Exeter Companion to Fairies, Nereids, Trolls and other Social Supernatural Beings

For centuries, Europeans believed in a parallel world of the ‘social supernatural’. The social supernatural realm mirrored and interacted with our own, causing disasters and providing fertility. Bringing together eighteen experts, this book explores how diverse cultures across Europe envisioned their social supernatural neighbours.

Fairies, elves, and other magical beings… they’re so much more than just children’s tales.

For centuries, Europeans believed in a parallel supernatural realm inhabited by these beings who lived much like humans in their own communities. This ‘social supernatural’ world mirrored ours with troll weddings, pixy battles, nereid picnics, dwarf migrations, and the like. Social supernatural beings were thought to interact with the human world in profound ways: they whipped up storms, ensured good harvests, and healed (and, all too often, caused) illness.

The Exeter Companion to Fairies, Nereids, Trolls and other Social Supernatural Beings dives into the rich folklore and oral traditions around the social supernatural across Europe; in fact, it pioneers the term ‘social supernatural’ as a folklore and supernatural category. Bringing together eighteen experts, this is the first comprehensive Europe-wide look at these beliefs and practices. Through in-depth studies, the volume explores how diverse cultures from Ireland to Ukraine, and from Norway to Greece, envisioned their supernatural neighbours and how these parallel societies reflected human concerns and desires. Our authors employ ancient, medieval, modern and, in some cases, contemporary material to tease out the ‘hidden people’ from obscure and, all too often, forgotten sources.

The book resurrects captivating stories and traditions. For anyone fascinated by European folklore, magic, and mythology, it provides a rich research seam with up-to-date bibliographies for a dozen European countries. It will be of use to folklorists, historians, ethnologists, sociologists and also the general reader interested in the supernatural beliefs of traditional European societies.

1. Introducing the Social Supernatural Simon Young and Davide Ermacora
DOI: 10.47788/NIFG1335
2. Ireland: The Tribes of the Gods and the People of the Hills John Carey
DOI: 10.47788/OFEV8836
3. The Isle of Man: ‘They Call Them the Good People’ Stephen Miller
DOI: 10.47788/YFYX8175
4. England: Small Fairies Are Beautiful Fairies Jeremy Harte
DOI: 10.47788/ULSI6409
5. Iceland: The Elves of Strandir Matthias Egeler
DOI: 10.47788/MOTK2852
6. Scandinavia: My Neighbour the Troll Tommy Kuusela
DOI: 10.47788/LHEL2533
7. The Netherlands: Witte Wieven and Other White Apparitions Yseult de Blécourt
DOI: 10.47788/YXVN8515
8. Iberia: Moors, Gentiles and Encantadas José Manuel Pedrosa
DOI: 10.47788/HUME1621
9. France: Humanlike Societies and Spaces among the Fées Andrea Maraschi
DOI: 10.47788/WYMP2420
10. German-Speaking Europe: Moosweiblein, Wichtel and Nixen Janin Pisarek and Florian Schaefer
DOI: 10.47788/ZCJG8520
11. Hungarians: Heavenly and Earthly Fairy Societies Éva Pócs
DOI: 10.47788/JVJT2813
12. Western Balkans: ‘A Vila Like a Vila’ Dorian Jurić
DOI: 10.47788/DDHP2327
13. Greece (and Italy): The Nereids, ‘Those from Outside’ Tommaso Braccini
DOI: 10.47788/NGJH2743
14. The Balts: Laume.s and Laime.s Francis Young and Saulė Kubiliūtė
DOI: 10.47788/HYYU5632
15. Ukraine: Courtship Rituals and Legends of the Bohyni Natalie Kononenko
DOI: 10.47788/UMXX7077

• Edited by Simon Young
• Edited by Davide Ermacora

...fascinating reading... These essays help us to understand the wider context both of human experience of supernatural societies, and those societies themselves, and are a valuable addition to Exeter’s growing catalogue of folklore titles.

— John Billingsley

...essential reading for anyone researching popular belief and supernatural traditions in Europe, regardless of whether they label themselves folklorists, historians, or scholars of religion. 

— Ethan Doyle White

The Exeter Companion to Fairies, Nereids, Trolls and Other Social Supernatural Beings represents an ambitious enterprise, but the editors have successfully managed to arrange a variety of chapter contributors in a coherent context. At £100 it will not suit the pocket of all enthusiasts. I would suggest it is nonetheless excellent value for money, destined to become a standard comparative text and reference work in its field, indispensable, of its sort, on the theme of the ‘social supernatural’.

— Stephen Miller

The Exeter Companion to Fairies, Nereids, Trolls and Other Social Supernatural Beings is a rigorously and meticulously edited reference work that brings together top-level specialists. It is, without a doubt, a fundamental contribution to the study of European imaginaries. 

— Óscar Abenójar

It’s not really possible in such a short space to do justice to these enchanting studies. Each contains so much detail, interest and scholarship that my review would have needed to be twice as long... but I hope at least to have provided a hint of the richness of this book.

— Katherine Langrish