Andrew Lang's Training in Folklore

Abstract

THIS journal is much to be congratulated on publishing Andrew Duff-Cooper's 'Andrew Lang: Aspects of his Work in Relation to Current Social Anthropology' in volume 97:ii (1986). News of the existence of an unpublished manuscript of Lang's (note 8) is particularly appealing. Nevertheless there are a few minor points (minor, but by no means trivial) where Mr Duff-Cooper's comments need to be modified or amplified. First, on page 188, he asserts that 'Lang's journalism seems to have begun in 1874 .'. This might pertain to his literary criticism, although I hesitate to claim even this. However, I don't believe that this is true for all of Lang's 'journalism.' For example, his 'Mythology and Fairy Tales' (an important opening shot in the battle between Lang and Max MUller over the priority of myth or folktales) was published in the Fortnightly Review in 1873. This was not even Lang's first significant essay on fairytales, for he had written and published 'Scottish Nursery Tales' ten years earlier in the St. Andrews University Magazine. Where his 'journalism' begins depends upon one's definition of the term, but Lang had been writing essays and poetry for publication since his school days (as indicated in the article, p.187). Second, on page 189 the author indicates 'Lang is best remembered for his children's stories. These he began in 1889 with The Blue Fairy Book, in which year he also wrote Prince Prigio, the first of his Chronicles of Pantouflia, the second being Prince Ricardo.' Lest there be unnecessary confusion, some clarifications need to be made here. First, Lang wrote five fairytales of his own invention: The Princess Nobody (1884), The Gold of Fairnilee (1888), Prince Prigio (1889), Prince Ricardo (1893), and Tales of a Fairy Court (1907). These are all separate and distinct from his edited anthologies of traditional tales, the coloured fairy books. Of the five authored works, the first was constructed to utilize a set of illustrations by Richard Doyle. It and The Gold of Fairnilee are probably the only original works by Lang which he composed truly for children. The other three (the three Pantouflian works) are fairytales, but certaiqly contain so many levels of allusion, parody, and wit that most children probably could not savour them fully. They were all marketed as children's works (just as other parodies by Dickens, Thackeray, and others were published and marketed), so this may seem a rather fine distinction, but one that should be considered. Certainly, there exists a large difference between Princess Nobody's narrative or the legend and ballad-based romance of The Gold of Fairnilee and the Pantouflian metamlirchen. Ultimately, however, none of these five books made much difference to Lang's reputation, for these are not the children's stories for which he is remembered.