tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265566975813453385.post2015134672046126930..comments2023-05-23T06:55:05.330-07:00Comments on Fairytale Ramblings: Thinking about the Saga of the VolsungChicoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16504144663440678542noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265566975813453385.post-38447044564041918662011-01-18T07:24:55.387-08:002011-01-18T07:24:55.387-08:00I don't read German either. Thanks for the tr...I don't read German either. Thanks for the translator's name. You're right. Who does the translating makes a HUGE difference. :)Chicoryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16504144663440678542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265566975813453385.post-33963168711166939982011-01-17T22:56:02.720-08:002011-01-17T22:56:02.720-08:00Well, you missed some interesting encounters with ...Well, you missed some interesting encounters with strange characters, but you also missed a LOT of discontinuity if you stopped at The Lost Princess of Oz. {Smile}<br /><br />Yes, the unabridged Grimms I found was fun. I think... {run off to check} Okay, it's _The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm_, Translated and with an introduction by Jack Zipes. I've found that the translator can make a big difference when you need one. Since I don't read German, I need one with Grimm. {Smile}<br /><br />Yes, I'll have to look into Watership Down. {SMILE}<br /><br />Anne Elizabeth BaldwinAnnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05083766769757259822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265566975813453385.post-73997733246887647522011-01-17T15:19:21.880-08:002011-01-17T15:19:21.880-08:00I never got all the way to the last book in the Oz...I never got all the way to the last book in the Oz series. I gave up somewhere around -I think it was a book called `Lost Princess of Oz'. Yeah, the colors bothered me too.<br /><br />Hmmm, I'll have to keep an eye out for the unabridged Grimms. It sounds like a lot of fun. :)<br /><br />`Watership Down' is a wonderful book. The end makes me cry -in a good way.Chicoryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16504144663440678542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265566975813453385.post-91242274454658608922011-01-17T13:42:14.014-08:002011-01-17T13:42:14.014-08:00Actually, Rapunzel was in an unabridged Grimm'...Actually, Rapunzel was in an unabridged Grimm's Fairy Tales. Apparently they originally published the story as they found it, with a comment from Rapunzel about her clothes getting tight setting the witch into a rage. Then in a later edition they decided they needed to preserve the delicate sensibilities and innocence of their tender young readers. So they fixed it by having Rapunzel accidentally mention the prince instead. {pause}<br /><br />If the delicate young readers they were so concerned with were anything like the kids I grew up with, their sensibilites were plenty robust enough enough to handle Rapuzel's expanding waistline. It's the parents who didn't want to have to answer the questions kids WILL come up with under the circumstances. {AMUSED SMILE, wink}<br /><br />I'll have to check out Watership Down. That scene sounds very well-done. {SMILE}<br /><br />Yes, the not-dying bothered me. So did the color-change; from the second book on, even the plants are the preferred color of the inhabitants of a quarter, but that wasn't true in the first book. There were plenty of others, of course. In some ways, what really got me was in one of the last books - 13 or 14, I think - he coudln't even keep the way a fanciful bush worked the same thru the single chapter it featured in. I still read the book for other parts, but.... {shake head gently, wry smile}<br /><br />Anne Elizabeth BaldwinAnnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05083766769757259822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265566975813453385.post-54914131851741738082011-01-17T09:09:03.142-08:002011-01-17T09:09:03.142-08:00Was that in Pentamerone that you found the origina...Was that in Pentamerone that you found the original for Repunzel? I have an absolutely wonderful fairy-tale book, a collection by Iona and Peter Opie which has these essays before each story about where the fairy-tale came from, and Pentamerone is mentioned several times. I keep thinking I should make a search for it, then getting side tracked. :)<br /><br />I totally agree that background legends can give so much depth to a piece. That's one of the things I adore about `Watership Down.' There's this place where the rabbits hear someone calling Bigwig, and he assumes it's the Black Rabbit of Inle. Since Richard Adams had set the Black Rabbit up previously as their version of the Grim Reaper, the scene is wonderfully eerie. :)<br /><br />I'd agree with the Oz books having continuity problems. For me, the biggest problem was when Baum decided no one in Oz could die. It pretty much destroys all suspense for the books that followed -and raises the question of how the wicked witches Dorthy killed actually managed to stay dead. I really like the first two books though. I pretend those are the only ones Baum wrote. :)Chicoryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16504144663440678542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3265566975813453385.post-63521433987501115952011-01-16T13:44:15.375-08:002011-01-16T13:44:15.375-08:00I like mentioning legends and stories in my own wr...I like mentioning legends and stories in my own writing. I think it adds depth. {Smile}<br /><br />The only real inconsistency in a fairy tale that I can think of is Rapunzel. I found the story behind it, and like your discovery, the trouble came when a particular author fiddled with a perfectly sensible legend. (She didn't slip and mention the prince in the orignal; she just wondered why her clothes were getting tight. Of course, that wasn't suitable for the tender sensibilities of Victorian parents. {lop-sided smile})<br /><br />However, for inconsistencies, read OZ. L. Frank Baum was pretty sloppy with continuity. THE WIZARD OF OZ itself isn't too bad, but his later books only got worse. {lop-sided smile}<br /><br />Anne Elizabeth BaldwinAnnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05083766769757259822noreply@blogger.com