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.

Quotable: Greensleeves by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

I was recently rereading one of my favorite books from my teenage years, a gem by Eloise Jarvis McGraw whose more popular titles include The Moorchild, Mara: Daughter of the Nile, The Golden Goblet and The Moccasin Trail. While all of these are worthy books, I consider McGraw's masterpiece to be her little known Greensleeves. You can see how popular it is by looking at its high prices for used copies with Amazon and other used booksellers.

To my knowledge it has never been reprinted since it's original run in the late 1960s. Somehow I discovered it dusty and neglected on the school library shelf a few decades later, borrowed it and fell in love. No, it doesn't have much of a fairy tale influence although one could argue for it being a brilliant modern day (albeit 1960s, so not so modern) Cinderella. There's a secret identity, a fairy godfather of sorts and a hero who behaves like a prince.

But its appearance on this blog is brought about by a small quote during a conversation between the main character and a friend. Here it is:

“There’s a whole book here about it that she used to read me out of. She used to read me Grimm’s Fairy Tales, too.” Wynola glanced at me defensively. “You might think I was too old for those, but she read them herself, all the time. She said fairy tales were good for people.”

“Good for people? How?”

“Well said, ‘Same way helium is good for a balloon.’”

What more can I say? Until tomorrow...