What is a fairy tale in brief? What is a literary fairy tale

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

Writers and storytellers C. Perrault and H. K. Andersen recalled that the stories they conveyed 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 fairytale traditions of the native Russian North were reflected in the work of 20th century writers S.G. Pisakhov and B.V. Shergin.

Folk tale

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

In the 19th century, the literary fairy tale itself as a genre arose 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. Dahl (he first introduced into the literary fairy tale fantastic form narratives, the image of a storyteller-intermediary between the writer and the reader), A. Pogorelsky, V.F. Odoevsky, M.E. Saltykov Shchedrin, N.S. Leskov, L.N. Tolstoy and others.

Literary tale of Russian writers of the Silver Age

The literary fairy tale has become a favorite genre of Russian writers Silver Age: “demonological” tales by A.M. Remizov, fairy tales-parables by M.A. Kuzmin, fairy tales-short stories by F. Sologub, humorous “soldier’s” tales by S. Cherny, lyrical poems-fairy tales by M.I. Tsvetaeva. Among the authors of literary fairy tales are A.N. Tolstoy, P.P. Bazhov, A.P. Platonov, K.G. Paustovsky, E.L. Shvarts, K.I. Chukovsky, S.Ya. Marshak, V.M. Shukshin, S.V. Mikhalkov, V.V. Bianki, N.N. Nosov, L.I. Lagin, K. Bulychev, E.N. Uspensky.

Literary tales of foreign writers

From literary fairy tales 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 fairy tales, is not an end in itself, not a way to surprise the reader, but a means of creating an ideal fairy world, where nobility, kindness, selflessness win.

By analogy with the classification of folk tales, among literary tales one can distinguish tales about animals, magic, everyday life, and adventure; by pathos - heroic, lyrical, humorous, satirical, philosophical, psychological tales; by proximity to others literary genres- fairy tales-poems, fairy tales-short stories, fairy tales-stories, fairy tales-parables, fairy tales-plays, fairy tales-parodies, science fiction fairy tales, tales of the absurd, etc.

Gradually, the literary fairy tale became a full-fledged direction fiction. Today this genre is universal, it reflects the phenomena surrounding reality, its problems, achievements, successes and failures. At the same time, the connection with folklore remained the same, inextricable. So, let's try to figure out what a literary fairy tale is.

Definition

First, let's give a definition: a fairy tale is a folk-poetic narrative work that tells about fictional events and characters. Often involving fantastic and magical phenomena.

Now let’s find out what a literary fairy tale is.

This is a genre of storytelling with fantastic or magical plot, occurring in real or magical world, in which both real people can act and the Author can raise moral, social, aesthetic problems of history and modernity.

The definitions are similar, but in the second, concerning a literary fairy tale, there is a certain specification and clarification. They relate to the types of characters and space, as well as the author and the problems of the work.

Features of a literary fairy tale

Now let's list the main features of a literary fairy tale:

Reflects the aesthetics and worldview of its era.
Borrowing characters, images, plots, features of language and poetics from folk tales.
A combination of fiction and reality.
Grotesque world.
There is a game beginning.
The desire to psychologize heroes.
The author's position is clearly expressed.
Social assessment of what is happening.

Folk and literary tale

What is a literary fairy tale, how does it differ from a folk fairy tale? The author's fairy tale is considered a genre that has absorbed folklore and literary principles. It grew out of folklore, transforming and changing its genre differences. We can say that the folk tale has evolved into a literary one.

A literary fairy tale goes through a number of stages as it moves away from the original source - the fairy tale. We list them in order of increasing distance:

A simple recording of folk tales.
Processing recordings of folk tales.
Retelling of a fairy tale by the author.
In the author's fairy tale, the internal form differs from the folk one, and folklore elements vary depending on the writer's intentions.
Parodies and stylizations - their tasks are related to pedagogical orientation.
A literary fairy tale is as far removed from common folklore plots and images as possible. The speech and style of such a tale are closer to the literary tradition.

How do folk traditions of literary fairy tales manifest themselves?

What is a literary fairy tale? These, as we have already said, are combinations of literary and folklore. Therefore, in order to answer the question, let’s determine what folk heritage the literary fairy tale inherited.

Writers usually take folklore stories as a basis. For example:

magical origin or birth of the main character;
the stepmother's dislike for her stepdaughter;
the hero's trials are necessarily moral in nature;
rescued animals that become the hero’s assistants, etc.

Writers also exploit those endowed with certain functions. For example:

The ideal hero.
The ideal hero's assistant.
The one who sends the hero on his journey.
Giver of a magical thing.
The one who harms the ideal hero and prevents him from completing his assignment.
A stolen person or thing.
A false hero is one who tries to take credit for the exploits of others.

The space and time of the fairy-tale world are often built according to the laws of folklore. This is a fantastic, uncertain place, and time either slows down or speeds up, it is also magical and does not lend itself to the laws of reality. For example: the distant kingdom, the thirtieth state; whether long or short; The tale is told quickly, but the deed is not done quickly.

Trying to bring their tales closer to folk tales, writers resort to the use of folk poetic speech: epithets, triple repetitions, vernacular, proverbs, sayings, etc.

By turning to folk traditions, we were able to answer what a literary fairy tale is in its connection with folklore. Let us now consider another component of our fairy tale - the literary one, and try to understand what separates it from the folk heritage.

What is a literary fairy tale and how does it differ from a folk tale?

Examples and comparisons of literary and folk tales allow us to highlight a number of their differences.

A literary fairy tale is distinguished by its depiction. The author tries to describe the area and events in detail, to make the characters closer to reality, so that the reader believes in what is happening as much as possible.

Thus, what is a literary fairy tale if not the psychologism of the heroes? The writer is trying to explore inner world character, to depict experiences. Thus, Pushkin in “Tsar Saltan,” depicting the hero’s meeting with his wife and son, describes: “A zealous spirit began to beat within him... the spirit in him became busy, the king burst into tears.” You won't find this in folklore.

Ershov, Pushkin, Odoevsky and other fairy tale writers endow their characters with full-fledged character. These are not just heroes typical of folklore, these are full-fledged living people with their own aspirations, experiences, and contradictions. Even the little devil in “The Tale of Balda” is endowed by Pushkin with a naive, childish character.

What else is different about a literary fairy tale?

What is a literary fairy tale? The answers to this question can be found in the specifics, namely, in the vivid expression of a fairy tale, it manifests itself through assessments, attitudes towards what is happening, from which it is easy to guess which of the characters the author sympathizes with and which he dislikes or ridicules. So, describing the priest, his fears and natural greed, Pushkin ridicules this.

A literary fairy tale will always reflect the author's view of the world, his idea of life and ideas. We will see the writer, his aspirations, values, spiritual world, desires. In a folk tale, only the ideals and values of the entire people can be reflected; the personality of the narrator in it will be erased.

So, what is a literary fairy tale in its classical sense? This is a fusion of the author's originality and folk traditions.

Origins of the literary fairy tale

The roots of literary fairy tales go back to ancient times. There is a recorded Egyptian tale of two brothers dating back to the 13th century. BC e. The epic also contains references to fairy tales, for example, in the Babylonian cycle about Gilgamesh, among the Assyrians - in the legends about Ahikar, in Greek - the Iliad and the Odyssey.

During the Middle Ages, the literary fairy tale was used by the church, turning it into a parable. This tradition survived until the 19th century.

The Renaissance brought elements of fairy tales into the short story, using them to create satirical and didactic elements.

The emergence of a literary fairy tale

But only in the 18th century. literary fairy tale has become independent artistic genre, largely due to the passion for romanticism folk traditions. At this time, in order to answer the question of what a literary fairy tale is, examples would have to be taken from Charles Perrault and A. Galland in Europe and from M. Chulkov in Russia.

In the 19th century The popularity of literary fairy tales is increasing. Goethe, Chamisso, Tieck, Edgar Poe, Hoffmann, Andersen turn to this genre. Russian literature of this period is also rich in fairy tales. These are V. Zhukovsky, A. Pushkin, N. Gogol, A. Tolstoy and others.

Tales of Pushkin

What is a literary fairy tale? The definition we gave above is perfectly illustrated by the fairy tales of A.S. Pushkin. Initially, they were not intended for children, but quickly found themselves in a circle children's reading. The names of these fairy tales have been known to us since childhood:

"The Tale of Tsar Saltan".
"The Tale of the Priest and His Worker Balda."
"The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish".
"The Tale of dead princess and about 7 heroes."
"The Tale of the Golden Cockerel."

All these tales have a plot connection with folk tales. Thus, “The Tale of Balda” reminds folk tale"Penor Shabarsh." “About the Fisherman and the Fish” - “The Greedy Old Woman”, a recording of which was presented to the poet by V.I. Dal, a famous collector of folklore. “The Tale of Saltan” is close to the fairy tale “About Wonderful Children”. Pushkin saw inexhaustible themes and subjects for literature in folk art. Thus, the poet’s fairy tales, better than any definition, can answer the question of what a literary fairy tale is.

Summary of “Tales of the Priest and His Worker Balda”

Let's consider one of Pushkin's fairy tales. The essence of this tale is a satire on church ministers who deceive the people. Human qualities are also ridiculed: stupidity, greed and hypocrisy. Out of greed, the priest decides to hire a servant for a pittance who will do the hard work. Stupidity forces him to agree to Balda's proposal. But as the reckoning approaches, deceit and malice awaken in the priest - he decides to destroy the worker.

In this tale, as in others, Pushkin creates psychologically perfect characters. The author endows each with character and personal characteristics. And the language, although poetic, is as close as possible to the folk language. Pushkin always sought to move away from pretentious literary verse to something lighter, more flexible, and freer. He managed to find all these qualities in folk art.

Thus, a literary fairy tale has rich history development, is a unique fusion of folklore and original works and continues to develop to this day.

In the seventeenth century. Over four centuries, the meaning of the term has changed, and it means literary work epic in nature. The plot of this work is fiction-oriented. It may contain elements real life, sometimes there are even a lot of them, but events happen to the heroes that cannot happen in reality. It is customary to distinguish between folklore and literary fairy tales.

How does a literary fairy tale differ from a folk fairy tale?

The most important difference is the distribution path. Of course, now readers find it most often in. But before it ends up on paper, a folk tale goes a long way. It is retold from mouth to mouth, sometimes lasting for many centuries. Then there is a folklore collector who records and processes it.

U has a completely different fate. It, of course, may be connected with some folklore plot, but the writer composes and writes it down, and it reaches readers immediately in the form of a book. Folklore tale arose before the literary one. One of its functions was the education of the younger generation, therefore, in folklore, as a rule, a didactic element is clearly expressed. This is also typical for literary fairy tales. The expression “A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it, good fellows lesson" quite accurately defines one of the main purposes of this genre.

Genres of literary fairy tales

Like any original work, a literary fairy tale can have one of three main structures. There are prose, poetic and dramatic constructions. A bright representative prosaic literary tale was, for example, G.-H. Andersen. V.F. also worked in this genre. Odoevsky, and A. Lindgren, as well as many other excellent authors of children's and adult books.

Excellent examples of poetic fairy tales were left by A.S. Pushkin. Example dramatic tale– “Twelve Months” by S.Ya. Marshak. At the same time, authors do not always take as a basis folklore stories. For example, Astrid Lindgren or Tove Jansson’s plots are original and have no analogues in folk art, while “Tales of Mother Goose” by Charles Perrault are based specifically on folk plots.

1) Folklore tale- epic genre of written and oral folk art: prosaic oral history about fictitious events in folklore different nations. A type of narrative, mostly prosaic folklore ( fairy tale prose), which includes works of different genres, the texts of which are based on fiction. Fairytale folklore is opposed to “reliable” folklore narration ( non-fairy prose) (see myth, epic, historical song, spiritual poems, legend, demonological stories, tale, legend, epic).

2) Literary fairy tale- epic genre: a fiction-oriented work, closely related to a folk tale, but, unlike it, belongs to a specific author, did not exist in oral form before publication and had no variants. A literary fairy tale either imitates a folklore one ( literary fairy tale written in folk poetic style), or creates a didactic work (see didactic literature) based on non-folklore stories. The folk tale historically precedes the literary one.

The plot of a fairy tale is based on a story about overcoming a loss or shortage with the help of miraculous means or magical helpers. In the exhibition of the fairy tale there are consistently 2 generations - the older (the king and the queen, etc.) and the younger - Ivan and his brothers or sisters. Also included in the exhibition is the absence of the older generation. An intensified form of absence is the death of the parents. The plot of the tale is that main character either the heroine discovers a loss or shortage, or there are motives of prohibition, violation of the prohibition and subsequent disaster. Here is the beginning of the counteraction, that is, sending the hero from home.

Plot development is a search for what is lost or missing.

The climax of a fairy tale is that the protagonist or heroine fights an opposing force and always defeats it (the equivalent of a battle - solving difficult tasks, which are always solved).

Denouement is overcoming a loss or lack. Usually the hero (heroine) “reigns” at the end - that is, acquires a higher social status than he had at the beginning.

Wikipedia

(Dictionary literary terms) Fairy tale- This the oldest genre oral folk poetry, epic, mostly prosaic, work of a magical, adventurous or everyday nature. Like all folk art, the fairy tale is deeply national, but at the same time the majority fairy tales found in many peoples of the world. If you choose cognate words for the word fairy tale, the result will be a series of words that to a certain extent reveal its meaning: fairy tale - tell - tell. Essentially, a fairy tale is what is told, an oral story about something interesting both for the performer and for the listener, despite the fact that it is always focused on fiction, be it moral stories about animals, fairy tales, adventurous stories, satirical jokes. Ignorance of fairy tales was regarded by A.S. as one of the significant shortcomings of education. Pushkin: I listen to fairy tales and make up for the shortcomings of my damned upbringing. What a delight these tales are! each one is a poem!

Big encyclopedic Dictionary- "FAIRY TALE"

TALE, one of the main genres of folklore, epic, mainly prose work magical, adventurous or everyday in nature with a fantasy orientation. Best collections fairy tales (Arabic - "One Thousand and One Nights", Indian - "Panchatantra", German - brothers W. and J. Grimm, Russian - A. N. Afanasyev), along with classical literary fairy tales by C. Perrault, H. K. Andersen, V. Hauf, A. S. Pushkin, entered the treasury of world culture.

Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language by T.F. Efremova - "FAIRY TALE"

fairy tale [fairy tale] 1. g. 1) a) A narrative work of oral folk art about fictitious persons and events. b) A literary work of this nature. 2) transfer What? fantastic, tempting. 3) decomposition Untruth, fiction, fable, lie; something that no one will believe. 2. g. outdated The list of persons subject to the poll tax, compiled during the audit; audit ~. 3. g. outdated Official testimony, message, reports e.

Indeed, what can we call fairy tales? Is presence required? magical power and fictional characters in fairy tales? I had never asked this question before and called all my mother’s inventions fairy tales. I thought that a fairy tale was 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.

This is how the meaning of this word is defined in my favorite explanatory dictionary I.V. Dalia. Fairy tale- a fictional story, an unprecedented, even unrealistic story or legend. According to Efremova’s explanatory dictionary fairy tale 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 Fairy tale - a narrative, usually folk-poetic work about fictional persons and events, mainly involving magical, fantastic forces. But the most succinct explanation seemed to me from modern explanatory dictionary , publishing house "Bolshaya" Soviet Encyclopedia»: fairy tale- one of the main genres of folklore, an epic, predominantly prosaic work of a magical, adventurous or everyday nature with a fictional focus.

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 fictitious, 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 actually happened. 2) A story about a real event, incident (Efremova’s dictionary).

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

While reading about fairy tales, I noticed the fact that the word "fairy tale" in the meaning that we give it, there are only two European languages: Russian and German. For example, in Greek myths are considered fairy tales, and 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 modern meaning quite late, only from the 17th century. Until this time, the word "fable" was presumably used in this meaning. It is interesting that previously a fairy tale was a written word that had the force of a document. Perhaps this was so far from the truth that soon the word "fairy tale" took on a different meaning. What immediately comes to mind is: “Don’t tell me fairy tales!”

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

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