On Tuesday, 20 November at 18:00, Marlene Mifsud Chircop is giving a public talk in Maltese on It-12-il Ħrafa tas-Seħer Maltin ta’ Stumme skont Propp u l-Funzjonijiet tal-Ħrafa in the Faculty of Arts Library of the University of Malta in Tal-Qroqq.
Hans Stumme (1864-1936) collected 37 Maltese folktales, 12 of which deal with magic. Meanwhile, Patri Manwel Magri SJ (1851-1907) and Bertha Ilg (1881-1965) were also collecting Maltese folktales, among which ones dealing with magic. In this presentation Mifsud Chircop will discuss folktales in classical literature, according to American Stith Thompson (1885-1976), the influence of Russian Vladimir Propp (1895-1970), who followed in Danish Axel Olrik’s footsteps, and others who studied folk narrative. For Propp, the functions of the folktale constitute the basic components of the structure of any folktale.
From the 12 magic folktales Stumme collected, the researcher will be giving examples of 31 functions Propp mentions. Then Mifsud Chircop will discuss what American Alan Dundes (1934-2005) says about Olrik’s epic laws of folkloristic narrative, about 15 and the super-organic concept of culture which explains why folklorists do not tolerate the psychological study of the folktale.
This talk is part of the Oral Tradition series, which is now in the third year, and is hosted by the Department of Maltese at the University of Malta. This event is open to everyone and entrance is free. This project is supported by the Research Grants Programme of the University of Malta and Klabb Kotba Maltin.