Metamorphosis Av Francisco Vaz Da Silva

Folklorists have become renowned for concentrating on aspects of form and classification to the detriment of content and meaning. <I>Metamorphosis: The Dynamics of Symbolism in European Fairy Tales</I> seeks to reverse this tendency in showing, through an examination of the folkloric data, that European fairy tales involve complex symbolism. This book seeks to explain – in reference to the notion of metamorphosis – the puzzling contradictory attributes of fairy-tale figures that have discouraged the study of meanings in this field and proposes that the workings of metamorphosis in fairy tales reveal a pervasive cyclic ontology that underlies mythology and ritual. The issue of universal symbolism is again examined – divested from any «archetypal» generalizations – as a subject of worthy reflection.