| Author |
Comment
|
Jess
Unregistered User
(9/18/01 8:31:00 am)
|
Are fairy tales appropriate?
Are fairy tales appropriate?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I originally put this thought below Donna Q.'s story of shoes. But I thought that this has become a topic in and of itself. I would love your responses.
There has been a lot of discussion about whether it is appropriate to be discussing/writing fairy tales after the ordeal on last Tuesday. Besides that which crisis interventionist will tell us, i.e. talk, write, get your feelings out, there are other reasons why I think it is important. Great works of art, whether visual arts, drama, music, or literature are often the human response to tragedy and speak about the harshness of today and the hope of a better tomorrow. Shostikovich's Leningrad Symphony comes to mind - written during the siege of Leningrad in WWII, when people were literally starving to death and eating such things as wall paper paste just to stay alive. If you are unfamiliar with the piece, I highly recommend it. Another piece of music inspired by tragedy is Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man (part of his third symphony) - also written during WWII as a patriotic piece of music.
What does music have to do with fairy tales? For these composers their words were notes and their books were symphonies. For those who write on this forum your genre is fairy tales, and thus, it is through the language of fairy tales that you communicate your thoughts, feelings and the feelings of others. The fact that fairy tales are not just simple children's stories does not need to be explained to this audience. Whether these stories tell of hope, or of gruesome horror, there is a certain underlying truth to them that has surfaced in this time of crisis. The more we write, the more we discuss, the more we leave to history and our children as a legacy of our emotions. Perhaps they will learn from our stories.
And as one of those forum members that are truly just readers, I implore you to keep writing.
Jess
|
Gregor9
Registered User
(9/18/01 12:56:07 pm)
|
Re: Are fairy tales appropriate?
Jess,
Most of what I've heard and received in the past week has comprised poetry. I've heard poems by Whitman that were frightening in their images, as if written in the clouds of smoke; others by Seamus Heaney and Auden. My friend, poet Natalie Anderson has already read publically as a catharsis for people. I can't imagine any poets giving up on poetry because of these events, although the last week may not have made anybody feel as if what they had to say was important.
The same is true for fairy tales, and for stories in general. Story telling as healing art is at least as old as Sherazade. There's a reason for that. I doubt any of us will stop. Rather, after our own grief and catharsis, the resolution to say things full of meaning will likely be redoubled.
Greg
|
Gordon
Unregistered User
(9/18/01 1:52:16 pm)
|
Re: Are fairy tales appropriate?
It occured to me shortly after the tragedy that I needed two things, information and distraction. After watching CNN for three or four hours straight, I couldn't take it any more and was really happy to have something on tv and in real life that had nothing to do with it - just for sanity's sake.
Fairy tale writers (and all other artists) have a job to do in times of crisis, even if it's no more profound than providing some much-needed distraction.
...Gordon.
|
Terri
Registered User
(9/19/01 3:22:11 am)
|
Re: Are fairy tales appropriate?
Jess, I like your post very much. May I quote some of it in the upcoming edition of the Endicott Studio site?
For me, fairy tales helped me understand and survive a violent childhood. This, in some respects, is a violent childhood writ large. Stories (art, music, poetry, etc.) can point the way to a life that is more than mere survival, but one filled with beauty, hope, honor, and what Tolkien called "a miraculous grace." I can't think of a time *more* appropriate for art than a time of crisis, whether personal or collective.
|
Kamui
Unregistered User
(9/19/01 9:11:33 am)
|
Re: are fairy tales appropriate?
Stories, music, poetry, any lasting thing--these are mile markers in our history. These things that live on give future generations something to look back at, not only to enjoy, but to understand. Fairy tales in particular--as anyone who studies them can confirm--consist of layers of socialization and allegorical meaning, among other things. In times like these we need to work to create something that not only voices our own feelings of pain, anger, sympathy, compassion, fear; we need to create bodies of work that gives the future some constructed meaning of this moment in time. Perhaps that sounds high-blown, but I work in school textbooks, and I can tell you that right now we're living inside a textbook moment, a chapter in history. The more evidence we leave, the better future generations will understand.
|
Jess
Unregistered User
(9/19/01 11:03:22 am)
|
Thanks
To all of you,
I really feel that you do important work. Thanks for your imput.
Terri,
I would be honored to have you quote anything I wrote. I admire you very much.
Jess
|
Don
Unregistered User
(9/19/01 11:11:49 am)
|
Fairy tales in war
If you're interested in this thread concerning the role or "appropriateness" of fairy tales and storytelling in situations such as war, you may be interested in some of the work I've been doing on fairy tales in extreme situations. Perhaps the most relevant piece at the moment is an essay on "Children, War, and the Imaginative Space of Fairy Tales," which is in the year 2000 volume of the journal The Lion and the Unicon--a special issue on Children and Violence (available online, for those who have acess to it, through Project Muse).
|
Karen
Unregistered User
(9/19/01 3:18:57 pm)
|
Adorno
Dear Jess,
Are you aware of Theodor Adorno's comments on whether art could still be produced after the horror of WWII ? YOur post reminds me of it.
k.
|
Terri
Registered User
(9/19/01 9:17:03 pm)
|
Re: Fairy tales in war
Don, I'm very interested in reading the Children and Violence issue of "The Lion and the Unicorn," and your article in it -- but I'm unfamilar with this journal. How does one get hold of a copy?
Edited by: Terri at: 9/19/01 9:18:17 pm
|
Kerrie
Registered User
(9/20/01 5:26:01 am)
|
Re: Fairy tales in war and the arts
Below is the link to the volume of the article mentioned above:
muse.jhu.edu/journals/lio...i24.3.html
The articles sound interesting, however it appears you can only access them through a library or being a member of a few societies.
As a former Child Life Specialist intern (changed that my senior year), I often found that stories, songs, the arts were the best way to help children cope with times of sadness, fear, anger. I used to sing to babies who had shunts in their heads, were premature, or just had a bad cold they couldn't shake being so small. I took a couple of girls and their mothers who were staying at the Ronald McDonald House I worked at to my college's Make A Wish Talent Show, one of whom had made a wish with the foundation- I told her I was dancing for her. My supervisor had shared a book with my class called Moon Balloons, a wonderful picture book for children to work with to express how they feel when words are difficult to come by.
I know I personally need to find something to identify with normally, now especially. Finding the quiet hero or heroine, the inspiring journey, the glimmer of hope in the great darkness that shrouds it, fairy tales offer these more than others, I think. Songs are quick and fleeting or repeating in my head. Images flash and then disappear in a series of slides. A story has, for me anyway, a grounding sense that I can hold on to and find the anchor, and rest calmly until it passes. Pandora has the box I can climb into, quietly holding on to the tiny grain of sand that is my hope, feel the glow and strength that it contains, and climb back out to go on, knowing inside, as a quote I remember says, "Never doubt that one person can make a difference, indeed it is the
only thing that ever has." I can't remember who said it, but
it pushes me on. And I am rambling on, sorry for that.
Dandelion wishes,
Kerrie
|
Don
Unregistered User
(9/20/01 5:35:03 am)
|
Fairy tales in war
Terri, "The Lion and the Unicorn: A Critical Journal of Children's Literature" is edited by Louisa Smith and Jack Zipes, and published by Johns Hopkins University Press. It's available in many university libraries and, for those institutions that subscribe, online through Project Muse, a service of JHUP that makes a host of print journals available on the WWW.
I could send you an offprint of my essay, Terri, if you wanted to send me your current address (perhaps via Marvels & Tales). I do, think, though, that you might be interested in the entire issue (which is on "Violence and Children's Literature," not more generally "Children and Violence," as I erroneously put it in my previous post). It includes a number of essays on photographs and illustrations in picture books.
|
Terri
Registered User
(9/20/01 7:33:42 am)
|
Re: Fairy tales in war
Don, thanks for the info. You're right, I'd like to get a copy of the entire issue. When I'm back in the States and in my Tucson office, I'll track down a copy.
I'm going to be off this chat board for a little bit. My mother has just died. I'll be back when I can.
|
Kate
Unregistered User
(9/20/01 9:25:15 am)
|
Articles
Terri,
I'm so sorry for your loss. Please accept my condolences at this difficult time.
On the subject of relevance of tales to the current times, I would simply point everyone to three very good articles in the last week's New York Times.
"The Expression of Grief and the Power of Art" is
a long article, excellent, just excellent, by NEIL STRAUSS and appeared on September 13 (this is the best one, but I can't access the link. You can find it by searching their online archives simply for the words "Martha Graham" and art, and it'll be on the list of articles to link from there).
Also, two articles on performance and writing:
www.nytimes.com/2001/09/2...0PERF.html
www.nytimes.com/2001/09/2...20LIT.html
(On a related but different subject, there's a review today of the opera of The Little Match Girl . . . )
|
Kerrie
Registered User
(9/20/01 10:24:40 am)
|
Sadness...
Oh my, Terri, I'm so sorry to hear! My heart is with you. Please let me know if you need anything or just want to talk. Jansen sends his condolences as well.
Soft whispers and dandelion wishes,
Kerrie
|
Karen
Unregistered User
(9/20/01 12:28:59 pm)
|
--
Terri,
I add my condolences- I was sorry to hear of your loss. I know how difficult the loss of a parent can be.
Best wishes,
karen
|
Helen
Registered User
(9/20/01 2:26:53 pm)
|
Condolences ...
Dear Terri:
I am so sorry to hear of your loss - please, accept my condolences as well.
Respectfully,
Helen
|
Jess
Unregistered User
(9/20/01 8:27:58 pm)
|
Condolences
Terri-
I was saddened to hear of your loss. Please accept my condolences.
Don-
I am interested in seeing a copy. I will check to see if any of the libraries near me subscribe.
Everyone else-
Thanks for all of your interesting comments. There were several things mentioned that I am unfamiliar with. I guess it is time to do some serious research and information gathering.
Best wishes,
Jess
|
CoryEllen
Registered User
(9/21/01 10:06:55 am)
|
condolences
Terri,
I'm so sorry for your loss.
Cory-Ellen |
CoryEllen
Registered User
(9/21/01 10:10:49 am)
|
Nathalie Anderson
Greg - I missed this before - you're friends with Nathalie Anderson? Author of Following Fred Astaire? I've been trying to get in touch with her - could you e-mail me at cefaery@yahoo.com ?
Thanks,
Cory-Ellen
|
Lotti
Unregistered User
(9/22/01 9:50:46 am)
|
Terri
Terri, as we do not know each other personally I hope you will not feel that I am out of line if I offer my sincere condolences. Wish I could just give you a hug of comfort, Lotti
|
janeyolen
Unregistered User
(9/23/01 2:12:38 am)
|
Loss
Terri dear--I have been away in Ireland and only now see that your mother has died. I know this was a long time coming, but Death is always a surprise, even when expected, even when an invited guest. Public love. Will send private as well.
All: remember that even in the Holocaust death camps, the children were making up poems and painting pictures (you have all, I hope, seen I NEVER SAW ANOTHER BUTTFERLY. . .I hope I have the title right.) Art helps us make sense of a nonsensical world; it brings a kind of order to our chaos; it tells us that there is a reason, a season, that sring follows winter; it gives us hope when hope is gone.
Jane
|
|
