My notes on re-reading Harold Scheub's work on oral narrative structures and performance. They have shaped the way I think of the fantastic in narrative and how it functions, and by extension, how those "electric moments" when the real and the fantastic are combined in narrative. Notes from Harold Scheub's Story: an evident […]
The Shaping of Story: Working Through Ideas Read More »
I am gobsmacked by German artist Lotte Reiniger's gorgeous black papercuts that she used to make silhouette animated fantasy films and beautiful book illustrations (when money could not be found for the movie). Her work spans some 60 years (from 1919 to 1979); the early work developed in Germany, then later, after the war,
Lotte Reiniger: Silhouette Fairy Tale Films Read More »
I am bringing an old post back because I wanted to review again the fabulous discussion on women's art, especially the work of Katherine Ace and the events that surround and shape the direction of women's lives. And re-reading it again, I still find it as fascinating and with much to offer as when we
Katherine Ace: The Open Ended Metaphor Read More »
One of the greatest pleasures is reading Sicilian folktales midday while drunk on a dense-full-bodied beer (16.2 percent) produced locally in Boulder. Like the beer, the stories are rowdy, naughty, mythic, and full of gullible and wise fools who make donkeys appear to shit gold, drive menial men to do self-destructive things and conspire to
Plank’d and Research Read More »
Many years ago in a moment of inspiration, I wrote a little short story called "King of Crows." It is still one of my personal favorites as it has threaded throughout a song or a tune humming beneath the narrative. I am almost never without a song running in my head, singing to the dishes,
Johnny Fahey and The King of Crows Read More »
I am in a frenzy, following up from a the previous post on the art of Katherine Ace. We were writing about the surface of art in painting and oral narrative performance of well known fairy tales contrasted with the subtext of evocative imagery — the tension between the encounters of the
The Skin and Blood of Art: Atwood and Lorca Read More »
I am so excited to share two new poems from author and poet Marly Youmans (whose previous work I have reviewed here and here). Recently, I realized that the Journal of Mythic Arts Poetry archives was incomplete without something from Marly, whose work in mythic and fairy tale poetry is really stunning. I asked, and
Two New Gorgeous Poems from Marly Youmans Read More »
This is a reposting of an earlier post on the folk tales and others from Laura Gonzenbach‘s collections and seemed a good one to follow on the heels of earlier notes. I also want to reference another post on the banished bride I wrote about earlier this year — a variant of the women below.
The Rejected Brides of Folk Tales. Read More »
"Many Siberian fairy tales tell of the deadly clash between criminals and representatives of the government, of the risks people run every day with dignity and honesty, of the good fortune of those who in the end have got the loot and stayed alive, and of the 'good memory' that is preserved of those who
The Dark Fairy Tale World of the Siberian Urkas Read More »
It is easy enough to get lost in Ann Siems paintings, a world of verdant gardens, ghostly lace, and beautiful folkloric portraits. Siems paintings employ different elements of 18th and 19th century art. Her subjects are stylized childhood figures, with pink-cheeked and smiling faces, that stare wide-eyed at the viewer. By contrast, the figures inhabit
Anne Siems: A World Of Wonder Read More »
