By Jack Zipes
The subtitle for this book is The Cultural and Social History of a Genre, and this is pretty much it, but also so much more! Each chapter discusses a certain aspect of the history of fairy tales, starting with how and why tales were created and told, and how they formed the basis of culture. Then there's a fabulous chapter that talks about the women writers in late 17th century France who combined folklore and mythology to create short-form tales that were suitable for print. Another favorite chapter is about Baba Yaga, the evolution of a beautiful, revered goddesses who healed and transformed into old, ugly witches, emphasizing how tales told by women are often different than those told by men with regard to the Baby Yaga. Similarly, the next chapter discusses how persecuted heroines differ in stories told by women storytellers, where they are not simply submissive, dependent creatures, but also canny and smart and doing the best they can in their difficult circumstances, where they are threatened or experiencing assaults and incest.
So the book not only provides a lot of novel information about the history of this genre, but also lots of food for thought about the culture that made common fairy tales what they are, and how their retelling evolves with cultures. [235 pp., including notes and index]
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