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The Types of International Folktales. A Classification and Bibliography. Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Part I. Animal Tales, Tales of Magic, Religious Tales, and Realistic Tales, with an Introduction
The catalog of international tale types (ATU) based on the system of Aarne / Thompson constitutes a fundamentally new edition with extensive additions and innovations. The descriptions of the tale types have been completely rewritten and made more precise. The essential research cited for each type includes extensive documentation of its international distribution as well as monographic works or articles on that type. More than two hundred and fifty new types have been added. Types with very limited distribution have been omitted. A detailed subject index includes the most important subjects, actions, and other motifs, including actors and settings.
619 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 9, 2011
Hans-Jörg Uther's The Types of International Folktales is a three volume set, and basically almost entirely conceptualised for serious academic and folkloric research (and while this here review is for the first part, it could also be interchangeably used for the second and third parts as they are similar in both content and general set-up).
Now Uther's classification and bibliography are based on the famous Aarne-Thompson system and while informative, they are also and rather unfortunately, often more than a bit user-unfriendly (at least with regard to presentation). For truth be told, especially the literary variants for each folklore type described are shown and listed in a potentially befuddling manner, as they are not separated out like in many if not most (North American) bibliographical lists (and the font size used is rather minuscule as well, so one tends to have, or at least I tend to have, issues with where one literary variant listing stops and the next one then commences). But even more annoying for me is the fact that for most of the listings, just the authors and dates of publication, but not the titles of specific works are listed. Now I do realise that the variants are also presented, and this time with their titles, in the excellent and extensive bibliography (in the third volume, which contains mostly appendices), but in my opinion, this is not really sufficient, as the three volumes are often sold separately and thus, the literary variants should have at least been listed with both authors and titles (and for each of the over 2000 classification types described in the first two volumes).
That being said, Hans-Jörg Uther's introduction is simply excellent and the information on the Aarne-Thompson classification system is not only instructive, but has been meticulously and widely updated from previous and lesser attempts. I would though ONLY recommend The Types of International Folktales (and all three volumes) for serious academical research, as the books are massive and generally quite expensive (and if I, as someone quite academically inclined at the best of times, find these these three tomes not all that user friendly, those with just a casual interest might consider this even more so).
Now Uther's classification and bibliography are based on the famous Aarne-Thompson system and while informative, they are also and rather unfortunately, often more than a bit user-unfriendly (at least with regard to presentation). For truth be told, especially the literary variants for each folklore type described are shown and listed in a potentially befuddling manner, as they are not separated out like in many if not most (North American) bibliographical lists (and the font size used is rather minuscule as well, so one tends to have, or at least I tend to have, issues with where one literary variant listing stops and the next one then commences). But even more annoying for me is the fact that for most of the listings, just the authors and dates of publication, but not the titles of specific works are listed. Now I do realise that the variants are also presented, and this time with their titles, in the excellent and extensive bibliography (in the third volume, which contains mostly appendices), but in my opinion, this is not really sufficient, as the three volumes are often sold separately and thus, the literary variants should have at least been listed with both authors and titles (and for each of the over 2000 classification types described in the first two volumes).
That being said, Hans-Jörg Uther's introduction is simply excellent and the information on the Aarne-Thompson classification system is not only instructive, but has been meticulously and widely updated from previous and lesser attempts. I would though ONLY recommend The Types of International Folktales (and all three volumes) for serious academical research, as the books are massive and generally quite expensive (and if I, as someone quite academically inclined at the best of times, find these these three tomes not all that user friendly, those with just a casual interest might consider this even more so).
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June 6, 2008for research
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews