On some books about Clarke's works

[pretty_plant]

Today, as I was looking through Amazon, I was surprised to see a book by Peter D. Matthews titled English Magic and Imperial Madness that has not yet been released. The book will focus on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Clarke. I am pleased to know that someone will do an in depth analysis into the book because JSMN definitely deserves it.

I remember a few years back, when I randomly took a book out of a shelf in the library, I was pleasantly surprised to see the book mention JSMN. It was a book about fairy tales and the author wrote that they liked The Ladies of Grace Adieu. They also told a fascinating story about the tale that "On Lickerish Hill" was based on. Apparently, the tale was first penned by a woman but was later revised and republished by a man (and was then later republished by another man). The woman who wrote it was peeved by the fact she received no acknowledgement. In her story, Clarke also did not acknowledge the authoress who first penned the story. I think that is the basic story though I read it so long ago, I probably forgot all the important details. But this whole thing is particularly interesting because it fits the theme of The Ladies of Grace Adieu so well. I wish I had noted the name of the book and the author down. I will probably go to the library one day to try to find it again.

Comments

[regshoe]

Ooh, literary books about Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell sound like an excellent thing, I'm glad it's getting the attention—and that title sounds especially interesting.

'On Lickerish Hill' is a variant of 'Rumpelstiltskin', isn't it? I think the general story is traditional, though I don't know anything about the history of published versions.

[pretty_plant]

I mean Rumpelstiltskin is definitely German and the story "On Lickerish Hill" is based on is definitely English. But then again it is a folk tale so it is not uncommon to see multiple versions of something in a lot of countries. Look at Cinderella. That story and its many versions seem to be in every country. That, however, does not make any version less of its own thing because of the cultural differences and how folk lore collectors told it. I certainly do not think my country's version of Cinderella is very similar to Cinderella.

I will probably try to find that book some time next week to at least learn its name so if you are interested, you can check it out. I would definitely suggest finding it in a library or something because I think the whole thing with that folk tale was just told in a few pages.

[regshoe]

True! Several of the Swedish ballads I've been learning recently have equivalents in England and Scotland—usually not very similar, but clearly the same story—and it's very interesting seeing the variation and different interpretations.

Anyway—after a little bit more investigation, the English story is called 'Tom Tit Tot', and the most prominent early published version was by Joseph Jacobs in his 'English Fairy Tales'—was he the man mentioned in your book? Anyway, I hope you do manage to track it down, because it does sound interesting!

[pretty_plant]

I found it. It is Fairy Tale by Andrew Teverson.

[regshoe]

Oh, excellent—thank you!