Fairy Tales Are True


Book Description

Welcome to the world in which fairy tales are true, where the prominent scientists of the day join together to seek wisdom from a great sage of the Himalayas at the fabled Kumbha Mela. Guided by a trusted myth-spinning storyteller, their journey and its preparation are peppered with tales of metaphysical adventures. From the bohemian Shangri-La of the Oceano Dunes to the ancient Ganges flowing from Himalayan heights, the group travels and discovers the realm of "silent reach." In the tradition of metaphysical fiction that was popular in the 1920's and 30s, Fairy Tales are True sweeps the reader into a vortex of yogis, scientists, spies and fools. Unlike most of those forgotten novels of secret universal Buddhist brotherhoods and mystical Tibetan quests, this book is more than partly true. Bryn Beorse, who was known to the Sufis as Shamcher, was the real deal: an actual world-travelling yogi-sufi who also was an esteemed economist and engineer. Here he has created a fantastical autobiographical allegory in a book that defies categorization. As one long teaching story comprised of nested teaching stories, Beorse's book may take liberties with facts to illustrate truths, but not as often as you might think. It is not only autobiographical, it is also a novelized or storified account of concepts that cannot be easily grasped by the literal mind. From California pre-hippy communes of eighty years ago, to the mysterious convening of the sages in modern-day India, this story sweeps the reader along following the secret thread whose strands have held mankind together for the last few thousand years. Visits to simple villagers with amazing powers alternate with the adventures of an expedition of the world's most important scientists, as Bryn Beorse takes us into the "inner sanctums" of our own everyday world.




Fairy Tale


Book Description

"Fairy Tale: A True Story" tells the tale of two little girls who set out to prove the existence of fairies. Starring Peter O'Toole as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harvey Keitel as Harry Houdini, "Fairy Tale: A True Story" is sure to become a family favorite.




More Than True


Book Description

The National Book Award–winning poet examines how the enduring narratives of fairy tales capture the essence of human nature. Fairy tales have remarkable power to touch the human spirit—and they are uniquely capable of retaining that power through time and across borders. Celebrated poet and bestselling author Robert Bly has spent decades investigating the origins and meanings of these deceptively simple stories. In More Than True, Bly looks at six tales that have long captivated him, from “The Six Swans” to “The Frog Prince.” Drawing on his own creative vision, and the work of a range of thinkers from Kirkegaard and Yeats to Freud and Jung, Bly brings new meaning and illumination to these timeless tales. Along with illustrations of each story, the book features some of Bly’s unpublished poetry, which peppers his lyric prose and offers a look inside the mind of an American master of letters in the twilight of his singular career.




Her Stories


Book Description

Nineteen stories focus on the magical lore and wondrous imaginings of African American women.




When Dreams Came True


Book Description

For centuries fairy tales have been a powerful mode of passing cultural values onto our children, and for many these stories delight and haunt us from cradle to grave. But how have these stories become so powerful and why? Until now we have lacked a social history of the fairy tale to frame our understanding of the role it plays in our lives. With the publication of When Dreams Came True, Jack Zipes fills this gap and shifts his focus to the social and historical roots of the classical tales. With coverage of the most significant writers and their works in Europe and North America from the sixteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, When Dreams Came True is another important contribution by the master of fairy tales. From the French Charles Perrault to the American L. Frank Baum and the German Hermann Hesse, Zipes explores the way in which particular authors used the genre of the fairy tale to articulate their personal desires, political views and aesthetic preferences in their particular social context. At the core of this magical tour through the history of the fairy tale is Zipes' desire to elucidate the role that the fairy tale has assumed in the civilizing process--the way it imparts values, norms and aesthetic taste to children and adults. His journey takes us to the familiar and the exotic in the great classical tales by Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen and in such fascinating works as Pinocchio, The Thousand and One Nights, The Happy Prince and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Throughout, Zipes reveals the historical dimensions of the tales and demonstrates their continuing relevance in our lives today.




The Light from Behind the Sun


Book Description

"This book is a collection of essays by Douglas Wilson on C.S. Lewis, his work, and his wisdom"--




Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion


Book Description

The fairy tale may be one of the most important cultural and social influences on children's lives. But until Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion, little attention had been paid to the ways in which the writers and collectors of tales used traditional forms and genres in order to shape children's lives – their behavior, values, and relationship to society. As Jack Zipes convincingly shows, fairy tales have always been a powerful discourse, capable of being used to shape or destabilize attitudes and behavior within culture. For this new edition, the author has revised the work throughout and added a new introduction bringing this classic title up to date.




Grimm's Grimmest


Book Description

Selected stories from the 3rd ed. (1822) of Kinder- und Hausm'archen by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.




The Word Collector


Book Description

From the beloved bestselling creator of The Dot and our own Happy Dreamer comes an inspiring story about the transformative and profound power of words. Some people collect stamps.Some people collect coins.Some people collect art.And Jerome?Jerome collected words . . . In this extraordinary new tale from Peter H. Reynolds, Jerome discovers the magic of the words all around him -- short and sweet words, two-syllable treats, and multisyllable words that sound like little songs. Words that connect, transform, and empower. From the creator of The Dot and Happy Dreamer comes a celebration of finding your own words -- and the impact you can have when you share them with the world.