The Research Of Fairy Tales In Europe: From Folk To Literary Fairy Tales

As a literary category,Fairy tales has experienced a long process,from the origins to form a stand-alone category.Its stage of development includes being a bud of myths and legends, colloquial form of folk literature, the written books of folk fairy tales by some scholars and writers.The paper is composed of four parts: the first part is the analysis of fairy tales.Fairy tales does not specially belong to the children initially. It is the product of original thinking, and its characteristics are absurdity, fantasy, and an unyielding pursuit of the essential .Fairy tales were not a literary category mainly for children until the children were found and valued from 18 century. The second part traces the course of European fairytale's evolution, and emphasizes the influence of the world fairytales elements . In terms of its content, folk fairy tales is the demands of the human heart and a reflection of real life.The third part is analysis of the characteristics of the European literary fairy tales. From comparison between folk fairy tales and literary tales, we try to analysis the differences to comprehensive fairy tales' past ,current and future.The last part is about fairy tales research and practice, highlighting its significance for the psychology of children.From fairy tales to children and personality, inspired by children's intelligence and observation, to the wonderful children's childhood dream was described in three aspects.Analysing the development of European fairy tales, the paper shows that fairy tales never belongs to children's literature, then contrasts differences and similarities between folk tales and literary fairy tales. Moreover, we try to explore the psychological meaning of fairy tales for children, and hope it can bring enlightenment to modern literary tales.