"Death and the Maiden" by Egon Schiele
Godfather Death (Continued)
by Terri Windling
In contemporary fiction, a number of writers have drawn from death folklore and folk tales, creating stories and characters that are both memorable and thought—provoking.
The Farthest Shore, the third book in Ursula K. Le Guin's excellent "Earthsea" series, is an extraordinary meditation on death and how we confront it in our lives and in ourselves. She draws on many folklore motifs — particularly those folk tales that speculate what might happen if Death was banished from the world and no creature ever died. A female Death is a striking figure in Neil Gaiman's Sandman series of graphic novels, and in Peter Beagle's poignant, now–classic story "Come Lady Death." The Godfather/Godmother Death fairy tale has been re–told in a variety of ways, in Rachel Pollack's novel Godmother Night (depicting death as an elderly woman escorted by five red–haired, leather–clad, motorcycle–riding attendants), Jane Yolen's wry story "Godmother Death" (which can be read in its entirety here), and a sprightly version by Roger Zelazny, "Godson" (with a football loving Death who's not above helping his favorite teams). Tanith Lee's dark novel White As Snow pairs the Snow White fairy tale with the myth of Hades and Persephone, exploring the theme of the life–death cycle from a number of mythological perspectives.
"The Shape of Things" by Ellen Steiber draws on a shamanic Guatemalan folk tale, involving the creatures who mediate between Death and the mortal realm. "Mister Death and the Red–Headed Woman" by Helen Eustis is an absolutely delightful tale about a woman who bargains for the life of her intended — only to find that Death himself is the better man of the two. Hannah's Garden by Midori Snyder is a magical novel about a girl whose grandfather lies dying — a story rooted in death lore, fairy lore, and the enchantment of the natural world. "Jack Straw," by the same author, is a powerful little tale in the bargaining–with–death tradition, about a girl who riddles Death to keep her life a little longer.
"When I wrote 'Jack Straw,'" Snyder says, "I remember thinking about how hard it was to fit into one image the complexity of my feelings about death. Death, when not associated with those otherwise violent sorts of death–dealers, is very ambiguous. At some point we must accept and embrace it, because it is the fate of us all — yet we resist it (at least at certain times in our lives) because of its finality. And we re–create it in folk tale figures who allow us to personalize our contact with death long enough to confront it, to argue with it, to pit our wits against it . . . and perhaps, if we are lucky, to finally make peace with it."
Further Reading:
Novels:
The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold by Kate Bernheimer
The Leper's Companions by Julia Blackburn
The Journal of Antonio Montoya by Rick Collignon
The Nightingale by Kara Dalkey
White As Snow by Tanith Lee
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
House of Houses by Pat Mora
The River Journey by Robert Nathan
Godmother Night by Rachel Pollack
Hogfather by Terry Pratchett
Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
Hannah's Garden by Midori Snyder
Cards of Grief by Jane Yolen
Short Stories:
"Death and the Ugly Woman" by Bruce D. Arthurs (published in Swords and Sorcery IV)
"Come Lady Death" by Peter Beagle (published in The Atlantic Monthly and The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche)
"The Threshold" by A.S. Byatt (published in her novel Possession)
"The Three Caskets" by Jack Dann (published in Snow White, Blood Red)
"Getting Into Death" by Thomas Disch (published in Getting Into Death and Other Stories)
"Mister Death and the Red–headed Woman" by Helen Eustis (published in Westward the Women: an Anthology of Western Stories by Women)
"Elle est Trois (La Mort)" by Tanith Lee (published in Forests of the Night)
"Death, the Devil, and the Lady in White" by Richard Parks (published in Realms of Fantasy Magazine, April 2005)
"The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe
"Jack Straw" by Midori Snyder (published in Things That Go Bump in the Night and The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, Vol. 3)
"The Shape of Things" by Ellen Steiber (published in F & SF Magazine, April 2000, and The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, Vol. 14)
"The Five Black Swans" by Sylvia Townsend Warner (from Kingdoms of Elfin)
"The Boy Who Sang for Death" by Jane Yolen (from Dream Weaver)
"Sister Death" by Jane Yolen (from Sisters of the Night)
"Godson" by Roger Zelazny (published in Black Thorn, White Rose)
Nonfiction:
The Gender of Death: A Cultural History in Art and Literature by Karl S. Guthke
On the Web:
Aging and Death in Folklore
The Angel of Death in Jewish Folklore
Godfather Death: Surlalune Fairy Tale Pages
Dusk,Dawn, and the Days of the Dead, an article by Terri Windling
Godmother Death, a story by Jane Yolen
How to Bring Someone Back from the Dead, a story by Veronica Schanoes
The Parade of You, a story by Barth Anderson
Little Gods, a story by Tim Pratt
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