Tag: red-shoes

My musing on Red Shoes has led me back to that classic resource Women who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Chapter 8, titled ‘Self-Preservation: Identifying Leg Traps, Cages, and Poisoned Bait’ contains ‘The Red Shoes’.

“There is an old women’s teaching tale about the plight of the starved and feral woman. It is variously known by the names “The Devil’s Dancing Shoes,” “The Red-Hot Shoes of the Devil,” and “The Red Shoes.” Hans Christian Anderson wrote a story by the same name”(p215)

She speaks of a ‘loss of instinct’ and warns to ‘guard the treasures of our basic natures’. This theme was certainly present in ‘The Lollipop Shoes‘. I am looking forward to exploring further this chapter. In rereading I hope to discover what is drawing me to this little story.

The Kate Bush site GaffaWeb has a discussion about Red Shoes and compares the Magyar-Germanic version from ‘Women Who run With the Wolves’ to the Hans Christian Anderson version.

Red reading

June 8, 2007

johblogs

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I am currently reading ‘The Lollipop Shoes‘ by Joanne Harris. I haven’t finished it yet, so this isn’t a review. I realised that this is another variation of the theme of ‘The Red Shoes’ fairytale. The lollipop shoes in this story are bright red shoes belonging to a witch character who is seducing the young daughter of a ‘good’ witch. This is a huge simplification of the enjoyable journey of this book, however I have to say there are interesting parellels.

This repetition of fairytales is something I love about being a reader. “Repetition Leads to Discovery” as some of my students tire of hearing me say. Everytime I hear a new retelling I get deeper distinctions about the message in the story. It is enriching.

I wonder if we are attracted to certain stories and books when we need to learn central things to our own heroes journey. Perhaps we just see the lessons we need right now in the stories we read. Some books linger in your thinking. I take the daily installment of reading and think often throughout the day and notice much.

Another book I am reading right now is ‘Red Haze‘ by Leon Davidson. It is a CBCA shortlisted book for this year. I have learnt quite a bit about the Vietnam war and history through reading it. In SOSE we are learning about Australia’s colonialisation by the British and I am interested in colonisation right now. There is always so much to learn. Vietnam’s history is interesting and I would like to visit there. I imagine it would be a very unique place.

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Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you’re alive, it isn’t. ~Richard Bach

The Red Shoe by Ursula Dubosarsky and other Red Shoes

May 12, 2007

johblogs

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I thoroughly enjoyed ‘The Red Shoe’. The book contains some imaginative historical insight into the times and Ursula Dubosarsky has written ‘How I came to write ‘The Red Shoe’‘ explaining this. It was a beautifully written story containing many touching moments. I explained to my students it dealt with dark subjects from the vague experience and sensations of a child, who described things she couldn’t understand without judgement and with a innocent perception.

It has been shortlisted for the CBCA Awards in the ‘Books for Mature Readers’ category. Interestingly the other book I have read also has the same colour in it’s title. They were both so great, I don’t know how they will choose.

There is something wild about the image of red shoes. The Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale The Red Shoes about the girl who can’t stop dancing was one of my favourites. I also love the Kate Bush song and album by the same name.

Picture with permission from Lucinda Surber, check out the blog Red Stuff for more cool photos of red things.

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