The Neutralization of Tropes in Fairy Tale Narratives

Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore, 2007

An important stylistic feature of the fairy tale is its tendency to neutralize tropes by animating them. Distinctive fairy tale devices, transformations, for instance, appear at the expense of the intentional enlivening of the worn semantics of some hackneyed tropes. Neutralized tropes should be interpreted literally. In case of alternative, i.e. metaphoric interpretation, the succeeding narrative stretch will be under threat of logical and semantic collapse. A very similar phenomenon was observed by Zvetan Todorov in the fantastic fiction. As a rule, the oral fairy tale does not show the rhetorical figure and its extension in the same textual cut. The hackneyed trope is mostly absent. It is true; it can be easily restored owing to the fact that it is a phrase the listeners/ readers are well aware of. Doubtless, we are far from claiming that any transformation in a fairy tale appears as a consequence of a rhetorical operation.

Armenian Folia Anglistika

The following article is an attempt to study metamorphosis as a narrative device in Scottish fairy tale writer George MacDonald’s fairy tales. Due to a closer study of the theoretical background of metamorphosis and the analyses of the examples it becomes possible to describe metamorphosis not only as a stylistic but also as a narrative device. In the mentioned fairy tales metamorphosis, granting specific meaning to the events, reveals the unique poetics of the fairy tales and promotes a deeper understanding of the fairy tale text thus fulfilling the author’s intention.

2020

This study aims to highlight how the revisited American fairytale movies shun the archetypal symbols, characters and situations of the previous fairy tales. The researcher analyzes the new set of norms that are proposed by the postmodernists, which are positioned to shun the metanarratives and work against totality by waging war against it (Lyotard 71-82). The perspective in doing so is to find out the changes in the original stories which have challenged the collective unconsciousness. Collective Unconscious, according to Jung, are the unconscious feelings present among human beings as species. They are universally present in every man's psyche, and the unconscious of man has some primal images, which are depicted through symbols. These symbols are not limited to any particular culture or history (Four Archetypes 4). Jung calls the contents of the collective unconscious the "archetypes" (4). Postmodernists have challenged the archetypal patterns stated by the philosop...

Folklorists have become renowned for concentrating on aspects of form and classification to the detriment of content and meaning. "Metamorphosis" seeks to reverse this tendency in showing, through an examination of the folkloric data, that European fairy tales involve complex symbolism. The book seeks to explain the puzzling contradictory attributes of fairy-tale figures that have discouraged the study of meanings in this field; and it proposes that the workings of metamorphosis in fairy tales reveal a pervasive cyclic ontology that underlies mythology and ritual generally. The issue of universal symbolism is again examined—divested from any "archetypal" generalizations—as a worthy subject of reflection. http://lccn.loc.gov/2002003259"

Interlinguistica, 2006

This paper studies how several metaphors (namely: ACQUIESCENCE IS SWALLOWING, INTELLIGENCE IS LIGHT, A CHILD IS HOPE OF CHANGE AND RENEWAL, DARKNESS IS A COVER, AND POWERFUL IS WITTY) are able to account for the basic meaning and interpretation of several popular tales and myths. Besides, we offer the possibility of classifying tales according either to the basic metaphor they contain or to the combination of metaphors that may comprise them. Additionally, the paper explores in what ways the metaphors under scrutiny allow us to explain some of the uncanny elements of tales. Finally, we suggest that these metaphors, because of their strong experiential grounding, may have contributed to an easier transmission of many fairy tales (as it would be easier to memorise their basic patterns), and also to make tales alike in different socio-cultural settings.

One Day International Conference on ‘Role of Language, Literature, and Culture in the Contemporary World’ organised by Department of English, Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce, Pune, MS, India., 2025

As a literary genre, a rewriting is when a traditional narrative is subverted on various levels in the context of different social and cultural sensibilities, thus not only being creatively stimulating but also providing an inclusive space for various marginalised groups. While re-writings are often contested for their 'forced diversity' and 'defiling' of the original narrative framework, they prove to be a much-needed call for representation within the mainstream. Fairy Tales, being one of the earliest if not the first genre many people are exposed to, are crucial in shaping one's understanding of social identities, thus being the perfect genre for re-writings to advocate for representation and inclusivity. Any attempts to apply a traditional fairy tale's parameters to a different social or cultural context can even be revolutionary in their attack on the exclusivity of the genre upheld for so many centuries. Alongside, by featuring different socially marginalised groups feasibly within the same 'happily ever after' formula, the re-writings assert that traditional mainstream narratives can and should be updated to reflect contemporary sensibilities and celebrate diverse identities instead of shunning them. This can be achieved if the re-writings are able to artfully insert various identities within the traditional narrative framework, without harming the appeal of the fairy tale and normalising said identities for the readers rather than marking them as unnatural. Accordingly, the present research paper shall attempt to prove that rewriting fairy tales is perfect for representation through a content analysis of the Black Trans Fairy Tales trilogy by S. T. Lynn in the visibility it offers to characters with dark skin, transgendered identities, queer love, differently-abled people and East Asian cultures, all the while critiquing mainstream narrative norms.

Postmodern Reinterpretations of Fairy Tales. How Applying New Methods Generates New Meanings Edited by Anna Kérchy The Edwin Mellen Press, 2011. Hardcover, illustrated, 520 pages ISBN10: 0-7734-1519-X ISBN13: 978-0-7734-1519-5.

Le Simplegadi, 2019

This article explores what happens-cognitively speaking-when readers are confronted with those rewritings of folktales that provide the villain with a roundness which was not present in the source text. The cases here analyzed-Donna Jo Napoli's novels The Magic Circle and Zel and the Disney film Maleficent-concern one of the staple folktale villains-the witch-once it is * Although this article is the result of a close and mutually enriching collaboration, Pia Masiero is the author of pages 139-144, Laura Tosi of pages 145-152.

The relation between consciousness and the unconscious is characterized by reciprocity. The unconscious cannot provide a continual flow of invigorating content for the enrichment of the conscious mind. Psychology's focus on the principle of 'integration' has the consequence that unconscious products, such as fairytale and myth, are sometimes misinterpreted. The article demonstrates how a certain fairytale, The Golden Blackbird, can be interpreted following the opposite principle of 'complementation', signifying a flow in the unconscious direction. Keywords: integration, complementation, fairy tale, myth, redemption, Jungian, M-L von Franz.

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