Barbara Rieti and Newfoundland Fairies and Witches
- Strange Terrain: The Fairy World in Newfoundland
- Making Witches: Newfoundland Traditions of Spells and Counterspells
Profile at Memorial University Press
Barbara Rieti has an MA in Folklore from the University of California at Berkeley and a PhD in Folklore from Memorial University. In addition to Strange Terrain, she is the author of Making Witches: Newfoundland Traditions of Spells and Counterspells (McGill-Queen's, 2008). During this research, she raised John Rieti-Lovelace, now a producer at CBC. Following these projects, she came to prefer drawing to writing. After weathering thirty-four years in St. John's, she moved to Victoria, BC with Martin Lovelace and their cats.
Quoting from Amazon because I haven't found a lot about her elsewhere. I'd guess she's mostly retired. Hopefully still interested, and still writing.
Barbara Rieti’s study began in 1983 when she met a young man who told her that he had been followed by the fairies. Subsequent research drew on the hundreds of archival accounts of fairies and on Dr. Rieti’s own fieldwork on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula. Rieti describes the specific contexts in which fairy experiences are recounted and the manner in which they are told, keeping the storytellers at centre stage. She also highlights themes such as connections between fairies and nature, and the relationships between fairies and people. Comparative material sets the subject in historical and international context and demonstrates the remarkable tenacity of these old yet persistent tales.
Drawing from her own interviews and a wealth of material from the Memorial University Folklore and Language Archive, Barbara Rieti explores the range and depth of Newfoundland witch tradition, looking at why certain people acquired reputations as witches, and why others considered themselves bewitched. The tales that emerge - despite their seemingly fantastic elements of spells and black heart books, hags, and healing charms - concern everyday affairs and reveal the intense social interdependence central to outport life. Frequently featuring women, they provide fascinating new perspectives on female coping strategies in a volatile economy.