Fairy Tales in the Modern World Week 1 Introduction
Definition: What is a fairy tale? How can we define it? How can we recognise it? What are its essential texual characteristics? Do all fairy takes share these characteristics?
Textual characteristics Formulaic Beginning Formulaic Ending Patterns of repetition (3 pigs/brothers..) binaries transformed: good/evil; beautiful/ugly All related oral origins, oral form of transmission
Different kinds of Folklore Folk tales Legends Animal tales Myths Jokes Fairy tales
Magic Why is it called faerie tale? What about in other languages? also termed (by scholars) ‘wondertale’ ‘tales of magic’ ‘tales of enchantment’ ‘tales of transformation’ Zaubermärchen contes merveilleux volshebnaia skazka
Todorov’s classes of fantasy Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre
Transmission What kinds of people tell tales? Who consumed these tales? What means did they use? What were the institutions for their transmission?
the people, peasant Women collectors (Perrault, the Grimms, Afanasiev) writers Tieck, Hoffman, Andersen, Wilde… Disney and other filmmakers
Where did these groups tell, read, watch these stories? oral: court, the home literary: salon society, the home film: cinemas, the home