INTRODUCING
When I get a new collection of stories, whether
from a used book sale, library or bookstore, I immediately go to the story I’m currently
working on or one of my favorite tales to see what this new reteller has done
to it. Then I always settle down into the introduction. I’m looking for
illumination and inspiration. After reading a well written introduction, I
can’t wait to dive into the tales themselves.
Why do authors, collectors and retellers spend
time writing introductions? As I read many introductions in a short time period
it was easy to see why. Each writer has particular themes and concerns. Some
want to set the collection in a historical time period. Some want to focus on
the tales and still others on the telling of these tales. Some want to explore
the importance of these stories in today’s world. Well, I guess all of them
want to do that!
Each introduction in the hands of a great writer is
a perfect little essay in and of itself. How could they be otherwise with such
authors as Jane Yolen, A.S Byatt, and Philip Pullman? I am only going to touch
on a few introductions here, but I would send you to any of the introductions
in the volumes published by Pantheon Press. There you will find Padric Colum in
The Complete Brothers Grimm, Italo
Calvino in Italian Folktales and
Richard Erdoes in American Indian Myths
and Legends among others.
I’d like to begin with my all-time favorite
introduction, one I reread any time I need validation for what I do. Jane Yolen
is a prolific and eclectic author and folklorist. Her introductory essay in the
Pantheon collection Favorite Folktales
From Around the World (Pantheon 1986) is the one I go to for inspiration.
“Tales are
meant to be told,” she begins, a point she reiterates in each of the five
sections that make up this essay. Throughout the introduction Yolen’s belief in
the power of story is evident. She speaks to the orality of the tales and how
they change with the teller and with the purpose of the telling. The history of
the collecting and writing down of the tales and even the history of storytelling
in the United States is examined. Yolen takes us to an old storytelling culture
where storytellers were apprenticed. This cultivation of new storytellers is a
question we here at Storytelling Arts ask ourselves. Where are our future
storytellers? The essay is sprinkled with poems and stories... even stories in
the Introduction!!! The piece ends with a poem, ‘Why We Tell Stories’ by Lisel
Mueller. How would you answer?
Maria Tatar is a renowned folklorist and author.
She has studied and written about fairy tales for many years. Her collections The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales (Norton, 2002) and The Annotated Brothers Grimm (Norton,
2004) both have outstanding introductions, but I would like to concentrate on
the earlier edition. In this introduction Tatar focuses on the oral art of
storytelling, that these stories should be told or read out loud. She speaks to
the inherent morals in these old tales. Moralizing is not needed, though she
gives guidelines on the importance of discussing these stories as they are told.
In the introduction she clearly sets up the collection, explaining why she
added the annotations, and the points of discussions that might ensue. She also
speaks to the importance of illustrations of these old tales and includes many
of the most famous illustrations. “...illustrations that provide not only
visual pleasure, but also powerful commentaries on the tales, interrupting the
flow of the story at critical moments and offering opportunities for further
reflection and interpretation.” You can hear an interview with Maria Tatar on
the importance of fairy tales in our lives here: http://www.onbeing.org/program/the-great-cauldron-of-story-maria-tatar-on-why-fairy-tales-are-for-adults-again/5073/audio?embed=1
One of the newest collections of Grimm’s fairy
tales is Philip Pullman’s Fairy Tales
From the Brothers Grimm. (Viking 2012) Philip Pullman is a masterful
storyteller and author of His Dark
Materials. (Knopf) This introduction begins with a James Merill poem which
Pullman uses as headings for six different sections of the essay. He gives a
fairly detailed history and biography of the two brothers Grimm, of their
collecting style and how scholars from many fields have interpreted the tales
over time. “But,” states Pullman, “my main interest has always been in how the
tales worked as stories.” The
qualities and characteristics of the form are explored: flatness, stock
characters, lack of imagery and description and swiftness of pace. He then
defends the retelling and reworking of the tales. Fairy tales are not a written
text, they are “transcriptions made on one or more occasions of the words
spoken by one of many people who have told this tale.” “The fairy tale is in a
perpetual state of becoming and alteration. To keep to one version or one
translation alone is to put a robin redbreast in a cage.” As storytellers we
know this to be true. Our ‘stories’ change from one telling to the next and
evolve over time. You can read an
interview with Philip Pullman about this book here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/9571067/Interview-Philip-Pullman-on-Grimm-Tales.html