[Hasafran]: index of fairy tale themes in Jewish picture books
For my final project for an MLS course in indexing and abstracting, I want to create a web index highlighting fairy tale themes / subjects / types? found in Jewish picture books. For example, Raisel's Riddle by Erica Silverman is a Cinderella story for Purim. Is this of interest to anyone besides me? Has it already been done? Any suggestions? I've stumbled across information about folklore motifs and types. Are they still used? Is there a thesaurus or list of entries already out there? Obviously, this is not something I have ever formally studied. Thanks in advance, Rose Myers Fairfield, CT Ha-Safran (The Librarian) Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
[Hasafran]: index of fairy tale themes in Jewish picture books
The Jewish Story Finder: A Guide to 363 Tales Listing Subjects and Sources by Sharon Barcan Elswit Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Company, Inc., Publishers Copyright 2005 ISBN 0-7864-2192-4. Barbara Rush and Peninah Schramm are two names that come to mind who have some expertise in folktales. KSP Ha-Safran (The Librarian) Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
Re: [Hasafran]: index of fairy tale themes in Jewish picture books
Re: Rose Myers posting: Fairy tale motifs are indeed still in use. When I worked in a public library, we relied on the Index to Fairy Tales, which may not still be published but would be worth looking into for your purposes. Along with the standard Stith Thompson system (on which the Index was based), the Israel Folk Archives has a motif classification scheme. Some Jewish anthologists and storytellers give IFA numbers to the stories in their books. See Solomon and the Ant and Other Jewish Folktales (Boyds Mills Press, 2006). Others who sometimes refer to motifs and always cite sources are Howard Schwartz, Peninna Schram, and Nina Jaffe. Look in any of their collections for examples and also for models of authoritative sourcing of Jewish folklore. Sharon Elswit, the author of THE JEWISH STORY FINDER (McFarland, 2005) categorizes Jewish folktales according to a typology that I believe is of her own devising. Consult her book; it would also probably be helpful if you contacted her. Almost all of the stories in Elswit's book are in collections; it includes far fewer individual illustrated versions. The same is true for Oberman. I don't know of any Jewish source that indexes or categorizes by motif single illustrated books so you'd be breaking new ground. The ValuesFinder's annotations might be of help. Do a subject search for folklore at www.ajljewishvalues.org. Contact me directly if I can be of more help. Good luck! Linda Silver,Editor Jewish ValuesFinder Ha-Safran (The Librarian) Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
