‘Where’ve All the Good People Come From?’

• 24/10/2023
• 18:00-19:30
• Online talk

Sir Joseph Noel Patton, The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania (1849), public domain, Wikimedia Commons

Where’ve All the Good People Come From? Revisiting the Origins of British Fairies

A Folklore Society Online Talk

by Francis Young

Tuesday 24 October 2023, 18:00

A talk exploring the early history of Britain’s fairies, and proposing a new approach to understanding the origins of British fairy lore.

The ultimate origins of Britain’s fairy traditions, once hotly debated among folklorists, has become in recent decades a subject little discussed or dealt with summarily – in part because earlier debates reached a stalemate on the issue. Drawing on his new book Twilight of the Godlings, in this talk Francis Young revisits the question of British fairy origins and asks if a new path can be plotted through the evidence, rejecting the assumptions and cultural biases of previous investigations. Francis Young argues that fairies do indeed have a history that can be told, albeit tentatively, and that their origins are to be found in cultural engagement with the Classical world in the early Middle Ages.

Dr Francis Young teaches for Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education and is the author of 20 books, including most recently Twilight of the Godlings: The Shadowy Origins of Britain’s Supernatural Beings (2023)

Tickets £6.00 (£4.00 for Folklore Society members with Promo Code: please log in to the Members’ Area to get the promo code): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/whereve-all-the-good-people-come-from-on-the-origins-of-british-fairies-tickets-649425678687?

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