This thesis involves an investigation of the value of traditional and self-generated fairy tales for children's educational and emotional development. The study draws on theories of analytical psychology and on models derived from structuralism. An analysis of two Icelandic traditional fairy tales, Golden Tooth and The Story of Princess Pussycat, is undertaken on a psychological and a narrative level. A comparison is made between the narrative structure of the tales and the structure of psychic processes identified in them. The study is taken further with an analysis of eleven fantasy tales generated during a field study by a group of ten to eleven year old Icelandic children. The mode of expression of the tales is also compared to the style, motifs, notion of time, setting, and characters, as they appear in traditional Indo-European fairy tales. The variants of the two traditional fairy tales analysed originate from Fljötshlic' a region in the south of Iceland. A study of the background, upbringing and personality of four women, who shared and brought further the story telling tradition in this area, is undertaken with the aim of throwing light on the nature of fairy tales and their transmission. The study suggests that patterns operating in the process of individuation, that is differentiation, transformation and integration, are embedded in the structure of traditional fairy tales. Furthermore it is proposed that this theory can be expanded to tales of fantasy generated by children of today. It is argued that the manifestation of these patterns in fairy tales embodies qualities that invite a creative operation in the interaction of children's conscious and unconscious psyche, thus simultaneously stimulating their directed and undirected modes of thinking, which is essential for the development of the creative, individual personality
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:246959 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Unnsteinsdottir, Kristin |
| Publisher | University of East Anglia |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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