TITLE: Becoming Baba Yaga
AUTHOR: Kris Spisak
PUBLISHER: Hampton Roads
ISBN: 978-1642970517
PODCAST EPISODE: None
REVIEWER: Tracey Norman
Many of us will be familiar with Baba Yaga – the old forest-dwelling witch who lives in a hut with chicken legs. I have a vague memory of snippets of a Baga Yaga story I heard in childhood; a girl, running from the witch and throwing items behind her which transformed into obstacles to hinder her pursuer. A comb transformed into a forest. A towel into a river.
Transformation is a significant part of the Baba Yaga story, much of which was entirely unknown to me. Kris Spisak delves deeply into the various facets of Baba Yaga – a figure who is simultaneously ubiquitous and unknown. For me, she is like an iceberg. Look beneath the surface and you will see that there is so much more to her than meets the eye.
Spisak’s writing style is easy and accessible, rather like sitting around a fire while a storyteller weaves a tale. The academic rigour underpinning her work is undeniable, and she leads us through the various incarnations of Baba Yaga over the centuries, from goddess to witch to demon to the granter of wishes to feminist to fairy tale. Her history is long, complex and fascinating. She embodies numerous roles effortlessly, shifting between good and evil as well as between archetypes.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Baba Yaga is her role as a catalyst for self-improvement and finding one’s own path. Take the story of Natasha, for example, sent to Baba Yaga by her cruel stepmother, ostensibly to obtain a needle and thread to mend a shirt, but, in reality, to provide a nice meal for the witch. In the beginning, Natasha is powerless to defend herself against her stepmother. Throughout the story, she chooses kindness, and is rewarded for her choices when her escape is made possible by those she helped on the way to Baba Yaga’s hut. Not only has she escaped, however, her experience has transformed her, and it is a much stronger Natasha who finally stands up for herself and finds the courage to tell her father the truth of her stepmother’s actions towards her.
The book is interspersed with the author’s re-tellings of some of the Baba Yaga stories, which are then explored in detail. It is hugely enjoyable and readable, and contains a wealth of fascinating information about a character with significantly more depth than I ever realised. Highly recommended.
AUTHOR: Kris Spisak
PUBLISHER: Hampton Roads
ISBN: 978-1642970517
PODCAST EPISODE: None
REVIEWER: Tracey Norman
Many of us will be familiar with Baba Yaga – the old forest-dwelling witch who lives in a hut with chicken legs. I have a vague memory of snippets of a Baga Yaga story I heard in childhood; a girl, running from the witch and throwing items behind her which transformed into obstacles to hinder her pursuer. A comb transformed into a forest. A towel into a river.
Transformation is a significant part of the Baba Yaga story, much of which was entirely unknown to me. Kris Spisak delves deeply into the various facets of Baba Yaga – a figure who is simultaneously ubiquitous and unknown. For me, she is like an iceberg. Look beneath the surface and you will see that there is so much more to her than meets the eye.
Spisak’s writing style is easy and accessible, rather like sitting around a fire while a storyteller weaves a tale. The academic rigour underpinning her work is undeniable, and she leads us through the various incarnations of Baba Yaga over the centuries, from goddess to witch to demon to the granter of wishes to feminist to fairy tale. Her history is long, complex and fascinating. She embodies numerous roles effortlessly, shifting between good and evil as well as between archetypes.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Baba Yaga is her role as a catalyst for self-improvement and finding one’s own path. Take the story of Natasha, for example, sent to Baba Yaga by her cruel stepmother, ostensibly to obtain a needle and thread to mend a shirt, but, in reality, to provide a nice meal for the witch. In the beginning, Natasha is powerless to defend herself against her stepmother. Throughout the story, she chooses kindness, and is rewarded for her choices when her escape is made possible by those she helped on the way to Baba Yaga’s hut. Not only has she escaped, however, her experience has transformed her, and it is a much stronger Natasha who finally stands up for herself and finds the courage to tell her father the truth of her stepmother’s actions towards her.
The book is interspersed with the author’s re-tellings of some of the Baba Yaga stories, which are then explored in detail. It is hugely enjoyable and readable, and contains a wealth of fascinating information about a character with significantly more depth than I ever realised. Highly recommended.