Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp (; – 22 August 1970) was a Soviet folklorist and scholar who analysed the basic structural elements of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irreducible structural units. Biography Vladimir Propp was born on 29 April 1895 in Saint Petersburg to an assimilated Russian family of German descent. His parents, Yakov Philippovich Propp and Anna-Elizaveta Fridrikhovna Propp (née Beisel), were Volga German wealthy peasants from Saratov Governorate. He attended Saint Petersburg University (1913–1918), majoring in Russian and German philology. Upon graduation he taught Russian and German at a secondary school and then became a college teacher of German. His Morphology of the Folktale was published in Russian in 1928. Although it represented a breakthrough in both folkloristics and morphology and influenced Claude Lévi-Strauss and Roland Barthes, it was generally unnoticed in the West until it was translated in 1958. His morphology is used in media education and has been applied to other types of narrative, be it in literature, theatre, film, television series, games, etc., although Propp applied it specifically to the wonder of fairy tale. In 1932, Propp became a member of Leningrad University (formerly St. Petersburg University) faculty. After 1938, he chaired the Department of Folklore until it became part of the Department of Russian Literature. Propp remained a faculty member until his death in 1970. Works in Russian His main books are: Morphology of the tale, Leningrad 1928 Historical Roots of the wonder tale, Leningrad 1946 Russian Epic Song, Leningrad 1955–1958 Popular Lyric Songs, Leningrad 1961 Russian Agrarian Feasts, Leningrad 1963 He also published some articles, the most important are: The Magical Tree on the tomb Wonderful Childbirth Ritual Laughter in folklore Oedipus in the light of folklore First printed in specialized reviews, they were republished in Folklore and Reality, Leningrad 1976 Two books were published posthumously: Problems of comedy and laughter, Leningrad 1983 The Russian Folktale, Leningrad 1984 The first book remained unfinished, the second one is the edition of the course he gave in Leningrad university. Translations into English and other languages Morphology of the Tale was translated into English in 1958 and 1968. It was also translated into Italian and Polish in 1966, French and Romanian in 1970, Spanish in 1971, and German in 1972. Historical Roots of the Wonder Tale was translated into Italian in 1949 and 1972, Spanish in 1974, and French, Romanian and Japanese in 1983. Oedipus in