Samuel Peterson’s Reviews > Daemon Voices: On Stories and Storytelling > Status Update
Samuel Peterson
is on page 170 of 480
"[Characters] seldom have names of their own. More often than not they're known by their occupation or their social position, or by a quirk of their dress: the miller, the princess, the captain, Bearskin, Little Red Riding Hood. When they do have a name it's usually Hans, just as Jack is the hero of every British tale." I remember the Norse folktale book to be similar. I can't remember the most prominent name though.
— May 13, 2026 11:42AM
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Samuel Peterson
is on page 249 of 480
"This disjuncture between one reader and another happens quite often with children and their parents, the children demanding to be read the same book night after night, long after any remaining nourishment has been wrung out of it, the exhausted parent thinks."
LOL! Oh, I've been there. My parents have been there. Aunts and grandparents too. So many books in that list.
— May 15, 2026 12:14PM
LOL! Oh, I've been there. My parents have been there. Aunts and grandparents too. So many books in that list.
Samuel Peterson
is on page 247 of 480
I wonder if this attitude of collective reading rather than solitary is still happening in China even though it's still communist?
— May 15, 2026 09:56AM
Samuel Peterson
is on page 242 of 480
Aw, I like this final note where Pullman, after giving this lecture, had talked to the daughter of the writer whom he was referring to.
— May 15, 2026 07:46AM
Samuel Peterson
is on page 235 of 480
Between this page and the previous one were pages that had the art discussed in this book in color. Not all of them, though, which was disappointing. I wonder why it was just these pieces? Were they the only ones available or the only ones allowed?
— May 15, 2026 07:20AM
Samuel Peterson
is on page 234 of 480
"Modern fairy tales are almost universally ghastly, in my view, being affected, whimsical, putting on a show, nudging us, winking at us, showing us how clever they are, or how compassionate, or making sure we get the right political message—swanking or ingratiating or hectoring. Away with them! The great folk tales are interested in none of that sort of thing." "Away with them" indeed! Lol. Especially the remakes.
— May 15, 2026 07:17AM
Samuel Peterson
is on page 226 of 480
"I make this point about the present tense to emphasize the contrast between what we often get now, the immediate, the up-close, the hectic of the incessant present tense..." Ah, there it is.
— May 15, 2026 05:54AM
Samuel Peterson
is on page 225 of 480
"A quite extraordinary number of novels published these days, for adults as well as for children, use the present tense...Fiction editors have told me that a large number of the books they receive from literary agents are told in the present tense, a good number of those in the first person as well." This was written when? 2011? 15 years, and it's still the same.
— May 15, 2026 05:52AM
Samuel Peterson
is on page 222 of 480
I would've liked to have had a more in-depth essay on the "fundamental particles of narrative" than just the act of pouring liquid that we see or the differences of liquid in context (the difference between an offered alcoholic drink and a cup of tea for example). Going out of somewhere/going in to somewhere, moving upwards/moving downwards, getting larger/smaller, carrying something, striking something, etc.
— May 15, 2026 05:45AM
Samuel Peterson
is on page 198 of 480
Okay, 1) I didn't know that the Addams Family was invented by someone called Charles Addams. 2) I didn't know that the Addams Family started out as printed cartoons you would find in newspapers. And 3) this cartoon of the Addams Family pouring boiling water or oil on Christmas carollers is hilarious.
— May 14, 2026 11:35AM
Samuel Peterson
is on page 190 of 480
I was wondering how we went from talking about writing and storytelling to talking about art in this particular essay.
— May 14, 2026 06:00AM
