Vladimir Propp is a Russian folklorist. The historical roots of fairy tales. Russian heroic epic

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Vladimir Propp is a famous scientist, researcher of Russian folk tales. He is the author of unique works in philology. Modern researchers consider him the founder of text theory.

Philologist's parents

Vladimir Propp is a native Petersburger, he was born in April 1895. His real name is German Voldemar. His father was a we althy peasant from the Volga region, a native of the Volgograd region. By education he was a philologist, a specialist in Russian and German literature. Graduated from Petrograd University.

Father Propp taught German to students in St. Petersburg universities. When the First World War began, he took a direct part in it, working as a nurse and a brother of mercy.

Childhood and youth

After the October Revolution, the family moved temporarily to live on a farm. However, Vladimir Propp visited his parents only a few times. In 1919 his father died after a long illness. Vladimir came to the funeral, and then stayed for some time to work on the land in the farm itself. Not finding himself in peasant labor, he got a job as a school teacher in the village of Goly Karamysh, whichwas at a distance of 70 kilometers from the farm. Now it is the city of Krasnoarmeysk in the Saratov region. But soon Vladimir Propp nevertheless returned to Leningrad.

In 1929 the Propp family was dispossessed. All property, the main mistress of which at that time was the mother - Anna Fridrikhovna, was transferred to the Stalin collective farm in an ultimatum.

Teaching work

In 1932, Propp went to work at the Leningrad University, after 5 years he became an associate professor, and in 1938 a professor. Works at this time at the Department of Romano-Germanic Philology, Folklore and Russian Literature. From 1963 to 1964 he worked as an interim head of the department. He also taught at the Faculty of History for about three years, his lectures were a success at the Department of Ethnography and Anthropology.

Morphology of a fairy tale

Vladimir Propp entered Russian philology as the author of a literary work. The Morphology of a Fairy Tale was published in 1928. In it, the author examines in detail the structure of a magical work. This is perhaps the most popular study of Russian folklore in the 20th century. In his work, Propp decomposes the tale into its component parts and explores the relationship of each of them to each other. Studying folk art, he notes the presence in fairy tales of constant and variable values, the former include the functions inherent in the main characters, as well as the sequence in which they are implemented.

What is Vladimir Propp trying to say in his work? "Morphology of a fairy tale" formulates several basic provisions. First, the main constituents are formed by permanent elements. They serve as functions for actors. Secondly, the number of such functions in a fairy tale is strictly limited. Thirdly, they all develop in the same sequence. True, such a pattern is present only in folklore works, and modern works do not follow it. Fourthly, fairy tales are of the same type in their structure. Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp refers to variables the number and methods by which functions are implemented. As well as the language style and character attributes.

Functions of fairy tale

Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp argues that the functions of a fairy tale ultimately constitute a single composition, the core for the entire genre. Only the details of the plots differ. As a result of the enormous work, Propp identifies 31 functions. All of them are present in the Russian folk tale. Most of them are arranged in pairs, for example, a prohibition is always opposed to its violation, a struggle is a victory, and after the persecution, a happy salvation is mandatory.

The number of characters in the Russian fairy tale is also limited. There are always no more than 7 of them. Propp refers to them the main character, the pest (his antipode), the sender, the donor, the assistant of the main character, the princess and the false hero. Considering all these factors, we end up witha classic work that has a name - a Russian fairy tale. Propp insists they are all variants of the fairy tale.

Fairy tale

In 1946, the Leningrad publishing house published another book by Propp - "The historical roots of a fairy tale." In it, he dwells in detail on the hypothesis expressed by the French ethnographer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Emile Nurri. According to her, in folklore tales there are often references to the performance of the sacrament to which the main character is subjected, in other words, initiation. The very structure of most Russian folk tales has the same character.

Also, analyzing the Historical roots of a fairy tale, Propp examines the meaning of the premises, looks for references to the social institutions of the past in the works, finds a rethinking of many rituals. The Russian folklorist notes that the main task is to establish what the rituals described in the fairy tale refer to a specific stage in the development of society, or they are not associated with a specific historical period.

Examples of initiations

A classic example that Propp gives is totemic initiations. They were completely inaccessible to women, but at the same time, in Russian fairy tales, such an initiation occurs with Baba Yaga, an old witch, one of the main negative characters in folklore. Thus, this character fits into the hypothesis of the ritual genesis of Russian fairy tales. Baba Yaga in this case acts as an initiating hero.

Propp concludes thatthere is no specific historical or cultural period in fairy tales. Styles and cycles in folk art constantly collide and mix with each other. At the same time, only classic patterns of behavior that could be present in many historical eras are preserved.

Evidence that fairy tales originate from oral traditions, which are passed from mouth to mouth during initiation rites, is that the motives and functions of the characters are identical in cultures of completely different peoples, often living thousands of kilometers from each other.

Besides this, Propp cites ethnographic data as evidence. He also had a direct relationship to this science. He demonstrates how oral traditions passed down from father to son eventually took shape in the tales we know well. Thus, based on these ideas, he comes to the conclusion about the unity of the origin of all fairy tales among all peoples of the world. Russian folk fairy tales are a striking example of this conclusion.

Another important work for understanding the meaning of Propp in Russian philology is "Russian Agrarian Holidays". In this monograph, the author explores most of the Slavic holidays, customs and beliefs, coming to the conclusion that almost all of them are of an agricultural nature.

Heroic epic

In 1955, Propp published a monograph en titled "Russian Heroic Epic". This is a very interesting and original study, which, however, after 1958 was not published for a long time.reprinted. The work became available to a wide readership only in the 2000s. This is one of the largest works of the author in terms of volume. Moreover, critics note not only its scientific, but also moral significance. It was relevant at the time, and it remains the same today.

"Russian heroic epic" is a comparison of the features of the epic of different eras, a detailed analysis of epics. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion that the basis of such works is the struggle for the spiritual ideals of the people themselves. A distinctive feature of epic works is their saturation with a patriotic spirit and educational motives.

Authors from the people invest in epic works the most important thing - morality, folk epos. This is a direct reflection of the moral consciousness of the society in which it was created. Propp insists that the foundations of Russian epics are not foreign, but exclusively domestic stories and legends.

Another important feature of the epic epic is its poetry. Thanks to her, the works are interesting and perceived by listeners and readers with any level of education. In a broad sense, for the people, the epic is an integral part of its history. Epics embody the inner experiences of the people, their desire to live freely, independently and happily.

Propp's monograph allows you to get acquainted in detail with epic works, starting from ancient times. All obscure points are explained in detail here.

Main works

In addition to the above, among the main works of Vladimir ProppLiterary scholars-researchers highlight the monograph "Russian Fairy Tale", published only in 1984, a decade and a half after the death of the author.

It is also worth noting the work "Folklore and Reality", published in the journal "Science" in 1989 and published in 1999 in the capital's publishing house "Labyrinth". In addition, the publication "Problems of comedy and laughter. Ritual laughter in folklore" was published. This work provides a detailed and thorough analysis of the tale of Nesmeyan with an unexpected literary interpretation.

At the end of life

Propp Vladimir Yakovlevich (1895-1970) - an outstanding philologist, doctor of sciences, who managed to do a lot in his life and is still considered the largest and most authoritative researcher of Russian fairy tales. His works and monographs are held in universities, literary critics take them as a basis for creating their own research and dissertations. Vladimir Propp lived all his life in Leningrad. He died in the city on the Neva on August 22, 1970 at the age of 75. After himself, he left many students and followers who still appreciate and remember his merits. Among them: Cherednikova, Shakhnovich and Becker.