Otherness Through Elves: Into Elfland and Beyond

This article examines three novels which use stories of elves—especially the ballad ‘‘Tam Lin’’—as pre-texts, and contemplates how they explore the issue of Otherness. The three novels are The Sterkarm Handshake by Susan Price, Cold Tom by Sally Prue, and Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones. Although the novels seem to be about elves as Other, they can be read as observations on human nature and human relationships. The article speculates on how encounters with the Other illuminate what humans are like and how these contacts affect the human characters by making them see themselves in a different light.