Endicott Mythic Fiction discussion

Our February 2013 book is The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood - edited by Jack Zipes.
Who's reading?

Here's an interesting interview with Jack Zipes:
Fairy Tales of the Silver Screen

Ooh, this one sounds interesting.

Last year, I read Angela Carter's version of the tale ("Company of Wolves"?) and was a bit surprised by the sexuality in the tale. Though, of course, not completely surprised, because Carter did write it, after all.

I'd read the Grimms version some years before and I didn't recall much sexuality in that. Then I read Perrault a couple of weeks ago and in that version, the wolf asks Little Red Riding Hood to undress and get in bed with him before eating her.

Perrault and Grimms takes on this are sooo different. It'll be neat to see how it changed over time.

As a side note -- My library has this shelved in their children's section. Not YA. Children's. Um, I doubt that anything with Angela Carter included should be read to kids without some sort of warning to parents.

I'm in, and thanks for posting that interview!

Just put my library system's copy on hold.

I'm really glad they have it. (If I were a book buyer/librarian there, they'd have circulating copies of every single one of the Endicott books.)

I'm in! I've already read quite a bit from this book. My favorite so far: Tanith Lee's short story--truly spine-tingling!

this one sounds really cool, but is another that my library doesn't carry. anyone who does get it, please let us know if some/all/any of the stories can be located online for read-along!

Michelle, does your library do interlibrary loans?

Michelle - About a third to half of the stories are from the 20's or earlier, so you should be able to find them online if you dig a bit.

Here's Surlalune's post, which includes a table of contents:
http://surlalunefairytales.blogspot.c...

Of course, that leaves out the introduction...

I'm really, really lucky to have a library that never seems to throw anything interesting away. They may stash it away from sight in the basement or in a warehouse somewhere, but it's still available. They do have the majority of the Endicott and Mythopoeic books, at least.

Tanith Lee's Wolfland has been reprinted several times.
Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer
Dreams of Dark and Light: The Great Short Fiction
Don't Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North America and England

The Little Girl and the Wolf by James Thurber (click next page 9 times)

Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality, And The Evolution Of A Fairy Tale is another book on this topic.

(edited to add several links)

This one my library does NOT have :(

Thanks for the links, Melanti and David.

I just got this inter-library loaned! I'm kind of excited about getting around to it!

(Sorry for going AWOL, everybody! School got crazy last semester!)

Welcome back, Anatha.

My copy just arrived at the library. Looking forward to reading it.

Here's an Endicott Journal essay by Terri Windling for those of you reading the book (and those of you who find the topic interesting but couldn't find a copy of the book):

The Path of Needles or Pins: Little Red Riding Hood

Odette wrote: "Welcome back, Anatha.

My copy just arrived at the library. Looking forward to reading it.

Here's an Endicott Journal essay by Terri Windling for those of you reading the book (and those of you wh..."

Wow a very interesting article Odette! Thanks for posting! I did not know that in medieval France people believed in werewolves!

Metamorphoses of the Werewolf by Scondutto is an interesting book about the history of werewolves in general, and it focuses primarily on medieval French literature.

Been to busy to put my thoughts about it into words yet, but I really liked the collection.

Melanti, I'm definitely now more interested in the evolution of werewolves - thanks for that recommendation.

Just finished Trials and Tribulations. (Unfortunately, my library had the older edition which didn't include the Tanith Lee story, so I'll have to track that one down separately.)

I'm wondering what those of you who read the book thought of it.

I found the essay interesting, but it got a little dense with theory towards the end. (Personal preference: I like my theory to be grounded with plenty of specific, concrete examples - too much abstraction & my mind goes wandering.)

I found the evolution of LRRH interesting, & especially liked the country comparisons. I was especially interested in the section about 19th German cultural influence on LRRH because I recently read Frank Widekind's late 19th C play Spring Awakening: A Children's Tragedy, which also deals with, as Zipes puts it, "a justification of law and order and against individual autonomy and imagination." This seems to have been a dominant theme/conflict in 19th C Germany.

This made me laugh: "Many bowdlerized versions indicated a Victorian-minded censorship, which feared that Little Red Riding Hood might some day break out, become a Bohemian, and live in the woods with the wolf."

Have you all seen The Company of Wolves?

Here's my own favorite Little Red Riding Hood/Red Cap story, from the Windling/Datlow fairy tale anthology Snow White, Blood Red:

I Shall Do Thee Mischief in the Woods

What are yours?

I still have about five pages to go in "Reviewing and Re-Framing Little Red Riding Hood" essay; he's losing me in this one (dissecting the story's illustrations). But the preface, prologue and initial essay were thought-provoking. And I now have about 10 more books I want to read thanks to his research and bibliography.

I really appreciated the history lesson and each story having its publication year, which allowed for a firmer grasp of its evolution in societal contexts.

Admittedly, my first exposure to LRRH was faith-based. I was raised Christian (though it didn't stick) so many of my early readers were steeped in religious messages and straight out scripture. Little Red Riding Hood: A Faith Tale, and the rest in that series, were my introduction to folk tales.

My next experience came a couple years later when my parents bought the Collier's Junior Classics: The Young Folks Shelf of Books series, specifically A, B, C, Go! . which featured "Red Riding Hood by the Brothers Grimm, Translated by Mrs. E. V. Lucas, Lucy Crane and Marian Edwardes, Illustrations by Dagmar Wilson."

Having almost completed Trials and Tribulations I can now see the difference a good translation can make and how skewed the story's meaning can get. In addition, I'm a little shocked at the sexual and cultural undercurrents I missed all these years. Perhaps because the exposure to LRRH in my teens and adulthood was the empowered version??

Zipes wrote, "However, the tale as it is used in most commodities and books today...still reinforces the notion that 'women want to be raped' (p.10)." Not sure how I feel about that one or the two additional pages of quotes and notes I took whilst reading. Definitely much to mull over and digest.

Odette, thank you for the article link! (Something else I have to read now LOL.) I haven't yet watched Company of Wolves: it's been on my to-watch list for years; I wanted to read the story first. So it looks like 2013 will be the year I finally get to watch it.

Too early in my exploration of LRRH tales for me to pick a favorite. By year's end, though, I should be able to make a more informed selection. I look forward to hearing what other more experienced readers thought about Trials and Tribulations as well as their picks for top LRRH stories.

Oh, I also wanted to share a book I read last year about werewolves: A Lycanthropy Reader: Werewolves in Western Culture. Her writing and analysis were a bit "dry" and technical at times, but it engaged me enough that I wanted to highlight, which means it's now on my must-buy list. So I thought I'd share here since the werewolf was a featured player in the LRRH folk tale.

I remember watching a lot of vintage horror movies when I was a kid - Invisible Man, Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. - and the only one that ever really terrified me was The Wolf Man.

I wonder if the books about the evolution of the werewolf legend would give me insight into why that creature alone, of all the supernatural monsters, caused wake-up-yelling nightmares.
I also wonder if it's common to be more horrified by the idea of man-as-wolf than by the other monsters, or if everyone picks his/her own "favorite" scary monster.

As a little girl I used to watch the TV show Dark Shadows and the were wolf in that show really scared me!

Odette, I always found werewolves scarier than vampires, etc. I think it has to do with the idea that I wouldn't be able to control that dark side of myself if I was ever bitten and/or there's no reasoning with a werewolf, there's no redemption.

But yes, if you read a couple books on werewolf lore and its evolution, I'm sure they would help you explore why *you* were terrified by them.