Wednesday

Acquisitions (87): Susanna Clarke


Susanna Clarke. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories. Illustrated by Charles Vess. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2006.



Charles Dickens: The Chimes (1845)

We must assume that we are not singular in entertaining a very great tenderness for the fairy literature of our childhood. What enchanted us then, and is captivating a million of young fancies now, has, at the same blessed time of life, enchanted vast hosts of men and women who have done their long day's work and laid their grey heads down to rest. It would be hard to estimate the amount of gentleness and mercy that has made its way among us through these slight channels. Forbearance, courtesy, consideration for poor and aged, kind treatment of animals, love of nature, abhorrence of tyranny and brute force - many such good things have been first nourished in the child's heart by this powerful aid. ...
In an utilitarian age, of all other times, it is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected. ... The theatre, having done its worst to destroy these admirable fictions ... it becomes doubly important that the little books themselves, nurseries of fancy as they are, should be preserved. To preserve them in their usefulness, they must be as much preserved in their simplicity, and purity, and innocent extravagance, as if they were actual fact. Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him.
- Charles Dickens: "Frauds on the Fairies" (1853)
The English cult of fairies is a curious one, and there are a number of interesting angles you can take on it. On the one hand there are all the classic fairytale collections to be listed and analysed, from Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm to Hans Christian Andersen and Andrew Lang. On the other hand there's J. R. R. Tolkien's famous essay "On Fairy-stories", which might be said to have ushered in the age of heroic fantasy as a viable commercial genre at a single stroke.


Charles Sturridge, dir.: FairyTale: A True Story (1997)


As well as that, there have been numerous investigations into the "truth" of the fairy tradition by folklorists and archaeologists (not to mention the odd occultist). An excellent overview of this is given in Charles Sturridge's film - based on Joe Cooper's The Case of the Cottingley Fairies (1990) - about the curious photographs popularised by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in his book The Coming of the Fairies (1922).


Toby Haynes, dir.: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2015)


Susanna Clarke has done a good deal to revive the whole subject in her work to date - both the lengthy novel (and TV series) Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and the contrastingly slight yet delightful short story collection The Ladies of Grace Adieu, which I picked up for a few dollars at a Hospice Shop the other day.

So much did I enjoy it, in fact, that it got me to thinking about some of the other literary manifestations of the fairy mythos (if you'll excuse the term). A few years ago I wrote an essay about Samuel Butler's satirical novel Erewhon (1872) in which I discussed some of the folkloric patterns employed in this ostensibly rationalist text:
The Otherworld mirrors ours. It can be benign, like the paradises that reverse this world’s suffering; or it can be uncanny, like the realm some tribes ascribe to witches who walk or talk backwards, wear their heads upside down, their legs back to front.

Patrick Harpur: Daimonic Reality (1994)


In particular, I used Patrick Harpur’s intriguing book Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Other World - from which the above quote was taken - as a way of understanding the larger significance of this very odd belief-system:
The basic point of Harpur’s book ... [is] to postulate a ‘daimonic reality’ which exists — either literally or psychologically (Harpur sees little distinction between the two) — as a contrast to our world of causation and certainty. Ghosts, poltergeists, UFOs, lake monsters, Bigfoot, the yeti, fairies, angels, demons all inhabit this reality, but not — for the most part — as we see them.
The ‘glamour’ which these beings are able to throw across the perceptions of mortals who chance into this uncanny sphere means that the size, shape and essential nature of all that they see there, including its inhabitants, is always open to question: hence Harpur’s contention that the description of a haunting and a UFO abduction narrative may be basically the same thing.
For Harpur, the fact that people continue to experience such things and to ascribe so much personal significance to these encounters and sightings is, in his view, far more important than whether they can be claimed to be ‘real’. He concludes with a set of rules for travel in the Otherworld which seem to ring only too true for the various cognate texts - ranging from folklore to fiction - I've listed below:
Travel light. Don’t believe everything you’ve been told, either for good or ill . . . Observe local customs; respect local gods. Talk less than you listen. Try to see as well as sightsee. Be polite but firm; take advice but do not be gullible. If in doubt, smile. Do not laugh at the natives, but don’t be afraid to laugh ... Don’t join in the dancing unless you really have learnt the steps.

Elsie Wright & Frances Griffiths: The Cottingley Fairies (1920)



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  1. Katharine Briggs (1898–1980):
    • Hobberdy Dick (1955)
  2. Susanna Clark (1959- ):
    • The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories (2006)
  3. Susan Cooper (1935- ):
    • The Boggart (1993)
  4. John Crowley (1942- ):
    • Little, Big: or, The Fairies' Parliament (1981)
  5. Lord Dunsany (1878-1957):
    • The King of Elfland's Daughter (1924)
  6. Neil Gaiman (1960- ):
    • Stardust (1999)
  7. Lady Gregory (1852-1932):
    • Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland (1920)
  8. James Stephens (1880-1950):
    • The Crock of Gold (1912)
  9. Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978):
    • Kingdoms of Elfin (1977)
  10. Tad Williams (1957- ):
    • The War of the Flowers (2003)
  11. Secondary Literature


Katharine M. Briggs: The Fairies in Tradition and Literature (1967)



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Katharine M. Briggs: Hobberdy Dick (1955)



I have, admittedly, already written a post about Katharine Briggs, but that was little more than a book-list, prompted by my then-recent purchase of her marvellous, multi-volume compilation of British Folktales.

Her real area of specialisation, however, was the "Personnel of Fairyland" - to quote the title of her first, pioneering book on the subject. The encyclopedic knowledge she gradually acquired culminated in the Dictionary - or, in the US, "Encyclopedia" - of Fairies she published in 1976, a few years before her death.

This is, admittedly, more of a reference book than one you might pick up for light reading. As you can see from the bibliography below, though, she made up for this with a number of popular and/or scholarly monographs on particular aspects of the subject.

She was also the author of two novels, at least one of which, Hobberdy Dick, has become a children's classic. All in all, it's hard to imagine a better starting point for any serious investigation of the subject - from Robert Kirk's Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies (1692 - not published till 1815) all the way to more recent manifestations such as Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black's Spiderwick Chronicles (2003-9).


Katharine Mary Briggs (1898-1980)

Bibliography

Books I own are marked in bold:

    Fiction:

  1. Hobberdy Dick. Illustrated by Jane Kingshill (1955)
    • Hobberdy Dick. 1955. Illustrated by Scoular Anderson. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976.
    • Hobberdy Dick. 1955. Kestrel Books. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1978.
  2. Kate Crackernuts. Illustrated by Jane Kingshill (1963)
    • Kate Crackernuts. 1963. Greenwillow Books. New York: William Morrow & Co Inc., 1979.

    3. Non-fiction:

  3. The Personnel of Fairyland: A Short Account of the Fairy People of Great Britain for Those Who Tell Stories to Children. Illustrated by Jane Moore (1953)
  4. The Anatomy of Puck: An Examination of Fairy Beliefs among Shakespeare's Contemporaries and Successors (1959)
  5. Pale Hecate's Team: An Examination of the Beliefs on Witchcraft and Magic among Shakespeare's Contemporaries and His Immediate Successors (1962)
  6. The Fairies in Tradition and Literature [aka The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature] (1967)
    • The Fairies in Tradition and Literature. 1967. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977.
  7. The Folklore of the Cotswolds. Illustrated by Gay John Galsworthy (1974)
  8. A Dictionary of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures [aka An Encyclopedia of Fairies] (1976)
    • A Dictionary of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies and Other Supernatural Creatures. 1976. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977.
  9. The Vanishing People: A Study of Traditional Fairy Beliefs [aka Fairy Lore and Legends]. Illustrated by Mary I. French (1978)
  10. Abbey Lubbers, Banshees & Boggarts: A Who's Who of Fairies [aka An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies]. Illustrated by Yvonne Gilbert (1979)
    • Abbey Lubbers, Banshees & Boggarts: A Who's Who of Fairies. Illustrated by Yvonne Gilbert. Kestrel Books. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977.
  11. Nine Lives: Cats in Folklore [aka The Folklore of Cats]. Illustrated by John Ward (1980)
    • Nine Lives: Cats in Folklore. Illustrations by John Ward, RA. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980.

    12. Edited:

  12. [with Ruth L. Tongue] Folktales of England (1965)
    • Folktales of England. Ed. Katharine M. Briggs & Ruth Tongue. Foreword by Richard M. Dorson. Folktales of the World, ed. Richard M. Dorson. 1965. Chicago & London: Chicago University Press, 1968.
  13. Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language. 4 vols (1970–71)
    • A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language, incorporating the F. J. Norton Collection. Part A: Folk Narratives. 1970. Vol. 1 of 2. London & New York: Routledge, 2003.
    • A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language, incorporating the F. J. Norton Collection. Part B: Folk Legends. 1971. Vol. 2 of 2. London & New York: Routledge, 2001.
    • Folk Tales of Britain: Narratives. 1970. Introduction by Philip Pullman. 3 vols. Illustrated by Hannah Firmin, Peter Firmin & Clare Melinsky. London: Folio Society, 2011.
    • Folk Tales of Britain: Legends. 1971. Introduction by Kevin Crossley-Holland. 3 vols. Illustrated by Hannah Firmin, Peter Firmin & Clare Melinsky. London: Folio Society, 2011.
  14. A Sampler of British Folk-Tales [aka British Folk-Tales and Legends: A Sampler] (1977)
    • British Folktales and Legends: a Sampler. 1977. London: Paladin, 1977.



Katharine M. Briggs: A Dictionary of Fairies (1976)




I guess that my problem here may have been that I watched the TV adaptation of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell before I read the book. It takes some time to get used to the curious conventions of Clarke's fictional cosmos - a strange amalgam of Jane Austen, Napier's History of the Peninsular War, and traditional folklore - and it would probably have been easier if I'd started off with the rather more leisurely paced novel than with the oddly abrupt filmed version.

The Ladies of Grace Adieu was clearly rushed out as a follow-up to Clarke's wildly successful debut book. The stories come from very different times and places (one of them is even set in the locale of Neil Gaiman's Stardust: the village of Wall). Somehow the mixture works, however, and the whole is strangely beguiling to read.

Mind you, her rather belated follow-up novel Piranesi is probably better and more original than either of her first two books - which is saying something - though possibly less calculated to reach a wide public. All in all, she remains an author to watch. I'm just glad to have chanced upon handsome hardcover copies of her last two books at very reasonable prices.


Mark Pringle: Susanna Clarke (2004)

Bibliography

    Novels:

  1. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004)
    • Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Illustrations by Portia Rosenberg. 2004. 3 vols. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2005.
  2. Piranesi (2020)
    • Piranesi. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2020.

    3. Short Stories:

  3. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories (2006)
    • The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories. Illustrated by Charles Vess. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2006.


Susanna Clarke: Piranesi (2020)



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Susan Cooper: The Boggart (1993)



It took me quite a while to warm to Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence. The narrative as a whole never seems sufficiently invested in the threat posed by the dark entities which are allegedly 'rising'. Perhaps she, or more likely her publishers, were afraid that children would find it too frightening otherwise. I wanted very much to like it, but couldn't really manage it at the time.

The Boggart, by contrast, seems to me to navigate a much steadier path between folklore and the modern world. It's also far less ambitious in scope, which may contribute to this success. Her gifts as a storyteller seem to me to be far more firmly on display here.

Reading backwards from The Boggart has definitely helped me to appreciate her work as a writer overall, however. There aren't enough good children's books of this type, and I find on rereading it that even The Dark is Rising is now far more pleasing to me - I no longer feel the need to make adverse comparisons with Tolkien and Alan Garner, but instead can enjoy it on its own terms.


Susan Cooper (2012)

Bibliography

    Novels:

  1. Mandrake (1964)
  2. The Dark Is Rising Sequence:
    1. Over Sea, Under Stone (1965)
      • Over Sea, Under Stone. 1965. Illustrated by Margery Gill. The Dark Is Rising Sequence. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979.
    2. The Dark Is Rising (1973)
      • The Dark is Rising. 1973. The Dark Is Rising Sequence. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976.
    3. Greenwitch (1974)
      • Greenwitch. 1974. The Dark Is Rising Sequence. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979.
    4. The Grey King (1975)
      • The Grey King. 1975. The Dark Is Rising Sequence. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979.
    5. Silver on the Tree (1977)
      • Silver on the Tree. 1977. The Dark Is Rising Sequence. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982.
    • The Dark Is Rising Sequence: Over Sea, Under Stone / The Dark is Rising / Greenwitch / The Grey King / Silver on the Tree. 1965, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984.
  3. Dawn of Fear (1970)
    • Dawn of Fear. 1970. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975.
  4. Seaward (1983)
    • Seaward. 1983. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1988.
  5. The Boggart Trilogy:
    1. The Boggart (1993)
      • The Boggart. London: The Bodley Head, 1993.
    2. The Boggart and the Monster (1997)
    3. The Boggart Fights Back (2018)
  6. King of Shadows (1999)
  7. Green Boy (2002)
  8. Victory (June 2006)
  9. Ghost Hawk (2013)

    10. Non-fiction:

  10. Behind the Golden Curtain: A View of the USA (1965)
  11. J. B. Priestley: Portrait of an Author (1970)
  12. Dreams and Wishes: Essays on Writing for Children (1996)
  13. The Magic Maker: A Portrait of John Langstaff and His Christmas Revels (2011)

    14. Plays & Screenplays:

  14. Dark Encounter (1976)
  15. Foxfire, Cooper and Hume Cronyn (1982)
  16. The Dollmaker (1984)
  17. To Dance with the White Dog (1993)
  18. Jewel (2001)

    19. Children's picture books:

  19. Jethro and the Jumbie. Illustrated by Ashley Bryan (1979)
  20. The Silver Cow: A Welsh Tale. Illustrated by Warwick Hutton (1983)
  21. The Selkie Girl. Illustrated by Warwick Hutton (1986)
  22. Matthew's Dragon. Illustrated by Jos. A. Smith (1991)
  23. Tam Lin. Illustrated by Warwick Hutton (1991)
  24. Danny and the Kings. Illustrated by Jos. A. Smith (1993)
  25. Frog. Illustrated by Jane Browne (2002)
  26. The Magician's Boy. Illustrated by Serena Riglietti (2005)
  27. The Word Pirates. Illustrated by Steven Kellogg (2019)
  28. The Shortest Day. Illustrated by Carson Ellis (2019)


Susan Cooper: The Dark is Rising (1973)



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John Crowley: Little, Big: or, The Fairies' Parliament (1981)

John Crowley
(1942 - )


In theory, at least, I'm all for the kinds of large-scale experiments John Crowley is interested in. In practice, though, I found Little, Big rather difficult to get through. It's certainly a a major contribution to the genre of modern fairy literature, though.

I haven't read his Aegypt books, so can't comment on them. They do look very intriguing.


Amelia Beamer: John Crowley (2010)

Bibliography

    Novels:

  1. The Deep. Illustrated by John Cayea (1975)
    • --. Illustrated by Anne Yvonne Gilbert (1984)
  2. Beasts. Illustrated by John Cayea (1976)
    • --. Illustrated by Anne Yvonne Gilbert (1983)
  3. Engine Summer. Illustrated by Gary Friedman (1979)
    • --. Illustrated by Anne Yvonne Gilbert (1983)
  4. Little, Big: or, The Fairies' Parliament (1981)
    • --. Illustrated by Anne Yvonne Gilbert (1983)
    • Little, Big. 1981. London: Methuen, 1986.
  5. The Ægypt Cycle:
    1. Ægypt [rev. as The Solitudes (2007)] (1987)
    2. Love & Sleep [rev. 2008] (1994)
    3. Dæmonomania [rev. 2008] (2000)
    4. Endless Things (2007)
  6. The Translator (2002)
  7. Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land (2005)
  8. Four Freedoms (2009)
  9. The Chemical Wedding: by Christian Rosencreutz: A Romance in Eight Days by Johann Valentin Andreae in a New Version (2016)
  10. Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr (2017)
  11. Flint and Mirror: A Novel of History and Magic (2022)

    12. Short Story Collections:

  12. Novelty (1989)
  13. Antiquities: Seven Stories (1993)
  14. Novelties and Souvenirs: Collected Short Fiction (2004)
  15. Totalitopia (2017)
  16. And Go Like This: Stories (2019)

    17. Omnibus Editions:

  17. Beasts / Engine Summer / Little Big (1991)
  18. Otherwise: Three Novels ['The Deep', 1975; 'Beasts', 1976; 'Engine Summer', 1979] (1994)

    19. Essay collections:

  19. In Other Words (2007)
  20. Reading Backwards: Essays & Reviews, 2005-2018 (2019)


John Crowley: Aegypt (1987)




Readers of my generation owe a distinct debt to the editorial enterprise of Lin Carter. The series of modern works of fantasy he edited for Ballantine Books was probably instrumental in introducing most of us to E. R. Eddison, David Lindsay, William Morris, and - Lord Dunsany.

The book-covers were garish and his editorial hand at times a little heavy-handed, but he did reveal the existence of this vast hinterland of pre-Lord of the Rings fantasy novels and stories. It was quite a revelation at the time.

Lord Dunsany should need no introduction to fans of H. P. Lovecraft, in particular, for whom he was one of the two essential authors, alongside Edgar Allan Poe. The allure of his multitudinous stories and plays may have faded somewhat since his heyday before the First World War, but they remain surprisingly readable when read without too many preconceptions.

The recent film adaptation of one of his later novels, My Talks with Dean Spanley (1936 / 2008), could not really be described as entirely successful, but it's certainly one of the oddest and most original films to have come out of the New Zealand film industry in my time.


    Novels:

  1. Don Rodriguez: Chronicles of Shadow Valley. 1922. Introduction by Lin Carter. Adult Fantasy. London: Pan / Ballantine, 1972.
  2. The King of Elfland’s Daughter. 1924. A Del Rey Book. New York: Ballantine Books, 1978.
  3. The Charwoman’s Shadow: Shadow Valley Chronicles II. 1926. Unicorn. London: Unwin Paperbacks, 1983.
  4. My Talks with Dean Spanley. 1936. London: Collins, 1972.
  5. [with Alan Sharp. Dean Spanley: My Talks with Dean Spanley / Dean Spanley: The Screenplay. Ed. Matthew Metcalfe & Chris Smith. 1936. London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2008.

    6. Short Stories:

  6. The Gods of Pegāna. Illustrated by S. H. Sime. 1905. London: Elkin Mathews, 1919.
  7. The Food of Death: Fifty-One Tales. 1915. The Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library, 3. Hollywood, Calif.: Newcastle Publishing Company, Inc., 1974.
  8. Plays of Gods and Men: "The Laughter of the Gods" / "The Queen's Enemies" / "The Tents of the Arabs" / "A Night at an Inn". London: T. Fisher Unwin, Limited, 1917.
  9. The Book of Wonder: The Book of Wonder; Time and the Gods. 1912, 1906. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1918.
  10. Time and the Gods: Time and the Gods, The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories, A Dreamer's Tales, The Book of Wonder, The Last Book of Wonder, & The Gods of Pegāna. 1906, 1908, 1910, 1912, 1916, 1905. Fantasy Masterworks, 32. London: Gollancz, 2000.
  11. To Awaken Pegasus and Other Poems. Oxford : George Ronald, 1949.
  12. At The Edge of the World. Ed. Lin Carter. Adult Fantasy. New York: Ballantine Books, 1970.
  13. Beyond the Fields We Know. Ed. Lin Carter. Adult Fantasy. London: Pan / Ballantine, 1972.vGods, Men and Ghosts: The Best Supernatural Fiction of Lord Dunsany. Ed. E. F. Bleiler. Illustrations by Sidney H. Sime. New York: Dover, 1972.
  14. The Ghosts of the Heaviside Layer and Other Fantasms. Foreword by Darrell Schweitzer. Illustrations by Tim Kirk. Philadelphia: Owlslick Press, 1980.
  15. In the Land of Time and Other Fantasy Tales. Ed. S. T. Joshi. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2004.

    16. Non-fiction:

  16. Patches of Sunlight. London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1938.
  17. Guerilla. London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1944.




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Neil Gaiman: Stardust (1999)

Neil Gaiman
(1960- )


I used to find Neil Gaiman's claims to be considered as a creative artist on a par with G. K. Chesterton or C. S. Lewis more than a little absurd. His work seemed too bitty, too generically various, too obviously commercial in inspiration.

As the years have gone by, though, and his achievements have mounted, I've revised this view. What does it matter if his stories appear as novels or monthly comics or even hyperspace links? The best of them - Sandman, Coraline, Neverwhere - seem to be here to stay, even if their screen adaptations have been, at times, disappointing.

Stardust is an interesting case. It started as a novel, then became a graphic novel illustrated by the brilliant Charles Vess, then suffered a somewhat tonedeaf Hollywood incarnation. It's well worth revisiting, though - especially for those who were turned off prematurely by an overdose of Hollywood whimsy in the screen adaptation.

And, in any case, most of the objections I had to the canonisation of Gaiman as a major writer would apply just as accurately to Chesterton and Lewis ... their collected works are similarly all over the place: they are vast, they contain multitudes: how is that a bad thing?


Murdo Macleod: Neil Gaiman (2022)

[Bibliography]

    Novels:

  1. [with Terry Pratchett]. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. A Novel. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1990.
  2. Neverwhere. 1996. New York: HarperTorch, 2001.
  3. Neverwhere: Author's Preferred Text, with How the Marquis Got His Coat Back. 1996 & 2014. William Morrow. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2016.
  4. Stardust. London: Headline Book Publishing, 1999.
  5. American Gods. London: Headline Book Publishing, 2001.
  6. American Gods: The Author's Preferred Text. 2001 & 2004. Review. London: Headline Book Publishing, 2005.
  7. Coraline. Illustrations by Dave McKean. 2002. New York: Harper Trophy, 2003.
  8. Anansi Boys. London: Headline Book Publishing, 2005.
  9. The Graveyard Book. Illustrated by Chris Riddell. 2008. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2009.
  10. The Ocean at the End of the Lane. London: Headline Publishing Group, 2013.

    11. Short Stories:

  11. Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions. London: Headline Book Publishing, 1999.
  12. Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders. 2006. London: Headline Publishing Group, 2013.
  13. Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances. London: Headline Publishing Group, 2015.
  14. The Neil Gaiman Reader: Selected Fiction. Foreword by Marlon James. London: Headline Publishing Group, 2020.

    15. Non-fiction:

  15. [with Kim Newman. Ghastly Beyond Belief. Introduction by Harry Harrison. London: Arrow Books, 1985.
  16. The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Non-fiction. London: Headline Publishing Group, 2016.
  17. Norse Mythology. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2017.


Neil Gaiman: Neverwhere (1996 / 2014)




... when Denis Johnston submitted to the Abbey his first play, Shadowdance, it was rejected by Lady Gregory and returned to the author with "The Old Lady says No" written on the title page. Johnston decided to rename the play, and The Old Lady Says 'No!' was eventually staged by the Gate Theatre in 1928.

... the Irish writer Oliver St. John Gogarty once wrote "the perpetual presentation of her plays nearly ruined the Abbey".
Dissentient voices apart, Lady Gregory remains an inescapable part of the Irish Literary Revival - and not just for her encouragement of (and influence on) John Synge, W. B. Yeats, and other mainstays of the Modernist canon.

Whatever one thinks of her plays - and they are now seldom performed - her translations and adaptations from the Irish have had a lasting influence. This compendium of folklore from the West of Ireland is one of her most delightful books, however. Her collection methods may not fit the standards of contemporary folklorists, but the results are certainly very entertaining to read.

The two essays by Yeats included in the text are a salutary reminder of what a nutter he could be at times. I've always thought it one of his most endearing traits.


Lady Gregory

Bibliography

    Imaginative Prose:

  1. Cuchulain of Muirthemne: The Story of the Men of the Red Branch of Ulster (1902)
    • Cuchulain of Muirthemne: The Story of the Men of the Red Branch of Ulster. 1902. Preface by W. B. Yeats. The Coole Edition, II. 1970. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1984.
    • Included in: Complete Irish Mythology: Gods and Fighting Men & Cuchulain of Muirthemne. 1904 & 1902. Preface by W. B. Yeats. 1994. London: Bounty Books, 2004.
  2. Gods and Fighting Men: The Story of the Tuatha de Danann and of the Fianna of Ireland (1904)
    • Included in: Complete Irish Mythology: Gods and Fighting Men & Cuchulain of Muirthemne. 1904 & 1902. Preface by W. B. Yeats. 1994. London: Bounty Books, 2004.
  3. A Book of Saints and Wonders, Put Down Here by Lady Gregory According to the Old Writings and the Memory of the People of Ireland (1907)
  4. The Kiltartan History Book (1909)
  5. The Kiltartan Wonder Book (1911)
  6. Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland Collected and Arranged by Lady Gregory: With Two Essays and Notes by W. B. Yeats (1920)
    • Visions & Beliefs in the West of Ireland. With Two Essays and a Note by W. B. Yeats. 1920. The Coole Edition, I. 1970. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1992.
  7. Lady Gregory's Early Irish Writings 1883-1893 (2018)

    8. Plays:

  8. Kincora: A Drama in Three Acts (1905)
  9. Spreading the News, The Rising of the Moon By Lady Gregory; The Poorhouse by Lady Gregory and Douglas Hyde (1906)
  10. The Hyacinth Galvey: A Comedy (1906)
  11. Seven Short Plays: Spreading the News; Hyacinth Halvey; The Rising of the Moon; The Jackdaw; The Workhouse Ward; The Travelling Man; The Gaol Gate (1909)
  12. Spreading the News (1911)
  13. Irish Folk-History Plays, 1st series. The Tragedies: Grania – Kincora—Dervorgilla (1912)
  14. Irish Folk-History Plays, 2nd series: The Tragic-Comedies: The Canavans – The White Cockade – The Deliverer (1912)
  15. New Comedies: The Bogie Men; The Full Moon; Coats; Damer's Gold; McDonough's Wife (1913)
  16. Damer's Gold: A Comedy in Two Acts (1913)
  17. Coats (1913)
  18. [with W. B. Yeats] The Unicorn from the Stars: And Other Plays (1915)
  19. Shanwalla (1915)
  20. The Golden Apple: A Play for Kiltartan Children (1916)
  21. The Dragon: A Wonder Play in Three Acts (1920)
  22. The Image and Other Plays: Hanranhan's Ghost; Shanwalla; The Wrens (1922)
  23. Three Wonder Plays: The Dragon; Aristotle's Bellows; The Jester (1922)
  24. [with W. B. Yeats] Plays in Prose and Verse: Written for an Irish Theatre, and Generally with the Help of a Friend (1922)
  25. The Story Brought by Brigit (1924)
  26. Mirandolina (1924)
  27. On the Racecourse (1926)
  28. Three Last Plays: Sancho's Master; Dave; The Would-Be Gentleman (1928)
  29. My First Play (Colman and Guair) (1930)
  30. Collected Plays. 4 vols. The Coole Edition, V-VIII. Ed. Ann Saddlemyer (1971)
    1. The Comedies
      • The Comedies. Ed. Ann Saddlemyer. 1971. Collected Plays 1. The Coole Edition, V. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1979.
    2. The Tragedies & Tragic-Comedies
      • The Tragedies & Tragic-Comedies. Ed. Ann Saddlemyer. 1971. Collected Plays 2. The Coole Edition, VI. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1979.
    3. The Wonder & Supernatural Plays
      • The Wonder & Supernatural Plays. Ed. Ann Saddlemyer. 1971. Collected Plays 3. The Coole Edition, VII. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1979.
    4. The Translations and Adaptations, and her Collaborations
      • The Translations and Adaptations of Lady Gregory and her Collaborations with Douglas Hyde and W. B. Yeats. Ed. Ann Saddlemyer. 1971. Collected Plays 4. The Coole Edition, VIII. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1979.

    31. Non-fiction:

  31. Arabi and His Household (1882)
  32. Over the River (1888)
  33. [Anon.] A Phantom's Pilgrimage, or Home Ruin (1893)
  34. Our Irish Theatre – A Chapter of Autobiography (1913)
  35. Hugh Lane's Life and Achievement, with Some Account of the Dublin Galleries. With Illustrations (1921)
  36. Coole (1931)
  37. Seventy Years, 1852-1922, Being the Autobiography of Lady Gregory (1974)
    • Seventy Years: Being the Autobiography of Lady Gregory, 1852-1922. Ed. Colin Smythe. 1974. The Coole Edition, XIII. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1976.

    38. Translated:

  38. Douglas Hyde. Casadh an t-súgáin; or, The Twisting of the Rope (1902)
  39. Poets and Dreamers: Studies and Translations from the Irish (1903)
  40. The Kiltartan Molière: The Miser. The Doctor in Spite of Himself. The Rogueries of Scapin (1910)
  41. The Kiltartan Poetry Book: Prose Translations from the Irish (1919)

    42. Edited:

  42. Sir William Gregory, K.C.M.G., Formerly Member of Parliament and Sometime Governor of Ceylon: An Autobiography (1894)
  43. Mr. Gregory's Letter Box 1813–1830 (1898)

    44. Diaries:

  44. Lady Gregory's Journals (1947)
  45. The Journals. Part 1. 10 October 1916 – 24 February 1925 (1978)
  46. The Journals. Part 2. 21 February 1925 – 9 May 1932 (1987)
  47. Lady Gregory's Diaries 1892-1902 (1996)


Lady Gregory: Complete Irish Mythology (1902-4)



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James Stephens: The Crock of Gold (1912)

James Stephens
(1880-1950)


I suppose the one thing that everyone knows about James Stephens is that James Joyce once described him as the only writer who could conceivably finish Finnegans Wake for him:
Of course he would never take a fraction of the time or pains I take but so much the better for him and for me and possibly for the book itself. If he consented to maintain three or four points which I consider essential and I showed him the threads he could finish the design. JJ and S (the colloquial Irish for John Jameson and Son’s Dublin whisky) would be a nice lettering under the title.
This may seem surprising to those more familiar with Stephens poems such as the once-popular "The Snare":
I hear a sudden cry of pain!
There is a rabbit in a snare:
Now I hear the cry again,
But I cannot tell from where.

But I cannot tell from where
He is calling out for aid!
Crying on the frightened air,
Making everything afraid!

Making everything afraid!
Wrinkling up his little face!
And he cries again for aid;
- and I cannot find the place!

And I cannot find the place
Where his paw is in the snare!
Little One! Oh, Little One!
I am searching everywhere!
Heartfelt, certainly, but not precisely ... Joycean.

Stephens is far more than a mere sentimentalist, though. His early novel The Crock of Gold is one of the maddest, most inventive works of the Irish Renaissance. Its merits are a little difficult to describe to anyone who hasn't experienced them firsthand, but try and imagine a kind of amalgam of Flann O'Brian and W. B. Yeats with a little bit of Oscar Wilde mixed in, and you'll be getting close.

Here's a characteristic quote from the book, a snippet of dialogue between a donkey and a spider:
"Does anybody ever kick you in the nose?" said the ass to him.
"Ay does there," said the spider; "you and your like that are always walking on me, or lying down on me, or running over me with the wheels of a cart."
"Well, why don't you stay on the wall?" said the ass.
"Sure, my wife is there," replied the spider.
"What's the harm in that?" said the ass.
"She'd eat me," said the spider, "and, anyhow, the competition on the wall is dreadful, and the flies are getting wiser and timider every season. Have you got a wife yourself, now?"
"I have not," said the ass; "I wish I had."
"You like your wife for the first while," said the spider, "and after that you hate her."
"If I had the first while I'd chance the second while," replied the ass.
"It's bachelor's talk," said the spider; "all the same, we can't keep away from them," and so saying he began to move all his legs at once in the direction of the wall. "You can only die once," said he.
Fluent in Irish as well as English, Stephens was able to transplant some of the spirit of the older literary tradition into the twentieth-century world of hunger-strikes and the 1916 rising. He's distinctly underrated, and well worth reading.


Patrick Tuohy: James Stephens

Bibliography

    Poetry:

  1. Insurrections (1909)
  2. The Hill of Vision (1912)
  3. Five New Poems (1913)
  4. Songs from the Clay (1915)
  5. The Adventures of Seumas Beg: The Rocky Road to Dublin (1915)
  6. Green Branches (1916)
  7. Reincarnations (1918)
    • Reincarnations. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1918.
  8. A Poetry Recital (1925)
  9. Collected Poems (1926)
    • Collected Poems. 1926. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1931.
  10. The Outcast. Illustrated by Althea Willoughby. Ariel Poems (1929)
  11. Strict Joy: Poems (1931)
  12. Kings and the Moon (1938)
  13. The Poems of James Stephens. Ed. Shirley Stevens Mulligan (2001)

    14. Novels:

  14. The Charwoman's Daughter [aka Mary, Mary] (1912)
    • The Charwoman’s Daughter. 1912. Introduction by Augustine Martin. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1972.
    • Included in: James Stephen: A Selection. Ed. Lloyd Frankenberg. Preface by Padraic Colum. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1962.
  15. The Crock of Gold (1912)
    • The Crock of Gold. 1912. Foreword by Walter de la Mare. 1953. Oxford Children’s Library. London: Pan Books, 1965.
    • The Crock of Gold. 1912. Illustrated by Thomas Mackenzie. 1926. Facsimile Classics Series. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.
  16. The Demi-Gods (1914)
    • The Demi-Gods. 1914. Introduction by Augustine Martin. Dublin: Butler Sims Publishing Ltd., 1982.
  17. Deirdre (1923)
    • Deirdre. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1923.
  18. In the Land of Youth (1924)

    19. Short Stories:

  19. Here Are Ladies (1913)
  20. [as James Esse,] Hunger: A Dublin Story (1918)
  21. Irish Fairy Tales (1920)
    • Irish Fairy Tales. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. 1924. Facsimile Classics Series. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1979.
  22. Etched in Moonlight (1928)
  23. How St Patrick Saved the Irish (1931)
  24. Desire and Other Stories. Ed. Augustine Martin (1981)

    25. Plays:

  25. Julia Elizabeth: A Comedy, in One Act (1929)
  26. The Optimist (1929)

    27. Miscellaneous:

  27. The Insurrection in Dublin (1916)
  28. Arthur Griffith: Journalist and Statesman (1922)
  29. Little Things (1924)
  30. Danny Murphy (1925)
  31. Christmas in Freelands (1925)
  32. On Prose and Verse (1928)
  33. Themes and Variations (1930)
  34. Stars Do Not Make a Noise (1931)
  35. James Stephens: A Selection (1962)
    • James Stephen: A Selection. Ed. Lloyd Frankenberg. Preface by Padraic Colum. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1962.
  36. James, Seumas and Jacques: Unpublished Writings. Ed. Lloyd Frankenburg (1964)
  37. Uncollected Early Writings of James Stephens. Ed. Patricia McFate (1975)
  38. Uncollected Prose of James Stephen. Ed. Patricia McFate. 2 vols (1983)

    39. Letters:

  39. Letters of James Stephens. Ed. Richard J. Finneran (1974)


James Stephens: Irish Fairy Tales (1924)



•

Sylvia Townsend Warner: Kingdoms of Elfin (1977)



People thought managing editor William Shawn was mad for including quite so many of Sylvia Townsend Warner's stories about fairies in the New Yorker in the last decade of her life.

What he could see and they couldn't, was that the curious amalgam of Marxism, Lesbianism, profound musical scholarship, and fabular thinking which had swayed her from one direction to another in her earlier writing had found safe harbour in this most artificial of forms.

Eventually even he felt that enough was enough (much to her sorrow and displeasure). However by then she'd accumulated sufficient material to turn into this, the last of her books to appear in her lifetime.

How can one characterise it as a collection? It's cruel and heartless in parts: a recurring feature of her clipped, decisive style of writing. It does have far more of the flavour of folklore of most "fairy literature" before Susanna Clarke, however. I highly recommend it.


    Poetry:

  1. Collected Poems. Ed. Claire Harman. Manchester: Carcanet New Press / New York: The Viking Press, 1982.
  2. New Collected Poems. Ed. Claire Harman. Fyfield Books. Manchester: Carcanet Press Limited, 2008.

    3. Novels:

  3. Lolly Willowes. 1926. London: Penguin, 1937.
  4. Mr Fortune’s Maggot. 1927. London: Virago, 1978.
  5. The True Heart. 1929. London: Virago, 1978.
  6. Summer Will Show. 1936. Introduction by Claire Harman. New York: Penguin Books / Virago Press, 1987.
  7. After the Death of Don Juan. 1938. Introduction by Wendy Mulford. London: Virago, 1989.
  8. The Corner That Held Them. 1948. Introduction by Claire Harman. London: Virago, 1988.
  9. The Flint Anchor. 1954. Introduction by Claire Harman. London: Virago Modern Classics, 1997.

    10. Stories:

  10. The Museum of Cheats and Other Stories. London: Chatto & Windus, 1947.
  11. The Innocent and the Guilty. London: Chatto & Windus, 1971.
  12. Kingdoms of Elfin. 1977. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979.
  13. One Thing Leading to Another. Ed. Susanna Pinney. London: Chatto & Windus / The Hogarth Press, 1984.
  14. Selected Stories. Ed. Susanna Pinney & William Maxwell. 1989. London: Virago, 1990.
  15. The Music at Long Verney: Twenty Stories. Ed. Michael Steinman. Foreword by William Maxwell. London: The Harvill Press, 2001.

    16. Letters & Diaries:

  16. Letters. Ed. William Maxwell. London: Chatto & Windus, 1982.
  17. I'll Stand by You: Selected Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland, with Narrative by Sylvia Townsend Warner. Ed. Susanna Pinney. Pimlico. London: Random House Ltd., 1998.
  18. The Diaries of Sylvia Townsend Warner. Ed. Claire Harman. London: Chatto & Windus, 1994.

    19. Secondary:

  19. Ackland, Valentine. For Sylvia: An Honest Account. Foreword by Bea Howe. 1985. London: Chatto & Windus Ltd., 1989.
  20. Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. London: Chatto & Windus, 1989.


Sylvia Townsend Warner: Lolly Willowes; or The Loving Huntsman (1926)



•

Tad Williams: The War of the Flowers (2003)



In a previous post about Tad Williams, I concentrated mainly on his work in the field of epic fantasy. I did, however, mention there his claims to be regarded as the modern fantasy author:
who's tried hardest and most consistently to experiment with different levels and concepts of reality: from the celestial cyberpunk of the "Bobby Dollar" books to the copyrighted virtual reality domains of the "Otherworld" tetralogy.
I still stand by that definition. One of the most intriguing of these side-projects to his main business of multi-volume fantasy epics is the novel pictured above, The War of the Flowers.

It's quite a cruel and violent book in parts, but strangely, the main impression it left with me was the delightful precision of his reimagining of Fairyland as an Edwardian landscape complete with bicycles and steam-engines. Very original, I thought.


    Novels:

  1. Tailchaser's Song. 1985. Legend Books. London: Random Century Group, 1991.
  2. [with Nina Kiriki Hoffman]. Child of an Ancient City. Legend Books. London: Century, 1992.
  3. Caliban's Hour. 1994. Legend Books. London: Random House UK Limited, 1995.
  4. The War of the Flowers. An Orbit Book. London: Time Warner Books UK, 2003.

    5. Series:

  5. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn (1988-93):
    1. The Dragonbone Chair. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Book 1. 1988. Legend Books. London: Arrow Books Limited, 1990.
    2. Stone of Farewell. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Book 2. 1990. Legend Books. London: Arrow Books Limited, 1991.
    3. To Green Angel Tower. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Book 3. Legend Books. London: Random House Group, 1993.
    4. Brothers of the Wind: A Prequel to Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. London: Hodder & Stoughton, Ltd., 2021.
  6. Otherland (1996-2001):
    1. City of Golden Shadow. Otherland, Book 1. Legend Books. London: Random House UK Limited, 1996.
    2. River of Blue Fire. Otherland, Book 2. An Orbit Book. London: Little, Brown & Company (UK), 1998.
    3. Mountain of Black Glass. Otherland, Book 3. 1999. An Orbit Book. London: Little, Brown & Company (UK), 2000.
    4. Sea of Silver Light. Otherland, Book 4. 2001. An Orbit Book. London: Time Warner Books UK, 2002.
  7. Shadowmarch (2004-10):
    1. Shadowmarch. Shadowmarch, Book 1. An Orbit Book. London: Time Warner Book Group UK, 2004.
    2. Shadowplay. Shadowmarch, Book 2. An Orbit Book. London: Little, Brown Book Group, 2007.
    3. Shadowrise. Shadowmarch, Book 3. DAW Book Collectors No. 1500. New York: DAW Books, Inc., 2010.
    4. Shadowheart. Shadowmarch, Book 4. An Orbit Book. London: Little, Brown Book Group, 2010.
  8. Bobby Dollar (2012-14):
    1. The Dirty Streets of Heaven. Bobby Dollar, Book 1. London: Hodder & Stoughton, Ltd., 2012.
    2. Happy Hour in Hell: A Bobby Dollar Novel. Bobby Dollar, Book 2. 2013. New York: DAW Books, Inc., 2014.
    3. Sleeping Late on Judgement Day. Bobby Dollar, Book 3. London: Hodder & Stoughton, Ltd., 2014.
  9. The Last King of Osten Ard (2017-19):
    1. The Heart of What Was Lost: A Novel of Osten Ard. London: Hodder & Stoughton, Ltd., 2017.
    2. The Witchwood Crown. The Last King of Osten Ard, Book 1. London: Hodder & Stoughton, Ltd., 2017.
    3. Empire of Grass. The Last King of Osten Ard, Book 2. London: Hodder & Stoughton, Ltd., 2019.

    10. Short Stories:

  10. Rite: Short Work. 2006. Burton, MI: Far Territories, 2008.
  11. A Stark and Wormy Knight: Tales of Fantasy, Science Fiction and Suspense. Ed. Deborah Beale. Burton, MI: Subterranean Press, 2012.


Tad Williams: Tailchaser's Song (1985)



•

Bronwyn Carlton: The Books of Faerie (2006)



Clearly one could expand such a list almost indefinitely. I've tried to keep it to the truly essential works within the genre, but also, below, to cover as many different flavours of analysis as possible.

On the one hand, then, I've included such purely folkloric works as Walter Evans-Wentz's The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries; on the other hand there are first-hand accounts of Fairies at Work and Play, as observed by theosophist Geoffrey Hodson. In between there are essentially unclassifiable works such as Brian Froud and Alan Lee's Faeries:
An illustrated compendium of faerie mythology, legends and folklore, [which] explores the history, customs and habitat of faeries in the manner of a field guide, complete with hand annotations.

Brian Froud & Alan Lee: Faeries (1978)

Bibliography


  1. Carlton, Bronwyn. The Books of Faerie. 1993-99. New York: Vertigo/DC Comics, 1998.
  2. Carlton, Bronwyn. The Books of Faerie: Auberon’s Tale. 1997-99. New York: Vertigo/DC Comics, 2007.
  3. Cooper, Joe. The Case of the Cottingley Fairies. Foreword by Colin Wilson. 1990. Pocket Books. London: Simon & Schuster Ltd., 1997.
  4. Duffy, Maureen. The Erotic World of Faery. 1972. London: Cardinal, 1989.
  5. Evans-Wentz, W. Y. The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries. 1911. Foreword by Leslie Shepard. 1966. Introduction by Terence McKenna. 1990. New York: Citadel Press, 2003.
  6. Froud, Brian & Alan Lee. Faeries: Described and Illustrated. Ed. David Larkin. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1978.
  7. Harpur, Patrick. Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Other World. 1994. Ravensdale, WA: Pine Winds Press, 2003.
  8. Hodson, Geoffrey. Fairies at Work and Play, observed by Geoffrey Hodson. London: The Theosophical Publishing House Ltd., 1925.
  9. Purkiss, Diane. Troublesome Things: A History of Fairies and Fairy Stories. 2000. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2001.
  10. Yeats, W. B. Mythologies: The Celtic Twilight; The Secret Rose; Stories of Red Hanrahan; Rosa Alchemica; The Tables of the Law; The Adoration of the Magi; Per Amica Silentia Lunae. 1893, 1897, 1905, 1904, 1918. London: Macmillan & Co Ltd., 1959.
  11. Yeats, W. B. Writings on Irish Folklore, Legend and Myth. Ed. Robert Welch. Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1993.


W. Y. Evans-Wentz: The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries (1911)



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