Propp Vladimir

Propp Vladimir (1895‒1970) – folklorist.

In 1914, after the Annenschule (school at the Lutheran Church of St Anne in St. Petersburg), he enrolled to the Historical and Philological Faculty of the Petrograd University, where he studied Russian and German Philology. He graduated from the university in 1918; during the WWI, on his own will, he passed through medical courses and worked as a sanitary at a military hospital in Petrograd.

In 1921, he started to study at the Petrograd Theological Institute, but soon left it. In 1918-1928, he worked as a teacher of Russian language and literature at the Third Teal school (it was transformed into 102 Joint Labour school), supervised pupils of the senior level. In 1926-1934, he taught German language in some high schools and technical colleges of Leningrad; he was Head of the Chair of Foreign Languages at the Plan Institute, and at the Chair of German Philology at the Second Leningrad Teachers-Training Institute of Foreign Languages.

In August 1930, he was arrested and stayed in prison for about a year; then, he got freedom.

Since 1932, he was Docent of the Chair of Roman and German Philology of the Leningrad State University. Since 1937, he was Docent of the Chair of Folklore. In 1938, he got the Candidate degree in Philology without defense. Since 1938, he was Professor of the Chair of Folklore. In 1939, he defended his Doctor thesis ‘Historical Roots of Fairy-Tale’.

During the WWII, together with other personnel of the Leningrad State University, he was in evacuation in Saratov. In 1944, with much difficulties, he got a permission to return to Leningrad.

In 1949-1952, he worked at the Chair of Ethnography and Anthropology at the Historical Faculty of the Leningrad State University. In 1963-1964, he was temporarily Head of the Chair of the History of Russian Literature; up to 1969, when he retired, he was Professor of the Chair of the History of Russian Literature.

He died in Leningrad on August 22, 1970, and was buries on the Northern Cemetery.

He founded the comparative typological method in folkloristic, and became one of the founders of the contemporary theory of text.

For religious studies his research of the typological similarity of archaic cultures and later cultural institutions, rites of passage, calendar rites, and ritual laugh are of special importance.

Compositions

Morphology of the Tale. Leningrad, Academia Publishing House, 1928. (in Rus.)
The Workbook in German for Economical High Schools and Technical Colleges (together with I. F. Weiert). Moscow – Leningrad, 1930. (in Rus.)
Oedipus in the Light of Folklore // Uchenye zapiski of the Leningrad State University. Ser. Of Philologival Studies. Iss.9, 1944, pp. 138-175. (in Rus.)
Historical Roots of Fairy-Tale. Leningrad State University, 1946. (in Rus.)
Russian Folk-Tales from А. N. Afanasiev / Introd., comm. V. Ya. Propp. Leningrad, Goslitizdat Publishing House, 1957. (in Rus.)
Russian Heroic Epos. Leningrad State University, 1955; 2nd publ., Moscow, 1958. (in Rus.)
Bylina, in 2 vol. / Introd., comm. V. Ya. Propp and B. N. Putilov. Leningrad, Goslitizdat Publishing House, 1958. (in Rus.)
North-Russian Folk Takes Fixed by А. N. Nikiforov / Introd., comm. V. Ya. Propp. Moscow – Leningrad, Ac. of Sc. of the U.S.S.R., 1961. (in Rus.)
Russian Agrarian Festivals: An Attempt of Historical and Ethnographical Research. Leningrad State University, 1963. (in Rus.)
Problems of Comedy and Laugh: Ritual Laugh in Folklore. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publishing House, 1976. (in Rus.)
Folklore and Reality: Sekected Articles / Introd., comm. B. N. Putilov. Moscow, Nauka Publishing House, 1989. (in Rus.)
Unknown V. Ya. Propp: Tree of Life. Diary of Oldness. Correspondence / Comp., introd. А. N. Martynova; comm. А. N. Martynova, N. А. Prozorova. St. Petersburg, Aleteia Publishing House, 2002. (in Rus.)

Bibliography

Bibliography of the Workd by V. Ya. Propp / Comp. B. N. Putilov // Typological Research on Folklore: Collection of Articles in the Memory of Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp (1895‒1970). Moscow, 1975, pp. 16‒25. (in Rus.)
Eremina V. I. The book by V. Ya. Propp ‘Historical Roots of Fairy-Tale’ and Its Significance for the Contemporary Research of Tales // Propp V. Ya. Historical Roots of Fairy-Tale. Leningrad, 1986, p. 5. (in Rus.)

About him

Berkov P. N. The Method of Research of Folk Creativity in the Works by V. Ya. Propp: by His 70th Anniversary // Vestnik of the Leningrad State University. Seria of Literature, Language and History. 1966, iss. 1, No 2. (in Rus.)
Meletinsky Е. М. Structural and Typological Studying of Fairy-Tales // Propp V. Ya. Morphology of the Tale. Moscow, 1969, pp. 134‒166. (in Rus.)
Typological Studying of Folklore: Collection of Articles in the Memory of V. Ya. Propp (1895‒1970). Moscow, 1975. (in Rus.)
Putilov B. N. Introduction // Folklore and Reality: Selected Articles. Moscow, 1976, pp. 7‒15. (in Rus.)
Chistov C. V. V. Ya. Propp ‒ Researcher of Fairy-Tale // Propp V. Ya. Russian Folk-Tale. Leningrad, 1984, pp. 3‒22. (in Rus.)
Putilov B. N. From Tale to Epic, on the Pages of the Creative Biography of Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp // Ezhekvartal’nik russkoi filologii i kul’tury. St. Petersburg, 1995, I. 3, pp. 351-370. (in Rus.)
Putilov B. N. Rereading and Reconsidering Propp // Zhivaya starina. 1995, No 3 (7), pp. 2‒6. (in Rus.)
Martynova А. N. Introduction to the Works by V. Ya. Propp // Poetic of Folklore. Propp V. Ya. Collection of Works. Vol. 1, Moscow, Labyrint Publishing House, 1998, pp. 5‒23. (in Rus.)
Warner E. E. Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp and Russian Folkloristic. St. Petersburg State University, 2005.
Martynova А. N. Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp: The Life Way. Scholarly Activity. St. Petersburg, 2006. (in Rus.)

M. Sh.