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A Russian folklorist and collector of fairy tales.

After studying law at Moscow University, Afanasyev became a journalist and wrote about many of the literary figures of the seventeenth century. From 1850, he turned his attention to traditional folk tales and began making a systematic collection from oral testimonies as well as from the few publications available. He was familiar with the work of the Grimm brothers and applied the same methodology as they had done. Unlike the Grimms, however, he did not rework or embellish the tales and was committed to faithful reproductions of the original versions.

Narodnye russkie skazki (Russian Fairy Tales) was published in eight volumes between 1855 and 1863. Comprising 600 tales from various regions of Russia, it is one of the world’s largest collections of folk tales gathered by a single collector. Russian Fairy Tales for Children, which followed, contained a selection of humorous and magical tales from his collection suitable for children. Afanasyev’s collection of legends, Russian Folk Legends, was banned by Russian censors, who deemed the material to be blasphemous. The banned tales were eventually published anonymously in Switzerland under the title Russian Forbidden Tales.

Afanasyev’s work influenced many writers and composers, and is still in print today in numerous languages.