Literary Criticism Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology
Children into Swans
Fairy Tales and the Pagan Imagination
- Publisher
- McGill-Queen's University Press
- Initial publish date
- Oct 2014
- Category
- Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9780773596177
- Publish Date
- Oct 2014
- List Price
- $34.95
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780773543942
- Publish Date
- Oct 2014
- List Price
- $40.95
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Description
Fairy tales are alive with the supernatural - elves, dwarfs, fairies, giants, and trolls, as well as witches with magic wands and sorcerers who cast spells and enchantments. Children into Swans examines these motifs in a range of ancient stories.
Moving from the rich period of nineteenth-century fairy tales back as far as the earliest folk literature of northern Europe, Jan Beveridge shows how long these supernatural features have been a part of storytelling, with ancient tales, many from Celtic and Norse mythology, that offer glimpses into a remote era and a pre-Christian sensibility. The earliest stories often show significant differences from what we might expect. Elves mingle with Norse gods, dwarfs belong to a proud clan of magician-smiths, and fairies are shape-shifters emerging from the hills and the sea mist. In story traditions with roots in a pre-Christian imagination, an invisible other world exists alongside our own.
From the lost cultures of a thousand years ago, Children into Swans opens the door on some of the most extraordinary worlds ever portrayed in literature - worlds that are both starkly beautiful and full of horrors.
About the author
Jan Beveridge is an independent researcher. She lives in Elora, Ontario.