Dancing: The Fox Treads. How Stories, Fairytale and Folklore Containing Elements of Horror Help us to Heal

Abstract

My novel entitled Dancing: The Fox Treads lies within the genre of psychological and supernatural fiction. The book is a dark fairytale with elements of magic realism and horror exploring themes of loss, grief, motherhood and the dislocation from reality through mental illness. The novel also features unsettling descents into the uncanny that touch upon Japanese folklore, and the relationship between Western and Japanese myth and fairytale is central to my project. The essay explores how stories that embrace horror can also be seen as therapeutic, and therefore beneficial. The exegesis examines the figure of the abject feminine through the cannibalistic themes of fairytales and myth, revealing hidden trauma but also leading to acceptance and healing of the mind. I will investigate the concept of Jungian archetypes, particularly the trickster, the self, the mother and the shadow, and how an acknowledgement of these entities forms an important part in our recovery from mental illness and episodes of PTSD. Whilst looking at creative approaches to writing, I am particularly interested in the mode and genre of magic realism. In order to exhibit the fractured sense of self experienced with the decent into psychosis of the main protagonist, I will examine how magic realism brings the uncanny into the everyday, a process that creates feelings of unease for the reader and yet ultimately leads to a transformation and release of negative emotions and hidden trauma