A recent "new-but-old addition" to my library was a slim volume containing three essays written by JRR Tolkien, "Tree and Leaf", "Smith of Wootton Major", and "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth". It was rescued from a pile of books improperly stored books in Monsieur Redacteur's parents house in Northern Ireland (that Irish damp got to some of them with sad consequences) and brought back to France because if Monsieur Redacteur knows anything he knows that I love Faerie stories.
Two of the stories, "On Fairy Storys" and "Leaf by Niggle" were originally comprised for an Andrew Lang Lecture that Tolkien delivered in a shorter form at St. Andrew's in 1938. Now just mentioning Andrew Lang makes me excited. I have long wished to own all twelve of his colourful "Fairy Tale Books". I have contented myself with a four volume (Red, Green, Yellow (that is actually orange in colour in this set and confusing because there is an actual Orange Fairy Book), and Blue) boxed set from Dover because it was a used bookshop bargain and is the unabridged facsimile copy of the original editions, which are cher (dear) in cost as well as value.
Andrew Lang was a Scots poet, anthropologist, novelist, literary critic...a man of many talents that calls to mind a (Captain Sir Francis) Richard Burton, who was around at the same time working on his own masterpiece work, "The Thousand and One Nights". Lang's masterpiece is known by a few names - "Andrew Lang's Fairy Books", "Andrew Lang's Coloured Fairy Books", and "Andrew Lang's Fairy Books of Many Colours" - oh which the latter is my favourite.
Published between 1889 and 1910, there are twelve books in the collection starting with Blue (1889), Red (1890), Green (1892), Yellow (1894), Pink (1897), Grey (1900), Violet (1901), Crimson (1903), Brown (1904), Orange (1906), Olive (1907), and Lilac (1910).
Though Lang did not, as had been the tradition, collect these stories from oral tradition, the extent of his sources from translating recounted stories in multiple foreign languages and cultures resulted in some fairy tales being put into English for the first time in history.
Lang started this work during a period of time where fairy tales were considered too brutal for the fragile psyches of children. The same stories deemed harmful for children were beneath any serious consideration for adults. Lang's work changed this perception entirely. In fact it caused a literary revolution.
Thanks in part to Lang's reputation as an expert in matters of folklore, and also in part to a brilliant marketing scheme that packaged the books in "sets" - the series was immensely popular and like anything popular gave birth to many imitators.
Lang explains in the preface that the stories were of old, and not his, that he found new fairy tales no match for them.
They always begin with a little boy or girl who goes out and meets the fairies of polyanthuses and gardenias and apple blossoms: 'Flowers and fruits, and other winged things.' These fairies try to be funny, and fail; or they try to preach, and succeed. Real fairies never preach or talk slang. At the end, the little boy or girl wakes up and finds that he has been dreaming.
Without Lang perhaps fairy-storys would still be considered "beneath" admiration. As someone who has loved fairy tales from the very first "Once upon a time"* line we all know so well - as someone who still buys every collection of fairy tale books she can afford, I am extremely grateful to Andrew Lang for his contribution.
*Il était une fois or Il y avait un jour, literally "there was a time" and "there was one day" in French.
You can read Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Storys" here, but you need a PDF reader.
If I could point to any one thing that has had the most impact on me as a person, on my writing, or on my life itself, it'd be an old book of Perrault's "Conte de Fées" with Doré illustrations that entranced my imagination and captivate me still that I had as a child.
Take a look some of Doré's illustrations below and you'll understand what I mean. Those poor mice are surely going to get it...
|Two of the stories, "On Fairy Storys" and "Leaf by Niggle" were originally comprised for an Andrew Lang Lecture that Tolkien delivered in a shorter form at St. Andrew's in 1938. Now just mentioning Andrew Lang makes me excited. I have long wished to own all twelve of his colourful "Fairy Tale Books". I have contented myself with a four volume (Red, Green, Yellow (that is actually orange in colour in this set and confusing because there is an actual Orange Fairy Book), and Blue) boxed set from Dover because it was a used bookshop bargain and is the unabridged facsimile copy of the original editions, which are cher (dear) in cost as well as value.
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| On this shelf: National Geographic 100 Years of Discovery, Andrew Lang Box Set, many copies of "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones", one of my favourite books in all the world Henry Miller's "In the Time of the Assassins", Two different printings of Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer" and "Tropic of Capricorn from The Obelisk Press, an Olympia press of "Nexus" from Miller's "Rosy Cruxification", lots of old first edition Richard Brautigan books, and that gentleman in the back is Ryunosuke Akutagawa's "Hell Screen", which is a fascinating book. |
Published between 1889 and 1910, there are twelve books in the collection starting with Blue (1889), Red (1890), Green (1892), Yellow (1894), Pink (1897), Grey (1900), Violet (1901), Crimson (1903), Brown (1904), Orange (1906), Olive (1907), and Lilac (1910).
Though Lang did not, as had been the tradition, collect these stories from oral tradition, the extent of his sources from translating recounted stories in multiple foreign languages and cultures resulted in some fairy tales being put into English for the first time in history.
Lang started this work during a period of time where fairy tales were considered too brutal for the fragile psyches of children. The same stories deemed harmful for children were beneath any serious consideration for adults. Lang's work changed this perception entirely. In fact it caused a literary revolution.
Thanks in part to Lang's reputation as an expert in matters of folklore, and also in part to a brilliant marketing scheme that packaged the books in "sets" - the series was immensely popular and like anything popular gave birth to many imitators.
Lang explains in the preface that the stories were of old, and not his, that he found new fairy tales no match for them.
They always begin with a little boy or girl who goes out and meets the fairies of polyanthuses and gardenias and apple blossoms: 'Flowers and fruits, and other winged things.' These fairies try to be funny, and fail; or they try to preach, and succeed. Real fairies never preach or talk slang. At the end, the little boy or girl wakes up and finds that he has been dreaming.
- Such are the new fairy stories. May we be preserved from all the sort of them!
Without Lang perhaps fairy-storys would still be considered "beneath" admiration. As someone who has loved fairy tales from the very first "Once upon a time"* line we all know so well - as someone who still buys every collection of fairy tale books she can afford, I am extremely grateful to Andrew Lang for his contribution.
*Il était une fois or Il y avait un jour, literally "there was a time" and "there was one day" in French.
You can read Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Storys" here, but you need a PDF reader.
If I could point to any one thing that has had the most impact on me as a person, on my writing, or on my life itself, it'd be an old book of Perrault's "Conte de Fées" with Doré illustrations that entranced my imagination and captivate me still that I had as a child.
Take a look some of Doré's illustrations below and you'll understand what I mean. Those poor mice are surely going to get it...
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