What is a literary tale: definition, examples

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

Definition

First, let's define: a fairy tale is a folk-poetic narrative work, telling about fictional events and heroes. Often with the participation of fantastic and magical phenomena.

Now we know what a literary tale is.

It is a genre of narration with a fantastic or magical story taking place in a real or magical world in which both real and fictional characters can act . The author can raise moral, social, aesthetic problems of history and modernity.

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

Traits of the literary tale

Now we list the main features of the literary tale:

• Reflects the aesthetics and worldview of his era.
• Borrowing from the folk tale of characters, images, plots, features of language and poetics.
• A combination of fiction and reality.
• A grotesque world.
• There is a game start.
• The desire to psychologize the characters.
• The position of the author is pronounced.
• Social assessment of what is happening.

Folk and literary tale

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

Literary fairy tale passes a series of stages as far as it is removed from the original source - fairy tales. We list them in order of increasing distance:

1. A simple record of folk tales.
2. Processing of records of folk tales.
3. Retelling of the fairy tale by the author.
4. In the author's fairy-tale, the inner form differs from the folklore, and the folklore elements vary depending on the writer's intention.
5. Parodies and stylizations - their tasks are related to the pedagogical orientation.
6. The literary fairy tale is as far removed from the widespread folkloric plots, images. The speech and style of such a tale is closer to the literary tradition.

What are the folk traditions of a literary fairy tale

What is a literary tale? This, as we have already said, is a combination of literary and folklore. Therefore, to answer the question, we will determine what folk heritage has inherited from the literary tale.

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

• Magic origin or birth of the main character;
• The dislike of her stepmother to her stepdaughter;
• The hero's tests necessarily carry a moral character;
• Rescued animals who become hero's assistants, etc.

Writers also exploit fairy-tale images-characters, endowed with certain functions. For example:

• The ideal hero.
• Helper of the ideal hero.
• The one who sends the hero to the path.
• The giver of the magic thing.
• The one who harms the ideal hero and interferes with the fulfillment of the commission.
• Stolen character or thing.
• A false hero is someone who tries to take on someone else's exploits.

The space and time of the fairy-tale world are often built according to the laws of folklore. This is a fantastic indeterminate place, but time slows down, it speeds up, it is also magical and does not lend itself to the laws of reality. For example: Bujan Island; The far-away kingdom, the thirtieth state; How long is short; Quickly a fairy tale affects, but it's not done in a while.

Trying to bring their tales closer to the people, writers resort to the use of folklore poetic speech: epithets, triplicate repetitions, vernaculars, proverbs, sayings, etc.

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

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

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

The author's tale is always recorded, its form is unchanged. While folklore was passed from mouth to mouth, and each new storyteller could add something to it or remove it at will.

The literary tale is notable for its representativeness. The author tries in detail to describe the terrain, events, make the characters closer to reality, so that the reader believes in what is happening as much as possible.

So, what is a literary tale, not the psychology of heroes? The writer tries to explore the inner world of the character, to depict the experience. So, Pushkin in "Tsar Saltan", depicting the meeting of the hero with his wife and son, describes: "It zabilis zealous ... the spirit in it engaged in the king burst into tears." In folklore, this is not found.

Ershov, Pushkin, Odoyevsky and other writers-storytellers give their characters a full-fledged character. These are not just heroes, characteristic of folklore, they are full-fledged living people with their aspirations, experiences, contradictions. Even the devil in the "Tale of Balda" Pushkin gives a naive childish character.

What is the difference between a literary tale

What is a literary tale? The answers to this question can be found in the specifics of the literary work. Namely in a vivid expression of the author's position. In the fairy tale, it manifests itself through evaluations, attitudes toward what is happening, which is easy to guess, which of the characters the author sympathizes with, and whom he does not like or ridicules. So, describing the priest, his fears and natural greed, Pushkin ridicules this.

A literary 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 the folklore fairy tale, only the ideals and values of the whole people can be reflected, the personality of the narrator in it will be erased.

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

Origins of a literary fairy tale

The roots of the literary tale go back to antiquity. There is a recorded Egyptian tale of two brothers, dated to the 13th century. BC. E. In the epic there are also references to fairy-tale subjects, for example, in the Babylonian cycle about Gilgamesh, among the Assyrians - in the legends about Ahikar, in the Greek - the Iliad and Odyssey.

During the Middle Ages, a literary tale was used by the church, turning it into a parable. This tradition was preserved until the XIX century.

The Age of the Renaissance carried the elements of fairy tales into a novel, using them to create satirical and didactic elements.

The appearance of a literary tale

But only in the XVIII century. The literary tale became an independent art genre, largely thanks to the fascination of romanticism with folk traditions. At this time, to answer the question of what a literary tale is, examples would have to be taken from Charles Perrault and A. Gallan in Europe and M. Chulkov in Russia.

In the XIX century. The popularity of a literary tale increases. This genre is addressed to Goethe, Chamisso, Tick, Edgar Poe, Hoffmann, Andersen. Russian literature of this period is also rich in fairy tales. This is V. Zhukovsky, A. Pushkin, N. Gogol, A. Tolstoy, and others.

Fairy tales of Pushkin

What is a literary tale? The definition that we gave above perfectly exemplifies the tales of A.S. Pushkin. Initially, they did not count on children, but quickly found themselves in the circle of children's reading. The names of these tales are known to us from 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 the Dead Princess and the 7 Heroes."
• "The Tale of the Golden Cockerel."

All these tales have a plot connection with the folk. So, "The Tale of Balda" reminds folk tale "Batrak Shabarsh". "On the Fisherman and the Fish" - "The Greedy Old Woman", whose record was presented to the poet VI Dal, a well-known collector of folklore. "The Tale of Saltan" is close to the fairy tale "About Wonderful Children". Pushkin saw in folk art inexhaustible themes and subjects for literature. Thus, fairy tales of a poet are better than any definition can answer the question of what a literary tale is.

Summary of "Fairy tales about the priest and his employee Balde"

Consider one of Pushkin's fairy tales. The essence of this tale in the satire is the servants of the church, deceiving the people. People's qualities are ridiculed: stupidity, greed and hypocrisy. Out of greed, the priest decides to hire a servant for a penny, who will do the hard work. Stupidity forces him to agree to the proposal of Balda. But with the approach of reckoning in the pope, crookedness and anger awaken - he decides to ruin the worker.

The fairy tale was not published in this form, the censors replaced the priest on the Dustcastler. But the essence of the tale remained the same - she continued to ridicule human vices.

In this tale, as in others, Pushkin creates psychologically perfect characters. Each author is endowed with character and personal characteristics. And the language, though poetic, is as close to the people as possible. Pushkin always aspired to leave from a fanciful literary verse to something more light, flexible, free. All these qualities he managed to find in folk art.

Thus, the literary tale has a rich history of development, is a unique fusion of folklore and author's work and continues to develop to this day.