The reception of the Rumpelstiltskin folk tale in the novel The Croning by Laird Barron

The article discusses Laird Barron’s novel The Croning as an example of deconstruction of the folk tale about Rumpelstiltskin. It analyzes the genre of the novel: Barron breaks the domination of space above time, which is inherent for the original folk tale; moreover, he makes the representation of time as an endless circle the central image of the novel. The author also ruins the archetypical “familiar - stranger” opposition and makes the category of horror the semantic center of the narration. The article also discusses the connection between the novel and the legacy of H. P. Lovecraft and Ambrose Bierce. Just like his forerunners, Laird Barron uses mythological images to directly affect the subconsciousness of the readers and therefore offers a specific solution for the paradox of painful art. Leaning on the works of H. P. Lovecraft and Ambrose Bierce, Barron creates his own conception of human being, where a subjective perspective limits a person, and that is why he or she is unable to understand the real meaning of things and life.