Review: Jack Zipes' New Book: Fearless Ivan & Double-Hump

Reviewed by Patricia Ash

 

It is always an absolute delight to find a fairy tale I’ve never heard of before. While the story of Fearless Ivan is well-known in Russia, it is almost unknown here in the United States. That needs to change, because this story deserves a place among the greats.

Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov was something of a Russian Hans Christian Andersen, writing his own original fairy tales instead of collecting and compiling preexisting folk tales. He wrote The Little Humpbacked Horse in 1834 as a poem and when it was published as Fearless Ivan And His Faithful Horse Double-Hump, it became an instant classic. At the time, the inclusion of a villainous tsar was considered subversive, but despite (or perhaps because) the authorities tried to ban the book, it was wildly successful. 

Portrait of Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov

Readers familiar with Russian culture will quickly pick up on two iconic elements of the nation’s folklore that appear in this book: A hero named Ivan and a firebird. Ivan is the Russian Everyman. Westerners might call him Jack. Firebirds appear repeatedly in Russian folklore as objects of quests or benevolent demigods. They sometimes symbolize Russia itself. 


Our hero’s chief attributes are his foolishness and his love of sleeping (I can relate). Ivan is the youngest of three sons, and his father is a farmer. One day, something starts destroying the crops. The older brothers guard the field on successive nights, but chicken out and lie about it. Ivan doesn’t give into his fear and manages to catch the crop-destroyer. It’s a magical mystery mare who can fly. He grabs her by the tail and goes on an adventure. Before disappearing forever, she rewards him with a pair of gorgeous stallions and a goofy-looking talking horse with two humps and giant ears.
 
The next morning, Ivan’s brothers find the stallions and steal them, but the weird little horse (the titular Double-Hump), tells Ivan what happened. Ivan catches up to his brothers on the road to the city. When he spots a firebird, he picks up one of its feathers, even though Double-Hump warns that it will lead to trouble. Ivan sells the stallions to the tsar for far less than they’re worth, and winds up with a job in the tsar’s stables because the stallions won’t let anyone else touch them.

Soviet stamp (1988) based on the 1975 animated film

Being an unreasonable sort of person, once the tsar learns about Ivan’s firebird feather, he gives Ivan a few days to find him a firebird...or else. After saying, “I told you so,” Double-Hump explains exactly how to do it. One firebird later, the tsar now sends Ivan to kidnap the Heavenly Princess (the daughter of the moon) or else be skinned alive. Double-Hump also explains how to do this too, and luckily, the one thing Ivan is good at is following directions (well, except for that one time with the feather).


One kidnapped demigod later, the tsar wants to marry the princess. The princess wants to put him through a test involving a cauldron of boiling water, a cauldron of boiling milk, and a cauldron of freezing water. The tsar is scared to do this himself, and makes Ivan do it first. Fortunately, Double-Hump helps out and Ivan springs out of the boiling cauldron looking gorgeous and with perfect hair. Seeing this, the tsar leaps into the cauldrons and promptly gets boiled to death. Ivan marries the princess and they inherit the tsar’s kingdom for some reason. I’m pretty sure Double-Hump makes all the decisions for that kingdom now.


This book is a slim little thing and no two illustrations share the same style. Each piece of art is by a different Russian artist, all originally printed on postcards. You might think the lack of continuity between the styles would be jarring, but I found it fascinating. It really reflects the evolution of a fairy tale’s shape that happen over the years. Think about Little Red Riding Hood. Sometimes everybody dies, but other times everybody lives except the wolf. It’s really neat to see so many different interpretations of the characters in this story. No matter what the illustration, though, Double-Hump is the most adorable creature you’ve ever seen.

This is definitely a book that bridges the gap between children and adults. With all the pictures and a relatively short length, it could easily be read aloud to the youngest set. Adult fans of folklore will appreciate the touch of the venerable fairy tale scholar Jack Zipes.

I personally adored the character of Double-Hump. Ivan is a sweet fool, but he would be dead by the end of part one without Double-Hump. Every idiot hero in a fairy tale needs a wise advisor to guide them. It’s even better when the advice-giver is an adorable talking animal. I would give this horse so many sugar lumps (or whatever his favorite treat is) and then ask him for relationship advice.
 


For more information, visit the book's page on the University of Minnesota Press' website HERE. 






NOTE: A complimentary copy of this book was provided to the reviewer in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Maguire's "After Alice" Ripe for Optioning/ "Egg & Spoon" Already Picked Up By Universal

'Baba Yaga Houses' by Mahwa Fahmy 2012, 
Located in Museum Park, Aberdeen Street, Northbridge, Perth, WA, Austraia (Photographer unknown)

Update: With breadcrumbs from reader Pat, I found the sculptor-artist and location (but not the photographer of this photo unfortunately. "Now we know where those square eggs came from..."

Oh my goodness! I had completely forgotten this news, since it happened while I was down for the count last year: Baba Yaga and her chicken-legged hut are coming to the movies!! I am both excited and dreading what they will do with her... but honestly, her chicken-legged hut can only be looked forward to. We haven't seen her house in any modern movies yet though interest has been building for a while. Believe it or not, Baba Yaga, and her house, are very popular characters in a variety of role playing games these days - and you'll be glad to know she remains formidable!

 But first, the news about Maguire's soon-to-be-released novel "After Alice" (October 27th, 2015) and then we'll go back to Russian remixes.

I'm not sure if this is a public service announcement or a heads-up for you all, but it's interesting, especially in Alice's anniversary year. I wouldn't be surprised if certain studios have had their eye on Maguire's book, just in case, with certain Alice projects currently in development. I guess we'll know, come October (or September, depending on when the pre-release buzz truly begins).

From The Hollywood Reporter:

'After Alice' by Gregory Maguire (is) ripe for optioning.Universal has been trying to find a way to bring Gregory Maguire's best-selling novel and Broadway hitWicked to the big screen. Now, rival studios can land their own Maguire property with After Alice, a re-interpretation of Alice in Wonderland.

From Cape Cod Times (interview with Maguire):

Maguire: “I don’t try to crack an older story open with dynamite, but to worry a seam that has been left unexplored,” he told me.

 For instance, his upcoming novel, “After Alice,” set for an October release, picks up on Lewis Carroll’s brief mention of Alice’s friend Ada in “Alice in Wonderland.”

 “Alice mentions having two friends, Ada and Mabel… So I thought: who might Ada actually be? And what would she do if she saw Alice falling down the rabbit hole? Jump in after her? What next? …I didn’t invent Ada. I just said to myself, ‘Lewis Carroll left her there for me to find.’”

 “I was very surprised by the success of ‘Wicked.’ I’d always imagined it might have a downstream life as a mini-series or as a movie, but…had not imagined that it might be a stage musical,” he told me.

 His latest book “Egg & Spoon” (2014) has already been optioned for a Hollywood film by Universal Studios, and – who knows? – just may become the Next Big Thing.

 “It’s ‘The Prince and the Pauper’ meets ‘Frozen,’ except the exchanged children are girls, and the story takes place in 1907 pre-Revolutionary Russia. And it features an ice dragon, a dying Firebird, starvation, poverty, global warming and a talking kitten.”

Maguire's "Egg & Spoon" is a "for all ages" novel (that is, you can read it with kids, or give it to kids but also enjoy it as an adult). The book draws on Russian fairy tales of Baba Yaga and the Firebird, along with a melange of other story staples and legendary items, like Fabergé eggs, matryoshka dolls and, yes The Prince and the Pauper tale as well. (A summary and brief review from The Guardian HERE.)

Having recently read Maguire's other Russian tale for all ages "The Dream Stealer", which, by the way I very much enjoyed and will be sharing with my son for bedtime reading soon, it's fairly guaranteed that this will show the gentler, more reasonable side of Baba Yaga, though she's still rather fearsome.

So: now we wait to see a) what Maguire has done with Alice and b) who likes it enough to make (another) Alice movie. (But really, I'll be over here, watching for news of a Firebird or a walking chicken-legged hut, coming out of Universal!)

Lesley Barnes' Colorific "Firebird"

Something lovely and a little bit different to start off with this week. The Firebird as illustrated by the amazing Lesley Barnes.

Lesley is a British illustrator, originally from Glasgow. If you're familiar with animation you wouldn't be surprised to learn that's where she started, but her colorful illustration is what she's best known for today.

Currently Lesley is featured on the cover of the new image-delicious book The Graphic Canon of Children's Literature: The Definitive Anthology of Kid's Lit as Graphics and Visuals edited by Russ Kick.

Presenting a selection of pieces from the The Graphic Canon of Children's Literature, written by Russ Kick and published by Seven Stories Press.  

In this follow-up volume to the lauded Graphic Canon series, master anthologist Russ Kick shows adults everywhere that great children's literature is great literature, period. And that it's not just for children.

 

The original three-volume anthology The Graphic Canon presented the world's classic literature--from ancient times to the late twentieth century--as eye-popping comics, illustrations, and other visual forms. In this follow-up volume, young people's literature through the ages is given new life by the best comics artists and illustrators. Fairy tales, fables, fantastical adventures, young adult novels, swashbuckling yarns, your favorite stories from childhood and your teenage years . . . they're all here, in all their original complexity and strangeness, before they were censored or sanitized.

You can find out a little more about the sorts of projects she's worked on and upcoming works in this short but lovely article HERE.

Enjoy!

The concertina book is now on my (impossible things) fairy tale wish list too!

You can find Lesley Barnes in many places on the web! There's a nice board showing a range of Lesley's work HERE on Pinterest, and below are all the official links:

instagram 

shop 

vimeo 

youtube

twitter 

blog 

tumblr

facebook

Firebird Ash Shoes

Firebird ash shoes - holy..!

These pumps, crafted by Mexican designer Lucita Abarca, caused quite a stir at a recent Sixth Borough fashion show. These crystalline high-heels were grown by Wyrm’s Pass artisans, deep below the Rocky Mountains, using a mixture of firebird ash, waters from the springs at Paradiso, and a variety of secret ingredients, rumored to include Australian fire opals and powdered moonstone. The result of using the firebird ash become immediately recognizable when the heel of the shoe is dragged backward across any dry surface, as it creates an impressive streak of magical fire which can be accurately aimed with a little effort. Ms. Abarca said she wanted a shoe that made a statement, and that statement was “Any bastardo brujo catcalling me on La Plaza de Sangre better be ready to dose his huevos, you know?”  

from Ekaterina and the Firebird,* illustration by Anna & Elena Balbusso

I so much *heart* these shoes. And the statement.

But I can't just leave this here for you all to wonder. This is what could be termed a "Tumblr Tall Tale". There is no Mexican designer named Lucita Abarca (and the name can be roughly translated as "lit shoe" or "shoe of light"). The truth is there truly are so many ingenious inventions and incredible fashion creations out there, this could be a real thing. (Except for perhaps the Firebird ash - I would happily travel the world over to go see a real Firebird!) This wonderfully done GIF doesn't appear to have a "true" source and if you do a little investigating you keep getting sent back to American Wizarding (if you like fantasy storytelling and reference to tales in news, you'll probably enjoy the Tumblr site too - it's wonderfully creative). Despite Vogue-desire being cited as the source, as far as I can tell this is just a wonderful story many of us wish were true. I mean, can you imagine? I immediately think of the possibilities in a flamenco performance, immediately followed by the flammable possibilities in the same flamenco performance! (And if I were still working in ballet I'd be rushing to the Director and asking if we could figure out how to create something like this for a pointe shoes for a new Firebird performance!)

The Firebird illustrated by Luděk Maňásek (FB)

While I couldn't resist posting a Firebird related "product" anyway, it occurred to me that we've never really discussed the tales that circulate the internet via memes and gifs. They're like urban legend wildfire, the way things spread virally these days. I'm not just talking about misconceptions, poor journalism and rumors (which abound and has us constantly checking Snopes.com to see if they're true) but about that heightened-portrayal of reality. It reminds me of Big Fish (the book, though the movie was pretty good up till the end), and the way the father told his son all these slightly left-of-center stories in which it was difficult to tell the real from the unreal.

We do the same all the time with children and it's perpetuated through their own expressions - something we now see vivid evidence of on Tumblr and other teen-driven social media. 

More than ever, fashion sells itself via tales these days - and not just fairy tale fantasy like it used to. Runway shows are now theatrical performances and people are sold the story as much as the look. The look by itself just doesn't grab as much as being able to be part of a story as well. Fashion has always sold an altered reality but these days we see even more effort put into the stories between the seams. The designers and seamsters talk continuously now of what this stitch means, what this "petal" represents etc - something that harks back to traditional folk artisans and the care with which they create things and infuse them with stories.

I think stories that use images like this to grab our attention have made a difference too, like when Katniss "becomes the Mockingjay" in the second Hunger Games movie. I'm talking about the movie specifically because of the visual effects which turn Katniss' false wedding dress into a fiery one, to reveal a dark, winged, Mockingjay dress. The themes of phoenix and hope rising are all over this story and the movie gave us some very strong visuals it's difficult to forget. (You can see a clip from the movie which shows the wonderfully done dress transformation and illustrates the rising rebellion against the system HERE.)

I have to say, I really like seeing this return to Story.

I'll leave you with another Firebird story, also from American Wizarding:

An early morning palm tree fire on Christmas day in Los Angeles 

"Reports are currently coming in from downtown Los Angeles, where a firebird, escaped from a reserve just north of the Mexican city of Tecate, has started its regenerative process within the full sight of Muggle onlookers and authorities. Agents of the Department of Secrecy and Obfuscation (DSO) and the Bureau of Conservation and Magical Resources (CMR) are already on the scene, and spreading the story of a lightning strike and a brittle palm tree. Representatives from both agencies claim that they are empowered by law to practice temporary memory charms on Muggle witnesses to prevent a potential breach of the Statute of Secrecy, and that warrants will later be sought to make the charms permanent. Once the firebird has burned itself out, the agents will collect the remains and repair to a secure facility to allow the creature to regenerate safely before being returned to its normal nesting grounds."  

Report by Donna Maria Garcia, The Antigua Finca Times: February 4, 2015

Source: American Wizarding

* If you like Russian tales or the concept of The Firebird I strongly suggest going and reading the short story this illustration was created for at tor.com. The story is lovely and there are some nice insights in the comments below too. Go have a lovely read HERE.

Fairy Tale Inspired Art by Miss Etoile

The Mermaid and The Air by Karla Rodriguez

It's time to fill up the creative well again, I think so lots of art coming to you right now especially while fairy tale entertainment news in particular is a little on the slow side. Today's offerings are from Mexican artist "Miss Etoile" aka Karla Rodriguez. She's inspired by fairy tale books, Alphonse Mucha and, it would seem, Russian art as well - lovely stuff!

The Firebird by Karla Rodriguez

Golden Feathers by Karla Rodriguez

While not all of these are for a traditional fairy tale (the one at the top reminds me very much of Sulamith Wulfing's work), the others are her own fairy tale inspired characters, for which she appears to be writing stories.

When I Found You There by Karla Rodriguez

Kiss by Karla Rodriguez

You can find Miss Etoiles deviantArt gallery HERE and, as a bonus, she's posted her commission prices for those who'd like something created for them. If you like her art I'd suggest saving your pennies and getting some art made for you while he's still (semi) affordable.

Lotus Beauty by Karla Rodriguez

I really love how this artist is developing - her style is perfect for pictures book fairy tales or animation (or both). Let's show her how much we like her work and help her get better known. :)

Fairy Tale Music for Halloween

Hall of the Mountain King Sign found on Flickr

I found this great little article today title "Spooktakular Sonic Surprises" by the Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and, not only did it have a number of pieces I thought extremely appropriate for fairy tale enthusiasts, readers, listeners and writers, but it made me think of a few of my own.

Rather than repeat telling you about the pieces he lists I'll just list them, add a clip courtesy of YouTube and link you to his fun and very readable article. You'll be able to see the others on the list too - all of which will give you an excellent audio selection, Halloween-style, for your ears. :)

The pieces on his list I thought most appropriate for fairy tale people and stories are:

The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack by Danny Elfman (I couldn't find the music without the vocals but it's fabulous, even without the voices)


Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens


Baba Yaga - The Hut on Fowls' Legs (from "Pictures at an Exhibition") by Modest Mussorkgsky


Funeral March of a Marionette by Charles Gounod (you probably know this piece, even if you don't know the title. I love this one!) I found a darling little stop-motion animation for Funeral March of a Marionette which I thought I'd share:


You can read the short explanations about each, and the rest of the article, HERE.

And here are my additions (off the top of my head - I planned on researching more for you but Halloween duties called sorry!):

In the Hall of the Mountain King (from Peer Gynt) by Edvard Grieg
I love Ibsen's Peer Gynt tale (which was actually a play)! It's another suite of music I was exposed to as a young child and I didn't need to be told the story to imagine it. You can hear what's happening just by listening. I wasn't surprised to see Wikipedia mention it being used for Halloween concerts - it was the first piece that came to mind. (I apologize the first notes are cut off - it's the best [straight] played I could find where you could actually hear everything happening. It also goes into the next processional piece which I can't remember the name of sorry.)


L'apprenti sorcier (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) by Paul Dukas
I loved this piece and the Goethe story it was based on well before I saw it used in Fantasia. Magical brooms ahead!


The Corpse Bride Theme (combining some pieces from the soundtrack) by Danny Elfman and John August
It feels like an air of death or mourning haunts a few of these pieces yet still has a fantastical and hopeful air- especially that lovely piano solo


Midnight from Cinderella (Music for Ballet) by Sergei Prokofiev
Ok - I admit I'm a huge Prokofiev fan (His Romeo & Juliet is my favorite) but all those (what I think of as) malevolent notes through the suites and the (what I like too call) "musical resistance" to Cinderella making it away from the ball on time? Delicious for suspense!


Aaaand I have to add another Russian piece: from Stravinsky's Firebird, The Infernal Dance of Kashchei. There are quite a few darker pieces from The Firebird suite but this one definitely fits the fairy-tale-Halloween bill on a number of levels. I found this piece conducted by Stravinsky himself and couldn't resist adding it for you.


That's about all I can think of without pulling out my CDs or doing some research but know I've probably forgotten some obvious ones. If you have fairy tale music favorites that you think would be a great addition to the Halloween playlist here, feel free to chime in!

Red October: Russian Fairy Tale Fashion A Theme on 2009 Fall/Winter Runways

I'm going to call today 'odds 'n' ends Monday' with this being the first post (see note below) in a number of random little fairy tale related things I found in the last week.

(NOTE: RE-POSTED DUE TO LARGE CONTENT UPDATE)

To kick things off, here's some lovely fairy tale-type fashion from Russia which reminds me of some Vasilissa illustrations I've seen (the clothing, not the model attitude).

Apparently, Russian fairy tale style fashion influence was a recurring theme on the premier runways for the 2009 Fall/ Winter season. (Found at the UK Telegraph. You can find descriptions of the clothing HERE.)

I also found an article and a video on the fashion series for you. This article talks about the influences and approach of the fashion creator and stylist (which included a matriochka doll as he was starting his Russian style showings this past year). Here's an excerpt:

But fashion would not be the weird and wonderful world it most certainly is without some fairytale element to delight, astound or even just amuse us. This winter the fantasy revolves around a romanticised Russia; land of the firebird, the sugarplum fairy, Zara, Dr Zhivago and Anastacia. Not since Yves Saint Laurent based a collection upon the Ballets Russes more than thirty years ago, has fashion so fallen under the Soviet spell.

You can read more HERE.

Here's the video, which is a beautiful little piece to watch, even if fashion isn't of huge interest to you:


Some lovely inspiration. I'm ready to write a Russian fairy tale now. :)

Provensen's "Tales from the Ballet"

From their book "Tales from the Ballet" (Golden Press 1968) by Caldecott Medal winners illustrators Alice and Martin Provensen*. As the title suggests, many of these tales are fairy tales. Either ballets were created from old tales like Sleeping Beauty and Ivanand the Firebird or new fairy tales like Giselle were written, often based on a little piece of something else (Giselle was based on a poem). The Nutcracker, of course, is originally by E. T. A. Hoffman, truncated and adapted from his very long short story 'Nutcracker and the Mouse King' .

The Sleeping Princess Coppelia (2 images) The Golden Cockerel Giselle
The Nutcracker
The Firebird

You can find more on the Provensen husband-and-wife author and illustration team* HERE and see the lovely Alice Provensen gallery HERE.

NOTES:
*The Provensen's are not credited with writing 'Tales from the Ballet' as well as illustrating it. The writer is listed as Louis Untermeyer.
*The Provensen's didn't win the Caldecott for this book but for "A Glorious Flight", a biographical picture book about an aviator.
*Some of these images were found on Flickr. The others were found on various foreign rare book seller sites.