Projected outputs of the Sussex Centre include:
Digital Resources
An online, multilingual, multi-authored, annotated bibliographic index consisting of links to primary sources of folktales, fairy tales and fantasy works available in the public domain, as well as to secondary sources for scholarly discussion on these subjects. This bibliographic index, provisionally titled “Sussex Folklore Index” will make original documents available to scholars and researchers worldwide, and will significantly increase access to rare and archival material. For the corpus of secondary sources, we will build on a set of exhaustive bibliographies kindly provided by folklore and fairy tale authority Professor Jack Zipes.
We propose to classify, organise and display the searchable bibliographic index in multiple ways, that is, by theme and content, by region, by country, by chronology, by genre, by media (print, film, digital and other media that take into account the recent visual turn in these genres), and by author (where applicable). For the primary sources, by recording the publication, circulation, canonicity and popularity of original and translated texts of folktales, fairy tales and fantasy, we expect to contribute an accurate reflection, and enable a comparative analysis, of the formation of cultural, social, political, linguistic and artistic identities across various regions, countries and languages. The index will establish the presence (or absence) of imported texts in translated and adapted versions, and their historic and cultural dimensions of their impact.
As well as the bibliographic index, other proposed digital resources hosted by the Centre would include:
- primary resources on the material culture of folktales, fairy tales and fantasy, including links to archived collections in museums, research libraries and public records offices
- resources for teaching subject-related courses at university level
- links to our partner organisations, which currently include:
If you are interested in contributing to our work on the bibliographies, please get in touch.
Events
Proposed regular events include a series of research seminars, public lectures, exhibitions and performances at the University of Chichester on aspects of folklore, fairy tales and fantasy, including visual culture, performing arts, media and music. These events which are aimed at the general public as well as specialist researchers, will include:
- a symposium to mark the centenary of author and illustrator Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) in 2011, exploring the elements of fantasy, the gothic and literary nonsense in relation to his work, with the aim of bringing Peake in from the margins of the literary and artistic canon
- an international conference on ‘Folklore, Fairy Tales and the Fantastic Imagination’ in 2012, to celebrate the bicentenary of the publication of the Grimm Brothers’ Children’s and Household Tales with contributions from expert practitioners of Literary History, Comparative Literature, Children’s Literature, Creative Writing, Folklore Studies, Language Studies, Social and Cultural History, etc. –
- exhibitions of artworks by Mervyn Peake in galleries in Chichester
- exhibitions in other galleries and museums about the fantastic visual imagination (for example, fairy-tale and fantasy illustrations)
- drama and other performing arts.
The primary focus of the project will be Sussex as a rich source of folklore as well as the home of many creative writers and artists working with fairy-tale and fantasy material.
We are keen to hear from early career researchers, postgraduate students as well as advanced undergraduate students who would be interested in organising, convening and/or publicising these events. They will be designated as “Research Associates” for the Centre in the long term.
Publications
Proposed publications include:
- an online newsletter (which you can receive by signing up for our mailing list),
- an online journal (also expected to be in a print version at a later stage),
- a book of conference proceedings,
- other edited collections.
We are also interested in increasing access to folktales and fairy tales that are in the public domain.
International Research Network
One of the key purposes of the Sussex Centre is to strengthen the international network of researchers working on folktales, fairy tales and fantasy. We hope that this will facilitate new collaborations between individual researchers and research institutions.
To this end, the Centre is setting up:
- the FOLKTALES mailing-list moderated by the Centre administration, for updates on subject-related events and publications for the discussion of folklore, fairy tales and fantasy in academic and specialist contexts
- a network of partner institutions, which will actively pursue opportunities for collaboration
- the online bibliographical index, which will allow researchers to collaborate on a comprehensive collection of relevant publications and sources
If you are interested in collaborating with the Sussex Centre, please contact us!