Anthropos: Anthropos, 69.1974

Anthropos, 69.1974

Bibliographic Data

Journal

Structure Type:: Journal

Works URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

Persistent identifier:: BV043334262

Title:: Anthropos

Sub Title:: internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- u. Sprachenkunde

Place of Publication:: Fribourg

Publisher:: Ed. St. Paul

Year of Publication:: 1906

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Domain:: Social and cultural anthropology > General overview

Journal Volume

Structure Type:: Journal Volume

Works URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711778

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711778

Persistent identifier:: 1510649436189

Title:: Anthropos, 69.1974

Year of Publication:: 1974

Call Number:: LA 1118

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Journal Issue

Structure Type:: Journal Issue

Title:: Bd. 69, 1974, Heft 1-2

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Journal Article

Structure Type:: Journal Article

Title:: Two Ixil Myths (Guatemala)

Other person:: Benjamin, N.; Colby, Lore M.

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

* Grateful acknowledgement is made to the National Science Foundation for its support in a grant to B. N. Colby (No. GS-32252) and to the National Endowment for the Humanities for its support in a grant to Lore M. Colby (No. H-69-I-192). Two Ixil Myths (Guatemala) Benjamin N. and Lore M. Colby Myths and other narratives can be seen as having a number of compon ents, each calling for a different analytical approach. The linguistic and poetic components require that the data studied be retained in their original form as told by the author. Other components, however, can be analyzed in large part in translation. Among these other components are the symbolic, the dramatic and the eidochronic. Analysis of the symbolic component has as its goal the understanding of those metaphoric and allegoric aspects of a narrative that are of cultural importance. Some of the attempts of Lévi-Strauss seem to be in this direction. Needless to say, the greatest problem in analyzing the symbolic component of a folktale is the validation of the results. How can we say what the meaning or even a meaning, of a narrative symbol is for a native without engaging the native himself in some sort of ethnographic procedure, or without looking at linkages between the symbols of a group of narratives and other aspects of a culture which are less opaque. We are on more solid ground in the analysis of the dramatic component. Elements of this component serve to dramatize or highlight narrative action as well as highlight elements of the symbolic component. As early as 1909, Axel Olrik in his study of European folktales noticed some regularities ôr “laws” which dramatize or highlight elements of the main plot of a story (cf. Olrik 1965). For example, focus and the reduction of complexity are encompassed in Olrik’s law, “two to a scene”. In any narrative scene, only two people interact. If others are present, they serve only as onlookers. Another law is that of contrast. If a rich man appears in a folktale, there is also a poor man. This explicit binary opposition, or polarization, extends to many attri butes, young and old, good and evil, large and small.

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