Beauty and the Beast a la Russe.(Critical essay)

This essay demonstrates the relevance of combining the syntagmatic model of structural analysis discussed in Vladimir Propp's Morfologiia volshebnoi skazki (Morphology of the Folktale) with a symbolic analysis and information on the cultural context of versions of "Beauty and the Beast" (ATU 425C) as a unified methodological approach to the interpretation of Russian variants of this tale type. (1) My focus is on the morphological structure of the plot and the set of characters found in four Russian variants of tale type 425C. I also compare the main stylistic features of the Russian folktale variants with Sergei Aksakov's literary rendition of 425C, "Alen'kii tsvetochek" (The Crimson Flower). In order to illuminate the unique interaction between the oral and written narratives, the influence of eighteenth-century French literary tales of this tale type on Russian variants and on Aksakov's rendition is also discussed.

A structural analysis is imperative to this investigation, as it will allow for "establishing a set of specific and ordered elements which comprise the basis of any point-by-point comparison for each tale. The comparison of structures establishes precisely those features which the tales have in common and the manner in which they differ" (Edwards 160). A structural approach therefore isolates the elements of a tale in order to allow one to interpret them within the context of the tale and the implicit context of their relation to one another. Several prominent scholars have advocated for and demonstrated the value of combining structuralism, symbolism, and cultural context in the interpretation of folktales (see, for example, Alan Dundes's "From Etic to Emic Units in the Structural Study of Folktales"; "Structuralism and Folklore"; "The Symbolic Equivalence of Allomotifs in the Rabbit-Herd (AT 570)"; Bengt Holbek's Interpretation of Fairy Tales: Danish Folklore in a European Perspective; and Kimberly Lau's "Structure, Society, and Symbolism: Toward a Holistic Interpretation of Fairy Tales"). Most recently Lau has deemed this type of interpretation more "holistic" than either a uniquely syntagmatic approach or a unilateral paradigmatic approach (233). (2)

Although much has been written about "Beauty and the Beast," there is very little research conducted on the morphology of the tales belonging to this narrative type. Most of the existing research centers on either the history of the tale or on the individual stylistic differences of the variants (see, for example, Barchilon; Brewer; Hearne; and Read). In Beauty and the Beast Betsy Gould Hearne examines the history of the tale from its origin through the invention of mass media and to the present, but there is no mention about its morphology. In "Istochniki skazki S. T. Aksakova 'Alen'kii tsvetochek'" (Sources of S. T. Aksakov's folktale "The Crimson Flower"), Iu. K. Begunov, a Russian scholar who has carefully traced the history of Sergei Aksakov's literary version of "Beauty and the Beast," provides stylistic observations of several Russian variants of tale type 425C but does not examine the morphological structure of the plots, nor does he provide an analysis of the set of characters. Begunov's observations on the style of the texts therefore do not adequately present the relations among the texts.

I have selected the following folktales as material for investigation: Aleksandr Afanas'ev's "Zakliatyi tsarevich" (The Enchanted Prince), I. F. Kovalev's "Chudo morskoe-zver' lesnoi" (Wondrous Sea Monster-Forest Beast), M. M. Korguev's "Alen'koi tsvetochek" (The Crimson Flower), and A. Samokhvalova's "Alen'kii tsvetochek" (The Crimson Flower). (3) The analysis of Aksakov's story is based on the text of "The Crimson Flower" found in Detskie gody Bagrovavnuka (The Childhood Years of Bagrov's Grandson), published in 1858 (Aksakov 444). There is an English translation of the work by M. C. Beverley published in 1924 titled The Years of Childhood of Bagrov, the Grandson. (4) The material was examined using Vladimir Propp's Morphology of the Folktale in order to compare the morphological structure of the plots and of the system of dramatis personae of the variants in question. In addition, Max Luthi's The European Folktale: Form and Nature was used to examine the specific features of style and the continuity of motifs among the texts. Each of the five texts was distinct in its concreteness and style, as it reflected both the general characteristics of the genre as well as the individual preferences of the storytellers, writers, and collectors.

Geographical Distribution of Beauty and the Beast

A brief outline of the history and geographical distribution of Beauty and the Beast (ATU 425C) will aid in the understanding of the Russian tradition. Hans-Jorg Uther's The Types of International Folktales lists Beauty and the Beast under the subheading Supernatural or Enchanted Wife (Husband) or Other Relative, within sections 400 (Man on Quest for his Lost Wife) to 459 (The Make-Believe Son) (Uther 1: 231, 269). More precisely, the index lists the type Beauty and the Beast under number 425C (Uther 1: 252). This subtype of type 425 has the following specific characters and elements: a young daughter, a father, a beast who is transformed at the end into a handsome prince, a flower of unspeakable beauty, and a garden. The basic notion is that the object of the quest is the erotic relationship between a human and a nonhuman; the central motif is that of a girl enamored of a monster.

Uther's classification places Beauty and the Beast under the cycle of tales called The Search for the Lost Husband (Uther 1: 247). According to the Swedish folklorist Jan-Ojvind Swahn, type 425 is known through all of Europe, the Philippines, and Siberia, but subtype 425C is found only in eighteenth-century French literature and in later Russian, German, and Greek folklore (Swahn 296, 311). Swahn maintains that 425C developed from type 425B, and that the difference is that 425B lacks literariness (Swahn 309). Lev Barag and I. P. Berezovskii summarize the plot of "The Crimson Flower" in the following manner: "the youngest of three daughters asks her father to bring her a rare flower; he finds it; the owner of the garden--an enchanted prince in the form of a monster--makes the father exchange the flower for his daughter; after marrying, the monster turns into a handsome young man" (132).