The Concept of HEROISM in Ukrainian Fairy Tales and Contemporary Oral Narratives of Ukrainian Military

• In Event: Historical and Contemporary Practices of Taboo Making and Taboo Breaking in Ukrainian and Mongolian Folklore

Abstract

Heroic narratives are an extremely common phenomenon in different eras and cultures. To a large extent, folk fairy tales reflect various ideas of folk creators on heroism. Manifestations of heroism in fairy tales can be distinguished on several levels: verbal (the protagonist shows phenomenal courage, which can be interpreted as heroism, through a speech act); action (the protagonist shows phenomenal bravery, which can be interpreted as heroism, in a competition with the antagonist). The action level has three subtypes: the hero wins by force (in a contact battle); the hero wins through a combination of strength and wit (in a contact battle); the hero wins due to intelligence (without contact combat). An analysis of the oral narratives of Ukrainian soldiers, obtained through interviews, shows that there are typological parallels with the fairy tales in terms of the manifestation of the concept of HEROISM.

Author

• Olesia Naumovska, Taras Shevchenko National U of Kyiv (Ukraine)