Do you believe in fairies? Or, to be more specific, do you believe in fairy stories and/or archetypes?
Enough of the questions already. No, I don’t believe in fairies although my husband told me that once, when he was a child, a little man in green walked across the the landing outside his bedroom door. Yes, I believe in fairy stories or archetypes, purely because when I’m writing and it’s working, I’ll think Oh, of course, this is …. Cinderella…Sleeping Beauty and suddenly it all makes sense.
But the fairy story I ponder the most, and the one that fascinates me, is Beauty and the Beast. One of my favorite writers, Angela Carter, was intrigued enough by it to write several versions in her marvellous collection The Bloody Chamber. Cocteau made an amazing movie of it too. Beauty is a true heroine–no, she’s not some sort of kickasss type, but she’s her own person, which is both her strength and her weakness. If she’d asked her father to bring her home a length of silk or jewels, and not a white rose, she wouldn’t have started off the chain of events at the Beast’s castle. And she makes the decision to return to the Beast and brings about his transformation, her own heroic journey when she truly comes into her own.
I read a lot of illustrated versions aloud to my daughter when she was little, but I think this one by Marianna and Mercer Mayer was my favorite. This was long before I started writing myself. There was one illustration I found particularly captivating–Beauty, dressed in silk, sits at the window of a circular tower, surrounded by books, and with a bird, released from its cage, perched on her hand. She has a dreamy, contemplative expression on her face as though escaping into some inner world, the world of her imagination; she’s caged by the Beast, but she’s found a freedom beyond the stone walls of the tower. Now I see her as an allegory of a writer, invited into a fantastic world and bringing to it her own feelings and experience, and maybe that’s why that illustration in particular had such an appeal for me.
So what’s your favorite fairy story? Why? And do you think it influences what you like to read and write?
Janet
Thanks for posting about a subject close to my heart, Janet! Fairy tales have had a huge impact on my reading. I’ve been a fan of Robin McKinley’s retellings for years; more recently, I discovered Mercedes Lackey’s blend of fairy tales and romance in the “Elemental Magic” series. And fairy tales are also influencing my writing; I’m currently trying to weave the threads of the Scottish “Tam Lin” into my own work-in-progress.
I think what I enjoy most about tales like “Beauty and the Beast” (long a favorite) and “Tam Lin” is that the heroine recognizes her own strengths. She receives a challenge and she triumphs over great odds; it is her love, her devotion, that saves the day. And for me, that’s the best kind of happy ending.
I always kind of liked the Twelve Dancing Princesses — though to be honest, I never saw what was so bad about them sneaking out and dancing. 🙂
Cara
When I was a kid, I always loved Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. . . now though, I love Sleeping Beauty. 🙂
Lois
Lovely post, Janet.
I cannot be original here. I too find Beauty and the Beast the most satisfying romantic fairy tale for all the same reasons.
It’s funny, though, I have written books that had elements of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty in them but I haven’t done anything in the realm of Beauty and the Beast. Yet. One of my current works-in-progress seems to be taking on a bit of Rapunzel–another intriguing fantasy.
My personal favorite is Cinderella, maybe why I also love all the fashion makeover shows – What Not to Wear, How Do I Look, Look for Less, Extreme Makeover…I love making swans out of us ugly ducklings! (that’s another fairy tale, though)
But I also have a fondness for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was the first movie I took my then 3 year old to. She had several urgent needs to use the restroom whenever the Wicked Witch came on, but it also sparked her imagination. My mother made her a Snow White costume for Halloween and she walked in a little parade, intensely proud when a spectator said, “Hello, Snow White.”
Like most writers, I also love fairy tales and myths, and I’m sure they have enormous influence on my writing! When I was a kid, I loved Princess and the Pea, and Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White, but I think maybe that just showed my devotion to naptime. 🙂
One of my favorites was a Russian story my grandmother used to tell me (her mother was half Russian). She had lots of great magical folktales, but this was my favorite, a weird mix of Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Aladdin, and who knows what else. There were talking skulls and living trees and all sorts of fascinating details. The details sometimes changed, but I always loved Vasilisa’s resourcefulness and sense of adventure (and the fact that she marries the handsome, rich tsar at the end!)
I love fairy tales from many different backgrounds. As a kid, some of my favorites were stories about Baba Yaga from Russia and the tales of the Arabian Nights.
I also love fiction that, without being overtly magical or supernatural, manages to evoke the feeling of a fairy tale. I think it’s a combination of an archetypical quest or conflict, with a feeling that somehow fate is working in the background. It’s tough to do well. Some of A.S. Byatt’s fiction does it, and I also love The Silent Gondoliers by William Goldman.
Todd-who-is-entering-his-third-or-fourth-childhood
Great post. I think fairy tales influence all of us more than we admit. The first book I ever bought for myself with my own money was in the third grade, and book was Cinderella with that pumpkin coach.
My current story is definitely a Beauty and the Beast theme. The YA, which is more issue-orientated is a direct theme on The Glass Coffin.
Someone mentioned A.S.Byatt. Her novel Possession is my favorite book.