Showing posts with label multiple tales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label multiple tales. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Review: 'The Hazel Wood' - What We Liked, What We Didn't & Why It's Still Fairy Tale Catnip

We must begin with the book's premise because the atmosphere of The Hazel Wood and its promises are as much a part of the experience as the actual story. Based on this alone is easy to see why it quickly became a best-seller. Here's an excerpt from a wonderful summary by Caitlyn Paxson (of Goblin Fruit, NPR book reviews, Fakelore Podcast):
Official/promotional tarot card featuring quotes by characters

Alice has spent her whole life on the run with her mother, almost as if something terrible is chasing them. They can't ever seem to escape their family legacy: Alice's grandmother is a famous author, who wrote a book of dark fairy tales set in a mythical world called the Hinterland. It's a book so rare and compelling that it has die-hard fans who've never even read it — including Alice. Alice doesn't know her grandmother, who shut herself away in an estate called the Hazel Wood before Alice was even born, but she is secretly obsessed with her and the elusive world that she created. 
When the news comes that her grandmother has died, it seems like maybe Alice and her mother can finally catch their breath. They settle into a life in New York, but Alice keeps waiting for the darkness to find them. 
Sure enough, one day Alice goes home to find that her mother has been kidnapped by terrifying creatures who may be the denizens of the Hinterland come to life. The only clue is a torn page from her grandmother's book, and a dire message from her mother: "Stay away from the Hazel Wood."
Just reading this description has us wishing to re-read it, it's so compelling. How can you not be intrigued when the official blurb includes the phrase: "the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales"? It's clearly enchanting but we've been hesitant to review this book. The Hazel Wood made such a splash on social media, impressively got optioned for a movie even before being released, and so many fairy tale aficionados seem to really love it, we knew it would be a tough review, especially if we didn't completely love it too.

We wanted to love it. We expected to love it. We just... didn't - at least not "completely".

We do love the approach of debut author Melissa Albert and all she has to say about the story and why she wrote it, not to mention her "whys" of being drawn to fairy tales. Speaking to Bustle she said:
"Fairy tales seem, when I reread them now, almost shockingly spare. They’re more of a skeleton you can hang different skins on," Albert says. "The Hazel Wood isn’t a retelling, but it plays with elements of lots of the tales I loved as a kid." Among her inspirations: “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” “The Juniper Tree,” and "The Little Mermaid."
It's obvious Albert is a talented writer with great ideas and her debut novel is clearly catnip for fairy tale folk; there's so much great fodder there to feed a fairy tale soul.

Czech cover
As Caitlyn says so eloquently:
This book is crafted with all the care that goes into spinning nettle shirts for your enchanted swan-brothers and all the agony and beauty of spitting up roses and diamonds. It looks head-on at trauma, and gives its compelling heroine the space to find her truth and begin the hard work of healing her wounds. It ponders fandom and the true nature of the places we idolized as children. It even has an Alan Lomax shout-out for all the folklore nerds in the audience.
And we do agree with the entire paragraph above.

Bulgarian cover
Unfortunately, our lasting impression is largely dissatisfaction. It feels strange to read a constant flow of gushing, glowing reviews when your takeaway is so different, so we are finally sharing our impressions via a "likes vs dislikes" summary. Perhaps there are readers that will relate here and there, or perhaps it just illuminates why, perhaps, we're just not the best audience for this novel.

That said we will be watching for more from Albert with great interest and will happily pre-order that promised book of tales, should it ever be completed! (More on this below.) So now to our lists:

What We Liked:
  • The gorgeous cover, very alluring to fairy tale folk
  • The "book within a book" that the story revolves around, Tales From The Hinterland, and the concept of a cult-followed fairy tale collection (*shivers of delight!*)
  • The unique take on a changeling' (a.k.a. an "ex-story")
  • Use of fairy tale motifs beyond the well-known ones
  • The idea and character of the grandmother, Althea Proserpine, and her interviews - we wanted more
  • Opening with, and interweaving Vanity Fair interviews, clippings etc - gave it a great flavor - this kept us reading, hoping for more
  • The potential for the online community/cult, to have a life beyond the book - for real-life readers to take up the torch
  • The idea of stories being alive (just like real fairy tales are)
  • Some of the initial imagery and use of language was unique and genuinely spell-binding
  • There are lots of folklore "easter-eggs" and allusions and parallels to myth and some fairly big (often inverted) fairy tales - the names of characters are chosen for good reason
  • Where the Hinterland encroached on the real world, it worked well and felt like a real force of "Otherness"
  • We saw lots of potential for inspiration a community of readers to create related ephemera: magazine clippings, story fragments, page fragments, endpaper designs, gate designs (& motifs used in the real world as an 'echo'), used library cards, old photos, scratchings of fantasy illustrations on modern coffee napkins, mentions on web pages like clues, discussion board transcripts by the 'cult following' etc
  • The telling of Althea's tales* (relayed by other characters) was truly magical and brought those tales to life. This is where the author shone; the tales and the telling of them, along with the  Vanity Fair reports of Althea's own story, were the absolute gems of the book. We kept reading in hopes of another tale and another... Sadly there were only two included. As another reviewer put it: If Albert wrote out the Hinterland fairy tales and published it, I would buy that in a heartbeat.
French and Serbian covers
That's a lot of like! You may even wish to stop here. If you're curious though (and what person interested in fairy tales doesn't have that trait), what follows is our "other" list.

What We Didn't Like:
  • That only two of the all-important twelve tales were 'told'/ included within the novel (and none of the others are available anywhere).
  • Too many fairy tale motifs used, particularly once Alice was in the Hinterlands.
    • the mentions were so constant and distracting (like "stream of consciousness") the text felt "overstuffed" - we felt like flagging all the mentions just to tally the number per page and chapter (Note: we realize a reader who isn't as obsessed with fairy tales wouldn't be so bothered. It might actually be useful and great for re-reads for most folks.)
    • the references felt a bit like name dropping rather than significant
  • Gratuitous bad language - it often felt out of place, unnatural, trying too hard to be edgy
  • The protagonist, Alice, was more than just "unlikable".  She was so relentlessly angry, often speaking venomously to those in her company. As with the "kick the puppy" syndrome in movies**, we didn't like spending time with her and so didn't care very much when things were tough for her.
  • Alice's obsession with her Grandmother's book of tales was such a driving force in all her actions it implied things would change for her (or change her), or perhaps things would be clearer - or more twists revealed - if she ever got to read the whole collection. As it never happened it felt the story was incomplete and the author reneged on a promise.
  • The author's use of language - at first unique and interesting - never quite settled into a natural rhythm and had a tendency to feel self-conscious.
  • There was not nearly enough about the grandmother - it's almost as if we were tricked into being obsessed with her too then had no avenues open to us when no more information was forthcoming.
  • Once entering Hinterland (aka Fairyland, aka Fairy Tale Land) it was often written like an extended, oversaturated dream sequence, and quickly became boring.
  • The lack of the complete fairy tale book  (Tales From The Hinterlands) either within the pages or somewhere in the real world or on the web to be found, meant possibilities beyond the book fizzled pretty quickly - like an unfinished idea - it felt like a huge missed opportunity.
  • Naming so many specific book and film (and music) titles pulled us out of the story; current novels especially (eg. Boy Snow Bird) are too recent a "reader experience" to see referenced without getting somewhat derailed.
  • While we didn't mind Hinterland being very dark, there really didn't seem much space left in Fairy Tale Land for wonder and enchantment; we missed that balance. Even the dark fae tend to simultaneously attract and repel their victims.
  • We didn't care a lot about the conclusion, especially once it was clear we'd never get to read the rest of Althea's book (set up as one of the main mysteries). The restless ending only served to amplify our ambivalence throughout.
We felt the book never completely settled into a confident rhythm and were left tired and sad at the end.
UK cover and Spanish cover
Readers can probably see that our second list isn't the usual set of reader criticisms. We were very conflicted reading this book. As we said at the outset, perhaps it's just that we're not the ideal audience for the novel.

It should be noted, that hasn't stopped us from remaining intrigued by the premise, and the promise of a new book of fairy stories. Despite our objections, we remain drawn to the catnip which is The Hazel Wood.

What We're Wishing For Now:
  • We feel like this book begs for a companion, namely, Tales From The Hinterland. Somewhere there needs to be a complete copy of the tales, even if it's via a difficult internet hunt to unearth them. A unique "re" published volume would be a great marketing tie-in and awesome collection of new and unique tales. Without the opportunity to read the tales it feels as though we're missing a large chunk of the story. 
    • Note: Since first writing this review, it has been announced that a companion volume, Tales From the Hinterland, that is, the entire collection of Althea Proserpine's tales will be published sometime in 2020. We will happily pre-order this as soon as it's possible. Though it will likely work fine as a standalone, perhaps it will also serve to give us more of a sense of completeness for The Hazel Wood. Before this much-anticipated volume, however, a sequel to The Hazel Wood will be published first sometime during 2019. The title just revealed as of January 11, 2019, is The Night Country.
  • A movie may very well make better sense of the great collection of ideas in the book and focus it better, especially if they're judicious with the design, in using/combining fairy tale motifs and in focusing on which characters to develop properly
We will probably give this novel a re-read down the line and believe we are likely to appreciate it more a second time around. For now, though, we will stick to re-reading Althea's tales. More than any experience of Alice's in "Fairy Tale Land", the tales, as dark as they are, were the sections that showed us that even in the darkest of woods there is hope. 

Bonus fairy tale article of the day:
Interested in how fairy tale tropes are challenged, tales are inverted and use of various myths mine the depths of this novel? You may be interested in:
by CS Peterson.
Enjoy!

* The two tales are 'Alice-Three-Times' and 'The Door That Wasn't There'.
** It is said that once a character in a movie kicks a dog, the audience loses all sympathy for him (or her) and nothing they do to redeem themselves from then on  - even, say, saving a planet of orphaned baby pandas  - will make an audience be on their side again. The act crosses a "moral event horizon" and is essentially unforgivable.

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Nutcracker Screenwriter to Adapt 'The Hazel Wood' For The Big Screen

One of the season's hottest 'fairy tale novels' is heading for the big screen. You've probably heard of The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert. This very recent YA release (January 30, 2018) quickly became a best-seller and had high praise from many quarters, including fairy tale aficionados. Here's a fairly concise description that we think summarizes the feel of the story and introduces the synopsis well:
The Hazel Wood is a grounded YA fantasy novel that reads as Pan’s Labyrinth meets Alice in Wonderland. Opening in modern day, the story follows teenage Alice, who lives a life on the road with her mother, incessantly pursued by bad luck. Alice’s mother has always forbidden her from having any contact with her grandmother — even banning Alice from reading her grandmother’s mysterious classic book of pitch black fairy tales, “Tales from the Hinterland.” But when Alice’s mother is kidnapped, Alice discovers that the Hinterland is not just a story, and that its strange supernatural forces lie behind her mother’s disappearance. To save her mother, Alice must journey into the Hinterland where she discovers how her own story went so wrong. (TheWrap)
Ashleigh Powell (left) and the best-selling YA novel The Hazel Wood hardcover
Ashleigh Powell, the "promising new screenwriter" who previously wrote Nutcracker and the Four Realms for Disney's upcoming movie has been attached to adapt The Hazel Wood, this time for Sony's Columbia Pictures, and looks set to spark a new wave of this genre of fantasy movies heading for the big screen. (Powell is also working on adapting the first book of The Paper Magician trilogy for Disney.) Interesting, the book caused so much buzz that the film rights were acquired even before it was released at the end of January.

The Hazel Wood does not currently have a release date.

Source: Screenrant

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Article: 'Fairy Tales for Resistance #RRR' by Gypsy Thornton

"We are all Red" (unofficial title) by Cuban artist ARES

Our Fairy Tale News Hound has a special article up on Enchanted Conversation today. It's all about the importance of fairy tales when it comes to resistance.

Here's the opening paragraph:

In fairy tales, wolves show their insides are the same as their outsides (despite their silver tongues), beanstalks prove to their climbers that greed is the true giant (though other big troubles may appear on the way) and flowers speak up to protest their plucking (even as they sink in their thorns). When impossible things happen, you begin to question reality. It's one of the reasons fairy tales are so very needed. Sometimes that Wonder, that impossibility, is the very thing that wakes us up and invites us to challenge the norm.
You can keep reading at Enchanted Conversation HERE.

We hope you will be inspired to keep use, telling and retelling fairy tales, and find solidarity with many others as you do. The hashtag/label, #RRR, that we're using on our Once Upon A Blog website, is searchable and by clicking it, you can find lots of inspiring reading, viewing and more. New posts are being tagged regularly and the recommendations are growing all the time.

While you're over at Enchanted Conversation, don't forget that:
  • You can sign up for the Fairy Tale Round Up Newsletter (which OUABlog and Timeless Tales contribute to). The first newsletter went out some time ago and the next will very shortly (within the week). You can find the sign-up in the side bar HERE or learn more about it before signing up HERE.

  • Enchanted Conversation is about to release their Donkeyskin issue, and Kate Wolford has just announced the writers for it HERE. The recent Diamonds and Toads issue was superb and we're really looking forward to this one too.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Interview Pt IV: In which we discover even more bonuses in studying 'The Fairy Tale', as well as The Carterhaugh School 'grimoire'!

"These are the courses for people who dreamed of elven battles while studying economics, those who have always sworn they could see ghosts, those who longed for a school of magic to send them an unexpected acceptance letter. The gates of Carterhaugh are open. Welcome."
Have we intrigued you into signing up to study The Fairy Tale yet? If you're needing (yet another) incentive... ta da! There's a special one-time bonus for this first 'long course' The Carterhaugh School is offering.

Welcome to Part IV and the final (sob!) section of our interview with the fairy tale mavens and marvelous magical mentors Brittany Warman and Sara Cleto, of The Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic, in which we learn about all the package trimmings and shiny extras in store, especially for those who sign up for the first Carterhaugh School long course, The Fairy Tale
Psst! If you missed the other parts of our interview, we've linked you to them directly below:
Pt 1: 'Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic' Brings Us The Best Gift Ever: Fairy Tales! 
Pt II: In which we discover what studying Carterhaugh School's 'The Fairy Tale' is like
Pt III: In which we discover the different paths of study (Scholar! Artist! Writer!) in 'The Fairy Tale' course at Carterhaugh School
Before we let our magical guests get back to weaving the wondrous course material into magical lessons (Yes. Yes it IS a virtual Hogwarts classroom for fairy tale folk!), let's find out a little more about the tangible magic bonus they're dangling offering (because who doesn't love presents?), waiting to boost your personal enchantment quota:

You've mentioned a special bonus for participants for this debut of your first 'long course'. What shiny things are you dangling to tempt us to join as soon as possible?
Ah, that is a surprise, so we can’t tell you too much, but every participant in the fairy-tale course will receive a special package in the mail containing several little items to help prepare them for their journey into Caterhaugh. Though we can’t reveal the exact contents of this package yet, we promise it will enchant and inspire.

In the real-world mail?! Even though this is a virtual, online course, you mean there will be a magical owl, or fairy godmother magically delivering an actual, bona fide, package, that we can w̶e̶a̶r̶, er, hold, to our mail boxes where m̶u̶g̶g̶l̶e̶s̶ regular folk can see proof of u̶n̶i̶c̶o̶r̶n̶s̶, our fairy tale course involvement?
Well, we can't guarantee owls or fairy godmothers, but we can assure you that yes, it will be real in the physics sense of the word, and that it definitely won't turn into a pumpkin at midnight. (As for wearing them, that's up to you...) These items will be things you can keep and are especially - and only - available to our first long course participants this coming January (2017).


So... if this course is given as a gift, it's a present that has presents 'inside' too?
Why, yes. Yes it is. That's very fairy tale isn't it? (Of course ours isn't inside a needle, inside an egg, inside a duck, inside a hare, inside a chest, buried under an oak tree, on an island in the middle of the ocean...

But we haven't even mentioned our "grimoire pages", one page PDF lesson summaries created to look like pages of an ancient spell book, and these will be available for every course taken at Carterhaugh School. The more classes you take with us, the more pages you can download, print and add to your own personal Carterhaugh grimoire! We plan to offer bonus pages as free downloads on the website as well, so watch our blog...

That settles it: this is about as irresistible an offer to study fairy tales as one could get! Where can interested folk find more information and what is the deadline for joining the fellowship (aka registration) for The Fairy Tale 10 lesson course in January?
The deadline to register for the fairy-tale course is January 15th, 2017 at midnight - we’ll post the first class the next day! All of the information about the course can be found at http://carterhaughschool.com/courses/the-fairy-tale/ . You can visit the rest of the site (http://www.carterhaughschool.com/) as well, which includes some FAQs, testimonials, information about the “grimoire pages,” and more!

Do you plan to offer this, and other folklorific and tale-licious course/s again in the future?
If it goes well, absolutely!!

What else should fairy tale folk know about The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic?
We love teaching, and we especially love teaching this material to people who are excited to learn more! We’re always happy to answer questions or chat about the course at carterhaughschool@gmail.com or on our Facebook page.

Thank you both so much for answering our questions this week! 

We're excited about all these Wonder-filled possibilities and hope our readers will perhaps meet in these virtually magical spaces of learning in the year to come. 

Best of fairy luck with the long course and may the magic spread far and wide.
For our readers, once more, here is the summary of the course details:
Dates: January 16th, 19th, 23rd, 26th, 30th, February 2nd, 6th, 9th, 13th, 16th – note that these are simply the dates that materials will be posted! You will be able to access everything indefinitely and watch whenever is most convenient to you. 
Total Number of Lessons: 10 
What’s Included: Welcome Letter, Mailed Special Welcome Package, 10 Video Lectures, 10 PowerPoint Presentations, 10 Beautiful PDF “Grimoire Page” Lesson Summaries, PDFs or Links to Any Supplementary Reading, Personal Feedback on Completed Final Assignment if Desired 
Any Additional Materials Needed: No 
Registration Closes: January 15th at Midnight 
Price: $150 – you can pay in one, two, or three installments! Full payment must be complete by the time registration closes on January 15th.
Click HERE to sign up yourself, or a lucky fairy tale friend.  
(And if you'd like to send something your friend could officially wear - or hold - you can send a t-shirt, tote, button-pin or sticker with the gorgeous Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic logo (see below next to the course schedule), through HERE! There's a special 20% off storewide till SUNDAY December 25th 2017: Use Code: ZGOODBYE2016)
And once again, we're including the course schedule below, detailing the wonderful range of tales & topics to be studied and explored, along whichever path (scholar, artist or writer) the participant chooses. It's inspiring to read all by itself:

***********************************************************************************************************************
Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic: The Fairy Tale - Course Schedule
***********************************************************************************************************************
Here is a tentative schedule for the upcoming fairy-tale course. Some of the individual stories are subject to change, but the themes for each lesson are set! Take a look:

Lesson One: January 16th, 2017
Intro to Fairy-Tale Study / Little Red Riding Hood / The Story of Grandmother


Lesson Two: January 19th, 2017
Cinderella Day – Cinderella / Donkeyskin / All Kinds of Furs / Yeh-hsien / The Princess in the Suit of Leather
Lesson Three: January 23rd, 2017
Jack Tales Day – Jack and the Beanstalk / Whickety-Whack, Into My Sack / Old Fire Dragaman
Lesson Four: January 26th, 2017
Beastly Bride Day – The Swan Maiden / The Crane Wife / The Loathly Lady / The Story of Uloopi and Arjuna
Featuring a guest lecture by the amazing Shveta Thakrar!
Lesson Five: January 30th, 2017
Awkward Husband Day – Bluebeard / The Robber Bridegroom / Mr. Fox / Fitcher’s Bird
Lesson Six: February 2nd, 2017
Sibling Day – Hansel and Gretel / Jorinde and Joringel / The Juniper Tree / Brother and Sister / Tatterhood
Lesson Seven: February 6th, 2017
Sleeping Maiden Day – Sleeping Beauty / The Ninth Captain’s Tale / Sun, Moon, and Talia / Snow White / Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree / The Glass Casket
Lesson Eight: February 9th, 2017
Search for the Lost Husband Day – Beauty and the Beast / Hans My Hedgehog / Small Toothed Dog / The Pig King / East of the Sun, West of the Moon
Lesson Nine: February 13th, 2017
Salon Day – The White Cat / The Great Green Worm / The Rose Cloud
Lesson Ten: February 16th, 2017
The Golden Key / Wrap Up
***********************************************************************************************************************
To our readers: we will endeavor to keep you all on owl-alert with any news and magical reports coming out of Carterhaugh. Stay tuned!
* All artwork is by Dulac, except for the Carterhaugh School logo.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Interview Pt III: In which we discover the different paths of study (Scholar! Artist! Writer!) in 'The Fairy Tale' course at Carterhaugh School

Did we mention we're pretty excited about the new online course on The Fairy Tale that's transformed from wishes to reality, thanks to the enchanting, whip smart -and possibly a little devious- duo of Brittany Warman and Sara Cleto, the fairy godmothers behind the new Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic?

So far we've learned about the magical beginnings of Carterhaugh School, peeked behind-the-scenes at the ladies who made this dreams a reality and discovered why studying The Fairy Tale at Carterhaugh is going to be different from all other fairy tale study offered to date.
If you missed our first two interview posts you can find them here: 
Pt 1: 'Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic' Brings Us The Best Gift Ever: Fairy Tales! 
Pt II: In which we discover what studying Carterhaugh School's 'The Fairy Tale' is like
But there is another, very unique and exciting aspect to this course that will make it unlike anything you've done before. Not only will participants:
  • study beyond the typical introduction to fairy tales (ie. "Did you know the originals before Disney were dark..?" etc)
  • explore a wide variety of tales - both from the classic canon and many beyond
  • explore tales from a range of cultures and authors/sources
  • dive into the magical melting pot of salon conversations
  • be treated to insights by special guest lecturer, Shveta Thakrar, for the Beastly Bride Day
... they will also have the opportunity to explore fairy tales in a specifically personal way: by choosing one of three paths...
There will be a final assignment prompt for which you may choose the path of the scholar, the path of the writer, or the path of the artist. Personal feedback on completed final assignments is available upon request – we would love to see what you come up with!
Oh the possibilities! Let's find out more in Part III today of our exclusive behind-the-scenes interview.

Thank you again, Mistresses Brittany and Sara, for joining us today.


In the introduction to this 10 week course you mention a final assignment in which the participant has the option to choose a) the path of the scholar, b) the path of the writer, or c) the path of the artist, all of which sound intriguing. For people who might struggle between choosing, can you tell us more about the paths (is this a case of needles and pins?), and what the purpose is of structuring the assignment this way? (Should folk be thinking destiny? The path less traveled? Or something else?)
We offer the three paths in order to make the final project useful and relevant to a broader group of students with diverse interests and ways of processing stories and information. The Path of the Scholar is the option most similar to a traditional college paper, but there are many avenues that you might take to writing it, including a persuasive paper about a possible meaning or interpretation for one of the tales( Why is this meaning or interpretation important to you? To what extent can you sustain it with concrete details from the text?) or a personal essay (If you had to choose one of the narratives we have read to apply to your own life, what would it be and why? How does this narrative help you make sense of your own story?) The Path of the Writer invites you to retell or adapt one of the narratives we have explored. You could write a short story, a poem, a letter, a short play, or other written form that: retells the tale from the perspective of a different character (or from the perspective of an object); makes significant plot changes to the tale, explains a “narrative gap” or an instance of “leaping and lingering,” a moment that isn’t narrated or doesn’t make sense to you, in one of the tales; explores a character’s interiority; or sets a tale in a contemporary setting. The Path of the Artist asks to you respond to one of the stories through a visual medium. You can create a painting, a carving, a garment, a piece of jewelry, a drawing, a sculpture, a comic, or other visual form that: retells a particular moment in one of the stories; captures the emotion you felt upon reading a particular passage or expresses the emotions you think the characters would have experienced during their journey; recreates an object or character from one of the tales; depicts a moment that is not narrated (a moment from before the tale begins or after it ends.) We’ve also had students create their own path or expand/ adapt these prompts in order to accommodate their own interests.

Is there any accreditation given (or magical powers bestowed) to participants who successfully complete the course? Will there be any keepsakes that participants can stow as proof they went into these woods and talked to the many Others therein?
While we cannot offer any official accreditations, we do plan to issue certificates to those who complete the course. As we talk about below, we’ll also be sending a special package in the mail with keepsakes!

You recently had a 'short course' Folklore for All Hallows Eve. Can you tell us about how that went, (at the cross roads, in the dead of night in the thinning mist) the different sorts of things participants studied (eg. etiquette for greeting the grateful dead) and what the results were?
The Folklore for All Hallows’ Eve course was our first course at Carterhaugh, so we approached it very much as an experiment- if it went well, we would expand and offer more classes, and, if not, we could say we tried and move on. However, we had a fantastic experience teaching this first course. The three lessons were all oriented around seasonal, spooky folk narratives, so we had a lesson each on eerie ballads, creepy fairy tales, and urban legends. The reception thus far has been very positive- final projects are rolling in from our students, and they are wonderful! And many students from that course have already enrolled for the Fairy Tale Course, so we think we’re on the right track!

Being online -a̶l̶l̶o̶w̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶a̶g̶i̶c̶a̶l̶ ̶i̶n̶p̶u̶t̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶t̶e̶c̶h̶-̶s̶a̶v̶v̶y̶ ̶f̶a̶i̶r̶y̶ ̶g̶o̶d̶m̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶s̶- brings so many possibilities to a course, including the possibility of meeting like-minded people from places you would never be able to visit in your lifetime. Is there any portal available for current and prospective participants to meet, interact and share fairy tale ideas, discoveries and related works?
Yes! That’s one of the things that has been so great about this venture so far. Every course will have their own special Facebook group only for students - the one for the “Folklore for All Hallows’ Eve” was very lively and fun! We also have a main Facebook group where people can ask us questions about the courses and connect with others as well. You can find that already active group here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/305213463204876/

We'll wrap up our interview in the next post as there are yet more goodies up for fairy tale participants that we simply have to save, to showcase all by themselves... 

Join us tomorrow for Part IV, our final part of the interview with these amazing women who are busy spreading magic to all they can, and who encourage knowledge and exploration of the world, of tales, of history and of our future potential - something which our world sorely needs right now.

To sign up for Carterhaugh School's, The Fairy Tale long course and take advantage of this wonderful study opportunity, as well as embark on a uniquely and personally tailored fairy tale journey, click HERE.

And remember that this makes for a perfect last minute holiday gift: No wrapping, convenient payment options and fairy tale happiness for many months to come! It's a pretty wonderful way to give a fairy tale enthusiast a gift they'll love and never forget.

Once again, here is a summary of the details:
Dates: January 16th, 19th, 23rd, 26th, 30th, February 2nd, 6th, 9th, 13th, 16th – note that these are simply the dates that materials will be posted! You will be able to access everything indefinitely and watch whenever is most convenient to you. 
Total Number of Lessons: 10 
What’s Included: Welcome Letter, Mailed Special Welcome Package, 10 Video Lectures, 10 PowerPoint Presentations, 10 Beautiful PDF “Grimoire Page” Lesson Summaries, PDFs or Links to Any Supplementary Reading, Personal Feedback on Completed Final Assignment if Desired 
Any Additional Materials Needed: No 
Registration Closes: January 15th at Midnight 
Price: $150 – you can pay in one, two, or three installments! Full payment must be complete by the time registration closes on January 15th.
Click HERE to sign up yourself, or a lucky fairy tale friend.
Stay tuned tomorrow for the last part of our special interview series with the roses of The Carterhaugh School!
* Artwork used is all by Edmund Dulac, except for the Carterhaugh School Facebook header directly above.

Monday, December 19, 2016

Interview Pt II: In which we discover what studying Carterhaugh School's 'The Fairy Tale' is like

As promised, today we continue our interview with the enchanting folklore mavens behind the newest - and perhaps the only - school dedicated to fairy tale magic on the planet: The Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic.

(Miss our Introduction and Interview Part I? You can find that right HERE.)

In this Part II of our tour behind the scenes of creating the school and online course in The Fairy Tale, we ask Brittany Warman and Sara Cleto for more specifics on why our readers - many of whom know more about fairy tales than even fairly well read folk - would not only enjoy the course, but might come to view it as their (online) fairy tale equivalent of Hogwarts. Let's see what they said:


For our readers, most of whom have done more than dabble in the delights and dangers of fairy tales than most people, what is unique about your course and why would it complement their deeper-than-average delvings into fairy tales?
One of the reasons we think a school like this might be welcome to people already well-versed in these materials is the fact that folklore is an enormous category that unfortunately breeds a great deal of misinformation, even in printed materials. Fairy tales fall victim to this kind of misinformation all the time. In a Carterhaugh class, we will be your guides – we know exactly how to navigate this material and can teach you to do the same! At OSU we have taught all kinds of courses, earning nominations for teaching awards and commendations from both supervisors and students. When we aren’t teaching or working on our dissertations, we are scholars and writers who have published peer-reviewed articles, sold stories and poems, written book introductions and encyclopedia entries, and published both creative and academic reviews. A class with us isn’t going to be the same ol’ “did you know the ORIGINAL fairy tales had dark endings?!” you see so often on the Internet - we’re going to take you beyond that, exploring the subtleties of those “dark” endings, exposing you to the real secrets of the stories you thought you knew, showing you their range across cultures, and hopefully introducing you to an unfamiliar text or two as well. The other reason we think you’ll find our courses unique is that, although we will be supported by our backgrounds in academia and creative writing, we aim to use our knowledge and our passion for these subjects to share their wonder, solidify their importance in society, and spread a bit of magic into the world. You will be taking classes with two teachers who embrace and believe in the power of these tales. These courses are designed for people who dreamed of elven battles while studying economics, those who have always sworn they could see ghosts, those who longed for a school of magic to send them an unexpected acceptance letter. We’re doing our best to bring that kind of school into the banality of the “real world” while maintaining academic rigor.  

What would an average week look like as a course participant in 'The Fairy Tale'? (eg hours needed, how much reading [is it provided or does it require extra purchasing of texts], sorts of lecturer presentations, project work etc) Does 10 lessons mean 10 consecutive weeks, or is that flexible? Do wings and wands come as standard accessories?
The length and structure of each Carterhaugh course varies, but the course on The Fairy Tale will span five weeks with two lessons released each week for a total of ten lessons. An average week would include two recorded lectures and supplemental readings (a few short stories.) However, a student can take as much time as they like to go through the materials- everything is theirs to download and view at whatever time is most convenient for them. The workload can be whatever the student wishes to do- we will provide all the readings (no extra purchases are necessary), and students can read everything, skim, or pick whichever texts most interest them to focus on. The final project is optional, and it can be as simple or elaborate as a student wishes to make it. Carterhaugh can be whatever a student needs- it can be very in-depth and rigorous, and it can be leisurely and casual, depending on the time that a student wants to devote to the course. Sadly, wings and wands are not included in this particular course, but we encourage their use and will provide other necessary materials.

What fairy tales are you planning to cover in the course? Do you have a spell to fold space/time to fit in the hundreds we're all interested in?
Tragically, we don’t have that spell yet. If you come across it, PLEASE tell us! We’ll hit the classics like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Beauty and the Beast, but we’ll also explore lesser-known fairy tales. For example, we’ll take a look at Asbjørnsen and Moe’s “Tatterhood,” peek into Baba Yaga’s hut, and read some of the ornate, outrageous stories written by French conteuses. And even the classics might surprise you- we’ll look at a Chinese Cinderella story that predates Perrault and the Grimms, a Sleeping Beauty who must contend with an ogre in addition to a curse, and a Beast who is half-hedgehog and rides around the woods on a rooster while playing a bagpipe. No, we are not making this up. 
Note to readers: Carterhaugh School have now released their course schedule so we are including it at the end of this part of the interview to whet your appetites and see the wonderful range of tales and topics that will be covered. It's pretty exciting stuff!

Is there any recommended pre-reading, rituals or spell practicing that fairy tale news readers might wish to prepare themselves with?
We plan to provide all the materials you’ll need for the course, so there’s really no need to prepare anything in advance!

What other sorts of irresistible and goblin-fruit-laden courses are you planning to offer in the future, and will they have similar formats?

This is our first long course, so we’ll have to see how this one goes first! We would love to do courses on folklore generally, fairylore and other supernatural lore, folklore and fantastic literature, “mythpunk” literature, and a huge variety of other things as well. We’re still developing our format but all of our courses will likely be similar in structure.   
We'll stop here for today, but are including the course schedule below.

Stay tuned for Part III of our interview, posting tomorrow!

And don't forget - if you're feeling inspired to sign up yourself, or give the wonderful (wonderful!) gift of registration to a fairy tale enthusiast, here is the detail summary for easy reference:

 
Dates: January 16th, 19th, 23rd, 26th, 30th, February 2nd, 6th, 9th, 13th, 16th – note that these are simply the dates that materials will be posted! You will be able to access everything indefinitely and watch whenever is most convenient to you. 
Total Number of Lessons: 10 
What’s Included: Welcome Letter, Mailed Special Welcome Package, 10 Video Lectures, 10 PowerPoint Presentations, 10 Beautiful PDF “Grimoire Page” Lesson Summaries, PDFs or Links to Any Supplementary Reading, Personal Feedback on Completed Final Assignment if Desired 
Any Additional Materials Needed: No 
Registration Closes: January 15th at MidnightPrice: $150 – you can pay in one, two, or three installments! Full payment must be complete by the time registration closes on January 15th.

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Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic: The Fairy Tale - Course Schedule
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Here is a tentative schedule for the upcoming fairy-tale course. Some of the individual stories are subject to change, but the themes for each lesson are set! Take a look:

Lesson One: January 16th, 2017
Intro to Fairy-Tale Study / Little Red Riding Hood / The Story of Grandmother


Lesson Two: January 19th, 2017
Cinderella Day – Cinderella / Donkeyskin / All Kinds of Furs / Yeh-hsien / The Princess in the Suit of Leather
Lesson Three: January 23rd, 2017
Jack Tales Day – Jack and the Beanstalk / Whickety-Whack, Into My Sack / Old Fire Dragaman
Lesson Four: January 26th, 2017
Beastly Bride Day – The Swan Maiden / The Crane Wife / The Loathly Lady / The Story of Uloopi and Arjuna
Featuring a guest lecture by the amazing Shveta Thakrar!
Lesson Five: January 30th, 2017
Awkward Husband Day – Bluebeard / The Robber Bridegroom / Mr. Fox / Fitcher’s Bird
Lesson Six: February 2nd, 2017
Sibling Day – Hansel and Gretel / Jorinde and Joringel / The Juniper Tree / Brother and Sister / Tatterhood
Lesson Seven: February 6th, 2017
Sleeping Maiden Day – Sleeping Beauty / The Ninth Captain’s Tale / Sun, Moon, and Talia / Snow White / Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree / The Glass Casket
Lesson Eight: February 9th, 2017
Search for the Lost Husband Day – Beauty and the Beast / Hans My Hedgehog / Small Toothed Dog / The Pig King / East of the Sun, West of the Moon
Lesson Nine: February 13th, 2017
Salon Day – The White Cat / The Great Green Worm / The Rose Cloud
Lesson Ten: February 16th, 2017
The Golden Key / Wrap Up
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