Fairy Lore: A Handbook

by D.L. Ashliman

Fairy lore concerns beliefs about elves, dwarfs, gnomes, trolls, mermaids, brownies, pixies, leprechauns, and many other beings found in world folklore. Written for students and general readers, this book is an introduction to fairy lore from around the world. The handbook defines and classifies types of fairies, provides numerous examples and texts, overviews scholarship, and discusses the role of fairies in art, film, and popular culture. It closes with a glossary and a bibliography of print and electronic resources.

The first part of the handbook defines and classifies different types of fairies. It provides numerous examples of fairy lore along with excerpts from different traditions, then examines various approaches to the study of fairies. A final chapter looks at the presence of fairy lore in literature, art, film, and popular culture. The handbook closes with a glossary and a bibliography of print and electronic resources for student research.

Genres: Folklore, Nonfiction, Fairy Tales, Mythology

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Emeritus professor of folklore, mythology, comparative literature, and German at University of Pittsburgh.

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good handbook and guide. Includes not only a look at various beliefs and influence on modern art and literature but also a collection of various tales.

[Jacob Lehman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do really enjoy folk-tales, and this book included a few elements that I hadn't considered from a tradition/etymological perspective: the weirdness around dwarves being smiths but also repelled by iron, the irrationality of what fairies do with the human babies they swap changelings for, and the moral (or lack thereof) of the stories around not letting a fairy spouse have access to (usually her) home are all rather perplexing. I did enjoy the leprechaun dialect stories, though, and Ashliman's explanations of some of the types of fairy stories and their articulation through the ages was lucid.