When the learned first gave serious attention to popular ballads, from the time of Percy to that of Scott, they laboured under certain disabilities. The Comparative Method was scarcely understood, and was little practised. Editors were content to study the ballads of their own countryside, or, at most, of Great Britain. Teutonic and Northern parallels to our ballads were then adduced, as by Scott and Jamieson. It was later that the ballads of Europe, from the Faroes to Modern Greece, were compared with our own, with EuropeanMärchen, or children’s tales, and with the popular songs, dances, and traditions of classical and savage peoples. The results of this more recent comparison may be briefly stated. Poetry begins, as Aristotle says, in improvisation. Every man is his own poet, and, in moments of stronge motion, expresses himself in song. A typical example is the Song of Lamech in Genesis—“I have slain a man to my wounding, And a young man to my hurt.” Instances perpetually occur in the Sagas: Grettir, Egil, Skarphedin, are always singing. In Kidnapped, Mr. Stevenson introduces “The Song of the Sword of Alan,” a fine example of Celtic practice: words and air are beaten out together, in the heat of victory. In the same way, the women sang improvised dirges, like Helen; lullabies, like the lullaby of Danae in Simonides, and flower songs, as in modern Italy. Every function of life, war, agriculture, the chase, had its appropriate magical and mimetic dance and song, as in Finland, among Red Indians, and among Australian blacks. “The deeds of men” were chanted by heroes, as by Achilles; stories were told in alternate verse and prose; girls, like Homer’s Nausicaa, accompanied dance and ball play, priests and medicine-men accompanied rites and magical ceremonies by songs. These practices are world-wide, and world-old. The thoroughly popular songs, thus evolved, became the rude material of a professional class of minstrels, when these arose, as in the heroic age of Greece. A minstrel might be attached to a Court, or a noble; or he might go wandering with song and harp among the people. In either case, this class of men developed more regular and ample measures. They evolved the hexameter; the laisse of the Chansons de Geste; the strange technicalities of Scandinavian poetry; the metres of Vedic hymns; the choral odes of Greece. The narrative popular chant became in their hands the Epic, or the mediaeval rhymed romance. The metre of improvised verse changed into the artistic lyric. These lyric forms were fixed, in many cases, by the art of writing. But poetry did not remain solely in professional and literary hands. The mediaeval minstrels and jongleurs (who may best be studied in Léon Gautier’s Introduction to his Epopées Françaises) sang in Court and Camp. The poorer, less regular brethren of the art, harped and played conjuring tricks, in farm and grange, or at street corners. The foreign newer metres took the place of the old alliterative English verse. But unprofessional men and women did not cease to make and sing.
As well as editing the famous Fairy Books, Andrew Lang created a diverse oeuvre of short story collections, novels, poetry and a scholarly corpus of essays and non-fiction books. This Delphi edition offers a comprehensive range of Lang’s prolific works, with thousands of beautiful illustrations, as well as the usual bonus texts. (Current version: 2) * the complete Fairy Books, all fully-illustrated with their original Victorian artwork – first time in digital print * special contents table for the Fairy Books * ALL the novels, with contents tables * images of how the books first appeared, giving your eReader a taste of the Victorian texts * many short story collections, with beautiful illustrations * ARABIAN NIGHTS fully illustrated – first time in digital print * 13 poetry collections, with contents tables and illustrations * special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the poetry – find that special poem quickly and easily! * features 29 non-fiction books, each with contents tables * includes two biographical essays on Lang – explore the writer’s literary life! * many images relating to Lang’s life and works * scholarly ordering of texts in chronological order and literary genres, allowing easy navigation around Lang’s immense oeuvre CONTENTS: The Fairy Books THE BLUE FAIRY BOOK THE RED FAIRY BOOK THE GREEN FAIRY BOOK THE YELLOW FAIRY BOOK THE PINK FAIRY BOOK THE GREY FAIRY BOOK THE VIOLET FAIRY BOOK THE CRIMSON FAIRY BOOK THE BROWN FAIRY BOOK THE ORANGE FAIRY BOOK THE OLIVE FAIRY BOOK THE LILAC FAIRY BOOK The Fairy Tales LIST OF THE TALES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER LIST OF THE TALES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER Other Story Collections MUCH DARKER DAYS IN THE WRONG PARADISE AND OTHER STORIES HE THE GOLD OF FAIRNILEE PRINCE PRIGIO THE TRUE STORY BOOK PRINCE RICARDO OF PANTOUFLIA ANGLING SKETCHES THE BOOK OF DREAMS AND GHOSTS ARABIAN NIGHTS THE DISENTANGLERS THE RED TRUE STORY BOOK TALES OF TROY AND GREECE THE ANIMAL STORY BOOK THE BOOK OF ROMANCE THE RED ROMANCE BOOK THE RED BOOK OF HEROES by Mrs. Lang TALES OF ROMANCE THE STRANGE STORY BOOK by Mrs. Lang The Novels THE MARK OF CAIN THE WORLD’S DESIRE PARSON KELLY The Poetry Collections BALLADS, LYRICS, AND POEMS OF OLD FRANCE THE ODYSSEY THEOCRITUS BION AND MOSCHUS BALLADS IN BLUE CHINA HELEN OF TROY THE ILIAD RHYMES A LA MODE AUCASSIN AND NICOLETE A COLLECTION OF BALLADS GRASS OF PARNASSUS BAN AND ARRIERE BAN THE NURSERY RHYME BOOK NEW COLLECTED RHYMES The Poetry LIST OF POEMS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER LIST OF POEMS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER The Non-Fiction OXFORD THE LIBRARY and many more - too many to list The Biographies ANDREW LANG by Edmund Gosse SPENCER WALPOLE AND ANDREW LANG by Horace G. Hutchinson
The Selected Works of Andrew Lang: Volume 1Anthropology: Fairy Tale, Folklore, the Origins of Religion, Psychical ResearchEdited by Andrew Teverson, Alexandra Warwick and Leigh WilsonThis is the first critical edition of the works of Andrew Lang (1844-1912), the Scottish writer whose enormous output spanned the whole range of late-nineteenth century intellectual culture. Neglected since his death, partly because of the diversity of his interests and the volume of his writing, his cultural centrality and the interdisciplinary nature of his work make him a vital figure for contemporary scholars.This volume covers Lang's wide and influential engagement with the central areas of late nineteenth-century anthropology. Lang made decisive interventions in debates around the meaning of folk tales and the origins of religion, as well as being an important figure in the investigation of spiritualist claims through psychical research. The work reproduced here includes journalism, essays, extracts from books and previously unpublished letters which together articulate and challenge some of the central ideas and discussions of the period, including evolution, the relation between modern and non-modern cultures, the nature of scientific claims to truth, and the consequences of materialism. The volume will provide new and illuminating ways of understanding and assessing the period for scholars across a range of disciplines, including those interested in the histories of the fairy story, of science, of the occult, of colonialism and of anthropology.Key Features: Unpublished archival materialCritical introductions to the major areas of his workFull explanatory notesAndrew Teverson is Professor of English Literature and Associate Dean for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Kingston University, London. His research centres on the use and meaning of fairy tales, and he has published both on the employment of them in contemporary writing and on the historical development of the form. He is the author of Fairy Tale (Routledge, 2013).Alexandra Warwick is Professor of English Studies and Head of the Department of English, Linguistics and Cultural Studies at the University of Westminster. Her research is on Victorian culture, in particular the fin de sicle. Leigh Wilson is Reader in Modern Literature in the Department of English, Linguistics and Cultural Studies at the University of Westminster. Her research focuses on modernism, on the place of supernatural and occult beliefs and practices in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and on the contemporary British novel. She is the author of Modernism and Magic: Experiments with Spiritualism, Theosophy and the Occult (EUP, 2013).
GRANDMA'S TREASURES THE RED FAIRY BOOK by Andrew Lang The Tales in this volume are intended for children, who will like, it is hoped, the old stories that have pleased so many generations. - Andrew Lang FAIRY BOOKS: CHILDREN'S STORIES FROM ALL AROUND THE WORLD. The Blue Fairy Book The Red Fairy Book The Green Fairy Book The Yellow Fairy Book The Pink Fairy Book The Grey Fairy Book The Violet Fairy Book The Crimson Fairy Book The Brown Fairy Book The Orange Fairy Book The Olive Fairy Book The Lilac Fairy Book
The Selected Works of Andrew Lang: Volume 1Anthropology: Fairy Tale, Folklore, the Origins of Religion, Psychical ResearchEdited by Andrew Teverson, Alexandra Warwick and Leigh WilsonThis is the first critical edition of the works of Andrew Lang (1844-1912), the Scottish writer whose enormous output spanned the whole range of late-nineteenth century intellectual culture. Neglected since his death, partly because of the diversity of his interests and the volume of his writing, his cultural centrality and the interdisciplinary nature of his work make him a vital figure for contemporary scholars.This volume covers Lang's wide and influential engagement with the central areas of late nineteenth-century anthropology. Lang made decisive interventions in debates around the meaning of folk tales and the origins of religion, as well as being an important figure in the investigation of spiritualist claims through psychical research. The work reproduced here includes journalism, essays, extracts from books and previously unpublished letters which together articulate and challenge some of the central ideas and discussions of the period, including evolution, the relation between modern and non-modern cultures, the nature of scientific claims to truth, and the consequences of materialism. The volume will provide new and illuminating ways of understanding and assessing the period for scholars across a range of disciplines, including those interested in the histories of the fairy story, of science, of the occult, of colonialism and of anthropology.Key Features: Unpublished archival materialCritical introductions to the major areas of his workFull explanatory notesAndrew Teverson is Professor of English Literature and Associate Dean for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Kingston University, London. His research centres on the use and meaning of fairy tales, and he has published both on the employment of them in contemporary writing and on the historical development of the form. He is the author of Fairy Tale (Routledge, 2013).Alexandra Warwick is Professor of English Studies and Head of the Department of English, Linguistics and Cultural Studies at the University of Westminster. Her research is on Victorian culture, in particular the fin de sicle. Leigh Wilson is Reader in Modern Literature in the Department of English, Linguistics and Cultural Studies at the University of Westminster. Her research focuses on modernism, on the place of supernatural and occult beliefs and practices in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and on the contemporary British novel. She is the author of Modernism and Magic: Experiments with Spiritualism, Theosophy and the Occult (EUP, 2013).
This is the first critical edition of the works of Andrew Lang, the Scottish writer whose enormous output spanned the whole the range of late-nineteenth century intellectual culture: from literary criticism to anthropology, magic to archaeology, folklore to Scottish history. Critically neglected since his death, partly because of the diversity of his interests and the volume of his writing, he was central to some of the most important debates of the period. This, and the interdisciplinary nature of his work, makes him an important figure for contemporary scholars
The Langs' Fairy Books are a series of 25 collections of true and fictional stories for children by Andrew Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne published between 1889 and 1913.The Blue Fairy Book: The book assembled a wide range of tales, with seven from the Brothers Grimm, five from Madame d'Aulnoy, three from the Arabian Nights, and four Norwegian fairytales, among other sources. The Blue Fairy Book was the first volume in the series, and so it contains some of the best known tales, taken from a variety of sources.Here in one attractive volume are "Sleeping Beauty," "Rumpelstiltskin," "Beauty and the Beast," "Hansel and Gretel," "Puss in Boots," "Trusty John," "Jack the Giantkiller," "Goldilocks," and many other favorites that have become an indispensable part of our cultural heritage.All in all, this collection contains 37 stories, all narrated in the clear, lively prose for which Lang was famous. Not only are Lang's generally conceded to be the best English versions of standard stories, his collections are the richest and widest in range. His position as one of England's foremost folklorists as well as his first-rate literary abilities makes his collections unmatchable in the English language.
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