Ogres Are Cool
lrb.co.uk
lrb.co.uk
> But what these tales are absolutely forbidden from representing is any agent or action that falls into the social class or milieu of the people who chiefly collected and read them. So the Grimms’ own world of government employees, highly literate women, libraries and universities is perhaps the most profoundly forbidden space of the folk tale. Indeed you might even say that not including that world is what makes a tale seem folkish, rather than, say, novelish. Part of the fiction of the Volk is that there is an absolute social void between the princes, the kings, the princesses on the one hand, and the tailors, discharged soldiers, huntsmen, kitchen maids and impoverished forest dwellers on the other.
I wonder why we don't see this perspective more often in modern popular fantasy. It seems that for the most part, they stick close to Tolkien or Arthurian models, primarily following the exploits of kings and knights. Even the popular fantasy authors who actively seek to subvert the genre's tropes tend to stick close to that perspective. And when we are treated to the perspective of a "common" person, they often turn out to have been born special for some reason, soon finding out they're some powerful person's lost heir or the subject of some prophecy, with the character being swept off into the world of the ruling class. Obviously, a lot of folk tales end with the commoner running off with a prince or princess, which isn't terribly dissimilar, but I don't remember Cinderella or Snow White being special beyond being pretty and charming.
It may be a blind spot of my own, but I can't think of many examples of fantasy with truly common folk as the primary perspective.
It may be less common than "high castles", but that is either because of opportunity cost (non-special characters do not survive well this kind of world, so their stories are either short or picaresque) or feature creep if they start from the bottom: if you want an uplifting tale, upwards mobility is needed and at some point only the king is up...
How common and how fantastic?
Conan is a hillman. He just becomes more accomplished over time.
Fafyrd is from a frozen waste, trained as a skald. Notable only because he left his tribe interested in civilization.
Vaatzes from KJ Parkers Engineer Trilogy is foreman. A really good engineer, but replaced instantly when he is banished.
Sort of inverted with Saevus Corax, where the main guy is trying really hard not to be royalty, and so he scavenges dead people on battlefields for a living hoping no one will find him.
https://contraptions.venkateshrao.com/p/discworld-rules
It also was posted here on HN recently -- discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43299815
Snow White was, at least in the canonical Disney 1937 version, "the fairest of them all": the most attractive person known to the magic mirror.
Cinderella was the chosen one, high femme edition: rather than being handed a magic ring or sword she got a pair of shoes and a carriage. Both of these are folk tales that fit the fantasy trope mould.
Really I think this is a slightly circular problem of genre, because if you try to write this sort of story without centering on The Chosen One you end up just doing literary realism.
(possibly urban fantasy gets into this more, by explicitly starting from the modern post-feudal world. Anyway, I agree with you that it's a great article!)
I suppose one could also say “After the Edict” as if “the Edict” were the period of time it was in effect.
(enhancing parent comment, not arguing)
There's no implication that the people who go there want to be seen naked, just that they aren't easy on the eyes (of any innocent bystanders).