Morphology of the Fairy Tale

Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp (1895-1970) —
folklorist scholar, professor at Leningrad University, founder
of the comparative-typological method in folkloristics. V. Ya. Propp became
a precursor of modern structuralism and one of the creators of modern
text theory. “Morphology of the Fairy Tale” (1928) — the... most famous
monograph by V. Ya. Propp, the first part of an unmatched classical
study dedicated to the structure of the fairy tale. Based on Russian folklore,
the scholar identifies constant and variable elements of the fairy tale. He relates
constant elements to the actions of characters that are important for the development of the plot, — thus
called “functions”, and variable elements — language style, motivations, and attributes
of the heroes. The diversity of the magical world of the fairy tale is governed by a strict algorithm
of functions, which proved to be universal both for Russian folklore with
Ivan Tsarevich and Vasilisa the Beautiful, as well as for European tales like Rapunzel and
Snow White.