France Month: Peau d'âne illustrated by Miss Clara

Peau d'âne by Charles Perrault and illustrated by Miss Clara is today's France Month post. But there will be more. Because as I looked for illustrations to share, I fell in love with Miss Clara's work. It's mixed media with sculpture, photography and all sorts of magic. She has illustrated several fairy tale titles and I will give a few of them their own posts today, starting with Donkeyskin.

Book description:

La reine mourante a fait promettre au roi de ne prendre pour nouvelle épouse qu'une femme plus belle qu'elle. Le mari éploré, après de vaines recherches, est forcé de se rendre à l'évidence : seule sa fille est capable de rivaliser avec autant de charmes. La princesse n'a bientôt plus d'autre choix que de s'évader de chez elle, vêtue d'une peau d'âne...

France Month: Peau d'Ane by Charles Perrault (Auteur), Anne Romby (Illustrateur & Auteur)

Peau d'Ane by Charles Perrault (Auteur), Anne Romby (Illustrateur & Auteur) is the picture book I bought for myself when I traveled to France in 2008. I bought the book in a little children's toy store in Arles, actually, near where Van Gogh lived and painted for a while. So I look at this book and have fond memories, including carrying it around for the rest of the day as we tried to explore Arles but were frustrated almost every stop by site closures.

Needless to say, this is one of my favorite illustrated versions of the tale which is why I bought it and carried it around southern France for a day. There are at least twice as many illustrations as you will see here, but this is enough to give you a grand taste of the book as well as see some of my favorites.

These scans of the images are not my own, but came from another site, a children's book illustration blog.

Book description:

Pour échapper à son père qui a décidé de l’épouser, une jeune princesse se sauve et devient « Peau d’Âne », une pauvre servante. La reprise du très célèbre conte qui retrouve une nouvelle jeunesse grâce à de superbes illustrations.

France Month: Peau d'âne by Jean-Pierre Kerlo'ch & Eric Battut

Peau d'âne by Jean-Pierre Kerlo'ch (Auteur), Eric Battut (Illustrations). Another Peau d'âne since I have her on the brain this week. I could only find two illustrations for this book, but they are interesting all the same.

Book description:

La délicatesse des illustrations d'Éric Battut met en lumière l'un des textes les plus fascinants et les plus anciens du répertoire français, adapté par Jean-Pierre Kerloc'h dans le respect de la langue de Charles Perrault.

France Month: Peau d'Ane: L'ancienne et véritable histoire de la Peau D'Anesse

Peau d'Ane : L'ancienne et véritable histoire de la Peau D'Anesse by Jean-Jacques Fdida (Auteur), Jean-Marie Machado (Auteur), Nathalie Novi (Illustrations)

This month, I am going to be featuring French picture books of fairy tales with an emphasis on their illustrators since visual art crosses language barriers. I will offer primarily familiar tales since I don't have time to translate descriptions. Originally, I was going to offer fairy tale books from around the world but I got caught up in France and didn't exit, realizing that I have plenty for a month of posts from just one country. I may continue the theme from other countries during other months in 2012. For now, Happy New Year!

I won't be focusing on illustrators in these posts as much as the interpretations of the tales. Some illustrators are going to appear more than once, too, since some have plenty of fairy tale work.

Most of all, I am excited to share so many Donkeyskin/Peau d'Ane books since the tale is very much alive and beloved in its homeland.

Robin McKinley, Deerskin, Fairy Tales, and Horror

On her blog this week, Robin McKinley has written about her book, Deerskin, and some perceptions of it as a horror genre book. Her thoughts are interesting and I am on her side. I don't consider Deerskin a horror novel as horrific as a few elements are. Here is an excerpt with her thoughts on fairy tales in the midst of the discussion:

The line between fairy tales and horror for me—and for a number of you who have posted or commented or tweeted to this effect—is that fairy tales tend to be about working through your traumas, your horrors, your fears, your great big insurmountable obstacles. Horror tends to plonk them down and say yup, there they are. Trauma, horror, fear and insurmountable obstacles. Have fun. People die in fairy tales and the happy endings may be a little crinkly around the edges but generally some kind of something worth having is won through to. In horror . . . at best you learn coping mechanisms, you build your enclaves. The zombies and the vampires don’t go away. I believe that Lissar is going to be okay. She’s won. She’ll always have the scars—but she’s won.

I read Deerskin when it was first released years ago and was young and not expecting what dwelt between the covers. I shy away from the horror genre, too, with very few exceptions. Deerskin is not for the faint of heart but it is a powerful, wonderful book and has had a lasting impact on fairy tale novelizations. I know that many of my horror adoring friends would shy away from this book because it is all too real, not fantastical or horrific enough. Yes, perception is personal. Too bad we need genre to help us narrow down the thousands of choices at times. I read more and more across genres so I value them but also agonize over them and the prejudices inherent against them. And I am not anti-horror any more than I am anti other genres. It just isn't my personal taste.

But McKinley in the paragraph above summarized one of the reasons I love fairy tales and cringe whenever they are dismissed by those who don't understand them.

Unnatural Issue: An Elemental Masters Novel by Mercedes Lackey

 

Unnatural Issue: An Elemental Masters Novel by Mercedes Lackey (also availabe as ebook) was released earlier this month. (I don't know why I thought it was a July release.) I enjoyed the early Elemental Masters books, such as The Fire Rose and The Serpent's Shadow, but the more recent ones fell flat for me so I haven't rushed to read them. Also, there used to be many less fairy tale inspired novels each year and that has changed, too. I have a hard time keeping up.

But it is intriguing that Lackey chose Donkeyskin for her inspiration this time. There are so few Donkeyskin based novels that this one certainly tweaks my interest. Then there's the blurbs about the salute to Dorothy Sayers and her Lord Peter Wimsey.* Now, you may not know this, but Lord Peter is a dear friend of mine so I have to read things that pay homage to him. Harriet Vane is missing, it appears, which is sad, but this one will certainly enter my reading pile sometime soon.

Problem is that anything that evokes Lord Peter will make me want to read some of Sayers' books which I did some in the winter when The Attenbury Emeralds was released. But that's far enough off topic now, back to the book at hand.

Oh, I always enjoy elemental magic, too, so that is another bonus for this series. It's imperfect but I enjoy more than I don't with it. Lackey has another release upcoming in her other fairy tale related series although I don't enjoy that one nearly as much as this one. Beauty and the Werewolf (Five Hundred Kingdoms) is due out in October.

Book description from the publisher for Unnatural Issue:

A brand-new Elemental Masters novel from the national bestselling author Mercedes Lackey.

Richard Whitestone is an Elemental Earth Master. Blaming himself for the death of his beloved wife in childbirth, he has sworn never to set eyes on his daughter, Suzanne. But when he finally sees her, a dark plan takes shape in his twisted mind-to use his daughter's body to bring back the spirit of his long-dead wife.

Anyone else plan to read this one?


*Really and truly, if you haven't read Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon, I envy you and your future joy in reading them. Not that I don't experience it every time I reread them and even when I watch the wonderful series that lamentably is missing Busman's Honeymoon, but it's never the same as the first time. My husband doesn't read voraciously like me, but all the Lord Peter DVDs are in his regular rotation. I knew I chose the right man when he adored Peter and Harriet almost as much as I do.