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A review by incrediblefran
The Fairy Tellers by Nicholas Jubber
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Nicholas Jubber's enthusiasm for fairy tales is obvious all the way through this fascinating book. It's a journey through the lives of several different figures who are responsible for some of the most famous fairy tales (in the Western world, at least).
Some of these figures were already known to me (and probably most other readers), like the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, but Jubber delves into people who are far less known: Dortchen Wild, who told the Brothers Grimm many of the stories in their collection; Hanna Dyab, the Syrian traveller who brought Western attention to Aladdin and Ali Baba; Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, a fascinating Frenchwoman who wrote the first version of Beauty and the Beast.
Jubber is relentless in digging out the voices behind these stories, and is very clear that women and non-Western people have often been the ones passing down these folk tales in oral traditions – and have then been forgotten. Jubber carefully positions all of his fairy tellers in their context, and while he is interested in how the same tales crop up in different times and place, he draws particular attention to how the tales we know have grown out of a specific cultural context, whether the Spanish occupation of Naples, or Napoleonic invasion, or the turbulent times before the Russian Revolution.
While The Fairy Tellers takes us across time and space, from the Middle Ages to the late 1800s, from Italy to Germany to France to Syria to India to Russia to Denmark, there's still a lot of gaps. It's a shame that Jubber doesn't even touch on the wealth of folk tales from indigenous tradition, or from Africa or further into Asia. There is also a distinct lack of Celtic tales and – particularly notable considering the heavily European focus of the book – no Yiddish folk stories.
But there is enough history in folk tales for an entire series of books, and Jubber has clearly extensively researched the people he does write about, and his love for them is palpable. This book is genuinely fascinating, and Jubber's bright, vivid writing brings his subjects to life.
Some of these figures were already known to me (and probably most other readers), like the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, but Jubber delves into people who are far less known: Dortchen Wild, who told the Brothers Grimm many of the stories in their collection; Hanna Dyab, the Syrian traveller who brought Western attention to Aladdin and Ali Baba; Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, a fascinating Frenchwoman who wrote the first version of Beauty and the Beast.
Jubber is relentless in digging out the voices behind these stories, and is very clear that women and non-Western people have often been the ones passing down these folk tales in oral traditions – and have then been forgotten. Jubber carefully positions all of his fairy tellers in their context, and while he is interested in how the same tales crop up in different times and place, he draws particular attention to how the tales we know have grown out of a specific cultural context, whether the Spanish occupation of Naples, or Napoleonic invasion, or the turbulent times before the Russian Revolution.
While The Fairy Tellers takes us across time and space, from the Middle Ages to the late 1800s, from Italy to Germany to France to Syria to India to Russia to Denmark, there's still a lot of gaps. It's a shame that Jubber doesn't even touch on the wealth of folk tales from indigenous tradition, or from Africa or further into Asia. There is also a distinct lack of Celtic tales and – particularly notable considering the heavily European focus of the book – no Yiddish folk stories.
But there is enough history in folk tales for an entire series of books, and Jubber has clearly extensively researched the people he does write about, and his love for them is palpable. This book is genuinely fascinating, and Jubber's bright, vivid writing brings his subjects to life.