The Museum of Shadows and Reflections
- Submitting institution
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Edge Hill University
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Output identifier
- 22960042
- Type
- A - Authored book
- DOI
-
-
- Publisher
- Papavaria Press
- ISBN
- 9781907881497
- Open access status
- -
- Month of publication
- November
- Year of publication
- 2016
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
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-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The Museum of Shadows and Reflections is a short story collection exploring folkloric themes in contemporary post-industrial Lancashire landscapes. Drawing on extensive research into folk and fairy tale forms, the fourteen stories in the collection each explore aspects of the extraordinary in everyday settings. Research sources included collections of English tales edited by Katherine Briggs, Kevin Crossley-Holland, and Joseph Jacobs, and associated scholarship, including the work of Marina Warner and Jack Zipes. The collection bridges the genres of literary fiction and fantasy fiction and builds on a well-established tradition of feminist fairy tale writing by authors including Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood. The focus of this collection is on original tales rather than the retellings or revisionings of existing stories that are more common in contemporary fairy tale publishing. Through practice-research I was able to investigate how a sense of wonder can be evoked in stories with mundane settings. The writing process involved significant desk-based research and field. Situated writing practices were essential for gathering imaginative and narrative materials to aid in a depiction of austerity Britain. The undertaking of this research advanced my understanding of the opportunities the short story form provides for exploring transformative wonder in politically neglected settings and allowed me to contribute to fairy tale as a living tradition. Rather than relying on subverting or revising a canon of traditional tales, I was able to develop new fairy tales in response to contemporary realities.
The collection was published by Papavaria Press in 2016. Stories have been performed at festivals and events in Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow and London. ‘Feather Girls’ was translated into Arabic and published with the support of the British Council and ‘Glass, Bricks, Dust’ has been used on the GCSE English syllabus.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
