Inverting and Subverting the World with Hope: The Fairy Tales of George MacDonald, Oscar Wilde, and L. Frank Baum

2007 ◽  
pp. 109-140
Keyword(s):  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Oscar Wilde ◽  
George Macdonald ◽  
The World

Grimm Legacies

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Zipes
Keyword(s):  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Fairy Tale ◽  
Folk Tales ◽  
Brothers Grimm ◽  
Folk Tale ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
High Standards ◽  
Wilhelm Grimm

This book explores the legacy of the Brothers Grimm in Europe and North America, from the nineteenth century to the present. The book reveals how the Grimms came to play a pivotal and unusual role in the evolution of Western folklore and in the history of the most significant cultural genre in the world—the fairy tale. Folklorists Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm sought to discover and preserve a rich abundance of stories emanating from an oral tradition, and encouraged friends, colleagues, and strangers to gather and share these tales. As a result, hundreds of thousands of wonderful folk and fairy tales poured into books throughout Europe and have kept coming. The book looks at the transformation of the Grimms' tales into children's literature, the Americanization of the tales, the “Grimm” aspects of contemporary tales, and the tales' utopian impulses. It shows that the Grimms were not the first scholars to turn their attention to folk tales, but were vital in expanding readership and setting the high standards for folk-tale collecting that continue through the current era. The book concludes with a look at contemporary adaptations of the tales and raises questions about authenticity, target audience, and consumerism. The book examines the lasting universal influence of two brothers and their collected tales on today's storytelling world.

The Complete Short Stories

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar Wilde
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Oscar Wilde ◽  
George Orwell ◽  
Social Observation

‘Wilde did not converse - he told tales.’ Oscar Wilde was already famous as a brilliant wit and raconteur when he first began to publish his short stories in the late 1880s. They have never lacked readers and admirers, George Orwell and W. B. Yeats among them. The stories give free rein to Wilde's originality, literary skill, and sophistication. They include poignant fairy-tales such as ‘The Happy Prince’ and ‘The Selfish Giant’, and the extravagant comedy and social observation of ‘Lord Arthur Savile's Crime’ and ‘The Canterville Ghost’. They also encompass the daring narrative experiments of ‘The Portrait of Mr. W. H.’, Wilde's fictional investigation into the identity of the dedicatee of Shakespeare's sonnets, and the ‘Poems in Prose’, based on the Gospel stories. This edition demonstrates the centrality of Wilde's shorter fiction in his literary career, and his continuing development and experimentation with the short story format. Combining myth, romance, and irony, Wilde's stories enthral and challenge the reader. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

“Careful the Spell You Cast”

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Francis
Keyword(s):  
Sudden Death ◽  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Moral Maturity ◽  
Happy Ending ◽  
The World ◽  
Children's Stories

WithInto the Woodswe enter an enchanted landscape that is beset, however, by lengthening shadows. The show, which starts as an ingenious retelling of some familiar children’s stories, darkens in tone as the characters face up to difficult decisions and sudden death. In this show Sondheim and Lapine do not just retell fairy tales; instead they examine why we tell stories and how they can be used to bring the listener to moral maturity, which means—and this is a recurring theme in Sondheim’s work—accepting the necessity of choice and learning not to rely on the world to provide you with a happy ending.

Across the Western Sea (1783-1845)

1962 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Kraus
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Oscar Wilde ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Natural Rights ◽  
Human Freedom ◽  
Native Land ◽  
Freedom Of Movement ◽  
The World ◽  
The One

In ancient Greece the priests of Apollo asserted that freedom of movement was one of the essentials of human freedom. Many hundreds of years later, toward the end of the eighteenth century, people in the Atlantic world again talked of emigration as one of man's natural rights. It was in northern and western Europe that easier mobility was first achieved within the various states. The next step was to use that mobility to leap local boundaries to reach the lands across the western sea. From the “unsettlement of Europe” (Lewis Mumford's phrase) came the settlement of America.Americans and those who wished to become Americans felt at home in the geographical realm conceived by Oscar Wilde. “A map of the world that does not include Utopia,” he said, “is not even worth glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. Progress is the realization of Utopias.” It was the belief that Utopias were being realized in America that caused millions to leave Europe for homes overseas.IA Scottish observer, Alexander Irvine, inquiring into the causes and effects of emigration from his native land (1802), remarked that there were “few emigrations from despotic countries,” as “their inhabitants bore their chains in tranquility”; “despotism has made them afraid to think.” Nevertheless, though proud of the freedom his countrymen enjoyed, Irvine was critical of their irrational expectations in setting forth to America. There were few individuals or none in the Highlands, he said, “who have not some expectation of being some time great or affluent.

scholarly journals THE IMAGE OF THE CROW IN THE GERMAN AND UZBEK PEOPLES

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-100
Author(s):  
Akmal Akhmatovich Jumayev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Fairy Tale ◽  
Folk Tales ◽  
Negative Images ◽  
The World ◽  
Personal Qualities

Background. The article focuses on specific similarities of the peoples of the world in their views on the crow. Also in myths, in German and Uzbek fairy tales, the portrayal of the crow in positive and negative images was analysed comparatively. All folk tales lead to good. The same lesson is also reflected in the article on the educational significance of the two folk tales. Methods. Particular attention is paid to the fact that the peoples of the world have certain similarities in their views on the crow. The image of the Crow also moved to fairy tales based on Legends. Results. In the fairy tale, it is not explained why the hero became a crow. It is known that in fairy tales the evolution of children to different birds (often owl or crow) is described either because of some side work of their father, or because of his own senselessness. Discussions. In German fairy tales Interesting is that in “Die sieben Raben“ “The seven ravens”, “Die Rabe“ ‘The raven” fairy tales, a crow is not just an ordinary bird, but a symbol of children. In Uzbek fairy tales, the image of birds is focused on fostering such positive personal qualities as industriousness, honesty and friendliness.

De la escena a la viñeta:

Neuróptica ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 227-240
Author(s):  
Alejandro Silvela Calvo
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Oscar Wilde ◽  
Musical Work ◽  
Visual Medium ◽  
Richard Strauss ◽  
The World ◽  
Siglo Xix ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Siglo Xx

Resumen: P. Craig Russell ha destacado, entre otras aportaciones, por su labor a la hora de realizar una larga serie de adaptaciones del mundo de la ópera a la viñeta. El estilo de Russell se caracteriza por partir de la idea de adaptar una obra musical a un medio plástico y visual haciendo que no solo se convierta en la simple narración de una ópera musical, sino que crea una obra en sí misma en la que intenta recoger diferentes sensaciones estilísticas, estructurales y estéticas de la obra y generar una representación de las mismas. En este artículo nos valdremos de su adaptación de Salomé, ópera de Richard Strauss de 1905 basada en la obra teatral homónima de Oscar Wilde. Se tratará la idea de musicalización del cómic y la forma en la que Russell plasma diferentes ideas musicales referentes no solo a timbres, leitmotiv u orquestación, sino atendiendo a diferentes parámetros que engloba la obra de Strauss, en torno a la idea de maximalización y decadencia del arte de finales del siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX. Abstract: P. Craig Russell has stood out, among other contributions, for his work in making a long series of adaptations from the world of opera to comic. Russell's style is characterized by starting from the idea of adapting a musical work to a plastic and visual medium, making it not only become the simple narration of a musical opera, but also creates a work in itself in which he tries to collect different stylistic, structural and aesthetic sensations of the work and generate a representation of them. In this article we will use his adaptation of Salomé, an opera by Richard Strauss from 1905 based on the play of the same name by Oscar Wilde. The idea of musicalization of the comic will be discussed and the way in which Russell expresses different musical ideas referring not only to timbres, leitmotivs or orchestration, but also taking into account different parameters that encompass Strauss's work around the idea of maximalization and decadence of art from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.  

Seeing Red

2017 ◽  
pp. 61-84
Author(s):  
James Gracey
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Gender Roles ◽  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Women's Sexuality ◽  
Women’S Sexuality ◽  
Social Conditioning ◽  
The World ◽  
Frequent Visit

This chapter looks into the heart of Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves as a story of sexual awakening, literal and figurative formation, and the empowerment of women. It discusses how The Company of Wolves carries a strong feminist message that is more than a singular concept, like the short stories from Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber. It also explains Carter's brand of feminism that represents one strand that was often at odds with those of other feminists at the time and even considered highly controversial. The chapter analyses how Carter sought to expose how women's sexuality is perceived as a myth instigated and perpetuated by moral and social conditioning. It discloses Carter's frequent visit to the world of fairy tales to critique culturally constructed notions relating to women, gender roles and femininity.

scholarly journals How Fairy Tales Educate and Civilize Us: Ethical Literary Criticism on Fairy Tales

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 273
Author(s):  
Li Xiaoyi
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Ernst Bloch ◽  
Literary Education ◽  
The World ◽  
Bruno Bettelheim ◽  
Cultural Force

This article first discusses the history and ideology of fairy tales. As Walter Benjamin said in his essay “The Storyteller”, rumors and information were spread verbally, from person to person. So were fairy tales. Through storytelling, the history and experience is spread from generation to generation. So that audience, especially children, gather to listen to the folks and stories about things “long long ago”, sharing the memories and experience of the storytellers. Based on this idea, the article further analyses the utopian function of fairy tales, which depict the feasibility of utopian alternatives by means of fantastic images. Because in the name of fairy tales, anything is possible. Apart from hope and wish, there was dissatisfaction in fairy tales. Ernst Bloch placed special emphasis on dissatisfaction as a condition which ignites the utopian drive, so that it remains a powerful cultural force among the audience, urges them to resist, to change the unreasonable things in the world. At last, it comes to the ethical use of fairy tales with children. Many scholars, like Bruno Bettelheim and Julius E. Heuscher, have done some psychiatric and psychological research on the meaning and usefulness of fairy tales. Different from those, this article mainly talks about the literary education in fairy tales, how the words, characters and plots play a role in education.

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