André Jolles

A seminal text in literary theory available in English for the first time Legend, saga, myth, riddle, proverb, case, anecdote, fairy tale, joke: André Jolles understands each of these nine “simple forms” as the reflection in language of a distinct mode of human engagement with the world and thus as a basic structuring principle of literary narrative. Long recognized as a classic of genre theory, Simple Forms, first published in 1929, has been called a significant precursor to structuralist and...