Literary Legends

Well here we go, never blogged in my life but no time like the present, right? Someone asked what chasing legends might mean. I'm chasing literary legends, both the characters and the authors. Fairy tales, urban legends, mythology, and legend all have a basis somewhere and I intend to find the truth behind these tales.
   One of the most interesting tales I've studied so far is the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It was a school paper for a Lit class and I learned a lot from that paper, I learned every story has an origin. Characters may be entirely fictional or they might be authentic, or they could be fictional but with characteristics of a person who lived or lives. It turns out, Sleepy Hollow was so based in fact, people questioned Irving's intention. Was Sleepy Hollow fiction or non- fiction?
    Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction and my research showed that Irving's early life was very much like Ichabod Crane's life. Of course, a character imitating its author is no big deal but in the case of Sleepy Hollow that was the first of so many facts, Irving immersed his readers in Sleepy Hollow. Reading Sleepy Hollow is like reading history because of all the realism.
    To me reading these tales is reading history. Even if a story is fictional, some aspects of it are true. For example the story of Hansel and Gretel shows how hard life was for people. Parents could hardly afford to feed their children which is why Hansel and Gretel were left in the forest so they wouldn't find their way home and their parents would no longer have to feed them. These tales also show a different side of human nature that we may not see as attractive. The Princess and the Frog is a good example. The princess was too vain to appreciate the frog even though he helped her.
   People may question my interests and its ok that is how we learn. I, of course, want to write my own literature with the hopes that one day someone may study my work to find the hidden facts or the blatant non-fiction disguised as fiction. Research in this class has shown me this is an emerging form of writing that combines historical facts and true fiction. They are labeling it "faction". Maybe this is where my writing will be classified. In the mean time, Researchers still study Sleepy Hollow, trying to figure it out and for now, while I'm in school, I am jumping on that band wagon. I intend to study the world's fairy tales and I know that ideas for my own writing will be the result.