Mopsa the Fairy
The Urth list — 3 messages, 2 voices, 29 Aug 2000
https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/2378

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Adam Stephanides — 29 Aug 2000, 11:27

An anthology recently appeared edited by Martin H. Greenberg entitled
"My Favorite Fantasy Story" (published by Daw) in which a selection of
prominent fantasy authors were each asked to "pick the one fantasy story
that spoke to them, touched them, made them reexamine the genre in a new
light."  Wolfe was one of the authors included, and his choice was
"Mopsa the Fairy," a nineteenth-century children's story--really a short
novel--by Jean Ingelow.  Among the things that Wolfe says about the
story in his brief introduction is that "Ingelow dared answer a question
that no other such writer has even dared ask: If there really were a
fairy princess, what would she be like?"

So we Wolfeans have another text to mine for possible allusions by
Wolfe.   I confess that after a first reading, no examples of influence
sprang to mind, though there are thematic similarities with THERE ARE
DOORS.

--Adam

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William Ansley — 06 Sep 2000, 23:24
  follows, by subject match Adam Stephanides

> An anthology recently appeared edited by Martin H. Greenberg entitled
> "My Favorite Fantasy Story" (published by Daw) in which a selection of
> prominent fantasy authors were each asked to "pick the one fantasy story
> that spoke to them, touched them, made them reexamine the genre in a new
> light."  Wolfe was one of the authors included, and his choice was
> "Mopsa the Fairy," a nineteenth-century children's story--really a short
> novel--by Jean Ingelow.  Among the things that Wolfe says about the
> story in his brief introduction is that "Ingelow dared answer a question
> that no other such writer has even dared ask: If there really were a
> fairy princess, what would she be like?"
> 
> 
> --Adam

I find this a very odd thing for Gene Wolfe to say, considering it is 
a certainty (based on the evidence of "The Eyeflash Miracles") that 
Wolfe read Baum's Oz books. Ozma is nothing if she is not Baum's idea 
of what a "real" fairy princess would be like. She may not be a 
terribly *inspired* fairy princess, but she is definitely a fairy 
princess.

I suppose it all depends on what Gene Wolfe means by 'really' in "if 
there really were a fairy princess". Based on my (mostly failed) 
attempts to understand his fiction, I must admit I have no idea how I 
would go about trying to understand his reality.

  --
  William Ansley

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Adam Stephanides — 07 Sep 2000, 13:48
  follows, by subject match William Ansley

> William Ansley wrote:

> > Among the things that Wolfe says about the
> > story in his brief introduction is that "Ingelow dared answer a question
> > that no other such writer has even dared ask: If there really were a
> > fairy princess, what would she be like?"
> > 
> > 
> > --Adam

> I find this a very odd thing for Gene Wolfe to say, considering it is
> a certainty (based on the evidence of "The Eyeflash Miracles") that
> Wolfe read Baum's Oz books. Ozma is nothing if she is not Baum's idea
> of what a "real" fairy princess would be like. She may not be a
> terribly *inspired* fairy princess, but she is definitely a fairy
> princess.

Wolfe explicitly mentions Baum in his introduction; he says: "You will
find much here that recalls Oz; you will also find the eeriness that L.
Frank Baum set out to banish from his own fairyland.  (He was thirteen
when 'Mopsa' was issued, and it must have frightened him.)"  And:
"Ingelow was writing for boys as single-mindedly as Baum ever wrote for
girls..."  I haven't read enough Baum since childhood to judge the truth
of these statements.

> I suppose it all depends on what Gene Wolfe means by 'really' in "if
> there really were a fairy princess". Based on my (mostly failed)
> attempts to understand his fiction, I must admit I have no idea how I
> would go about trying to understand his reality.

And I must admit that after a single reading of "Mopsa," I don't know
what it is about the fairy princess in this story that makes Wolfe
regard her as realer than any other fairy princess.  Nor do I share
Wolfe's enthusiasm for the story, although that's a common reaction of
mine to the writers Wolfe lauds (with the exception of Lafferty).

--Adam

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