On the Ambiguity of Elves [1] This paper was first presented at The Folklore Society Conference on The Supernatural in Folklore, held at Leeds Trinity and All Saints College, Leeds, March 2010. View all notes

摘要

There is a sharp contrast in how elves are portrayed by three modern fantasy writers—Tolkien, Pratchett and Rowling—yet all three can be justified from traditional lore. Anglo-Saxon and medieval Icelandic evidence shows that elves have always been ambiguous figures, sometimes helpful to humans and sometimes harmful. This is closer to human experience of luck and misfortune than the Christian doctrine of good and evil spirits.View full textDownload full textRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.2011.537133