'Not a Dream, but a Harrowing': Writing a Colonial Fairy Tale

Article

Sulway, Nike. 2022. "'Not a Dream, but a Harrowing': Writing a Colonial Fairy Tale." Marvels and Tales: journal of fairy-tale studies. 36 (1), pp. 40-48.
Article Title

'Not a Dream, but a Harrowing': Writing a Colonial Fairy Tale

ERA Journal ID40669
Article CategoryArticle
Authors
AuthorSulway, Nike
Journal TitleMarvels and Tales: journal of fairy-tale studies
Journal Citation36 (1), pp. 40-48
Number of Pages9
Year2022
Place of PublicationUnited States
ISSN0898-154X
1521-4281
1536-1802
Web Address (URL)https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/marvels/vol36/iss1/5/
Abstract

This article reflects on two key aspects of the writing process for the short story 'A void and a chasm and a ruin'. It describes two key strategies used by the writer to think with fairy tales about Australian whiteness and womanhood. First, experimenting with interlacing various traditional narrative forms in ways that draw attention to the ways in which narratives obscure as much as they reveal and preserve, while also exploring how the ongoing and iterative processes of storytelling (thinking with stories) can be as destructive as they are productive. Second, extending Jane Tolmie’s critical analysis of ‘exceptional’ female protagonists to the figure of the white woman in Australian colonial narratives.

Keywordsfairy tale studies; Australian literature; Australian gothic; female characters; creative practice; creative writing
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020440502. Feminist methodologies
470502. Australian literature (excl. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literature)
360201. Creative writing (incl. scriptwriting)
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Byline AffiliationsSchool of Humanities and Communication
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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