The past several weeks I have focused on many fun things, lighthearted posts on toys, puzzles, picture books and other fairy tale related items. However, school is resuming for several of you--and I still subconsciously block the calendar in semesters myself--so I also want to include the academic side of things in this blog.
This week I plan to highlight a few print journals that focus on fairy tales and folklore, great resources for student paper writing or just general interest reading if you happen to be me.
If your primary interest is specifically fairy tales, then Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies is the most important print journal for you to know about. Here's a description and history, lifted completely from the official website for the journal.
Marvels & Tales (ISSN: 1521-4281) was founded in 1987 by Jacques Barchilon at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Originally known as Merveilles & contes, the journal expressed its role as an international forum for folktale and fairy-tale scholarship through its various aliases: Wunder & Märchen, Maravillas & Cuentos, Meraviglie & Racconti, and Marvels & Tales. In 1997, the journal moved to Wayne State University Press and took the definitive title Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies.
From the start, Marvels & Tales has served as a central forum for the multidisciplinary study of fairy tales. In its pages, contributors from around the globe have published studies, texts, and translations of fairy-tales from Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. The Editorial Policy of Marvels & Tales encourages scholarship that introduces new areas of fairy-tale scholarship, as well as research that considers the traditional fairy-tale canon from new perspectives.
The journal's special issues have been particularly popular and have focused on topics such as "Beauty and the Beast," "The Romantic Tale," "Charles Perrault," "Marriage Tests and Marriage Quest in African Oral Literature," "The Italian Tale," and "Angela Carter and the Literary Märchen."
The editorial board for Marvels & Tales is a veritable Who's Who in academic fairy tale studies, including Jack Zipes, Marina Warner, Maria Tatar, Donald Haase and many others. (If you do not recognize these names, you should also research their works, too.)
Each issue usually includes several articles, translations of tales, and reviews of recently published literature (nonfiction). While articles about European fairy tales are represented in most issues, the scope is worldwide and offers insight into more obscure tales from other parts of the globe, too. You can see the table of contents for a recent issue here.
The journal is published twice a year and the subscription rate is very reasonable for an academic journal, especially if you are a student.
Marvels & Tales is available on Project MUSE if you are affiliated with an institution that provides access.
Reminder: Please read Call for Contributions: Graduate Programs Information and send me an email if you have a contribution.
I'm so glad you're posting this (and others to come, it sounds like!) I never had a chance to really delve into fairy tales and folklore while I was pursuing my BA, beyond studying Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber, and I always wanted to do some reading on my own once I had time to read, but I haven't known where to start.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to dig into these!
This week's theme is particularly exciting for me! Since graduating with my BA I've been considering an MA in Folklore. You've been a helpful resource. :)
ReplyDelete