The thesis deals with the comparison of the motif of rabbit in an artificial fairy tale and a young adult fantasy novel and it also questions suitability of literary genre categorization. It deals with the features which are most often attributed to rabbit characters and their relations with other fictional characters. I was also interested in which subtypes of fairy tales suit the chosen works of literature and whether the use of term youth fantastic tale rather than fantasy novel is more appropriate. The findings are based on an analysis of Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Berto, the Lombard rabbit by Svetlana Makarovič, Watership Down by Richard Adams and The Wonderful Journeys of Rabbit Ron by Andrej Ivanuša. These works of literature deal with different periods or cultures, but in terms of content, they completely correspond to the considered topic. It turned out that only the novel Wathership Down is entitled to the term young adult fantasy novel, while The Wonderful Journeys of Rabbit Ron is more compatible with the term youth fantastic tale. Based on their features the tales of Beatrix Potter are entitled to the term classic artificial fairy tale, while the term contemporary fairy tale, used to address Berto, the Lombard rabbit, is only suitable to some extent. Both Slovene and foreign works of youth literature preserve many archetypal traits of a rabbit, such as timidity, curiosity, and resourcefulness, accompanied by atypical ability of clairvoyance. We can also observe a considerable amount of courage with which otherwise timid rabbits face trials.
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