The Fairytale as Art Form and Portrait of Man -

Max Luthi

Indiana University Press

1984

207 páginas

6h 54m

ISBN-10: 0253320992

Fairytales have amused and delighted generations of both children and adults. They possess the unique quality of bringing together the human and otherwordly, creating a special kind of magic. In this major work by the distinguished Swiss folklorist Max Luthi, the traditional Fairytale is examined from two related points of view, that of aesthetics and that of anthropology. According to the author, fairytales have been told time and again because they provide pleasure. Therefore, an aesthetics of the fairytale must be concerned with why these stories are still a source of pleasure. Luthi shows that fairytales are more than just pleasing form; they present a particular way of looking at the world and at human existence. Thus, they must be evaluated in terms of what they say about man and the human condition.

In this study, Luthi explores not only the artistic qualities of the fairytale but also the portrait of man which It projects. He concentrates on the "fairytale proper," the fairytale of magic, though reference is also made to the farce fairytale, the novella fairytale, and the religious fairytale, as well as the local legend and the farce. At the center of Luthi's discussion are the typical and special features that characterize the fairytale - its artistic economy, its use of particular forms of irony, its use of interplay between coordination and subordination, and the ways it shows figures operating as manipulators or as unsuccessful imitators. The translator has reworked the glossary with the English reader in mind, and has provided an index of tale types and tales. This masterly study will be read with enjoyment and profit not only by the literary and folklore professional, but also by any reader who has ever delighted in fairytales.