Tag Archives: Charles Perrault
RIP Michel Legrand
It was sad to hear of the death of Michel Legrand (1932-2019) on Saturday. Legrand wrote the music to countless films, many from French New Wave cinema. His music fits perfectly the stylish and witty reinterpretation of Perrault’s fairy tale … Continue reading
Red Riding Hood and Illustrations
Pook Press are a small independent publisher who do some lovely editions of fairy tales and classic children’s literature. Every fortnight, they post a different fairy tale on their blog; this is Perrault’s very familiar version of ‘Red Riding Hood‘, … Continue reading
Angela Carter and the Gothic
Once more, something on Angela Carter. This is an excellent essay by Greg Buzwell on the interplay between Gothic and fairy tale in Carter’s The Bloody Chamber from the British Library’s Discovering Literature pages (a fabulous resource). Buzwell discusses such … Continue reading
Fairy Tale Films
Some interesting recommendations here of ten fairy tale films that are not so mainstream. I’ve seen five of these, and am intrigued by the rest. Adaptations of Grimm, Perrault, and Andersen appear, of course, but also tales from the Arabian … Continue reading
Review: Katherine Langrish, Seven Miles of Steel Thistles
Nicholas Lezard in The Guardian reviews here a collection of essays on the fairy tale, Seven Miles of Steel Thistles, by the folklorist Katherine Langrish. It sounds a fascinating book, covering tales from the English ‘Mr Fox’, Irish tales (her title … Continue reading
Little Red Riding Hood, 1810
Here’s a nice little piece from the British Library on a chapbook version of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ (Neil Gaiman’s favourite fairy tale–see my previous post). The BL’s website is, incidentally, an excellent resource for literary researchers, with many critical … Continue reading
Neil Gaiman on the meaning of fairy tales
Continuing the themes of fairy tales and Angela Carter, here’s an excellent interview with Neil Gaiman by Gaby Wood where they discuss his own intertextual adaptations of classic fairy tales (particularly his brilliant ‘Sleeping Beauty’/’Snow White’ mash-up, The Sleeper and the … Continue reading
M.O. Grenby, ‘Fantasy and fairytale in children’s literature ‘
‘Professor M O Grenby explores the relationship between fantasy and morality in 18th- and 19th-century children’s literature.’ This is another excellent article by Prof. Grenby of Newcastle University, from the BL website (whose collection of articles is a very useful … Continue reading