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Kossmann, Maarten: A Study of Eastern Moroccan Fairy Tales (FF Com- munications 274). Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica 2000. 156 p.
This is a well crafted and carefully researched study of Moroccan folk nar- ratives. The author introduces his work by presenting his perception of the genre of 'fairy tales' (or Zaubermärchen) from a literary perspective as "a form of art" whose style "follows conventions specific to the genre." (p. 11). The research for the study is based on several recently taperecorded field col- lections undertaken by a number of collectors including the author (17). Fe- male informants constituted a majority of tale-tellers. (16) Although the study is confined to Eastern Morocco, with special emphasis on Berber ethnic groups, its findings are relevant to the narrative traditions of communities in the Arab World and the diverse ethnic, religious, and linguistic entities it con- tains (see El-Shamy, H.: Folktales of Egypt. Chicago 1980; id.: Folk Traditions of the Arab World. A Guide to Motif Classification 1-2. Bloomington 1995). Also, the research results help shed additional light - usually by way of contrast - on European tales (for examples see p. 31, note 24; 33, note 27; 44, 46, and 60).
Kossmann states that his book is concerned with three main points: (1) "the structure of the chain of events" - structure being "the memorized skeleton of the story"; (2) fairy tale style, or "some of the rules and restrictions leading to the actual wording of the fairy tale; (3) The form and structure of formulae, with special emphasis on parallelism - formula being used to designate "fixed text fragments that are recited in performance instead of being improvised." (16)....