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Author
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Comment
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edmrn
Registered User
(2/20/03 7:43:33 am)
| What role if any have fairy
tales played in war and peace
Hi, I'm new here. I stumbled across this community while beginning research on an idea I had for a project. I thought maybe someone could let me know if its worth following.
I was wondering if there have been fairy tales that were either developed or used in unstable climates, that addressed the topic of war and peace. Did countries facing the threat of war have fables they told to comfort small children? Maybe there are fables that have a moral message about war? Possibly even fables that were transports for political propaganda, or political revolts?
If there have been, could anyone recommend some good intro books to start from? I'm trying to avoid biblical stories and Greek myths...
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Kevin
Smith
Registered User
(2/20/03 7:59:55 am)
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The Grimms
I don't know if this helps at all, but the Grimms embarked upon their collection as a form of German nationalism. Germany was not unified at this point in history, and most of it was under the control of the French, so part of the Brothers Grimms' project was to establish a catalogue of "uniquely German" folklore. In all respects, they succeeded: Their volume of fairy tales is now only outsold in Germany by the bible, and the tales have been thoroughly absorbed into the identity of what it means to be German, even if many of the stories were really from France.
Check out Jack Zipes's _The Brothers Grimm_ which goes into the details of this. His explanation of some of the "soldier stories" in that book may also help.
Fables that were transports for political revolts? The myth of the Bastille might be a good example. The liberation of the Bastille is a major French myth despite the fact that only three prisoners were released and one of those was the Marquis De Sade. In woodcuts and stories that circulated France it was portrayed as a bastion of repression where the evil king left peasants to rot. In actuality, it was a kind of holiday home for the criminally insane.
There's a book on allegory that talks about how the monarchists in England after the execution of Charles I used allegory as a code to express their pro-monarchy polemics. I'll have to find it before I can give you the name. It also leads me to the thought of Milton's Paradise Lost. Not a fairy tale, but a work that deals in myth and expresses quite clear political messages about the necessity of rebellion: see the sympathetic Cromwell/ Satan.
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Jess
Unregistered User
(2/20/03 11:58:26 am)
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other thread
Heidi,
We have another thread on this very subject (I believe started by Rod). Could you move this to it?
Jess
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edmrn
Registered User
(2/21/03 5:47:56 am)
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thanks...
Kevin-
Thanks for the info, it'll give me a place to start looking.
My project is coming from a bit of a skewed angle- I'm a painter and I'm interested in developing compositions inspired by and referring back to fairytales. I want them to be addressing present days tensions from a somewhat detached position much the same way that renaissance painters used references to classic literature to speak about the ideals and political climates of their own age.
I'ld be very interested in reading up on that other thread...how should I go about that?
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Kerrie
Moderator
(2/21/03 6:06:29 am)
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Re: thanks...
Here's the link to the thread previously mentioned:
Help-
Fairytales & War
And since you are talking about art, here's a discussion on color symbolism and peace and unity that may help:
Color
symbolism in folklore... and uniting with color...
Hope these help.
Sugarplum dreams,
Kerrie
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