Historical Roots of the Wondertale by Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp

Nearly seven decades after the English translation of Morphology of the Folktale, one of the most influential scholarly books on folklore, its sequel is finally available in an official English translation, completing the enterprise that occupied much of Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp’s life.

In Morphology of the Folktale, Propp approached these narratives synchronically, using structural analysis to identify the wondertale’s minimal units and deep structure. In Historical Roots of the Wondertale (Indiana University Press, 2025), he broadens and deepens his analysis, comparing folktale structures and content to rituals and customs of aboriginal societies from around the world and with people who were the first to envision religion and myth. Relying on both structural and historical-comparative methods, Propp sees the roots of the wondertale in rituals from earlier stages of human development, whose narratives were repurposed as their tellers settled into agricultural societies and ancient rituals were no longer practiced.

This book is translated by Miriam Shrager, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures at Indiana University; Sibelan Forrester, Professor of Russian at Swarthmore College; and Russell Scott Valentino, Professor and Chair of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures at Indiana University.

Historical Roots of the Wondertale is made freely available by Indiana University Press as an Open Access monograph.