Define what a story is. What is a literary fairy tale: definition, examples. What are fairy tales for?

23.11.2019

A literary tale (author's tale, writer's tale) is a literary epic genre in prose or verse, based on the tradition of folk tales. The literary tale has its roots in the folk tale; folklore fairy-tale narrations were often sources of author's ones.

The fairy tale writers Ch. Perro and H. K. Andersen recalled that the stories they told in their fairy tales were heard by them from the people. A.S. Pushkin wrote down folk tales, and they formed the basis of his fairy tale cycle. The fabulous traditions of the native Russian North were reflected in the work of the writers of the 20th century S.G. Pisakhov and B.V. Shergin.

folk tale

The folk tale is included in the literary story in Ancient Russia, and in Europe it comes to life in the genre of a medieval chivalric romance. The 18th century introduces readers to the author's retellings and adaptations of folklore tales.

In the 19th century, the actual literary fairy tale as a genre was born and then reached its maturity - in Europe in the works of Perrault and Andersen, as well as E.T.A. Hoffmann and V. Gauf, in Russia - V.A. Zhukovsky, P.P. .Ershov, Pushkin, V.I. .Leskov, L.N. Tolstoy and others.

Literary tale of Russian writers of the Silver Age

The literary fairy tale became a favorite genre of Russian writers of the Silver Age: "demonological" tales by A.M. Remizov, fairy tales-parables by M.A. .I.Tsvetaeva. Among the authors of literary fairy tales are A.N. Tolstoy, P.P. Bazhov, A.P. Platonov, K.G. Paustovsky, E.L. Schwartz, K.I. .Shukshin, S.V.Mikhalkov, V.V.Bianchi, N.N.Nosov, L.I.Lagin, K.Bulychev, E.N.Uspensky.

Literary tales of foreign writers

Of the literary tales of foreign writers, the most famous are the tales of O. Wilde, J. Rodari, A. Milne, A. Lindgren, R. Bradbury, R. Bach, J. Crews. The miraculous, both in folk and literary tales, is not an end in itself, not a way to surprise the reader, but a means of creating an ideal fairy-tale world where nobility, kindness, and selflessness win.

By analogy with the classification of folk tales, fairy tales about animals, magical, everyday, adventurous can be distinguished among literary tales; in pathos - heroic, lyrical, humorous, satirical, philosophical, psychological tales; in proximity to other literary genres - fairy tales-poems, fairy tales-short stories, fairy tales-tales, fairy tales-parables, fairy tales-plays, fairy tales-parodies, scientific fantastic tales, fairy tales of the absurd, etc.

Indeed, what can we call fairy tales? Is the presence of magical powers and fictional characters necessary in fairy tales? Previously, I had never asked this question and called all my mother's notions fairy tales. I thought that a fairy tale is a story with fictional characters and events. Well, what is it really? And what do philologists say about this?

In order to give definition of the term "fairy tale" I turned to explanatory dictionaries. Since the word "fairy tale" is used in Russian in different meanings, I decided not to consider its interpretation in colloquial and figurative meaning.

Here is how the meaning of this word is defined in my favorite explanatory dictionary by I.V. Dalia. Story- a fictional story, an unprecedented, even unrealizable story or legend. According to the explanatory dictionary of Efremova story a) a narrative work of oral folk art about fictitious persons and events; b) a literary work of this nature. Ozhegov, we find the following explanation Story - a narrative, usually folk-poetic work about fictitious persons and events, mainly with the participation of magical, fantastic forces. But the most capacious explanation seemed to me from modern explanatory dictionary, publishing house "Great Soviet Encyclopedia": story- one of the main genres of folklore, an epic, mostly prose work of a magical, adventurous or everyday nature with a fantasy setting.

What conclusions can be drawn from this? The authors of all dictionaries agree that the most important difference between a fairy tale is that the events and characters in it are fictional, the participation of magical and fantastic forces is possible, but not necessary. For comparison, you can give the meaning of the word true story: 1) What happened in reality happened in reality. 2) A story about a real event, an incident (Efremova's dictionary).

I think that there is no doubt that all those stories about animals with human qualities, children talking with their toys, the sun going to bed in the evenings that mothers and grandmothers tell children can be safely called fairy tales. In fact, I believe that any person on an intuitive level can distinguish a fairy tale from similar folk genres, and in order to invent and tell kind, smart, magical tales, it is not necessary to know the scientific definition of this term.

Reading about fairy tales, I drew attention to the fact that the word "story" in the meaning that we attach to it, exists in only two European languages: Russian and German. For example, in Greek, myths are considered fairy tales, and the modern word “paramisi” (παραμύθι) is translated from ancient Greek as “consolation” (thanks to my husband for the clarification). In English, the word "tale" means any story at all.

In Russian, the word "fairy tale" acquired its modern meaning quite late, only from the 17th century. Until that time, the word "fable" was supposedly used in this meaning. It is interesting that earlier a fairy tale was called a written word that has the power of a document. Perhaps it was so far from the truth that soon the word "story" took on a different meaning. Immediately comes to mind: “You don’t tell me fairy tales!”.

By the way, there are several different classifications of fairy tales. The one that divides fairy tales into folklore and literary is close to me. Folklore tales have many genres: fairy tales about animals, fairy tales, household, legendary, etc.

It seems to me that it doesn’t matter who you are: a professional storyteller or a mother-storyteller, there are no aisles for your imagination. The main thing is to love children, for whom, for the most part, fairy tales are composed, to write or tell with pleasure, and then thousands and thousands of new fairy tales will be born. And in every fairy tale, even in not quite magical, in my opinion, there is a piece of magic and kindness.

The story is amazing! A wonderful world familiar from childhood, where good always triumphs over evil. Talking animals and dragons, brave heroes and beautiful princesses, good fairies and evil sorcerers live on the pages of fairy tale books. Fairy tales call not only to believe in miracles, but also teach kindness, responsiveness, not to succumb to difficulties, listen to parents and not judge others by appearance.

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What are fairy tales

A fairy tale is a narrative with fictitious characters and a plot that has an everyday, heroic or magical character. They are folklore (compiled by the people), literary (include the features of folk tales, but belong to one author) and author's (written by one specific author). Folklore tales are divided into magical, everyday and about animals.

folklore

Before reaching the reader, they go a long way. In oral form, they are passed down from generation to generation until some collector of legends writes them down on paper. It is believed that the heroes of the first stories were the Earth, the Sun, the Moon and other natural phenomena, and the images of people and animals began to be used later.

Folk tales have a fairly simple structure: a saying, a beginning, and an end. Text is easy to read and does not contain complex words. But with apparent simplicity, it retains all the richness of the Russian language. Folklore tales are easy to digest even for toddlers, making them the best choice for bedtime reading. This will not only prepare the child for sleep, but also unobtrusively teach life values.

The main features of a fairy tale:

Fairy-tale stamps "Once upon a time", "In a certain kingdom".
Use of proverbs and sayings.
Mandatory victory for good in the final.
The tests that the heroes go through are educational and moral in nature.
The animals saved by the hero help him get out of difficult situations.

household

The action takes place in everyday life, not "in a distant kingdom", but in an ordinary city or village. The life of that time, features and habits are described. The heroes are the poor and merchants, spouses, soldiers, servants and gentlemen. The plot is based on ordinary life situations and conflicts, which the heroes have to solve with the help of skill, ingenuity and even cunning.

Everyday fairy tales ridicule human vices - greed, stupidity, ignorance. The main message of such stories is that one should not be afraid of work, not be lazy and confidently overcome obstacles. Treat others with kindness, be responsive to someone else's grief, do not lie and do not be stingy. For example, "Porridge from an ax", "Turnip", "Seven-year-old daughter".

About animals

Often the characters are animals. They live and communicate like people, talk and play pranks, quarrel and make peace. Among the characters there is no clear division into positive and negative characters. Each of them is endowed with one distinctive feature, which is played out in the plot of the tale. A cunning fox, an evil wolf, a hardworking hare, and a wise owl. Such images are understandable to children, and give ideas about intelligence and stupidity, about cowardice and courage, about greed and kindness.

magical

What is a fairy tale? This is a mysterious world filled with magic and sorcery. Where animals, nature and even objects can speak. The composition is more complex, includes an introduction, an outset, a central plot, a climax and a denouement. The plot is based on overcoming a difficult situation or returning a loss. For example, "Morozko", "Finist clear falcon", "Cinderella".

The world of characters is unusually diverse. G The main characters have all the positive qualities, that is, such as kindness, generosity, responsiveness, courage. They are opposed by evil, greedy and selfish negative characters. In the fight against enemies, the goodies are helped by wonderful helpers and magic items. The denouement is certainly happy. The hero returns home with honors, having overcome all hardships and obstacles.

Literary

Has a specific author but closely related to folklore. A literary tale reflects the author's view of the world, his ideas and desires, while folk tales demonstrate generalized values. The writer empathizes with the main characters, expresses sympathy for individual actors and openly ridicules the negative characters.

The basis is often the plots of folk tales.

the hero's belonging to the world of magic;
hostility between foster parents and children;
the hero is helped by nature, living creatures and magical attributes.

To imitate folk tales, the same principles apply: fairy-tale setting, talking animals, triple repetitions and vernacular. The images of the main characters of folk tales are often used: Ivan the Fool, Baba Yaga, Tsar Koschey and others. The author strives for greater detail, the characters and personal qualities of the characters are spelled out in detail, the environment is close to reality and there are always two generations: the older (parents) and the younger (children).

Vivid examples of a literary fairy tale include the work of A. Pushkin "The Goldfish", G. Andersen's "The Snow Queen" and Ch. Perrault "Puss in Boots".

Whatever the fairy tale, its goal is to teach the child not to despair, to boldly take on tasks, to respect the opinions of others. Looking at the bright illustrations, it is easy to come up with your own plot for an already familiar story. It will be useful even for an adult to break away from the usual cycle of days and plunge into the wonderful world of magic.

Not so long ago, in the comments to my article “Learning to Tell Fairy Tales”, Olga, the owner of the Little Things in Life blog, had a question about what can be considered a fairy tale. Indeed, what can we call fairy tales? Is the presence of magical powers and fictional characters necessary in fairy tales? Previously, I had never asked this question and called all my mother's notions fairy tales. I thought that a fairy tale is a story with fictional characters and events. Well, what is it really? And what do philologists say about this?

Here is how the meaning of this word is defined in my favorite explanatory dictionary by I.V. Dalia. Story- a fictional story, an unprecedented, even unrealizable story or legend. According to the explanatory dictionary of Efremova story a) a narrative work of oral folk art about fictitious persons and events; b) a literary work of this nature. In Ozhegov we find the following explanation Story - a narrative, usually folk-poetic work about fictitious persons and events, mainly with the participation of magical, fantastic forces. But the most capacious explanation seemed to me from modern explanatory dictionary, publishing house "Great Soviet Encyclopedia": story- one of the main genres of folklore, an epic, mostly prose work of a magical, adventurous or everyday nature with a fantasy setting.

Previously, the word " fable". Word " story"suggests that they will find out about him, "what it is" and find out "what" she, a fairy tale, is needed for. A fairy tale with a purpose is needed for the subconscious or conscious teaching of a child in the family the rules and purpose of life, the need to protect their "area" and a worthy attitude towards other communities. It is noteworthy that both the saga and the fairy tale carry a colossal information component, passed down from generation to generation, faith in which is based on respect for one's ancestors.

folk tale

A folk tale based on a traditional plot belongs to prose folklore (fairy tale prose). The myth, having lost its functions, has become a fairy tale. Initially, the fairy tale, separated from the myth, opposed the myth as:

profane - sacred . The myth is connected with the ritual, therefore the myth, at a certain time and in a certain place, reveals secret knowledge to the initiates;
Non-strict certainty - strict certainty . The departure of the fairy tale from the ethnographic nature of the myth led to the fact that the artistic side of the myth came to the fore in the fairy tale. The tale was "interested" in the fascination of the plot. The historicity (quasi-historicity) of the myth has become irrelevant for the fairy tale. The events of the fairy tale take place outside the geographic confinement within the framework of the fairy tale geography.

A folklore fairy tale has its own specific poetics, which was insisted on by A.I. Nikiforov and V. Ya. Propp. The texts of this genre are built using the clichés established by tradition:

Fairy tale formulas - rhythmic prose phrases:
- “Once upon a time ...”, “In a certain kingdom, in a certain state ...” - fabulous initials, beginnings;
- “Soon the fairy tale is told, but not soon the deed is done” - median formulas;
- “And I was there, I drank honey-beer, it flowed down my mustache, but it didn’t get into my mouth”, “A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it, a lesson for good fellows”, - a fabulous ending, finale;
“Common places" - whole episodes wandering from text to text of different fairy tales:
- The arrival of Ivan Tsarevich to Baba Yaga, where prose is interspersed with rhythmic passages:
  - The clichéd description of the portrait is "Baba Yaga, a bone leg";
  - Cliched formulaic questions and answers - “where are you going, the road”, “stand facing me, back to the forest”, etc .;
- A clichéd description of the scene: “on the viburnum bridge, on the currant river”;
- A clichéd description of actions: moving the hero on a “flying carpet”;
- General folklore epithets: “beautiful girl”, “good fellow”.

A folklore fairy tale meets three requirements of folklore existence (general folklore features):

Orality.
Collectivity.

antagonist (pest)
donor
assistant
princess or her father
sender
hero
false hero.

Propp creates the so-called. metascheme of a fairy tale, consisting of 31 functions. Meletinsky, continuing after Propp's research on the genre definition of a fairy tale, combines Propp's fairy tale functions into large structure-forming units in order to more accurately give a genre definition of a fairy tale. The scientist says that a fairy tale is characterized by such common units presented in all fairy tale texts as ελ ... EL, where Greek letters are a test of the hero of a fairy tale by a donor and a reward for the hero (Baba Yaga gives Ivan Tsarevich a magic ball for that he behaved correctly). The Latin letters, in Meletinsky's formula, denote the battle over the antagonist and the victory over him (the role of the antagonist is played in the fairy tale by Koschei Immortal, Serpent Gorynych). Victory over the antagonist is unthinkable without the help of a magical remedy previously received from the donor. Meletinsky proposes to distinguish not only the genre of a fairy tale, but also to distinguish between its genre types, introducing additional units to determine the genre types of a fairy tale:

presence / absence of an object of struggle independent of the hero (O - O)
obtaining a marriage partner and a wonderful item (O¹ - O²)
obtaining an object by the hero for himself or for the king, father, family, his community (S - S_)
factor of the family nature of the main collision (F - F)
identification of a fairy tale with a distinctly mythological coloring of the demonic world hostile to the hero (M - M).

Thanks to these units, five groups of fairy tales can be distinguished:

1. O 1 SˉFˉM - heroic tales, snake fighting type (AT 300-301).
  - O 2 SˉFˉM - heroic tales of the quest type (AT 550-551).
2. OˉSFˉM - archaic tales of the "children at the cannibal" type (AT 311, 312, 314, 327).
  - O 1 SˉFM - fairy tales about family persecuted, given into the power of forest demons (AT 480, 709).
  - OˉSFMˉ - fairy tales about family persecuted without mythical elements (AT 510, 511).
3. O 1 SFˉM - fairy tales about wonderful spouses (AT 400, 425, etc.).
  - O 2 SFˉMˉ - fairy tales about wonderful objects (AT 560, 563, 566, 569, 736).
4. O 1 SFˉMˉ - fairy tales about wedding trials (AT 530, 570, 575, 577, 580, 610, 621, 675).
5. O 1 SˉFˉMˉ - (AT 408, 653).
  - O 2 SˉFˉMˉ - (AT 665).

Using the above classification of types of fairy tales, one must keep in mind that many fairy tales have, so-called. the second moves (ups and downs), which is expressed in the fact that the main character of the tale briefly loses the object of his desire.

Meletinsky, singling out five groups of fairy tales, tries to solve the problem of the historical development of the genre in general, and plots in particular. The built-up scheme O - Oˉ, M - Mˉ, F - Fˉ, S - Sˉ, in many respects corresponds to the general line of development from myth to fairy tale: demythologization of the main conflict and highlighting the family principle, narrowing of collectivism, development of interest in personal destiny and compensation socially disadvantaged. All stages of this development are present in a fairy tale. The tale contains some motifs characteristic of totemic myths. The mythological origin of the universally widespread fairy tale about marriage with a wonderful “totem” creature, who temporarily shed her animal shell and took on a human form, is quite obvious (“Husband is looking for a disappeared or kidnapped wife (wife is looking for a husband)” SUS 400, “The Frog Princess” 402, “ Scarlet flower "425 ° C, etc.). A fairy tale about visiting other worlds to free the captives who are there (“Three Underground Kingdoms” SUS 301 A, B, etc.). Popular tales about a group of children who fall into the power of an evil spirit, a monster, a cannibal and are saved thanks to the resourcefulness of one of them ("The Witch's Thumb Boy" SUS 327 B, etc.), or about the murder of a mighty snake - a chthonic demon (" The winner of the snake "SUS 300 1, etc.). In a fairy tale, a family theme is actively developed (“Cinderella” SUS 510 A, etc.). For a fairy tale, a wedding becomes a symbol of compensation for the socially disadvantaged ("Sivka-Burka" SUS 530). The socially disadvantaged hero (younger brother, stepdaughter, fool) at the beginning of the tale, endowed with all the negative characteristics from his environment, is endowed with beauty and intelligence at the end (“Humpbacked Horse” SUS 531). The distinguished group of fairy tales about wedding trials draws attention to the story of personal destinies. The novelistic theme in a fairy tale is no less interesting than the heroic one. Propp classifies the genre of fairy tale by the presence in the main test of "Battle - Victory" or by the presence of "Hard task - Solving a difficult task". The household fairy tale became a logical development of a fairy tale.

novelistic fairy tale

novelistic fairy tale(or, social and domestic) has the same composition as a fairy tale, but qualitatively different from it. The fairy tale of this genre is firmly connected with reality, there is only one, the earthly world, and the features of life are realistically transmitted, and the main character is trickster, an ordinary person from the people's environment, fighting for justice with those in power and achieving his goal with the help of ingenuity, dexterity and cunning.

anecdotal tale

anecdotal tale, distinguished by A. N. Afanasyev, differs from an anecdote in that a fairy tale is a detailed narrative of an anecdote.

fiction

Fables These are fairy tales built on nonsense. They are small in volume and often have the form of rhythmic prose. Fables are a special genre of folklore that is found among all peoples as an independent work or as part of a fairy tale, buffoon, bylichka, bylina.

Collecting fairy tales

In Europe, the first collector of fairy-tale folklore was the French poet and literary critic Charles Perrault (1628-1703), who in 1697 published the collection Tales of Mother Goose. In 1704-1717, an abridged edition of the Arabian tales "A Thousand and One" Nights prepared by Antoine Galland for King Louis XIV was published in Paris. However, the beginning of the systematic collection of fairy folklore was laid by representatives of the German mythological school in folklore, primarily members of the circle of Heidelberg romantics, the Brothers Grimm. It was after they published the collection “Home and Family German Tales” in 1812-1814, which was sold in large circulation, that writers and scientists from other European countries showed interest in their native folklore. However, the Grimm brothers had predecessors in Germany itself. For example, back in 1782-1786, the German writer Johann Karl August Muzeus (died in 1787) compiled a five-volume collection of German folk tales, but it was published only in 1811 by his other poet

Define what a story is. What is a literary fairy tale: definition, examples. What are fairy tales for?

folk tale

Literary tale of Russian writers of the Silver Age

Literary tales of foreign writers

What are fairy tales

folklore

household

About animals

magical

Literary

folk tale

novelistic fairy tale

anecdotal tale

fiction

Collecting fairy tales

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