A rescrire foclorul. Basmele Române lui Lazăr Șăineanu ca prima sinteză a repertoriului internațional de basme populare.

Published in 1895, Lazăr Șăineanu’s Romanian Fairy Tales: A Comparative Study made a significant number of European folk tales available in a single volume for the first time. Some 500 Romanian fairy tales and their international variants are presented in condensed form, classified after Hahn’s typology. This encyclopaedic synthesis is also made searchable by keywords, thanks to an innovative “folkloric index”, which anticipates Thompson’s more extensive and advanced Motif-Index. Focusing on unique aspects of Șăineanu’s work, which include a wide use of summaries as a form of rewriting, the article reassesses the author’s significance to international folklore studies.