EPIC LAWS OF FOLK NARRATIVE
Axel Olrik. "Epische Gesetze der Volksdichtung." Zeitschrift für Deutsches Altertum, Vol, 52 (1909), 1-12.
The Law of Opening and Closing (Folk narrative does not begin with sudden action or end abruptly)
The Law of Repetition (Events are repeated, often 3 times)
The Law of Three (Things come in threes)
The Law of Two to a Scene (Each scene will contain only two speaking characters. Any other characters present will remain mute.)
The Law of Contrast (Folk narrative loves contrasts: weak & strong, poor & rich, man & monster, good & evil)
The Law of Twins (Folk narrative is fond of twins, however, if they play a major role, they will probably be subject to the Law of Contrast [one bright, one gloomy])
The Importance of Final Position (The youngest son will have our sympathy, the last test will be decisive)
The Law of the Single Strand (Folk narrative follows one temporal strand of action. It does not shift scenes to follow parallel actions)
The Law of Patterning (Repeated scenes will be as similar to each other as possible)
The Use of Tableaux Scenes (Certain moments of folk narrative evoke a strong visual image.)
The Logic of the Sage (Folk narratives find their plausibility not in their sense of reality, but in a certain internal narrative logic)
The Unity of Plot
The Concentration on a Leading Character
5 comments:
Shakespeare seemed overly fond of twins as well. Probably a carry-over from the fact that he mined folklore pretty heavily for story ideas.
I think his corollary to that law would be that the twins would almost always be mistaken for one another, and hilarity would invariably ensue.
Great Googly Moogly!
It looks like I've been channeling some of ole Olrik's laws in my writing. Slow to Open and Close? Check.
Law of Two? Check.
Law of Strand, Unity, Tableux? Check.Check.Check.
Not so much on the twins and repetition thus far.
Not so much on the twins and repetition thus far.
Not so much on the twins and repetition thus far.
But still, very instructive!
Yeah, Axel knew his stuff. I think he was trying to tell people how to tell an epic tale properly, but his rules really stand up well for a wide variety of stories. For instance, I'm sure that 80% of the jokes in the world wouldn't be as effective if they didn't use the law of three.
Hi,
I'm looking for Olrik's article in English. Any ideas where it might be available online?
Grateful for any help!
Erik
are you still looking for it?
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