Vladimir Propp is a famous scientist, researcher of Russian folk tales. He wrote unique works in philology. Modern scholars consider him the founder of text theory.
Philologist's parents
Vladimir Propp is a native Petersburger, he was born in April 1895. His real name is Hermann Voldemar. His father was a prosperous peasant from the Volga region, a native of the Volgograd region. By education, he was a philologist, a specialist in domestic and German literature. Graduated from Petrograd University.
Propp's father taught German to students in St. Petersburg higher education institutions. When the First World War began, he took a direct part in it, working as a nurse and brother of mercy.
Childhood and youth
After the October Revolution, the family moved temporarily to live on a farm. However, Vladimir Propp visited his parents only a few times. In 1919, his father died after a long illness. Vladimir came to the funeral, and then remained for some time to work on the ground in the farm itself. Not finding himself in peasant labor, he got a job as a school teacher in the village of Galy Karamysh, which was located 70 kilometers from the farm. Now it is the city of Krasnoarmeysk in the Saratov region. But soon Vladimir Propp nevertheless returned to Leningrad.
In 1929, the Propp family was dispossessed. All property, the main owner of which at that time was his mother, Anna Fridrikhovna, was transferred to the Stalin collective farm in an ultimatum order.
Teaching work
In 1932, Propp went to work at Leningrad University, after 5 years he became an assistant professor, and in 1938 a professor. Works at this time in the department of Romano-Germanic philology, folklore and Russian literature. From 1963 to 1964 he worked as a temporary acting head of the department. He also taught at the Faculty of History for about three years, his lectures were successful at the Department of Ethnography and Anthropology.
Morphology of a fairy tale
He entered the Russian philology as the author of literary work Vladimir Propp. "Morphology of a fairy tale" was published in 1928. In it, the author examines in detail the structure of a magical work. This is perhaps the most popular study of Russian folklore in the 20th century. In his work, Propp lays out the tale into its constituent parts and explores the relationship of each of them to each other. Studying folk art, he notes the presence of constant and variable values in fairy tales, the former include functions inherent in the main characters, as well as the sequence in which they are realized.
What is Vladimir Propp trying to say in his work? The "morphology of a fairy tale" formulates several key points. Firstly, the main components are formed by permanent elements. They serve as actors. Secondly, the number of such functions in a fairy tale is strictly limited. Thirdly, they all develop in the same sequence. True, such a pattern is present only in folklore works, and modern works do not follow it. Fourth, fairy tales are similar in structure. To variables, Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp refers the number and methods by which functions are implemented. As well as language style and character attributes.
Magic Tale Features
Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp claims that the functions of a fairy tale ultimately make up a single composition, the core for the entire genre. Only plot details differ. As a result of enormous work, Propp distinguishes 31 functions. All of them are present in the Russian folk tale. Most of them are arranged in pairs, for example, the violation is always opposed to its violation, the struggle is victory, and after the persecution without fail comes a happy salvation.
The number of characters in the Russian fairy tale is also limited. There are always no more than 7. Propp includes the main character, the wrecker (his antipode), the sender, the donor, the assistant to the main character, the princess and the false hero. Given all these factors, in the end we get a classic work, which has a name - a Russian fairy tale. Propp insists that they are all variants of a fairy tale.
Fairy tale
In 1946, another propp book, The Historical Roots of a Fairy Tale, was published at the Leningrad publishing house. In it, he dwells in detail on the hypothesis expressed by the French ethnographer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries Emile Nurri. According to her, in folklore tales there are often references to the sacrament to which the protagonist is exposed, in other words initiation. The very structure of most Russian folk tales has the same character.
Also, analyzing the historical roots of a fairy tale, Propp examines the meaning of prerequisites, searches for references to social institutions of the past, finds rethinking of many rituals. The Russian folklorist notes that the main task is to establish what the rituals described in the tale relate to - to a specific stage of development of society, or they are not associated with a specific historical period.
Initiation Examples
The classic example cited by Propp is totemic initiation. They were completely inaccessible to women, but at the same time in Russian fairy tales, such an initiation takes place with Baba Yaga, an old witch, one of the main negative characters in folklore. Thus, this character fits into the hypothesis of the ritual genesis of Russian fairy tales. Baba Yaga in this case acts as the initiating hero.
Propp concludes that there is no specific historical or cultural period in fairy tales. Styles and cycles in folk art are constantly colliding and intermingled. In this case, only classical behavior patterns that could be present in many historical eras are preserved.
Evidence that fairy tales originate from oral traditions that are transmitted by word of mouth during rituals of initiation is that the motives and functions of the characters are identical in cultures of completely different peoples, often living thousands of kilometers from each other.
In addition, Propp cites ethnographic evidence as evidence. He also had a direct relationship with this science. He demonstrates how oral traditions, transmitted from father to son, eventually took shape in tales well known to us. Thus, based on these ideas, he comes to the conclusion about the unity of origin of all fairy tales among all peoples of the world. A striking example of this conclusion is precisely Russian folk fairy tales.
Another important work for understanding the significance of Propp in Russian philology is Russian Agrarian Holidays. In this monograph, the author explores most Slavic holidays, customs and beliefs, concluding that almost all of them are agricultural in nature.
Heroic epic
In 1955, Propp released a monograph entitled "Russian Heroic Epic." This is a very interesting and original study, which, however, has not been reprinted for a long time after 1958. For a wide audience, the work became available only in the 2000s. This is one of the largest works of the author in volume. Moreover, critics note not only its scientific, but also its moral significance. It was relevant at that time, remains the same today.
"Russian Heroic Epic" is a comparison of the features of the epic of different eras, a detailed analysis of epics. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion that the basis of such works is the struggle for the spiritual ideals of the people themselves. A distinctive feature of epic works is their saturation with a patriotic spirit and educational motives.
Authors from the people invest in the epic works the most important thing - morality, folklore epic. This is a direct reflection of the moral identity of the society in which it was created. Propp insists that the foundations of domestic epics are not foreign, but exclusively domestic stories and legends.
Another important feature of the epic epic is its poetry. Thanks to her, the works are interesting and perceived by listeners and readers with any level of education. In a broad sense, for the people, the epic is an integral part of its history. The epics personify the inner experiences of the people, their desire to live freely, independently and happily.
Propp's monograph allows you to get acquainted in detail with epic works, starting from ancient times. All incomprehensible points are explained in detail here.
Main works
In addition to the above, among the main works of Vladimir Propp, literary scholars and researchers distinguish the monograph "Russian Fairy Tale", published only in 1984, one and a half decades after the death of the author.
It is also worth noting the work "Folklore and Reality", published in the journal "Science" in 1989 and published in 1999 in the metropolitan publishing house "Labyrinth". In addition, the publication "Problems of Comicism and Laughter. Ritual Laughter in Folklore." This work provides a detailed and thorough analysis of the tale of Nesmeyan with an unexpected literary interpretation.
At the end of life
Propp Vladimir Yakovlevich (1895-1970) - an outstanding scholar-philologist, Doctor of Sciences, who managed to do a lot in his life and is still considered the largest and most authoritative researcher of the Russian fairy tale. His works and monographs are held in universities, literary scholars take them as a basis for creating their own research and dissertations. Vladimir Propp spent his whole life in Leningrad. He died in the city on the Neva on August 22, 1970 at the age of 75. After himself, he left many students and followers who still appreciate and remember his merits. Among them: Cherednikova, Shakhnovich and Becker.