The Fairy Tale

Steven Swann Jones

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781138153141
• eBook ISBN: 9781136753411
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

One of the best known and enduring genres, the fairy fales origins extend back to the preliterate oral societies of the ancient world. This books surveys its history and traces its evolution into the form we recognized today. Jones Builds on the work of folklorist and critics to provide the student with a stunning, lucid overview of the genre and a solid understanding of its structure.

1

The Folklore Origin and the Definition of
the Fairy Tale

One of the most well-known, most loved, and most influential genres of literature is the fairy tale. Since it was originally a product of oral tradition, this genre dates back, not just to the Middle Ages or biblical times, but to well before recorded history itself. Oral literature inevitably precedes written culture, and the earliest written records in almost every culture acknowledge the preexistence of fairy tales. In addition to its oral popularity, the fairy tale genre has enthralled millions of readers through numerous published collections of folklore—such as those produced by the Grimms and Andrew Lang—as well through its cultivation by literary notables such as Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Dickens, John Ruskin, William Makepeace Thackeray, Oscar Wilde, and L. Frank Baum. This long and diverse heritage makes the task of defining the genre difficult, especially in light of its dual existence in folklore and belles lettres.

In order to define the fairy tale genre, we must first identify the preliterate heritage from which these tales emerged. We need to understand the process of oral narration and the characteristics of oral transmission in order to understand why fairy tales as one kind of folk narrative take the form they do. Second, we need to review previous attempts to classify and catalog the multitudinous products of oral tradition. For over a century, folklorists have tried to differentiate and to index the various forms of folk narrative, including fairy tales, so we need to build on their findings. Third, from this theoretical foundation, we may begin to deduce what are the essential qualities characterizing the genre. Part of this task involves differentiating fairy tales from related genres such as myths and legends. Ultimately, we may then use this folkloristic definition of the fairy tale to identify literary examples that emulate or imitate the folklore model.

The Preliterate Heritage

To understand the heritage of the fairy tale fully, we must first recognize the mechanics of oral transmission—the ability of people to create and retell stories without the aid of books. The majority of the world’s best-known and most loved fairy tales, including “Snow White,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and “Cinderella,” were all initially the product of folklore. The importance of folklore in our literate society is underestimated, however, perhaps because the very concept of folklore is not well understood. We tend to be condescending toward traditional culture and to think of it as represented primarily by the quaint costumes and peculiar customs of backward people. But folklore includes all the forms of cultural learning passed on by word of mouth or personal example in any group. Folklore flourishes in preindustrial, industrial, and “postindustrial” societies— not only along the Congo or the Amazon. Folklore includes all the traditional forms of expression that circulate without the aid of books—the art, speech, and literature created through personal interaction rather than through the printed medium. Rap music, for example, has a large oral component, as it is performed and perpetuated on the sidewalks of New York and other cities, and it may be seen as an outgrowth of the folk tradition of “toasting” as it was performed in African-American culture. Likewise, quilting continues to be a popular art form passed on by personal example from parent to child, neighbor to friend, in farming communities all across America. Much like these other art forms, jokes continue to flourish as an oral tradition in all walks of life—young and old pass on jokes they have heard from others. And, of course, a host of fairy tales, such as “East o’ the Sun, West o’ the Moon” (also known in its literary versions as “Beauty and the Beast” or “Cupid and Psyche”), “Aladdin’s Lamp,” “The Spirit in the Blue Light” (also known in its literary version as “The Tinder Box”), “The Dragon Slayer,” “The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Hans the Hedgehog,” “Rapunzel,” “Rumplestiltskin,” and “The Frog King,” owe their existence to folk tradition.

Because of its folkloric heritage, there are some special problems in defining an originally oral genre such as the fairy tale. First of all, since the tales circulated orally at the start, there are no exact and established versions, no identifiable authors, and no fixed titles. In oral tradition, fairy tales circulate over hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of years in multiple versions, adapted by different narrators in a style or manner specific to each narrator, often in very different historical circumstances. What we have are many versions of the same story coming not only from different narrators, but from different societies and cultures. There are collections of fairy tales from almost every culture. In short, fairy tales are a variegated and ever-varying phenomenon.

With so much diversity associated with folk fairy tales, it would seem a problematic, if not impossible, task to define this genre precisely. However, underlying the apparent fluidity of the texts is their surprisingly strict adherence to some basic structures characterizing the genre. In other words, despite superficial variations, we can discern significant formal continuities that suggest these texts do indeed belong to a shared genre. From a theoretical perspective, however, our ability to identify these formal continuities is predicated on our ability to determine the conformance of specific collected texts to what folklorists refer as “tale types.”

A tale type is a term coined by folklorists to describe a basic story, such as “Snow White,” that is told in different ways in oral tradition. The individual versions would more closely parallel our conception of a single literary tale, inasmuch as they have individual authors, even if these are anonymous. However, in oral tradition there are a great many individual versions of what is essentially a single story. There is no such thing as plagiarism in oral tradition. For example, there are over four hundred collected versions of “Snow White,” ranging over five hundred years. Accordingly, “Snow White” cannot be defined by any single version, since in theory they are all equally legitimate.

Instead, a fairy tale is defined as the sum of its versions. From the coinciding events or episodes in texts that apparently tell the same basic story, a plot outline for that tale is deduced. That plot outline is used to define that fairy tale, which is considered a discrete tale type. Other collected texts that follow the same specified sequence of episodes typical of that tale type are considered versions of it. For example, in the case of “Snow White,” narratives that relate how a young girl is the victim of jealousy in her home, is expelled and adopted by some companions, is attacked and killed by her rival, and is exhibited and finally resuscitated and married, would be said to be versions of that tale type. There are surprisingly large numbers of texts collected from oral tradition that do indeed conform to one or another of these recognizable tale types, that present a basic sequence of distinctive events characteristic of an established tale type. (In contrast, many of the stylistic features—or motifs—of the tales, which include the characters, settings, objects, and other descriptive details as well as the rhetorical formulas, can and do reappear in a variety of tale types; in other words, these motifs have a life of their own separate from a specific fairy tale.) In sum, the plot outline is regarded as the defining feature of specific tales, and the different versions of these tales that follow the same plot outline are believed to be a product of oral transmission, since coincidental creation of such a specific plot outline is highly unlikely.

The fact that a particular tale type is appealing and popular enough to encourage storytellers to repeat it over centuries and across national boundaries in a recognizably similar form shows us the remarkable stability of the narrative, especially in light of the fluid nature of oral transmission, where conceivably each narrator could dramatically alter any story he or she related. The stability reveals, moreover, the underlying appeal and significance of that narrative for its audiences. The fact that it has been remembered and repeated demonstrates that it has touched people’s lives. It has been deemed worthy of repetition because it is loved, and it is loved because it tells us something about ourselves that we want and need to know. In other words, there is a connection between the long-standing and far-reaching popularity of a fairy tale like “Snow White” and its subject matter.

Fairy tales, then, are narratives that have been shaped over centuries of retelling and that have achieved a basic narrative form that is a distillation of human experience. Their popularity is a confirmation not only of their aesthetic appeal, but also of their ability to speak to the human heart. This enduring emotional appeal is confirmed by the fact that these jewels of artistic expression have been retold by generations of taletellers and treasured by generations of readers, and have continued to resurface in television and film, like the parody of “Little Red Riding Hood” that popped up in a 1993 episode of the television series “Northern Exposure,” where a central character has a dream in which she is lured off the path by a wolfish man articulating a Freudian interpretation of the tale, convincing her to overcome her childish oedipal attachment. Other examples include the retelling of more than a dozen fairy tales in Shelley Duvall’s well-received Fairy Tale Theater, or the enormously popular animated versions of Snow White, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin produced by Disney. The fairy tales identified above are classics because audiences of all sorts (oral, literary, dramatic, cinematographic, audiovisual) have cherished them. As an example, it is no surprise that “Cinderella” is so well liked in literary and cinematographic forms; more than 500 versions of it have been collected from oral tradition. In sum, the evidence of the multiple versions of fairy tale types in oral tradition is not only a way to define these stories, it is a confirmation of the central appeal and importance of the fairy tale genre.

Where these traditional stories came from will always be a mystery. Most likely they evolved from a prototypical form into their recognizable form over hundreds, if not thousands, of years and through the contributions of thousands, if not millions, of taletellers. But one or more of them could also have been the product of a single creative act by an inspired storyteller, which was in turn remembered and repeated by others. Still, the process is so spontaneous and ahistorical—in the sense that the tales are intrinsically removed from any written record—that we will never know with certainty who created them. The Grimms did not invent “Snow White,” nor did the seven informants from whom they collected versions of this narrative.¹ They simply published one somewhat edited and modified version that became extremely popular in the literary world. As a matter of fact, the Italian author Giovanni Batiste Basile had published a version some 300 years previously, but he also had not invented it.² The credit for the invention of that tale, and of most of the classic fairy tales, goes to folk tradition, to the heritage of storytellers who borrowed, altered, and retold in multiple versions tales that their audiences found enjoyable. (See Bengt Holbek’s Interpretation of Fairy Tales for an extended discussion of one exemplary teller of fairy tales, Evald Tang Kristensen.)³ From this heritage, many authors and collectors have culled wonderful stories that modern audiences continue to enjoy.

The Classification and Cataloging of Fairy Tales

Having acquired a sense of the mechanics of oral transmission and an awareness of the underlying stability and continuity of folk narratives, we may now move to our second goal: reviewing previous attempts at classifying and cataloging the numerous products of oral tradition that apparently conform to the genre of the fairy tale. Rather than working from a theoretical definition of the genre against which various texts were measured, the earliest attempts to classify fairy tales simply worked inductively, by listing other versions and tales that seemed to resemble the known tales (primarily those in the Grimms’ collection) that had been popularly called fairy tales (or Märchen in German).

In the early nineteenth century, Johannes Bolte and George Polívka initiated the process of classifying fairy tales by referencing as many parallel versions as they could find for the 210 popular narratives published in the Grimms’ collection of fairy tales between 1812 and 1815.⁴ Following their lead, Antti Aarne used the Grimms’ collection as the basis for a preliminary catalog for folktales: he expanded the list of known variants for the Grimms’ tales and identified other fairy tales as well.⁵ Stith Thompson significantly enlarged and revised Aarne’s index to produce a jointly authored work entitled The Types of the Folktale.,⁶ In it, Aarne and Thompson identify the essential episodes, which they call “action traits,” of the major folk fairy tales and list many of the collected versions for each tale. Fairy tales are listed as “Tales of Magic” in The Types of the Folktale and are assigned tale type numbers 300–749. (Other classifications include: Animal Tales, 1–299; Supernatural and Religious Tales, 700–849; Romantic Tales, 850–999; Stupid Ogre Tales, 1000–1199; Jokes and Anecdotes, 1200–1999; and Formula Tales, 2000–2399.)

A brief outline of the main episodes is given for each tale type. From the synopsis of main events we can determine if a given text is a version of one of the traditionally popular fairy tales. For example, we can see that Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of “The Tinder Box” is actually a retelling of the traditional fairy tale “The Spirit in the Blue Light” (referred to as AT 562, which corresponds to the number assigned to this tale type in Aarne and Thompson’s index).⁷ Thompson’s companion text, The Folktale, provides useful and more readable summaries of almost every significant folk fairy tale circulating in Europe.⁸ These basic resources are crucial to an appreciation of the vital folkloric heritage of fairy tales. From them we can identify a wide variety of popular fairy tales that have entertained audiences for hundreds of years.

Identifying the Essential Qualities of the Fairy Tale

This comparative approach to fairy tales is an important starting point for defining the genre, for it allows us to differentiate folk fairy tales from those that are the product of the individual imagination of literary authors, and to see which of the literary productions are able to duplicate the charm and the appeal of the traditional favorites. The comparative approach also affords us a perspective on the different versions that reveals continuities within the tale types. What we find is that while individual versions may vary their motifs (the stylistic details used to relate the events), they are quite consistent in their adherence to the plot outline (that is, the sequence of basic episodes) of the tale type. It is as if they have an underlying narrative backbone or outline that they follow. (For further analysis of this narrative structure of fairy tales, see my 1990 study, The New Comparative Method.)

This narrative consistency extends, moreover, to their adherence to generic qualities. Not only do individual versions follow with remarkable regularity the traditional story line of one established tale type or another, they adhere to the basic characteristics of the genre with equal regularity. Perhaps the salient characteristics of the fairy tale genre can initially be recognized most easily by differentiating them from the characteristics of other related folk narratives. Folklore scholars generally recognize three major forms of folk narrative: myth, legend, and folktale. Myths are etiological narratives that use gods (divine, immortal figures) to explain the operation and purpose of the cosmos. Legends are quasi-historical narratives that use exceptional and extraordinary protagonists and depict remarkable phenomena to illustrate cultural ideals, values, and norms. Finally, folktales are entertaining narratives that use common, ordinary people as protagonists to reveal the desires and foibles of human nature. The following outline illustrates the relationship of fairy tales to other folk narratives:

Folk Narratives
I.	Myths—etiological narratives employing immortal protagonists
II.	Legends—quasi-historical narratives employing extraordinary protagonists
III.	Folktales—quotidian narratives employing ordinary protagonists
	A. Fables—didactic or moralistic tales
	B. Jokes—humorous tales
	C. Novellas—romantic tales
	D. Fairy Tales—magical tales

This elementary distinction between the primary characters of these different oral narratives has broad implications for these disparate genres. The way we relate to a story about an immortal protagonist is quite different from the way we relate to one about a mortal figure. Similarly, we identify differently with an extraordinary individual than we do with an ordinary figure.

Immortal protagonists are linked with the immutable laws of the cosmos; their situations and actions illustrate cosmogonic and paradigmatic principles. When a god rebels against his father, he is exemplifying the universal pattern of each successive generation supplanting the previous one. Consequently, audiences relate to myths as sacred and esoteric texts.

Extraordinary heroes are the embodiments of their culture; they are larger than typical figures in ordinary life (often literally so) because they are exemplars of their society’s aspirations and sociopolitical conflicts. When a legendary hero dies (such as Sigurd, El Cid, Roland), he illustrates not just his own personal weaknesses, but the failings of society at large. As a result, legends serve as social guidelines for behavior and are regarded as having a certain historical and cultural truth embodied in them.

Finally, the ordinary protagonists of folktales remind us of ourselves, and their quests and questions are on a very personal level the same as ours. Their concerns with getting married and establishing a home speak directly to our most individual needs. As a result, we regard folktales as personal entertainment, as engaging fictions ref...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Praise for THE FAIRY TALE
• Half Title
• Genres in Context
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Chronology
• Chapter 1 The Folklore Origin and the Definition of the Fairy Tale
• Chapter 2 The Thematic Core of Fairy Tales
• Chapter 3 The Literary History of the Fairy Tale
• Chapter 4 Fairy Tales with Male Protagonists
• Chapter 5 Fairy Tales with Female Protagonists
• Chapter 6 The Fairy Tale Influence in The Wizard of Oz, The Cat in the Hat, and Where the Wild Things Are
• Notes
• Bibliographic Essay
• Recommended Reading
• Index
• About the Author