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Fear of Engulfment in Storytelling
There’s a very good reason why girls should be told the truth about baby-making as soon as they ask: If she’s old enough to be asking, she’s old enough to be worrying.
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Goethe and Angela Carter’s Erl-king Short Story Analysis
“The Erl-King” is a short story by Angela Carter based on an old ballad by Goethe, one of the most famous ballads ever told. Carter’s re-visioning doesn’t use the plot from Goethe’s ballad, but borrows some of the atmosphere. Carter inverts the gaze and turns it into something new. As you might expect from Angela […]
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Transmogrification In Storytelling
Transmogrification in storytelling has a long history. Today it can be seen across different types of story in many permutations.
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Lizzie’s Tiger by Angela Carter Analysis
Lizzie’s Tiger is a short story by Angela Carter, the first in her collection American Ghosts and Old World Wonders. This is a story of female empowerment, with a strong fairytale influence.
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Peter and the Wolf, Angela Carter and Mise-en-abyme
Angela Carter’s short story “Peter And The Wolf” provides an excellent example of the mise-en-abyme technique in storytelling. Writers can make use of this effect to convey a character’s anagnorisis to the audience.
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What is a fractured fairytale?
A fractured fairy tale is a story which makes use of a traditional fairy tale but restructures and reimagines.
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The Juniper Tree by Lorrie Moore Analysis
“The Juniper Tree” is a short ghost story by American writer Lorrie Moore, published in the collection Bark (2014). Or is it a ghost story? I interpret this story as a metaphor for the death of middle-aged friendship, and the mourning process one goes through when deciding to let a friend go. WHAT HAPPENS IN […]
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Story Structure: The Big Struggle
All complete narratives feature a big struggle scene. No, that doesn’t have to be a literal big struggle scene, Lord of the Rings style. In fact, we should be thinking outside that box altogether. One thing I love about Larry McMurtry’s anti-Western novels (especially Lonesome Dove) is that he condenses the gun big struggles and torture scenes in favour […]
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Fabulism In Children’s Literature
FABULISM: WHAT IS IT? In fabulism, fantastical elements are placed in an everyday setting. It’s called ‘fabulism’ because authors are playing with realism by making use of elements of fable. For the definition of a fable, see here. COMMON FEATURES OF FABULIST FICTION The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter is a collection […]
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55 Miles To The Gas Pump by Annie Proulx Short Story Analysis
“55 Miles To The Gas Pump” by Annie Proulx is a concise retelling of “Bluebeard” in a remote, rural American setting.
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Works to Compare and Contrast with Hilda Bewildered
Hilda Bewildered is an illustrated short story book app published by Slap Happy Larry. Here are some other stories to compare and contrast. Non-fiction: Short: Walking Tall When You’re Not Tall At All Kids of all genders are highly rewarded for conforming to — and exaggerating — our own masculinities and femininities. For women that means: curvaceous […]
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Charles Perrault’s Fairytale Morals: Rewritten For A Modern Audience
When Charles Perrault wrote down the fairy tales he’d collected from the wider culture, he ended each one with a summary which summed up the moral. In many cases, his take on the moral was pretty far from earlier tellings. Perrault wrote in a tongue-in-cheek manner — that much is clear. But as with any […]
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Bluebeard Fairy Tale Analysis
“Bluebeard” is a classic fairytale — the O.G. tale of domestic violence. Any story in which a fearsome husband murders his young wife is probably a “Bluebeard” descendent. The husband in this tale is monstrous, and related to the archetype of the ogre. If you’d like to listen to the tale, I recommend the (free) […]