Search

The aim of this paper is to develop a model for critical reading of traditional fairy tales, which will enable the understanding of their meanings in contemporary educational context from a gender perspective. We have posed the following research questions: Why is the fairy tale so important in education and how does it influence the reader? What kind of ideology do fairy tales present? Which fairy tales (traditional or non-traditional) should one read during education, and how should their critical reading be arranged? We have used the method of theoretical analysis, followed by the historical method, and finally, the morphological analysis of the selected fairy tale. The model of critical reading has been developed using the fairy tale titled Baš-čelik, published in Vuk Karadžić's collection in 1870, as a case study. It has been shown that texts tend to hyperbolically affirm the cult of heroism. Research indicates that such stories could be read in schools with the aim of understanding their semantic structure from a feminist perspective, while accentuating the construction of characters reduced to very few qualities that ideally conform to the heterosexual pattern. The model for critical reading of such stories, based on reader-response theory, has been developed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Ukrainian folkloric parallels to Viy, a character in the horror novella of the same name by Nikolai Gogol. It is a formidable chthonic, demonic creature whose eyelids cover the eyes and need to be lifted, and the gaze sees what is hidden from others. Although the writer claimed that this character, like the entire plot of the story, was taken from Ukrainian folklore, some modern researchers claim that Viy is the author's own invention. This is contradicted by folkloric data, primarily Ukrainian lore. Demonic characters with different names but with the same appearance and very similar functions as Viy appear in Ukrainian folk tales, legends and beliefs recorded in the 19th and 20th centuries. The plots have various degrees of closeness to the plot of Gogol's story, showing that Viy is an authentic figure from Ukrainian folklore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to indicate the cultural factors nexus terrorism in terms of Bourdieusian terminology's conceptual framework, which synthesizes social, economic, and cultural explanations and thus proves useful for studying political and religious radicalization, extremism, and recruitment to terrorism. This analysis can be used to comparatively assess the countries' cultural tendencies relevant to terrorism. In this study, Hofstede's culture scale, which is regarded as a paradigm and towering figure by most scholars was used. The research endeavors to illustrate the effects of Hofstede's cultural dimensions (widely known model of national culture) on Global Terrorism Index scores via a multiple linear regression model. Terrorists marginalized others and created their discourse to commit rhetoric narrated by fairy tales and protagonists. The findings expressed that whereas the power distance has an increasing effect on terrorism (while increasing terrorism), the long-term orientation has a mitigating effect (reduces terrorism). On the other hand, no significant results were obtained from the dimension of individualism versus collectivism, femininity versus masculinity, avoidance of uncertainty, and indulgence versus restraint. However; we evaluate that social media usage has a centralizing and affiliating effect between collectivism and individualism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deirdre Sullivan is an award-winning Irish YA writer who has been praised by several writers and folklore academics, such as Jack Zipes, for her fairy-tale revisions and her rewriting of the Irish legend “The Children of Lir”. Following the steps of contemporary feminist writers like Angela Carter or Emma Donoghue, Sullivan gives voice to minorities and deals with silenced topics such as sexual harassment. This interview focuses on her subversions of fairy tales and Irish mythology, especially in her collection Tangleweed and Brine (2017) and her revision of “The Children of Lir” in Savage Her Reply (2020). In this interview, Deirdre Sullivan talks about her interest in fairy tales and Irish folklore and how she became a writer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution explores the story of Angelo, an Italian Second World War veteran who, after experiencing war and escaping captivity in Yugoslavia, finally reached Trieste in 1946, where he met his future wife. It took him nearly 15 years to heal from his harrowing wartime trauma. Between 2021 and 2023, while collecting oral testimonies, I interviewed his son Sergio and grandson Ruben. The central subject of those interviews was the war-time period and the fairy tales that Angelo used to tell his son (and later his grandson) in the evenings, inspired by his war experiences. By recounting his war experiences in a metaphorical and child-friendly manner, these tales were not only imaginative and captivating for the child, but also served a profound purpose: they were (1) a way to communicate his memories and experience to the following generations; (2) a means to cope with his experiences and past; (3) a tool to socialise and educate his son, transmitting moral norms, social memories and preparing him for life in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

That fact that fairy tales and folktales are produced in a certain time and space and intended for a specific audience has, until now, often been neglected. In the past they performed specific social or political functions, such as for instance, being a part of nation building, they were meant to discipline a certain population or educate. The author claims that fairy tales and folktales arise from social needs and tell of imagined societies. Their social and political functions can be analyzed through the relation between the structural features and the specificities of individual versions, considered in regard to social needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between fairy tales, sexuality, and national identity in socialist Slovenia. Theoretically, it builds on the canonical work by Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment. The main objective of the analysis is to interrogate the Freudian sexual script in relation to Slovene national identity formation. For this purpose, I study two fairy tales from the socialist period, France Bevk's Peter Klepec and Moj dežnik je lahko balon by Ela Peroci. The concepts of family romance and infantile citizenship are applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a theoretical-methodological analysis of the psychodrama method of group psychotherapy. It examines the aim, objectives, advantages, peculiarities and structure of classical psychodrama as a method of group psychotherapy. Also, the article attempts to define psychodrama as a group psychotherapy process. It studies the links between psychodrama and methods of various psychological approaches. Importantly, the article suggests a phenomenological approach to studying the interaction among the participants in psychodramatic psychotherapy groups to develop effective technologies for implementing psychodramatic techniques. It justifies the methodological and methodical essence of psychodramatic technologies in group psychotherapy, its main characteristics and goals. From the perspective of an integrative approach, psychodramatic technologies in group psychotherapy ensure the interrelation and interdependence of its psychodiagnostic and psychodevelopmental components. Meanwhile, the article considers the organizational, methodical and structural-dynamic features of using the interactive and role-playing method in group psychotherapy depending on the type of psychodrama. It shows how one can practically apply the "mirroring" psychotechnique in combination with the fairy tale metaphor (the method of enacting a fairy tale) in all types of psychodrama, along with an analysis of the advantages of its use and resourcefulness. Finally, the article discusses a methodical combination of psychodrama and transactional analysis within the "psychodramatic triangle" technique. It provides methodical recommendations for emotional disorder correction using the psychodrama method. The relevant indicators of the effectiveness and efficiency of the psychodrama method in group psychotherapy include catharsis, insight, expressions of trust and a sense of comfort in the space of group interaction and feedback, as an existing objective reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fairytales have been told for as long as people have been telling stories. What started as folk tales passed on to each generation, became stories that are often associated with royalty, magic and far away lands. Popularized by the Grimm Brothers starting in 1812, and again by the Walt Disney Company and their animated films, fairytales are a staple in all media. With their simple narratives and stories that leave room for multiple interpretations, it is no wonder that authors use these fairytales as inspiration to tell a unique tale. From modern day settings, to taking the opportunity to create more stories for underrepresented groups such as the LGTBQ+ and BIPOC communities, fairytale retellings and their recent rise in the publishing world have endless opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent innovations in the field of cleanliness announce remarkable efficiency that influences the way work is organized, the way people interact, and transforms perceptions of social organization. Cleaning standards are increasingly higher as social contexts demand it. These new technologies that enter the world of dirty work promise transparency and safety for beneficiaries, cost efficiency, and the possibility of reducing physical activity for workers. Examining the role that innovations have in the field of cleanliness, providing a comprehensive perspective on the effects and perceptions of users, presents a beautiful fairy tale that brings the outcome of a context related to control, stress, and the fear of tomorrow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the censorship files that were processed during Franco’s dictatorship of the fairy tale Cinderella. In this way, the reader is offered an overview of the editing and censorship process of this work from 1939 to 1975, with the intention of showing the aspects in which the censors noted the greatest incidences: religion and the female model. This temporal perspective of the monographic analysis of the same story seems to be very useful, as it allows to understand the changes in the censorship process throughout its existence, as well as the transformation of censorship legislation from an initial stage to the enactment of specific regulations on children’s and young people’s literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerned with the representations of fruits in Greco-Roman mythology and Genesis, this paper first explores the various meanings of charis and its conceptualization, and their embodiments. It then addresses object agency, before questioning the possible propriety of certain fruits in visual and textual narratives to emanate and/or appropriate charisma. To do so, the paper presents a discussion of the linguistic and conceptual mutability and malleability of the term 'charis' and its conceptualization into charisma, as well as its possible manifestations or translations in fruits, thus transforming the latter into (accidental) actors. Finally, this study provides an exploratory reflection on the ambiguity and metamorphic aspect of "charismatic" fruits in the context of myths and the Genesis narrative represented in the visual arts, and their translation into fairy tale narratives and modern advertising campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to present several fairy tales from Giuseppe Pitre's collection as a potentially interesting reading material for children. Since classical fairy tales in some cases depict traditional gender roles, they can present an obstacle to children's gender construction. Therefore, it is also important to read those stories which do not have a stereotypical gender discourse. We found such stories in Pitre's collection of folk fairy tales from the 19th century. In the paper we present the analysis of the structure of several folk fairy tales from Pitre's collection. The analysis has been performed according to Propp's structuralist method, while the task was to determine the morphology of those fairy tales dealing with female heroseekers. Such heroines correspond to the feminist perspective and they are convenient for reading in education for the purpose of children's constructions of gender not exclusively provided by normative canons. The model of critical reading, which we suggest for reading the analyzed fairy tales, has been founded on reader-response criticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Hansel and Gretel" begins with the parents' decision to abandon their children. The author argues that the differences in how the children survive their exile reflect the changes in how modern societies conceptualized their organization. An early baroque tale speaks of a contracted civil society and legitimizes sovereign power, while later versions represent Enlightened social subjects capable of emerging from their minority. The motif of abandoned children reaches back to Roman antiquity, where it was linked to mimetic rivalry. The author shows in what ways mimetic rivalry appears in modern fairy tales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the symbolic use of dragons in several works by J. R. R. Tolkien and The Golden Legend, a popular compilation of saints' lives by Jacobus de Voragine. In the medieval tradition, as recounted by Voragine, dragons serve as symbols of powerful evil through which the inherent weakness of postlapsarian ("after the Fall") humans can be emphasized. The sudden, miraculous defeat of dragons also illustrates what is possible through faith and the grace of God, anticipating Tolkien's notion of eucatastrophe, the unexpected reversal in fortune that characterizes the best fairy tales, which is now recognized as a key component of his own approach to mythopoeia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semiosphere, which is theorized by Yuri Lotman and is a new concept in cultural sciences, is the counterpart of a field of meaning constructed with the unity of symbols and symbols that surround individuals, reconcile their lives as a text, and give meaning to their existence processes. Reffering to the layer of the biosphere that surrounds the world and provides the life of living things, the semiosphere is also an area of meaning that surrounds people all over the world. The semiosphere, which is also accepted as a field of cultural meaning, is a structure formed by the smallest signs with certain characteristics and functions. The structural paradigm of this structure is evident even in the smallest object. Human makes sense of the world thanks to the signs presented to him by the semiosphere, which permeates everything, makes social life possible, and contains many elements such as codes and symbols. The construction process and continuity of the semiosphere, which is the mental sphere of the individual and to which the textual meaning of the universe is associated, is provided by memory. Remembrance, which is provided by the coding of individual, social and cultural memory, is the product of the semiosphere that provides the textual coherence that surrounds people. According to Yuri Lotman, the semiosphere is text-oriented, as tradition, which is the product of memory, is always evident as a text. Literary texts perform the function of constructing and transferring memory by accommodating semes in the construction of the semiosphere. Tales also create space in the semiosphere as a support for the historical continuity of memory. This created area is related to the mental coding and symbolization properties of tales related to cultural memory. All three of the common memory, continuity and symbolization ability in fairy tales are provided by motifs, which are the smallest unit of the tale and undertake the encoding of the tales in the cultural memory. One of these motifs, the "struggle motif by metamorphose", in which the hero prevails by using her ability to metamoprhose and her mind, becomes evident as a symbol in the mythical consciousness, mystical understandings and literary texts in the Turkish semiosphere. In order for the metamorphose to turn into a motif and from here contribute to the construction of the semiosphere, it must be remembered, repeated with historical continuity, become evident in different areas with common experience. Ali Cengiz Game can be shown as one of the most beautiful examples of the meaning area created by the Turkish semiosphere. In the tale, it is told that Keloglan, who wanted to marry the sultan's daughter, learned the Ali Cengiz Game, which is considered a trick, from Kose. This trick is the ability to metamorphose. Keloğlan combines this skill with reason, defeats all his rivals and marries the sultan's daughter. Ali Cengiz Game has two meanings in the semiosphere of the Turks. The first area of meaning is the use of metamorphose, which becomes evident as a mythical-mystical-religious power in the tale, to defeat the opponent by combining with the mind. The second area of meaning is related to Genghis Khan and her descendant, the Crimean Khanate. Ali Cengiz, which means a game arranged with cunning and deceit, the mind coding of metamorphose existing in Turkish mythology, mystical movements, narrative genres, verse products and many areas of the semiosphere, the tactical disguise tricks of Genghis Khan in the war and the Crimean Khanate's leaving the Ottomans alone in the wars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Front cover: Urashima Taro, the protagonist of a Japanese fairy tale, returned from his undersea utopia with his youth intact after hundreds of years, but as soon as he was exposed to the smoke from the souvenir Tamatebako (jeweled box), he turned into an old man. This painting depicts how the smoke causes Urashima Taro to lose not only his youth but also the Y chromosome in a part of his cells. Mosaic loss of chromosome Y (mLOY) is commonly observed in older men and has been linked to ageing and cancer, and has also been found to increase the risk of heart disease (Sano et al. (2022) Science 377: 292–297, DOI: 10.1126/science.abn3100). We referred to Fukami & Miyado (2022) Reprod. Med. Biol. 21: e12445, DOI: 10.1002/rmb2.12445 for the depiction of chromosomes. Designed by TRAIS Co., Ltd. (Kobe, Japan). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to European folklore, popularized by a fairy tale, storks are responsible for bringing babies to new parents. This probably came from observation in certain European countries, such as Norway, Netherlands or Germany, that storks nesting on the roofs of households were believed to bring good luck, as the possibility of new births. People love stories, but correlation simply means that there is a relationship between two factors that tells nothing about the direction of said relationship, if any. Another possibility is simple coincidence. Let us say that it's possible that one factor causes another. It's also possible that the inverse occurs. And maybe both are being caused by a third. The main point is that there is a fundamental confusion between correlation and causality. A correlation doesn't prove a cause by itself. During these times of abundant fake news, it is necessary to warn folks of the fallacy of mistaking correlation for causation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim. How the concepts of colour and number in Bolu tales are perceived in the beliefs and lives of cultures has been examined in our study. We tried to find an answer to the importance of colour and number images in Turkish culture, to compare them with literary works in the literature, in what sense these images are used and whether there is a fundamental point in these areas of use. Methods. In this study, the method of literature review, which is one of the qualitative research techniques, was used. Various researches previously discussed on this subject were also used as auxiliary elements. Results. Since the scope of our study is within certain limits, common colours, and numbers, which are more common in Turkish culture, are discussed. The white, black, green, and yellow colours are detected in Bolu tales; the numbers three, seven and forty carry the meanings assigned to them in Turkish culture and Islam. Conclusion. This study, the use of colours and numbers in fairy tales was examined in Bolu tales and a generalisation was reached. As a result of the colours and numbers being images in the 88 fairy tales examined, the colours and numbers determined in the tales were handled from a historical, religious and cultural point of view; first of all, explanations were made about the meaning of the concepts of colour and number and how they existed, and it was determined in which context of meaning the explanations were reflected imaginatively in Bolu tales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current article is devoted to the study of H. C. Andersen's fairy tale The Ugly Duckling. The main subject of the study is the fabulous transformation of the tale's protagonist from a loser into a winner. The research was performed within the archetypal paradigm originated by C. G. Jung (1875--1961). A simplified content analysis of the text was carried out using a set of archetypes composed of elements from the collections of C. Pearson and C. Myss. The study managed to a) identify the archetypal picture that accompanied the protagonist's sad journey, b) find the key archetypes responsible for his unrelenting motivation to survive and search for a better life, and c) identify the archetypal mechanism of the hero's transformation from a loser and an outcast into a winner. The results obtained allow us to conclude that Andersen's fairy tale The Ugly Duckling is valuable from a scientific point of view as a treasure trove of human knowledge and historical experience. This fairy tale has great potential when applied to psychotherapy of trauma and to education, concretely, for work with children who have special needs. Great prospects for its use open up in the workplace, including management and the role training of manufacturers. In our rapidly developing information society, it seems that demand for this fairy tale will only grow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the metaphoric representation of childhood traumatic experiences through references to European fairy tales in the novel Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura, "an innovative and tender blend of social commentary and magical realism" as defined by Riyoko Shibe. The paper traces the different ways the author incorporates European fairy tales and introduces the fantastic to describe the traumatic experiences of the children who went through severe bullying at school. The article attempts to demonstrate that these references serve both as symbolic representations of these experiences and as an escape from them, as they provide a metaphorical means to deal with the psychological distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fairy tales (and other narratives) are used as therapeutic tools in therapy. Stories about witches and magic, including spells, mobilize the emotions and the mind of the patient and help them providing patterns and suggesting solutions. This interview is a dialog between an anthropologist specialized in the anthropology of witchcraft and magic and a psychotherapist trained in family and individual therapy using fairy tale therapy in combination with other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article has the intention to pay attention to some latent aspects in fairy tales, in the versions produced by the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault, and seen from the psychoanalytic perspective, in the reading of Bruno Bettelheim (1980). We will make an analysis of some of the tales by the above authors, under the viewpoint of Bettelheim, who, following the Freudian and Lacanian theories, invests in the Oedipus Complex, to relate the three phases of this complex, manifested in the characters of Snow White, Cinderella, Prince Frog, The Girl of the Geese, John and Mary, The Fairies, Rapunzel, Little Thumb, and Little Red Riding Hood. This is a bibliographical analysis, whose objective is to allow a reflection on the possible identification of children with the characters in these tales, in order to facilitate their immersion in the world, based on the information inscribed, according to Lacan, in the Imaginary, Symbolic, and Real, structures that, besides not disregarding Freudian concepts, are able to expand them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the motive of the battle with the seven headed dragons in mythic cognition and folklore. The image of the mythological dragon in European and Asian myths is compared and its characteristics are examined. The fact that this approval, which is seen as a symbol of chaos and evil, also symbolizes wisdom, is characteristic of in some folkloric creations. However, in the folk narratives of Turkic peoples, including Kazakh folk narratives, the seven headed dragons are more often depicted in one character, that is, in the form of evil. It is known that the seven headed dragons, which have been passed from mythical ideas to folk narratives, have a symbolic meaning for the hero to destroy each of those seven heads. The giant dragon, as a natural force that threatens humanity, has become the main character of many folklore works. In ancient epics and fairy tales, stories, love stories, religious epics, legends, the main enemy of the main hero is the dragon, as well as an event in which the hero's heroism is criticized and glorified-the victory over the Dragon. The Seven-Headed Dragon, which is constantly described in the works of Kazakh folklore as a formidable enemy, causes fear for the entire country. The dragon in mythical stories has accumulated several characteristic features of the animal. The presence of three or seven heads, the body resembles a lizard or snake, and the presence of a flying wing are the main features of the mythical dragon. In the folklore of western countries, the Dragon, which is evil, terrible, in the folklore of Eastern peoples, the Dragon is shown as a wise, perfect mind, Guardian. In the Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Tatar versions of the fairy tale" Er Tostik " there is a moitva fight with a dragon. In the Kazakh version, the main hero travels underground to the Land of Snake Baba Khan. During the ascent to the ground, Baiterek killed a dragon and saved the chicks of a giant bird. In the Tatar version of this fairy tale, the dragon snake takes Er Tostik to the underworld. The purpose in it is to ask them to save themselves from the evil force that threatens them. One of the heroes who fought and won the battle with the seven main Dragons was Salor Kazan, the hero of the book "korkyt Ata". In the new version of the book" Korkyt Ata "there is a thirteenth verse called" Salor Kazan killed the seven headed Dragons". In the ancient epics of Kazakh folklore "Kubygul", "Kissa Kulamergen", "one-eyed dau", "Golden Horn saiga", In the fairy tales "Er Tostik", " Ayudau", " Kulatai batyr", "Zharty Tostik", "Ayalpan, Sudysalpan, Taudytalpan", "Deldash batyr", "Kokzhan batyr and Dragon", " Kissa Zhamshid", "Kissa Tahir", "Shahmaran", "Hikayat Dastan Khatymtay", "Abugalisina, Abulkharis", " Kissa Shakir, Shakirat", "Kissa Malik Hasen", "Koshi Batyr", "Seipilmalik", "Kissa Dandan", "Kissa Bahram", "Kissa Shahizada", as well as religious dastans "Kissa Kaharman" and "Sleeping Batyr", in the legends of "nurguzaryn nightingale", the Seven-Headed Dragon is shown as the main enemy that the main hero will defeat. The Battle of batyr with the seven main dragons is one of the main and stable motifs in Kazakh folklore. The killing of a dragon, which came to the edge of the country and caused terrible horror and suffering, the destruction of its seven heads is the driving force, the main mechanism of the story of the folklore work. These issues are taken into the form of an article, analyzed with examples from the texts of Kazakh folklore, and conclusions are drawn on this basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper, I investigate the use of folktales in the historical legitimization of a particular type of socio-political transformation: Yugoslav self-governing socialism. In this respect I address a less researched and complex topic, while the Yugoslav ideology of self-governance, compared to other 20th century political ideologies, was based on discontinuity - a break with tradition and the past. In order to sharpen the specific function of the narrative tradition in Yugoslav socialism and on the basis of the sociological theory of fairy tales and Walter Benjamin's insights into the role of the narrative tradition, which he reflected on as a transhistorical medium for the transmission of collective experiences - I have devised a research approach that differentiates the epistemic and ideological function of fairy tales. I test this approach via the example of the appropriation of folktales in the Third Reich and Soviet communist regime, and then turn to an analysis of these mechanisms in the context of Yugoslav self-government. On the basis of various theories and understanding of Yugoslav selfgovernance (E. Kardelj, J. Županov, P. Matvejević, D. Suvin, B. Jakovljević etc.), I put forward that the tradition in the latter was expressed in the prism of an alienation effects. I illustrate this with an extensive comparative and transhistorical analysis of the fairy-tale motif of The Gigantic Turnip, especially its unusual Slovenian version which can be perceived as a critical commentary of the socialist motto "together we are stronger". In the conclusion, I reflect upon the theoretical consequences of the Yugoslav self-governing project from the point of view of the theory of societal transformation, and connect this topic to the dilemmas concerning contemporary risks such as the climate crisis, which have no historical equi valent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anonymous texts such as fairy tales, epics and folk tales are the products of the common (collective) unconscious that reveal the beliefs, experiences and social rules of a nation bringing since ancient times using a symbolic language. In this context, the discovery of the fourth manuscripts of the Book of Dede Korkut which is known to have three manuscripts until recently, is accompanied by the determination and explanation of the spiritual existence revealed by the Turks is very valuable in terms of revealing its contribution to world culture. Hermeneutics was concerned with the recovery of the "true meaning" of the text by making critical studies on the different versions of the Christian scriptures in the 17th century and was began to be expanded to apply to literary texts in the late 18th century. The two basic concepts of hermeneutics are "understanding" and "interpretation" are always related to each other. In hermeneutics, the meaning of the text is not something to be searched for but something to be constructed. While interpreting the text, the language of the text - hermeneutics is mostly concerned with written texts and is preferred that the text to be interpreted is written in the mother language - and the "commons environment" (collaborative sphere, objective spirit) in which the text is written should be taken into consideration. Because in Dilthey hermeneutics, spiritual life has the character of "historicity". In this study, "The Epic Story of Salur Kazan Kills the Seven Headed Dragon" in the fourth manuscripts of the Book of Dede Korkut, will be tried to be interpreted using the hermeneutic method. During the application of this method, attention was directed to the literary text itself for correct interpretation. It is noteworthy that there are semantic gaps in some words/word groups and expressions during the first reading of the text: Although Kazan defeated a hundred thousand enemies who came upon Kazan, he goes to hunt alone, not with his valiants, and this state of being "alone" is emphasized. He thinks the lights he sees in seven different places are the lights of his own army, but it doesn't make sense for a successful commander to be disoriented. When he sees the sleeping dragon, he calls it as "hero" and instead of killing it immediately, he awoke it by shooting an arrow. Just as the dragon is about to swallow Kazan, a "rock" suddenly appears between the two of them and Kazan prevents the dragon from swallowing him by moving into a secluded part of this rock. Kazan's eye bleeds from the dragon's majesty and Kazan attempts to gouge out his own eye. Learning how to deal with the dragon from his lala, Kazan puts the dragon's head off on his own and made a sheath for his weapons, a cover for his horse and a shade for his tent with the dragon's skin. Answering these questions to these expressions by directing "Why?/What?" questions and taking into account the "collaborative environment"/"objective spirit" created by the Turks over the centuries, will help to reveal the meaning of "The Story of Salur Kazan Kills the Dragon". In the text of the work, we will regard Salur Kazan as consciousness and the dragon as alien/other. Encountering with the stranger/other is necessary for consciousness to realize its limits. The consciousness that encounters the stranger will either be swallowed by the other or be reborn ontologically by reconciling with the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formula tales are narratives with their own characteristics that are included in Stith Thompson's tale classification, after animal tales, real folk tales and humorous stories, between the numbers 2000-2399. When compared with other tales, studies on formula tales are very few. The reason for the limited studies on formula tales is that these tale examples are less than other tales. However, the lack of various examples of such tales in very different forms and contents is one of the reasons explaining the scarcity of studies on this subject. Formula tales attract attention with their structural features based on a formula when compared to other tales in the tradition. This formula is obtained by combining the events and persons of the fairy tale together with chain dialogue and repetitions. In such tales, what is important is not the content, but the way events are expressed. Therefore, the main thing in formula tales is not what is told, but the way of expression. Therefore, the ability of the formula tale teller to use language and the strength of his memory are important. Formula tales that are constructed not to reveal any idea, but to improve the memory, language and expression skills of the tale listener have the function of revealing the memory powers and language skills of adults, as well as being effective in providing the mental development, improving language and speaking skills of children. Whether it is a child or an adult, the most comprehensive function of formula tales for both the listener and the narrator is the fun and entertainment function. When formula tales are examined, it is revealed that they are structurally similar to rhymes, especially to children's rhymes. When we look at the structure of such fairy tales, it is seen that the events are connected to each other in a chain way, progress in the form of dialogues and the "repetition" element attracts attention. With these features, it is seen that the formula tales are similar to the "rhymes" in the "tongue twister or nursery rhyme" style. This structure of formula tales is a distinctive feature from other tales and brings it closer to the rhymes mentioned. Because, repetition and memory elements are important in rhymes, as in formula tales, and the way it is said attracts attention rather than its content. Context is the reason why formula tales that approach the aforementioned rhymes due to their form are evaluated in the category of tales, not rhymes. The subject of the article is the formula tales that are intertwined with rhymes and the structural similarity of these tales with rhymes. The aim of the article is to determine the structural features of these tales and to reveal their similarity with rhymes, based on the formula tale texts identified in the Anatolian Turkish tales. For this purpose, formula tales and rhymes were examined using the "comparative method", and also the structural similarity of these two types and their functions in the performance environment were evaluated using the "functional method". It is thought that the structural similarity of formula tales and nursery rhymes may be the result of an interaction between these two genres. Although the contexts of the two genres in question are different, the idea that narrators and performers take common structures and formulas from these different contexts of the tradition and perform them in different ways, that is, as a formula tale or rhyme, has been effective in reaching this conclusion. This relationship between rhyme and formula tale discussed in the article showed through formula tales that rhyme is a dependent genre with a certain function in other genres or contexts rather than being an independent genre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay analyzes the cultural aspects in the animated series Disenchantment, conducted by Matt Groening for Netflix in 2018. The series is carried out based on the cultural model for the millennial generation established by Carolina Delamorclaz in her PhD thesis (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 2020). The theoretical approach to this production allows us perceive the complexity of the contemporary world in terms of otherness, racism, debates about gender, sex and deconstruction of meta-stories such as fairy tales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his engaging volume on fairytales, George MacDonald wrote that the purpose of a fairytale is "not to give the reader things to think about, but to wake up things that are in him." By contrast, many works of art, including contemporary musical compositions, are accompanied by statements of "things to think about," such as didactic program notes by the composer on pet social justice issues. This essay explores what can be done in a piece of music to "wake up things" already in the listener. These include invoking something familiar in the musical style, using essential building blocks of beauty in constructing the music, and providing a teleology of purpose and narrative flow in the music, in contrast to modernist trends that eschew these things. The essay explores also how and why these "awakening things" can and should be accomplished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article is based on information from the fields of cultural anthropology and folk literature. In the beginning, details about the main characteristics of the people with special powers are given. Then the features of Rohmans from the Romanian beliefs have been synthesized. Their image combines concrete data from the novel Alexandria with elements from the autochtonous cult of the ancestors. The way Romanians perceive Solomonians gathers components from several layers: mythical, religious and historical. The fairy tale characters who traveled to the other world are either helped by other beings with miraculous powers, or return to their world because they cannot overcome their mortal condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the fairy tale collection Croatian Tales of Long Ago by the Croatian author Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, interpreting its social functions. Several important social functions are considered in fairy tales: national and supranational (Slavic) imaginary, Christian values, and patriarchal order. These social functions are analyzed in individual fairy tales, considering the thesis of Dutch scientist André Jolles that the primary social function of fairy tales is to express the community's idea of justice and injustice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Woman without a Shadow is both the title of an opera resulting from the collaboration between Hugo von Hofmannsthal and the composer Richard Strauss in the three years immediately preceding the outbreak of the First World War, and that of a fairy tale in which the writer, from 1912 to 1919, reworked the subject of the libretto. With a specific focus on the second version, this essay sets out to describe how, beyond the complex symbolism of the formal structure (which initially makes one think of an artistic product finely crafted, but completely unrelated to historical reality), Hofmannsthal's fairy tale is actually intimately connected to the cultural and 'social' project developed by the author during the years of the First World War. It was this project that gave rise to the veritable 'mythology of the social' that lies at the heart of this fairy tale, in which Hofmannsthal revisits the very cornerstones of Romantic aesthetics and gives them a modern twist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fairy tales are fascinating fantasies, but they also gave people a better understanding of serious issues such as illness, injury, and even death. The results of the analysis of a large corpus of a total of 1512 published fairy tales, legends, and other documentary prose about Pohorje, most of which date back to the 19th and the first half of 20th centuries, and whose origins were in a time when diseases were ubiquitous and poorly understood, show that the theme of health and disease rarely appear in these sources, however, when they do mention it, they refer specifically to the living conditions of people in the Pohorje Mountains, epidemics, social diseases, mental illnesses, congenital deformities, and ideas about the relationship between disease, the human body, and supernatural forces. One of the reasons for such explanations is the widespread absence of doctors in this hilly area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article the author examines how the matrix of the dragon killer appeared in different social contexts and its formation as a fairy tale matrix. She traces the genealogy of the dragon slayer matrix back to ancient mythologies, paying regard to Babylonian, Greek, Celtic, and Slavic mythologies, as well as to the Christian codes and appearances in (particularly Slovenian) folklore, and discusses the variations that occur with different uses of the matrix, in different historical moments and epistemes. Special attention is devoted to studying the social and political functions the tales about the dragon killer had in the contexts in which they appeared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discourse of fairy tale narratives operates under three Victorian conventions - a virtuepersonified beautiful hero, a heterosexual relation, and a happy ending. Working upon these basic assumptions, Vladimir Propp identifies an underlying schematic structure, common to every tale, of 31 functions in narratives. Propp divides an enchanted narrative into 31 short plots. These plots are general functions performed by Propp’s identified seven archetypical characters found at play in every narrative. Propp’s study is based on 102 Russian folk tales, a sub-category of fairy tales. Oscar Wilde subverts the three aforementioned Victorian conventions in Propp’s structural model as a conflict between Victorian idealism and stark reality. This study aims to unveil the subverted structural scheme of the Proppian 31-function model in Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). The novel not only subverts the three fairy tale conventions in its content but also rearranges the Proppian linear scheme of functions in its form. Moreover, the study also explores the repetition and absence of some Proppian functions to delineate the Faust theme of selling one’s soul for worldly pleasures for a specific time period, the end of which marks a visceral degeneration of the protagonist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how folklore affects social structure epistemologically. It also deals with the effects of societies on collective attitude. In this framework, considering the scientific approach and framework of folklore, Geert Hofstede's model was evaluated. Action-oriented structure and system developments are evaluated within the framework of the structural features of model societies. It is very crucial to understand the culture that determines the basic competitive power of societies, especially in the global system. The main factors that direct the level of participation have a great impact on the success of societies. In this framework, the basic features of Turkish culture have been analyzed over the basic dimensions developed by Hofstede. The basic values and attitudes of our social structure from past to present have been determined. Thus, it will be possible to evaluate how the development, change and transformation of our own values will develop especially in the digitalized new age. The great digital transformation experienced in every field today affects the basic epistemology of folklore and creates new paths. Understanding these new sprouts is also important for understanding the basic dynamics of our country and for policy making. As a result, when we consider culture from the folklore perspective, epics, tales and intangible heritages have an important place. With these approaches, it is possible to evaluate the structure of Turkish culture in the global system comparatively with folklore epistemology based on evidence. Evaluating the subject through the structural relationship of these areas with each other provides us detailed information about the decisions, tendencies, togetherness and shared values of societies. The study deals with the values of the societies that are passed down from generation to generation through folklore. Historically developing structures especially affect individuals' behavior and attitudes. Epistemology of folklore, fairy tales, folk songs and similar tools develop predictive models for the development of the characteristics of societies. This facilitates the transition of societies to the next stage and supports a more competitive structure. The study was guided by a comprehensive literature review, conceptual model design, and evaluation of empirical data. As a result, the values of societies develop under the influence of many factors over time, by developing themes and predictions that are very difficult to change. Therefore, analyzing the parameters of folklore, which is the most basic parameter of these processes, in an eclectic framework reveals a deep vision for the future. Considering the six dimensions of Turkish culture, especially the framework of the field, which has a deep conceptual scope such as folklore, it is important for our country's policies to form macro-meso and microlevel policies. In the process of creating a society focused on education, entrepreneurship, development and success, a framework has been developed by taking into account the basic framework of folklore epistemology. Thus, the effect and relationship of folklore on social success and development has been revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Folklore narratives, which are used as a guide when examining the language, history and culture of a society, play an important role in the representation of a nation’s identity. In this respect, folklore studies lead not only to the field of language and literature, but also to the studies of sociology, history and cultural science. While the reconciliation between dream and real life is conveyed in fairy tales; every nation expresses its struggle to achieve the standard of living, prosperity and happiness with their own unique symbols. The symbols, which have great meaning for the public, can consist of original animals or some mythological beings. Undoubtedly, one of these symbols is the symbol of the snake, and for centuries the snake symbol has taken an important place in many cultures and beliefs. The snake which is considered to have a mysterious power, mostly carried symbolic meanings such as good luck, health, guardian spirit, vitality, youth, immortality, eternity, healing, revival, and the soul that drives people to evil. The snake, which had an important place in the life of mankind from the primitive period, was seen as an important metaphor at the present time. The concept of snake has been associated with gods, goddesses and rulers in Mesopotamian, Anatolian and Egyptian cultures. In ancient Greece, the snake was associated with health. It was portrayed as a cunning and double-headed creature in Scandinavian and Celtic culture. In this case; in some religions and cultures, the snake was considered sacred, and in some cultures, it was considered a cursed being. This concept will continue to live in science, literature, mythology, faith and art due to the subconscious brought by its historical adventure and the mysterious residue left in the memory of history. The main purpose of our study is to examine the fairytales “Shahmaran” and “The Mistress of the Copper Mountain”, which belong to two different cultures; based on the works taken from the oral cultures of both societies and contributed to literature, the content, subject, plot, purpose and end of the tale belonging to these cultures are discussed from different perspectives. To examine the content, purpose and result of both fairy tales in detail and identify the common and different characteristics of the protagonist (snake woman) in both tales, and make inferences about their culture as a result of the comparison. Basically, besides intercultural exchange and historical ties; beliefs play a major role in shaping these similarities in the livelihoods of the society, climate and geographical conditions. In this context, our study aims to open new discussion topics by shedding light to guide new research in the field of comparative folklore in the future. Although the study is similar to Hippolyte Taine's theory of environment, race, and time, it is a different attempt at comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a cognitive semiotic case study of the narrative potential of the statue Den lille Havfrue ('the little mermaid') by Edvard Eriksen in Copenhagen. On the basis of theoretical analysis and a survey in which 20 European and 19 Chinese participants replied to questions concerning this statue we argue that it, and similar statues, may be considered as products of intersemiotic translation, but only if we dispense with any requirements of "equivalence" between source and target, since statues are necessarily semiotically highly reduced. While the source narratives constitute cases of primary narrativity, with narrations providing the audiences with stories, statues may partake only of secondary narrativity, where a prior story is needed for the statue to be understood as narration. In our study, this was reflected by correlations between reported prior knowledge and narrative (and possibly even non-narrative) interpretations of Den lille Havfrue. Finally, we relate the discussion to present-day cultural and political "settings", where many statues, including Den lille Havfrue, have become part of a global anti-racism narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is noteworthy that some of the studies on Turkish tales are related to motifs, symbols, images or themes used in tales, while the other part is based on the comparison of tales from different cultures. For this reason, it has been observed that the studies that will reveal the interaction between the structure of the narrative and the power relations in the analysis of the tales remain in the background, so the connection of the structure of the fairy tale with the cultural environment is one of the less studied issues by the researchers. However, the interaction in question is evident in the fairy tale of Dünya Güzeli. The oral culture's way of thinking based on certain patterns and circularity and the repetitive language of the narrative at the level of words and actions reveal this interaction. In the tale, as in oral culture, cyclical movements are at the forefront. It has been determined that the heroes who return home after repeating the same action in the same symbolic time and many times, reveal these unchanging laws of oral culture both in small temporal movements and in the whole text. The tale covers the struggles to catch eternity and stay there. The similarity between the movements of the celestial bodies returning to the beginning every time and the desire of the human to return to the beginning has been evaluated as a result of the cultural environment, and it has been tried to explain how the official power determines the narrative at the point of time, based on the fairy tale of Dünya Güzeli. Theorists/researchers such as J. Walter Ong, Paul Ricoeur, Mircea Eliade and Nortrope Frye were used to explain the repetitive structures in the tale of Dünya Güzeli. Dünya Güzeli is composed of words, actions or numbers that are repeated at regular intervals, and this rhythm has created a rhythm specific to a fairy tale: a cyclical narrative time created with cyclical structures. Here, the heroes are the types that reflect the socio-historical structure of the oral culture. The places and the plot are expressed with cyclical codes bearing the general characteristics of the period. In the tale, which consists of two intertwined stories, the plot is based on the repetition of a pattern: separation, struggle and return. While the plot flows forward in the tale, a cyclical narrative rhythm is achieved with repetitive structures in this flow. The basic tense of the cyclical plot is now. Now, in the tale, it does not mean extinction, it means continuity. The heroes' reaching the same point each time is associated with the continuity of the present and the desire to capture eternity. The singularity of the spaces and the zig-zag structure of the plot came to the fore both in the main narrative and the attached narrative, and the spaces drew attention with their symbolic aspects rather than functional ones. In the article, these cyclical codes, which attract attention with their fixed and unchanging nature, are determined and the background of the repetitive discourse that determines the temporal rhythm of the narrative is examined. In the research, the interaction between the narrative and the socio-cultural ground was handled in an "eclectic" way, and the relationship between the official power and time was tried to be analyzed by making use of the tale. It has been determined that the unity between the narrative and the cultural context reveals typical characters, repetitive actions or a cyclical time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the structuralism period but also the boom of poststructuralist deconstruction, this study aims to explore the functionality of the models of narrative organization proposed by Formalist and Structuralist theories, by taking contemporary themes as a basis. The favored corpora for demonstration: the film Snow White and the Huntsman (2017) - to which we apply the 31 functions developed by Russian folklorist Vladimir Propp - and the computer animation Shrek (2012) - considering the model of predictability developed by Lithuanian linguist A.J. Greimas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Big Breasts and Wide Hips is one of Mo Yan's most acclaimed novels. The author was born and raised in the hinterland of Qingdao, the former German colony of Tsingtau, in NE China. European and foreign influences impacted on this rural territory, which at the onset of the 20th century preserved an ancestral genuineness. Exploiting this background and his own vital development, the Nobel laureate spins a narrative that spans the whole century and offers an alternative historical view of a tumultuous China. The main narrative voice, an ever-immature man, Jintong (the Golden baby), never leaves this tiny spot for his story-telling. But the novel reaches new summits in the Chinese literature through a bold feminist and feminine approach. Chinese fairy tales, South-American magical realism and a personal style combine to create an epic that transcends borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fairy tales have evolved over the centuries, versioning and adapting to the socio-cultural needs of each era. As it arises in oral tradition, no written record is kept of the first version of each tale, which gives the opportunity to change and modify any details. Over time, it may seem that the new versions are far from the original fairy tale story, but really each and every one of them maintains the universal symbology of the first version. Throughout this work, the story of Sleeping Beauty will be studied in its three most famous versions and it will be possible to observe how, despite all the changes introduced in different times and regions, the universal symbols are maintained, with certain novelties to make the most attractive story for readers of the time. These symbols show us that no matter how much the story changes, the essence will remain the same. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his 1952 essay "On Three Ways of Writing for Children", C. S. Lewis discusses three approaches to writing children's literature and defends "that particular type of children's story which is dearest to my own taste, the fantasy or fairy tale" from the charge that it is "childish". In this paper, I define Christian apologetics as "the art and science of persuasively communicating and advocating Christian spirituality across spiritualties, through the responsible use of rhetoric, as being objectively beautiful, good and true/reasonable" and see how Lewis' advice about the rhetoric of children's stories can be generalized and applied to the discipline of Christian apologetics. In particular, many atheists charge Christian Spirituality with being childish. For example, British atheist Richard Dawkins says that religious people "have their Bronze Age myths, medieval superstitions and childish wishful thinking" (Dawkins, Scientific American). Describing his own childhood, Dawkins says: "I think I did believe it up to the age of eight or nine, when preachers said if you really, really pray for something it can happen. Even moving mountains, I believed it could really happen... I grew up. I put away childish things." (Dawkins, "Claims Fairy Tales Are Harmful To Children") In this paper I explore how the dialectical moves made by Lewis in "On Three Ways of Writing for Children" can shape a rational response to such rhetoric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fly-agaric, with its characteristic red hat sprinkled with white spots, is the best known mushroom of Eurasian iconography, depicted countless times in children's fairy tales and Christmas themes. Endowed with intoxicating properties and used for millennia in Siberia as a visionary shamanic source, for several centuries Western culture has also attributed deadly properties to it. The cultural genesis of this "mortalization" process brought to the opposing values of "poisonous / intoxicating" and "negative / positive"; a semantic ambivalence that has also been present in Russian culture since pre-Soviet times. The mukhomor -- the Russian name for fly-agaric--was employed in the final years of Soviet power as a symbol of redemption by dissident underground movements, and its significant presence in contemporary Russian intellectual, literary and artistic production is presented on the basis of historical and ethnomycological considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyze the first story-book of the internationally renowned contemporary Hungarian storyteller, Csenge Virág Zalka. In the first section we investigate the differences between folktale and literary tale, storyteller and story writer, further-/retold heritage and own creation as well as how the boundaries between them destabilize if we note down the folktale originally living in the oral traditional form. Furthermore, we will be discussing the female horizon prevalent in the Zalkaian tale-variants as well as the all-time topicality of the stories by putting the contemporary social and psychological analogies and taboo-breaking procedures of the tales in the foreground. In the focus of our investigation the Ribizli a világ végén [Currant at the End of the World] stands as a literary creation, which although we (also) analyze with an approach coming from the relevant literature of folktales and remade fairy tales, we do this all the way through the analysis in light of the postmodern text-organizing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The admiration that Gilbert Keith Chesterton arouses in our country justifies a study of his work from a philosophical-educational perspective. To do this, through a hermeneutical methodology that put special attention to the educational implications of ideas, it analyzes what the English apologist understood by a theory of childhood, fairy tales and the family, as well as his conception of education and the University. In view of the data studied, it was possible to venture that these aspects of Chesterton's educational thought provide very interesting arguments to understand the apology for Catholic education that he carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three new species in the genus Niambia are described from southern African caves: N. botswanaensis sp. nov. from Diviner’s Cave (Botswana), N. ghaubensis sp. nov. from Ghaub Cave and N. namibiaensis sp. nov. from Märchen Cave (Namibia). All these species show troglomorphic traits such as absence of body pigmentation and eyes. These are the first troglobitic species recorded in the genus. Most of the other species of Niambia are epigean and occur in semi-arid environments in the Afrotropical Region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]