The Grey Fairy Book (Dover Children's Classics) - Softcover

Lang, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486217914 ISBN 13: 9780486217918

Publisher: Dover Children's, 2003

Synopsis

35 stories, many from oral traditions, others from French, German, Italian collections: "The Goat-faced Girl," "The Sunchild," "The Street Musicians," "The Twin Brothers," "Prunella," and many more. 59 illustrations.

About this title

From the Back Cover

It is almost impossible to envision what childhood would be like without the enchanting world of fairyland. The goat-faced girl, Prunella, the three sons of Hali, giants and dwarfs, monsters and magicians, fairies and ogres--these are the companions who thrill boys and girls of all lands and all times, as Andrew Lang's phenomenally successful collections of stories have proved. From the day that they were first printed, Lang's fairy tale books of many colors have entertained thousands of youngsters, as they have also brought pleasure to the parents who have read these classics to their children.
The Grey Fairy Book includes many strange, exotic stories from Lithuania, Africa, Germany, Greece and France. But they are all told in the common language of the fairy tale, and their events will be familiar to children and grown-ups alike. The donkey who turns into a price, a spinning wheel that turns moss into silk, revengeful fairies, and ogre-like fathers of lovely daughters strike responsive chords in readers, even when they appear in new circumstances.
All in all, this collection contains 35 stories, all narrated in the lively, clear prose for which Lang was famous. Not only are Lang's generally conceded to be the best English versions of standard stories, his collections are the richest and widest in range. His position as one of England's foremost folklorists as well as his first-rate literary abilities make his collections unmatchable in the English language.

About the Author

No biographical note available

Andrew Lang (March, 31, 1844 July 20, 1912) was a Scottish writer and literary critic who is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. Lang s academic interests extended beyond the literary and he was a noted contributor to the fields of anthropology, folklore, psychical research, history, and classic scholarship, as well as the inspiration for the University of St. Andrew s Andrew Lang Lectures. A prolific author, Lang published more than 100 works during his career, including twelve fairy books, in which he compiled folk and fairy tales from around the world. Lang s Lilac Fairy and Red Fairy books are credited with influencing J. R. R. Tolkien, who commented on the importance of fairy stories in the modern world in his 1939 Andrew Lang Lecture On Fairy-Stories.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover Children's
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0486217914
• ISBN 13: 9780486217918
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416