The European Folktale: Form and Nature (Folklore Studies in Translation)

Rating:
Summary: A key to the world of fantasy
Review: 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).