Literary Criticism, Folklore Scholarship, and Ugaritic Literature

Abstract

"...folk tales as well as fairy tales do create protagonists who never existed and do assign them tasks that have no historical bases. More commonly however, we either find protagonists with modest actual achievements matched with extraordinarily heroic deeds or the reverse condition: actual deeds assigned to imaginary heroes. Whatever the eventual mix, the tales are then, understandably, loaded with 'historicizing' touches, such as interesting foreign locales, worthy opponents, often drawn from neighboring cultures, and complicated tribal affiliations. Because of their 'one-dimensionality' as well as because of the paucity of confirmations from administrative texts, it becomes hazardous to extract historical information from Ugaritic tales."