André Jolles

Dutch-born literary scholar and art historian, author of the influential 1930 study 'Einfache Formen' (Simple Forms) on narrative and typology.

This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.

  1. 1. Formes Simples

    A compact comparative study that isolates and analyzes a set of elemental narrative and expressive types found across cultures and periods. Treating these “simple forms” as autonomous structures, it describes their formal features, historical development and social and psychological functions, showing how basic patterns—riddles, myths, legends, fables and related modes—operate in oral tradition, literature, visual art and ritual. The work emphasizes typology and formal description over interpretive reading, aiming to reveal the recurring shapes that underlie diverse cultural productions.

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