This course is cross-listed with Scandinavian 206 and Folklore C262B/Anthropology C262B.

The European lands – especially the Nordic countries, Russia and the Balkan countries – are particularly rich in folklore materials, and scholars working on these materials have made major theoretical contributions to the general discipline of folklore. This course, intended both for students of general folklore and for students of Slavic or Scandinavian literatures, will survey these contributions both in terms of the folklore materials themselves and the theoretical advances made on the basis of these materials. Readings on theory will be in the Scandinavian languages, Russian, English and German. The folklore materials themselves are in the original languages (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Russian, Serbian, Bosnian); English translations are available of most of these materials. Students in Scandinavian and Slavic should be reading in the original to the extent possible; students of general folklore will do readings in English (and occasionally in German).

Reading consists of selections from:

Propp, Vladimir. The Russian Folktale (tr. Sibelan Forrester)

Propp, Vladimir. Theory and History of Folklore (ed. Anatoly Liberman)

Maranda, Pierre, ed. Soviet Structural Folkloristics

Lord, Albert. The Singer of Tales

Vidan, Aida. Embroidered with Gold, Strung with Pearls, The Traditional Ballads of Bosnian Women

Aarne, Antti. Verzeichnis der Märchentypen.

Holbek, Bengt. Interpreting Fairy Tale.

Sydov, C. W. von. Selected Papers on Folklore.

Pentikainen, Juha. The Nordic Dead-Child Tradition.

Strömbäck, Dag. Leading Folklorists of the North.

Texts not available for purchase, as well as numerous others, will be made available either through library reserve or for downloading on bcourses

Prerequisites: Graduate standing; consent of instructors.