Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2015

The Fairytale and Plot Structure

Palgrave Macmillan

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
  2. The Origins of Plot Analysis

    • Terence Patrick Murphy
    Pages 1-12
  3. From Veselovskian Motif to Proppian Function

    • Terence Patrick Murphy
    Pages 29-33
  4. False and Real Sequences in Ashputtel

    • Terence Patrick Murphy
    Pages 51-64
  5. The Frog Prince: The Doubled Pivotal Eighth Function

    • Terence Patrick Murphy
    Pages 93-103
  6. Puss-in-Boots: The Character of the Angelic Double

    • Terence Patrick Murphy
    Pages 118-128
  7. Tom-Tit-Tot: The Character of the Diabolic Double

    • Terence Patrick Murphy
    Pages 129-140
  8. Jack and the Beanstalk: The Hero’s Journey

    • Terence Patrick Murphy
    Pages 141-149
  9. The Story of the Three Bears: A Very Short Fairytale

    • Terence Patrick Murphy
    Pages 157-160
  10. Conclusion

    • Terence Patrick Murphy
    Pages 161-176
  11. Back Matter

    Pages 177-204

About this book

This book offers a detailed exploration of the plot genotype, the functional structure behind the plots of classical fairy tales. By understanding how plot genotypes are used, the reader or creative writer will obtain a much better understanding of many other types of fiction, including short stories, dramatic texts and Hollywood screenplays.

Reviews

'Terence Patrick Murphy's book makes a fundamental contribution to narratology. By combining linguistics, philology, philosophy and folk studies, and thanks to a huge knowledge of the critical literature, Murphy thoroughly investigates the structure and the limits of Propp's major work. This book is recommended to everybody interested in the study of narrative and theory of literature.' Luciano Vitacolonna, University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy

'In this book, Professor Murphy challenges one of Vladimir Propp's central tenets that 31 action types constitute the vocabulary from which, in a canonical sequence, genuine tale plots can be composed. By comparing such sequences to genotypes, he offers a rich set of counterexamples which call for an unbiased reconsideration.' Sándor Darányi,

University of Borås, Sweden

Authors and Affiliations

  • Yonsei University, South Korea

    Terence Patrick Murphy

About the author

Terence Patrick Murphy is Full Professor of Rhetoric and Composition in the English Department at Yonsei University, South Korea. He was educated at the University of Toronto and Merton College, Oxford, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the history of the little magazine in England. He has published essays in such journals as the Journal of Narrative Theory; Narrative; Language and Literature and Style. His major research interest is the stylistics of short fiction and the semiotics of film screenplays

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access