the fairy Melusina

[zenithblue]

I'd never encountered the spirit--the story I mean--before. But in the past five months I've encountered her twice: once in Andre Breton's Nadja, once in A.S. Byatt's Possession. When I searched for her face I recognized it.

Comments

[bluescissors76]

I love Possession. It's so nerdly literary. Thanks for writing more about Melusina.

[zenithblue]

I do too! It's one of my favorite books now. It's so smart, and still so...well, fun.

[decemberthirty]

I also love Possession--I had read it years ago, and then read it again last fall for a class, and was happy to find it as good (if not better!) than I remembered it being. I've never read the Breton, though. Interesting.

[zenithblue]

Not sure I recommend the Breton, except as a historical/cultural document...it's interesting if you're into the surrealists but kind of grating as a piece of quasi-fiction.

[wwidsith]

In French, a sudden, abrupt scream is called un cri de Mélusine, supposedly a reference to the scream Melusina gave when she was discovered by her husband.

[zenithblue]

This is exactly the kind of thing I keep you around for.