Part X: Perrault/Grimm/Andersen/Collodi/Kingsley/Travers/Lofting

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Masters of Fantasy: Part X

<img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.lostpathway.com/images/coir/travers.jpg" alt="" width="400">

Photo: P.L. Travers

In my last installment of "Masters of Fantasy", I said that I would focus on more children's authors the next time. Nothing's changed, but I've found that there are more authors than I thought there would be, so for the next four installments, in order to save myself from doing too much or overwhelming you all in a single post, I'm going to spread my selections out. I hope you find it interesting.

The list of children's authors in fantasy is quite exhaustive, covering pretty much all of its history. Therefore, it's important to give credit where due, as well as remember that the best works of fiction, even those meant for children, can be enjoyed at any age at all times.




CHARLES PERRAULT (1628-1703)

A member of the Académie française, responsible for creating the Academy of Sciences and restoring the Academy of Painting, Perrault began his career by studying law before moving to government services; eventually, he served as an aide to the finance minister of King Louis XIV. While he wrote some epic poetry later in his life, his greatest contribution to fantasy, let alone his most celebrated and remembered work, came during his retirement, when, to entertain his children, he wrote Stories or Fairy Tales from Past Times with Morals, also known as Mother Goose Tales. The collection, which included such classic stories as "Sleeping Beauty", "Cinderella", "Bluebeard", "Little Red Riding Hood", and others, gave rise to the fairy tale as a literary genre, though it is still disputed among scholars how much of it is original or traditional folk tales. (It may be a bit of both - in the case of "Cinderella", Perrault is responsible for adding the pumpkin, the fairy godmother, and the glass slipper.)

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Perrault)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=perrault_charles)
SurLaLune - The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault (http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/perrault.html)
San Jose State University - Very Brief Look at Charles Perrault (http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/harris/StudentProjects/Student_FairyTales/WebProject/Bios/Perrault%20Bio.htm)



JACOB (1785-1863) AND WILHELM GRIMM (1786-1859)

After battling a life of poverty, the Brothers Grimm - philologists and lexicographers from the University of Marburg - took advantage of the rise of Romanticism' re-interest in fairy tales to collect the folklore of the surrounding regions, in a celebration of German nationalism. With both local peasants and middle-class acquaintances as sources, including Jacob's wife and the family nursery maid, the result was a collection of some of the best known (and darkest) fairy tales in popular consciousness. Jacob constructed the framework for the stories, while Wilhelm would rewrite and edit them, polishing them into more suitable forms for children (once it became clear that they were an audience - it was quite the contrary before).

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_Grimm)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=grimm_brothers)
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm: Brothers and Best Friends on the Fairy Tale Road (http://www.librarypoint.org/brothers_grimm)
SurLaLune - The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms.html)
San Jose State University - Very Brief Look at the Brothers Grimm (http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/harris/StudentProjects/Student_FairyTales/WebProject/Bios/Grimm%20Brothers.htm)



HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN (1805-1875)

The only child of a poor family, spurred by the death of his father to support himself - a situation seemingly plucked out of one of his own stories - Andersen began work as a weaver's apprentice, then a tailor's apprentice, even trying his hand at acting before turning his focus to writing, based on the advice of a colleague. He began by revising old tales than he had heard in his youth, but in 1835, with the publication of Fairy Tales, he truly came into his own style. Andersen represents a watershed moment in the development of the fairy tale, being one of the very first (if not absolutely the first) to write entirely original material, made without the traditional intention to moralize or instruct. His stories are simply meant to entertain, humorously and tenderly.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Christian_Andersen)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=andersen_hans_christian)
Hans Christian Andersen Information Odense (http://www.hcandersen-homepage.dk/)
The Hans Christian Andersen Centre (http://andersen.sdu.dk/index_e.html)



CARLO COLLODI (1826-1890)

Carlo Lorenzini (Collodi was his pen name) served as a volunteer in the Tuscan army during the Italian wars of independence, first publishing in periodicals. Later he turned to translating Perrault's fairy tales before attempting his own original work of fiction. Inspired to express his own convictions through allegorical means, he wrote one of the most recognizable fairy tales in the world - The Adventures of Pinocchio. The original marionette was a troublemaking rascal intended to teach children good behavior, in contrast to the innocent, well-meaning kid of popular consciousness.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Collodi)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=collodi_carlo)
The Literature Network (http://www.online-literature.com/collodi/)
The Slate Book Review (http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2011/10/carlo_collodi_s_pinocchio_why_is_the_original_pinocchio_subjecte.html)
YourWayToFlorence - The Story of Pinocchio (http://www.yourwaytoflorence.com/db/pinocchio/pinocchio.htm)



CHARLES KINGSLEY (1819-1875)

A friend of both George MacDonald and Charles Darwin, a broad church priest and social reformer, Kingsley was an early defender of the theory of evolution as well as an author of historical novels. His best-known work is The Water-Babies, a story of a chimney sweep who, after appearing to drown, becomes a magical creature that goes through a series of transformations, both physical and moral. It was highly popular in its day but has become controversial in modern times for its prejudicial attitudes towards minority groups.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kingsley)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=kingsley_charles)
The Victorian Web - Charles Kingsley: A Biography (http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/kingsley/ckbio.html)
Encyclopedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Kingsley)



P. L. TRAVERS (1899-1996)

Pamela Lyndon Travers, born Helen Lyndon Goff, was an Australian admirer of the work of J. M. Barrie, whose eventual connections in Ireland led her to associate with some of the most important poets of the day, fueling an interest in mythology and folklore that she would explore in her nonfiction work What the Bee Knows. The woman herself had a most problematic life, sexually frustrated and difficult to work with. Her most treasured work, however, was a series of eight books featuring the magical nanny Mary Poppins, who is well-known through the Disney adaptation but is far different in many respects, leading the Banks children through a sort of passage into a more mature world. Her frustration with Disney and the creative changes to her work are the stuff of legends.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._L._Travers)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=travers_p_l)
Hollywood vs. History - "Saving Mr. Banks" (http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/saving-mr-banks.php)
Daily Mail - How the Sexual Adventuress Who Created Mary Poppins Wrecked the Lives of Two Innocent Boys (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2477111/How-Mary-Poppins-creator-P-L-Travers-wrecked-lives-innocent-boys.html)
The Sidney Morning Herald - The Truth Behind Mary Poppins Creator P. L. Travers (http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/the-truth-behind-mary-poppins-creator-pl-travers-20140104-30akz.html)
The New York Times - A Spoonful of Sugar for a Sourpuss (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/movies/songwriter-recalls-p-l-travers-mary-poppins-author.html)



HUGH LOFTING (1886-1947)

Originally a civil engineer, Lofting served in the British Army's Irish Guards regiment during WWI. In order the keep his children safe from the horrors of the war, he wrote stories to them of a physician who can communicate with animals and devotes his time to their well-being - Doctor Dolittle of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. After the war, a total of twelve books were written, earning the prestigious Newbery Medal for the second book. However, the series is somewhat marred by sentiments that would be considered racist by today's standards.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Lofting)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=lofting_hugh)
Encyclopedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hugh-Lofting)
Doctor Dolittle: The Author (http://puddleby.tripod.com/author.html)



That's all for now. I apologize for what may seem to be the shortness of these entries - I was hoping to find a few more academic sources, but they seem to be in short supply. For those who want more, I hope that my sources can provide more information. Tune in next time for more authors of children's fiction. The forum topic is found here: http://www.lostpathway.com/index.php/topic,16.0.html#forum