Fairies

Approaching Fairies: Taxonomy, Meanings, Evolutions

Stories about fairies and the fae have long populated the imagination of many cultures around the world. Shrouded in half-written chronicles and oral accounts, fairies are figures of mystery. Their definition, look, and practices shift and change from context to context. Fairies are often at the centre of tales of folklore across countries; they are entangled with narratives of magic and the supernatural, while also being intrinsically tied to the workings of the natural world. Indeed, while “fairies have not been proven to exist”, many people in several parts of the world “believe that they are real” (Bane 2013: 1). Various terms are often used to refer to these mysterious creatures and, on occasions, are used interchangeably – from fairy to fae, and beyond – while also suggestively maintaining characteristics that are notoriously difficult to define. At times, they are perceived to be tall, beautiful, and ethereal, capturing the mystical aspects of life just beyond human reach. Other times, they take on the form of pixies and are thought of as little tricksters, who are also forever ready to play pranks on unsuspecting humans. Fairies may display completely unique anatomies, which only vaguely recall the humanoid shape: as the proud owners of rounded and glittery eyes, webbed feet, and even wings, fairies push the boundaries of social, cultural, and even anatomical acceptability. When it comes to fairy origins, definitions, descriptions, geographies, and general countenance, no “single theory” is the most “plausible” (Keightley 2023: 7) and several co-exist via forms of assumption and deduction, continuing to prove the cultural evasiveness of fairies as a central part of their historical endurance and relevance. A taxonomy of fairies, in the broader sense, is as difficult as it is fascinating, and our shifting categorisations often speak to how we as humans respond to the world, known and unknown. Fairies commonly stand as an embodiment of the otherworld and inhabit – as far as the human imagination goes – locations that are often perceived to be as secretive and distant, such as forests and rivers. Equally, fairies can exist as hidden and undiscovered presences in our everyday contexts, from gardens to kitchens; the fairies’ elusive and capricious nature often speaks to their aloofness in relation to human matters. The “fairy world”, as both a physical and a metaphorical location, is constructed of legends and cultural whispers that often lie beyond the limits of the rational imagination, while also being profoundly intertwined with what humans consider as equally whimsical and frightening. Entangled as they are with matters of folklore, memory, and, importantly, humanity, it is not surprising to see that fairies have also occupied a central role in our storytelling practices. Indeed, the historical problem with taxonomy, and the difficulty in providing an overarching definition of fairies – inclusive of sub-categories and transnational nuances – also provides the promise of innovation, especially as far as the 21st century is concerned. Adaptable and easy to mould to different contexts, fairies provide the ideal intersectional metaphor for capturing the evolving social, cultural, and political preoccupations that blend, mingle, and merge in the folds of changing historical backdrops. This adaptability is the starting point for this companion, as the volume openly aims to engage with the taxonomical, evolutionary, and representational rebelliousness of fairies, and their ability to both reflect and challenge the cultural certainties of the era they inhabit, representing changing ideas of gender, race, and ethnicity, as well mutating discourses of memory, belonging, and power. As daringly claimed by fairy scholar Richard Bullivant, as belief systems change and the world embraces cultural cycles of modernity and post-modernity, one thing about fairies remains certain: “They just refuse to go away” (2017: 2).

Fairy Lore, Folklore Studies, and the Fairy Imagination

Fairies have emerged as a steady presence in literature across the transnational landscape. Tales of fairies have been re-told in numerous contexts, building on central ideas about where they live, what they look like, and how they interact – if ever – with our human consciousness. Some geographical contexts and cultures have provided particularly fertile ground for the emergence of fairy tales; here, the British Isles, Scandinavia, and Germany are particularly worthy of note, and can be traced back centuries. For instance, some of the earliest written mentions of fairies in the English context occur in the “Anglo-Saxon charms against elf-shot”; equally, some of the “fairy ladies of medieval romances” may well have an “an origin as old”, with examples such as Morgan Le Fey of Arthurian legend being based on a “mingling of Celtic and classical tradition” (Briggs 2002: 4). Fairies famously appeared in well-known Shakespeare’s plays such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1596), cementing their presence as an imaginative device for narrative representation. Indeed, in the literary context, the “fairy tradition” remains a recurrent part of representation. As Katharine Mary Briggs argues, “as tenuous and fragile as it is”, that tradition is “still there” even in our contemporary moment, and “lingers on from generation to generation substantially unchanged” (2002: 3). Fairies and fairy-like forms commonly appear in classic fairy tales, written commonly between the 17th and 19th centuries, and which, perhaps as a result, became commonly remembered as both a folkloristic and literary genre that deals with all manner of magic, legends, and cautionary tales for children about conduct and behaviours. The 19th century proved particularly prolific in the production of fairy stories, which continued to explore the connections between literature and folklore. These narrative evocations were well suited to the Victorian fascination with the fairy world, situated as it was in the midst of cultural transformations, religious questioning, and a newly developing fascination with tales of the past (Silver 2000). This context provided a fruitful ground for the rediscovery of fairies as a storytelling presence and a much-debated topic of conversation – somewhat surprisingly – in historical, literary, and even scientific circles. In the late 1800s, acclaimed poet and scholar W. B. Yeats famously published a two-volume collection of Irish Fairy Tales and Folklore. Tales of fairies became entangled with discussions about both the natural world and our human impact, often mixing and mingling them with a preoccupation with the occult and the supernatural. The 19th-century fascination with fairies spread quickly from Europe to North America and beyond, soon incorporating long-standing tales of the fairy folk from different parts of the world, from Thailand to Japan. Overall, however, Europe remains the most prolific continent for fairy lore, comprising a veritable compendium of legends, traditions, rituals, performances, and tales (Fay and Manwaring 2021).

Into the Evolving World of the Fae: This Book

The connection between fairies and tales of the imagination – often with a fantasy stance – is indeed unarguable, and yet the scholarly literature currently in existence has not shown a consistent desire to explore fairies not just as creatures of lore, but as central figures in the workings of the imagination, from literature to film, games, television, animation, and the broader popular culture landscape. While some important examples exist – such as Briggs’ volume The Fairies in Tradition and Literature (2002) and Kristian Moen’s Film and Fairy Tales: The Birth of Modern Fantasy (2013), a gap still exists in the critical analysis of fairies as popular representation entities. In answer to this, our companion aims to provide a broader view of the place occupied by fairies as an important part of cultural practice as well as culturally inscribed notions of magic and spirituality. Merging old lore with contemporary socio-cultural and socio-historical politics, the newly re-vamped fairies operate as central figures in the evolution of identity politics. Alongside this lies an obvious connection to the environment, where fairies become representative and protectors of the ecosystem, though not just as preservers of the past but as augurs of a future where humanity and the planet can survive together. In their multiple incarnations, fairies prove how the magical can be returned into the everyday. And in approaching the “fairy realm” as part of our collective imagination, we remain attuned to the “changing nature” of these continuously appealing creatures (Sugg 2018: 2), and we enquire into their ability to shift, mutate, and adapt to our evolving media and cultural contexts.

The companion will be divided in seven parts that will trace the fae from the enchanted isle out across the world, as they have become increasingly adept at representing non-normative identities and gender fluidity as well as the dark side of magic and (non)human nature. To highlight the importance of evolution and change to the fairy in the popular imagination – indeed, they are as mutable and adaptable as that other chameleon of pop culture, the vampire – each section in this collection trades a different thread of fae evolution, as they not only change in aspect and characteristics but change across mediums, as well.