Fairy tales. Peculiarities

Fairy tales are distinguished from others by the special nature of fiction. Supernatural forces are always at work in them - sometimes good, then evil. They work miracles: they raise people from the dead, they turn a person into an animal or a bird. There are terrible monsters here: Koschey the immortal, Baba Yaga, a fiery serpent, here are wonderful objects: a flying carpet, an invisible hat, boots-runners.

Fairy tales, like fairy tales about animals, people began to create in ancient times. He could not explain many natural phenomena and could not control them. Since the origin of the phenomena was not clear, people attributed them supernatural power... There were beliefs in witches, sorcerers who can work miracles, knowing the words-spells. The same magical powers (only it can be in a different form) are also found in fairy tales. The people in those distant times believed in magical things and objects: a ring, an ax, a belt, a scarf, a mirror, an apple.

And how many fairy tales are based on belief in magic power the words!

Later, people realized many phenomena, the connection between the fairy tale and ritual magic was lost. At the same time, the poetic imagination of people has grown. I wanted to be able to do a lot, but the real possibilities did not allow me to do it. The dream found scope in fairy tales. Man dreamed of subjugating the forces of nature, building beautiful palaces, moving quickly, living long, always being well fed.

AM Gorky speaks of the fantasy of fairy tales in the following way: “There is nothing in the world that cannot be instructive — there are also no fairy tales that do not contain the material of“ didactics, ”teaching. In fairy tales, first of all, “invention” is instructive - the amazing ability of our thought to look far ahead of the fact ... ”.

The idea of ​​A.M. Gorky about the creative basis of fairy tales has been repeatedly emphasized by many Soviet researchers of folklore. “Fairy tales,” writes V.P. Anikin, “are a kind of ideological, aesthetic and ethical code of the people, moral and aesthetic concepts and ideas are embodied here. working people, his aspirations and expectations. The fabulous fantasy reflects the features of the people who created it. The joyful and bright fiction reflects the people's belief in victory over the black forces of destruction, destruction, belief in social justice ”.

In books to read in I-III grades so magical are presented, folk tales as "Snow Maiden", "Geese-Swans", "Seven Simeons", "Everyone got his own", "Wonderful Apple Tree", "Bird Kakhka" and some others.

The fairy tales also include "The Tale of the Goldfish" by A. Pushkin, "Hot Stone" by A. P. Gaidar.

In each of these tales, the heroes resort to the help of objects or living creatures that have an unusual, magic power... In the fairy tale "Geese-Swans", such assistants to the girl Masha were a stove, an apple tree and a milk river - jelly banks. The birch bark horn of Simeon the youngest possesses unusual properties, the golden arrow of Simeon the arrow, and Simeon the grain grower could plow the sea sand, sow rye, harvest the harvest and bake bread for the whole journey in one hour (the tale "Seven Simeons"). As soon as the old woman clapped her hands, two chests appeared in front of Vladislav, full precious stones... "The old woman waved her hand, the Apple tree stirred, shook off the roots from the ground and went after the shepherd." And the old man from the fairy tale "Everyone got his own" only had to say a few words to the poor woman so that she would measure the canvas that had come from nowhere all day.

The specificity of fairy tales, as noted above, lies in the fact that unusual transformations take place in them, improbable forces act, etc. Therefore, in the analysis of such tales, only the clarification of the direction magic powers(who do they help and why, how does this characterize the heroes of the tale, etc.). For the rest, the analysis of the tale will be carried out in the same way as the analysis of the story.

A special place among the above group of fairy tales is occupied by A. Gaidar's fairy tale "The Hot Stone". The tale is interesting for its clearly expressed social orientation. This is a new, our, Soviet fairy tale. Its content is close to the story. Only the episode with the stone is fabulous.

A difficult philosophical question is brought up for discussion by a fairy tale: what is the meaning of life, what is human happiness? Representatives of two generations: the older one, who fought for the establishment of Soviet power in our country, and the very young, who is just beginning to study at school, keep the reader in front of the answer to this difficult question. The author gives an opportunity to speak to each of them; and not only speak out, but also prove your approach in practice. For this, the author creates a fabulous situation: break a stone and you can start life anew. Indeed, this is only possible in a fairy tale. To start living over again means (as in any business) that life did not give a person anything good, he did not manage to live it with dignity, there were many mistakes and the main thing was not found. And what is the main thing? What is the core of a real life worthy of a person? This is how two issues close together, equally important and at the same time very close, interacting with each other. The author gives the answer to them by the very development of the plot, by the old man's story about his life, by the disclosure of his understanding of happiness.

An example of a modern fairy tale with a pronounced social orientation is "The Tale of Three Letters" by Yu. Fuchik and B. Silov. When analyzing this type of fairy tales, the center should be the disclosure of her real basis and ideas. The analysis of such a tale is as close as possible to the analysis of the story. Much space is given to the clarification of specific events and the attitude of the actors to them. “The ship is sinking! People are calling for help! ”- this is the main event that makes thematic framework fairy tales. A rich man, a large stock trader, a carpenter, a locksmith, a chimney sweep and other representatives of the poor, ordinary people react differently to a distress signal. The rich do not care whether the sailors of the Batayava die or not. Ordinary people on the shore are not able to help the dying ship, although they passionately want to do it. The Soviet ship "Kyrgyzstan" comes to the rescue. The sailors from the Batayava steamer were rescued. “And so it should always be” - these are the words the fairy tale ends with. Always working people will come to the aid of their comrades - such is the idea of ​​the tale. From the point of view of students' awareness of this idea, the teacher organizes all the work on the fairy tale.

Fairy tale

Fairy tale:

1) a kind of narrative, mostly prosaic folklore ( fabulous prose), which includes works of different genres, in the content of which, from the point of view of the carriers of folklore, there is no strict reliability. Fairy tale folklore opposes the "strict" folklore narration ( unspeakable prose) (see myth, epic, historical song, spiritual poems, legend, demonological stories, tale, blasphemy, legend, bylichka).

Folk tale

A folk tale based on traditional plot, refers to prose folklore (fabulous prose). The myth, having lost its functions, has become a fairy tale.

The fairy tale opposes the myth as:

1. Profane - sacred ... The myth is associated with ritual, therefore the myth, in certain time and in a certain place, reveals secret knowledge to initiates;
2. Unstrict accuracy - strict reliability ... Leaving fairy tales from ethnographic myth led to the fact that the artistic side of the myth came to the fore in the fairy tale. The fairy tale "became 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 geographical context within the framework of the fairy tale geography.

The folk tale has its own specific poetics, the establishment of which was insisted by Propp, Vladimir Yakovlevich. The texts of this genre are built using the clichés established by tradition:

1. Fairy formulas - rhythmic prosaic phrases:
   • “Once upon a time…”, “In a certain kingdom, in a certain state…” - fabulous initials, beginnings;
   • “Soon the tale will tell itself, but not soon the work will be done” - middle formulas;
   • “And I was there, drinking honey and beer, flowing down my mustache, but I didn't get into my mouth” - a fabulous ending, finale;
2. "Common places" - wandering from text to text of different fairy tales whole episodes:
   • 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 leg of bone";
     • Clichéd formula questions-answers - “where are you taking the path-road”, “face me, back to the forest”, etc .;
   • The clichéd description of the scene: “on the Kalinovy ​​bridge, on the currant river”;
   • The clichéd description of the actions: moving the hero on the "flying carpet";
   • Common folk epithets: "red maiden", "good fellow".

A folklore tale meets three requirements of folklore beingness (general folklore characteristics):

1. Orality.
2. Collectivity.
3. Anonymity.

Classification of folk tales

The folk tale has intra-genre varieties. In the science of fairy tales, there is a problem of classification of fairy genres. In the "Comparative Index of Plots: East Slavic Tale", created on the basis of the reference book on the Aarne system, in which the European is systematized, and then, in subsequent editions of Stith Thompson (Thompson Stith) (see Index of Plots of Folk Tale), the tale of the peoples of the World, the following are presented genres fairy tale folklore:

1. Tales about animals, plants, inanimate nature and objects.
2. Fairy tales.
3. Legendary tales.
4. Novelistic (everyday) fairy tales.
5. Tales of the Fooled Devil.
6. Anecdotes.
7. Fictions.
8. Cumulative fairy tales.
9. Boring tales.

Many folklorists (V. Ya. Propp, E. V. Pomerantseva, Yu. I. Yudin, T. V. Zueva) distinguish two genre formations in the genre variety "Everyday Tales": short stories and anecdotal tales. Novelistic fairy tales are found not only in the "Novelistic fairy tales" section, but also in the "Fairy tales" section. And anecdotal tales incorporate plots from the "Tales of the Fooled Devil" group, many plots classified as anecdotes, some plots included in the short stories section, and some plots classified as fairy tales.

In fairy tale folklore, it is not always possible to draw a clear line between fairy tale genres. So, a legendary tale can be told like a legend, and alterations of epics can be attributed to a special genre group " Heroic tale"A change in the attitude of the bearers of folklore to reality, changes the belonging of the narrative to one or another epic folklore type.

Genre varieties of fairy tales

Animal tale

Animal tale(animal epic) is a collection (conglomerate) of works of different genres of fairy tale folklore (fairy tale), in which animals, birds, fish, as well as objects, plants and natural phenomena act as the main characters. In fairy tales about animals, man either 1) plays a secondary role (the old man from the fairy tale "The fox steals fish from the wagon (sled)"), or 2) occupies a position equivalent to the animal (the man from the tale "The old bread and salt is forgotten").

Possible classification of animal tales.

First of all, the animal tale is classified according to the protagonist (thematic classification). Such a classification is given in the index of fairy-tale plots of world folklore, compiled by Aarne-Thomson and in the "Comparative Index of Plots. East Slavic Tale":

1. Wild animals.
   • Fox.
   • Other wild animals.
2. Wild and domestic animals
3. Man and wild animals.
4. Pets.
5. Birds and fish.
6. Other animals, objects, plants and natural phenomena.

The next possible classification of the animal tale is the structural-semantic classification, which classifies the tale by genre. Several genres are distinguished in the tale of animals. V. Ya. Propp singled out such genres as:

1. A cumulative tale of animals.
2. Fairy tale about animals
3. Fable (apologet)
4. Satirical tale

E.A.Kostyukhin singled out genres about animals as:

1. Comic (household) fairy tale about animals
2. Fairy tale about animals
3. Cumulative Animal Tale
4. A short story about animals
5. Apologue (fable)
6. Joke.
7. A satirical tale of animals
8. Legends, traditions, everyday stories about animals
9. Fables

Propp, in the basis of his classification of the tale of animals by genre, tried to put a formal sign. Kostyukhin, on the other hand, partly based his classification on a formal feature, but basically the researcher divides the genres of fairy tales about animals by content. This allows a deeper understanding of the diverse material of the fairy tale about animals, which demonstrates a variety of structural constructions, diversity of styles, richness of content.

The third possible classification of animal tales is classification by target audience. Allocate tales about animals on:

1. Children's fairy tales.
   • Fairy tales for children.
   • Tales told by children.
2. Adult fairy tales.

This or that genre of animal fairy tales has its own target audience... The modern Russian fairy tale about animals mainly belongs to the children's audience. Thus, the tales told for children have a simplified structure. But there is a genre of fairy tales about animals that will never be addressed to children - this is the so-called. "Mischievous" ("cherished" or "pornographic") fairy tale.

About twenty plots of animal tales are cumulative tales ( Recursive). The principle of such a composition is the repeated repetition of a plot unit. Thompson, S., Bolte, J. and Polivka, I., Propp singled out tales with a cumulative composition into a special group of tales. The cumulative (chain-like) composition is distinguished:

1. With endless repetition:
   • Boring tales like "About the White Bull".
   • A unit of text is included in another text (“The priest had a dog”).
2. With End repetition:
   • "Turnip" - plot units grow into a chain until the chain breaks.
   • "Cockerel choked" - the chain is unraveling until the chain breaks.
   • "For a rolling pin, a duck" - the previous unit of text is denied in the next episode.

Another genre form fairy tales about animals is the structure of a fairy tale (see below for the structure) ("The wolf and the seven kids" SUS 123, "The cat, the rooster and the fox" SUS 61 B).

The leading place in animal tales is occupied by comic tales - about the tricks of animals ("A fox steals fish from a sleigh (from a cart) SUS 1," A wolf at the hole "SUS 2," A fox covers his head with dough (sour cream) SUS 3, "A beaten unbeaten carries "SUS 4," Midwife Fox "SUS 15, etc.), which influence other fabulous genres of animal epic, especially the apologue (fable). The core of the comic fairy tale about animals consists of a chance meeting and a trick (deception, according to Propp). Sometimes they combine several meetings and tricks (contamination). The hero of a comic tale is trickster(the one who commits the antics). The main trickster of the Russian fairy tale is the fox (in the world epic - the hare). Its victims are usually a wolf and a bear. It is noticed that if the fox acts against the weak, it loses, if against the strong, it wins (Dm. Moldavsky). This comes from archaic folklore. V modern fairy tale about animals, the victory and defeat of the trickster often receives a moral assessment. Trickster in a fairy tale is opposed simpleton... It can be a predator (wolf, bear), and a man, and a simple animal, like a hare.

A significant part of animal tales is occupied by an apologet (fable), in which there is no comic beginning, but didactic, moralizing. At the same time, the apologist does not have to have a moral in the form of an ending. Morality follows from the plot situations. Situations must be unambiguous so that moral conclusions can be easily drawn. Typical examples of an apologue are fairy tales where a clash of contrasting characters occurs (Who is more cowardly than a hare? AT 70; Old bread and salt are forgotten AT 155; A splinter in the paw of a bear (lion) AT 156. The apologet can also be considered such plots that were known in a literary fable from ancient times (Fox and sour grapes AT 59; Crow and fox AT 57 and many others.) The apologue is a relatively late form of animal tales. only a few plots with tricksters' tricks were transformed, part of the plots of the apologue (not without the influence of literature) was developed by himself.The third way of development of the apologue is the growth of paremia (proverbs and sayings. But unlike paremia, in the apologue the allegory is not only rational, but also sensitive.

Next to the apologet is the so-called novelistic tale of animals, highlighted by E.A.Kostyukhin. A short story in an animal fairy tale is a story about unusual cases with a rather developed intrigue, with sharp turns in the fate of the heroes. The tendency towards moralization determines the fate of the genre. There is a more definite morality in it than in the apologue, the comic beginning is muffled, or completely removed. The mischief of the comic fairy tale about animals is replaced in the novel with a different content - entertaining. Classic example novelistic fairy tale about animals - this is AT 160 "Grateful animals". Most of the plots of the folklore novella about animals are formed in literature, and then turn into folklore. The easy transition of these plots is due to the fact that they themselves literary plots are formed on a folklore basis.

Speaking of satire in animal tales, it must be said that literature once gave an impetus to the development of satirical tales. The condition for the appearance of a satirical tale arises in late middle ages... The satirical effect in a folk tale is achieved by the fact that social terminology is put into the mouth of animals (Fox-confessor AT 61 A; Cat and wild animals AT 103). The plot of AT 254 ** "Ruff Ershovich", which is a fairy tale of book origin, stands apart. Appearing late in a folk tale, satire did not take root in it, as in a satirical tale, you can easily remove social terminology. So in the 19th century, the satirical tale is unpopular. The satire within the animal tale is just an accent in an extremely insignificant group of animal stories. And on satirical tale influenced the laws of animal fairy tales with the tricks of the trickster. The satirical sound was preserved in fairy tales, where the trickster was in the center, and where there was the utter absurdity of what was happening, the fairy tale became a fiction.

Fairy tale

The plot of a fairy tale is based on the story of overcoming loss or shortage, using miraculous means, or magical helpers. The exposition of the tale tells about all the reasons that gave rise to the tie: the prohibition and violation of the prohibition on any actions. The plot of the tale is that the main character or the heroine discovers loss or shortage.

Plot development is about finding the lost or the missing.

The culmination of the fairy tale is that the protagonist or heroine fights against an opposing force and always defeats it (the equivalent of a battle is solving difficult problems that are always solved).

The denouement is overcoming a loss or shortage. Usually the hero (heroine) at the end "reigns" - that is, acquires a higher social status than he had in the beginning.

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

Short story

Short story has the same composition as a fairy tale, but has a qualitative difference with it. In a fairy tale of this genre, in contrast to a magic one, truly wonderful events take place (the worker wins the devil). In a short story tale, a trickster - a man - acts. He is from the people, he fights for justice with the powers that be and achieves this.

Anecdotal tale

Anecdotal tale, highlighted by A. N. Afanasyev, differs from the anecdote in that the tale is a detailed narration of the anecdote.

Fable

Fables are fairy tales based on absurdity. They are small in volume and often look like rhythmic prose. They are also called formula tales when inserted into the text of large tales. Their function is to captivate with the upcoming fairy tale. Fables are special genre folklore, which is found among all peoples as independent work or as part of a fairy tale, buffoonery, bylichka, epic.

Collecting fairy tales

The collection of fabulous folklore began after the brothers Grimm, representatives of the German mythological school in folklore, published a collection German fairy tales... In Russia, the founder of the collection of Russian folk tales was the Russian ethnographer Afanasyev A.N. A great contribution to the collection and organization of children's folklore was made by such personalities as E. A. Avdeeva, V. I. Dal. In the history of collecting children's folklore, the ethnographer-collector P.V. Shane left a noticeable trace. children's folklore as a special area of ​​science. The contribution to the popularization and collecting of fairy tales was made by the Ukrainian poet Malkovich, I.A.

Origin (genesis) and development of fairy tales

Mythological tale

Folklore tales originate from totemic myths of primitive society (primitive peoples of North Asia, America, Africa, Australia and Oceania). Primary, archaic tales are called archaic or mythological. The carriers of archaic folklore themselves distinguish them from the mythological narrative. Two forms are usually distinguished: puffed up and bleak- among the Chukchi, hvenoho and heho- at von (Benin), lilia and kukwanebu- at the Kirivn in Melanesia, etc. These two main forms correspond approximately to myth and fairy tale. The difference between the two expresses opposition sacred and profane the profane is often the result deritualization and loss of an esoteric character. The structural difference was not necessary between these two forms, it may not exist at all. Very often one and the same or a similar text could be interpreted by one tribe as a real myth, and by another as a fairy tale, excluded from the ritual-sacral system. It is possible to define archaic tales as lax myths, given that they include mythological representations. F. Boas notes that the archaic fairy tale from the myth of the Indians of North America is distinguished only by the fact that culture hero obtains benefits for himself, and not for the team. The lax reliability of an archaic tale entails the predominance of aesthetic function above informative(the purpose of an archaic tale is entertainment). So exoteric myth, narrated to the uninitiated for the purpose of general entertainment, is on the path of turning myth into a fairy tale.

An archaic fairy tale not only perceives mythological motives about snake fighting; about marrying a "totem" animal in order to get the good for the community; the hero's journey to the kingdom of the dead; the flight of children from evil creature going back to initiatory rites; but also creates its own hero - offended orphan... The appearance of this hero is caused by a change in social ideas in primitive society. It can be considered that in the primitive communal tale a "protest" is expressed against a change in the state of affairs: endogamy and exogamy are collapsing, matriarchy and primitive society are collapsing. An orphan is a younger brother who was left deprived of older brothers after the death of his parents, an orphan is a stepdaughter, a stepson for a woman who is married to a father from a tribe that did not previously participate in the marriage exchange. "Family" themes and interest in personal destiny appear in the archaic tale. However, the image of an orphan originally goes back to the initiation rite, where the initiator must look plain before the test. Having passed the test, through the symbolic devouring by the monster, the initiate was transformed. The dominance of the wedding motive in an archaic tale is the result for which the initiation of young men and women in myth took place. Marriage became the goal of an archaic tale, it became a compensation for the socially disadvantaged.

In the depths of an archaic fairy tale, where zoomorphic cultural heroes acted, many narrative folklore genres, among which were a fairy tale, a fairy tale about animals (see also Epic). In Koryak folklore, the Raven travels through several layers of the Earth, descending lower and lower (motives of a fairy tale). For a fairy tale, plots with mythological motives, plots of "family" themes and personal destiny have become productive (an offended orphan receives a higher social status). However, what has become productive for the fairy tale is not productive for the animal story. For a fairy tale about animals, plots are productive, which are based on the rivalry of two characters, resolved by a trick (trickster content). There may be one trick in an archaic fairy tale, but there may be a chain of tricks: someone starts to do something, he does it, but then, realizing that he was deceived, he makes a counter trick. The rivalry between two animals, because of which one, stupid, unsuccessfully imitates the other, the trick of the cunning over the limited, the mockery of one over the other - these themes, constantly sounding in myths about phratrial enmity, then firmly enter the fairy tale about animals and practically form it. Most plots future fairy tale about animals - these are archaic anecdotes about the failures of a cultural hero that arose after the destruction of matriarchy, that is, after the collapse of previous beliefs.

Classic tale

The classic fairy tale was formed far beyond the borders of primitive society, in a class society. Already in Ancient Egypt there were: a fairy tale about animals, a fairy tale, a household tale.

Notes (edit)

Literature

Animal tale

• Kostyukhin E.A.Types and forms of the animal epic. Moscow, 1987.

Cumulative tale

• Propp V. Ya. Cumulative tale // Propp V. Ya. Folklore and reality. M., 1986.S. 242-249.
• Rafaeva A.V. Study of cumulative fairy tales: formal and typological aspects // Living antiquity. 2002. No. 1. P. 50–52.

Fairy tale

• The structure of a fairy tale (collection of articles) / Ed. Yu. S. Neklyudova. Moscow, 2001 ISBN 5-7281-0373-1
• A. V. Korotich. A modern Russian fairy tale for children.

Household tales

• Yudin Yu.I. Fool, jester, thief and devil ( Historical roots everyday fairy tale). - Moscow, 2006. ISBN 5-87604-148-3

Children's fairy tale

• Kapitsa F.S.Russian children's folklore: A textbook for university students / Kapitsa F.S., Kolyadich T.M. - Moscow, 2002.

Pointers of plots of fairy tales

• Comparative index of plots. East Slavic tale. Online.

I hope this blog will help those who decided to take part in a fairy-tale competition, which started on November 1, on the mystical and magical Veles night, which we often replace with American Halloween (which grew out of Samhain, an ancient Celtic holiday, during which it is believed that the boundaries between worlds disappear, and fairies and elves can get to us, and we - in their magic seeds, or hills). Be that as it may, this is a time of secrets and mysteries, travels between worlds and magic, for which there are no limits. Time for magical stories.

Works are accepted until January 15, 2018, at which the first qualifying stage will end.
When selecting texts, the following will be taken into account: literacy, fabulous stylization, originality of the presentation of the topic.
Conditions for accepting works for the competition:
1. You must be registered on the site
2. The size of the tale should not exceed 60,000 characters.
3. The time it takes to publish the text does not matter (even if you posted the fairy tale on the site a year ago) - the main thing is that it should be presented only on our portal. Works, more than 50% of the text of which is posted on other sites, are not allowed for selection.
4. Maximum compliance with the genre. Your work should be written in the genre of a fairy tale or correspond to it as much as possible (for example, a fairy tale fantasy). Rejected works are not reviewed.
5. Themes of violence, Stockholm syndrome, erotica (slash, etc.) are prohibited, such tales will not be admitted to the competition. Scary tales, where there is no savoring of cruelty (a vivid example is the tales of Hauff), are allowed to participate.
6. Simultaneous participation of this work in other competitions is prohibited.
7. The fairy tale must be placed in full, making it accessible to all users of the site.
8. Only one work from one author participates in the competition! You can send collections in which a single topic is observed
An important clarification: the second stage will include best works, but their number is not limited - it can be either three fairy tales or all of them, it will depend on how the participants approached the genre and subject matter, how literate and readable the works are.

Supporting literature:
Vladimir Propp. Historical roots of the Fairy Tale http://www.lib.ru/CULTURE/PROPP/skazki.txt
Vladimir Propp. The morphology of the "magic" fairy tale http://www.lib.ru/CULTURE/PROPP/morfologia.txt
FAIRY TALES AND ARCHETYPES https://www.b17.ru/article/1226/
The fairytale genre has always attracted writers... Many of us grew up on the magical stories of Pushkin, Andersen, Perrault, Bazhov and many others. I have always wanted to revive the tradition of literary fairy tales, revive the genre, give readers as many fairy tales as possible.

Noticing the tendency to call a fairy tale not only fairytale / folklore fantasy (which is very close to this genre and the boundaries between them are often blurred), but even modern
romance novels, meaning by this concept something that does not exist in real life, I have long wanted to write about a fairy tale as a genre.

Yes, our readers are too deeply rooted in the notion of a fairy tale, as a "story about a better, magical life", where the heroine necessarily finds love and happiness, and the entourage can be anything - even modern city, even a conditional Middle Ages. Naturally, in these pseudo-fairy tales there are no archetypes, no plots characteristic of fairy tales, no moralizing. There is only hope for a bright future and conditionally magical scenery, so that the reader can take a break from the worries and troubles of real life, which often does not indulge in joy.

But I still strive to convey information to the reader. about genre, I want them to understand that a fairy tale is not always a light and easy story for relaxation. A fairy tale is a whole world, and now I will slightly open the veil leading into it.
In this article I will try not to copy-paste from various scientific articles and try to convey everything in my own words, in a simple way. I propose a conversation, a leisurely conversation around the fire ignited in the magic mystical night, and I'm not going to teach or tell anyone how to write. All this is a personal matter for everyone. And each author decides for himself which genre to choose. But if you decide to follow the tradition of the fairytale genre, then I hope my recommendations and this article will be useful to you.
So, let's step under the canopy of the trees of a magical forest, walk along enchanted paths and try to find answers to at least some of your questions. If you do not have enough information, there will be questions, then you should know that I am always open for communication, and in this blog, dedicated to fairy tales, you can ask in more detail, I promise to answer everyone.

First, let's talk about how a fairy tale differs from a fantasy, and why one cannot indiscriminately call all fantasy novels fabulous.
One of the first and main differences between fairy tales and fantasy lies in the use of certain symbols and archetypes by fairy tales (you can read more about archetypes from Propp in Morphology of a Fairy Tale and Jung in his research, but I will touch on this topic here, and links to scientific works at the beginning of the article), Fantasy usually does not use symbolism and archetypes to the extent that it is characteristic of a fairy tale (or rather, fantasy has its own cliches, but they are somewhat different, unless, of course, this is a fairy tale fantasy, it is more difficult to draw the line here). And it is important that the tale does not claim to be authentic. The world of a fairy tale is a different world, with its own laws and images. It is also fundamentally wrong to believe that in a fairy tale it is obligatory a happy ending- vice versa, before fairy tales were close to gothic and horror, and if you get to know the brothers Grimm or Basile and Perrault in the original (or read our Afanasyev), you can find that the plots familiar from childhood have a completely different development (no one woke the Sleeping Beauty with a kiss, and she in a dream, she gave birth to, and then the children and her mother-in-law almost ate her herself, no one saved Little Red Riding Hood, etc.), even Andersen's tales, which had a strong religious bias, were reworked into Soviet time and many of us haven't read the original versions.

Signs of a fairy tale and the main errors of classification of the genre- a fabulous entourage does not mean that we have a fairy tale in front of us. You can write about Kashchei, Babu Yaga and Vasilisa, but it will be one hundred percent fantasy. And vice versa - you can describe an ordinary city and ordinary children, but it will be just a fairy tale. The main thing is the competent use of archetypes and a specific set of symbols.
In addition, the real world, with all its laws and history, still lies at the heart of the fantasy worlds (classical, especially). Fantasy is a subgenre of science fiction, and everything in it is logically justified, a fantastic assumption is also usually somehow explained, magic has its own structure and laws (I am not taking into account now some pseudo-fantasy novels with a complete lack of logic, which are generally difficult for me to classify , since the authors write about stamped orc-elf-witches and use the same type of plot, which is easy to predict). But in a fairy tale, magic usually does not require explanation (but this does not mean that the author can do something strange that he wants, because nobody canceled the folklore archetypes, the fairy tale will use them to the fullest, expanding or changing them, but still - observing) ...
Fairy tales are different - and not necessarily good triumphs over evil (as in classic tale), as we said above, but any hero will usually receive "what he deserves," that is, a fairy tale often contains a certain morality (often, but not always, you need to understand that this moral people had a different mentality, and this also needs to be taken into account).
Another mistake is to think that a fairy tale is meant for children.... This is not entirely true - just when the concept of children's literature appeared, many fairy tales were adapted for them. In Russian folklore, Afanasyev was the collector of fairy tales - he also has not quite decent fairy tales, and there are also very cruel ones (like Perrault, Basile, Andersen).

In fairy tales, heroes have precise and clear roles.- heroes are usually brave and kind, noble, heroines are beautiful and kind, witch-stepmothers are evil, antagonists are intriguing, kind helpers provide support to the hero and help to win, etc. An exception is the so-called "dark" fairy tale, which is similar to dark fantasy, but this is a separate topic and does not belong to the classics (it has now become especially popular - this is scary tales Gaiman, and Angela Carter - The Bloody Room, and Margot Lannagan - The Lacquer Pieces).
There are many "masks" and archetypes, as well as plot options, but very often (even in different nations) they intersect, have common roots.
So what exactly is a fairy archetype? Archetype (from the Greek arche beginning + typos image) is a concept introduced by K.G. Jung to denote the original primitive images, universal symbols or motives that exist in the collective unconscious and appear in the dreams of each of us. They are repeated in the plots of myths and fairy tales of different peoples, since they were "stored" in the collective unconscious from the first days of mankind. Dragon, hero, sage, mother, treasures are examples of archetypal images. “The hero slaying the dragon”, “the struggle between good and evil” are also archetypal motives. here is a nice article on Jung written in quite simple language.
What are the most common archetypes in fairy tales? In fairy tales there is an image of a sage (wizard, teacher) giving advice to the hero, he is expressed in completely different hypostasis, this is considered the image of our subconscious, the desire to fulfill a dream - with clear instructions attached (go there, do something), and the archetypes of magic assistants are, in fact, a desire to get everything at once (the image of the Golden Fish, which grew out of a Western European tale about the tree of desires, or our Pike in the tale about Emelya). There is also the archetype of travel between worlds, one of the most beloved by storytellers (and not only, this archetype has also begun to be used in fantasy). The hero's classic journey (according to Propp) is a reflection of the rite of rebirth, travel to the "next world" and return to his own world. And in fairy tales, both the heroes of the "other world" and the real are reflected. But there are also heroes of the frontier world. They have features of man and animal, or man and dead. Meeting with them is the transition of the hero to another state, to another world. One of the striking examples is Baba Yaga. Bayun with his terrible songs that can kill, and many other heroes can also be attributed there. Fabulous image fairy land, another world is another symbol. We have this Nav, in Celtic - the Hills or the land of fairies (elves), there can be a lot of names for this world. But the main thing is that there are certain conditions that are similar for all peoples. Time goes differently there (in reality, a hundred years may pass and the hero will return, and everyone he knew will have died, or maybe he will crumble to dust himself), you cannot eat or drink in this world - you will remain forever, etc. Our ancestors considered the ancient forest to be a different side (Elizabeth Dvoretskaya uses this myth well in her books), so hunters, for example, were not allowed to go to the common table until they washed themselves and proved that they were people. They could be tested with iron, they could be evicted outside the fence for a week, etc. All this is due to the fact that people believed in afterworld and they were afraid that he would drag off a living person. The fairytale / other side is different in all fairy tales, despite the features that unite it - it can be evil and kind, beautiful and ugly. And the solution to the archetype and its ubiquity is that in fairy tales the world is magical, and world of the dead Are essentially the same thing.

One of the most ancient cults among the ancient peoples is the cult of worship of the dead.... And magical creatures are the souls of the dead (which can be seen in the images of navok-mermaids, etc.). From the eerie custom of some peoples to bring home the heads of enemies from the battlefield in order to force them to serve and help, for example, such magic hero like a brownie. In Slavic tales, this is, in fact, the spirit of an ancestor. All kinds of symbols and archetypes (the hero's journey, the hike there-I-don't-know-where, etc.) - there are still a lot, you can read more about this from Propp.

What is a fairy tale?
Let's talk about genre varieties. The genre of a fairy tale includes everyday fairy tale (habitual reality, everyday life), magic and fairy tales about animals.
A bit of theory: the fairy tale is based on the image of initiation - hence the “other kingdom” where the hero needs to get to find a bride or acquire fabulous values, after which he must return home. The narrative is "taken entirely outside of real life."
Characteristic features of a fairy tale: verbal ornament, sayings, endings, stable formulas (rhythmic prosaic phrases like "lived-were"). In the fairy tales we are interested in, different types of plots stand out, but JOURNEY is the most common among them ("overcoming" something is also often included in this type of plot), while archetypes are played out very different, and their presence is very important, but most importantly - the hero must have some goal. He must strive for something, do something, overcome some obstacles, win someone. If the hero does nothing of this, then we are just trying to make a fabulous stylization. Often in a fairy tale, the hero breaks some kind of prohibition, loses something, and this is what triggers the plot.
The symbolism of threefoldness and the presence of magical assistants are inherent in this particular type of fairy tale, and its main difference from others is the presence of two worlds, ordinary and magical. Most often, the Journey leads the hero to another world, sometimes he is given difficult task which to execute to an ordinary person will be unrealistic. Everything is always solved miraculously, banter and sarcastic beginning inherent in everyday fairy tale, there is not and cannot be. Everything is exaggerated, exaggerated. The composition of a fairy tale is complex - with an outset, exposure, culmination and denouement.
Propp singles out seven characters in such tales - antagonist (pest), giver, helper, princess or king, sender, hero, false hero.
That is, magical ones include heroic tales (snake fighting and quests that became the basis for epic fantasy), archaic, tales of heroes who are at the mercy of demons (a persecuted hero), tales of wonderful spouses, wonderful objects, and wedding trials (so that the topic of Selection, which is so popular today, and the topic of Brides were born in old fairy tales, and, by the way, some authors very successfully play with these fairy tales).
It turns out that many themes are rooted in folk art and folklore.

12.15 the article has been changed, a little expanded, I hope the information was useful, in time I will return to this topic

Fairy talesFairy tales read

The word "fairy tale" appears in written sources around the 16th century, but its meaning is far from accepted today. But initially a fairy tale is a list, a list, or a description. What we used to call a fairy tale, our distant ancestors called "blasphemy". And only in the 11th century, after the baptism of Russia, the blasphemy lost as its mythological, sacred meaning, and the name itself (the current meaning of the word blasphemy is blasphemy, desecration of a shrine, a crime against religion, faith), having received in return a new one - a fable, which lasted until the 19th century, being replaced in turn by the already known name of a fairy tale. Now there are many varieties of fairy tales - literary, folklore, everyday, about animals. But, probably, the most exciting, interesting, loved ones are fairy tales. The ones where the wolf can speak human voice, you can catch the firebird with your hands, and the reward for fearlessness and fortitude will be a wedding with your beloved, and often the kingdom in addition ...

Composition and plot of a fairy tale.

Unlike other types of fairy tales, the magic one is based on a very clear composition and plot. And also, most often, a recognizable set of some universal "formulas" by which it is easy to recognize and distinguish it. This is the standard beginning - "Once upon a time, we lived in a certain kingdom in a certain state ...", or the ending "And I was there, I drank honey beer ...", and standard question-and-answer formulas "where are you keeping your way?" “You are trying to do something or you are getting away with it,” and others.

Compositionally, a fairy tale consists of an exposition (reasons that gave rise to the problem, damage, for example, violation of any prohibition). Inception (detection of damage, shortage, loss), development of the plot (search for the lost). Next comes the climax (fight with evil forces) and denouement (solution, overcoming the problem, usually accompanied by an increase in the status of the hero (accession)). In addition, in a fairy tale, the characters are clearly divided into roles. This is a hero, false hero, antagonist, giver, helper, sender, princess (or princess's father). It is not necessary that all of them be present, and each role is played by a separate character, but certain characters are clearly visible in every fairy tale.

The plot of a fairy tale is based on a story about overcoming a certain shortage, a loss, and in order to overcome the antagonist - the cause of the loss, the hero needs wonderful helpers. But getting such an assistant is not easy - you need to pass the test, choose the right answer or the right path. Well, the conclusion is most often a wedding feast, the same one at which "I was, drinking honey beer ...", and a reward in the form of a kingdom.

A fairy tale is a teacher. What is the lesson?

It is to a fairy tale that those who are looking for traces of ancient knowledge carefully preserved and passed from mouth to mouth by our distant ancestors in ordinary children's fairy tales most often turn. Those very "blasphemers" who educate, educate, lay in the child the base of those qualities that were considered necessary and correct. Both knowledge and qualities were very different for future men and women, although, of course, there was a lot in common. And now, looking closely, it is easy to notice that some fairy tales are intended more for girls, while others are for boys. Although these differences, as well as hints of knowledge, suffered somewhat over the centuries when blasphemers turned into fables, bringing to the fore not the mythological, sacred, but the entertainment and artistic component. But even in these fairy tales that have come down to us, it is easy to find simple universal values ​​- that it is better to be kind than evil, generous - than greedy, hardworking - than lazy. That evil and deceit are ultimately punished, and kindness, courage and honesty are rewarded. Perhaps, some of these values ​​will be considered by some to be outdated for our world. But how difficult and sad it is to live in a world of deception and evil. And here fairy tales give us a guiding thread, a ray of light leading to the hope that this is not forever, the time of difficulties will pass, evil will be punished. Is it naive? May be. But maybe it is smart fairy tales that will help our children make this world a better and kinder place.

Fairy tale as a healer.

Psychologists who practice a fairly popular direction of fairy tale therapy are very fond of referring to a fairy tale. Why? It is very simple - it is fairy tales that have a wonderful set of clearly traced roles - the positive hero is easy to distinguish from the negative, the bad from the good, the black from the white. It is in a fairy tale that it is easy to find a hero "to your liking" - that is, someone similar to yourself. And then go along with him a long way of trials and return from it different - renewed, wiser. Often not just solving a certain problem, overcoming a crisis state, but even having matured - after all, it is not without reason that a number of scientists (in particular, V.Ya. Propp, one of the outstanding Russian folklorists, French researcher P. Sentiv) see in fairy tales a reminder of initiation rituals, rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. By the way, it is the absence of such a ritual in our modern culture that some psychologists believe to be the cause of crisis states and even suicidal impulses in adolescence, because initiation is nothing more than a transition to a different, adult state through ritual “dying” in the original child status. And a fairy tale can also help to overcome such a crisis.

The Danish psychologist and psychiatrist Bruno Betelheim, who devoted a lot of attention to the fairy tale and its meaning for the child, considers it to be a fairy tale that is most suitable for a child's perception, and it is a folk tale (folk tale). Why? Firstly, the simple language of this fairy tale is understandable to a child, the characters are few and far between as simplified as possible (they often don’t even have names). The plot of a fairy tale is as simple as possible, understandable, and not tied to time and space. It helps the perception go beyond the ordinary. In his research, Bruno Betelheim compares the tale with myths and fables very similar to it. The conclusion is that neither myth, which often carries a negative connotation (death of characters), nor fables, whose morality is aimed more at adults, are not suitable for children's perception, moreover, they can even suppress the child.

A fairy tale is a great teacher, a healer of souls, just a kind and intelligent companion. The meaning of the tale is different for different people and even for the same person at different periods of his life - from early childhood and until old age. It is like an invaluable treasure, from which everyone will take only what he needs, what he is able to understand, assimilate, appreciate. But the most valuable and necessary are the lessons of fairy tales for children.

Fairy tale reflects cultural heritage humanity, for centuries sifting out the superficial, unimportant. She carefully preserves the particles of the truly valuable. A fairy tale promotes the development of imagination, fantasy, creativity a child, she helps him look at the world through someone else's eyes - through the eyes of a hero, teaching empathy, sympathy, empathy. The heroes of a fairy tale always have a clear moral orientation. There is no room for semitones. Good or evil, good or bad. It is impossible to stay aside. Wherein positive hero a fairy tale is always in a more advantageous, interesting, attractive position, therefore, more often the child identifies himself with him. The positive hero attracts the child to his side - the side of good, thereby instilling in the child a craving for good, for fostering positive qualities in himself.

Fairy tales. This is the most popular and most beloved genre by children. They are called magical because everything that happens in her plot fantastic and significant in task: in such a fairy tale there is necessarily a central positive hero, who. fights against evil and injustice, wizards and magic items help him. Russian folk tales about Ivan Tsarevich can be cited as examples.

The danger seems to be especially strong, because. main opponents- villains, representatives supernatural dark forces: Serpent Gorynych, Baba Yaga, Koschey the Immortal. Obtaining victories over evil spirits, the hero confirms his high humanity, closeness to the light forces of nature... In the struggle, he becomes even stronger and wiser, makes new friends and gets the full right to happiness - to the satisfaction of little listeners.

The character in fairy tales is always bearer of certain moral qualities. The hero of the most popular fairy tales is Ivan Tsarevich. He helps many, animals and birds, which are grateful to him for this, and in turn, help him, his brothers, who often try to destroy him. He is presented in fairy tales as folk hero , embodiment the highest moral qualities- courage, honesty, kindness. He is young, handsome, smart and strong. it type of a brave and strong hero.

The Russian people are characterized by the consciousness that a person always meets on his way with life difficulties, and by his good deeds he will surely overcome them. A hero endowed with such qualities as kindness, generosity, honesty deeply sympathetic to the Russian people.

Match such a hero female images - Elena the Beautiful, Vasilisa the Wise, Tsar Maiden, Marya-Morevna. They are so beautiful that "neither say in a fairy tale, nor describe with a pen," and at the same time possess magic, intelligence and courage... These "wise virgins" help Ivan Tsarevich escape from the sea king, find Koscheev's death, complete overwhelming tasks. Fabulous heroines in a perfect way embody folk ideas about female beauty, kindness, wisdom .

Characters confronting the main characters sharply negative- insidious, envious, cruel. Most often it is Koschey the Immortal, Baba Yaga, the Serpent about three or nine heads, One-eyed dashing. They are monstrous and ugly in appearance, insidious, cruel in opposition to the forces of light and kind. The higher is the price of victory for the protagonist.

In difficult times, they come to the aid of the protagonist assistants. These are either magical animals (Sivka-burka, pike, Grey Wolf, Pig-golden bristle), or good old women, wonderful guys, strong men, walkers, boletus fungi. Wonderful objects are distinguished by a wide variety: a flying carpet, running boots, a self-assembled tablecloth, an invisible hat, living and dead water. Fleeing from pursuit, the hero throws a comb - and gets up dense forest; a towel, a scarf turns into a river or a lake.

Fantasy world far-off kingdom, the thirtieth state is multicolored, filled with many wonders: rivers of milk with jelly banks flow here, golden apples grow in the garden, “birds of paradise sing and sea seals meow”.

Fairy tale as it were incorporates many stylistic techniques from other genres folklore. Here and permanent epithets characteristic lyric song("Good horse", "dense forests", "silk herbs", "sugar lips"), and epic hyperbole("He runs - the earth trembles, smoke comes from his nostrils, fires from his ears"), and parallelisms: “In the meantime, the witch came and brought damage to the queen: Alyonushka became sick, but so thin and pale. Everything in the royal court was disheartened; the flowers in the garden began to wither, the trees to dry, the grass to fade. "

Tales, traditional beginnings, endings... Their appointment - delimit fairy tale from everyday life.“In a certain kingdom, in a certain state”, “lived-were” are the most characteristic beginnings of a Russian fairy tale. The ending, like the saying, is usually comic in nature, it is rhythmized, rhymed, pronounced with a tongue twister. Often the storyteller ended his narration with a description of the feast: "They arranged a feast for the whole world, and I was there, honey, drinking beer, flowing down his mustache, but not getting into his mouth." Explicitly to listeners childhood the following proverb is addressed: "Here's a fairy tale for you, and I have a bunch of bagels."