SOURCES OF MYTHOLOGICAL BELIEFS IN ENGLISH FOLK TALE DISCOURSE


Cite item

Full Text

Abstract

The present paper studies fundamental sources of mythological beliefs accumulated in the English folk tale discourse. Besides European mythological and Christian traditions, an important part in the making of English demonary is performed by the variable folklore tradition, intra-genre, and inter-genre interaction processes as well as English writers’ works.

The folklore tradition variability serves a means of the identification of a mythological personage and its status in the demonary. It defines the personage’s field of distribution and variation range of its characteristics. It contributes to systematization and structuring of folk ideas of the miraculous in the English folk tale discourse. Work with local records also allows to state the dynamics of some mythological concepts and to determine common features in folk tales with universal mythological beliefs.

Under the influence of intra-genre (European fairy tale traditions) and inter-genre (legends, ballads) interaction processes as well as English writers’ works the system of mythological beliefs underwent certain changes in the English folk tale discourse. Original images and plots were organically interwoven with those of European fairy tales which had become part of the English folk tale fund. For instance, the fairy royal couple acquired individualizing denominations Oberon and Titania, fairies turned into miniature, beautiful and harmless beings, while Robin Good Fellow became a merry prankster having lost his ability to do harm. New personages were adopted; properties and names of traditional folk tale characters were modified according to Greco-Roman or Medieval traditions. Heroes of Christian and folk legends (including the literary adapted ones) turned into folk tale characters, while their names were used as precedent names and chronotopical markers.

About the authors

Olga Aleksandrovna Plakhova

Togliatti State University, Togliatti

Author for correspondence.
Email: plahova_oa@mail.ru

Doctor of Sciences (Philology), Associate Professor, professor of Chair “Theory and methods of teaching of foreign languages and cultures”

Россия

References

  1. Plakhova O.A. The influence of Germanic-Scandinavian mythological tradition on mythological beliefs in English folk tale discourse. Yazyk i kultura, 2012, no. 2, pp. 62–71.
  2. Plakhova O.A. The influence of the Celtic mythological tradition on mythological beliefs in the English folk tale discourse. Izvestiya Penzenskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta im. V.G. Belinskogo, 2012, no. 27, pp. 357–361.
  3. Plakhova O.A. Images of English giants: at the intersection of mythological traditions. Vestnik Baltiyskogo federalnogo universiteta im. I. Kanta, 2012, no. 2, pp. 74–80.
  4. Plakhova O.A. Reflection of classical mythological beliefs in English folk tale discourse. Gumanitarnye issledovaniya v Vostochnoy Sibiri i na Dalnem Vostoke, 2012, no. 3, pp. 84–88.
  5. Plakhova O.A. Mythological and social features of Tom Hickathrift’s image: toward the macrostructure of the concept. Vestnik Irkutskogo gosudarstvennogo lingvisticheskogo universiteta, 2011, no. 4, pp. 52–60.
  6. Tananykhina A.O. The linguistic means of representation of the concepts “Good” and “Evil” in the fairy tale “Harry Potter and philosopher’s stone” by J. Rowling. Studia Linguistica, 2012, no. XXI, pp. 38.
  7. Kovalchuk L.P. Kontseptualnaya integratsiya iskhodnogo prostranstva “zhenshchina” v skazochnom diskurse (na materiale russkikh i angliyskikh narodnykh skazok). Avtoref. dis. kand. filol. nauk [Concept-based integration of the original source “woman” in the fairy discourse (on the material of Russian and English folk tales)]. Chelyabinsk, 2012. 24 p.
  8. Mamonova N.V. Models of fractal self-organization in the British fairytale discourse. Kognitivnye issledovaniya yazyka, 2014, no. 18, pp. 642–644.
  9. Plakhova O.A. Mythological concept as the variety of linguistic cultural concept. Izvestiya Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta, 2012, no. 6, pp. 29–32.
  10. Mamonova N.V. On British fairy tale discourse peculiarities. Vestnik Chelyabinskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2013, no. 37, pp. 153–155.
  11. Tananykhina A.O. Emotivity of the modern English magic fairy tale. Kognitivnye issledovaniya yazyka, 2013, no. 13, pp. 795–801.
  12. Tananykhina A.O. Lingvostilisticheskie osobennosti sovremennoy angloyazychnoy literaturnoy skazki. Avtoref. dis. kand. filol. nauk [Linguostylistic features of modern English literary fairy tale]. S. Petersburg, 2007. 23 p.
  13. Sokaeva D.V. The plot character of the fairy tale “Puss in Boots” in the context of Indo-European mythological tradition. Vestnik Pyatigorskogo gosudarstvennogo lingvisticheskogo universiteta, 2009, no. 1, pp. 254–258.
  14. Meretukova M.M. Genre and artistic specifics of “Christmas Tales” by Ch. Dickens and the English folk tradition. Vestnik Adygeyskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 2: Filologiya i iskusstvovedenie, 2010, no. 2, pp. 29–32.
  15. Меретукова М.М. A fairy tale as a part of the English national folklore. Sbornik nauchnykh trudov Sworld, 2011, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 84–85.
  16. Plakhova O.A. National-cultural conditionality of English folk tale genre specificity. Vestnik Volzhskogo universiteta im. V.N. Tatishcheva, 2014, no. 4, pp. 53–62.
  17. Gould Ch. Mythical Monsters. London, W.H. Allen and company, 1886. 407 p. URL: sacred-texts.com/earth/mm/index.htm.
  18. O’Donnell E. Byways of Ghost-Land. London, William Rider & Son Ltd., 1911. 246 p.
  19. Eason C. Fabulous Creatures, Mythical Monsters and Animal Power Symbols: A Handbook. Westport, London, Greenwood Press, 2008. 181 p.
  20. Eberhart G.M. Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology. Santa Barbara, Denver & Oxford, ABC-CLIO, 2002. 722 p.
  21. Haase D., ed. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairytales. Volumes 1–3. Westport, London, Greenwood Press, 2008. 1160 p.
  22. Ritson J. On Fairies. Fairy Tales. London, Thomas Davison, 1831, pp. 11–62.
  23. Zink T.G. Spenser’s English Mythology: Historical Allegory and Myth-making in The Faerie Queen. A thesis for the degree of Master of Art. Daihousie University, 1996. 101 p.
  24. Merton A. The Old Story Books of England. Westminster, Joseph Cundall, Old Bond St., s. a. 244 p.
  25. Rhys E. Fairy Gold: A Book of Old English Fairy Tales. London, J. M. Dent & Co., s. a. 305 p.
  26. Faulding G.M. Fairies. London, B. T. Batsford, 1913. URL: sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/fau/index.htm.
  27. Simpson J., Roud S. A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003. 412 p.
  28. Meletinsky E.M., ed. Mifologiya. Entsiklopediya [Mythology. Encyclopedia]. Moscow, Bolshaya Rossiyskaya entsiklopediya Publ., 2003. 736 p.
  29. Briggs K. The Fairies in Tradition and Literature. London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1967. 261 p.
  30. Wright Th. Essays on Subjects Connected with the Literature, Popular Superstitions and History of England in the Middle Ages. London, John Russell Smith, 1845. Vol. 1, 304 p.
  31. Hartland E.S. English Fairy and Other Folk Tales. London, Walter Scott, 24 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row, 1890. URL: sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/efft/index.htm.
  32. Glover W.J. British Fairy and Folk Tales. London, A. & C. Black Ltd., 1919. 281 p.

Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
Action
1. JATS XML
Download

Copyright (c)



This website uses cookies

You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website.

About Cookies