Hag: Forgotten Folktales Retold
- Brand: Unbranded
Description
Dark, potent and uncanny, Hag bursts with the untold stories of our isles, captures in voices as varied as they are vivid. A collection of short stories that are retellings of British folklore and mythology selected and introduced by Professor Carolyne Larrington. The Dampness is Spreading' by Emma Glass, based on 'The Fairy Midwife', was harrowing in its portrayal of motherhood and despair. Originally this collection was a published as an Audible podcast where the authors were interviewed after each version of their folktales.
Here are sisters fighting for the love of the same woman, a pregnant archaeologist unearthing impossible bones and lost children following you home. Grace and Maya are twins but they are completely different from each other except for the way they look. Reading the stories brought the sense of being trapped in a room, slowly, but very surely, filling up with water. These stories in most instances were brought into much more modern day scenarios, and many took on elements of magical realism to tell their stories, whilst others remained grounded in more everyday scenarios. I am going, to be honest and say that I really liked the re-telling and imagining of these old folklore tales compared to the originals.The book has a very informative foreword, which is almost a story in itself, and explains how the book came to be and some info on what the retellings are based on. They have all taken the essence of the original and moulded and shaped it to a contemporary context.
Sour Hall' by Naomi Booth is adapted from 'Ay, We're Flittin' and centralizes trauma, fear and anger as two women get used to living on their possibly haunted farm. From the islands of Scotland to the coast of Cornwall, the mountains of Galway to the depths of the Fens, these forgotten folktales howl, cackle and sing their way into the 21st century, wildly reimagined by some of the most exciting women writing in Britain and Ireland today. Without the separation of episodes, it feels a little same-y to have two stories both commenting on the nature of storytelling in this way. Also enjoyed that they original tales can be read in the back of the volume for context and comparison.Hag features the re-tellings of dark folktales written by talented women from Daisy Johnson to Eimear McBride.
To discover more content exclusive to our print and digital editions, subscribe here to receive a copy of The London Magazine to your door every two months, while also enjoying full access to our extensive digital archive of essays, literary journalism, fiction and poetry. a brilliant, heartbreaking debut that perfectly captures the delirious highs and bruising lows of intoxicating friendship. The stories all had links to the mythology present in their original tales, but with over arching themes of nature and feminism.
I would rate it five stars if not for the inclusion of Eimear McBride’s The Tale Of Kathleen which is one of the smarmiest, look-how-cleverly-I’m-deconstructing-these-tropes stories I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading.
- Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
- EAN: 764486781913
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