The Morphology of Folk Narrative according to Vladimir Propp

The text analyzes the anecdote as a condensed narrative form which, in Vladimir Propp's view, constitutes an element of the anecdotal tale. The author focuses on the mechanism of the punchline, defining it not as an addition, but as an operation that reorganizes the meaning of the entire story retrospectively. Here, the anecdote functions as a miniature reinterpretation machine, utilizing the recipient's cognitive processes and their tendency to form erroneous hypotheses. By exposing the gap between expectation and result, folk humor becomes a laboratory of cognitive errors, where comedy arises from the characters' lack of self-awareness. These narratives often undermine meritocracy, pointing to the role of chance and paradoxes in social structure, making them a kind of lesson in skepticism toward the obviousness of the world.