Folk and Fairy Tales

by D. L. Ashliman

Overview

Just about everyone is familiar with folk and fairy tales. Children learn about them from parents, teachers, and other adults, while researchers study these tales at colleges and universities. At the same time, folk and fairy tales are inseparable from everyday life and popular culture. Movies, music, art, and literature offer imaginative retellings and interpretations of fairy and folk tales. But despite the pervasiveness of this folklore type, most people have only a vague understanding of these tales. This reference is a convenient introduction to folk and fairy tales for students and general readers.

Written by a leading authority, this handbook offers a broad examination of folk and fairy tales as a folklore type. It looks at tales from around the world and from diverse cultures. The volume defines and classifies folk and fairy tales and analyzes a number of examples. It studies the varied manifestations of fairy and folk tales in literature and culture and reviews critical and scholarly approaches to this folklore genre. The volume also includes a glossary and extensive list of works for further reading.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313328107
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/30/2004
Series:	Greenwood Folklore Handbooks Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.69(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

D. L. ASHLIMAN is Professor Emeritus of German at the University of Pittsburgh. His previous publications include Voices from the Past: The Cycle of Life in Indo-European Folktales (1993, 1995), Once upon a Time: The Story of European Folktales (1994), and A Guide to Folktales in the English Language (Greenwood, 1987).

Table of Contents

Preface
One Introduction
Two Definitions and Classifications
Three Examples and Texts
Four Scholarship and Approaches
Five Contexts
Glossary
Bibliography
Web Resources
Index

Editorial Reviews

Although it contains a few tales as examples, this handbook concentrates more on the academic aspects of folk and fairy tales. After an extensive introduction, Ashliman (German, emeritus, Univ. of Pittsburgh) defines and classifies folklore and fairy tales using a variety of criteria but focusing on the Aarne-Thompson typology. The third section gives example texts of tale types, from allegory and anecdote to frame stories, tall tales, and riddles. Following each text, a commentary provides some history and links it with similar tales. Chapter 4 discusses the scholarship of folklore, beginning with Plato and Socrates and ending with the psychological theories of Freud and Jung, sociological readings such as Marxist and feminist, and aesthetic approaches. A final section places folklore in the context of world literature, music, art, and film, from Chaucer to Disney. An excellent glossary and an extensive bibliography follow. Web resources listed include foreign language sites as well as folklore organizations and journals. Recommended for academic and public libraries. Katherine K. Koenig, Ellis Sch., Pittsburgh Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal