A Question for Kelly Link

I was wondering if one of the reasons for making references to fairy tales such as "Cinderella," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Snow White," ect... and greek mythology as well as famous authors like C.S. Lewis if you were trying to create a bridge between older and more well known fantasy to the newer fantasy texts and stories being written.? I guess what I am attempting to ask is if you feel that giving something the reader to relate to in your stories will increase the readers for modern fantasy?
I like having an aspect of the story that I understand already because it makes it easier to grasp the fantastical aspects of the stories you create. It makes them seem more believable and alive.

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her. We didn't recognize each other. We got on a ship and went as far away as we could. That was here. I had ninety-four steamer trunks and there wasn't anything in them but shoes."

The dictator's wife stops talking. She stares greedily at the visitor, as if the visitor is delicious. She looks as if she would like to eat the visitor up. She looks as if she would like to eat the visitor up in one bite, spit out the visitor's shoes like peach stones. The visitor can hear Effie coming down the aisle, but the dictator's wife doesn't say another word. She just lies there on the bed with her teeth out again, in the glass beside the bed.

Effie motions for the visitor to follow her. Each case has a name printed on a tiny card. You can't see over the top of the stacked cases, but you can see through them. Light has collected in the boxes and the glass is warm.

Effie says, "Here. These shoes belonged to a famous opera singer."

The opera singer's shoes have tall green heels. They have ivory buttons up the side. The visitor looks down at Effie's feet. She is wearing wooden sandals -- Dr. Scholl's -- with thick red leather buckles. Her toenails are red. They match the red buckles. When she sees the visitor looking, she bends over. She turns a small key in the side of the shoe. Red wheels pop out of the bottom of the Dr. Scholls. She turns the key in the other shoe, and then she straightens up. Now she's quite tall.

She rubs a glass case with the dusty dress one more time, and then raps it sharply. It rings like a bell. "Museum's closed now," she says to the visitor. "There's a three o'clock matinee with a happy ending. I want to see it." She skates off down the narrow glass aisle, balanced precariously on her splendid shoes.

Allusions

It seems that Link uses references to other works all throughout pretty much every story. For example in "Travels with the Snow Queen" the maps that people use, breadcrumbs from I can't think of the name of tht fairy tale, also yellow bricks = Wizard of Oz.

I've seen then in other stories too...just wondering which ones you guys have seen.

Recurring Themes

Here are a few of the things I found that seemed to permeate almost every story in this book. I just found it interesting that so many stories with such different concepts, would rely on some of the strangest items.

1. Color - Ok, so the not so subtle green in Louise's Ghost of course/ the green again in Vanishing Act/ Travels with the Snow Queen relies a lot on both black and white as contrasts, but also a lot of blue/ "Rose" Read (red?) in Flying Lessons/ The black dogs/ the gray of Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose

2. Shoes - Shoe and Marriage, need I expound?/ the boots of the robber girl in Travels with the Snow Queen/dancing shoes in The Girl Detective/ not a shoe, but the lower leg of Mrs. Rook which was somewhat of an "accessory"

3. Teeth - Jasper's broken tooth in Survivor's Ball, etc/ teeth of the black dogs/The Specialist's Hat has teeth/ the crumbling teeth in Travel's with the Snow Queen/ the teeth of Louise's Ghost/the gnashing teeth of the guest at Survivor's Ball/ Miss Rhode Island has "too many teeth" and the dictator's wife's false teeth in Shoe and Marriage/the dog's (presumably Cerberus's) teeth at the entrance of Hell in Flying Lessons

4. Blended/Separated Families - The twins in the Specialist's Hat must go live with their father/ Humphrey's dad gives him to his sisters (the 4 aunts) in Flying Lessons/ Anna's dad (1st, you wonder, which number is he? then, find out he's got another life and isn't one of the 8 cellists) in Louise's Ghost/Jenny Rose stays with her aunt and uncle in Vanishing Act/


Others: water, fire, birds(everywhere), infidelity, dreams, letters, numbers, scent/sense of smell, I could go on for a while.

Let me know if y'all have any other ideas. I know it's a little late, but bring them to class.

The Cinderella Beauty Pageant Dictator's Shoes Tell the Future

A few thought provokers for Shoe and Marriage. Feel free to comment in class tonight or on here if we don't get to it:
1. So does anyone else see the correlation between the first part of Shoe and Marriage to Cinderella? Yeah, there are some differences, but the idea's the same.
2. Would any of you have banned Miss Texas for being pushy in a beauty pageant? I thought everyone in a pageant was that way - except for Elizabeth ;-)
3. Would you want shoes from everyone your spouse/significant other killed? And what if he/she killed everyone who checked you out? Would there be anyone left on earth?
4. And what's with that fortune-teller? Shoes?!?!?
Discuss.