Religião e folclore na obra de Asbjørnsen e Moe e a sua recepção artística

Abstract

This thesis aims to analyze the historical and cultural trajectory of the marvelous Norwegian folk tales, collected and published by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Jørgen Moe and Moltke Moe. It also proposes the study of folkloric and artistic manifestations that originate in Nordic paganism and went through reinterpretations from Christianization; enriching the religious framework contained in the stories. It is intended to address the history of this literary genre in the oral domain of peasant communities, until its academic recognition as an expression of identity. Among the folklore members, the tale is characterized as a metaphorical narrative, being composed of traditional figures to express a specific imaginary. The tales were approached from their historical relationship with the old Nordic paganism and the process of Christianization; seeking to emphasize the permanence of the pagan imaginary in marvelou literature as an important tool for understanding the interreligious and for maintaining the traditional identity. Investigating Norwegian tales and their importance for the Religious Studies corresponds to the valorization of the tale as an important document of popular symbolic production, insofar as these narratives were used between generations and successively reinterpreted. The tales received conceptual influence not only from Asbjørnsen and Moe, but also from their retellers and republicators, suffering the cultural marks of each locality in which they were appreciated. From the romantic school of the century, in the 19th century, folklorists and religious people did an extensive job of collecting and publishing narratives that have the merit of continuity as a literary genre and are great helpers in the rescue of pre-Christian cosmologies and their relationship with Christianity as the official religion of the West. In the case of Norwegian tales, they present traces not only of the ancient Scandinavian religion, but also of the Christian customs and manifestations popularly in vogue until the 19th century. These tales enable a very illustrative and sufficiently varied view of the richness of the popular tradition that remains in contemporary times. There are multiple elements of the short stories that make up the relationship between folklore, mythology and religion, having also been interpreted the artistic works that depict the stories, like the illustrations by Theodor Kittelsen and Erik Werenskiold; establishing a connection between art, folklore and religion, as well as audiovisual works produced in contemporary times on the subject were also analyzed. However, there was also the investigation of primary sources, since they present the tales collected by folklorists, the Icelandic sagas, the poetic Edda and the prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson. The material was systematized in concepts such as those of anthropologists Clifford Geertz and Gislí Pálsson about interpretive theory and those of literary critics and historians such as Tzvetan Todorov, Albert Béguin and Oscar Falnes about 19th century literature. As contemporary and updated concepts on Scandinavian literature and folklore, the texts of Francis Aubert, Mette Hudvin, Ørnulf Hodne, Terry Gunnell and Etunimetön Frog were used. On the life and work of Asbjørnsen and Moe, studies by Marie Wells, Christopher John and Donald Haase were consulted.