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Author
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Comment
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NicoleS
Unregistered User
(10/24/03 1:09 pm)
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Fairy Godmothers
I read a past topic posted about Fairy Godmothers in the archives, but I was wondering if anyone knows of any recent research about them.
I am trying to figure out where exactly Fairy Godmothers "fit" in the realm of the fay. Where do they live? Where do they come from? I've looked in a few Fairy Encyclopedias, but the entries are a bit vague in this area.
Thanks.
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Terri
Registered User
(10/25/03 1:16 am)
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Re: Fairy Godmothers
Some of the earliest known fairies in Europe were creatures (usually female) who blessed or cursed infants at birth -- similar to the three Fates in Roman myth. The words fairy and faery derive from the same Latin root as fate.
The concept of the fairy godmother as we know her today, however, was fleshed out and expanded by the French literary fairy tale writers in the 17th and 18th centuries -- many of whom were women and some of whom, scholars have suggested, may have seen the fairy godmothers as stand-ins for themselves: wise, witty women of independent means who gave the young heroines good advice. The more patriarchal German fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, by contrast, do not tend to include fairy godmothers.
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Quinnlove
Registered User
(10/27/03 12:17 pm)
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Re: Fairy Godmothers
I'm having difficulty searching the archives, so pardon me if the above-mentioned past topic mentions them, but for current fiction I of course recommend Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's <i>The Godmother</i> and <i>The Godmother's Apprentice</i>, which put fairy godmothers into the modern world as a sort of consulting firm.
When was that discussion?
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Helen
Registered User
(10/27/03 12:54 pm)
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Perhaps ...
I'm not certain if this is the one that you have in mind ... but I immediately jumped to the memory of a long-ago discussion that had Midori and Jane conducting an epistolary narrative through the personas of two fairies. Just as fun to read now as it was then ...
www.surlalunefairytales.c...page1.html
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janeyolen
Registered User
(10/28/03 7:18 am)
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That story
We are actuallyofinishing the story (I think) and have sold it to a Parke Godwin anthology. MOre when we know more.
Jane
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