Russian Secret Tales ~ Bawdy Folktales of Old Russia

Description

18+ // WARNING // EROTIC FOLKLORE // The unprintable folktales of Aleksandr Afanasev.

Alexander Afanasyev was a Russian folklorist that gathered and published one of Russia’s most significant folktale collections in the 19th Century. Consisting of over 600 folk and fairy tales, this collection is the largest ever gathered by a single man in the world and has earned Afanasyev the reputation as the Russian counterpart to the Brothers Grimm. Though some of the tales have gained significant notoriety, even in the West, one portion of his collection remains in relative obscurity: his “Народные русские сказки не для печати”(“Folk Russian Tales: Not for Print”). These forbidden Russian fairy tales, while dealing with subject matter that isn’t suitable for children, still contain motifs and origins that link them to the fairy tales that are more suitable for public consumption. It is not clear that Afanasyev ever intended these naughtier tales to be published, and the circumstances of their early print history remain a haze.

Though the forbidden tales, originally mistranslated as “secret” tales, contain much that is shocking, obscene, and rude, they nevertheless remain an invaluable resource to folklorists and others that enjoy the study of cultures. After all, though content of a more “acceptable” sensibility often makes it into the history books, that doesn’t mean that it’s a fully accurate portrayal of the society that it came from. The forbidden tales recorded by Afanasyev offer a unique glimpse into informal peasant life in 19th Century Russia.

Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev (1826-1871) was the leading Russian folklorist of his time. Between 1855 and 1866, he is often referred to as the Russian equivalent of the brothers Grimm, combed the collections of the Russian Geographical Society for 640 folktales, which were published in eight instalments between 1855 and 1866. This is a remarkable compilation of erotic folktales and one of the pioneering classic nineteenth-century.

Hardcover – Vintage