Category Archives: Reviews

Victorian fairytales and folklore: round up

Posted on 3rd April 2015 by William the Bloody

More here on nineteenth-century fairy tales and folklore. Lucy Scholes reviews a book on folklore studies from the period, an anthology of Victorian literary fairy tales, and a book on the relationship between the genre and science.

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Lauren Chochinov, ‘Carmilla Rising: Adapting Le Fanu’s Novella In the Age of Social Media’

Posted on 31st March 2015 by William the Bloody

A very interesting review by Lauren Chochinov on the recent (2014) web-based adaptation of Le Fanu’s Carmilla by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson. I’ve only had glimpses of this series, but Chochinov’s article here has certainly whet my appetite for … Continue reading →

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Folklore and Modern Irish Writing, by Anne Markey and Anne O’Connor

Posted on 19th March 2015 by William the Bloody

This book on Irish folklore and modern Irish writing looks very useful for those who, like myself, are fascinated by the way that folk tales can be endlessly reworked to give contemporary significance to old narrative structures and content.

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17 of March 2015’s Best YA Books

Posted on 10th March 2015 by William the Bloody

The YA novels listed here look very exciting, and many have a Gothic, paranormal tinge to them, featuring witches, ghosts, and so on. I have to confess to not knowing any of these but I’ll be investigating them!

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Alice in Wonderland Meets Dali and Nabokov in a New Exhibition

Posted on 1st March 2015 by William the Bloody

Jonathon Keats reviews a fascinating exhibition on Alice in Wonderland and its various translations and adaptations, including illustration. I didn’t realise Nabokov was the book’s Russian translator–I wonder what distinctive slant he might have given it? Nabokov’s book are full … Continue reading →

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Review: Dr Gennie Dyson, ‘Moonrise Falling, by Adrian L. Jawort’

Posted on 27th February 2015 by William the Bloody

This review by Dr Gennie Dyson of a new vampire novel, Adrian L. Jawort’s Moonrise Falling, centred on Native American culture has aroused my interest–I must read this!

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Review of Philip Pullman’s Grimm Tales

Posted on 3rd February 2015 by firekrank

My mother told me that you should never go to bed angry. The reviewer’s equivalent of this is you should never go to a show already inclined against it. However, the issue that gave me the Angry Reds regarding Philip … Continue reading →

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Michael Dirda reviews five fairy-tale books

Posted on 25th January 2015 by William the Bloody

A review of new books on the fairy tale by Marina Warner and Jack Zipes (including the first translation into English of the first edition of Grimm’s Tales), but also of two books from Princeton University Press’s Oddly Modern Fairy … Continue reading →

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Carmilla: the most ambiguous female vampire in fiction?

Posted on 10th January 2015 by Sam George

Listened to the thrilling dramatisation of Le Fanu’s ‘Carmilla’ on Radio 4 Extra tonight by candlelight whilst the wind howled outside and I contemplated my pile of marking. Love the ending of this story and the trope of the portrait … Continue reading →

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Rowan Williams: why we need fairy tales now more than ever

Posted on 9th January 2015 by William the Bloody

Rowan Williams reviews Marina Warner’s new book, Jack Zipes’s translation of the Grimms, and Malcolm Lyons’s translation of early Arabic wonder tales, and discusses the power of the fairy tale in a fascinating essay-review.

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