2012/04/08 by Jack Zipes · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies
paper · doi:10.23943/princeton/9780691153384.003.0001
openalex publication_date 2012/04/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
This chapter expands on the author's most recent books, <italic>Why Fairy Tales Stick</italic> and <italic>Relentless Progress</italic> , and includes new research by scholars interested in interdisciplinary approaches to cultural evolution. It clarifies why and how tales were created and told, and formed the basis of culture. It suggests that oral tales were imitated and replicated as memes in antiquity to form the fiber of culture and tradition. Taxonomies in the nineteenth century were established in response to recognizable features of tales as well as to organize and order types of stories. “Modern” genres originated during the Enlightenment and are basically social institutions that have defined cultural artifacts and patterns, divided them rationally into disciplines, and established rules and regulations for their study. In many ways, the fairy tale defies such definition and categorization.