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Burlesque In Storytelling
Burlesque is a type of entertainment that caricatures serious works. It is an extreme form of parody. Burlesque can be used as a verb i.e. to burlesque something. You might accidentally burlesque yourself by buying expensive tennis gear then turning up with no idea how to play, for instance. Comedy derives from the contrast and […]
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The Tale Of Pigling Bland by Beatrix Potter Analysis
As you read “The Tale of Pigling Bland” (1913) imagine Beatrix Potter sitting in a pig shed with her art gear and muck boots on, because that’s how she spent one summer, diligently rendering pigs (and then decking them out in clothes). Apparently she struggled to knock this one out. She’d had a big year.
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Flowering Judas by Katherine Anne Porter Short Story Analysis
“Flowering Judas” is the standout short story by Pulizer Prize winning Katherine Anne Porter, included in a collection published 1930 when Porter was 40. This short story reminds me of “A Dill Pickle” by Katherine Mansfield. Both stories are clearly about the way in which women are socially acculturated into providing emotional labour for men, […]
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The Gingerbread House In Hansel And Gretel
When artists choose to illustrate a single narrative moment, they make a choice of lasting importance, because their illustration creates a memorable impression for an entire story, one that visually anchors an impression of that story in its reader’s memory. Illustration history is full of such memorable moments. In the illustration history of Grimm’s Tales, one image predominates, that of…
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Stories We Tell About Women Who Kill Short Story Analysis
There is a strong audience for stories about women who kill men. Storytelling seems to be going through the Age of the Woman Killer right now, with the popularity of Dirty John (podcast and TV series) and a much publicised movie about the Lorena Bobbitt case, which originally happened in the early 1990s. On Netflix […]
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Burlesque Witches In Storytelling
Witches have a long history in storytelling, but they aren’t always scary. They aren’t always Baba Yaga types, sometimes murderous, sometimes helpful.
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Giants and Ogres In Storytelling
Giants and ogres are central archetypes in the fairytale cast. Though similar, they’re not exactly the same.
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Baba Yaga: Witch or old woman?
Baba Yaga is a legendary Slavic witch, or a hag, who lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs and who flies through the air in a mortar.
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The Juniper Tree Fairytale Analysis
“The Juniper Tree”, as told by the Grimm Brothers, is a horrible tale. I don’t have a problem with gruesome.
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On The Antler by Annie Proulx Short Story Analysis
“On The Antler” is the first short story in Annie Proulx’s Heart Songs collection, published 1994. This was before Proulx moved to Wyoming, so these are set in an imaginary setting aligned with rural New England. This is where the author spent the early portion of her life (Connecticut, Maine, Vermont.)
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Fairytales and Modern Storytelling
This is my collection of fairytale links. I’m interested in fairytales from a writing perspective. How do fairytales help us to create contemporary stories?
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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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Lamb To The Slaughter by Roald Dahl Analysis
“Lamb to the Slaughter” is one of Roald Dahl’s most widely read short stories, studied in high school English classes around the English speaking world. In this post I take a close look at the structure from a writing point of view. Why has this story found such wide love? What appeals?
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Illness and Disability in Children’s Literature
The United States has always been a terrible place to be sick and disabled. Ableism is baked into our myths of bootstrapping and self-reliance, in which health is virtue and illness is degeneracy. Madeline Miller Illness, disability and disfigurement has a problematic history in children’s literature. What are the main problems, today and in the […]
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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 […]
