What is the relationship between research and fairytales? (Includes a fairytale)


Author: Terence Rajivan Edward
Abstract. This paper presents two answers to the question, one of which features a fairytale.
Draft version: Version 2 (13th March 2023, footnote added)


        What is the relationship between research and fairytales? That is an examination question, isn't it? I shall present two answers.


        An obvious answer: specialization. Researchers have different specialisms and some researchers specialize in research on fairytales. That is the, or at least a, relationship between research and fairytales: some researchers have fairytales as their specialist research topic. Jack Zipes, for example, who wrote Fairytales and the Art of Subversion.


        A less obvious answer: history. This is a speculative answer. Some research communities have histories which it is "natural"[1] to tell as fairytales, whatever inaccuracies there are. "Once upon a time, before your parents were even born, an evil boy used to come to our research seminar, which aimed at improving the world. After the seminar giver gave a paper, he would raise a puzzle and we could not solve it. Then he would laugh. Eventually, after enough unsolved puzzles and now grown up, he became king of our research community, still setting his puzzles. Then a hero came and solved each puzzle he had set. The evil king fled and we were finally free." Can you tell us one of the puzzles? "No, every single one has been forgotten."
 
Reference
Zipes, J. 2006. (second ed.) Fairytales and the art of subversion. Routledge: New York.




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[1] It is natural for members, with their background and dispositions, to tell their history like this.