Mythical Creatures and Fairy Tales Heroes in the New Type of Story Books between 1948-1956 Cover Image

Mitikus lények és mesehősök államosítása Népmese, meseátdolgozás, műköltészeti mese – meseviták az 1940-es évek végén és az 1950-es évek első felében
Mythical Creatures and Fairy Tales Heroes in the New Type of Story Books between 1948-1956

Author(s): Erika Tekei
Subject(s): Anthropology
Published by: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület
Keywords: book-related debates; socialism; folk tales; the new type of story books

Summary/Abstract: In this article I discuss some book-related debates which took place in the first decade of the second period of the Hungarian ethnographic book publishing in Romania (1948-1989), in well defined historical, political and intellectual contexts, the years of socialism and communism. The book’s scientific and professional reception can be followed in the argumentative press articles, reviews and critiques published in the literary periodicals Utunk (Our Way) and Igaz Szó (True Word) during 1948-1956. The controversy was between ethnographers, scientific researchers, writers, poets and editors. I analysed the texts using critical discourse analysis methods. According to my analysis the new type of story books, were meant to become the tools of the so called educational revolution, cultural revolution as well as means of constructing, anthropologically forming the new socialist man as well as means of education in community. The reason behind rewriting folk tales and creating a new type of written „false” fairy tales in this period was to raise awareness of the working class, to depict the fight of the exploited against their exploiters all in all to form of the new community member. One of the doable ways according to Soviet pattern, seemed to be blending folklore with literature, using traditional folk motifs in a creative way and developing them according to their aims.

  • Issue Year: LXXVII/2015
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 1-17
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: Hungarian