author
A. N. (Aleksandr Nikolaevich) Afanas'ev
1826–1871
Best known for gathering Russia’s fairy tales on a remarkable scale, this 19th-century folklorist helped preserve stories that might otherwise have vanished. His collections introduced generations of readers to figures like Baba Yaga, Vasilisa, and Koschei the Deathless.
1 Audiobook
Russian Folk-Tales
by A. N. (Aleksandr Nikolaevich) Afanas'ev
About the author
Born in 1826 in Boguchar, in the Voronezh region of the Russian Empire, Aleksandr Nikolaevich Afanasyev studied law at Moscow University before building a career as a historian, ethnographer, and scholar of Slavic tradition.
He is remembered above all for collecting and publishing nearly 600 Russian and East Slavic fairy tales and folk narratives, a body of work so large that he is often compared to the Brothers Grimm. His editions drew on stories preserved in oral tradition and became a cornerstone of Russian folklore studies.
Afanasyev also wrote on mythology and popular belief, helping shape how later readers understood old Slavic legends and folk culture. He died in 1871, but his work remains one of the main gateways into the classic world of Russian folktales.