Marvelous Transformations Giveaway: Shannon Knight's List

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Shannon Knight was the first to submit a list of fairy tale and folklore nonfiction titles that have most influenced her for her entries in the Marvelous Transformations Giveaway.

Here are her list of titles. And now I wish I asked for a sentence to explain each pick! Because I am always interested.

Thanks for sharing Shannon. You have five entries in the giveaway!

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1. From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers by Marina Warner

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2. The European Folktale: Form and Nature (Folklore Studies in Translation) by Max Luthi

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3. The Meanings of "Beauty and the Beast": A Handbook by Jerry Griswold

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4. Fairytale in the Ancient World by Graham Anderson

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5. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (Vintage) by Bruno Bettelheim

Recent Book: Puss in Books by Catherine Britton

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Puss in Books by Catherine Britton was released last year in the US and in late 2012 in the UK. So it's not exactly new but it's not well known either. Since two chapters are devoted to Puss in Boots and Dick Whittington’s Cat as well as another chapter on The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership (the Grimms story), I thought it merited mention here.

Sidenote: And it reminds me that I am still considering a "Cats" title for the SurLaLune book series. Would there be interest in that here? I am not a cat lover, per se, but I do find their appearance in folklore fascinating. And I have a healthy collection of cat tales.

About the book:

Puss in Books is a celebration of feline wit, intelligence, aloofness and charm as presented through cats in books. Examples are taken from literature, folklore and popular culture. Feline references in books and manuscripts date from before 2000 BC in ancient Egypt, and since the introduction of cats to western households they have often inspired writers and artists - from the scribe of the Lindisfarne Gospels working in the 8th century to poets of the present day.

This selection includes cats in nursery rhymes (Hey Diddle Diddle and Ding Dong Bell); poetry by Thomas Gray (Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes) and T S Eliot (Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats); cats in fiction by Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll and Charles Dickens; current characters such as Splat the Cat, and of course the ubiquitous Puss in Boots himself.

Wonderfully illustrated in colour throughout, this is an ideal gift for every cat lover.

About the author

Catherine Britton was a Senior Editor at the British Library and is the author of Dogs in Books (British Library, 2012).

Reviews

`Puss in Books tracks beloved cat characters like Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat as illustrated by Sir John Tenniel, to Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat... Britton takes the reader on a journey spanning famous felines throughout art and literature history.` Dorri Olds, Petside

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Egyptian Cats
The Lindisfarne Gospels Cat
Siamese Cats
Medieval Cats
Witches’ Cats
The Cat and the Fiddle from Hey Diddle Diddle
Ding Dong Bell
Christopher Smart’s cat Jeoffry from Jubilate Agno (Rejoice in the Lamb)
Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes
Cats and Royalty
Dick Whittington’s Cat
The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership
Puss in Boots
Lady Jane from Bleak House
Simpkin from The Tailor of Gloucester
The Owl and the Pussycat
The Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland
The Black Cat
The Cat That Walked by Himself
The Boy Who Drew Cats
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats
Orlando the Marmalade Cat
Fat Freddy’s Cat
Have You Seen My Cat? by Eric Carle
101 Uses of a Dead Cat
Simon’s Cat
Splat the Cat

Index
Picture Sources
Acknowledgements

Marvelous Transformations Giveaway: Enter for Chance to Win

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I have a few books and things to giveaway, so it's time to put your thinking caps on. Starting today through January 27th, I am accepting entries to win a copy of Marvelous Transformations: An Anthology of Fairy Tales and Contemporary Critical Perspectives by Christine A. Jones (Editor), Jennifer Schacker (Editor) from Broadview Press.

How do you enter for your chance to win? By answering this question by commenting on this post or emailing me.

What fairy tale and folklore NONFICTION title has most influenced you? Since I have a lengthy list myself, I will allow us to five (5) titles per person and you will get an entry per title you submit.

I will be sharing your lists as blog entries during the two week giveaway period. All entries must be received by 11:59 AM PST on January 27th. I will start a new giveaway the next day and announce the winner of this title, brand new and shrink wrapped from the publisher.

If you need help thinking of titles, consider my posts discussing Fairy Tale and Folklore Library Essentials. There is fiction on that list, but I am hoping for NONFICTION titles since I've asked about fiction plenty of times before.

And, yes, this is open to international readers, too.

And while we're here, Marvelous Transformations: An Anthology of Fairy Tales and Contemporary Critical Perspectives is a great book that has had some distribution issues since it was published a year ago. The publisher recommends ordering directly from them. Since that may not be as convenient for you as going to your favorite online bookseller, Broadview Press is offering a 20% discount for books ordered from their website or by phone (705-743-8990). Use coupon code broadview20%

Book description:

Marvelous Transformations is an anthology of tales and original critical essays that moves beyond canonized "classics" and old paradigms, documenting the points of historical connection between literary tales and field-based collections.

This innovative anthology reflects current interdisciplinary scholarship on oral traditions and the cultural history of the print fairy tale. In addition to the tales, original critical essays, newly written for this volume, introduce readers to differing perspectives on key ideas in the field.

Comments:

"Christine Jones and Jennifer Schacker have created an unusual and fascinating anthology dedicated to the study of folklore and fairy tales. Instead of collecting a variety of tales from a particular country or from different parts of the world, they have assembled international texts chronologically, from earlier written traditions to contemporary transcriptions and translations. They have also included brief commentaries and essays on important topics. Their aim is to foster an interdisciplinary and historical approach to understanding the complex evolution of a genre, and it is to their great credit that they have produced a most original book that will be useful to readers who seek to grasp the mysterious changes that fairy tales have undergone ever since once upon a time." - Jack Zipes, Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota

"We may think we know what fairy tales are and what they mean, but the stories and critical essays collected by Christine Jones and Jennifer Schacker succeed in making the seemingly familiar decidedly unfamiliar. Marvelous Transformations invites readers to discover fairy tales both well known and neglected and, at the end of the volume, a series of short essays that bring together the best of current literary and folkloric approaches to the genre. Students, teachers, scholars—indeed, all readers interested in fairy tales—have much to learn from this volume." - Lewis Seifert, Brown University

Christine A. Jones is Associate Professor of French at the University of Utah. She is the author of Shapely Bodies: The Image of Porcelain in Eighteenth-Century France (University of Delaware Press, 2012) and is currently completing annotated translations of Charles Perrault's fairy tales. Jennifer Schacker is Associate Professor in the School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph. She is the author of National Dreams: The Remaking of Fairy Tales in Nineteenth-Century England (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003), winner of the 2006 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award.

Supplementary Materials:

A companion website for students featuring additional readings is available for this text. A passcode is provided with all new copies of the anthology.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: "How to Read a Fairy Tale," Jennifer Schacker and Christine A. Jones

PART I: THE TALES

A. Early Written Traditions:
Anon., Egyptian Tales (New Kingdom, Dynasty 19, c. 1298-1187 BCE; translated by Edward F. Wente, Jr., 2003)
The Tale of Two Brothers
Lucius Apuleius, Metamorphoses (mid-2nd century ACE; translated by Jack Lindsay, 1960)
The Old Woman’s Tale (excerpt)
Marie de France, "Le Fresne" (c. 1160; translated by Judith P. Shoaf, 1996)
Le Fresne (c. 1160)
Anon., Alf Layla wa Layla (14th century; translated by Husain Haddawy, 1990)
The Story of King Shahrayar and Shahrazad, His Vizier’s Daughter

B. Early Print Traditions:
Giovan Francesco Straparola, Le Piacevoli notti (1551, 1553; translated by Nancy Canepa, 2011)
Crazy Pietro (Night Three, Tale 1)
Costantino Fortunato (Night Eleven, Tale 1)
King Pig (Night Two, Tale 1)
R.I. [Richard Johnson], The History of Tom Thumbe, the Little, for his small stature surnamed, King Arthur’s Dwarfe (1621) [website]
Giambatista Basile, Lo cunto de li cunti (1634-36; translated by Nancy Canepa, 2007)
The Cinderella Cat (Sixth Entertainment of the First Day)
The Old Woman Who Was Skinned (Tenth Entertainment of the First Day)
Cagliuso (Fourth Entertainment of the Second Day)
Sun, Moon, and Talia (Fifth Entertainment of the Fifth day)
Marie-Jeanne L’Héritier de Villandon, Oeuvres meslées (1696; translated by Robert Samber, 1729)
The Discreet Princess; or the Adventures of Finetta. A Novel.
Catherine Bernard, Inès de Courdoue (1696; translated by Christine A. Jones, 2011)
Riquet à la Houppe
Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force, "The Enchanter," Les Contes des Contes (1697; translated by Lewis Seifert and Domna Stanton, 2010) [website]
Charles Perrault, Histoires ou Contes du temps passé (1697; translated by Christine A. Jones, 2011)
Blue Beard
Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper
The Little Red Riding Hood
Sleeping Beauty
Marie-Catherine D’Aulnoy, Les Contes des Fées (1698)
The Fairies’ Tales (translated by Christine A. Jones, 2011)
Finette Cendron (translated by Elizabeth Lee and Annie Macdonell, 1892)
Henriette-Julie de Murat, Histoires sublimes et allégoriques (1699; translated by Allison Stedman, 2011)
The Savage
Anne-Claude Phillip de Tubière-Grimoard de Pestels Levieux de Lévis, Comte de Caylus, Marquis d'Esternay, Baron de Bransac Féeries nouvelles (1741; translated by Roswell M. Field, 1917)
Sylvain and Jocosa
Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, Young Misses Magazine, Containing Dialogues between a Governess and Several of Ladies of Quality Her Scholars (1759)
Beauty and the Beast

C. Romanticism to the fin de siècle:
Johann Ludwig Tieck, "The Elves," Phantasus vol. 1 (1812; translated by Thomas Carlyle, 1827) [website]
Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, Kinder-und Hausmärchen (1812 and 1815, 1819, 1857; translated by Jack Zipes [1987] 2002)
Hansel and Gretel
The Worn-out Dancing Shoes
Snow White
The Maiden Without Hands
Six Swans
Thomas Crofton Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1823)
The Crookened Back
Hans Christian Andersen, Eventyr, fortalte for børn (1835-45; translated by Tiina Nunnally, 2004)
The Tinderbox
The Princess on the Pea
The Red Shoes
Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr (1845-48; translated by George Webbe Dasent, 1858)
East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon
Tatterhood
Little Annie the Goose Girl
George Cruikshank, "Cinderella and the Glass Slipper," Gorge Cruikshank's Fairy Library (1854) [website]
Aleksandr Afanas’ev, Narodnye russkie skazki (1855-64; translated by Helena Goscilo, 2005)
The Frog Princess
Baga Yagazas
The Maiden Tsar
Danilo the Luckless
John Francis Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands (1860)
The Story of the White Pet
Christina Rossetti, Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862)
Goblin Market
Anne Thackeray Ritchie, Bluebeard's Keys and Other Stories (1874)
Bluebeard’s Keys (excerpt)
Mary de Morgan, On a Pincushion, and Other Fairy Tales (1877)
A Toy Princess
Henriette Kühne-Harkort, Snow White, Freely Adapted from the Grimms (1877, theater script; translated by Shawn C. Jarvis, 2001) [website]
Snow White, Freely Adapted from the Grimms (1877, theatre script) [website]
Luigi Capuana, C’era una volta . . . fiabe (1882)
The Talking Tree
Flora Annie Steel, Wide Awake Stories, A Collection of Tales Told by Little Children, Between Sunrise and Sunset, in the Panjab and Kashmir (1884)
Princess Aubergine
Rosamund Marriott Watson, The Bird-bride: A Volume of Ballads and Sonnets (1889)
Ballad of the Bird-bride
Victor Stevens, Little Red Riding Hood, or The Saucy Squire of Sunnydale (1900, pantomime script) [website]

D. Modern/Postmodern Tales:
Daniil Kharms, "A Children's Story" (c. 1920s-1930s; translated by George Gibian, 1971)
A Children’s Story
Arkady Gaidar, "Skazka o voennoi taine, o Mal'chishe i ego tverdom slove" (1935; translated by Helena Goscilo, 2005)
The Tale of the Military Secret, Malchish-Kibalchish and His Solemn Word
Sylvia Townsend Warner, The Cat's Cradle-Book (1940)
Bluebeard’s Daughter
Gianni Rodari, Venti storie piu una (1969; translated by Nancy Canepa, 2011)
Nino and Nina
Anne Sexton, Transformations (1971)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Robert Coover, Briar Rose (1996)
Briar Rose (excerpt)
Nalo Hopkinson, Skin Folk (2001)
The Glass Bottle Trick
Neil Gaiman, "Instructions" (2000)
Instructions
Kelly Link, "Swans" (2000)
Swans
Marina Warner, "The Difference in the Dose" (2010)
The Difference in the Dose: A Story after Rapunzel

E. Contemporary Transcriptions and Translations:
John Alden Mason, "Juan Bobo and the Riddling Princess: A Puerto Rican Folktale," translated by William Bernard McCarthy (2005)
Juan Bobo and the Riddling Princess: A Puerto Rican Folktale, performer unkonwn (c.1914-15)
J. Manuel Espinosa, Cuentos de Cuanto Hay/Tales from Spanish New Mexico (1931), translated and reworked by Joe Hayes (1998)
The Enchanted Frog, performed by Alesnio Chacon, 1931
Linda Dégh, Hungarian Folktales: The Art of Zsuzanna Palkó (1995), translated by Vera Kalm (1995)
The Serpent Prince, performed by Zsuzanna Palkó, 1950
A.K. Ramanujan, Folktales of India: A Selection of Oral Tales from Twenty-Two Languages, 1991
Hanchi, performed by Chennamma, 1955
Marius Barbeau, The Golden Phoenix and Other French-Canadian Fairy Tales (1958), retold by Michael Hornyansky
The Princess of Tomboso, performed by Marcel Tremblay, 1916
Hasan M. El-Shamy, Tales Arab Women Tell, and the Behavioral Patterns They Portray (1999)
The Daughters of the Bean Vendor, performed by Tahiyyah M., 1971
Donald Braid, Scottish Traveller Tales: Lives Shaped Through Stories (2002)
The Boy and the Blacksmith, performed by Duncan Williamson, 1987

PART II: CONTEMPORARY CRITICAL APPROACHES
Introduction: How to Read the Critical Essays, Jennifer Schacker and Christine A. Jones

Genre
On Fairy Tales and Their Anthologies, Christine A. Jones and Jennifer Schacker
Intertextuality, Gina M. Miele
Fairy Tales as Metacommentary in Manga and Anime, Bill Ellis

Ideology
Fairy Tales and the Ideology of Gender, Cristina Bacchilega
Ideology, Statecraft, and Subversion, Marina Balina
Ideology and the Importance of Socio-Political and Gender Contexts, Anne E. Duggan

Authorship
Authorship in Oral Narrative, Henry Glassie
The Case of the Disappearing Author, Elizabeth Wanning Harries
Oral versus Literary Tales: A New Approach to Issues of Authorship, Armando Maggi

Reception
Dear Reader, Donald Haase
The Fairy Tale in Victorian England, Molly Clark Hillard
Sexuality and the Women Fairy Tale Writers of the 1690s, Sophie Raynard

Translation
Geographical Translocations and Cultural Transformations, Ruth B. Bottigheimer
The Translation of Enchantment, Nancy L. Canepa
The Wonder of the Arabian Nights in English, Muhsin Jassim al-Musawi

Notes on Contributors

Help a SurLaLuner: Stories for Advent

Okay folks, reader Nayla sent me this email and I thought I would share with a larger audience to see if we can help her. Yes, I know this might seem past time for you, but I have many friends with similar traditions--most do the same with picture books--so I thought I would request your suggestions while the memories are still strong from the holiday season.

Here's the request:

I’m stumped on a pet project and wondered if you could point me in the right
direction. I’m putting together a collection of forty stories to read night by
night over winter lent next year (it’s a forty day period preceding Christmas
that was the old form of Advent, also called St Martin’s Lent since it kicks off
after Martinmas), I’d like the stories to be winter themed and folkloric,
ideally with a moral attached though not necessarily and I’m including a few
thematic stories such as a legend of St. Nicholas on his feast day and so on.
It’s an entirely private project to put in our family Christmas box, for me to
read to our children, with no selling or any such thing to follow. My trouble
is that I’m finding it impossible to sift through all the material. I’ve found
hundreds of out of copyright Victorian literature full of ‘yule fire’ stories,
but I can’t read through all of them by 2015.

Would you happen to know of any lists of fairy tales broken down by season or
other criteria? Off the top of my head I’ve come up with the Ant and the
Grasshopper, the Snow Queen, the Little Matchgirl, Star Money (not wintry, but a
decent moral), the Ice-Maiden, the Snow Man, and East of the Sun/West of the
Moon.

Thank you for your time and attention!

Nayla

Please post your answers here and Nayla and I thank you for your help!

PS: For 2014, I plan to offer more Help a SurLaLuner posts as I receive email requests that I cannot handle alone. Not enough time! Besides, all of our heads together will be much more productive than my little lone one, as overtaxed as it is.

New Book: Fearie Tales: Stories of the Grimm and Gruesome

Fearie Tales: Stories of the Grimm and Gruesome by Stephen Jones (Editor), Alan Lee (Illustrator) was released this past October in the UK but won't be released in the US--see Fearie Tales (US Edition)--until September 2014. This may be of particular interest to fans of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films since their designer Alan Lee illustrates this book.

And, of course, for those of you always seeking darker fairy tales--those of you who prefer Grimm to Once Upon a Time, for example. I've included the usual book description below as well as some illustrations. Authors include Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, Joanne Harris and Garth Nix for their fans, too.

Book description:

Two hundred years ago two brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm, collected together a large selection of folk and fairy tales and published them as Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children's and Household Tales). So successful was the first collection of 88 stories that they kept adding more to subsequent editions. Since then, the tales of the Brothers Grimm have been translated into upwards of a hundred different languages and are known and loved throughout the world.

Now award-winning editor Stephen Jones has tasked some of the brightest and best horror writers in Britain, America and Europe with reinterpreting some of the traditional Hausmärchen, putting a decidedly darker spin on the classic stories.

Stephen Jones is the multiple-award-winning editor and author of more than 100 books in the horror and fantasy genres. A former television director/producer and movie publicist and consultant (including the first three Hellraiser movies), he has edited the reprint anthology Best New Horror for more than 20 years. He lives in Wembley, Middlesex, and travels widely.

Alan Lee was born in London, where he studied graphic art and design. Over the years he has established himself as one of England's preeminent book artists, creating illustrations for, among other works: The Mabinogion, Castles, Merlin Dreams, Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Illiad and the anniversary edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. He was also the conceptual designer working on the Lord of the Rings films, responsible for creating the 'look' of Middle Earth. He currently lives on Dartmoor.

Upcoming 2014 Fairy Tale Book Releases

I have been busily adding to the lists of 2014 fairy tale releases. I generate my lists on Amazon since that is my top search tool for finding these--99% of these I find through my own research. There are a lot of fairy tale related titles planned for this year and I am sure I am missing several on my lists. If you know of any that are missing, please post here or let me know through email, etc.

I've included some scrolling images, too, to make it more interesting but more books are listed on list pages than appear in the images due to space and availability of covers at this point.

Fairy Tale Influenced Fiction 2014



Fairy Tale Picture Books 2014



Fairy Tale and Folklore Nonfiction 2014

Kongjwi, the Other Cinderella

I have another French picture book to share today. This time it is Kongjwi, l'autre Cendrillon (Kongjwi, the Other Cinderella) by Yeong-hee Lim (Auteur), Marie Caillou (Illustrations).

This is a Korean version of Cinderella, often known as Kongji and Patzzi. Another Korean Cinderella variant, Pigling and Her Proud Sister, appears in my Cinderella Tales From Around the World.

The following images from the book were found on Marie Caillou's site.

La Belle et la Bete by Delphine Bodet

LA BELLE ET LA BETE by Delphine Bodet is a picture book of Beauty and the Beast. It is out of print but that doesn't stop me from sharing images of the book. I have been looking at French picture books again--I say again because I spent the month of January 2012 sharing many French picture books on the blog. My inspiration this time was playing many rounds of Dixit with my niece and other family members over the holidays. I mention Leighton specifically since I gave the game to her for Christmas and she was the one relative who played the game with me every time--she loved it!--as we rotated through new victims/family members.

Anyway, Dixit perhaps best described as Balderdash or Apples to Apples with pictures instead of words and the French illustrations in the original set are very, very French. There's some darkness in them especially in the original set. Leighton's psychologist father--my brother--was fascinated by it and won every time he played. I will have to dig out some of my favorite cards from the game to share some images--some are from fairy tales although the game isn't really a fairy tale game. It could be but it is not just for fairy tale aficionados like us readers here.

So back to the book for today. Bodet's illustrations remind me somewhat of Elenore Vere Boyle since the Beast is vaguely similar in shape sans the tusks although it is obvious different animals inspired both. It's a stretch but it is there for me. Here are images from the book. Enjoy!

Seasoning the New Year

Happy New Year everyone! I have been enjoying a much needed break from most versions of regular work in my life and needed time away from SurLaLune, too, while I enjoyed the holidays with family and friends and worked on some longstanding personal goals. I am feeling refreshed and more invigorated about SurLaLune than I have felt in almost two years since I moved houses and life got really, really hectic.

The fifteen year anniversary of SurLaLune occurred with no fanfare on December 28th but I am planning some fun in January to celebrate since I imagine most of you were off holidaying, too.

I wanted to share my favorite surprise gift of the season. My sister-in-law charmed me with this unexpected set of Fred and Friends Salt + Magic: Salt and Pepper Shakers. I dedicated Mermaid and Other Water Spirit Tales From Around the World (Surlalune Fairy Tale) to her and she has actually read much of the book, too. She saw these at a local store and thought of me which is always a cozy, comforting thought. She knows I have a penchant for fun kitchen stuff--like my collection of Zak Happy Spoons--so this gift really hit several high notes for me.

Yes, you magically salt and pepper your food by waving the wands over it. No stars appear like in the image above (smirk) but salt and pepper do generously emerge as you wave them. They are not practical but they are fun. The design would have been more practical by having the shaker holes at the top of the stars to make filling, seasoning, and storage easier but I am keeping these for the fun factor. And because I always appreciate some extra magical help in the kitchen.