FAIRY TALES
Fairy tales, also known as wonder tales or märchen
(from the German), are a sub-genre of folktales involving magical, fantastic or wonderful episodes, characters,
events, or symbols. Like
all folktales they are narratives that are not believed to be
true (fictional stories), often in timeless settings (once upon a time) in
generic, unspecified places (the woods), with
one-dimensional characters (completely good or bad). They function to entertain,
inspire, and enlighten us. In these
episodic narratives the main characters are usually humans who often follow a typical pattern (as in a heroic quest)
that is resolved partly by magic. The fact that these wonder tales still appeal to us attests
to their richness and effectiveness as symbolic (artistic) communication.
Folktales are often discussed as one of the three principle genres of folk narrative (first categorized by the Grimm brothers in the 19th century). The other two principle genres are myths and legends. See the GENRE link for more information.
(The following information comes from Jack Zipes “Cross-Cultural Connections and the Contamination of the Classical Fairy Tale” in The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm, ed. Jack Zipes, New York: WW Norton & Co., 2001, pp. 845-868)
"Writers and storytellers during the Renaissance began setting a trend by distinguishing a certain type of telling and writing from the main body of storytelling. This type, which can be broadly defined as the oral wonder tale, eventually succeeded to specify and define itself as a separate species and became a literary genre in the late-seventeenth-century France" (p. xii).
All
STORIES reflect culture
Fairy
Tales reflect universal themes, metaphors, but also a very alien world
Themes: often socio-economic classes seeking power, but also delights of existence & intricacies of the civilizing process
Fairy
Tale Scholarship much of 19th & 20th cent. =
CLASSIFICATION (comparison, collection)
Our
collections filtered through highly educated upper class
ORAL
TRADITION –
no way to trace origins, tellers, details
WRITTEN
LITERATURE – transcribing always changes nature of tale (records ONE version),
extracts from context, imbues with writer’s purpose
Fairy
Tales first recorded 12th – 15th cent. (middle ages):
shaped in Christian era of patriarchy & wealthy elite
Paradigmatic
Functions (structure) facilitates recall (helps store, remember, reproduce plot
& change it to fit experiences); easily identifiable characters associated
with particular social classes, desires, professions, assignments Easy to vary
characters, settings, motifs, according to specific functions
To
induce WONDER & HOPE for change (distinct from legend, fable, etc)
WONDER
à
astonishment (oft regarded as supernatural omen or portent)
à
admiration, fear, awe, reverence
= universe in which anything can happen any time (fortune misfortune both inexplicable)
Characters demand no explanation (opportunistic, hopeful)
Must seize opportunity to benefit in relationships with others
FUNCTION of Fairy Tales: “awaken our regard for the miraculous condition of life & to evoke profound feelings of awe and respect for life as a miraculous process, which can be altered and changed to compensate for the lack of power, wealth, and pleasure that most people experience” (pp. 848-9, Zipes)
Russian
formalist Vladimir PROPP compares many tales to reveal
COMMON
STRUCTURE (31 “functions”) = Propp’s Paradigm:
Protagonist confronted with interdiction/prohibition she violates
à
departure or banishment
à
protagonist takes or is given task related to interdiction/prohibition
TASK is a sign mark or stereotype of character (names are rare, insig)
Characters function according to social class/profession & transform selves or cross boundaries
Significant
or signifying encounter
Protagonist
will meet enemies or friends
Antagonist
is often a witch, ogre, monster, or evil fairy
“Friend”
is usually a mysterious creature or character who gives the protagonist gifts
(often x 3; often magical agents)
à
Miraculous or marvelous change / transformation
Protagonist
is endowed with gifts
Protagonist is tested & overcomes inimical forces
Usually
peripeteia (sudden fall) in fortunes = temporary set back
Miraculous
/ marvelous intervention needed to reverse wheel of fortune
Often
protagonist here uses endowed gifts (including magical agens & cunning) à
goal
Success
usually = marriage, acquisition of money, survival, wisdom or combination of
first 3
As a
whole these functions
form TRANSFORMATION (overall focus of the tale)
HERO: usually humble, simple, naïve,
untainted (can recog wonder signs)
Believes in the miraculous & reveres nature
Wants to keep process of natural change flowing à
happiness
VILLAIN:
uses words & power to exploit, control, transfix, incarcerate,
and destroy, intentionally for personal benefit
No respect or consideration for nature & other humans
Seeks to abuse magic (for personal gain)
ORAL
TALES: may stabilize or conserve or challenge common beliefs, laws,
values, norms
Narrator
evokes MOOD & MESSAGE (may be conservative, radical, sexist, progressive,
etc.)
Regardless of purpose, wonder tale is:
“a celebration of miraculous or fabulous transformation in the name of hope that accounts for its major appeal” (849, Zipes)
Fairy
Tale: metaphor to mark the persistent human quest for utopia (existence without
restraint)
FOLK
(like children) sometimes considered quaint, superstitious, foolish
Tales
thus cast as unbelievable
Untruth
associated with women (gossips, old goose, etc.)
BUT
people weren’t stupid or diff. – metaphor fundamental to humanity
Fairy
Tales symbolize material conditions, wishes, relations in society
Magic
/ marvelous believed in by all classes (church tried to suppress)
All
traditions / cultures have magic, fantastic tales
Religions
often circulate own tales that compete with secular versions
Authorities
feminized the tradition to dismiss it
Hence
collection named: Mother Goose, Bedtime stories, Nursery stories, etc.
Such
titles are NOT a true reflection of audience, tellers
TALE
TELLING crosses all boundaries (fundamentally human); people are eager for any
store / tale (new or ritual); everyone exposed to some kind of storytelling
(still true today)
LITERARY
TRADITION:
Men
firmly in control (see list pp. 851-2, Zipes)
Can
trace: motifs, characters, topoi, magical properties to Orient & Occident
(religious & secular examples from India, Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc.)
Stories
first gathered, institutionalized, recorded in late Middle Ages
14th
c. Florence flourishing center of literary activity
STRAPAROLA
(little known, clearly well-educated); name = “loquacious”
1st
edition 1550/53 The Pleasant Nights (widespread, influential)
Set
frame of characters, topoi, motifs, metaphors, plots (convention)
Tales:
mastery of lang, critical view of politics, erotic/obscene riddles
Message often ironic / pessimistic (focus on power / fortune)
Hero:
needs luck (magic) & knowledge of how to use it to succeed
Most
protagonists are MALE, act to exploit opportunities for wealth, power, adventure
BASILE
from middle class Naples, educated, traveled, administrator, writer
1575, 55 tales published (widely circulated, read, translated)
Tales: hilarious, ironical, original, brilliant, witty, truly “fairy tales”, full of conflict and mirth.
Sympathetic
to the folk:
minimalizes
differences between peasant & aristocrat
FRENCH
SALONS – space for women
intellectuals in 18th c France
Recounting
tales grew out of literary entertainment / parlor games; chose genre partly b/c
considered frivolous, only way for soc women to write
Mme
d’Aulnoy – 17 tales, long, intricate discourses on love &
tenderness
Critiques conventional court manners w/ dialogues & narrative frames
Coined term – conte de fée (=fairy tale)
1720
– French Tales:
During
period of discontent, reacted w/ sensitivity
Ingenious
combination of salon culture & folk idiom (& role of precocious women)
Marvelous
realms governed by fairies (more feminine reign) vs. corrupt men of reality in
power
Vast
cross-cultural connections (pan-European tradition)
Throughout
Europe – Rise of fabulous tales in earnest (interest in the exotic)
1704-17
– 1001 Nights (very popular oriental tales); filled with escapist fantasies à
stimulated European storytellers
Editions
flourish à
editing, abridging (influence commoners & aristocrats)
Parodies
also abound (macabre, grotesque, burlesque, porn)
GERMANS
– educated in French, influenced above all by French collections
Late
18th c.–1st German edition shows triumph of rationalism
over mysticism
GRIMM Brothers (Jacob and Wilhelm)
Many informants from educated upper and middle classes (many Fr. origin)
Transformed
tales into exquisite literary creations
Between
1812 – 1857 12 editions published, continually revised, edited, added to, to a
total of 210 tales stylized carefully by Wilhelm to reflect “genuine”
“folk” tone (ironic b/c they were heavily edited) + customs/beliefs
(plus they knew of pan-European nature of tales & origins in Orient)
HOPE
to build a sense of German identity / community–utopian nationalism
Became
most popular and famous collection worldwide (probably because of cross-cultural
connections); intertwines, interlaces diverse cultural experiences suited to
middle class taste, values, in Europe & N. Amer.
Still
influential reference points for much of our culture.
Tales heavily psychoanalyzed, interpreted, debated
As
morally deficient, sexist, nationalistic, hegemonic, violent, etc.