Fairy-Tale Amplification

Fairy-tale amplification is the specific form of amplification in which fairy-tale material is set alongside a dream image or analytic motif to illuminate its archetypal structure. The method was developed most fully by Marie-Louise von Franz in her lecture series and books on the fairy tale — [[von-franz-interpretation-of-fairy-tales|The Interpretation of Fairy Tales]], [[von-franz-archetypal-patterns-fairy|Archetypal Patterns in Fairy Tales]], Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales, The Feminine in Fairy Tales — and by Hedwig von Beit in the standard German Symbolik des Märchens.

The rationale for the method is that fairy tales, because they are simpler and less culturally encrusted than the great mythologies, present archetypal patterns in schematic form. The kingdom in trouble, the missing treasure, the three sons and the lowest-valued youngest, the wise old woman who speaks from the edge of the forest, the animal helper, the task of gratitude: these are the bare bones of the structures the dream material displays in more particular dress. The disciplined work of fairy-tale amplification is to hold the parallel without collapsing the specificity of the dream into the general type. See von-franz-interpretation-of-fairy-tales.

Relationships

• amplification
• fairy-tale
• von-franz-interpretation-of-fairy-tales