Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1104032 Russian Literature 2011 16 Pages PDF
Abstract
In the article, Little Fairy Tales by Fedor Sologub are analysed as an instance of poetic transfer of narrative folklore to artistic literature. However, I do not study transfer of specific images and motifs, but rather transfer of structural principles. In the centre of my interest are those texts by Sologub which can be characterized as minimalist. The minimalist tendencies of Sologubʼs Little Fairy Tales I have in mind are not expressed only in the storiesʼ shortness, but also in reductionist techniques that simplify their narrative structure to a significant extent. In these simplifications, which primarily concern those of the narrator, character and plot, Sologub most frequently looks up to the poetics of the Russian folk tale. By transferring reductionist devices from narrative folklore to his little fairy tales, he in fact attempts to renew the irrational, mythical experience of the world which he considers much more acceptable and true than the contemporary realistic-scientific interpretation of reality.
Related Topics
Social Sciences and Humanities Arts and Humanities Language and Linguistics
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