Short Story Quest: Revisiting, Revising and Revamping Sleeping Beauty

Photocredit
The Once Upon a Time Challenge has certainly broken my no book buying rule, I have a selection of retold fairy-tales and a few non-fiction books about fairy-tales winging their way to me via amazon at the moment.
I have spent today reading versions of Sleeping Beauty. From what is believed to be the inspiration for the Grimms version Basile's 'Sun, Moon and Talia' and Perrault's 'Sleeping Beauty in the Woods' to versions of the tale set in our modern world with a Sci-Fi twist to them.

Giambattista Basile's 'Sun, Moon and Talia' tells of a young girl who falls into a deep sleep after having a piece of flax from a spindle wedged under her fingernail. Locked in a castle in a deep sleep she is visited by a king, and eventually two children who suck at her fingers dislodging the flax and thus waking her. From this their entreats a tale of jealousy and violence. Perrault's version 'Sleeping Beauty in the Woods' is far closer to the well known version with the fairies warning that a spindle will cause her harm and the whole castle being laid to sleep with her and awoken when her prince arrives.
For the Grimm's version of the tale I went to Maria Tatar's 'The Anotated Classic Fairy Tales' this version is the disney version we all grew up with, finishing with Sleeping Beauty (or Brair Rose as she is called in this version) awakening. Unlike the two previously mentioned stories their is no jealousy and violence, and no canibalism and rescue at the hands of older women. Tatar's version is accompanied by notes about various versions, as well as selections of art which has been used to depict the tale over the years.

I then went onto read two retellings from the collection 'Black Swan, White Raven' and one from 'My Mother she Killed Me, My Father he Ate Me'. The first 'The Black Fairy's Curse' by Karen Joy Fowler I think I will need to read again. It was very short and started with a woman escaping into the woods on horse back, the fast pace has her escaping up a tree and then she is suddenly with a man by a river. These seem a dream-like imagining, which later has her waking up with a man above her who she fears. I really enjoyed the pace and the way each iamge was created, but need more time to think over what was happening.
'Snow in Dirt'by Micheal Blumlein had a very different feel to it, and certainly had my favourite opening:

It can happen. Once a lifetime it should. I found the girl of my dreams in the garden. She was covered by dirt. I was digging a hole [....] She was hidden in soil, tucked between roots, still as a statue, beautiful.

Discovering this secret beauty, loner Martin takes her into his home. Gradually after days of wondering he takes her to the hospital to run tests - she is a conundrum they can't understand. When one day she suddenly wakes up he marries her, and then begins their life. Unlike a fairy tale, all is not happiness, but then it isn't all bad either.
The final version I read 'A Kiss to Wake the Sleeper' by Rabih Alameddine, features a first person narrator who is a watcher of all the happens. The girl is sent to the forest, to be treated by the sleeping beauty in an attempt to free the girl from a world trapped inside a protective bubble. The story led to a sexual encounter - fairly vividly described, which I wasn't expecting in the slightest. A clear tale of sexual awakening with violent overtones.

The Sunday Salon: Short Story Quest

As part of the Once Upon a Time V challenge I'll be posting reviews of short stories at the weekend set in a fairytale, mythical, fantastical or folkloric world. Recommendations are always much appreciated, as are comments.



photo credit
Ardour by Jonathon Keats
I read this interpretation of the Russian snow maiden Snegurochka whilst I was reading a bunch of Russian fairy tales this week, see this post I wrote yesterday, this had to be my favourite so I thought it deserved its own post.
Each winter the peasants tell the same story of the sightings of the beautiful girl in the woods, a girl covered in just a light dusting of snow who quickly disappears from sight. Each man craves to seduce her, for not only does she offer perfection and mystery she also is the release from the harsh winter into spring. Any man able to find and seduce her, and thus allow the fields to be harvested and the snows to melt, is rewarded by the king with a year off of work.
Yet one year Ardour goes from the desired to the hunted. For, suddenly one year she turns on the men and allows no one to seduce her. The winter draws on season after season, bringing with it hunger, death and disease, she has become a vengeful monster out to wreak havoc.
The king offers rewards of a life time escape from work, but no man is able to tame her until an unlikely Prince comes along.
This story’s telling was beautifully woven, and reminded me of the early African folk tales when stories were told to explain the things that man did not understand such as the passing of the seasons. This is certainly a story I’ll be coming back to read time and again, as with all good fairy tales.
The story can be found in the collection My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me’, ed. Kate Bernheimer.




In my search for the Snegurochka I found this cool website where they write and publish free retellings of fairytales. Go check it out.

My Thoughts: Ash by Malinda Lo

My final review of my 24 hour read-a-thon. Ash was the final read of the read-a-thon and it was perfect for this, as it was fast paced, a light read and had a nice clear big text.

Ash is a retelling of the Cinderella story, with a fairy twist. The novel starts with Ash at the burial of her mother: a lover of fairy tales, a follower of mythical beings and rituals. Living here she is surrounded by people with mythical beliefs, rituals and spells, yet she is quickly moved away from this world when her sceptical father marries a new woman.
As with the fairytale, as soon as her father dies Ash becomes the servant of the family. She escapes one night finding a magical path which leads her to her mothers grave, she begs a magical man to take her to her mother, he refuses and takes her back home. Night after night she escapes into the coutryside around her meeting other mythical creatures but always returning home to a life of drudgery.
The twist in the fairytale comes when Ash meets the Kings hunter, a fiesty woman who steals her days to teach her how to ride and hunt. The story then follows the normal lines of the fairytale but with a deviation from the traditional ending.

I love the English cover shown above, but think the US cover is absolutely gorgeous (below).

Once Upon a Time IV: 'Snow, Glass, Apples' by Neil Gaiman

Mirror available here - isn't it gorgeous!


Neil Gaiman is a god!
I sat down to read 'Snow, Glass, Apples' a (free to read) short story by Neil Gaiman, expecting it to be good and it was far better than just good.
Gaiman twists and turns the Snow White story in his own wicked way. The story is a monologue by the 'wicked' Step-Mother with her take on her daughter. Snow White, no longer a figure of innocence is feeds off her father and the people of the forest, heart removed she survives.
Whether you like short stories or not you should definately go and read this. Thanks to Mee who blogged about this story yesterday.

Do you know of any online stories which would work for the Once Upon a Time IV Challenge?

My Thoughts: Beauty by Robin McKinley

McKinley has taken the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast and reworked it into her own tale, presenting it to a new audience. I was really worried that this would be a modern take on the fairy tale, in a modern world, but I had nothing to worry about this book is set far enough back in history to contain the magic of a fairytale.
Beauty (an ungainly teenager) is removed from a life of poverty and a loving family when her father one day picks her a rose from the Beasts castle. She has to choose to live with the beast or give her father's life. Like any dutiful daughter it is her freedom which she chooses to forsake.
McKinley's depiction of the Beast's castle is mesmerising, I felt like I was back as a kid again, marvelling at Bedknobs and Broomsticks or Cinderella (can't ever recall having seen Beauty and the Beast - think Disney rereleased it when I was a teen and to cool to be watching stuff like that :rolleyes: The dishes fill themselves, she is dressed and pampered by invisible servants, and the ground of the castle change daily so she is never bored. She also has our fantasy library, more books than you could ever read, and it contains books not yet published, a view of the future she will not live to see.
Yes we all know how this story has to end, and McKinley sticks very close to the story, yet I was still wishing she would go back to him quickly before he faded away.
This may be kids fiction but definately is a must for anyone who loved/loves a happy ending and a fantasy world. Great for 9 year olds but also those of us who wish to escape to a magical world for a few hours. I'll definately be checking out her other books.

Challenges:

Fourth Annual NaJuReMoNoMo 1/5

999 Challenge 2/81

YA fiction 1/12

A-Z Challenge: Title 1/26

Other Reviews worth checking out:

Things Mean a Lot

Raidergirl 3

Rhiona's Ramblings

Have you reviewed this? If so pop a link to your review in the comments section