Children into Swans: Fairy Tales and the Pagan Imagination - Hardcover

Beveridge, Jan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0773543945 ISBN 13: 9780773543942

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2014

Synopsis

Fairy tales are alive with the supernatural - elves, dwarfs, fairies, giants, and trolls, as well as witches with magic wands and sorcerers who cast spells and enchantments. Children into Swans examines these motifs in a range of ancient stories. Moving from the rich period of nineteenth-century fairy tales back as far as the earliest folk literature of northern Europe, Jan Beveridge shows how long these supernatural features have been a part of storytelling, with ancient tales, many from Celtic and Norse mythology, that offer glimpses into a remote era and a pre-Christian sensibility. The earliest stories often show significant differences from what we might expect. Elves mingle with Norse gods, dwarfs belong to a proud clan of magician-smiths, and fairies are shape-shifters emerging from the hills and the sea mist. In story traditions with roots in a pre-Christian imagination, an invisible other world exists alongside our own. From the lost cultures of a thousand years ago, Children into Swans opens the door on some of the most extraordinary worlds ever portrayed in literature - worlds that are both starkly beautiful and full of horrors.

About this title

About the Author

Jan Beveridge is an independent researcher. She lives in Elora, Ontario.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0773543945
• ISBN 13: 9780773543942
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 300