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A Note on the Commentaries
- Jewish Publication Society
- Chapter
- Additional Information
A Note on the Commentaries When full information is available, each note consists of five sections: basic information; discussion of cultural, historical, or literary background ; list of narrative analogues; folktale types; and folklore motifs. Basic information includes the tale title, archival number, and names of its narrator and collector (recorder), as well as the time and place of its narration. The “Israel Place List (1970)” in the Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 1, 169–91, serves as a spelling guide for the names of villages and towns in Israel. The spelling of names of countries and cities outside Israel follows standard English usage. The section on cultural, historical, or literary background of the tale draws upon scholarship in relevant disciplines. Many of the texts cited are in Hebrew. However, modern Hebrew books and articles often have a title page or an overleaf in English translation. In these cases, the English or any other European language title is listed in the notes and the bibliography , with an indication in brackets that the text is in Hebrew. The book title appears in transliteration followed by translation in parenthesis when no title in a European language is available. The next section lists narrative analogues that are available in the IFA, listing the archival number, title, and country of origin of each parallel version. The fourth and fifth sections, on folktale types and folklore motifs, offer research tools for comparative analysis. “Tale type” is a principal concept in folktale theory and classification method. It designates narratives that have independent existence in tradition, even though storytellers may use them in combination with other tale types. Their coherent occurrence in tradition by themselves attests to their independence. Initially conceived by Johann Georg von Hahn (1811–1868) as “formula”1 and later translated into English and considered as “story radicals” by S. Baring-Gould,2 the concept of “tale type” was established in folktale studies in 1910 in A. Aarne’s Verzeichnis der Märchentypen (Types of the Folktale). The second (1928) and third (1961) editions of this book, revised by Stith Thompson, and the fourth (2004) edition, revised by Hans-Jörg Uther, made it an indispensable research tool.3 These indexes are the basic registrar of these types. xli Folklorists worldwide have prepared tale type indexes of their own folkliterary repertoires, modeled upon The Types of the Folktale with appropriate modifications.4 The listing in this section refers only to the published indexes of Jewish folktales, the unpublished IFA list of the modified or specific tale types unique to the Jewish narrative tradition, tale type indexes of other Near Eastern countries, and, if one is available, the tale type index of the narrator’s country of origin. While the present tale collection was in preparation, a new edition of The Types of the Folktale appeared as H. J. Uther, The Types of International Folktales. This edition is listed specifically when it includes a change in title or number from the original index. But the reader is advised to consult it, even in those cases when it is not mentioned, since the new edition includes a vastly expanded list of bibliographical references for each tale type. In contrast to the tale type, the folklore motif is the minimal narrative element that persists in tradition. The basic registrar of folklore motifs is S. Thompson’s Motif-Index of Folk-Literature. An asterisk next to a number indicates that this motif has been identified in the present collection of tales and has not been previously numbered.5 __________ Notes __________ 1. Griechische und albanesische Märchen, 1:45–64. 2. “Appendix: Household Tales.” 3. For selected informative and critical discussions of the concept, see Apo, “Tale Type”; Ashliman, Folk and Fairy Tales, 29–59; Georges, “The Universality of the TaleType ”; Jason, “The Russian Criticism of the ‘Finnish School’”; Jason, “Structural Analysis and the Concept of the ‘Tale-Type.’” 4. Azzolina, D.S. Tale Type and Motif-Indexes: An Annotated Bibliography. Garland Folklore Bibliographies 12. NewYork: Garland 1987. 5. For selected studies of the concept of motif in folklore and literature, see BenAmos , “The Concept of Motif in Folklore,” 17–36; Bremond, “A Critique of the Motif,” 125–146; Christensen, Motif et Theme; Courtes, Le Conte Populaire; 15–58; Daemmrich, “Themes and Motifs in Literature: Approaches—Trends—Definition,” 566–575; Dolezel, “Narrative Semantics and Motif Theory,” 47–53; Dundes, “From Etic to Emic Units in the Structural Study of Folktales,” 95–105; Grambo, “The Conceptions of Variant and Motif,” 243–256...