Scan barcode
birdbeakbeast's review
3.0
Very interesting, but equally dry. Not always as consistent as I would have liked...
vcods's review
5.0
This was really a fascinating read and so helpful for writing comparisons of folktales. While of course it is limited to the genre of fairy tales, Propp's work can be and has been extrapolated since this book was first published. This really is a great foundation text for anyone interested in folklore or folkloristics.
alexs_book_hoard's review
3.0
First, on the positives about this book. Propp does an excellent job of staying his purpose and bringing the reader to what his goal is. His task is clear and the breakdown of all fairy tales that he establishes makes perfect sense and works really well! Of course, as a foundational text in fairy tale and folklore studies, his contribution to how we talk about fairy and folk tales can't be understated.
That being said...he needed to work on bringing his reader along with him. There were a couple of places that he made jumps and I was extremely confused where we went and how we got there. He states views that he believes are obvious based on what he has laid out, but it feels like a step of his logic was left out, so just reading what he wrote doesn't necessarily mean that I ended up where he ended up.
I would also add that Propp does an excellent job of bringing up the types of questions people might ask who aren't thinking about folk tales from the scientific perspective, or would be approaching from a different perspective than his. I appreciated that he frequently admitted that the questions other would lose were beyond the scope of his specific task, but I really wish that he would have taken the time to answer some of those questions or address some of the opposing concerns, rather than writing them off as problems for anthropologists, historians, etc. As a literary analysis, it would have been useful for him to don several hats, rather than riding and dying with the single hat he set out to wear.
Overall, I appreciated this text. I absolutely understand why it's a foundational work in the field. But it does leave a lot of work to be done and a lot of unanswered questions that, to me, need to be answered before I'd be comfortable calling this a strong analysis of fairy tales, and by extension a lot of folktales
That being said...he needed to work on bringing his reader along with him. There were a couple of places that he made jumps and I was extremely confused where we went and how we got there. He states views that he believes are obvious based on what he has laid out, but it feels like a step of his logic was left out, so just reading what he wrote doesn't necessarily mean that I ended up where he ended up.
I would also add that Propp does an excellent job of bringing up the types of questions people might ask who aren't thinking about folk tales from the scientific perspective, or would be approaching from a different perspective than his. I appreciated that he frequently admitted that the questions other would lose were beyond the scope of his specific task, but I really wish that he would have taken the time to answer some of those questions or address some of the opposing concerns, rather than writing them off as problems for anthropologists, historians, etc. As a literary analysis, it would have been useful for him to don several hats, rather than riding and dying with the single hat he set out to wear.
Overall, I appreciated this text. I absolutely understand why it's a foundational work in the field. But it does leave a lot of work to be done and a lot of unanswered questions that, to me, need to be answered before I'd be comfortable calling this a strong analysis of fairy tales, and by extension a lot of folktales
zegim's review
5.0
En este libro Vladimir Propp analiza la estructura de una gran cantidad de cuentos populares rusos y a partir de los elementos comunes que encuentra en ellos propone una morfología, la cual va acompañada de un diagrama que muestra de manera visual cuál es la estructura de un cuento.
Aunque en apariencia es similar a [b:The Hero With a Thousand Faces|588138|The Hero With a Thousand Faces|Joseph Campbell|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1176059620s/588138.jpg|971054] por el trabajo de encontrar estructuras comunes a las historias que por tradición cuentan las personas, el resultado del análisis hecho es diferente. Propp a diferencia de Campbell no busca simbología o interpretación, su labor es descriptiva y comparativa.
Que todos los cuentos sean rusos puede hacer difícil la lectura, Propp asume que el lector sabe de qué está hablando y en pocas ocasiones describe por completo de que trata la narración a la que hace referencia. Sin embargo, esto no es un obstáculo muy grande para comprender el contenido del análisis, tal como el autor propone, los cuentos no son tan diferentes entre sí, así que basta sólo un poco de perspicacia para seguir el hilo de la discusión. Ayuda también que el lenguaje que emplea Propp aunque es académico no es rebuscado ni abundante de términos especializados.
Este libro es recomendable para quienes estén interesados en escribir, realizar críticas sobre lo que leen y quizás también para quienes tengan curiosidad sobre el floklore ruso.
Aunque en apariencia es similar a [b:The Hero With a Thousand Faces|588138|The Hero With a Thousand Faces|Joseph Campbell|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1176059620s/588138.jpg|971054] por el trabajo de encontrar estructuras comunes a las historias que por tradición cuentan las personas, el resultado del análisis hecho es diferente. Propp a diferencia de Campbell no busca simbología o interpretación, su labor es descriptiva y comparativa.
Que todos los cuentos sean rusos puede hacer difícil la lectura, Propp asume que el lector sabe de qué está hablando y en pocas ocasiones describe por completo de que trata la narración a la que hace referencia. Sin embargo, esto no es un obstáculo muy grande para comprender el contenido del análisis, tal como el autor propone, los cuentos no son tan diferentes entre sí, así que basta sólo un poco de perspicacia para seguir el hilo de la discusión. Ayuda también que el lenguaje que emplea Propp aunque es académico no es rebuscado ni abundante de términos especializados.
Este libro es recomendable para quienes estén interesados en escribir, realizar críticas sobre lo que leen y quizás también para quienes tengan curiosidad sobre el floklore ruso.
bedneyauthor's review
2.0
This probably makes a lot more sense if you're already familiar with a) the subject and b) the specific fairy tales in question.
hstone's review
2.0
Interesting, but often academically dense to the point of being impenetrable. A very clinical and, dare I say it, almost mathematical analysis of the development of fairy tales. Not for the casual reader.
More...