What are fables? Fables: Definition

What are fables? We will answer this question. Unheard of, or fiction - a genre of folklore, which is a poetic or prose narrative, small in scope, mostly comical content, the plot of which is an image of reality, deliberately distorted.

Definition of fables

V.Ya. Propp, a philologist-folklorist, answered the question about what fables are - this is one of the varieties of a fairy-tale genre, where reality is turned inside out. They refer to the narratives of events in the life of absolutely impossible, like, for example, a man falls on his shoulders into a swamp, a duck on his head lays a nest and lays eggs, and then a wolf comes to eat them.

Russian tales

For centuries in Russia there was a school of folklore for children aged 4 to 12 years, in which everyone showed himself with great enthusiasm and hunt, she was called a fable.

This genre was founded by buffoons, storytellers, lucky at funny songs and words that played in villages and cities on horns and waxwings.

In the study of domestic folklore, conducted by Andrei Sinyavsky, there were allotted tales and stories, which he calls stories about events that could never and could not have been. That's what fables are (definition of Andrei Sinyavsky). That is, these are word combinations and situations that are openly alogical, which are designed to produce a comic effect. As an example, he cites one fragment from the "Northern Fairy Tales" written by NE Onchukov. It talks about how one person put on an ax on his bare foot, girded with an ax, cut wood with a sash. His wife was a beauty - as she looks out the window, so the dogs bark for three days. That's what fables are. The definition of this genre was given at the beginning of the article.

Differences between boring fairy tales and stories

Andrei Sinyavsky also notes that in the stories, in order to achieve a comic effect, the words placed side by side, the values change places. As well as boring tales, non-tales are a parody of a fairy tale as such. The difference between them is that different sides are parodied. It brings to the pointlessness of a boring tale the principle of length and connectedness. Only an empty form remains of it: a ring of words wrapped in a ring, stretched out to infinity. In the unprecedentedness to the point of absurdity the content of the fairy story with its attraction to the supernatural and marvelous is brought. That's what fables are.

Fables in America

American folklore as an integral part of the genre of fiction, which goes back to the competition for boasting in the Wild West. Every two years, "Toastmasters International" organizes contests of oratory, which, as a single component, can include telling various non-talents. The participant in this case is given a history of 3-5 minutes, and then it is evaluated by the jury.

The most popular heroes of fables in America are the following characters, some of which are also historical: the giant woodcutter Paul Banyan, who took the ax in his hands on the second day after his birth; Pete Cord, his younger brother; Tony Beaver; Pecos Bill, Daniel Boone and others.

Fables in other countries

As a rule, the action of fiction (the folklore of Australia) takes place in the bush, for example, on Spiva, the legendary ranch. They are their protagonists Big Bill, digging wells for coal mining, the most stupid rancher; As well as the famous strigal, who had a great power, called Krivoi Mik. This character is also featured in Alan Marshall's "Whisper in the Wind."

The popular hero of various fables in Canada is Joe Mafero, a legendary character, a giant woodcutter.

Fables in the culture of our time

A popular means of their telling in the beginning of the 20th century were images that were made on postcards. Their creators usually combined a drawing and a photograph, used a change in perspective and montage for the image of catching giant fish, hunting large animals or riding them, cultivating extraordinary crop sizes. Also unprecedented (what are fables, read at the beginning of the article) are various facts about Chuck Norris - humorous stories about him.

Use of fables in fiction

They are typical for oral folklore, but there are also literary stories, mostly based on various subjects from folklore. Examples include the following: the adventures of Munchausen in the presentation of the writer Erich Raspe, Gargantua and Pantagruel from the novel of the same name by Rabelais, the pomorian tales of Stepan Pisahov and Boris Shergin. This also includes the poem "Confusion" by Korney Chukovsky, which consists entirely of flip-flops.

Chukovsky shows the children that in animal behavior is correct. At the heart of this tale lies the struggle against evil: the sea was set on fire by the foxes, who took matches. The outcome was unexpected: no one could extinguish it, only a small butterfly could do it.

Chukovsky in the struggle for a fairy tale in the 1920s had to deal with teachers who claimed that it was an element of an obsolete bourgeois culture, they even published scientific work-a whole collection of articles entitled "We are against a fairy tale." It was said a lot of insulting also to the inversionists. It was Chukovsky who revived this genre. Today, fortunately, the attitude to the tale is quite different.

Samuel Marshak (years of life - 1887-1964) composed famous poems about a scattered man from the Basseynaya Street. They were created even in the pre-war period, when the writer lived in Leningrad, not far from the existing Basin Street (today it is called Nekrasov Street).

The functions of fables

In childhood, the first logical exercises are the division of the functions of the object, the appropriation of its uncharacteristic signs. Children come up with inverts and stories themselves. Korney Chukovsky wrote that the benefit of such tales and poems is obvious: any deviation from the norm strengthens the child in it, he estimates the higher the firm orientation in this world. The child to his mental forces seems to be doing the exam and withstands it, which raises confidence in intellect, self respect, so necessary for children not to get lost in our chaotic world.

Fables for an adult are verbal abracadabra, nonsense, and for a child - funny stories about what really can not be. Note that since time immemorial there is this kind of folklore in the people , and in fact oral folk art preserves only the best, sifting useless. The child, gradually discovering the laws of this world, making new considerations, begins to gradually play with different concepts, because only through the game a small person can understand the structure of the universe.

Children, turning over various phenomena, investing a new meaning in the known, learn to use and better control various concepts, form imagination, freedom of thinking, due to which they begin to feel and understand humor.

We considered what fables are. The definition, the types, their functions were also studied by us. As you can see, this genre is quite interesting and useful. Flavors and stories are not just entertaining stories, they serve certain, serious purposes, helping to shape the personality of the child.