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Author
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Comment
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phouka
Registered User
(4/2/05 6:44 pm)
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Would the Bordertown series count as faerie tales?
Would the Bordertown series count as faerie tales or urban fantasy? On the faerie tale note they should because, 1) they have elements of faerie tales (elves, magic, ect.,ect.) 2) they mention Faerie. But on the urban fantasy note they should too , because 1) they're set in a city 2) and magic doesn't always work there 3) they're clearly fantastical. Or would thay count as both? I was just wondering...
Edited by: phouka at: 4/2/05 6:50 pm
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midori
snyder
Registered User
(4/2/05 6:54 pm)
ezSupporter
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Re: Would the Bordertown series count as faerie tales?
a purist might answer no only because the stories are so very contemporary and place the elves (and other fantastic creatures out of the tales) within an urban context, dealing with original stories as much made up of contemporary issues as threads from an inherited tradition of stories.
on the other hand...when I wrote "Alison Gross" I was very aware that I was writing a modern version of the old ballad--using the structure of the traditional ballad--but changing the surface images and the emphasis from the old tale.
I always felt the most important character in the Bordertown stories
was Bordertown itself. As a place it metaphorically mirrored the
ambiguities of the lives of the characters--in transition, destructive
and creative, full of risk and danger, but full of brilliant possiblities.
It was also a place that held within itself the old fantastic traditions
(culture, stories, collected magics) the angst of the urban world.
It may have been a place that implied the depth of the
tradition of the fairy tale world even as overlapped with the modern
world.
hope that makes sense.
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Terri
Windling
Registered User
(4/3/05 9:48 am)
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Re: Would the Bordertown series count as faerie tales?
There are fairy tales, folktales, and folk ballads at the heart of some of the Borderland stories, but as a whole I think the series falls best under the label Urban Fantasy. The series also falls under the Young Adult Fiction label, since it was created specifically for teenage readers -- though I know the series has adult readers as well.
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