Fairy Tale Structures in Contemporary International Children’s and Young Adult Literature
The article delves into the role of content and structural elements of fairy tales in shaping the discours and histoire levels of contemporary children’s and young adult literature. Central to the analysis is the proposition that the structural motifs identified by Vladimir Propp in his foundational monograph Morphology of the Fairy Tale persist within contemporary renditions of the genre, albeit adapted to reflect modern narrative innovations and aesthetic sensibilities. For instance, Uticha Marmon’s Frieda, Nikki und die Grenzkuh exemplifies a synthesis of traditional fairy tale components with the stylistic and thematic features of crime fiction. This hybridization is articulated through the dynamics of suspense, curiosity, and surprise, which resonate with the archetypal tripartite schema of fairy tales – home – adventure – homecoming – while recontextualizing these elements within the frameworks of contemporary storytelling. Parallel narrative architectures are discernible in Saša Stanišić’s psychological young adult novel, Wolf, and Hannah Gold’s adventure novel, The Lost Whale. These works collectively underscore the inadequacy of traditional Proppian schemata to fully capture the intricacy and multidimensionality of contemporary children’s and young adult literature. The article thus argues for the modification of Propp’s frameworks to accommodate the increasingly complex narrative strategies and genre hybridity characterizing modern literary productions for children and young adults. Employing a close-reading methodology, the analysis focuses on the aforementioned works by Marmon, Stanišić, and Gold, chosen for their illustrative exemplification of the intersection between canonical fairy tale structures and contemporary narrative innovations.
Märchenstrukturen in der gegenwärtigen internationalen Kinder- und Jugendliteratur
Der Beitrag untersucht die Rolle von inhaltlichen und strukturellen Märchenelementen für die Konstruktion der Diskurs- und der Handlungsebene in der gegenwärtigen internationalen Kinder und Jugendliteratur. Konkret wird die These aufgestellt, dass sich in der gegenwärtigen Kinder und Jugendliteratur die strukturellen Elemente, wie diese von Vladimir Propp in seiner Monografie Morphologie des Märchens herausgearbeitet wurden, identifizieren lassen. So kombiniert Uticha Marmon in ihrem zuletzt publizierten Kinderbuch Frieda, Nikki und die Grenzkuh prototypische Konstituenten eines Märchens mit den Elementen der Verbrecherdichtung. Die Korrelation der Bedrohungsspannung (suspense), der Rätselspannung (curiosity) sowie der Überraschungsstruktur (surprise) mit der für Märchen üblichen trichotomen Struktur (home – adventure – homecoming) prägt dieses Werk und ist partiell auch auf die kinder- und jugendliterarischen Texte der Gegenwart transferierbar. Ähnlich strukturiert sind der psychologische Roman für Jugendliche Wolf von Saša Stanišić sowie der kulturökologische Abenteuerroman Der verschwundene Wal von Hannah Gold. Diese nicht singuläre Beobachtung prädisponiert die These, dass die bestehenden Märchen Schemata Propp’scher Provenienz aufgrund der sich komplizierenden Ästhetik der gegenwärtigen kinder- und jugendliterarischen Texte einer Modifikation bedürfen. An den erwähnten Texten von Uticha Marmon, Saša Stanišić und Hannah Gold sollen diese Annahmen verifiziert werden. Die Auswahl der Texte bemisst sich nach ihrem exemplarischen Charakter. Die ausgewählten Kinder- und Jugendbücher werden unter Rückgriff auf die Methode des close-reading analysiert.
The article delves into the role of content and structural elements of fairy tales in shaping the discours and histoire levels of contemporary children’s and young adult literature.
At its core, the analysis argues that the structural motifs articulated by Vladimir Propp in his seminal work Morphology of the Fairy Tale (1928) continue to exert influence on modern iterations of the genre, albeit modified to reflect contemporary aesthetic sensibilities and narrative innovations. For example, Uticha Marmon’s Frieda, Nikki und die Grenzkuh (2024) represents a hybridization of classical fairy tale elements with crime fiction, effectively blending traditional archetypes with the suspense, curiosity, and surprise characteristic of modern storytelling. This synthesis retains the tripartite structure – home – adventure homecoming – foundational to fairy tales while embedding it within contemporary narrative frameworks.
Similar structural configurations can be observed in Saša Stanišić’s psychological young adult novel, Wolf (2023), and Hannah Gold’s adventure The Lost Whale (2022). These texts highlight the limitations of traditional Proppian schemata in encapsulating the multifaceted and genre-spanning narratives that define contemporary children’s and young adult literature. The article posits that these classical frameworks require adaptation to address the complex interplay of thematic and structural elements that characterize modern works for children and young adults.
Through close-reading analysis, the selected texts by Marmon, Stanišić, and Gold exemplify the interaction between canonical fairy tale structures and contemporary innovations, offering insights into the evolving narrative dynamics of children’s and young adult literature. The study underscores how these texts engage with and expand upon traditional fairy tale morphologies, blending familiar elements with novel narrative strategies to create works that resonate with modern audiences.
The findings can be succinctly summarized as follows: Reducing contemporary children’s and young adult literature to traditional fairy tale frameworks oversimplifies their narrative intricacies and diminishes their unique contributions. Romantic or magical fairy tales, in particular, reject rationality, using the environment as a projection of the protagonist’s inner world. This mode of representation, pervasive or episodic, often incorporates explorations of psychological depth. In contrast, contemporary literature retains the tripartite structure common to fairy tales and initiation novels but diversifies these frameworks with enhanced mechanisms of suspense and complexity.
This expansion necessitates a reevaluation of traditional fairy tale morphologies. While suspense is intrinsic to many literary fairy tales, particularly in their adventure-centric phases, its application remains limited. Classical fairy tales frequently employ non-diegetic narrator to elicit empathy for central characters, leveraging onomastics, situational design (situation-mediated empathy), or aesthetic descriptions (expression-mediated empathy). These strategies, foundational to fairy tales, are also integral to the narrative techniques of contemporary children’s and young adult literature.
However, curiosity-driven tension and its fusion with mystery appear less frequently in traditional fairy tales. Even when characters are tasked with solving riddles, crime rarely serves as a focal point. In contrast, crime narratives now occupy a celebrated position in children’s and young adult literature, captivating readers by merging the structural principles of crime fiction with fairy tale elements. These hybrid narratives exemplify the reimagining of traditional frameworks to address modern storytelling demands and appeal to contemporary audiences.
The oscillation between realism and fairy tale motifs in contemporary children’s and young adult literature facilitates engagement with socially significant issues such as environmental sustainability, bullying, and the futility of armed conflict. This duality aligns with the ethos of fairy tales, particularly in their shared emphasis on hopeful resolutions. Contemporary works, like their traditional counterparts, often portray an unwavering faith in the miraculous and the restoration of justice, culminating in satisfying resolutions for characters who surmount their trials.
This alignment with docere (to teach), intrinsically linked to movere (to agitate/to move emotionally), underscores the transparency and clarity of contemporary narratives. However, this pedagogical orientation often results in a degree of narrative one-dimensionality, emphasizing moral instruction and emotional engagement. These characteristics are also prevalent in fairy tales adapted for children, where didactic and emotional elements converge to create stories that are both captivating and instructive. The enduring interplay between contemporary children’s and young adult literature and traditional fairy tale frameworks reaffirms the vitality of this genre in addressing timeless and contemporary themes alike.
