Episode 4: Fairy tales

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Come with us as we take a deep dive into ‘happily ever after’: why don’t traumatised fairy tale characters have more therapy? How old are these stories anyway? And why Baba Yaga is winning at self-care … we want a chicken-legged hut in the woods!

In this episode, we discuss the pervading popularity of fairy tales, and why they really don’t have to be about fairies at all. 

 

 

Shelf-absorbed (books we reviewed)

Midnight in Everwood by M.A. Kuzniar

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Midnight.jpg  Ninth House

Shelf-important (things we mentioned)

Fairy tales/folk stories:

  • Rumplestiltskin
  • Jack and the Beanstalk
  • The Smith and the Devil
  • Beauty and the Beast
  • Faust
  • Cinderella
  • Rapunzel
  • Sleeping Beauty
  • Hansel and Gretel
  • Red Riding Hood
  • Aesop’s Fables
  • Baba Yaga
  • Snow White
  • Little Red Riding Hood

 

Movies/television shows/plays:

  • Supernatural
  • Moana
  • Into the Woods – Steven Sondheim and James Lapine
  • The Witcher

 

Books:

  • Angela Carter’s Book of Fairy Tales
  •  A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
  • Heartless by Marissa Meyer
  • Norse Myths by Neil Gaiman
  • The Mahabharata by R.K. Naranyan
  • Spinning Silver by Naomi Novak
  • Raising Boys by Steve Biddulph 
  • Kidwrangling by Kaz Cooke
  • The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
  • The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
  • The Brides of Rollrock Island (Sea Hearts) by Margo Lanagan
  • Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
  • Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carol
  • The Bible

 

Music:

  • Robert Johnson
  • The Charlie Daniels’ Band – The Devil Went Down to Georgia

 

General references:

Graca da Silva, Sara & Tehrani, Jamshid J. 2016 ‘Comparitive phylogenic analyses uncover the ancient roots of Indo-European folktales. Royal Society of Open Science. 3: 150645. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.150645

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/11/the-first-fairytales-were-feminist-critiques-of-patriarchy-we-need-to-revive-their-legacy

https://electricliterature.com/why-we-keep-telling-the-same-stories/

I just can't help my-shelf (more please)

Authors:

  • Neil Gaiman
  • Albert Einstein
  • GK Chesterton
  • Laini Taylor

Shelf-obsessed (further reading)

  • Fairytales for Wilde Girls by Allyse Near
  • The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth
  • The Blue Salt Road by Joanne M Harris
  • Escape Routes by Naomi Ishiguro
  • Cinder by Marissa Meyer
  • Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
  • The Charmed Wife by Olga Grushin
  • Once More Upon a Time by Roshani Chokshi
  • A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
  • Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Page

 

 

 

   

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