Thank you for your beautiful, informative essay. As a child, I was surrounded by fairy tales...books of them, usually in beautiful color..."Cinderella," Sleeping Beauty," "Beauty and the Beast," "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," and dozens more. By the time I could read, I wrote my own, filling notebooks of tales of dragons and persecuted princesses and knights on horses (white horses, of course). I never followed up on the history of these tales, but I think they affected the color of my life..
Thank you for your essay. As a neophyte studying Fairy Tale, it has put the genre in perspective as I work my way through the many authors and editors.
No mention is made of Joseph Jacobs collection of English Fairy Tales and More English Fairy Tales. I find the tales and the language are less "literary". Is it an affectation? Deliberately so?. How does he fit in with the collecting and modifying for children in the late Victorian period?
Dearest Joan, Hello! Thank you for reading and commenting on the essay. I'm so glad it has added some perspective to your independent research.
You're right, I didn't include Jacobs' collections in this little essay (there are so many more collectors I could have included, many of whom are so fascinating!). Jacobs is a fascinating case. Did you know he was the editor of the scholarly journal Folklore for a brief time? And that as well as the collections you mention, he co-edited several others, including one called *Indian Fairy Tales*. His collections are notable for many reasons, including that they're mostly *not* fairy tales: he includes legends, ballads, sagas, drolls, nonsense tales, and more.
One of Jacobs unusual or striking departures from the work of the Grimms (who he was inspired by), however, was his expansion of the notion of who the 'folk' were from whom fairy tales (and other folklore narratives) might be collected. He once wrote re this:
'During the discussions which took place some years ago in the Folk-lore Society as to the nature of folk-lore, there was one curious omission. Much was said about what the Folk believed, what the Folk did, and how these sayings and doings of the Folk should be arranged and classified. But very little indeed was said as to what the Folk was that said and did these things, and nothing at all was said as to how they said and did them, and especially as to how they began to say and do them. In short, in dealing with Folk-lore, much was said of the Lore, almost nothing was said of the Folk' (Jacobs 1893, p 233).
He was also interested in the debate over whether fairy tales were/could be 'invented' (could be literary), or were 'survivals' (oral tales long circulated through culture). According to Jacobs: 'Survivals are folk-lore, but folk-lore need not be all survivals. We ought to learn valuable hints as to the spread of folk-lore by studying the Folk of to-day. The music-hall, from this point of view, will have its charm for the folk-lorist, who will there find the Volks-lieder of to-day. The spread of popular sayings, even the rise of new words, provided they be folk-words, should be regarded as a part of the study of folk-lore' (Jacobs 1893, p. 237).
Oh, and on the use of 'voice', he did say that he was not worried about purity or authenticity in relation to voice. He was perfectly content to (re)write the tales he collected to be suitable for child readers. In the introduction to *More English Fairy Tales* he writes that he is not concerned about preserving the 'exact form' of the tales. He cites some sources which are fun to follow-up on, showing him in conversation with (Andrew) lang and Roalfe Cox. He writes:
'I have discussed this matter elsewhere [See 'The Science of Folk Tales and the Problem of Diffusion' in Transactions of the International Folk-Lore Congress, 1891. Mr Lang has honoured me with a rejoinder, which I regard as a palinode, in his Preface to Miss Roalfe Cox's volume of variants of Cinderella' (Folk-Lore Society, 1892).' (From the preface to More English Tales).
Oh dear! It seems I have Much To Say. I hope this is useful and interesting. And perhaps goes some way towards answering your questions ... ?
Funny you should mention all this! In my latest manuscript, now under consideration at Wayne State UP, I have a chapter about Jacobs's work and how it fits into his self-fashioning and positioning as a Jew in Victorian England! I can't recap it all here and now, not least because my son is in the other room clamoring for my attention, but I am so glad to see others paying attention to Jacobs's work--I find him a fascinating figure. That ms also has a chapter on the collections of Jewish fairy tales that began appearing in the early 20th century, how they differ from the European collections of the 19th century, and why they didn't appear until then!
How exciting Veronica! I do hope they take it up. I’d love to read this. I agree Jacobs is under-appreciated as a significant figure of the time. Does he also figure in the chapter on Jewish tales?
He doesn't! Part of that chapter is discussing the reasons why neither he nor any other Anglo-Jewish folklorist took up the issue of collecting Jewish fairy tales in the 19th century. He was in the US by the time such collections started appearing, and deeply involved in editing The Jewish Encyclopedia at that point.
Thank you for your beautiful, informative essay. As a child, I was surrounded by fairy tales...books of them, usually in beautiful color..."Cinderella," Sleeping Beauty," "Beauty and the Beast," "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," and dozens more. By the time I could read, I wrote my own, filling notebooks of tales of dragons and persecuted princesses and knights on horses (white horses, of course). I never followed up on the history of these tales, but I think they affected the color of my life..
Thank you for your essay. As a neophyte studying Fairy Tale, it has put the genre in perspective as I work my way through the many authors and editors.
No mention is made of Joseph Jacobs collection of English Fairy Tales and More English Fairy Tales. I find the tales and the language are less "literary". Is it an affectation? Deliberately so?. How does he fit in with the collecting and modifying for children in the late Victorian period?
Dearest Joan, Hello! Thank you for reading and commenting on the essay. I'm so glad it has added some perspective to your independent research.
You're right, I didn't include Jacobs' collections in this little essay (there are so many more collectors I could have included, many of whom are so fascinating!). Jacobs is a fascinating case. Did you know he was the editor of the scholarly journal Folklore for a brief time? And that as well as the collections you mention, he co-edited several others, including one called *Indian Fairy Tales*. His collections are notable for many reasons, including that they're mostly *not* fairy tales: he includes legends, ballads, sagas, drolls, nonsense tales, and more.
One of Jacobs unusual or striking departures from the work of the Grimms (who he was inspired by), however, was his expansion of the notion of who the 'folk' were from whom fairy tales (and other folklore narratives) might be collected. He once wrote re this:
'During the discussions which took place some years ago in the Folk-lore Society as to the nature of folk-lore, there was one curious omission. Much was said about what the Folk believed, what the Folk did, and how these sayings and doings of the Folk should be arranged and classified. But very little indeed was said as to what the Folk was that said and did these things, and nothing at all was said as to how they said and did them, and especially as to how they began to say and do them. In short, in dealing with Folk-lore, much was said of the Lore, almost nothing was said of the Folk' (Jacobs 1893, p 233).
He was also interested in the debate over whether fairy tales were/could be 'invented' (could be literary), or were 'survivals' (oral tales long circulated through culture). According to Jacobs: 'Survivals are folk-lore, but folk-lore need not be all survivals. We ought to learn valuable hints as to the spread of folk-lore by studying the Folk of to-day. The music-hall, from this point of view, will have its charm for the folk-lorist, who will there find the Volks-lieder of to-day. The spread of popular sayings, even the rise of new words, provided they be folk-words, should be regarded as a part of the study of folk-lore' (Jacobs 1893, p. 237).
Oh, and on the use of 'voice', he did say that he was not worried about purity or authenticity in relation to voice. He was perfectly content to (re)write the tales he collected to be suitable for child readers. In the introduction to *More English Fairy Tales* he writes that he is not concerned about preserving the 'exact form' of the tales. He cites some sources which are fun to follow-up on, showing him in conversation with (Andrew) lang and Roalfe Cox. He writes:
'I have discussed this matter elsewhere [See 'The Science of Folk Tales and the Problem of Diffusion' in Transactions of the International Folk-Lore Congress, 1891. Mr Lang has honoured me with a rejoinder, which I regard as a palinode, in his Preface to Miss Roalfe Cox's volume of variants of Cinderella' (Folk-Lore Society, 1892).' (From the preface to More English Tales).
Oh dear! It seems I have Much To Say. I hope this is useful and interesting. And perhaps goes some way towards answering your questions ... ?
Oh! Just to be completist, some sources for our dear Australian/English/American Jewish folklorist, Mr J Jacobs:
Fine, Gary Alan 1987, 'Joseph Jacobs: A Sociological Folklorist' Folklore, Vol. 98, No. 2 (1987), pp. 183-193.
Jacobs, J. 1893, 'The Folk' Folklore, Vol. 4, No. 2 (June 1893), pp. 233-238.
Jacobs, J. 1890, English Fairy Tales, D Nutt, London.
Jacobs, J. 1894, More English Fairy Tales, D Nutt, London.
Funny you should mention all this! In my latest manuscript, now under consideration at Wayne State UP, I have a chapter about Jacobs's work and how it fits into his self-fashioning and positioning as a Jew in Victorian England! I can't recap it all here and now, not least because my son is in the other room clamoring for my attention, but I am so glad to see others paying attention to Jacobs's work--I find him a fascinating figure. That ms also has a chapter on the collections of Jewish fairy tales that began appearing in the early 20th century, how they differ from the European collections of the 19th century, and why they didn't appear until then!
How exciting Veronica! I do hope they take it up. I’d love to read this. I agree Jacobs is under-appreciated as a significant figure of the time. Does he also figure in the chapter on Jewish tales?
He doesn't! Part of that chapter is discussing the reasons why neither he nor any other Anglo-Jewish folklorist took up the issue of collecting Jewish fairy tales in the 19th century. He was in the US by the time such collections started appearing, and deeply involved in editing The Jewish Encyclopedia at that point.
So fascinating. What incredibly interesting and important work you are doing. Again: I can't wait to read it!