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Author
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Comment
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Terri
Windling
Registered User
(3/12/04 10:23 am)
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Fiction based on ballads
I recently completed an Introduction for a new edition of Charles
Vess's wonderful Ballads series (www.greenmanpress.com),
and in this Introduction I recommended a number of stories and novels
based on traditional folk ballads. Here are my recommendations (below).
If I've forgotten any particularly good ones out, please let me
know.
The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean
Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip
Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones
Red Shift by Alan Garner
A Dark Horn Blowing by Dahlov Ipcar
“Tam Lin” by Joan Vinge (Imaginary Lands)
“Tam Lin’s Lady” (poem) by Liz Locchead (Dreaming
Frankenstein)
Tam Lin by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Charles Mikolaycak
Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner
“True Thomas” by Bruce Glassco (Black Swan, White
Raven)
Through a Brazen Mirror by Delia Sherman
“Cruel Sisters” by Patricia C. Wrede (Book of Enchantments)
"The Harp That Sang” by Gregory Frost (Swan
Sister)
“Alison Gross” by Midori Syder (Life on the Border)
"Sule Skerry" by Jane Yolen (Neptune
Rising)
“An Earthly Mother Sits and Sings” by John Crowley
(DreamHaven chapbook, and The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror,
Vol. 14)
The Ballad Series by Sharyn McCrumb:
Ghostriders, The Songcatcher, The Ballad of Frankie Silver,
The Rosewood Casket, She Walks These Hills, The Hangman's Beautiful
Daughter, and If I Never Return Pretty Peggy-o.
I’m looking for novels, stories, and poems that are specifically
based on ballads, rather than ones that are about folk music in
general (such as Emma Bull’s War for the Oaks or
Charles de Lint’s The Little County). Although
I've included Greer Gilman's Moonwise because it
uses so many ballad motifs.
Suggestions welcome.
Edited by: Terri Windling at: 3/12/04 10:25 am
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Helen
J Pilinovsky
Registered User
(3/12/04 12:01 pm)
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Re: Fiction based on ballads
I think that Pam Dean's Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary
might also fit the bill, being based in more or less equal parts
upon the ballad of the cruel sisters, and a Lorena McKennit song
(not traditional, but oddly effective). Also, perhaps Rosemary Edgehill's
Twelve Treasures series might be appropriate: the first one is based
on the premise of "How many miles to Babylon," which I've
heard referenced as anything from a nursery rhyme to a ballad ...
similarly, if that basis qualifies, Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess's
Stardust.
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Heather
KT
Registered User
(3/12/04 12:36 pm)
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Re: Fiction based on ballads
Janet McNaughton's new YA novel, "An Earthly Knight" is a lovely interweaving of "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" and "Tam Lin," set in 12th century Scotland.
Heather Tomlinson
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Don
Registered User
(3/12/04 4:41 pm)
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Re: Fiction based on ballads
Terri, while this is not an entirely relevant response to your posting, you might be interested to know that the forthcoming (May) issue of Marvels & Tales includes an article on the relationship of ballads and fairy tales--specifically fairy-tale fiction based on "Tam Lin."
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Terri
Windling
Registered User
(3/13/04 7:20 am)
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Re: Fiction based on ballads
That's wonderful! I look forward to it.
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janeyolen
Registered User
(3/13/04 7:30 am)
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Re: Fiction based on ballads
In my MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD I wrote a quasi paedophilic story, "The False Knight on the Road" about a riddling man/knight/demon by the side of the road and the school boy who escapes using his wits. Based, of course, on the Child ballad #3 of the same name.
Jane
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aka
Greensleeves
(3/13/04 9:17 am)
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Re: Fiction based on ballads
Patricia McKillip says that her The Tower at Stony Wood
is based on "The Lady of Shalott," but she credits Loreena
McKennit, not Tennyson, for her inspiration.
Stephanie
in the prairie
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Terri
Windling
Registered User
(3/13/04 10:32 am)
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Re: Fiction based on ballads
I'm afraid that doesn't count as a traditional ballad since it's actually a Victorian poem, even though McKennitt latter turned it into a ballad-style song. Great book though, I agree. Just not right for this list. Nor, for instance, would be Pamela Dean's "Owlswater," a lovely, long story found in the anthology Xanadu II (edited by Jane Yolen), which Pamela based on the modern ballad "The Witch of Westmorlands" penned by Scottish singer Archie Fisher. Mind you, I love both these works and would include them if I could.
Jane, thanks for reminding me about The False Knight on the Road.
I'll add it to the list! I knew there was something of
yours I was forgetting....
Edited by: Terri Windling at: 3/13/04 10:41 am
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janeyolen
Registered User
(3/13/04 11:41 am)
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Re: Fiction based on ballads
You know, I have been thinking about other possibilities--"Burd Janet" in NOT ONE DAMSEL IN DISTRESS is yet another retelling of Tam Lin; and "Mizilca" in the same book has this in the notes:''This Roumanian story from an old ballad can be found in a shorter version in Clever Gretchen and Other Forgotten Folktales, where it is retold by Alison Lurie and in a longer and more Victorian version as "The Girl Who Pretended to be a Boy" in Andrew Lang's The Violet Fairy Book. The ballad itself can be read in Erich Seeman's European Folk Ballads where there is a magical talking horse as well." So that really could be used.
Jane
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Heidi
Anne Heiner
ezOP
(3/13/04 2:01 pm)
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Re: Fiction based on ballads
Delia Sherman has a Tam Lin short story in last year's Firebirds
anthology, titled "Cotillion." The book was one of the
best short story anthologies last year not edited by Windling and/or
Datlow.
Also in the anthology is Emma Bull's adaptation of "The Black Fox," illustrated by Charles Vess. Is it also appearing in Charles' book?
My knowledge of traditional ballads beyond Tam Lin is severely limited. I'll try to work on that!
Heidi
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midori
snyder
Registered User
(3/13/04 3:54 pm)
ezSupporter
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Re: Fiction based on ballads
My first novel Soulstring was based on Tam Lin also. Although
I added other ideas from a South African tale "Mangongedola's
knee" I did keep that climatic scene where the Tam Lin figure
is transformed into a variety of terrifying creatures--until at
last, he is "reborn" as a naked man in the arms of the
heroine who has held on for dear life.
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Terri
Windling
Registered User
(3/14/04 9:47 am)
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Re: Fiction based on ballads
Thanks for the additional recommendations, Jane.
And lordy, lordy, how could I have forgotten your Soulstring,
Midori, or Delia's delightful story in Firebird.
Thanks, everyone!
PS: And yes, Heidi, Emma's The Black Fox will be in the Ballad collection, along with a few new ones for the publication.
Edited by: Terri Windling at: 3/14/04 9:48 am
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janeyolen
Registered User
(3/14/04 1:07 pm)
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Re: Fiction based on ballads
My East Neuk of Fife take on "Great Selchie of Sule Skerry" will be in the Vess ballad book, along with my already published "King Henry" set in the days of Henry VIII.
I really enjoyed doing these comics and would love doing more.
Jane
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Charles Vess
Unregistered User
(3/15/04 1:48 pm)
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Ballads collection...
Hello all,
I've been so busy these days that I hardly know how to keep my head on top of my shoulders. There have been several emmenently inticing conversations going on on this board that I've just had to pass by due to this workload. But I thought that I'd let you know which ballads will be in the Tor collection this fall:
1/ Tam-Lin (script by Elaine Lee)
2/ Thomas the Rhymer (script by Sharyn McCrumb)
3/ The False Knight on the Road (script by Neil Gaiman)
4/ King Henry (script by Jane Yolen)
5/ Sovay (script by Charles de Lint)
*6/ The Great Selchie of Sule Skerry (script by Jane Yolen)
*7/ The Three Lovers (or Lord Thomas and Fair Annet) (script by Lee Smith)
8/ Twa Corbies (script by Charles de Lint)
9/ Barabara Allen (script by Midori Snyder)
10/ The Daemon Lover (script by Delia Sherman)
*11/ Alison Gross (script by Charles Vess)
*12/ The Black Fox (script by Emma Bull)
13/ The Galtee Farmer (script by Jeff Smith)
The titles preceeded by asterixs are new adaptations. Terri has written a wonderfully informative introduction and Ken Roseman has given us a detailed discography of all the current recordings of these songs for this new collection.
There are so many more visually compelling ballad stories that it seems ridiculous to stop at these 13 but there are other projects calling me to them...
Best,
Charles
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