22. Rescue--23. Arrival--24. Claim--25. Task--26.
Solution--27. Recognition--2ration--30. Punishment--31. Wedding
We need to know
Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp
Владимир Яковлевич Пропп
By Liu Xiaoli & Zhao Xuexia
• Propp • Narrative structure
• Criticism
Vladimir Propp (1895 - 1970) ➢Russian philologist and structuralist ?(transitional) who analysed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements. ➢born and educated in St. Petersburg
iTPnrrtiecorkpdepircytmi-o-7ne.-n-C4toi.omRnepecldiocinttynh-a-a8ist.sVaninlolcatein-y-a-l-al5n.tdDh/oeerlivlaecrky----96.. Mfuendciattiioonn-s-1w0.oCulodunbteerapcrtieons-e-n11t. Danedpanrtoure--12. Tmeasttitneg-r-1w3.hRicehacotinoen-s-1w4.eArcequaibsistieonn-t-,15t.he Gpruoidpaenrces-e-1q6u.eSntrcueggolef--t1h7e. Bfraunndcitnigo-n-1s8.was Vnoicttodryi-s-1tu9.rRbeesdo.lution--20. Return--21. Pursuit--
2. Characters
Propp also concluded that all the characters could be resolved into only 7 broad character types in the 100 tales he analyzed:
1. The villain — struggles against the hero. 2. The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object. 3. The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest. 4. The princess and her father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.
➢Morphology of the Folk Tale (published in 1928), represented a breakthrough in both folkloristics and morphology ,and influenced Claude Lévi-Strauss, A. J. Greimas and Roland Barthes.
Propp's approach has been criticized for failing to recognize the importance of such story components as tone, mood, characterization, and writing style just to name a few.
What is function? ---- The term “function” was the term Propp used to
refer to the “act” of the character. Function is the smallest narrative unit.
1. 沙皇以苍鹰赏赐主角，主角驾苍鹰飞向另一国度。 2. 老人以骏马赠送主角，主角骑马至另一国家。 3. 巫师赠给伊凡一艘帆船，伊凡乘船渡至另一国家。 4. 公主送给伊凡一个戒指，戒指里走出一个年轻人，
Criticism
Claude Lévi-Strauss, one of the most prominent critics of Propp, used Propp's monograph on the morphology of the Folktale to demonstrate the superiority of the structuralist approach, and the shortcomings of the Formalist approach.
他带着伊凡到另一个王国。
Although these characters are different, what they do is the same in nature. That act is called function.
0. Initial situation
1. Absentation--2. Interdiction-- 3. Violation of
One question: why there should be precisely thirty one functions and seven dramatis personae?
Because: seven characters are reasonable but thirty one has no obvious explanation.
1. Functions
There were just thirty-one generic functions ("narratemes“) in the traditional Russian folk tale,
and the functions are displayed in unvarying sequence while not all are present in every tale.
Conclusion
Anyhow, Vladimir Propp is one of the greatest formalist scholar. Dostoevsky said that all Russian writers have started from Gogol's 'Coat'; and we should conclude that all European structuralists have started from Propp's Morphology of the Folktale. And even today — as a father of structuralism — he is the subject matter of discussions of poststructural philosophers and critics such as Todorov and Kristeva.
Problems and Questions
Propp attempt to specify a narrative structure underlying diverse surface content
One problem: ( concerned with vagueness in the specification of functions) Not all cases are clear cut.
The functions of each of the characters are constant stable elements independent of how or by whom they are fulfilled, thus becoming the fundamental components of a tale. The functions of each tale are limited and always sequentially identical, even if some of the functions are absent.
5T.hTehsee droislepsatccohuelrd—socmheatriamcetesrbwehdoismtraibkuetsed tahme olancgkvkanroiowuns acnhdarsaecntedrss,thaes htheerohoefrfo. kills 6th. eThveillahienrodroargvoinc,timan/sdetehkeedrrhaegroon—'s sriesatecrtss to tthaekedoonnotrh, ewveidllsaitnhoeupsrrinocleesosf .chasing him. 7C.oFnavlseersheelyr,oo—netcahkaersaccrteedr ictofourldtheenghaegroe’sin aaccttisonassomr otrrieesthtaonmoanreryrothlee,parsinacefastsh.er could send his son on the quest and give him a sword, acting as both dispatcher and donor.