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 “Chichester Folktales 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.