|
Author
|
Comment
|
BarbLima
Unregistered User
(8/19/02 7:01:04 pm)
|
Emma Donoghue's Kissing the Witch
I am writing my thesis on Donoghue's Kissing the Witch, but I could not identify two of her rewritings. I would like to know if someone here knows what "The Tale of the Brother" and "The Tale of the Bird" are revisions of.
Thanks a bunch!
|
janeyolenaolcom
Unregistered User
(8/19/02 10:06:38 pm)
|
Kissing
My copy is in Massachusetts. Want to remind us what each story is about.
Jane
|
BarbLima
Registered User
(8/20/02 6:10:14 am)
|
What the stories are about
The Tale of the Bird is the story of a woman who, as a child, felt like her parents never paid attention to her. She feels small and insignificant. Then one day a man comes along and she is in love with him, so they get married, and he is the nicest man ever. However, although the castle where they live is immense, she feels extremelly lonely. Then one day she runs into a bird who is hurt, and she nurtures it back to health until it can fly. She releases it from the top of a tower in the castle and, as it flies away, she comes to the realization she should do that too.
- I thought about Bluebeard, but isn't the key to Bluebeard the 'do not unlock this door'? There are no doors in Donoghue's version.
The Tale of the Brother
Two sibling orphans - a girl and a boy - live in an orphanage. The girl looks up to her brother, as he is bold and intelligent. Then one night he gets kidnapped by a woman in a sleigh lined with white fur, and the girl goes back to the orphanage and when people ask her where her brother is she tells them about the kidnapping, but they do not believe her and, eventually, she starts saying she does not know. Then one night she decides to go find him, and she leaves the orphanage. Donoghue's description of the city involves the biggest amount of snow ever seen in literature (hehe) and, as the girl walks around the city looking for her brother, she gets colder and colder. She lays down to sleep and a thief attempts to steal the girl's red shoes, but the girl wakes up and they become friends. The thief shows the girl around, and as she is standying there in the middle of the snow, she sees the sleigh coming and jumps inside. They go really fast into the forest and she ends up falling from the sleigh, but she manages to find a house with the sleigh parked in front of it. She knocks, and this young, beautiful woman opens the door, and inside she sees her brother sitting by the fire, happily eating cake. She turns to the woman enraged and says "Why him? Why not me?" and the woman smiles, opens her arms, and welcomes the little girl into the house.
- My first guess was Hensel and Grettel, but that one Donoghue wrote into "The Tale of the Cottage". I thought about that story of the little girl who sells matches and ends up freezing to death, but it sounds too far fetched.
Thank you
|
rachael
Unregistered User
(8/20/02 6:40:39 am)
|
the tale of the brother
the snow queen?
|
Yellow
McMaggie
Registered User
(8/20/02 6:42:26 am)
|
Tale of the Bird
The tale of the Bird sounds like a rewriting of the Grimms' tale "Fitcher's Bird", where the bride-to-be escapes from her finance's castle by disguising herself as a bird. Before he returns, however, she decorates a skull with jewels and a wreath of flowers. She then places the decorated skull it in the attic window so that when the bridegroom returns home, he will think that his bride is looking out the window.
When the bridegroom returns home for his wedding, his bride (who is dressed as a bird) passes him and he does not recognize her, but she tells him that he will find his bride looking out the attic window. He then sees the skull, nods and greets her (or what he thought was her), and then when he is then back inside the castle (along with all of the wedding guests), the bride's relatives arrive and they lock the doors and burn the castle down so that no one can escape.
The tale of Fitcher's Bird is indeed quite similar to the tale of Bluebeard (because both tales involve the motifs of keys and the forbidden chamber) but by going by what you had written down as part of a summary of "The Tale of the Bird", it sounds to me as though it it could be a rewriting of the tale of Fitcher's Bird- minus the keys, of course.
There may be a more exact tale, of which The Tale of the Bird is meant to be a rewriting of, but that is the first thing that came to my mind.
Hope that helped some.
Cheers,
Katie
Edited by: Yellow McMaggie at: 8/20/02 6:47:46 am
|
BarbLima
Registered User
(8/20/02 6:52:25 pm)
|
Thanks :)
Thank you for your input. I will make sure I read both tales as soon as possible.
It was really good to have found this place, guys!
|
janeyolenaolcom
Unregistered User
(8/21/02 4:01:29 am)
|
stories
The Snow Queen crossed with the Red Shoes, suggests that she is using a bunch of Hans Christian Andersen themes in the one story. But there' a touch of Hansel and Gretel in the end.
As far as the first story is concerned, I too have given some thought to "Fitcher's Bird" but it really doesn't seem to touch at enough places.
Every thought of writing to Emma Donoghue and asking?
With a live author, that is always an option!
Jane
|
BarbLima
Registered User
(8/21/02 6:13:06 am)
|
Asking Donoghue
Yeah, I have thought of that. We have exchanged some emails - mostly
trying to set up an interview. The only reason why I have not done
this yet is because ... well... I am writing a master's thesis on
it, and I don't want to come across as being so ditzy as to not
be able to identify the most primary of all the steps, ya know.
I will end up doing it anyway though lol
|
janeyolen
Unregistered User
(8/21/02 8:32:15 am)
|
My 2 cents
Just a thought, Barb, but when someone is doing work on my stories, I ALWAYS prefer giving them the straight poop (as the author knows it) than having them pass on false information.
Not that I try to influence the critical evaulations. But stuff like influences etc. is important to get right.
Jane
|
Kate
Unregistered User
(8/21/02 11:32:51 am)
|
Agree
I agree entirely with Jane--it's better to ask, and not at all untoward! You should not worry about that. I think your honest curiosity about references not easily discerned will in no way diminish any perception of your capacity to write intelligently about the work. In no way at all. Maybe it will be greatly appreciated, in fact, if others perhaps have not bothered.
Kate
|
BarbLima
Registered User
(8/21/02 1:52:35 pm)
|
You are right
You girls are right. I will write her tonight and as soon as I get the answer I will make sure to let everyone here know (if you are as curious as me lol)
Thanks a lot!
|
Nalo
Registered User
(8/21/02 2:15:16 pm)
|
Re: You are right
Tale of the Brother is definitely the Snow Queen (I say, jumping in after months and months of silence). And whenever anyone mentions Fitcher's Bird, I think of the beautiful and eerie Cindy Sherman version, illustrated with photographs of Sherman's work. Greg Frost is about to release a novel that's a retelling of the Fitcher's Bird story, too.
|
BarbLima
Registered User
(8/29/02 6:09:59 pm)
|
Donoghue's answer
I just wanted to come back and say that Donoghue has replied to
my email. "The Tale of the Bird" is Thumbelina.
Thank you a lot, everyone!
|
