Fantastic Elements in the Construction of Characters in Fairy Tales of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić
Fantastic Elements in the Construction of Characters in Fairy Tales of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with elements of the fantastic in the corpus of fifteen fairy tales of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić gathered in the Collected Works edition (2011, vol. 3), and their interpretation on several levels. The fantastic elements help the writer construct characters that are related to pre-Christian Slavic mythology, as well as those characters in the shaping of which we can recognize the influence of the astro-mythological interpretation of the world where they are assigned the role of prophets or witnesses of fantastic events or transformations. These elements are particularly significant in creating marvellous, supernatural, imaginary characters that reflect the inner imaginative life of the writer. It is possible to interpret these unique characters through the prism of dreams and the subconscious, when they become witnesses of two closely interwoven inner worlds of the author: the public one, which derives from her cultural background and archetypal reflections of her education, and the intimate one, as an echo of her memories, anxieties, allusions and ideals.

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