TALES, TEXTS AND IMAGES: APPROACHES TO FOLKTALE ILLUSTRATIONS

Abstract

This essay thematizes issues around studying and analyzing book illustrations of folktales and folk wondertales. It surveys some of the most recent
and relevant studies of folktale illustration by international scholars with
the view of developing a systematic approach to the emergence of a large corpus of Russian folktale illustration since the rise of the illustrated folktale book in the late 19 th century in Russia. The specific focus of the survey is on approaches that are able to address the large amount and variety of illustration traditions of particular folk wondertales on the one hand, and the cultural and historical dynamics of the literary interpretation of the tale. To contrast these approaches from literature studies and art history, the essay also raises the perspective of folklore studies on book illustration. This raises important perspectives around the relation between tales, texts and images, that have yet remained muted or presupposed.

Keywords: folktales, illustration, iconography, Soviet iconography, Afanasjev, Grimm, folklore studies, defolklorization, ban on images, lubok