Русская сказка

The Russian Wonder-Tale

C1 · Advanced · non-fiction · 10 scenes · Premium story

An advanced documentary on the most recognisable body of Russian storytelling in the world, and on the two men who worked out what it actually is. The argument is that a wonder-tale is not a story but a grammar: Propp took a hundred of them apart in 1928 and found the same thirty-one functions in the same order every time, which is how illiterate tellers held hundreds of long texts for centuries without a book. It then asks where the grammar came from, and answers with initiation ritual — which is why Baba Yaga, who is not a villain and rarely eats anybody, must feed and steam the hero before she will tell him anything.

Read Русская сказка in Russian

Characters

Alexander Afanasyev (Александр Афанасьев) — Compiler, 1826–1871
Vladimir Propp (Владимир Пропп) — Scholar, 1895–1970
Baba Yaga (Баба-яга) — Threshold figure
The youngest son (Иван-дурак) — The hero

Vocabulary from this story

сказка — folk tale
сказитель — tale-teller
зачин — opening formula
концовка — closing formula
формула — formula
сюжет — plot
герой — hero
злодей — villain
даритель — donor
помощник — helper
царевич — prince, tsar's son
дурак — fool