traditional literature dr. kristen trent lit... · •folklore, folk literature, mythology ......

Traditional Literature Dr. Kristen Trent

Origin of Folk Literature • The Oral Tradition

• Folklore, Folk Literature, Mythology – Myths: gods or creation

– Legends: heroes and mighty deeds

– Folktales, fairytales, fables: talking beasts, royalty, or commoners revealing human and fantastical characteristics

Origin of Folk Literature • Monogenesis

– Inheritance from a single culture

• Grimm brothers belief

• Aryans or Indo-Europeans

• Diffusions with migration

• Polygenesis – Multiple origins

• Independent inventions from universal needs and desires

• Clyde Kluckhorn

• Sir James Frazer

• Freud

• Carl Jung – Race memory

Value of Folk Literature • Philologists

– Language and grammar

– 1812 Grimm’s Household Stories

– Not intended for children

• Anthropologists – Inherent values and

beliefs of a culture

• Psychologists – Human feelings and

motivation

• Folklorists – Collect and

categorize stories, types, and motifs

Value of Folk Literature • Communicated to children in oral

tradition – Short with fast moving plots

– Frequently humorous

– Almost always end happily ever after

– Poetic justice prevails

– Wishes come true through tasks

Value of Folk Literature • “Each fairy tale is a magic mirror which

reflects some aspects of our inner world and of the steps required by our evolution from immaturity to maturity.” – Bruno Bettelheim

• “Fantasy is the most valuable attribute if the human mind and should be diligently nurtured from childhood.” – Kornei Chukovsky

Value of Folk Literature • Common cliches

– Sour grapes – Boy who cried wolf

• Common terms – Narcissistic – Labyrinth – Siren

Folktales • “all forms of narrative, written or

oral, that have come to be handed down over the years”

• Includes epics, ballads, legends, folk songs, myths, and fables

Types of Folktales • Cumulative Tales

– The House that Jack Built – Gingerbread Boy

• Pourquoi Tales – Why stories – How the Camel Got its Hump – Native American tales

Types of Folktales • Beast tales

– Three Little Pigs

– Three Billy Goats Gruff

– Tales of Uncle Remus: Adventures of Brer Rabbit

Types of Folktales • Wonder tales

– Fairytales • Jack and the Beanstalk • Rapunzel • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

– Romance and adventure – Fairies, demons, dragons, oni, witches – Fulfillment of human desires

Types of Folktales • Realistic tales

– Dick Whittington and His Cat

– Johnny Appleseed

– Zlateh the Goat

Characteristics of Folktales

• Plot Structure – Quick flow of action

– Wise beast/foolish beast

– Journey novel

– Almost all have happy endings • Myths explore human frailty and demise

– Three is magical number

– Repetition


• Setting – Time and place established quickly

– Conventions such as “once upon a time”

– Time passes quickly

– Setting not specific, but faraway land, cottage in the woods, beautiful place


• Characterization – Two dimensional

• Black or white with no shades of gray

– Character development is rare • Beautiful princess

• Evil stepmother

• Longsuffering poor and hardhearted rich


• Style – Rich, qualitative language with a variety of

language patterns • Once upon a time • There was a time and there wasn’t a time • We do not mean, we do not really mean that

what we are going to is true

– Must maintain culture of country and sound like it is being told


• Themes – Values of culture

• Humility, kindness, patience, sympathy, hard work, courage

– Rewards of culture • Long life, good spouse, beautiful home, fine

clothing, plenty of food, freedom from fear


• Motifs – Smallest part of a tale that can exist

independently • Recurring parade of characters

– Wicked stepmother

• Magical objects

• Enchantment


– Magical powers • Helpful companions

• Possessors always aid hero

– Magical objects • Magic lamps

• Rings

• Cooking pot


– Wishes • Used wickedly or in greed

– Trickery • Animals

– European wolf – Japan badger – Africa Anansi the spider, Zomo the rabbit, and Ijapa

the tortoise – Native American coyote and raven

• People – Stone Soup – Boy of the Three Year Nap – One Grain of Rice

Variants of Folktales • Cinderella

– Over 500 variations in Europe alone

– Others found in ancient Egypt, 9th century China, and 10th century Iceland

– French version is most familiar

Folktales of the World • British

– Joseph Jacobs adapted for children

– Henny Penny – The Little Red Hen – The Three Little

Pigs – The Three Bears

• German – Brothers Grimm

– Rapunzel • Sendak’s version of

pregnant Rapunzel

– Elves and the Shoemaker

– Rumpelstiltskin

– Little Red Cap

– Hansel and Gretel

Folktales of the World • Scandinavian

– Peter Christian Asbjornsen and Jorgen Moe

– East o’the Sun and West o’ the Moon

• Three Billy Goats Gruff

• Troll with No Heart in His Body

– Reflect harsh climate

• French – Charles Perrault

• “Conscious elegance of literary tale”

• Sleeping Beauty • Puss and Boots • The Twelve Dancing

Princesses • Beauty and the

Beast

Folktales of the World • Russian

– Often longer and more complicated

• The Little Humpbacked Horse

• Soldier and Tsar in the Forest

• The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship

• Gigantic Turnip

• The Mitten

• The Little Snowgirl

– Witch Baba Yaga

• Jewish – Isaac Bashevis Singer

– Poignancy, wit, and ironic humor

• Zlateh the Goat

• When Shliemel Went to Warsaw

• It Could Always Be Worse

• Something from Nothing

• Joseph had a Little Overcoat

Folktales of the World • Middle East and

India – The Golden

Bracelet – Arabian Nights

translated by Sir Richard Burton

– Sinbad in the Land of Giants

– Foolish Rabbit’s Big Mistake

• Asia – Yeh-Shen

– Lon Po Po

– The Seven Chinese Brothers

– The Donkey and the Rock

– The Crane Wife

Folktales of the World • Africa

– A Story, A Story

– Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears

– Anansi the Spider

– Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters

• Native American – How Turtle’s Back

was Cracked

– Girl Who Loved Wild Horses

– Rough Faced Girl

Folktales of the World • Four categories of Canadian and US

Folklore – Native American, Eskimo, and Inuit tales

that were already here – Tales that came from Western Africa and

were changed to form African American folktales

– Tales from Europe that were modified – Tall tales, legends, other Americana

developed here

Folktales of the World • European Variants

in US – Richard Chase’s

Grandfather Tales and Jack Tales

– Smoky Mountain Rose

• African American – Uncle Remus

– The People Could Fly

– Lapin Plays Possum

Folktales of the World • Tall Tales

– Paul Bunyan

– Pecos Bill

– Johnny Appleseed

– John Henry

– Mose Humphreys

– Swamp Angel

• Mexico, Caribbean, Central and South America – The Monkey’s

Haircut and Other Mayan Tales

– Cendrillion

Fables • Usually associated with Aesop

– Greek slave born in Asia Minor approx. 600 B.C. – Translated in Latin and English by William

Caxton

• Jakata tales – Animal stories that told of the previous births

of Budda

• Jean de la Fontaine – French poet who wrote his fables in verse;

based on Aesop

Fables • Brief, didactic tales in which animals

or the elements speak as humans • Characters are impersonal with no

other name than “fox” or “rabbit” – Town Mouse, Country Mouse – The Lion and the Mouse – The Grasshopper and the Ant

Myths • Evolved as primitive people searched for

explanations

• Gods and goddesses are immortal and possess supernatural powers

• Deal with human relationships with the gods, relationships among the gods, destiny, and struggles with good and evil

Types of Myths • Creation Myths

– How world began, how people made

– Explanation for beginnings

• The Star-Bearer creation myth from 3000 B.C. in Egypt

• Nature Myths – Explain seasonal

changes, animal characteristics, earth formations

• Demeter and Persephone

• Hero Myths – Parallel wonder stories

– Gods help or hinder • Herecules

Epic and Legendary Heroes

• Epic – Long narrative or cycle of stories

clustering around actions of a single hero • The Iliad, The Odyssey, Robin Hood

– Epic of Gilgamesh • Written more than 4000 years ago in

Mesopotamia – Gilgamesh: Sumerian king – Endiku: primitive man – Utnmapishtim: similar to our Noah – Ishtar: goddess

• Translated by Ludmila Zeman


• The Iliad and the Odyssey – Composed by Homer in 850 B.C. – Probably composed of many oral

tradition stories – Iliad

• Trojan War over Helen

– Odyssey • 10 year journey of Odysseus


• The Ramayana – Indian tale written during 4th century by

Vlamiki

– 24,000 couplets repeated and memorized

– Part of Hindu gospel


• Middle Ages – King Arthur

• Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur

• Jane Yolen’s The Dragon’s Boy

• Robert D. San Souci’s Young Merlin

– Saint George and the Dragon

– Robin Hood

The Bible as Literature • Important and rightful place in

comprehensive discussion of literature

• Characters, incidents, poems, proverbs, and parables

• Important for allusions

The Bible as Literature • Collections of Bible Stories

– A Time to Love: Stories from the Old Testament

– Daughters of the Fire

• Single Bible Stories – Light

– Noah’s Ark

– The Miracles of Jesus

Traditional Literature Presentations

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