The Folktale

by Stith Thompson

"Thompson believed the folktale to be an important and living art, underlying all literary narrative forms. Most of all he wanted to acquaint readers with most of the great folktales of the world, not only for their own interest as stories, but as elements of culture. He writes about the nature and form of the folktale, gives an account of tales from Ireland to India, devotes a special section to the North American Indian tales and myths, and another to the methods of collecting, classifying, studying folktales as a living art. He found them rich and varied sources of entertainment and wisdom. So much is to be found in them, he said, that the talents of literary critics, historians, anthropologists, psychologists, linguists are all necessary. Study of the folktale involved 'more talents than one man can easily possess.' Stith Thompson came close to possessing them." -- Los Angeles Times  "Thompson's work in their field has shaped the study of this form of literature for the past three decades. In this classic work Thompson discusses a wide range of story motifs and retells their basic patterns. His classifications and descriptions of the huge mass of folk literature are extremely enjoyable reading. He also discusses the background to his own study of the folktale. He includes an index to tale types classified according to the main story motifs which can be used for reference. This outstanding book is very highly recommended as fascinating reading."-- Kliatt Paperback Book Guide  " The Folktale will appeal to a wide the student of sociology of literature, the professor of comparative literature, the general reader interested in folklore. Thompson's book is a scholarly masterpiece."-- Studies in Short Fiction  

Genres: Folklore, Fairy Tales, History, Nonfiction, Mythology, Anthropology

Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Stith Thompson (March 7, 1885 – January 13, 1976) was an American scholar of folklore. He is the "Thompson" of the Aarne-Thompson classification system, which indexes certain folktales by their structure and assigns them AT numbers. He also developed an alpha-decimal motif-index system (A~Z followed by numeral) for cataloging individual motifs.

Reviews

[Jen Julian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Useful in the vast scope of its information; Stith works to be inclusive of a large number of cultures, focusing the first half of the book on Indo-European folklore, and the second half on the folklore of "primitive" cultures (e.g., Native American). This text is a reflection of the 1940s school of folklore studies, which makes it pretty dated. It's purpose is to function as a laundry list of folklore tropes in different parts of the world, naming and categorizing each one for the benefit of a Western audience, and it serves that purpose quite well. It does not, however, seek to explore the cultural context of the tropes and what they mean to the cultures that use them. If you have a casual, nonacademic interest in general folklore, this book will probably fulfill your needs.

[Car Mint · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essential book for everyone who want to study in Folktales but it's out of date for today.

[Ferhat Aslan]

Very godd.

[Edys]

the meaning function and types of folktale