three brothers.
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4) About snake fighters.
5) About getting brides.
6) About the wise maiden.
7) About the sworn and enchanted.
8) About the owner of the talisman.
9) About the owner of wonderful objects.
10) About an unfaithful wife, etc.
How these 15 plots are established is not specified. If you look closely at the principle of division, you get the following: the first category is determined by the plot (what is really the plot here, we will see below), the second - by the character of the hero, the third - by the number of heroes, the fourth - by one of the moments in the course of the action etc. Thus, there is no principle of division at all. It really turns out to be chaos. Aren't there fairy tales where three brothers (third category) get brides for themselves (fifth category)? Doesn't the owner of the talisman punish his unfaithful wife with the help of this talisman? Thus, this classification is not a scientific classification in the precise sense of the word, it is nothing more than a conventional index, the value of which is very doubtful. And how can such a classification even remotely be compared with the classification of plants or animals, made not by eye, but after an accurate and lengthy preliminary study of the material?
Having touched on the issue of classification of plots, we cannot pass over in silence the index of fairy tales by Antti Aarne (Aarne 1911). Aarne is one of the founders of the so-called Finnish school. The works of this school currently represent the pinnacle of fairy-tale study. This is not the place to give a proper assessment of this direction. Let us only point out that in the scientific literature there is a fairly significant number of articles and notes on options for individual plots. Such options are sometimes obtained from the most unexpected sources. Gradually, a lot of them accumulate, but there is no systematic development. This is where the attention of the new direction is mainly directed. Representatives of this school extract and compare variants of individual plots according to their worldwide distribution. The material is grouped geo-ethnographically according to a well-known, previously developed System, and then conclusions are drawn about the basic structure, distribution and origin of the plots. However, this technique also raises a number of objections. As we will see below, plots (especially the plots of fairy tales) are closely related to each other. It is possible to determine where one plot with its variants ends and where another begins only after an inter-plot study of fairy tales and an accurate fixation of the principle of selection of plots and variants. But this is not the case. Change
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The sensitivity of the elements is also not taken into account here. The works of this school are based on the unconscious premise that each plot is something organically integral, that it can be snatched from a number of other plots and studied independently.
Meanwhile, a completely objective separation of one plot from another and the selection of options is not at all a simple matter. The plots of a fairy tale are so closely related to each other, so intertwined with one another, that this issue requires special preliminary study before identifying the plots. Without such a study, the researcher is left to his own taste, and objective separation is simply impossible for now. Let's give one example. Among the variants for the fairy tale "Frau Holle" Bolte and Polivka cite Afanasyev's fairy tale "Baba Yaga" (Af. 102). There are also references to a number of other very diverse fairy tales on this plot. But they do not cite the fairy tale "Morozko". The question is - why? After all, here we have the same expulsion of the stepdaughter and her return with gifts, the same reference my own daughter and her punishment. Not only that: after all, both Morozko and “Frau Holle” represent the personification of winter, but in the German fairy tale we have the personification in a female form, and in the Russian one in a male form. But, apparently, “Morozko”, due to the artistic brightness of this tale, was subjectively recorded as a certain fairy tale type, as a certain independent plot that may have its own variations. Thus, we see that there are no completely objective criteria for separating one plot from another. Where one researcher sees a new plot, another will see a variant and vice versa. We have given a very simple example, but as the material expands and increases, the difficulties increase and increase.
But, be that as it may, the methods of this school first of all required a list of subjects.
Aarne undertook the task of compiling such a list.
This list has entered into international use and has provided the greatest service to the study of fairy tales: thanks to Aarne’s index, the encryption of the fairy tale is possible. The plots are called Aarne types, and each type is numbered. A short symbol of fairy tales (in this case, by reference to the index number) is very convenient.
But along with these advantages, the index also has a number of significant disadvantages: as a classification, it is not free from the mistakes that Volkov makes. The main categories are as follows: I. Tales about animals. II. Actually fairy tales. III. Jokes. We can easily recognize previous techniques, restructured to new way. (It is somewhat strange that fairy tales about animals do not seem to be recognized as fairy tales themselves). Next, I would like to ask: do we have such an accurate study of the concept of an anecdote that
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Would it be possible to use it completely calmly (cf. Wundt’s fables)? We will not go into the details of this classification, but will focus only on fairy tales, which he allocated to a subcategory. Let us note by the way that the introduction of subcategories is one of Aarne’s merits, since the division into genera, species, and varieties was not developed before him. Magic tales, according to Aarne, cover the following categories: 1) a wonderful adversary, 2) a wonderful spouse, 3) a wonderful task, 4) a wonderful helper, 5) a wonderful object, 6) a wonderful power or skill, 7) other wonderful things. motives. In relation to this classification, objections to Volkov’s classification can be repeated almost verbatim. What to do, for example, with those fairy tales in which a wonderful task is solved by a wonderful helper, which is exactly what happens very often, or with those fairy tales in which a wonderful wife is a wonderful helper?
True, Aarne does not strive to create a scientific classification itself: his index is important as a practical reference, and as such it is of great importance. But Aarne's pointer is dangerous in other ways. It instills fundamental misconceptions. There is actually no clear distribution into types; it is very often a fiction. If there are types, then they exist not on the plane as outlined by Aarne, but on the plane structural features similar tales, but more on that later. The closeness of the plots to each other and the impossibility of completely objective delimitation leads to the fact that when assigning a text to one or another type, you often do not know which number to choose. The correspondence between the type and the text being defined is often only very rough. Of the 125 fairy tales listed in the collection of A. I. Nikiforov, 25 fairy tales (i.e. 20%) are assigned to types approximately and conditionally, which is marked by A. I. Nikiforov with brackets (Nikiforov 1927). But if various researchers begin to attribute the same tale to different types, then what can come of this? On the other hand, since types are defined by the presence in them of certain highlights, and not by the construction of fairy tales, and one fairy tale can contain several such moments, then one fairy tale sometimes has to be classified as several types at once (up to 5 numbers for one fairy tale), which does not mean at all that a given text consists of five plots. This method of fixation is essentially a definition by components. For famous group In fairy tales, Aarne even deviates from his principles and suddenly, quite unexpectedly and somewhat inconsistently, instead of dividing them into plots, he switches to dividing them according to motives. This is how he allocated one of his subcategories, a group that he
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headed "about the stupid devil." But this inconsistency again represents the right path taken instinctively. Below we will try to show that studying fractional components is the right way studying.
Abstract on folklore
On the topic “Morphology of the fairy tale by V. Ya. Propp”
Introduction page 3
To the history of the issue page 3
Method and material page 4
Functions of the actors page 5
Assimilations, cases of double
morphological meaning of one function. Page 6
Some other elements of the tale page 7
Distribution of functions among actors p. 7
Ways to include new faces in the action p. 8
About the attributes of characters and their meaning p. 9
Fairy tale as a whole page 9
Question about classification page 13
Conclusion page 14
Introduction
In botany, morphology is understood as the science of the component parts of a plant, but no one could even think about the morphology of a fairy tale, although in the field of oral folk tale Organic connections between elements are also possible. If this cannot be said about all fairy tales in general, then we can safely say about the so-called fairy tale, “a fairy tale in the proper sense of the word.” The work of V. Ya. Propp “The Morphology of a Fairy Tale” is entirely devoted to them.
In its original form, the work occupied a very large volume, included more detailed examples, descriptions of the attributes of the characters, it dealt in detail with issues of metamorphosis, that is, the transformation of a fairy tale; Large comparison tables have been included. In addition, it was intended to provide not only a morphological, but also a logical basis alien to the fairy tale, thereby preparing its historical study.
To the history of the issue
In the first third of the 20th century, the scientific literature about fairy tales was, to put it mildly, not rich, few works were published, much more space was occupied by the publication of collections of texts, and if works were published, they were of a very narrow focus, with a “philosophical-amateurish character.”
In the 20s of the 19th century, Speransky characterized the state of folkloristics as follows: “NOT stopping at the conclusions obtained, scientific folk studies continue their research, considering the collected material still insufficient for a general construction. Thus, science, science again turns to collecting material, in the interests of future generations, but what these generalizations will be, and when we will be able to make them, is unknown.”
All this time, the study of the fairy tale was carried out genetically. No systematic description has been attempted. Let us then ask ourselves the question: “What is a fairy tale?”
The most common division of fairy tales proposed by F. Miller is:
Fairy tales with wonderful content
Animal Tales
Household fairy tales
At first glance, this division seems correct, but don’t fairy tales about animals contain an element of the miraculous? We see that the fairy tale easily attributes the same properties to people, objects and animals. This phenomenon occurs most often in fairy tales, but in general it extends to fairy tales in general. Bright to that an example is the fairy tale about the division of the harvest (“For me, Misha, the tops, for you the roots”). On the one hand, it seems that the fairy tale relates to everyday life, but where has it been seen that in everyday life the harvest is divided in this way. This is not to say that this is a fairy tale with wonderful content. In addition, in Russia, the deceived person is most often the bear, and in the West - the Devil, which means that this fairy tale, with the involvement of the Western version, does not fit into the framework of fairy tales about animals.
Every researcher says that he classifies fairy tales according to the generally accepted scheme, but in fact, he does it differently. Therefore, further attempts do not bring relief. It is worth noting Wundt's attempt (Wundt 346 fff) to classify fairy tales:
Mythological fairy tales and fables
Pure fairy tales
Biological tales and fables
Pure animal fables
Tales of "origin"
Playful tales and fables
Moral fables
This classification, like all previous ones, raises objections. Take the term “joking” for example. The same fairy tale can be interpreted both heroically and comically. Moreover, what is the difference between “pure animal fables” and “moral” fables?
All these classifications relate to the distribution of fairy tales by category. Attempts have also been made to classify them by plot, and this already brings complete chaos. Let's start with the fact that fairy tales' plots can be intertwined; parts of one fairy tale can pass into other fairy tales almost without changes. So, for example, Baba Yaga can be found both in fairy tales “about snake fighting” and in fairy tales “about Koshchei”.
This division of fairy tales according to plots is still found today. In 1924, a book by R. M. Volkov was published, where the author stated that a fantastic fairy tale is determined by 15 plots:
About the innocently persecuted
2) About the foolish hero
3) About three brothers
4) About snake fighters
5) About getting brides
About the wise maiden
About the cursed and the enchanted
About the owner of the talisman
About the owner of wonderful objects
About an unfaithful wife, etc.
Based on this classification, it is difficult to understand how these subjects are defined; here there is no principle of division at all. Consequently, such a classification is not scientific, it is simply a conditional indicator.
On the issue of classification of plots, one cannot fail to mention Anthea Aarne. He became one of the founders of the Finnish school. According to Aarne, each plot is called a type, which allows the tale to be encrypted; each type is numbered. He divides fairy tales (subcategory) into the following categories:
Wonderful opponent
Wonderful task
Wonderful helper
Wonderful item
Miraculous power or skill
Other wonderful motives.
But Aarne’s index is not a scientifically based classification; it raises the same objections as Volkov’s collection. This index is useful more as a practical guide, an index.
As we have seen, things are not going well with the classification of fairy tales. The main question remains unresolved - the origin of the fairy tale itself; here, too, there are laws of origin and development, and they are still awaiting their resolution.
Method and material.
The main parts of a fairy tale are the functions of its characters. Function is the action of the acting hero, defined from the point of view of its significance in the course of the action. Research shows that all functions are repeated (eg Baba Yaga and Morozko and the mare's head testing and rewarding the stepdaughter). It can also be established that the heroes act in the same way, only the principles of the very implementation of the functions change. Thus, we see that the functions of the heroes are constant.
I. The constant, stable elements of a fairy tale are the functions of the characters, regardless of who and how they are performed. They form the main components of a fairy tale.
II. The number of functions known to a fairy tale is limited.
In addition, a fairy tale is subject to its own special laws, for example, the sequence of elements is always the same. This leads to the following statement:
III. The sequence of functions is always the same.
This applies only to oral folk tradition; artificially created fairy tales are not subject to this statement.
By some reasoning we get:
IV. All fairy tales are of the same type in their structure.
It should also be noted that the study of a fairy tale must be conducted deductively; here the point is not in the quantity of material, but in the quality of its processing.
Functions of the actors.
All fairy tales usually begin with a situation. The situation is not a function, but, nevertheless, it is important as a morphological element. After the initial situation there are functions:
One of the family members leaves, leaves, etc. (absence, e)
The hero is approached with a ban (ban, b)
The prohibition is violated (violation, b)
The pest, the antagonist, is trying to conduct reconnaissance (scouting, c)
The pest receives information about the victim (issue, w)
The antagonist tries to deceive his victim in order to take possession of him or her property (the catch, symbol d).
The victim succumbs to deception and thereby unwittingly helps the enemy (complicity, g).
The antagonist causes harm or damage to one of the family members (sabotage, A).
8-a. One of the family members lacks something, he wants to have something (lack, a).
Trouble or shortage is communicated, the hero is approached with a request or order, he is sent away or released (mediation, connecting moment, B).
The seeker agrees or decides to counteract (beginning counteraction, C).
The hero leaves home (dispatch, )
The hero is tested, interrogated, attacked, etc., which prepares for him to receive a magical remedy or assistant (the first function of the donor, D).
The hero reacts to the actions of the future donor (hero reaction, D).
The hero has a magical remedy at his disposal (supply, receiving a magical remedy, Z).
The hero is transported, delivered or brought to the location of the subject of the search (spatial movement between two kingdoms, guide; R).
The hero and antagonist enter into direct struggle (struggle, B).
The hero is marked (branding, mark, 41 K).
The antagonist is defeated (victory, P).
The initial problem or shortage is eliminated (elimination of trouble or shortage, L).
The hero returns (return, ¯).
The hero is being persecuted (persecution, pursuit, etc.).
The hero escapes from persecution (salvation, Sp.).
The hero arrives home or to another country unrecognized (unrecognized arrival, X)
The false hero makes unreasonable claims (unfounded claims, F).
The hero is offered a difficult task (difficult task, 3).
The problem is being solved (solution, P).
The hero is recognized (recognition, U).
The false hero or antagonist is exposed (exposure, O).
The hero is given a new appearance (transfiguration, T).
The enemy is punished (punishment, N).
The hero marries and reigns (wedding, C)
As we can already see, the number of functions is small and within these 31 functions the action of all fairy tales without exception develops. In addition, you can see how one function naturally follows from another. It is also important that most functions are arranged in pairs (prohibition - violation).
Assimilation. Cases of double morphological meaning of one function.
The ways in which functions are performed greatly influence each other; the same forms can be applied to different functions. Thus, one form can be transferred to another place and at the same time take on a new meaning or at the same time retain the old one. This makes analysis difficult and requires special attention.
Consider this example (160):
Ivan asks Baba Yaga for a horse, she offers to choose the best from the herd of foals. Ivan makes the right choice and takes the horse for himself.
But in another example (219):
The hero wants to marry Vodyanoy’s daughter and he offers to choose one of 12 identical girls. The hero guesses correctly and gets the girl as his wife.
WE see that in both cases the element is performed the same, but in the second example it is clear that this is not a test by the donor of the hero, but matchmaking and a difficult task. Thus, it is clear that assimilation has occurred. In such cases, it becomes difficult to determine the primacy of one or another meaning. In these cases, you can always be guided by the principle of determining a function by its consequences. If the solution to the problem is followed by the receipt of a magical remedy, then we have a test of the donor (D). If the bride and marriage follow, we have a difficult task (3).
Another phenomenon similar to assimilation is the double morphological meaning of one function. The simplest example gives tale No. 265 (“The White Duck”). When the prince leaves, he forbids his wife to leave home. “A woman who seemed so simple, warm-hearted!” comes to her, “What,” she says, “are you bored? If only I could look into the light of day! If only I could walk around the garden!”, etc. The princess goes out into the garden. By doing this, she agrees to the pest’s entreaties, while simultaneously violating the ban. Thus, the princess’s exit from the house has a double morphological meaning. Another, more complex example, we have in fairy tale No. 179, etc. Here the difficult task (kissing the princess while flying away on a horse) is moved to the beginning of the fairy tale. It causes the departure of the hero, i.e. it fits the definition of a connecting moment. It is characteristic that this task is given in the form of a cry, similar to the cry that the father of the kidnapped princesses announces. (Cf. “Who will kiss my daughter Princess Milolika with a flourish on horseback”, etc. “Who will find my daughters”, etc.). The cry in both cases is the same element, but in addition, the cry in fairy tale No. 179 is at the same time a difficult task. Here, as in some similar cases, the difficult task is transferred to the beginning, used as B, while remaining 3 at the same time.
Some other elements of the tale.
A. Auxiliary elements for connecting functions with each other.
Functions represent the basic elements of a fairy tale, which form the course of action. Along with them, there are also a number of components in the fairy tale that are also important. As we see, functions do not always follow one after another, but if two follow one after another and are executed at the same time various heroes, the second character must somehow find out what happened. Then the fairy tale generated a whole series of notifications.
For example:
The kidnapped princess is taken away from Koshchei and he gives chase. Koschey could have immediately rushed in pursuit, but the fairy tale inserts the words of Koschey’s horse: “Ivan Tsarevich came and took Marya-Morevna with him.”
There is another way of notification - the opposite way, when the hero needs to find out whether he is being chased or not. For example, to do this, Ivan Tsarevich puts his ear to the ground.
B. Auxiliary elements in dispensations.
We see similar connections in dispensations. These are repetitions; let us note, by the way, that both individual characters and entire groups of heroes can do so. An example of such an element would be three heads of a serpent, three clubs (when only the third turns out to be suitable).
B. Motivations.
Distribution of functions among actors.
Now we should consider the question of how functions are distributed among the actors.
First of all, we note that the range of actions of the heroes is logically limited.
1) The range of actions of the antagonist (pest). Covers:
sabotage, combat or other forms of struggle with the hero, persecution.
2) The range of actions of the donor (supplier). Covers: preparing the transfer of a magical remedy, supplying the hero with a magical remedy.
3) Circle of actions of the assistant. Covers: spatial movement of the hero, elimination of trouble or shortage, salvation from persecution, resolution of difficult problems, transfiguration of the hero.
4) The circle of actions of the princess (the desired character) and her father. Covers: giving difficult tasks, branding, reproof, recognition, punishment of the second saboteur, wedding. The princess and her father cannot be differentiated by function quite precisely. The father is most often credited with setting difficult tasks as an action arising from a hostile attitude towards the groom. He often punishes or orders to punish the false hero.
5) Circle of actions of the sender. Covers reference only.
6) The hero’s range of actions. Covers: going on a quest, responding to the donor's demands, wedding. The first function is typical for the hero-seeker, the hero-victim performs only the others.
7) The range of actions of the false hero also includes going on quests, reacting to the demands of the donor - always negative, and, as a specific function, deceitful claims.
Thus, the fairy tale knows seven characters. The functions of the preparatory part are also distributed over these same characters, but the distribution here is uneven, and characters cannot be determined by these functions. In addition, there are special characters for connections (complainers, informers, slanderers), as well as special traitors for function w (distribution of information: a mirror, a chisel, a broom indicate where the desired victim is). This also includes characters such as One-Eyes, Two-Eyes and Three-Eyes.
How are the designated circles distributed into individual fairy tale characters? There are three possible cases here.
1) The range of actions exactly corresponds to the character. Yaga, who tests and rewards the hero, the animals who ask for mercy and give Ivan a gift are pure givers. The horse that delivers Ivan to the princess, helps to kidnap her, solves a difficult problem, saves her from being chased, etc. is a pure helper.
2) One character covers several circles of actions. The iron man, who asks to be released from the tower, then grants Ivan strength and gives him a tablecloth screwdriver, and subsequently helps him kill the snake, is both a giver and a helper. Grateful animals require special consideration. They begin as givers (asking for help or mercy), then they put themselves at the disposal of the hero and become his helpers. Sometimes it happens that an animal, freed or spared by the hero, simply disappears without even giving the formula for summoning it, but at a critical moment it appears as an assistant. It rewards with action directly. It can, for example, help the hero move to another kingdom, or it gets him the object of his search, etc.
Ways to include new actors in the course of action.
The pest appears twice: first suddenly and then found as a result of the guide. The donor meets by chance, and the magical assistant turns on at the right moment. The sender, the false hero and the princess are included in the initial situation, and the princess appears twice: at the beginning of the fairy tale and at the end as a result of the search.
This can be considered a fairy-tale norm, but there are also deviations; if there is no donor, then his functions can be transferred to an assistant. Another digression may be that not all heroes are included in the initial situation, although this applies only to the heroes (princess, Ivan Tsarevich). If there is no donor in the fairy tale, then the forms of his appearance are transferred to the next character - namely to assistant Thus, various artists are accidentally met by the hero, as usually happens with a donor. If a character covers two circles of functions, he is introduced in the forms in which he begins to act. The wise wife, who is first a giver, then a helper and a princess, is introduced as a giver, not as a helper or a princess.
Another departure is that all characters can be introduced through the initial situation. This form is specific, as already indicated, only for heroes, for the sender and for the princess. Two basic forms of initial situations can be observed: a situation involving the seeker with his family (father and three sons), and a situation involving the saboteur's victim and his family (the king's three daughters). Some tales give both situations. If a fairy tale begins with a shortage, then a situation with a seeker (sometimes also a sender) is needed. These situations may merge. But since the initial situation always requires members of the same family, the seeker and the sought one turn from Ivan and the princess into brother and sister, filial and mother, etc. This situation includes both the seeker and the victim of the saboteur. It can be observed that in such tales the princess introduced retroactively. Ivan goes to look for his mother, who was kidnapped by Koshchei, and finds the royal daughter, who was also once kidnapped by him.
About the attributes of characters and their meaning.
Attributes are understood as the totality of all external qualities of characters (gender, age, etc.). When studying attributes, tabulation can be used, but this creates only three main headings: age, home, and appearance characteristics. In fact, studying the attributes is enormous, but tabulating the classification makes the classification look like a catalog, which is acceptable from a more general point of view. All material in one section can be considered completely independently through all the fairy-tale material. Although these quantities are variable elements, here too there is a large repetition. The most frequently repeated, most vivid forms represent the well-known fairy-tale canon. This canon can be isolated, for which, however, it is first necessary to determine how to distinguish basic forms from derivatives and heteronomous ones. There is an international canon, there are national forms, especially Indian, Arabic, Russian, German, and there are provincial forms: northern, Novgorod, Perm, Siberian, etc. Finally, there are forms distributed according to known social categories: soldiers, farm laborers, semi-urban. Next, you can observe that an element that is usually found in one category suddenly appears in a completely different one:
We have before us a rearrangement of forms.
A fairy tale as a whole.
A. Ways of combining stories.
Morphologically, any action from failure to marriage, or any other type of beginning and ending can be called a fairy tale. The interval between the beginning and the end is called the progress of the action. Each tale can have several yods, and when analyzing it, it is necessary to note how many turns it consists of. One move can follow another, but they can also intertwine. Therefore, it is worth considering existing options.
1). One move follows another.
2). The first move is interrupted by the second, the action of the second move begins before the first ends.
3). The episode may be interrupted again, in which case quite complex patterns may result
4). The fairy tale begins with two harms done at once, and first one can be eliminated, and then the second.
6). Sometimes in a fairy tale there are two seekers. In this case, they separate in the middle of the action.
It should be added here that difficulties may arise, whether we have one fairy tale or not. Then some clearer cases should be pointed out:
We have one fairy tale in the following cases:
1) If the whole fairy tale consists of one move.
2) If a fairy tale consists of two moves, one of which ends positively and the other negatively. Sample: move I - the stepmother expels the stepdaughter. Her father takes her away. She returns with gifts. Move II - the stepmother sends her daughters, the father takes them away, they return punished.
3) When tripling whole moves. The snake kidnaps the girl. Moves I and II - the older brothers take turns going to look for her and get stuck. Turn III - the youngest goes and helps out the girl and brothers.
4) If in the first turn a magical remedy is obtained, which is used only in the second. Sample: move I - the brothers leave home to get horses for themselves. They get them and return. Turn II - the snake threatens the princess. The brothers are leaving.
With the help of horses they reach their goals. — Here, apparently, the following happened: the extraction of the magical remedy, usually placed in the middle of the tale, in this case is pushed forward, beyond the main plot (the threat of the serpent). The acquisition of a magical remedy is preceded by an awareness of shortage, not motivated by anything (the brothers suddenly want to have horses), but causing a search, i.e., a move.
5) We also have one fairy tale if, before the final elimination of the misfortune, some kind of lack or deficiency is suddenly felt, which causes new searches, that is, a new move, but not a new fairy tale. In these cases, a new horse is needed, an egg - the death of Koshchei, etc., which gives rise to a new development, and the begun development is temporarily suspended.
6) We also have one fairy tale in the case where the beginning involves two acts of sabotage at once (expulsion and bewitchment of the stepdaughter, etc.).
7) We also have one fairy tale in the texts, where the first turn includes a fight with a snake, and the second begins with the brothers stealing the spoils, throwing the hero into the abyss, etc., and then follows the claims of the false hero (F) and difficult tasks. This is the development that became clear to us when listing all the functions of a fairy tale. This is the most complete and perfect form of fairy tales.
8) Fairy tales where the heroes part at a roadside post can also be considered complete fairy tales. It should be noted, however, that the fate of each brother can give a completely separate tale, and it is possible that this case will have to be excluded from the category of integral fairy tales.
In all other cases we have two or more tales.
9). Analysis example.
If we now write down all the functions of this fairy tale, we get the following diagram:
Question about classification.
The stability of the structure of fairy tales allows us to give a hypothetical definition: A fairy tale is a story built on the correct alternation of the functions of heroes in various forms.
However, it is known that a large number of legends. Short stories, etc. Built on the same principle as fairy tales. That is why it is worth finding a new definition for fairy tales, instead of “magical”. Unfortunately, this is very difficult, so let’s leave the old name for fairy tales for now.
The classification of fairy tales is significantly complicated by their multiple turns. There can only be one way out - learn to distinguish one move in a fairy tale from another, thus we get 4 types of fairy tales.
1.) There are elements that are always, without any exception, connected by corresponding varieties. These are some couples within their halves. So B 1 (fight on an open field) is always connected with P 1 (victory on an open field) and the connection, for example, with P 3 (winning at cards) is completely impossible and meaningless. All varieties of the following pairs are constantly connected with one another: prohibition and its violation, elicitation and issuance of information, deception (trick) of the saboteur and the hero’s reaction to it, battle and victory, mark and recognition.
In addition to these pairs, where all varieties are constantly associated only with each other, there are such pairs where this can be said about some varieties. Thus, within the limits of initial sabotage and its elimination, killing and revival, bewitchment and disenchantment, and some others are consistently connected. Also, among the types of pursuit and salvation from it, pursuit with rapid transformation into animals with the same form of salvation is constantly associated. Thus, the presence of elements is recorded, the types of which are connected with each other in a stable manner due to logical and sometimes artistic necessity.
2) There are couples where one half can be connected to several varieties of its corresponding half, but not to all. Thus, the abduction can be associated with direct counter-abduction (L 1), with extraction through two or more assistants (L 1 L 2), with extraction through instant return delivery of a magical nature (L 5), etc. In the same way, direct pursuit can be associated with salvation through a simple flight, with salvation through escape and throwing a comb, with the transformation of the runner into a church or well, with the hiding of the runner, etc. However, it is easy to notice that often within a pair one function can cause several responses, but each of such responses are associated with only one form that caused it. Thus, throwing a scallop is always associated with direct pursuit, but direct pursuit is not always associated with throwing a scallop. Thus, there are, as it were, unilaterally and bilaterally replaceable elements. We will not dwell on this difference now. Let us only point out, as an example of very broad bilateral replaceability, the elements D and Z discussed above (see Chapter III, pp. 37-40)
It should be noted, however, that these norms of dependence, no matter how obvious they are in themselves, are sometimes violated by a fairy tale. The infliction of harm and its elimination (A--L) are separated from each other by a long story. During the story, the narrator loses the thread, and
one can observe that the element L sometimes does not quite correspond to the initial A or A. The fairy tale seems to detonate (changes tone, goes out of tune). Ivan goes after the horse and returns with the princess. This phenomenon represents precious material for the study of transformations: the storyteller changed either the beginning or the denouement, and from such comparisons some methods of changes and replacements can be derived. We have a phenomenon similar to detonations when the first half does not evoke the usual response at all or is replaced by a completely different response, unusual for the fairy-tale norm. In fairy tale No. 260, the bewitchment of a boy is not followed by any disenchantment; he remains a kid for the rest of his life.
Question about composition, plots and options.
Earlier we talked about the classification of fairy tales according to the functions of the heroes, although until now they were classified according to plots. However, we cannot ignore the early classification. Then it turns out that the fairy tale can be told in short phrases.
In addition, such a study of a fairy tale should be followed by detailed study metamorphosis. Only after this can you begin to study the history of the creation of plots.
Conclusion.
“Is it permissible in this area to raise the question of typical schemes... schemes passed down over a number of generations as ready-made formulas capable of being enlivened by a new mood and causing new formations?.. Modern narrative literature with its complex plots and photographic reproduction of reality, apparently , eliminates the very possibility of such a question; but when for future generations it will appear in the same distant perspective as for us antiquity, from prehistoric to medieval, when the synthesis of time, this great simplification, having passed through the complexity of phenomena, will reduce them to the size of vanishing points. in depth, their lines will merge with those that are revealed to us now, when we look back at distant poetic creativity - and the phenomena of schematism and repetition will be established throughout" (Veselovsky 1913, 2).
Vladimir Propp
Morphology of a "magic" fairy tale
(Collected works)
Morphology of a fairy tale
Historical roots of fairy tales
Russian fairy tale
Russian heroic epic
Russian agricultural holidays
Poetics of folklore
Problems of comedy and laughter
Stories. Diary. Memories
Moscow Labyrinth
V.Ya.Propp
(Collected works)
[to see the text online I had to replace some characters in the book:
1) I replaced the up arrow with an open curly brace (
2) I replaced the down arrow with a closed curly brace)
3) in one case I replaced the underlining of characters with a regular underline,
In graphic files, accordingly, everything is like in a book.
All comments to the first and second work are at the end of the second work (i.e. in “Historical roots of a fairy tale”).
The insert with the diagrams is at the end of the first one (i.e. here).
I will repeat in this book (as well as in homo ludens) that graphic files in browsers look worse than they are, so by saving the html in Word.doc you can calmly look at them. Write about errors either in my guestbook or, because . Maxim already has enough worries]
MORPHOLOGY OF A MAGICAL TALE 5
Preface 5
I. To the history of the issue 6
II. Method and material 18
III. Functions of actors 23
IV. Assimilation. Cases of double morphological meaning of one function 51
V. Some other elements of the tale 54
A. Auxiliary elements for connecting functions with each other 54
B. Auxiliary elements for triplings 56
C. Motivations 57
VI. Distribution of functions among actors 60
VII. Ways to include new faces in the course of action 64
VIII. On the attributes of characters and their meaning 66
IX. Fairy tale as a whole 69
A. Ways of combining stories 69
B. Analysis Example 73
C. Question of classification 75
D. On the relationship of particular forms of structure to the general structure 79
E. Question about composition and plot, about plots and options 87
Conclusion 89
APPENDIX I 91
APPENDIX II 97
APPENDIX III 103
NOTES ON INDIVIDUAL DIAGRAMS 104
APPENDIX IV 108
Appendix V Transfer of the numbering of pre-revolutionary editions of Afanasyev's fairy tales to the numbering of post-revolutionary editions
Schemes for analysis of fairy tales Beginning Ending
Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp. Morphology of a fairy tale. Historical roots of fairy tales. (Collected works of V. Ya. Propp.) Comments by E. M. Meletinsky, A. V. Rafaeva. Compilation, scientific editing, textual commentary by I. V. Peshkov. - Publishing house "Labyrinth", M., 1998. - 512 p.
For the first time, the famous dilogy about a fairy tale is published as a single work (as intended by the author). Extensive commentary articles, a bibliography, a name index, and an index of characters turn the book into a textbook and reference book on fairy tales, and the unusually wide coverage of humanitarian material, the depth of its mastery and an intelligible style of presentation have long ago introduced its constituent works into the global cultural fund of a modern educated person.
Morphology of a MAGIC TALE
Preface
Morphology still needs to be legitimized as a special science, making as its main subject what is treated in others on occasion and in passing, collecting what is scattered there, and establishing a new point of view that allows us to easily and conveniently consider the things of nature. The phenomena with which she deals are extremely significant; those mental operations with the help of which it compares phenomena are in accordance with human nature and are pleasant to it, so that even a failed experiment will still combine benefit and beauty.
The word morphology means the study of forms. In botany, morphology is understood as the study of the constituent parts of a plant, their relationship to each other and to the whole, in other words, the study of the structure of the plant.
Nobody thought about the possibility of the concept and term morphology of a fairy tale. Meanwhile, in the field of folk tales, consideration of forms and establishment of structure patterns is possible with the same accuracy with which the morphology of organic formations is possible.
If this cannot be asserted about the fairy tale as a whole, in its entire volume, then in any case this can be asserted about the so-called fairy tales, about fairy tales “in the proper sense of the word.” The real work is dedicated to them only.
The experience offered is the result of quite painstaking work. Such comparisons require some patience from the researcher. But we tried to find a form of presentation that would not overly tempt the reader’s patience, simplifying and shortening where possible.
The work went through three phases. Initially, this was a broad study with a large number of tables, diagrams, and analyses. It turned out to be impossible to publish such a work due to its large volume. A reduction was undertaken, designed to minimize volume while maximizing content. But such an abbreviated, condensed presentation would be beyond the capabilities of some
to the first reader: it looked like a grammar book or a harmony textbook. The form of presentation had to be changed. True, there are things that are impossible to express popularly. They are also in this work. But still, it seems that in its present form the work is accessible to every fairy tale lover, if only he himself wants to follow us into the labyrinth of fairy-tale diversity, which will ultimately appear before him as a wonderful uniformity.
In the interests of a more concise and lively presentation, much that a specialist would have valued had to be sacrificed. In its original form, the work covered, in addition to those parts given below, also the study of the rich field of attributes of the characters (that is, the characters as such); she dealt in detail with the issues of metamorphosis, that is, the transformation of a fairy tale; Large comparative tables were included (only their headings remained in the appendix), and the entire work was preceded by a more rigorous methodological outline. It was intended to provide a study not only of the morphological, but also of the completely special logical structure of the fairy tale, which prepared the way for the historical study of the fairy tale. The presentation itself was more detailed. The elements which are here only highlighted as such have been subjected to detailed consideration and comparison. But the selection of elements constitutes the axis of the entire work and predetermines the conclusions. An experienced reader will be able to complete the sketches himself.