Tale
Russian Fairy Tales
Народные русские сказки
Alexander Afanasyev · 1863
Synopsis
Nearly six hundred Russian and East Slavic folk tales, gathered in eight volumes from the archives of the Russian Geographical Society, the collection of Vladimir Dal and the author's own collecting. Fairy tales and animal tales stand side by side. Afanasyev classifies the texts by themes and genres, notes their provenance and keeps several versions of the same tale rather than fixing a single one.
Context
The collection appeared in Moscow in eight fascicles from 1855 to 1863, from the publisher Soldatenkov; from 1850 Afanasyev had appealed to the Empire's learned geographical society and to collectors. The French translation by Lise Gruel-Apert, whose first volume was reviewed in 1990, has been reissued in three volumes by Imago; in English, Norbert Guterman's selection, commented on by Roman Jakobson, appeared in 1945, and a complete translation by Jack Haney was completed in 2021.
Who it is for
A collection of tales to be read in pieces, for children as well as for those curious about popular traditions.
Prizes and reception
Rimsky-Korsakov and Stravinsky drew on them for their works.
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