Guillermo del Toro and the Science of Fairy Tales

   

Found in my very random and very haphazard searching as I enjoy sitting upright for a while. I am on the downswing of a serious bout of flu or some other creeping crud. Otherwise I would discuss this more. Maybe. My brain is too flustered to know, but I didn't want to not post this either:

From "If you get bored with nothing to do, you are not a writer": Guillermo del Toro's words to live by by Erik Henriksen

The Science of Fairy Tales: An Inquiry into Fairy Mythology by Edwin Sidney Hartland, published in 1891, is the book that most influenced the Strain Trilogy (though it sounds like it's influenced a lot of del Toro's other stuff, too; it's available online for free.) "I needed to make Pan's Labyrinth feel like a real fairy tale... like it was ancient," del Toro said. "I think everything I write is a fairy tale, to a degree." Chapters of The Science of Fairy Tales include "Changelings," "Swan-Maidens," "Robberies form Fairyland," no fewer than three chapters on "The Supernatural Lapse of Time in Fairyland," "Fairy Births and Human Midwives," and, naturally, "Fairy Births and Human Midwives (Continued)." The first line from the book's preface:

The chief object of this volume is to exhibit, in a manner acceptable to readers who are not specialists, the application of the principles and methods which guide investigations into popular traditions to a few of the most remarkable stories embodying the Fairy superstitions of the Celtic and Teutonic peoples.

Anyway, The Science of Fairy Tales is an interesting text... And with a fever of a minimum of 100 the past several days, I'm not going to think about del Toro's work.  My brain is fuzzy and prone to hallucinatory ideas that I have to talk myself out of.  I've stayed away from anything that would lead to nightmares.

And, yes, I am feeling better.  But I expect things to be slow for the next few days around here at least.  Huzzah...