He is haunted by blasphemy:
He catches the sounds of approval
Not in the sweet murmur of praise,
And in the wild cries of anger.
And believing and not believing again
Dream of a high calling,
He preaches love
With a hostile word of denial...
N.A. Nekrasov

The theme of the cycle of fairy tales (1869 - 1886) by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is an allegorical (in the form of fairy tales) depiction of Russian reality contemporary to the author. The idea of ​​the cycle, on the one hand, is to expose the entire state system of autocracy and show the failure of the main foundations of society - the family, property, official nationality, and on the other hand, the recognition of the creative power of the people. At the same time, the author's sad thoughts about people's humility and long-suffering, the author's sympathy for the people in their powerless position sound in fairy tales. Thus, Saltykov-Shchedrin touched upon in his fairy tales not private, but fundamental social problems. This showed the wise talent of the writer, who argued that "all great writers and thinkers were great because they talked about the basics." Humanism, intransigence to violence, the search for social justice - this is the main ideological pathos of fairy tales.

Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote thirty-two fairy tales. According to the ideological content, all fairy tales can be conditionally divided into four groups. The first group consists of fairy tales that expose the autocracy and the noble state: "The Wild Landowner", "The Bear in the Voivodeship", "The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals". These works emphasize the idea that the noble state is based on the labor of a simple peasant. The generals, who miraculously ended up on a desert island, were dying of hunger, although the river was teeming with fish, tree branches were bursting with fruits, etc. The wild landowner, left without peasants on his estate, was very happy: first he ate all the gingerbread from the buffet, then all the jam from the pantry, then he switched to pasture, and in the end he went wild to the point that he began to run on all fours and overgrown with wool. In the fairy tale “The Bear in the Voivodeship”, the noble forest governors Toptygins dreamed of becoming famous, arranging bloodshed and tirelessly fighting against “internal adversaries”.

The second group of fairy tales includes those in which the downtrodden, submissive, but hardworking and good-natured Russian people are shown: “Konyaga”, “The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals”. (Since the tale “The Tale of How ...” deals with several social problems, insofar as it can be placed in different thematic groups.) The fairy tale “Konyaga” depicts a peasant horse with broken legs, with protruding ribs, which plows peasant land and feeds well-fed and smooth "waste dances". They proudly and contemptuously look at Konyaga, as if they do not understand that it is thanks to him that they can merrily prance and beautifully philosophize. In the fairy tale “The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals,” the generals, starving on a desert island, prayed for only one thing: that God would send them a man. And God took pity on them - the sent man turned out to be a fisherman, and a hunter, and a jack of all trades, because he even contrived to cook soup in a handful. The peasant, in addition to handicraft, had another important virtue: he was submissive to the will of the masters to the point that he himself twisted the rope with which they tied him up at night so that he would not run away.

The third group includes fairy tales where Saltykov-Shchedrin makes fun of Russian liberals: “Karas-idealist”, “Wise minnow” (there is also another spelling of the title of this tale - “Wise scribbler”). The writer satirically depicts beautiful-hearted liberals who are sure that the evil in the world can be corrected with beautiful words. The idealist crucian seriously preaches peace between pikes and crucian carp, urging predators to switch to herbal food. This sermon ends with the fact that the talkative idealist is swallowed by a pike, and mechanically: she was struck by the absurdity of the rantings of a small crucian. However, another position in life is ridiculed by the author - the position of the wise minnow. The purpose of his life was to survive at all costs. As a result, this sage managed to live to old age, but, constantly hiding in his mink, he became blind, deaf, more like a sea sponge than a living, nimble fish. Was it worth saving your life at all costs, if for many years it was essentially a vegetation, a meaningless existence?

The last group can be combined with fairy tales that depict the morality of modern society: “The conscience is gone”, “The Fool”. The protagonist of the last fairy tale is called by everyone around him in a quite fairy-tale way - Ivanushka the Fool: he rushes into the water to save a drowning child; plays with Lyovka, whom everyone around beats and scolds; gives the beggar all the money in the house, and so on. The irony of Saltykov-Shchedrin lies in the fact that the normal human actions of Ivanushka are perceived by others as stupid. This indicates that society itself is extremely corrupted.

Saltykov-Shchedrin created a special genre in Russian literature - a literary satirical fairy tale, in which traditional fairy tale fantasy is combined with realistic, topical political satire. According to the unpretentious plot, these tales are close to folk tales. The writer uses techniques from the poetics of a folk tale: the traditional beginning (once upon a time), sayings (at the behest of a pike, not in a fairy tale), transparent morality, which is easy to understand from the content. At the same time, the tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin differ significantly from folk tales. The satirist did not imitate folk tales, but on their basis he freely created his own, author's ones. Using the usual folklore images, the writer filled them with a new (socio-political) meaning, successfully inventing new expressive images (the wise gudgeon, the idealist crucian carp, the dried roach). Folklore tales (magic, everyday, zoological) usually express universal morality, show the struggle between good and evil forces, the obligatory victory of positive heroes due to their honesty, kindness, intelligence - Saltykov-Shchedrin writes political tales filled with content that is relevant for his time.

In Shchedrin's fairy tales, it is not good and evil that oppose each other, but two social forces - the people and their exploiters. The people act under the masks of kind and defenseless animals, and often without a mask - just like a man. The exploiters are represented as predators or simply as landowners, generals, and so on. In such fairy tales, primary attention is paid not to the personal, but to the social psychology of the characters. The writer deliberately avoids the "portrait" of the characters, but creates types, that is, satirically ridicules not individuals, but entire sections of society (highest officials of the state, stupid police officers, cowardly intelligentsia, unprincipled politicians, etc.).

The fantasy of Saltykov-Shchedrin is real, since it does not distort life phenomena; the transfer of human traits (psychological and social) to the animal world creates a comic effect, reveals the absurdity of the existing reality. For example, in the fairy tale “The Bear in the Voivodeship”, the author declares that large and serious atrocities are recorded on the tablets of history, and all the Toptygins wanted to “get on the tablets”. Such reasoning immediately makes it clear that we are not talking about bears, but about people.

Writing his fairy tales, Saltykov-Shchedrin, of course, took into account the artistic experience of I.A. Krylov and borrowed the “Aesopian language” and Russian zoological masks through the domestic fabulist, and also used the techniques of the literary satirical tale of Western Europe (for example, “The Tale of the Fox”) . At the same time, Shchedrin's fairy tales reflected a very original artistic world of images and pictures of Russian life in the last third of the 19th century.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the literary talent of Saltykov-Shchedrin manifested itself in satire, that is, in the depiction and merciless ridicule of social and human vices. Although the fate of the satirist is difficult, and his work is ungrateful (N.V. Gogol wrote about this in the author's digression from the poem "Dead Souls", ch. 7), Saltykov-Shchedrin believed that in modern Russian conditions it is a shame to leave real problems and " To sing the beauty of the valleys, the skies and the sea And to sing sweet affection ... ”(N.A. Nekrasov“ Poet and Citizen ”), However, in order to expose the negative aspects of life, an ideal is needed, in the name of which vices and shortcomings are ridiculed. The works of Saltykov-Shchedrin contain not only harsh, bleak pictures of modern reality (reality), but also love for Russia, faith in its future (ideal). The laughter of the satirist writer is merciless, but at the same time this laughter brings an optimistic feeling of moral victory over evil: “Nothing discourages vice so much as the consciousness that it has been guessed and that laughter has already been heard about it,” the author stated.

Saltykov-Shchedrin created a new genre in Russian literature - a political satirical tale "for children of a fair age." Fairy tales, written mainly in the last years of the writer's life, contain problems and images of the satirist's previous work. Consequently, they are for Saltykov-Shchedrin a kind of result of writing. The fairy tales reflected a characteristic feature of the author's creative manner - the combination of the artistic principle and topical journalism, it was not for nothing that the writer called himself a "historian of the present", "chronicler of the minute". In fairy tales, representatives of antagonistic classes act in direct and sharp clashes: peasant and generals, peasants and wild landowners, "forest peasants" and the governors Toptygins, crucian carp and pike, Konyaga and idle dancers. The cycle of fairy tales by Saltykov-Shchedrin is like a “social portrait of Russian society”, from the point of view of the author.

In fairy tales, Saltykov-Shchedrin demonstrated: the brilliant art of satire and "open" irony; techniques of hyperbole, fairy-tale fantasy and allegory; skill in creating bright, memorable images-symbols; taste for expressive, concise literary language - in a word, artistic perfection.

Introduction

Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin in his work chose the satirical principle of depicting reality with the help of elements of fantasy as a sure weapon. He became the successor of the traditions of D.I. Fonvizin, A.S. Griboyedov, N.V. Gogol in that he made satire his political weapon, fighting with it with the sharp questions of his time.

M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote more than 30 fairy tales. Appeal to this genre was natural for Saltykov-Shchedrin. Elements of fantasy permeate all the writer's work. In the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin, political problems are developed, topical issues are resolved. Defending the advanced ideals of his time, the author acted in his works as a defender of the people's interests. Having enriched folklore plots with new content, Saltykov-Shchedrin directed the genre of fairy tales to educate civic feelings and special respect for the people.

The purpose of the abstract is to study the role of fantasy elements in the works of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.

The originality of the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin

Saltykov-Shchedrin repeatedly refers to the fairy tale genre in his work: first in 1869, and then after 1881, when historical conditions (the assassination of the tsar) led to tightening of censorship.

Like many writers, Saltykov-Shchedrin uses the fairy tale genre to reveal the vices of man and society. Written for "children of a fair age," the fairy tales are a sharp criticism of the existing system and, in essence, serve as a weapon incriminating the Russian autocracy.

The themes of fairy tales are very diverse: the author not only opposes the vices of autocracy (“The Bear in the Voivodeship”, “Bogatyr”), but also denounces noble despotism (“The Wild Landowner”). The views of the liberals (“Karas-idealist”), as well as the indifference of officials (“Idle conversation”) and narrow-minded cowardice (“Wise gudgeon”) cause particular condemnation in the satirist.

However, there is a theme that, one might say, is present in many fairy tales - this is the theme of the oppressed people. In the fairy tales “How one man fed two generals”, “Konyaga” it sounds especially bright.

Themes and problems determine the variety of characters acting in these witty satirical works. These are stupid rulers, who strike with their ignorance and tyrant landowners, officials and townsfolk, merchants and peasants. Sometimes the characters are quite reliable, and we find in them the features of specific historical figures, and sometimes the images are allegorical and allegorical.

Using the folklore and fairy-tale form, the satirist covers the most pressing issues of Russian life, acts as a defender of popular interests and advanced ideas.

The tale “The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals” stands out from all of them with its special dynamism, variability of the plot. The writer uses a fantastic trick - the generals, as if "at the behest of a pike", are transferred to a desert island, and here the writer, with his characteristic irony, demonstrates to us the complete helplessness of officials and their inability to act.

“The generals served all their lives in some kind of registry; there they were born, brought up and grew old, therefore, they did not understand anything. They didn't even know the words." Due to their stupidity and narrow-mindedness, they almost starved to death. But a man comes to their aid, who is a master of all trades: he can hunt and cook food. The image of a “hefty man” in this tale personifies both the strength and weakness of the Russian people. Skill, his extraordinary abilities are combined in this image with humility, class passivity (the man himself weaves a rope to be tied to a tree at night). Having gathered ripe apples for the generals, he takes sour, unripe ones for himself, and he was also glad that the generals "praised him, a parasite, and did not disdain him for peasant labor."

The tale of two generals suggests that the people, according to Saltykov-Shchedrin, are the backbone of the state, they are the creator of material and spiritual values.

The theme of the people is developed in another fairy tale by Saltykov-Shchedrin - “Konyaga”, which was created in 1885. In style, it differs from others in the absence of action.

This tale is called the strongest work in the series dedicated to the plight of the Russian peasantry. The image of a horse-worker is collective. He personifies the entire forced laboring people, it reflects the tragedy of millions of peasants, this enormous force, enslaved and disenfranchised.

In this tale, the theme of the obedience of the people, their wordlessness and lack of desire to fight also sounds. Konyaga, “tortured, beaten, narrow-chested, with protruding ribs and burned shoulders, with broken legs” - such a portrait is created by the author, who mourns for the unenviable fate of a disenfranchised people. Reflections on the future, the fate of the people are painful, but filled with selfless love.

In the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin, with the help of Aesopian language, elements of fantasy, folklore traditions and satirical devices, various themes sound.

What brings the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin closer to folk tales? Typical fairy tale beginnings ("Once upon a time there were two generals ...", "In a certain kingdom, in a certain state there lived a landowner ..."; sayings ("at the command of a pike", "neither in a fairy tale to say, nor to describe with a pen" ); turnarounds characteristic of folk speech (“thought and thought”, “said - done”); syntax, vocabulary, orthoepy close to the folk language. Exaggerations, grotesque, hyperbole: one of the generals eats another; “wild landowner”, as a cat climbs a tree in an instant, a man cooks a handful of soup.As in folk tales, a miraculous incident sets up a plot: by the grace of God, "there was no peasant in the entire space of the possessions of a stupid landowner." The folk tradition of Saltykov-Shchedrin follows in fairy tales about animals, when in allegorical form he ridicules the shortcomings of society.

Difference: the interweaving of the fantastic with the real and even historically reliable. “The Bear in the Voivodship”: among the characters - animals, the image of Magnitsky, a famous reactionary in Russian history, suddenly appears: even before Toptygin appeared in the forest, all printing houses were destroyed by Magnitsky, students were given into soldiers, academicians were imprisoned. In the fairy tale "The Wild Landowner" the hero gradually degrades, turning into an animal. The incredible story of the hero is largely due to the fact that he read the Vesti newspaper and followed its advice. Saltykov-Shchedrin simultaneously respects the form of a folk tale and destroys it. The magic in the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin is explained by the real, the reader cannot escape reality, which is constantly felt behind the images of animals, fantastic events. Fairy-tale forms allowed Saltykov-Shchedrin to present ideas close to him in a new way, to show or ridicule social shortcomings.

“The wise minnow” is an image of a frightened inhabitant to death, who “protects everything only his hateful life.” Can the slogan "survive and the pike not get into hailo" be the meaning of life for a person?

The theme of the tale is connected with the defeat of the Narodnaya Volya, when many representatives of the intelligentsia, frightened, withdrew from public affairs. A type of coward is created, miserable, unhappy. These people did no harm to anyone, but lived their lives aimlessly, without impulses. This tale is about the civil position of a person and about the meaning of human life. In general, the author appears in the tale in two faces at once: a folk narrator, a simpleton joker and at the same time a person wise by life experience, a writer-thinker, a citizen. In the description of the life of the animal kingdom, with its inherent details, details of the real life of people are interspersed. The language of the fairy tale combines fabulous words and phrases, the spoken language of the third estate and the journalistic language of that time.

Democratic literature of the second half of the 19th century sought to awaken a civic conscience in Russian society, influencing the poetic “word of denial” or the edge of political satire. But M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin was able to speak with the public most convincingly in Aesopian language.

“Tales” by Saltykov-Shchedrin are political fairy tales. “Tales” is the result of many years of life observations, the result of the entire creative path of the writer. They intertwine the fantastic and the real, the comic with the tragic. The writer widely uses the grotesque, hyperbole in his works, and the amazing art of Aesopian language is manifested. Images taken from Russian folk tales appear, while various political motives are also introduced into the world of fairy tales. With the help of familiar fairy tale plots and heroes, Shchedrin reveals the complex problems of our time, and fantasy in fairy tales reflects the spirit of the time. Next to the traditional characters, new images appear: the wise scribbler, the idealist crucian carp, the dried roach. With their help, the writer ridicules all kinds of opportunism, unrealizable hopes that are dictated by the instinct of self-preservation or naivety. Especially mercilessly he showed the liberals. Animals, fish, birds conduct scientific disputes, preach, judge others.

The fairy tale “How one man fed two generals” has long been called a textbook. Everything seems to be clear here. But this is only apparent simplicity. Yes, of course, we are talking about generals who are not adapted to anything: they cannot even feed themselves (and how much game, fish nearby - just reach out your hand), and cannot determine parts of the world. Worthlessness, on the one hand, and passionate contempt for the common man, on the other, are well expressed by such artistic devices as satire and sarcasm. Satire is easily discerned in the stupidity of the generals, who are sure that they must be fed, that “buns will be born in the same form as they are served with coffee in the morning.” Chance brought them together with a man. What a hidden irony: “... the biggest man was sleeping...”, sleeping, “avoiding work”. And so the weak and fat generals forced such a powerful man to work for them. A feature of the style of this tale is caustic sarcasm: a craftsman fed the generals, but not somehow - he caught a hazel grouse for the generals who almost ate each other.

A man, a huge "man", having fed the generals with apples, takes one for himself, and sour. Later, he resignedly prepares a rope at the request of the generals, and with the same rope “the generals tied the man to a tree so as not to run away ...”. Then this “parasite” (as the generals called him) built a ship and delivered his formidable passengers to Podyacheskaya (in St. Petersburg). They “did not forget about the peasant, sent him a glass of vodka and a nickel of silver: have fun, man.” Saltykov-Shchedrin ridicules both the masters and the people. Elements of fantasy are used here (sudden transfer to a desert island), and sarcasm - an evil, accusatory laugh.

Saltykov-Shchedrin is a master of subtle, hidden irony. In the fight against censorship, he used Aesopian language. Aesop's manner, according to the writer, is “a manner that reveals remarkable resourcefulness in the depiction of reservations, omissions, allegories and other deceptive means”

Saltykov-Shchedrin brought the language of allegories to perfection: he developed a whole system of expressions, epithets, metaphors.

The fairy tale "Karas-idealist" reveals the delusions of the Russian intelligentsia. Using Aesopian language, Shchedrin ridicules liberals who consider social evil to be a mere delusion of minds. It seems to the idealist carp that pikes are not deaf to good. He believes in achieving social harmony through moral regeneration, re-education of pikes. And now the crucian develops its socialist utopias in front of the pike. Twice he manages to talk with the predator, escaping with minor injuries. The third time the inevitable happens: the pike swallows the crucian, and it is important how she does it. The first question of an idealist crucian is: “What is virtue?” - makes the predator open its mouth in surprise, automatically draw water into itself, and with it also automatically swallow the crucian. With this detail, Saltykov-Shchedrin emphasizes that it is not a matter of “evil” and unreasonable pikes: the very nature of predators is such that they swallow carp involuntarily - they have a “tricky complexion”.

In an effort to satirically depict contemporary reality, Saltykov-Shchedrin used traditional images and plots of Russian fairy tales, various means of satirical allegory: allegory, grotesque, irony, alogism. All the variety of means of artistic depiction allowed the author to sharpen in his works the problems of contemporary society.

In the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin, his civic temperament was fully expressed, his belief in the possibility of morally healing and politically transforming Russian life. Saltykov-Shchedrin's satirical gift was revealed with the greatest fullness and power in his fairy tales "for children of a fair age."
For Saltykov-Shchedrin, the political meaning of a work of art is primary. In this, his position is consistent with Nekrasov's views on the appointment of the writer and the goals of creativity. The satirical tales of Saltykov-Shedrin are dedicated to exposing social "evil" (which is primarily carried by "gentlemen" - landowners, officials, merchants, and others). The author resorts to fairy tale fiction, but saturates it with the "zeitgeist", as a result of which traditional fairy-tale characters new, artistically rethought look.
The hare becomes “sensible” and even “selfless”, the wolf becomes “poor”, the ram becomes “unremembering”, the eagle becomes a “philanthropist”. -Shedrin, animals, birds and fish administer judgment and reprisal, conduct "scientific" discussions, preach, tremble...
Saltykov-Shchedrin brings together representatives of antagonistic forces, builds the narrative on sharp social contrasts. Thus, in The Tale of How One Men Feeded Two Generals, the Writer portrays two high-ranking officials who served all their lives in the registry, which was later eliminated "as unnecessary." The generals are incapable of anything, completely unadapted to life - they imagine that “rolls in the form they are served with coffee in the morning” and would be doomed to starvation if there were no peasant nearby.
The author uses the traditional fairy-tale beginning (“Once upon a time there were ...”), folklore (“...but at the behest of the pike, at my will”), combines the common language (“their pensions”, “started ... to act”) with clericalism (“Accept the assurance of my perfect respect and devotion”). The action begins thanks to fairy tale fiction: the generals are transferred to a desert island, where their worthlessness is discovered. The man is portrayed as a folklore good fellow, endowed not only with attractive human features (industriousness, resourcefulness, good-naturedness), but also with wonderful abilities (he cooks soup in a handful).
The subject of satirical denunciation in "The Tale ..." are, as in most other fairy tales, "gentlemen." Ridiculing the generals, the author exaggerates their negative traits - stupidity, ignorance of life, ingratitude, a tendency to empty chatter about "high" subjects (being on a desert island, the generals importantly think about what the Babylonian pandemonium is - a historical fact or allegory?). There is also a grotesque beginning in the image of the heroes. It is found in the scene where the generals, having despaired of finding food for themselves (although the surroundings are full of fruits, fish, and game), almost devoured each other. The caustic irony is clearly audible already at the beginning of the "Tale ...": "The generals served in some kind of registry ... therefore, they did not understand anything."
In the writer's tales, the people are always presented in the form of a hero suffering from injustice, but at the same time the only viable and active hero who does not understand his true capabilities. The author treats the peasant from The Tale with undisguised sympathy, at the end of the tale expresses his sympathy for the hero, telling how the generals, having returned to St. who saved them from starvation, they sent "a glass of vodka and a nickel of silver: have fun, man!"
However, the fact that the peasant is humiliated and deceived is also his fault: he voluntarily began to serve the generals and even agreed, but to their demand, to perform an absurd act - to twist a rope for himself. The author condemns the hero, but the condemnation in this case is much softer and expressed with a share of sympathetic and bitter irony. Using the example of a peasant who, out of habit, agreed to voluntary slavery (in a situation where no one could force him to do this), the satirist convinces the reader of the senselessness and inadmissibility of a compromise with the world of "masters".
The laughter of Saltykov-Shchedrin is inseparable from his understanding of the suffering of a man doomed to "stare his forehead at the wall and freeze in this position." By the fate of his fairy-tale characters, he tells his contemporaries that passive adaptation to the existing order of things leads to the moral degradation of society, which needs to change the "anciently established" order, when "wolves tear the skin from hares, and kites and owls pluck crows."

The Tale of the Golden Cockerel

Fairy tale as a genre of oral folk art.

Fairy tales are the oldest genre of oral folk art, a classic example of folklore. They teach a person to live, inspire optimism in him, affirm faith in the triumph of goodness and justice. Behind the fantastic nature of the fairy tale and fiction, real human relationships are hidden. Humanistic ideals, life-affirming pathos give fairy tales artistic persuasiveness and enhance their emotional impact on listeners.

Fairy tale is a general concept. The presence of certain genre features makes it possible to attribute this or that oral prose work to fairy tales. Belonging to the epic genus puts forward such features as narrative and plot. The tale is necessarily entertaining, unusual, with a clearly expressed idea of ​​the triumph of good over evil, truth over falsehood, life over death; all events in it are brought to an end, incompleteness and incompleteness are not characteristic of a fairy tale plot.

The main genre feature of a fairy tale is its purpose, what connects the fairy tale with the needs of the collective. “In Russian fairy tales that have come down to us in the recordsXVIII – XXcenturies, as well as in the fairy tales that exist now, the aesthetic function dominates. It is due to the special nature of fairy-tale fiction.1

Fiction is characteristic of all kinds of fairy tales of different peoples. The fact that the fairy tale does not claim the authenticity of its narration is emphasized by the favorite beginnings of oriental fairy tales: “Was it or not - three apples fell from the sky”, as well as the endings of Russian fairy tales: “The whole fairy tale - you can’t lie anymore” or German: “Who believed - the thaler will pay. This is also the reason for the transfer of the fairy-tale action to an indefinite "far away kingdom, far away state", the narrators' remarks emphasizing the "fabulousness" of what they are telling the story about, and, finally, the listeners' comments about the skill of the narrators: "this one will lie to you from three boxes", "known liar". “The underlined, conscious attitude towards fiction is the main feature of the fairy tale as a genre.

The educational function of a fairy tale is one of its genre features. Fairy-tale didacticism permeates the whole fairy-tale structure, achieving a special effect by sharply contrasting the positive and the negative. Moral and social truth always triumphs - this is the didactic conclusion that the tale clearly illustrates.2

The history of the emergence of fairy tales as a genre.

The historical roots of the Russian fairy tale are lost in hoary antiquity, each historical stage of the life of the Russian people is reflected in the fairy tale, making natural changes to it. The study of these changes, or rather, the generalization of these changes, makes it possible to speak about the specific process of the life of the Russian tale, that is, about its history.

Install accurately. When exactly the Russian fairy tale was defined as a genre, when exactly it began to live as a fairy tale, and not as a belief or tradition, is impossible.

The first mention of a Russian folk tale refers to Kievan Rus, but its origins are lost in time immemorial. As for feudal Rus, there is no doubt that fairy tales, in our understanding, were one of the most widespread genres of oral folk art in Kievan Rus. Monuments of ancient Russian literature have preserved enough references to storytellers and fairy tales to be sure of this.

The earliest information about Russian fairy tales refers toⅩⅡ century. In the lesson “The Word of the Rich and the Poor,” in the description of a rich man’s going to bed, among the servants around him who amuse him in different ways, those who “bull and blaspheme” are indignantly mentioned, that is, they tell him tales to come to sleep. This first mention of the fairy tale fully reflected the contradictory attitude towards it that we have been observing in Russian society for many centuries. On the one hand, a fairy tale is a favorite revelation of fun, it has access to all strata of society, on the other hand, it is stigmatized and persecuted as something demonic, not permissible, shaking the foundations of ancient Russian life. So, Cyril of Turovsky, listing the types of sins, also mentions the playing of fables; Metropolitan Photius at the beginningⅩⅤ for centuries he conjures his flock to refrain from listening to fables; royal decreesⅩⅦ centuries, they speak disapprovingly of those who destroy their souls by saying that "he tells unheard-of fairy tales."

All this gives us reason to believe that in ancient Rus' the fairy tale has already stood out as a genre from oral prose, demarcated from tradition, legend and myth. Its genre features - “an orientation towards fiction and entertaining functions are equally recognized by both its bearers and persecutors. Already in Ancient Rus' they -<сказки небывалые>and it is precisely as such that they continue to live in the popular repertoire in subsequent centuries.

Tales that throughoutⅩⅡ - ⅩⅦ centuries Russian people told, they do not mechanically repeat versions that came from ancient times or plots brought from a foreign land, on the contrary, the Russian fairy tale vividly responded to the events of modern life. Tales about Ivan the Terrible speak of pronounced anti-boyar tendencies and, at the same time, the illusions of the people. The tale of the chicken and the fox expresses the anti-clerical sentiments of that time.

"The Inner World of Man"ⅩⅧ century, his public face, political sympathies are revealed in a fairy tale that castigates evil, untruth, injustice, hypocrisy, in a fairy tale that calls for truth and goodness, expressing people's ideals and dreams.

Researchers about the fairy tale and its genre features.

Researching a fairy tale, scientists defined its meaning and features in different ways. Some of them, with absolute obviousness, sought to characterize fairy tale fiction as independent of reality, while others wanted to understand how the attitude of folk storytellers to the surrounding reality was refracted in the fantasy of fairy tales. Should we consider any fantastic story as a fairy tale in general, or should we single out other types of it in oral folk prose - non-fairy prose? How to understand fantastic fiction, without which none of the fairy tales can do? These are the problems that have long worried researchers.

A number of researchers of folklore called everything that “affected” a fairy tale. So, Academician Yu.M. Sokolov wrote; "Under the folk tale in the broadest sense of the word, we mean an oral-poetic story of a fantastic, adventurous or everyday nature." The scientist's brother, Professor B.Yu. Sokolov, also believed that any oral story should be called a fairy tale. Both researchers argued that fairy tales include a number of special genres and types, and that each of them can be considered separately.

Yu.M. Sokolov considered it necessary to list all varieties of fairy tales, and B.M. Sokolov pointed out their amusements.

An attempt to distinguish a fairy tale from other genres of folklore was made more than a hundred years ago by K.S. Aksakov. Speaking about the difference between fairy tales and epics, he wrote: “Between fairy tales and songs, in our opinion, there is a sharp line. Fairy tale and song are different from the beginning. This distinction has been established by the people themselves, and it is best for us to accept directly the division which they have made in their literature. A fairy tale is a fold (fiction), and a song is a true story, the people say, and its words have a deep meaning, which is explained as soon as we pay attention to the song and the fairy tale.

Fiction, according to Aksakov, influenced both the depiction of the scene in them and the characters of the characters. Aksakov clarified his understanding of the tale with the following judgments:<<В сказке очень сознательно рассказчик нарушает все пределы времени и пространства, говорит о тридесятом царстве,о небывалых странах и всяких диковинках>>. Aksakov believed that the most characteristic of fairy tales is fiction, moreover, conscious fiction. The well-known folklorist A.N. Afanasiev.<< Сказка- складка, песня- быль, говорила старая пословица, стараясь провести резкую грантцу между эпосом сказочным и эпосом историческим. Извращая действительный смысл этой пословицы, поинимали сказку за чистую ложь, за поэттческий обман,имеющий единою целью занять свободный достуг небывалыми и невозможными вымыслами. Несостоятельность такого воззрения уже давно бросалась в глаза>>, - wrote this scientist. Afanasiev did not allow the idea that<<пустая складка>> could be preserved by the people for a number of centuries and over the vast expanse of the country, holding and repeating<< один и то жк представления>>. He concluded:<< нет, сказка- не пустая складка, в ней как и вообще во всех созданиях целого народа, не могло быть, и в самом деле нет ни нарочно сочиненённой лжи, ни намеренного уклоднения от действительного понимания сказки.

The sign accepted by Aksakov as significant for fairy tale narration was, with some clarifications, the basis for the definition of a fairy tale proposed by the Soviet folklorist A.I. Nikiforov. Nikiforov wrote:<< сказки - это устные рассказы, бытовом смысле события (фантастические, чудесные или житейские) и отличающиеся специальным композиционно - стилистическим построением>>. Explaining the meaning of his definition, Nikiforov pointed to three essential features of a fairy tale: the first feature of a modern fairy tale is the goal setting for the entertainment of listeners, the second feature is an unusual content in everyday life, and finally, the third important feature of a fairy tale is a special form of its construction.

The famous Soviet fairy tale expert E.Yu. Pomerantseva accepted this point of view:<<народная сказка (или казка, байка, побасенка) - эпическое устное художественное про изведение, преимущественно прозаическое, волшебного, авантюрного или бытового характера с установкой на вымысел. Последний признае отличает сказку от других жанров устной прозы: сказка, предания и былички, то есть от рассказов, преподносимых рассказчиком слушателям как повествование о действительно имевших место событиях, как бы маловероятны и фантанстичны они иногда ни были>>.

The dictionary of literary terms gives the following definition of a fairy tale as a genre: A fairy tale is one of the main genres of folk oral and poetic creativity.<<Сказка - преимушественно прозаический художественный устный рассказ фантастического, авантюрного или быового характкра с установкой на вымысел. Термином <<Сказка>> name various types of oral prose: stories about animals, fairy tales, adventurous stories, satirical anecdotes. Hence the discrepancy in the definition of specific genre features of the fairy tale>>.

Traditionally, there are three types of fairy tales:

Magic;

household;

Animal story.

Each of these types has its own characteristics.

Genre originality of fairy tales.

Consider the genre originality of each of the types of fairy tales.

Magic tales.

The task of the genre is to arouse admiration for a good hero and condemn the villain, to express confidence in the triumph of good.

By type of conflict, fairy tales are:

Heroic: the hero fights with magical power;

Social class: the hero is fighting with the master, with the king;

Family (pedagogical): the conflict occurs in the family or the tale is moralizing.

Heroes are divided into: intercessors, villains, sufferers, helpers.

Common features of fairy tales:

The presence of obvious fantasy, magic, miracle (magical characters and objects);

Encounter with magical forces;

Complicated composition;

An extended set of visual and expressive means;

The description dominates the dialog;

Multiple episodes (a fairy tale covers a fairly long period of the hero's life).

Examples of fairy tales are:<<Царевна-лягушка>>, <<Крошечка волке>> and others.

household tales.

The task of the genre: to ridicule the bad traits of a person's character, to express joyful surprise with intelligence and resourcefulness.

Household tales are divided into the following types:

Aekdotic;

Satirical anti-bar, anti-royal, anti-religious;

Tales - competitions;

Fairy tales are ridicule;

General features:

It is based on an extraordinary incident within the framework of real human relations (fiction is practically absent);

There is a wonderful assumption, based on, for example, hyperbole:

The hero is so cunning that he can outwit everyone in the world and go unpunished;

Instead of magic, wit is used;

Realism is conditional (real life conflicts receive an extraordinary fabulous resolution);

The acting characters are antagonists;

The goodie is an ironic lucky guy;

The semantic emphasis falls on the denouement;

Widespread use of the dialosha;

Abundance of verbs.

Geron: ordinary people (priest, soldier, man, woman, king, gentleman).

Examples of everyday fairy tales are:<<Каша из топора>>, <<как мужик с барином обедал>>, <<Кому горшок мыть>> and others.

Tales about animals.

The task of the genre: to ridicule bad character traits, actions, to arouse compassion for the weak, offended.

By conflict, animal tales depict:

The struggle of predators among themselves;

The struggle of a weak beast with a predator;

The fight between man and beast.

Heroes: animals (features of animals and conditionally human).

Special subgroups:

Tales of fox trickery;

Cumulative (chain tales).

General features:

The specific composition of the characters (fairy-tale images - traditional types: the fox is cunning, the wolf is stupid):

Anthropomorphism (transfer of mental properties inherent in man and qualities of character to animals);

Conflicts reflect people's real life relationships;

Lightweight composition;

A narrowed set of visual and expressive means;

Extensive use of dialogues;

Abundance of verbs;

Small episodes, speed;

Introduction of small folklore forms.

Examples of fairy tales about animals are:<<Кот, Петух и Лиса>>, <<Лисичка-сестричка и Волк>>,<<Лиса, Заяц и Петух>> ,<<Лиса и Тетерев>> and others.

Thus, we have examined the features of each of the three types of folklore tales.

The traditions of fairy tales as a genre of oral folk did not allow mixing types of fairy tales.