Fairy Tales: A Selective Annotated Bibliography

[by William Leonard]

A child cries in the dark afraid of the monsters underneath his bed.  Then the child’s mother arrives, carrying with her a simple reading light, and a book entitled The Bedtime Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm tucked under her arm, sitting in the chair beside the bed.  She turns on the light, and thumbs through the yellowed pages as she consoles the child, finds the right page, and begins with a phrase older than the world, “Once upon a time…”

How many people have such memories?  True, the means may change, such as the child being a teenager picking up an interesting book at the local library, or a newly married couple watching the new show on the television, or any number of grandparents reading to a small child.  Fairy tales have been around longer than anyone can remember, and the idea of them has been for longer than recorded history- they just change form.  But recently, some people have begun to ask, “Where have these stories gone?”  The fact is they are still around though it may take some looking, and they are still a major influence, if a little more subtle than in prior years.

Unfortunately, there are too many potential means of portraying the influence of these tales to include in one short work.  Keeping this limitation in mind, the following is a fairly selective annotated bibliography including a wide variety of sources on how Fairy Tales continue to influence literature and the modern world, and their manifestations, particularly those either taken from or in some way influenced by the Brothers Grimm.

Works included refer to several varieties of application- scholastic sources best suited for proper application in any school paper, the informal means intended more as springboards for finding casual sources and connecting with the reading audience, and others providing evidence for multiple points of view in regards to the history and methods of influence to allow greatest versatility in any work based off these sources.  These sources range from academic journals, such as Notes on Contemporary Literature, to common websites including Fanfiction.com, to individual books beginning with The Annotated Brothers Grimm.  They are of use to any to describe the influences of fairy tales in many fields, or as a brief discussion in other fields, such as a paper on child psychology (seeing as children are the primary audience of Fairy Tales throughout history).  As such, these sources are best applied by a student for a paper focusing on the influences of Fairy Tales in the modern world, though others can benefit; such people would include those involved in the field of literature studies as a teachers or potential authors seeking inspiration in the form of Fairy Tales.

Tatar, Maria.  The Annotated Brothers Grimm.  New York: W.W. Norton and Company,Inc, 2004.  Print

The Annotated Brothers Grimm is actually a rare example of a complete and relavent title-this work is a collection of the Fairy Tales collected by the Brothers Grimm,kept in their (at least mostly) original form instead of attempting to modernize them.  For instance, in the story of Little Red Riding Hood, the girl is naïve and is eaten by the wolf, then released when the huntsman takes scissors and slices the wolf’s belly open, filling it with stones.  Each of the stories has a number of annotations, numbered according to the quality of the tale, which details differences in portrayals, and potential meanings behind these variations.  An excellent start to the study of Fairy Tales, as they are the rough origionals.

Klima, John.  Happily Ever After.  New York City: Night Shade Books, 2011.  Print.

Happily Ever After is a collection of retold Fairy Tales, including story form (such as My Life as  Bird by Charles de Lint, He Dies that Day, In Thirty Years by Will McCarthy, and The Rose Garden by Michelle West), and a dramatic script (in Gregory Maguire’s “The Seven Stage Comeback,” a 1 Act play with 6 Scenes).  Included before each story is a brief annotation about the authors in question, which grants minor details about prior works (such as Gregory Maguire’s work on the book Wicked, now a Broadway Musical, which details the life and times of Elphaba, better known as the Wicked Witch of the West).  A good read for fun, and an excellent record of modernized Fairy Tales.

Nayar, Pramod K.  “The Sense of Horror; Angela Carter’s ‘The Bloody Chamber’”.  Notes on Contemporary Literature 38.1 (2008): 4.  Students Resources in Context.  Web.

This is an article written by a professor employed at the University of Byderabad in India focusing on The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter.  This is an excellent example of academic essays written on the subject, as well as the simple scope of distance that the structure of Fairy Tales has spread, despite the “traditional stomping grounds” of Europe that claim this structure.  In these, he writes on the stimulation of horror, or fear, that is created, “not by appealing to the reader’s intellect by rather by stimulating bodily sensations in terms of colour, temperature, and haptic (sense of touch) conditions.”  It is an examination in detail of that horror, and of the exact effects upon the reader.  This is an excellent source when searching for the direct form of influence between reader and book in modern Fairy Tales.

Talor, Patricia R.  “Criminal Appropriations of Shakespeare in Jasper Fforde’s Something Rotten.”  College Literature 37.4 (fall 2010): pg 23.  Print.

This is a critical essay written on the subject of a book written by jasper Fforde entitled Something Rotten, which is a parody of Shakespeare’s work.  Fforde writes many parodies, with examples listed in the text (including The Eyre Affair in 2001, Lost in a Good Book in 2002, The Well of Lost Plots in 2003, Something Rotten in 2004, and First Among Sequels in 2007); these books employ many of Shakespeare’s characters in appropriation in ‘displays of destructive power; for example police incarcerate actors for poorly performing Twelfth Night…’  This essay argues that violent appropriations can be constructive rather than oppressive.  A reliable source more for the journal in which it appears, which is the triennially published College Literature Journal, though this essay can also serve in the act of examining differences of perspectives regarding venerable Shakespeare, and the comedic side of Fairy Tales in remembering one thing-many such tales were written as counterpoints to major or venerated subjects.

Hume, Kathryn.  “Voice in Kathy Acker’s Fiction” Contemporary Literature.  Volume 42 issue 3 (2001) pages 485-513.  Print.

This is an article describing the use of voice in the fiction of Kathy Acker, voice being defined as “a combination of verbal flavor, attitude, and subject matter designed to display the attitude and encourage it in readers.  Voice in this sense resembles the orchestration and preferred tonalities that let one identify a couple measures of Tchaikovsky from the Russian intervals…The voice in Acker’s fiction is similarly individual to her, and paying attention to it helps uncover her assumptions about character and understanding what she is reacting against.”  This article is meticulously detailed, and as such is a solid source for the identification of individual styles, an integral part of understanding Fairy Tales and fiction, which Kathy Acker writes.

Cashdan, Sheldon.  The Witch Must Die:  The Hidden Meaning of Fairy Tales.  New York City: BasicBooks, 2000.  Print.

This book was written by a professional psychologist, as an in-depth examination of the “classic” mentality of the most prominent audience of fairy tales- children.  As such, it has many parts that have reference to the psychology of children, and the application of these stories to those children.  It is worth noting, though, that Cashdan did commit one failure-the assumption that these tales were always meant for children, which did not happen until roughly the Victorian Age, several hundred years after their creation.  The originals were folk and morality tales enhanced by the upper class and collected by scholars for that upper class, and as such one must remember this pitfall.  That aside, it is a good look at the formulaic mindset behind their examination- apply story X to child Y for condition Z and the child is fixed, which has some merits, though it is not the be-all and end-all of the stories.

Tatar, Maria.  The Grimm Reader: The Classic Tales of the Brothers Grimm.  New York: W.W. Norton and Company,Inc, 2004.  Print

This is a book written by the chair of the Program in Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University, and as such is as close to a scholastic source as you will get to the ideals.  This book has in it annotations and a preface to provide readers with the historical and cultural context to understand what these stores meant and their contemporary resonance. The book includes some of the more famous stories in world literature, such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White and other stories less known, such as The Seven Ravens

Maguire,Gregory.  Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.  New York City: Harper Collins, 1995.  Print.

Wicked, written by Gregory Maguire, is a good example of another phenomenon regarding Fairy Tales.  Normally, Fairy Tales are read as short bedtime stories, ending in less than 10 pages, but since books have become popular and public libraries almost common in cities, the tales have been lengthened to become true novels.  Wicked focuses on the life of Elphaba, known to the world at large as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (which by itself is a wonderfully structured Fairy Tale), and in particular it is an examination of that society through the eyes of a cynic, providing the views of realism to such a story.  For example, in the begging of the book, when Elphaba is born, people react with revulsion and shock to her skin color, despite the relative oddity (to the reader in the real world) of having talking animals.  A good look at the effects of reality in Fairy Tales, and the lengthening of those stories.

Goldman, William.  The Princess Bride.  New York City: Bloomsbury, 1973.  Print.

The Princess Bride, originally written by William Goldman, is a prodigiously popular example of Fairy Tales influencing the modern world through alternate mediums, particularly film.  Fairy Tales were originally spread by word of mouth, then through script, finally through media in the modern day.  No one who has read this book can state it is not a Fairy Tale, and a wonderfully written one at that.  A wonderful example of modern media portrayal of Fairy Tales.

Authors: Global Population.  Fanfiction.com.  Facebook.  Web.  27 September 2013.

This is a website, though not scholastic, which demonstrates perfectly the idea of fairy tales of all sorts influencing the modern world.  Fanfiction is when fans of whatever subject (movies, books, etc) write on that subject with their own twists-some good, some bad, some just because.  In particular, these influences are in versatility, specifically the individual stories.  Themes and other aspects of note are part and parcel, and while the meanings can be changed by different authors, they tend to be at least similar.  Examples include Mythology at 3K entries, Greek Mythology at 2.8K entries, Kingdom Hearts (which has its own story roots in many fairy tales) at 70.2K entries, and Fairy Tales as a search entry at 7,628 entries.  Not recommended as a true scholastic source, but as an effective springboard for the mind.

Arthuriana: The Journal of Arthurian Studies

[by William Leonard]

There have been may works dedicated to an era of European history known as the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages.  It was in this time period that there arose a legend of a knight who pulled an enchanted sword from a stone, and quested across the land of Britain to restore law, order, and peace, and sought the Holy Grail, the cup which was used at the Last Supper and caught the blood of Christ at the Crucifixion.  This legend has grown over time to include the journeys of many knights who joined the first, who was hailed as king by Divine Providence.  The common world would know these as the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

While the tales are fantastical, they ring with truth-but how much truth?  This is the line of thought for the scholarly journal, Arthuriana.  It strives to peel back the shrouds of mystery and unveil the actual facts behind the myths of King Arthur and his knights.  What are all the geographical locations of the settings and places mentioned in the tales?  What was Arthur’s genuine nationality of birth-English which would have been the Picts and Woads of the northern regions, or Roman at the time of the collapse of the Empire, the construction of Hadrian’s Wall, and the subsequent withdrawal of that Empire, or was he some other nationality?  Was Arthur even real, or was he a fictional character created by the needs of the people over the years-or was he truly a collection of works, prescribed to a single man whether fictional or genuine?

Without going into too much detail, one example of this would be the character of Merlin, the wizard with an owl named Archimedes (an obvious reference to the Greek who ran through the streets stark naked shouting Eureka to many a startled passerby when he discovered irrefutable scientific proof of the concept of pressure in the bathtub), and the effect of Merlin as an advisor.

In particular, refer to the article titled “Ruled by merlin: Mirrors for Princes, Counseling Patterns, and Malory’s ‘Tale of King Arthur.’”  This article, written by Louis J. Boyle, focuses on Malory’s emphasis on Merlin as an infallible advisor, and that his actions show the contradictory nature of counseling patterns for monarchs and nobles advocated the advice texts of the speculum pricipis tradition.  In layman terms, words, it shows that the way Merlin gives advice, while infallible for the sake of story, is in fact a paradox when compared to how a king should have gotten advice—from a council of advisors, which is how the Romans did things and subsequently wrote them down in some dusty tome in Latin consulted by rulers.

In specific detail, on page 53 of the article, it states that fifteenth-century readers were sometimes reading Malory’s text almost literally alongside advice texts (such as the speculum principis); it later states that by logical progression that contemporary audiences of Malory may have been assessing Arthur’s actions regarding counseling patterns in light of what the advice books actually said about how a king should handle counseling situations.  Thus, these audiences and those who subsequently read these works, can deduce the contradictions between the infallible Merlin, and the actual practicality of the laws of council as the Romans conceived.

In conclusion, there are many articles, and they all have focus in such field—specific, detailed manners of scholastic examination of the Arthur Legend.  It is advised to read these if in fact one should wish to understand the legend better.

Journal for the Association for the Study of Australian Literature

[by William Leonard]

Australian literature has a fairly focused set of topics that make it to the canon including democracy, aboriginality, the complexities of life and the act of living in the wild bush.  Famous works include Marcus Clarke’s “For the Term of His Natural Life” which details the imprisonment and transport of a convicted thief while describing the treatment of prisoners for which Australia was known.  Miles Franklin’s best known work would be My Brilliant Career, but it was she who would develop Australian literature styles and support so many authors that she would become the namesake for the Miles Franklin Award which is given to the author of a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases.  Perhaps the most famous by American standards would be Thomas Keneally who wrote Schindler’s Ark, which would be adapted to Schindler’s List by Steven Spielberg.

Seeing all this can be daunting, and these are only a few noted authors.  Other authors find publication routinely, and finding out about them can be difficult.  The Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (hereafter abbreviated to JASAL) is an excellent source for such writings in Australian literature.

First, JASAL is a peer-reviewed journal, published online by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature.  Being an online Journal, one can gain an immediate access to it.  The committee that oversees and edits these works is an extensive one, which would only be possible via an extensive use of the Internet.

As a direct consequence to the large number of highly specialized and networking of these editors, the journal has attained a very high status, evidenced by the number of awards that it grants each year.  These include the A.D. Hope Prize awarded annually for the best paper delivered by a postgraduate student to the ASAL annual conference; the Walter McRae Russell Award for the best book of literary scholarship on an Australian subject published in the preceding two calendar years; before 1994, it was awarded to a young or unestablished author for an outstanding work of literary scholarship; the Magarey Medal for Biography, a biennial prize for the best published biographical writing by a female author on an Australian subject in the preceding two years, and the A.A. Philips Award, an occasional award for a work or the work of an author which the ASAL executive considers an outstanding contribution to Australian literature or literary studies.

Articles appear as part of an annual numbered volume, though one or more extra Special Issues may be released in the event of many worthy applications being granted to the society, averaging twice a year and rarely more.  From 2008, articles in the annual numbered volume will appear on the JASAL website as they are finalized and readied for publication.  JASAL welcomes entries based on Australian literature in all varieties.  They encourage comparative studies with other forms of literature, and are particularly interested in contributions that challenge received critical reviews positively and contribute to public awareness.  JASAL also welcomes review articles of up to 4000 words and responses to previously published material of up to 2000 words.

The lengths vary.  In the 2013 issue alone, the first true article (“Joseph Furphy: The Philosopher in the Foundry” by John Barnes) is 17 pages long, the second (“‘Double line to the terminus’: Marriage, sex, romance and Joseph Furphy” by Susan Lever) is only 10 pages, and the last (“Rigby’s Romance: An Adaptation for Performance” by John Derum) is a screenplay at 63 pages.  The true commonality seems to be the actual subject matter for the individual edition, with the individual writer able to scribe however much or little he or she wishes.

Either way, it is written in MLA Format, though the screenplay may have been an exception to this due to the nature of it.  The only true connecting themes between them seems to be their subjects- all Journals focus on different subjects, changing from year to year for the primary publications, and the Special Issues also have differing subjects, leading to a variety of topics.  1997 focuses on the actual land, and the people who lived there- evidenced even at a glance by such titles as “Music, Poetry and the Natural Environment” by Bruce Clunies Ross, “Ordering Chaos: Nature and Identity Formation” by Richard Rossiter and “The Road to Babi Yar: Anti-Historicism in Recent Australian Fiction” by Trevor Byrne.  In 2002, there were very few entries by comparison to 1997 (39 to 6), but this would make it an easier read overall-with far fewer entries and Articles, one can make through it easily by comparison. Articles focus in this issue on the actual literary facets themselves in Australian culture, with titles such as “Australian Writing”, “Deep Ecology” and “Julia Leigh’s The Hunter” by Tony Hughes-d’Aeth, “‘There are French Novels and There are French Novels’”: Charles Reade and “‘Other’ Sources of Marcus Clarke’s His Natural Life” by Ian Henderson, and “Of Dragons and Devils: Chinese-Australian Life Stories” by Wenche Ommundsen.  The list grows on with each year.

Overall, this journal is a very useful source for two primary efforts: the discovery of Australian literature in a more modern form, and an examination of the form of these writings.  While the full bod of classical readings can be found, said individuals are almost always deceased, whereas this journal has many still alive, if not necessarily young.  Informed and cited entries provide an experience educational, though the act of enjoying literature does not necessitate a strictly academic purpose behind any examinations.

Journal of American Speech

[by William Leonard]

When one thinks of the forms of scholastic and academic journals concerning English studies, a plethora of subjects arise, ranging from mythology of ancient times to drama and theatrical structure, to venerated authors such as Shakespeare, Milton, and Chaucer, on to the more obscure fields such as specific works from isolated, or less renowned writers, to the structures and forms of poetry throughout all chronological history.  However, there is one field that encompasses all these without question, a field without true praise: phonetics, the science of speech and the linguistical arts.  The Journal of American Speech focuses on just this throughout the last century in America, seeing as there is simply too much for the entirety of the English-speaking world, much less global phonetics.

The journal is comparatively ancient when contrasted with other journals of academia, with a publishing history beginning in the 1920s.  The concern of the Journal is principally the English language in the western hemisphere, though there are journals and articles dealing with English in other parts of the world, the influence of other languages on or by English, and linguistic theories.  It is not committed to any specific or particular audience, and as such it contains articles and other contributions that appeal to a wider audience than strictly those studying linguistics.  It is published quarterly by the Duke University Press at the present time.

Obviously, the composition of certain members of the Board of Editors has changed over the years, simply, due to the passage of time.  The current Chief Editor is Associate Professor Michael Adams, President Elect of and member of the Dictionary Society of North America.  Of his own work, he has stated “I am foremost a historian of the English Language, especially of English Words, who also specializes in the history, theory, and practice of lexicography…Lexicography, in all its aspects, is a deeply rooted, ongoing professional interest of mine, but I have other equally strong scholarly interests, especially slang and jargon.  Studying the history of language requires familiarity with a wide variety of texts, spread over space, time, and type.  In my case, this includes not only traditional literary genres but popular genres, like graphic novels, television, and film, as well as “new media,” like Web Texts, text messaging, etc.  My interest in Scottish literature extends form fifteenth-century poetry to the modern novel, and I am currently experimenting with linguistic studies of style in works by Neil Gunn and Eric Linklater.”

Articles focus on many subjects.  For the sake of brevity, only a handful of examples will be mentioned here.  From one publication entitled “Gender-Linked Derogatory Terms and Their Use by Women and Men” by Deborah James from the University of Toronto (volume 73, entry number 4 published in the Winter of 1998) discusses how that derogatory terms used to reveal a powerful social construct of collective sanctions against behavior that violates gender roles.  Volume 69, Number 1 published Spring 1994 (written by Rudolf P. Gaudio of Stanford University) is an article focusing on the differing pitches in voice, both literal and fictional, between men who are gay and who are strait.  In Volume 55, Number 4, published in the Winter of 1980 (written by John Algeo of the University of Georgia) focuses on the invention of new word, with one clear example being the true origin of the nonsense word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, which did not originate with Marry Poppins as many would argue.

With these in mind, the journals run the gamut from the serious to the amusing to the educational to the linguistically cryptic.  It is an excellent source to review if one is interested in the study of language itself, and in final summary is a superb source all around.

Works Cited

James, Deborah.  “Gender-Linked Derogatory Terms and Their Use by Women and Men.”  Journal of American Speech Volume 73.  Issue 4 (Winter 1998): pgs 399-420.  Print

Gaudio, Rudolf P.  “Sounding Gay: Pitch Properties in the Speech of Gay and Strait Men.”  Journal of American Speech Volume 69.  Number 1 (Spring 1990): pgs 30-57.  Print.

Alego, John.  “Where Do All the New Words Come From?”  Journal of American Speech Volume 55.  Number 4 (Winter, 1984): pgs 264-277.  Print.