Elves and Fairies: A Brief History of the Otherworld

Fairies and elves “may be described as an invasive species of supernatural beings, the result of an ongoing series of international exchange processes,” according to the illuminating English-language debut from Old Norse literature scholar Egeler. The legendary beings originated in Ireland, Scotland, and England and later spread into Germany, North America, and Iceland. Egeler shows how the transfer happened: many of the first settlers in Iceland did not arrive directly from Scandinavia but from its Viking colonies in Gaelic-speaking Scotland and Ireland, bringing local tales of the “otherworld” with them. From there, in Egeler’s telling, fairies and elves have crept further into the cultural imagination, populating the works of poets, novelists, and dramatists, most notably Shakespeare. His A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with its mischievous but benign creatures, was first staged circa 1596, around the same time King James published his Daemonologie, equating fairies with demonic forces. Since then, the fey have often served as a creative expression of “modern tensions” between tradition and progress, capitalism and environmentalism, or war and peace. Egeler’s survey is comprehensive, touching on everything from Peter Pan to Middle Earth, from King Arthur’s court to Arthur Conan Doyle’s championing of the famous fraudulent Cottingley photo (a snapshot taken of paper cutouts of fairies that many believed to be real). It’s a great resource for fantasy fans and fairy obsessives. (Oct.)