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Author
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Comment
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Colleen
Unregistered User
(4/2/04 2:42 pm)
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What Fueled Your Fairy Tale Obsession
Can you think of any one book or story that sparked your interest
in fairy tales beyond that of most children? I'd always read fairy
tales as a kid - I used to borrow the Lang
"color" books from the school library and remember
ordering "Tales
from Silver Lands" from the book club when I was seven.
When my sisters and I played make-believe games there would often
be a fairy tale element. Even the first movie I saw, at age 4, was
"Sleeping
Beauty". But I can't say that any of that was much beyond
an average book-loving child's interest. Fairy tales are part of
growing up for most kids, I think. (At least in my generation -
I'm 40. Can't speak to today, since I don't have kids.)
When I was 15, the children's librarian held the library's brand
new copy of "Beauty"
by Robin McKinley till I came in, because she thought I'd like it.
(I used to hit the children's room every time I went to the library
because YA fiction is a good source of fantasy novels.) I don't
think I'd ever read a version of "Beauty
and the Beast" before - I don't remember one. But I took
the book, took it home, and was immediately lost in it. I didn't
want to put it down and I didn't want it ever to end. I read that
book every year for several years - still reread it with some frequency
- and was thrilled when I could finally buy my own (paperback) copy.
"Beauty"
is the book that fueled my fairy tale obsession. If it weren't for
that novel, I doubt I would've started down that path of hunting
down other fairy-tale retellings, new fairy tales, original versions
of the old tales, even dabbling a bit in my own. I certainly owe
Robin McKinley a debt I could never pay; her first novel gave me
an interest that has enriched my life.
What got you to develop your interest in fairy tales beyond the "normal" interest?
Colleen
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Veronica
Schanoes
Registered User
(4/2/04 2:54 pm)
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Re: What Fueled Your Fairy Tale Obsession
My mother. Among many other wonderful things she's done and continues
to do, she had about 10 or 12 of the Andrew
Lang books and let me lie around reading them all when I was
a little girl. And she had the 32 Oz books I referred to in a different
thread. And Grimm's. And Hans Christian Andersen.
I mean, I read a lot of everything when I was a kid, but I have such fond memories especially of reading my mother's fairy-tale books.
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aka
Greensleeves
(4/2/04 4:21 pm)
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Re: What Fueled Your Fairy Tale Obsession
You took the words right out of my mouth. The only reason I'm in
this game is because of Robin McKinley. Probably more The
Door in the Hedge than Beauty,
but only because I read it first (much younger).
As I got older, I found myself seeking out more and more retellings,
and being drawn to that form myself when I began writing professionally.
Even now, I read original source texts more for background than
for their own merits (you may all fling things at my head now, but
I'll point out that I have a degree in anthropology, so I am incredibly
sensitive to cultural source material.)
Edited by: aka Greensleeves at: 4/2/04 4:21 pm
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ARTSFAN
(4/2/04 8:46 pm)
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Re: What Fueled Your Fairy Tale Obsession
For me, it's hard to pick one particular book that captured me because
there were so many; the Paul
O' Zelinsky Fairy Tales, "Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs" by Nancy Ekholm Burkert, "The
Sleeping Beauty" by Trina Schart Hyman, "Beauty
and the Beast" by Mercer Mayer, etc. I also grew up watching
and loving various Fairy Tale films, including Disney. Fairy Tales
were a large part of my grade school experience. It's hard to say
exactly why we love, and why we have loved, Fairy Tales. Personally,
I think we feel a deep connection with them because they first introduce
us to different emotions. The first time I remember feeling truly
scared was when I heard the story of "Hansel
and Gretel". Two little kids lost in the woods, then captured
by a Witch was the scariest thing imaginable at that time (and,
at 20 years of age, it still runs in a close second).
Also, Fairy Tales teach us valuable lessons, without being "preachy".
We're taught to listen to our parents, don't "stray from the
path", and don't take candy from strangers through these stories.
Still, there's so much more to loving them, and I think it would
be impossible to break it down to one reason why they appeal so
much to us.
Edited by: ARTSFAN at: 4/2/04 11:07 pm
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winkingstar
Registered User
(4/2/04 9:19 pm)
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Re: What Fueled Your Fairy Tale Obsession
I can't remember my life before fairy tales (and I'm only 20). I've
always had fairy tale picture books (the earliest one I can remember
having and loving is _Mufaro's
Beautiful Daughters_, an African tale) and I loved Disney (not
so much now, I still like some of them though). I kind of had a
lull during high school, though, although towards the end I read
Robin McKinley's _Beauty_
which enchanted me anew. _Beauty_
was also one of the seven or eight most valuable books I brought
to college with me (and deciding on those books I could bring was
a VERY hard decision).
Since I've been at college (almost done with my junior year), I've
become very much interested in fairy tale retellings, such as McKinley's,
Gail Carson Levine's,
Donna Jo Napoli's,
and pretty much anything I find in a bookstore that has an enchanting
first paragraph (my test before buying a book). I've recently been
wondering why fairy tales suddenly became so much more important
to me when I went to college and I've come to the conclusion that
it's because fairy tales are journeys of self-discovery, which is
definitely something I need going to college 2500 miles away from
home--I need that dose of magic, preferably with a strong female
hero who overcomes her fears to triumph in the end.
~winkingstar
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tlchang37
Registered User
(4/2/04 11:06 pm)
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Re: What Fueled Your Fairy Tale Obsession
My obsession began very early with "The
Fairy Tale Book" illustrated by Adrienne Segur. I was fascinated,
both by the not-so-familiar versions of the tales and the intricate
and evocative illustrations. She's one of my earliest inspirations
and a big contributor to my choice of vocations (I now illustrate
things mainly for children, though, alas, as of yet - no fairy tales).
Tara
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rosyelf
(4/3/04 1:02 am)
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What fired my obsession
I can't remember the FIRST thing-fairy tales were always around,
not the Lang books but certainly retellings of Grimm, Andersen,
Perrault, Jack and the
Beanstalk-who collected THAT ? When I was eight my parents gave
me a huge book of fairy tales -I can't remember who compiled them,
but I vividly remember some of the illustrations-the attic in The
Tinder Box; the Snow Queen looking magnificent AND terrible as she
travelled through the snow on her sleigh; the Beast encountering
the hapless father picking roses in the garden.
There have really been 3(so far) intense fairy tale phases in my life. The childhood one mentioned above was the first. The second was at university when I did various courses in French and German folklore and got back into Grimm with renewed enthusiasm. The third, current, phase has been triggered by my children-I love introducing them to these wonderful tales that will never wear out.
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Heather
KT
Registered User
(4/3/04 11:40 am)
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Re: What Fueled Your Fairy Tale Obsession
I remember loving the Lang color fairy books, D’Aulaire’s _Book
of Greek Myths_, and the Opies’ _Classic
Fairy Tales_, with comments on the history of the stories and
illustrations by different artists (Nielsen,
Dulac,
Crane,
Rackham).
But I think the Mary Renault books _Mask
of Apollo_, _Bull
from the Sea_ and _The
King Must Die_ really opened my eyes to the fresh way an author
could interpret the traditional stories. And McKinley’s _Beauty_
had a huge impact, too. I'm like an evangelist for that book-- I
buy it whenever I see a copy in a used bookstore, because I know
that when I lend it out, it never comes back.
Fun topic!
Heather Tomlinson
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Veronica
Schanoes
Registered User
(4/3/04 1:32 pm)
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Re: What Fueled Your Fairy Tale Obsession
Oh! I had D'Aulaire's
Greek Myths too! I remember in 4th grade finding a copy of Tanith
Lee's Red
as Blood, and being just blown away by the idea of retelling
fairy tales and running around asking my parents and other grown-ups
what they thought of the idea. So I think for me, it was my mother's
books originally and then Lee's stories.
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Laura
McCaffrey
Registered User
(4/3/04 5:46 pm)
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Re: What Fueled Your Fairy Tale Obsession
I'm another one who adored D'Aulaire's
Greek Myths as a kid. I had a friend who was also obsessed and
we used to play a game we called goddesses, acting out the various
stories of Athena and Artemis. I had other collections: Grimms,
a Norse collection I no longer know the name of, Virginia Haviland's
North
American Legends - though I mostly only read the "Indian
and Eskimo Tales" in that one.
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aj
Unregistered User
(4/3/04 10:09 pm)
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re
i have to admit i never really read fairy tales when i was a kid,
i just didn't care much about them; but a couple years ago i was
wandering through the library and i didn't really know what i wanted
and i came across "Black
Swan, White Raven" (which is a collection of fairy tales
adapted for adults) and now i'm hooked
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Veronica
Schanoes
Registered User
(4/3/04 10:20 pm)
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Norse myths
Hi Laura,
Is it possible that we had the same Norse
myth collection? Mine went w/my Greek
myths and it was also D'Aulaire's. I remember the illustrations
were fabulous. I have to add to my mother's praises some more and
talk about how assiduous she was in giving me collections of Native
American folktales, Gypsy folktales (the book was called "Gypsy"
folktales, though I know it is not always a preferred term), Greek
myth, fairy tales, you name it. Also in providing me various children's
classics of fantasy like the Mary
Poppins books, the Borrowers,
the
Oz books, etc. All this from a woman who avoids fantasy like
the plague in her own, adult reading. Go figure.
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Laura
McCaffrey
Registered User
(4/5/04 6:35 am)
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Re: Norse myths
Hey Veronica -
Nope. It was thick, without pictures, and had tiny print. This is what I remember about it. Well, that and the older book smell. These memories, clearly, are not helpful in tracking it down. :>
And here's a cheer for small town librarians: once they knew what I liked to read, they always had a stack of suggestions when I walked through the door.
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Helen
J Pilinovsky
Registered User
(4/5/04 11:12 am)
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Re: Norse myths
Oh, what a lovely question - I, too, was one of the kids who got
sucked in via D'Aulaire's
Greek myths (a volume that my parents bought me in desperation
during a trip to California when I was six or so - Disneyland just
didn't thrill me like they thought it would, so they ended up taking
me to the reconstructed Roman steading and picking it up in the
gift-shop - it worked like a charm to keep me quiet in cars for
the rest of the visit, as well as on the plane-ride home). It was
accompanied by the Andrew Lang book of Greek myths; I pored over
them until the point that they were almost falling apart. Around
the same time, I picked up a copy of Nacy Arrowsmith's A
Field Guide to the Little People in the library - it was
the first thing that I'd ever wanted badly enough to consider stealing,
a plot from which my parents only narrowly dissuaded me. It took
me another fifteen years or so to find my own copy in a second-hand
shop ... when I look back over some of the substitutes which they
purchased to comfort me, I'm almost startled, and not a bit surprised
that I've become both a fairy tale scholar and a Structuralist -
possessing Katherine Briggs Encyclopedia
of Fairies before adolescence is bound to have effects.
In terms of fiction ... the first book that I remember really hitting
me, and bringing me to a love of the uncanny, has to be one of the
Borderlands volumes - I think that it was Elsewhere,
by Will Shetterly. The only reason that there's any question is
because after finding it, I proceeded to devour them all in quick
succession, and to start hunting for all of the "Recommended
Reading" lists at the backs of the anthologies - they made
for good field guides.
I didn't actually consider fairy tale studies as a career until fairly late - probably my sophomore year of college. I took a class on retellings with a lovely woman at Hunter, Beth Haddrell (whom I just Googled - she's still at Hunter! New Yorkers, audit this class - it can change your life), and realized that my goal to teach had just been honed down to a period and a subject area. And, well, that was that ...
Looking over all of your choices, it's almost funny how much we
all have in common: while we may have different starting points,
we've all been immersed in the same sea. Each succeeding volume
- Renault, Segur, McKinley
- just reinforced the obsession. I wonder if there are any patterns
between who read what first, and what we're all like now?
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swood
Unregistered User
(4/5/04 1:16 pm)
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Ditto on D'Aulaires also Howard Pyle
Growing up in a fundamentalist Christian home, fairy tales and ghost
stories were forbidden, but anything that could be argued to have
a "cultural" value, like Greek Myth or Arthurian Myth,
was accepted. The D'Aulaire's
were the beginning of my interest, but I also was really sucked
into fairytales more specifically by Howard Pyle's illustrations
in his Arthurian books. (The Story of King Arthur & Knights.)
There was one picture in particular, in which Iseult has discovered
that Tristan had murdered her brother. She has taken his sword from
him and is attacking him. Her whole body is bent with the weight
of her sword and her anger. Her hair is swirling down around her
ankles. There was something in that picture that lit a passion in
me, I wanted to discover more about these passionate people.
Interestingly, I have to say that the Bible was also a perfect proving ground for fairytales. Bible stories have their own wonder and violence, not to mention impact on world literature. My familiarity with the Book was a great help to me once I got to college.
Sarah
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Celestial
Registered User
(4/5/04 5:31 pm)
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Childhood
I am an Illustrator who specialises in fairy tales and whimsy.
I had a strange & wonderful childhood in the 1960's. My father was a doctor in the British Colonial Service and we moved around quite a lot ... 11 countries. By the time I was 8, we had lived in misty England, tropical Trinidad (West Indies), the snorkelling wonderland of Nassau and the scrubby expanses of Australia. And I had visited Africa, India & Portugal. Visiting and living in these countries, I eaten their food and had been immersed in their cultures. I had known people of many ethnicities, rich and poor. I had known their landscapes.
For me, Fairy Tales were not a stretch of the imagination. For me, the world of the Fairy Tale was entirely possible and perhaps even probable. I had seen so many strange things in my short life, that pixies, elves and gnomes didn't seem that odd ... they were real. Stories about regular boys and girls just didn't do it for me.
As for books, well I was a lot more interested in the Illustrations
than the stories. The pictures that captivated me as a child were
those in the Enid Blyton books (fashioned in the style of Rackham)
& Hilda
Boswell's Fairy Tales were also a favourite. When I was older,
around 12, I fell in love with the watercolour illustrations of
Errol le Cain (Cinderella
in particular), and Jan Pienkowski's "The
Golden Bird" which were enchanting black silhouette pics
about Babka the white witch and the nut maiden .... it is still
one of my all time favourite books.
Celeste
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Dreaming Wombat
Unregistered User
(4/8/04 8:49 am)
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Childhood fairy tales
It's amazing how many people cite a visual inspiration when remembering how they became interested in fairy tales via a book. It just shows how key childrens book illustrations really are.
Although I am a huge book fan like everyone else here seems to be
I seem to recall that the dawning of my interest in fairy tales
was partly inspired by books - but it was mainly through film. I
can remember being amazed at seeing 'The
Dark Crystal' in about 1983 and The
Never Ending Story - when I was 7/8 or so and my imagination
hasn't waned ever since!
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Nalo
Registered User
(4/8/04 11:27 am)
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Re: Childhood fairy tales
So many, so many...
-my parents giving me an illustrated version of "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" when I was a child. There were pictures of human-sized earthenware vases filled with jewels. The jewels were huge, brightly-coloured and luminous. They looked edible. I would stare and stare at them.
-also from my parents, a 45' record (showing my age here) with the story of Little Red Riding Hood on it. To this day, I can remember not only specific lines from the story, but exactly what the reader's intonations were.
-and a 33' record of Peter and the Wolf, recited by, I think, Peter Ustinov, with music directed by a famous conductor whose name skips my mind at the moment: Leonard Bernstein, perhaps?
-and hearing Miss Lou (Dame Louise Bennet Coverly) tell Anansi stories on one of the few locally made television programmes in Trinidad at the time: a children's hour called "Rikki Tikki Tavi, after the mongoose in Rudyard Kipling's second Jungle Book.
-the copy of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey on my dad's bookshelves when I was about 10-11.
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Gregor9
Registered User
(4/8/04 2:46 pm)
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Re: Childhood fairy tales
Let's see, most especially, a retelling of The
Odyssey by Barbara Leonie Picard. But (Nalo has reminded me)--
--a 78 rpm retelling of The Iliad to the tune of Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges suite (while others hear that march and think of some FBI radio show, I can only hear the Greeks triumphant as the horse is wheeled into the city of Troy).
--Leonard Bernstein's "Young
Peoples' Concerts" series, with emphasis upon strange storytelling
classical pieces.
--the film "Fantasia"
--a tv anthology series starring a grown-up Shirley Temple in stories that were often frightening and fairy-tale-like (some E.T.A. Hoffman tales were included; it was for my generation what the Henson "Fairy Tale Theatre" seems to have been for a younger generation)
--Andy Devine's tv show in the early 1950s that featured a (to my 3-year-old perception) terrifying Frog puppet, and a cat named Midnight that smiled and said "Niiiiiiiiiice" in a very sinister way.
--I'll think of some more the moment I sign off...
Greg
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Jess
Unregistered User
(4/8/04 5:59 pm)
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What fueled my renewed interest in fairy tales?
Terri Windling.
I was home with double pneumonia in a new place, halfway across
the country from my old home, with three small children and really
no friends. I was looking for some interesting stuff on my favorite
childhood tale, "The
White Cat". I stumbled onto the forum and Terri was not
only very helpful, but also she encouraged me to share my ideas.
It was just the intellectual outlook I was looking for. I have been
happily delving back into the fairy tale realm ever since.
I have to admit, however, I always enjoyed fairy tales. I have my
mother's childhood copy of HFC tales. My first book was a picture
book of "The Three Bears". I also have always been found
of O'Henry - who "writes" or borrows a lot from fairy
tales and folklore. I had a favorite library book in the fourth
grade of fairy tales. The most read books in our Harvard Classics
were the volumes on fairy tales and folklore and the Tennyson to
Whitman poetry (including Tennyson's "The
Lady of the Shallot"). And I followed my sister's interest
in Greek and Roman mythology - she eventually became an archaeologist,
but not a classic archaeologist.
Still, my interests have always varied greatly - from biology to
history to music to law to economics and business. And as always,
my reading material varies greatly too: I am currently reading Hayak's
"The
Road to Serfdom and just finished Dana's "Two
Years Before the Mast." I will probably read some Angela
Carter next though as I am not as familiar with her works as I ought
to be.
Anyway, this interest of mine in fairy tales definitely has its roots in Terri's encouragement and comments. She said the right thing at the right time. Thanks, Terri!
Jess
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Alison
Unregistered User
(4/9/04 2:07 am)
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Mad, bad and dangerous to read!
As a child, I bitterly resented fairytales. I loathed the horrid
golden maidens on whom all the blessings of the world devolved for
no other reason than their beauty, and even then I could see that
beauty got a girl a long way -- onto television, into the movies,
or even just an extra serve of cake from the lovelorn schoolboys
who had saved it for the belle of the class. My literary heroines
were bratty Alice
in Wonderland, contrary Mary from The
Secret Garden and best of all, that woefully neglected but gloriously
free spirit Pippi
Longstocking. What better role model for an ordinary girl than
that freckle-faced rascal? Even now, in my 30s, I still believe
that fairytales should not be given to anyone younger than adolescent.
They are dangerous stuff. But oh, what truths they tell. All those
teenagers who feel the grown-up world is giving them an unreasonably
hard time -- well, kids, you're not being paranoid. Grown-ups really
do hate you! The more I have to hose down overheated adults ranting
that "Teenagers should not be allowed to roam the streets"
and "The government should put a curfew on kids" and "Girls
look like filthy sluts in those hipster jeans" and "Some
17-year-old bimbo will probably run off with my husband", the
more I realise that Snow White/Rapunzel/Sleeping Beauty syndrome
is alive and thriving in the world. (And please! What 17-year-old
would want someone's clapped-out old sleazebag of a hubby anyway?)
It's been enthralling coming back to fairytales as an adult and,
in the light of their universal truths, rereading my own adolescence
and making sense of it. And I now realise why my mother detested
me --- not for my blossoming maidenly beauty, because I was a shabby,
ugly little thing, but for the educational and professional opportunities
that my generation of girls would have, and that her generation
missed out on. It's good to finally have that understanding.
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