If you see a whole thing - it seems that it's always beautiful. Planets, lives... But up close a world's all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life's a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern.- Ursula K. LeGuin
Sunday, July 12, 2009
A Question
I've been reading fairy tales. I have a post or two brewing on the subject but before I write them I am wondering: What is your favorite fairy tale and why? If you don't like fairy tales, how come?
Hmm... most of my fairy tales come from Disney. I know that I shouldn't like them (horribly anti-feminist), but I do. I think my favorite fairy tale is Beauty and the Beast. I liked it because, in the gospel according to Disney, Belle was a bookworm-- like me.
Hmm. Does Hans Christian Andersen count? If so, I have to go with the little tin soldier. He kept on trucking, even though things did not go well for him.... kind of like me with my blog! But I'm back and posting again. You should stop by to see some pictures of Roxy.
I only remember Mother Goose. I was reading horror novels and Stephen King at age 8 so I think I must have skipped some developmental aspects of my childhood. That being said, I was always drawn to the "darker" ones. Thanks Dad.
When I was a teen, maybe fifteen or so, I read some of the original versions of the fairy tales, and I was appalled. Before then, I'd read a collection of tales in a book that belonged to my mother. I think I enjoy fairy tales mostly because of that book, an illustrated one with lengthy versions of Grimm, but without so much horror. In the original version of Cinderella, one of the ugly stepsisters cuts off her toes to try to fit her foot into the glass slipper, and at the end, instead of the sisters being invited to live in the palace, as I recall, they are dragged to their deaths behind the carriage. In the original version of Rapunzel, the prince impregnates her in the tower before he ever rescues her, and the prince is blinded by thorns by the old witch. Maybe my favorite tale would also be The Steadfast Tin Soldier, not because of any version I'd read, but because of a song by Donovan, from the early 60s, when he was still a folksinger, and not a "flower child," based on the tale, and also because I'd recorded a ballet of the story, my son and I used to watch when he was little.
I love most of the old folk tales, including a lot of fairy tales. "The Three Billy Goats Gruff," "The Old Troll of Big Mountain," and "Rumpelstiltskin" are three that spring to mind. I'm not sure if they're considered fairy tales, though. I might be wrong about the troll story's title, too. It's been a while!
Interesting topic. I look forward to reading your take on it.
I don't know where the limits are with fairy tales - although I read the Brothers Grimm volumes in a fairly recent translation (quite dark!), I was very put off a lot of classic fairy tales by their twee presentation by Disney or in children's readers, and as a put-upon oldest sibling also felt thoroughly disgruntled about how the youngest one was always the smart/non-venal/kind/well-brought-up GOOD character in many stories.
I liked stories that I first met through folk music - Tam Lin springs to mind, and Thomas the Rhymer - and stories about selkies and kelpies and the sidhe, the little tales though not the hero stories. Then I discovered some great Scandinavian folk tales, with strong elements of the unquiet dead and trolls. And stories like Gawain and the Green Knight and Beowulf, which really caught my imagination. But are any of these folk tales? Look forward to hearing more about this topic! (and would welcome a reading suggestion)
"The Little Match Girl" and SO many others by Andersen, he was such a genius... All of the (too few) fairy tales of Oscar Wilde... The Scottish tales (nice to see Tam Lin up there)...
8 comments:
When I was in grad school, I read some of the Grimm's fairy tales in German. They are more violent than then English translation. Still pretty cool.
Hmm... most of my fairy tales come from Disney. I know that I shouldn't like them (horribly anti-feminist), but I do. I think my favorite fairy tale is Beauty and the Beast. I liked it because, in the gospel according to Disney, Belle was a bookworm-- like me.
Hmm. Does Hans Christian Andersen count? If so, I have to go with the little tin soldier. He kept on trucking, even though things did not go well for him....
kind of like me with my blog! But I'm back and posting again. You should stop by to see some pictures of Roxy.
I only remember Mother Goose. I was reading horror novels and Stephen King at age 8 so I think I must have skipped some developmental aspects of my childhood. That being said, I was always drawn to the "darker" ones. Thanks Dad.
When I was a teen, maybe fifteen or so, I read some of the original versions of the fairy tales, and I was appalled. Before then, I'd read a collection of tales in a book that belonged to my mother. I think I enjoy fairy tales mostly because of that book, an illustrated one with lengthy versions of Grimm, but without so much horror. In the original version of Cinderella, one of the ugly stepsisters cuts off her toes to try to fit her foot into the glass slipper, and at the end, instead of the sisters being invited to live in the palace, as I recall, they are dragged to their deaths behind the carriage. In the original version of Rapunzel, the prince impregnates her in the tower before he ever rescues her, and the prince is blinded by thorns by the old witch. Maybe my favorite tale would also be The Steadfast Tin Soldier, not because of any version I'd read, but because of a song by Donovan, from the early 60s, when he was still a folksinger, and not a "flower child," based on the tale, and also because I'd recorded a ballet of the story, my son and I used to watch when he was little.
I love most of the old folk tales, including a lot of fairy tales. "The Three Billy Goats Gruff," "The Old Troll of Big Mountain," and "Rumpelstiltskin" are three that spring to mind. I'm not sure if they're considered fairy tales, though. I might be wrong about the troll story's title, too. It's been a while!
Interesting topic. I look forward to reading your take on it.
I don't know where the limits are with fairy tales - although I read the Brothers Grimm volumes in a fairly recent translation (quite dark!), I was very put off a lot of classic fairy tales by their twee presentation by Disney or in children's readers, and as a put-upon oldest sibling also felt thoroughly disgruntled about how the youngest one was always the smart/non-venal/kind/well-brought-up GOOD character in many stories.
I liked stories that I first met through folk music - Tam Lin springs to mind, and Thomas the Rhymer - and stories about selkies and kelpies and the sidhe, the little tales though not the hero stories. Then I discovered some great Scandinavian folk tales, with strong elements of the unquiet dead and trolls. And stories like Gawain and the Green Knight and Beowulf, which really caught my imagination. But are any of these folk tales? Look forward to hearing more about this topic! (and would welcome a reading suggestion)
"The Little Match Girl" and SO many others by Andersen, he was such a genius... All of the (too few) fairy tales of Oscar Wilde... The Scottish tales (nice to see Tam Lin up there)...
On to "Part One!"
Post a Comment