This book examines the fairy in the work of many Victorian painters, novelists and poets.

Publisher Description

First published in 1889, this novel has two main plots; one set in the real world at the time the book was published (the Victorian era), the other in the fictional world of Fairyland.

The Victorian era saw a flowering of fairy paintings as British artists in particular rejected the classical and ancient Greek subjects in favour of a deeper, closer source of inspiration in the countryside, the hedgerows and the meadows of the nineteenth-century British landscape. This book celebrates the fine art of Fairy painting.

How have fairy tales from around the world changed over the centuries? What do they tell us about different cultures and societies? This volume explores the period when the European fairy tales conquered the world and shaped the global imagination in its own image. Examining how collectors, children's writers, poets, and artists seized the form to challenge convention and normative ideas, this book explores the fantastic imagination that belies the nineteenth century's materialist and pedestrian reputation. Looking at writers including E.T.A Hoffman, the Brothers Grim, S.T. Coleridge, Walter Scott, Oscar Wilde, Christina Rosetti, George MacDonald, and E. Nesbit, the volume shows how fairy tales touched every aspect of nineteenth century life and thought. It provides new insights into themes including: forms of the marvelous, adaptation, gender and sexuality, humans and non-humans, monsters and the monstrous, spaces, socialization, and power. With contributions from international scholars across disciplines, this volume is an essential resource for researchers, scholars and students of literature, history, and cultural studies. A Cultural History of Fairy Tales (6-volume set) A Cultural History of Fairy Tales in Antiquity is also available as a part of a 6-volume set, A Cultural History of Fairy Tales, tracing fairy tales from antiquity to the present day, available in print, or within a fully-searchable digital library accessible through institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access (see www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com). Individual volumes for academics and researchers interested in specific historical periods are also available digitally via www.bloomsburycollections.com.

A revised edition of a very popular title, written by one of England's leading experts on Victorian art.

Welcome to an enchanting world populated by the little people — fairies, elves, and sprites — envisioned by such Victorian-era artists as Arthur Rackham, Richard Doyle, Edward Robert Hughes, Warwick Goble, and other masters of the genre. Set amid nature's loveliest scenes, the 30 fantasy illustrations will captivate any colorist.