|
Author
|
Comment
|
venus
male
Registered User
(10/18/04 12:40 pm)
|
some help with rewritings!!!
Hi guys!!! I'm new at this wonderful site on Fairy Tales and everything hat has to do with them. Now I've found such a great community I would like to ask for some help.
I'm doing my pre-thesis course, here in Spain it is called "periodo de investigación", and I need some help. I'm dealing with modern and postmodern rewritings of fairy tales and I need new titles and, if possible how to achieve them... I've already spent around $600 and taxes for shipping and so on are more expensive than the very books I've bought...
Thanks in advance...
Mario.:D
|
Helen J Pilinovsky
Registered User
(10/18/04 3:40 pm)
|
Re: some help with rewritings!!!
Dear Mario:
Why don't you tell us what you *do* have, so that we don't end up reiterating old advice ... also, when you say "modern and postmodern," exactly where would you draw the limits? With self-referential retellings like Ann Sexton and Angela Carter's, with metafiction like Beauty, with ... what? It sounds like a fascinating project, and I'd love to hear a bit more about it.
Best,
Helen
|
Terri Windling
Registered User
(10/18/04 11:20 pm)
|
Re: some help with rewritings!!!
Would a list of contemporary fairy tale retellings help? Here's
the link: www.endicott-studio.com/lists/list-fairyTale.html
|
venus
male
Registered User
(10/20/04 1:57 pm)
|
Thanks, Terri
Dear Terri, Thanks a lot for your list. That's more or less what I ws looking for... A list of authors and works to work on.
|
venus
male
Registered User
(10/20/04 2:04 pm)
|
Re: some help with rewritings!!!
Dear Helen:
I haven't received ay kind of patterns to follow... For the time being I'm just looking for aouthors and works that are based on fairy tales.
When I say "modern and postmodern" I'm referring to mid-twentieth century on. The less the authors are known the best for my purpose!!!
What I have in mind is to explore the female role in the rewritings, how they break the traditional patriarchal rules. But I was told that I had to do something original, and I suppose that, if this DEA work (Certificate of Advanced Studies, that is what it stands for in Spanish) is going to be part of my thesis.. I must be original. That is the reason why I'll need all possible help and unknown authors...
Best,
Mario.
|
redtriskell
Registered User
(10/20/04 10:26 pm)
|
for a female slant...
Your working idea sounds incredibly interesting, Mario. If you want things from the female perspective, I strongly suggest several works by Tanith Lee. I'm not sure if she counts as unknown, though. Anyway, the two books I have in mind are: "Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer" which is a collection of short stories; all of them re-tellings of fairy tales. And the magnificent novel she wrote for Terri Windling's series of adult re-tellings. It's called "White as Snow" and is (obviously) a re-told Snow White. Actually, all of the novels in Terri Windling's series would be good. I think there are six, but I'm not positive. I've read all of them, and there isn't a bad one in the bunch. Good luck on your work.
|
venus
male
Registered User
(10/22/04 11:16 am)
|
Re: for a female slant...
Redtriskell, thousands of thanks for your interest in my work and, above all, for helping me!! I'll read the adult verions which I think that for my purspose will fit better. I'm not sure either, but I think I've already seen that title White as Snow in a critic book... so I guess I cannot use this title anymore...
But, again, thank you very much for cheering me on!!!
Mario. ;)
Edited by: venus male at: 10/22/04 11:17 am
|
Terri Windling
Registered User
(10/26/04 11:25 pm)
|
Re: for a female slant...
Mario, have you read The Porcelain Dove by Delia Sherman? She re-works fairy tale material in a novel that takes place during the French Revolution. It's a tale that specifically addresses gender issues. I believe the book is out of print, but you can probably find a used copy through Amazon.com or abe.com.
Edited by: Terri Windling at: 10/26/04 11:27 pm
|
venus
male
Registered User
(11/22/04 4:14 pm)
|
Re: for a female slant...
Terri, Thanks a lot for your reply. I was considering to read this book, but what stops me a little bit it's the fact that of the age in which this story develops...: French Revolution. What I need is twentieth-century material, I mean, books whose background, setting and plot develops in the twentieth century or the current one... Any other ideas?? I really need them!! The list you post me before was really a good one, but these authors mainly rewrite another fairy tale... I mean, I need something similar to Carther's The Bloody Chamber.
Again, as ever... thanks in advance!
Mario.;)
Edited by: venus male at: 11/22/04 4:17 pm
|
Terri Windling
Registered User
(11/23/04 12:13 am)
|
Re: for a female slant...
The "Snow White, Blood Red" series of anthologies contains fairy tales retold for adult readers, many of which have contemporary settings. There are six volumes in all. (You mentioned "White As Snow" by Tanith Lee in a previous post, but that's a different book altogether.) Here's a web page with information for the "Snow White, Blood Red" volumes:
www.endicott-studio.com/snowWhite.html
You might also be interested in:
The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf by Kathryn Davis, a postmodern novel set in 20th century America and based on the fairy tale of this name
The Vinegar Jar by Berlie Doherty, a novel set in 20th century England, making use of fairy tale themes and imagery
Godmother Night by Rachel Pollack, a contemporary, urban retelling of the Godfather Death fairy tale
If you like Angela Carter's stories, I also recommend
Emma Donoghue's story collection Kissing the Witch, which re-tells fairy tales from an Irish feminist perspective. These inter-linked stories are set in a timeless fairy tale world, rather than in the 20th century, but this is a very modern book nonetheless, and specifically explores issues of gender.
And of course, for short stories you can find wonderful adult fairy tale retellings scattered into AS. Byatt's collections (such as Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice) and Sara Maitland's (such as Angel Maker).
There's also Briar Rose, a novel by Robert Coover -- a postmodern exploration of the Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.
And The Rose and the Beast, a story collection by Francesca Lia Block. These are 20th/21st century urban retellings of fairy tales published for Young Adult readers.
For poetry, try:
Trail of Stones by Gwen Strauss
The Poets' Grimm: 2oth Century Poems from Grimms' Fairy Tales, edited by Jeanne Marie Beaumont & Claudia Carlson
Here are three nonfiction titles that could be helpful:
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writer's Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales, edited by Kate Bernheimer -- Look for the second expanded edition, which contains an additional four essays
Myth and Fairy Tale in Contemporary Women's Fiction by Susan Seller
Twice Upon a Time: Women Writers and the History of the Fairy Tale by Elizabeth Wanning Harries
|
venus
male
Registered User
(11/23/04 3:48 pm)
|
Re: for a female slant...
Terri,
Once again, thank you very much for your incredible help... there were some books of those you tell me that I'd already chosen: Vinegar Jar, I think that also The Wild Swans by Peg Kerr would be right, and The Porcelain Dove. I've already bought Twice upon a time, and Myth and Fairy Tale in Contemporary..... To coincide with you in your "directions" is for me a great relief!!
I'll tell you more once I work a little bit on these books!!
Mario. ;)
|
