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Reading: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
How do our stories shape us? Do we need new fairy tales?
There is a recurring theme in Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale where people keep trying to tell the novel’s hero, a young woman named Vasilisa (Vasya) who lives in a forested village in medieval Russia, that fairy tales are not real or that she is too old for fairy tales. However, as readers, we know that these fairy tales are real and that Vasya can see all the various magical creatures that populate the household, stable, waters, and forests. The voices against Vasya are strong, calling her a witch and wanting her gone. At one point, even Vasya herself doubts the reality of the fae and she considers that she might be insane. She needs to believe in herself. It takes immense courage to construct herself around a story that is outside of the dominant narrative, but Vasya finds this strength when she needs it most to defend her family, her village, and the world.
This is a great story, with compelling characters, but why should we care about what is, essentially, a modern adult fairy tale? What is the purpose of such fantasy fiction, when the planet is on fire? How does a fantasy novel fit in with the other books we have written about in the #RaWBC group?
