Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Routledge (1977), Edition: New edition, Paperback, 272 pages
Description
Fairies fascinate young and old alike. To some they offer tantalizing glimpses of other worlds, to others a subversive counterpoint to human arrogance and weakness. Like no other author, Katharine Briggs throughout her work communicated the thrill and delight of the world of fairies, and in this book she articulated for the first time the history of that world in tradition and literature. From every period and every country, poets and storytellers have described a magical world inhabited by elfin spirits. Capricious and vengeful, or beautiful and generous, they've held us in thrall for generations. And on a summer's morn, as the dew dries softly on the grass, if you kneel and look under a toadstool, well ...
User reviews
LibraryThing member antiquary
A thorough scholarly study beginning with a full review of traditional fairies in folklore and going on to some examples of literary uses of fairies.
Language
Physical description
272 p.; 8.4 inches
ISBN
0710086873 / 9780710086877
Local notes
Explores the history in literature and tradition of the wondrous fairies. The text is divided into three units: The Fairy Peoples, Traffic With the Fairies, and Some Literary Fairies. It also contains a nice appendix with lists and definitions of fairy types and specific fairies.