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Edwin Morgan

  • The Complete Fairytales by George MacDonald, edited by U.C. Knoepflmacher  Buy this book
  • Ventures into Childland: Victorians, Fairytales and Femininity by U.C. Knoepflmacher

A fairytale, whatever messages may be inserted into it or teased out from it, is a tale of marvels. A cat struts past in boots. A demon swells out from a lamp like steam from a kettle. A princess cannot sleep because a pea below her twenty mattresses is hurting her. A prince is metamorphosed from a frog (the poet Norman MacCaig used to say it would be even better if a frog metamorphosed from a prince).

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Edwin Morgan’s most recent book is Tales from Baron Munchausen (Mariscat). The Play of Gilgamesh is due from Carcanet this year.

LRB cover artwork

From the archive

M for Merlin
Helen Cooper on Chrétien de Troyes