The Monstrous Fantastic Conference Paper Abstracts - International ...

118. (CYA) Fairy Tale Monsters MapleChair: C.W. Sullivan IIIEast Carolina UniversityIs the Fantastic Fairytale Grounded in Reality?: Searching Intertextually for Cultural Origins of the Fantastic Elements of FairytalesStella ReinhardVirginia Commonwealth UniversityThe child reader of fairytales may view these stories’ fantastic elements as inexplicably “magical,” created in the mind of some long agostoryteller and not grounded in the real world these children know—for what reality contains transforming pumpkin carriages and impracticalglass slippers? However, many of the most fantastic elements of classic fairy tales may actually be grounded in the historical reality of thecultures in which these stories traveled. If one views the ancient network of travelers, and the commercial hubs through which these travelerspassed as an early, primitive and much slower counterpart to the worldwide web, then cities would have acted as server collection points for allthe information that travelers would have shared about their adventures in far-off corners of the world. At these hubs, oral tales told at publicfountains and pubs would have been sent forth in new directions. Since methods of travel and communication during this part of history weremuch slower than they are today, it would have taken months, years or even decades for information to travel from one region of the world toanother. During that travel time, with primarily oral dissemination of stories, tales could inevitably have evolved and taken on some of thetrappings of the cultures through which they traveled. It should be possible, theoretically, to examine a popular folk tale and trace the historicaland cultural origins of some of its iconic fantastic elements by examining versions of the tale from around the world while simultaneouslyconsidering the cultural traditions of those regions. In this paper, I select a common variation of the Cinderella tale for examination and thenreview ancient versions of that variation from different time periods and cultures to attempt to determine the practical origin of the story’smost fantastic motifs.Escaping the Monstrous Husband: Reading Heroine’s Agency in Three Traditional TalesKate GoddardHollins UniversityThe Aarne-Thompson tale types 311, 312, and 955 (Bluebeard, Fitcher’s Bird, and The Robber Bridegroom, respectively) share the commonthread of the story’s heroine discovering that her new husband (or husband-to-be) is secretly a serial murderer, then finding a way to bothescape the fate of his other victims and expose him to the world. While the bulk of scholarship on these tales (in particular the “Bluebeard” taletype, 311) has focused on the heroine’s transgressive actions which lead her to discover the murders, virtually none have discussed the tacticsshe then employs to survive and triumph. In this paper, I will argue that the heroines in these tales assume the role of trickster, allowing themto prevail against a foe they cannot match in physical strength alone. This study will focus primarily on three versions of these tales: “Fitcher’sBird” and “The Robber Bridegroom,” both from the brothers Grimm, and “Mr. Fox” from Joseph Jacobs’s collection English Fairy Tales. I willoutline the ways in which the heroines use courage, resourcefulness, and quick thinking to save themselves from a dreadful fate and to exposetheir husbands or fiancés’ murderous nature, and how their strategies parallel those employed by traditional trickster characters. In the vastmajority of these narrow-survival tales, the heroines’ tactics and actions are positive in their result and implicitly deserving of praise, withCharles Perrault’s “Bluebeard” being the most notable exception. It is not mindless obedience of authority that they teach but rather thestrength and cunning required for self-preservation in the face of evil.Monster, Monster On the Wall: An Exploration of the Monstrous Fantastic in Fairy Tale Picture BooksMelissa SchuitSimmons CollegeHow are monsters illustrated in modern fairy tale picture books? Depictions of the fantastic monsters in fairy tales rely on the idea of theunknown, often blurring, obscuring, or shadowing that which the protagonist fears. However, these fantastic monsters can be classified intotwo major categories, the beastly monster and the human monster, and though there are strong similarities in their depictions there are alsomajor discrepancies. The beastly monster in fairy tale picture books is often blurred, distorted, partially obstructed, or even silhouetted. BothEd Young’s Lon Po Po and Daniel Egnéus’ Little Red Riding Hood obscure the wolf in their illustrations to heighten the mystery of the creatures.Young often uses the scenery around the wolf to heighten the sense of tension of the illustration and, because the wolf blends into the sky or ishidden behind a tree, neither the children nor the beholder can be sure of what the monster really looks like. Similarly, Egnéus’ never showsthe wolf in its entirety; rather Egnéus silhouettes his fantastical monster and depicts only parts of it at a time which creates an aura of mysterysurrounding the wolf. Like those of the beastly monster, depictions of evil humans in fairy tale illustrations are highly ominous. However, ratherthan using the environment to obscure the story’s monster, Paul O. Zelinsky’s Rapunzel and Ai-Ling Louie’s Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story FromChina depict the monstrous humans with darker skin that that of the protagonists; shadows fall over the faces of the evil humans, obscuringand altering them beyond recognition. These distortions, as well as those of the beastly monster, serve to heighten the tension of the story anddraw the beholder into the realm of the fantastical monster.