6.Vladmir Propp

Vladimir Propp
Vladimir Propp in 1928.
Born	17 April 1895 St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died	August 22, 1970 (aged 75) Leningrad, USSR
Occupation	Literary critic, scholar
Nationality	Russian
Subjects	Folk tales, structuralism

Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp (Russian:  29 April [O.S. 17 April] 1895 — 22 August 1970) was a Russian and Soviet formalist .


Research says that vladimir Propp was a russian and soviet formalist scholar who analysed basic plot compoments of Russian " Folk Tales " to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements. He extended his formalist approach by studing the narrative structure.The Formalist approach structures were broken down into analyzable elements by breaking down a large number of Russian folk tales into their smallest narrative units. He was a Russian critic who examined 100s of examples of folk tales to see if they shared. any structures. His book on this 'Morphology of the Folk Tale' was first published in 1928) Propp looked at 100s of folk tales and identified 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions.
His eight characters were
1. The villain(s)
2. The hero
3. The donor - who provides an object with some magic property.
4. The helper who aids the hero.
5. The princess (the sought for person) - reward for the hero and object of the
villain's schemes.
6. Her father - who rewards the hero.
7. The dispatcher - who sends the hero on his way.
8. The false hero


After the initial situation is depicted the story normally follows in one of the following 31 ways ( i shall not list all)

-ABSENTATION: A member of a family leaves the security of the home environment. This may be the hero or some other member of the family that the hero will later need to rescue. This division of the cohesive family injects initial tension into the storyline. The hero may also be introduced here, often being shown as an -ordinary person.
-INTERDICTION: An interdiction is addressed to the hero ('don't go there', 'don't do this'). The hero is warned against some action (given an 'interdiction').
-VIOLATION of INTERDICTION. The interdiction is violated (villain enters the tale). This generally proves to be a bad move and the villain enters the story, although not necessarily confronting the hero. Perhaps they are just a lurking presence or perhaps they attack the family whilst the hero is away.
-RECONNAISSANCE: The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance (either villain tries to find the children/jewels etc.; or intended victim questions the villain). The villain (often in disguise) makes an active attempt at seeking information, for example searching for something valuable or trying to actively capture someone. They may speak with a member of the family who innocently divulges information. They may also seek to meet the hero, perhaps knowing already the hero is special in some way.