Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov by Robert Chandler
These folktales feature young women who embark on arduous and dangerous quests, evil stepmothers who turn kids into geese, and tsars who pose perilous riddles, with or without the assistance of magical dolls, cannibal witches, talking skulls, wives who have been kidnapped, and brothers who pose as wise birds. The majority of the stories in this collection were rewritten from oral tales by four of the greatest authors in Russian literature: Nadezhda Teffi, Pavel Bazhov, Andrey Platonov, and Alexander Pushkin, who wrote Eugene Onegin, the traditional Russian novel in verse. Some of the stories were gathered by folklorists over the past two centuries. The tales of Baba Yaga, Vasilisa the Beautiful, Father Frost, and the Frog Princess are just a few of the numerous timeless legends that are presented here.
Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov by Robert Chandler
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Russian folk tales retellings (or “reworkings”) by such masters as Aleksandr Pushkin, Pavel Petrovich Bazhov, or Nadezhda Teffi are included with the original Russian folk tales that Russian folklorists and ethnographers have gathered. The collection also includes a bibliography and comments on alternative versions. Each section is preceded by a biographical note about the author.
No more violence than in other children’s fairy tales is present in these stories. It introduces English-speaking readers to the enchanted realm of Russian fairy tales created by renowned classical Russian authors. Really a good read. I appreciated how Mr Chandler organized the stories according to the author’s interpretations and selection while also offering some alternate takes on the tales that were presented.
