Criticism of Vladimir Propp’s Theory on Genesis of Magic Fairy Tales’ Structure
Информация - Иностранные языки
Другие материалы по предмету Иностранные языки
o drama genres, then the sheep denominates a drama of a victory, an ovation. Ovation is a pleasure, a celebration, a wreath that was put on a head of commander which assimilated to a victorious animal (Dionysius-ram-goat) which revives for life during the moment of passage under a triumphal arch. Here we also see a full development of basic formula.
words semantics had also the triumphal arches which are present in many cities of the world. According to O. Frejdenberg, a triumphal arch was a celestial horizon and consequently they had a semicircular arch. The victory of the sun, the occurrence of totem coincides with entrance through a heavenly- afterlife gate, through a triumphal arch which divided the two worlds. The semantics of a triumphal arch as means of overcoming death is better expressed by the fact that sometimes it was constructed for prevention of danger that in itself guaranteed rescue from death. Emperor, solemnly passing under the arch to a circus, appeared as the winner-sun. By this he expressed the idea of overcoming of death, the establishing of life. Here it is easy to see the presence of the basic world outlook formula.
Often near a gate, doors or on the walls there are represented lions (the so-called „lions gate”). In their image there was fixed a crossing of "border" between two worlds, light and darkness. So, stone lions, which are half put out from the house, or just simple images of their muzzles on the walls is the transformed image of an archaic totem which has died and has revived. The universal-cultural formula is also totally presented here.
A bright erotic-genetic semantics have the doors of houses or gates which indicated a maternal womb. Giving birth, continues O.Frejdenberg, the woman opens and closes the celestial doors. Therefore Janus, the god of door, was called at childbirth. Except the mentioned CUB-semantics the door had also additional meaning which originated from a custom to copulate on a threshold and to hang up a wreath on a door as modern Americans like.
Traditional night or evening songs (serenades) of an enamoured man under a window (balcony) of his beloved originate from that tradition when a drunk reveller in a “komos” (a night procession) in the end of procession addressed not a woman, and a door (later a window), and then publicly laid down with a woman directly on a threshold. From the same sources, considers O.Frejdenberg, there is a tradition to hang up a wreath on a door. In fact „komos” is a variant of a carol which name originates from the name of a branch of laurel or an olive in skeins of wool which was left on a door as a sign of fertility (erotically coded genitive).
words mortally-immoral semantics in different codes have also fabrics, curtains, tents of circus and roundabouts on which the stars were painted. They represented the idea of heavenly circulation, a motion from death to life. A bridal veil is the same heavenly arch which has a dualistic semantics both of death, and revival. Hence coverlets and cloths with which the dead men and a table on which they laid were covered. Staying on a table-altar, the died man was considered as totem-king, certainly due to revive. From here originate those meanings of a table which are connected with the Supreme authority „Vоlоdуmуr in Kуїv on a table” (ukr., russ. „стол” a table, derived concepts „столиця” - a capital, „престол” throne).
All this allows to draw conclusions that usual things and phenomena examined from the point of view of the approach offered by O. Frejdenberg which heuristic potential is developed by us with reference to the offered universal-cultural concept of the analysis of culture texts, show their forgotten or unusual meanings which go back to invariants, or culture universalias, such as birth, life, death and immortality, and corresponding world outlook codes.
Rejecting the idea of direct borrowing of deep universal-cultural invariants in texts of culture in general and in pieces of literature in particular and insisting on acceptance of the concept of their generation, I do not deny the fact, that development of cultural forms provides the presence of a certain continuity, tradition and heredity of development of the fixed cultural images, plots and characters on a background of their natural transformation.
But even this transformation does not lead to disappearance of primary CUB-senses involved in semiosphere of things, processes and figures. Thus, it is possible to outline the history of origin of a figure of a circus clown as stage evolution of certain personifications of world outlook senses of strengthening of life through dying of a totem-animal, tsar, slave and clown.
The clown is the degenerated figure of the slave, the double of tsar-leader who took up the mortal semantics of Saturnalia. In this festival the social relations "turned over", a tsar for a while became a "slave", and the slave became "tsar". In traditional ritual of change of tsar instead of him there was killed his temporary assistant, the slave. Later the slave turns into the clown who was dressed up as tsar.
In circus he gets the appearance of the "red-haired circus clown", who was not killed any more, but simply beaten on an arena and who later turns into a strolling actor, a juggler, a skomorokh, acting on stilts (the former cothurnus) in booths, demonstrating the puppet-show and so forth. However in spite of radical changes in roles and meanings, successive figures of an animal-totem, tsar, slave and clown keep as the fundamental structurally-semantic basis the categories of ultimate bases and dominating world outlook idea of overcoming of death by an immortal life.
Table of Contents
Summary
TOPICS
1. Philosophical and methodological basis of the Weltanschauung Categories of Ultimate Bases researching.
2. Categories of Ultimate Bases as Universalias of Culture
3. Investigation of profound invariant of the structure of a fairy tale as the applied version of search for universalias in texts of culture
4. An explication of internal contradictions of the theory of V. Propp as a precondition of its falsification
5. Falsification of the theory of V. Propp by means of increasing a level of universality of a deductive hypothesis about a universal-cultural structure of culture texts
6. Outlines of a new paradigm of the analysis of the origin of invariant structure of culture texts: “the universal-cultural version”
Олександр Сергійович Кирилюк
Анти-Пропп
Критика теорії В. Проппа зі структури чарівної казки та її генезису
kiriliuk@infra.co.ua
Брошура
Наукове видання
Англійська мова
Olexander Kyryliuk. ANTI-PROPP. Criticism of Vladimir Propps Theory on Genesis of Magic Fairy Tales Structure Odessa: Autograph / CHE UNSA, 2009. p. 50. In Engl.
Separate English supplement to the book: Olexander Kyryliuk. Weltanschauung Categories of Ultimate Bases in the Universal Culture Dimensions. Odessa, Ukraine: Autograph/CHE UNAS 2008. 416 р. In Ukrainian.
Олександр Кирилюк. АНТИ-ПРОПП. Критика теорії В. Проппа зі структури чарівної казки та її генезису. Одеса: Автограф / ЦГО НАН України. 2009. 50 с. (англ. мова).
Окремий додаток до книги (автореферат англійською):
Кирилюк О.С. Світоглядні категорії граничних підстав в універсальних вимірах культури. Одеса: Автограф. 2008. 416 с.