Motif-Index of Folk-Literature
The Motif-Index of Folk-Literature is a six volume catalogue of motifs, granular elements of folklore, composed by American folklorist Stith Thompson. Often referred to as Thompson's motif-index, the catalogue has historically received extensive use in folklore studies, where folklorists commonly use it in tandem with the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index, an index used for folktale type analysis.
As standard tools
The motif-index and the AT or ATU indices are admitted to be standard tools in the field. For example, folklorist Mary Beth Stein says, "Together with Thompson's six-volume Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, with which it is cross-indexed, The Types of Folktale constitutes the most important reference work and research tool for comparative folk-tale analysis" Alan Dundes who was its outspoken critic also said substantially the same thing, without even confining the application to comparative studies: " index constitute two of the most valuable tools in the professional folklorist's arsenal of aids for analysis".Concise outlines of both indexes appear in Thompson's The Folktale.
Terminology
In the context of the index, Thompson has defined motif as follows:
"A motif is the smallest element in a tale having a power to persist in tradition. In order to have this power it must have something unusual and striking about it".
But in the Motif-index itself, Thompson had also provided a more "cautious" definition:
"nything that goes to make up a traditional narrative... When the term motif is employed, it is always in a very loose sense, and is made to include any of the elements of narrative structure".
This use of the noun motif is specialized to the field of folklore studies. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, folkloristic use of the noun motif is not summed up in the definition for literary criticism, but deserves its own separate sense of this definition. Similarly, the compound noun motif index is used in cultural anthropology to denote "an index of standard motifs, esp. those found in folk tales".
System
Thompson discusses composing the Motif-Index of Folk-Literature in his autobiography, A Folklorist's Progress: Reflection of a Scholar's Life. In producing the motif-index, Thompson built upon the research of Finnish folklorist Antti Aarne, who in 1910 published an index of European tale-types, Thompson himself had revised in 1928 to cover the region from Europe to Asia: this is known as the Aarne-Thompson tale type index. In his Motif-Index, Thompson then compiled, classified, and numbered the traditional motifs of the mostly European folktale types in the tale-type index.Thompson's motif-index organizes thousands of motifs. Entries are first organized by an umbrella topic. Entries are then divided into more specific subcategories. For example, entry S50 "Cruel relatives-in-law" contains the sub-entry S51.1 "Cruel mother-in-law plans death of daughter-in-law". Thompson's The Folktale includes the following overview of the motif-index:
Relation to tale type index
There has been expressed the idea that a combined set of motifs may constitute a folktale narrative.This idea had already been anticipated by Alexander Veselovsky who wrote that "cluster of motifs" constituted a "plot", influencing Russian formalists like Vladimir Propp, whose study prefigured Stith Thompson's Motif-Index, as has been pointed out.
In the book The Folktale, Stith Thompson invokes this phrase "cluster of motifs" in several passages, as here, in connection with tales involving the dead helper:
But in this instance, Thompson is warning that the motif cluster is rather "only a framework for the adventures of the hero", containing "at least three different tales within".
Thompson also explains that a single motif may be found in numerous folktales “from all parts of the earth”.
Editions (print and digitised)
Print editions
- Stith Thompson, Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folk-Tales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books, and Local Legends, FF Communications, 106-109, 116-117, 6 vols /Indiana University Studies, 96-97, 100-101, 105-106, 108-112, 6 vols.
- Stith Thompson, Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folk-Tales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books, and Local Legends, rev. and enl. edn, 6 vols.
Digitisations of the second edition (book format)
- Reissued on CD-ROM Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.
Other motif indices
- Azzolina, David S. 1987. Tale type- and motif-indexes: An annotated bibliography. New York, London: Garland.
- Baughman, Ernest Type and Motif-Index of the Folktales of England and North America.
- Boberg, Inger M. Motif-Index of Early Icelandic Literature. Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana 27. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
- Bordman, Gerald Motif-Index of the English Metrical Romances.
- Bray, Dorothy Ann A list of motifs in the lives of the early Irish saints. FF Communications 252. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica.
- Cross, Tom Peete Motif-Index of Early Irish Literature. Indiana University Publications, Folklore Series 7. Bloomington: Indiana University.
- El-Shamy, Hasan Folk Traditions in the Arab World: A Guide to Motif Classification. 2 Vols. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
- El-Shamy, Hasan Motif Index of The Thousand and One Nights. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
- Goldberg, Harriet Motif-index of medieval Spanish folk narratives.
- Goldberg, Harriet Motif-index of folk narratives in the pan-hispanic romancero.
- Guerreau-Jalabert, Anita Index des Motifs Narratifs dans les Romans Arthuriens Français en Vers /Motif-Index of French Arthurian Verse Romances. Publications Romanes et Françaises 202. Geneva: Droz.
- Haboucha, Reginetta Types and motifs of the Judeo-Spanish folktales. New York, London: Garland.
- Jason, Heda Motif, type, and genre: a manual for compilation of indices & a bibliography of indices and indexing.
- Kristić, Branislav Indeks motiva narodnih pesama balkanskih Slovena. Ed. I. Nikolié. Belgrad: Minerva.
- Lichtblau, K., S. Obermayer, and C. Tuczay, Motiv-Index der deutschsprachigen weltlichen Erzählliteratur von den Anfangen bis 1400. Fabula 23: 293-95.
- Marzolph, Ulrich Motiv-Index der arabischen literarischen Anekdote. Fabula 24: 275-7.
- Neugaard, Edward Motif-index of medieval Catalan folktales. Binghamton, N.Y: Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies.
- Neuland, Lena Motif-index of Latvian folktales and legends. FF Communications 229. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica.
- Sakaoǧlu, S. Anadolu-tiur efsanelerinde tas kesilme motifi ve efsanelerin tip katalogu. Ankara: Ankara Universitesi Basemev.
- Smith, R. E. Type-index and motif-index of the Roman de Renard. Uppsala: Etnologiska Institutionen.
- Tracy, Ann B. The gothic novel 1790-1830: Plot summaries and index to motifs. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.
- Wurzbach, Natascha and Simone Salz Motif index of the Child corpus: The English and Scottish popular ballad. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Explanatory notes