The Irish Fairy Tale
A Narrative Tradition from the Middle Ages to Yeats and Stephens- Authors:
- Publisher:
- 2012
Summary
Beginning with a critical reappraisal of the notion of “fairy tale” and extending it to include categories and genres which are in common usage in folklore and in literary studies, this book throws light on the general processes involved in storytelling. It illuminates the fundamental ways in which a culture is formed, while highlighting important features of the Irish narrative tradition, in all its wealth and variety and in its connections with the mythical and historical events of Ireland. The Irish Fairy Tale argues that the fairy tale is a kind of “neutral zone,” a place of transition as well as a meeting place for popular beliefs and individual creativity, oral tradition and literary works, historical sources and imaginary reconstructions, and for contrasting and converging views of the world, which altogether allow for a deeper and more sophisticated understanding of reality. The book focuses on stories by Yeats and Stephens, whose approach to the subject marks the culmination of a long tradition of attempts at linking past and present and of bridging the gap between what appear to be contradictory facets of a single culture. This leads to a comparative study of Joyce’s Dubliners, which illustrates the universal and exemplary nature of the notion of fairy tale put forward in the work.
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Bibliographic data
- Copyright year
- 2012
- ISBN-Print
- 978-1-61149-380-1
- ISBN-Online
- 978-1-61149-379-5
- Publisher
- Lexington, Lanham
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 208
- Product type
- Book Titles
Table of contents
- CONTENTS No access
- Acknowledgments No access
- Introduction No access Pages 1 - 24
- Chapter 1. A Celtic Legacy and Christian Syncretism No access Pages 25 - 42
- Chapter 2. The Precursors of Yeats in the Recovery of the Narrative Tradition No access Pages 43 - 58
- Chapter 3. A Rebirth in the Light of the Tradition No access Pages 59 - 80
- Chapter 4. The Fairy Tale Between Fabula and Historia No access Pages 81 - 96
- Chapter 5. The Process of Composition of the Fairy Tale No access Pages 97 - 114
- Chapter 6. Plurality and Metanarrativity in the Fairy Tale No access Pages 115 - 130
- Chapter 7. The Significance of the Fairy Tale in Historical and Cultural Contexts No access Pages 131 - 146
- Chapter 8. Between the Fairy Tale and the Tale No access Pages 147 - 166
- Chapter 9. Narrative Construction and Reconstruction of the World No access Pages 167 - 180
- Chapter 10. Beyond Ireland: A General Perspective No access Pages 181 - 194
- Selected Bibliography No access Pages 195 - 202
- Index No access Pages 203 - 206
- About the Author No access Pages 207 - 208





