Russian skazki

[Alina Israeli]

If they are for general readership, I don't think you should look at  
the original tales as told by story tellers. The language is far from  
literary and the reading is not easy for those who do not do it  
professionally. Besides, all of us grew up on tales "v obrabotke",  
often by A.N. Tolstoy. Same thing goes for Grimm tales, and Perrault  
tales, they are not the "original" tales but their take on them.

A snake-husband does not sound like a Russian tale, although I could  
be mistaken. The Beauty and the Beast motive (and the related issue  
of incest) does not appear in Russian folklore to my knowledge  
(Alen'kij cvetochek is by Aksakov), and the snake-husband seems to be  
a variation on the beast (although I don't know the whole tale of  
course, so I could be mistaken).

AI


On Aug 10, 2010, at 3:39 PM, Robert Chandler wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I am compiling a collection of  Russian Magic Tales for Penguin  
> Classics,
> for a general readership.  I do not intend to be strict with regard to
> genres, and I shall be including both narodnye and avtorskie skazki.
>
> I have decided which avtorskie skazki to include and I have a fair  
> idea of
> what I shall include from Afanasyev.  But I have read very little  
> indeed of
> the other collections – Onchukov, Kupryanikha, etc.
>
>
> I also have a more specific question.  Natalie Kononenko summarizes a
> wonderful Ukrainian version of the Snake Husband on pages 27-29 of her
> Slavic Folklore Handbook.  It ends tragically, with the heroine  
> turning
> herself into a cuckoo so she can forever lament her murdered snake- 
> husband.
> Does anyone know where I can find a Russian version of this?
>

Alina Israeli
Associate Professor of Russian
LFS, American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave.
Washington DC 20016
(202) 885-2387 	fax (202) 885-1076
aisrael at american.edu





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