Training Courses
Listening to original sound tracks on the internet, suddenly some advertising started playing. It was the promotion of a format of training course in various areas. This time there was Neil Gaiman, promoting his course for creative narrative. Neil Gaiman is author to “Sandman” and the novel “Coraline”, just to mention some of them.
The Sleeper and the Spindle
“The Sleeper and the Spindle” is the novel I have recently come to love. It was splendidly illustrated by Chris Riddel.
The story is about the events that unfold after the deliverance of Snow-White from the spell of the Evil Queen. It is mixed-up with the fable of The Sleeping Beauty.
Meanings behind the dark fairytale
Self-determinism and no Prince
From the first pages, a message is hinted. Snow-White will soon be married, but for her this means not to have choice anymore. Self-determinism.
The dwarves, from seven, now only three are left to follow her adventures. They are wingmen in this dark fairytale. They defuse and break the gloomy atmosphere of fear and mystery that develops in the Inn of Goodmaster Foxen. There is no “Prince Charming” here, but Queen Snow-White is the saviour. The Prince Charming we used to know from the fairytale, gets shrunk to a less important role. ”He was but a Prince and she a Queen”.
No names and partial omniscience
Sometimes the irony of the author emerges in the novel.
– From here on the quotes are freely translated from the italian version of the novel (which I read for this review) –
<<there is lack of name in this story>>.
This is a fairytale in the classic style. So there was no reason to specify names for the dwarves, the Queen and even the Sleeping Beauty. The author depicts the story in a very linear way, with very few flashbacks and parallel events. He plays with the partial omniscience of the reader . Thus he plays the trick, with the introduction of the character who is the key for the turn of events.
”Grey hair, with white streaks, so scarce that the scalp could be seen “
”she limped, raging throughout the castle, like she was fueled only by hate “
But Gaiman gives us some reasons “she knew the castle better than everyone else ”.
The Woods
Another beautiful image is the Woods. In literature, they are usually a metaphor for a “inner theatre where the deepest impulses of our psyche take form” (E.Raimondi, “Leggere come io l’intendo”, 2. “L’umanesimo e il rinascimento”, Bruno Mondadori, 2009). Here, in fact, Snow-White experiences her only flashback and hears the voices from her past. These will be useful for her to understand and not to fall for the deceit.
Conclusions
In conclusion: the principle of κάλοκαγαθία ( καλός+κάι+αγαθός, kalòs+kai+agathòs), that to say that what is beautiful ( καλός ) is by definition good ( αγαθός ), is in the novel portrayed in its anachronism. The woman is now not only a figure that waits for a Charming Prince to come and rescue her. So, being good does not mean that the good individual deserves our complete trust.
There is also a consideration to be done on the character of the old lady. She watches the young sleeping beauty with painful regret, there, abandoned in an empty castle. The castle is so empty that she speaks loudly, “even so, who could ever hear her?” . This is a metaphor of the human. Who once gets old lives in an empty castle full of memories, with the reminiscence of his long-gone youth.
At the end of the story, the catharsis : “we always have a choice ”.
Enjoy your reading!
| Carlo Miccolis | 20:32 (17 minuti fa) |
| a me |