Russian Fairy Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library) [Paperback]

Aleksandr Afanasev (Compiler), Alexander Alexeieff (Illustrator), Norbert Guterman (Translator), Roman Jakobson (Contributor)

Book Description

Release date: September 12, 1976 | Age Range: 8 and up | Series: Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library

Translated by Norbert Guterman
Illustrated with black-and-white line drawings by Alexander Alexeieff
Part of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library

In this most comprehensive collection of classic Russian tales available in English we meet both universal fairy-tale figures—thieves and heroes, kings and peasants, beautiful damsels and terrifying witches, enchanted children and crafty animals—and such uniquely Russian characters as Koshchey the Deathless, Baba Yaga, the Swan Maiden, and the glorious Firebird. The more than 175 tales culled from a centuries-old Russian storytelling tradition by the outstanding Russian ethnographer Aleksandr Afanas’ev reveal a rich, robust world of the imagination that will fascinate readers both young and old.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Rambunctious, full-blooded, and temperamental, these stories are tense with action, magical, and human. They are gorgeous.”
—Eudora Welty
 
“The oral folk tradition in Russia was truly a magic spring [that] flowed inexhaustibly, reviving, consoling, and enlightening all who partook of it . . . These stories have an ingenuity that marks them as uniquely Russian.”
—Time
 
 “A beautiful book. I recommend it to all readers, young and old, who are interested in the folktale and its unique qualities.”
—Isaac Bashevis Singer, The New York Times Book Review

“Luckily someone garnered these jewels before they were lost [and] bound them into one volume before they disappeared . . . It is filled with action, magic, and humanity.”
—St. Louis Globe-Democrat

Language Notes

Text: English, Russian (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon Books; Reissue edition (September 12, 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394730909
• ISBN-13: 978-0394730905
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.4 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #23 in Books > Children's Books > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > Anthologies
  • #27 in Books > Children's Books > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > Multicultural

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 65 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A huge collection June 16, 2000

By Stephen Arkanell

Format:Paperback

What the Grimm Brothers did for fairy tales in Germany, Afanas'ev did for Russia. Over the course of his lifetime(1826-1871), he collected countless of these wonderful little stories from common folk, just as the Grimms did. This collection contains stories of adventure and enchantment, animal fables and more. Included are stories of Vasilissa and Baba Yaga, the witch whose house was built on chicken feet, and the famous story of the giant turnip. There's even some stories about vampires. But be prepared, this book is huge! And every bit of it distinctly Russian.

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ian Myles Slater on: Classic Tales, Enduring Translation April 1, 2004

By Ian M. Slater TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

I have owned since 1975 a copy of an earlier, hardcover, Pantheon reprint edition of this superb collection, which was originally published in 1945. I have used it for both light reading and for serious study (while in courses on Baltic and Slavic Folklore and Folktale Studies). The selection and translation of stories both seem first-rate. (For the latter, I have had to rely on the opinions of those who actually read Russian, instead of just having studied it in school.) The accompanying illustrations are properly enchanting -- and only occasionally are placed where they give away the point of the story.

The only real drawback is that it is still merely a selection from about three volumes (depending on the edition you prefer) of "skazki." This is the Russian term for oral tales of marvels, adventures, and misadventures, equivalent to the German "Maerchen." In both cases, the English term "Fairy Tale" is the conventional, but not really adequate, translation. (As usual in large collections, only a handful of tales concern anything like fairies.) One of the requirements for the selection seems to have been that the tales chosen should be acceptable to American parents in the 1940s, but otherwise the considerable variety of the original seems to have been largely preserved. The suggested reader age of "9 to 12" conceals the pleasure that adult readers with interests in folklore or Russian culture will derive from the volume. Fortunately, they may be lead to it by the fine supplementary material at the end, although this is now half a century old.

Afanas'ev (various transliterations) was one of the many nineteenth-century collectors inspired by the Grimms,. By most accounts he was one of the most responsible, even though his practices of recording and documenting texts are hardly up to modern standards. (Neither were those of the Grimms, for that matter.) The main collection from which this was excerpted was the sourcebook for Vladimir Propp's "Morphology of the Folktale," a key work in modern folktale studies, but as Roman Jakobson (yes, the Structural Linguist) points out in his commentary to this collection, the book had already established itself as a gem of Russian literature, an inspiration and resource for poets.

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars What a fun book! October 15, 2002

By Kendal B. Hunter

Format:Paperback

Fairy tales get us into the psyche of a culture. Americans see themselves as Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appelseed, conquoring the frontier. This book introduces us to the Russian psyche. It shows us how they look at things--the world, society, life, family, and government.

Some of the stroies are charming, such as the fabel of the Turnip and the Honey-pot. Other stories made absolutley no sense. But I had fun trying to crack these weird nuts.

I enjoyed the translation. It is not as energetic as Seamus Heaney, or J. B. Phillipws, but it is readable, athough you realize that you are reading a translation.

C. S. Lewis, in his preface to "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," mentions that as children we read fairy tales, then we outgow them. Then, as adults, we come back to these stories and read them with different eyes. I had that experince with this book.