The European Folktale: Form and Nature

by Max Lüthi

Book Overview

"Niles' excellent translation should bring L thi's sensitive and articulate study the recognition it deserves among English readers." --Library Journal

L thi demonstrates how the folktale, by its very distance from reality, can play upon the most important themes of human existence.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0253203937
• ISBN13: 9780253203939
• Release Date: September 1986
• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Length: 172 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A key to the world of fantasy

Luthi's book, like Bettelheim's "The Uses of Enchantment," Stith Thompson's "The Folktale" and Propp's "Morphology of the Folktale," is an indispensable guide and resource on the folktale, covering all the elements that make folktales "tick": their abstract style, one-dimensional characters, and deliberate lack of detail regarding locale. In addition, he touches upon symbolism and what he calls the folktale's "true" and "false" styles. I most appreciate his minute dissection and analysis of all the components of the folktale. My field is folklore research, and I feel Luthi's "The European Folktale," has helped me to understand folktales more than any other book. This is all the more remarkable when one considers that this is a relatively slim volume (164 pages).