Vladimir Aioakovlevich Propp
Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp was a Soviet folklorist and scholar who analyzed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements. His most famous publication, 'Morphology of the Folktale', was published in 1928 and had a major impact on the study of folklore and literature.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. Morphology Of The Folktale
"Morphology of the Folktale" is a seminal work in the field of folklore studies that analyzes the structure of Russian folktales to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements and their arrangement. The author introduces the concept of "functions" which are common plot devices used in folktales, and categorizes these functions into a consistent and repeatable framework. This structural approach to the study of tales reveals that despite the varied and complex surface of stories, their underlying structures follow a limited number of patterns. This methodology not only provides a tool for analyzing tales but also influences subsequent structuralist and narratological approaches in the broader field of cultural studies.
The 5517th Greatest Book of All Time