The Western fairy tale tradit

from medieval to modern

Edited by Jack Zipes

'authoritative and fascinating' lona Opie

 T H E O X F O R D C O M P A N I O N TO FAIRY TALES

'Professor Zipes and his team are . . . to be

warmly congratulated on producing this rich hran-tuh
1
of a hook—virtually every dip is a lucky one TLS

W h e r e d o fairy t a l e s c o m e f r o m ? W h y d o w e find t h e m s o e n c h a n t i n g ?
W h a t is it a b o u t t h e m t h a t is s o m a g i c a l ? F r o m its o r i g i n s in t h e oral t r a d i t i o n
to the m o d e r n m e t h o d s o f s t o r y t e l l i n g t h r o u g h film a n d t e l e v i s i o n , t h e fairy
tale h a s a l w a y s h a d a p o w e r f u l grip over t h e c u l t u r a l i m a g i n a t i o n o f t h e
Western world.

U n d e r the editorial g u i d a n c e o f J a c k Z i p e s , 6 7 e x p e r t c o n t r i b u t o r s
from a r o u n d t h e w o r l d h a v e corme t o g e t h e r in this b e a u t i f u l l y i l l u s t r a t e d A—Z
Companion to c o m b i n e their i n s i g h t a n d e x p e r t i s e to e x p l o r e all a s p e c t s o f t h e
W e s t e r n fairy-tale t r a d i t i o n . T h e r e s u l t is a u n i q u e s y n t h e s i s o f k n o w l e d g e , f r o m
A l i c e in W o n d e r l a n d to T o m T h u m b , f r o m G a b r i e l G a r c i a M a r q u e z
to L o u i s a M a y A l c o t t , from C h a r l e s P e r r a u l t to A n g e l a C a r t e r ,
from H a n s C h r i s t i a n A n d e r s e n to Disney, m a k i n g this a n a u t h o r i t a t i v e
a n d w i d e - r a n g i n g r e f e r e n c e work, e s s e n t i a l for a n y o n e w h o
v a l u e s t h e tradition o f storytelling.

R E V I E W S OF T H E H A R D B A C K
' c o m p e l l i n g a n d e n c h a n t i n g ' Literary Review

'Attractive, well w r i t t e n , a n d a p p r o a c h a b l e , this solid g u i d e to the fairy-tale

world is w i t h o u t e q u a l ' Library Journal

Tf you p u r c h a s e only o n e r e f e r e n c e b o o k a b o u t the fairy-tale t r a d i t i o n this

year, this s h o u l d b e it' The Green Man Review

'Packed with f a s c i n a t i n g i n f o r m a t i o n , a s s e m b l e d with i n t e l l i g e n c e a n d c a r e

. . . helpful, r e l i a b l e , a n d full of f r e s h s u r p r i s e s a s a fairy g o d m o t h e r '
Christian Science Monitor

'An o u t s t a n d i n g b o o k ' Choice

C o v e r illustration: detail o f a n i l l u s t r a t i o n by E d m u n d D u l a c f r o m The Buried Moon.

R e p r o d u c e d by p e r m i s s i o n o f H o d d e r a n d S t o u g h t o n L i m i t e d ; i l l u s t r a t i o n f r o m Arthur Rackhatn:
A Life with Illustration by J a m e s H a m i l t o n © A r t h u r R a c k h a m E s t a t e

ISBN 0-19-860509-9

OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
9"780-

www.oup.com £14.99 R R P
The Oxford Companion to

Tairy Tales
 The Oxford Companion to

Tairy Taies
Edited by Jack Zipes

OXiORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
 OXFORD
U N I V E R S I T Y PRESS
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
The Oxford companion to fairy tales / edited by Jack Zipes.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Fairy tales—History and criticism. I. Zipes, Jack David.
PN3437.094 2002 398.2—dc21 2002072251
ISBN 0-19-860115-8
ISBN 0-19-860509-9 (pbk.)
3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Typeset by Tradespools Ltd
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 CONTENTS

List of Contributors vii

Introduction xv

A-Z ENTRIES I

Bibliography 563
 L I S T OF C O N T R I B U T O R S

AAR Amelia A. Rutledge KD Klaus Doderer

AD Anne Duggan KNH Karen Nelson Hoyle
AL Alison Lurie KS Karen Seago
ALL Ann Lawson Lucas LCS Lewis C. Seifert
AMM Anne-Marie Moscatelli LS Louisa Smith
AR Amy Ransom MBS Mary Beth Stein
AS Anita Silvey MLE Mary Louise Ennis
AZ Adrienne E. Zuerner MN Maria Nikolajeva
BH Betsy Hearne MNP Maria Nicolai Paynter
BKM Bettina Kummerling-Meibauer MT Maria Tatar
CB Cristina Bacchilega NC Nancy Canepa
CF Carolina Fernandez NI Niels Ingwersen
CGS Carole Silver NJW Naomi J. Wood
CLMF Claire-Lise Malarte-Feldman PAOB Patricia Anne Odber de Baubeta
CM Cheryl McMillan PF Philip Furia
CS Caroline Schatke PFN Peter F. Neumeyer
DH Donald Haase PGS P. G. Stanwood
DJB David J. Buch RAS Richard A. Schindler
DMT D. Maureen Thum RBB Ruth B. Bottigheimer
EMM Eva-Marie Metcalf RD Robert Dunbar
EWH Elizabeth Wanning Harries RF Richard Flynn
CA Gillian Avery RM Robyn McCallum
CD Giuseppe Di Scipio SB Stephen Benson
GF Geoffrey Fenwick SCJ Shawn Jarvis
GRB George R. Bodmer SR Suzanne Rahn
HG Harriet Goldberg SS Sharon Scapple
HNBC H. Nicholls B. Clark TAS Terry Staples
IWA Ian Wojcik-Andrews TH Tom Higgins
JAS John Stephens THH Thomas H. Hoernigk
JB Jeannine Blackwell TSH Thomas S. Hischak
JGH Joan G. Haahr TW Terri Windling
JMM James M. McGlathery UM Ulrich Marzolph
JS Jan Susina WC William Crisman
JSN Judith S. Neaman WM Wolfgang Mieder
JZ Jack Zipes

GENERAL EDITOR

has been Professor of German at the University of Minnesota

JACK ZIPES ( J Z ) ,
since 1989. He is Editorial Consultant for Children's Literature Quarterly
and General Editor of Garland's Studies in Children's Literature and
Culture. His many books on fairy tales and associated subjects include
Breaking the Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales (1979), Fairy
Tales and the Art of Subversion (1983), Victorian Fairy Tales (1987), The
Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (1987), The Brothers Grimm:
From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World (1988), Beauties, Beasts, and
Enchantment: Classic French Fairy Tales (1989), Spells of Enchantment: The
Fairy Tales of Western Culture (1991), and The Fairy Tales of Hermann
Hess (1995).
CONTRIBUTORS

NON-CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
RICHARD LEPPERT ( R L ) ,Professor of Cultural Studies and Comparative
Literature at the University of Minnesota, is the author of The Sight and
Sound: Music, Representation, and the History of the Body (1993) and Art
and the Committed Eye (1999).
is Maître de Conférence at the École des
CATHERINE V E L A Y - V A L L A N T I N ( C V - V ) ,
Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France. She is the author of
L'Histoire des contes (1992).

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
GILLIAN AVERY ( C A ) , is a historian of children's literature, whose books include
Childhood's Pattern (1975) and Behold the Child: American Children and
their Books 1621—1922 (1994).
is Professor of English at the University of Hawai'i
CRISTINA BACCHILECA ( C B ) ,
at Manoa, and author of Postmodern Fairy Tales: Gender and Narrative
Strategies (1997).
is Professor of German and Women's Studies at the
JEANNINE BLACKWELL ( J B ) ,
University of Kentucky, and co-editor of the anthology Bitter Healing:
German Women Writers iyoo—1840 (1990).
Adjunct Professor of Comparative Literature at
RUTH B . BOTTIGHEIMER ( R B B ) ,
the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is the editor of Fairy
Tales and Society (1986) and the author of Grimms' Bad Girls and Bold
Boys (1987).
Associate Professor of French and Italian at Dartmouth
N A N C Y C A N E PA ( N C ) ,
College, is the editor of Out of the Woods: The Origins of the Literary
Fairy Tale in Italy and France (1997) and author of From Court to Forest:
Giambattista Basile's Lo cunto de li cunti' and the Birth of the Literary Fairy
Tale (1999).
PROFESSOR KLAUS DODERER ( K D ) , is the founder and former director of the
Institut fur Jugendbuchforschung at the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-
Universitàt in Frankfurt am Main. He has published numerous books and
essays on topics dealing with children's literature and fairy tales.
HARRIET GOLDBERG ( H G ) , Professor of Spanish at Villanova University, is the
author of Motif-Index of Medieval Spanish Folk Narratives (1998).
Professor of German Studies at Wayne State University,
D O N A L D HAASE ( D H ) ,
is the editor of The Reception of Grimms ' Fairy Tales: Responses,
Reactions, Revisions (1993).
NIELS INGWERSEN ( N I ) ,Professor of Scandinavian Studies at the University of
Wisconsin, Madison, is director of the Folklore Program, and has
published on narrative folklore.
 CONTRIBUTORS

Professor of Folklore and Children's Literature at Cornell

ALISON LURIE ( A L ) ,
University, is the author of Don't Tell the Grownups (1990) and three
collections of folk tales for children.
MARIA NIKOLAJEVA ( M N ) ,Associate Professor in the Departments of
Comparative Literature at Stockholm University, Sweden, and at the
Academy University, Finland, is the author of The Magic Code: The Use
of Magical Patterns in Fantasy for Children (1988) and Children's Literature
Comes of Age: Toward a New Aesthetics (1996).
Associate Professor of French Studies at Brown
LEWIS C . SEIFERT ( L C S ) ,
University, is the author of Fairy Tales, Sexuality, and Gender in France,
1690—iji5 (1996).
Professor of German at Harvard University, is the author
MARIA TATAR ( M T ) ,
of The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales (1987) and Off with their
Heads! Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood (1992).
JACK ZIPES ( J Z ) , General Editor.

CONTRIBUTORS
Ph.D. from Queen Mary and Westfield College,
STEPHEN BENSON ( S B ) ,
University of London, has published on contemporary literature and the
folk tale.
Professor of English at Indiana University
GEORGE R. BODMER ( G R B ) ,
Northwest, has published on illustration and the American picture book.
Professor of Music History at the University of Northern
DAVID J . BUCH ( D J B ) ,
Iowa, has written Magic Flutes and Enchanted Forests: Music and the
Marvelous in the Eighteenth-Century Theatre (forthcoming).
an art historian specializing in 19th-century
H . NICHOLS B . CLARK ( H N B C ) ,
American painting and sculpture, is currently Chair of Education at the
High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia.
WILLIAM CRISMAN ( W C ) ,Associate Professor of English, Comparative
Literature, and German at Pennsylvania State University at Altoona, is
the author of The Crises of Language and Dead Signs ' in Ludwig Tieck's
Prose Fiction (1997).
Professor of Italian at City University of New Y o r k /
GIUSEPPE D I SCIPIO ( G D ) ,
Hunter College, is the author of works on Dante and editor of Telling
Tales: Medieval Narratives and the Folk Tradition (1998).
Assistant Professor of French at Wayne State University
A N N E DUGGAN ( A D ) ,
in Detroit, has published on early modern French women writers.
ROBERT DUNBAR ( R D ) ,lecturer in English at the Church of Ireland College of
Education, Dublin, is editor of the anthologies First Times (1997) and
Enchanted Journeys (1997).
CONTRIBUTORS X

M A R Y LOUISE ENNIS ( M L E ) ,Professor of French Literature at Wesleyan

University in Connecticut, has published on gardens, clandestine
literature, and fairy tales.
GEOFFREY FENWICK ( G F ) , author of Teaching Children's Literature in the Primary
School (1990), specializes in reading studies and children's literature at the
Department of Education and Community Studies at John Moores
University, Liverpool.
CAROLINA FERNANDEZ ( C F ) , Assistant Professor at the University of Oviedo,
Spain, is the author of Las nuevas hijas de Eva: re/escrituras feministas del
cuento de 'Baraba^ul' (1997) and Las re/escrituras contemporâneas de
'Cenicienta' (1997).
Associate Professor of English at Georgia Southern
RICHARD F L Y N N ( R F ) ,
University, is the author of Randall Jarrell and the Lost World of Childhood
(1990).
Chair, Department of English at the University of North
P H I L I P FURIA ( P F ) ,
Carolina at Wilmington, is the author of The Poets of Tin Pan Alley: A
History of America's Great Lyricists (1990).
Professor of English at Yeshiva University, has
JOAN G . H A A H R ( J G H ) ,
published on the medieval amatory tradition, medieval historiography,
and Chaucer's poetry.
Professor of English and Comparative
ELIZABETH W A N N I N G HARRIES ( E W H ) ,
Literature at Smith College, is the author of The Unfinished Manner:
Essays on the Fragment in the Later Eighteenth Century (1994).
BETSY HEARNE ( B H ) teaches in the Graduate School of Library and Information
Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and is the
author of Beauty and the Beast: Visions and Revisions of an Old Tale
(1989).
currently in his fourth season as Associate Conductor of the
TOM HIGGINS ( T H ) ,
Kingston Orpheus Society, has appeared with the London Symphony, the
London Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony, and the BBC Scottish
Symphony orchestras.
Professor of Theatre at the State University of New
THOMAS S . HISCHAK ( T S H ) ,
York College at Cortland, is the author of Word Cra^y: Broadway Lyricists
from Cohan to Sondheim (1991) and Stage it with Music: An Encyclopedic
Guide to the American Musical Theatre (1993).
teaches German literature and history in Berlin and
THOMAS H . H O E R N I G K ( T H H )
writes regularly on music for German publications.
Professor and curator of the Children's Literature
KAREN N E L S O N H O Y L E ( K N H ) ,
Research Collections at the University of Minnesota Libraries, is the
author of Wanda Gag (1994).
 CONTRIBUTORS

Professor of German at St Cloud State University,

SHAWN JARVIS ( S C J ) ,
Minnesota, is the editor of two critical editions of fairy tales by Gisela
von Arnim.
BETTINA KUMMERLING-MEIBAUER ( B K M ) , lecturer in German at the University of
Tubingen, Germany, is the editor of Current Trends in Comparative
Children's Literature Research (1995) and Klassiker der Kinder- und
Jugendliteratur (1998).
Lecturer in Italian at the University of Hull, is the
A N N LAWSON LUCAS ( A L L ) ,
translator and editor of The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996).
CLAIRE-LISE MALARTE-FELDMAN ( C L M F ) , Associate Professor of French at the
University of New Hampshire in Durham, is the author of Charles
Perrault's Critique since i960: An Annotated Bibliography (1989).
ULRICH MARZOLPH ( U M ) ,Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of
Gôttingen and senior member of the editorial committee of the
Ençyklopàdie des Màrchens, is the author of Arabia ridens (1992), and
editor of Grimms Màrchen International (1995).
teaches children's literature at Macquarie University,
ROBYN M C C A L L U M ( R M )
Australia and is the author of Ideologies of Identity in Adolescent Fiction
and co-author of Retelling Stories, Framing Culture: Traditional Story and
Metanarratives in Children's Literature (1998).
JAMES M . MCGLATHERY ( J M M ) ,Professor of German and Comparative
Literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is the
author of books on the Grimms' fairy tales, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Richard
Wagner, and Heinrich von Kleist.
Ph.D. candidate at Macquarie University, is currently
CHERYL M C M I L L A N ( C M ) ,
researching postmodernism in young adult fiction.
Assistant Professor of German at the University of
E V A - M A R I A METCALF ( E M M ) ,
Mississippi, is the author of Astrid Lindgren (1995).
Professor of German and Folklore in the Department
W O L F G A N G MIEDER ( W M ) ,
of German and Russian at the University of Vermont, is the author of
Grimms Màrchen—modern: Prosa, Gedichte, Karikaturen (1979) and
Tradition and Innovation in Folk Literature (1987).
Associate Professor of French at West
A N N E - M A R I E MOSCATELLI ( A M M ) ,
Chester University, Pennsylvania, works on Rabelais, Francophone
literature, and comparative studies on French and Italian fairy tales.
Professor of English at Yeshiva University, has
JUDITH S . NEAMAN ( J S N ) ,
written numerous articles on medieval optics, art, and literature.
PETER F. NEUMEYER ( P F N ) has taught at universities in Europe and the United
States and is a regular children's book reviewer for the Boston Globe.
is a Senior Lecturer and Director of
PATRICIA A N N E O D B E R DE BAUBETA ( P A O B )
Portuguese Studies at the University of Birmingham, and has published
on medieval Portuguese literature.
CONTRIBUTORS

Professor of Italian at City University of New

M A R I A NICOLAI PAYNTER ( M N P ) ,
York/Hunter College, received the Ignazio Silone International Prize for
her dissertation, 'Symbolism and Irony in Silone's Narrative Works'.
Associate Professor in the English Department at Pacific
SUZANNE R A H N ( S R ) ,
Lutheran University, is the author of Rediscoveries in Children's Literature
(1995) and The Wizard of 0 { : Shaping an Imaginary World (1998).
Professor of French at the University of Montevallo, is the
A M Y RANSOM ( A R ) ,
author of The Feminine as Fantastic in the Conte fantastique: Visions of the
Other (1995).
Associate Professor of English at George Mason
A M E L I A A . RUTLEDGE ( A A R ) ,
University, has published on science fiction, Merlin, Italo Calvino, and
Richard Wagner.
Ph.D. in Children's and Adolescent Literature from the
SHARON SCAPPLE ( S S ) ,
University of Minnesota, is a faculty member at the University of
Minnesota and Metropolitan State University.
CAROLINE SCHATKE ( C S ) has studied English and German Literature at the
University of Hanover, Germany, and Corpus Christi College, Oxford,
specializing in fairy tales, children's literature, and the Gothic novel.
Associate Professor of Art at Allegheny College
RICHARD A . SCHINDLER ( R A S ) ,
in Meadville, Pennsylvania, has published on Joseph Noel Paton and
Victorian fairy painting, and is himself an illustrator of fantasy and
science fiction.

KAREN SEAGO ( K S ) ,Senior Lecturer in German Language and Literature at the

University of North London, has published on the reception of the
Grimms' fairy tales in English translation and on Angela Carter.
CAROLE SILVER ( C G S ) ,Professor of English at Stern College, Yeshiva
University, is the author of Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and
Victorian Consciousness (1998).
editor of Children's Books and their Creators, is Vice-
ANITA SILVEY ( A S ) ,
President and Publisher, Children's Books, at Houghton Mifflin.
Professor of English at Mankato State University, is
LOUISA SMITH ( L S ) ,
currently co-editor of The Lion and the Unicorn.
Professor of English at the University of British
P . G . STANWOOD ( P G S ) ,
Columbia, is co-editor of The Selected Prose of Christina Rossetti (1998)
and the author of essays on 17th- and 20th-century opera.
is a freelance teacher and cinema researcher, author of All
TERRY STAPLES ( T A S )
Pals Together: The Story of Children's Cinema (1997) and Film in Victorian
Britain (1998).
 CONTRIBUTORS

MARY BETH STEIN ( M B S ) , Assistant Professor of German at George Washington

University in Washington, D C , is currently working on an edited volume
on teaching the fairy tale.
JOHN STEPHENS ( J A S ) ,Associate Professor of English at Macquarie University,
Australia, is the author of Language and Ideology in Children's Fiction
(1992) and co-author of Retelling Stories, Framing Culture: Traditional
Story andMetanarratives in Children's Literature (1998).
Associate Professor of English specializing in children's and
JAN SUSINA ( J S ) ,
adolescent literature at Illinois State University, is a book editor for The
Lion and the Unicorn.
D . MAUREEN THUM ( D M T ) , Professor of English at the University of Michigan-
Flint, has published on Wilhelm Hauff, the Brothers Grimm, and folkloric
motifs in literature.
editor of seven anthologies of contemporary fiction based
TERRI W I N D L I N G ( T W ) ,
on fairy tales, has published two fairy-tale inspired novels, The Wood
Wife (1996) and The Moon Wife (1999).
IAN WOJCIK-ANDREWS ( I W A ) , Professor of English at Eastern Michigan
University, has written extensively on film and children's literature.
Associate Professor of English at Kansas State
NAOMI J . W O O D ( N J W ) ,
University, has published on Disney's Cinderella and on 19th-century
literary fairy tales by George MacDonald, Charles Kingsley, and Lucy
Clifford.
Assistant Professor of French at Skidmore College
ADRIENNE E . ZUERNER ( A Z ) ,
in New York, has published on Corneille, Mme d'Aulnoy, and Mme de
Villedieu.
 INTRODUCTION
Towards a Définition of the
Literary Fairy Tale

HERE is no such thing as the fairy tale; however, there are

hundreds of thousands of fairy tales. And these fairy tales
have been defined in so many different ways that it boggles
the mind to think that they can be categorized as a genre. In
fact, the confusion is so great that most literary critics con­
tinually confound the oral folk tale with the literary fairy
tale and vice versa. Some even argue, to the dismay of folklorists, that we
might as well label any text or narrative that calls itself and is called a fairy
tale as such since the average reader is not aware of the distinction between
the oral and literary traditions or even cares about it. Why bother with dis­
tinctions when very few people necessarily want them? There is even a
strong general tendency among many readers in the West to resist defining
the fairy tale. It is as though one should not tamper with sacred material. By
dissecting the fairy tale, one might destroy its magic, and it appears that this
magic has something to do with the blessed realm of childhood and inno­
cence.
On the other hand, almost every reader of fairy tales, young and old, is
curious about their magic. What is it that endows fairy tales with such en­
chantment? Where do these tales come from? Why do they have such a grip
on us? Why do we always seem to need them? We want to know more about
ourselves by knowing something more about fairy tales. We want to fathom
their mysterious hold on us. Perhaps this is why there are literally hundreds
of scholarly books and essays about the tales, and why the more serious
studies insist on making a distinction between the oral folk tale and the liter­
ary fairy tale. It is distinction that preserves the unique socio-historical nature
of genres. It is distinction that exposes the magic of a genre while at the same
time allowing us to preserve and cultivate it so that it will continue to flourish.
One of the first German scholars to analyse the literary fairy tale systemat­
ically in our contemporary period is Jens Tismar, who has written two im­
portant studies, Kunstmdrchen (1977) and Das deutsche Kunstmàrchen des
pvan^igsten Jahrhunderts (1981). In his first short monograph, Tismar set
down the principles for a definition of the literary fairy tale (das Kunstmàr­
chen) as genre: (1) it distinguishes itself from the oral folk tale {das Volks-
màrchen) in so far as it is written by a single identifiable author; (2) it is thus
synthetic, artificial, and elaborate in comparison to the indigenous formation
of the folk tale that emanates from communities and tends to be simple and
anonymous; (3) the differences between the literary fairy tale and the oral
folk tale do not imply that one genre is better than the other; (4) in fact, the
literary fairy tale is not an independent genre but can only be understood and
defined by its relationship to the oral tales as well as to the legend, novella,
novel, and other literary fairy tales that it uses, adapts, and remodels during
the narrative conception of the author.
INTRODUCTION XVI

Tismar's principles are helpful when contemplating the distinguishing fea­

tures of the literary fairy tale. But there are many other distinctions that must
be made, and this Companion is one of the first major efforts in the English
language to make some of these distinctions and to define the socio-historical
rise of the fairy tale mainly in the nation-states of Western Europe and North
America that share common literary traditions. It also seeks to provide infor­
mation on all the writers, artists, musicians, film-makers, and movements that
have contributed to the changing nature of the fairy tale as genre. Whenever
possible, the contributions of other cultures from Eastern Europe, the Middle
East, Asia, South America, and Africa have been included, but the focus of
this Companion is essentially on the literary formation of the Western fairy­
tale genre and its expansion into opera, theatre, film, and other related cul­
tural forms.
During its long evolution, the literary fairy tale distinguished itself as genre
by 'appropriating' many motifs, signs, and drawings from folklore, embel­
lishing them and combining them with elements from other literary genres,
for it became gradually necessary in the modern world to adapt a certain kind
of oral storytelling called the wonder tale to standards of literacy and make it
acceptable for diffusion in the public sphere. The fairy tale is only one type of
literary appropriation of a particular oral storytelling tradition related to the
oral wonder tale, often called the Zaubermdrchen or the conte merveilleux,
which existed throughout Europe in many different forms during the medi­
eval period. As more and more wonder tales were written down in the 14th,
15th, 16th, and 17th centuries—often in Latin—they constituted the genre of
the literary fairy tale that began establishing its own conventions, motifs,
topoi, characters, and plots, based to a large extent on those developed in the
oral tradition but altered to address a reading public formed by the aristoc­
racy, clergy, and middle classes. Though the peasants were marginalized and
excluded in the formation of this literary tradition, their material, voices,
style, and beliefs were incorporated into the new genre during this period.
What exactly is the oral wonder tale? This is a question that is almost
impossible to answer because each village and community in Europe and in
North America developed various modes of storytelling and different types
of tales that were closely connected to their customs, laws, morals, and be­
liefs. But Vladimir Propp's now famous study, The Morphology of the Folk
Tale (1928), can be somewhat helpful here. Using the 600 texts of Aleksandr
Afanasyev's Russian Folktales (1855—63), he outlined 31 basic functions that
constitute the formation of a paradigmatic wonder tale, which was and still is
common in Russia and shares many properties with wonder tales throughout
the world. By functions, Propp meant the fundamental and constant compon­
ents of a tale that are the acts of a character and necessary for driving the
action forward. Consequently, most plots will follow a basic pattern which
begins with the protagonist confronted with an interdiction or prohibition
which he or she violates in some way. This leads to the banishment of the
protagonist or to the assignment of a task related to the interdiction or pro­
hibition. His or her character will be marked by the task that becomes his
XVll INTRODUCTION

or her assigned identity and destiny. Afterwards the protagonist will have
encounters with all sorts of characters: a deceitful villain; a mysterious indi-
vidual or creature, who gives the protagonist gifts; three different animals or
creatures who are helped by the protagonist and promise to repay him or her;
or three different animals or creatures who offer gifts to help the protagonist,
who is in trouble. The gifts are often magical agents, which bring about
miraculous change. Since the protagonist is now endowed with gifts, he or
she is tested or moves on to deal with inimical forces. But then there is a
sudden fall in the protagonist's fortunes that is generally only a temporary
setback. A wonder or miracle is needed to reverse the wheel of fortune. The
protagonist makes use of endowed gifts (and this includes magical agents and
cunning) to achieve his or her goal. Often there are three battles with the
villain; three impossible tasks that are miraculously completed; or the break-
ing of a magic spell through some counter-magical agent. The inimical forces
are vanquished. The success of the protagonist usually leads to marriage and
wealth. Sometimes simple survival and acquisition of important knowledge
based on experience form the ending of the tale.
Propp's structural approach to the wonder tale, while useful, should be
regarded with caution because there are innumerable variations in theme and
plot types throughout Europe and North America. In fact, the wonder tale is
based on a hybrid formation that encompassed the chronicle, myth, legend,
anecdote, and other oral forms and constantly changed depending on the
circumstances of the teller. If there is one 'constant' in the structure and
theme of the wonder tale that was also passed on to the literary fairy tale, it is
transformation—to be sure, miraculous transformation. Everybody and
everything can be transformed in a wonder tale. In particular there is general-
ly a change in the social status of the protagonists. For the peasants who
constituted the majority of the population in the Middle Ages, the hope for
change was embedded in this kind of narrative, and this hope had nothing to
do with a systematic and institutionalized belief system. That is, the tales told
by the peasants were secular, and the fortuitous changes and happenings that
occur in the tales cannot be predicted or guaranteed.
Rarely do wonder tales end unhappily in the oral tradition. They are
wish-fulfilments. They are obviously connected to initiation rites that introduce
listeners to the 'proper' way to become a member of a particular community. The
narrative elements issue from real-life experiences and customs to form a
paradigm that facilitates recall for tellers and listeners. The paradigmatic
structure enables teller and listeners to recognize, store, remember, and
reproduce the stories and to change them to fit their experiences and desires due
to the easily identifiable characters who are associated with particular
assignments and settings. For instance, many tales concern a simple fellow
named Jack, Hans, Pierre, or Ivan who is so naïve that he seems as if he will never
do well in life. He is often the youngest son, and his brothers and other people
take advantage of him or demean him. However, his goodness and naïveté
eventually enable him to avoid disasters. By the end of the tale he generally rises
in social status and proves himself to be more gifted and astute than he
INTRODUCTION xviii

seems. Other recognizable characters in wonder tales include: the Cinderella

girl who rises from the ashes to reveal herself to be more beautiful than her
stepsisters; the faithful bride; the loyal sister; the vengeful discharged soldier;
the boastful tailor; the cunning thief; devious robbers; ferocious ogres; the
unjust king; the queen who cannot have a child; the princess who cannot
laugh; a flying horse; a talking fish; a magic sack or table; a powerful club; a
kind duck; a sly fox; treacherous nixies; a beast-bridegroom. The forests are
often enchanted, and the settings change rapidly from the sea to glass and
golden mountains. There are mysterious underground realms and caves.
Many tales are about the land of milk and honey where everything is turned
upside down, and the peasants rule and can eat to their heart's content. The
protagonist moves faster than jet planes on the backs of griffins and eagles or
through the use of seven-league boots. Most important are the capes or
clothes that make the hero invisible or magic objects that endow him with
power. In some cases there are musical instruments with enormous captivat-
ing powers; swords and clubs capable of conquering anyone or anything;
lakes, ponds, and seas that are difficult to cross and serve as the home for
supernatural creatures. The characters, settings, and motifs are combined and
varied according to specific functions to induce wonder. It is this sense of
wondrous change that distinguished the wonder tales from other oral tales as
the chronicle, the legend, the fable, the anecdote, and the myth; it is clearly
the sense of wondrous change that distinguishes the literary fairy tale from the
moral story, novella, sentimental tale, and other modern short literary genres.
Wonder causes astonishment, and the marvellous object or phenomenon is
often regarded as a supernatural occurrence and can be an omen or portent. It
gives rise to admiration, fear, awe, and reverence. In the oral wonder tale,
listeners are to ponder about the workings of the universe where anything can
happen at any time, and these happy or fortuitous events are never to be
explained. Nor do the characters demand an explanation—they are oppor-
tunistic. They are encouraged to be so, and if they do not take advantage of
the opportunity that will benefit them in their relations with others, they are
either stupid or mean-spirited. Only the 'good' opportunistic protagonist suc-
ceeds because he or she is open to and wants a change. In fact, most heroes
need some kind of wondrous transformation to survive, and they indicate
how to take advantage of the unexpected opportunities that come their way.
The tales seek to awaken our regard for the marvellous changing condition of
life and to evoke in a religious sense profound feelings of awe and respect for
life as a miraculous process which can be altered and changed to compensate
for the lack of power, wealth, and pleasure that most people experience. Lack,
deprivation, prohibition, and interdiction motivate people to look for signs of
fulfilment and emancipation. In the wonder tales, those who are naïve and
simple are able to succeed because they are untainted and can recognize the
wondrous signs. They have retained their belief in the miraculous condition
of nature and revere nature in all its aspects. They have not been spoiled by
conventionalism, power, or rationalism. In contrast to the humble characters,
the villains are those who use their status, weapons, and words intentionally
xix INTRODUCTION

to exploit, control, transfix, incarcerate, and destroy for their benefit. They
have no respect or consideration for nature and other human beings, and they
actually seek to abuse magic by preventing change and causing everything to
be transfixed according to their interests. The wondrous protagonist wants to
keep the process of natural change flowing and indicates possibilities for
overcoming the obstacles that prevent other characters or creatures from liv­
ing in a peaceful and pleasurable way.
The focus on wonder in the oral folk tale does not mean that all wonder
tales, and later the literary fairy tales, served and serve a liberating purpose,
though they tend to conserve a Utopian spirit. Nor were they subversive,
though there are strong hints that the narrators favoured the oppressed prot­
agonists. The nature and meaning of folk tales have depended on the stage of
development of a tribe, community, or society. Oral tales have served to
stabilize, conserve, or challenge the common beliefs, laws, values, and norms
of a group. The ideology expressed in wonder tales always stemmed from the
position that the narrator assumed with regard to the developments in his or
her community, and the narrative plot and changes made in it depended on
the sense of wonder or awe that the narrator wanted to evoke. In other
words, the sense of wonder in the tale and the intended emotion sought by
the narrator is ideological. The oral tales have always played some role in the
socialization and acculturation of listeners. Certainly, the narratives were in­
tended to acquaint people with learning experiences so that they would know
how to comport themselves or take advantage of unexpected opportunities.
The knowledge imparted by the oral wonder tales involves a learning process
through which protagonist and listener are enriched by encounters with
extraordinary characters and situations.
Since these wonder tales have been with us for thousands of years and have
undergone so many different changes in the oral tradition, it is difficult to
determine clearly what the ideological intention of the narrator was; and if we
disregard the narrator's intention, it is often difficult to reconstruct (and/or
deconstruct) the ideological meaning of a tale. In the last analysis, however,
even if we cannot establish whether a wonder tale is ideologically conserva­
tive, sexist, progressive, liberating, etc., it is the celebration of wondrous
change and how the protagonist reacts to wondrous occurrences that account
for its major appeal. In addition, these tales nurture the imagination with
alternative possibilities to life at 'home', from which the protagonist is often
banished to find his or her 'true' home. This pursuit of home accounts for the
Utopian spirit of the tales, for the miraculous transformation does not only
involve the transformation of the protagonist but also the realization of a
more ideal setting in which the hero/heroine can fulfil his or her potential. In
fairy tales home is always a transformed home opening the way to a different
future or destiny than the hero or heroine had anticipated.
Ultimately, the definition of both the wonder tale and the fairy tale, which
derives from it, depends on the manner in which a narrator/author arranges
known functions of a tale aesthetically and ideologically to induce wonder and
then transmits the tale as a whole according to customary usage of a society in
INTRODUCTION XX

a given historical period. The first stage for the literary fairy tale involved a
kind of class and perhaps even gender appropriation. The voices of the non-
literate tellers were submerged. Since women in most cases were not allowed
to be scribes, the tales were scripted according to male dictates or fantasies,
even though many were told by women. Put crudely, one could say that the
literary appropriation of the oral wonder tales served the hegemonic interests
of males within the upper classes of particular communities and societies, and
to a great extent this is true. However, such a crude statement must be quali­
fied, for the writing down of the tales also preserved a great deal of the value
system of those deprived of power. And the more the literary fairy tale was
cultivated and developed, the more it became individualized and varied by
intellectuals and artists, who often sympathized with the marginalized in soci­
ety or were marginalized themselves. The literary fairy tale allowed for new
possibilities of subversion in the written word and in print, and therefore it
was always looked upon with misgivings by the governing authorities in the
civilization process.
The literary fairy tale is a relatively young and modern genre. Though
there is a great deal of historical evidence that oral wonder tales were written
down in India and Egypt thousands of years ago, and all kinds of folk motifs
of magical transformation became part and parcel of national epics and myths
throughout the world, the literary fairy tale did not really establish itself as a
genre in Europe and later in North America until some new material and
socio-cultural conditions provided fruitful ground for its formation. The
most significant developments from 1450 to 1700 include: the standardization
and categorization of the vernacular languages that gradually became official
nation-state languages; the invention of the printing press; the growth of
reading publics throughout Europe that began to develop a taste for short
narratives of different kinds for their reading pleasure; the conception of new
literary genres in the vernacular and their acceptance by the educated élite
classes.
Literary fairy tales were not at first called fairy tales, nor can one with
certainty say that they were simple appropriations of oral folk tales that were
popular among the common people. Indeed, the intersection of the oral trad­
ition of storytelling with the writing and publishing of narratives is definitely
crucial for understanding the formation of the fairy tale, but the oral sources
were not the only ones that provided the motifs, characters, plot devices, and
topoi of the genre. The early authors of fairy tales were generally extremely
well educated and well read and drew upon both oral and literary materials
when they created their fairy tales. Beginning with Apuleius' fairy tale 'Cupid
and Psyche', part of The Golden Ass, which appeared in the 2nd century A D ,
we can see that the fairy tale distinguished itself from the oral tradition—as it
did throughout the early medieval period—through carefully constructed
plots, sophisticated references to religion, literature, and customs, embel­
lished language that signified the high civilized status of the writer, and lin­
guistic codes that were informed by a particular civilizing process and carried
information about it.
xxi INTRODUCTION

Contained in chivalric romances, heroic sagas and epics, chronicles, ser­

mons, poems, lais, and primers during the European Middle Ages, the fairy
tale was often a story about miraculous encounters, changes, and initiations
illustrating a particular didactic point that the writer wished to express in an
entertaining manner. It was often written in Latin, Middle English, or in some
old high form of French, Spanish, Italian, or German. For the most part,
these early fairy tales were not intended for children. In fact, they were not
intended for most people since most people could not read. The fairy tale was
thus marked by the social class of the writers and readers, and since the clerics
dominated literary production in Latin up through the late Middle Ages, the
'secular' if not hedonistic fairy tale was not fully acceptable in European
courts and cities, and it was certainly not an autonomous literary genre.
In the late 13th century the anonymous collection Novellino {The Hundred
Old Tales), with its fantastic themes, unusual medieval exempla, and fables,
indicated along with other medieval marvellous tales and reports that new
literary genres were about to flower, and in the 14th century writers like
Boccaccio {The Decameron, 1349—50) and Chaucer {The Canterbury Tales,
1387) helped prepare the way for the establishment of the fairy tale as an
independent genre. Although they did not write 'pure' fairy tales per se, many
of their stories—and these were not the only writers who influenced the de­
velopment of the fairy tale—have fairy-tale motifs and structures and borrow
from oral wonder tales. Moreover, the frame narratives that they created
allowed for the introduction of diverse tales told in different modes and
styles, and it is the frame that became extremely important for Giovan Fran­
cesco Straparola in his Lepiacevoli notti {The Pleasant Nights, 1550—3) and for
Giambattista Basile in Lo cunto de li cunti { The Story of Stories) better known
as II Pentamerone (1634—6), for they used their frames to produce some of the
most illustrious literary fairy tales in the West that were to influence major
writers of the genre in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.
In many ways the tales of Straparola and Basile can be considered crucial
for understanding the rise of the genre. Straparola wrote in succinct Tuscan
or standard Italian, and Basile wrote in a Neapolitan dialect marked by an
elaborate baroque style with striking metaphors and peculiar idioms and ref­
erences that are difficult to decipher today. Though all their fairy tales have
moral or didactic points, they have very little to do with official Christian
doctrine. On the contrary, their tales are often bawdy, irreverent, erotic,
cruel, frank, and unpredictable. The endings are not always happy. Some are
even tragic; many are hilarious. Some tales are very short, but most are some­
what lengthy, and they are all clearly intended to represent and reflect upon
the mores and customs of their time, to shed light on the emerging civilizing
process of Italian society. From the beginning, fairy tales were symbolic com­
mentaries on the mores and customs of a particular society and the classes and
groups within these societies and how their actions and relations could lead to
success and happiness.
Although other Italian writers such as Cesare Cortese and Pompeo Sarnelli
created fairy tales in the 17th century, the conditions in the different reading
INTRODUCTION xxii

publics in Italy were not propitious for the genre to take root. The oral trad­
ition and the 'realistic' novellas and stories remained dominant in Italy. This
was also the case in Great Britain. Although there was a strong interest in
fairylore in the 1590s, as indicated by The Faerie Queene (1590—6) written by
Sir Edmund Spenser, who was influenced by Italian epic poetry, and although
Shakespeare introduced fairies and magical events in some of his best plays
such as A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest, the trend in English
society was to ban the fairies and to make way for utilitarianism and puritan-
ism. There were, of course, some interesting attempts in poetry by Ben Jon-
son, Michael Drayton, and Robert Herrick to incorporate folklore and
fairy-tale motifs in their works. But the waning interest in fairy tales and the
obstacles created by censorship undermined these literary attempts. Fortu­
nately, oral storytelling provided the refuge for fairy beliefs.
It was not until the 1690s in France that the fairy tale could establish itself
as a 'legitimate' genre for educated classes. It was during this time that nu­
merous gifted female writers such as Mme d'Aulnoy, Mme d'Auneuil, Mme
de Murât, Mlle Lhéritier, Mme de La Force, Mlle Bernard, and others intro­
duced fairy tales into their literary salons and published their works, and their
tales, along with those of Charles Perrault and Jean de Mailly, initiated a
mode or craze that prepared the ground for the institution of the literary fairy
tale as a genre. First of all, the French female writers 'baptized' their tales
contes de fées or fairy tales, and they were the first to designate the tales as
such. The designation is not simply based on the fact that there are fairies in
all their tales but also on the fact that the seat of power in their tales—and
also in those of Perrault and other male writers of the time—lies with om­
nipotent women. Similar to the tales of Straparola and Basile, whose works
were somewhat known by the French, the contes de fées are secular and form
discourses about courtly manners and power. The narratives vary in length
from 10 to 60 pages, and they were not at all addressed to children. Depend­
ing on the author, they are ornate, didactic, ironic, and mocking. In the
period between 1690 and 1705, the tales reflected many of the changes that
were occurring at King Louis X I V ' s court, and Perrault wrote his tales con­
sciously to demonstrate the validity of this 'modern' genre as opposed to the
classical Greek and Roman myths. Many of the tale types can be traced to the
oral folk tradition, and they also borrow from the Italian literary fairy tale
and numerous other literary and art works of this period. In addition to the
accomplishments of the first wave of French authors, mention should be
made of Antoine Galland and his remarkable translation of Arabic narratives
in Les Mille et une nuits {The Thousand and One Nights, 1704—17). Not only
did Galland introduce the tradition and customs of the Middle East to West­
ern readers, but he also imitated the oriental tales and created his own—
something hundreds of authors would do in the centuries that followed.
By 1720, at the very latest, the fairy tale was being institutionalized as
genre, and the paradigmatic form and motifs were becoming known through­
out Europe. This dissemination of the tales was due in large part to the dom­
inance of French as the cultural language in Europe. But there were other
XX111 INTRODUCTION

ways in which the French tales became known and set a pattern for most
fairy-tale writers. It was during this time that chapbooks or 'cheap' books
were being produced in series such as the Bibliothèque bleue, and the books
were carried by pedlars from village to village to be sold with other goods.
The 'sophisticated' tales of the upper-class writers were abbreviated and
changed a great deal to address other audiences. These tales were often read
aloud and made their way into or back into the oral tradition. Interestingly,
the tales were retold innumerable times and circulated throughout diverse
regions of Europe, often leading to some other literary appropriation and
publication. In addition, there were numerous translations into English, Ger-
man, Spanish, and Italian. Another important development was the rise of the
literary fairy tale for children. Already during the 1690s, Fénelon, the import-
ant theologian and Archbishop of Cambrai, who had been in charge of the
Dauphin's education at King Louis X I V ' s court, had written several didactic
fairy tales to make the Dauphin's lessons more enjoyable. But they were kept
for private use and were printed only in 1730 after Fénelon's death. More
important than Fénelon was Mme Leprince de Beaumont, who published Le
Magasin des enfants (1743), which included 'Beauty and the Beast' and ten or
so overtly moralistic fairy tales for children. Like many of her predecessors,
she used a frame story in which a governess engaged several young girls
between 6 and 10 in discussions about morals, manners, ethics, and gender
roles that lead her to tell stories to illustrate her points. Mme Leprince de
Beaumont's utilization of such a frame was based on her work as a governess
in England, and the frame was set up to be copied by other adults to cultivate
a type of storytelling and reading in homes of the upper classes that would
reinforce acceptable notions of propriety, especially proper sex roles. It was
only as part of the civilizing process that storytelling developed within the
aristocratic and bourgeois homes in the 17th and 18th centuries, first through
governesses and nannies, and later in the 18th and 19th centuries through
mothers, tutors, and governesses who told stories in separate rooms desig-
nated for children and called nurseries.
Towards the end of the 18th century numerous publishers in France,
England, and Germany began serious production of books for children, and the
genre of the fairy tale assumed a new dimension which now included concerns
about how to socialize children and indoctrinate them through literary products
that were appropriate for their age, mentality, and morals. The rise of
'bourgeois' children's literature meant that publishers would make the fairy-tale
genre more comprehensive, but they would also—along with parents,
educators, religious leaders, and writers—pay great attention to the potential of
the fantastic and miraculous in the fairy tale to disturb and/or enlighten
children's minds. There were numerous debates about the value of the fantastic
and the marvellous in literary form and their possible detrimental effects on the
souls of readers in many European countries. They were significant and
interesting, but they did not have any real impact on the publication of fairy
tales. Certainly, not in France. Indeed, by 1785 Charles-Joseph Mayer could
begin producing his famous 40-volume Cabinet des fées, which
INTRODUCTION xxiv

was completed in 1789 and contained the most significant of the 100-year
mode of fairy tales that paved the way for the institution of the fairy tale in
other countries. From this point on, most writers in the West, whether they
wrote for adults or children, consciously held a dialogue with a fairy-tale
discourse that had become firmly established in Europe and embraced inter­
course with the oral storytelling tradition and all other kinds of folklore that
existed throughout the world. For instance, the French fairy tale, which now
included The Arabian Nights, had a profound influence on German writers of
the Enlightenment and romanticism, and the development in Germany pro­
vided the continuity for the institution of the genre in the West as a whole.
Like the French authors, the German middle-class writers like Johann
Musâus in his collection Volksmdrchen der Deutschen (1782—6) and Benedikte
Naubert in her work Neue Volksmdhrchen der Deutschen (1789—93) employed
the fairy tale to celebrate German history and customs. Musàus and Naubert
both combined elements of German myth, folklore, legend, and the French
fairy tale to address educated Germans. At the same time, Christoph Martin
Wieland translated and adapted numerous fairy tales from the Cabinet des fées
in Dschinnistan (1786—9), and he also wrote a novel and some poems that
revealed his familiarity with Basile and the Italian fairy-tale tradition. Aside
from these collections for upper-class readers, numerous French fairy tales
became known in Germany by the turn of the century through the popular
series of the Blaue Bibliothek and other translations from the French, and
children's books began to carry more and more fairy tales.
Most important at the turn of the century was the contribution of the Ger­
man romantic writers. Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder, Ludwig Tieck,
Novalis, Joseph von Eichendorff, Clemens Brentano, Adelbert Chamisso,
Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, E . T. A . Hoffmann, and others wrote extraor­
dinary and highly complex metaphorical tales that revealed a major shift in
the function of the genre: the fairy tale began to address philosophical and
practical concerns of the emerging middle classes and was written in defence
of the imagination and as a critique of the worst aspects of the Enlightenment
and absolutism. This viewpoint was clearly expressed in Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe's classical narrative bluntly entitled 'The Fairy Tale' (1795), as
though it were the fairy tale to end all fairy tales. Goethe optimistically envis­
ioned a successful rebirth of a rejuvenated monarchy that would enjoy the
support of all social classes in his answer to the violence and destruction of
the French Revolution. In response, Novalis wrote a long, elaborate fairy tale
in Heinrich von Ofterdingen (1798) called 'Klingsohr's Màrchen', that cele­
brates the erotic and artistic impulses of revolution and emphasizes magical
transformation and flexibility. Though hopeful, many of the romantics were
sceptical about prospects for individual autonomy and the reform of decadent
institutions in a Germany divided by the selfish interests of petty tyrants and
the Napoleonic Wars. Characteristically many of the early romantic tales do
not end on a happy note. The protagonists either go insane or die. The evil
forces assume a social hue, for the witches and villains are no longer allegor­
ical representations of evil in the Christian tradition but are symbolically
XXV INTRODUCTION

associated with the philistine bourgeois society or the corrupt aristocracy.

The romantics did not intend their fairy tales to amuse audiences in the trad­
itional sense of divertissement. Instead, they sought to engage the reader in a
serious discourse about art, philosophy, education, and love. The focus was
on the creative individual or artist, who envisioned a life without inhibitions
and social constraints. It was a theme that became popular in the romantic
fairy tales throughout Europe and in North America. In contrast to most folk
tales or fairy tales that have strong roots in folklore and propose the possibil­
ity of the integration of the hero into society, the fairy tales of the 19th and
20th centuries tend to pit the individual against society or to use the protago­
nist in a way to mirror the foibles and contradictions of society.
This conflict between the 'heroic' individual, often identified with Nature
or natural forces, and society, understood as one-dimensional rationality and
bureaucracy, became a major theme in British romanticism. At the same time
the romantics also sought to rediscover their English, Scottish, Welsh, and
Irish heritage by exploring folklore and the history of the fairies, elves, lepre­
chauns, and other 'little people'. Here the prose (Sir Walter Scott, James
Hogg, Allan Cunningham), poetry (Samuel Coleridge, Robert Southey, John
Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Tom Moore and Thomas Hood) and folklore
and fairy-tale studies (Walter Scott, Thomas Crofton Croker, Thomas
Keightley) paved the way for an astounding production of fairy tales in the
second half of the 19th century. In addition, the fairy paintings of William
Blake and Henry Fuseli had an enormous impact on the later fantastic paint­
ings of Daniel Maclise, Joseph Noel Paton, Richard Dadd, John Anster Fitz­
gerald, Arthur Hughes, Richard Doyle, and many others, and numerous
plays and operas were also influenced by the fairy-tale vogue, as can be seen
in the work of James Planché.
While the function of the fairy tale for adults underwent a major shift in the
19th century that made it an appropriate means to maintain a dialogue about
social and political issues within the bourgeois public sphere—and this was
clear in all nations in Europe and North America—the fairy tale for children
was carefully monitored and censored until the 1820s. Although there were
various collections published for upper-class children in the latter part of the
18th century and at the turn of the century along with numerous chapbooks
containing classical fairy tales, they were not regarded as prime and 'proper'
reading material for children. They were not considered to be 'healthy' for
the development of young people's minds. For the most part, publishers,
church leaders, and educators favoured other genres of stories, more realistic,
sentimental, and didactic. Even the Brothers Grimm, in particular Wilhelm,
began to revise their collected tales in Kinder- und Hausmdrchen {Children's
and Household Tales, 1812—15), making them more appropriate for children
than they had done in the beginning and cleansing their narratives of erotic
and bawdy passages. However, the fantastic and miraculous elements were
kept so that they were not at first fully accepted by the middle-class reading
audience, which only began to change its attitude towards the fairy tale dur­
ing the course of the 1820s and 1830s throughout Europe.
INTRODUCTION XXVI

The tales of the Brothers Grimm played a key role in this change. More
than the collections of the French writers of the 1790s, the Grimms' work was
consciously designed to address two audiences at the same time, and they
carefully cultivated the form of their tales so that they could be easily grasped
by children and adults. From 1812 until 1857, the Grimms published seven
editions of what they called the Large Edition (Grosse Ausgabe), which ultim­
ately contained 211 tales, for the household in general and for scholars as
well. The Grimms thought of their book as an Eriiehungsbuch (an educational
manual), and thus they also wanted to attract children and appeal to the
morals and virtues of middle-class readers. Thus they also published a so-
called Small Edition (Kleine Ausgabe), a selection of 50 tales, in 1825 to popu­
larize the larger work and create a more manageable best-seller. There were
ten editions of this book from 1825 to 1858, and they contained the majority of
the magic fairy tales such as 'Cinderella', 'Snow White', 'Sleeping Beauty',
'Little Red Riding Hood', and 'The Frog King'. Since they all underlined
morals in keeping with the Protestant ethic and a patriarchal notion of sex
roles, the book was bound to be a success. When we think of the form and
typical fairy tale today, we tend to think of a paradigmatic Grimms' fairy tale
(quite often modified by the Disney industry). Their tales are all about three
to five pages long and are constructed rationally to demonstrate the virtues of
an opportunistic protagonist who learns to take advantage of gifts and magic
power to succeed in life, which means marriage to a rich person and wealth.
Most of the male heroes are dashing, adventurous, and courageous. Most of
the female protagonists are beautiful, passive, and industrious. Their com­
mon feature is cunning: they all know how to take advantage of the rules of
their society and the conventions of the fairy tale to profit. Very few of the
Grimms' fairy tales end on an unhappy note, and they all comply with the
phallocratie impulses and forces of the emerging middle-class societies of
Western culture.
Aside from the gradual success that the Grimms' tales had as a 'children's
book', the publication of Wilhelm Hauff s Màrchen Almanack (1826), contain­
ing oriental-flavoured tales for young people, Edward Taylor's translation of
the Grimms' tales as German Popular Stories (1823), with illustrations by the
famous George Cruikshank, and Pierre-Jules Hetzel's Livre des enfants
(1837), which contained 40 tales from the Cabinet des fées edited for children,
indicated that the fairy tale had become acceptable for young readers. This
acceptance was largely due to the fact that adults themselves became more
tolerant of fantasy literature and realized that it would not pervert the minds
of their children. Indeed, the middle-class attitudes towards amusement
began to change, and people understood that children needed the time and
space for recreation without having morals and ethics imposed on them and
without the feeling that their reading or listening had to involve indoctrin­
ation.
It is not by chance, then, that the fairy tale for children came into its own
from 1830 to 1900. The most significant writer of this period was Hans Chris­
tian Andersen, who began publishing his tales in 1835, and they were almost
XXVll INTRODUCTION

immediately translated into many different languages and became popular

throughout the Western world. Andersen combined humour, Christian senti­
ments, folklore, and original plots to form tales which amused and instructed
old and young readers at the same time. More than any writer of the 19th
century, he fulfilled what Perrault had begun: to write tales such as 'The Ugly
Duckling', 'The Little Mermaid', and 'The Princess and the Pea' which could
be readily grasped by children and adults alike. Of course, Andersen wrote
many tales that were clearly intended for adults alone, and they are filled with
self-hate, paranoia, and dreams of vengeance.
More and more the fairy tale of the 19th century became marked by the
very individual desires and needs of the authors who felt that industrialization
and rationalization of labour made their lives compartmentalized. A s daily life
became more structured and institutions more bureaucratic, there was little
space left for leisure, hobbies, daydreaming, and the imagination. It was the
fairy tale that provided room for amusement, nonsense, and recreation. This
does not mean that it abandoned its more traditional role in the civilizing
process as agent of socialization. For instance, up until the 1860s the majority
of fairy-tale writers for children, including Catherine Sinclair, George
Cruikshank, and Alfred Crowquill in Britain, Collodi in Italy, comtesse
Sophie de Ségur in France, and Ludwig Bechstein in Germany, emphasized
the lessons to be learned in keeping with the principles of the Protestant
ethic—industriousness, honesty, cleanliness, diligence, virtuousness—and
male supremacy. However, just as the 'conventional' fairy tale for adults had
become subverted at the end of the 18th century, there was a major move­
ment to write parodies of fairy tales, which were intended both for children
and adults. In other words, the classical tales were turned upside down and
inside out to question the value system upheld by the dominant socialization
process and to keep wonder, curiosity, and creativity alive.
By the 1860s numerous writers continued the 'romantic' project of subvert­
ing the formal structure of the canonized tales (Perrault, Grimm, Bechstein,
Andersen) and to experiment with the repertoire of motifs, characters, and
topoi to defend the free imagination of the individual and to extend the dis­
cursive social commentary of the fairy tale. The best example of the type of
subversion attempted during the latter part of the 19th century is Lewis Car­
roll's Alice in Wonderland (1865), which engendered numerous imitations and
original works in Europe and America. Even today, unusual versions of Alice
have been created for the theatre, television, the cinema, comic books, and
other kinds of literature, demonstrating the exceptional way that the fairy-tale
genre has evolved to address changing social issues and aesthetic modes.
Of course, Victorian England was an unusual time for fairylore because
many people from all social classes seriously believed in the existence of fair­
ies, elves, goblins, selfies, and dwarfs otherwise known as the little people,
and their beliefs were manifested in the prodigious amount of fairy stories,
paintings, operas, plays, music, and ballets from the 1820s to the turn of the
century. The need to believe in other worlds and other types of living people
was certainly connected to a need to escape the pressures of utilitarianism and
INTRODUCTION xxviii

industrialism and a rebellion against traditional Christian thinking. But it was

also linked to a scientific quest to explain the historical origins of the little
people, and folklorists, anthropologists, and ethnologists contributed to the
flowering of the fairy tale and folk tale. The work of the Scottish scholar
Andrew Lang, who published 13 coloured books of fairy tales from 1889 to
1910, still in print today, is a good example of how important the fairies and
their lore had become in Britain. Influenced greatly by the anthropological
school of folklore, Lang sought to further historical investigation into the
origins of myths and rituals and their connection to folk tales while at the
same time he collapsed distinctions between folk and fairy tales and sought to
address young and adult audiences with international collections of tales and
his own literary fairy tales.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the fairy tale had become fully insti­
tutionalized in Europe and North America, as indicated by the great success
and popularity of L . Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wii<xrd of 0{ (1900) and
James Barrie's Peter Pan (1904) and their sequels in literature, drama, and
film up to the present. The full institutionalization of the genre means that a
specific process of production, distribution, and reception had become regu­
larized within the public sphere of each Western society, and it began to play
and continues to play a significant role in the formation and preservation of
the cultural heritage of a nation-state. Without such institutionalization in
advanced industrialized and technological countries, the genre would perish,
and thus any genre must be a kind of self-perpetuating institution involved in
the socialization and acculturation of readers. It is the interaction of
writer/publisher/audience within a given society that makes for the defin­
ition of the genre in any given epoch. This has certainly been the case with
the fairy tale. The aesthetics of each literary fairy tale will depend on how and
why an individual writer wants to intervene in the discourse of the genre as
institution. Such interventions bring about transformations in the institution
itself and its relation to other institutions so that the fairy tale today is un­
thinkable without taking into consideration its dialectical relationship with
other genres and media as well as its actual 'absorption' of these genres and
media.
The absorption is based on cross-connections to other genres as institu­
tions and mutual influences that had been present ever since the rise of the
literary fairy tale. The theatre, opera, ballet, poetry, painting, and even ser­
mons had made use of fairy-tale material since the 17th century if not even
earlier. The pageants at various European courts in the 16th and 17th centur­
ies had actually influenced and helped further the development of the literary
fairy tale which became the subject matter of great composers such as Mozart,
Schumann, Delibes, Puccini, Rossini, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Humperdinck,
Offenbach, and Dvorak in the 18th and 19th centuries. What became appar­
ent by the beginning of the 20th century was that the fairy tale had developed
a canon of 'classical' fairy tales ('Cinderella', 'Sleeping Beauty', 'Little Red
Riding Hood', 'Snow White', 'Rumpelstiltskin', 'Rapunzel', 'Puss-in-Boots',
'The Princess and the Pea', 'Aladdin and the Lamp', etc.) that served as
XXIX INTRODUCTION

reference points for the standard structure, motifs, and topoi of a fairy tale for
readers young and old throughout the Western world. Other important fea­
tures of the genre as institution were: (i) schools integrated the teaching of
fairy tales into the curriculum, included them in primers, and purchased them
for libraries; (2) in the adaptations of the tales for children, many of the tales
were 'sanitized' so that putative terrifying aspects of some tales were deleted
and also the language was simplified if not made simplistic; (3) fairy tales for
adults often took the form of a novella or a novel and, though the authors
would rely on the formulaic form of the classical fairy tale, they would often
experiment and vary the form in highly original and innovative ways; (4)
clearly, the tales of Perrault and the Brothers Grimm set the pattern for what
was considered the fairy tale, but there were also interesting nationalistic de­
velopments in the genre that led many authors and scholars to cultivate spe­
cific ethnic themes; (5) at the same time, the intertextuality of most literary
fairy tales in the 20th century demanded that the readers transcend their na­
tionalities and make connections between cultures in a 'universal' sense; (6)
the so-called universality of the folk tales and fairy tales began to draw the
interest of psychologists and other social scientists who departed from the
traditional approaches of folklorists and anthropologists to analyse the impact
that the tales had on individual psyches.
As the printing of illustrated books in colour became cheaper and as more
children learned to read through obligatory schooling, more and more pub­
lishers produced the classical fairy tales in the hundreds of thousands if not
the millions throughout the 20th century. The tales have been printed in all
sorts of formats ranging from 10 x 10 cm. tiny ( 4 x 4 in.) booklets to gigantic
picture books over 30 x 30 cm. ( 1 2 x 1 2 in.), not to mention comic books and
cartoons. The illustrations have varied from hackwork to brilliant interpret­
ations of the stories. Artists such as Walter Crane, Arthur Rackham, Charles
Folkard, Harry Clarke, and Edmund Dulac made major contributions to the
genre at the beginning of the century, and contemporary illustrators such as
Eric Carle, Raymond Briggs, Klaus Ensikat, Maurice Sendak, and Lisbeth
Zwerger have produced their own unique drawings that endow the tales with
special personal meanings and social commentary. The tales of Perrault,
Grimm, and Andersen have been translated into practically every language in
the world, and together they vie with the Bible as the most widely read litera­
ture in the world.
Though the classical fairy tales soon dominated the market for children at
the turn of the century, there were important endeavours to create new liter­
ary fairy tales for adults and children. For instance, numerous European
writers such as Hermann Hesse, Apollinaire, Edwin Hoernle, Hermynia zur
Miihlen, Oscar Maria Graf, Kurt Schwitters, and Bruno Schonlank sought to
politicize the fairy tale; there were numerous attempts from the right and the
left before and after World War I to use fairy tales for explicit political pur­
poses. After the Nazis rose to power, fairy tales and folk tales were interpret­
ed and used to spread the Aryan ideology throughout Europe, and the
situation was no different in the Soviet Union, where tales had to suit
INTRODUCTION XXX

communist notions of socialist realism, proletarian literature, and class

struggle.
Ironically, the most significant 'revolution' in the institution of the fairy
tale took place in 1937, when Walt Disney produced the first animated feature
fairy-tale film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Although fairy tales had
been adapted for film as early as the 1890s, Disney was the first to use Techni­
color, to expand on the Broadway and Hollywood formula for a musical, to
print books, records, toys, and other artefacts to accompany his films, and to
spice the classical tales with delightful humour and pristine fun that would be
acceptable for middle-class families. The commercial success was so great
that Disney used the same cinematic devices and ideological messages in his
next three fairy-tale films Pinocchio (1940), Cinderella (1950), and Sleeping
Beauty (1959). After his death, the Disney formula has not changed much,
and even the most recent films such as The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and
the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and Mulan (1998) follow a traditional pat­
tern of a 'good' young man or woman, who finds some magical means to help
himself or herself against sinister forces. In the end the 'goodness' of the hero
or heroine shines through, and there is a happy end that generally culminates
in marriage. The story is always predictable. What counts most in the Disney
fairy tale is the repetition of the same message: happiness will always come to
those who work hard and are kind and brave, and it is through the spectacular
projection of this message and through music, jokes, dazzling animation, and
zany characters that the Disney corporate artists have made a profitable busi­
ness out of the fairy tale. Indeed, the Disney Corporation has literally com­
mercialized the classical fairy tale as its own trademark.
This commercialization does not mean that the fairy tale has become a
mere commodity, for the conventional Disney fairy tale in film and literature
serves as a referential text that has challenged gifted writers and artists to
create fascinating critiques of some of the blatant sexist and racist features of
the Disney films and the classical canon as well. The works of these writers
and artists offer alternatives to the standard formulas that stimulate readers/
viewers to rethink their aesthetic and ideological notions of what a fairy tale
is. In particular the period from i960 to the present has witnessed a flowering
of remarkable experiments in the institution of the fairy tale. Significantly, the
fascination with fairy-tale writers began with the late i960 counter-culture
movement and its turn towards writers like J . R. R. Tolkien, Hermann Hesse,
and to a certain extent C. S. Lewis. One of the slogans of the anti-war move­
ment in Europe and America was 'power to the imagination', that is, 'em­
power the imagination', and thousands of students turned to fantasy literature
and fairy tales as a revolt against the reality of the Vietnam War and the
rationalizations of the so-called military-industrial complex that the younger
generation could not trust. The turn to the fairy tale and other forms of
fantasy was not so much escapism as a rejection of the compromising policies
of educational and political institutions that the young regarded as corrupt.
This was the period when no one above the age of 30 was to be trusted.
Though there were few specific 'political' fairy tales written during the
XXXI INTRODUCTION

Vietnam era, feminist fairy tales soon began to be produced by writers such as
Anne Sexton, Olga Broumas, Angela Carter, and Tanith Lee, along with
feminist cooperatives in Italy, Ireland, and Britain. In addition, Edith John­
ston Phelps, Alison Lurie, and other feminist writers began publishing collec­
tions of feminist fairy tales or tales in which traditional sexuality was ques­
tioned, and this work has been continued in anthologies edited by Suzanne
Barchers, Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling, and Jane Yolen. Indeed, if the Dis­
ney fairy-tale factory marked one sort of revolution in the genre, the feminist
fairy-tale production that generally involves a questioning of gender roles
and a recording of personal experiences in poetry and prose marked a second
one by breathing new life into the genre, and it has led to exciting experi­
ments up through Emma Donoghue's Kissing the Witch (1997).
In fact, experimentation linked to magic realism and a postmodern sensibil­
ity have become the key words in the fairy-tale genre from 1980 to the pre­
sent. In Great Britain there are several notable authors who have stamped the
fairy tale with their diverse perspectives and unusual discourses: Angela Car­
ter, who edited important volumes of folk tales and fairy tales about women,
produced the provocative Bloody Chamber and Other Tales that turns Perrault
on his head; Salman Rushdie, who relies on a variety of oriental and Western
folklore in his novels, wrote an important political novella, Haroun and the
Sea of Stories, for young people that reveals the dangers of and the necessity
for storytelling. A . S. Byatt produced the novel Possession, one of the most
creative explorations of the genre in prose and poetry, not to mention her
shorter fairy tales that have raised questions about social codes and narratol-
ogy. The list of contemporary talented writers who have endeavoured to
break with the classical tradition is great. Their styles range from oblique
postmodern montage to poetic, straightforward traditional narrative styles,
and they include Michel Tournier, Michael Ende, Robert Coover, Donal Bar-
theleme, Peter Redgrove, Michael de Larrabeiti, Janosch, Steven Millhauser,
Jane Yolen, Donna Di Napoli, John Barth, Italo Calvino, and Gianni Rodari.
In addition, many film-makers such as Jim Henson, Tom Davenport, John
Sayles, and others, including numerous East European 'communist' film­
makers, have sought to go beyond Disney and bring about new perspectives
on the fairy tale and society through cinematic experimentation.
The present Companion seeks to document all these recent endeavours
while providing as much information about past efforts of authors who have
contributed to the rise of the literary fairy tale in Europe and North America.
There are separate entries on specific national developments in France, Ger­
many, Britain, Ireland, Italy, North America, Portugal, Scandinavia, Slav and
Baltic countries, and Spain. Most of the articles deal with the literary forma­
tion of the genre and the development of specific types of tales. Plays, operas,
paintings, films, musicals, illustrations, paintings, and fairy-tale artefacts such
as stamps and postcards are also included. Although every effort has been
made to be as comprehensive and inclusive as possible, there are bound to be
some regettable gaps that will be covered in future editions of the Companion.
INTRODUCTION xxxii

This work would not have been made possible without the dedicated ef­
forts of my assistant Anne Duggan, who supervised all the manuscripts and
helped me organize the entire project. I am deeply grateful for all the work
that she put into the Companion. Special thanks are also due to: Terry Staples,
who brilliantly reorganized the film entries and wrote wonderful entries;
Rosemary Creeser, Lydia Marhoff, and Ulrike Sieglohr, who supported
Terry Staples with all-round advice; Tom Higgins and Thomas Hoernigk,
members of the Offenbach-Gesellschaft, who developed the opera and music
entries with their expertise; Mary Lou Ennis, who repeatedly came to the
rescue with new fascinating entries; Carole Silver, who went out of her way
at the last moment to add important entries, as did Gillian Avery with great
generosity. From the beginning I could not have done without the advice of
all the contributing editors who helped conceive the lists and provided me
with wise counsel. Last but not least I want to thank everyone at the Oxford
University Press for their tireless efforts to assist me. Michael Cox provided
the initial spark for the project. Pam Coote and Alison Jones were always
helpful and patient, and they constantly gave me sound editorial advice.
Wendy Tuckey made certain that there was some semblance of order as the
work developed. Veronica Ions did a splendid job of copy-editing the entire
book and offered useful suggestions for changes. The collaborative effort of
scholars from many different countries has, I hope, borne fruit, and a touch of
magic was especially necessary to harvest the results.
I have taken the opportunity of a printing of a paperback edition to correct
a small number of errors that have come to light since the original publica­
tion. Major additions and changes will wait until the publication of a second
revised edition.
J A C K ZIPES
Minneapolis, 2001
A A R N E , A N T ! ! , see AARNE-THOMPSON INDEX.

shorthand for The

A A R N E - T H O M P S O N INDEX,
Types of the Folktale, the classification system
for international folk tales developed and first
published in 1910 by the Finnish folklorist
Antti Aarne under the title Verieichnis der Mar-
chentypen {Index of Types of Folktale). Aarne's
system, designed initially to organize and index
the Scandinavian archival collections, was
translated and enlarged by the American folk­
lorist Stith Thompson in 1928, and revised sions at the time of compilation, as well as the
again in 1961. Although its scope is limited pri­ print or archival sources of the variants.
marily to European and European-derived The tales are divided into the following cat­
tales known to have existed in oral tradition at egories: Animal Tales (Types 1—299), Ordin­
the time of publication, the principal value of ary Folk Tales (Types 300—1199), Jokes and
the index lies in the creation of a single classifi­ Anecdotes (Types 1200—1999), Formula Tales
a n
cation system by which culturally distinct vari­ (Types 2000—2399), d Unclassified Tales
ants are grouped together according to a (Types 2400—2499). Most folk tales or fairy
common reference number. tales are classified under 'ordinary tales', which
Together with Thompson's six-volume comprise roughly half of the catalogue. MBS
Baughman, Ernest W., Type and Motif-Index of
Motif-Index of Folk Literature with which it is
the Folktales of England and America (1966).
cross-indexed, The Types of the Folktale consti­
Georges, Robert, 'The Universality of the Tale-
tutes the most important reference work and
Type as Concept and Construct', Western
research tool for comparative folk-tale analy­
Folklore 42 (1983).
sis. These two indexes, designed to aid the re­
Thompson, Stith, The Folktale (1946).
searcher in identifying tale types, isolating Motif-Index of Folk Literature (1955).
their motifs and locating cultural variants, are
most closely associated with the historical-geo­ A D A , A L M A FLOR( 1 9 3 8 - ), Cuban-American
graphic (or Finnish) method, which sought to writer and professor, who has been a pioneer in
reconstruct the hypothetical original form the development of multicultural and bilingual
{Urforni) as well as the history of a given tale books for children and has written the import­
by plotting the distribution of different ver­ ant study A Magical Encounter: Spanish-Lan­
sions over time and space. Although the guage Children's Literature in the Classroom
historical-geographic method is no longer (1990). Ada writes her own texts in Spanish
fashionable, the reference works produced by and English as well as translating and adapting
that direction of folk-narrative research remain folk tales that emphasize the themes of co­
one of the most enduring contributions to the operation, trust, and liberty. Among her im­
study of folk tales. portant books in Spanish and English are El
In The Types of the Folktale, tales are organ­ enanito de la bared {The Wall's Dwarf 1974),
ized according to type (defined by Thompson La gallinata costurera {The Little Hen Who
as 'a traditional tale that has an independent ex­ Enjoyed Sewing, 1974), La gallinata roja {The
istence') and assigned a title and number Little Red Hen, 1989), La tataranieta de Cuc-
and/or letter. For example, the Brother arachitaMartina {The Great-Great Granddaugh­
*Grimms' tale of *'Sleeping Beauty' appears in ter of the Little Cockroach Martina, 1993), and
the Aarne-Thompson index as 410, 'Sleeping Mediopollito {Half-Chicken, 1995). Dear Peter
Beauty'. Scholars citing either the Grimm or Rabbit (1994), a unique montage of fairy tales
non-Grimm version could then refer to it by its and fables in the form of letters, won the Par­
tale-type number, as A T (or AaTh) 410. Each ents' Choice Honor. The Malachite Palace
entry begins with a description of the principal (1998), one of Ada's original fairy tales, re­
traits of the tale in abbreviated narrative form, counts the adventures of a sequestered princess
followed by a list of individual motifs in exist­ who is not allowed to play with the common
ent variants, and often concludes with biblio­ people until she is liberated by a tiny bird. J Z
graphic information. The bibliography
contains information on the pattern of distribu­ ADAM, ADOLPHE(1803-56), French composer,
tion by country and the number of known ver­ who worked in the tradition of the Opéra
ADAMS, RICHARD (GEORGE) 2

Comique. Adam's musical compositions were ('the Prince with a Thousand Enemies'), a
influenced by François Auber and François- trickster-type folkloric hero whose exploits
Adrien Boieldieu. Among the 53 works that he provide the group with exempla and mytho­
produced, the most significant are the operas logical explanations for their rabbit-universe.
Le Postillon de Longjumeau {The Coachman of Given the importance of these tales to the main
Longjumeau, 1836) and Si j'étais roi {If I Were narrative, it comes as no surprise that Adams
King, 1852) and, above all, the ballet Giselle ou later published versions of them, along with
les Willis (1841), based on a story by Heinrich other stories from the novel, in Tales from
*Heine that was adapted by Théophile *Gau- Watership Down (1996). AD
tier and Vernoy de Saint-Georges for the bal­ Meyer, Charles A. (éd.), 'Richard Adams'
let. This fairy tale focuses on Albrecht, Duke Watership Down , spec, issue of Journal of the
of Schlesia, who falls in love with the peasant Fantastic in the Arts, 6.1 (1993).
girl Giselle. When Giselle learns from Petzold, Dieter, 'Fantasy out of Myth and Fable:
Albrecht's companion that the duke is already Animal Stories in Rudyard Kipling and Richard
engaged, she dances with him in great desper­ Adams', Children's Literature Association
ation and kills herself with his dagger. She is Quarterly, 12.1 (spring 1987).
then received by Myrtha, the queen of the Wil­ ADDY, SIDNEY (1848—1933), English lawyer and
lis, who commands her to return to her grave folklorist, who published two important pion­
where Albrecht is mourning her death. There eer works, Folk Tales and Superstitions (1895)
she is to entice him into a dance of death. How­ and Household Tales with Other Traditional Re­
ever, just as he collapses, the end of the be­ mains, Collected in the Counties of York, Lin­
witching hour arrives, and Myrtha loses her coln, Derby and Nottingham (1895). In both
power over him. Giselle must return to her books he attempted to record oral tales exactly
grave, and Albrecht is left standing in despair. as he heard them, often in dialect, and with in­
In another one of his plays, La Poupée de formation about the teller. JZ
Nuremberg {The Doll of Nuremberg, 1852),
Adam incorporated the motif of the mechanical A D V E N T U R E S O F P I N O C C H I O , see P I N O C C H I O , A D ­
doll that E . T. A. *Hoffmann had created in his VENTURES OF.
story 'The Sandman'. In this comedy of mis­
taken identities, a life-sized doll is supposed to Verbal folklore
A D V E R T I S I N G A N D FAIRY T A L E S .
be turned into an ideal wife through magic. genres such as proverbs, riddles, folk songs,
However, the inventor's wife assumes the nursery rhymes, legends, and of course fairy
identity of the doll, tricks her husband, and is tales have long been used as attention-getting
insolent towards him. In his anger he stabs the devices in advertising. While proverbs, for ex­
doll, but fortunately the inventor's wife does ample, are particularly suitable to create slo­
not die because she manages to switch iden­ gans, fairy tales meet the needs of advertising
tities with the lifeless doll before the inventor agents since they create a world of desire,
commits his 'crime'. THH hope, and perfection. Anybody wishing to sell
a product would want to describe it in such a
A D A M S , RICHARD (GEORGE) ( 1 9 2 0 - ), British way that purchasers or consumers would thank
novelist and writer of children's fantasy litera­ their good fortune if they could obtain it. Fairy
ture. His distinctive trademark is the use of ani­ tales have as their basis this wish for happiness
mal protagonists: rabbits search for the and bliss, where all wishes come true, and
promised land in Watership Down (1972), a where everybody lives happily ever after. By
bear is deified in Shardik (1972), and dogs es­ using traditional fairy-tale motifs and by adapt­
cape from an experimental lab in The Plague ing them to the modern world of consumerism
Dogs (1977). Adams's choice of subject-matter and the instantaneous gratification syndrome,
not only demonstrates a sensitivity toward ani­ advertising agencies create the perfect medium
mals; it also reflects his interest in the animal with the irresistible message.
tale, which suggests we should read his stories When advertising started to gain ground at
as allegories for the human condition. the beginning of the 20th century, fairy-tale
In his well-known novel Watership Down, titles, certain poetic verses, and short allusions
Adams uses the basic plot of a group of rabbits to well-known fairy tales began to be used as
setting out to found a new warren as a pretext manipulative bait. The reader would be re­
to explore various socio-political Utopias (or minded of the happy and satisfied fairy-tale
dystopias). The central exodus or quest narra­ ending, thus deciding subconsciously that the
tive is punctuated with tales about El-ahrairah advertised product must be the perfect choice.
3 A D V E R T I S I N G A N D FAIRY T A L E S

As time went on, ever more glamorous illustra­ The Dilder carpets company tried as well to
tions were added to the verbal messages, com­ create a special mood for its magnificent prod­
bining the advertisement for a necklace or a ucts. The headline of its advertisement very ef­
piece of clothing, for example, with a beautiful fectively coupled the perfect world of the fairy
woman standing in front of the mirror asking tale with monetary reality: ' A Fairy Tale for
that eternal question, 'Mirror, mirror on the Real People with Real People Budgets'. There
wall, who is the fairest of them all?' And who is no talk of a particular fairy tale here. Rather
would not want to be the most beautiful, espe­ the words 'fairy tale' stand for something per­
cially since, in the modern world of advertising fect and beautiful. A German carpet company
and consumerism, everything is possible. All had similar ideas, but its slogan read more pre­
that it takes is fairy-tale formulas and allusions cisely: ' A carpet as beautiful as *Snow White'.
together with manipulative texts and glittering A bit strange perhaps, to compare a carpet with
illustrations. Naturally sophisticated television a beauty like Snow White, but the idea is to
advertisements can create a state of enchant­ conjure up the feeling of perfection. Of course,
ment which barely leaves the viewer any the picture of this advertisement also shows
choice but to accept the message as the ultimate Snow White sitting on the carpet and the seven
wish fulfilment. dwarfs turning somersaults from sheer joy and
Since advertisers want to communicate ef­ excitement about this incredible carpet. Per­
fectively with their readers and television audi­ fectly fitting seems to be the slogan which the
ences, they will choose motifs only from those Royal Doulton Dolls company added to a pic­
fairy tales that are especially well known. Many ture of one of its magnificent creations: 'Royal
times an advertisement is simply based on the Doulton presents the fairest of them all'. A
title of a fairy tale. Thus a beauty shop was mere allusion to the well-known verse from the
named *'Rapunzel' and on a flyer used the 'Snow White' fairy tale, but enough to convey
headline 'Rapunzel's Creative Hair Styling the claim that Doulton dolls are absolutely
Salon'. A German champagne producer simply beautiful products.
named its product 'Rotkappchen' ('Little Red The Waterford Crystal company quite fre­
Cap'), and every bottle since the early part of quently employs fairy-tale references for its
this century has had a red cap on the top of the marvellous glass creations. Nobody will have
bottle. The name and this symbol bring with any difficulty recognizing the fairy tale behind
them the positive feeling of Tittle Red Riding the slogan 'One of her glass slippers fell off.
Hood going off to her grandmother's house And how appropriately worded was the state­
with a good bottle of expensive alcohol. What ment 'Oh, what lovely ears you have' next to
is right for a fairy tale ought to be very suitable the picture of a number of pitchers whose han­
indeed for the realistic world as well. Little dles brought about this variation of Little Red
wonder that the Martini vermouth producers Riding Hood's questions to her grandmother.
used the slogan 'Fairy tales can come true' to Such wordplay always presupposes that the
sell their perfect drink. reader and consumer will also juxtapose the
Cosmetic firms especially make use of such traditional tale with it, thus creating a world
fairy-tale allusions. Revlon came up with the where magic and reality can meet in harmony
slogan *'Cinderella—nails and the Magic at least once in a while. One of the most elab­
Wand', thereby claiming that its cosmetics will orate uses of fairy tales for advertising pur­
make the difference between homeliness and poses was A T & T ' s special issue (spring 1995)
beauty. Of course, this beautiful person would of Time entitled 'Welcome to Cyberspace'. In
need a gorgeous automobile, and so the Fisher numerous two-page spreads A T & T illustrates
Body company used the slogan 'A Coach for the fairy-tale-like inventions of modern elec­
Cinderella' in the 1930s to help advertise such a tronic technology. Fairy-tale motifs of 'The
car for General Motors. But for this the con­ *Frog King', 'Little Red Riding Hood', ^Han­
sumer would need money, and as luck would sel and Gretel', 'Cinderella' and *'Rumpelstilt-
have it the Bank of America, according to an skin' appear. The fairy-tale heroes and
advertisement from the year 1947, is the 'God­ heroines are, of course, spruced up to fit the
mother to a Million Cinderellas'. There is one age of cyberspace. The same is true for their
wish fulfilment after another, and such slogans modern fairy-tale-like messages, as for ex­
with their coercive texts and inviting pictures ample: 'Rumpelstiltskin is my name. Spinning
make all of this look as easy as the waving of a straw into gold was my game. But now I'm a
magic wand—until the reality check sets in, of new man and I have new cravings. I spin phone
course. calls into savings.' But it does not really matter
AFANASYEV, ALEKSANDR 4

what new products and wishes will come ical and syntactic structures, avoiding variants
about, the traditional fairy tales as expressions supplied by servants and educated people. He
of wish fulfilment will be suitable to advertising was very critical of his colleague Ivan Khudya-
in ever new forms and disguises. WM kov and his collection Russian Fairy Tales
Dégh, Linda, and Vazsonyi, Andrew, 'Magic for (i860), which retold folk tales in a bookish lan­
Sale: Marchen and Legend in TV Advertising', guage and made no effort to disentangle the
Fabula, 20 (1979). many obscure places in his oral sources. Afana­
Dundes, Alan, 'Advertising and Folklore', New syev took the Grimms' ^Kinder- und Hausmdr-
York Folklore Quarterly, 19 (1963).
chen as a model, the Russian translation of
Herles, Helmut, 'Sprichwort und Marchenmotiv
in der Werbung', Zeitschrift fur Volkskunde, 62 which he reviewed in 1864. As a comparatist,
(1966). he was especially interested in parallels be­
Horn, Katalin, 'Grimmsche Màrchen als Quellen tween Slavic and Germanic folk tales.
fur Metaphern und Vergleiche in der Sprache Afanasyev himself collected folk tales from
der Werbung, des Journalismus und der different sources, starting with his home town
Literatur', Mutter sprache, 91 (1981). and province, but he made use too of the scarce
Mieder, Wolfgang, Tradition and Innovation in previous publications of the archives of the
Folk Literature (1987). Russian Geographic Society, founded in 1845,
Rohrich, Lutz, 'Folklore and Advertising', in
as well as amateur collectors all over Russia.
Venetia J. Newall (ed.), Folklore Studies in the
Twentieth Century (1978). He also made some careful extractions from
old chapbooks. His goal was to find genuine
AFANASYEV, A L E K S A N D R ( 1 8 2 6 - 7 1 ) , Russian texts, free from contaminations and fusions.
folklorist. Born in a provincial Russian town, Unlike the Grimm Brothers, he rejected retell­
he studied law at Moscow University, worked ing, polishing, or literary revisions. Thus, un­
in state archives, and published numerous like the Grimms' collection, Afanasyev's was a
essays on Russian history and culture. From purely scholarly publication, not addressed to a
the 1850s his attention shifted towards Slavic wide readership. However, further editions, se­
mythology, and he started collecting and pub­ lections, and adaptations have indeed reached a
lishing Russian folklore. From 1855 to 1863 he mass audience of adults as well as children.
published his world-famous collection Russian After the publication of the first volume of
Fairy Tales, in eight volumes, along with Rus­ Russian Fairy Tales, Afanasyev received a
sian Folk Legends in 1859 and Russian Fairy great deal of support from collectors and folk­
Tales for Children in 1870. Besides fairy tales, tale lovers. One of his most significant inform­
Afanasyev collected folk songs, proverbs, and ants was Vladimir Dal, the famous author of
parables. His major scholarly work, The Poetic The Dictionary of the Living Russian Language
Views of Slavic Peoples on Nature, was pub­ (1863-6), who supplied Afanasyev with over a
lished in three volumes in 1865-9. thousand transcripts of folk tales, of which
The significance of Afanasyev's contribu­ Afanasyev used about 150. Texts in Afana­
tion to the study of folklore is primarily his syev's collection originate from over 30 Rus­
systematic collection, description, and classifi­ sian provinces, three Ukrainian, and one
cation of material. His Russian Fairy Tales, in­ Belorussian. He also proposed scholarly strat­
cluding 600 texts and variants, are still today egies for collecting, transcribing, editing, and
the most comprehensive work on East Slavic publishing oral sources, as well as criteria for
folk tales, widely acknowledged international­ using reliable informants. He was criticized for
ly. At the time of its publication, it was super­ his views, especially since the Russian literary
ior to any similar West European collection. establishment doubted that illiterate Russian
Although he lacked predecessors in Russia, peasants were capable of telling coherent stor­
Afanasyev was familiar with the work of Euro­ ies. Many critics also questioned the artistic
pean collectors, such as the Brothers *Grimm, merits of Russian folk tales as compared to
*Asbjornsen and Moe, J . M. Thiele, the Czech European. Still, the collection was widely ap­
Bozena Nemcova, the Serbian Vuk Karadzic, preciated by scholars in Russia and abroad.
and took into consideration their positive re­ Afanasyev not only collected, but studied
sults as well as evident shortcomings. His col­ his material. The second edition of Russian
lection carries references to a number of Fairy Tales, which appeared posthumously in
European counterparts. 1873,w a s
annotated and classified according to
Afanasyev was very careful with variants recent scholarly theories. As his foremost ob­
and tried to preserve the peculiarities of oral jective, Afanasyev envisioned the study of the
speech and dialects and their specific grammat­ mythological origins of folklore, consistent
5 AIKEN, JOAN

with the position of the so-called mythological some magic and animal tales. They were omit­
school of comparative folklore studies (the ted from the main collection not only because
Grimm Brothers, in Russia Fyodor Buslayev). of their open obscenity and eroticism, but also
He was fascinated by the scope of material because of their anticlerical attitude: many por­
which this approach offered, and in his own trayed priests and monks in an unfavourable
work he managed to widen the perspective still light. The collection was published in French
further, incorporating folklore genres such as as Contes secrets russes in 1912. MN
the heroic epic, ritual folklore, etc. Bremond, Claude, and Verrier, Jean, 'Afanassiev
The classification of fairy tales, which Afa­ et Propp', Littérature, 45 (February 1982).
nasyev compiled for his collection (animal Pomeranceva, Erna, ' A . N . Afanas'ev und die
tales, magic tales, humorous tales, satirical Briider Grimm', Deutsches Jahrbuch fur
tales, anecdotes, etc.) is, with some minor Volkskunde, 11 (1963).
amendments, still used by folklorists. A com­ AlKEN, JOAN (1924— ), Anglo-American
plete collection of Russian Fairy Tales was re­ author. The daughter of the American poet
printed six times, most recently in 1984, and Conrad Aiken, she was born and educated in
many volumes of selections have been pub­ England, where she now lives. She has pub­
lished. It has been translated into all major lan­ lished over 60 children's books, as well as
guages. The standard edition in English was many adult novels. Her titles for children in­
published in New York in 1945, translated by clude ghost stories, historical fiction, plays, and
Norbert Guterman and with an introduction by picture books. She has also written several col­
Roman Jakobson. lections of brilliantly original fairy tales. They
In his edition for young readers, Russian include All You've Ever Wanted (1953), More
Fairy Tales for Children, Afanasyev included 29 Than You Bargained For (1955), A Necklace of
animal tales, 16 magic tales, and 16 humorous Raindrops (1968), A Small Pinch of Weather
tales from his collection, carefully adapting the (1969), A Harp of Fishbones (1972), Not What
language, substituting standard Russian for You Expected (1974), Up the Chimney Down
dialectisms, and excluding everything not suit­ (1984), The Last Slice of Rainbow (1985), and
able for children. However, even this edition Past Eight o'clock (1987).
was criticized because many fairy tales had As a teller of fairy stories, Joan Aiken is the
trickster heroes and depicted the triumph of natural heir of Edith *Nesbit. Her vivid and
cunning. The collection has been reprinted amazingly inventive tales, like Nesbit's, are
over 25 times and illustrated by the most prom­ usually set in contemporary England, and
inent Russian and Soviet artists. much of their surprise and humour comes from
Both Afanasyev's scholarly studies and his the juxtaposition of traditional magic and mod­
collections were subjected to severe censorship ern technology. (In 'Up the Chimney Down'
in Tsarist Russia. Russian Folk Legends, the wicked witch even owns a computer.)
although passed by censors, was banned soon Like Nesbit's, Aiken's tales sometimes have
after it appeared; the church viewed the collec­ an undertone of social satire. In 'The Brat Who
tion as blasphemous and obscene. The volume Knew Too Much', for instance, an 8-year-old
was reprinted by the Free Russian Publishers girl with magical encyclopaedic knowledge
in London. In fact, these stories of Adam and disrupts first a pretentious panel of experts on
Eve, Noah, the prophets, Jesus and his dis­ the B B C and eventually a large number of
ciples contain a bizarre mixture of Christian international organizations.
and pagan views as well as clear social satire. Joan Aiken's tales feature not only standard
The ban complicated the publication of the last fairy-story personages and props (kings and
two volumes of Russian Fairy Tales in which queens, witches and wizards, magic objects and
Afanasyev was obliged to delete the most of­ spells), but characters and events from modern
fensive passages, according to censors' orders. folklore, including the Tooth Fairy and Good
The deleted material, together with other tales King Wenceslas. Her take on all of them is ori­
marked by Afanasyev as 'unprintable', was ginal and surprising. King Wenceslas's charity,
published anonymously in Switzerland, pre­ for instance, is misplaced, and in the end it is
sumably in 1872, under the title Russian Forbid­ the 'poor man gathering winter fuel' who
den Tales (the Russian word 'zavetny' can also offers a good meal to the king.
mean 'sacred', which stresses the much-dis­ Many of Aiken's tales centre on the experi­
cussed links between the sacral and the obscene ences of Mark and Harriet Armitage, who live
in archaic thought). It contained 77 tales and in a rural English village where the existence of
about 20 variants, mostly humorous, but also magic is taken for granted. Mark and Harriet
AIKEN, JOAN Mortimer balances carefully holding Excalibur in his beak in Quentin *Blake's illustration for
Joan Aiken's Mortimer and the Sword Excalibur (1979). Many of Aiken's tales incorporate elements from
mythology given a playful, irreverent treatment.
7 ALARCÔN, PEDRO ANTONIO DE

go to a school run by a witch, have a temporary an oil lamp from a subterranean treasure grove.
governess who is a ghost, and keep a pet uni­ When he refuses to deliver the lamp while still
corn. In one of her best stories, 'A Small Pinch inside the cave, the evil sorcerer deserts him.
of Weather', the family is visited both by a With the aid of a magic ring, Aladdin is res­
pompous ex-colonial great-uncle and the Fur­ cued. By chance he discovers that the lamp
ies, three dog-faced ladies in black who eat pins commands a powerful demon, becomes rich,
and cause everyone who comes to the house to and eventually marries the princess. As the sor­
reveal their past crimes: 'the window-cleaner cerer learns about Aladdin's luck, he ap­
. . . was now on his knees in the flowerbed, proaches the princess in disguise, tricks her
confessing to anyone who would listen that he into giving him the lamp, and has the demon
had pinched a diamond brooch. . . . the man kidnap her. Aladdin manages to find the sor­
who came to mend the fridge . . . seemed cerer's hiding place, kills him, and recovers his
frightfully upset about something he had done wife.
to a person called Elsie'. The tale did not form an integral part of The
Most of Joan Aiken's tales are full of fun and Arabian Nights prior to their Western recep­
surprise and end happily, but some look at the tion. First published in 1712, the tale originates
world from a more contemplative and poetic from Antoine *Galland's autobiographically
perspective. A few even end with sadness and influenced reworking of an alleged oral per­
loss, like 'The Serial Garden', where lovers are formance in 1709 by the Christian Syrian nar­
separated forever when a cut-out paper panor­ rator Hanna Diyab, who also contributed the
ama from the back of cereal boxes is destroyed. tale of *'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves' to
Clearly, Aiken not only has tremendous in­ Galland's Arabian Nights. Arabic manuscripts
ventive powers, but unusual emotional range. discovered later proved to be forgeries. Soon
AL after its original publication, the tale became
Apseloff, Marilyn, 'Joan Aiken: Literary extremely popular in chapbooks, literary
Dramatist', Children's Literature Association adaptations, children's literature, stage per­
Quarterly, 9.3 (fall 1984). formances (above all, British Christmas
pantomime), and movies. In 1992 it was further
A l N S W O R T H , RUTH (1908- ), English writer of popularized by a *Disney animated film (and a
books for children, who has published numer­ number of sequels), which modified Aladdin
ous retellings of the classical fairy tales. Her into a cunning trickster character. By the end
more original work consists of the fairy-tale of the 20th century, it has come to represent the
novels The Talking Rock (1979) and The Mys­ standard Western notion of the classical orien­
terious Baba and her Magic Caravan: Two Stories tal fairy tale. Indeed, the image of the omnipo­
(1980). In The Talking Rock a young boy tent demon hidden inside a humble lamp has
named Jakes makes a figure in the sand who become proverbial in everyday language, lit­
magically comes to life. This Sand Boy joins erature, politics, science, and commerce. UM
with Jakes and a mermaid to overcome the sea Gerhardt, Mia I., The Art of Story-Telling
monster Glumper, who is oppressing all the sea (1963).
creatures. Ainsworth's two stories in The Mys­ Irwin, Robert, The Arabian Nights (1994).
terious Baba and her Magic Caravan take place Mahdi, Muhsin, The Thousand and One Nights
in the Left-Over Land, a place where unsold (AlfLay la wa-Layla) from the Earliest Known
Sources, iii (1994).
toys make their home and where a homeless
Ranke, Kurt et al. (eds.), 'Alad(d)in',
Russian doll named Baba creates excitement En^yklopddie des Mdrchens, i (1977).
for the rest of the dolls. Ainsworth has also
published The Ruth Ainsworth Book (1970) and A L A R C Ô N , P E D R O A N T O N I O D E ( 1 8 3 3 - 9 1 ) , Span­
Mermaids' Tales (1980), which include fairy­ ish novelist and supporter of romanticism.
tale narratives. JZ Despite the fact that all his literary productions
were written while realism and naturalism were
A L A D D I N , protagonist of a tale named 'Aladdin en vogue, Alarcon published three volumes of
and the Wonderful Lamp', which is included in short stories with fantastic features. The third
most standard editions of The ^Arabian Nights one, Narraciones inverostmiles (Unbelievable
(also known as The Thousand and One Nights). Narrations, 1882), contains two stories influ­
The tale takes place in the mountains of China enced by E . A. Poe's bloodcurdling narrations:
where the boy Aladdin lives with his poor 'La mujer alta. Cuento de miedo' ('The Tall
widowed mother. Aladdin is sought out by a Woman. A Scary Tale', 1881), and 'El ano en
Moroccan sorcerer, for whom he is to recover Spitzberg' ('The Year Spent in Spitzberg',
ALAS, LEOPOLDO 8

1852). There is also one story based on a popu­ ALEXANDER, LLOYD (1924- ), major American
lar tale, 'El amigo de la muerte. Cuento author of fairy-tale novels. He studied at the
fantâstico' ('Death's friend. A Fantastic Tale', Sorbonne and translated Sartre and Éluard. His
1852), in which a man befriended by Death be­ best-known work, the so-called Prydain
comes a renowned doctor capable of predicting Chronicles, consists of five novels, The Book of
the exact time of his patients' demise. CF Three (1964), The Black Cauldron (1965), The
Castle of Llyr (1966), Taran Wanderer (1967),
and The High King (1968), which received the
(1852-1901), Span­
A L A S , L E O P O L D O ('CLARI'N')
Newbery Medal. The cycle is based on the
ish writer, especially known for his novels and
Welsh collection Mabinogion. Alexander's ini­
short stories which are said to constitute the
tial intention was simply to retell the stories,
classic examples of their genre in 19th-century
but instead he created his own fairy-tale world,
Spanish literature. His more than 100 tales vary
inhabited by wizards and dwarfs, the three wise
considerably in length and show great thematic
witches Orddu, Orwen, and Ordoch, the in­
richness. 'Mi entierro' ('My burial', 1886),
vincible Cauldron-born, and the Huntsmen.
'Cuento futuro' ('Future Tale', 1893), 'Tirso
This world is threatened by Arawn, the Death-
de Molina' ('Tirso de Molina', 1901), and 'La
Lord of Annuvin, assisted by the treacherous
mosca sabia' ('The Learned Fly', 1916), figure
enchantress Achren. A variety of magical ob­
prominently among his fantastic tales. Despite
jects from Celtic folklore are featured, such as
the fact that he was a major defender of the folk
a cauldron, a magic sword, and a book of
tale as the source of the novel, he did not culti­
spells.
vate that genre himself. CF
The central character of the cycle, Taran, is
a typical folk-tale 'common hero' of unknown
ALCOTT, L O U I S A M A Y (1832-88), American origin. He becomes an Assistant Pig-Keeper,
writer of fantasy tales, best known for her clas­ and the disappearance of the sacred animal in
sic novel Little Women (1868). Alcott, whose his charge, the traditional Welsh folktale char­
father was friends with Henry David Thoreau acter Hen-Wen, draws Taran into a struggle
and Ralph Waldo Emerson, was strongly influ­ between good and evil. After many trials,
enced by transcendentalism, particularly the Taran finds his true identity and wins the love
idea, which permeates all her tales, that in of the brave and extravagant princess Eilonwy.
order to change society as a whole one must When all the old magic forces, the Sons and
begin by reforming the individual. In her Daughters of Don, leave Prydain, Taran is left
Flower Fables (1854), initially written for Emer­ to be the High King, endowed with great
son's daughter Ellen, Alcott's fairy-flower power, but also bearing responsibility for the
protagonists learn that love can transform a country which has been delivered from evil.
cold heart ('The Frost-King; or, the Power of For Alexander, the fairy-tale form is a
Love') and that selfishness leads to unhappiness means to describe reality, and many real
('Lily Bell and Thistledown'). In her second events, characters, and settings have been
collection, The Rose Family (1864), three fairy woven into Prydain stories. He makes use of
sisters go to the good fairy Star to overcome European folklore heritage, overtly taking
their idleness, wilfulness, and vanity. Among *Tolkien and C. S. *Lewis as his models. The
other stories with fairy-tale motifs, Alcott Prydain Chronicles are also characterized by
wrote 'Fairy Pinafores', in which Cinderella's their humour and irony, uncustomary in the
fairy godmother, looking for 'some other heroic fairy tale. Comical figures, like the ever-
clever bit of work to do', gathers 100 homeless hungry Gurgi, and the boastful bragging bard
children to make magic pinafores (published in Fflewddur Fflam with his magic harp, give the
Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag: Cupid and Chow-Chow, novels an unforgettable charm. Alexander has
a n
1873); d 'The Skipping Shoes', in which also published a collection of fairy tales and
Alcott rewrites 'The *Red Shoes' and has two fairy-tale picture books connected with the
Kitty, who refuses to do what people ask, wear Prydain novels. In 1985, the Prydain cycle was
shoes she does not like, the magical powers of made into a major *Disney movie entitled 'The
which force her to do as she is told (published Black Cauldron'.
in Lulu's Library: A Christmas Dream, 1886). In The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha
Other collections of Alcott's fairy and fantasy (1978) Alexander sends his hero to an alterna­
stories include Morning Glories, and Other Stor­ tive world which recalls the universe of The
ies (1867), and Lulu's Library: The Frost King ^Arabian Nights, where he becomes involved in
(1887). AD a struggle against a bloodthirsty tyrant. Unlike
9 A L I B A B A A N D T H E F O R T Y T H I E V E S , FILM V E R S I O N S

Taran, Lukas does not win a princess and a friendship with his host), Marjana discloses his
kingdom, but returns to his own world, pre­ identity and stabs him.
sumably as a spiritually better person. First published in 1 7 1 7 in volume xi of
Two other sequel fairy tales, the Westmark Antoine *Galland's Les Mille et une nuits, the
Trilogy (1981-3) and the so-called Vesper tale does not form an integral part of The Ara­
Books (1986-90), although they lack magic, bian Nights as part of an authentic Arabic trad­
follow closely the traditional narrative patterns ition. Rather, it constitutes the inspired
of fairy tales. reworking of an oral performance in 1709 by
In his most recent novels Alexander ex­ the Christian Syrian narrator Hanna Diyab,
plores a number of ancient mythologies, al­ who also contributed the tale of Aladdin to
ways moulding them into stories of quest and Galland's Arabian Nights. The only extant
maturation: Chinese in The Remarkable Journey Arabic manuscript of the tale of Ali Baba has
of Prince Jen (1991), Greek in The Arcadians been proved to constitute a forgery by the
(1995), and Indian in The Iron Ring (1997). A orientalist Jean Varsy. From the second half of
significant feature of these, as well as Alexan­ the 18th century, the tale was published in nu­
der's earlier novels, is a presence of strong and merous popular prints of the chapbook variety.
independent young women, evolving from the Besides adaptations and allusions in literature,
fairy-tale tradition of the active heroine. MN it inspired a number of operas, toy theatre
Kuznets, Lois, ' "High Fantasy" in America', plays, and stage performances (such as British
The Lion and the Unicorn, 9 (1985). Christmas pantomime), films, cartoons, and nu­
May, Jill P., Lloyd Alexander (1991). merous versions in popular storytelling. UM
Tunnell, Michael O., The Prydain Companion: A Gerhardt, Mia I., The Art of Story-Telling
Reference Guide to Lloyd Alexander s Prydain (1963).
Chronicles (1989). Irwin, Robert, The Arabian Nights (1994).
Mahdi, Muhsin, The Thousand and One Nights
(Alf Layla wa-Layla) from the Earliest Known
ALI BABA, protagonist of the tale 'Ali Baba and
Sources, iii (1994).
the Forty Thieves', included in most standard Ranke, Kurt et al. (eds.), 'Ali Baba und die
editions of The ^Arabian Nights (also known as vierzig Rauber', En^yklopddie des Mdrchens,
The Thousand and One Nights). The poor (i977)-
woodcutter Ali Baba one day observes a band
of 40 robbers who access their treasure grove Au BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES, FILM V E R ­
by pronouncing a magic formula ('Open, Ses­ SIONS. The cinema has generally been keener
ame') that makes the mountain split. After the on the title than it has on the original storyline
robbers have left, Ali Baba enters the cave and from The ^Arabian Nights. In a wartime adapta­
takes away some bags of money. At home he tion directed by Arthur Lubin (USA, 1944), Ali
secretly counts the money using a measure he is a young prince rather than a woodcutter, and
borrowed from his rich brother. However, the the thieves are swashbuckling adventurers ra­
latter's wife has prepared the measure so that a ther than brutal murderers. Ali joins their band
coin is left sticking to it when returned. In that as a way of hiding from the invading Mongols
way, the rich brother finds out about the treas­ who have killed his father, the caliph. The
ure, has Ali Baba disclose the working mechan­ story is primarily a peg on which to hang an
ism of the magic opening, and enters the cave escapist Technicolor extravaganza; at the same
himself. Wishing to leave, he has forgotten the time it nods to the contemporary situation by
magic formula and is trapped. The returning suggesting that Ali Baba and the thieves offer a
robbers discover and subsequently kill him. Ali parallel to underground resistance movements,
Baba later recovers his brother's body, carries and that the cruel, tyrannical Mongols are like
him home, and has him buried. Meanwhile, the Nazis.
robbers have located Ali Baba's home and try Eleven years later (France, 1955) Jacques
to murder him. Their leader disguises himself Becker directed a version, shot partly on loca­
as a travelling merchant and smuggles the rob­ tion in Morocco, which retains more of the
bers into the house concealed in oil casks. Ali situations from the original text, but plays them
Baba's wily slave girl Marjana (Morgiana) finds for laughs. Conceived primarily as a vehicle
out about their plans and kills the hidden rob­ for the leading comic actor Fernandel, this
bers by pouring hot oil on their heads. Their adaptation makes Ali a crafty underling, ser­
leader manages to escape and later returns in a vant of a brutal master who orders Ali to go
different disguise. Since he refuses to salt his and buy him a wife. Ali chooses a beautiful
meal (which would compel him to form a dancer, Morgiane, but falls in love with her
ALICE IN WONDERLAND 10

himself, and then spends a lot of time helping of thought-provoking paradox. This fresh di-
her evade her eager husband's sexual claims. dacticism made his 'love-gift of a fairy-tale' so
When Ali finds out the thieves' cave and its popular that his books were second only to the
secret password he takes some of the treasure Bible in bourgeois Victorian nurseries.
and is able to buy Morgiane from his master, Alice's commercial value rose as she was re-
but before they can live happily together there produced on everything from teapots to chess
are forty angry thieves to contend with. T A S sets. Marketing reached new heights with play-
ing cards, puzzles, songs, plays, and broadcasts
ALICE IN WONDERLAND (1865), classic Victorian once the copyright expired in 1907. Alice, the
fairy tale by Lewis *Carroll (Latinized pseudo- Mad Hatter, and the Ugly Duchess had long
nym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832—98). entered national folklore by 1928, when Sothe-
First published as Alice's Adventures Under by's auctioned the original manuscript for the
Ground (1863), it was inspired by a boating unheard-of sum of £15,400; it was later sold to
party with Alice Liddell and her sisters, daugh- the Parke-Bernet Galleries for $50,000. In
ters of an Oxford don. The fictional Alice is a 1948, to show its appreciation of Britain's war
7-year-old who falls down a rabbit hole, efforts, the United States donated this national
changes from microscopic to telescopic pro- treasure to the British Museum—where it was
portions, and encounters a hookah-smoking received by no less than the Archbishop of
Caterpillar, Mock Turtle, and Cheshire Cat. Canterbury.
This early version was expanded to include the What in the Alice books could possibly have
Mad Tea Party, the Pig and Pepper episode commanded such respect? For many, Alice is
with the Ugly Duchess, Alice's trial by the the epitome of the brave Victorian innocent in
Queen of Hearts, and parodies such as 'Speak a confusing magical land. Translated into lan-
Roughly to Your Little Boy' and 'Twinkle, guages ranging from Swahili to Esperanto, her
Twinkle, Little Bat'. The revised text also in- fairy tales are surpassed only by Shakespeare
cluded illustrations by John *Tenniel, the polit- and the Bible for expressions that have entered
ical cartoonist for Punch who also worked on the English language (such as 'mad as a hat-
the sequel. Through the Looking-Glass and ter'). Given this lofty company, it is little won-
What Alice Found There (1871) has Alice par- der that those who wax nostalgic for these
ticipating in a Rabelaisian living chess game children's books find it a sin to dissect them.
with Red and White Queens and a White Psychoanalysts, for example, puncture the
Knight. On her way to becoming a Queen, she Alice books' myth of childhood innocence. Fo-
meets talking flowers, a battling Lion and Uni- cusing on the author's sexuality, they docu-
corn, Humpty Dumpty, and the twins Twee- ment his fantasies about becoming a little girl
dledum and Tweedledee, who recite 'You Are and cite scores of letters to 'little-girlfriends'
Old, Father William' and 'The Walrus and the whom he adored kissing, sometimes photo-
Carpenter'. 'Jabberwocky', perhaps the most graphing or drawing them in the nude. They
celebrated English nonsense poem, and 'Upon also speculate on his attraction and rumoured
the Lonely Moor', a parody of Wordsworth, marriage proposal to young Alice Liddell, and
are also included. find phallic symbolism in the fictional Alice's
The fact that nonsense and literary parody snake-like neck and bodily distortions from
coexist in these novels underscores the dual na- large to small. Freudians feel that this may also
ture of their child/adult readership—and their represent a return to the womb; others posit a
author. Often described as a Jekyll-and-Hyde hallucinogenic drug experience. Literary his-
personality, C. L. Dodgson was a celebrated torians, on the other hand, note that Gulliver
Victorian photographer, ordained deacon, and and Micromégas underwent similar changes,
Oxford don who delivered dry mathematics and place the Alice books in the satiric tradition
lectures and published logic texts. As the of Swift and Voltaire. Socio-political criticism
pseudonymous Lewis Carroll, however, he of a fragmented bourgeois society is also noted
wrote whimsical fiction that challenged the by historians: they find parallels with the dizzy-
moralizing children's literature of the period. ing pace at which the early Industrial Revolu-
His Alice is in the tradition of the abandoned tion reacted to technological, demographic,
child heroine, but the Wonderland she explores and political changes as it embraced industrial-
borders on Victorian Gothic horror fiction. ization, laissez-faire capitalism, and a free-mar-
Carroll's originality was to combine the two ket economy. Still others analyse Alice's dream
genres. He tempered his allegorical portrait of and parallel universe that violate spatio-tem-
socio-economic upheaval with humorous doses poral laws. For them, Alice exists in an eternal
ALICE IN WONDERLAND 'While the Duchess sang the second verse of the song, she kept tossing the baby
violently up and down, and the poor little thing howled so, that Alice could hardly hear the words.' An
illustration by Mervyn *Peake for a 1984 edition of Lewis *Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
A L I C E I N W O N D E R L A N D , FILM V E R S I O N S 12

moment out of time, a Heideggerian space be­ proved more difficult than most to bring to the
tween consciousness and reality where she screen. The rambling, dream-like structure
poses existential questions of identity and con­ coupled with the book's literary stature and the
fronts problems of maturation. Moreover, she renown of the original John *Tenniel drawings
must function in a metaphorical world where have created problems for a range of film­
everyone is 'quite mad' and relationships are makers.
paradoxical. Indeed, linguistic and physical Alice in Wonderland (film: USA, 1933) com­
realities rarely coincide in Wonderland, and bined the first Alice book with its sequel,
semioticians annotate disjunctions between Through the Looking Glass. The result is a series
sign and signifier whenever smiles represent of assorted incidents which come and go with­
Cheshire cats or boys turn into pigs. In add­ out much relation to each other. Further, the
ition to Alice's numerous meta-referential allu­ Tenniel factor influenced the director to decide
sions to her own fairy tale, they examine that each of the actors must wear a Tenniel-
Carroll's linguistic experimentation and port­ style mask of the character being portrayed;
manteau words with reference to Edward Lear thus an array of stars including Gary Cooper
(a contemporary) and James Joyce (who was (the White Knight), Cary Grant (the Mock
reared on the Alice books). Carroll's marvel­ Turtle), W. C. Fields (Humpty Dumpty), and
lous images are balanced by Tenniel's illustra­ Jack Oakie (Tweedledum) are heard but not
tions, which caricatured real-life politicians like seen.
Disraeli (the Unicorn) and Gladstone (the In the early 1950s, with Lewis *Carroll's
Lion). It is in this combination of text and book just out of copyright, two fresh attempts
image, of fantasy and reality, of the abstract at making cinematic sense of the stories ap­
and the concrete that Alice's dual readership peared. A British-French-American co-pro­
finds meaning and enjoyment. duction of 1951 began by locating their origins
Alice's enduring influence is attested by in Victorian Oxford. Alice, her father the
some 200 pastiches and parodies, some repro­ Dean, the Vice-Chancellor, and Queen Victo­
duced in Carolyn Sigler's Alternative Alices: ria all feature in a live-action prologue; then
Visions and Revisions of Lewis Carroll's Alice Carroll, as maths lecturer Dodgson, makes up
Books (1997). Many of these texts were pro­ for Alice the story which the film, with some
duced by Victorian women writers: just as the fidelity, goes on to show. The creatures Alice
Alice books comment on Victorian girlhood, so meets in Wonderland, played by 128 articu­
these imitations construct women's cultural au­ lated Tenniel-based puppets brought to life by
thority. Other texts were blatantly didactic, stop-motion photography, are derived from
still others were humorously political. All were the people and events of Oxford. Thus the
subversive. Their popularity waned during the Cheshire Cat is Alice's father, the White Rab­
1920s when Alice left popular culture for high bit is the Vice-Chancellor, and the head-chop­
culture and was appropriated by scholars and ping Queen of Hearts is Queen Victoria. This
theorists. Film-makers adopted her as well, and last identification, and the caricature presenta­
her representations ranging from *Disney ani­ tion of Victoria in the prologue, led to prob­
mation (1951) to pornographic musicals (1976) lems which resulted in the film having to wait
underscore her mythic capacity to adapt to till the 1980s before getting a release in the UK.
genres for both children and adults. Today's Elsewhere it competed with *Disney's ani­
Alice, a bit wiser than Carroll's, is a postmod­ mated version (USA, 1951), which tried to
ern empowered heroine in control of Wonder­ make the story accessible by rearranging Car­
lands of her own (feminist) design. MLE roll's sequence of events, omitting some char­
Bloom, Harold (ed.), Lewis Carroll (1987). acters, bringing in others from the second
Gardner, Martin, The Annotated Alice (i960). book, inventing a new one, and giving the nar­
Heath, Peter, The Philosopher's Alice (1974). rative a logical chase structure—Alice con­
Rackin, Donald, Alice's Adventures in stantly in pursuit of the White Rabbit. The
Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass:
surrealism of Carroll's scene in which a baby
Nonsense, Sense, and Meaning (1991).
Sigler, Carolyn (ed.), Alternative Alices: Visions
turns into a pig while Alice is holding it is one
and Revisions of Lewis Carroll's Alice Books of the elements left out by Disney as being too
0997)-
repulsive. Also missing are the White Knight,
the Duchess, Humpty Dumpty, and the Mock
Turtle. They are replaced by the Jabberwock
ALICE
IN WONDERLAND, FILM V E R S I O N S . *Alke in and its backing group, and by the only totally
Wonderland, a classic Victorian fantasy, has Disney invention, Doorknob, who guards the
i3 ANDERSEN, H A N S CHRISTIAN

entrance to Wonderland. In the late 1960s, des­ needle and thread, when he wants to retire.
pite its omission of the pig-baby scene, the film When Alice wakes up she is no longer by the
acquired a reputation as a 'head-trip', and for a stream; she is now where she was at the begin­
while had cult status. ning of the dream—on her nursery floor.
Another 1960s fashion—sitar music played Everything she has dreamed about is around
by Ravi Shankar—accompanies an adaptation her, except that the glass case is still
directed by Jonathan Miller for the B B C in smashed—and the rabbit has not returned to
1966. Apart from that, the film contains no it.
contemporary references. It aims, rather, to lay A kind of postscript to all these adaptations
bare what was in Carroll's mind. Miller would is offered by Dreamchild (UK, 1985), written
have liked to re-title the story 'Growing Pains', by Dennis Potter, which centres on the real-life
perceiving it to be not in any sense a fairy tale, Alice Liddell, at the age of 80, visiting New
but a Victorian child's-eye-view of a gallery of York in 1932. A young American reporter
upper middle-class characters and their ser­ charms her into talking and wins the love of
vants, thinly disguised by animal names and by her young companion, Lucy. Alice opens up,
the Tenniel drawings. This version therefore goes back in her mind to 1862, and becomes
uses authentic Victorian locations but no haunted by her memories of Dodgson and the
masks, no special effects, and no animal cos­ characters he made up for her. Some of
tumes. John Gielgud (the Mock Turtle), Peter them—the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar, the
Cook (the Mad Hatter), Peter Sellers (the King Gryphon, the Mock Turtle—come alive on
of Hearts), and other actors create their charac­ the screen in the form of animatronic creatures
ters solely through the use of voice, face, and designed and performed by the Jim *Henson
gesture. Their caperings, ramblings, gravity, company. At the degree ceremony which is her
and outbursts of bad temper are all mediated by reason for being in New York, Alice finally
Alice's disdainful gaze and cool questioning, as comes to understand and accept Dodgson's
she realizes with dismay that she is doomed to gift, and the love for her which it expressed.
grow up and become like them. TAS
Far away from Carroll's narrative line, but
aiming to be close to him in spirit, is Jan ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, see ALICE
Swankmajer's Alice (Neco { Alenky, Switzer­ IN WONDERLAND.
land, 1988). Swankmajer, a Czech surrrealist
working within the medium of three-
dimensional animation, was inspired by Car­ ALVERDES, PAUL (1897-1979), German writer
roll's stories to make a film which illustrates his and dramatist, who turned to writing for chil­
belief that there is no simple distinction be­ dren in the late 1930s and published an adapta­
tween dreams and reality: for him, dreams are tion of German folk tales in 1939. He is best
reality. With no dialogue, using a mixture of known for his charming fairy-tale picture
human Alice and doll Alice, real animals and books such as Das Mdnnlein Mitten^wei (The
puppet animals, he begins the story in the trad­ Little Man Mitten^wei, 1937), Grimbarts Haus
itional way—Alice falling asleep by a stream. (Grimbart's House, 1949), and Vom dicken fetten
As soon as she dreams, however, the White Pfannkuchen (About the Thick Fat Pancake,
Rabbit is different: stuffed with sawdust, he es­ i960). JZ
capes from a glass case by smashing it from the
inside with scissors; and he leads Alice into her ANDERSEN, H A N S CHRISTIAN (1805-75), Danish
adventures not down a rabbit hole but through writer, often regarded as the father of modern
the drawer of a kitchen table in the middle of a fairy tales. Son of a cobbler and a washerwo­
field. The subsequent incidents sometimes de­ man, he rose to the position of a national poet
rive from Carroll—the 'pool of tears' scene is and is the most well-known Scandinavian
seized with relish—but mainly consist of vari­ writer of all times.
ations on Carroll's themes. Alice is constantly Although Andersen considered himself a
hungry, but cannot satisfy her hunger: a scoop novelist and playwright, his unquestionable
of jam contains tacks, a baguette sprouts nails, fame is based on his fairy tales. He published
lumps of raw bleeding meat pass by, a sardine four collections: Eventyr, fortaltefor born (Fairy
tin yields a key but no sardines, tarts just make Tales, Told for Children, 1835—42), Nye eventyr
her grow bigger or smaller. The Caterpil­ (New Fairy Tales, 1844—8), Historier (Stories,
lar—played by a sock, a pair of glass eyes, and 1852—5), and Nye eventyr og historier (New
a set of false teeth—darns his eyes shut with a Fairy Tales and Stories, 1858—72), which al-
ANDERSEN, H A N S CHRISTIAN 14

ready during his lifetime were translated into 'The *Snow Queen', the latter based on the
many languages. popular Norse legend of the Ice Maiden.
The sources of his stories were mostly Dan­ In a group of fairy tales, Andersen went still
ish folk tales, collected and retold by his imme­ further in animating the material world around
diate predecessors J . M. Thiele, Adam him and introducing everyday objects as prot­
*Oehlenschlager and Bernhard *Ingemann. agonists: 'The Sweethearts' (also known as
Unlike the collectors, whose aim was to pre­ 'The Top and the Ball'), 'The Shepherdess and
serve and sometimes to classify and study fairy the Chimney Sweep', 'The Shirt Collar', 'The
tales, Andersen was in the first place a writer, Darning-Needle'; he is credited with being a
and his objective was to create new literary pioneer in this respect. Also, flowers and plants
works based on folklore. As exceptions, some are ascribed a rich spiritual life, as in 'The
fairy tales have their origins in ancient poetry Daisy', or arrogance, as in 'The Fir Tree', or
('The Naughty Boy') or medieval European otherwise are depicted as having a limited petty
literature ('The Emperor's New Clothes'). bourgeois horizon, as in 'Five Peas from One
There are several ways in which Andersen Pod'.
may be said to have created the genre of mod­ Andersen's animal tales are also radically
ern fairy tale. First, he gave the fairy tale a per­ different from traditional fables. While in 'The
sonal touch. His very first fairy tale, 'The Storks' he makes an original interpretation of
Tinder Box', opens in a matter-of-fact way, in­ the popular saying that babies are brought by
stead of the traditional 'Once upon a time', and storks, in several stories ('The Happy Family',
its characters, including the king, speak a collo­ 'The Sprinters', 'The Dung-Beetle') Andersen
quial, everyday language. This feature became makes animals represent different perspectives
the trademark of Andersen's style. Quite a on life, and the stories themselves are more like
number of his early fairy tales are retellings of satirical sketches of human manners than fairy
traditional folk tales, such as 'Little Claus and tales for children. 'The *Ugly Duckling', prob­
Big Claus', 'The *Princess and the Pea', 'The ably one of Andersen's best-known stories,
Travelling Companion', 'The Swineherd', is a camouflaged autobiography, echoing the
'The Wild Swans'; however, in Andersen's writer's much-quoted statement: 'First you
rendering they acquire an unmistakable indi­ must endure a lot, then you get famous.' The
viduality and brilliant irony. Kings go around animals, including the protagonist, possess
in battered slippers and personally open gates human traits, views, and emotions, making the
of their kingdoms; princesses read newspapers story indeed a poignant account of the road
and roast chicken; and many supernatural crea­ from humiliation through sufferings to well-
tures in later tales behave and talk like ordinary deserved bliss. The message is, however, am­
people. An explicit narrative voice, comment­ bivalent: you have to be born a swan in order
ing on the events and addressing the listener, is to become one.
another characteristic trait of Andersen's tales. Another programmatic fairy tale is 'The
It is not accidental that many fairy tales were Tittle Mermaid', based on a medieval ballad,
told by Andersen to real children before he eagerly exploited by romantic poets. Andersen,
wrote them down. However, there are no con­ however, reversed the roles and, toning down
ventional morals in them, possibly with the ex­ the ballad's motif of the Christian versus the
ception o f ' T h e *Red Shoes'. pagan, created a beautiful and tragic story of
Secondly, Andersen brought the fairy tale impossible love, which certainly also reflected
into the everyday. His first original fairy tale, his personal experience.
'Little Ida's Flowers', recalls the tales of E. T. While most of Andersen's fairy tales are
A. *Hoffmann in its elaborate combination of firmly anchored in his home country and often
the ordinary and the fantastic, its nocturnal mention concrete topographical details, like the
magical transformations, and its use of the Round Tower in Copenhagen, some fairy tales
child as a narrative lens. Still closer to Hoff­ have exotic settings, like China in 'The Night­
mann is 'The *Steadfast Tin Soldier' with its ingale', or unspecified 'Southern countries' in
animation of the realm of toys. However, in 'The Shadow'. This tale, based loosely on a
both tales Andersen's melancholic view of life story by Adelbert von *Chamisso, which it also
is revealed: both end tragically, thus raising the mentions indirectly, is probably the most enig­
question whether children's literature must de­ matic and disturbing of his tales. Published in
pend on happy endings. These may be coun­ 1847, it marked a general change in Andersen
terbalanced by more conventional stories of tales, from being addressed to children to a
trials and reward, such as *'Thumbelina' or wider audience, even primarily adults. In fact,
i5 A P H O R I S M S A N D FAIRY T A L E S

his late tales, which he himself characterized as ment; A Fallen Idol (1886) is about the reper­
'Stories' rather than 'Fairy Tales', are much cussions that ensue when the image of an
less known and almost never published in con­ ancient Indian guru who was also a practical
temporary collections for children. Among joker is acquired by a worthy young artist in
them is Andersen's tribute to modern technol­ Victorian London. His last book, In Brief Au­
ogy, 'The Great Sea-Serpent', depicting the thority (1915), about a nouveau riche family who
first transatlantic telegraph cable. get whisked off to rule Fairyland, was written
The significance of Andersen may be illus­ when readers' taste for magic had evaporated.
trated by the fact that the world's most presti­ GA
gious prize in children's literature, the
Andersen Medal, is named after him, and that In addition to the
A P H O R I S M S A N D FAIRY T A L E S .
his birthday, 2 April, is celebrated as the Inter­ numerous literary adaptations of fairy tales in
national Children's Book Day. MN the form of prose works, poems, and plays,
Bendix, Regina, 'Seashell Bra and Happy End: there also exists a tradition of reducing well-
Disney's Transformations of "The Little known tales to short aphorisms of a few lines.
Mermaid"', Fabula, 34.3—4 (1993)- These aphorisms allude to fairy tales in general
Bredsdorf, Elias, Hans Christian Andersen (1975). or to specific tales and their individual motifs.
Gronbech, Bo, Hans Christian Andersen (1980).
Ingwersen, Niels, 'Being Stuck: The Subversive These allusions can be found not only among
Andersen and his Audience', in James A . the aphorisms of highly intellectual authors but
Parente Jr. and Richard Erich Schade (eds.), also among the anonymous one-liners of mod­
Studies in German and Scandinavian Literature ern graffiti. They represent remnants of the
after 1500 (1993). original fairy tales and form a small sub-genre
Lederer, Wolfgang, The Kiss of the Snow Queen: of the aphorism and might be labelled as fairy­
Hans Christian Andersen and Man's Redemption tale aphorisms.
by Woman (1986). One of the earliest aphorisms of this type is
Nassaar, Christopher S., 'Andersen's "The Johann Wolfgang von *Goethe's somewhat
Shadow" and Wilde's "The Fisherman and his
Soul": A Case of Influence', Nineteenth-Century paradoxical text 'Fairy tale: indicating to us the
Literature, 50.2 (September 1995). possibility of impossible occurrences under
Rossel, Sven Hakon (ed.), Hans Christian possible or impossible conditions'. The reac­
Andersen: Danish Writer and Citizen of the World tions of later authors to fairy tales in general or
(1996). specific motifs reflect this ambiguity between
the wishful world of the fairy tale and the real­
ANSTEY, F . (pseudonym of THOMAS ANSTEY ity of everyday life. The dreams, hopes, and
GUTHRIE, 1856—1934), author of stories of fan­ fulfilments expressed in fairy tales appear im­
tasy and humour. Vice-Versa (1882), his best- possible in an imperfect world, but by relating
known work, was also his first, begun when he our problems and concerns to the possible so­
was an undergraduate at Cambridge. Subtitled lutions in fairy tales, we tend to be able to cope
'A Lesson to Fathers', it shows the conse­ with our sometimes desperate conditions. Ger-
quences of rashly wishing to be a boy again. hart *Hauptmann expressed this thought quite
Paul Bultitude unwittingly holds a magical tal­ similarly to Goethe's statement in his aphorism
isman as he lectures his son Dick on his good 'The teller of fairy tales gets people used to the
fortune to be going back to school. He finds unusual, and it is of great importance that this
himself transformed into Dick, while Dick be­ happens because mankind suffocates from the
comes his father. Paul has to endure the hu­ usual.'
miliating miseries of Dr Grimstone's school, How much the universal nature of fairy tales
but when he does escape, his son is reluctant to is also of relevance to people of the modern age
reverse the situation. No subsequent Anstey was summarized by Elias Canetti in 1943: ' A
book had the success of Vice-Versa, though closer study of fairy tales would teach us what
The Brass Bottle (1900) equals it in humour. we can still expect from the world.' But people
Here a young architect inadvertently releases a are not to use fairy tales as escapist literature,
powerful jinn from a bottle, and has to endure as Stanislaw Jerzy Lec warns: 'Don't believe
the jinn's misguided efforts to reward him. the fairy tales. They were true.' Fairy tales,
Anstey frequently used the device of the disas­ after all, also express cruel aspects of the social
trous intrusion of magic into everyday life. The reality of the Middle Ages, and once one looks
Tinted Venus (1885) deals with a statue of at some of the individual scenes of cruelty and
Aphrodite that comes to life and nearly wrecks fear, fairy tales can in fact reflect the anxieties
a hairdresser's long-standing romantic attach­ of the present day as well. Thus Lec claims that
A P H O R I S M S A N D FAIRY TALES 16

'Some fairy tales are so bloody that they actual­ how good that nobody knows that I shit inde­
ly cannot be regarded as such.' Little wonder pendently' has become a popular take-off on
that Gabriel Laub concluded that 'Fairy tales the popular verse, 'Oh, how good it is that no­
definitely belong to realistic literature. They body knows that I am called *Rumpelstiltskin'.
promise fortune and joy—but only in the fairy On the more serious level of sexual politics,
tale.' there are Edith Summerskill's 'The housewife
Looking at the technological world and its is the *Cinderella of the affluent state', Mae
seemingly insurmountable challenges and prob­ West's 'I used to be Snow White . . . but I
lems leads aphoristic writers to question the drifted', and Lee Miller's 'I'm not Cinderella. I
hope for any fairy-tale future for humanity. The can't force my foot into the glass slipper.' Men­
Austrian author Zarko Petan thus changed the tion must also be made, of course, of Colette
introductory formula into the future tense to Dowling's 'Here it was—the Cinderella Com­
state his view that 'All socialist fairy tales begin plex' out of her best-seller The Cinderella Com­
with: "Once upon a time there will be . . . " ' plex (1982).
And a reader of a German tabloid newspaper The modern German author Werner Mitsch
submitted the following saying which contains is the most prolific creator of fairy-tale aphor­
a similar ironic twist regarding the socio-eco­ isms, of which a few might serve as examples
nomic differences between capitalism and so­ here: 'The Brothers *Grimm awakened our
cialism: '"Once upon a time there was", so fairy tales from their Briar Rose sleep', 'Fairy
begin the fairy tales in the West. "Once upon a tales are called fairy tales because you only
time there will be", so they start in the East.' have to pass a total of three tests in fairy tales',
Aphorists with socio-political concerns also ex­ 'There once was a young woman [*Rapunzel]
ploit the traditional closing formula of the fairy who lived in a tower and who one day got a
tale. For those people who are sick of waiting permanent. Much to the dismay of the Brothers
and hearing yet another promise from their Grimm', *'Hansel and Gretel got lost in the
leaders, the following poster parody might be wolf. There Snow White played golf with
an appropriate cynical remark: 'And if they Rumpelstiltskin', 'Feminism. Better blood in
haven't died, then they are still waiting today.' the shoe than a prince around the neck [refer­
Such pessimism is commonplace in these mod­ ring to "Cinderella"]', 'All good things come
ern fairy-tale aphorisms. Politicians are seen as in threes, said the wolf and took the huntsman
liars by Werner Sprenger: 'Most politicians are as his dessert' [""Little Red Riding Hood'],
nothing but occupational swindlers who with 'Seven hills don't make a mountain and seven
dignified faces tell those fairy tales which hap­ dwarfs don't make a prince', and 'What good
pen to be the most popular.' And very aggres­ does it do a person if he/she can spin straw
sive against the 'haves' of society is Nikolaus into gold and still remains his/her whole life
Cybinski's cynical aphorism: 'Fairy tales are long a Rumpelstiltskin?'
the digestive medicine of those who are full This last interrogative aphorism illustrates
and who try to completely digest their old Uto­ clearly that fairy-tale aphorisms for the most
pias with their help.' part question the positive nature of the trad­
Those aphorisms based on individual fairy itional versions. Power, crime, violence, self­
tales and their motifs usually lend an ironic ishness, greed, materialism, sex, and hedonism
twist to the well-known original formulation. are the subjects of these aphorisms. This is the
Sometimes the authors of these parodies are case because many people never quite attain
unknown, as for example in the new American their full potential as social beings. Instead they
proverb 'You have to kiss a lot of toads (frogs), hide behind a makeshift façade of deception
before you meet your handsome prince', which like the emperor in Hans Christian * Andersen's
clearly refers to 'The *Frog King'. An an­ popular tale 'The Emperor's New Clothes',
onymous graffito takes the sexual implications which the American poet Idries Shah reduced
of this fairy tale one step further: 'Better one to the telling aphorism 'It is not always a ques­
night with a prince than a whole life with a tion of the Emperor having no clothes on.
frog.' It should come as no surprise that quite a Sometimes it is, "Is that an Emperor at all?'"
few anonymous graffiti and slogans based on The questions of identity, character, and truth­
*'Snow White' also enter the sexual sphere: fulness are all addressed in the old fairy tales,
'Better once with Snow White than seven times and when modern aphoristic and graffiti
with the dwarfs', or 'Did you know that Snow writers present laconic antipodes based on
White had no rest on any day of the week?' them, they quite often express a deep moral
And among German students the slogan 'Oh, commitment to bringing about a change to-
17 A P P R O A C H E S T O T H E LITERARY FAIRY TALE

wards a more fairy-tale-like existence. T o proaches to literary texts are always under-
every humorous, ironic, or satirical fairy-tale pinned and shaped by ideological assumptions
aphorism belongs a seriously positive fairy about relationships between language, mean-
tale, and it is the juxtaposition of the long tales ing, narrative, literature, society, and literary
with the short aphorisms which makes for audiences; and, to some extent, varying ap-
meaningful communication of basic human proaches to the fairy tale reflect the critical,
needs and desires. WM cultural, and historical contexts in which they
Jones, Steven Swann, 'Joking Transformations have been formulated. No single approach or
of Popular Fairy Tales', Western Folklore, 44 methodology is able to arrive at a 'correct' in-
(1985). terpretation of the fairy tale; instead, different
Mieder, Wolfgang, 'Sprichwortliche methodologies suit different critical and ideo-
Schwundstufen des Mârchens', Proverbium, 3 logical purposes. The main conceptual ap-
(1986). proaches to the literary fairy tale to have
'Fairy-Tale Allusions in Modern German
emerged in the 20th century are: folkloricist,
Aphorisms', in Donald Haase (ed.), The
structuralist, literary, psychoanalytic, histor-
Reception of Grimms' Fairy Tales (1993).
Rohrich, Lutz, Der Witi (1977). icist, marxist, and feminist approaches.

APOLLINAIRE, GUILLAUME (pseudonym of W I L - l. FOLKLORICIST APPROACHES

HELM-APOLLINARIS DE KOSTROWITZKY, 1880-1918), The literary fairy tale as it emerged in the 17th
French poet and critic. Although he was a cen- century constitutes a literary sub-genre distinct
tral figure in the Parisian avant garde prior to from the oral folk tale, but the oral folk tale has
World War I, the fairy tradition influenced his had a formative influence on the fairy tale and
early literary experiments. A precursor to the on scholarship in both areas. The 'Finnish' (or
surrealists, he coined the motto, 'J'émerveille' historical-geographic) method, developed by
('I marvel'), and treated marvellous themes Thompson, Krohn, and Aarne, aims at recon-
like 'Lorelei' (in Alcools, 1913) and 'The Wan- structing the history of particular tale types by
dering Jew' ('Le Passant de Prague' m L'Héré- collecting, indexing, and analysing all of their
siarque et cie, 1910) in poetry and prose. variants. There are two key underlying as-
Fascinated by the Arthurian cycle, Apollinaire sumptions informing the work of folkloricists:
based L'Enchanteur pourrissant (The Rotting that folk tales have their origins in oral trad-
Sorcerer, 1909), and 'Merlin et la vieille femme' itions; and that a single definitive version of a
('Merlin and the Old Lady' in Alcools, 1913) on particular tale type as it may have existed in the
the figure of Merlin. The last work he ever oral tradition might be reconstructed from its
wrote was a unique fairy tale entitled 'La Suite variants. The Finnish method was developed
de Cendrillon, ou le rat et les six lézards' in an attempt to avoid reductive trajectories of
(*'Cinderella Continued, or The Rat and the folk-tale history, but the assumption that in
Six Lizards'), and was published in La Baïo- identifying the basic structure of a specific tale
nette on 16 January 1919, after his death. A R type an originary 'ur-text' might be recon-
structed is grounded in a romantic ideology
APPLE TREE, THE, a 1966 Broadway musical by which conceives of the folk-tale tradition as
Jerry Bock (music) and Sheldon Harnick pure and genuine, and the literary fairy tale as
(lyrics) that utilized two American fairy tales in an impure, inauthentic derivative. Such an ori-
its three playlets: Frank *Stockton's 1882 short ginary text could only ever be artificially con-
story 'The Lady or the Tiger?', about a captain structed from existing known versions, and the
who determines his fate by choosing one of task of collecting all variants defies completion.
two doors concealing a bride or a beast, and Furthermore, the traffic between oral and liter-
Jules Feiffer's 'Passionella', a modern spoof on ary folk and fairy tales is not one-way: literary
'Cinderella' about a chimney sweep who variants have had a formative influence on sub-
magically becomes a sexy movie star but only sequent oral versions of tales.
finds happiness in the arms of a mousy Mr Despite such problematic ideological as-
Brown. TSH sumptions, a key principle of the historical-
geographic method, that a scholar must take all
A P P R O A C H E S TO T H E LITERARY FAIRY T A L E . The known versions of a story into consideration,
literary fairy tale has been of scholarly interest has been enormously influential, and the folk-
since the 19th century and it has been discussed tale indexes compiled by Thompson, Aarne,
from a range of conceptual viewpoints using and Krohn are invaluable resources for
a variety of methodologies. Conceptual ap- scholars interested in a range of approaches to
A P P R O A C H E S T O T H E LITERARY FAIRY TALE 18

the folk and fairy tale. The approach enables in fairy-tale research. His methodology enables
identification of the basic structure of specific discrimination of key structural elements and
tales and it has been combined with other ap­ can be usefully combined with other literary
proaches (see collections edited by Bottig- approaches which seek to analyse the possible
heimer, and McGlathery). ways in which texts construct meaning, and
with more ideologically oriented forms of an­
2 . STRUCTURALISM: VLADIMIR PROPP alysis which seek to study the formative influ­
There are similarities between the methodolo­ ence of social, historical, and cultural contexts
gies and assumptions of folkloricist and struc­ on folk-tale variants and reversions (for ex­
turalist approaches to the folk tale in that both ample, see Tatar, 1987; Bottigheimer, 1986,
are preoccupied with the stable underlying 1987).
form of tales. However, whereas folklorists
identified the basic 'story' components of par­ 3 . LITERARY APPROACHES: MAX LUTHI
ticular tale types, structuralists are interested in Whereas structuralist and folkloricist ap­
the underlying structural components of the proaches tend to disregard meaning in an at­
folk-tale genre. A key aspect of Propp's meth­ tempt to examine form and structure, Luthi
odology is the analysis of the structure of folk combines stylistic analysis of fairy-tale texts
tales according to character functions or and an interest in their significance. Using the
spheres of action. His analysis of Russian folk methodologies of new criticism, he analyses
tales suggests the following principles: func­ the stylistic features and thematic significance
tions are stable, constant elements in a tale, in­ of the fairy-tale genre and its historical devel­
dependent of how and by whom they are opment. A key assumption informing Luthi's
fulfilled, so they constitute the fundamental work is that fairy tales contain essential under­
components of a tale; the number of functions lying meanings which, in so far as form and
known to fairy tale is limited; the sequence of meaning are thought of as integral, are mani­
functions is always identical; and all fairy tales fest in the basic style of the fairy tale. Thus,
are of one type in regard to their structure. like his structuralist colleagues, Luthi focuses
The uniformity which Propp finds in fairy­ on those formal stylistic features which charac­
tale structure raises questions about the origins terize the genre and which, according to Luthi,
and meanings of tales. While structuralists typ­ function thematically. For Luthi, the 'common
ically evade questions of meaning and histor­ style underlying all European fairy tales' points
icity, an implication of Propp's findings is that to common significances for the genre. His as­
all folk tales express the same thing, opening sertions are supported by close textual analysis
the way for assertions of universal ahistorical of particular tales and their variants, but he
meanings. However, a criticism of folkloricist largely ignores the social and cultural contexts
and structuralist scholars alike is that they rare­ of particular retellings, focusing instead on
ly interpret folk-tale content. The conception those story elements and motifs which remain
of structuralism as a 'science' of narrative dic­ stable despite progressive retellings. His analy­
tates a methodological rigour which excludes ses tend to proceed from the particular to the
from analysis those narrative components, such general. Specific features are discussed in so far
as discourse and signification, which are vari­ as they are typical of the genre and can be used
able, but which also shape form and meaning. to assert abstract general ideas. The method­
Propp acknowledges the cultural context of the ology thus avoids imposing specific meanings
folk tale, but he is more concerned with its on individual tales, and Liithi is able to make
non-variable structural elements and excludes assertions about the 'timeless validity' of the
social and historical aspects and variations of essential image of 'man' in fairy tales.
form and content from his analysis. However,
in focusing exclusively on stable narrative 4 . PSYCHOANALYSIS: JUNGIAN AND FREUDIAN AP­
components, structuralist analysis is frequently PROACHES
reduced to empirical description and observa­ Psychoanalytic approaches to the fairy tale are
tion of manifest content of tales. preoccupied with their symbolism. Although
Structuralist analysis, however, is not an end Jungian and Freudian interpretations of tales
in itself and need not ignore either the variable differ, they share key assumptions about lan­
narrative components or the cultural contexts guage, narrative, and the universality of mean­
of folk tale. Propp's work, like that of Stith ing and utilize similar methodologies. For
Thompson, has had, despite its shortcomings, a Jungians, such as Maria Luise von Franz, folk
formative influence on the methodologies used and fairy stories represent archetypal psycho-
l A P P R O A C H E S T O T H E LITERARY FAIRY TALE
9

logical phenomena and are an expression of taking into account the oral and literary history
'collective unconscious psychic processes'. For which produces diverse variants, the discursive
Freudians, such as Bruno Bettelheim, they are and narratological aspects of literary versions,
expressions of individual psychological devel­ the audiences for tales, or the cultural and soci­
opment, and they deal with universal human al context in which tales are produced and re­
problems. Thus both make universal claims for produced. In adopting them scholars assume an
the relevance of the fairy-tale genre for human opacity of narrative and language; that is,
beings which ignore differences produced by meaning is directly apprehensible independent
age, gender, race, social class, and education. of its discursive, textual, narrative, cultural,
According to Bettelheim, fairy tales communi­ and ideological contexts. They thus assume
cate with the uneducated, preconscious, and that meanings are universal and ahistorical,
unconscious minds of children and adults. He hence presupposing the validity of the inter­
thus assumes that meaning exists independent pretative paradigms they utilize. However,
of form and structure and can be directly ap­ psychoanalytic approaches have been highly
prehended, regardless of the linguistic, narra­ influential in shaping critical discourse about
tive, and cultural structures and conventions fairy tale. Bettelheim's Uses ofEnchantment has
used to encode it. He also assumes a fundamen­ provoked fierce opposition and hostility, but
tal link between childhood and the fairy-tale few scholars since have failed to acknowledge
genre, the logic of which is circular: fairy tales its influence and to enter into dialogue with
contain symbolic images which reflect inner Bettelheim. Recent scholarship has tended to
psychic processes and which, in so far as these be eclectic in its use of myth and psychoanaly­
processes are common to all children, enable sis (for example, see Tatar, 1987 and 1992, and
children to externalize and work through their essays by Dundes, in Bottigheimer, 1986, and
psychological problems. by Grolnick, in McGlathery).
Bettelheim and von Franz's methodologies
are also similar in so far as both proceed via 5 . HlSTORICIST, SOCIOLOGICAL, AND IDEOLOGICAL
content analysis of story motifs and the impos­ APPROACHES
ition of an, albeit different, interpretative para­ Whereas psychoanalytic theorists see fairy and
digm. Von Franz acknowledges that her 'task folk tales as mirroring collective and individual
of translating the amplified story into psycho­ psychic development, historical and socio­
logical language' might perhaps be seen as 're­ logical theorists see such tales as reflecting so­
placing] one myth with another', indicating cial and historical conditions. Any approach
that she is at least aware of the hermeneutic which attempts to extrapolate social conditions
circle in which interpretation is enclosed. Bet­ and values from literary texts runs the risk of
telheim evades such methodological questions, assuming a one-to-one relationship between
however, by contextualizing his Freudian an­ literature and reality. However, contemporary
alyses of fairy tale within an ideology of child­ historicist and sociological theorists typically
hood and human existence which sees the avoid such conceptual problems through an
Oedipal myth as paramount. This myth func­ eclectic, but highly theorized, combination of a
tions in Bettelheim's work as a metanarrative range of methodologies (for example, see
which structures both child development and Zipes, 1979, 1983, 1986, and 1994, and collec­
the fairy tale. However, the Oedipal myth, as it tions edited by Bottigheimer and McGlathery).
has been appropriated by modern psychoanaly­ There are two main historical approaches to
sis and by Bettelheim in particular, is a patri­ the fairy tale. The first, associated with
archal metanarrative which, when applied to Nitschke, Kahlo, and Scherf, stresses the social
theories of child development, constructs the and cultural purposes such narratives served
child as disturbed and in need of therapeutic within the particular communities from which
instruction, conceives of female sexuality as they emerged. Nitschke and Kahlo trace many
deviant, and imposes a universal theory of sex­ folk-tale motifs back to rituals, habits, customs,
ual and psychological maturation which ig­ and laws of pre-capitalist societies and thus see
nores the historicity of notions of sexuality, the folk tales as reflecting the social order of a
subjectivity, childhood, and the family (see Ta­ given historical epoch. The assumption that in­
tar, 1992; Zipes, 1979, 1986). dividual tales 'developed at specific moments
Psychoanalytic approaches are problematic and passed unchanged through subsequent
when applied to the fairy tale in so far as they eras' implicitly denies the historicity of the
often involve mechanically imposing an inter­ genre (Bottigheimer, 1986). Zipes, however,
pretative paradigm upon select tales without adapts Nitschke's method for defining the
A P P R O A C H E S T O T H E LITERARY FAIRY TALE 20

socio-historical context of folk tales to the and ideological content. A key feature and
study of the literary fairy tale, arguing that strength of Zipes's approach is his utilization of
fairy tales 'preserve traces of vanished forms of a range of critical material relating to literary,
social life' even though tales are progressively social, and historical theory to elaborate on the
modified ideologically. place and function of the fairy tale within liter­
A second approach stresses the historical ary and social history. Both Zipes and Bottig­
relativity of meaning: textual variants of tales heimer extend structuralist methods of analysis
reflect the particular cultural and historical and, like other socially oriented researchers,
contexts in which they are produced. Bottig- see a link between structural components and
heimer's work is concerned with the complex socio-historical conditions.
relation between the collections by the
Brothers *Grimm and 19th-century German 6 . FEMINIST APPROACHES
society, the role played by Jacob and Wilhelm Studies which examine the social conditions
Grimm in shaping the fairy-tale genre, and the within which folk and fairy tales are produced
ideological implications of the tales, especially also reveal the extent to which such tales both
their reflection of social constructions of gen­ reflect and reproduce gender differences and
der. Zipes focuses on the relations between inequalities within the societies which produce
fairy tales and historical, cultural, and ideo­ them. Such studies also reveal how interpret­
logical change, especially how the meanings of ative traditions which assume universal mean­
fairy tales have been progressively re-shaped ings and/or forms for fairy tale and ignore
as they have been appropriated by various cul­ their socio-historical contexts can obscure the
tural and social institutions through history. extent to which the genre is shaped by and re­
Zipes's studies of the fairy tale seek to relocate produces patriarchal constructions of gender.
the historical origins of folk and fairy tales in Feminist fairy-tale criticism is more explicit
politics and class struggle and thus fill a gap in about its political and ideological agenda than
literary histories of folk and fairy tales. His use most other approaches; it aims to raise aware­
of marxist paradigms presupposes an instru­ ness of how fairy tales function to maintain
mental link between literary texts and social traditional gender constructions and differ­
institutions and ideologies. Whereas psycho­ ences and how they might be reutilized to
analytic theorists see fairy tales as reflecting counter the destructive tendencies of patriarch­
child development, Zipes sees them as having a al values. However, feminist research has pro­
formative socializing function. He adapts early duced diverse interpretations of fairy tales. All
marxist and cultural historicist approaches, theoretical approaches are selective. Feminist
which stressed emancipatory, subversive, and approaches which are critical of fairy tales tend
Utopian elements in folk and fairy tales, arguing to focus on those tales which evince 'negative'
instead that, as folk tales were appropriated by female role models; that is, heroines who are
and institutionalized within capitalist bourgeois passive, submissive, and helpless. Less critical
societies, the emergent culture industry sought approaches tend to select tales which portray
to contain, regulate, and instrumentalize such 'positive' female characters; that is, heroines
elements, but with limited success. Thus con­ who are strong, resourceful, and aggressive.
temporary fairy tales are neither inherently Obviously, such evaluative responses also re­
subversive nor inherently conservative; in­ flect contemporary social values and reveal a
stead, they have a subversive potential which second methodological problem, namely a ten­
the culture industry both exploits and contains dency to ignore the historical development of
in an effort to regulate social behaviour. the genre in relation to social and cultural insti­
Socio-historicist, marxist and other cultural­ tutions. Feminist researchers also tend to focus
ly oriented approaches to literary texts have in primarily on 'story' elements, such as character
part developed as a response to textualist traits and plot devices; as with much cultural
modes of criticism which tend to ignore the im­ analysis of literary forms, there is a tendency,
pact of social and cultural contexts on signifi­ in relying too heavily on theme and content
cance in their almost exclusive focus on analysis, to ignore the discursive, narratival,
textually produced meanings. However, a and ideological construction of literary texts.
common criticism of culturally oriented ap­ Finally, concerns with the socializing function
proaches is that in stressing the socio-historical of fairy tales are often informed by simplistic
context of texts, stylistic and formal textual fea­ assumptions about the effects of literary texts,
tures are ignored and textual analysis is thereby especially an assumption that tales are automat­
limited to descriptive discussions of thematic ically subject to fixed interpretations.
21 APULEIUS, LUCIUS

These methodological problems are avoided Zipes, Jack, Fairy Tales and the Art of
by various contemporary researchers, such as Subversion: The Classical Genre for Children and
*Warner (1994), Tatar (1987, 1992), and Bot­ the Process of Civilisation (1983).
tigheimer (1987), through the combination of Don't Bet on the Prince: Contemporary
Feminist Fairy Tales in North America and
feminist concerns with the interrelation be­ England (1986).
tween gender and genre and other conceptual Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale
approaches and methodologies, such as psy­ (1994).
choanalysis, structuralist analysis, and dis­
course and cultural analysis (see also collection APULEIUS, LUCIUS ( 1 2 5 - ? ) Roman rhetorician
edited by Zipes, 1986). and Platonic philosopher. Born in Hippo, now
Annaba, Apuleius was educated at Carthage
7 . CONCLUSION and Athens. He travelled widely in Greece and
For some time now socio-historians and folk- Asia Minor and practised for a while as a law­
loricists have maintained that each variant of a yer in Rome. When he was about 30 years old,
particular story will have its own meaning, he returned home, where he gained a distin­
within a given cultural context. An important guished reputation as a writer and lecturer. His
implication of this argument is that interpret­ most famous work is Metamorphoses, also
ations of texts are also determined by the cul­ known as The Golden Ass, which includes the
tural context in which they are formulated. As famous fairy tale 'Cupid and Psyche'. He also
Tatar points out, 'every rewriting of a tale is an wrote The Apology, or On Magic (Apologia: Pro
interpretation; and every interpretation is a re­ se de magia liber), his defence in a suit against
writing'. Any given tale will accrue a range of him by his wife's relatives, who accused him of
interpretations, as it is interpreted and reinter­ gaining her affections through magic, and
preted. The possibility of arriving at a defini­ three philosophical treatises, On the God of
tive textually grounded interpretation is Socrates (De deo Socratis), On the Philosophy of
infinitely deferred partly because of the nature Plato (De Platone et eius dogmate), and On the
of folkloric material and the impossibility of World (De munde).
collecting every version and variant, and partly The Metamorphoses concerns a young man
because any interpretation is in part the prod­ named Lucius who sets out on a journey to
uct of the culture in which it is produced. Thessaly, a region in northern Greece known
Hence there are various approaches to the fairy for its witches. While there he indulges himself
tale and many diverse interpretations, but no in a decadent life with a servant girl named
single 'correct' interpretation. On the other Fotis, who gives him a magic ointment that
hand, however, progressive critical and cre­ will supposedly allow him to change himself at
ative interpretations reveal a history of ideol­ will into a bird. When he applies the ointment
ogy as well as a history of adaptation, on himself, he is transformed into an ass.
interpretation, and reception. RM Though he keeps his human understanding, he
Bettelheim, Bruno, The Uses of Enchantment is mute and cannot explain his situation to any­
(1976). one. Stolen by a band of robbers, he has nu­
Bottigheimer, Ruth (ed.), Fairy Tales and merous adventures and hears all sorts of
Society: Illusion, Allusion and Paradigm (1986). stories, among them the tale of 'Cupid and
Grimms ' Bad Girls and Bold Boys: The Psyche'. In this version Cupid becomes ena­
Moral and Social Vision of the Tales (1987). moured of the beautiful Psyche and saves her
Franz, Marie Luise von, An Introduction to the life. He sleeps with her at night on the condi­
Interpretation of Fairy Tales (1970).
Luthi, Max, Once upon a Time: On the Nature of tion that she never look at him. However, on
Fairy Tales (1970). the urging of her jealous sisters, she turns a
McGlathery, James, The Brothers Grimm and light on him, and he disappears. Venus makes
Folktale (1988). her complete three difficult tasks before Psyche
Propp, Vladimir, Morphology of the Folktale can be reunited with her lover.
(1968). The Golden Ass was very successful during
Tatar, Maria, The Hard Facts of the Grimm s the Middle Ages, and it served as a model for
Fairy Tales (1987). Boccaccio and Cervantes. In 1566 William
Off with Their Heads/ Fairy Tales and the
Adlington published the first English transla­
Culture of Childhood (1992).
Warner, Marina, From the Beast to the Blonde: tion, which was very popular. The plot of
On Fairy Tales and their Tellers (1994). 'Cupid and Psyche' was also well known in
Zipes, Jack, Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical 17th-century France and was transformed by
Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales (1979). La Fontaine into a long story, Amours de Psy-
ARABIAN NIGHTS, T H E 22

che et de Cupidon (1669) and made into a tragé- collection and others and to shape them either
die-ballet, Psyché (1671), by Corneille and independently or within the framework of the
Molière. It served as the basis for numerous Scheherazade/Shahryar narrative. The tellers
fairy tales by Mme d'*Aulnoy and inspired the and authors of the tales were anonymous, and
two classical versions of ""Beauty and the their styles and language differed greatly; the
Beast' by Mme de *Villeneuve and Mme only common distinguishing feature was the
Teprince de Beaumont. JZ
fact that they were written in a colloquial lan-
Bottigheimer, Ruth B., 'Cupid and Psyche vs. guage called Middle Arabic that had its own
Beauty and the Beast: The Milesian and the peculiar grammar and syntax. By the 15th cen-
Modern', Merveilles et Contes, 3.1 (May 1989). tury there were three distinct layers that could
Hood, Gwyneth, 'Husbands and Gods as be detected in the collection of those tales that
Shadowbrutes: "Beauty and the Beast" from
formed the nucleus of what became known as
Apuleius to C. S. Lewis', Mythlore, 15 (winter
The Thousand and One Nights: (1) Persian tales
1988).
Leinweber, David, 'Witchcraft and Lamiae in that had some Indian elements and had been
'"The Golden Ass"', Folklore, 105 (1994). adapted into Arabic by the 10th century; (2)
Scobie, Alex, 'The Influence of Apuleius' tales recorded in Baghdad between the 10th
Metamorphoses on some French Authors, and 12th centuries; (3) stories written down in
1518—1843', Arcadia, 12 (1977). Egypt between the nth and 14th centuries. By
Winkler, John J., 'Apuleius', in Supernatural the 19th century, the time of Richard *Burton's
Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror, i. Apuleius to unexpurgated translation, The Book of the
May Sinclair (1985). Thousand Nights and a Night (1885—6), there
ARABIAN NIGHTS, THE, also known as The were four 'authoritative' Arabic editions, more
Thousand and One Nights (Arabic: alf laila wa- than a dozen manuscripts in Arabic, and
laila), originally a collection of oriental tales in Antoine *Galland's translation that one could
the Arabic language that developed into a draw from and include as part of the tradition
powerful vehicle for Western imaginative of the Nights. The important Arabic editions
prose since the early 18th century (see O R I E N - are as follows:
T A L F A I R Y T A L E S ) . The collection has a long Calcutta I, 1814—18, 2 vols, (also called
and convoluted history which mirrors its com- Shirwanee edn.)
plex narrative structure; one amazing story Bulak, 1835, 2 vols, (also called the Cairo
evokes another, so that the reader is drawn into Edition)
a narrative whirlpool. The development of the Calcutta II, 1839-42, 4 vols, (also called W. H.
Nights from the oriental oral and literary trad- Macnaghten edn.)
itions of the Middle Ages into a classical work Breslau, 1825—38, 8 vols. (ed. Maximilian
Habicht)
for Western readers is a fascinating one. The
notebook of a Jewish book dealer from Cairo Galland, the first European translator, pub-
around the year 1150 contains the first docu- lished a French translation, Les Mille et une
mentary evidence for the Arabic title. The old- nuits, in twelve volumes from 1704 to 1717. He
est preserved manuscripts, comprising a core relied on a four-volume Arabic collection to
corpus of about 270 nights, appear to date from which he added some stories told to him by a
the 15th century. The tales in the collection can Maronite Christian Arab from Aleppo named
be traced to three ancient oral cultures, Indian, Youhwnna Diab or Hanna Diab, who had also
Persian, and Arab, and they probably circu- written down others in Arabic for him (""Alad-
lated in the vernacular hundreds of years be- din and the Wonderful Lamp' and *'Ali Baba
fore they were written down some time and the Forty Thieves' (1703—13). He had
between the 9th and 15th centuries. translated 'The Voyages of Sindbad' in 1701
The apparent model for the literary versions and placed it in Mille Nuits after the 'Three La-
of the tales was a Persian book entitled Ha^ar dies'. It is supposed that the Sindbad tales ori-
Afsaneh (A Thousand Tales), translated into ginated in Baghdad. Edward William Lane
Arabic in the 9th century, for it provided the translated a judiciously selected compilation of
framework story of a caliph who, for three the frame story into English, 30 of the long
years, slays a new wife each night after taking pieces, and 55 short stories (1839—41). Burton
her maidenhead, and who is finally diverted undertook the monumental task of translating
from this cruel custom by a vizier's daughter, ten volumes, The Book of a Thousand Nights
assisted by her slave-girl. During the next and a Night (1885), followed by a six-volume
seven centuries, various storytellers, scribes, Supplemental Nights (1886—8). The Burton edi-
and scholars began to record the tales from this tion features archaizing prose, frequent colour-
ARABIAN NIGHTS In the fifth voyage of 'Sindbad the Seaman and Sindbad the Landsman', Sindbad almost
loses his life when he agrees to carry the Old Man of the Sea, who habitually eats the men he has tricked
into bearing him. Fortunately, Sindbad escapes the Old Man, who assumes a horrific shape in Louis
Rhead's illustration printed in The Arabian Nights' Entertainments (1916).
ARABIAN NIGHTS, T H E 24

ful coinages when translation failed, and First Shaykh's Tale' relates how a wife had
astonishing anthropological footnotes. Enno changed her stepson into a calf and the boy's
Littmann translated and edited a scholarly Ger- mother into a heifer. As a punishment she was
man edition in six volumes, universally praised transformed into the gazelle with whom he is
for its fidelity to the text and for its excellent travelling. In 'The Second Shaykh's Tale' his
notes. two black dogs had been his two unreliable
The labyrinthine intertwined stories in The brothers, before his wife, an ifritah, had trans-
Thousand and One Nights are framed by a tale formed them. In 'The Third Shaykh's Tale' his
of a jaded ruler named Shahryar, whose disap- adulterous wife sprinkles him with water and
pointment in womankind causes him to marry casts a spell that turns him into a dog. The
a new woman every night only to kill her in the daughter of a stall-owner releases him from the
morning. The grand-vizier's clever daughter, spell and helps him transform his erring wife
*Scheherazade, determined to end this murder- into a she-mule, his travelling companion.
ous cycle, plans an artful ruse. She tells the sul- 'The Fisherman and the Jinni' concludes with
tan a suspenseful tale each night promising to the tale of 'The Ensorcelled Prince' whose
finish it in the morning. This narrative device angry wife cast a spell changing him into a man
of delaying unpleasant events by means of of half-stone, half-flesh. She also transformed
arousing the curiosity of a powerful figure is a his entire realm into a lake, and his subjects
constant feature in the stories themselves, e.g. into fish distinguishable chromatically (Mus-
the three shaykhs whose stories free the trader lims, white; Christians, blue; Magians, red;
from the ifrït, and the culprits who had dis- Jews, yellow). Galland had added two typical
obeyed the three ladies' injunction not to ques- quest stories of Persian provenance in which
tion what they saw. Their curiosity compelled the protagonist seeks a special object, 'The En-
them to save their lives by satisfying their vious Sisters' and 'Ahmed and Perï Banû', and
hosts' curiosity ('The Porter and the Three La- also the familiar talisman tale 'Aladdin and the
dies of Baghdad'). Wonderful Lamp'.
Just as Scheherazade's tales inspire wonder In regard to the development of the fairy
and astonishment in the public, they awaken tale as genre in the West, The Thousand and
the same emotions in their fictitious audience, One Nights played and continues to play a
who typically menace the storyteller with de- unique role. From the moment Galland trans-
mands for yet another story. Thus the frame lated and invented Les Mille et une nuits, the
story of Scheherazade and the Sultan Shahryar format, style, and motifs of the so-called Ara-
generates a parallel series of interpolated tales bian tales had a profound effect on how other
told to stave off disaster. Mia Gerhardt points European and American writers were to define
out that the fairy tales in The Arabian Nights and conceive fairy tales. In some respects, the
are classifiable thematically: powerful demon Nights are more important and famous in the
stories, talisman stories where a magical object West than they are in the Orient. Robert
protects and guides the hero, quest stories, *Irwin discusses this point in his chapter on the
transformation tales, and tales of demons under European and American 'children of the
restraint. nights' in his critical study, and he shows how
In this vast collection there is only one true numerous authors were clearly influenced by
fairy, in the Persian story of 'Ahmed and Perl The Thousand and One Nights: in France,
Banù', but there are frequent appearances of Anthony *Hamilton, Thomas-Simon *Gueu-
ifrït, variously translated as 'demon', 'genius', lette, *Crébillon fils, Denis *Diderot, Jacques
'genie', or 'jinni'. Gerhardt distinguished fairy *Cazotte, and *Voltaire; in England, Joseph
tales of Persian origin, in which a supernatural Addison, Samuel Johnson, William Beckford,
being acts independently and is in control of Horace Walpole, Robert Southey, Samuel
events, and Egyptian stories where these Coleridge, Thomas De Quincey, George
beings are subject to the possessor of a talisman Meredith, and Robert Louis *Stevenson; in
or other magical object. In 'The Trader and the Germany, Wilhelm Heinrich *Wackenroder,
Jinni' a powerful ifrït seeking revenge for the Friedrich *Schiller, Wilhelm *Hauff, and Hugo
death of his son is deterred by a series of tales von *Hofmannsthal; in America, Washington
related by three passing shaykhs, who bargain *Irving, Edgar Allen Poe, and Herman Mel-
for the presumed assassin's life. ville. In recent times such gifted writers as
A number of the tales deal with the trans- John *Barth, Jorge Luis *Borges, Steven *Mill-
formation of humans into animals (frequently hauser, and Salman *Rushdie have given evi-
reversible). In 'The Trader and the Jinni', 'The dence of their debt to the Nights. In addition
2
5 ARDIZZONE, EDWARD

there have been numerous popular films based phong, French Indo-China) and domiciled in
on the Nights such as The *Thief of Baghdad England from age 5 on. An acclaimed book il­
(1924, 1939) and *Disney's *Aladdin (1994) as lustrator for children as well as for the works of
well as unusual contemporary anthologies, *Dickens, Thackeray, Trollope, Cervantes,
Susan Schwartz's Arabesques: More Tales of the *Shakespeare, Bunyan, Walter *de la Mare,
Arabian Nights (1988) and Mike Resnick and James Reeves, and Eleanor *Farjeon, Ardiz­
Martin Greenberg's Aladdin, Master of the zone is most noted for the Tim series, Little
Lamp (1992), in which some of the more gifted
Tim's sea-going adventures which were rooted
American and British fantasy writers have ex­
perimented with motifs and characters from the in Ardizzone's childhood days roaming the
Nights. HG docks with his cousin at Ipswich. In 1956 he
received the first Kate Greenaway Medal for
Caracciolo, Peter L. (ed.), The Arabian Nights in Tim All Alone. Self-identified as a 'born illus­
English Literature: Studies in the Reception of The trator', as one who does not draw from life, but
Thousand and One Nights into British Culture who draws symbols for things yet uses his eye
(1988). and his memory to 'augment and sweeten his
Gerhardt, Mia A., The Art of Story-Telling: A knowledge', Ardizzone viewed illustration as a
Literary Study of the Thousand and One Nights stage designer. Richly drawn settings became
(1963).
the hallmark of his style. His success largely
Grossman, Judith, 'Infidelity and Fiction: The
Discovery of Women's Subjectivity in The rests with his ability to integrate text and illus­
Arabian Nights', Georgia Review, 34 (1980). trations and critics have lauded his blending of
Hovannistan, Richard and Sabagh, Georges text and line. Perhaps his greatest achievement
(eds.), 'The Thousand and One Nights'in Arabic as a children's book illustrator is Eleanor Far-
Literature and Society (1997). jeon's The Little Book (1955), which received
Irwin, Robert, The Arabian Nights: A Companion the 1955 Carnegie Medal of the British Library
(1994). Association and the 1956 Hans Andersen Medal
Mahdi, Mushin, 'Remarks on the 1001 Nights', of the International Board on Books for Young
Interpretation, 2 (1973). People. Among Ardizzone's most interesting
A R D I Z Z O N E , E D W A R D (1900-79), British author illustrated fairy-tale books are *Peter Pan
and illustrator, born in Vietnam (then Hai­ (1962), How the Moon Began (1971), The
ARÈNE, PAUL 26

Gnome Factory (1978), Ardi^one's Hans Ander- of Egypt, Emperor Charles the Fifth's First
sen (1978), and English Fairy Tales (1980). SS Young Love', 1812). JMM
Alderson, Brian, Edward Ardi^one (1972).
Ardizzone, Edward, On the Illustrating of Books ARNIM, BETTINA VON (née BRENTANO,
(1957; 1986). 1785—1859). A German romantic and social ac-
The Young Ardi^one (1970). tivist, Arnim wrote one tale, 'Der Kônigssohn'
White, Gabriel, Edward Ardi{{one (1979). ('The King's Son') and collected two others,
'Hans ohne Bart' ('Beardless Hans') and 'die
blinde Kônigstochter' ( ' T h e Blind Princess'),
ARÈNE, PAUL (1843-96), French drama critic, for the projects organized by her husband,
author, and collaborator of Alphonse *Daudet. Achim von *Arnim, and stepbrother, Clemens
Arène's many short stories reflect the provin- *Brentano, around 1808. In gratitude for her
cial charm of southern France. He wrote sev- friendship, the Brothers *Grimm dedicated
eral fairy tales, including 'Les Ogresses' ('The their Tales to her (in editions from 1812 to
Ogresses', 1891) and 'La Chèvre d'or' ('The 1843). She assisted her daughter Gisela in writ-
Golden-Fleeced Goat', 1889), one of his best- m
ing the fairy-tale novel Grata (1843), which
known works. Here a conventional romance twelve girls escape from a convent school to
overlay the local legend of a magical goat who the island of Sumbona, a land of enchantment;
guards a fabulous treasure. The hero ultimately it offers strong social criticism in a humorous,
renounces the treasure for the love of the t n e v e a r
magical style. In 1 8 4 5 , of her political-
pretty young goatherd. AZ ly critical Armenbuch (Book of the Poor), she
wrote the 'Erzâhlung vom Heckebeutel' ('Tale
of the Lucky Purse'). T h e fairy-tale salon
ARNDT, ERNST MORITZ (1769-1860), German *Kaffeterkreis, run by her daughters, met in her
writer and historian who wrote numerous pat- Berlin home (1840s). JB
riotic pamphlets and books against the French
occupation of German principalities during the Ebert, Birgit, 'Bettina Brentano-von Arnim's
Napoleonic Wars. Aside from his political "Tale of the Lucky Purse" and Clemens
writings, Arndt was known for his folk and re- Brentano's "Story of of Good Kasperl and
ligious poetry and travel diaries. In 1818 he Beautiful Annerl"', trans. Patrick McGrath, in
published his first collection of fairy tales under Elke P. Frederiksen and Katherine R. Goodman
the influence of the Brothers *Grimm, and in (eds.), Bettina Brentano-von Arnim: Gender and
1842 he revised and expanded this work under Politics (1995).
the title Mdrchen und Jugenderinnerungen {Folk Jarvis, Shawn C., 'Spare the Rod and Spoil the
Child? Bettina's Das Leben der Hochgrdfin Gritta
Tales and Memories of my Youth). Like the
von Ratten^uhausbeiuns , Women in German
Brothers Grimm, Arndt gathered various kinds Yearbook, 3 (1986).
of folk tales from oral and literary sources and Jarvis, Shawn C. (ed.), Das Leben der Hochgrdfin
reproduced them in an unusual quaint and ele- Gritta von Ratten^uhausbeiuns. Von Gisela and
gant style to make them appear as genuine Bettina von Arnim (1986).
manifestations of the German folk. JZ Rolleke, Heinz, 'Bettinas Marchen', in Christoph
Portizky, J . E., 'Der Màrchendichter Arndt', in Perels (ed.), Herihaft in die Dornen greifen
Phantasten und Denker (1922). Bettina von Arnim (178^—18^) (1985).
Pundt, Alfred G., Arndt and the Nationalist Thielenhaus, Vera, 'Die "Gottinger Sieben" und
Awakening in Germany (1935). Bettina von Arnims Eintreten fur die Briider
Grimm', Internationales Jahrbuch der Bettina-von-
Arnim Gesellschaft, 5 (1993).
ARNIM, ACHIM VON (1781-1831), German Waldstein, Edith, 'Romantic Revolution and
author of the romantic period. With Clemens Female Collectivity: Bettina and Gisela von
*Brentano he published the classic collection of Arnim's Grind, Women in German Yearbook, 3
German folk song, Des Knaben Wunderhorn: (1986).
Alte deutsche Lieder ( The Boy's Horn of Plenty: ARNIM, GISELA VON (1827-89), German writer
Old German Songs, 1806-8), which in turn of fairy tales and stage plays; daughter of the
helped inspire their younger collaborators, the romantic writers Achim and Bettina von
Brothers *Grimm, to produce their monumen- *Arnim. In the 1840s she co-founded a female
tal world classic, the ^Kinder- und Hausmdr- salon, the *Kaffeterkreis, from which some of
chen. Arnim's stories and novels contain many her published works issued. One of her most
elements from folk beliefs, a chief example interesting tales is a fairy-tale novel and female
being his tale 'Isabella von Àgypten, Kaiser Robinsonade, Das Leben der Hochgrdfin Gritta
Karls des Fiinften erste Jugendliebe' ('Isabella von Ratteniuhausbeiuns (The Life Story of the
27 ASBJORNSEN, PETER, A N D M O E , JORCEN

High Countess Gritta) which she illustrated to- That similitude to veracity proved to be
gether with Herman Grimm, Wilhelm's son most successful. The tales recorded and retold
and her future husband. Her works reflect her by Asbjornsen and Moe have achieved a popu-
intimate reception of the work of the Brothers larity exceeding that of any other Nordic col-
*Grimm and her proto-feminist revisions of lection. Perhaps the fact that 19th-century
their tradition. SCJ Norway was only marginally a bourgeois
country may account for the fascination with
the tales told in the vast countryside. Norway's
ARPINO, GIOVANNI (1927-87), Italian writer, historical situation increased their popularity,
poet, journalist, and playwright. He made his for it had suffered under Danish rule since the
debut with picaresque adventure tales, but is Middle Ages and had achieved semi-autonomy
best known as a novelist whose style evolved only after it was ceded to Sweden in 1814. That
from neo-realism to neo-naturalism, with La new status, coinciding with romantic notions of
suora giovane (The Novice: A Novel, 1959), and folk character, gave way to an urge—among
L'ombra délie colline (The Shade of the Hills, both intellectuals and the bourgeoisie—to dis-
1964). In the later period he wrote surrealistic cover or create a national identity.
and allegoric tales. His fairy tales, such as 'Shiff Today Asbjornsen and Moe may receive
il verme' ('Shiff the Worm'), and T peccati di less attention for contributing to a sense of na-
*Pinocchio' ('The Sins of Pinocchio'), explore tional identity than do the sagas for Iceland or
the themes of self-identity and freedom. His *Kalevala for Finland, but there can be little
complete tales are in Un gran mare di gente (A doubt that the tales recorded by them are still
Great Sea of People, 1981) and Raccontami una tremendously popular in Norway. Many edi-
storia (TellMe a Story, 1982). He wrote the fol- tions include Theodor Kittelsen's and Erik
lowing works for children: Rafè e micropiede *Werenskiold's fascinating drawings (as do nu-
(1959), Le mille e una Italia (The Thousand and merous selections translated into English).
One Italies, i960), and L'assalto al treno (The Werenskiold's drawings underscore the hu-
Attack of the Train, 1966). MNP mour found in many tales, whereas Kittelsen
manages to make the supernatural come haunt-
ingly alive in Norwegian nature.
ASBJORNSEN, PETER CHRISTEN (1812-85) and Asbjornsen and Moe, traversing the Norwe-
M O E , J0RCEN (1813-82) have, justifiably, gian countryside, collected numerous tales
earned acclaim as the major collectors of Nor- from various informants. They published their
wegian folk tales. They met as students, and first collection of tales, Norske folkeeventyr
once they realized they shared an interest in (Norwegian Folktales) in 1841, and there were
folklore, they decided that, together, they three more collections to follow (1842—4).
would try to do for Norway what the Brothers While Moe, a theologian, was the theorist—he
*Grimm had done for Germany. wrote the scholarly introduction to an edition
Their romantic initiative was, however, published in 1851—Asbjornsen was a man who
tempered by an inclination that would not have loved roving the countryside, and he shared lit-
interested the Grimms: Asbjornsen and Moe tle of Moe's romantic leanings, for the legends
insisted on keeping the language as close as he published as Norske huldreeventyr og folke-
they could to that of their informants, and they sagn (Norwegian Fairy Tales and Folk Legends,
successfully managed to give the reader of 1845-8) include tales that scarcely conform to
their published tales the illusion of listening to romantic ideology. Asbjornsen often created a
a language that retained the presence of the frame—an old trick used in Boccaccio's Deca-
genuine storyteller. In that sense they are more meron and in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales—for
in line with Hans Christian *Andersen, who, the unrelated stories he wanted to retell, and in
similarly, created the illusion that many of his those frame stories the reader gains a glimpse
tales were rendered in the vernacular. of an eager folklorist culling tales from people
Asbjornsen and Moe's initial plan was to re- who have absolutely no awareness of any ro-
port tales told to them verbatim, but they even- mantic awakening. In one instance, the folklor-
tually began mixing and fusing variants. ist locates a glum gravedigger who, when first
Instead of inserting their own additions to the prodded by bribes in the form of chewing to-
tales or adding details, however, they retained bacco, relents to tell a series of tales about
the plots of the traditional oral tales, and they witches.
retold them with a keen sense of the difference The tales collected and published by Asb-
between literature and folklore. jornsen and Moe span from the marvellous
'ASCHENPUTTEL' 28

magic or wonder tales to the Schwank (anec­ Christiansen, Reidar (ed.), Folktales of Norway
dote) or trickster stories, texts that may be dia­ (1964).
metrically opposed in terms of world view: the DesRoches, Kay Unruh, 'Asbjornsen and Moe's
hope vested in humankind in such optimistic Norwegian Folktales: Voice and Vision', in
magic tales as 'De tre prinsesser fra Hvidten- Perry Nodelman (ed.), Touchstones: Reflections
land' ('The Three Princesses from Whitten- on the Best in Children's Literature: Fairy Tales,
land') or 'Prins Hvidbjorn' ('Prince White Fables, Myths, Legends, and Poetry (1987).
Bear') is contested by the egoism and immoral­ Solheim, Svale, 'Die Briider Grimm und
ity of the protagonists of 'Store Per og Vesle Asbjornsen und Moe', Wissenschaftliche
Per' ('Big Per and Little Per') and 'Peik'. If Zeitschrift der Ernst Moriti Arndt-Universitàt
those texts reflect the contrastive world views Greifswald: Gesellschaftswissenschaftliche Reihe, 13
of Norwegian folk tales—or of folk tales (1964).
everywhere—the legend may posit a middle
ground that explores existence on an ad hoc 'ASCHENPUTTEL', see 'CINDERELLA'.

basis: for instance, its view of the Norwegian

huldre—those who live in the mountains—is (1904-88), British dan­
A S H T O N , S I R FREDERIC

telling, for they vary from legend to legend, cer and choreographer, who played a leading
from malevolent demons to benevolent beings role in establishing the importance of the Royal
and even to ambivalent figures. Some of the Ballet in particular and of British dance in gen­
informants obviously believed in the huldre, eral. Encouraged by Marie Rambert, he com­
while others used them as allegorical figures re­ menced working as a choreographer while still
presenting 'otherness'. If the outcome of the a young dancer. Later in 1935 he was invited by
magic tale and the trickster stories is fairly pre­ Ninette de Valois to join her Sadler's Wells
dictable, the listener or reader cannot know Ballet company as resident choreographer.
what turns the legend will take, and, conse­ This company eventually moved into residence
at Covent Garden in 1946. Later, when the
quently, the legend is the more realistic and
Royal Ballet was formed at Covent Garden in
ambivalent—and the least formulaic—of
1956, Ashton was one of its founders, creating
these genres.
many new ballets, and from 1963 to 1970 serv­
The impact of Asbjornsen and Moe's collec­ ing as the company's director.
tions on later Norwegian literature was pro­ For over five decades Ashton was a signifi­
found. Young Henrik Ibsen worked as a cant figure in the British ballet world, originat­
collector of folklore, and his Peer Gynt (1867), ing many new works and preserving the
based on a folk tale, is suffused with folk be­ traditions of British classical ballet, the founda­
liefs. Many of Ibsen's later plays use such be­ tions of which he helped lay. Among his fore­
liefs and motifs, as the title of Fruen fra havet most ballets may be counted Facade (Walton,
(The Lady from the Sea, 1888) may suggest. In 1931), Symphonic Variations (Franck, 1946),
Trold (Weird Tales from Northern Seas, and Enigma Variations (*Elgar, 1968).
1891—2), Jonas Lie used the plots of the folk His work in the area of ballets with fairy-tale
tale to chart the irrational workings of the themes include Cinderella (*Prokofiev, 1948)
human mind. Beliefs from Norwegian folklore and * Undine (1956), a collaboration between
appear in Sigrid Undset's famous novel Kristin him and the outstanding German composer
Lavransdatter (1920—2) and in those of numer­ Hans Werner Henze. Undine, which is on the
ous 20th-century authors. In America, the folk subject of the water nymph, was created for
beliefs in the tales collected by Asbjornsen and Margot Fonteyn and the Royal Ballet. TH
Moe echo in O. E . Rôlvaag's pioneer epic
Giants in the Earth (1927) and in Ethel Phelps ATTWELL, M A B E L L U C I E (1879-1964), British
Johnston's retelling of a number of tales within children's illustrator, who studied at Regent
a feminist scenario in Tatterhood and Other Street and Heatherley's Schools of Art. Her
Tales (1978). The title tale and the concluding pen-and-ink and watercolour drawings of
'Mastermaid' ('Mestermoy') are both free rosy-cheeked chubby toddlers graced nurseries
adaptations of well-known tales collected by the world over, and were reproduced on post­
those two eminent Norwegians, who knew that cards, Underground posters, china, and toys.
the illusion of the presence of a storyteller must She illustrated *Mother Goose (1910), *Alice in
be retained on the printed page. NI Wonderland (1911), and the fairy tales of the
Asbjornsen, Peter Christen and Moe, Jorgen, Brothers *Grimm and *Andersen (1910, 1914).
Norwegian Folktales (i960). Queen Marie of Romania and J . M. *Barrie re-
2 A U L N O Y , M A R I E - C A T H E R I N E L E JUMEL DE BARNEVILLE, BARONNE [OR COMTESSE] D'
9

quested her work for Peeping Pansy (1918) and Harm, but also in the lyrical poem 'Girl With­
*Peter Pan and Wendy (1921). MLE out Hands' in the 1995 Morning in the Burned
Dalby, Richard, Golden Age of Children's Book House), ""Little Red Riding Hood' (especially
Illustration (1991). in The Handmaid's Tale 1986), and 'The White
Doyle, Brian, Who's Who in Children's Literature Snake'. Exemplary of Atwood's use of doubles
(1968). and her cutting humour, her novel The Robber
Peppin, Brigid, and Micklethwait, Lucy,
Dictionary of British Book Illustrators (1983). Bride (1993) amplifies women's sisterhood as a
survival tool in 'Fichter's Bird' and presents a
ATWOOD, MARGARET ( 1 9 3 9 - ), Canadian scathing gender reversal of'The Robber Bride­
author whose works evoke and revise fairy groom' in the character of Zenia. Atwood also
tales. Born in Ottawa, strongly influenced by draws on Hans Christian * Andersen's stories,
scientific and visual-arts traditions in her fam­ especially 'The *Snow Queen', and French-
ily, and active in freedom of speech and other Canadian animal tales. In her reworkings, the
political organizations, Atwood has been ac­ fairy-tale themes of violence, cannibalism, dis­
claimed critically and has to date published memberment, and transformation become tools
nine novels, five collections of short stories, 14 for critiquing the dynamics of sexual politics
books of poems, and several volumes of non- and urging change.
fiction. Harold Pinter wrote the screenplay for As the critic Sharon Rose Wilson has
the 1990 film adaptation of Atwood's dystopia shown, Atwood's little-known watercolours,
The Handmaid's Tale. drawings, collages, and cartoon strips also
Atwood positions herself as a Canadian and focus on the power of fairy-tale images.
feminist writer. In Survival: A Thematic Guide Among Atwood's four books for children,
to Canadian Literature (1972), where she fore­ Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut (1995)
grounds the ""Rapunzel syndrome' imprison­ stands out as a witty tale of transformation in
ing many heroines of Canadian novels, she which the pampered protagonist must recon­
argues that Canada is an 'unknown territory' sider her self-centred behaviour, while Atwood
for its people because of its colonial history, plays out an amazing range of 'p' alliterations
and that its writers can provide a creative map, for young and older listeners/readers. Atwood
'a geography of the mind', to bring about self- makes pointed observations about fairy tales
knowledge and de-colonization. The same crit­ and fellow-writer Angela *Carter in 'Running
ical exploration and repudiation of a collective with the Tigers'. CB
victim position is at the heart of Atwood's writ­ Atwood, Margaret, 'Running with the Tigers',
ing about and for women. Fairy tales, in which in Lorna Sage (ed.), The Flesh and the Mirror
unpromising heroes and heroines explore sym­ (1994).
bolically charged unknown territory and sur­ Godard, Barbara, 'Tales Within Tales: Margaret
Atwood's Folk Narratives', Canadian Literature,
vive thanks to their resourcefulness, are crucial
109 (1986).
to this dual project. A student of Northrop Manley, Kathleen, 'Atwood's Reconstruction of
Frye, Atwood recognizes the folk tale to be, Folktales: The Handmaid's Tale and
like the Bible and Greek mythology, a founda­ "Bluebeard's Egg" ', in Sharon R. Wilson (ed.),
tional Western narrative. Furthermore, as a Approaches to Teaching Atwood's The
careful reader of the tales collected by the Handmaid's Tale and Other Works (1997).
Brothers *Grimm, she asserts that, counter to Wilson, Sharon Rose, Margaret Atwood's Fairy-
common beliefs, fairy-tale heroines are often Tale Sexual Politics (1993).
central characters who overcome challenges
with intelligence and wit. AULNOY, MARIE-CATHERINE L E JUMEL DE B A R ­
Atwood reworks the symbolic and woman- N E V I L L E , B A R O N N E [ O R C O M T E S S E ] D ' (1650/
centred core of a few Grimm tales throughout 5 1 - 1 7 0 5 ) . The most famous French writer of
her work: 'The * Juniper Tree' (in the early fairy tales after ""Perrault, d'Aulnoy had a sig­
novel Surfacing), 'Fichter's Bird' or ""Blue­ nificant influence on the development of the
beard' (most clearly in the title story of the genre in France and other countries (especially
1983 collection Bluebeard's Egg but also in Germany).
'Alien Territory' and 'The Female Body', Born in Normandy, Marie-Catherine Le
short pieces from the 1992 Good Bones, and Jumel de Barneville was married at 15 or 16 to
much earlier in Surfacing), 'The *Robber François de la Motte, baron d'Aulnoy, who
Bridegroom' (from the 1969 Edible Woman to was more than 30 years her elder. The mar­
many other texts), 'The Girl Without Hands' riage, which had been arranged by her mother,
(in the 1981 politically charged novel Bodily Mme de Gudane, and her mother's companion,
AULNOY, COMTESSE D ' Laidronette meets the pygmies in Mme d'Aulnoy's 'Green Serpent', originally
published in 1698. This illustration by Gordon Browne is taken from d'Aulnoy's Fairy Tales (1923).
3 1 A U L N O Y , M A R I E - C A T H E R I N E L E JUMEL DE BARNEVILLE, BARONNE [OR COMTESSE] D'

Courboyer, quickly turned sour, leading to the narration examines their emotions at great
most turbulent phase of her life. The baron's length. Indeed, this 'sentimental realism'
financial difficulties and abusive behaviour cre- makes d'Aulnoy's fairy tales a significant (but
ated a hostile relationship between Marie- generally unacknowledged) transitional mo-
Catherine's mother and husband. In 1669, ment in the evolution of the 17th- and 18th-
Mme de Gudane, Courboyer, and other ac- century French novel. It also explains in part
complices hatched a plot to accuse M. d'Aul- the reticence many critics express about her
noy of lèse-majesté, a capital offence. Although stories, beginning especially in the 19th cen-
arrested, the baron quickly proved his inno- tury, when literary fairy tales were increasingly
cence and turned the tables on his accusers: judged in terms of their putative faithfulness to
Courboyer and his accomplices were charged folkloric models. None the less, d'Aulnoy (like
with calumny and executed; Mme de Gudane Perrault for that matter) had no intention of
was forced to flee France, and Marie-Catherine making her contes ethnographic documents, but
was briefly imprisoned with her new-born rather literary texts suitable for the tastes of re-
third daughter (the first two had died in in- fined readers.
fancy). Little is known of Mme d'Aulnoy's life Even so, d'Aulnoy displays a wide know-
between her release in 1670 from the Concier- ledge of folkloric material. Of all the 17th- and
gerie prison and 1690, except that she gave 18th-century French fairy tales, only Perrault's
birth to two daughters (in 1676 and 1677) and make more frequent use of discernible folkloric
probably travelled to Flanders, England, and tale types (10 out of n ) than d'Aulnoy's (19 out
Spain. However, by 1690, she had returned to of 25). Whether she knew these in their oral
Paris, had established numerous contacts at form or exclusively through literary render-
court, and began a prolific writing career, with ings, d'Aulnoy rewrote 15 different oral tale
the publication of Histoire d'Hypolite, comte de types, ranging from 'L'Oranger et l'abeille'
Duglas (Story of Hypolitus, Count of Douglas), ('The Orange-tree and the Bee') to 'Le Mou-
which included the first published literary fairy ton' ('The Ram'). She seems to have been par-
tale in French (which later anthologies called ticularly fascinated by the animal spouse cycles
'L'Ile de la félicité' ('The Island of Happi- (the most famous examples of which are *Apu-
ness')). In 1691, d'Aulnoy published her lively leius' 'Cupid and Psyche' and Mme *Leprince
travel narrative Relation du voyage d'Espagne de Beaumont's ""Beauty and the Beast'), for
(Travels in Spain), which includes another fairy she wrote five animal groom tales ('Gracieuse
tale (about a fateful princess named Mira). In et Percinet', 'Le Mouton', 'L'Oiseau bleu'
the ensuing years she published with great suc- ('The *Blue Bird'), 'Le Prince Marcassin'
cess novels, short stories, devotional works, ('The Boar Prince'), 'Serpentin vert' ('The
and collections of historical memoirs. But she Green Serpent')) and two animal bride taies
is best known for the two collections of fairy ('La Chatte blanche' ('The White Cat') and
tales published in 1697 and 1698: Les Contes des 'La Biche au bois' ('The Doe in the Woods')).
fées (Tales of the Fairies, 1697—8), with 15 tales Perhaps most significant are the multiple
and two frame narratives (Dom Gabriel Ponce ways d'Aulnoy's contes de fées meld literary
de Léon and Dom Fernand de Tolède), and and folkloric traditions. Not unlike Perrault,
Contes nouveaux ou les fées à la mode (New she often employs humorous names, expres-
Tales, or Pairies in Fashion, 1698), which con- sions, devices, and situations that create an
tains nine more tales and a frame story entitled ironic distance from popular oral narratives
Le Gentilhomme bourgeois (The Bourgeois and their (reductive) association with children.
Gentleman). By the time of her death a few This is the case of the versed morals she almost
years later (1705), d'Aulnoy's name had be- always places at the end of her tales: the morali-
come synonymous with an expression she was tés recall the formulaic endings of both the oral
the first to use—'conte de fées'. storyteller and the illustrious fabulist La Fon-
D'Aulnoy's fairy tales owe much to the taine while often questioning the obvious
novels of her day. Unlike Perrault (whose 'point' of the story. D'Aulnoy is also famous
prose tales were published only a few months for her profuse imagination, and she repeatedly
before the first instalment of Les Contes des incorporates rich descriptions that fuse super-
fées), d'Aulnoy regularly incorporates motifs, natural beings or traits with historical and liter-
characters, and devices that are typical of the ary allusions from her day. Thus, the fairy
pastoral and heroic romances popular in the characters who appear in her tales, recalling
first part of the century. Hence, her protagon- fairies in opera and the term used to honour the
ists are always involved in a love story, and the hostesses of the salons, play a much more
AUNEUIL, LOUISE D E B O S S I G N Y , COMTESSE D'

prominent role than those in either oral trad- none the less reflects the significant narrative
itions or the stories of *Straparola and *Basile. and cultural role fairies play in French contes de
Thus she also creates numerous strong hero- fées. Three of her fairy tales are published as
ines, akin to those of several prominent 17th- letters and are early examples of women's peri-
century French female novelists (e.g. Lafayette odical literature: 'La Princesse de Pretintailles'
and Villedieu) but distinct from most of their (1702) and 'Les Colinettes' (1703), which con-
folkloric homologues. Among others, the cern decorations on early 18th-century
heroine of her fascinating 'Finette-Cendron' is women's clothing, and 'L'Inconstance punie'
a resolutely active character who combines the ('Inconstancy Punished', 1703), in which a syl-
qualities of both *Thumbelina and *Cinderella.
phid punishes her unfaithful lover. D'Auneuil's
The popularity that met d'Aulnoy's fairy final work, Les Chevaliers errans (The Errant
tales immediately upon publication continued Knights, 1709), features embedded narratives
well into the 18th century, during which her that borrow from medieval chivalric romance
works were often republished and many of her and orientalist writing. Several of these tales
tales found their way into the Bibliothèque present a critical perspective on love by reject-
bleue. Beginning in the 19th century, however, ing the conventional happy ending. LCS
several critics inaugurated a tradition of com-
paring d'Aulnoy unfavourably (and unfairly)
to Perrault, and only a few of her tales were AYMÉ, MARCEL (1902—67), an eclectic French
regularly republished, in editions specifically author of plays, novels, and essays best known
for children. In the past 20 years, serious schol- for his short stories in which fantasy coexists
arly attention to d'Aulnoy has finally begun to with reality. He spent his childhood in his
gain momentum, and critics have increasingly grandparents' village in the Jura, where illness
recognized her important place in the history later forced him to abandon engineering stud-
of French literature and the fairy tale. LCS ies for a career in writing. In 1933 he gained
Defrance, Anne, 'Écriture féminine et international fame with La Jument verte (The
dénégation de l'autorité: les Contes de fées de Green Mare) and its risqué talking horse. He
Madame d'Aulnoy et leur récit-cadre', Revue des wrote several award-winning narratives about
sciences humaines, 238 (1995)- peasants, corrupted cities, and post-war France
DeGraff, Amy, The Tower and the Well: A before embracing the theatre. His most cele-
Psychological Interpretation of the Fairy Tales of brated play, La Tête des autres (Other Peoples'
Madame d'Aulnoy (1984). Heads, 1952) was a vitriolic indictment of the
Hannon, Patricia, 'Feminine Voice and the judicial system; his last works were science-
Motivated Text: Mme d'Aulnoy and the fiction satires about absolute power and man's
Chevalier de Mailly', Marvels and Tales, 2.1 inhumane nature.
(1988).
Aymé's social satire, ludic wordplay, ribald
Mitchell, Jane Tucker, A Thematic Analysis of
humour, and use of the marvellous earned
Madame d'Aulnoy's Contes de fées (1978).
comparisons to Rabelais, Balzac, Voltaire,
Welch, Marcelle Maistre, 'Les Jeux de l'écriture
Lewis *Carroll, Queneau, and Verne. Les
dans les contes de fées de Mme d'Aulnoy',
Romanische Forschungen, 101.1 (1989). Contes du chat perché (The Wonderful Farm,
1934) was a popular prize-winning series of il-
AUNEUIL, LOUISE DE BOSSIGNY, COMTESSE D ' (d.
lustrated tales 'for children from 4 to 75'. Here,
1700?), French writer of fairy tales. Virtually as with the medieval fabliaux and La Fon-
nothing is known of d'Auneuil's life, save that taine's Fables, talking animals inhabit a rural
she had connections with the high society of Wonderland. All of his short stories, such as
her day and probably held a salon. Her works 'Le Passe-muraille' ('The Walker-Through-
reflect the light-hearted social milieu for which Walls', 1943), were actually philosophical tales
many fairy tales were written in France at the that used fairies, seven-league boots, parallel
turn of the 18th century. D'Auneuil's collec- worlds, divided identities, or time travel to
tion, La Tyrannie des fées détruite (The Tyranny allegorize man's relation to society. MLE
Brodin, Dorothy, The Comic World of Marcel
of the Fairies Destroyed, 1701), begins with a
Aymé (1964).
story of the same name that depicts the end of Lecureur, Michel, La Comédie humaine de Marcel
fairies' powers; however, they reappear, their Aymé (1985).
magic intact, in the subsequent tales. The cata- Lord, Graham, The Short Stories of Marcel Aymé
clysmic title was doubtless a marketing ploy but (1980).
B A B A Y A G Â , the witch in Slavic fairy tales. Her
most common attributes are a bony leg (sign of
her being dead, non-human), a hut on chicken
legs (remnants of a totemic ancestor), and a
mortar which she uses for transportation.
Often she is portrayed spinning, which con­
nects her to the ancient figure of Fate. Like all
witches, Baba Yagâ has an ambivalent func­
tion, since she can be both the opponent and
the helper of the protagonist. Usually she
threatens to eat the hero (Ivan), but he coaxes
her to give him a bath and share a meal with
him first, thus turning her into his ally instead. of Norse mythology—and must confront the
She then gives him advice and provides him possibility of eternal life which, as the story of
with a magical agent, often a horse or a ball of the Tuck family conveys, can be more fright­
yarn which shows him the way to his goal. ening than death itself. Other works by Babbitt
Sometimes Ivan has to obtain these things by which draw from folk or fantasy tradition in­
cunning or by performing three tasks. Often clude: The Eyes of the Amaryllis (1977), based
Baba Yagâ has a beautiful daughter who assists on sea lore; Herbert Rowbarge (1982), which
the hero and becomes his wife. In some fairy contains allusions to *Alice in Wonderland', and
tales, the hero's wife gives him some object Nellie—a Cat on her Own (1989), a story in­
when he sets out on his trials, and when he spired by *Pinocchio. AD
meets Baba Yagâ she recognizes her daughter's Levy, Michael M., Natalie Babbitt (1991).
possession and is obliged to support the hero.
In other tales, notably with a female hero, BABES IN TOYLAND, a 1903 Broadway musical
Baba Yagâ, like the ogre of Western fairy tales, extravaganza by Glen MacDonough (lyrics/li­
eats small children. The heroine outsmarts her bretto) and Victor Herbert (music) about two
and escapes. In the famous tale 'The Magic children, set adrift by a wicked uncle, who are
Swan-Geese', Baba Yagâ has a flock of birds to shipwrecked in a magical Toyland that is filled
assist her in kidnapping children. MN with "Mother Goose characters. The spectacu­
Propp, Vladimir, Theory and History of Folklore lar show featured such familiar figures as Little
(1984). Bo-Peep, Jack and Jill, Contrary Mary, and the
piper's son Tom Tom, as well as such musical
favourites as 'Toyland' and 'March of the
B A B B I T T , N A T A L I E (1932— ), American writer
Toys'. The tale has been revived on stage and
and illustrator of children's books. Her first
filmed often. TSH
critically acclaimed work, The Search for Deli­
cious (1969), is a fantasy story about the adoles­ B A I N , R [ O B E R T ] N I S B E T (1854-1909), British
cent Gaylan, who is sent on a quest to find the historian, folklorist, and translator. He wrote
best definition of the word 'delicious' in order extensively on early modern Slavic and Scandi­
to avert a civil war, and on his way encounters navian history, and translated collections of
woldwellers, dwarfs, and the mermaid Ardis. folk and fairy tales from Cossack, Finnish,
Many of her stories encourage children to con­ Hungarian, and Russian into English. His
front their fears, whether it be monsters, as in important collections include Russian Fairy
Kneeknock Rise (1970), a Newbery Honor Tales (1892), Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk
Book, or the dark, as in The Something (1970). Tales (1894), Turkish Fairy Tales and Folk
In The Devil's Storybook (1974) and The Devil's Tales (1896), Tales from Tolstoi (1901), and
Other Storybook (1987), Babbitt draws from Tales from Gorky (1902). AD
popular folklore and depicts the Devil as a
trickster-type character who is constantly B A K S H I , R A L P H ( 1 9 3 9 - ), American animator.
foiled by his own pranks. In her most famous After limbering up with Wizards, a fairy-tale
novel, Tuck Everlasting (1975), Babbitt tackles film about the conflict between good and evil
the question of death from the perspective of played out through magic and technology,
the eleven-year-old Winnie Foster. Winnie Bakshi made his most ambitious contribution
comes across the Tuck family who attained to animated film by adapting the first two
everlasting life by drinking from the spring books of *Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy
near an ash tree—probably a reference to the (1978) for the screen. Seeking naturalism, ra­
marvellous ash tree Yggdrasil and Urda's Well ther than cartoon caricatures, he shot the whole
BALANCHINE, GEORGE 34

script in live action, then set an army of illus­ 1920s he continued adapting traditional folk
trators to work tracing these sequences, frame tales and writing original socialist fairy tales for
by frame, with appropriate modifications, onto children that mirrored the political problems
eels. The mixed critical and audience response and the dangers of fascism in Central Europe.
to this technique and to the heavy compression Most of these works appeared in German: Der
of the Tolkien characters and narrative in the Mantel der Traume (The Cloak of Dreams, 1922)
script led to book three of the trilogy remain­ and Das richtige Himmelhlau (The Right Kind of
ing unfilmed. TAS Blue Skies, 1925). By far his most significant
work for children was the play Hans Urian geht
BALANCHINE, GEORGE (original name G E O R G Y nach Brod (Hans Urian Goes in Search of Bread,
MELITONOVICH BALANCHIVADZE, 1904-83), the 1927), which he wrote with Lisa Tetzner. This
most important Russian-American choreog­ fairy-tale drama about a young boy's magical
rapher of classical ballet in the 20th century. learning experiences during the beginning of
Born in St Petersburg, Russia, Balanchine the Great Depression was a great success in
studied at the Imperial School of Ballet, and in Germany and was later published as a fairy-tale
1925 he left the Soviet Union to dance with novel. JZ
Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. He also
began choreographing at this time, and when B A L D I N I , A N T O N I O (1889-1962), Italian poet,
Diaghilev died in 1929, Balanchine worked critic, and dramatist. The long novella Miche-
for the Royal Danish Ballet and the Ballet laccio (1924) recounts the life of the proverbial
Russe de Monte Carlo, primarily as a choreo­ Michelaccio in a mixture of real and fabulous
grapher. In 1933 Lincoln Kirstein invited elements also used in Rugantino (1942), a
Balanchine to organize the American School of mythical interpretation of Rome through the
Ballet and the American Ballet Company, centuries. Rome in its giant-like transformation
which developed into the famous New York becomes an abstract creation, a myth, close to
Ballet in 1948. the heart and imagination of the author. Baldi­
By his death in 1983, Balanchine had created ni's La strada delle meraviglie (The Road of
150 works for the company, and many were Wonders, 1923) contains the tale of three poor
fairy-tale ballets. One of his very first signifi­ sisters whose wish is to marry the king's baker,
cant productions was Le Baiser de la fée (The cook, and son, respectively. The youngest one,
Fairy's Kiss, 1937), and he also staged innova­ having married the prince, gives birth to two
tive productions of The Nutcracker (1954), A beautiful children who are hated by the queen.
Midsummer Night's Dream (1962), Coppélia The tale revolves around the deeds, sorcery,
(1978), and * Sleeping Beauty (1978). Beside his and magical elements that affect the fate of the
classical work, he choreographed numerous three sisters, and in the end, good is restored
musical comedies and opera-ballets and did a and the wicked queen and witch are punished.
great deal of work for television. Balanchine La dolce calamité (The Sweet Magnet, 1992), a
sought to fuse modern notions of dance with book on women figures, contains the dream­
traditional ideas. He himself was a neo-classi- like fairy tale Tl gigante Paolone e la piccola
cist who de-emphasized plot in his ballets to Mabruca' ('The Giant Paolone and Little
show off the talents of his dancers and to create Mabruca'). GD
magical scenes. He also experimented with
modern music and created original ballets that BALLET A N D FAIRY T A L E S .The traditional associ­
emphasized graceful precision and striking ation of classical ballet with the fairy tale is
lines of movement. JZ based not merely on the fame of such ballets as
Swan Lake, ^Cinderella, and The ^Sleeping
BALÂSZ, BÉLA (pseudonym of HERBERT BAUER, Beauty, but on a fundamental affinity between
1884-1949), Hungarian writer, film director, the two art forms. Like fairy tales, ballets are
and journalist, whose interest in fairy tales de­ constructed as highly formalized narratives
veloped during his student years in Budapest. which make extensive use of repetition and tell
He was particularly drawn to oriental and their stories primarily through the physical ac­
Hungarian folk tales, and in 1919, soon after he tions of their characters. Excessive complexity
had to flee Hungary because of his involve­ in plot or characterization is as inappropriate
ment with the Communist Party and its short­ for a ballet as it is for a fairy tale. And ballet, by
lived control of the government, he published its very nature, contains an element of fantasy.
his first collection of political fairy tales entitled Dancers seem to float in mid-air as easily as
Siehen Mdrchen (Seven Fairy Tales). During the butterflies; opera singers, despite * Wagner's at-
BALLET Ballet played an important role in the film The *Red Shoes (1948), directed by Michael Powell and
Emeric Pressburger. Loosely based on Hans Christian *Andersen's 'The Red Shoes', the film focuses on
the ballerina's conflict between her dedication to her art and commitment to her husband.
BALLET A N D FAIRY T A L E S 36

tempt to get his fleet of Valkyries off the that strange and mysterious folk who lend
ground, cannot. Even before the romantic themselves so marvellously to the fantasies of
period and the ascendancy of the fairy tale, bal­ the maître de ballet. The 12 palaces in marble
let relied on mythological stories and charac­ and gold of the Olympians were relegated to
ters. In ballet, moreover, as in the literary fairy the dust of the store-rooms, and the scene-
tale, the supernatural is often used symbolically painters received orders only for romantic for­
to express concepts, ideologies, and spiritual ests, valleys illumined by the pretty German
beliefs. moonlight reminiscent of Heinrich Heine's
Fairy-tale ballets have drawn upon four charming ballads.' The ballerina was trans­
main sources: fairy bride legends (for example, formed into a supernatural being, elevated en
Swan Lake and Giselle), folk fairy tales (Cinder­ pointe, literally above the earth. Even her cos­
ella, The Sleeping Beauty), literary fairy tales tume was revolutionized. Female dancers of
(The Nutcracker, The *Red Shoes), and stories the early 19th century had worn high-waisted
of toys, puppets, or automata that come to life pleated tunics that revealed every curve. Marie
(Coppelia, Petrushka). During its romantic Taglioni's sylph dress consisted of a close-fit­
period—from the 1830s to the 1850s—ballet ting, low-necked bodice and long, bell-shaped
was dominated by the fairy bride motif. T o ­ skirt of gauzy white material; this 'romantic
wards the end of the 19th century—and again tutu' reflected the spiritual nature of the ro­
in the 1940s—folk tales, 'live toy' stories, and mantic heroine. Atmospheric lighting—made
literary fairy tales (particularly those of "'Hoff­ possible by the invention of gaslight—and
mann and *Andersen) became common sources magical special effects enhanced the sense of
of inspiration. A more recent development, fantasy. While Charles *Didelot, inspired by a
dating from the 1980s, has been an ironic, revi­ stage production of A Midsummer Night's
sionist approach to familiar fairy tales, often Dream, had employed the newly invented 'fly­
with psychological or strongly ideological ing wires' to suggest the antics of the wind god
overtones. in Flore et Zéphire (1796), Taglioni used them
Filipo "Taglioni's La Sylphide (1832), the to launch an entire flock of sylphs into the air.
first romantic ballet, established the fairy bride The fairy bride legend dramatized a central
legend as the means by which romanticism dilemma of romanticism—the search for the
could be expressed in dance. The scenario was unattainable ideal, and its often tragic outcome.
loosely inspired by Charles *Nodier's Trilby, The sylph is James's dream, the creature of his
ou Le Lutin d'Argail (1822), the story of a Scots poetic imagination, for whom he deserts his
fisherman whose wife is tempted away from earthly love. His attempt to grasp the ideal
him by an amorous male sprite. In the ballet, only ends in destroying it. Yet the fairy bride
however, the genders are reversed. James, a of romantic ballet is more than an elusive ab­
Scottish farmer, is about to marry Effie, but as straction. Mindful, perhaps, of Fouqué's sym­
he sits dreaming by the fireplace a beautiful pathetic portrayal of a loving water sprite in
winged sylph appears to him; they dance to­ * Undine (1811), Taglioni gave his sprite the
gether and fall in love. Although James at­ ability to return James's love; the story be­
tempts to fulfil his vows to Effie, his new comes as much her tragedy as his. This human-
passion is too strong for him; he breaks away in ization of the fairy bride not only increased the
the midst of his own wedding dance and pur­ complexity and dramatic interest of the roman­
sues the sylph into the forest. Here, among her tic ballet, but sometimes made possible a happy
own kind, she proves elusive. A treacherous ending. The motif underwent every possible
witch offers James an enchanted scarf with variation. In Filippo "Taglioni's L'Ombre (The
which to capture her, but when he loops it Shadow, 1839), ^ e ghost of a murdered woman
round her the sylph's wings drop off, and she haunts her lover. In Paul "Taglioni's Electra
sinks dying to the ground. As her fellow sylphs a
(1849), Norwegian shepherd falls in love with
carry her body into the sky, James hears in the one of the Pleiades; this ballet was the first to
distance the music of a wedding procession; create special effects with electric lights. In
Effie has married someone else. Joseph Mazilier's Le Diable amoureux (The
La Sylphide's impact was immense. As the Amorous Demon, 1840), a female demon falls in
ballet critic Théophile *Gautier summarized it, love with the man she has been ordered to se­
'After La Sylphide, Les Filets de Vulcain and duce, and thus redeems herself from Hell. In
Flore et Zéphire were no longer possible; the August Bournonville's A Folk Tale (Et Folkes-
Opera was given over to gnomes, undines, agen, 1854), a human girl raised by trolls vies
salamanders, elves, nixes, wilis, peris—to all for a man's love with the troll changeling who
37 B A L L E T A N D FAIRY T A L E S

replaced her. In his Napoli (The Fisherman and even a form of death and resurrection. At the
his Bride, 1842), an Italian peasant girl falls same time, the ballet's opulent Louis X I V set­
overboard from a fishing boat, is transformed ting hints at a parallel with the reign of Russia's
into a naiad in the Blue Grotto of Capri, and Alexander III; what seems a glorification of the
must be rescued by her lover. In Jean Coralli's tsar's imperial power, however, may conceal
highly popular La Péri (1843), Achmet smokes subtle criticism in such episodes as the botched
a pipe of opium and dreams of an oasis inhabit­ christening celebration. Petipa returned to Per­
ed by peris—Persian fairies—with whose rault for inspiration in Cinderella (1893) and an
queen he falls in love. Jules Perrot's Ondine elaborated version of *Bluebeard (Barbe-bleue,
a n a m
(1843) d P * Taglioni's Coralia, or The In­ 1896) with a medieval setting.
constant Knight (1847) retell Fouqué's story. The surge of nationalist feeling at the end of
The greatest of La Sylphide's successors was the century inspired a more extensive use of
Coralli's and Perrot's Giselle, ou Les Wilis Russian folk traditions. Under the sponsorship
(1841). The scenario, by Coralli and Gautier, of Sergei Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes,
was inspired by Heinrich *Heine's description Michel *Fokine choreographed Firebird
in De l'Allemagne (1835) of the wills—the (L'Oiseau de feu, 1910), based freely on one of
vengeful ghosts of unmarried maidens. The Russia's best-known folk tales, and Petrushka
peasant maiden Giselle, betrayed by Count (1911), both to the music of Igor Stravinsky.
Albrecht, goes insane, dies, and becomes a will. The traditional Petrushka is the Russian
At night, when Albrecht visits her forest grave, Punch, an anarchic puppet character who de­
the wills waylay him, and their queen, Myrtha, fies the Devil himself. In Fokine's ballet, the
orders Giselle to kill him by dancing him to puppet—danced originally by Vaslav Nijin-
death. Instead, still loving him, she manages to sky—becomes a tragic figure, a sad-faced
protect and support him till dawn comes, when clown struggling to escape the role he is forced
the wilis disappear and she returns to her grave. to play. 'Live dolls' are the protagonists of the
By the 1870s, romanticism had faded, and Ballets Russes's more cheerful La Boutique fan­
the centre of creative energy in dance was tasque (The Fantastic Toyshop, 1919) as well.
shifting eastward, from France to Russia. Here, Choreographed by Léonide Massine, the story
Arthur Saint-Léon became the first choreog­ is set in a French toyshop full of dancing dolls
rapher to draw upon the rich Russian folk trad­ who come to life at night after the shop has
ition with The Little Humpbacked Horse (1864), closed. When a Russian family purchase a fe­
based on the folk tale of a peasant boy and his male Cancan Dancer and an American family
magical steed, which carries him through the her male partner, the two dolls run away to­
kingdoms of earth, air, fire, and water. Coppélia gether rather than face separation, and all the
(1870), Saint-Léon's last ballet, demonstrated toys join to defend their shop from the angry
the potential of'live toy' stories. In this E. T. A. customers. The ballet's internationalism and
*Hoffmann tale, the toymaker Dr Coppelius themes of rebellion and liberation are playfully
creates a life-size mechanical doll so realistic suggestive of the new, post-war era. Equally
that the gullible Franz falls in love with her and forward-looking was Le Chant du rossignol
must be rescued by his clever sweetheart. In (The Nightingale's Song, 1914), based on
1877 Piotr Ilyich *Tchaikovsky consciously at­ *Andersen's fairy tale of 'The Nightingale',
tempted to revive the romantic spirit with created to Stravinsky's music by the young
Swan Lake (Le Lac des cygnes), whose variation choreographer George *Balanchine.
of the fairy bride motif was probably inspired By the 1920s, however, the full-scale fairy­
by Russian folk tales of swan maidens. His tale ballet seemed old-fashioned. Influenced by
partnership with the choreographer Marius revolutionary developments in music, the vis­
Petipa produced two other famous fairy-tale ual arts, and modern dance, choreographers
ballets, The Sleeping Beauty (La Belle au bois sought fresh sources, such as classical myth or
dormant, 1890) and the Hoffmann-based Nut­ contemporary life. Or they abandoned story­
cracker (Casse noisette, 1892). The former, telling altogether in 'abstract' ballets inspired
while paying homage to Charles *Perrault by works of music. Yet by the late 1930s inter­
(many of whose characters arrive as guests in est in the fairy tale was already reviving.
the final wedding scene) also takes full advan­ Fokine returned to well-known folk tales in Le
tage of the fairy tale's affinity for multi-layered Coq d'or (The Golden Cockerel, 1937), based on
symbolism. The story of Princess Aurora, the *Rimsky-Korsakov opera, in Cinderella
whose name means 'dawn', suggests the cycle (1938), and in his comic Bluebeard (1940).
of human life—birth, youth, love, marriage, Sergei *Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf 'became
B A L L E T A N D FAIRY T A L E S 38

a children's ballet in 1940. And Andersen's emerged from retirement in 1971 to create the
darker fairy tales inspired several choreograph­ choreography for the Royal Ballet's lavish mo­
ers. The Hundred Kisses (1935), by Bronislava tion picture Tales of Beatrix Potter, and to play
Nijinska, was based on his sardonic fable 'The Mrs Tiggy-Winkle himself. Experimental
Swineherd'. Le Baiser de la fée {The Fairy's choreographers of this period, however, tend­
Kiss, 1937), another collaboration between ed to reject any type of narrative, drama, or
Balanchine and Stravinsky, reconceived illusion for minimalism and abstraction. It was
Andersen's 'The Ice Maiden' as a fairy-bride the rising influence of postmodernism, with its
story in homage to Tchaikovsky. The most interest in narrative and tradition, that made
famous movie with a ballet theme, The Red possible a new approach to narrative in dance.
Shoes (1945), translated Andersen's story of At the same time, studies of fairy tales based on
vanity and redemption into a suicidal conflict psychoanalytical theory, feminism, and cul­
between art and love. tural history suggested new uses for fairy-tale
Fairy-tale ballets—both revivals of the clas­ subjects.
sics and newly commissioned works—flour­ In her tançtheater (dance-theatre) version of
ished through the 1940s and 1950s. In some Bluebeard (1977), for example, the German
respects, they represented a conscious return to choreographer Pina *Bausch used the tale as a
tradition. When Frederick *Ashton set out to metaphor for oppressive male—female relation­
create the first full-length 20th-century English ships. In a room whose floor is covered with
ballet for the Sadler's Wells company, he chose dried leaves, a man and woman—sometimes
in Cinderella (1948) the subject of several pre­ multiplied into groups of men and
vious ballets and countless English panto­ women—torment each other until the woman
mimes. His La Péri (1956) and Undine (1956) is killed, while snippets of Béla *Bartôk's opera
recalled the fairy-bride ballets of the romantic Bluebeard (1911) are played by the man on a
period. But fairy-tale subjects could also reflect tape recorder. Using sections of Prokofiev's
contemporary sensibilities. Todd Bolender's Cinderella score, the French choreographer
Mother Goose Suite (1943), set to Maurice Maguy Marin created a Cinderella (1985) in
*Ravel's music, is a fantasy for adults, in which which the dancers are masked and costumed to
the fairy-tale characters represent a woman's represent clumsy wax dolls in a giant, multi-
memories of her search for love. John *Cranko compartmented doll's house. The royal ball be­
used the same music for his 1949 *Beauty and comes a birthday party with a cake and candles
the Beast, in which the secondary elements of and children's games of rope jumping and hop­
the fairy tale have been stripped away, and the scotch. This version of the fairy tale seems to
entire story is expressed as a pas de deux. The parody both ballet traditions and the tale it­
Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore (1956), self—as though only a toddler could believe in
with music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, the Cinderella story. Kinematic, the American
uses its mythological monsters—the creations dance group, produced a trilogy of fairy tales
of a poet's youth, middle, and old age—to in the late 1980s: The *Snow Queen (1986),
comment ironically on the relationship be­ based on Andersen's story; The Handless Maid­
tween the artist and his fickle audience, which en (1987), based on the lesser-known Grimms'
finds each monster only briefly titillating. Even fairy tale 'The Girl without Hands'; and Broken
Cinderella (Zolushka), as interpreted by Proko­ Hill (1988), based on the Grimms' tale of'The
fiev in 1945, took on marxist overtones, depict­ Twelve Dancing Princesses'. Dance move­
ing the prince's court as decadent and corrupt. ments were combined with the spoken texts of
Prokofiev's The Stone Flower (1958) similarly the fairy tales, which were broken into frag­
reinterprets the fairy-bride motif; the stonecut­ ments and randomly re-ordered in a kind of
ter's choice between the supernatural Queen of postmodern narrative. In The Handless Maiden,
the Copper Mountain and his peasant sweet­ for instance, phrases and sentences from the
heart is made to symbolize the choice between Grimms' text were interwoven with phrases
his search for perfection in art and the dedica­ from Carl Jung's Man and his Symbols, under­
tion of his art to the people. lining the archetypal imagery of the tale. Em­
A straightforward use of fairy-tale material blems of childhood and of cultural tradition,
was still possible in the 1960s, when both Geo­ fairy tales provide ideal vehicles through which
rge Balanchine and Frederick Ashton produced choreographers may question gender roles, so­
versions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, cial and political structures, the value and
Balanchine in 1962 and Ashton—a one-act meaning of tradition, the nature of narrative,
ballet called The Dream—in 1964. Ashton and the universality of art.
39 BAROJA, Pio

Indeed, it seems likely that whatever future tury society and mores. The tale's ironic narra-
directions ballet may choose to travel, it will tor contends that a fairy named Frivolity is
always be accompanied by its old companion, responsible for ridiculous fashions, affected
the fairy tale. SR language, insipid novels, and pretty female
Banes, Sally, 'Happily Ever After?—The philosophers. Ultimately conservative in its so-
Postmodern Fairy Tale and the New Dance', in cial vision, this amusing tale ridicules the pre-
New Dance: Questions and Challenges (1987). tensions of those who stray beyond their
Canton, Katia, The Fairy Tale Revisited (1994). designated place in society. AZ
Gautier, Théophile, ed. Ivor Guest, Gautier on
Dance (1986).
B A R I N G - G O U L D , S A B I N E (1834-1924), English
Godden, Rumer, The Tale of the Tales: The
Beatrix Potter Ballet (1971). folklorist. His voluminous output ranging from
Kirstein, Lincoln, Four Centuries of Ballet (1984). devotional works to guide books includes
Wiley, Roland John, Tchaikovsky's Ballets many retellings and compilations of myths and
(1985). legends. Early works include The Book of
Were-Wolves (1865) and The Silver Store
B A L U S C H E K , H A N S (1870-1935), German illus- (1868), versified legends from medieval, Jew-
trator, painter, and writer, known for his ish, and Christian sources. In A Book of Fairy
graphic depictions of the proletarian milieu and Tales (1894) he retold French and English stor-
hard life in big cities. Baluschek was also a re- ies, and included two of his own: 'Pretty
nowned illustrator of fairy tales and produced Marushka' and 'Don't Know'. In Old English
superb illustrations for five books in the series Fairy Tales (1895) and The Crock of Gold (1899)
Deutsche Marchenbucherei published by the he reworked stories from ancient ballads, in-
Klemm Verlag between 1878 and 1923: Peter- corporating fragments from many different
chens Mondfahrt (Little Peter's Flight to the sources which T have taken the liberty of
Moon, 1915), Pips der Pil^. Ein Wald- und embroidering'. GA
Weihnachtsmdrchen (Pips the Mushroom: A For- Dickinson, Bickford Holland Cohan, Sabine
est and Christmas Fairy Tale, 1920), Prin^essin Baring-Gould: Squarson, Writer and Folklorist,
Huschewind (Princess Hush Wind, 1922), and 1834-1924 (1970).
Ins Mdrchenland (Into Fairyland, 1922). He em- Purcell, William Ernest, Onward Christian
ployed aquarelles and oils to form unusual and Soldier: A Life of Sabine Baring-Gould, Parson,
bizarre characters and also used ink to create Squire, Novelist, Antiquary, 1834—1924 (1957).
the text. In 1925 he produced ten marvellous Sutton, Max Keith, 'Place, Folklore, and
pen-and-ink drawings for an edition of the Hegelianism in Baring-Gould's Red Spider',
*Grimms' fairy tales edited by Paul Samueleit. VIJ: Victorians Institute Journal, 13 (1985).
JZ B A R O J A , Pio (1872—1956), contemporary Span-
ish novelist whose protagonists are usually re-
B A N V I L L E , T H É O D O R E D E ( 1 8 2 3 - 9 1 ) , French
bellious men of action. Baroja's style has been
poet and playwright associated with the Par-
praised for its spontaneity and vivacity, but it
nassian movement. His vast poetic œuvre de-
has also been characterized as cumbersome.
picts nymphs, satyrs, and fairies walking side
Baroja preferred to write novels all his life, yet
by side with members of the literary, artistic,
composed some short stories, a few of which
and social circles of 19th-century France. In the
could be considered novellas. Over time, Baro-
50 Contes féeriques (Fairy-like Tales, 1882), he
ja's tales became more realistic, but in an early
critiques the bourgeois values of contemporary
collection of short stories, Vidas sombrias
society, but at the same time creates fantasy
(Sombre Lives, 1900), he included a few fantas-
situations in which good fairies reward strug-
tic tales: 'Médium' ('Medium', 1900), 'El
gling young artists and poets. Banville also
trasgo' ('The Goblin', 1900), and 'El reloj'
adapted *Perrault's 'Riquet à la houpe'
t 0 ('The Clock', 1900). Among his short novels,
(*'Riquet with the Tuft', 1884) the stage.
it is worth noting 'La dama de Urtubi' ('The
AR
Lady of Urtubi', 1916), a story about witchcraft
' B A R B E - B L E U E ' , see 'BLUEBEARD'.
in the Basque country, Baroja's birthplace, and
'La casa del crimen' ('The House of Crime',
B A R E T , P A U L (1728-95), French novelist and 1920). In the latter, ghosts of dead men appear,
dramatist. He created a satirical fairy tale for a man is buried alive, and another character
adults, 'Foka, ou les métamorphoses, conte loses his mind after murdering a kinsman,
chinois' ('Foka or the Metamorphoses, a Chi- making this story equal to the best of Poe.
nese Tale', 1777), which lampoons 18th-cen- CF
BARRIE, S I RJAMES MATTHEW 40

Aubrun, Charles V., 'Baroja et le conte', Revista until 1911, and only published his play's defini-
Hispanica Moderna: Columbia University Hispanic tive version in 1928.
Studies, 36 (1970). None of his later theatre was as popular as
Dean-Thacker, Veronica P., Witchcraft and the
this paean to Eternal Youth. He did, however,
Supernatural in Six Stories by Pio Baroja
(1988-1989). re-enter fairyland with A Kiss for Cinderella
(1916). Set in wartime London, it concerns a
BARRIE, S I R JAMES MATTHEW (i860-1937), girl nicknamed *Cinderella who does drudge's
Scottish creator of *Peter Pan. He studied at work for a German family, runs an illegal day-
the University of Edinburgh (of which he care service, and dreams of accompanying the
would become Chancellor in 1930) and was a Duke of Wales to a ball. A magical pantomime
journalist before freelancing in London. His recreates the ball that she hallucinates attend-
first novel inspired the 'Kailyard' school with ing, all but freezing to death on her doorstep.
its quaint sentimentality, Scots dialect, and Unlike *Andersen's Little Match Girl, though,
local colour. His material came from reminis- she catches pneumonia and receives a kiss from
cences of his mother, who never overcame the her Prince before dying. In short, where the
death of her eldest son, whom Barrie sought to fantasy of Peter Pan is life-affirming, that of
replace. Critics find an intricate Oedipal rela- Cinderella is destructive. MLE
tionship reflected in his novels and plays with Birkin, Andrew, / . M. Barrie & The Lost Boys:
fantasy settings, character definition, problem- The Love Story That Gave Birth to Peter Pan
atic marriages, and manipulative women. Sen- 0979)-
timentality and portrayal of contemporary Dunbar, J a n e t , / . M. Barrie: The Man behind the
society especially date his theatre, which has Image (1970).
been labelled 'childish' and inferior to the so- Geduld, Harry M., James Barrie (1971).
cial comedies or intellectual dramas of contem- BARTH, J O H N (1930— ). American writer,
poraries like *Wilde or Shaw. known for his highly innovative experiments
It was precisely this naïve quality, however, with different genres. For instance, his two
that charmed the public. Literary success ar- highly acclaimed novels, The Sot-Weed Factor
rived with the melodramatic novel The Little (i960) and Giles Goat-Boy, or The Revised New
Minister (1891); Walker, London (1892) was his Syllabus (1966), play with the picaresque novel
first theatrical triumph, and featured Barrie's and the fable as science fiction. Barth's interest
future wife. Unfortunately, their marriage was in fairy tales is primarily focused on the trad-
childless, and he looked elsewhere for a surro- ition of The ^Arabian Nights. In Chimera
gate family. He found one in the five Llewelyn (1972), a collection of stories, he reintroduces
Davies brothers, to whom he became extraor- *Scheherazade in 'Dunyazadiad' and enables
dinarily attached. He regaled them with tales her to make sense out of her life and survive
later collected for The Little White Bird (1902), through stories passed back in time by Barth
an adult story about a bachelor who tries to himself. Other fairy tales such as 'Perseid' and
charm a youngster away from his parents with 'Bellerophoniad' celebrate the role of the story-
tales of a boy who could fly. Barrie refashioned teller, who endows life with significance. In an-
these episodes into a fairy play—and the rest is other collection, The Tidewater Tales (1987),
history. Barth makes ample use of Scheherazade and
Peter Pan, or The Boy who Wouldn't Grow other fantastic characters from fairy tales. In
Up (1904), was a phenomenon and re- his superb fairy-tale novel The Last Voyage of
mains—with his social-caste fantasy, The Ad- Somebody the Sailor (1991), Scheherazade ap-
mirable Crichton (1903)—one of the few Barrie pears again but this time she takes second place
plays still performed. With the advent of tele- to Sindbad the sailor. In this narrative, Simon
vision and improved theatrical effects, it easily William Behler, a well-known journalist, be-
outdistances rival children's plays like The comes lost overboard off the coast of Sri Lanka
*Blue Bird and Toad of Toad Hall. Peter, the and eventually finds himself in Sindbad's house
fairy Tinkerbell, and Captain Hook were in medieval Baghdad. In order to return to the
popularized by countless authors, and had modern world, he must challenge Sindbad to a
entered modern British folklore long before storytelling marathon with the hope that he can
Barrie received a baronetcy (1913) or the solve his predicament and overcome the crisis
Order of Merit (1922). Although he issued an in his own life. The theme of re-creation
illustrated version of the White Bird episodes as through storytelling is also prominent in Once
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906), he did Upon a Time (1994) in which the narrative
not produce the narrative Peter and Wendy threads of the story incorporate timeslips and
4i BASILE, GIAMBATTISTA

illusions to form an author who is called Barth. Naples to a middle-class family of courtiers
The fairy-tale genre has been particularly valu­ and artists. He spent his life in military and in­
able for Barth, who uses the marvellous and tellectual service at courts in Italy and abroad,
intricate plots of transformation to demonstrate was active in several academies, held adminis­
how crucial the imagination is for self-defin­ trative positions in the Neapolitan provinces,
ition and identity as boundaries keep shifting in and by the end of his life had received the title
the postmodern world. JZ of count. During his lifetime he was fairly well-
Kurk, Katherine C , 'Narration as Salvation: known for his poetic works in Italian, written
Textual Ethics of Michel Tournier and John in the style of the baroque poet Giambattista
Barth', Comparative Literature Studies, 25 (1988). Marino. Today, however, Basile is remem­
Vickery, John B., 'The Functions of Myth in bered principally for his literary corpus in Nea­
John Barth's Chimera', Modern Fiction Studies, 38 politan dialect, radically different in its popular
(1992). content and playful style from his more ortho­
Ziegler, Heide, 'The Tale of the Author: Or,
dox Italian works. This corpus consists princi­
Scheherazade's Betrayal', Review of Contemporary
Fiction, 10 (1990). pally of Le Muse napolitane, a series of nine
satiric eclogues depicting popular culture in
Naples; and the fairy-tale collection Lo cunto de
B A R T O K , B É L A (1881-1945), Hungarian com­ li cunti overo lo trattenemiento de peccerille ( The
poser and ethnomusicologist. A central figure Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones,
in 20th-century music, Bartok devoted a sig­ 1634—6), also known as the *Pentamerone.
nificant part of his musical life to the collection, Although there is no trace of a manuscript nor
classification, and study of folk music, most ex­ reference to the elaboration of Lo cunto, the
tensively that of Hungary, Romania, and Slo­ tales were probably intended to be read aloud
vakia. This music had a profound influence on in the 'courtly conversations' that were an élite
his own compositions, from the many didactic pastime of this period.
piano pieces based on folk melodies, to the Lo cunto constituted a culmination of the
major works, in which the forms, rhythms, and interest in popular culture and folk traditions
melodic patterns of specific folk-music trad­ that permeated the Renaissance, when isolated
itions are variously, and pervasively, present. fairy tales had started to be included in novella
Two of his three stage works are based on collections, most notably in Straparola's Le
fairy tales. The one-act opera Duke Bluebeard's piacevoli notti (The Pleasant Nights, 1550—3).
Castle (composed 1 9 1 1 ; first performed 1918), Indeed, Basile did not merely transcribe the
written to a libretto by Béla Balâsz (influenced oral materials that he heard around Naples and
by Maurice *Maeterlinck's Ariane et Barbe- in his travels, but transformed them into ori­
bleue), uses the castle, with its seven locked ginal tales distinguished by vertiginous rhet­
rooms, as a physical manifestation of "'Blue­ orical play, abundant references to the
beard's inner self. The gradual opening of each everyday life and popular culture of the time,
door by the heroine, here named Judith, cul­ and a subtext of playful critique of courtly cul­
minates in the discovery of the ghostly figures ture and the canonical literary tradition. Be­
of three former wives. Having urged her hus­ sides being one of the most suggestive
band to reveal all, it only remains for Judith to expressions of the search for new artistic forms
take her place at their side. In contrast, the bal­ and content theorized by the baroque poetics of
let The Wooden Prince (1917), with scenario the marvellous, Lo cunto is the first integral col­
again by Balâsz, follows a more traditional lection consisting entirely of fairy tales to ap­
fairy-tale pattern. A prince, hindered by the pear in Europe, and thus marks the passage
Fairy of the Forest from wooing a princess, re­ from the oral tradition of folk tales to the artful
sorts to carving a puppet of himself. Although and sophisticated 'authored' fairy tale. As such,
the princess initially falls for the puppet it exerted a notable influence on later fairy-tale
(brought to life by the Fairy), she finally ac­ writers such as *Perrault and the *Grimms.
knowledges the real prince. SB Lo cunto comprises 49 fairy tales contained
Kroo, Gyorgy, 'Duke Bluebeard's Castle', within a 50th frame story, also a fairy tale, that
Studia Musicologica, i (1961).
opens and closes the collection. In the frame
John, Nicholas (ed.), The Stage Works of Béla
Bartok (1991). tale, a slave girl deceitfully cheats Princess
Zoza out of her predestined prince Tadeo (the
'false-bride' motif), and the princess reacts by
BASILE, GIAMBATTISTA ( I 5 7 5 - 1 6 3 2 ) , Italian using a magic doll to instil in the slave the need
writer, poet, and courtier. He was born outside to hear tales. The prince summons the ten best
BASILE, GIAMBATTISTA The three sisters adore their husbands in Basile's 'The Three King Beasts', first
published in 1634 in The *Pentamerone. This illustration is by Michael Ayrton.
43 BASSEWITZ, G E R D T V O N

tale-tellers of his kingdom, a motley group of venge into a final recognition of her worth in
hags, and they each tell one tale apiece for five the form of a loving marriage.
days, at the end of which Zoza tells her own Basile does not offer easy answers to the
tale, reveals the slave's deceit, and wins back problem of how an archaic, oral narrative
Tadeo. In many ways the structure of Basile's genre can, or should, be re-proposed in literary
work mirrors, in parodie fashion, that of earlier form; in Lo cunto 'high' and 'low' cultures
novella collections, in particular Boccaccio's intersect to create a 'carnivalesque' text in
Decameron: there are five days of telling that which linguistic and cultural hierarchies, as
contain ten tales each; the tales are told by ten well as the conventional fairy-tale hierarchies,
are rearranged or made to show their weak
grotesque and lower-class women; the tale-
spots. The new narrative model that emerges is
telling activity of each day is preceded by a
one of the most complex tributes to the power
banquet, games, and other entertainment; and of the fairy tale not only to entertain, but also
verse eclogues that satirize the social ills of to interpret the world. NC
Basile's time follow each day's tales.
Lo cunto contains the earliest literary Canepa, Nancy L., From Court to Forest:
Giambattista Basile's 'Lo cunto de li cunti' and the
versions of many celebrated fairy-tale
Birth of the Literary Fairy Tale (1999).
types—*'Cinderella', ""Sleeping Beauty',
Croce, Benedetto, Intro, to Giambattista Basile,
""Rapunzel', and others—that later appeared in Ilpentamerone (1982).
Perrault's and the Grimms' collections. But Guaragnella, Pasquale, Le maschere di Democrito
Basile's tales are often bawdier and crueller e Eraclito: scritture e malinconie tra Cinque e
than their more canonical counterparts. In 'La Seicento (1990).
gatta Cennerentola' ('The Cinderella Cat'), for Penzer, Norman (ed.), The Pentamerone of
example, the heroine is far from the epitome of Giambattista Basile (2 vols., 1932).
feminine passivity for which she has come to Petrini, Mario, //gran Basile (1989).
be known, since she first kills off her step- Rak, Michèle, Intro, to Giambattista Basile, Lo
mother and then astutely intervenes in the cunto de li cunti (1986).
events of the story in order to attain her final
triumph; she is even described during one of
her outings as a whore parading her wares. Or B A S S E W I T Z , G E R D T V O N ( I 878-1923), German

in 'Cagliuso', Basile's version of *'Puss-in- writer and playwright, who is chiefly famous
Boots', the cat who has helped her master rise for his fairy-tale play Peterchens Mondfahrt
from rags to riches is thrown out of the win- (Little Peter's Flight to the Moon, 1911). Influ-
dow when he no longer needs her, to which she enced by James *Barrie's play *Peter Pan, Bas-
responds with a long-winded speech on in- sewitz depicted two children, Peter and
gratitude and an indignant departure. Indeed, Anneliese, who are transported to a magical
the final outcome of these tales often does not dreamworld where they meet a beetle by the
quite fit into the 'happily ever after' mould. In name of Sumsemann, who has lost one of his
'La vecchia scortecata' ('The Old Woman who legs. The children decide to help the beetle find
was Skinned'), two ancient sisters have, for his leg and travel through the Milky Way on a
rocket to the moon, where they encounter the
purely arbitrary reasons, radically different
sandman and other creatures. They learn that
fates: one is transformed into a beautiful young
the man in the moon has stolen the beetle's leg,
woman and marries a king, while the other, in
and with the help of the lightning man and the
an attempt to achieve the same, meets death
storm giant the children retrieve the beetle's
when she orders a barber to shave her skin off.
leg. Bassewitz's sentimentalized portrayal of
Other tales are explicitly autobiographical in
the children and their childish language con-
tone, such as 'Corvetto', the story of a virtuous
tributed to making this play a classic in Ger-
courtier who is forced to overcome a series of
man children's theatre, and it was performed
obstacles devised by his envious colleagues,
regularly at Christmas time up to the end of the
but whose worth is finally recognized by his
1960s. In recent years it has lost its popularity.
patron. Finally, Basile's tales feature a surpris-
Though Bassewitz wrote other plays for chil-
ing number of ingenious heroines, such as the dren such as Pips, der Pilç (Pips, the Mushroom,
protagonist of 'La Sapia' ('The Wise 1916) and Der Wahrhaftige (The True One,
Woman'), who is hired as a tutor for a hope- 1920), he never achieved the success that he
lessly ignorant prince, finally manages to scored with Peterchens Mondfahrt. JZ
slap—quite literally—some sense into him, Schedler, Melchior, Kindertheater: Geschichte,
and then manipulates his plans for fierce re- Modelle, Projekte (1972).
BAUM, L[YMAN] FRANK 44

B A U M , L [ Y M A N ] F R A N K (1856-1919), American traditional and literary tales with something

author of the Oz books and other fantasies for like a scholar's interest. He wrote a historical
children. Born in Chittenango, New York, introduction on Mother Goose for his own
Baum enjoyed a sheltered and prolonged child­ Mother Goose in Prose, and his 1909 article
hood on his family's country estate, Rose 'Modern Fairy Tales' shows his broad ac­
Lawn. Because of a heart defect, he was edu­ quaintance with contemporary authors such as
cated at home—except for a miserable two Howard "Tyle and E. *Nesbit, as well as
years at Peekskill Military Academy—and his ""Andersen, ""Carroll, and Frank ""Stockton. His
father, a prosperous oil man and banker, will­ introduction to The Wizard of 0 { reveals his
ingly financed his hobbies. When Baum de­ awareness of attempting something new,
cided on a stage career, his father bought him claiming that 'the old-time fairy tale, having
an acting company, enabling him to play the served for generations, may now be classed as
lead in his own melodrama, The Maid of Arran "historical" in the children's library; for the
(1882). After his father and older brother died, time has come for a series of newer "wonder
however, the family business collapsed, and tales" in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf
Rose Lawn was sold. Baum and his wife—he and fairy are eliminated, together with all the
had married Maud Gage, daughter of a famous horrible and bloodcurdling incidents devised
woman suffragist—went west to Aberdeen, by their authors to point a fearsome moral to
Kansas, investing first in a variety store, then in each tale.' The Wizard, he announced, would
a newspaper, both of which soon failed. The be 'a modernized fairy tale, in which the won­
family, now with four sons, moved to Chicago derment and joy are retained and the heart­
in 1891, where their fortunes gradually im­ aches and nightmares are left out'. In fact,
proved. Drawing on his knowledge of theatri­ Baum's indebtedness to his predecessors and
cal effects and his retail experience, Baum his willingness to innovate are equally appar­
founded a successful journal for professional ent. The Wiiard follows the traditional pattern
'window trimmers'. He also published his first of the magical quest, in which a human prota­
children's book, Mother Goose in Prose (1897), a gonist is helped by talking animals or other
collection of stories based on ""Mother Goose supernatural creatures, and must defeat a mon­
rhymes, illustrated by the young Maxfield ster in order to attain his goal. Yet the 'mod­
""Parrish. With The Wonderful *Wiiard of 0 {
ernized fairy tale' begins not 'once upon a time'
(1900), colourfully illustrated by W. W. ""Den- but in the drought-stricken Midwest Baum had
slow, Baum's reputation as a children's author known first-hand. Its protagonist is a self-
was established, and his lifelong love of the reliant American girl, her first companion a
theatre seemed vindicated when a musical homely scarecrow, and the Wizard a conman
adaptation of The Wizard became a smash hit in from Omaha. Oz itself, despite its royal rulers,
1902. Throughout his life, however, he was to is essentially democratic; its inhabitants show
court financial disaster. While The Land of Oi no trace of class-consciousness, while its econ­
(1904), was received with delight, the musical omy—as described in the sixth Oz book, The
based on it was an expensive flop. He was Emerald City of 0 { (1910)—is that of a socialist
forced not only to begin producing an annual Utopia. His cast of characters features a high
Oz book, but to adopt various pseudonyms for proportion of original creations—the Tin
such formulaic series as 'Aunt Jane's Nieces' Woodman, the Patchwork Girl, the Woggle-
and 'The Boy Fortune Hunters'. In 1910 he and bug, and many more—yet the 'stereotyped'
Maud moved to California, where they built a fairies, witches, and talking animals can be
house in Hollywood called 'Ozcot'. Inevitably, found in Oz as well. Baum's singular success in
Baum became involved in silent films, forming reconciling through fantasy the Old World and
the short-lived Oz Film Manufacturing Com­ the New surely accounts for much of the Oz
pany to produce his own stories. After his books' appeal.
death, his publisher hired Ruth Plumly While Baum is best known as the 'Royal
""Thompson, who added another 19 Oz books Historian of Oz', several of his other experi­
to Baum's original 14 stories before she retired ments with the fairy tale are also worthy of
in 1939. note. Queen Zixi of Ix (1905), a full-length
Baum is considered the pivotal figure in the story of a magic wishing cloak, proves his
history of American fantasy—the first author expertise with the more traditional fairy tale;
to create a sustained work of fantasy with a dis­ critics consider it among his finest works.
tinctively American character. A lover from American Fairy Tales (1908) is an interesting
childhood of fairy tales, he had studied both (though only intermittently successful) attempt
45 'BEAUTY AND THE BEAST'

to adapt to an American setting the E . Nesbit out the piece. In Bluebeard, Bausch explores the
type of fantasy, in which magical happenings antagonism between men and women, a basic
erupt into the everyday world. Perhaps his topic of her work. CS
boldest experiment, however, is The Life and Canton, Katia, The Fairy Tale Revisited: A
Adventures of Santa Claus (1902), a unique Survey of the Evolution of the Tales, from
amalgamation of myth, saint's legend, and Classical Literary Interpretations to Innovative
fairy tale. In Baum's 'explanation' for the exist­ Contemporary Dance-Theater Productions (1994).
ence of Santa Claus, a human boy raised by
B A Y L E Y , F R E D E R I C K W . N . (1808-53), English
nymphs in the mythical Forest of Burzee dedi­
cates his life to giving children pleasure, in­ writer, poet, and journalist. Aside from writing
vents the first toys, is attacked by the forces of travel books, he was the author of Comic Nur­
evil and defended by the fairy immortals who sery Rhymes (1846), which contain hilarious
have nurtured him, and finds himself finally parodies of ""Bluebeard', *'Little Red Riding
endowed—on his deathbed—with immortal­ Hood', and *'Cinderella' in verse and with il­
ity. That Baum identified with this protagonist lustrations by gifted artists such as Alfred
is clear; he too had consciously dedicated him­ *Crowquill. JZ
self to the happiness of children. SR
Harmetz, Aljean, The Making of 'The Wizard of B A Y L E Y , N I C O L A ( 1 9 4 9 - ), English illustrator of

0{'(i977)- children's books. She has provided the illustra­

Hearn, Michael Patrick, The Annotated Wiiard of tions for the pop-up book *Puss in Boots (1977)
Oi (1973)- and Russell *Hoban's La Corona and the Tin
(ed.), The Wizard of 0 { , Critical Heritage Frog (1978). In addition she has produced a
Series (1983). Copycats series in 1984 consisting of several
International Wizard of Oz Club, The Baum small books in which a cat imagines himself to
Bugle: A Journal of 0 { . be some other animal such as a parrot cat, crab
B A U S C H , P I N A (1940- ). The German dancer
cat, and elephant cat. Bayley works in water-
and choreographer started her formal dance colours and uses a stippling technique of small
education at the age of 15 at the famous Folk- dots that make her illustrations lush in exquis­
wang school in Essen. Five years later she re­ ite detail. JZ
ceived a scholarship to study at the Juilliard
School in New York, where she also danced at BEAUMONT, JEANNE-MARIE LEPRINCE DE, see

the Metropolitan Opera House. In 1962, she re­ LEPRINCE D E BEAUMONT, J E A N N E - M A R I E .

turned to Germany, where she danced as a

soloist in the Kurt Jooss Ballet for the follow­ 'BEAUTY AND THE BEAST', a fairy tale of the
ing six years and also started her career as a modern world, is related in plot to *Apuleius'
choreographer. In 1969 Bausch won first prize 2nd-century Latin 'Cupid and Psyche' in The
in the Cologne Choreographic Competition, Golden Ass, and in motif to the ancient *Pan-
and in 1973 she was appointed director of the chatantra tale, 'The Girl who Married a Snake'.
Wuppertal Opera Ballet, which became famous
world-wide as the Wuppertaler Tanztheater. l. HISTORY
With her multimedia theatrical dance style she Unknown during most of the medieval period,
defined the concept of 'tanztheater' (dance- 'Cupid and Psyche' re-emerged in MS in the
theatre), combining dance, opera and spoken late Middle Ages and—of greater conse­
text. Fairy tales are an important source mater­ quence—was printed in 1469 in an edition
ial for her work, often used to stimulate her whose Latin text eventually spread throughout
own and the performers' reminiscences and Europe. (In France alone, The Golden Ass was
emotional repertory, as in her first Wuppertal published four times between 1600 and 1648.)
production, Frit[ (1974), a one-act piece about Subsequently translated out of Latin for larger
the surreal daydreams of a child. One of her reading publics with less education, Apuleius'
most famous works is Blauhart (^Bluebeard, text took on local coloration from the vernacu­
1977), in which she reinterprets the *Perrault lar culture surrounding each new language in
fairy tale on the basis of Béla *Bart6k's opera which it appeared. From this process emerged
Duke Bluebeard's Castle, placing it against a a family of European 'Beauty and the Beast'
modern background. Bausch's Bluebeard is not tales, whose plots arise from a narrative re­
a duke, but a common man, who exerts his quirement that characterizes modern but not
power by physical violence and by manipulat­ medieval stories; namely, that a beautiful
ing the tape that plays Bartok's opera through­ woman accept and love an ugly husband.
BAYLEY, FREDERICK W . N .Frederick Bayley's Comic Nursery Rhymes (1846) are rilled with hilarious scenes
such as these two that mock Charles Perrault's '*Bluebeard'. While Bluebeard's young wife is puzzled by
an enormous key, the murderous villain knows exactly what he wants to do with his sword.
47 'BEAUTY AND THE BEAST'

The version of 'Beauty and the Beast' com- her heroine's dear Ram dies in her absence.
posed by Mme *Leprince de Beaumont in 1757 Other 'Beauty and the Beast' tale types in Mme
for her Magasin des enfants (translated as The d'Aulnoy's œuvre include 'La Grenouille bien-
Young Misses' Magazine) has become canonical faisante' ('The Beneficent Frog'), 'Serpentin
in the modern world via print dissemination vert' ('The Green Serpent'), and 'Le Prince
that repeated the post-1469 dissemination of Marcassin'.
'Cupid and Psyche'. Its plot is as follows. A In 1740 Mme de *Villeneuve published a
rich merchant who has lost his fortune wanders novel, Les Contes marins, ou la jeune Américaine,
onto the grounds of an enchanted palace where containing a 'Beauty and the Beast' tale, which
he plucks a flower to take home to his youngest details the merchant's stay in the monster's en-
daughter. His act enrages the palace's owner, chanted palace and has the Beast transformed
the Beast of the title, who as retribution exacts into a Prince after he and the heroine spend the
a promise that the merchant will surrender one night together. In contrast, Mme Leprince
of his daughters. The youngest willingly re- de Beaumont presents a highly moralized
deems her father's promise, and, expecting conclusion, when Beauty's promise to marry
death, enters the enchanted palace. Instead, she the Beast restores his handsomeness. The
enjoys luxury and elevated conversation with *Grimms' tale 'Das Singende, Springende
her monstrous partner, whom, however, she is Lôweneckerchen' ('The Singing, Springing
unable to love. Released to visit her family, she Lark') offers yet another 'Beauty and the Beast'
overstays the time allotted for her absence, but tale.
when a sick and dying Beast appears in her 'Beauty and the Beast' tales, which all re-
dreams she hastily returns, declaring not only quire a woman's patient tolerance of an ugly
that she will marry him, but that she cannot mate, have no companion tales in the modern
live without him. Indeed, her tender sentiments period in which the obverse obtains, that is, a
restore the Beast to his princely appearance. man who must love an ugly wife. In the medi-
The statues into which her wicked sisters are eval period, however, numerous companion
turned warn viewers against personal vanity stories circulated, the most famous of which is
and sisterly jealousy. the Wife of Bath's story in Chaucer's Canter-
Numerous versions of 'Beauty and the bury Tales. Another of the many now-forgot-
Beast' predated Mme Leprince de Beaumont's ten and similar medieval tales, Le Bel inconnu,
tale. *Straparola's mid-16th-century 'Re Porco' tells of a handsome knight who kisses a lady
('King Pig') exhibits a swinish husband who who has been turned into a serpent. Such stor-
delights in rooting in rotting filth and rolling in ies survived into Basile's 17th-century collec-
mud before climbing into bed with each of tion, but between 1634 and the emergence of
three successive wives. He murders the first French fairy tales in print form in the 1690s,
two when they express their revulsion at his this trope largely disappeared from European
stinking habits, but makes the third his queen storytelling.
when she smilingly acquiesces in his muck.
*Basile's ^Pentamerone (1634—6) included 2 . SCHOLARSHIP
four 'Beauty and the Beast' tale types. The first Listings that combine 'Cupid and Psyche' with
three—'The Serpent' (Day 2, Tale 5), 'The 'Beauty and the Beast' recognize plot similar-
Padlock' (Day 2, Tale 9), and 'Pinto Smalto' ities, but obscure story differences. The tale
(Day 5, Tale 3) resemble Apuleius' tale in that itself has been understood as a means of
the husbands in each story are reputed, but not harnessing female sexuality, of describing fe-
actual, monsters. However, in the fourth story, male destiny, of coming to terms with sexual
'The Golden Root' (Day 5, Tale 4), the hand- aspects of love, or of providing a 'philosophical
some husband simply trades his black skin for allegory of the progression of the rational soul
white at night. towards intellectual love' in the words of
Charles *Perrault includes a highly ethicized Robert Graves. Oralists maintain, though
conclusion in his 'Beauty and the Beast' tale, without material evidence, that 'Beauty and the
*'Riquet à la Houppe' (1697), but leaves read- Beast' tales enjoyed an independent oral exist-
ers in doubt about whether the monstrously ence from ancient Rome to the present; social-
ugly hero Riquet actually becomes handsome, historical analyses see the money component of
or whether he only appears so in the eyes of his marriage arrangements reflected in Beauty's
besotted beloved. story; anthropologically oriented researchers
In 1697 Mme d'*Aulnoy also published 'Le understand 'Beauty and the Beast' as an alle-
Mouton' ('The Ram'), but with a tragic ending: gory of the tension between endogamy and
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST/CUPID AND PSYCHE Beauty's compassion is about to lead her to save this strange monster in
this anonymous illustration printed in Beauty and the Beast (c.1900).
49 BECHSTEIN, LUDWIG

exogamy, as well as a verbal expression of the As a young man trained as an apothecary,

relationship between myth, rite, and fairy tale. Bechstein gained his prince's favour by a well-
From the 17th to the 19th century, the plot crafted volume of poetry and won a stipend to
of 'Beauty and the Beast' was adopted and study at the university, after which he became a
adapted for musical drama, cantata, comedy, librarian and a Hofrat (court adviser) at the
ballet, lyric tragedy, and fable. In the 20th cen- court of Sachsen-Meiningen. The security of
tury film has predominated: Jean *Cocteau's his lifetime appointment allowed Bechstein to
1946 Beauty and the Beast began a tradition that continue to write and eventually to turn to
has included a broad range of variations on the fairy tales.
theme of female beauty vs. male ugliness. Bechstein had honed a popular literary style
Illustrations often concentrate on the Beast's in scores of semi-scholarly books before under-
head. Many a modern Beast is deformed by a taking his best-selling German Fairytale Book.
boar's tusk, bull's horn, or goat's poll. Gorillas, After only a few years his publishers changed
scaly giants, hairy dogs, bears, wolves, and in- the volume's name to Ludwig Bechstein's Fairy-
determinately generic prehistoric creatures tale Book, reflecting the extent to which his
complete the catalogue of illustrators' Beast own name played a part in stimulating sales. Its
incarnations. RBB popularity persisted abroad, where it was pub-
Fehling, Detlev, Amor und Psyche: Die lished numerous times for the children of Ger-
Schopfung des Apuleius und ihre Einwirkung auf man immigrants in America.
das Mdrchen (1977). Any discussion of Bechstein's fairy tales
Hearne, Betsy, Beauty and the Beast: Visions and must necessarily refer to the Grimms and their
Revisions of an Old Tale (1989).
collection of fairy tales. Bechstein's tales, illus-
Pauly, Rebecca, 'Beauty and the Beast: From
Fable to Film', Literature/Film Quarterly, 17.2 trated with delightful, often humorous pic-
(1989). tures, and without scholarly notes, addressed
Swahn, Jan-Ôjvind, The Tale of Cupid and an adolescent readership; the Grimms' tales,
Psyche (1955). initially unillustrated but extended by copious
Zipes, Jack, 'The Origins of the Fairy Tale for scholarly notes, anticipated a dual audi-
Children, or, How Script Was Used to Tame ence—young children on the one hand, and
the Beast in Us', in Gillian Avery and Julia the German people on the other. Bechstein,
Briggs (eds.), Children and their Books (1989). like Wilhelm Grimm, reworked his tales stylis-
tically, introducing ever more exuberant nouns
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, musical in two acts and adjectives specific to 19th-century experi-
after the fairy tale of the same name. Premiered ence: '[It was a pity that Rupert] wasn't
at the Palace Theatre, New York, in 1994, its allowed to make himself nice and neat, with
book was by Linda Woolverton, lyrics by either a cropbeard or a pointbeard, all black-
Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, and music by waxed, and that he didn't have coifed locks and
Alan Menken. The musical is based on the film slender sides and smooth fingernails or Eau-de-
made by Walt Disney Studios in 1991. TH Cologne or any first-class Havana cigars'
(from 'Rupert Bearskin'). Grimm, on the other
BECHSTEIN, LUDWIG (1801-60), German writer. hand, smoothed his fairy tales' vocabulary until
His two widely popular collections of fairy it achieved a transcendent timelessness.
tales, the Deutsches Marchenbuch (German Fairy Bechstein gave his characters memorable
Tale Book, 1845) and the Neues Deutsches Màr- names like Kâthchen, Abraham, and Christin-
chenbuch (New German Fairy Tale Book, 1856) chen, whereas Grimm preferred generically
dominated the German fairy-tale market from German names like 'Hans', 'Hansel', or 'Hein-
their initial appearance until the 1890s, a period rich', 'Liesel' or 'Gretel'. Bechstein introduced
during which they far outsold the *Grimms' irony throughout his tales, especially in con-
tales. Bechstein borrowed many fairy tales nection with the intrusion of magic; his heroes
from the Grimm collection, but retold them, and heroines, like those of *Musaus, know the
with very few exceptions, in a manner that suit- 'rules' of magic and often comment on them.
ed the taste and norms of Germany's educated He also both accepted and propagated the view
classes. In the rich German wall-poster trad- of his fairy tales as book-tales, whereas the
ition, it was usually Bechstein's editions of Grimm œuvre excludes irony and maintains the
fairy tales from which publishers preferred to fiction that their tales are quintessentially oral
excerpt tales such as his 'Gestiefelte Kater' in nature and in transmission.
(*'Puss-in-Boots') and his 'Aschenbrôdel' Bechstein's presentation of characters is
(•'Cinderella'). striking for its gender-egalitarianism. The
BÉCQUER, GUSTAVO ADOLFO 50

numbers of wicked men equal those of evil the Grimm corpus almost entirely during the
women, and stepmothers do not form a self- 20th century.
evident well of iniquity, both of which depart Bechstein used many published sources, in­
distinctly from the gender-specific distribution cluding the Grimms' edition of 1840, and ex­
of malevolence in the Grimms' fairy tales. panded his corpus notably by incorporating
Bechstein's mothers typically survive to the numerous animal fables. Translated into Eng­
happy end of his stories, which are marked by lish as The Old Storyteller in 1856, Bechstein's
joyously reunited families. Brothers and sisters tales were also published under other titles,
love and help one another; and his child heroes such as Pretty as Seven (1872) and The Rabbit
and heroines exhibit self-reliance, imagining Catcher (translated by Randall *Jarrell, 1972).
solutions to their problems and often imple­ RBB
menting them independently. Bottigheimer, Ruth B., 'Ludwig Bechstein's
Fairy Tales: Nineteenth Century Bestsellers and
In thematic terms, Bechstein treated work as Biirgerlichkeit', Internationales Archiv fiir
an effort that would reliably lead to rewards in So{ialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur, 15.2
the here and now. He faulted anti-Semitism as (1990).
a sin of community; did not ascribe danger to Fiedler, Alfred, 'Ludwig Bechstein als
woods and forests in and of themselves; neither Sagensammler und Sagenpublizist', Deutsches
silenced nor inculpated girls and women; Jahrbuch fur Volkskunde, 12 (1966).
avoided prohibitions whose only function was Schmidt, Klaus, Untersuchungen ^u den
to test obedience; rewarded initiative; and gen­ Mdrchensammlungen von Ludwig Bechstein (1935;
1984).
erally stayed clear of gruesomely violent con­ Schneider, Rolf-Rudiger, 'Bechsteins "Deutsches
clusions. In the worst of cases, he had a Marchenbuch" ' (Diss., Gesamthochschule
malicious crone who tried to drown a heroine Wuppertal, 1980).
thrown into prison, her accomplice whipped
out of the castle. Euphemism dealt with the
B É C Q U E R , G U S T A V O A D O L F O (1836-70) occu­
rest: at the end of 'The Witch and the Royal
pies a most important place among 19th-cen­
Children', a stag hooked the witch together
tury Spanish poets, although he made his living
with her magic ring on his antlers, leapt into a
as a journalist. He also contributed some liter­
pond, and emerged 'free of his burden'.
ary prose of which Ley endos (Legends, 1871) is
Bechstein established a jocularly familiar re­ his best-known work. This collection is made
lationship with his readers by gently poking up of 28 short narrations which are based on
fun at the adult world, irreverently setting au­ popular Spanish legends, folk motifs found in
thority on its head, and forging solidarity with European and other literatures, mythological
them through playfully satirizing language. characters (especially Nordic), and typical ro­
None the less, Bechstein's tales remain socially mantic and Gothic elements. For example, in
conservative, ultimately accepting the validity 'El Miserere' (1862), Bécquer employed the
of contemporary social values like demonstrat­ motif of the monks who, after being slaugh­
ing gratitude, prospering through work, and tered, return to their monastery as ghosts;
maintaining the status quo. magical transformations of human beings into
The overall social and moral system exem­ animals take place in 'La corza blanca' ('The
plified in Bechstein's tales was appropriate for White Doe', 1863), while the popular folk
bourgeois children who expected—generally motif of the hunter who falls in love with a
speaking—to be in control of the course their nymph and meets his death in the fountain she
lives took, an aspect of Bechstein's fairy-tale inhabits plays a major role in 'Los ojos verdes'
collection that provoked violent attack. In 1908 ('The Green Eyes', 1861). The motif of the
Franz Heyden used Jugendschriften-Warte, the dead coming back to life recurs in several stor­
leading teacher's journal of the day, to revise ies, such as 'Maese Perez el organista' ('Master
the public's perception of Bechstein's tales 'in Peter, the Organist', 1861) or 'El Monte de las
the interest of our folk fairy-tale writing and of Animas' ('The Mountain of the Souls in Purga­
our children'. A generation after Prussia had tory', 1861), the latter being a paradigmatic ex­
instituted a broad-based welfare system for its ample of Bécquer's relish for horrific and
working poor, proletarian 'folk' values collided mysterious elements. Underlying a good num­
with and vanquished a value system inherited ber of the stories is the leitmotif of an impos­
from the Enlightenment. With a reprieve dur­ sible love which is frustrated by death or some
ing the Weimar period when Bechstein's tales kind of supernatural intervention. There is also
regained fleeting popularity, they gave way to one story, 'La creation' ('The Creation', 1861)
5i BERTALL

which is unique in the way it deals with certain Penuelas, Marcelino C , Jacinto Benavente
aspects of Indian cosmogony. CF (1968).

BERNARD, CATHERINE (1663-1712?). French

BELASCO, DAVID (1853-1931), American play-
novelist, playwright, and poet. Born in Rouen
wright and producer, especially known for his
to a comfortable Huguenot family, she moved
melodrama Madame Butterfly (1900) and his
to Paris to pursue her literary interests. Ber-
frontier play The Girl of the Golden West
nard wrote four historical novels, a short story,
(1905), both of which were made famous by
and two plays, all of which were well received
Giacomo *Puccini. While these plays are not
in her time and continue to be appreciated for
fairy tales per se, their basic plotlines draw from
their stylistic and psychological depth. Her
the genre. The Japanese Madame Butterfly, for
novel Inès de Cardoue (1696) not only features
instance, recalls fairies like *Mélusine and
two fairy tales, but also formulates what is con-
*Undine whose tragic fates are determined by
sidered to be the fundamental aesthetic prin-
the betrayal of mortal (here American) men. In
ciple for the 17th- and 18th-century French
fact, Belasco put together a collection of tales
conte de fées: 'the [adventures] should always
with Chas. A. Byrne entitled Fairy Tales Told
be implausible and the emotions always nat-
by the Seven Travelers at the Red Lion Inn
ural'. The first tale in this novel, 'Le Prince
(1906), structured much in the tradition of The
Rosier' ('Prince Rosebush'), is based on an epi-
Decameron, in which a group of travellers, in-
sode by Ariosto and tells of a princess's love
cluding an American, a Frenchman, an Eng-
for an enchanted rosebush. After regaining his
lishman, a Swede, and a Russian, each tell a tale
human form and marrying her, the prince ad-
which is then discussed by the group. The col-
mits his love for another woman, which causes
lection includes 'The Wonderful Horse', in
the heroine to denounce her husband and the
which an apparently useless animal brings a
hero to be transformed once again into a rose-
poor boy good fortune; and 'A Chinese Idyl',
bush. The second tale, 'Riquet à la houppe'
in which a Genie helps Hyson get his princess.
(*'Riquet with the Tuft'), preceded *Perrault's
AD more famous version and, like his, is not
thought to be of folkloric origin. Often likened
' B E L L E A U B O I S D O R M A N T . L A ' , see 'SLEEPING to *'Beauty and the Beast', this story relates the
BEAUTY'. encounter and eventual marriage of a beautiful
but feeble-minded woman with an ugly but in-
telligent gnome. Bernard's tale, unlike Per-
BENAVENTE, JACINTO (1866-1954), Spanish
rault's, does not condemn the heroine's
playwright who was awarded the Nobel Prize
imagination but rather women's confinement in
in 1922. He wrote a few tales with child protag-
onists, such as 'En la playa' ('On the Beach', marriage. It also ends on a resolutely pessimis-
1897) and 'Juegos de ninos' ('Children's tic note, in further contrast to Perrault's. L C S
Games', 1902), but owes his fame to his plays.
Benavente was particularly interested in chil- BERNIS, FRANÇOIS-JOACHIM DE PIERRES DE
dren's theatre and many of his plays are in- (1715—94), French writer. Especially known
spired by classical fairy tales. Thus Y va de for his poetry, he served in many official cap-
cuento . . . (And It Has to Do with Tales . . ., acities, including minister of foreign affairs,
1919) is based on 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin', cardinal, and ambassador to Rome. His licen-
while La Cenicienta (Cinderella, 1919) is a revi- tious tale Nocrion, conte allobroge (Nocrion,
sion of *'Cinderella', and Elnietecito (The Little Allobrogian Tale, 1747) reworks a medieval
Grandson, 1910), is an adaptation of the fabliau in which a knight has the power to
*Grimms' 'The Old Man and his Grandson'. make female genitalia speak. This story is also
Other plays by Benavente influenced more the basis for Denis *Diderot's Les Bijoux indis-
generally by the fairy-tale genre include: La crets (The Indiscreet Jewels, 1748). LCS
princesa sin cora^pn (The Princess without a
Heart, 1907) and El principe que todo lo aprendiô BERTALL (pseudonym of CHARLES ALBERT D ' A R -
en los libros (The Prince who Learnt Everything NOUX, 1820—93), French illustrator who
by Reading, 1909). Finally, La novia de nieve worked as a caricaturist for many important
(The Bride of Snow, 1934) is a play that revises Parisian magazines such as L 'Illustration, Jour-
the Russian legend of Snegurochka. CF nal pour Rire, and La Semaine. He was particu-
Dîaz-Bernabé, José A., 'Jacinto Benavente and larly successful as an illustrator of fairy tales
his Theatre' (Diss., Columbia University, 1967). and made a name for himself with the publica-
BEWICK, JOHN 5 2

tion of his drawings for E . T. A. *Hoffmann's ventures of Abdullah, or His Voyage to the Island
'The Nutcracker' in 1846. In addition he pro- of Borico, 1712). Bignon contends in his preface
vided exquisite illustrations for Charles •Per- that he only slightly modified Abdalla's 'ori-
rault's Contes (Tales) in 1851 and for Wilhelm ginal' text, which he claims to have translated
•HaufPs La Caravane (The Caravan) and the from Arabic, a typical authenticating ruse of
•Grimms' tales in 1855. His drawings are not- the period. The frame story concerns Abdalla's
able for their strong lines, inventiveness, and quest to bring back waters from the fountain of
subtle characterization. JZ youth at Borico, and is punctuated by tales told
by those he meets on the way, including the
BEWICK, J O H N (1760-95), English children's 'Histoire de la princesse Zeineb et du roi Léo-
book illustrator, who worked closely with his pard' ('Princess Zeineb and King Leopard'),
older brother Thomas. Their innovative work which draws from •Apuleius' 'Cupid and Psy-
in wood engraving extended the expressive che' and prepared the way for Mme de •Ville-
idiom of the genre and greatly improved Eng- neuve's 'La Belle et la bête' (•'Beauty and the
lish children's book illustration. Strictly speak- Beast'). AD
ing he did not illustrate fairy tales, but among
his work are Selected Fables (with Thomas, BlLIBIN, I V A N Y A K 0 V L E V I C H (1876-1942), Rus-
1784), Joseph Ritson's two-volume collection sian illustrator and stage designer. Commis-
of popular tales Robin Hood (1795), and The sioned as a young artist by the Department for
Children's Miscellany (1804), which included the Production of State Documents to illustrate
Thomas Day's 'The History of Little Jack'. a series of fairy-tale books (1899—1902), Bili-
KS bin built his entire career on the interpretation
of Russian folk tales and bylinas (traditional
BlERMANN, W O L F ( 1 9 3 6 - ), former East Ger- folk epics), often depicting the same stories
man poet and singer, whose outspoken critique again and again. Frances Carpenter's Tales of a
of the Socialist Unity Party caused him to be Russian Grandmother first brought his work to
exiled from the German Democratic Republic English-speaking children in 1933. Like many
in 1976. His notorious use of fairy-tale material artists of the late 19th century, he was influ-
was his adaptation of Yevgeni •Schwartz's The enced by the Japanese print, particularly in his
Dragon (1943), which Biermann entitled Der early illustrations, with their asymmetrical
Dra-Dra in 1970. A musical parody, Der Dra- compositions and soft, bright colours outlined
Dra reveals how government officials exploit in black ink. His main inspiration, however,
the common people. Indeed, they fear for their was Russian folk art. He acquired an extensive
lives because of the ruling monster Dra-Dra, study collection, which eventually formed the
who is eventually ridiculed and overcome; the basis of the ethnographic section at the Russian
play could only be performed in West Ger- Museum in St Petersburg, and became famous
many. His Deutschland: Ein Wintermdrchen for the authenticity of his details. Increasingly
(Germany: A Winter's Tale), which appeared in influenced by Russian icons and the popular
1972, borrows more from Heinrich •Heine's prints of the 17th century, his later illustrations
satirical poem of the same title than from fairy- acquired a flat, stylized look, with stronger col-
tale tradition. In the 1970s he published several our, a more pronounced black outline, and a
collections of children's fairy tales including proliferation of repetitive, patterned detail.
Das Mdrchen vom kleinen Herrn Morit^, der eine Bilibin illustrated many of •Pushkin's fairy-tale
Glat^e kriegte (The Fairy Tale of Little Mr poems and designed sets and costumes for sev-
Moriti, who was Growing Bald) and Das Mdr- eral of the operas based on them, including
chen von dem Mddchen mit dem Hol^bein (The •Glinka's Russian and Ludmilla and •Rimsky-
Fairy Tale of the Girl with the Wooden Leg). In Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel and The Tale
addition to his many other records for adults, of Tsar Saltan. Although he left Russia as a
he produced a record of children's songs, Der refugee in 1920, he returned in 1936, dying six
Friedensclown (The Peace Clown). MBS years later in the siege of Leningrad. SR
Golynets, Sergei, Ivan Bilibin (1982).
BiGNON, J E A N - P A U L (1662-1743), French
writer, academician, and royal librarian. In- BLACK CROOK, THE, an 1866 melodramatic mu-
spired by the success of Antoine •Galland and sical spectacle by Charles M. Barras (libretto)
Pétis de la Croix, Bignon published a collection that is generally considered the first American
of •oriental tales entitled Les Aventures d'Ab- musical. The fantastic plot, loosely derived
dalla, ou son voyage à l'isle de Borico (The Ad- from the Faust legend, concerns the crook-
B l L I B I N , IVAN 'He had heard the last girl's pledge, after having hid behind the hedge.' This illustration by

Ivan Bilibin was created for Alexander *Pushkin's 'The Tale of Tsar Saltan' (1937).
BLACKWOOD, ALGERNON 54

backed magician Herzog, who must deliver the Lesniak, James, and Trosky, Susan M. (eds.),
soul of the painter Rudolf to the devil by mid­ Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, 37
night on New Year's Eve, and the fairy queen (1993)-
who warns and rescues the innocent artist. The Peppin, Brigid, and Micklethwait, Lucy,
songs, by various authors, were secondary to Dictionary of British Book Illustrators: The
Twentieth Century (1983).
the spectacular stagecraft, the chorus of
nymphs and water sprites in pink tights, and 'BLANCA NIEVE', 'BLANCHE N E I G E ' , see 'SNOW
the winning combination of song, dance, and WHITE'.
story into one evening's performance. TSH
B L A S C O I B Â N E Z , V I C E N T E (1867-1928), novelist

BLACKWOOD, ALGERNON (1869-1951), English- who has been called 'the Spanish Zola' because
born author of horror and fantasy tales. of his attachment to the naturalistic school. He
Thought to be the last British master of super­ wrote several collections of short stories as
natural fiction, Blackwood is also perceived as well, such as Cuentos valencianos (Tales from
the literary heir of Sheridan LeFanu. Perhaps Valencia, 1893) and La condenada (The Con­
because of his fascination with the mystical and demned Woman, 1896). Many of his tales are set
occult, he incorporated fairies and elemental in his native land, Valencia. In general, his
spirits into his fiction, often depicting them as stories are very realistic, sometimes verging on
frightening. Fairies mislead or abduct mortals naturalism. Blasco Ibânez shows his predilec­
in 'Entrance and Exit', 'Ancient Lights', and tion for poor and marginal characters and tends
'May Day Eve'. They are threats to life in 'The to depict the tension that exists between people
Glamour of the Snow', while their world is the from different social classes. Nevertheless, he
subject of A Prisoner in Fairyland (1913). C G S also wrote such stories as 'El dragon del patri-
arca' ('The Patriarch's Dragon', 1893) and 'En
la puerta del cielo' ('At Heaven's Door', 1893),
B L A K E , Q U E N T I N ( 1 9 3 2 - ), British illustrator which are apparently based on folk material; in
and author of children's books and educational any case, they have a considerable number of
texts. He was educated at Cambridge and the fantastic and supernatural elements. CF
University of London Institute of Education
and trained at the Chelsea School of Art. An ' B L A U B A R T ' , see 'BLUEBEARD'.
illustrator for Punch and the Spectator, since
1978 he has taught at the Royal College of Art B L O C K , F R A N C E S C A L I A ( 1 9 6 2 - ), American
in London and was made an officer in the writer of contemporary fantasy novels. Block
Order of the British Empire in 1988, His other specializes in hip, punk-influenced fantasy tales
numerous honours (for self-illustrated works) for teenage readers, bringing magical elements
include the Hans Christian *Andersen honor into colourful stories of modern urban life.
book for illustration, Kate *Greenaway Medal, Ectasia (1993) is a novel in this vein in which
Kurt Maschler Award, and Children's Book Block retells the Orpheus myth—placing her
Award. tale in a surreal world of streetwise children
An economical use of deft pen strokes and and wandering souls, set to the beat of rock-
watercolours characterize Blake's mischievous and-roll. The sequel, Primavera (1994), is
illustrations for more than 200 books. He has based on the Persephone myth. Other works,
illustrated Lewis *Carroll's nonsense verse including Weenie Bat (1989) and The Hanged
(The Hunting of the Snark, 1976), *Kipling's tall Man (1995), contain classic tropes of folklore
tales (How the Camel Got his Hump, 1984), and (witches, vampires, angels, ghosts) transplant­
Orwell's dark fantasy Animal Farm (1984). He ed to Block's unique magical version of Los
particularly enjoys collaborating with authors Angeles. TW
such as Joan *Aiken, Russell *Hoban, and John
Yeoman. His fairy-tale-related work includes 'BLUEBEARD' ('Barbe-bleue') made its literary
the Albert the Dragon series (by Rosemary debut in Charles *Perrault's *Histoires ou contes
Weir, 1961—4), The Gentle Knight (Richard du temps passé (Stories or Tales of Past Times,
Schickel, 1964), Wizards are a Nuisance (Nor­ 1697), a collection that placed the earthy, ribald
man Hunter, 1973), and Mortimer and the Sword narratives of a peasant culture between the
Excalibur (Aiken, 1979). He has also re-illus­ covers of a book and turned them into bedtime
trated the complete works of Roald *Dahl, of reading for children. Like the other fairy tales
whose fan club he is the honorary president. in Perrault's collection, 'Bluebeard' has a
MLE happy ending: the heroine marries 'a worthy
BLUEBEARD Bluebeard's wife tries to forestall the vicious killer's sword with her prayers in this
anonymous illustration taken from Les Contes des fées offerts à Bébé ( c i 900).
'BLUEBEARD' 56

man who made her forget the miserable time wisdom on this tale: 'The Story of Bluebeard,
she spent with Bluebeard'. But 'Bluebeard' also or, The Effects of Female Curiosity'.
deviates from the norm of most fairy tales in its The French folklorist Paul Delarue has
depiction of marriage as an institution haunted mapped the evolution of 'Bluebeard', docu­
by murder. While canonical fairy tales like menting the liberties taken by Perrault in trans­
*'Cinderella' and *'Snow White' begin with forming an oral folk tale into a literary text.
unhappy situations at home, centre on a ro­ The folk heroines of 'Bluebeard' delay their
mantic quest, and culminate in visions of mari­ executions by insisting on donning bridal
tal bliss, 'Bluebeard' shows us a woman leaving clothes, and they prolong the possibility of res­
the safety of home and entering the risky do­ cue by recounting each and every item of
main of her husband's castle. As Bruno Bettel­ clothing. Perrault's heroine, by contrast, asks
heim has argued, Perrault's story represents a her husband for time to say her prayers, thus
troubling flip side to 'Beauty and the Beast', for becoming a model of devout piousness. Unlike
it arouses disturbing anxieties about marriage, folk heroines, who figure as their own agents of
confirming a child's 'worst fears about sex' and rescue by dispatching letter-carrying dogs or
portraying marriage as life-threatening. talking birds, Perrault's heroine sends her sis­
Just who was Bluebeard and how did he get ter up to the castle tower to watch for her
such a bad name? As Anatole "Trance reminds brothers. Most importantly, folk versions of
us in his story 'The Seven Wives of Blue­ the tale do not fault the heroine for her curios­
beard', Charles Perrault composed 'the first ity. On the contrary, when these young women
biography of this seigneur' and established his stand before the forbidden chamber, they feel
reputation as 'an accomplished villain' and 'the duty-bound to open its door. 'I have to know
most perfect model of cruelty that ever trod the what is in there', one heroine reflects just be­
earth'. Perrault's 'Bluebeard' recounts the fore turning the key. These folkloric figures
story of an aristocratic gentleman and his mar­ are described as courageous: curiosity and
riage to a young woman whose desire for opu­ valour enable them to come to the rescue of
lence conquers her feelings of revulsion for their sisters by reconstituting them physically
blue beards. After a month of married life, (putting their dismembered parts back together
Bluebeard declares his intention to undertake a again) and by providing them with safe passage
journey. 'Plagued by curiosity', Bluebeard's home.
wife opens the door to the one chamber forbid­ The French versions of'Bluebeard' that pre­
den to her and finds a pool of clotted blood in date Perrault's story reveal a close relationship
which are reflected the bodies of Bluebeard's to two tales recorded by the Brothers *Grimm.
dead wives, hanging from the wall. Horrified, The first of these, 'Fitcher's Bird', shows the
she drops the key and is unable to remove a youngest of three sisters using her 'cunning' to
tell-tale bloodstain from it. Bluebeard returns escape the snares set by a clever sorcerer and to
home to discover the evidence of his wife's rescue her two sisters. The heroine of 'The
transgression and is about to execute her, when *Robber Bridegroom' also engineers a rescue,
his wife's brothers come to the rescue and cut mobilizing her mental resources to thwart the
him down with their swords. thieves with whom her betrothed consorts.
'Bloody key as sign of disobedience': this is Oddly enough, however, these two variants of
the motif that folklorists consistently read as 'Bluebeard' seem to have fallen into a cultural
the tale's defining moment. The bloodstained black hole, while Perrault's 'Bluebeard' and its
key (in some cases it is an egg or a flower) literary cousins have been preserved and re­
points to a double transgression, one that is at written as cautionary stories warning about the
once moral and sexual. If we recall that the hazards of disobedience and curiosity. It is tell­
bloody chamber in Bluebeard's castle is strewn ing that Margaret *Atwood turned to 'Fitcher's
with corpses, this reading of the key as a mark­ Bird' and 'The Robber Bridegroom' for inspir­
er of infidelity becomes wilfully wrong-headed ation (for her 'Bluebeard's Egg' and for The
in its effort to vilify Bluebeard's wife. Yet illus­ Robber Bride, in particular) and that a visual
trators, commentators, and retellers alike seem artist like Cindy Sherman created a picture
to have fallen in line with Perrault's view, as book of the Grimms' 'Fitcher's Bird'. Along
expressed in his moral to the tale, that 'Blue­ with Angela *Carter, whose 'Bloody Chamber'
beard' is about the evils of female curiosity. A rewrites the Bluebeard story from the point of
19th-century Scottish version summarizes in its view of the wife, Atwood and Sherman have
title what appears to be the collective critical reinvigorated a story that lost its socially critic-
57 B L U E B I R D , T H E , FILM V E R S I O N S

al edge when it was appropriated for children. BLUE BIRD, THE, FILM V E R S I O N S . This play by
MT the Belgian writer Maurice *Maeterlinck has
Bettelheim, Bruno, 'The Animal-Groom Cycle reached the screen several times. It differs from
of Fairy Tales', in The Uses of Enchantment his other dramas in having a fairy element, but
(1976). shares their philosophical concerns and sym­
Hartland, E. Sidney, 'The Forbidden Chamber', bolist style. Two years after The Blue Bird was
Folk-Lore Journal, 3 (1885).
published (1909), Maeterlinck won a Nobel
Lewis, Philip, 'Bluebeard's Secret', in Seeing
through the Mother Goose Tales: Visual Turns in Prize, which brought his work wider attention
the Writings of Charles Perrault (1996). in the Anglophone world and prompted vari­
McHaster, Juliet, 'Bluebeard: A Tale of ous successful stage productions.
Matrimony', A Room of One's Own, 2 (1976). In essence, The Blue Bird tells the story of
Moshowitz, Harriet, 'Gilles de Rais and the Tyltyl and Mytyl, discontented son and daugh­
Bluebeard Legend in France', Michigan ter of a woodcutter living in the depths of a
Academician, 4 (1973). forest, who are visited one night by the fairy
Berylune. She asks for help in finding the Blue
Bird, which alone can cure a little girl who is ill
BLUEBEARD'S EIGHTH WIFE (film: USA, 1938).
and unhappy. The children already have a blue
Starring Gary Cooper as a multi-marrying bird, but it is not blue enough. T o help them,
American millionaire and Claudette Colbert as Berylune provides a magic diamond which en­
an impoverished aristocrat, it met with a cool ables them to see things as they really are. Sud­
reception. The famed 'Lubitsch Touch' seemed denly their house seems beautiful, and they can
to have lost its magic, for the effort to produce see the souls of Fire, Water, Sugar, Bread,
screwball comedy foundered on a somewhat Milk, Cat, and Dog, all of whom join the quest.
contrived plot that even Billy Wilder's These children go through the Mists of Time
screenwriting talents could not rescue. The to the Land of Memory, where they meet their
rich possibilities opened by the title are ex­ dead grandparents; in the Palace of Night they
plored to some extent, but Lubitsch's American tour chambers containing all the world's
tycoon lacks the aggressive edge of his folk­ ghosts, sickness, terrors, and mysteries; they
loric counterparts and is effortlessly tamed by ask a forest for help; they get bored in the Pal­
his eighth wife. MT ace of Luxuries; they visit the Palace of the Fu­
ture, full of unborn babies. Nowhere do they
find the Blue Bird. Disconsolate, they return
'BLUEBIRD, T H E ' ('L'Oiseau bleu', 1696) by
home, only to find their own blue bird much
Mme d'*Aulnoy has literary precursors in
bluer than before. The girl who was ill can now
*Marie de France's 'Yonec' and *Basile's 'Ver-
run and dance.
deprato' and 'Lo Serpe'. In this animal meta­
The makers of an early film version (USA,
morphosis fairy tale, a widow with an ugly
1918) took advantage of newly developed tech­
daughter (Truitonne) marries a grieving king
niques of multiple exposure, allied to huge spe­
with a beautiful one (Florine). The wicked
cially constructed sets, to create the lands and
stepmother wants hers married first, locks
palaces the children and their new friends visit.
Florine in a tower, and has an evil fairy trans­
Missing from the gathering are Bread, Milk,
form her suitor (King Charming) into a blue­
and Sugar, regarded then as too difficult to per­
bird. He is injured two years later when his
sonify and dramatize. There is, though, an
secret visits are discovered. His enchanter res­
extra character, Light, who is given the job of
cues him, but conspires to have him marry
helping the children find their way. In this ver­
Truitonne. A good fairy, magic eggs, and an
sion heaven is the Palace of Joys and Delights;
echo chamber help Florine regain the king's
there Tyltyl and Mytyl meet not their grand­
love.
parents but their mother, who is known as the
*Maeterlinck's 1909 allegorical fairy play,
Joy of Maternal Love.
The Blue Bird, is about the failed search of a
brother and sister for the Bluebird of Happi­ The best-known adaptation is that directed
ness—which they discover has been at their for Fox by Walter Lang (USA, 1940). It was
home the whole time. MLE made as a vehicle for Shirley T e m p l e , then
DeGraff, Amy Vanderlyn, The Tower and the near the end of her reign as child star; as a
Well: A Psychological Interpretation of the Fairy showcase for full Technicolor, only recently
Tales of Madame d'Aulnoy (1984). perfected; and as a rival to MGM's The *Wi^ard
Mitchell, Jane Tucker, A Thematic Analysis of of 0 { . The children's companions are further
Mme d'Aulnoy's Contes de fées (1978). reduced in number—they have only Berylune,
BLUE LIGHT, T H E 58

Tylette (cat), Tylo (dog), and Light to go with Heini Hoyer (1922) were produced before the
them—and their travels are simplified. First National Socialists came to power. A prolific
they talk to their grandparents in the Land of author, he produced numerous volumes of
Memory. Next they stay for a while with Mr fairy tales such as Mdrchen von der Niederelbe
and Mrs Luxury. As they pass through the (Fairy Tales from the Lower Elbe, 1923), Kind-
Haunted Forest, Oak and Cypress conspire ermdrchen (Fairy Tales for Children, 1929),
with Wind and Fire to frighten them. Finally, Neues Volk auf der Heide und andere Mdrchen
in the Land of Unborn Children, they meet the (New Folk on the Meadow and other Fairy Tales,
Studious Boy, unhappily but courageously set­ 1934), Mdrchen (Fairy Tales, 1942), and Neue
ting sail for an earthly life. Mdrchen (New Fairy Tales, 1951). Most of his
Fox revisited the story 36 years later ( U S A / tales emanate from a North German folk trad­
USSR, 1976) and made a film that took advan­ ition, and they tend to celebrate regional cus­
tage of advances in film technology, of the toms and rituals written in a charming and
lower shooting costs on offer in Russia, and of nostalgic style. In some tales there are clear ra­
the availability of a gallery of female adult cial overtones and a tendency to embellish a
stars. Elizabeth Taylor appears in various roles patriarchal world order. JZ
as Maternal Love, Light, and a Witch; Jane
Fonda is Night, the Princess of Darkness; B L Y , R O B E R T (1926— ), American poet, story­
Cicely Tyson plays Cat; and Ava Gardner re­ teller, and translator. Though he is primarily
presents Luxury. For the first time, Sugar, known for his poetry, Bly achieved inter­
Milk, and Bread are included among the chil­ national fame by writing two prose books that
dren's screen companions, and the Blue Bird, use fairy tales for social commentary. His first
too, gets a personification. book, Iron John (1991), takes the *Grimms'
None of these versions has stuck to Maeter­ *'Iron Hans' as the frame to illustrate an initi­
linck. They have selected the picturesque se­ ation process that would heal the wounds of
quences that suited their stars and their contemporary men and enable them to become
available special effects; and they have invent­ 'inner warriors', more in touch with the earth
ed new ones. Maeterlinck's philosophizing has and their desire to love, not kill. In this regard,
tended to get pushed into the background, ex­ he transforms 'Iron Hans' into a celebration of
cept the simple central idea that happiness is to the positive aspects of the men's movement.
His next book, The Sibling Society (1996), in­
be found in your own heart when you know
corporates *'Jack and the Beanstalk', 'The Ad­
how to look. TAS
ventures of Ganesha', 'The Wild Girl and her
Sister', and others to demonstrate how adults
BLUE LIGHT, THE (DOS blaue Licht; film: Ger­
have regressed towards adolescence while ado­
many, 1932), written and directed by Leni Rie- lescents refuse to assume responsibility for
fenstahl. Its story (not based on the Grimms' their lives. Both books enjoyed considerable
tale of the same name) was conceived by Rie- success in the United States, but they have also
fenstahl as a mountain legend matching in been criticized for their mythopoeic distortions
beauty the perfection of the Dolomites, her pri­ of the meanings of fairy tales and of social con­
mary inspiration. Emanating from a peak ditions in America. JZ
which only wild-child Junta can reach, the blue Amis, Martin, 'Return of the Male', London
light—symbolizing in German romanticism Review of Books, 13 (5 December 1991).
the quest for the unattainable—lures young Doubiago, Sharon, ' "Enemy of the Mother": A
men to climb and fall. In a departure from folk­ Feminist Response to the Men's Movement',
tale convention, the villagers discover Junta's Ms., 2 (March—April 1992).
route, plunder the crystal, and get rich. Horri­ Johnston, Jill, 'Why Iron John Is No Gift to
fied at this despoliation of her mountains, Junta Women', New York Times Book Review, 23
plunges to her death and is commemorated as February 1992.
the village's benefactor. TAS Zipes, Jack, 'Spreading Myths about Iron John',
Berg-Pan, Renata, Leni Riefenstahl (1980). in Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale
(1994).
B L U N C K , H A N S F R I E D R I C H (1888-1961), Ger­
man writer, whose novels, plays, poetry, and B L Y T O N , E N I D (1897-1968), prolific writer for
fairy tales articulated a folk-nationalist ideol­ children, included many fairy stories in her
ogy. Blunck himself became a high-ranking vast output (37 books a year in the early 1950s).
cultural official during the Nazi period. How­ Her first book, Child Whispers (1922), a collec­
ever, most of his major works such as the novel tion of verse, contained 'witches, fairies, gob-
59 BONAVIRI, GIUSEPPE

lins, flowers, little folk, butterflies . . .', all a good number of fairy stories that had previ-
subjects popular with children's writers be- ously appeared in Semanario Pintoresco Espa-
tween the wars. In 1926 she took on the editor- nol. One such story is 'Las animas' ('The Souls
ship of a new twopenny magazine, Sunny in Purgatory', 1853), an Andalusian version of
Stories, entirely made up of her own work. the tale called 'The Three Spinners' in the
Here The Adventures of the Wishing Chair Grimms' collection. Other fairy stories by Fer-
(1937), perhaps inspired by Frances *Browne's nân Caballero can be found in the first part of
Granny's Wonderful Chair, first appeared. As a her work Cuentos, oraciones, adivinas y refranes
child she had read 'every single old myth and populares e infantiles (Tales, Prayers, Riddles,
legend I could get hold of but found them 'ra- and Popular Children's Proverbs, 1877), entitled
ther cruel'. *Grimm she disliked as 'cruel and 'Cuentos de encantamiento' ('Tales of
frightening' and *Andersen was 'too sad'. In Enchantment'). CF
her Faraway Tree series, based, though very
remotely, on Yggdrasil, the world tree of Scan- B O N A V I R I , G I U S E P P E ( 1 9 2 4 - ), Italian writer,
dinavian mythology, she eliminated all 'rather playright and poet, born in Mineo, Sicily. The
cruel' elements, substituting her own cosy in- novel / / sarto della strada lunga ( The Tailor On
ventions. The Enchanted Wood (1939) is per- Main Street, 1954) marks his debut as a writer,
haps the best of her fairy books. She was, said followed by many successful novels such as La
Michael Woods in a psychiatrist's assessment, divina foresta (The Divine Forest, 1969), Ildottor
'a person who never developed emotionally Bilob (Doctor Bilob, 1994), and collections of
beyond the basic infantile level'. Noddy, the tales such as: La contrada degli ulivi (Where
wooden puppet, is her most famous character. Olive Trees Grow, 1958), / / treno blu (The Blue
Little Noddy Goes to Toyland (1949) was the Train, 1978), and Novelle saracene (Saracen
first of his many adventures, which she filled Stories, 1980), the characters of which are de-
with 'toys, pixies, goblins, Toyland, brick-
rived from the folklore of Sicily and its heri-
houses, dolls' houses, toadstool houses' to suit
tage of multicultural civilizations. Bonaviri's
the style of Noddy's first illustrator, Harmsen
interest in the fabulous and fairy tales is present
Van Der Beek. GA
in all his narratives, which are imbued with the
Crago, Hugh, 'Faintly from Elfland: How this marvellous and a rich sense of oral tradition
Column Originated', Children's Literature influenced by his mother's storytelling. In the
Association Quarterly, 13.3 (Fall 1988). volume Fiabe regionali siciliane (Sicilian Fairy
Stoney, Barbara, Enid Blyton (1974). Tales, 1990), which he edited and translated, he
Woods, Michael, 'Blyton Revisited', Lines speaks of 'il futuribile' that he attributes to the
(Autumn 1969). fairy tale, which he defines as 'la progettazione
B O H L DE FABER, CECILIA ( T E R N Â N CABALLERO', futuribile di un mondo sognato' ('the "futur-
1796—1877), Spanish novelist and short-story ible" projection of a dream world').
writer. Her enthusiasm for popular stories, her Novelle saracene is a collection of oral tales
knowledge of the work of the Brothers dealing with the shopkeepers of Mineo, the
*Grimm as compilers of such narrations in author's quasi-mythological birthplace. The
Germany (she was of German origin herself), book is subdivided into 'Gesù e Giuffa',
and the realization that no similar project such 'Novelline Profane', and 'Fiabe', all of which
as theirs had been undertaken in Spain com- describe a world of myth and fairy tale. In
pelled her to gather a good number of tales 'Gesù e Giuffà', Gesù, son of Mary the jar-sell-
from Andalusian peasants. She then transcribed er and perhaps of Milud, is also the nephew of
them and adapted them to suit her literary Michèle Gabriele in whose shoemaker's shop
taste, despite her claim in the Preface of one of Gesù meets Giuffa, son of Mary Magdalene.
the collections she published that she had left Giuffa is the one who performs miracles, not
the language of the tales untouched and full of Gesù. Both are friends of Orlando and the
its popular flavour. In many cases, Fernân Paladins, whose common enemies are Freder-
Caballero, the male pseudonym by which she ick II and the Pope. All the characters are out-
was known, used those tales for political satire side history and the legendary tradition, yet
and moral lessons. Most of her stories appeared they live together without any difficulty. Their
in Spanish magazines such as Semanario Pinto- story is a sort of quilt spanning centuries of
resco Espanol (Spanish Picturesque Weekly). In fabulous oral narrative. The characters range
s n e
1859 published a collection entitled Cuentos from the Greek philosopher Gorgias, Eumaeus
y poesias populares andalu^as (Popular Andalu- the swineherd of Ulysses, to the apostle Peter
m
sian Tales and Poems, 1859), which there are and Francesco di Paola, a modern saint. The
BONSELS, WALDEMAR 60

author labels these tales matrilinear with a Sici- *Hoffmann and Lovecraft. Nevertheless, the
lian and Mediterranean matrix, and they show fantastic genre in Borges's hands underwent a
that 'Everything undergoes a reversal. . . even drastic and unique transformation, since he
time and space and the way one understands used his fiction to explore philosophical ideas.
the Divine.' GD As a result of this, his literature is profoundly
complex and erudite. Borges's first collection
B O N S E L S , W A L D E M A R (1881-1952), popular and of tales was Historia universal de la infamia (A
widely translated German author of works for Universal History of Infamy, 1935), and his last
children and adults, who wrote novels, nov- two collections of fantastic short stories were
ellas, travelogues, poems, and fairy tales. Styl- El libro de arena (The Book of Sand, 1975) and
istically, Bonsels was influenced by new Veinticinco Agosto 1983 y otros cuentos (August
romanticism and nature mysticism. His keen 1983 and Other Stories, 1983). Borges's world-
and sensitive observations of nature during his wide reputation rests upon these works: Eljar-
many travels and his desire for drama and ad- din de senderos que se bifurcan ( The Garden with
venture are reflected in his tales for children. Paths that Fork, 1942), Ficciones (Fictions,
Bonsels is best known for his children's book 1944), El aleph (The Aleph and Other Stories,
Die Biene Maja und ihre Abenteuer ( The Adven- 1949), and La muertey la brûjula (Death and the
tures ofMaja, the Honeybee, 1912), which traces Compass, 1951).
the adventures of a young bee who, driven by Among Borges's youthful readings there is
curiosity and desire, ventures out into the one book that figures prominently: The *Ara-
world, experiencing both its beauty and its bian Nights. It influenced the Argentinian
danger, and who in the end saves her entire writer to a great extent, which is evident in the
swarm from death and destruction by hornets. fact that, as an adult, he wrote two essays on it:
This animal tale, which depicts a young per- 'Los traductores de Las mil y una noches' ('The
son's maturation process in the home- Translators of The Arabian Nights , 1935) and
away-home structure characteristic of the 'Las mil y una noches ('The Arabian Nights',
fairy tale, became a children's book classic in 1980). In particular, he was deeply interested in
Germany, and also gained great popularity the problems posed by the different transla-
internationally. Whereas some other tales by tions of The Arabian Nights into Western lan-
Bonsels, such as Himmelsvolk (Heavenly guages, by the dichotomy East/West that it
People, 1915) and Mario und die Tiere (Mario helped to establish, and by the concept of infin-
and the Animals, 1928) did not survive changes itude that it so well exemplifies. Borges also
in taste of the reading public, Die Biene Maja wrote a poem entitled 'Metâforas de Las mil y
remained popular into the 1960s. In the 1970s una noches' ('Metaphors of The Arabian Nights',
Bonsels was criticized for delivering the wrong 1977), and, above all, he scattered dozens of
ideological message and for the book's senti- references to this book throughout his fiction.
mental and trivial language; the story about In this sense his fantastic tales are no exception.
Maja the Honeybee, however, regained popu- Thus, many of his most emblematic stories in-
larity as a cartoon series on German television clude allusions to The Arabian Nights: 'El in-
in the 1980s. EMM forme de Brodie' ('Doctor Brodie's Report',
Muller, Lothar, 'Die Biene Maja von Waldemar 1970), 'El otro' ('The Other', 1975), 'El libro
Bonsels', in Marianne Weill (ed.), Wehrwolf und de arena' ('The Book of Sand', 1975), 'Tlôn,
Biene Maja. Der deutsche Biicherschranh çwischen Uqbar, Orbis Tertius' (1942), and 'El aleph'
den Kriegen (1986). ('The Aleph', 1949), to cite but a few.
'The Book of Sand' is the story of an infinite
B O R G E S , J O R G E L U I S (1899-1986), Argentinian book which Borges buys from a bookseller
poet, literary critic, and short-story writer. He specializing in sacred tracts; there is neither an
is reputed, together with his compatriot Julio end nor a beginning to the Book of Sand,
*Cortazar, to have written some of the best which is also the case, Borges believes, of The
short stories in the Spanish language. Further- Arabian Nights. In 'Tlôn, Uqbar, Orbis Ter-
more, he has been considered one of the most tius' Borges talks about how a group of people
outstanding figures in contemporary world lit- gathered to create an imaginary world of a lit-
erature. Most of Borges's stories belong to the erary nature in its origins, but one which ends
genre of fantastic literature. He has borrowed a up being interwoven with the real world; in
good number of stylistic traits from Edgar this manner the borders between fiction and
Allen Poe and Franz *Kafka, and, according to reality are shown to be rather diffuse or simply
some critics, he is likewise indebted to E . T. A. non-existent. 'The Aleph', one of Borges's
6i BREMEN TOWN MUSICIANS', ' T H E

best-known stories, deals with the concepts of that feat to become king. Popularized in the
space and time; the main symbol in this tale is 19th century by the *Grimms' 'Das tapfere
an 'aleph', a tiny spot where all acts and world­ Schneiderlein' ('The Brave Little Tailor',
ly places can be simultaneously contemplated 1812), which combined Martin Montanus's lit­
from every single angle. Through the story of erary version (c.1557) with oral variants, the
the 'aleph', Borges not only explores the notion humorous tale has been frequently adapted,
of infinitude by locating it within the minute notably in Walt *Disney's animated film fea­
spot or 'aleph', but also, in the very act of relat­ turing Mickey Mouse, The Brave Little Tailor
ing the story, makes something which is simul­ (1938). The story's modern appeal derives
taneous (the aleph) become successive from its cunning, entrepreneurial hero, who
(narrative description). The symbol of the undertakes his quest not because he is op­
aleph, as the story makes clear, is not unique in pressed or lacks something, but because he
Borges, but has previously appeared in other possesses immense self-confidence and a talent
works, The Arabian Nights (Night 272) being for self-promotion. DH
one of them. In the latter, however, the aleph
takes the appearance of a mirror that reflects B R A Y , A N N A (1790-1883), British author and
the seven climates of the world. CF early female collector of folklore. When she
Alazraki, Jaime (ed.), Critical Essays on Jorge became the wife of the Vicar of Tavistock in
Luis Borges (1987). Cornwall through a second marriage, she
Friedman, Mary L., The Emperor's Kites: A began to collect accounts of the superstitions
Morphology of Borges' Tales (1987). and traditions of the area. Publishing her find­
Rodriguez-Luis, Julio, The Contemporary Praxis
ings in a series of letters to Robert Southey
of the Fantastic: Borges and Cortâ^ar (1991).
St. Armand, Barton Levi, 'Synchronistic called The Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy (3
Worlds: Lovecraft and Borges', in D . E . Schultz vols., 1836), she made the fairies of Cornwall
and S. T. Joshi (eds.), An Epicure in the Terrible: and Devon famous. Her accounts of pixie ori­
A Centennial Anthology of Essays in Honor of gins, fairy midwives, and magic ointments
H. P. Lovecraft (1991). were used a great deal by later folklorists. She
Wheelock, Carter, The Mythmaker: A Study of also retold pixie tales in a children's book
Motif and Symbol in the Short Stories of Jorge called A Peep at the Pixies (1854). CGS
Luis Borges (1969).
B R E M E N T O W N M U S I C I A N S ' , ' T H E , four animals
B O Y L E , E L E A N O R V E R E (1825-1916), Victorian
who strike out together to become musicians in
fairy illustrator. Born in Scotland, 'E.V.B.' the city of Bremen. On their way they use their
painted demure children for more than 50 unusual 'musical' skills to frighten robbers
years. Her fairy work includes *Andersen's from a house, which the animals then occupy
Fairy Tales (1872) and the lavish gift-book and decide to make their own. In the *Grimms'
^Beauty and the Beast: An Old Tale New-Told telling of 'Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten' ('The
(1875). Its engravings and lush colour plates Bremen Town Musicians', 1819), the travelling
feature a Pre-Raphaelite treatment of nature musicians consist of a donkey, a dog, a cat, and
and Italianate backgrounds and costumes. a rooster. In other variants, especially from
Boyle's Gothic text and themes of nature, Eastern Europe and Asia, the travellers include
dream, and fate complement her heavily other animals or even inanimate objects, while
chiaroscuroed scenes, said to anticipate Jean the robbers are replaced by wolves, were­
*Cocteau's 1946 film in their treatment of light wolves, or an old woman. Best known in the
and dark, illusion and reality. MLE Grimms' version, the story charts the triumph
Dalby, Richard, Golden Age of Children's Book
of the weak through resolve and cooperation.
Illustration (1991).
Darling, Harold, and Neumeyer, Peter (eds.), Facing death at the hands of their masters, who
Image and Maker (1984). show no gratitude for the faithful service the
Hearne, Betsy, Beauty and the Beast: Visions and worn-out animals have provided, they each
Revisions of an Old Tale (1989). adopt the donkey's initial resolve to become a
musician in Bremen. By developing a common
BOY WHO WENT FORTH TO LEARN WHAT FEAR plan of action and orchestrating their natural
WAS, THE, see TALE OF A YOUTH WHO SET OUT talents (braying, barking, meowing, and crow­
TO LEARN WHAT FEAR WAS. ing), they empower themselves as a group,
frighten the robbers who live off others, and
unlikely hero who kills
' B R A V E LITTLE T A I L O R ' , reclaim a life for themselves. While the social
seven flies with one stroke and capitalizes on themes of just deserts and solidarity have made
BRENTANO, CLEMENS 62

the story popular and motivated numerous elaborate Gockel and Hinkel {Rooster and Hen),
20th-century adaptations, the story's identifica- revised and expanded years later under the title
tion with Bremen has made it a valuable com- Gockel, Hinkel and Gackeleia {Rooster, Hen and
modity in that city's tourist industry. DH Little Cluck). His fairy tales are generally char-
Richter, Dieter, 'Die "Bremer Stadtmusikanten" acterized by the combination and elaboration
in Bremen: Zum weiterleben eines Grimmschen of motifs from traditional literature, intricate
Mârchens', in Hans-Jôrg Uther (ed.), Mdrchen in and complex plots, and a poetic, often ornate,
unserer Zeit: Zu Erscheinungsformen eines
style of language.
populdren Er^dhlgenres (1990).
Brentano's greatest contribution to fairy-tale
BRENTANO, CLEMENS (1778-1842), German scholarship is arguably the preservation in his
author of poems, novellas, and literary fairy literary estate of a manuscript of early folk-tale
tales. Brentano was the son of a Frankfurt mer- versions and notes sent to him by Jacob Grimm
chant of Italian descent and the grandson of the in 1810 and discovered in Alsace during the
German novelist Sophie von La Roche. With 1920s. The discovery of the Ôlenberg manu-
Achim von *Arnim, his brother-in-law through script, published first in 1927 and revised in
marriage to his sister Bettina, he published the 1975, which consists of some of the earliest ex-
first collection of German folk song, Des Kna- tant versions of tales contained in the Grimms'
ben Wunderhorn {The Boy's Magic Horn, first *Kinder- und Hausmdrchen (Children's and
volume in 1805, second and third in 1808). Be- Household Tales), has offered subsequent gen-
fore his public conversion to Catholicism in erations of scholars invaluable insights into the
1817 and subsequent dedication to predomin- editorial practices of the Brothers Grimm.
antly religious topics, Brentano had been part MBS
of the Heidelberg circle of romantic writers, Fetzer, John F., Clemens Brentano (1981).
which included Jacob and Wilhelm *Grimm as Frye, Lawrence, 'The Art of Narrating a
well as E . T. A . *Hoffmann and Joseph von Rooster Hero in Brentano's Dos Mdrchen von
*Eichendorff, authors of romantic novellas and Gockel und Hinkel', Euphorion, 72 (1978).
literary fairy tales. In contrast to the Grimms, Riley, Hélène M. K., Clemens Brentano (1985).
Seidlin, Oskar, 'Wirklich nur eine schône
who supplied him with some of his source ma-
Kunstfigur? Zu Brentanos Gockel-Marchen', in
terial, Brentano's interest in oral tradition was Texte und Kontexte: Studien {«r deutschen und
fuelled largely by the desire to reproduce the vergleichenden Literaturwissenscha.fi (1973).
style of folk songs and folk tales in his own
writing. Contained in Des Knaben Wunderhorn
are many of Brentano's own poems, which are
of such simple musical quality that they are not B R E T O N LAI (in English, lay), a brief, narrative
easily distinguished from the traditional folk poem rooted in Arthurian material. The word
song. Best known is 'The Lore-Lay', his ballad lai is probably derived from the Irish laid, or
of a young woman whose beauty seduced men song. The 12th-century Anglo-Norman chron-
and who threw herself from a cliff along the icler Wace praised a bard famous for 'harping
Rhine river. lais of vielles, . . . rotes, harps, and flutes', but
The Rhine was also the setting for many of the term lai also referred to the words or tales
Brentano's fairy tales. Fairy Tales of the Rhine accompanied by music. The modifier 'Breton'
was written between 1809 and 1813, but pub- indicates the lays' Arthurian character and
lished posthumously with other tales in 1846—7 motifs, now thought to have been transmitted
by Guido Gôrres under the title Die Mdrchen by Welsh harpers and storytellers from Ire-
des Clemens Brentanos {The Fairy Tales of Cle- land, Wales, and Cornwall to Brittany, where
mens Brentano). In the frame story of the Rhine the famous Breton conteurs and harpers per-
fairy tales, Brentano combines motifs from the formed them throughout the continent.
legends of the Pied Piper of Hamelin and the Although examples of the early Breton lays are
Lore-Lay, to name a few of the more recogniz- lacking, they probably contained some or all of
able sources, with stylistic artistry and yet with such romance elements as aristocratic love re-
little regard for the integrity of individual le- lationship, marvellous adventures, and encoun-
gend traditions. Brentano's Italian heritage and ters with supernatural or magical events and
familiarity with *Basile's *Pentamerone were re- beings.
flected in his collection of Italian fairy tales, The earliest known lay is considered Robert
which included shorter tales, such as Das Myr- Biket's Lai du Cor, composed sometime be-
thenfrdulein {The Tale of the Myrtle Girl) and tween 1150 and 1175. It recounts a chastity test
Witienspit^el {Smart Alec) as well as the more administered by means of a magic drinking
63 BRIGGS, KATHARINE

horn made by a fay, whom the later Prose Tris­ est in the many varieties of British fairy folk
tan identifies as ""Morgan le Fay'. was evident in her first published book, The
Widespread use of the term 'Breton lai' Personnel of Fairyland: A Short Account of the
should probably be attributed to *Marie de Fairy People of Great Britain for Those who Tell
France, author of lays and fables and St Pat­ Stories to Children (1953), a prelude to her later,
rick's Purgatory. Composing at the court of more comprehensive work in this area, which
Henry II of England sometime between 1160 builds upon the tradition of Thomas *Keight-
and 1199, she wrote in her lay of Equitan that, ley's The Fairy Mythology (1828). The Anatomy
'The Bretons, who lived in Brittany, were fine of Puck: An Examination of Fairy Beliefs among
and noble people. In days gone by these vali­ Shakespeare's Contemporaries and Successors
ant, courtly, and noble men composed lays for (1959) was the first of a trilogy on British fairy
posterity.' She claimed that the lays she 'put folk traditions; Pale Hecate's Team (1962)
into verse' had originally been composed by examined beliefs in witchcraft and magic dur­
Bretons 'to perpetuate the memory of adven­ ing the same period, while The Fairies in Eng­
tures they had heard'. Marie's lays contain nu­ lish Tradition and Literature (1967) traced fairy
merous motifs associated with Celtic fairy lore. traditions forward to modern times. Her defini­
These include a fairy mistress, a white stag that tive A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the
speaks, a strange world of light, and magic po­ English Language, in four volumes, appeared in
tions. 1970—1, followed by a one-volume selection,
Some scholars think that Breton lais may British Folktales (1977). In 1976 she published
have been among the important literary con­ her monumental reference work on varieties of
duits of the Celtic legend and fairy lore in­ British fairy folk, A Dictionary of Fairies (in
cluded in Arthurian romances like those of America, An Encyclopedia of Fairies), with en­
Chrétien de Troyes, probably the originator of tries ranging from Abbey Lubbers to 'Young
the Arthurian romance. Versions of the Breton Tam Lin'. A useful overview of fairy trad­
lai were composed well into the 14th century. itions, The Vanishing People, came out in 1978,
In one well-known example, the Middle Eng­ and Nine Lives: The Folklore of Cats in 1980, the
lish *Sir Orfeo, the King of Fairy carries off Sir year of her death.
Orfeo's queen to the land of the dead. Chaucer Although Briggs wrote only two children's
pays homage to the genre in 'The Franklin's books, both are unique, drawn from the depths
Tale'. Later imitators often used the word 'lay', of her scholarship in British fairy lore. Hob-
as in Sir Walter Scott's 'Lay of the Last Min­ berdy Dick (1955) is told from the point of view
strel', to evoke a medieval mood. JSN of a hobgoblin—the guardian spirit of a coun­
Burges, Glynn S., and Busby, Keith (eds. and try manor—just after the English Civil War.
trans.), The Lais of Marie de France (1986). When a Puritan family from London takes
Hoepffner, Ernst, 'The Breton Lai', in R. S. over the property, Dick must cope with their
Loomis (ed.), Arthurian Literature in the Middle
ignorance of country ways, and intolerance of
Ages (1959).
Maréchal, Chantai, In Quest of Marie de France:
the fairy traditions intertwined with them, be­
A Twelfth Century Poet (1992). fore he can restore Widford Manor to prosper­
ity and happiness. The alien quality of his
'BRIAR ROSE', see 'SLEEPING BEAUTY'. perceptions and ways of thought is wonderful­
ly imagined and totally convincing. Briggs in­
BRIGADOON, see LERNER, ALAN JAY. corporates many folk beliefs and customs into
the story, as well as a variety of supernatural
BRIGGS, KATHARINE (MARY) (1898-1980), Eng­ beings; Dick and his friends are contrasted
lish folklorist, scholar, and children's author. with the evil ghost that haunts the attic and the
Internationally famous for her encyclopaedic coven of witches who kidnap one of the chil­
surveys of British folk tales, fairy traditions, dren. Kate Crackernuts (1963) expands the folk
and fairy folk, K. M. Briggs received her doc­ tale from Joseph *Jacobs's English Fairy Tales
torate from Oxford in 1952. Her dissertation, into a full-length novel, setting the story in
on folklore in 17th-century literature, indicated 17th-century Scotland and reducing the charac­
the direction much of her future work would ters from fairy-tale royalty to a Scottish laird
take, including her two fantasies for chil­ and his family. Briggs treats the supernatural
dren—tracing the connections between litera­ very differently here than in Hobberdy Dick,
ture and folk belief, particularly fairy lore, raising the possibility that the evil spell cast on
during the centuries of transition between the laird's daughter—even Fairyland it­
medieval and modern times. Her special inter­ self—may be more illusory than real. SR
BRIGGS, RAYMOND The giant abandons his vicious-looking club for a game of chess in Briggs's illustration
to a tale by Barbara Leonie Picard, 'How Loki Outwitted a Giant', published in The Hamish Hamilton
Book of Giants (1968).
65 BROWNE, FRANCES

BRIGGS, RAYMOND (REDVERS) ( 1 9 3 4 - ), English not to be found in comics for older adolescents.
illustrator and author-illustrator of picture This is probably because they are frequently
books. The ^Mother Goose Treasury (1966), a regarded as being mainly suitable for young
vigorous modern interpretation, won Briggs children.
the Kate *Greenaway Award. His first original Within most comics there are three main
picture book,///?? and the Beanstalk (1970), rad­ formats. There is the text story which usually
ically and optimistically revised the folk tale; has only one illustration alongside the title;
unlike his predecessor, Jim does not steal the there is the picture story which is made up of a
old giant's possessions, but renews his vitality series of pictures with the narrative beneath
by procuring him a wig, spectacles, and false them; and there is the comic strip which con­
teeth. Father Christmas (1974), Briggs's start- tains brief dialogue in speech bubbles within a
lingly fresh look at a mythical figure, and an­ series of cartoon frames. Fairy tales have usual­
other Greenaway-winner, marked his first use ly occurred in text and picture stories. The car­
of the innovative strip-cartoon format that be­ toon format does not easily lend itself to such
came his stylistic trademark. In the controver­ stories because the number of words used is so
sial Fungus the Bogeyman (1977), Briggs limited. At the present time fairy tales are
postulated the existence of an entire race of mainly confined to picture stories because text
mythical creatures, whose values comment stories all but disappeared from comics with
paradoxically on our own. His most popular the advent of television in the 1950s.
picture book (and an award-winning children's Fairy stories in comics are usually serialized,
film), The Snowman (1979), was based on a and their contents tend to deviate from the ori­
concept familiar in folklore, of a creature made ginal tales in order to sustain a variety of sub­
from snow who comes temporarily to life. A plots. Alternatively, new, original stories are
theme that runs through all these stories, ex­ created. GF
pressed through creatures of fantasy, is that of Gifford, F., The British Comic Catalogue
the outsider, hovering on the fringes of the I874-I974 (1975)-
modern world. Briggs's later picture books,
clearly adult-oriented, became increasingly sa­ BROUMAS, OLGA (1949- ), Greek-born Ameri­
tirical and pessimistic, dealing with such topics can poet. Broumas's first volume, Beginning
as social injustice and nuclear war. SR with O (1977) was a winner in the Yale Series
Martin, Douglas, 'Raymond Briggs', in The of Younger Poets. Openly feminist and les­
Telling Line (1989). bian, her poetry explores both Greek myth and
Moss, Geoff, 'The Film of the Picture Book: European fairy tales, further transforming
Raymond Briggs's The Snowman as Progressive some of Anne *Sexton's Transformations of the
and Regressive Texts', Children's Literature in
most familiar *Grimm tales, from *'Beauty and
Education, 22 (1991).
the Beast' and *'Cinderella' to *'Rumplestilt-
Rahn, Suzanne, 'Beneath the Surface with
Fungus the Bogeyman', in Rediscoveries in skin' and *'Snow White'. In *'Sleeping
Children's Literature (1995). Beauty', for example, the narrator is awakened
by another woman's 'public kiss'; in *'Little
Red Riding Hood', Broumas transforms the
BRITISH AND IRISH FAIRY TALES (see p.66) tale into a return to the mother, evading the
obstetrician/wolf. EWH
BRITISH COMICS were being published as early
as 1874. It is not surprising, therefore, that dur­ BROWNE, FRANCES ( 1 8 1 6 - 7 9 ) , Irish writer. The
ing such a lengthy period a considerable num­ seventh of 12 children of a Donegal village
ber of fairy stories appeared within their pages. postmaster, she lost her sight in infancy, but
Comics in Great Britain, with several excep­ nevertheless all her writing is marked by a
tions, tended to be short-lived, often remaining strong sense of place. She wrote poems, novels,
in print for little more than three years. F. Gif- and a few children's stories, but is only known
ford's catalogue (1975) provides the best record now for Granny's Wonderful Chair (1857), a
to date of their contents, including fairy tales. collection of seven tales in the *Grimm trad­
Comics can be placed in a number of cat­ ition within a frame story about a magical chair
egories according to the age-range for which which can not only travel but also tell fairy
they are intended. Nursery comics have been tales. The book, which was not reprinted in her
the most frequent source of fairy tales. Comics lifetime, was rediscovered by Frances Hodgson
for juveniles and for young adolescent girls *Burnett in 1887 and has remained a children's
have also occasionally included them. They are classic ever since. GA
British a n d Irish fairy tales

1. T H E M E D I E V A L P E R I O D
English fantasy could be said to have its beginning in the
Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, the best-known early
work in English literature, generally dated in the 8th cen­
tury. T h e eponymous hero (his name means Bear) fights
and kills the monster Grendel, and then follows Gren-
del's avenging mother to her underwater lair, killing her
too with the aid of a giant's sword, whose blade melts in
the heat of her blood. A s a king, 50 years later, Beowulf
fights a dragon who, enraged by the theft of a golden
goblet from his treasure hoard, has emerged to devastate
the country. T h e dragon is killed, and Beowulf dies.
J . R . R . *Tolkien had this episode in mind when he de­
scribed the death of the dragon Smaug in The Hobbit.
Marvellous stories have always held a strong appeal, as
shown by the long-enduring popularity of the *Gesta
Romanorum, a collection of tales compiled from many dif­
ferent sources, probably in the late 13th century, and fre­
quently drawn upon by preachers to hold listeners'
attention. In the opening pages of the great 14th-century
poem *Sir Gawain and the Green Knight we are shown
young King Arthur celebrating the N e w Year with his
court, but restless until he has been told the expected
story 'of some perilous incident, of some great wonder'.
Medieval writers often showed the natural and the super­
natural side by side. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Histo-
ria Regum Britanniae ( c . 1 1 3 6 ) presents a mythic history of
the kings of Britain, which begins when Brutus, great-
grandson of Aeneas, collects up survivors of the Trojan
W a r and brings them to England, then uninhabited, 'ex­
cept for a few giants'. Not only does Geoffrey write of
giants and ogres, but also dragons and a sea-monster who
swallows up the wicked King Morvidus, and of Merlin,
who first became well known in England through this
work. Here Merlin is shown as a seer and a prophet, as
well as a dens ex machina, capable of transferring the
stones brought from Africa by giants, from Naas in Ire­
land to Stonehenge. He also brings about the begetting of
K i n g Arthur when he transforms Uther, who desires
Igerna [Igraine], into the likeness of Igerna's husband.
Geoffrey dealt more fully with Merlin in his poem Vita
Mer Uni ( c i 1 5 0 ) .
Sir Thomas Malory assembled his Le Morte d'Arthur
(printed by Caxton in 1 4 8 5 ) from 13th-century French
prose romances which he augmented with English mater-
6 7 BRITISH AND IRISH FAIRY TALES

ial. Repeatedly insisting that the account is historical, he

also introduces magic. The sword Excalibur is delivered
to Arthur by an arm clad in white samite, and the same
arm appears out of the lake to receive it before he dies.
There are spells and magic potions, and enchantresses
among whom is *Morgan le Fay, half-sister of Arthur.
Merlin is a less dominant figure and disappears after the
opening sections of the book. W e see him besotted with
'one of the damosels of the Lady of the Lake that hight
Nenivel'. Rashly he initiates her into the mysteries of
necromancy, and 'ever passing weary of him', she im­
prisons him under a rock.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, one of the most bril­
liant of all medieval poems, a story of how Sir Gawain's
honour and chastity are tempted with the aid of magic,
blends chivalric romance with elements from old tales of
Beheading Games, and also with an apparent vestige of
some nature myth. A huge green man on a green horse
rides into the castle hall at Camelot where Arthur's court
is feasting, and offers his axe to anyone who will meet
him in single combat. Sir Gawain accepts the challenge
and strikes off the green man's head. The following N e w
Year's Day, as agreed, the giant awaits him at his Green
Chapel for the second part of the contest.
The Protestant Roger Ascham ( 1 5 1 5 / 1 6 - 6 8 ) , tutor to
Princess Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey, referred to tales
of chivalry and courtly love with great disgust in The
Scholemaster ( 1 5 7 0 ) as belonging to the papist decadence
of the past when 'fewe bookes were read in our tong,
savyng certaine bookes of Chevalrie . . . as one, for ex­
ample, Morte Arthur'. Even to Chaucer ( c . 1 3 4 3 — 1 4 0 0 ) ,
who began The Canterbury Tales about 1 3 8 7 , much the
same time as the Gawain poet was writing, they seemed in
a past mode. The Wife of Bath talks about fairies as b y ­
gones, belonging to King Arthur's day, 'But now can no
man see none elves mo'. Though there is enchantment in
The Canterbury Tales, such as in the incomplete Squire's
Tale in which a king of Arabia sends magic gifts to the
king of Tartary and his daughter, Chaucer's own inter­
rupted tale of Sir Thopas, who breathlessly gallops
around, encountering the Fairy Queen and a three-head­
ed giant, but accomplishing nothing, is a parody of a met­
rical romance, and the impatient host shouts ' N o more of
this, for goddes dignitee', as Chaucer catalogues 'roman­
ces of prys' such as Horn Childe, Sir Bevis [of Hampton]
and Sir G u y [of Warwick]. These were popular verse ro­
mances of the fairly recent past. In all three, deeds of
BRITISH AND IRISH FAIRY TALES 68

knightly valour mingle with accounts of invincible

swords, magic rings, dragons, and giants. The story of
Huon of Bordeaux, a French romance of the same period,
done into English by Sir John Bourchier, Lord Berners,
and printed by W y n k y n de Worde in 1534, did not have
the same popularity, but is important because in it Obe-
ron, king of the fairies (son of Julius Caesar and Morgan
le F a y ) , makes his first English appearance, a 3-foot being
of 'aungelyke visage'. It was one of the romances con­
temptuously dismissed by Thomas Nashe in The Anato-
mie of Absurditie (1589) as 'worne out impressions of
fayned no where acts'.

2 . T H E B A N I S H M E N T O F T H E FAIRIES
Arthurian legend virtually disappears from English litera­
ture after the medieval period and was used very little by
writers until the 19th century. Though there is an element
of it in The Faerie Queene (1590—6), *Spenser was primar­
ily influenced by Italian epic poetry. There are no native
English fairies in it; the enchanters are allegorical figures,
Archimago representing Hypocrisy, and Duessa—the
daughter of Deceit and Shame—representing Falsehood.
T h e queen herself is of course Elizabeth, and the fact that
Spenser addresses her as ' T h e greatest Glorious Queene
of Faerie lond' is some indication of Elizabethan preoccu­
pation with fairies. T h e y appeared in poems, in plays, in
masques, in practical jokes—as in the one played on Fal-
staff in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and on the credulous
clerk, Dapper, in *Jonson's The Alchemist (1610) by the
two tricksters who tell him he is going to meet the Queen
of the Fairies. Though Jonson regarded his contemporar­
ies' obsession with magic as a national mania, his position
as a writer of court masques obliged him to use it in such
works as The Satyr (also known as The Masque of the
Fairies), presented at Althorpe in 1603 to amuse James I's
queen, and Oberon, the Fairy Prince, given at Whitehall in
1 6 1 1 . Milton's Comus, written for a performance at
Ludlow in 1634, is the richest of all the masques in terms
of poetry, and a most unexpected work for a Puritan.
Comus himself is an imaginary pagan god with magic
powers, who waylays travellers and with his potion
changes their faces 'into some brutish form'. In ' L ' A l ­
legro' Milton names more traditional fairies, including
Faery Mab.
Mercutio's description of Queen Mab in Romeo and
Juliet was to be built upon by Drayton and Herrick and
subsequent poets, who presented her as the queen of fair-
6 9 BRITISH AND IRISH FAIRY TALES

ies and the wife of Oberon, whereas originally queen

meant no more than woman. But the most influential fairy
play of all was A Midsummer Nights Dream. In this
*Shakespeare created a new species of fairy, and in doing
so he brought about the destruction of the fairies of E n g -
lish folklore. Presumably because the play was to cele-
brate a marriage, he softened their image. Before that the
folk view was that they were malevolent spirits, associ-
ated with witchcraft. Puck or pouke was a term applied to
a class of demons; the naïve little devil who visits London
in Jonson's The Devil is an Ass (1616) is called P u g — a n -
other variant of the name. Shakespeare conflated Puck
with Robin Goodfellow, a hobgoblin, an earthy spirit
who did household tasks in return for a saucer of milk,
but also played impish tricks, such as leading travellers
astray, as are described in The Mad Prankes and Merry
Jests of Robin Goodfellow. The first known printing of this
prose story with verse interpolations is in 1626, though
there is evidence that it had appeared at least 40 years
earlier. Robin Goodfellow here is the son of Oberon,
who bestows magic gifts on him, such as the ability to
change his shape 'for to vex both foole and knave'. He is
described as 'famozed in every old wives chronicle for his
mad merrye prankes', like Shakespeare's Puck, but in
capacity for magic he falls far short of the latter.
Nor was he an inhabitant of fairyland, nor a minuscule
being. The fairy of English folklore seems to have been
the size of a small man, and it was Shakespeare's depic-
tion of fairies as diminutive and picturesque, with pretty
garden names, employed in hanging pearls in cowslips'
ears and gathering bats' wings to make elfin coats, that
captured the literary imagination. Poets such as Michael
Drayton ( 1 5 6 3 - 1 6 3 1 ) , Robert Herrick (1591—1674), Mar-
garet, Duchess of Newcastle (1623—72) constructed elab-
orate conceits about fairy revels and banquets,
embellished with details of microscopic clothes and food.
Drayton's Nimphidia (1627) is a mock-heroic poem de-
scribing the efforts of Pigwiggen, a fairy knight, to se-
duce Queen Mab, and the battle that then ensues between
him and Oberon, but it is the descriptions of the fairy
palace, costume, chariots, and armour that are the poet's
chief concern. Herrick's fairy poems in Hesperides (1648)
used the same sort of detail. All this was of course for a
limited readership. The poor man's Pigwiggen was T o m
Thumb, a legendary character included—along with
elves and hobgoblins and such—by Reginald Scot in his
Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) as an object of popular
BRITISH AND IRISH FAIRY TALES 70

superstition. His history was set down by ' R . J . ' , probably

Richard Johnson (1573—? 1659) in The History of Tom
Thumbe, the Little. Though it may well have appeared
earlier, the earliest known copy is dated 1621. Merlin
(here described as 'a conjurer, an inchanter, a charmer
[who] consorts with Elves and Fayries') promises a child­
less elderly couple a thumb-sized child. The child is de­
livered by the 'midnights Midwife, the Queene of
Fayries' and 'in less than foure minutes [grows] to be a
little man'. In episodes later bowdlerized he is eaten by
his mother's cow, and snatched up by a raven and a giant;
his godmother the fairy queen bestows magical gifts on
him, and he becomes a valued member of King Arthur's
court.
T i t t l e T o m Thumb was a fairy tale singled out for
particular execration by Puritan preachers, who regarded
all works of imagination as lies and therefore damnably
w i c k e d — a n attitude that persisted longer in America
than it did in England. John Bunyan in Sighs from Hell: or
The Groans of a Damned Soul (1658) lamented his youth­
ful addiction to romances which drove him away from
more profitable reading: 'Thought I . . . give me a Ballad,
a News book, George on Horseback, or Bevis of South­
ampton . . .' George on Horseback is St George, one of
Richard Johnson's Seven Champions of Christendom, a
long romance published in two parts in 1596 and 1597, in
which St George is instructed in magic arts by an en­
chantress who steals him in infancy. Like the tale of
Bevis, The Seven Champions (albeit drastically shortened)
remained popular reading for centuries, and The Pilgrim s
Progress (1678) owes much to both of them. Not many in
the 17th century spoke up for such stories. The convivial
Richard Corbet (1582—1635), Bishop of Oxford and then
of Norwich, and fiercely opposed to Puritanism, was one
notable exception. His poem, 'Farewell, Rewards and
Fairies', quoted by Kipling's Puck, lamented that Pur­
itans had banished fairies, and 'now, alas, they all are
dead; | Or gone beyond the seas'.
Fairies did not flourish in the utilitarian and sceptical
18th century. So far as children were concerned, the old
romantic tales of magic were held to belong to the ignor­
ant and credulous, and conscientious parents wished their
young to be well-informed, rational beings. That arbiter
of correct behaviour, Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth
Earl of Chesterfield (1694—1773) in one of his letters to
his (natural) son, then aged 8, was contemptuous about
the old-style romances, 'stuft with enchantments, magi-
7i BRITISH AND IRISH FAIRY TALES

cians, giants'. And when Sarah *Fielding introduced a

d'Aulnoy-style fairy story into The Governess (1749) it
was with warnings that 'Giants, Magic, Fairies, and all
sorts of supernatural Assistances in a Story' should only
be used to point a moral. A few *d'Aulnoy stories were
translated in 1699, and more in 1707 and 1 7 1 6 , and a
translation of *Perrault's Histoires ou contes du temps passé
appeared in 1729, but for the most part fairies seemed a
forgotten species, so that in 1744 when a mother, Jane
Johnson, was writing a story for her small children, she
used 'pretty little angels' in their place to dole out treats
to the good characters. (The manuscript of this story, the
earliest known juvenile fairy tale, is in the Bodleian L i ­
brary, Oxford.)
Oriental magic took over in such 18th-century English
fantasy writing as there was. A 'Grub-street' English ver­
sion of *Galland's translation of The ^Arabian Nights was
being published in London from about 1704 and made far
more impact on the literary imagination than the French
fairy tales. Writers began to produce tales set in exotic
eastern locations, with enchantments, genii, and magical
objects such as rings and talismans. William Beckford's
Vathek (1786), written in French when the author was
only 2 1 , is the most extravagant of these. T h e Caliph
Vathek, whose mother is a sorceress, lured on by lust for
even greater power and magnificence than he already
possesses, becomes a servant of the Devil. Despite the
author's hedonism and seeming pleasure in cruelty, there
is an ostensible moral: the worthlessness of riches and the
fearful end of tyrants. Indeed a concluding moral reflec­
tion was a feature of the oriental tale, though some
writers laboured the point more than others as, for in­
4
stance, James Ridley in Tales of the Genii (1764), a book
read by the young Charles *Dickens, who was terrified
by the diminutive old hag in 'The History of the Mer­
chant Abudah'. Few oriental tales were designed for chil­
dren. Horace Walpole's ' T h e Dice-Box', one of his
Hieroglyphic Tales written between 1766 and 1 7 7 2 , is a
rare exception, written for the small niece of a friend. T h e
heroine of this brief and crudely comic extravaganza,
wholly without a moral, is the 9-year-old Pissimissi from
Damascus, who travels in a pistachio-nut stuffed with
toys and sugarplums and drawn by an elephant and a
ladybird.

3. T H E R E T U R N O F T H E F A I R I E S
By the end of the century there was a marked change;
BRITISH AND IRISH FAIRY TALES 72

from the 1780s the supernatural became fashionable. Rey­

nolds's painting of Shakespeare's Puck as an impish,
satyr-like child (1789) was much admired. It had been
commissioned by Alderman John Boydell for his Shakes­
peare gallery, to which leading artists of the time contrib­
uted, including *Fuseli, whose Midsummer Night s Dream
paintings show an erotic dreamworld into which he intro­
duced such folklore beings as night-hags and change­
lings, while Puck appears as a huge elemental figure in his
painting of the fairy Cobweb (1785—6). Blake, though he
stood outside all fashion, also used folklore fairies in an
illustration for Milton's ' L ' A l l e g r o ' in 1816. Walter Scott
was a literary pioneer. His Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border
(1801—2) includes an essay 'The Fairies of Popular
Superstition', and among the ballads is the legend of
Thomas the Rhymer, who followed the Queen of Elfland
to her country and never came back. (Keats uses the same
theme of a mortal ensnared by an elfin woman in ' L a
Belle Dame sans Merci' (1819), and Mrs *Craik and
Andrew *Lang both built stories on it.) Christina *Ros-
setti's poem Goblin Market (1862), more dark and sinister
than any of these, describes goblins trying to seduce two
sisters with forbidden fruit. Scott's first important origin­
al work, The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), is based on a
Border legend about a goblin, and The Lady of the Lake
(1810) includes a fairy ballad, 'Alice Brand'. In his novel
The Monastery (1820), set in Elizabethan times, there is a
sylph, the White Lady of Avenelf, who acts as deus ex
machina. He also started a revival of interest in Arthurian
legend; there are many extracts from Malory in footnotes
to Marmion (1808). Scott was responsible for encouraging
James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, in a literary career.
Hogg's 'Kilmeny', the 13th tale in The Queens Wake
( 1 8 1 3 ) , where a girl walks into ' A land of love and a land
of light, I Withouten sun, or moon, or night' which she
cannot bear to leave, is one of the most haunting poems
about fairy enchantment.
Important work was also done by the Irishman T h o ­
mas Crofton *Croker, whose Fairy Legends and Trad­
itions in the South of Ireland (1825—8) Scott knew, and by
Thomas *Keightley, another Irishman, whose Fairy
Mythology (1828) covers an astonishing range of Euro­
pean legends, and includes a section on English fairies, a
subject that had received little attention before. Material
from it was frequently used by subsequent writers,
including Archibald Maclaren, who drew on Scott's Bor­
der Minstrelsy as well for his The Fairy Family: Ballads
73 BRITISH AND IRISH FAIRY TALES

and Metrical Tales of the Fairy Faith of Europe (1857).

The *Grimm brothers' ^Kinder- und Hausmarchen were
translated by Edgar *Taylor under the title German Popu­
lar Stories (1823), with illustrations by George *Cruik-
shank (which *Ruskin remembered copying when he was
a boy), and translations of Hans Christian *Andersen
appeared in 1846. T h e y were enthusiastically received.
Early Victorians, seeking an escape from the ugliness of
industrial society, turned to chivalric ideals and fairy
mythology, which seemed to belong to a lost innocent
world. T e n n y s o n ' s 'Morte d'Arthur' was published in
1842, to be gradually followed over many years by the
other 11 poems which make up Idylls of the King. Unex­
pected artists responded to the fashion for fairy pictures;
Landseer painted Titania with Bottom, and J . M. W.
Turner Queen Mab s Cave. John Anster Fitzgerald (the
most obsessive fairy painter of all), Daniel Maclise,
Joseph Noël *Paton, and Richard *Dadd were among
those who depicted fairy worlds with minute realism and
sometimes erotic detail, often on huge canvases. C . L .
Dodgson (Lewis *Carroll) counted 165 fairies in Paton's
The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania (A Midsummer Night s
Dream was a favourite subject), but there are over 200 in
Richard *Doyle's watercolour The Fairy Tree. In Fairy­
land (1870), with 36 of his illustrations for which the Irish
poet William Allingham wrote the verse, was the most
lavish fairy picture book of the period.
The theatre of the time was an important influence on
many artists, notably on D o y l e and Fitzgerald. Stage pro­
ductions were spectacular, using elaborate stage machin­
ery and lighting, and there was a memorable production
by Charles Kean of A Midsummer Night s Dream in 1856,
and one of The Tempest the following year where Ariel
sailed on a dolphin's back and rode on a bat, and Pros-
pero's freed spirits flew through the air. Pantomimes
were particularly rich in fairies; Richard Henry H o m e in
Memoirs of a London Doll (1846) gives a chapter to one
performed at Drury Lane, with a long description of the
transformation scene and its frost fairies.
Literary fantasy, especially where children were con­
cerned, was more purposeful. The first full-length juven­
ile fairy story was Francis *Paget's The Hope of the
Kat^ekops (1844), a vivacious comedy which becomes ser­
ious in the final pages. The prince who is the Katzekopf
hope is reformed by fairy means, as Scrooge is by the
ghosts of Christmases past, present, and future in Dick­
ens's The Christmas Carol (1843), and variations on this
BRITISH AND IRISH FAIRY TALES 74

theme played a large part in Victorian fantasy. It could

involve savagely unpleasant punishment, as in Christina
Rossetti's Speaking Likenesses (1874), or in Lucy Lane
*Clifford's ' T h e N e w Mother' (1882), where two naughty
children are abandoned by their mother and her place is
taken by one with glass eyes and a wooden tail. Other
improving fairy tales ranged from simplistic stories, such
as those by Mary Louisa *Molesworth, about children
who are cured of faults by encounters with magic, to the
complex symbolism of George *MacDonald. Nearly all
his fantasies, for both adults and children, describe a
quest for spirituality, but the meaning is left for readers to
infer—MacDonald always denied that he wrote allegory.
In Phantastes (1858) the hero's name, Anodos, Greek for
'a spiritual ascent', is a clue to what follows.
Both this and Lilith (1895), his last work, describe
strange encounters, often full of sexual imagery, as the
central characters wander in a dream world. Neither was
popular in MacDonald's lifetime, the Athenaeum saying
of the first that it read as if the author had supped 'too
plentifully on German romance, negative philosophy,
and Shelley's "Alastor"'. His greatest work lies in the
simpler fantasies for children. Charles *Kingsley's The
Water-Babies (1863), though didactic on many fronts, im­
parting lessons in moral improvement and natural history
as well as asides on topics dear to the author, was also
highly original, written with an infectious verve that car­
ries the reader through the book's chaotic organization.
Lewis Carroll's Alice books of 1865 and 1871 have
often been cited as a watershed in the history of children's
books; F . J . Harvey Darton referred to the first as a spir­
itual volcano. It is a mark of their originality that not only
do they have no moral, but they owe nothing to any fan­
tasy that preceded them, establishing their own species of
nonsense which, once Carroll had shown the way, was
palely imitated by many other authors. His attempt at
conventional fairies in Sylvie and Bruno (1889—93) is best
forgotten.
Victorian writers for children tended to draw on Ger­
man and French sources rather than on native tradition.
Frances *Browne and John *Ruskin both wrote stories
which owe much to the Grimms. Hans Christian Ander­
sen's bitter-sweet melancholy was often imitated; Oscar
*Wilde's ' T h e Happy Prince' (described by John Gold-
thwaite as 'quasi-religious bathos') is the best-known of
these pastiches. George MacDonald was influenced by
German romantic writers such as *Novalis and E . T . A .
75 BRITISH AND IRISH FAIRY TALES

*Hoffmann, and echoes of the latter can be found in Mary

*De Morgan. The background of Perrault fairy stories
was used in burlesque accounts of court life such as in
T h a c k e r a y ' s The Rose and the Ring (1855) and in
Andrew T a n g ' s chronicles of Pantouflia, beginning with
Prince Prigio (1889), a hero whose ancestors included
Cinderella, the Marquis de Carabas, and the Sleeping
Princess. Juliana Horatia *Ewing's Lob Lie-by-the-Fire
o n e t n e e w
(1873) is °f f stories to draw on English folk­
lore. There are some English tales in Andrew Lang's
Fairy Books (1889—1910), but Joseph *Jacobs was the first
to give them serious attention, in two volumes of 1890
and 1893. Neil Philip in The Penguin Book of English
Folktales (1992) summarizes the work done by English
collectors.
The Scots and Irish had always shown far more inter­
est than the English in their folklore and native tales. For
his Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888), W i l ­
liam Butler *Yeats drew on material from many collectors
of the past such as Croker and Patrick *Kennedy, and
expressed particular admiration for 'the pathos and ten­
derness' of Lady (Jane Francesca) Wilde's Ancient Le­
gends of Ireland (1887). He also included fairy poems by
William Allingham, and more robust material from W i l ­
liam Carleton, author of Tales of Ireland (1834). Yeats
was unusual among literary fantasists in that he actually
claimed to believe in the superstitions he described. But
he was a born syncretist, equally interested in Irish tales
and oriental magic, and did not mind how incompatible
his ideas were if they appealed to the imagination and
helped inspire creative work. Lord *Dunsany, though as­
sociated with the Irish Revival, drew little on Celtic trad­
ition, more on invented mythology of his own, in his
mistily romantic fairy tales. Padraic *Colum, the only
Irish Revival writer who was peasant-born and country-
bred, used an Irish background and traditional tales in his
children's books, and w o v e several legends into a single
narrative in The King of Ireland's Son (1916).

4. T H E 2 0 T H - C E N T U R Y R E V I V A L
The turn of the century saw another English eruption of
enthusiasm for fairies, perhaps prompted by reaction
against liberal progressive late Victorian culture. On 27
December 1904 an audience of adults at a London theatre ^^ë^SÉM
responded to Peter Pan's appeal by enthusiastically as­
senting that yes, they did believe in fairies. *Barrie had
been much impressed by Seymour Hicks's Bluebell in
BRITISH AND IRISH FAIRY TALES 76

Fairyland ( 1 9 0 1 ) , and determined to write a children's

play of his own. *Peter Pan is an amalgam of magic, nos­
talgia, and his own complex psychological problems, but
Barrie wrote other plays using more traditional elements.
In Dear Brutus (1917) an elfin host, L o b , sends his guests
into an enchanted wood to seek the second chance all of
them desire; Mary Rose (1920) draws on the Scottish le­
gend where a mortal can vanish for a lifetime and re­
appear no older, and not knowing what has passed. Peter
Pan is still an annual Christmas event in London; its rival
in popularity, Where the Rainbow Ends ( 1 9 1 1 ) by Clifford
Mills and 'John Ramsey' (Reginald Owen) with music by
Roger Quilter, a heady mixture of jingoism and magic,
with St George as presiding genius, did not long survive
World W a r I I . The Peter Pan chapters of The Little
White Bird (1902), where Barrie represents London's
Kensington Gardens as inhabited by fairies who emerge
after lock-up time, were reissued as Peter Pan in Kensing­
ton Gardens (1906), and illustrated by Arthur *Rackham,
the most distinguished fantasy artist of his generation.
In her children's books E . *Nesbit avoided sentimen­
tality, combining her fantasy with humour, and magic is
mostly used to show how not to use it. The Story of the
Amulet (1906) is probably the first children's book with
time travel, later to become very popular. It was used by
Alison Uttley in A Traveller in Time (1939) and Philippa
Pearce in Tom's Midnight Garden (1958), one of the best
examples of the genre. The magic worked by *Kipling's
Puck in Puck of Pook's Hill (1906) and Rewards and Fair­
ies (1910) summons up the past for two children. Puck
here is the Robin Goodfellow of tradition, as ancient as
the land itself. Walter *de la Mare, though he wrote of
fairies in his verse and used them more obliquely in his
short stories, stands apart from any literary movement.
The Three Mulla-Mulgars (1910) is an account of a spirit­
ual quest, and perhaps this is at the root of his writing,
which so often has death as its theme. Eleanor *Farjeon
was an admirer of de la Mare, but her whimsically fanci­
ful tales fall far short of his.
In general, fairies before World War II were of the
gauzy, winged little buzzfly sort that Kipling's Puck had
derided. Appetite for them seemed insatiable; they ap­
peared in verse, illustrations, comic strips, advertise­
ments; 'Practically every author begins his or her career
by writing a fairy tale', stated a 1934 guide. B y the 1940s
the preoccupation had dwindled, though there are late
instances. The title story in Naomi *Mitchison's Five Men
77 BRITISH AND IRISH FAIRY TALES.

and a Swan (1957), is about a West Highland trawler

skipper who chances on a swan maiden, while the stories
in Sylvia Townsend *Warner's The Cat's Cradle Book
(i960) and Kingdoms of Elfin (1977) build ingeniously on
fairy literature of the past.
The most compelling and elaborately constructed fan­
tasy world must be that of J . R . R . ""Tolkien, who had
been brooding over the landscape, people, history, and
legends of Middle-Earth, and formulating its language,
for over 20 years before he wrote The Hohhit (1937), to
which The Lord of the Rings, taking nearly 20 more years
to complete, was started as a sequel. (It is perhaps not
surprising that he disliked his friend C . S. *Lewis's very
different Narnia fantasies (1950—6), written at great
speed, using—not a coherent mythology, but any elem­
ents that caught the author's fancy.) Other writers have
since tried their hand at creating imaginary worlds; Peter
Carey's The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith (1994) is one
of the more inventive. T . H. ^White's The Sword in the
Stone (1938) is a witty story about the boyhood of Arthur,
later adapted to form the first part of The Once and Future
King (1958); its touches of satire raise it above the level of
ordinary comic fantasy.
Alan *Garner began a new style of fantasy for children
(albeit with echoes of Tolkien) with The Weirdstone of
Brisingamen (i960) and its successors, weaving myth with
characters from the past and the present. The Owl Service
(1967) and Red Shift (1973), though far more complex
and sophisticated, develop the same theme. Richard
*Adams's Watership Down (1972), where rabbits set out
on an epic journey to found a new colony, became some­
thing of a cult, and there were many imitations. Mary
Norton's five books about the Borrowers (1953—82),
three Lilliputian people, the last of their kind, is a more
poignant treatment of the same sort of quest for safety
and permanence. Angela *Carter in The Bloody Chamber
and Other Stories (1979) created new adult interest in fairy
tales by reworking traditional stories and infusing them
with dark and often erotic comedy. A . S. *Byatt built Pos­
session (1990) round the character of a Victorian poetess
obsessed with the legend of the French snake-fairy,
Mélusine; the novel includes accomplished pastiches of
fairy tales of the period. GA

Darton, F. J . Harvey, Children's Books in England ( i 9 6 0 ; 3rd edn., 1982).

Girouard, Mark, The Return to Camelot (1981).
Goldthwaite, John, The Natural History of Make-Be lieve (1996).
Latham, Minor White, The Elizabethan Fairies (1930).
Martineau, Jane (ed.), Victorian Fairy Painting (1997).
BRUNA, D I C K 78

Filmer, Kath, 'Happy Endings in Hard Times face for the book jacket. In the interior illustra­
and Granny's Wonderful Chair, in The Victorian tions, she incorporated herbs and symbols as­
Fantasists: Essays on Culture, Society, and Belief sociated with witchcraft. Bats fly against the
in the Mythopoeic Fiction of the Victorian Age
moon, a spider spins a web, and a mushroom
(1991).
lies on the table. While one of the wicked step­
BRUNA, DICK ( 1 9 2 7 - ), Dutch writer and illus­ mother's hands holds the apple, evidently poi­
trator of children's picture books. In the 1950s soned with the paraphernalia including mortar
and 1960s Bruna wrote a series of books about and pestle on the table, the other is positioned
the adventures of Miffy ('Nijntje' in Dutch) the to indicate evil intent. While all her books pre­
rabbit, and another series about Snuffy (or sent characters as though on a stage, the most
'Snuffie') the dog. In 1966 the Follett Publish­ notable book is Valentine & Orson (1989). She
ing Company of Chicago issued several retell­ devised a unique way of presenting the story so
ings of fairy tales by Bruna: Dick Bruna's children could better understand. Characters
Cinderella, Dick Bruna's Little Red Riding wear period costumes, and the story is re-cre­
Hood, Dick Bruna's Snow- White and the Seven ated as a folk play in verse and paintings. Sep­
Dwarfs, and Dick Bruna's Tom Thumb. AD arated at birth, the twin brothers are raised by a
king and by a bear respectively. Their meeting
BRUST, STEVEN ( 1 9 5 5 - ), American writer of as costumed characters in a play is poignantly
Hungarian descent known for swashbuckling placed mid-page front and centre, lending the
novels in the spirit of Alexander Dumas. Brust tale an exquisite dramatic quality. KH
retells a Hungarian fairy tale in The Sun, the
Moon and the Stars (1987), alternating a lively BURLESQUE FAIRY-TALE FILMS, sometimes framed
traditional tale of three Gypsy brothers on a as dreams and often used as vehicles for stars,
magical quest with a contemporary story con­ or topical satire, or both. Ali Baba Goes to Town
cerning a studio of painters in Minneapolis. (USA, 1937) chose the Middle East as a setting
Brust returns to themes from Hungarian for political quips about Roosevelt's New
Gypsy lore in his dark urban fantasy novel The Deal. In it Al Babson (Eddie Cantor) dreams
Gypsy (1992), co-written with Megan Lind- himself into Baghdad where, finding the people
holm. A C D of related songs by Brust, also fed up with the Sultan, he suggests Roosevelt's
titled The Gypsy, was released by the folk-rock policies as a cure for the country's economic
band Boiled in Lead (1992). TW ills. Believing Al to be the son of *Ali Baba, the
Sultan agrees to the proposal, and abdicates in
BURGESS, GELETT (1866-1951), American poet
order to be able to run for the presidency.
and illustrator, who achieved fame with his
However, Al himself unintentionally becomes
nonsense verse for children. In 1900 he pub­
the people's favourite and is elected. Faced by a
lished Goops and How to Be Them, tongue-in-
challenger preparing to use force against him,
cheek stories that poked fun at bad manners
Al abandons the New Deal and wins the day
and warned children what would happen to
with the help of a much older policy—a magic
them if they became like Goops. These figures,
flying carpet.
rubber-like ghosts with oversized heads, were
also depicted in The Burgess Nonsense Book In the same year, *Disney's *Snow White and
( 1901), a collection of his verse, strongly influ­ the Seven Dwarfs was such a success that it
enced by Lewis *Carroll and Edward Lear. prompted numerous parodies. One was Ball of
Burgess also published The Lively City O'Ligg Fire (USA, 1942) which starred recent Oscar-
(1899) with such droll fairy tales as 'The House winner Gary Cooper and transposed the story
who Walked in her Sleep' and 'The Terrible to a city. The opening titles set the tone: 'Once
Train', which depicted animated objects as upon a time, in 1941 to be exact, there lived in a
protagonists whose fantastic and bizarre rela­ great tall forest—called New York—eight
tions reflected a world turned upside down. J Z men who were writing an encyclopaedia.'
These scholars are chastely and single-mind-
BURKERT, NANCY EKHOLM ( 1 9 3 3 - ) , American edly devoted to their academic labours until, in
author and illustrator, known for her elegant a quest to record demotic vocabulary, their
art and careful research in preparing her books. leader, Professor Potts, goes out into the
Her two illustrated * Andersen fairy tales, The streets and brings back Sugarpuss O'Shea, a
Nightingale (1965) and The Fir Tree (1970), are nightclub singer with underworld connections.
remarkable for their period settings. For the Her uninhibited speech and behaviour cause
*Grimms' *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs the seven to fall at her feet immediately, but
(1972), Burkert drew a full-size teenage girl's Potts holds out for a while before succumbing
79 BURTON, RICHARD

to the thrill of being kissed. Soon Sugarpuss's *Rossetti, Burne-Jones belonged to the second
criminal associates want her back, and brain Pre-Raphaelite generation. Idealized figures in
has to battle against brawn—with no help dreamlike settings and a strong sense of rhyth­
from magic—before Potts and Sugarpuss can mic form characterize his work. His numerous
be happy together. Ball of Fire is basically a subjects from classical myth and medieval lit­
romantic comedy; it does not depend upon erature include the stories of Pygmalion, Per­
'Snow White', but it gets some fun out of the seus, and Cupid and Psyche (see A P U L E I U S ) , 'St
intermittent parallels. George and the Dragon', 'Merlin and Vivien',
A decade later *Jack and the Beanstalk ""Morgan le Fay', 'The Sleep of King Arthur in
(USA, 1952) was a stopover for fast-moving Avalon', and a magnificent series illustrating
comic duo Abbott and Costello during a series the fairy tale 'Briar Rose' (see ' S L E E P I N G
of films in which they toured the uni­ BEAUTY'). SR
verse—Mars, Hollywood, the Foreign Le­
gion—and met a host of famous BURNETT, FRANCES (ELIZA) HODGSON
people—Jekyll and Hyde, Frankenstein, the (1849—1924), Anglo-American novelist and
Invisible Man. In the black-and-white opening children's writer. Burnett published a number
sequence Jack and his friend Dinkelpuss work of undistinguished fairy tales, such as Queen
as babysitters. Reading a bedtime story to his Silver-Bell (1906), and these have been de­
charge, Jack falls asleep and dreams, in colour, servedly forgotten. An interesting exception is
that he is in it, and has accepted five beans from 'Behind the White Brick' (1879), a
take-off
the butcher—Dinkelpuss—in exchange for a from the *Alice books, in which Jemima's
cow. The beans grow tall overnight, and at the anger at her aunt is exorcized by her dream-
top of the beanstalk Jack finds a hen that lays visit to the nest of secret rooms hidden inside
golden eggs. This factor lures the avaricious the chimney. Burnett uses fairy-tale elements
Dinkelpuss up as well. They rescue the prince most effectively, however, in her 'realistic'
and princess and defeat the giant before Jack's stories—particularly in A Little Princess
moment of glory is shattered by an abrupt (1905), one of the best *Cinderella stories ever
black-and-white awakening. The screenplay written for children. SR
was customized to suit the two stars' proven
abilities, and they gave it their standard treat­ BURTON, RICHARD ( 1 8 2 1 - 9 0 ) , British scholar,
ment—lots of cross-talk and buffoonery—be­ translator, and explorer, famous for his ten-
fore moving on to Alaska. volume translation The Book of the Thousand
Disney/*Grimm came in for attention again Nights and a Night: A Plain and Literal Transla­
when one new star and three old ones needed a tion of The ^Arabian Nights Entertainment
framework. Snow White and the Three Stooges (1885—6). Burton was educated in France and
(USA, 1961) brought Swiss world champion Italy during his youth. By the time he enrolled
figure-skater Carol Heiss into CinemaScopic at Trinity College, Oxford, in 1840, he could
contact with Larry Fine, Moe Howard, and Joe speak French and Italian fluently along with
de Rita, two of whom had been in films to­ the Béarnais and Neapolitan dialects, and he
gether since the 1930s. Spared by the queen's had an excellent command of Greek and Latin.
assassin, Snow White meets three wandering In fact, he had such an extraordinary gift as
clowns and their young assistant, who turns linguist that he eventually learned 25 other lan­
out to be her childhood betrothed, Prince guages and 15 dialects. Expelled from Oxford
Charming. The prince rallies the people in 1842, Burton followed in his father's foot­
against the queen and rescues Snow White steps; he enlisted in the British army and served
from the effects of the poisoned apple. Heiss eight years in India as a subaltern officer. Dur­
gets opportunities to exhibit her ice-skating ing his time there, he learned Arabic, Hindi,
prowess, and to sing a little; the Stooges throw Marathi, Sindhi, Punjabi, Tengu, Pashto, and
pies and engage in their customary violent Miltani; this enabled him to carry out some im­
knockabout routines. Heiss gave up film-mak­ portant intelligence assignments, but he was
ing after this, but the Three Stooges went on to eventually forced to resign from the army be­
meet Hercules. TAS cause some of his espionage work became too
controversial. After a brief respite (1850-2)
BURNE-JONES, EDWARD COLEY (1833-98), Eng­ with his mother in Boulogne, France, during
lish painter, illustrator, and designer of stained which time he published four books on India,
glass and tapestries. A disciple, with his life­ Burton explored the Nile Valley and was the
long friend William *Morris, of Dante Gabriel first Westerner to visit forbidden Muslim cities
B U S C H , WILHELM 80

and shrines. In 1855 he participated in the *Scheherazade and was more competent in
Crimean War, then explored the Nile again translating the verse. Moreover, he was more
(1857-8), and took a trip to Salt Lake City, insistent on emphasizing the erotic and bawdy
Utah (i860). In 1861, after Burton's marriage aspects of the Nights. As he remarked in his
to Isabel Arundell, he accepted a position as Introduction, his object was 'to show what The
consul in Fernando Po, a Spanish island off the Thousand Nights and a Night really is. Not,
coast of West Africa, until 1864. Thereafter, he however, for reasons to be more fully stated in
was British consul in Santos, Brazil (1864—8), the Terminal Essay, by straining verbum red-
Damascus, Syria (1868-71), and finally dere verbo, but by writing as the Arab would
Trieste, Italy, until his death in 1890. have written in English.' The result was a
Wherever he went, Burton wrote informa­ quaint, if not bizarre and somewhat stilted,
tive anthropological and ethnological studies English that makes for difficult reading today
such as Sindh, and the Races that Inhabit the but remains as a classic of its own kind in the
Valley of the Indus (18 51) and Pilgrimage to El- reception of the Nights in the Western world.
Z
Medinah and Mecca (1855-6), composed his J
own poetry such as The Kasidah (1880), trans­ Brodie, Fawn M., The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir
lated unusual works of erotica such as Kama Richard Burton (1967).
Sutra of Vatsyayana (1883), and significant col­ Eckley, Grace, 'The Entertaining Nights of
Burton, Stead, and Joyce's Earwicker'', Journal of
lections of fairy tales such as Giambattista
Modern Literature, 13 (1986).
*Basile's The *Pentamerone (1893). Altogether
Ferris, Paul, Richard Burton (1981).
he published 43 volumes about his explorations McLynn, F. J . , Burton: Snow upon the Desert
and travels, over 100 articles, and 30 volumes (1990).
of translations. Rosenthal, Melinda M., 'Burton's Literary
Burton's Nights is generally recognized as Uroburos: The Arabian Nights as Self-Reflexive
one of the finest unexpurgated translations of Narrative', Pacific Coast Philology, 25 (1990).
William Hay Macnaghten's 'Calcutta II' edi­
tion of 1839-42 (see A R A B I A N N I G H T S ) . The BUSCH, WILHELM (1832-1908), German writer,
fact is, however, that Burton plagiarized a good painter, and poet, who is internationally fam­
deal of his translation from John Payne's The ous for his Max and Moriti (1865) illustrated
Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night stories in verse that served as a model for the
(1882—4) so that he could publish his book American comic strip 'The Katzenjammer
quickly and acquire the private subscribers to Kids', which originated in 1897. Busch created
Payne's edition. Payne (1842-1916), a remark­ other books for children that depicted their
able translator and scholar of independent comic antics and can be considered forerunners
means, had printed only 500 copies of his ex­ to the 20th-century cartoon. Early in his car­
t o I
cellent unexpurgated edition, for he had not eer, from 1859 ^ 7 i , he participated in creat­
expected much of a demand for the expensive ing many of the humorous broadsheets for the
nine-volume set. However, there were 1,000 Milnchner Bilderbogen. One of his earliest, not
more subscribers who wanted his work, and included in the Munchner Bilderbogen, was a
since he was indifferent with regard to publish­ farcical portrayal of *'Hansel and Gretel',
ing a second edition, Burton received Payne's printed in Bilderpossen (Farcical Pictures, 1864).
permission to offer his 'new' translation to Given his sceptical if not pessimistic outlook
these subscribers about a year after Payne's on life, in part due to the influence of Schopen­
work had appeared. Moreover, Burton profited hauer, Busch was not drawn to the optimistic
a great deal from Payne's spadework (appar­ fairy tale, unless he could sarcastically criticize
ently with Payne's knowledge). This is not to it and re-design it to make some biting social
say that Burton's translation (which has copi­ commentary. His best work along these lines
ous anthropological notes and an important was his illustrated book Sechs Geschichten fiir
'Terminal Essay') should not be considered his Neffen und Nichten (Six Stories for Nephews and
work. He did most of the translation by him­ Nieces, 1881). These hilarious tales, told in
self, and only towards the end of his ten vol­ verse, with simple coloured ink drawings, turn
umes did he apparently plagiarize, probably the traditional tales upside down. An example
without even realizing what he was doing. In is 'Die beiden Schwestern' ('The Two Sis­
contrast to Payne, Burton was more meticulous ters'), which is a parody of both 'The *Frog
in respecting word order and the exact phras­ King' and 'Mother *Holle' in which Busch por­
ing of the original; he included the division trays the sisters the industrious Kàtchen and
into nights with the constant intervention of the vain Adelheid. One day Kâtchen goes into
8i B Y E B Y E R E D RIDING H O O D

the woods and meets a frog who cries out, 'Pity vant. Both of these tales were subsequently re­
me and give me a kiss.' In fact, she gives him printed as the first two items in a collection of
three kisses, and he turns into a prince, reward­ five fairy stories by Byatt, The Djinn in the
ing her with wealth and marriage. Then Adel- Nightingale's Eye (1995). Her awareness of
heid goes dressed to kill into the woods and generic conventions, together with her adop­
meets a prince playing a harp next to a pond. tion of a characteristically enriched fairy-tale
When he asks for a kiss, she consents, but he idiom, is evident in 'The Story of the Eldest
turns into a water imp and drags her into the Princess', which tells of a young heroine whose
pond, where she must spend her life serving perspicacity enables her to succeed against the
him. The tongue-in-cheek ending is typical of grain of fairy-tale expectation. The title story
most Busch stories that, similar to Heinrich of the collection is a novella set in 1991, involv­
*Hoffmann's Struwwelpeter, take delight in pro­ ing the punningly named Gillian Perholt, a 55-
vocative cruel punishments. JZ year-old narratologist who comes face-to-face
Bohne, F., Wilhelm Busch (1958). with a Djinn while attending a conference in
Ehrlich, J . , Wilhelm Busch, der Pessimist (1962). Ankara devoted to 'Stories of Women's Lives'.
Drawing heavily on The ^Arabian Nights, Byatt
BUZZATI, DlNO (1906-72), Italian writer, play­ spins a narrative web around the themes of
wright, poet, painter, and journalist. Symbolic plotting, powerlessness, and fate in the folk
surrealism and the fantastic are the distinctive tale, and the meeting of cultures via storytell­
traits of Buzzati's writing, from his first work ing. Its length and interweaving of motifs sug­
Bernabo délie montagne (Bernabo of the Moun­ gests parallels with the extended salon fairy
tains, 1933), to his best novel II deserto dei tar- tales of Mme d'*Aulnoy and Mme Teprince de
tari (The Tartar Steppe, 1990), to his countless Beaumont; indeed, Byatt herself translated
amusing and moving tales which reveal the Mme d'Aulnoy's 'Le Serpentin vert' ('The
often absurd or banal sources of anguish, fear, Great Green Worm') for Marina *Warner's
doubt, and wickedness. His most popular collection of Wonder Tales (1994).
works include 77 colombre (1966), Le notti diffi- Employing the same technique as Posses­
cili (Restless Nights: Selected Stories of Dino sion—allowing narrator and tale to resonate
Bunati, 1971), and Idispiaceri del re (The King's within the context of the work as a
Regrets, 1982). Lafamosa invasione degli or si in whole—Byatt's novella 'Morpho Eugenia'
Sicilia (The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily, (1992) includes the embedded fairy tale
1945) is a tale for young readers. MNP 'Things Are Not What They Seem'. Based
around the themes of language and scientific
BYATT, A . S . (ANTONIA S U S A N , 1 9 3 6 - ), English classification, Byatt again explores the place of
novelist and critic. Before leaving academia in the fairy tale in the intellectual climate of the
1983 to concentrate full-time on writing, she second half of the 19th century. SB
had published book-length studies of Iris Ashworth, Ann, 'Fairy Tales in A . S. Byatt's
Murdoch—a significant influence on her Possession , Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 15
work—and Wordsworth and Coleridge. (1994).
Byatt's fiction combines a detailed evocation of Sanchez, Victoria, ' A . S. Byatt's Possession: A
time and place, including cultural and intellec­ Fairytale Romance', Southern Folklore, 52 (1995).
tual milieu, with an almost 19th-century con­ Todd, Richard, A. S. Byatt (1997).
cern for character and morality. It can also be BYE BYE RED RIDING HOOD (Piroska e farkas,
densely allusive, exploring the interaction be­ film: Canada/Hungary 1988), an updated and
tween art and life, and it is as part of this ex­ remixed adaptation which combines elements
ploration that the fairy tale has come to figure of *Perrault's version with elements of the
in her work. *Grimms, and adds a feminist inflection. From
The Booker Prize-winning Possession: A Perrault, whose wolf says to Tittle Red Riding
Romance (1990), an erudite and complex novel Hood 'Put the scones on the bread bin, and
interweaving Victorian lives with late 20th- come in to bed with me' the director/co-writer
century biographical and academic investiga­ Meszaros took the cue that the story is essen­
tions into the written evidence of these lives, tially about the mixed feelings of attraction and
contains several interpolated fairy tales. Along fear that an adolescent girl has in relation to
with an epic poem concerning the Fairy *Melu- sex. In her attempt to get through the forest,
sina, these include 'The Glass Coffin' (a vari­ the heroine encounters a four-legged wolf, a
ation on ""Sleeping Beauty'), and a bleak and man who might be her father, and a nice boy of
elliptical oral narrative told by a Breton ser­ her own age. She gets eaten by the wolf, as in
B Y E B Y E R E D RIDING H O O D 82

Perrault, but escapes, as in the Grimms. The grandmother, as well as a grandmother and a
key to her survival lies in solidarity among the mother. At the end she is able to say goodbye
women of four generations—she has a great- to adolescence and move on. TAS
CABALLERO, FERNÀN, see BÔHL D E FABER,
CECILIA.

CABINET DES FÉES, see MAYER, CHARLES-JOSEPH.

CALDECOTT, RANDOLPH (1846-86), English

children's book illustrator, whose drawings
and illustrations are considered among the best
of 19th-century art for children in England.
They had a tremendous influence on contem-
porary artists and crucially formed the work of
Walter *Crane and Kate *Greenaway. Idyllic gorical fables on modern life populated by
representations of nature and rural life, his fantastic characters; and the stories of Marco-
work includes many single-sheet illustrations valdo ovvero le stagioni in città (Marcovaldo, or
of nursery rhymes such as 'Hey diddle diddle', The Seasons in the City, 1963) feature the bewil-
'Bye baby bunting', 'The fox jumps over the dered city-dweller Marcovaldo and his family,
parson's gate', and ' A frog he would a-wooing whose encounters with urban life have the fla-
go', as well as Babes in the Wood (1879), Sing a vour of fairy tales gone awry.
Song for Sixpence (1880), and Aesop's Fables In 1954 Einaudi asked Calvino to edit a col-
(1883). KS lection of folk tales which could represent Ita-
ly's entire traditional heritage. Convinced that
CALVINO, ITALO (1923-85), Italian writer, critic, Italy lacked a 'master collection' along the lines
and editor. He was born in Cuba to Italian par- of the *Grimms' (to whose endeavour he com-
ents, but grew up in San Remo, on the Ligurian pares his own), he published Fiabe italiane (Ita-
Riviera. He was a partisan during World War lian Folktales) two years later. The 200 tales of
II, and after the war embarked on his career as the collection were chosen with the criteria of
a writer, in which he was initially influenced by offering every major tale type, of which Folk-
the neo-realism movement, and an editor, as- tales includes about 50, often in multiple ver-
suming an important role in the growth of the sions, and of representing the 20 regions of
Turin press Einaudi, which also published his Italy. Fairy tales predominate, but there are
works. From 1964 to 1980 he lived in Paris. also religious and local legends, novellas, ani-
Calvino's fame as one of the most significant mal fables, and anecdotes. Calvino selected his
literary figures of the 20th century rests pri- materials from 19th-century folkloric collec-
marily on his novels and short stories. He has tions such as Giuseppe *Pitré's Fiabe, novelle e
been called a 'writer's writer' for his consum- racconti popolari siciliani (Fairy Tales, Novellas,
mate ability to combine spectacular storytelling and Popular Tales of Sicily, 1875) and Gherardo
with self-conscious reflection on the nature of Nerucci's Sessanta novelle popolari montalesi
the combinatorial mechanics of narration itself. (Sixty Popular Tales from Montale, 1880), and
In many of his works, especially the early ones, by 'touching up', imposing 'stylistic unity', and
fabulous and realistic elements are woven into often translating from Italian dialects created
an original synthesis which often adopts the fa- his own versions of the tales. This procedure
miliar folkloric progression of initiation and has been likened to the Grimms', but Calvino
personal transformation through the successful is entirely self-conscious about his 'half-way
completion of trials. Even the most fantastic scientific' method, discussing at length his
scenarios, however, seem to be a way for Cal- techniques of recasting the tales and integrat-
vino to offer alternative interpretations of, and ing variants so as to produce the 'most unusual,
give new meaning to, everyday reality. In his beautiful, and original texts' and often specify-
first novel, Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno (The Path ing his changes in the extensive notes that ac-
of the Nest of Spiders, 1947), the Italian resist- company the tales. In the words of a Tuscan
ance is told as through the eyes of a young boy; proverb that he cites, 'The tale is not beautiful
the three works of the trilogy / nostri antenati if nothing is added to it.'
(Our Forefathers, i960), which include the pre- Although in his introduction to Folktales
viously published 77 visconte dime^ato (The Calvino claims he possesses neither the folklor-
Cloven Viscount, 1952), Ilbarone rampante (The ist's expertise nor an 'enthusiasm for anything
Baron in the Trees, 1957), and II cavalière inesis- spontaneous and primitive', he motivates his
tente (The Nonexistent Knight, 1959), are alle- endeavour by maintaining that folk tales are
CAMELOT 84

the thematic prototype of all stories, just as he Adler, Sara Maria, Calvino: The Writer as
finds an essential structural paradigm for all lit­ Fablemaker (1979).
erature in the multiple narrative potentialities Bacchilega, Cristina, 'Calvino's Journey:
Modern Transformations of Folktale, Story, and
that folk tales offer, with their 'infinite variety
Myth'', Journal of Folklore Research, 26 (1989).
and infinite repetition'. The Italian corpus that Beckwith, Marc, 'Italo Calvino and the Nature
Calvino discovers is, in his eyes, comparable in of Italian Folktales', Italica, 64 (1987).
richness and variety to the great Northern Bronzini, Giovanni Battista, 'From the Grimms
European collections; at the same time, it pos­ to Calvino: Folk Tales in the Year T w o
sesses a distinctly personal and 'unparalleled Thousand', in Lutz Rôhrich and Sabine
grace, wit, and unity of design'. He also identi­ Wienker-Piepho (eds.), Storytelling in
fies a series of more specific characteristics of Contemporary Societies (1990).
the Italian tales, though critics have pointed
out that they may be in part Calvino's own in­ CAMELOT, a i960 Broadway musical by Alan
vention: a sense of beauty and an attraction to Jay Lerner (lyrics/libretto) and Frederick
sensuality, an eschewal of cruelty in favour of Loewe (music) based on T. H. White's 1958
harmony and the 'healing solution', 'a continu­ retelling of the Arthurian myth, The Once and
ous quiver of love' that runs through many Future King. The musical concerns the king's
tales, a 'tendency to dwell on the wondrous', adult years, concentrating on the Arthur-Gui­
and a dynamic tension between the fantastic nevere-Lancelot love triangle, and concludes
and the realistic. with a defeated Arthur sending a young boy
Calvino offers suggestive reflections on the out to spread the ideas of Camelot. Little of the
vital importance of his material. 'Folktales are legend's magical elements were retained except
real', he tells us, since they encompass all of for brief appearances by the wizard Merlin and
human experience in the form of a 'catalogue the sorceress *Morgan le Fay. TSH
of the potential destinies of men and women' in
which we find 'the arbitrary division of CANNON MOVIETALES, a series of feature-length
humans, albeit in essence equal, into kings and films based on classic fairy tales. Produced by
poor people; the persecution of the innocent Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus in
and their subsequent vindication . . . ; love 1987—8, the series includes *Beauty and the
unrecognized when first encountered and then Beast, The Emperor's New Clothes, The *Frog
no sooner experienced than lost; the common Prince, *Hansel and Gretel, *Puss-in-Boots, Red
fate of subjection to spells, or having one's ex­ Riding Hood, * Rumpelstiltskin, * Sleeping
istence predetermined by complex and un­ Beauty, and *Snow White. Apparently seeking
known forces'. From folk tales we learn, to duplicate the popular success of Shelley
ultimately, that 'we can liberate ourselves only *Duvall's productions in Faerie Tale Theatre
if we liberate other people'; that 'there must be (1982—5), these live-action film adaptations are
fidelity to a goal and purity of heart, values the work of various screenwriters and directors
fundamental to salvation and triumph'; that and rely on recognizable stars such as Sid Cae­
'there must also be beauty, a sign of grace that sar, Rebecca DeMornay, Morgan Fairchild,
can be masked by the humble, ugly guise of a Helen Hunt, Amy Irving, Cloris Leachman,
frog'; and that 'above all, there must be present Craig T. Nelson, and Diana Rigg. Facing the
the infinite possibilities of mutation, the unify­ challenge of turning brief tales into feature-
ing element in everything: men, beasts, plants, length movies, the screenplays modify and
things.' That a postmodern man of letters dis­ elaborate on the characters and plots of the
covered a key for interpreting the world in one tales on which they are based. The alterations,
of the most archaic narrative genres is not the however, do not as a rule result in significant
least of the wondrous surprises that Calvino's fairy-tale adaptations or innovative film-mak­
decades-long engagement with folk tales offers ing. Heavily influenced by the Walt *Disney
us. Perhaps it is only logical that in his last model of the fairy-tale film, the Cannon
work, Six Memos for the Next Millennium Movietales are produced as musicals and fre­
(1988), a series of lectures that were to be de­ quently foreground a love story.
livered at Harvard University, the six qualities Rumpelstiltskin, written and directed by
that are for Calvino the essence of litera­ David Irving, is a full-fledged musical that in­
ture—lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibil­ volves a love story not present in the *Grimms'
ity, multiplicity, and consistency—are all tale. Despite attempts to portray the miller's
defining characteristics of the folk tale as well. daughter as a woman of some independence,
NC the love story demands that the film make her
85 CAPUANA, LUIGI

increasingly dependent on the prince, whose Dashenka: A Puppy's Life (1932), a realistic ani­
greedy, materialistic father wishes to exploit mal story which also contains a number of
her alleged talent at spinning straw into gold. short fairy tales "featuring dogs. MN
Red Riding Hood, written by Carole Lucia
Satrina and directed by Adam Brooks, also CAPUANA, LUIGI ( 1 8 3 9 - 1 9 1 5 ) , Italian writer,
manages to incorporate a love story. In this dramatist, and journalist. He was born to a
musical adaptation, the sexual implications in­ wealthy bourgeois family outside of Catania, in
volved in the wolf s desire for Red Riding Sicily, and as a young man abandoned his law
Hood are displaced onto the adult level. The studies to dedicate himself to writing and jour­
plot revolves around the desire of Red Riding nalism. He is known, together with Giovanni
Hood's paternal uncle and lord of the cas­ Verga, as one of the foremost exponents of the
tle—her father's evil twin—to possess his verismo literary movement. Among his many
brother's beautiful wife. The resolution comes novels are Giacinta (1879), Profumo (Perfume,
when the father returns, leads a revolt to over­ 1890), and his most famous work, Ilmarchese di
throw his brother, and reclaims his family. The Roccaverdina (The Marquis of Roccaverdina,
Disney influence is clearly signalled in Sleeping 1901); he also published 19 volumes of short
Beauty, where the song 'Once upon a Dream' prose. Following Verga's example, Capuana
is played as the fairies bestow their gifts. recognized the artistic and expressive value of
Generally considered by reviewers to be un­ folkloric material, and often incorporated it
imaginative and dull, the Cannon Movietales into his work; indeed, the 'impersonal' style
did not achieve the critical success or wide advocated by verismo found a natural correlate
popularity of Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre. in folk and fairy tales.
After their unremarkable release they were tar­ Capuana also contributed significantly to the
geted for the children's home video market. canon of children's literature that was being
DH created during the late 19th century in Italy by
Haase, Donald, 'Gold into Straw: Fairy Tale Carlo *Collodi and others. His children's
Movies for Children and the Culture Industry', works include the novels Scurpiddo (1898), a
The Lion and the Unicorn, 12.2 (December 1988). realistic tale of an orphan, Re Bracalone (King
Bracalone, 1905), an extended fairy tale, and
CAPEK, KAREL (1890-1938), Czech writer, most Cardello (1907), the story of a marionette
famous for his play R.U.R. (1920), in which theatre; numerous volumes of fairy tales,
the word 'robot' was coined, and the dystopian among which C'era una volta (Once Upon a
novel Salamander War (1935). His collection Time, 1882), Il regno delle fate (The Kingdom of
Nine Fairy Tales (1931) contains humorous and Fairies, 1883), La reginotta (The Princess, 1883),
satirical fairy tales based on traditional pat­ II Raccontafiabe (The Fairy Tale-Teller, 1894),
terns, but taking place in everyday surround­ Chi vuol fiabe, chi vuole? (Who Wants Fairy
ings, mostly small Czech villages. The mundus Tales, Who Wants Them?, 1908), and Le ultime
inversus device is the most prominent feature of fiabe (The Last Fairy Tales, 1919); as well as the
these fairy tales; for instance, a robber is nice theatrical fairy tales Rospus (Toad, 1887), Spera
and kind, but turns into a real villain when he di sole: Commedia per burattini (Sunbeam: A
becomes a state tax collector ('A Robber Comedy for Marionettes, 1898), and Milda
Tale'); a beggar appears to be the most honest (1913). He was also editor of several children's
person in the world ('A Beggar Tale'). Fairy­ journals, such as Cenerentola.
tale characters behave like ordinary people: a A number of critics maintain that Capuana's
water spirit gets rheumatic fever, a wizard best prose is to be found in his fairy tales.
chokes on a plum stone and needs a doctor Capuana used his familiarity with Sicilian folk­
('The Great Doctor Tale'); while ordinary lore and with the work of folklorists such as
people, like a woodcutter or a postmaster, be­ Giuseppe *Pitré to create tales that often
come heroes. Even when kings and princesses evoked, in tone and in structure, the formulaic
are portrayed, they have more human than oral tales of tradition. But it is his elaboration
traditional fairy-tale traits ('The Great Cat of these materials through the use of irony, hu­
Tale'). Capek's intention with his fairy tales mour, and whimsical fantasy that gives his tales
was mostly educational, and he viewed lan­ their true flavour, and that makes for the cre­
guage as the most important component in ation of a fairy-tale world that is entirely and
them. Therefore, his fairy tales abound in originally his own. This world is best re­
puns, enumerations, and other creative linguis­ presented in Once Upon a Time, Capuana's
tic play. Following Nine Fairy Tales, he wrote most famous collection of fairy tales, which in
CARLE, E R I C 86

its enlarged version of 1889 contained 19 tales: the folklorist Pitre). But Tre-pi, although he
'Spera di sole' ('Sunbeam'), 'Le arance d'oro' has drawers full of fairy tales, wants to keep
('The Golden Oranges'), 'Ranocchino' ('Little them all for himself, and tells the storyteller to
Froggy'), 'Senza-orecchie' ('No-Ears'), Il lupo consult an old fairy named Fairy Fantasy. She
mannaro' ('The Werewolf), 'Cecina' ('Little in turn gives him a number of objects (a golden
Chick-Pea'), 'L'albero che parla' ('The Talk­ orange, a black egg, and other items that are
ing Tree'), T tre anelli' ('The Three Rings'), the subjects of Capuana's own tales), and from
'La vecchina' ('The Little Old Woman'), 'La then on whenever he opens his mouth new
fontana della bellezza' ('The Fountain of tales magically come out. Soon, however, the
Beauty'), Tl cavallo di bronzo' ('The Bronze children with whom he shares his tales tire of
Horse'), 'L'uovo nero' ('The Black Egg'), 'La them, too, and he goes back to Tre-pi and
figlia del Re' ('The King's Daughter'), 'Ser­ offers to contribute them to his collection. But
pentina' ('Little Snake-Girl'), 'Il soldo bucato' as the storyteller is handing them over, he dis­
('The Coin with a Hole in It'), 'Ti, tiriti, ti', covers that he is holding a 'handful of flies'.
'Testa di rospo' ('Toad-Head'), 'Topolino' The storyteller loses interest in his art, con­
('Little Mousy'), and Tl racconta-fiabe' ('The cluding that 'there are no more new fairy tales;
Fairy Tale-Teller'). In these tales we find the we've lost the seed'. This tale neatly illumin­
typical elements of princes and princesses en­ ates the nature of the polemic between
gaged in challenging adventures and battles Capuana and rigorous folklorists like Pitre,
with fierce antagonists, enchanted objects and who were intent on storing up traditional tales
magic formulas that save the day, fantastic for posterity. Even more, it is a tribute to the
creatures like flying horses and steel giants, and powers of the human imagination to create new
above all marvellous metamorphoses. The bi­ tales, guided by 'Fairy Fantasy'. Only its pes­
polar oppositions characteristic of the fairy tale simistic ending does not ring true, for Capua­
are evident in Capuana's tales, where kings and na's tales are as delightful today as they were a
queens rule tyrannically, and the ruled—arti­ hundred years ago, and we would be hard
sans, farmers, beggars, and other members of pressed to agree with his storyteller that since
the lower classes—are consumed by their pri­ then the fairy-tale tradition has borne no new
mary needs of food, shelter, and good health. fruit. NC
But the tales also abound in more realistic de­ Cocchiara, Giuseppe, Popolo e letteratura in Italia
tails. Sicilian landscapes and domestic scenes (i959)-
are lovingly depicted, and even the most fan­ Marchese, Giuseppe, Capuana poeta della vita
tastic characters have surprisingly earthy char­ (1964).
acteristics. In particular, magic helpers tend to Robuschi, Giuseppina, Luigi Capuana, scrittore
be of humble and familiar appearance, seeming per l'infan^ia (1969).
Zangara, Mario, Luigi Capuana (1964).
more like benevolent grandparents than fairies
and wizards, and kings and queens are depicted CARLE, ERIC (1929— ), American author, re-
in their everyday routines. Capuana's satirical teller, illustrator, and designer of children's
humour is often directed at, if not royal figures picture books. Because his parents were Ger­
themselves, the courtiers and ministers that at­ man and longed for their homeland, when he
tend to their needs, and in the triumph of the was six Carle returned with them in 1935 to live
simple virtues of perseverance, goodness of in Stuttgart; he eagerly returned to New York
heart, and humility that his lower-class heroes in 1952. His Germanic education was void of
possess, we may glimpse his own allegiances. emotion and, as a result, he consciously com­
The later collections, such as Who Wants Fairy pensated by incorporating it in his book illus­
Tales, Who Wants Them?, are increasingly col­ tration. Carle's art is distinctive and easily
oured by an idealistic optimism, offering the recognizable, particularly for its artistic innov­
explicit message that kindness, hard work, and ations, such as collage, die-cut pages, movable
innocence will ultimately triumph over evil. parts, cut-out shapes and accordion-folded
Capuana's most poignant reflection on fairy friezes that give his texts a playful quality and
tales is perhaps to be found in 'The Fairy Tale- toy appeal. Sales for his most acclaimed text,
Teller', the final tale of Once Upon a Time. In The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969), exceeded
this tale, a storyteller who is tired of the same 12 million copies and the text was translated
old *Cinderellas and *Sleeping Beauties wan­ into more than 25 languages. It is a multi-laden
ders into a forest in search of new material, concept book, humorously telling the meta­
where he meets some fairies who direct him to morphosis of a caterpillar as it literally eats its
the wizard Tre-pi (a transparent reference to way through the week to emerge after sleep as
8? CARROLL, LEWIS

a beautiful butterfly. As a reteller of tales, Carle spirit hauntings, journeys into Otherworlds),
diverged from a conventional narrative trad­ his novel Sleeping in Flame (1988) is of particu­
ition by simplifying and modernizing them, as lar interest to fairy tale aficionados: a dark, fas­
in his delightful Walter the Baker (1972), about cinating reworking of *'Rumpelstiltskin' set in
a baker who bakes the best pretzel in the world modern-day Vienna. Other magical novels by
for a king. While some critics have objected to Carroll include The Land of Laughs (1980),
the cutting and altering of passages, others Bones of the Moon (1987), and From the Teeth of
have praised his adaptations, saying that his Angels (1994). TW
brevity and clarity were virtues, making the
stories more accessible to young readers. Their CARROLL, LEWIS (pseudonym of C H A R L E S L U T -
allure overall, however, rests with the full-col­ 1832-98), author of the Alice
WIDGE D O D G S O N ,
our, detailed illustrations, as can be seen in Eric books. An enthusiastic photographer, his first
Carle's Storybook: Seven Tales by the Brothers encounters with the young Liddells, children of
*Grimm (1976), Seven Stories by Hans Christian the dean of Christ Church, the Oxford college
*Andersen (1978), The Foolish Tortoise (1985), where Dodgson taught mathematics were in
The Greedy Python (1985), and Eric Carle's 1856 when he went to photograph Christ
Treasury of Classic Stories for Children (1988). Church cathedral from the deanery garden.
SS The first Alice story was extemporized for the
Carle, Eric, The Art of Eric Carle (1996). three eldest daughters, Lorina, Alice, and
Edith, on a summer picnic in 1862. The written
C A R R O L L , J O N A T H A N (1949- ), American-born version that the 10-year-old Alice begged for
writer who has long resided in Vienna, the did not materialize until Christmas 1864, when
author of an interconnected cycle of magical Dodgson presented her with the neatly hand­
contemporary novels which defy easy categor­ written text of Alice's Adventures under Ground,
ization—published alternately as fantasy, hor­ which he had illustrated himself. Encouraged
ror, and mainstream fiction. Although much of by such friends as George *MacDonald, Dodg­
Carroll's work makes use of fantasy motifs son decided to flesh out the story for publica­
common to folk tales and myth (shamanism, tion. He expanded it to more than twice its

CARROLL, LEWIS Bruno seats himself on a dead mouse and prepares to sing. One of Harry *Furniss's
whimsical illustrations for Carroll's Sylvie and Bruno (1889).
CARROLL, LEWIS 88

original length, enhancing the comedy, adding epilogue his feeling for her was not shown in
some of his most original characters like the Wonderland, but it creeps into Looking-Glass.
Duchess and the Cheshire Cat, and the entire The White Knight with his bizarre «inventions
episode of the Mad Tea-Party. Illustrated by is often taken to be a self-portrait, and there is a
John *Tenniel, it was published for Christmas yearning note in the description of his parting
1865 with the new title *Alice's Adventures in with Alice.
Wonderland. Though still taking place in a dream, Look-
The fantasy derives not from traditional ing-Glass, with its account of Alice's chess­
fairy stories but from the violence and anarchy board progress to queenhood, is more tightly
of English nursery rhymes—that unique cor­ organized than its predecessor. Many of the
pus of verse fragments never primarily intend­ characters are from nursery rhymes, but the
ed for children. He added sharply delineated humour has a ruthless, nightmare quality, es­
comic characters, many of them caricatures of pecially in the Jabberwock poem (enhanced by
people known to the Liddell children, and, a powerful Tenniel illustration originally in­
being a mathematician, he made much of pur­ tended as a frontispiece). The Walrus and the
suing concepts to their logical and often ludi­ Carpenter eat the trusting Oysters; Alice is ex­
crous ends. It is the first literary fairy tale for pected to carve the leg of mutton to whom she
children with no moral purpose whatever. has just been introduced. The Hunting of the
Alice moves in a dreamworld, remote from or­ Snark (1876), Dodgson's only other extended
dinary laws and principles. At first bewildered work of nonsense, a mock-heroic poem which
by her size-changes, intimidated by the gro­ he called 'an agony in eight fits' is the most
tesque and often ill-mannered beings that she nihilistic of all his works. It ends with the
encounters—types of the adult world—she Baker's triumphant shout as he finds the Snark,
gradually gains confidence to argue with them, but then
and finally triumphantly dismisses them: 'Who
cares for you . . . You're nothing but a pack of In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
cards!' she says contemptuously to the formid­ In the midst of his laughter and glee,
able Queen of Hearts who has ordered her to He had softly and suddenly vanished away—
hold her tongue, indeed has threatened to have For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.
her beheaded. Much has been made of the possible symbol­
Dodgson was completely unconscious of the ism of Dodgson's nonsense; there have been
nihilistic character of Wonderland. This can be many attempts to discover hidden meanings
seen from the way he reduced it in The Nursery and lurking cryptograms. There have also been
'Alice'(1889) to a bland mush, excluding all the many imitations; once the way had been
humour and wordplay and adding moral com­ shown, dreams seemed a useful device to avoid
ment. Indeed he was always to think of the constructing a plot. Among the more popular
Alice books as sedate and soothing, saying to a were George Edward Farrow's The WallyPug
correspondent that he hoped they had given of Why (1895) and its sequels, and Eleanor
'real and innocent pleasure . . . to sick and suf­ Gates's The Poor Little Rich Girl (1912), where
fering children'. He was also unaware of the the logic of a child's dreamworld shows up the
implication of his parodies of pious Sunday illogicality of adults.
verse by such writers as Southey and Isaac Dodgson wrote one work of fiction for
Watts, though in ordinary life he was morbidly adults, Sylvie and Bruno (1889, with a continu­
scrupulous, with an exaggerated dread of irrev­ ation in 1893); it was illustrated by Harry *Fur-
erence. niss. The nucleus of this was 'Bruno's
Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Revenge', a short story about two fairy chil­
Found There appeared as a Christmas book for dren which had appeared in Aunt Judy's Maga-
1871, though with the date 1872. By this stage line in 1867. He embedded it in a rambling
Dodgson was no longer friendly with the Lid- novel which he hoped 'would not be out of
dells, and Alice Liddell herself was 20; Look- harmony with the graver cadences of life'. Of it
ing-Glass Alice tells Humpty-Dumpty that she his biographer, Morton Cohen, said: 'as a novel
is 'seven years and six months'. He retorts that it is trite; as a work of philosophic speculation,
it is an uncomfortable sort of age; his dispas­ hazardous', but that it was the most personally
sionate view being that it would be better to revealing of all Dodgson's works. GA
'leave off at seven'—which perhaps Dodgson Carpenter, Humphrey, 'Alice and the Mockery
wistfully regarded as the perfect age in Alice of God', Secret Gardens (1985).
Liddell. Except in the opening poem and in the Cohen, Morton N., Lewis Carroll (1995).
89 CARTER, ANGELA

Goldthwaite, John, 'The Unwriting of Alice in dinary fame after her death (even in the United
Wonderland', in The Natural History ofMake- Kingdom where the literary establishment had
Believe (1996). acknowledged her bravura but not warmed to
Gray, Donald J . (ed.), Alice in Wonderland, her unsettling tricks) and her magic has been
Norton Critical Edition (2nd edn., 1992).
celebrated by fellow fiction-makers Margaret
Sigler, Carolyn (ed.), Alternative Alices: Visions
*Atwood, Robert *Coover, Salman *Rushdie,
and Revisions of Lewis Carroll's Alice Books
0997)- and Marina *Warner.
Carter's writing articulates a consistent and
CARTER, ANGELA (1940-92), British fiction yet varied involvement with fairy tales. Her
writer whose most acclaimed work, The Bloody novels include recurring fairy-tale themes or
Chamber and Other Stories (1979), rewrites clas­ images: the *Sleeping Beauty, especially in The
sic fairy tales for adults in a woman-centred Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman; the
and erotically charged way. two sisters in Wise Children; the damsel in the
Born in London, Carter worked as a jour­ tower in Heroes and Villains; and everywhere it
nalist, studied medieval literature in Bristol, would seem the enchanting powers of the mir­
and in her late twenties became an award-win­ ror and the large-looming figure of *Bluebeard.
ning novelist. After ending her first marriage, Building on the Utopian structure and extreme
she lived in Japan, where her 1960s radicalism vision of the fairy tale, her novel The Magic
became informed by a strong feminist con­ Toyshop (1967) is an early example of Carter's
sciousness. Carter also taught in the United complex relationship to the fairy tale: Melanie
States and travelled to Australia, but remained is first lured by the mystifying image of the
rooted in a south London sensibility fortified 'princess-to-be-married'; then, as a powerless
by her grandmother's Yorkshire spirit. At the orphan, she is oppressed by her Uncle Philip's
age of 51 and at the height of her creative autocratic and dehumanizing patriarchy; and fi­
powers, she died of lung cancer, survived by nally she is transformed by the music-filled and
her second husband and young son. She pub­ grittily passionate embrace of her acquired
lished four collections of short stories, nine Irish family. The end of the novel represents
novels (Shadow Dance was her first in 1966 and Melanie and her young lover Finn facing, as if
Wise Children her last in 1991), and three works in the garden of Eden, a world of possibilities.
of non-fiction (The Sadeian Woman in 1979; But the form of the tale itself paradoxically
Nothing Sacred, revised in 1992; and Expletives offers Carter more room for experimenting.
Deleted in 1992); she edited two collections of Her fairy tales for children, 'Miss Z, the Dark
fairy tales and wrote two screenplays, a num­ Young Lady' and 'The Donkey Prince' (both
ber of radio plays, and even an opera, Lulu, published in 1970), and her translation of The
which was produced posthumously; she con­ Fairy Tales of Charles ^Perrault in 1977 show
tinued throughout her life to write for New So­ some of the tongue-in-cheek and reworking-
ciety and other magazines, including Vogue, from-the-inside strategies that inform her 1979
about literature, fashion, recipes, films, and collection. The Bloody Chambers ten stories re­
other aspects of everyday culture. tell well-known tales like 'Bluebeard' ('The
Strongly enmeshed in the English medieval Bloody Chamber'), *'Beauty and the Beast'
and Gothic narrative traditions, Carter was ('The Courtship of Mr Lyon' and 'The Tiger's
also affected by experimentation with the vis­ Bride' explicitly, but thematically all ten),
ual imagination (from Blake to the surrealist *'Puss-in-Boots' (her homonymous exuberant­
poets and, significantly, fairy-tale and science- ly 'naughty' text), *'Snow White' ('The Snow
fiction films). She explicitly aligned herself Child'), 'Sleeping Beauty' ('The Lady of the
with magic realism and post-colonial writers House of Love'), and *'Little Red Riding
whose concerns necessarily involve transform­ Hood' ('The Werewolf, 'The Company of
ing both fictional forms and political aware­ Wolves', 'Wolf-Alice'). The fifth story in the
ness. Feminist critics have given mixed reviews collection, 'The Erl-King', eerily explores the
to her work, but she perceived herself as a so­ connection between romanticism and fairy tale
cialist feminist and strongly argued for reject­ more generally. Adopting a variety of narra­
ing the identification of women with innocent tive strategies (first-person narration, reflective
victims, focusing instead on an effort to trans­ self-perception of the protagonist, multiple
form psychosexual politics by exploring the tellings of one story, replotting to change the
wide-ranging desires and strategies of women. ending, updating and definitely dating the
A provocative, linguistically dazzling, and in­ 'once upon a time' framework), Carter's stories
tellectually daring writer, she gained extraor­ conspire to transform the dreamlike imagery of
CARTOONS AND FAIRY TALES 90

fairy tales. She illustrates their misogynistic are here presented in terms of the 'domestic
uses and exposes the dangerous appeal of their arts' and are exemplary of women's many dif-
suggestiveness; and she simultaneously re- ferent 'strategies' and 'plots', their 'hard work'
traces, and gives substance to the courage and and resourcefulness, never 'their passive subor-
multiple desires of her heroines, who struggle dination'. As the 'Brave, Bold, and Wilful'
in specific cultural and historical contexts. 'The meet the 'Sillies' and hear about the* 'Good
Bloody Chamber', the first story in this collec- Girls and Where It Gets Them' (these are
tion and acclaimed by most critics as her richest some of the headings under which Carter
and most provocative story, unflinchingly ex- groups her tales), today's readers participate in
plores the young bride's collusion with Blue- an invigorating women's show of romance,
beard's objectifying plot and also proposes a bawdy jokes, defiant curiosity: the mundane
mother—daughter model of development based and the magic intertwined to a sparkle. CB
on conviction, search for knowledge, and in- Bacchilega, Cristina, Postmodern Fairy Tales:
tegrity. Gender and Narrative Strategies (1997).
Like later tales, such as 'Peter and the Wolf and Roemer, Danielle (eds.), 'Angela
in Black Venus (1985) and 'Ashputtle or The Carter and the Literary Mdrchen ', spec, issue of
Marvels and Tales, 12.1 (1998).
Mother's Ghost' in American Ghosts and Old
Grossman, Michèle, '"Born to Bleed": Myth,
World Wonders (1993), The Bloody Chamber re-
Pornography and Romance in Angela Carter's
envisions fairy tales in a proliferation of inter- "The Bloody Chamber" ', Minnesota Review,
textual possibilities: remembering oral versions 30/31 (1988).
that talk back at the authoritative Perrault or Jordan, Elaine, 'Enthralment: Angela Carter's
Brothers *Grimm texts; juxtaposing the porno- Speculative Fictions', in Linda Anderson (ed.),
graphic with the mystic and the Gothic in an Plotting Change: Contemporary Women's Fiction
ironic mode; destabilizing interpretation by (1990).
presenting versions that are to be read with and Rushdie, Salman, Introduction to Burning Your
against each other; training readers in 'inter- Boats. The Collected Short Stories of Angela Carter
sensuality', a curiosity for and awareness of all (1995)-
Sage, Lorna (ed.), Flesh and the Mirror: Essays
five senses; reappropriating storytelling, as the
on the Art of Angela Carter (1994).
imaginative performance of options, for Sheets, Robin Ann, 'Pornography, Fairy Tales,
women; engaged in a productive dialogue with and Feminism: Angela Carter's "The Bloody
critics Jack Zipes and Marina Warner, them- Chamber" ', Journal of the History of Sexuality, 1
selves in turn tellers of the cultural history of (1991).
the fairy tale. Warner, Marina, Introduction to The Second
When Carter revised the 'Little Red Riding Virago Book of Fairy Tales (1992).
Hood' tales into a screenplay for The Company
of Wolves (directed by Neil *Jordan in 1984), CARTOONS AND FAIRY TALES. The wish by artists
and then the novel The Magic Toyshop for the to illustrate the *Kinder- und Hausmdrchen of
homonymous film (directed by David Wheat- the Brothers *Grimm has a long tradition,
ley in 1987), she continued to transform fairy- starting with their own brother Ludwig Emil
tale images of women, historicize the genre it- *Grimm and Ludwig *Richter in the 19th cen-
self, localize its images, and sensitize audiences tury, and the fascination continues today with
to the limitations of'seeing is believing', all the such well-known artists as Tomi *Ungerer and
while exuberantly playing up to the visual pos- Maurice *Sendak. But while these illustrators in
sibilities of dream and magic tricks allowed by general recreated the world as it is described in
the cinematic apparatus. the fairy tales, cartoonists approach specific
The two volumes of fairy tales she edited episodes of the tales quite differently in their
(The Virago Book of Fairy Tales in 1990, re- humorous or satirical drawings. Beginning in
titled Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book in the Ameri- the second half of the 19th century and main-
can edition; and The Second Virago Book of taining considerable popularity to this day, car-
Fairy Tales or Strange Things Sometimes Still toonists have presented telling images which
Happen: Fairy Tales from around the World, place the perfect world of the actual fairy tales
published posthumously in 1993; both illus- in striking juxtaposition to harsh reality. They
trated by her artist friend Corinna *Sargood) ignore the positive resolution of all problems at
constituted her final contribution to a women- the end of the traditional tales and instead in-
centred and culturally diversified approach to terpret certain scenes as reflections of a
fairy tales. Defined as 'the perennially re- troubled society. The innovative drawings to-
freshed entertainment of the poor', fairy tales gether with the revealing captions add up to
9 1
CARTOONS AND FAIRY TALES

meaningful communication in the mass media. if she refuses to have oral sex?' There is also
These reinterpretations often deal with such the caption 'You're not even trying to live hap­
problems as greed, insensitivity, deception, pily ever after!' Considering the psychological
cruelty, vanity, selfishness, hate, power, irre­ meanings of fairy tales, it should not be sur­
sponsibility, sexual politics, and sex. prising that such interpersonal interpretations
Over the years the New Yorker magazine has are prevalent in socially aware cartoons.
published dozens of fairy-tale cartoons. One of There is a definite predominance of sexually
them can serve as a general statement of some oriented cartoons in the modern mass media.
of the grim variations of fairy-tale motifs de­ Some of them in such mainstream magazines as
picted in them. The cartoonist has simply the New Yorker, Better Homes and Gardens, and
drawn a car approaching a large road sign with Good Housekeeping are usually in good taste,
the inscription: 'You are now entering [the but some cartoonists have also published quite
town of] Enchantment—"Gateway of Disen­ crude illustrations in such erotic magazines as
chantment".' One can well imagine a some­ Playboy, Penthouse, and Hustler. There is an
what archaic town crier walking through the entire industry of sexually oriented cartoons
streets of this town lying ahead calling out the and comic strips of fairy tales which reaches
following news stories of the day, as was from the merely suggestive to hard-core porn­
shown by another cartoon: *'Snow White kid­ ography. In this regard cartoonists reflect the
napped. Prince released from spell. Tailor kills modern trend of a more outspoken approach to
seven. These are the headlines. I'll be back in a sexuality, where taboos must be broken and
moment with the details.' Fairy-tale violence where the indirect language and metaphors of
appears to be making the big news, and thus a the fairy tales must be translated into crude
small boy comments quite critically to his reality.
mother reading him Grimms' tales for the This is not to say that there are not also
umpteenth time: 'Witches poisoning prin­ many cartoons which react in a charmingly hu­
cesses, giants falling off beanstalks, wolves ter­ morous fashion or in satirical ways to the
rorizing pigs . . . and you complain about world of fairy tales by placing them in oppos­
violence on TV!' And to top things off, yet an­ ition to the social and political life of the day.
other New Yorker cartoon goes even so far as to Such major satirical magazines as Simplicissi-
accuse the Brothers Grimm of having concoct­ mus, Kladderadatsch, Fliegende Blatter, Eulen-
ed the tales without any belief in the authenti­ spiegel (all from Germany), Nebelspalter
city of folk traditions: 'All right, Wilhelm, we (Switzerland), Krokodil (Russia), Punch, and
have the child walking through the woods.' Mad frequently contain fairy-tale cartoons or
'Please, Jacob, don't you think we've been comic strips. Usually they use only about half a
using the woods too much?' 'Woods are al­ dozen of the most popular fairy tales as their
ways good, Wilhelm. Now, who[m] does the basis (for example, 'The *Frog King', *'Little
child meet?' 'Perhaps a dwarf or two?' 'We did Red Riding Hood', 'Snow White', ""Cinder­
that, Wilhelm.' 'How about a wolf, Jacob?' ella', 'Briar Rose', and *'Rapunzel'; occasional­
The disbelief in fairy-tale existence goes so ly also Hans Christian *Andersen's 'The
far as to put the formulaic beginning and end of Emperor's New Clothes' and 'The *Princess
many tales into question. Thus a schoolchild and the Pea'), thus assuring meaningful com­
whispers impatiently to a friend as their teacher munication. Hans Ritz has put together 100
prepares to read one of the tales to them: 'If it cartoons and caricatures relating to 'Little Red
starts with "Once upon a time" I'm leaving.' Riding Hood' alone in his book Bilder vom Rot-
And then there is the divorced mother ending kdppchen (1986), and Lutz Rôhrich has done
her reading of a fairy tale with the statement: the same for 'The Frog King' in his study
'And they lived happily ever after—she in Wage es, den Frosch kiissen! (1987). There
New York, he in L.A.' The Utopian world es­ are also entire books by individual cartoonists
tablished at the end of fairy tales is questioned dealing with nothing but fairy tales, as for ex­
again and again in cartoons, especially as they ample Heinz Langer's Grimmige Mdrchen: Car­
comment on marriage and sex. The cartoonist toons (1984) and Petra Raster's Traumprinien:
Charles Addams drew a picture of a royal Mdrchen-Cartoons (1992). The well-known car­
couple at a marriage counsellor's admitting, toonist Gary Larsen could easily put together a
'We haven't lived happily and contentedly similar book of his many 'Far Side' illustra­
ever after for years.' Another king is more ex­ tions, and the same is true for the creators of
plicit about his marriage problems, asking the such long-standing cartoon and comic-strip
counsellor, 'How can we live happily ever after series as 'The Family Circus', 'Dennis, the
CASTROVIEJO, CONCHA 92

Menace', 'The Wizard of Id', 'Peanuts', 'Blon- Noche (The Night). In 1961 she received the
die', 'Short Ribs', and 'Garfield'. There is even Doncel Award of Children's Literature for a
a comic strip entitled 'Mother Goose & book entitled El jardin de las siete puertas (The
Grimm' which specializes in basing the indi- Garden with Seven Doors, 1961). This work
vidual frames on fairy tales, nursery rhymes, contains a small play, from which the whole
and other verbal folklore genres. collection takes its title, and 14 tales very much
A final stomping ground for fairy tales in the influenced by the fairy-tale genre. Some of the
mass media is found in social and political cari- most beautiful tales in this book are: 'La*tejed-
catures in which humour and irony are usually ora de suenos' ('The Weaver of Dreams',
replaced by satire, sarcasm, and cynicism. 1961), 'El pais que no tenia pâjaros' ('The
When illustrators such as Olaf *Gulbransson, Country without Birds', 1961), and 'Karlatân y
Horst Haitzinger, Tony Auth, and Patrick Oli- las perlas del principe Atal' ('Karlatân and
phant add faces and shapes of known polit- Prince Atal's Pearls', 1961). CF
icians or celebrities to their caricatures, the step
from indirect to direct confrontation and ridi- CAVICCHIOLI, GIOVANNI (1894-1964), Italian
cule is quickly taken. Internationally recog- writer, poet, and playwright. He wrote an
nized people like Richard Nixon, Indira autobiographical novel, / / bambino sen^a madre
Gandhi, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, (The Motherless Child, 1943), and many collec-
Mikhail Gorbachev, Elizabeth Taylor, Willy tions of tales, including: Le none di Figaro (The
Brandt, Margaret Thatcher, and Ronald Rea- Marriage of Figaro, 1932), Avventure del
gan have all been attacked or ridiculed in fairy- pagliaccio (The Buffoon's Adventures, 1935),
tale caricatures. The most common motif is Favole (Tales, 1951) and Nuove favole (More
simply to place the person in question in front Tales, i960). His story 'Il cavalière fedele'
of a mirror and then in the caption asking that ('The Faithful Knight') exemplifies how he
ultimate question 'Mirror, mirror on the wall' blends tradition and the fantastic. Here the
with an appropriate alteration to the traditional Arthurian quest for the Holy Grail is the back-
'who is the fairest of them all?' of the 'Snow ground for the tale of Redibis who, after a life
White' fairy tale. Whether humorous or slan- of searching, realizes that the Holy Grail is
derous, such cartoons and caricatures reflect a within him. MNP
basic dissatisfaction with reality by juxtaposing
it to the perfect world of fairy tales. As long as CAYLUS, ANNE-CLAUDE-PHILIPPE DE TUBIÈRES DE
these tales still belong to the cultural literacy of GRIMOARD DE PESTELS DE LEVIS, COMTE DE
modern people, this interplay of tradition and (1692—1765), French fairy tale author. Caylus
innovation in the mass media will enrich com- presents a paradox. A conservative member of
munication through effective images and an old aristocratic family (he was the son of
captions. WM Mme de Maintenon's niece), he was a noted
Flanagan, John T., 'Grim Stories: Folklore in archaeologist, antique connoisseur, engraver,
Cartoons', Midwestern Journal of Language and patron of the arts, art historian, member of
Folklore, 1 (1975). learned academies—and popular author of
Horn, Katalin, 'Marchenmotive und gezeichneter poissard (coarse) stories and fairy tales. He
Witz', Osterreichische Zeitschrift fiir Volkskunde, published these in the 1740s, during fairy tales'
37 (1983)- later vogue when authors were nostalgically
Mieder, Wolfgang (ed.), Grimms
recreating tales of their childhood. Many were
Mdrchen—modern: Prosa, Gedichte, Karikaturen
0979)- presented at the irreverently witty salon of
Tradition and Innovation in Folk Literature Mile Quinault, where one was required to
(1987). compose (vs. sing) for one's supper. Such en-
Rohrich, Lutz, 'Wandlungen des Màrchens in tertainment often produced collaborative ef-
den modernen Bildmedien Comics und forts, and early critics either hesitated to
Cartoons', in Hans-Jorg Uther (ed.), Mdrchen in attribute some solely to Caylus, or dismissed
unserer Zeit (1990). all of his tales as trash; today's scholars are
Smith, Grace Partridge, 'The Plight of the more discerning.
Folktale in the Comics', Southern Folklore
Quarterly, 16 (1952). Caylus's tales typically begin with ironic
verve and promise parody. 'Le Prince Courte-
CASTROVIEJO, CONCHA (1915-95), Spanish nov- botte et la princesse Zibeline' (1741), for ex-
elist and writer of children's tales. She pub- ample, presents a brilliant scène des dons
lished her stories in several periodicals such as (gift-giving scene) in which the king valiantly
Informaciones (Pieces of Information) and La tries to invite every single fairy and genie to his
93 CHAMOISEAU, PATRICK

son's christening. The rest of his story, how- Castex, Pierre-Georges, Le Conte fantastique en
ever, collapses into traditional exposition. This France de Nodier à Maupassant (1951).
vacillation between the parodie and banal is
elsewhere seen when pointed contemporary al- 'CENDRILLON', 'CENERENTOLA', 'CENICIENTA', see
lusions and social criticism give way to gratuit- 'CINDERELLA'.
ous use of the marvellous.
While Caylus rarely based his fairy tales on
CHAMISSO, ADELBERT VON ( 1 7 8 1 - 1 8 3 8 ) , Ger-
French folklore, he carefully adapted the
man author, poet, and botanist. His family fled
Koran and Muslim lore for his Contes orientaux France during the French Revolution and set-
(Oriental Tales, 1743). This collection there- tled in Berlin in 1796, where he became page to
fore stands apart from the scores of parodie the Prussian queen and then an officer in the
imitations of Les Mille et une nuits, contes arabes Prussian army, participating in the . ill-fated
(The Thousand and One Nights, 1704—17) that campaign against Napoleon in 1806. After
deluged the public (see THE ARABIAN NIGHTS). studying botany in Berlin, he took part in a
MLE voyage around the world ( 1 8 1 5 - 1 8 ) , and sub-
Robert, Raymonde, 'Le Comte de Caylus et sequently received an appointment at the Bo-
l'orient', Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth tanical Garden in Berlin. He was much
Century, 154 (1976). admired for his lyric poetry and ballads, but is
Le Conte de fées littéraire en France (1982).
best remembered for his tale Peter Schlemihls
Rocheblave, Samuel, Essai sur le comte de Caylus
wundersame Geschichte (Peter Schlemihl's Amaz-
(1889).
ing Story, 1814), a minor classic of world litera-
ture widely read and translated in the 19th
CAZOTTE, JACQUES ( 1 7 1 9 - 9 2 ) , French author of
century. The story concerns a young man's en-
fairy and fantastic tales. After serving in
counters with the devil, who bargains with him
French colonies, he pastiched *oriental fairy
first for his shadow and then, as in the Faust
tales with 'La Patte du chatte, conte zinzinois' legend and subsequent literary versions of it,
('The Cat's Paw', 1741), whose ironie chapter for his soul. Unlucky in love because of his
titles parody *Crébillon. Likewise, the sup- missing shadow, Schlemihl in the end embraces
posed publishing house of 'L'Endormy' in a solitary life devoted to the study of nature.
'Baillons' ('The Sleeper' in 'Let's Yawn') Because the story is told in the first person and
parodically presents 'Les Mille et une fadaises, Schlemihl, in recounting his experiences, ad-
contes pour dormir debout' ('The Thousand dresses himself to Chamisso, we may under-
and One Trifles, Tales to Fall Asleep by', stand that Schlemihl is the author's fanciful
1742), written for an insomniac princess. alter ego. JMM
Cazotte was later inspired by the fairy-tale re-
vival of Le Cabinet des fées (The Fairies' Study, Flores, Ralph, 'The Lost Shadow of Peter
1785) and wrote the Continuation des mille et Schlemihl', German Quarterly, 47 (1974).
une nuits (Arabian Tales, 1788—9). Based on Pavlyshyn, Marko, 'Gold, Guilt, and
genuine folklore, these stories feature good Scholarship: Adelbert von Chamisso's "Peter
vs. evil jinns, socio-political criticism, and Schlemihl"', German Quarterly, 55 (1982).
Cazotte's Illuminism. Swales, Martin, 'Mundane Magic: Some
He is best known for taking fairy-tale magic Observations on Chamisso's "Peter Schlemihl" ',
into the realm of the occult. Psychological por- Forum for Modern Languages Studies, 12 (1976).
traits, the questioning of illusion vs. reality,
and the spiritual importance of dreams charac- CHAMOISEAU, PATRICK ( 1 9 5 3 - ), Martinican
terize his masterpiece, Le Diable amoureux novelist, playwright, and essayist. Born in
(The Devil in Love, 1772), in which the devil (a Martinique and living in France, he has written
woman) loves his/her conjuror. It influenced extensively the language and history of creole
*Hoffmann, *Gautier, *Nodier, and *Nerval, culture. In his novels (Chronique des sept misères
who revealed Cazotte's initiation into Martinist (Chronicle of Seven Miseries, 1986); Solibo mag-
theosophy. In later years, the royalist Cazotte nifique (Magnificent Solibo, 1988); Texaco, 1992,
was known for his prophecies concerning the among others), he frequently employs charac-
Revolution, and foretold his death by ters and motifs from Caribbean folklore.
guillotine. MLE Chamoiseau's Au temps de l'antan: contes du
Shaw, Edward Pease, Jacques Ca{otte (1942). pays martinique (Creole Folktales, 1988) features
Todorov, Tzevtan, The Fantastic: A Structuralist versions of well-known fairy tales, such as
Approach to a Literary Genre, trans. Richard *'Bluebeard' in 'Une affaire de mariage' ('A
Howard (1975). Little Matter of Marriage'), while highlighting
C H A S E , RICHARD 94

the remarkable wit and irony of the storyteller. CHIOSTRI, CARLO (1863-1939), one of the fore­
LCS most Italian illustrators of fairy-tale books in
the 19th and early 20th centuries. An autodi-
CHASE, RICHARD (1904-88), American folklor- dact, he developed his own unusual style of
ist and storyteller. As a young schoolteacher, photographic realism and psychological intro­
he was one of the first to record the traditional spection and provided pictures for over 200
tales and songs of the southern Appalachian books during his lifetime. He illustrated works
mountains. They were published as The Jack by most of the important Italian fairy-tale
Tales: Told by R. M. Ward and his Kindred in writers of his time such as Carlo *Collodi,
the Beech Mountain Section of Western North Luigi *Capuana, Emma *Perodi, and Adriano
Carolina and by Other Descendants of Council Salani and also provided drawings for the fairy
Harmon (1803—1896) Elsewhere in the Southern tales of the Brothers *Grimm. JZ
Mountains: With Three Tales from Wise County,
Virginia (1943), Grandfather Tales: American- CHOISY, FRANÇOIS-TIMOLÉON, ABBÉ DE

English Folk Tales (1948), and Hullabaloo, and (1644—1724), French cleric, diplomat, and
Other Singing Folk Games. As Chase noted, writer. Perhaps best known as a cross-dresser,
many of the stories he collected were moder­ Choisy was a prolific author of works on
nized and Americanized versions of popular church history as well as memoirs and fiction.
European fairy tales like *'Cinderella' and 'The He knew other writers of fairy tales, including
•Brave Little Tailor'. In 'Jack and Old Tush', *Perrault and *Lhéritier, with whom he may
for instance, the hero ends up not with a prin­ have written the novella 'Histoire de la mar­
cess and half a kingdom, but with a pretty girl quise-marquis de Banneville' ('Story of the
and 'a pretty house and some good land and a Marquess-Marquis of Banneville'), a love story
thousand dollars'. about two cross-dressers. Choisy's posthu­
Chase's best-known work, American Folk mously published 'Histoire de la princesse
Tales and Songs (1956), includes many remark­ Aimonette' ('Story of Princess Aimonette')
able tales of magic, humorous tales, legends, and 'Histoire turque' ('Turkish Story') contain
songs, and ballads from his collections and chivalric and orientalist features typical of late
those of other folklorists. His notes include the 17th-century French fairy tales. LCS
names of the original storytellers and singers,
COMPANY OF W O L V E S , T H E , see J O R D A N , NEIL.
and discuss European parallels. The book has
been criticized for sometimes combining sev­
eral recorded versions of a story or song into
one, but it is still in print and widely read and CHORPENNING, CHARLOTTE (1872-1955),

admired. AL American playwright, theorist, and teacher,

who was at the forefront of school and commu­
nity drama programmes across the country.
CHÂTELAIN, CLARA DE (1807-76), English Chorpenning studied playwriting at Radcliffe
writer and composer, who wrote numerous College, and from about 1915 to 1919 she was a
charming ballads and songs as well as a Hand­ playwright in residence for several Winona,
book of the Four Elements of Vocalisation (1850). Minnesota organizations, helping them write
In addition, she produced several books of issue-based plays. From 1932 to 1951 Chorpen­
fairy tales: The Silver Swan (1847), Child's Own ning wrote and directed most of the plays for
Book of Fairy Tales (1850), Merry Tales for Lit­ the Children's Theatre at the Goodman
tle Folk (1851), Little Folks' Books (1857), and Theatre of the Art Institute of Chicago, many
The Sedan-Chair: Sir Winifred's Seven Flights of which were based on popular fairy tales like
(1866). Her tales for small children are retell­ The Emperor's New Clothes (1932), *Jack and the
ings of classical tales such as ""Little Tom Beanstalk (1937), ^Cinderella (1940), *Little Red
Thumb' and *'Jack and the Beanstalk', whereas Riding Hood, or Grandmother Slyboots (1943),
her other work like The Sedan-Chair has a and *Rumpelstiltskin, to name a few. In her
complex frame narrative reminiscent of Boc­ plays, Chorpenning often complemented the
caccio, and the tales themselves depend on fairy-tale character with an older but wiser
motifs from the French and *oriental fairy-tale double of her own invention (the Old Wolf in
tradition. JZ Red Riding Hood, Mother Hulda in Rumpelstilt­
skin), a device which draws out character mo­
CHILDREN'S AND HOUSEHOLD TALES, see KINDER- tivation and encourages the audience to reflect
UND HAUSMARCHEN. on the action of the play. AD
95 'CINDERELLA'

CHRISTIANSEN, REIDAR (1886-1971), Norwe­ is a retelling of Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle,

gian folklorist, professor at Oslo University where the humane mission of the kind doctor
1921—51. Reidar published two significant stud­ in Africa is accentuated. In all these tales, style
ies on Norwegian folklore, Norske Eventyr: En is important, with puns, alliterations, rhythm,
systematisk fortegnelse efter trykte og utrykte kil- and rhyme, which often have their origins in
der {Norwegian Folktales: A Systematic List of folk poetry. Bibigon (1945), inspired by *'Little
Published and Unpublished Sources, 1921), The Tom Thumb', but depicting a Lilliput in a con­
Migratory Legends: A Proposed List of Types temporary Russian setting, is a combination of
(1958); and a comparative work Studies in Irish prose and poetry, also involving a wicked ma­
and Scandinavian Folktales (1959) in which he gician and an enchanted princess. Most of Chu­
is somewhat sceptical about the early theories kovsky's fairy tales were banned by the Soviet
of the mutual Celtic—Nordic influence in folk­ censorship between 1939 and 1955 because of
lore tradition. MN their possible political connotations. MN

CHU CHIN CHOW R a highly successful British ClCOGNANl, BRUNO ( 1 8 7 9 - 1 9 7 1 ) , Italian play­
musical, premiered on 31 August 1916 at His wright and critic, deeply tied to his Tuscan ori­
Majesty's Theatre, London, and achieving an gins, whose realism evolves into the fantastic as
initial run of over 2,200 performances. The in Storielle di novo conio (Brand New Little Stor­
story by Oscar Asche, with music by Frederic ies, 1917) and his novel La Velia (The Shrike,
Norton, features characters from The ^Arabian 1923). A collection of short stories, 77figurinaio
Nights, principally 'Abu Hassan' and *'Ali e le figurine (The Pedlar and the Statuettes,
Baba'. There is a sequence in which a robber 1928), contains the tale 'La locanda dei tre Re'
band emerges from rocky ground which opens ('The Inn of the Three Kings', 1928), the
to the command 'Open Sesame'. A silent film magical story of Diomira's three simple daugh­
adaptation appeared in 1923, which was fol­ ters whose dream of marrying three kings be­
lowed by a sound version in 1934. It was also comes a reality, but only for one night, after
turned into an ice spectacular for a production which it evaporates like a bubble. The dramatic
at the Empire Pool, Wembley, London in 1953. fairy tale Bellinda e il mostro (Belinda and the
TH Monster, 1927), a version of *'Beauty and the
Beast' which the author wrote between 1913
CHUKOVSKY, KORNEI (1882-1969), outstanding and 1918, was staged at the Teatro Argentina in
Russian writer and educationalist, critic and Rome on 23 March 1927, under the direction of
translator. He translated books by Daniel Luigi Pirandello. GD
Defoe, Mark T w a i n , Rudyard *Kipling, Oscar
*Wilde, and retold nursery rhymes. In From 'CINDERELLA' belongs to a group of tales that
Two to Five (1928) he stressed the importance have enjoyed both temporal and spatial stabil­
of fairy tales in the development of a child's ity. Although its first European literary appear­
language and imagination. ances were in Bonaventure des Périers' Les
Chukovsky's own versified fairy tales are Nouvelles Recréations et joyeux devis (New Re­
humorous, often nonsensical, stimulating im­ creations and Joyous Games, 1558), and in Giam­
agination and mastery of language. The Croco­ battista *Basile's II ^pentamerone (1634—6), the
dile (1917) plays with the dragon-slayer motif best-known versions were in Charles •Per­
in contemporary surroundings. Wash 'em rault's *Histoires ou contes du temps passé (Stor­
Clean (1922) and Theodora's Misery (1926) por­ ies or Tales of Times Past, 1697) and in
tray animated household objects and are didac­ Wilhelm and Jacob *Grimm's *Kinder- und
tic as well as dynamic and funny. Barmaley Hausmdrchen (Children's and Household Tales,
(1925) is likewise a didactic story about two 1 8 1 2 - 1 5 ) . This story has lived as a sum of all its
naughty children who run away and fall into realizations without losing its integrity, despite
the hands of a terrible ogre, but are saved by repeated distortions. Walter Anderson's 'Law
nelpful animals. The Cockroach (1922), The of Self-Correction' explains how some rela­
Telephone (1926), and The Stolen Sun (1935) tively stable stories persist in the popular trad­
are tales about anthropomorphic animals, fea­ ition because storytellers, upon hearing a
turing a rich variation of colourful images. defective version, correct it in the retelling.
Fly's Wedding (1924) is a mock-heroic story While the tale had circulated principally in
about insects. Dr Concocter ('Aibolit' in Rus­ the Indo-European world, it was comfort­
sian, literally 'Ouch, it hurts'), written both as ably accepted into the Chinese folk-tale
a prose story (1925) and a versified tale (1926), canon because it resembled an already familiar
CINDERELLA Cinderella is pleased to encounter her fairy godmother in George *Cruikshank's sanitized
version entitled 'Cinderella and the Glass Slipper', published in Cruikshank's Fairy Library (1853-4).
 97 'CINDERELLA'

stepchild story. The same can be said for her at first sight. In the Grimms' tale, in re­
Africa, Australia, Java, Japan, and the Indian sponse to the prince's report that the beautiful
subcontinent. Perhaps the universal appeal of a maiden who had eluded him had hidden in her
'rags to riches' story with emphasis on sensitive father's dovecote (pear tree), Cinderella's
family issues explains its successful diffusion father thinks it might be his daughter and takes
through time and space. an axe to the dovecote (pear tree). As Max
The story of this persecuted heroine is easily Luthi has observed, fairy-tale motivations are
segmented: Girl's mother dies; father remarries often unspoken. The storyteller does not ex­
and brings to household two daughters; step­ plain why the father wants to destroy his
mother and stepsisters mistreat her; father is ei­ daughter. Furthermore, fairy-tale tradition fre­
ther indifferent or malevolent (threatens death quently demands that an interdiction accom­
in 'Cap o'Rushes' and importunes her sexually pany magical gifts. She must leave the ball at
in 'Catskin'). She performs all the household's midnight, accidentally leaving behind a shoe.
menial tasks and must live and work among the The shoe-test that proves her identity has
ashes on the hearth ('Cinderwench', 'Cinder­ fuelled an academic debate as to the material of
ella', 'Aschenputtel', 'Ashypet', 'Cendrillon', the lost slipper (glass, fur, gold, embroidered
'Cenerentola', 'Pepelluga', 'Allerleirauh'). silk). However, the test itself matters more
Cinderella is aided by a magical helper than the material details. Once again the step­
(fairy godmother, magical bird, magic tree, en­ sisters fail to imitate her successfully, even mu­
chanted cow, enchanted fish). In some versions tilating their feet to make them small enough
the mother had been transformed into a cow (a for the slipper. As is the case with many fairy
fish). When the cow is to be killed, she tells her tales, the ending is the least stable part. The
daughter to collect her bones and to save them. stepsisters either suffer a cruel punishment
These bones turn into a magical agent like a (birds peck out their eyes), or Cinderella, in
magic wand. While her magical helper, a fairy her new-found wealth and power, arranges ad­
godmother in the Perrault version, comes to vantageous marriages for them both.
her unbidden, the Grimms' Cinderella is a re­ There have been hundreds if not thousands
sourceful person who acts to improve her con­ of literary, dramatic, musical, poetic, and cine­
dition. She calls upon pigeons and turtle-doves matic versions of 'Cinderella' since the early
to come to her aid to complete her step­ 19th century, and the 'heroine' of the story has
mother's impossible tasks. Not a passive crea­ become the icon of a rags-to-riches success
ture awaiting deliverance, she is also a story. Certainly, this is the way she is por­
resourceful person who plants the twig, waters trayed in the famous *Disney film of 1950.
it, tends it, and then tells the tree to shake and However, since the 1970s, many feminist and
shower her with silver and gold. postmodern writers have questioned the pas­
If one aim of the story is to illustrate the sive aspects of a girl who waits for her prince,
ascent from low to high status, then Cinderella and the term 'Cinderella complex' has come to
must meet a man in that social milieu who will stand for a troubled woman who cannot deter­
free her from her miserable circumstances. mine her own destiny. Whatever the 'truth'
Furthermore, marriage represents an effort to may be, contemporary writers such as Anne
gain independence from the previous gener­ *Sexton, Wendy *Walker, Peter *Redgrove,
ation and to create a new family. In most of the Jane *Yolen, Roald *Dahl, Tanith *Lee, and
versions, she will meet the man she is to marry Angela *Carter have explored the complex of
* at a social occasion, a festival, a ball, or a party. the fictional Cinderella in ways that would as­
The Grimms' storyteller reported a version in tound the classical writers of this tale. HG
which she went to the ball on three successive Cox, Marian Roalfe, Cinderella: Three Hundred
nights, obeying Olrik's 'law of repetition of and Forty-Five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin
three'. The stepmother forbids her attendance and Cap o'Rushes (1893).
at the event and imposes impossible tasks so Dundes, Alan (ed.), Cinderella: A Folklore
Casebook (1982).
that the unfortunate young woman may not at­
Liithi, Max, The Fairytale as Art Form and
tend the event. She must separate lentils from Portrait of Man (1985).
ashes, beans from gravel, carry water in Olrik, Axel, Principles for Narrative Research
buckets with sieved bottoms. However, she (1921).
summons animal helpers (sparrows, doves) to Rooth, Birgitta, The Cinderella Cycle (1951).
come to her aid. Waley, Arthur, 'The Chinese Cinderella Story',
The heroine finally attends the ball (festival, Folklore, 58 (1947).
party), at which time a prince falls in love with
'CINDERELLA', FILM VERSIONS 98

'CINDERELLA', FILM VERSIONS. ""Cinderella', a on—that the flexibility of fur would not have
tale which in *Perrault, *Grimm, pantomime, allowed. Overall, Disney expands seven pages
and modernized versions has inspired film- into 75 minutes, with the mice in particular get-
makers for a hundred years, beginning with ting greatly enlarged roles: in Perrault they do
*Méliès in 1899. Over 50 of the adaptations nothing except turn into horses and pull Cin-
have borne the name 'Cinderella' (or the derella's coach, whereas in Disney two of them
equivalent in another language, e.g. 'Cendril- have rounded characters and interact with Cin-
lon' or 'Aschenputtel'); some of the titles offer derella throughout the film. Another change is
playful variations such as * Cinder fella; a third that Disney rejects Perrault's choice of a rat as
group invoke fairy-tale iconography {The Slip- coachman and lizards as footmen, preferring
per and the Rose) or phraseology {Ever After) in to use homelier animals—a horse and a
their names. The films that update the story dog—for those purposes.
normally reduce magic to the status of chance, Most major adaptations since then have fol-
charm, or dream and replace majesty by lowed Disney in finding or creating situations
money. ripe for enhancement by music. Set in the early
Christmas 1914 saw Mary Pickford, well on 19th century, The Glass Slipper (USA, 1954)
her way to becoming 'the world's sweetheart', contains not only songs but also sequences in
star as Cinderella in a sumptuous high-budget which Leslie Caron, as Ella, dances with the
version derived from traditional pantomime, Ballet de Paris. This version does not set out to
with the sisters presented as ugly and comic. create narrative tension; rather, it defuses it by
Early in the 1920s, by contrast, Lotte *Rein- having the Prince know all about Ella before
inger produced a short and simple Grimm- inviting her to the ball. With similar effect,
based Cinderella out of scissors and cardboard. Ella's midnight flight is caused not by the im-
After that, for over two decades, moder- minent disappearance of her finery, but by the
nized versions held sway. From the makers of fact that her coachman wants to be back home
*Peter Pan came another *Barrie adaptation, A with his family by one o'clock. The focus is
Kiss for Cinderella (USA, 1926). Set in London instead on Ella's psychology, on how long her
during the air raids of World War I, it presents spirit can remain unbowed by oppression, on
a lodging-house skivvy as Cinderella, a com- what is real and what is only in her mind. In
passionate policeman as the prince, and a harsh keeping with this, nothing happens through
landlady as one of the ugly sisters. Cinderella's overt glittering magic: the godmother charac-
visit to the palace takes place within a dream ter, a whimsical, pixilated woman named Mrs
she has while sitting on a doorstep in a snow- Toquet, makes dreams come true by a practical
storm. A year later the comedienne Colleen approach, using things that come to hand in the
Moore was Ella Cinders (USA, 1927). This kitchen.
satirizes film studios through showing how the The same decade gave birth to a full-scale
dowdy drudge Ella wins a beauty contest by musical comedy Cinderella (USA, 1957), writ-
mistake, wreaks havoc in Hollywood, and ten for television by Rodgers and Hammer-
marries a millionaire football player. A third stein, following in the wake of such stage and
updating, First Love (USA, 1939), features the movie successes as South Pacific and Okla-
young singing star Deanna Durbin as an homa! The approach is essentially that of
orphan who, by virtue of having won the pantomime: the stepsisters are vain and repel-
hearts of the servants in her uncle's house, lent, the godmother is eccentric, the prince is
drives in style to the ball with a police escort, charming. The whole production revolves
and marries into money. round the songs, which explore the characters'
In the 1950s, magic came back. *Disney's situations. Cinderella sings about her repressed
Cinderella (USA, 1950) exploited animation's yearnings in 'In My Own Little Corner'; her
capacity to effect a seamless pumpkin trans- stepsisters give vent to their jealousy in 'Step-
formation. In the main it follows Perrault even sisters' Lament'; and Cinderella and the Prince
though, while researching the story's sources, together ask a question central to many fairy
Disney learned that Perrault had misheard tales—'Do I Love You Because You're Beau-
'vair' as 'verre', which meant that Cinderella's tiful, Or Are You Beautiful Because I Love
slippers should really be made of fur, not glass. You?'
Disney, however, preferred to stick with Per- Another screen musical, The Slipper and the
rault, and put the fragility of glass to a dramatic Rose (UK, 1976), sought to inject reality into
use—the stepmother smashes the slipper into the story, without abolishing magic, by taking
fragments before Cinderella can try it it out of the studio and away from pantomime.
CINDERELLA (FILM) The clock strikes midnight in Georges Méliès's experimental film Cendrillon ('Cinderella'), made in France in
1899. The director himself plays Father Time.
CINDERELLA IOO

The characters are presented as capable of ClNDERFELLA, a feature-length American movie

change. As in both Grimm and Perrault, the from i960 starring Jerry Lewis. The musical
stepsisters are attractive in physical appear­ adaptation of Charles *Perrault's ""Cinderella'
ance; only in their natures are they ugly. The hinges on a reversal of gender, which puts the
actors, though not professionally trained, did simpleton Lewis into the role of the oppressed
their own singing; and the songs arise naturally hero Fella. Unlike his stepmother and her two
from the situations. In 'Why Can't I Be T w o sons, who have designs on the hidden fortune
People?', Prince Edward rails against the re­ his father has bequeathed to him, Fella rejects
strictions imposed on him by royal obligations; the values of contemporary high society. He
in reply the Chamberlain argues the import­ achieves his happy end not by reclaiming his
ance of hierarchical distinction—'Position and identity as a 'person' of wealth and class, but by
Positioning'. He fails to convince the prince, declining his fortune and opting with Princess
but later succeeds with Cinderella, persuading Charmein for a life among the unpretentious
her that the prince cannot possibly marry a 'people'. DH
commoner. The fairy godmother thus has an
extra problem to sort out. CLARKE, HARRY (HENRY PATRICK, 1889-1931),
In the 1990s the trend in screen Cinderellas Irish stained glass artist and illustrator. Son of a
has been towards contemporization—keeping church decorator, he studied at the Dublin
the original setting, but injecting contemporary Metropolitan School of Art and won two schol­
values. A 1997 revival of the Rodgers and arships and three gold medals in stained glass
Hammerstein television version, with an competitions. After studying medieval cath­
amended screenplay and a multi-ethnic cast, edral windows in France, he returned to his
brings about a discussion between Cinderella father's stained glass studio and worked on
and the Prince a few days before the ball. Wan­ church commissions. Because most of his work
dering incognito through a market-place on a is found in churches, it is rare that secular
meet-the-people excursion, he bumps into Cin­ panels come on the market—as evidenced by a
derella. They talk, and without knowing who recent Christie's auction that brought £331,500
he is she asserts that she does not want to be for scenes depicting J . M. Synge's poem
treated like a princess—all she wants is the re­ 'Queens'. The Geneva Window, his master­
spect due to anyone. In similar vein the fairy piece, was commissioned by the Irish govern­
godmother (Whitney Houston) insists that the ment and records scenes from 20th-century
transformative magic comes not from her Irish literature.
wand, but from deep down in Cinderella's Clarke also worked as an illustrator. His
soul. whimsical, linear style with textured patterns,
This overhauling continued in the non-mu­ areas of black, and morbid or sexual imagery,
sical cinema feature Ever After: A Cinderella recalls that of Aubrey Vincent Beardsley and
Story (USA, 1998) which sets its face against Gustav Klimt. Called 'the leading symbolist
the notion that happiness equals marrying a artist of Ireland', he illustrated special editions
rich man. The background is still class and cas­ of fairy tales by Hans Christian * Andersen and
tles, but the Cinderella character (Drew Barry- Charles *Perrault (1916, 1922) as well as
more) does not even start as a sooty victim. Johann Wolfgang von *Goethe's Faust (1925)
Feisty, self-assertive, and able to carry the and Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Im­
Prince on her back when necessary, she has no agination (1919). MLE
need of a spell-casting godmother or a pump­ Bowe, Nicola Gordon, The Life and Work of
kin-turned-coach or a particularly dainty foot. Harry Clarke (1989).
Houfe, Simon, The Dictionary of British Book
After a century of screen adaptations, 'Cin­
Illustrators and Caricaturists 1800—1914 (1996).
derella' seems now to be a fairy tale without Peppin, Brigid, and Micklethwait, Lucy,
fairies. TAS Dictionary of British Book Illustrators (1983).
Turner, Jane (ed.), The Dictionary of Art (1996).
CINDERELLA (musical), a television version of
the famous fairy tale by composer Richard CLIFFORD, LUCY LANE (1853?—1929), English
Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein. author of Anyhow Stories (1882). This collec­
First produced in 1957, starring Julie Andrews, tion contains 'The New Mother', a remarkable
it was remade in 1965. In between these two fantasy about adult corruption of children
dates, the show was adapted for the stage, ar­ which seems to anticipate Henry James's The
riving at London's Coliseum for the Christmas Turn of the Screw. Two children meet a strange
season of 1956. TH girl who offers to show them a little man and
CLARKE, HARRY There are nothing but false compliments for the proud king in Harry Clarke's illustration
for Hans Christian *Andersen's 'The Emperor's Clothes', published in Fairy Tales by Hans Christian
Andersen ( 1 9 0 0 ) .
COATES, ERIC I02

woman dancing on a musical instrument she expression of his own being. Encompassing
calls a peardrum. But they have to prove first both the personal and the social, this film, like
that they have been truly naughty. Though most of Cocteau's œuvre, explores different
their naughtiness never satisfies her, their facets of reality such as dreams, daily life, and
mother sadly tells them she will have to leave the supernatural. T o evoke these, Cocteau
them to a new mother with glass eyes and a makes a particularly effective use of lighting,
wooden tail. Still yearning to see the dance, including blurred shots, shadows, and contrasts
they are eventually driven out of the house in between light and dark, but also many special
terror as the new mother smashes down the effects, such as candelabras with human arms,
door with her wooden tail. G A bodiless hands that serve meals, doors that
Ekstein, Rudolf, 'Childhood Autism: Its Process, open mysteriously, that have lost nothing of
as Seen in a Victorian Fairy Tale', American their charm even today. The acting in this film
Imago, 35 (1978). is often praised for striking a delicate balance
Moss, Anita, 'Mothers, Monsters, and Morals in between archetypal and individual expression
Victorian Fairy Tales', The Lion and the Unicorn, that reveals Cocteau's belief in the intersection
12.2 (December 1988).
of these aspects of reality.
COATES, E R I C (1886-1957), British composer of Although Cocteau bases his film on Mme
light classical music. He commenced his career *Leprince de Beaumont's version of the tale, he
as a viola player, eventually becoming a com- inevitably adds his own distinctive touch.
poser of orchestral suites, marches, songs, and Some of the changes he makes are outright
instrumental pieces. Coates's distinctive and additions to the plot and list of characters. Such
tuneful style brought him enormous popularity is the case of Avenant, the Beast's rival, whose
due partly to the national B B C radio network, death at the very moment of the Beast's trans-
which frequently made use of his music as 'sig- formation and whose identical appearance to
nature' tunes for long-running programmes. that of the Beast-turned-prince suggest that
He wrote three 'fantasies' based on fairy tales, male sexual objects are interchangeable and
the most celebrated being The Three Bears for that Belle's desire is a matter of perception.
orchestra (1926). It portrays in music the story Other changes made by Cocteau develop as-
of Goldilocks, possessing a kind of motto pects left implicit in Leprince de Beaumont's
theme based on the words 'Who's been sitting tale. Most obvious is the sensuality conveyed
in my chair?' The other two 'fantasies' were by the Beast but also Belle throughout the film.
The Selfish Giant and ^Cinderella. TH So, too, is Belle's admission at the end that she,
and not the Beast, was the monster. If Coc-
COCTEAU, JEAN - MAURICE -EUGÈNE - CLÉMENT teau's version is far less overtly moralizing
(1889—1963), French artist, writer, and cinema- than Leprince de Beaumont's, it forcefully
tographer. Given Cocteau's loose ties to futur- drives home the message that appearances are
ism, dada, and surrealism, his penchant for the deceptive.
fantastic, from the very beginning of his career, Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast is one of the
is not at all surprising. Hence, he explores vari- most important 20th-century reworkings of the
ous types and levels of 'reality' in much of his tale, and its influence has been considerable. In
work, including his early cartoon, Le Potomak the time since its release, it has gone from
(1919); his plays Oedipus Rex (1927), La Ma- being an avant-garde to a classic film that now
chine infernale (The Infernal Machine, 1934), inspires new versions. LCS
and Les Chevaliers de la table ronde (The Knights Cocteau, Jean, Journal d'un film (1946).
of the Round Table, 1963); and his films L'Eter- Hearne, Betsy, Beauty and the Beast (1989).
nel retour (The Eternal Return, 1943) and La
Belle et la bête (*'Beauty and the Beast, 1946). COLE, BABETTE ( 1 9 4 9 - ), English author and il-
Cocteau deals most directly with the fairy lustrator known for her idiosyncratic books for
tale in his cinematic version of 'Beauty and the children. Cole has written and illustrated four
Beast'. Although now considered a classic, at provocative fairy tales that are outrageously
the time of its release in the aftermath of World funny and question traditional fairy-tale con-
War II when people were struggling to meet ventions from a feminist perspective. In Prin-
their most basic needs, the film was considered cess Smartypants (1986), she reverses the
by many to be shockingly frivolous. Cocteau 'taming-of-the-shrew' syndrome of King
countered that he was offering a means of sur- Thrushbeard by depicting a young girl in dun-
vival by renewing people's 'spirit'. He also garees, who does not want to be married and
deemed his reworking of this fairy tale to be an thwarts her parents by turning her major suitor
 COLLODI, CARLO

into a frog, when she kisses him. In Prince Cin­ foreign domination and from antiquated re­
ders (1988), a revision of *'Cinderella', the gimes, and able to unite as one nation. In 1848,
youngest of three brothers is forced to do the the great year of European revolutions, he
housework until he is rescued by a zany fairy fought against the Austrians in the First War of
and a princess. King- Change-a-lot (1988) Independence in Italy. Returning safely, he
spoofs the *Aladdin fairy tale by introducing a embarked on his life's twin professions, be­
monarch who rubs a potty to produce a magic coming a civil servant with the Tuscan legis­
genie, who in turn helps him solve problems in lature and launching a politico-satirical
the kingdom. In Cupid (1990) Cole sends the newspaper. Because of the censorship, his jour­
god of love to earth where he becomes in­ nalism soon turned towards the theatre, and he
volved in the Miss Universe contest. In all her began to write plays and then novels.
books Cole displays an uncanny sense for ex­ At 32, Collodi enlisted for the Second War
plosive situations that she captures in bright, of Independence, and before long Garibaldi
often dazzling illustrations made with dyes. brought about the unification of Italy (i860).
Although she has been dubbed an anarchic In 1865, the year that Lewis *Carroh"s *Alice's
writer and illustrator, there is always a clear Adventures in Wonderland was published, Flo­
provocative purpose in her fairy-tale reversals. rence briefly became Italy's capital and saw a
JZ resurgence of dynamic political and cultural ac­
tivity. Ten years later Collodi, who was a pas­
COLE, SIR HENRY (1808-82), English civil ser­ sionate theatregoer, music-lover, and journalist
vant and editor, under the name of 'Felix Sum­ of mordant wit, was commissioned by the Flo­
merly', of the Home Treasury series in which rentine publishing house of the Paggi brothers
traditional stories and rhymes of childhood to translate a collection of French literary fairy
were reissued. Cole said in the prospectus that tales of the 17th and 18th centuries. They were
he aimed at cultivating 'the Affections, Fancy, Charles *Perrault's eight ^Histoires ou contes du
Imagination, and Taste of Children', at a time temps passé (Stories or Tales of Past Times,
when moral tales and books of instruction 1697) and his 'Peau d'âne' (*'Donkey-Skin'),
dominated the juvenile market. The first along with four stories by Mme d'*Aulnoy (in­
books, published by Joseph Cundall, appeared cluding 'The *Blue Bird' and 'The White Cat')
a n c
in 1843 ^ included versions of *'Beauty and and two by Mme *Leprince de Beaumont (in­
the Beast', *'Little Red Riding-Hood', 'Chevy cluding ""Beauty and the Beast'). Among Per­
Chase', 'Reynard the Fox', and Traditional rault's reworkings of ancient and well-known
Nursery Songs. GA fairy tales (""Cinderella', *'Little Red Riding
Hood') was *'Puss-in-Boots' which, through
COLLODI, CARLO (pseudonym of CARLO LOREN- Collodi, returned to Italy from France after a
ZINl, 1826—90), Italian writer, journalist, civil circular journey of several hundred years: the
servant, and patriot, the author of Le avventure earliest known versions are those of the Italian
di ^Pinocchio (1881—3), generally regarded as writers Giovan Francesco *Straparola (Le *pia-
the masterpiece of Italian children's literature. cevoli notti, 1550—3) and Giambattista *Basile
Pinocchio is not a traditional story reworked, (*Pentamerone, 1634—6). Collodi brought a
but is, nevertheless, a fairy tale, a principal Tuscan realism to his first children's book and
character being 'the Fairy with indigo hair' (not first fairy book, Iracconti dellefate (Fairy Tales,
'the Blue Fairy', which is a *Disney distortion 1875); ^ made possible a new direction in his
of the original). Collodi came to fairies and to writing, which, within six years, was to result
children late and simultaneously, when he was in his classic work, Pinocchio. First, however,
nearly 50 in 1875. By then he had long been he was commissioned to write a modernized
noted in his native Florence for his cultural ac­ version of an innovative children's book of
tivities for adults and for his political commit­ 1837; his Giannettino of 1877 disguised didac­
ment. One of many siblings brought up in ticism within a more natural and playful narra­
poverty, he knew both the historic city and the tive than had previously been acceptable, and
Tuscan countryside from boyhood; he was its huge success led to a long series of enter­
given a good education with priests, thanks to taining but informative stories concerning the
his parents' noble employer. Work in a prom­ same central character, a lively boy who was
inent bookshop brought him into contact with not a model of perfect behaviour. In 1880 Gian­
the liberal Florentine intelligentsia. He became nettino began a tour of Italy in three volumes,
an ardent supporter of the ideals of the Risorgi- which again demonstrated Collodi's determin­
mento, eager to see the Italian states freed from ation to create Italians for the new Italy.
COLUM, PADRAIC 104

This was a period of considerable develop­ COLUM, PADRAIC (1881-1972), Irish poet, play­
ments in journalism for children in Italy, and in wright, and children's author. Colum's father
1881 Collodi was invited to contribute a serial administered the town workhouse in Long­
story to a new and distinguished children's ford, Ireland; the boy grew up listening to stor­
weekly paper, / / Giornale per i Bambini, pub­ ies, not only from the old people of the
lished in Rome. La storia di un burattino (The workhouse, but also from the tramps and other
Story of a Puppet) began in the first issue on 7 nomads who stopped for a night's shelter. In
July 1881. It came to a premature end with the his twenties Colum arrived in Dublin and
hanging of Pinocchio in October. Following joined the flourishing Celtic Revival; his first
clamorous requests, the serial started again in plays were produced by W. B . *Yeats's Irish
February 1882 under the definitive title, Le Theatre. He emigrated to America in 1914 and
avventure di Pinocchio, and after a further inter­ became a children's author when an Irish folk
ruption achieved its happy ending on 25 Janu­ tale he had translated and expanded was pub­
ary 1883. It was immediately published as a lished as The King of Ireland's Son (1916), illus­
volume with line illustrations by Enrico Maz- trated by Willy *Pogany. He had a poetic gift
zanti, who worked in close partnership with for weaving traditional stories into a flowing
Collodi. While some of his other stories, such narrative, while preserving their authentic fla­
as 'Pipi o lo scimmiottino color di rosa' ('Pipi vour; his full-length narrative versions for chil­
or the Pink Monkey', 1887), have some com­ dren of Greek, Norse, and Welsh myths have
mon ground with fairy tales, Pinocchio is Col- never been surpassed. The Girl Who Sat by the
lodi's unique original contribution to the lore Ashes (1919) expands the tale of *Cinderella,
of fairies. Not surprisingly, his fairy is while The Children who Followed the Piper
modelled on those of Perrault and his contem­ (1922) is an imaginative extrapolation of the
poraries, being human in scale and character Pied Piper legend. The Forge in the Forest
and a good fairy godmother in type. Yet, des­ (1925), strikingly designed and superbly illus­
pite her dark blue hair, she is modern in her trated by Boris Artzybasheff, creates a narra­
ideals and tutelage, urging Pinocchio to be stu­ tive frame for eight folk tales about horses
dious. Judged within the context of its times, drawn from several cultures—two tales for
Collodi's fairy tale is both illuminating and each of the four elements. In 1923 the Hawaiian
extraordinary for its social and political satire legislature invited Colum to survey and make
on the one hand, and on the other because of its accessible their Polynesian heritage; this com­
exuberant fantasy, especially remarkable be­ pilation was published as Tales and Legends of
cause the fairy-tale tradition generally had only Hawaii (1924-5). His original fairy tales in­
a limited impact on the development of chil­ clude The Boy Apprenticed to an Enchanter
dren's literature in Italy. In the late 19th cen­ (1920) and The Peep-Show Man (1924). SR
tury, Italy's usual response to fairies was
confined to the rewriting of folk tales from the
oral tradition. Luigi *Capuana's Sicilian stories COMMUNIST FOLK-TALE FILMS, produced regular­
for children, Cera una volta (Once Upon a ly in the Grimm heartlands and nearby coun­
Time, 1882), are a distinguished example. tries, normally inflected in a particular political
Pinocchio was instantly a great popular suc­ direction. However, despite a common over­
cess, the fifth edition appearing in 1890, the arching ideology, there was great diversity in
year of Collodi's death; the first English trans­ these films, both from one country to another,
lation, published in 1892, heralded innumerable and from one decade to another.
versions world-wide and a vast international In the late 1930s the successful release of
industry of abridgements, films, plays, toys, *Disney's *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
and other products. Pinocchio is one of the most prompted Alexander Rou to make The Magic
translated books in the world and has been in­ Fish (Po shchuhemu velenya, USSR, 1938),
terpreted according to many ideologies and which initiated more than half a century of So­
philosophies. ALL viet cinematic activity in this field. Based on an
Bertacchini, Renato, Il padre di Pinocchio (1993). old Russian tale, it tells of Yemelya who one
Collodi, Carlo, The Adventures of Pinocchio, day catches a fish which pleads to be spared,
trans, and ed. Ann Lawson Lucas (1996).
saying that in exchange it will grant any
Fedi, R. (ed.), Carlo Collodi. Lo spafio delle
meraviglie (1990). wishes. Yemelya agrees. Nearby is a Tsar with
Traversetti, Bruno, Introdufione a Collodi (1993). a beautiful daughter, Nesmeyana, who is al­
Vitta, M., 'Introduzione', in Carlo Collodi, Fiabe ways bad-tempered and rude, and never
e racconti (1991). laughs. In desperation, the Tsar makes a public
io5 COMMUNIST FOLK-TALE FILMS

proclamation that he will give her hand in mar­ proletariat, progress through science, and the
riage to any man who can make her laugh. desirability of spreading happiness/commun­
Many suitors arrive and try, but none succeeds ism to other countries. It was released in the
till Yemelya uses one of his wishes. The Tsar UK over Christmas 1944, but was not shown in
goes back on his promise, but Nesmeyana likes children's Saturday matinees.
Yemelya so much that she runs away with him. The end of the war saw the emergence of
This story is punctuated by various magical Aleksandr Ptushko as one of the pre-eminent
transformations effected by the fish: winter Russian directors of folklore on screen, and an
turns into summer, a lake grows out of a pud­ inspiration for film-makers elsewhere. Based
dle, houses evolve from nowhere. on a folk-tale from the Ural Mountains, Ptush­
So popular was The Magic Fish that Rou's ko's film Kamenni tsvetok (The Stone Flower,
follow-up, Koniok gorbunok (The Little Hump­ USSR, 1946), offers spectacle, adventure, sus­
back Horse, USSR, 1939), was made in colour. pense, and an analysis of the satisfactions of
It features the same leading actors and tells a craftsmanship. It achieved fame and distribu­
similar story: a peasant wins the heart of a prin­ tion in several countries, including the US and
cess. Ivan, a young shepherd, catches a little the U K .
white pony, and in its mane he discovers the During these immediate post-war years
glowing feathers of the firebird which alone D E F A , the state film company of the commun­
can lead to princess Silver Morning. After free­ ist-controlled sector of Germany, was making
ing the pony, Ivan finds a talking humpback no fairy-tale films at all, partly because direct­
horse waiting for him at home. He becomes a ors and writers were uncertain how to interpret
groom in the service of a decrepit Tsar and is and apply to this genre the Soviet doctrine of
sent on pain of death to find Silver Morning, socialist realism. However, within a year of the
whom the Tsar plans to marry. With the 1949 establishment of the German Democratic
humpback horse, Ivan has many adventures on Republic (East Germany) as a separate state,
land, under the sea, and in the sky, before find­ director Paul Verhoeven had followed Ptush­
ing the princess and bringing her back. How­ ko's lead and made Das kalte Her^ (The Cold
ever, she refuses to marry the Tsar; instead she Heart, G D R , 1950). Steering clear of *Grimm
rescues Ivan from gaol. princesses, Verhoeven adapted a text by the
Apart from their portrayal of Tsars as senile 19th-century German writer Wilhelm *Hauff.
and treacherous, there is little explicitly polit­ The film uses an enchanted forest, scenes of
ical in these and other similar films of the banqueting, and a giant's gruesome repository
period: they could be interpreted in the West as of bartered, still-beating hearts as a vivid back­
simply promoting secular humanist values. ground for the story of a young man who
Consequently, during the war, at the height of learns that riches are worthless without a social
the Western alliance with the USSR, they were conscience. It was well received in both Ger-
brought into distribution in the UK and shown manies; and after an eight-year delay reached
to children in some Saturday cinema clubs. selected Saturday matinees in the U K .
However, the tenor of Russian fairy-tale films Back in the USSR, Ptushko was developing
soon began to change, and so did their recep­ further his expertise in bringing myth to the
tion in the West. Volshebnoye lerno (The Magic screen. Sadko (USSR, 1952) was based on
Seed, USSR, 1941) is about two peasant chil­ medieval Russian legends which Rimsky-Kor-
dren, Andreika and Marika, who are presented sakov had used in the 1890s as the basis for an
by a legendary singing blacksmith with a magic opera of the same name. Ptushko retained
seed, one of only two in the world. If planted in snatches of the music, but reshaped the narra­
good soil, it will feed the world. The other is tive significantly to suit his medium and ideol­
possessed by Karamur, a wicked ogre who ogy. In the film Sadko is a wandering minstrel
keeps it locked up. Hearing about the chil­ who, when he arrives at the port of Novgorod,
dren's seed, Karamur sends an army of Long- is so appalled by the disparity between the pov­
noses to destroy it, but the children go to erty-stricken conditions of the working people
another planet to consult a wise scientist. With and the well-being of the prosperous mer­
his aid, plus that of a black slave and a flute, chants that he vows to take a selected company
they overpower Karamur and set about spread­ on a voyage round the world in search of the
ing food and happiness to all humankind. legendary bird of happiness. Needing ships and
Within the context of an exciting narrative the money to make this happen, he receives unex­
story presents, by implication, contemporary pected help from an underwater princess,
political ideas about oppression, liberation, the whose father is the powerful Tsar of the
COMMUNIST FOLK-TALE FILMS 106

Ocean. In India he thinks he has found the bird Mook eventually reached selected Saturday
of happiness, but it turns out to be a phoenix, morning screens in the UK, but only as a boy
which lulls people into forgetting their prob­ having fun: the sequences showing him as a
lems, rather than overcoming them. Returning wise old man were cut out.
home empty-handed, they encounter a great All three countries were now committed to
storm; Sadko is able to save his comrades only the idea that tales, legends, and myths could
by giving up his life to the Tsar of the Ocean. provide the basis of films that were edifying as
However, the Ocean Princess sets him free. well as entertaining—and not only for chil­
Back on Russian soil, Sadko realizes that his dren—but they developed such projects in
journey was misconceived: happiness is in their own ways, in the light of their own na­
one's native country and has to be worked for, tional culture and the prevailing interpretation
not found. In addition to this moral, the film of socialist realism. A comparison of three films
stresses collectivism rather than individuality made near the end of the 1950s, one from each
and points to the iniquities of capitalism, while country, will illustrate the range of possibilities
at the same time getting full entertainment which they perceived as being open to them. In
value from its energetic dances, its phoenix, the USSR Ptushko saw out the decade as co-
and its underwater action. The film won a prize director of an elemental epic; in the G D R the
at the Venice Film Festival and achieved distri­ spirit of Bertolt Brecht encouraged audiences
bution in the U K , the USA (where it was re- to keep their distance; and in Czechoslovakia a
titled The Magic Voyage of Sindbad) and other beautiful princess became mousy.
Western countries; but it was the last Russian Ptushko's epic was Sampo (USSR/Finland,
film of this genre to do so. 1959), which drew on *Kalevala, the Finnish
In the same year, Czechoslovakia launched version of a Nordic myth about the origins of
several decades of cinematic production of this the world. Against a backdrop of Finnish loca­
type with its first film made especially for chil­ tions, and the colour and special effects which
dren. Derived from national legends collected create a flying cloak, a woman walking on
in the 19th century by the Czech novelist waves, and a fire-breathing snake-trampling
Bozena Nemcova, Pysnaprince^na (The Proud iron horse, Sampo validates labour—logging,
Princess) shows how good King Miroslav hum­ hunting, blacksmithing—and puts a higher
bles the overbearing pride of Princess Kraso- value on the community and its culture than on
mila. Under his guidance, and with the help of any one individual. No character or relation­
a singing flower, she learns to respect the work ship is depicted in any detail, or given any idio­
of the common people, recognizing it as the syncrasy. When a young man is drowned, it is
source of all prosperity. his mother, not his betrothed, who pleads with
Still in 1952, the G D R Communist Party the sea to give him up, and with nature to give
held a conference which resulted in a decree him breath again. The film ends not with the
that socialist realism included a requirement to wedding, but with the wider picture—the
show optimism in facing the future. Little more community rejoicing that their dream of a bet­
than a year later, at Christmas 1953, D E F A un­ ter life may be about to come true.
veiled Die Geschichte vom kleinen Muck (Little By contrast the G D R film from the same
Mook), which was to revitalize D E F A by be­ period, Die Geschichte vom armen Hassan (The
coming the most successful film it ever pro­ Story of Poor Hassan, 1958) has a restricted cast
duced. Mindful of the popularity of The Cold and no exterior locations. Made in response to
Heart, the director Wolfgang Staudte stuck the G DR's second film conference, which had
with Hauff and adapted a story of an unwant­ criticized the neo-realist quasi-documentary
ed, orphan hunchback boy in the Orient who style of some recent productions, Hassan
hears about the legendary Merchant who Sells adapts Brechtian distancing techniques, de­
Happiness, and runs away to the desert to find veloped for the stage, to the screen. Their pur­
him. This film adds a new ingredient to stand­ pose is to undermine any illusion of reality that
ard themes by putting a frame round the com­ may develop in an audience's mind. The film
edy of Mook's magic shoes: at the beginning, starts with the actors introducing themselves
middle, and end of the film are scenes showing direct to camera and talking about the charac­
Mook as an old man relating his story to a ters they are going to play. The Hassan actor
group of young children. By the time he fin­ leafs through a book to emphasize that what
ishes they are roused to declare that they will the audience will see is a constructed tale.
look after him and will henceforth speak out When the story is acted out, no exterior loca­
loud and clear against injustice and prejudice. tions are used; every scene takes place in a
IO7 COMMUNIST FOLK-TALE FILMS

stylized studio set with minimal decor. Till just way of introducing his own children to the
before the end the characters are one- basics of dialectical materialism—Hans Rockle
dimensional—Hassan, naïve; the merchant, und der Teufel (Hans Rockle and the Devil,
brutal; the judge, corrupt; the slave Fatima, 1974). And in Czechoslovakia several more
helpless. The director's intention, through this Bozena Nemcova stories about princes and
style of telling, was to stimulate in the viewer a princesses were brought to the screen.
gradual sharpening of awareness of the painful But there were plenty of variations from this
contradictions (workers oppressed and poor, pattern as well. Directors in the USSR some-
bosses idle and wealthy) in the characters' soci- times went outside their own national litera-
al relations. Not all G D R critics were entirely tures, and made, for example, a version of *Ali
happy with this film, but for some the obvious Baba and the Forty Thieves (shot in Tashkent,
seriousness of its intentions made it vastly pref- not Moscow, 1980) and several films based on
erable not only to neo-realism but also to what stories by Hans Christian *Andersen, including
they saw as the bourgeois flimflam of *The Rousalochka (The Little Mermaid). In the
Singing Ringing Tree, made in the same coun- G D R , the tales of the Brothers Grimm grad-
try the year before. ually became politically acceptable, especially
Such critics would not have much liked a those stories which do not feature royalty, such
Czech film produced a year later. Prince^na se as Sechse kommen durch die Welt (How Six
llatou hveidou (The Princess with the Golden Made their Way in the World, 1972), Gevatter
Star, 1959) was again from a story by Bozena Tod (Godfather Death, 1980), and Jorinde und
Nemcova, who had herself derived it from the Joringel (1986). Meanwhile Czechoslovakian
Brothers *Grimm. It is similar in some ways to film-makers went outside the communist bloc
Jim *Henson's Sapsorrow, but in this version not only for stories, such as Andersen's Galose
the threat of incest is omitted, leaving it as a stastia (The Lucky Boots, 1986), but also for
fairly traditional type of story about a princess stars, such as the Austrian Maria Schell, who
who escapes from a wedding to a king she de- played the Queen Mother in KralDro^dia brada
tests by dressing in a mouse-skin coat and pass- (King Thrushbeard's Bride, 1984).
ing as a scullery-maid. The result is a film Nor were such productions isolated from the
which shows little political awareness. The major philosophical currents that influenced
princess's father, Hostivit, is lightly mocked the rest of Europe in these decades. Ideas about
for his senile stubbornness; and Kazisvet, the female emancipation, for example, are evident
hated suitor, is scorned for his arrogance and in various films. A Bozena Nemcova variation
aggressiveness. There are romantic songs, per- on the Cinderella story— Tri oriskypro Popelku
formed by the popular singer who plays the (Three Ha{elnuts for Cinderella)—was turned
prince; and there is ballet, for which several in 1974 into a film which presents the heroine
opportunities are created. The only real moral as positive and self-confident, rather than re-
that the film illustrates is the universal lesson signed and submissive (as she had been in an
that people should be judged for what they are, earlier East German version based on the
not for how they look; and the only ideological Grimms' tale). And a decade later two other
reference is to an uprising which asserts the lib- 19th-century women writers, Gisela and Bet-
eral democratic notion that ultimate political tina von *Arnim, provided the source material
power lies with the people, not with any indi- for Gritta von Ratten^uhausheluns (Gritta of Rat
vidual. Castle, G D R , 1985). This centres on Gritta, a
In the following three decades, culminating 13-year-old countess, whose eccentric father is
in the collapse of communist systems all over so obsessed with inventing machines that he
Europe, the three countries carried on making lets the family castle fall into ruin. It is, there-
folklore films as a significant part of their over- fore, up to Gritta and her rat friends to defeat
all programme, with each of them staying, to the schemes of her new stepmother, who with
some extent, within the pattern established in the help of an evil abbess plans to defraud girls
the 1950s. In the USSR, Ptushko directed more of their inheritances by getting them locked up.
national epics, such as Russian and Ludmilla Gritta is shown as being rebellious and inde-
(1973), based on a long narrative poem by the pendent-minded, just as happy to consort with
venerated writer Alexander Pushkin. In the Peter the gooseboy as with Prince Bonus. The
GDR, where films operated within a narrower contemporary tone of these attitudes is re-
definition of what was politically acceptable, inforced by the dialogue, which is peppered
one film-maker adapted a book derived from with 1980s German slang.
fantasy characters invented by Karl Marx as a One of the catalysts of such new orienta-
COMPANY OF W O L V E S , T H E 108

tions was television, the influence of which modern, self-reflexive, east-meets-west way of
spread outwards. In the 1970s and 1980s some saying goodbye to Grimmland was called Sher­
German and Czech fairy-tale films were made lock Holmes und die sieben Zwerge (Sherlock
directly for the home screen, rather than for the Holmes and the Seven Dwarfs (Germany
cinema, a change which had several effects. It 1994)). TAS
allowed some films to be shorter, around an Berger, Eberhard, and Giera, Joachim (eds.), 7 7
hour rather than the 90 minutes which cinema Mdrchenfilme (1990).
expects. Its fitness for close-ups of facial ex­ Koenig, Ingelore, et al., Zwischen Marx und
pressions and for voice-overs encouraged Muck: DEFA-Filme fur Kinder (1996).
directors to explore characters' interior
psychological dimensions. Its preference for COMPANY OF WOLVES, THE (film), see JORDAN,

realism led to films being shot on location in NEIL.

the countryside as far as possible, rather than in

studios. And sharing the screen with news and COOVER, ROBERT (1932— ), distinctive award-
current affairs programmes sharpened film­ winning American writer, several of whose
makers' desire to find and point up contempor­ postmodern fictions for adults rewrite the folk
ary relevance in the tales they were telling. tale as a foundational narrative of Western lit­
When communist government in these erature and culture. Born in Iowa, he has been
countries ended at the close of the 1980s, state teaching at Brown University for many years
subsidy of film production ended too. In the and has also lived in Spain, the United King­
1990s, fairy-tale films are still made, but on an dom, and Italy. For Coover, a passionate inter­
opportunistic rather than a systematic basis. A preter of Miguel de Cervantes and Samuel
co-production deal between Russian and Chi­ Beckett (see his essay 'The Last Quixote'), it is
nese film companies resulted in Magic Portrait through stories that we construct the world it­
(1997), which begins, in traditional fashion, self; thus the writer's vocation is to furnish
with a hard-working young Russian peasant 'better fictions with which we can re-form our
called Ivan who, in return for kindness to a notion of things'. Disruption of expectations,
fairy, is given a picture of a beautiful girl. Step­ parodie repetition, keen pursuit of both meta­
ping down from the painting, she says she is phor and mundane detail, and unflinching en­
only a soul without a body. The difference tanglement in and critique of the workings of
from any previous Russian film is that she is sexuality and power characterize Coover's
Chinese. On a quest to bring her body and soul unmaking and remaking of social fictions (e.g.
together, Ivan travels to China and there con­ religious ritual in The Origin of the Brunists,
fronts many dangers. Another painting plays a 1966; games and sports in The Universal Base­
significant role in the Czech The Magic of a ball Association, 1968; political structures in The
Beautiful Girl (1995), which introduces new Public Burning 1977; master—slave dynamics in
elements into fairyland and dispenses with Spanking the Maid, 1982; image and film in A
magic completely. Made for television, it fea­ Night at the Movies, 1987; and family in John's
tures a prince so in love with the portrait of an Wife, 1996). In proposing fictions that are
unknown woman (who turns out to be his late overtly aware of themselves, Coover places
mother) that he will marry no one else, thereby himself in the tradition of 'intransigent realists'
showing an obstinacy which enrages his like Franz *Kafka and Angela *Carter. His
power-hungry young stepmother so much that more recent work involves a dialogue with film
she persuades the prince's best friend to mur­ and creative uses of hypertext.
der him by using sexual wiles. Climactically, In Aesop's Forest (1986) Coover questions
the prince marries a young woman who looks the fable: 'Three Little Pigs' frames Hair O' the
like the portrait; and the stepmother commits Chine (1979), and A Political Fable (1980) dis­
suicide. places Dr *Seuss's Cat in the Hat from young
In Germany D E F A still exists but is now a children's bedtime to presidential elections.
commercial company, facing west as well as Some of his other fictions intensely engage spe­
east. Five years after the Berlin Wall came cific fairy tales. Coover's 1969 experimental
down it produced a kind of valediction in collection of short stories Pricksongs & Descants
which a famous detective, called upon to solve (1969) unsettles not only worn interpretations
the mystery of the missing last pages in fairy­ of Old Testament narratives, urban legends,
tale books, discovers that they have been torn and crime stories, but also tales like *'Little
out by the Black Wizard, who is intent on Red Riding Hood' and *'Jack and the Bean­
changing the way the stories end. This post­ stalk' (in 'The Door: A Prologue of Sorts'),
io9 COTTINGLEY FAIRIES, THE

and *'Hansel and Gretel' ('The Gingerbread tween humans and animals, dream and
House'). A haunting and funny tale, 'The wakefulness, art and reality. 'La bruja' ('The
Dead Queen' (1973) retells *'Snow White' Witch', 1944), published in the periodical Cor-
from the perspective of the prince. reo Literario (Literary Post), was Cortâzar's first
Coover's grotesque and linguistically in­ fantastic tale, and Bestiario (Bestiary, 1951) was
ventive Pinocchio in Venice (1991) makes a pup­ the first of his many collections of short stories
pet, and then a book, of an American art which include Final deljuego (End of the Game,
history professor in decaying and carnival­ 1956), Todos los fuegos el fuego (All Fires the
esque Venice. In his quest to finish his auto­ Fire, 1966), Alguien que anda por ahi (A Change
biography, Professor Pinenut pursues the of Light, 1977), and Deshoras (Out of Phase,
Blue-Haired Fairy turned college student, and 1983). CF
is in turn pursued by pigeons and policemen. Blanco, Mercedes, and Flotow-Evans, Luise von,
While reflecting on the pre-World War II pol­ 'Topology of the Fantastic in the Work of Julio
itics of the *Disney Pinocchio film, Coover Cortâzar', Canadian Fiction Magazine, 61—2
playfully retells *Collodi's 19th-century (1987).
*Pinocchio in a struggling embrace of the Noguera, Ruben, 'The Fantastic in the Stories of
mamma/Madonna-centred Italian tradition. Julio Cortâzar', Revis ta de Estudios Hispânicos,
Another sustained exploration of a single 21 (1994).
Review of Contemporary Fiction, spec, issue on
fairy tale, Briar Rose (1996) retells the versions
Cortâzar, 3 (1983).
of 'The *Sleeping Beauty' of Giambattista
*Basile, Charles *Perrault, the Brothers
*Grimm and others to foreground the pain that COSTA, NICOLETTA ( 1 9 5 3 - ), Italian writer and
quest-driven fairy tales demand and yet over­ illustrator of fairy-tale-like tales for young
look. Storyteller, cook, and fairy, Coover's old children. Born in Trieste, Costa has a degree in
crone has both deadly and antidotal tricks to architecture; has received several awards, in­
play over and over again to awaken us all to cluding the 1989 and the 1994 Andersen Prize;
the horrors of the tale which, like a dream, has and some of her books have been translated
captured her as well as the sleeping Rose and into English, Spanish, and Japanese. Her light-
the frustrated 'hero'. While exposing the pov­ hearted, tongue-in-cheek books feature the
erty and violence of desire in this romanticized confused but well-meaning witch Teodora
tale, Briar Rose also pushes the central meta­ who tries her magic out on a young frustrated
phor of the tale to its limits in a powerfully dragon (Teodora e Draghetto, 1991), an uncon­
generative play of perspectives and tale- ventional princess who meets her match in La
spinning. CB principessa dispettosa ( The Mischievous Princess,
Coover, Robert, 'Entering Ghost Town', 1986), and several chorus-like cats. CB
Marvels and Tales, 12.1 (1998).
Gado, Frank (ed.), 'Robert Coover', First Person
O973)- COTTINGLEY FAIRIES, THE, two 'epoch-making'
'Robert Coover', spec, issue of Delta, ed. photographs—'Frances and the Dancing Fair­
Maurice Coutourier (June 1989).
ies' and 'Elsie and the Gnome'—taken in July
McHale, Brian, Postmodernist Fiction (1987).
1917 by girls aged 9 and 16. In 1920 copies
reached Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of
CORTÂZAR, JULIO (1914-84), Argentinian nov­ the deductive detective Sherlock Holmes.
elist and, like his compatriot Jorge Luis Doyle published them, along with three new
*Borges, one of the best authors of short stories ones the girls had taken, in his book The Com­
in the Spanish language. His sometimes com­ ing of the Fairies (1922), which endorsed them
plex writing techniques and expansive use of as proof of the existence of psychic phenom­
intertextuality do not result in depoliticized ena. Many people doubted the photographs'
stories. On the contrary, Cortâzar's tales tend authenticity, but no trickery could be proved.
to carry a political message that may be more After more than 50 years, the first screen ver­
or less overt but is always present, conditioned sion of the story reached television. 'Fairies', a
both by his implacable rejection of bourgeois 1978 dramatization by Geoffrey Case for the
society and his wish to question anything that BBC, treats the girls' claims sympathetically.
has been socially sanctioned. Many of Cortâ­ However, in the 1980s both photographers ad­
zar's stories are fantastic tales, presenting nu­ mitted deceit: they had used hat-pins and paper
merous disturbing continuities between one cut-outs to fake the pictures. Fairytale: A True
human being and his or her Doppelgdnger, be­ Story (USA, 1997) condenses the controversy
Cox, PALMER HO

into a wartime argument between Doyle the spired by the Scottish ballad of Thomas the
believer and pre-eminent illusionist Harry Rhymer, describes how Alice, a descendant of
Houdini, who remains sceptical. The film hints the legendary Thomas who was seduced by the
that the girls could have been hoaxers, but Queen of Elfland, is stolen from her cradle by
leaves the question open, preferring to end the elves and grows up in their country. She is
with an affirmation that, whether or not they finally released from her thraldom by her
can be photographed, fairies do exist for people mother's determined love and by the spirit of
who believe in them. In Photographing Fairies Thomas the Rhymer himself. She compiled
(UK, 1997), based on a novel, the Cottingley The Fairy Book in 1863, and included versions
pictures are ridiculed by a professional photog- of French and English tales, and a few of the
rapher, Charles Castle, when Doyle presents *Grimms' tales including, unusually, 'The "'Ju-
them in a public lecture as hard evidence. Dif- niper Tree'. There was also one Norwegian
ferent fairy photos do, however, convince Cas- rarity, 'House Island', in which elements of
pagan and Christian beliefs mingle. She wrote
tle. Investigating, he discovers that what is
several works for children, including two fairy
needed in order to see fairies is not faith but a
tales. The Adventures of a Brownie (1872) is a
special magic flower. When eaten, it induces a
light-hearted account of the antics of a mis-
trance in which he sees fairies as sexual beings
chievous household elf. The Little Lame Prince
and then has a vision of making love to his late l s o n e t n e
and his Travelling Cloak (1875) °f
wife. Fully confident that he will be reunited most original allegorical fantasies of the period,
with her not in death but in a different world, comparable, though the meaning is more care-
he happily submits to being hanged for a mur- fully indicated, to those of George "'MacDo-
der he did not commit. TAS nald. Described by the author as a parable, it
Cooper, Joe, The Case of the Cottingley Fairies relates how the throne of the hopelessly crip-
(1990). pled little Prince Dolor is usurped by his uncle,
Szilagyi, Steve, Photographing Fairies (1995). who imprisons the child on top of the desolate
Cox, PALMER ( I 840-1924), Canadian illustra- Hopeless Tower, proclaiming that he is dead.
Here his fairy godmother visits him, leaving a
tor and author of light verse for children.
magical cloak that will take him anywhere he
Drawing on Scottish legends told to him as a
wishes. Restored to the throne, but still blessed
child, Cox began his 'Brownies' series for St
with his travelling cloak, he becomes a good
Nicholas Magazine in 1883. Short tales in rhym-
and wise king and finally leaves, as mysterious-
ing couplets chronicled the harmless and amus-
ly as he has come. GA
ing exploits of a brownie band intent on Mitchell, Sally, Dinah Mulock Craik (1983).
imitating human activities; the brownies could Philipose, Lily, 'The Politics of the Hearth in
be individually identified in Cox's lively illus- Victorian Children's Fantasy: Dinah Mulock
trations by their distinctive hats. The Brownies: Craik's The Little Lame Prince', Children's
Their Book (1887) and its twelve successors Literature Association Quarterly, 21.3 (fall 1996).
were wildly popular, even inspiring a three-act Richardson, Alan, 'Reluctant Lords and Lame
entertainment, Palmer Cox's Brownies (1895), Princes: Engendering the Male Child in
that ran for years; children still enjoy them Nineteenth-Century Juvenile Fiction', Children's
today. SR Literature, 21 (1993).

COYPEL, CHARLES-ANTOINE ( 1 6 9 4 - 1 7 5 2 ) , dir-

ector of the French Royal Academy and princi- CRANCH, CHRISTOPHER PEARSE (1813-92),
pal painter of Louis X V . He illustrated many American Unitarian minister, author and illus-
literary works, including editions of Molière's trator of two fantasies. The Last of the Hugger-
plays, and was himself a prolific dramatist. muggers (1856) and its sequel, Kohboltoio (1857)
Coypel wrote one fairy tale, 'Aglaé ou Nabo- are possibly the first fairy stories for children
tine' ('Aglaé or Little One'), published post- by an American author. The Huggermuggers
humously in 1779. Coypel weaves several are two kindly and affectionate giants, the last
traditional fairy-tale motifs into the story of a of their race. Captured by a grasping Yankee
benevolent fairy who tests the kindness and trader who wants to make his fortune exhibit-
sincerity of an ugly little girl whose virtue is ing them, they sicken and die. The sequel de-
eventually rewarded with beauty and the love scribes the end of the malicious dwarf
of a handsome young man. AZ Kobboltozo, who had betrayed them. Highly
original and written with wry humour, the
CRAIK, DINAH M A R I A (née MULOCK, 1 8 1 8 - 8 7 ) , stories had no lasting popularity, perhaps be-
English novelist. Alice Learmont (1852), in- cause of the sadness of their theme. GA
Ill CRANE, WALTER

CRANE, WALTER (1845-1915), British illustrator, sions about colour once his line drawings were
designer, teacher, and painter whose popular cut into the wood blocks and proofs returned
toybooks for children helped to bring inexpen­ to him. As photographic printing methods re­
sively coloured books to a greater mass audi­ placed the woodblocks, he quickly adapted to
ence. He was born in Liverpool and died in the new techniques. His pictures were busy and
London at the age of 69. Trained in wood en­ filled to the edges, with costume, floor tiling,
graving, he knew the printing process and was vases, flowers, figured carpets, and decorative
able to bring his skill to take advantage of the items which encouraged others to steal his pat­
developing technology of his day in the field of terns. As a result, he began to market his own
children's books. He was a politically involved fabric and wallpaper designs and promoted the
artist who also changed the recognition which Arts and Crafts movement associated with
an artist received in the publication of his William *Morris, with whom he also cam­
books. paigned for socialist political causes. He served
Crane's father was an unsuccessful artist and as the first president of the Arts and Crafts So­
portraitist who nevertheless encouraged his ciety in 1888 and joined the Fabians in 1885.
son's early attempts at drawing. Shortly before When his pictures were reprinted without his
his father's death, Walter entered a three-year permission, he took control of his art and his
apprenticeship with a wood engraver at the age name appears on several titles, such as Walter
of 13. His work was in drawing for the block, Crane's Painting Book (1889). At the end of his
and he made vignettes and sketches for adver­ life, he turned his attention to education and
tising cuts. After attending classes at Heather- served in leadership positions in the Manches­
ley's Art School and selling freelance work, ter School of Art and the Royal College of Art
Crane made the acquaintance of the Victorian in South Kensington. In addition to a volume
printer Edmund Evans, who first used him for of verse and his autobiography An Artist's
drawing cover pictures. Evans worked with Reminiscences (1907), he wrote several influen­
Crane (also Kate *Greenaway and Randolph tial books on his theories of art and design, Of
*Caldecott) on a series of cheap picture books the Decorative Illustration of Books Old and New
known as 'toybooks', indicating they were for (1896), The Bases of Design (1898), and Line
children and were in colour, published by and Form (1900). Although he made paintings
George Routledge and Frederick Warne in the throughout his life, he never achieved fame for
latter half of the 19th century. The first of these this form of his work; the formality of his care­
bearing Crane's name appeared around 1865 fully designed compositions for children's
and included Farmyard Alphabet, Cock Robin, books were thought stilted in easel paintings.
The House that Jack Built, and Sing a Song of To contrast his styles, *Beauty and the Beast
Sixpence. Crane eventually produced about 50 (1874) portrays the beast as a tusked and mon-
volumes in this series, which specialized in nur­ ocled wart hog, decked out in elaborate and
sery rhymes (Old Mother Hubbard, 1, 2, Buckle colourful costume, seated on a settee, sur­
my Shoe, and This Little Pig Went to Market), rounded by mandolin, gold chandelier, tea set,
fairy tales (The *Frog Prince, *Jack and the and leopard skin rug. Beauty's robe, murals,
Beanstalk, and * Cinderella), and educational fans, and gloves are all ornately figured with
books (Multiplication Tables in Verse, Grammar exotic animals and scenes from mythology.
in Rhyme, and Baby's Own Alphabet). In add­ Household Stories from the Collection of the
ition, he illustrated 45 books written by others, Brothers Grimm, published eight years later in
including Nathaniel *Hawthorne's A Wonder- 1882 with a translation of *Kinder- und Haus-
book for Boys and Girls (1892), Oscar *Wilde's mdrchen by Crane's sister Lucy, is lavishly il­
The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888), and lustrated in black-and-white wood engravings
13 books for Mary *Molesworth, an extremely with head pieces, friezes, tail pieces, and full-
popular and prolific children's writer. page pictures with a blank sheet behind. His
In his pictorial style, Crane was influenced pictures for this volume explain, symbolize,
not only by the techniques he worked in but and elaborate 52 fairy tales, emphasizing the
also Japanese woodcuts, which had made their light and dark of the stories as well as position­
way to Europe. He used strong outline, vertical ing them in a timeless landscape of the past.
lines, and bright colours, and signed many of This is a respectful volume, which highlights
his pictures with a small monogram of his ini­ the artist (a table of contents lists the pictures
tials inside a circle with a drawing of a crane. but not the stories), portrays the characters as
His illustrations were frequently of an architec­ adults, and illustrates just what pictures can add
tural nature, and often he would make deci­ to storytelling. Drawings are enclosed in archi-
WALTER CRANE The wolf greets Tittle Red Riding Hood with politeness while the hunters look on in
Walter Crane's adaptation of the *Grimms' version of 'Little Red Riding Hood', published in Walter
Crane s New Toybook ( 1 8 7 4 ) .
"3 CROKER, THOMAS CROFTON

tectural frames, often with quotes and objects CRÉBILLON FILS, CLAUDE-PROSPER JOLYOT DE
which symbolize the themes of the stories. (1707-77), French novelist. Son of a play­
He married Mary Frances Andrews in 1871, wright and French academician, Crébillon fils
and they had five children, two of whom died used the parodie fairy tale to satirize political
as infants. At the end of his life he was much and religious issues. His L'Écumoire (The
honoured in Britain as well as several Euro­ Skimmer, 1734), Atal^aide (1745), and Ah! Quel
pean countries. Though he felt limited by his conte (Ah! What a Tale, 1754) use oriental set­
fame as an illustrator of works for children, he tings, erotic double-entendre, and sophisticated
brought great respect to this craft. His gift was narrative techniques. Of these tales, L'Ecu­
in bringing great animation to his pictures, moire is especially significant. Besides earning
taking the subjects, such as fairy tales, serious­ Crébillon fils a brief prison sentence, it inaug­
ly, and working copiously in the mass media. urated a series of 18th-century French libertine
GB fairy tales and provides an innovative critique
Engen, Rodney K., Walter Crane as a Booh of prevailing narrative models. LCS
Illustrator (1975).
Spencer, Isobel, Walter Crane (1975).
Smith, Greg, and Hyde, Sarah, Walter Crane CROKER, THOMAS CROFTON (1798-1854), Irish
184J—1915: Artist, Designer, and Socialist (1989). antiquary and one of the first systematic chron­
iclers of Irish folklore. His rambles in southern
Ireland collecting songs and legends of the
CRANKO, JOHN (1927-73), dancer and choreog­ people resulted in the anonymous publication
rapher. Born in South Africa, Cranko was a in 1826 of the first volume of Fairy Legends and
student at the University of Cape Town Ballet Traditions of the South of Ireland. A second and
School. In 1946 he moved to London to com­ third series under Croker's name appeared in
plete and perfect his training. He started as a 1828, and an edition of the whole, from which
dancer at the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, but Croker excluded tales collected by his friends,
it soon became clear that his true talent lay in was issued in 1834. Frequently reprinted
choreography. During his time in London he throughout the rest of the century, illustrated
produced numerous ballets, among them the by artists including Daniel Maclise and George
fairy-tale ballets *Beauty and the Beast (1949) *Cruikshank, Fairy Legends is a significant con­
and The Prince of the Pagodas (1957), which tribution to the development of British folklore
was set to music by Benjamin Britten. This bal­ studies since its materials were collected in the
let combines elements of several traditional field. The Brothers *Grimm quickly translated
fairy tales in the story of the beautiful and kind the first volume into German (it was also trans­
princess Belle Rose, whose malicious sister lated into French) and offered Croker their
Belle Épine takes over their father's kingdom work on Irish and Scottish fairies and their
and imprisons her family. Belle Rose and the long essay 'On the Nature of the Elves' for his
kingdom are rescued by an enchanted green third volume, which concentrated on Welsh
salamander who, when she promises to marry and surviving English fairy legends. Although
him, changes back to the Prince of the Pa­ later accused of being excessively literary and
godas. In 1961 Cranko moved to Stuttgart, of adding humour to the Irish materials,
where he became the ballet director of the Croker presented a large audience with au­
Wurttembergisches Staatstheater, which be­ thentic traditional legends. Noting that super­
came famous world-wide through his work. In natural beliefs survived in Ireland, he made
Stuttgart he choreographed traditional ballets such figures as the Phooka, the Cluricaune
like Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker (1966), as (leprechaun) and the Banshee important.
well as his own, among them another fairy-tale Croker also arranged and edited Legends of the
ballet, Quatre Images (1967), in which a prince
Lakes (1829), tales of Killarney collected by R.
flees from his monotonous court and meets and
Adolphus Lynch, and was an impetus behind
falls in love with a mermaid who is his doom.
Thomas *Keightley's Fairy Mythology (1828), a
Cranko died in 1973 on the return flight from a
work which grew from Keightley's collabor­
USA tour. CS
ation on Fairy Legends. CGS
Canton, Katia, The Fairy Tale Revisited: A Dorson, Richard M., The British Folklorists: A
Survey of the Evolution of the Tales, from History (1968).
Classical Literary Interpretations to Innovative Fitzsimons, Eileen, 'Jacob and Wilhelm
Contemporary Dance-Theater Productions (1994). Grimm's Irische Elfenmarchen: A Comparison of
Percival, John, Theatre in My Blood: A the Translation with the English Original, Fairy
Biography of John Cranko (1983). Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland by
"5 CRUIKSHANK, GEORGE

T. Crofton Croker' (Diss., University of these novels on alchemical philosophy rather

Chicago, 1978). than the fairy tradition. In Crowley's short fic­
Kamenetsky, Christa, 'The Irish Fairy Legends tion two stories are of particular interest: 'The
and the Brothers Grimm', in Priscilla Ord (ed.),
Green Child' (1981), a simple, elegant retelling
The Child and the Story: An Exploration of
Narrative Forms (1983). of a curious English legend, and 'Lost and
Abandoned', a contemporary meditation on
*'Hansel and Gretel' (1997). TW
CROSSLEY-HOLLAND, KEVIN JOHN WILLIAM
( 1 9 4 1 - ), British translator, poet and reteller of CROWQUILL, ALFRED (pseudonym of ALFRED
myths, legends, and fairy tales. Apart from The HENRY FORRESTER, 1804-72), English illustrator
Fox and the Cat (1985), 11 animal tales from the and writer, brother of Charles Robert Forres­
*Grimms, he has specialized in retellings of ter whose books—published under the joint
British (and Irish) folk tales. Outstanding name of 'Alfred Crowquill'—he illustrated.
works are British Folk Tales: New Versions After his brother stopped writing in the early
(1987) and two collections of tales from East 1840s, he took over the name. His preferred
Anglia, The Dead Moon and Other Tales from vein was comedy and the grotesque (he did
East Anglia and the Fen Country (1982) and many stage designs for pantomime), but he
Long Tom and the Dead Hand (1992). Brief wrote a number of fairy tales for children fea­
notes in these volumes on sources and on strat­ turing giants, dwarfs, gnomes, fairy talismans,
egies for retelling various tales reflect Cross- all with a strong moral purpose, the folly of the
ley-Holland's concern both to preserve local pursuit of gold, and the virtues of diligence and
traditions and to render these tales pertinent a kind heart being favourite themes. Some tales
and meaningful to the lives of a modern were issued individually, such as Gruffel Swil-
audience. JAS lendrinkem; or The Reproof of the Brutes (1856);
others came in collections, Tales of Magic and
CROWLEY, JOHN ( 1 9 4 2 - ), American author of Meaning (1856), Fairy Tales (1857), Fairy Foot­
Little, Big (1981), an ambitious, highly influen­ steps, or Lessons from Legends (i860). His illus­
tial work of American fantasy. The novel trations, like his writing, could be vapid and
begins with a quest motif as the hero sets off unremarkable, but when he broke free from the
from a magical version of New York City to usual restraints imposed by convention the re­
the extraordinary country house where his fi­ sults were both striking and macabre. In 'Peter
ancée awaits him. The tale is set in modern Finnigan and the Spirits' in Fairy Footsteps, a
America yet has the flavour of British Victorian facetious Irish story about the evils of drink,
fiction, moving leisurely through an enchanted drunken Peter meets 'a great, pale face, as big
landscape filled with secrets within secrets, as the side of a house', drawn by Crowquill
stories within stories. Crowley draws upon a with a nightmare intensity that he brought to
dazzling breadth of fairy lore and classic other illustrations of giants and ogres, as when
fantasy themes to create a vivid fairy world Harry sets fire to the giantess in The Good Boy
coexisting with our own. The book weaves and the Black Book (1858). GA
numerous disparate threads into a bright and
seamless cloth—making use of traditional CRUIKSHANK, GEORGE ( 1 7 9 2 - 1 8 7 8 ) , hailed as
folklore motifs ('changeling' tales, animal one of the most important British graphic art­
guides, fairy godmothers, 'the sleeper under ists of the 19th century. Born in London,
the hill') as well as imagery from *Mother Cruikshank was Scottish by blood; his father,
Goose rhymes, William *Shakespeare's fairy Isaac, was a leading political caricaturist in the
court, Lewis *Carroll's "Alice books, the fairy 1790s, alongside Rowlandson and Gilray. Un­
poetry of William Butler *Yeats, the Cottin­ fortunately, Isaac Cruikshank died in 1 8 1 1 ,
gley fairy photographs, the ideas of the theo- after meeting a challenge in a drinking game.
sophists, and other magical esoterica. George Cruikshank began his career as an
The publication of Little, Big revitalized the artist when he was 13, working as his father's
field of American fantasy fiction, proving it apprentice and assistant. By the age of 18 he
was possible to write a New World fantasy had achieved notoriety as a political caricatur­
rooted in Old World themes. In subsequent ist. He moved 13 years later into book illustra­
books, Aegypt (1987) and Love and Sleep tion with the successful printing of Points of
(1996), Crowley continues to develop the 'Se­ Humour (1823). The glowing review of this
cret History of the World' which lies just be­ book in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine in
yond mundane perception, although he bases July 1823 prompted the publisher, Charles
CRUIKSHANK, GEORGE The fairy godmother creates miracles in George Cruikshank's version of Perrault's
'*Cinderella', published in George Cruikshank's Fairy Library (1853—4).
117 CRUIKSHANK, G E O R G E

Baldwyn, to issue the German Popular Stories tales by moralizing against drinking and other
(1823), translated by Edgar Taylor. It was the licentious behaviour. Because he took such lib­
first English translation of the *Grimms' tales erties with the traditional tale, Cruikshank
and was reputed to be a masterpiece. In 1868, angered Charles *Dickens who protested
the Grimms' tales were reissued and carried an against the subversion of children's imagin­
introduction by John Ruskin, who compared ation by parodying Cruikshank's abstinence in
the quality of Cruikshank's etchings to those of 'Frauds on the Fairies', in Household Words
Rembrandt. In the next year Baldwyn issued (October 1853). The Fairy Library suffered for
Italian Tales (1824). Here the 16 full-page this controversy between Dickens and
woodcuts demonstrated the refinement of Cruikshank and failed commercially.
Cruikshank's skills and the adeptness and vital­ With an interest in fairy tales came a fascin­
ity of his line. In 1848 he produced 12 etchings ation with the supernatural. Outstanding
for fairy stories in an expurgated text of Giam- among Cruikshank's book illustrations and
battista *Basile's *Pentamerone, adapted by notable for their narrative quality and render­
Edgar T a y l o r , the translator of the Grimms' ing of light and shadow are eight etchings for a
stories. * translation of Adelbert von *Chamisso's Peter
Like Hogarth and other 19th-century artists, Schlemihl (1823), the tale of a man who sold his
Cruikshank used his art to critique 18th-cen­ shadow to the devil. Cruikshank illustrated an­
tury mores. During the decade 1853—64, other work of fantasy in 1861, A Discovery con­
Cruikshank wrote and illustrated four stories cerning Ghosts, with a Rap at 'Spirit Rappers',
for children, gathered under the title of Fairy written to poke fun at the contemporary inter­
Library, to incorporate his social criticism: est in necromancy. Seven woodcuts followed
'Hop o' my Thumb and the Seven League in 1852 for E . G. Flight's 'The True Legend of
Boots' (1853); 'History of *Jack and the Bean- St Dunstan and the Devil'.
Stalk' (1854); *'Cinderella and the Glass Slip­ Towards the end of his career, Cruikshank
per' (1854); and *'Puss in Boots'. Fuelled by his employed woodcuts to decorate Juliana H.
ardent enthusiasm for the temperance move­ *Ewing's The Brownies and Other Tales (1871)
ment (his own abstinence beginning in 1847 and three tales collected in Lob Lie-by-the-Fire,
when he wholeheartedly embraced the cause of or the Luck of Lingborough (1874). Cruik­
Total Abstinence), Cruikshank altered the shank's last commission, the frontispiece for

CRUIKSHANK, GEORGE 'My how dark it was in there', says Tittle Red Riding Hood as she exits from the
wolf s belly in George Cruikshank's illustration for German Popular Stories (1823), translated by Edgar
Taylor.
CUMMINGS, E . E . n8

The Lily and the Rose by Mrs Blewitt (1877) 'CUPID AND PSYCHE', see 'BEAUTY AND THE
closed his 72 years as an artist with his for­ BEAST'.

midable abilities and genius intact. SS

Altick, Richard, Paintings from Books: Art and CURTIN, JEREMIAH (1835-1906), American folk-
Literature in Britain 1760—1900 (1985). lorist, linguist, and ethnologist of Irish descent.
Buchanan-Brown, John, The Book Illustration of A lover of languages, Curtin studied German,
George Cruikshank (1980). Swedish, Italian, Hebrew, and Sanskrit, to
Patten, Robert L . (ed.), George Cruikshank: A
name a few. From 1864 to 1870 Curtin, a junior
Revaluation (1974; 1992).
George Cruikshank's Life, Times, and Art diplomat, lived in Russia and studied the Slavic
(1992). languages and Hungarian. In 1883—91 Curtin
Vogler, Richard, Graphic Works of George was a field worker at the Bureau of Ethnology
Cruikshank (1979). of the Smithsonian Institution, where he
gathered information on Native American lan­
guages, religions, and mythology, the results
of which were published posthumously with
CUMMINGS, E . E . (EDWARD ESTLIN, 1894-1962), the exception of Creation Myths of Primitive
American poet, essayist, and artist. Known for America, in Relation to the Religions, History,
his dramatic experiments in typography and and Mental Development of Mankind (1898). It
syntax, Cummings also wrote some charming was not until 1887 that Curtin first went to Ire­
but fairly conventional fairy tales for his land, which he believed to be the last bastion of
daughter: 'The Old Man Who Said "Why"', European mythology and folklore.
'The Elephant and the Butterfly', 'The House Curtin greatly contributed to the collecting
that Ate Mosquito Pie', and 'The Little Girl methods of the time. Aided by his wife and col­
Named I' (collected in 1965 with illustrations laborator, Alma Cardell Curtin, he recorded
by John Eaton). His 1932 essay ' A Fairy Tale' stories verbatim, making only minor changes
has little to do with fairy tales, but celebrates for an audience of readers, and indicated the
art as detached from economics and politics name and location of his sources. He believed
and even 'life'. EWH that language and folklore were intricately
connected; the decline of certain languages like
Gaelic, then, went hand in hand with the de­
cline of that particular folklore. His drive to
CUNNINGHAM, ALAN (1784-1842), Scottish collect the languages and folklore of so many
writer and commentator on Border traditions. different cultures was fuelled in part by his be­
The actual author of publisher R. J . Cromek's lief that he could establish 'a history of the
Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song (1810), human mind . . . with a basis as firm as that
Cunningham presented his own fairy poems, which lies under geology'. His collections in­
including 'The Mermaid of Galloway' and 'We clude Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland (1890),
Were Sisters, We Were Seven', as authentic Myths and Folk- Tales of the Russians, Western
folklore materials. He also wrote several stor­ Slavs, and Magyars (1890), Hero-Tales of Ire­
ies involving fairy abductions, 'The Haunted land (1894), Tales of the Fairies of the Ghost
Ships' and 'Elphin Irving: The Fairies' Cup­ World, Collected from the Tradition of South-
bearers' for his Traditional Tales of the English West Munster (1895), and Fairy Tales of Eastern
and Scottish Peasantry (1822). The valuable ap­ Europe (1914). * AD
pendices he wrote for the Remains include Murphy, Maureen, 'Jeremiah Curtin: American
essays on the 'Scottish Lowland Fairies' and on Pioneer in Irish Folklore', Eire-Ireland, 1 3 . 2
the mischievous brownie, Billie Blin. CGS (summer 1978).
DADD, RICHARD (1817-86), the first Victorian
fairy painter to gain recognition for his genre
(see V I C T O R I A N F A I R Y P A I N T I N G ) . He trained at
London's Royal Academy, and his early works
Puck (1841) and Titania Sleeping (1841), like
those of other fairy painters, were inspired by
*Shakespeare. Unfortunately, he suffered from
demonic hallucinations, murdered his father,
and was incarcerated in Bethlem Hospital's
criminal lunatic ward. While enlightened doc­
tors prescribed painting as therapy, the public
begaYi to equate fairy painting and madness.
Isolated from artistic movements like Impres­ He married the actress Patricia Neal in 1953,
sionism, Dadd continued his esoteric, minutely and his second career as a children's author was
detailed fairy scenes in Contradiction: Oberon an outgrowth of telling stories to their chil­
and Titania (1854—8) and the enigmatic Fairy- dren. James and the Giant Peach (1961) is a
Feller's Master-Stroke (1855—64). MLE marvellous fairy tale about a quiet young
Allderidge, Patricia, The Late Richard Dadd orphan and two evil aunts. A giant peach
(n.d.). grows when James spills some magic seeds,
Greysmith, David, Richard Dadd: The Rock and and within its (womb-like) interior he meets
Castle of Seclusion (1973). giant insects like the maternal Ladybug, pater­
nal Old-Green-Grasshopper, bragging Centi­
DAHL, ROALD (1917-90), British author of ma­ pede, and timid Earthworm. Psychoanalysts
cabre short stories and liberating fairy tales. interpret them as parts of James's fragmented
Born in Wales of Norwegian parents, he al­ self that he successfully integrates when he
ways felt an affinity to Norway and its folklore. emerges from the peach to pilot it on adven­
He attended British schools where, according tures; children delight in its sheer fantasy and
to his first autobiography (Boy: Tales of Child­ cruel come-uppance when the peach squashes
hood, 1985), he met the nasty authority figures the aunts. Critics challenged this violence, but
like children-flogging headmasters and others said it was no worse than that of trad­
grouchy sweet-shop owners that would figure itional fairy tales. A similar objection was
in his books. At Repton School, where his raised with respect to Charlie and the Chocolate
marks were undistinguished, he volunteered as Factory (1964). Written after the death of the
a chocolate taster for Cadbury's. He opted not Dahls' eldest child and dedicated to their brain­
to attend university, worked for Shell Oil in damaged son, it tells how poverty-stricken
East Africa, and during World War II flew Charlie Bucket wins a tour of a mysterious
with the Royal Air Force as a fighter pilot and chocolate factory and becomes heir to its fabu­
wing commander—events recorded in Going lous owner, Willy Wonka. Critics objected
Solo (1986). Sidelined by a severe crash, he be­ when greedy, spoiled, or media-addicted chil­
came an air attaché in the British Embassy in dren met cruel deaths to the sardonic verses of
Washington, D C , did intelligence work, and the Oompa-Loompas (pygmy factory workers
started writing short stories about his flying ex­ whose racist depiction Dahl later corrected).
perience (collected in Over to You, 1946). His Dahl replied that children's sense of humour
tales became increasingly imaginative, and in was more vulgar and crude than that of
1943 he penned The Gremlins, a "'Disney-illus­ adults—a fact borne out by recent studies. He
trated children's fantasy about tiny beings that also asserted that he only wrote to entertain,
sabotage fighter planes. His next work for chil­ but scholars interpret the story as a post-indus­
dren would not come until 1961. trial parable of moral lessons (anti-oral greed,
In the interim, Dahl distinguished himself as anti-TV) in which poor Charlie's empty
an 'intellectual Alfred Hitchcock' whose mor­ bucket is filled with excremental wonders of
bid plot twists thrice won the Edgar Award the underground Inferno-like factory.
from the Mystery Writers of America (1954, In 1965, Patricia Neal suffered a massive
1959, 1980). These macabre tales for magazines stroke, and the authoritarian Dahl undertook
from Harper's Bazaar to Playboy were later col­ her recovery. Hospital bills necessitated his
lected in Kiss, Kiss (1969), Switch Bitch (1974), working on screenplays ( You Only Live Twice,
and Tales of the Unexpected (1979), which 1967; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 1967; Willy
prompted a television series. Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, 1970), but he
DALKEY, KARA 120

continued to write stories. His children's tales Bosmajian, Hamida, 'Charlie and the Chocolate
further exploited the marvellous, fables, and Factory and Other Excremental Visions,' The
folk tales with quick-paced plots, *Dickens-like Lion and the Unicorn, 9 (1985).
Treglown, Jeremy, Roald Dahl: A Biography
names, Joycean wordplay, nonsense rhymes à
(1994).
la Lewis *Carroll, and delightful artwork by il­ West, Mark I., Roald Dahl (1992).
lustrators like Quentin *Blake. This lightness is
balanced by dark humour. In Dahl's world, as DALKEY, KARA (1953— ), American writer of
in traditional fairy tales, the oppressed (usually fantasy novels for children and adults. In The
children) triumph over the tyrants (usually Nightingale (1988), Dalkey refashions 'The
adults), who are often morbidly punished. In Nightingale' by Denmark's Hans Christian
George's Marvellous Medicine (1981), for ex­ *Andersen into a novel rich in poetry and
ample, a witch-like grandmother is killed, and ghosts, set in 9th-century Heian Japan. The
a girl turns a family of hunters into hunted role of the nightingale is played by a young
ducks in The Magic Finger (1966), which at­ peasant girl whose beautiful voice captivates
tacks the gun lobby. Situational ethics are also the Emperor and his court. Although deviating
explored in The Fantastic Mr Fox (1970), where in particulars from Andersen's rendition of the
a modern-day Renard rather subversively de­ tale (set in China, not Japan), Dalkey stays
fends poaching when familial needs supersede true to the spirit of the story, creating a poign­
societal laws. ant, lyrical work of fantasy fiction. TW
Where Dahl's Cadbury work coloured
Charlie and his African experiences enriched DANDY, BEANO, AND BuNTYare the best-known
The Enormous Crocodile (1978), the Norse le­ British comics by virtue of their longevity,
gends of his youth influenced two later novels being first published in 1937, 1938, and 1950 re­
about witches and giants. The BFG (1982) is spectively. The first two are juvenile comics
about the dream-giving Big Friendly Giant and the last is intended for young adolescent
who helps the orphaned Sophie overthrow girls.
child-munching giants who have nightmares Fairy tales in the Dandy have tended to be
about *Jack (of Beanstalk fame). Likewise, the robust and dominated by male characters. An
orphaned boy of the award-winning Witches early example, ""Jack the Dragon Killer', was
(1983) learns from his Norwegian grandmama initially a text story published in 1939, and later
how to identify and overthrow these cleverly became a picture story with the slightly
disguised hags. Both of these coming-of-age changed title of'Jak the Dragon Killer'. Other
quests break taboos about bodily functions in picture stories have included 'Dick Whitting-
juvenile literature: witches spit blue mucous, ton' (1943) and ""Hansel and Gretel' (1944). A
the gently aphasie B F G delights in 'whizzpop- parody with the title 'Joe White and the Seven
ping' (flatulating) before the Queen. These Dwarfs' was published in 1943.
scatological references charm children as they Consistently recognized as Britain's most
identify with their problem-solving heroes. Es­ popular comic, the Beano has made rather more
pecially liberating is the genius Matilda's wish use of fairy stories than the Dandy. Male ro­
fulfilment: she uses telekinesis to punish an evil bustness has again been the main characteristic.
headmistress and rescue a gentle teacher The earliest fairy tale to be included was "''Lit­
(Matilda, 1988). tle Tom Thumb', which was first introduced as
Interestingly, although critics always identi­ a text story in 1938, later becoming a picture
fied his children's stories as fairy tales, the only story in 1940. There have been two examples
one Dahl labelled as such was The Minpins of monster-slayers in picture-story form, these
(1991), about a boy who explores the Forest of being 'Morgyn the Mighty' in 1938 and 'Strang
Sin and rescues a gremlin-like people. He the Terrible' in 1943. *'Cinderella' (1940) and
openly lampooned fairy tales, however, in col­ 'Sinbad' (1950) have also been used as picture
lections of verse like Roald Dahl's Revolting stories. A popular long-running story, 'Jimmy
Rhymes (1982) and Rhyme Stew (1989). These and his Magic Patch', was introduced in 1943.
blatantly subvert the genre by opining on the Jimmy was a small boy who had a magic patch
cruelty of the original versions (as in his ""Han­ stitched to the seat of his trousers. At his re­
sel and Gretel') and providing surprise twists quest it transported him to a past which in­
to updated tales (for example, "Tittle Red Rid­ cluded adventures with Sindbad and Aladdin.
ing Hood sports a wolfskin coat, and *Snow Fairy stories have been absent from the
White uses the Magic Mirror to help gambling- pages of the Dandy and the Beano for many
addicted dwarfs win at the races). MLE years, a process which started when both
121 DAVENPORT, T O M

comics began to adopt a predominantly comic- Depression, and the World War II era. Unlike
strip format. most film adaptations for children, Davenport's
The Bunty has published very few fairy stor­ productions do not conform to the *Disney
ies, probably because they do not appeal to model of fairy-tale romance. Instead, by stress­
young adolescent girls. On the rare occasions ing realistic historical settings and character
when they have appeared, they have been development, Davenport has been able to cul­
placed in a modern context, for example 'Myr­ tivate a unique style and to explore themes re­
tle the Mermaid' (1958) and 'Lydia and the Lit­ lated to American culture.
tle People' (1970). In a more recent example, Despite their innovative qualities, the earlier
'The Mermaid's Spell', a well-known theme is films in the series are uneven and sometimes
also given a modern background when a mer­ still dominated by the *Grimms' 19th-century
maid attempts to persuade a schoolgirl to perspective. In later films, beginning with Jack
change places with her. This story, contained and the Dentist's Daughter, Davenport draws
in a single issue, was unusual because of its car­ on American variants of traditional tale types
toon-strip format. The few fairy stories in­ found in Grimm, especially the versions col­
cluded in the Bunty have all been concerned lected and published by Richard *Chase and
with female characters. GF Marie Campbell. These later films are seam­
lessly integrated with the American experience
DAUDET, ALPHONSE (1840-97), French writer, and tend to be more sophisticated, both visual­
known for his novels of bohemian Paris and ly and thematically. They also show a critical
traditional Provence. Daudet wrote Le Roman awareness of themes such as race and gender,
du Chaperon-Rouge {Novel of Red-Riding Hood, particularly as these relate to recent American
a n <L,
1859) d es sept pendues de Barbe-bleue' history. In the feature-length film The Step
('Bluebeard's Seven Hanged Wives', 1861). Child, based on *'Snow White' and set in the
These and other marvellous tales like 'La South during the 1920s, Davenport even intro­
Légende de l'homme à la cervelle d'or' ('The duces a self-reflective dimension by thematiz-
Man with the Golden Brain', 1868) twist con­ ing performance, film-making, and the creation
ventional stories to fit contemporary mores. of illusion.
Playing on misogynistic attitudes, Daudet de­
In this respect Davenport's entire fairy-tale
picts Tittle Red Riding Hood as a free spirit
project is unique because it seeks to empower
condemned by pedantry and provincialism
viewers—especially teachers and stu­
while his *Bluebeard is portrayed as a victim of
dents—to look behind the scenes of fairy-tale
feminine wiles. In 'Les Fées de France' ('The
n e performance. He provides critical contexts for
Fairies of France', 1873), deals with the
further study in a newsletter, a teacher's guide,
Franco-Prussian War and presents the fairy
a website, and a book version of ten tales as
*Mélusine as a Prussian war patriot. AR
retold by Gary Carden (From the Brothers
Grimm: A Contemporary Retelling of American
DAVENPORT, T O M ( 1 9 3 9 - ), independent
Folktales and Classic Stories, 1992). In addition,
American film-maker. Besides documentaries
a three-part video on Making Grimm Movies
focusing on the traditional culture of the
(1993) introduces teenagers to the techniques
American South, Davenport has created an in­
of filming folk-tale adaptations. While From the
novative series of live-action fairy-tale adapta­
Brothers Grimm has not achieved mainstream
tions called From the Brothers Grimm: American
commercial success, it has been highly praised
Versions of Folktale Classics (see F I L M A N D
by educators and librarians, who constitute its
F A I R Y T A L E S ) . Films in the series include * Han­
primary market. The series has won numerous
sel and Gretel: An Appalachian Version (1975),
awards and has been shown on national In­
*Rapun{el, Rapunçel (1979), The *Frog King
structional Television through the Public
(1980), Bristlelip (1982), Bearskin, or The Man
Broadcasting Service. DH
who Didn't Wash for Seven Years (1982), The
Goose Girl (1983), Jack and the Dentist's Daugh­ Haase, Donald, 'Gold into Straw: Fairy Tale
ter (1983), Soldier Jack, or The Man who Caught Movies for Children and the Culture Industry',
Death in a Sack (1988), Ashpet: An American The Lion and the Unicorn, 12.2 (1988).
^Cinderella (1990), Mut^mag: An Appalachian Manna, Anthony L., 'The Americanization of
Folktale (1992), and The Step Child(1996). The the Brothers Grimm, or Tom Davenport's Film
fundamental concept behind the series is the re­ Adaptations of German Folktales', Children's
creation of traditional tales in historical Ameri­ Literature Quarterly, 13 (fall 1988).
can settings, such as the Civil War, the Great Zipes, Jack, 'Once Upon a Time beyond
Disney: Contemporary Fairy-Tale Films for
D E A N , PAMELA 122

Children', in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, cers, elves, will-o'-the-wisps, he is far more
Children, and the Culture Industry ( 1 9 9 7 ) . oblique in his fiction. In Memoirs of a Midget
(1921), for instance, Miss M, whose size is
D E A N , PAMELA ( 1 9 5 3 - ), American writer of never specified though at a late stage we are
fantasy novels for children and adults. Dean's told that she is barely taller than a book, seems
novel 7am Lin (1991) is based on the Scottish more like *Andersen's "Thumbelina than a
ballad and folk tale of that name. Dean trans- human, and the mystery of her final disappear-
plants the story from its traditional setting in ance with an unknown visitor (death?), leaving
Scotland's Border country to a college campus a message 'I have been called away' is left
in the American Midwest during the Vietnam unresolved, like much else in de la Mare's writ-
War. Despite the modern trappings, the trad- ing.
itional story remains intact in Dean's poetic re- He wrote three other full-length books. His
telling: a headstrong young woman falls under first, Henry Brocken (1904), is subtitled 'his
the spell of a mysterious lover, pitting herself travels and adventures in the rich, strange,
against the Faery Queen to save his soul. T W scarce-imaginable regions of romance'. Henry
Brocken, a solitary dreamer who has spent his
DEBUSSY, CLAUDE (1862-1918), French com- youth in the library of a remote old house,
poser who was greatly influenced by literature rides out to find people he has encountered in
and whose music has had an enormous impact books, since to him they have more reality than
on all successive generations of composers. the flesh-and-blood world. The Return (1910)
Among Debussy's best-known works are describes how Arthur Lawford, falling asleep
songs set to poetry by *Banville, Baudelaire, by the grave of a Huguenot adventurer who
Mallarmé, and Verlaine. T w o of his songs are has died by his own hand, wakes to find himself
based on fairy tales, 'La Fille aux cheveux de physically changed into that man. The Three
lin' ('The Girl with the Flaxen Hair'), and 'La Mulla-Mullgars (later retitled The Three Royal
Belle au bois dormant' (""Sleeping Beauty'). Monkeys), published in the same year, is sup-
Debussy also had close ties to many of the posedly for children, though there is very little
writers of his time, such as Louys and "'Maeter- difference in style or content from his adult
linck, and collaborated with them on many writing. He had been reading Samuel Purchas's
projects. The most famous of these, his opera Purchas his Pilgrimes (1619) and many of the
Pelléas et Mélisande (1902), adapts a Maeter- incantatory names, descriptions of exotic scen-
linck play whose vague medieval decor is rem- ery, even actual adventures and the old sailor
iniscent of fairy tales. He contemplated but Andy Battle, have their origin in this compil-
never completed several other projects based ation of travellers' tales. The Three Mulla-
on fairy-tale motifs, including 'Cendrelune' Mullgars is the story of a spiritual quest, from
('Cindermoon', with Pierre Louys), 'Le Chat life to death. The three little monkeys set out to
botté' (""Puss-in-Boots', with Gabriel Mou- find the Valleys of Tishnar, the kingdom from
rey), 'Huon de Bordeaux' (13th-century chan- which their father had originally come and for
son de geste, Mourey), and 'Le Marchand de which he has departed. Nod, the folkloristic
rêves' ('The Pedlar in Dreams', Mourey). It is youngest son, who is also the leader, is entrust-
likely that Debussy was drawn to fairy tales ed with the talismanic Wonderstone. In the
because of his conviction that the beauty of all journey 'beyond and beyond, forest and river,
art is ultimately mysterious. LCS forest, swamp and river, the mountains of
Arakkkabao—leagues and leagues' they en-
DE LA M A R E , WALTER ( 1 8 7 3 - 1 9 5 6 ) , English counter strange and wonderful animals, among
poet and writer. All de la Mare's short stories them the spirit of evil, the menacing Imma-
and longer prose works are touched with mys- nala—'she who preys across the shadows', and
tery, if not fantasy. The two recurrent themes survive terrifying perils, including the loss of
are the child's vision of the world, and death; the Wonderstone, wheedled from Nod by a se-
the usual setting is an unspecified candle-lit, ductive Water Maiden. Though the last few
horse-drawn age; houses are old, many- pages are anticlimactic, even weak compared to
roomed and have secrets. The characters often what has gone before, it is the most magical
seem to have strayed from another world, or to and original of all de la Mare's stories.
be in close contact with it, and many of his Most of de la Mare's fairy stories were pub-
stories touch on ghostly visitations. Though lished in collections for children. The title
his verse often deals with conventional fairy story in Broomsticks and Other Tales (1925) is
matters—witches on broomsticks, fairy dan- about a sinister cat owned by a sedate lady who
I2 3
DELESSERT, ETIENNE

only gradually realizes that he is a witch's fa- Whistler, Theresa, Imagination of the Heart: The
miliar. In 'Alice's Godmother' Alice has been Life of Walter de la Mare (1993).
summoned to the vast old house owned by her
DE LARRABEITI, MICHAEL (1937- ) British
godmother, who is also her great-grandmother
writer, known for his fantasy series which in-
to the power of eight. Aged 350, she can re-
cludes The Borribles (1976), The Borribles Go for
member the funeral of 'poor young Edward
Broke (1981), The Borribles: Across the Dark
VI'. She suggests that Alice should live with
Metropolis (1986). He writes from the perspec-
her forever and share the secret of eternal life:
tive of the urban lower class and seeks to sub-
'It means, my child, postponing a visit to a cer-
vert Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and
tain old friend of ours—whose name is Death.'
Richard *Adams's Watership Down by expos-
But Alice, terrified, wants 'to die when I must
ing idyllic illusions. De Larrabeiti's Borribles
die' and runs back to the world of ordinary
are outcasts or runaways who value their inde-
mortality. 'The Three Sleeping Boys of War-
pendence more than anything else. They avoid
wickshire' are the ill-used climbing boys of a
adults, live on the run, and form their own
miserly master sweep. At night in their dreams
tribes or communities, mainly in and around
they can escape, but the miser resents even this,
London. Their ears grow long and pointed,
and asks a witch for a spell so that they can be
and if they are caught by the law their ears are
totally his, body and soul. She cheats him as he
clipped, and their will is broken. All the fairy-
has cheated her, and they only fall into a trance
tale novels in the Borrible series concern racial,
from which they cannot be woken. They sleep
sexual, and political struggles that deal with
on for half a century, the marvel of Warwick-
contemporary social problems, the disenfran-
shire, until one day a young girl kisses them in
chisement of the young, and the false promises
the glass case where they are displayed, and re-
of the classical fairy tales. In De Larrabeiti's
leases them to play forever as they had in their
other work, The Provencal Tales (1988), he re-
dreams. 'Miss Jemima' is the only story in this
turned to the more traditional form of retelling
collection with a fairy, here one of those ma-
fairy tales using shepherds to recall the magical
levolent spirits who steal mortal souls, but also
lore of their region. JZ
a manifestation of the hatred which an unhappy
child feels for the unsympathetic housekeeper DELESSERT, ETIENNE ( 1 9 4 1 - ), Swiss illustrator,
in charge of her; perhaps too of the woman's writer, publisher, film director, and contributor
own malice. The child in her misery yields to of illustrations to magazines like the Atlantic
its seductive calls and finally runs away in Monthly and Punch, who moved to the United
search of the enchantress's own country. States in 1965. Delessert perceives his brand of
In 1927, de la Mare published Told Again: illustration to be an interpretation of the gen-
Old Tales Told Again, which contained 19 eral story. For instance, in his illustrations for
graceful but simple adaptations of classical Eugene Ionesco's children's book Story Num-
fairy tales. ber One for Children under Three Years of Age
The stories in The Lord Fish and Other Tales (1968), Delessert tries to highlight the story's
(1933) are also straightforward, and include 'social comment on conformity'. Interested in
several like 'A Penny a Day' and 'Dick and the the child's perspective of natural phenomena,
Beanstalk' in the traditional fairy-tale style, Delessert worked with the child psychologist
where magic is an everyday matter. But two at Jean Piaget on How the Mouse was Hit on the
least have the haunting qualities we associate Head by a Stone and So Discovered the World
with de la Mare. In 'The Scarecrow' a small (1969). In 1973 he established Carabosse Stu-
boy chances upon a fairy lurking in a scare- dios, where he produced commercials and ani-
crow; in 'The Riddle' seven children living mated films for children, including pieces for
with their grandmother in an old house wander Sesame Street. In 1977 he put together a series
off while she sits dreaming of the past. As the of children's books, 'Editions Tournesol'
days pass by, one by one they climb into an old ('Sunflower Editions'), in collaboration with
oak chest and are seen no more. These four Gallimard, and in 1982 supervised the produc-
pages epitomize de la Mare's style. GA tion of a fairy-tale series which published
Atkins, John, Walter de la Mare: An Exploration 'unsugarcoated' versions of tales like *'Little
0947)- Red Riding Hood', 'Fitcher's Bird', and
Bonnerot, Luce, L'Œuvre de Walter de la Mare: *'Bluebeard'. Delessert illustrated Rudyard
une aventure spirituelle (1969).
*Kipling's Just So Stories (1972), Oscar
Hopkins, Kenneth, Walter de la Mare (1953).
Reid, Forrest, Walter de la Mare: A Critical
*Wilde's The Happy Prince (1977), and Mme de
Study (1929). Villeneuve's La Belle et la Bête (*Beauty and the
DELIBES, LÉO 124

Beast, 1984). Through his illustrations, Deless- after the death of her father in 1871 she went to
ert aims to expose children to 'another kind of live with her brother in the Chelsea house
reality'. AD where he designed pottery and ornamental
tiles. Here she met Pre-Raphaelite writers and
DELIBES, L É O ( 1 8 3 6 - 9 1 ) , French composer of artists such as William *Morris and Edward
opera and ballet. At the Paris Conservatoire *Burne-Jones (to whose children she told her
Delibes studied composition with Adolphe first stories). Her first book of fairy tales, On a
*Adam, whose influence helped him secure the Pincushion, illustrated by her brother, was pub-
post of accompanist at the Théâtre Lyrique in lished in 1877. The opening preamble, 'On a
1853. In the same year he also took on the post Pincushion', is in the style of Hans Christian
of organist at St Pierre de Chaillot. There then * Andersen, and his influence can be detected in
followed a series of operettas, the second of 'The Story of Vain Lamorna', where pride and
which, Deux vieilles gardes (The Patient) in vanity are humbled. But the magical stealing
1856, was much praised. The ballet La Source of Lamorna's reflection is a theme used by
(1866) marked a turning point in his career. E. T. A . *Hoffmann in his 'Das Abenteuer der
Delibes's wealth of melodic invention and Silvester-Nacht' ('A New Year's Eve Adven-
assured style suited him for work as a com- ture'), and De Morgan's stories certainly sug-
poser of ballet music, the culmination of which gest that she had read Hoffmann as well as
was his masterpiece, Coppélia (première Paris Andersen. In 'Siegfrid and Handa' the Owl
Opera, 1870). The work is in three scenes and who flies away 'hooting in triumph' with one
is based on a fairy tale by E . T. A . *Hoffmann. of Siegfrid's eyes reminds us of Hoffmann's
The toymaker, Coppelius, has produced a Sandman in the story of that name who tears
number of lifelike mechanical dolls which are out children's eyes, and a version of the au-
able to dance. One, Coppélia, is especially tomaton Olimpia from the same tale appears in
beautiful, and for a time it causes jealously be- De Morgan's 'A Toy Princess'. This describes
tween the lovers Swanhilda and Franz. They how a fairy godmother substitutes a lifelike
are eventually reconciled and the story ends doll for the real princess in a country where the
happily. people were 'so very polite that they hardly
A later work, Sylvia (1876), has been styled ever spoke to each other'. The unvarying per-
as a grand mythological ballet and is based on a fection of the toy princess's manners and the
drama by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso civil responses which are the only words she
(1544—95). Delibes's last significant work was can utter captivate the king and his courtiers,
the opera Lakmé (1883). Set in mid-i9th- and rejecting the flesh and blood princess they
century India, it tells of a doomed love story choose to keep the automaton.
between a British officer and the daughter of De Morgan's second collection of tales, The
a Brahmin priest (Lakmé). TH Necklace of Princess Fiorimonde (1880), illus-
trated by Walter *Crane, contains her best and
D E LINT, CHARLES ( 1 9 5 I - ), Canadian author most deeply felt writing. The title story is sinis-
whose work brings folklore imagery into tales ter and powerful. Fiorimonde is bewitchingly
of modern urban life. Moonheart (1984), Mem- beautiful but a sorceress. She turns each prince
ory and Dream (1994), Someplace to Be Flying who comes to court her into a bead which she
(1998), and other novels combine elements of wears on a golden string round her neck, until
Native North American legends (tricksters, she is finally destroyed by her own jealous van-
shamans, shape-shifters) with those of Euro- ity. 'The Wanderings of Arasmon' is a poign-
pean folklore (faeries, trolls, magical instru- ant account of a girl turned by an evil spell into
ments, enchanted forests). *Jack the Giant-killer a golden harp, and carried unknowingly by the
(1987) transplants an English fairy tale to the young Arasmon with him as he spends the rest
streets of modern Ottawa. The Little Country of his life searching for her. The heroine of
(1991), set in Cornwall, and The Wild Wood 'The Wise Princess' finds only in death the
(1994), based on the fairy art of Brian Froud, happiness she has sought.
are novels which make extensive use of trad- The Windfairies (1900) was dedicated to the
itional British fairy lore. TW children of Margaret Burne-Jones who had
heard the first stories. There is less enchant-
D E MORGAN, M A R Y (18 50-1907), British writer ment and more homeliness and moral purpose
of fairy tales. The youngest child of a professor in these, but 'Dumb Othmar' with Hulda's hal-~
of mathematics at London University and sis- lucinatory quest, accompanied by a glittering
ter of William De Morgan, artist and author, green snake, for her lover's lost voice has
DE MORGAN, MARY The prince seeks help in Mary De Morgan's 'The Wanderings of Arasmon',
published in The Necklace of Princess Fiorimonde and Other Stories (1880) and illustrated by Walter *Crane.
DENSLOW, W . W. 126

echoes of the supernatural world of Hoff- cited a magic spell that keeps a pot boiling and
mann's 'The Golden Pot'. GA causes trouble that only the grandmother can
resolve. Big Anthony and the Magic Ring
DENSLOW, W. W. (WILLIAM WALLACE,
(1979), Strega Nona's Magic Lessons (1982),
1856—1915), American illustrator of 0 { charac- and Merry Christmas, Strega Nona (1986) con-
ters. He brought American picture-book illus- tinue the adventures of Strega Nona and are
tration into the 20th century by combining purely De Paola's inventions, but told in a
colour and design, thus raising its quality to folklore style. While he honoured his paternal
that of the Victorian illustrators *Crane, *Gree- Italian ancestry for The Prince of the Dolomites:
naway, and *Caldecott. He studied art at the An Old Italian Tale (1980) and The Legend of
Cooper Institute and National Academy of De- Old Be fana: An Italian Christmas Story (1980),
sign and was a successful illustrator of theatri- he later retold Fin M'Coul: The Giant of Knock-
cal posters, book covers, and mail-order many Hill (1981) from his Irish heritage.
catalogues when he met L . Frank *Baum. The American Indian works include The Legend of
friends first collaborated on Father Goose: His the Bluebonnet, an old tale of Texas legend, and
Book (1899), a beautifully crafted text in the feature children. De Paola has a distinctive
William *Morris tradition whose delightful recognizable style and colour scheme, position-
rhymes and humorous designs complemented ing his characters as though they are on stage.
each other. This hugely successful enterprise He researches in libraries for costume and
was surpassed by The Wonderful *Wiz^ard of 0 { architectural backgrounds and travels exten-
(1900), Baum's modern American fairy tale. sively for authenticity, such as in the period
Denslow brought to life the Tin Woodsman, and Italian setting for Clown of God: An Old
Scarecrow, and Lion in scores of drawings and Story (1978). KNH
24 colour illustrations that reflect the influence
of Japanese woodcuts. Unfortunately, Baum D E S I M O N E , R O B E R T O ( 1 9 3 3 - ), Italian com-

and Denslow disliked sharing credit for their poser, conductor, theatre director, and ethno-
collaboration and dissolved their partnership in musicologist. In his theatrical version of 'La
an acrimonious copyright dispute. Denslow gatta Cenerentola' ('The *Cinderella Cat',
went on to issue his own editions of Oz charac- 1976) he set Giambattista *Basile's 17th-cen-
ters and *Mother Goose stories, all with his tury fairy tale to music, incorporating popular
poster-like manner and stylized sea-horse songs of Basile's own time with original vari-
monogram (reminiscent of Walter Crane's ations on the modern folk repertoire of the
trademark crane) that earned him the nickname Naples area. In 1994 he published Fiabe cam-
of 'Hippocampus Den'. But his style soon be- pane: i novantanove racconti delle died notti
came outdated and ill-suited to photo-repro- {Fairy Tales from Campania: The Ninety-Nine
duction, and librarians (the new arbiters of Tales of the Ten Nights), the result of 20 years
juvenile literature) derided his work. He died spent tape-recording oral storytellers in the
in obscurity, with no obituary appearing in the Campania region of Italy. NC
newspapers for which he had worked. MLE
Greene, David L . , and Martin, Dick, The 0\ D E U L I N , C H A R L E S (1827-77), French writer and
Scrapbook (1977). theatre critic. Born in a small French town near
Greene, Douglas G., and Hearn, Michael the Belgian border, Deulin rose from humble
Patrick, W. W. Denslow (1976). origins to write three important collections of
Meyer, Susan E., A Treasury of the Great fairy tales: Contes d'un buveur de bière (Beer-
Children's Book Illustrators (1983). Drinker's Tales, 1868), Contes du roi Cambrinus
Snow, Jack, Who's Who in 0[ (1954). (Tales of King Cambrinus, 1874), and Contes de
petite ville (Village Tales, 1875). Widely read in
D E P A O L A , T O M I E ( 1 9 3 4 - ), American author their day, Deulin's tales are distinguished by
and artist. He began to illustrate children's their strong regional flavour: Low Country
books in 1965 and created his fairy-tale-like settings and customs provide the backdrop for
book The Wonderful Dragon of Timlin in 1966. traditional fairy-tale stories and motifs. 'Cam-
De Paola's European and American Indian brinus, roi de la bière' ('Cambrinus, king of
folk tales and legends are among the more than beer') tells the story of a lowly glassmaker who
200 books he illustrated. He created the name trades his soul to the devil for the love of a
for a grandmother witch, 'Strega Nona', bor- wealthy young girl. With the devil's help, he
rowing from Italian folklore. Strega Nona: An garners fame and fortune by producing 'Flem-
Old Tale (1975) recalls how an apprentice re- ish wine', that is, beer. When the devil comes
D E N S L O W , W . W . The wizard as con man performs one of his illusory feats as little Dorothy gazes at the
spectacle in L. Frank *Baum's The Wizard of 0 { ( 1 9 0 0 ) , illustrated by W. W. Denslow.
DICK, PHILIP K. 128

to claim Cambrinus's soul 30 years later, he ance message. Three of his Christmas books
finds only a beer cask. Deulin's scholarly include supernatural happenings. In A Christ-
monograph Les Contes de ma Mère VOye avant mas Carol (1843) the miserly Scrooge is trans-
Perrault (^Mother Goose Tales before Perrault, formed into a miracle of genial generosity by
1879), published posthumously, documents the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet
different versions and possible sources of "'Per- to Come. The Chimes (1844), though in effect
rault's tales. Vast in scope, surveying Euro- a political manifesto, is subtitled 'A Goblin
pean, African, Asian, and American folklore Story', and The Cricket on the Hearth (1845) 'A
traditions, this work constitutes an erudite trib- Fairy Tale of Home'. He wrote one fairy story
ute to the fairy-tale genre and reflects the per- for children, 'The Magic Fishbone', a cheerful
vasive fascination with folklore and fairy tales burlesque of no great distinction, which
in the 19th century. AZ formed part of Holiday Romance (serialized in
Bocquet, Léon, Introduction to Charles Deulin, 1868 in All the Year Round and the American
Contes d'un buveur de bière (1943). Our Young Folk). GA
Dauby, Jean, Preface to Charles Deulin, Briggs, Katharine M., 'The Folklore of Charles
Intégrale des contes (1992). Dickens', Journal of the Folklore Institute, 7
(1970).
DlCK, P H I L I P K . (1928-82), American science Grob, Shirley, 'Dickens and Some Motifs of the
fiction and fantasy writer. Born in Chicago, Fairy Tale', Texas Studies in Literature and
Dick studied briefly at the University of Cali- Language, 5 (1964).
fornia in Berkeley, where he also worked for a Hearn, Michael Patrick, 'Charles Dickens', in
Jane Bingham (ed.), Writers for Children (1988).
radio station and managed a record store while
Kotzin, Michael C , Dickens and the Fairy Tale
publishing science fiction stories. After 1955, (1972).
with the publication of his novels Solar Lottery Stone, Harry, Dickens and the Invisible World:
and A Handful of Darkness, he established him- Fairy Tales, Fantasy, and Novel-Making (1979).
self as one of the leading writers of science fic- Tremper, Ellen, 'Commitment and Escape: The
tion and fantasy in America. Among his Fairy Tales of Thackeray, Dickens, and Wilde',
best-known works are Eye in the Sky (1957), The Lion and the Unicorn, 2.1 (1978).
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968),
DlDELOT, C H A R L E S (1767-1837), French dancer,
The Preserving Machine and Other Stories
choreographer, and influential teacher. Popular
(1969), and A Scanner Darkly (1977). He intro-
dance memoirs hold that Didelot's historical
duced fairy-tale motifs into many of his works,
significance was assured when his ballet Flora
and in some of his stories like 'The King of the
and Zephyr (1796) was the first to feature dan-
Elves' (1953), he incorporated traditional fairy-
cing on toes. He spent much time in Russia be-
tale characters into a realistic narrative about
tween the years 1801 and 1836 where he
the owner of a gas station in the desert who is
choreographed many ballets, some based on
strangely called upon to save the Kingdom of
Russian folklore. His pupil Adam Gluzkovsky
the Elves. JZ
based a ballet, Russian and Ludmilla, on ""Push-
kin's poem with folklore themes. TH
D I C K E N S , C H A R L E S ( 1 8 1 2 - 7 0 ) , English novelist.
Dickens was a passionate supporter of fairy D I D E R O T , D E N I S ( 1 7 1 3 - 8 4 ) , pre-eminent French
tales. In ' A Christmas Tree' (Household Words, Enlightenment philosopher. Especially known
Christmas Number, 1850) he recalled the fa- as the editor of the Encyclopédie, Diderot was a
vourite tales of his youth, above all The Thou- prolific writer of essays, fiction, letters, and
sand and One Nights, which he frequently plays. He wrote numerous short stories (contes
invoked in his writings, and *Jack and the in French), which, besides treating ethical
Beanstalk, Valentine and Orson, "Tittle Red problems, explore the formal limits of the
Riding Hood, and Mme d'*Aulnoy's 'The genre (e.g. Ceci n'est pas un conte (This is not a
* Yellow Dwarf. Tales of the Genii (1764), Tale)). His one fairy tale properly so called,
modelled on The ^Arabian Nights, by 'Sir Char- L'Oiseau blanc, conte bleu (White Bird, Blue
les Morell' (in reality the Revd James Ridley) Tale), was published posthumously, although
had also made a great impression on him. He it was probably composed early in his career.
was angered by attempts to 'improve' fairy The religious satire and oriental setting in this
tales, and in 'Frauds on the Fairies' (Household tale resemble Diderot's more famous Les Bi-
Words, 1 October 1853) n e
mocked George joux indiscrets (The Indiscreet Jewels), yet the
""Cruikshank's Fairy Library for its attempts to metamorphosis of the hero into a white pigeon,
rewrite the traditional stories with a temper- his adventures in that guise, and his final de-
129 DISNEY, WALT

metamorphosis and marriage more clearly re­ what was to become a classic and the way in
call folkloric models. Through allegory, Dide­ which that classic was to be read. In fairy tales
rot's tale derides fundamental aspects of Disney harnessed wonder through animation,
Christian doctrine—such as the trinity and the using it to create visual effects notable for their
Virgin Mary—and this helps explain why it ingenuity while at the same time maintaining a
was never published in his lifetime. L'Oiseau securely middle-American sensibility (see F I L M
blanc also contains allusions to the frivolity at AND FAIRY TALES).

the court of Louis X V , although this critique is Walt Disney himself embodied the fairy tale
more personal than political. LCS of the American Dream he so successfully mar­
keted. He was the fourth of five children born
DlNESEN, ISAK (pseudonym of KAREN BLIXEN, to a struggling lower middle-class family. Dis­
1885-1962), Danish writer and storyteller. ney moved frequently during his childhood,
From 1934 she wrote and published mostly in his father Elias Disney endlessly seeking the fi­
English. Born Christentze Dinesen into a nancial security that perpetually eluded his
wealthy, aristocratic Danish family, Dinesen grasp. Born in Chicago, Disney spent his for­
studied literature and fine arts in Switzerland mative years on a Missouri farm, where he im­
and in Copenhagen. In 1913 she married Bror bibed the vision of rural America he was later
Blixen and moved to Kenya, where she owned to mythologize, making friends with the ani­
and later managed a coffee plantation in the mals who were subsequently transformed into
Ngong Hills. Dinesen had published a few chief actors in his cartoons: pigs, cows, dogs,
poems and stories in Danish journals since and mice. After the farm failed, in part because
1904, but her career as a writer began relatively the two eldest Disney boys fled their exacting
late in life with the publication of Seven Gothic father's demands, the family moved to Kansas
Tales. Although the tales were published after City, where Elias became a newspaper route
Dinesen's return to Denmark, they had already manager, giving each of his remaining sons,
existed first in oral and later in written form Roy and Walt, a share of the labour. In Mis­
before her departure from Kenya in 1931. souri Walt was first paid for a drawing—of a
Dinesen saw herself as a storyteller much more horse. A casual student, in part because of his
than a writer throughout her career. With the heavy workload, Walt still enjoyed reading ad­
exception of her memoirs Out of Africa (1937, venture and romance stories by Mark *Twain,
1984) and the thriller Angelic Avengers (1946), Robert Louis *Stevenson, Horatio Alger, Sir
she mainly published collections of tales. Her Walter Scott, and Charles *Dickens, and
first and most popular anthology, Seven Gothic watching the early silent movies of Charlie
Tales (1934), was an immediate success when it Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and others.
was published by the Book of the Month Club In 1917 Disney moved back to Chicago,
in 1934. This book was followed by Winter's began high school and enrolled in classes at the
Tales (1942) and Last Tales (1957). Dinesen's Art Institute, but soon dropped out and enlist­
narratives are quite similar both stylistically ed in World War I as a Red Cross ambulance
and thematically. Indebted to the romantic driver. At the war's end in 1919, Disney re­
grotesque tradition, they foreground storytell­ turned to Kansas City and took a position with
ing in a self-consciously self-referential man­ a commercial art studio. The most momentous
ner. The reader is immersed in a complex web outcome of this job was his alliance with Ub
of tales within tales that illuminate the myster­ Iwerks, another young artist who not only
ies and magic of life and lean toward the artifi­ shared Disney's interest in cartoons, but had a
cial, the exotic, the supernatural, and horror. genius for animating. Better and more efficient
EMM technically than Disney, Iwerks provided the
Henriksen, Aage, Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen: nuts and bolts drawing while Disney generated
The Work and the Life (1988).
the ideas. Over the years, this partnership
Thurman, Judith, Isak Dinesen: The Life of a
Storyteller (1982). would create Mickey Mouse and spawn one of
the most powerful media giants in the world.
D I S N E Y , W A L T (1901—66), pioneer American Together, they began a company called
animator, producer, entrepreneur, and founder 'Laugh-O-Grams', short animated features
of a media conglomerate. Perhaps the single relying on fairy-tale characters and sight-gags
most influential figure in American children's for their interest. Some of Disney's best ani­
literature of the 20th century, Walt Disney set mated fairy-tale films were made during this
his personal stamp upon almost every classic period: Little Red Riding Hood (1922), The
story for children, simultaneously determining Four Musicians of Bremen (1922), and Puss in
DlSNEY, WALT Disney's animated adaptation of Hans Christian *Andersen's 'The Little Mermaid' is the only one able to devote as much time
to her life underwater as to her ordeal on land.
II
3 DISNEY, WALT

Boots (1924). Although audiences responded cartoons. During this period the company also
well to the cartoons, the company soon went began to diversify, marketing not just cartoons,
broke in 1924 because of distribution problems. but the cartoon characters as well through
After the bankruptcy, Disney and Iwerks books, music, and novelty items such as the
moved to Hollywood to be closer to the movie Mickey Mouse watch. These marketing strat­
industry, persuading Disney's brother Roy, egies generated cash during the expensive pro­
whose business acumen provided another es­ cess of creating the cartoons that would satisfy
sential link in the formation of what would be­ Walt Disney's stringent vision and eventually
come the Disney Corporation, to invest in yet became standard business practice for all fam­
another business scheme. With Iwerks's help, ily-oriented media marketing.
Disney concocted another fairy-tale venture. The success of'Disney's Folly', the feature-
Combining live action and animation in the length cartoon of *Snow White in December
Alice in Cartoonland series (1924—7), they 1937, paved the way for Disney's eventual
began to evolve the winning formulas that be­ domination of the children's fairy-tale indus­
came the Disney-brand fairy tale. Basing this try. A labour of love and artistic commitment,
series very loosely on Lewis *Carroll's literary Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs involved
fairy tale—only the heroine's name and the hundreds of Disney employees working over­
concept of an adventure in a far-fetched place time for months for little or no extra pay to
remained the same—they altered the story to create the two million images demanded by the
admit cute animal characters, slapstick gags, project. Its astonishing success paved the way
and ingenious visual effects while expressing for further animated folk- and fairy-tale adap­
safely middle-American values and beliefs. tations: *Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940),
The late 1920s and 1930s saw the fledgling Dumbo (1941), *'Cinderella (1950), *Alice in
Disney company perpetually striving for in­ Wonderland (1951), * Peter Pan (1953), ^Sleeping
creasing realism through technological innov­ Beauty (1959), and Mary Poppins (1963), to
ation and artistic refinement. Disney soon gave name the most significant fairy-tale films pro­
up any attempt to draw cartoons himself; his duced during Disney's lifetime.
genius lay in generating ideas and inspiring The euphoria induced by the success of
others to produce his vision. T o increase effi­ Snow White did not, however, translate into
ciency, Disney divided cartoon production into fairy-tale labour relations at the Disney Studio.
hierarchized departments: from the élite cadre Increasing bureaucratization and division
of animators (the Nine Old Men) who, to­ among departments, along with the expanding
gether with Disney, created the characters, staff necessary to implement the many new
stories, and gags; to the 'in-betweeners', less projects the studio had undertaken, created a
adept animators who filled in the sketches be­ less egalitarian, more factory-like atmosphere
tween the main actions of a story; to photog­ than had prevailed earlier. Walt Disney's artis­
raphy, sound, and music departments; down to tic autocracy and paternalism, however be­
the low-status, mostly female, eel painters and nevolent, was resented by some of his staff, and
inkers who coloured the slides and finished the in May 1941 the Screen Cartoonists Guild
product. In his devotion to efficiency and struck in response to a series of lay-offs. The
micro-division of labour in the spirit of Freder­ resulting confrontation between labour and
ick W. Taylor, Disney was a businessman of management cleared the studio of many talent­
his time, even if his factory's product was artis­ ed and independent artists and precipitated a
tic instead of technological. hiatus in the studio's fairy-tale production, par­
With each cartoon, Disney pushed his em­ ticularly since during this period Disney con­
ployees to press against the boundaries of their ducted a goodwill tour in Latin America and
medium, by synchronizing music and move­ then began to help the US government produce
ment in Steamboat Willie (1928), by using propaganda films for the war effort. Dumbo
Technicolor in Flowers and Trees (1932), and in (1941) was the last feature-length animated film
general striving to increase animation's realism to issue from the studio for almost ten years.
through studying movement and developing This, together with Disney's role as F B I in­
new ways of creating visual depth, such as the formant about supposed communist activity in
multi-plane camera, developed by Iwerks and Hollywood, further expressed his political
first used to make The Old Mill in 1937. orientation—a fundamentally conservative al­
Throughout the 1930s, the Disney Studio won legiance—and cost him some of the critical
Academy Awards almost as a matter of course support he had enjoyed in the 1930s.
because of the creativity and innovation of its In the 1950s and 1960s, Disney's consider-
DISNEY, WALT 132

able visionary energies were given over to ters, such as animals or dwarfs, fleshed out the
other media—he embraced television and be­ action and created sympathy and comedy.
came deeply involved in the physical construc­ Using familiar comic types (the Laurel-and-
tion of fairylands rather than their animation Hardyesque pairing of a tall, thin body with a
through film. Disneyland, a theme park that short fat one was a frequent figure), Disney's
embodied the same ideology of the Disney artists gave their characters distinctive idiosyn­
fairy-tale cartoons in its emphasis on cleanli­ crasies, which in turn drew out the plot enough
ness, order, and innocence, opened in Orange to make a feature-length presentation. A good
County, California, in 1955. Disney also over­ portion of each story session was devoted to
saw the purchase of land in Orlando, Florida, brainstorming the 'gags' (a good new gag
in 1965 for the Experimental Prototype Com­ earned its creator a bonus of $5) which were to
munity of Tomorrow ( E P C O T ) and what become one of the trademarks of a Disney fairy
would become Disney World. Here Disney's tale. A further development, appearing first in
Utopian bent had free rein as he attempted to Pinocchio, of the cute, usually miniature, side­
enlist American industry and technology in the kick of the protagonist also became a standard
service of bourgeois community life. From al­ feature of a Disney fairy tale, allowing for
most nothing, Disney and his team of devoted comic relief from the romantic business of the
supporters had created a multi-million-dollar fairy tale as well as offering endless marketing
commercial empire based on the fairy tale. opportunities.
Disney's death on 15 December 1966 halted If a Disney fairy tale inflated the ridiculous,
his personal involvement in the project of cre­ it also heightened the romantic aspects of the
ating a fairy-tale virtual reality, but Walt Dis­ story. In contrast with the rather matter-of-fact
ney Productions lived on. The corporation, treatment sex and marriage receives in trad­
like many other American companies, suffered itional folk tales, Disney's versions always
during the recession of the 1970s but was re­ emphasized true love, with love-at-first-sight
vitalized in the 1980s as it reinvented itself, the preferred type. Thus, in Snow White, Cin­
under the leadership of Michael Eisner, to cor­ derella, and Sleeping Beauty, all three heroines
respond to a new vision of the bourgeois fall in love with their princes before the iden­
American fairy tale. After a long pause, Disney tity of either is fully established, avoiding con­
Productions brought out a new string of popu­ notations of interested or self-aggrandizing
lar animated versions of fairy tales, starting love. 'Love's first kiss' is the only spell-breaker
with The *Little Mermaid (1989), *Beauty and in the Disney version, in contrast to the rather
the Beast (1991), *Aladdin (1992), The Lion clumsy awakening of Snow White, jostled out
King (1994), Hercules (1997), and Mulan of her coffin, in the *Grimms' version, or the
(1998). In addition to reworking traditional wakening of the princess by a complete stran­
fairy-tale material, the Disney corporation also ger in earlier versions of 'Sleeping Beauty'. If
attempted to work its magic upon history in portions of the fairy tale seemed arbitrary, in­
Pocahontas (1995) and tragic romance in The humane, or irrational in his lights, Disney
Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Although changed them; thus, in Snow White, the evil
critical response to these last was ambivalent, stepmother falls to her death in a semi-natural
the strategy of reworking recalcitrant material catastrophe rather than being forced to dance
into fairy tale was successful enough to prompt in red-hot iron shoes at her stepdaughter's
other companies, such as 20th-century Fox, to wedding, and Cinderella leaves out any final
issue their own fairy-tale version of history in reference to the antagonists at all, in stark con­
Anastasia (1998). trast to the Grimms' version, in which the step­
Characteristic Disney fairy-tale formulas are sisters' eyes are pecked out by the heroine's
apparent as early as Snow White. Because most bird allies.
of his sources were short and emblematic, more Other Americanizing aspects of the Disney
material needed to be added to lengthen the version included demystifying royalty (in gen­
plot and sustain interest in the characters. For eral they are depicted as well-meaning comic
characterization Disney relied upon the formu­ types or utterly malevolent usurpers); portray­
las of early movies, which themselves drew ing protagonists in voice and manner as all-
from 19th-century melodrama: the innocent American teens with generation-gap problems
heroine, the gallant hero, the evil villain, and and romantic ideals; and mechanizing magic by
comic relief in the form of the clown. Although emphasizing laboratories, magic wands, and
the heroine and hero were often rather wood­ other machines to suggest contemporary
en, the antics of cute or grotesque sub-charac­ American technology. As Disney's critics
133 DISNEY, W A L T

began increasingly to complain, the attempts to ground masculine struggle. After Mermaid, fe-
improve animation by studying movement and male characters, even in the 'feminist' Beauty
striving for realistic effects paradoxically kept and the Beast, are relegated to the sidelines of
the company from exploring animation's the climactic struggles, while the primary con-
unique potential for envisioning other dimen- flicts are between male combatants.
sions. Beginning with Pinocchio, Disney fairy-tale
Animation provided a perfect opportunity to heroes are not calculating so much as they are
create convincing magical effects, a fact not innocents in search of happiness. Pinocchio,
lost on Disney. Whole departments were de- Dumbo, Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer's
voted to special effects of bubbles, water drops, Apprentice in Fantasia, Peter Pan, Arthur,
and other miracles of delicacy; menace and evil Mowgli, Aladdin, the Beast, Simba, even
were effectively conveyed through colour, Quasimodo and Hercules possess boyish high
shape, and angle without any words at all. Ani- spirits and a propensity for mischief, a dislike
mation allowed animals to talk and act like of hard work, and a sweet attractiveness that
humans, for detailed transformations from draws other characters to them. Mentored by
beautiful queen to appalling hag in Snow White complementary yet competing role models
or from pumpkin to coach in Cinderella, for driven on one side by conscience and on the
elephants to fly using their ears as wings in other by pleasure, as with Mowgli's Bagheera
Dumbo, for household furniture to come alive and Baloo, young heroes learn to make their
in Beauty and the Beast, and for the dizzying own way in the world. Like Tom Sawyer, a
physical morphing of Aladdin s Genie. Ultim- figure close to Walt Disney's Missouri roots,
ately, however, the very smoothness and hard, these heroes love the fun of male company but
clean finish of the Disney house style worked bow to the heterosexual imperative: ultimately,
against the establishment of a truly magical at- they learn that to be 'real', to be 'a man', an
mosphere, and the very workers of magic be- 'adult', they must accept the constraints of
came buffoons and bumblers, as in Sleeping civilization and domestication and with it, usu-
Beauty's trio Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. ally, the hand of the beautiful maiden. While
The Disney style relied more upon techniques the Eisner-era hero, notable in Pocahontas and
of novelistic realism than on the suggestive The Hunchback of Notre Dame, might be al-
power of symbol found in other fantasy works. ready grown and ready to be lessoned in love
A study of Disney heroines and heroes over by a dynamic woman, the most popular films,
the course of the 20th century reveals the ex- such as The Lion King, have featured boys'
tent to which Disney Americanized his tales. coming-of-age as struggle over women or
Each fairy-tale heroine embodies the character- kingship. Reproducing movie and cartoon con-
istic beauty ideals of her decade: Snow White is vention in which it is not as important for men
as flat-chested as a flapper, while Cinderella or boys to find true (heterosexual) love as it is
and Sleeping Beauty sport Monroe-esque for girls, there are exceptions to this general-
curves; Ariel is a Farrah Fawcett-coiffed teeny- ization—Pinocchio, Dumbo, Peter Pan, and
bopper, and the heroines of the 1990s are Hunchback conclude by highlighting male
'multicultural' versions of Barbie. Initially ob- friendship, and indeed, the sidekick trope ne-
livious embodiments of what Betty Friedan cessitates male bonding. Consistent throughout
was to denounce as the Feminine Mystique, the Disney corporation's œuvre is the privileg-
Disney's fairy-tale heroines have a great affin- ing of innocence, the valorization of sentiment,
ity for housework and care-giving. Although the belief in true love, the reliance upon the
the Eisner-era cartoons attempt to broaden shorthand of stereotype combined with anti-
heroines' spectrum to include other races and intellectualism, a jovial disdain for ugliness
identities, the 'good' girl is still characterized as or deformity, and a luxuriant, infantilizing
spirited, gently rebellious, but ultimately do- celebration of the cute. The combination has
mesticated by love. Ariel, in The Little Mer- resulted in fairy-tale wealth and power for
maid, rejects the sexual power of Ursula the a major world player in the entertainment
sea-witch and supports her father and boy- industry. NJW
friend in frustrating Ursula's attempt to rule.
Bell, Elizabeth, Haas, Lynda, and Sells, Laura,
Jasmine defies her father only because he is
From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film,
old-fashioned enough to want to arrange her Gender, and Culture (1995).
marriage. Girls' attempts to create a liberated Merritt, Russell and J . B . Kaufman, Walt in
and independent role for themselves are fre- Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney
quently overshadowed by plots that fore- (i993)-
DISNEY COMICS J
34

Schickel, Richard, The Disney Version: The Life, Kummerling-Meibauer, Bettina, Die
Times, Art, and Commerce of Walt Disney ( 1 9 6 8 ; Kunstmdrchen von Hofmannsthal, Musil und
rev. edn., 1985). Doblin ( 1 9 9 1 ) .
Thomas, Frank, and Johnston, Ollie, Disney
Animation: The Illusion of Life ( 1 9 8 1 ) . 1694) is a verse
' D O N K E Y - S K I N ' ('PEAU D'ÂNE',
Watts, Steven, The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney fairy tale, composed by *Perrault when 'Don­
and the American Way of Life ( 1 9 9 8 ) . key-Skin tales' were already synonymous with
Zipes, Jack, 'Breaking the Disney Spell', Fairy 'fairy tales'. Its rich oral heritage found literary
Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale ( 1 9 9 4 ) .
versions in *Straparola's 'Doralice' and
*Basile's 'L'Orza' ('The Bear'). A defence of
DlSNEY COMICS have been greatly influenced by
women written during the 'Querelle des
the animated cartoon film *Snow White which
femmes' ('Debate about Women'), its virtuous
first appeared in 1937. Fairy tales occur fre­
heroine, depictions of fashion, and social com­
quently in these comics, and the illustrations
mentary on hypocritical courtiers, impotent
are very similar to those which appeared in the
pedants, and parasitic curates appealed to the
film. Disney comics are now available in many
17th-century French salon public. Jacques
countries.
Demy's 1971 film starring Catherine Deneuve
Disney and Me, currently available in Great
has likewise enchanted 20th-century audiences.
Britain, is a nursery comic which is issued fort­
A dying queen makes her husband promise
nightly. Fairy tales are almost always included.
to remarry only someone as beautiful as she: he
""Cinderella', *'Aladdin', *'Peter Pan', and
pursues their daughter. On her fairy god­
'Pegasus and Hercules' have all appeared re­
mother's advice, the daughter tries to repel his
cently in picture stories. The illustrations are
incestuous designs by demanding impossibly
tastefully coloured, pleasant, and non-threaten­
lavish gowns and the slaughter of his cher­
ing. Even villains such as Captain Hook are
ished, gold-defecating donkey. Disguised by
not particularly frightening. The stories often
its pelt, she flees, works as a peasant, and is
include friendly birds and harmless animals
reviled for her uncivilized appearance. One
such as rabbits, fawns, and chipmunks. GF
day, a prince spies upon a lovely maiden trying
on opulent garments. He becomes dangerously
DlTLEVSEN, TOVE (1918-76) was one of the few
lovesick, and can be cured only by one of her
major Danish women writers of the 1940s. Her
cakes. Her tiny ring slips into the batter, he ar­
autobiographical works voice a longing for ful­
ranges a contest to locate the damsel whose fin­
filment, but depict experiences of sadness and
ger it fits, and—like *Cinderella—the filthy
disillusionment. The poems in Den hemmelige
worker regains her royal status. MLE
Rude (The Secret Pane of Glass, 1961) directly
Lewis, Philip, Seeing Through the Mother Goose
refer to a number of Grimms' tales. Formally, Tales ( 1 9 9 6 ) .
Ditlevsen is traditional and thus her poems are Morgan, Jeanne, Perrault's Morals for Moderns
not as striking as Anne *Sexton's haunting in­ (1985).

vocations of well-known tales, but Ditlevsen's Soriano, Marc, Les Contes de Perrault (1968).

identification with the demons of the tales, such

as the witch in ""Hansel and Gretel', reveal that D O N O G H U E , E M M A (1969- ), Irish novelist,
she perceived that the texts were not innocent playwright, and scholar. Donoghue's Kissing
entertainment. NI the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins (1997) is a
series of linked retellings of twelve well-known
DÔBLIN, ALFRED (1878-1957), German writer. fairy tales. One character in each tale becomes
From the very outset of his career he incorpor­ the narrator of the next; for example, the fairy
ated a variety of fairy-tale motifs in his work, godmother in 'The Tale of a Shoe' (a ""'Cinder­
even in his celebrated novel Berlin Alexander- ella' variant) tells the next tale, 'The Tale of a
plati (1929). He wrote remarkable fairy tales Bird' (a ""Bluebeard' variant) as her own.
for adults, such as 'Der Ritter Blaubart' ('The Donoghue disrupts the usual patterns of het­
Knight ""Bluebeard', 1911), 'Vom Hinzel und erosexual desire; in these tales princesses
dem wilden Lenchen' ('About Hinzel and the often ignore princes to fall in love with fairy
wild Lenchen', 1917), and 'Mârchen von der godmothers, stepmothers, and even with
Technik' ('Fairy Tale of Technology', 1935). witches—older, powerful women usually por­
In his famous 'Mârchen vom Materialismus' trayed as threatening or evil in the fairy-tale
('Fairy Tale of Materialism', 1948) Dôblin canon. The thirteenth story, 'The Tale of the
illustrated the disastrous consequences of Kiss', told by a cave-dwelling witch, is not a
Demokrit's materialistic nuclear theory. BKM variant of any traditional tale; it is deliberately
DONKEY SKIN The princess is appalled by her father's incestuous advances and his willingness to kill his
favourite donkey for her in Charles *Perrault's 'Donkey-Skin', reproduced from an anonymous
illustration in Les Contes des fées offerts à Bébé ( c i 9 0 0 ) .
D O R É , GUSTAVE 136

inconclusive, enlisting the reader in the task of quently about Doré relate how he began to
narration: 'This is the story you asked for. I draw when about 4, that he always had a pencil
leave it in your mouth.' in hand, and that he preferred his pencils sharp­
Donoghue's tales are also linguistically in­ ened at both ends. With little formal training,
ventive, particularly in 'The Tale of the Cot­ Doré began as a young comic-strip artist, a boy
tage' (a *'Hansel and Gretel' variant), where a genius, at the age of 15 illustrating a parody of
limited Gretel tells her new version of the story Greek mythology, Les Travaux d'Hercule {La­
in blunt, uninflected prose: T once had brother bours of Hercules, 1847), and evolved into a lit­
that mother say we were pair of hands one fast erary artist illustrating the works of Rabelais,
one slow.' In all the tales her prose is simple Balzac, Milton, Chateaubriand, Byron, Hugo,
and sure: 'Bowls spun like snow, goblets shat­ *Shakespeare, and Tennyson. Doré elevated
tered like hail.' She continues the work of illustration/wood engraving to the level of fine
writers like Anne *Sexton, Olga *Broumas, and art. Doré's illustrations in Balzac's Contes Dro­
Angela *Carter, giving new life to old stories, latiques {Droll Stories, 1855) are often regarded
recasting them to question old paradigms. as transitional, moving him towards a more
EWH serious or higher stage of art, to literary folios,
to painting, to sculpture, to the English, and to
DORÉ, GUSTAVE ( 1 8 3 2 - 8 3 ) , French illustrator, religious art. An immensely popular Doré
painter, and sculptor, whose fame grew world­ folio, Contes de fées {Perrault's Fairy Tales)
wide with the publication of his engravings in found its way to a first English translation {The
Dante's Inferno (1861). Doré was a skilled Fairy Realm, 1865) in verse by Tom Hood the
draughtsman (drawing directly onto wood­ Younger. Nine tales were included: 'Hop-o'-
blocks), theatrical, poetic, versatile, and in­ my-Thumb' (*'Little Tom Thumb'), *'Sleep-
credibly prolific. He was often criticized for his ing Beauty in the Wood', *'Donkey-Skin',
fecundity and for the rapidity of his work, hav­ *'Puss-in-Boots', *'Bluebeard', ""Little Red
ing produced more than 8,000 wood engrav­ Riding Hood', *'Cinderella', 'The Fair' ('The
ings, 1,000 lithographs, 400 oil paintings, and *Fairies'), and *'Ricky of the Tuft'. His illus­
30 works of sculpture. Anecdotes told fre­ trations of the *Perrault fairy tales are general-

DORÉ, GUSTAV 'All the better to eat you, my dear', says the wolf in Gustav Doré's illustration of Charles
*Perrault's 'Little Red Riding Hood' in Les Contes de Perrault (1867).
i7 D R A M A A N D FAIRY T A L E S
3

ly considered to be classics, and he set a Engen, Rodney, Richard Doyle ( 1 9 8 3 ) .

standard of fairy-tale illustration that few art­ Richard Doyle and his Family ( 1 9 8 4 ) .
ists have met even today. The first Doré book Hambourg, Daria, Richard Doyle: His Life and
Work ( 1 9 4 8 ) .
to be translated into English was Le Chevalier
Martineau, Jane (ed.), Victorian Fairy Painting
Jaufré (Jaufry the Knight, 1856), a romance of
(i997)-
chivalry written by Jean-Bernard Lafon
Peppin, Brigid, Fantasy Book Illustration
(pseudonym, Mary Lafon). Contemporary
i860—1920 ( 1 9 7 5 ) .
criticism of Doré's work was mixed; some crit­
ics denounced him for his inability to paint as a D R A M A A N D FAIRY T A L E S . A fairy-tale drama is a
painter would; others for the horror, lewdness, theatrical work that uses the motifs, characters,
and gloom they saw in his engravings. Most and genre markers of the fairy tale. These
seemed to acknowledge that his art was power­ plays have variously served as entertainment,
ful and highly imaginative. SS socializing tools, pedagogical and didactic in­
Doré Gallery: Illustrated Catalogue ( 1 9 7 4 ) . struments, and critiques of the social, literary,
Jerrold, Blanchard, The Life of Gustave Doré and political order. Written for both adult and
(1891).
juvenile audiences, fairy-tale drama shares a
Malan, Dan, Gustave Doré: Adrift on Dreams of
great affinity with the other theatrical genres of
Splendor ( 1 9 9 5 ) .
ballet, opera, and musical theatre.
Gustave Doré: A Biography ( 1 9 9 6 ) .
Richardson, Joanna, Gustave Doré: A Biography Before the advent of the contes de fées craze
(1980).
in France, works like *Shakespeare's A Mid­
summer Night's Dream (c.1600), Ben *Jonson's
D O Y L E , R I C H A R D (1824-83), English humorous Oberon: The Fairy Prince (1611), and Henry
artist, cartoonist, and fairy illustrator, affec­ *Purcell's The Fairy Queen (1692) featured
tionately referred to as 'Dicky' Doyle. A high­ fairies and magical events; they preceded the
ly skilled draughtsman, he worked from an rise of the fairy-tale play in France with the
early age for the satirical magazine Punch and publication of the earliest collections of fairy
designed its famous front cover, used for over tales in the 1690s.
a century and depicting a procession of tiny The theatre of the 17th century had been re­
fairy figures. Praised for his over 500 decora­ plete with magicians and sorcerers in pastoral
tive illustrations, Doyle was also criticized for plays, machine plays, court ballets, and operas.
being too kindly in his caricatures, and he Plays that featured fairies—without exception
eventually resigned from Punch for its anti- comedies—were a conglomeration of music,
papal sentiments. His critically acclaimed illus­ dance, and special effects. They enjoyed great
trations of famous children's stories and fairy resonance among theatregoers, and their popu­
tales such as *Dickens's Christmas Books larity often drove both what was written and
(1845—6) and The Cricket on the Hearth (1846), what was performed. The use of fairies and
selected *Grimms' fairy tales in The Fairy Ring demons allowed the troupe to use exotic cos­
(1846), John *Ruskin's The King of the Golden tumes, and the exciting plots and the silly
River (1851), and J . R. *Planché's An Old Fairy transformations the characters underwent all
Tale: The Sleeping Beauty (1865) made him a contributed to the audience's affection for this
household name. In his late work he concen­ genre. In all probability the original audiences
trated on fairy paintings, drawing heavily on saw the fairies' capricious and tyrannical be­
the Grimms' fairy tales for inspiration. Critical haviour as a commentary on the mores of the
judgement is divided on the quality of his large French aristocracy.
watercolours such as *Snow White and Rosy Although the craze lasted only two decades
Red (1871), but The Enchanted Fairy Tree: Or in France, the ensuing years were formative
a Fantasy based on 'The Tempest' by Wm. and defining for the genre throughout Europe.
"Shakespeare (painted 1845, exhibited 1868) is a In the 18th century more fairy plays and fairy­
masterwork, typical of his incredibly detailed tale plays began to appear, as the genre became
scenes depicting the antics of wicked elves and more established and playwrights took inspir­
the romance of fairy maidens and their knights. ation from their own cultural and theatre trad­
His most celebrated book is In Fairyland itions and indigenous tale collections. In
(1870), a series of 16 watercolour scenes of England John Hawkesworth's Edgar and
fairyland, which accompanied a poem by Wil­ Emmeline: A Fairy Tale in Dramatic Entertain­
liam Allingham and, in the 1884 reissue, a spe­ ment for Two Acts (1761); Michael Arne's A
cially written fairy tale by Andrew *Lang, 'The Fairy Tale, adapted from Shakespeare's A Mid­
Princess Nobody'. KS summer Night's Dream (1763); J . Chr. Smith's
D R A M A A N D FAIRY TALES l8
3

The Fairies (1755); and Chr. Dibdin's Queen wrote the outstanding Sana hafsaften-spil
Mab (1769) all worked from Celtic mythology. (Play for Midsummer Eve, 1802) and "Aladdin
In Italy, Carlo *Gozzi's fairy-tale plays valor­ (1805); P. D. A. Atterbom, a leader in the
ized the commedia delTarte and presented stor­ Swedish romantic movement, created his
ies based on puppet plays, oriental stories, greatest poetic work, the fairy-tale play Lyck-
popular fables, fairy stories, and the works of salighetens 0 (The Isle of the Blessed, 1824-7)
Calderon. Two that have withstood the test of that explores the beguiling power of imagin­
time and have been revisited over the centuries ation in the history of poetry. In Hungary,
are L'amore delle tre melarance (Love of the Mihâly Vôrôsmarty produced the great work
Three Oranges, 1761) and Turandot (1762). The Csongor és Tiinde, a symbolic fairy-tale play
ten tales Gozzi wrote for the stage in many reminiscent of Shakespeare's Midsummer
ways were the beginning of the fairy-tale play Night s Dream. In England Thomas Cooke fur­
as a satire of literary conventions of the times; ther explored Celtic sources in his Oberon, or,
his tales criticized and lampooned the 18th-cen­ The Charmed Horn (1826, based on Wieland)
tury Zeitgeist and the Enlightenment's cultural and his 'grand melodramatic fairy tale'
reformist aims. German stages initially relied Thierna-na-oge, or, The Prince of the Lakes
heavily on translations of popular French com­ (1829). In Germany, Ludwig "Tieck took up
edies and dramatized contes de fées, although an Gozzi's gauntlet and produced numerous
indigenous tradition began with such plays as works that were social, political, and literary
Mdgera, die fiirchterliche Hexe (Megera, the critiques of his times, as Der gestiefelte Kater
Terrible Witch, 1763); Das Donauweibchen (The (*Puss-in-Boots, 1804). Friedrich de la Motte
Maid of the Danube, 1798); and Hulda, das "Touque introduced the dilemma of the ill-
schone Wasserfrdulein (Hulda, the Beautiful fated love between humans and other-worldly
Water Maiden, 1799). Literary histories con­ *Undines and ""Melusines, a theme that was to
sider the real breakthrough work for the genre re-emerge in later, neo-romantic plays; his
in Germany to be Christoph ""Wieland's Oberon 'Undine' was put to music by E . T. A. ""Hoff­
(1789). mann and produced as a fairy-tale play (1816);
By the 19th century, more theatres were in Franz Grillparzer (among many others) took
existence and accessible to more people, more up the Melusine theme (1833). As the century
fairy-tale books were in print, audience famil­ progressed, other writers like Georg Buchner
iarity with the motifs and themes had increased responded to Germany's aesthetic and political
dramatically, and new artistic tastes were de­ nationalism by creating a deliberately sense­
veloping. The fairy-tale play began to adapt to less, chaotic and amoral universe in his anti-
political, social, and literary sensibilities as fairy-tale play Léonce and Lena (1843).
playwrights exploited the malleability of the By mid-century, the tragic fairy tale coexist­
tales. Over the course of the century, fairy-tale ed with the socially satiric and light entertain­
dramas reflected the pervading trends within ment, and the commercial popularity of the
literary movements and shifted from comedy fairy tale reached new heights. J . R. ""Planché
to often more serious works and even traged­ achieved great success in England with his ex­
ies. The genre also began to differentiate more travaganzas like The Good Woman in the Wood:
clearly into musical (opera and ballet) and non- A New and Original Fairy Tale (based on Mile
musical versions (see B A L L E T A N D F A I R Y T A L E S , de *La Force's 'La Bonne Femme' ('The Good
OPERA AND FAIRY TALES, and OPERETTA AND Woman'), 1852) and Tom Taylor's Wittikind
FAIRY TALES). and his Brothers, or, The Seven Swan Princes and
There had already been a century and a half the Fairy Melusine (1852). In 1857, in Germany,
of works based on ""Perrault, the ""oriental fairy-tale plays as popular family entertainment
fairy-tale collections, and the Italian medieval made their debut in Hamburg with Carl Au­
collections that had been received and that gust Gôrner's introduction of the opulently
playwrights were adapting, but there were also staged Christmas fairy tale, a tradition that has
new impulses spawned by the romantic interest continued to this day. Theatres around Europe
in the genre, the rise of the literary Kunstmdr- were quick to pick up the trend because Christ­
chen, and the advent of the *Grimms' "Kinder- mas plays tided more than one theatre budget
und Hausmdrchen. As the romantic wave swept over to the next season.
Europe, playwrights from England to Hungary By the end of the century, the genre's
produced numerous fairy-tale plays, many en­ happy-end solutions dissolved into tragedy.
gendered by the romantic interest in Shakes­ The fantastic, Utopian world of the original
peare. In Scandinavia, Adam ""Oehlenschlager tales was shown to be inadequate, unable to re-
i39 D R A M A A N D FAIRY T A L E S

solve real-life conflicts. Romantic themes were hicle for their messages. In the mid-1980s in
back in vogue, as playwrights like Maurice the United States James Lapine and Stephen
*Maeterlinck, August *Strindberg, Gerhart Sondheim's "Into the Woods (1987) was a social
*Hauptmann, Fyodor Sologub, Henrik Ibsen, parable that valorized traditional family values,
Hugo von *Hofmannstal, and William Butler monogamy, and hearth and home. By 1994, the
*Yeats all turned to fairy tales and other anti- fairy tale was used in the cause against Aids in
realistic forms to bring poetry and spiritual Doug Holsclaw's Myron: A Fairy Tale in Black
meaning back into the theatre. They employed and White.
elements from tales of Perrault and the
Grimms and from Hans Christian *Andersen. FAIRY TALE PLAYS A N D C H I L D R E N ' S T H E A T R E
Their plays often used the pattern of enchant- In works for children some of the most essen-
ment and disenchantment à la A Midsummer tial liberating and transformational potential of
Night s Dream, or took up the idea of contact the fairy tale is exploited as well as the genre's
with other-worldly females as an allegorical ability to reinforce gender roles and the socio-
conflict between art and life, as Hauptmann's political status quo. Pedagogical and philo-
Die versunkene Glocke (The Sunken Bell, 1896), sophical debates about childrearing, appropri-
Ibsen's Peer Gynt (1876), and Hofmannstal's ate literature for juvenile audiences, and the
Das Bergwerk TU Falun (The Mines of Falun, needs of the child as audience have often in-
1906). The mood of these plays was decidedly formed these deliberations.
gloomy. The Belgian Nobel laureate Maeter- Privileged juvenile audiences enjoyed fairy-
linck's Pelléas et Mélisande (1892), considered tale plays as early as Françoise de Graffigny's
the unquestioned masterpiece of symbolist Ziman et Zénise (1748, performed privately for
drama and basis for the opera by Claude the children of the Emperor of Austria). But
*Debussy, conveys a mood of hopeless melan- the advent of fairy-tale plays for children can
choly and doom, an obsession with love and be traced back more clearly to the reception
death. Following Maeterlinck, other play- and dramatization of the French contes de fées,
wrights dissolved the fairy-tale happy end into Perrault, and the Grimms. T w o trends of pro-
disillusionment and despair. Perhaps one of the duction exist: home theatre (the earliest form
most interesting paradigm shifts within the of participatory theatre) and commercial
genre at the fin de siècle is apparent in Robert theatre. By the middle of the 19th century, with
*Walser's 1901 dramolette Schneewittchen growing literacy and great numbers of fairy-
("Snow White). His work questions the very tale books on the market, fairy-tale plays for
transmissibility of an ordered, traditional sys- home productions abounded throughout
tem of values as his characters possess literary Europe and North America, a tradition that has
self-consciousness: the queen and Snow White continued up to the present day. Female play-
come to understand that their every move and wrights and adapters were and are in the ma-
thought is directed by their role as fictitious jority. Mostly excluded from 'serious' theatre,
characters of two versions of a fairy tale, the women turned to home productions as a ve-
Grimms' and Walser's. Walser saw his use of hicle to gain a kind of public voice before a
an unpoliticized, 'purely' poetic language as limited, surely receptive audience of parents
the only vehicle to imaginative transcendence. and friends. These plays and their production
While the symbolists and surrealists ex- offered a kind of complicity between writers
plored fairy-tale themes as meditations on the and performers—the disenfranchised groups
human condition and the role of literature and of women and children gained a voice and
art, others, like their predecessors in earlier declaimed. Most of these plays were adapta-
centuries, were attracted to fairy-tale themes as tions of well-known tales, based on the stand-
a reflection on the social and political climate of ard corpus by Perrault, the Grimms, and Hans
the historical moment. The Russian Yevgeni Christian Andersen found in popular antholo-
*Schwartz's Drakon (The Dragon, 1943), for ex- gies: 'Snow White', ""Sleeping Beauty', *'Han-
ample, presents images of the way dictatorships sel and Gretel', ""Little Red Riding Hood',
and revolutionary politics work, a theme the 'The Emperor's New Clothes', and a smatter-
East German poet Wolf *Biermann revisited in ing of stories from The "Arabian Nights, like
Der Dra-Dra. Die grosse Drachentbterschau *'Aladdin'. The French tradition of the con-
(The Great Dragon Slayer s Show, 1970). As so- teueses was also adapted for home use, as Eliza
ciety and culture shifted around changing sex- H. Keating's The White Cat: An Old Fairy Tale
ual, gender, and family attitudes, artists also Made into a Modern Extravaganza (i860).
used the adaptability of the fairy tale as a ve- Anglo-American adapters also paid attention
D R A M A A N D FAIRY T A L E S 140

to their own children's books that gave rise to One of many such examples of children's
*Dickens's The Cricket on the Hearth (1846) or theatre's mission as a pedagogical institution
Frank L . *Baum's The "W^ard of 0{ (per­ was the Federal Theater Project in the United
formed in Chicago as a musical in 1901). As States during the Great Depression. The foun­
reforms in schooling and pedagogy swept ders' stated goals were to reach children not
Europe and America, fairy-tale plays became otherwise in theatres, to provide entertain­
part of these reformist and kindergarten move­ ment, and to help child audiences learn about
ments and works like Lady Florence E . E . O. problem-solving. They employed children in
Bell's Fairy Tale Plays and How to Act Them the rewriting and performance of fairy-tale
(1896) provided guidance. Henriette Kiihne- plays as a way to encourage freedom of expres­
Harkort's Grimm adaptation Schneewittchen sion, to provide an emotional outlet, and to
(1877) is a typical example of these kinds of foster group cooperation. Of the plays the Pro­
works: played by children, the seven dwarfs ject produced and staged around the country
bear names of minerals and elements and ex­ over a five-year period, Aladdin, The Emperor s
plain the natural world to the performers and New Clothes, Hansel and Gretel, "Jack and the
audience. Because these plays were not staged Beanstalk, and "Pinocchio were the mainstays.
in theatre houses, critical reception of this trad­ The Federal Theater Project's objectives,
ition barely exists. goals, and productions are representative of
With the exception of Christmas fairy-tale much of children's theatre in the United States
plays, commercial theatres rarely performed since that time.
pieces deemed appropriate for child audiences Another part of the spectrum of didacticism
before the advent of children's theatres in the in fairy-tale plays are the rewritings and adap­
late 19th and early 20th centuries. Fairy-tale tations to teach the audience. Perhaps the most
plays suitable for children were certainly writ­ interesting examples of this group were written
ten and performed before then, such as Sarah and performed in the Soviet Union and later
A. Frost's Aladdin, or, The Wonderful Lamp: A East Germany. In the 1920s in the Soviet
Fairy Tale for Little Folks (1890s), but most of Union, the traditional fairy tales were branded
these works originated in the musical theatre inappropriate for children's theatre because
tradition. 'Cinderella' and 'Sleeping Beauty' party officials considered them 'monarchist in
had appeared as children's opera in Vienna as orientation, mystic and religious in influence,
early as 1853; later in the century, Adelheid and likely to encourage the child to rely on a
Wette's Hansel und Gretel (1893, with music by supernatural power to solve all problems'. By
her brother Engelbert *Humperdinck) became the 1930s attitudes shifted and writers like Yev-
an enduring classic still performed today. Like geni Schwartz began writing adaptations like
the Christmas fairy-tale play that assured the Krasnaya Shapochka {Little Red Riding Hood,
survival of theatres throughout the otherwise 1937); Snerhanaya Koroleva (The "Snow Queen,
dry holiday seasons, the popularity of fairy-tale 1939); and Zolushka (Cinderella, 1937) as true
plays and their sure box-office success pro­ 'socialist fairy tales'; these works, and others
moted stagings for social welfare benefits like like I. Karnaukova and L. Brausevick's adapta­
the 1864 version of'Cinderella' on behalf of the tion of S. T. Aksakov's tale 'Alenikii tsveto-
Sanitary Commission in New York or the chek' ('The Little Scarlet Flower', based on
Benefit of the Newark Orphan Asylum in 1876. *'Beauty and the Beast') became part of the
In the 20th century, the history of the fairy­ standard repertory of children's theatre. As the
tale play is inextricably linked with the history theatre tradition developed, there was a move
of children's theatre. Fairy-tale plays have been towards intermingling of the real and the fan­
the backbone of many children's theatres, but tastic and reducing the use of the magical; S.
their stage realizations have taken two direc­ *Prokofiev's Pyot's polovinoy volshebnykh pre-
tions: bourgeois theatres have typically pre­ vrashchenii (Five and a Half Magical Changes)
sented traditional tales that reinforce the social is a good example of this type: the one fantastic
and political status quo, while proletarian and figure, the Kind Sorcerer, admonishes the child
progressive theatres have sought to upend the he aids to try to manage without magic, be­
traditional tale and have rewritten them or pro­ cause every magical transformation is a kind of
duced original ones with radically revised mes­ lie. By the 1950s Schwartz had turned from
sages. But whether bourgeois or progressive, Western European classics to Russian folklore;
children's theatres have used fairy tales to di­ in Dvu klyona (The Two Maples, 1954) Vassi-
dactic purposes, for the performers and/or the lissa, a proletarian worker, saves her sons from
audiences. the Russian fairy-tale witch *Bâba-Yagâ. The
i4i DURAS, PAUL

main message of the play is defeating evil and books in the 'Wizardry' series are whimsical
not to run away from home. That message tales for young readers following the misad-
made Dvu klyona the most popular (or at least ventures of wizards-in-training. TW
the most staged) play in children's theatre in
East Germany. D U C L O S , C H A R L E S P I N O T (1704-72), French
In the West, fairy tales are embraced or es- historiographer, moralist, and novelist. He was
chewed for children's theatre depending on born into a wealthy family that lost its fortune
prevailing societal attitudes about children and with the collapse of Law's System (1720), and
their viewing needs, and the general role of wrote treatises on Breton druids, French kings,
theatre in society. Socio-political shifts in the and 18th-century morality. Despite a libertine
1980s and the connection to new psychoanalyt- best-seller (Confessions du comte de *** 1741),
ical interpretations à la Bruno Bettelheim her- he was elected to the French Academy in 1746.
alded a new 'poetic theatre' that distanced itself He is also known for the parodie fairy tale Aca-
from the politically and socially engaged plays jou et Zirphile (1744) and the bet surrounding
of the 1970s. It became possible to show the its composition. The Comte de Tessin had
plot developments in fairy tales as psychic pro- commissioned engravings from Boucher for a
cesses of universalized human, conflict-laden fairy tale, but was recalled to Sweden. Boucher
situations. Poetic theatre allowed a work of art took them to Mile Quinault's salon: a contest
to be independent of reality in favour of its was held to write a fairy tale around his scenes
own internal logic and it removed the work of of flying hands and génies in chamber pots.
art from social responsibility. Carlo Formigo- *Voisenon, *Caylus, and Duclos submitted en-
ni's 'Cinderella' adaptation and Paul Maar and tries: only Duclos's has survived. Its publica-
Mauro Guindani's Die Reise durch das Schwei- tion site of 'Minutie' ('Trifles') announces an
gen (The Trip through Silence) on German aggressive preface that ridicules readers—a
stages were important pieces in this period. But passage later omitted from the Cabinet des fées
by the 1990s fairy tales once again were enlist- (The Fairies' Study, 1785) because of its rude-
ed into the service of social and political causes, ness. Unfortunately, this censorship destroys
as political correctness and cultural diversity the parodie intent of this tale about two evil
became driving forces. The series by the Play- génies, a prince and princess (Acajou and Zir-
ers' Press in California, for example, rehabili- phile), and a good fairy. With ironic asides and
tates the bad guys and gals of traditional tales clever puns, it burlesques the fairy-tale marvel-
like *Rumpelstiltskin and the wolf of'Peter and lous and motifs, pokes fun at the Duchesse du
the Wolf, while Useni Perkins's Black Fairy Maine and her fairy plays at Sceaux, and crit-
and Other Plays for African American Children icizes a shallow, libertine society. It inspired a
(1993) provides alternatives from under-re- response from Fréron and a comic-opera by
presented traditions. Fairy-tale plays have once Favart. MLE
again become family theatre as many of the Dagen, Jean (ed.), Acajou et Zirphile (1993).
plays seem written more for the parents than Meister, Paul, Charles Duclos (1956).
for the children; fairy-tale plays allow a flight Robert, Raymonde, Contes parodiques et
to childhood as an escape from the unpleasant licencieux du 18e siècle (1987).
political and social realities of adulthood. S C J
Morton,. Miriam (ed.), Through the Magic D U K A S , P A U L (1865—1935), French composer.
Curtain: Theater for Children, Adolescents and In a small, carefully crafted œuvre his major
Youth in the U.S.S.R. (1979). work, and only opera, is Ariane et Barbe-Bleue
Nicholson, David B., The Fairy Tale in Modern (1907), composed to accompany a short play of
Drama (1982).
the same name published in 1901 by the Belgian
DUANE, DlANE (1952— ), American-born writer symbolist Maurice *Maeterlinck. Intended
residing in Ireland, author of science fiction, from the start for musical elaboration, Maeter-
fantasy, and media-related novels for children linck's play joins Perrault's 'Barbe-bleue'
and adults. The 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' theme (*'Bluebeard') with the myth of Ariadne. Des-
can be found throughout Duane's fantasy pite being discovered and offered a vision of
work. In the 'Tale of the Five' series—The freedom by the eponymous heroine, Blue-
Door into Fire (1979), The Door into Shadow beard's wives choose to continue living in the
(1984), and The Door into Sunset (1992)—five stifling opulence of their captor's castle. The
companions strive to control a powerful, elem- story allows Dukas to conjure vivid impres-
ental fire magic. So You Want to Be a Wizard? sions of gem-filled rooms and subterranean
(1983), A Wizard Abroad (1993), and other darkness. SB
DULAC, EDMUND 142

DULAC, E D M U N D (1882-1953), French-born, The story concludes with the moral that some
British-naturalized artist, illustrator, and stage men are more dangerous than wolves, and the
designer. Dulac was one of the finest artists in a accompanying illustration completes the allu­
great age of illustration. Like his contemporary sion to Hitler. References to popular culture
Arthur *Rackham, he specialized in fantasy, and contemporary institutions abound in these
and their work has much in common—sub­ tales. Like other fairy-tale revisionists of the
dued yet softly glowing colour delicately out­ 20th century, Dumas creates unorthodox end­
lined in black, an interest in pattern and ings and challenges conventional fairy-tale
texture, superb draughtsmanship, and a fascin­ wisdom and morals. AZ
ation with detail. Dulac's style, however, is Malarte, Claire-Lise, 'The French Fairy-Tale
more painterly; in his compositions, human fig­ Conspiracy', The Lion and the Unicorn, 12.2
ures are often subordinated to backgrounds (1988).
executed in subtly textured watercolour
washes. He has an affinity for oriental subjects, DUNSANY, EDWARD JOHN MORETON DRAX
and his work shows the influence of Persian PLUNKETT, BARON (1878-1957), Anglo-Irish
miniatures and Japanese prints as well as the writer of short stories, plays, and novels; be­
Pre-Raphaelite tradition. Among his most not­ came 18th Baron of Dunsany (1899), and re­
able illustrated books are The "Arabian Nights mained throughout his life one of the 20th
(1907), Shakespeare's Comedy of the Tempest century's most prolific writers of fantasy for
(1908), "Sleeping Beauty and Other Fairy Tales adults. Influenced by the fairy tales of Oscar
from the Old French (1910), Stories from Hans *Wilde and the romances of William *Morris,
"Andersen (1912), Laurence *Housman's retell­ Dunsany began his literary career with the cre­
ing of Princess Badoura: A Tale from the Ara­ ation of his own mythical, quasi-mystical uni­
bian Nights (1913), Edmund Dulac's Fairy Book verse in The Gods of Pegana (1905) and Time
(1915), and Alexander *Pushkin's The Golden and the Gods (1906). The Sword of Welleran
Cockerel (1950). Dulac also designed costumes (1908) contained some of his best fantasy tales
and scenery for dramatic productions, includ­ including the title story and 'The Kith of the
ing several by his friend W. B. * Yeats. After Elf-Folk', an account of a fairy-like creature
World War I, when the market for deluxe edi­ who chooses to enter the world of late Victor­
tions declined, he applied his versatile talents to ian England, finds it hypocritical and ugly, and
interior design, caricatures, bookplates, play­ then renounces her soul to escape. The tale
ing cards, and postage stamps. SR manifests two abiding characteristics of Dun­
Larkin, David, Dulac ( 1 9 7 5 ) . sany, his dislike of organized religion and his
White, Colin, Edmund Dulac ( 1 9 7 6 ) . loathing of the Industrial Revolution. In A
Dreamer's Tales ( 1 9 1 0 ) , The Book of Wonder
(1912) which contains 'The Hoard of the Gib-
D U M A S , P H I L I P P E ( 1 9 4 0 - ), French author and belins' known for its brilliant unhappy ending
illustrator of children's literature. He composes ('And, without saying a word . . . they neatly
witty and animated stories that often transpose hanged him on the outer wall'), 51 Tales ( 1 9 1 5 ) ,
quite literally classic fairy-tale elements. His Tales of Wonder (1916, called in America The
suggestively titled collection Contes à l'envers Last Book of Wonder), and Tales of Three Hemi­
{Upside Down Tales, 1977) includes 'La Belle spheres (1919), Dunsany expanded his mytho-
au doigt bruyant' ('Boisterous Beauty'), a hu­ poeic vision. The impact of these early
morous reworking of *'Sleeping Beauty', in dreamland stories was heightened by the illus­
which the spell cast imposes blaring music and trations of Sime, whose pictures sometimes in­
perpetual dancing instead of tranquil slumber. spired Dunsany's tales. Later collections
In 'Conte à rebours' ('Against the Grain include The Man who Ate the Phoenix (1949),
Tale'), a story about conformity, walking whose title story utilizes traditional Celtic
backwards becomes the norm. The heroine of motifs: encounters with a leprechaun, a Ban­
'Le Petit Chaperon Bleu Marine' ('Little Navy shee, and the Fairy Queen; and another tale,
Blue Riding Hood') is the grand-daughter of 'Little *Snow White up to date', which mod­
*Little Red Riding Hood. Envious of her an­ ernizes the classic. More popular than the elab­
cestor's fame, she seeks the media spotlight by orately wrought, linguistically archaic fantasies
liberating a wolf from the Botanical Garden in are the Jorkens travel tales, which sometimes
Paris. The wary animal flees to Siberia where use folklore motifs for comic ends. Beginning
he avoids the fate of his great-great-uncle, who with The Travel Tales of Mr Joseph Jorkens
is none other than the wolf of *Perrault's tale. (1931), these records of a creative liar who en-
 DUVALL, SHELLEY
!43

tertains members of his club with his adven­ network Showtime (see F I L M A N D F A I R Y
tures—including, in 'Mrs Jorkens', his TALES). The series had been offered initially to
marriage to a mermaid—are among Dunsa- Walt ""Disney Productions, but Duvall was un­
ny's most amusing works. willing to relinquish artistic control, which
Dunsany's second career, as a dramatist, as­ Disney demanded. None the less, the series is
sociated him with Lady Gregory, W. B. not unified by Duvall's own style, interpret­
""Yeats, and the revival of the Irish Theatre. ation, or artistic influence. Instead, each rough­
Several of his non-realist plays, including A ly 50-minute episode features famous actors
Night at an Inn, were popular, as were his short and a well-known director, which results in a
works utilizing fairy-tale themes. Moreover, he wide range of visual styles and approaches to
began writing novels in the 1920s; filled with the original fairy tales. The tales themselves
quests, imaginary kingdoms, dream atmos­ also cover a broad territory, and diversity
phere, and the pseudo-medievalism of Morris's seems to be the guiding criterion for the selec­
romances, these might be labelled fairy novels. tions. Drawing on the Brothers *Grimm, Hans
Among them are a quest romance of fairyland, Christian ""Andersen, The "Arabian Nights, and
The King of Elfland's Daughter (1924) and the other sources, the series includes adaptations of
equally folkloric Charwoman's Shadow (1926), tales such as ""'Hansel and Gretel', 'The Dan­
which reworks the traditional motif of the lost cing Princesses', ""Sleeping Beauty', ""Snow
shadow. In The Blessing of Pan (1927), Dun­ White', ""Rapunzel', 'The Nightingale', 'The
sany successfully fuses British folklore and Emperor's New Clothes', 'The *Princess and
pagan myth, while The Story of Mona Sheehy the Pea', 'The *Snow Queen', ""'Aladdin and
(1939) is an anti-fantasy, a novel of a young his Wonderful Lamp', ""Jack and the Bean­
woman who wrongly believes she is of fairy stalk', 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears',
birth. ""'Beauty and the Beast', and other classic tales.
As a fabulist who imaginatively transforms In only a few cases do the directors and
materials from The "Arabian Nights, classical actors take advantage of the live-action me­
mythology, Celtic, Germanic, and Hindu folk­ dium and exploit the limits imposed by the
lore as well as from medieval lays and quest made-for-television format. A case in point is
romances, Dunsany is an important contribu­ 'The Tale of the Frog Prince', which was writ­
tor to the fairy-tale tradition. CGS ten and directed by Eric Idle and features the
Anderson, Angelee Sailer, 'Lord Dunsany: The actors Robin Williams and Terri Garr. Idle
Potency of Words and the Wonder of Things', brings his television experience with Monty
Mythlore, 15.1 (autumn 1988). Python and his satirical vision to bear on the
Joshi, S. T., Lord Dunsany: Master of the Anglo- Grimms' tale. As a result he effectively blends
Irish Imagination (1995). the fairy tale with adult comedy and challenges
DURAND, CATHERINE, NÉE BÉDACIER,
the viewer's expectations. In addition, Idle's
(c.1650—1712/15), French writer. The author parody exposes traditional fairy-tale stereo­
of several novels and the creator of the dramat­ types, such as the equation of beauty with vir­
ic proverb genre, she wrote three fairy tales: tue, and ironically dissects the nature of power
'Histoire de la fée Lubantine' ('Story of the in society. The combination of Idle's irreverent
Fairy Lubantine'), which appeared in her novel humour and Williams's unpredictability cre­
La Comtesse de Mortane ( The Countess of Mor- ates an adaptation with surprises and new
tane), as well as 'Le Prodige d'amour' ('The views of the traditional tale.
Miracle of Love') and 'L'Origine des fées' Despite the unevenness of the productions
('The Origin of Fairies'), both of which ap­ as significant fairy-tale adaptations, Faerie Tale
peared in Les Petits Soupers de l'année 1699 Theatre has had considerable popular success,
(The Little Suppers of 1699). In 'Le Prodige especially in syndication and the home video
d'amour', Durand rewrites the basic plot of market. Duvall has produced other television
"Terrault's and ""Bernard's *'Riquet à la fare aimed at an audience of children, including
houppe' by reversing gender roles. Her tales Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales and Legends
project a scepticism about love typical of (1985—8) and Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories
French literature in this period. LCS (1992-3). DH
Haase, Donald, 'Gold into Straw: Fairy Tale
DUVALL, SHELLEY, (1949- ), American actress, Movies for Children and the Culture Industry',
director, and producer. Between 1982 and 1985 The Lion and the Unicorn, 12.2 (December 1988).
she produced Faerie Tale Theatre, a series of 26 Zipes, Jack, 'Once Upon a Time beyond
fairy-tale adaptations, for the cable television Disney: Contemporary Fairy-Tale Films for
DVORAK, ANTONIN 144

Children', in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, The Noon Witch begins quietly with a child
Children, and the Culture Industry (1997). playing while his mother prepares a meal.
Angry with her son, the mother threatens him
D V O R A K , A N T O N I N (1841-1904), Czech com­ with mention of a witch who is thought to stalk
poser. His music represents a meeting of the during the hour before midday. The witch, a
Viennese classical tradition with a style suf­ ghostly old woman, enters and demands the
fused with the landscape, speech patterns, and child, to the sound of muted strings, bass clari­
folk traditions of what was to become Czecho­ net, and bassoon. After a struggle the mother
slovakia. Renowned for his symphonic and collapses, as the midday bell rings. Returning
chamber works, Dvorak's fairy-tale inspired home for his lunch, the father finds his wife,
compositions include the operas The Devil and whom he revives; the child is dead.
Kate (1898—9) and Rusalka (1900). The dis­ The Golden Spinning Wheel is a complicated
tinctively Czechoslovakian component of his fairy tale to express in musical form. The only
music is also sharply evident in a set of four one of the four to have a happy ending, it in­
symphonic poems, referred to by the composer volves a king and a young girl who has her
as 'orchestral ballads': The Water Goblin, The hands and feet cut off and her eyes put out by
Noon Witch, The Golden Spinning Wheel, and her stepmother, so that the king will marry the
The Wild Dove (all 1896). Each is based on a stepmother's own daughter. The heroine is fi­
folk ballad from a collection entitled A Bouquet nally restored physically and reunited with the
of Folk Tales, by the Czech poet and folklore king, through the intervention of an old man,
specialist Karel Jaromir Erben. Dvorak's music some magic water, and the eponymous spin­
broadly follows the outline of each story. As ning wheel.
one critic wrote at the time, 'the orchestra re­ Opening with a funeral march, The Wild
cites Erben's poems'; indeed, certain of the in­ Dove concerns the too hasty remarriage of a
strumental lines are based on the rhythmic widow who, it transpires, poisoned her first
patterns of the verse. husband. Tormented by the mournful cooing
The Water Goblin, composed as a rondo of a dove over the husband's grave—evoked
with seven scenes, tells of the marriage of a by Dvorak using a combination of flutes, oboe,
young girl and an evil goblin, identified by and harp—the woman drowns herself. SB
themes on the cellos and oboe respectively. Be­ Clapham, John, Antonin Dvorak: Musician and
coming homesick, the girl is granted permis­ Craftsman (1966).
sion to visit her mother, with the proviso that Janâcek, Leos, ' A Discussion of Two Tone
she leaves her child with its father. In the even­ Poems Based on Texts by Karel Jaromir Erben:
ing the goblin calls at the girl's mother's home. The Wood Dove and The Golden Spinning Wheel
When the mother refuses to let her daughter (1897—8), trans. Tatiana Firkusny, in Michael
Beckerman (ed.), Dvorak and his World (1993).
go, a storm rises, and a thumping sound at the
door proves to be the headless body of the
child.
EGNER, Ï H O R B J 0 R N (1912-90), Norwegian
writer and illustrator of humorous fairy tales
for children. His first and most famous book is
a didactic story about evil trolls who live in a
boy's teeth, Karius og Baktus (Carius and Bac-
tus, 1949). A collection of funny animal fairy
tales Klatremus og de andre dyrene i Hakkebak-
keskogen (Climbing-Mouse and Other Animals in
the Hunchback Wood, 1954) is inspired by
Rudyard *Kipling. In Folk og rvere i Karde-
momme by (The Singing Town, 1959) a British
nonsense fairy-tale tradition can be traced.
Egner has also translated the children's classics E L G A R , S I R E D W A R D (1857-1934), major British
Winnie the Pooh and Doctor Dolittle into composer; one of the last to represent music's
Norwegian. MN long-lived romantic era. Active until early
Harald L. Tveterâs (éd.), En bok om Thorbjorn middle age as a local teacher and composer (he
Egner (1972). was self-taught), he won overnight success
with his Enigma Variations, Op. 36 in 1899.
ElCHENDORFF, JOSEPH FREIHERR VON There then followed over the next 20 years a
(1788—1857), German poet and author who prolific outpouring of large and small-scale
combined romantic nature mysticism with works, including Sea Pictures, Op. 37 (1900);
Christian faith. While studying at Heidelberg, the oratorio The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38
he entered into friendship with Achim von (1900); the First Symphony in A flat major,
*Arnim and Clemens *Brentano, whose Ger- Op. 55 (1908); the Second Symphony in E flat
man folk-song collection decisively influenced major, Op. 63 (1911); the Coronation Ode of
his subsequent literary production. In his early 1902 (containing the celebrated melody which
novel Ahnung und Gegenwart (Presentiment and later became 'Land of Hope and Glory'), the
Actuality, 1815), the mood and emotion of the violin concerto of 1910, Op. 61; and the Vio-
characters often find expression in a lyric poet- loncello Concerto, Op. 85 (1919).
ry that appropriates the form and metre of folk Elgar's mystical approach to his life and art
song, as is also the case in the story that has (hence the aforementioned Enigma Variations),
become a minor classic of world literature, found further expression in works based on
'Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts' ('The other-worldly subjects. His two Wand of Youth
Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing', 1826). In orchestral suites (Op. ia, 1907, and Op. ib,
Eichendorff s contribution to the genre of the 1908) originated from music he had written in
artistic fairy tale (Kunstmdrchen), 'Das Mar- his boyhood for a children's play set in a fairy-
morbild' ('The Marble Statue', 1819), Florio no land. In 1915 he wrote incidental music (Op.
sooner falls in love with lovely young Bianca, 78) for a children's play by Violet Pearn, The
and she with him, than he finds himself under Starlight Express. Produced at the Kingsway
the spell of a marble statue of Venus that has Theatre, London, The Starlight Express was
come alive in the person of a maturely alluring based on Algernon Blackwood's The Prisoner
seductress. Florio is saved from succumbing to in Fairyland. TH
Venus' blandishments by his older friend For-
tunato, and in the end young love triumphs.
JMM ENDE, MICHAEL (1929-95), internationally
Blackall, Eric A., 'Images on a Golden Ground: known German author of fantasy literature and
Eichendorff, in The Novels of the German children's books. Ende was the son of the sur-
Romantics (1983). realist painter Edgar Ende and spent the years
Goebel, Robert O., Eichendorff s Scholarly 1931—43 as a child in Munich's artist district,
Reception: A Survey (1993). where he came under the influence of artists
Hoffmeister, Gerhart, 'Eichendorff s Ahnung und and writers associated with his father. Later,
Gegenwart as a Religious Development', in through the Waldorf School in Stuttgart, he
James N. Hardin (ed.), Reflection and Action:
Essays on the Bildungsroman (1991). became acquainted with the anthroposophic
McGlathery, James M., 'Magic and Desire in writings of Rudolf Steiner, who had developed
Eichendorff s "Das Marmorbild" ', German Life esoteric interpretations of German fairy tales.
& Letters, 42 (1989). He also studied acting in Munich, and his inter-
Schwarz, Egon, Joseph von Eichendorff (1972). est in theatre led him to the theoretical works
ENSIKAT, KLAUS 146

of Bertolt Brecht. However, he ultimately E N S I K A T , K L A U S ( 1 9 3 7 - ) German illustrator,

abandoned Brecht's ideas because they advo­ who has won many national and international
cated the destruction of illusion. Instead, Ende awards such as the Hans Christian * Andersen
embraced fantasy as the creative force that Medal in 1996. Ensikat does sharp black-and-
would drive his work. white ink drawings and is known for his extra­
Although Ende published in a wide range of ordinarily detailed work. Among his best illus­
genres—including poetry, drama, short fic­ trated fairy tales are Charles *Perrault's "Torn
tion, and picture books—he is best known for Thumb (1977), Edward Lear's The Story about
his fantasy novels, which incorporate fairy-tale the Four Small Children who Went around the
structures and motifs. His first novel was pub­ World (1992), Lewis *Carroll's "Alice in Won­
lished in two parts as Jim Knopf und Lukas der derland (1993), E. T. A. *Hoffmann's Klein
Lokomotivfiihrer (Jim Button and Luke the En­ Zaches (Little Zaches, 1994), and the *Grimms'
gine Driver, i960) and Jim Knopf und die Wilde "Bremen Town Musicians (1994). Ensikat has
13 (Jim Button and the Wild 13, 1962). The two also illustrated works by contemporary authors
books chart the fairy-tale ascent of the black and has a predilection for creating characters in
foundling Jim Knopf, whose fabulous journey old-fashioned dress who often have trouble
leads him to discover his royal identity. In the with strange machines like a mechanical cow or
fairy-tale novel Momo (translated into English a broken-down car. The combination of quaint
as both Momo and The Grey Gentlemen, 1973), characters and modern technology lend his
Ende describes a modern civilization that has highly imaginative drawings a surrealistic
been dehumanized by 'grey gentlemen' who quality filled with ironic innuendoes. KD
have robbed people of their time. The novel's
main character is a little girl named Momo, an­
E S T E S , C L A R I S S A P I N K O L A ( 1 9 4 3 - ), American
other orphan, who overturns the oppressive
psychoanalyst and writer, whose book Women
order of reason and technology, and restores
who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of
imagination and human freedom to their right­
the Wild Woman Archetype (1992) was a best­
ful places.
seller in the United States and Europe. Estes
In Die unendliche Geschichte (The "Never-
uses Jungian psychology to analyse folklore
ending Story, 1979), Ende draws on the com­
and fairy tales and to explore the intuitive and
plex, self-reflexive fiction of the German
creative drives that constitute the wild woman
romantics to create a book about the redemp­
archetype. In The Gift of Story: A Wise Tale
tive power of imagination and the act of read­
about What Is Enough (1993), she celebrates the
ing itself. Using a frame story, Ende establishes
counsel and therapeutic value of storytelling.
two separate realities: the everyday world of
his withdrawn juvenile hero, Bastian Balthasar JZ
Bux, and the fantasy world of the book Bastian
is reading, The Neverending Story. The two EULALIE (EULALIE BANKS, 1895-?), British-
worlds intersect when Bastian enters into the American illustrator whose work for children
reality of the fantasy realm to prevent it from has spanned the entire 20th century. After
being lost in a void of nothingness, just as the moving to America from London, in 1919 she
actual reader gives life to Ende's book through began to collaborate with Watty Piper and il­
an act of the imagination. lustrated numerous fairy-tale books such as
Following a German tradition that uses fairy Fairy Stories Children Love (1922), The Gateway
tales to explore both social and aesthetic ques­ to Storyland (1925), Famous Fairy Tales (1932),
tions, Ende's fairy-tale works emphasize over­ and Eight Fairy Tales (1934), which she edited.
all the importance of play and imagination in a She also provided the drawings for Homer
society otherwise governed by rationality and Mitten's The Enchanted Canyon Fairy Story
utilitarian forces. However, despite his belief in (1932). Eulalie blended all her ink drawings
the redemptive power of the imagination for with bright and pleasant colours and depicted
the individual, Ende made clear in his play Das simple characters that gave her work a naive
Gauklermdrchen ( The Circus Clowns ' Fairy Tale, quality. Aside from illustrating books, she also
1982), that he did not envision fantasy as an painted fairy-tale murals for libraries in Cali­
effective tool for pragmatic social change. fornia and Michigan and designed greeting
DH cards. She is best known for the delightful pas­
Haase, Donald, 'Michael Ende', in Wolfgang D . tel illustrations for The Bumper Book: A Collec­
Elfe and James Hardin (eds.), Contemporary tion of Stories and Verses for Children (1946),
German Fiction Writers, 2nd ser. (1988). edited by Piper. JZ
 E W I N C , JULIANA HORATIA
147

E W A L D , C A R L (1856-1908), Danish journalist and Other Stories, 1911), Vier fieine Freunde und
and novelist, who grew up in Bredelykke ved andere Geschichten (Four Fine Friends and Other
Gram, a small Danish city under German rule Stories, 1913), Meister Reineke und andere
in the 1850s and 1860s. His father, H. F. Ewald, Geschichten (Master Renard and Other Stories,
was a well-known novelist and Danish nation- 1919), and Das Sternekind und andere Gesch-
alist. He moved his family to Elsinore, Den- ichten (The Star Child and Other Stories, 1925).
mark, in 1864 because he could not tolerate Not only were his tales popular in Germany,
being governed by the Germans. A stern and but they also made their way to England and
didactic disciplinarian, he sent Carl to high the United States. For instance, Two Legs and
school in nearby Fredricksborg and hoped his Other Stories was published in English in 1907,
son would pursue a respectable career. How- The Old Willow-Tree and Other Stories ap-
ever, in 1880, after Ewald tried his hand at for- peared in 1921. JZ
estry, he moved to Copenhagen and began
earning his living as a journalist and freelance E W I N G , J U L I A N A H O R A T I A (1841-85), English
writer. Soon he made a name for himself with a writer for children. The daughter of Margaret
series of novels that tended to expose the hyp- Gatty, in whose Aunt Judy s Magazine most of
ocrisy and corruption in Danish society. her work was first published, she wrote several
Strongly influenced by social Darwinism, stories about magic in everyday life, and a col-
Ewald depicted the brutal struggles for sur- lection of shorter tales, Old-Fashioned Fairy
vival as a result of natural and social forces that Tales (1882), all of which had first appeared in
shaped humankind's destiny. During the 1880s Aunt Judy. Though from 1867 she was an army
he effectively incorporated his social Darwinist wife and obliged to lead a nomadic existence,
principles into three important collections of she came from a large, closely knit vicarage
fairy tales: In det Fri (In the Open, 1892), Fern family, and stories about family and country
nye Eventyr (Five New Fairy Tales, 1894), and life, which she recalled with great nostalgia,
Die fire Fjendingsfyrsten (The Four Little form the greatest part of her œuvre. Her fantasy
Princes, 1896). The public response was so fa- stresses family values. Thus in an early story,
vourable that he wrote another 20 volumes of 'Melchior's Dream' (first published in the
fairy tales and also translated the fairy tales of Monthly Packet in 1861, and one of the most
the Brothers *Grimm in 1905. The major focus powerful she ever wrote), the boy who wishes
in Ewald's fairy tales is on enlightenment, sur- he were an only child finds in a terrible dream
vival of the fittest, and class struggle. In such that he has become one. He fancies he is driv-
tales as 'The Good Man', 'The Cuckoo', and ing in a coach with Time, who puts down his
'The Wind', he depicts humans, animals, and brothers and sisters by the wayside until Mel-
elements that develop false notions of the chior is left alone. 'Snap-Dragons' (1870) is
world and experience disappointments because more light-hearted but has much the same mes-
they cannot recognize and develop their true sage. Here the Skradjt family who 'seldom ser-
natures. In 'The Dragon Fly and the Lake iously quarrelled, but never agreed about
Rose', Ewald critically alludes to * Andersen's anything' are cured one Christmas when the
'The *Ugly Duckling' by showing how, des- brandy flames in the snap-dragon bowl turn
pite their beautiful development, the dragon- into real dragons who force the children to
fly and rose must die because of the false illu- snap and snarl with them. 'I doubt if the par-
sions they cultivate about themselves and their ents ever were cured. I don't know if they
environment. heard the story.' 'The Brownies' (1865), 'The
By the turn of the 20th century Ewald be- Land of Lost Toys' (1869), 'Amelia and the
came the most significant Danish fairy-tale Dwarfs' (1870), 'Benjy in Beastland' (1870),
writer in Europe next to Hans Christian and 'Timothy's Shoes' (1870) all describe how
Andersen. However, in contrast to Andersen's children are cured of faults through the agency
optimistic perspective, Ewald was much more of magic. This was a frequently used conven-
sceptical and cynical. His tales do not exude a tion of the time, though Mrs Ewing had a light-
'happy-ending' ideology, and it was precisely er and more humorous touch than most of her
because of their grim realism that they had contemporaries. 'The Brownies', where two
such a wide reception in Germany during the little boys decide to take on the role of the
1920s. His collected works were published helpful house spirit, gave the name to the jun-
there posthumously in five volumes: Mutter ior Girl Guide movement.
Natur erTdhlt (Mother Nature Tells, 1910), Der The preface to Old-Fashioned Fairy Tales
Zweifiussler und andere Geschichten (Two Legs defends the genre: 'They convey knowledge of
EWING, JULIANA HORATIA The giant believes the peasant's daughter will make a fine wife for him after
tasting her soup in Juliana Horatia Ewing's 'The Ogre Courting', published in Old-Fashioned Fairy Tales
( 1 8 8 2 ) and illustrated by A . W. Bayes.
 EWING, JULIANA HORATIA
149

the world, shrewd lessons of virtue and vice, of have an Irish or Scots background. There is
common sense and sense of humour . . . They little fantasy but sound good sense. GA
treat of the world at large, and life in perspec­ Avery, Gillian, Mrs. Ewing (1961).
tive; of forces visible and invisible; of Life, Laski, Marghanita, Mrs. Ewing, Mrs. Molesworth,
Death, and Immortality.' Most are in the style and Mrs. Hodgson Burnett (1951).
of the German Hausmdrchen, though a few
 embellished variation, 'Les Enchantements de
l'éloquence', published in Œuvres meslées (As-
sorted Works, 1695). AZ
Fumaroli, Marc, 'Les Enchantements de
l'éloquence: "Les Fées" de Charles Perrault ou
De la littérature,' in Marc Fumaroli (éd.), Le
Statut de la littérature: mélanges offerts à Paul
Bénichou (1982).
Soriano, Marc, Les Contes de Perrault: culture
savante et traditions populaires (1968).

F A L L A D A , H A N S (1893—1947), pseudonym of

F A E R I E T A L E T H E A T R E , see D U V A L L , SHELLEY.
the German writer Rudolf Ditzen, who chose
his pen name after two *Grimms' fairy-tale
F A C N A N , M A R I E - A N T O I N E T T E (d. 1770?). Virtu-
characters, 'Hans im Gliick' ('Hans in Luck')
ally all that is known about this French writer and the talking horse Falada of 'Die Ganse-
is that she probably wrote three fairy tales: magd' ('The Goose-Girl'). He became famous
Kanor, conte traduit du turc (Kanor, Tale Trans- for his novels of social criticism, but he also
lated from the Turkish, 1750), Minet bleu et Lou- wrote the fairy-tale novel Mdrchen vom Stadt-
vette (Blue Minet and Louvette, 1753), ^ Le a n c schreiber, der aufs Land flog (Fairy Tale of the
Miroir des princesses orientales (Mirror of the Municipal Clerk who Flew to the Countryside,
Oriental Princesses, 1755). The most notable of 1935). Hoping to sensitize children to moral
these, Kanor, features an unusual treatment of concepts, Fallada additionally created stories
the monstrous spouse motif and a virulent cri- for children, among them the collected fairy
tique of monarchy. Fagnan is one of the few tales Geschichten aus der Murkelei (Tales from
French women writers of her time to use par- the Murkelei, 1938). CS
Schueler, Heinz J . , Hans Fallada: Humanist and
ody and eroticism, albeit ambiguously, in her
Social Critic (1970).
tales. LCS

'FAIRIES, T H E ' . Charles *Perrault's tale 'Les FALLEN FAIRIES, the dramatist W. S. Gilbert's
Fées' ('The Fairies') appeared in his collection last operatic collaboration. Based on Gilbert's
"Histoires ou contes du temps passé (Stories or own fairy play, The Wicked World'(1871), Fall-
Tales of Past Times, 1697). An early version of en Fairies, with music by Edward German, was
this tale occurs in Ovid's Metamorphoses, where premiered in 1909 at London's Savoy Theatre.
the goddess Latona transforms into frogs a Gilbert set his opera in Fairyland—above a
group of mean-spirited peasants. Other antece- cloud. In what becomes an ill-fated attempt to
dents include stories found in Giovan Fran- find love, fairies change places with mor-
cesco *Straparola's Le "piacevoli notti (The tals—a permissible exchange under fairy law
Pleasant Nights, 1550-3) and Giambattista as every fairy has a mortal lookalike. The work
*Basile's "Pentamerone (1634—6). Perrault's tale failed after less than a two-month run, partly,
portrays an unnamed younger sister who kind- as was suggested at the time, through its unsuc-
ly does the bidding of a good fairy, disguised cessful mix of light comedy with near tragedy.
as a crone, and receives the gift of flowers and TH
precious jewels issuing from her mouth. Her
older sister, Fanchon, encounters the same F A N T A S Y LITERATURE A N D FAIRY T A L E S . Fantasy is
fairy, this time magnificently apparelled, but one of the most ambiguous notions in literary
rudely rebuffs her. The fairy ordains that toads criticism, and it is often, especially within the
and snakes pour from her mouth, and the context of children's literature, used to denote
exiled Fanchon dies alone in the forest. The anything that is not straight realistic prose. It
tale's first moral extols the persuasive power of has been treated as a genre, a style, or a narra-
elegant discourse and addresses adult readers tive technique, and it is sometimes regarded as
of French salon society, which cultivated a purely formulaic fiction. In many handbooks
highly stylized form of polite conversation. fairy tales and fantasy are discussed together
The second moral emphasizes the rewards of without precision, and no totally satisfactory
courtesy and targets Perrault's young audi- and comprehensive definition of fantasy litera-
ence. Perrault's niece and fairy-tale author, ture has been conceived so far. The least ad-
Marie-Jeanne *Lhéritier, composed a longer, equate distinction is that fairy tales are short
 F A N T A S Y LITERATURE A N D FAIRY T A L E S

texts while fantasy takes the form of full-length *Carroll, Charles *Kingsley, and George ""Mac­
novels. For many purposes, the difference is Donald. Of the three, MacDonald stands clos­
simply irrelevant. There are several ways of est to fairy tales proper.
distinguishing between fairy tales and fantasy, At the turn of the century Edith *Nesbit,
of which three seem to be most fruitful: gener­ finding impulses from many predecessors,
ic, structural (that is, spatio-temporal), and renewed and transformed the fantasy tradition,
epistemological. focusing on the clash between the magical and
While fairy tales and fantasy are doubtlessly the ordinary, on the unexpected consequences
generically related, and it may even be argued of magic when introduced into everyday life.
that fantasy grows out of the fairy tale, their Unlike fairy tales, fantasy is closely connected
origins are quite different. Fairy tales have with the notion of modernity; for instance, the
their roots in archaic society and archaic first time-shift fantasies by Edith Nesbit are
thought, thus immediately succeeding myths. evidently influenced by contemporary ideas in
Fantasy literature is a modern phenomenon. the natural sciences, as well as by the genre of
Although we may view certain ancient authors science fiction, particularly the work of H. G.
in terms of fantasy (Homer, Ovid, *Apuleius), •Wells.
and although some important features of fan­ The Golden Age of the English-language
tasy can clearly be traced back to Jonathan fantasy arrived in the 1950s and 1960s, with
Swift, fantasy literature owes its origins mostly names like C. S. *Lewis, Philippa Pearce, Lucy
to romanticism with its interest in folk trad­ M. Boston, Mary *Norton, and Alan *Garner.
ition, its rejection of the previous, rational-age All these authors are obviously indebted to
view of the world, and its idealization of child­ Nesbit, but their fantasy ascends to a higher
hood. level of sophistication. Again, this tradition
Traditional fairy tales generally strive to was affected by the tremendous changes which
preserve a story as close to its original version the modern world had undergone. The devel­
as possible, even though individual storytellers opment of science and technology, the theory
may convey a personal touch, and each version of relativity and quantum physics, experiments
reflects its own time and society. Fantasy litera­ with atomic energy and the first atomic bombs
ture is a conscious creation, where authors over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, achievements in
choose the form which suits them best for their space exploration, investigations of artificial in­
particular purposes. The purposes may be in­ telligence, alternative theories in mathematics
structive, religious, philosophical, social, satir­ and geometry, new hypotheses about the ori­
ical, parodical, entertaining; however, fantasy gins of the universe—all this changed our per­
has distinctly lost the initially sacral purpose of ception of natural laws. From a limited,
traditional fairy tales. Fantasy is also an eclectic positivistic view of the world humankind has
genre, since, besides fairy tales, it borrows turned to a wider, more open view of life. We
traits from myths, romance, picaresque, science have thus become sufficiently mature to accept
fiction, and other genres, blending seemingly the possibility of the range of phenomena that
incompatible elements within one and the same fantasy deals with: alternative worlds, non-lin­
narrative, for instance pagan and Christian im­ ear time, extrasensoric perceptivity, and in
ages, magic wands and laser guns. The relation general all kinds of supernatural events which
between fairy tales and fantasy is similar to that so far cannot be explained in terms of science,
between epic and novel in Mikhail Bakhtin's but which we are not willing to ascribe to trad­
theory: the fairy tale is a fully evolved and ac­ itional fairy-tale magic.
complished genre, fantasy a genre under evo­ Most fantasy novels have many similarities
lution. to fairy tales. They have inherited the fairy-tale
Different sources give different information system of characters, set out by Vladimir
about 'the very first fantasy novel' ever pub­ Propp and his followers: hero, princess, helper,
lished, and it is also a matter of definition giver, antagonist. The essential difference be­
whether a text should be classified as fairy tale tween the fairy-tale hero and the fantasy prota­
or fantasy. Most scholars agree that The Nut­ gonist is that the latter often lacks heroic
cracker (1816) by E . T. A. *Hoffmann matches features, can be scared and even reluctant to
most definitions of fantasy and is therefore ac­ perform the task, and can sometimes fail. The
knowledged as a pioneering work, which cer­ final goal of fantasy is seldom marriage and en­
tainly can be questioned. Fantasy becomes a thronement; in contemporary philosophical
strong tradition in Britain in the second half of and ethical fantasy it is most often a matter of
the 19th century with names such as Lewis spiritual maturation. Fantasy also allows much
F A N T A S Y LITERATURE A N D FAIRY T A L E S 152

freedom and experimentation with gender reign of King Arthur . . .' (in Russia, 'in the
transgression. reign of Tsar Green-Pea').
Further, fantasy has inherited many superfi­ The initial setting of fantasy literature is
cial attributes of fairy tales: witches, génies, reality: a river bank in Oxford (*'Alice in Won­
dragons, talking animals, flying horses and fly­ derland, 1865), a farm in Kansas (The Wonder­
ing carpets, invisibility mantles, magic wands, ful * Wizard of 0 { , 1900), a country house in
swords, and lanterns, magic food and drink. central England during World War II (The
However, the writers' imagination allows them Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, 1950) or a
to transform and modernize these elements: a park in Stockholm (Mio, My Son, 1954). From
genie may live in a beer can, flying carpets give this realistic setting, the characters are then
way to flying rocking-chairs, and characters transported into some magical realm, and most
without fairy-tale origins are introduced, for often, although not always, brought safely
instance, animated toys. Nevertheless, their back. Alternatively, the magical realm itself
function in the story is essentially the same. may intervene into reality, in the form of
Fantasy has also inherited the basic plot of magical beings (the Psammead, *Peter Pan,
fairy tales: the hero leaves home, meets helpers Mary Poppins), magical transformations, or
and opponents, goes through trials, and returns magical objects.
home having gained some form of wealth. It The time of fairy tales is the archaic, prim­
has inherited some fundamental conflicts and ordial, mythical time—kairos. For the listener,
patterns, such as the quest or combat between this time is beyond reach. In fantasy literature,
good and evil. However, just as fairy tales are the characters are temporarily displaced from
not a homogeneous genre category, featuring modern, linear time—chronos—into mythical,
magic tales as well as animal and trickster tales archaic time and return to linearity at the end
and so on, so fantasy is a generic heading for a of the novel. The eternity of fairy-tale time,
variety of different types of narratives, some expressed in the formula 'lived happily ever
taking place in a fairy-tale realm, some depict­ after', is alien to fantasy. Thus the protagonists
ing travel between different worlds, some of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe live a
bringing magic into the everyday. There is, long life in the archaic time space of Narnia,
nevertheless, a principal difference in the way but are brought back and become children
fairy tales and fantasy construct their spatio- again.
temporal relations. The most common denomination for the
According to Mikhail Bakhtin, the particular various representations of magic in fantasy lit­
construction of space and time in a literary text, erature is the concept of the Secondary World,
a feature he calls 'chronotope' (an interdepend­ originating from J . R. R. *Tolkien's essay 'On
ent unity of space and time) is genre-specific, Fairy Stories' (1938). Thus fantasy may be
that is, each genre has its own unique chrono­ roughly defined as a narrative combining the
tope. With this structural approach, we may presence of the Primary and the Secondary
define fairy tales and fantasy by the way time worlds, that is, our own real world and some
and space is organized in them. other, magical or fantastic, imagined world.
One element that we immediately recognize Fairy tales, although they often include trans­
as characteristic of fantasy literature is the pres­ portation to some other realm by means of a
ence of magic, or any other form of the super­ magical agent, take place in one imaginary
natural, in an otherwise realistic, recognizable world, which does not have any connection
world. This presence manifests itself in the with reality.
form of magical beings, objects, or events; it Patterns of introducing magic into the
may unfold into a whole universe or be re­ everyday in fantasy literature, of combining
duced to just one tiny magical bit. This element the Primary and the Secondary worlds, can
in itself is not different from fairy tales, but the vary from a complete magical universe with its
anchoring in reality is. own geography, history, and natural laws to a
Fairy tales take place in one magical world, little magical pill that enables a character in an
detached from our own in both space and time. otherwise realistic story to understand the lan­
The setting of a fairy tale is: 'Once upon a guage of animals.
time' ('Es war einmal . . .', 'Il était une fois There is one specific motif in fantasy litera­
. . .', etc.), 'in a certain kingdom', 'beyond ture which has caused some scholars to view
thrice three realms', 'East of the moon, West of the texts where this motif occurs as a special
the sun'. It can occasionally be more concrete, sub-category of fantasy: the motif of time dis­
but still mythical rather than realistic: 'In the tortion. It probably appears first in Edith
i53 F A N T A S Y LITERATURE A N D FAIRY T A L E S

Nesbit's The Story of the Amulet (1906) and, which are manifest in Secondary World fan­
more than any other fantasy motif, is influ­ tasy. All these patterns have their origins in
enced by contemporary scientific thought, es­ fairy tales.
pecially the theory of relativity. The scope of However, the most profound difference be­
problems which fantasy authors meet when tween fantasy and fairy tales is the position of
they venture on the exploration of time pat­ the reader/listener and the matter of belief. In
terns is irrelevant in fairy tales: the questions of traditional fairy tales, taking place, as we have
predestination and free will, of the multitude of seen, in a clearly detached time-space, readers
possible parallel times, of time going at differ­ are not supposed to believe in the story. The
ent paces or even in different directions in addressee of a fairy tale is situated outside the
separate worlds, the mechanisms of time text; the communication is based on an agree­
displacement, and the various time paradoxes. ment between the sender and the addressee.
Some scholars maintain that time-shift fantasy Among others, Vladimir Propp maintains that
is the most intellectually demanding of all types the addressee of a fairy tale knows that the
of modern fantasy, for both writers and read­ story is not true. This fact accounts for the re­
ers. Indeed, time-shift fantasy allows the current final patterns of many tales, like the
author more freedom to elaborate in sophisti­ famous Russian: 'I have been to the feast my­
cated patterns while it allows the readers to see self, drank wine and beer, but never got
them more clearly. However, complicated time drunk.' The assurance that the story is 'true'
relations are present in all fantasy texts, inde­ reminds the listener of its own conventionality.
pendent of the dominant type or theme. This is also the basic difference between myth
The relation between real and magic time in and fairy tale: for the bearer of a myth, the
fantasy is exactly the reverse to that in fairy events described are true, myth is based on be­
tale. A common folk-tale motif is the land (or lief.
island) of immortality where the hero spends The hero's task in a fairy tale is totally im­
what to him may seem a day, or three days, or possible for an ordinary human; it is always a
a week. When he returns back to his own symbolic or allegorical depiction. In fantasy
world, it appears that many thousands of years characters are ordinary; the writers often as­
have elapsed. Here magical, mythical time be­ sure their readers that the protagonist is 'just
comes insignificant. In fantasy, the character like you'.
may easily live a whole life in the imaginary In most fantasy novels there can be at least
world while no time will pass in his own real­ two possible interpretations of the events.
ity. They can be accepted as 'real', having actually
Most scholars make a clear distinction be­ taken place, which means that as readers we
tween what they assume are the two principal accept magic as part of the world created by the
motifs: Secondary worlds (The Narnia Chron­ author. But magic adventures can also be ac­
icles 1950—6, The *Neverending Story, 1979) counted for in a 'rational' way, as the protag­
and time travel or time displacement (The onist's dreams, visions, hallucinations, or
House of Arden 1908, A Traveller in Time 1939, imaginations caused, for instance, by fever, or
Tom's Midnight Garden 1958). There is un­ by psychical or emotional disturbance.
doubtedly more obsession with time as such in J . R. R. Tolkien was one of the first to ques­
time-shift fantasy: the very notion of time, its tion the legitimacy of rational explanations. In
philosophical implications, its metaphysical his essay 'On Fairy Stories', he dismisses Alice
character. But as to the construction of a in Wonderland because in the end the heroine
magical universe and, as a direct consequence, wakes up and her adventures turn out to have
the build-up of the narrative, there are surely been a dream. Tolkien's concept of fantasy lit­
more similarities than differences in novels erature (although he speaks of fairy stories ra­
involving time shift or a Secondary World as ther than fantasy) is based on the suspension of
the dominating pattern. The principal feature disbelief, that is, unlike fairy tales, we as read­
of time fantasy, time distortion, is also present ers apprehend fantasy, within its own prem­
in the Secondary World fantasy. At the isses, as 'true'. For Tolkien, genuine and skilful
same time, what is believed to be the principal fantasy creates Secondary Belief (unlike the
pattern of the Secondary World fantasy, Primary Belief of myth or religion), putting the
the passage between the worlds, is most tan­ reader in a temporary state of enchantment. As
gible in time fantasy. The passage is often con­ soon as suspension of disbelief is disturbed, the
nected with patterns like the door, the magic spell is broken and, Tolkien adds, art has
object, and the magic helper (messenger), all of failed.
FARJEON, ELEANOR 154

Fairy tales, on the other hand, often subvert character (or the reader) may decide that he or
their own credibility, either in initial or in final she is dreaming or hallucinating, but no defin­
formulas: 'Once upon a time when pigs drank ite answer is to be found in the text.
wine . . .' The protagonist (and the reader/ In recent fantasy literature, from the 1980s
listener) of a fairy tale does not experience on, the boundaries between 'reality' and the
wonder when confronted with magical events Secondary World become more elusive, and
or beings; they are taken for granted. The the passage often subtle, so that the hesitation
characters of a fantasy novel, anchored in the is amplified. Further, following the develop­
real world, do not expect a rabbit to have a ment of natural science, fantasy literature tends
watch and wear a waistcoat; neither do they to view parallel worlds as equally real, so that
expect there to be magical realms behind the nothing is, positivistically, acknowledged as
looking-glass or inside wardrobes. The essence the utmost reality. Contrary to the straightfor­
of fantasy literature is the confrontation of the wardness of fairy tales, fantasy accepts more
ordinary and the fabulous. than one reality and more than one truth. MN
Certain authors, notably C. S. Lewis, re­ Armitt, Lucie, Theorising the Fantastic ( 1 9 9 6 ) .
peatedly emphasize the idea that Secondary Attebery, Brian, The Fantasy Tradition in
Worlds are comprised of characters, objects, American Literature ( 1 9 8 0 ) .
and events which people on Earth have ceased Bakhtin, Mikhail, The Dialogic Imagination
(1981).
to believe in. In Peter Pan belief seems to be a Jackson, Rosemary, Fantasy: The Literature of
matter of life and death for fairies in Never- Subversion ( 1 9 8 1 ) .
land. Thus many fantasy authors encourage Nikolajeva, Maria, The Magic Code: The Use of
readers to preserve belief and imagination as an Magical Patterns in Fantasy for Children ( 1 9 8 8 ) .
essential part of spiritual growth. Propp, Vladimir, Morphology of the Folktale
The notion of Secondary Belief enables us (1928; 1968).

to categorize a vast variety of fantasy litera­ Swinfen, Ann, In Defence of Fantasy: A Study of
ture, starting with Tolkien's own Lord of the the Genre in English and American Literature since
8
1945 (i9 4)-
Rings cycle (1954—6), developed by Lloyd
Todorov, Tzvetan, The Fantastic: A Structural
•Alexander in his Prydain Chronicles (1964—8) Approach to a Literary Genre, trans. Richard
and Ursula *Le Guin in her Earthsea cycle Howard ( 1 9 7 3 ) .
(1968-72), and reaching immense popularity Tolkien, J . R. R., 'On Fairy Stories', in Tree and
in the 1990s with the so-called 'sword and sor­ Leaf ( 1 9 6 4 ) .
cery' fantasy, bordering on pulp fiction (Terry
Brooks, b. 1944; Stephen Donaldson, b. 1947; F A R J E O N , E L E A N O R (1881-1965), English poet
David Eddings, b. 1931; Elizabeth Moon, b. and author. Chiefly remembered for her stories
1945). These stories take place in a closed, self- for children, she began her literary career with
contained Secondary World without any con­ a collection of fairy stories for adults, Martin
nection to reality. However, unlike fairy tales, Pippin in the Apple-Orchard (1921). (This was
they are definitely based on Secondary Belief. later reissued for children and was popular
Another convenient approach is to be found with adolescent girls.) Martin Pippin is a min­
on Tzvetan Todorov's theory of the fantastic. strel who helps a lovesick youth to regain his
Todorov draws a clear distinction between the captive sweetheart. She is guarded by six milk­
marvellous, the fantastic, and the uncanny. maids, one of whom he bribes each day with a
The essence of the fantastic lies in the hesita­ tale. These gently romantic love stories all
tion of the protagonist (and the reader) when have a Sussex setting and were written during
confronted with the supernatural—which is World War I for a young soldier from Sussex.
anything that goes beyond natural laws. Fairy Her next novel, The Soul of Kol Nikon (1923)
tales will, in this typology, chiefly fall under was very different. A bleak, even savage story,
the category of the marvellous. Again, the it is set in a Scandinavian village in some un­
fairy-tale protagonist does not question the ex­ specified folkloristic age. Kol Nikon is con­
istence of dragons or witches, because they are vinced from early childhood that he is a
part of the fairy-tale build-up. For the fantasy changeling, born without a soul, and that his
protagonist, the appearance of witches or uni­ mother's true child has been stolen by the Hill
corns in his own reality, or being transported People. Loathed by his mother, ostracized by
into another world, presents a dilemma, which the villagers, Kol's passionate purpose is to find
we as readers share. The events may be actual­ or to steal a soul for himself and to turn his
ly happening, causing us to accept the existence mother's hatred into love. Outraged villagers
of magic in our own world. Alternatively, the eventually stone him to death, and the ending
i55 F E M I N I S M A N D FAIRY T A L E S

suggests that the changeling stigma attached to afterlife quests on another planet. One involves
him might have arisen from primitive supersti- Richard *Burton, who, with the help of Lewis
tion. Farjeon was never to write in this vein *Carroll's Alice, pursues the secret of afterlife
again, and her only other adult fantasy, Ariadne existence. In one of his most poignant fairy-
and the Bull (1945) is a facetious rendering of tale novels, A Barnstormer in 0{ (1982), Farmer
Greek legend in 1940s American idiom; it ends has Hank Stover, a 20-year-old pilot, happen
with the trial and acquittal of the Minotaur in upon Oz in 1923 while flying over Kansas. It
American-style court proceedings. turns out that Hank is the son of Dorothy, and
There are several collections of tales for he joins with Glinda of Oz to protect Oz from
children. These are whimsical and imaginative, being discovered by the American military and
often with a lightly sketched deeper meaning. decides to settle in Oz forever. The Utopian
Thus the little fish in 'The Goldfish' (One Foot novel is a witty blend of social criticism and
in Fairyland, 1938) who longs to 'marry the fantasy that reflects upon American political
Moon, surpass the Sun, and possess the World' conditions during the 1970s and 1980s. JZ
is put into a goldfish bowl by Neptune: 'He
needed a world more suited to his size.' This
F E I S T , R A Y M O N D E . ( 1 9 4 5 - ), American writer
collection also includes a poignant pastiche
of fantasy novels. While most of Feist's work
myth, 'Pannychis', prompted by a poem by
consists of fantasy sagas set in invented worlds,
Chenier. Pannychis and Cymon, 5 years old,
Faerie Tale (1988), a horror novel, makes un-
play together happily. But Cymon, hearing
usual use of British fairy lore, transplanting
stories about Europa, Persephone, and other
fairyland to the woods of modern America.
stolen girls, dreads that Pannychis too will be
snatched away. Oppressed by his fears for her, The story follows a traditional 'changeling'
she runs away, calling: '"Look happy! Look plot: a child is abducted to the Erl King's court
happy!" And she was never seen again. They and a 'faerie changeling' left in his place. His
sought her in every glade, in every cave . . . twin brother must journey 'into the woods' and
But which had taken her, sea, lake, or wood, withstand many trials to win him back. Feist
they never knew.' invigorates this standard tale by placing it in
the present day, casting a dark glamour over
Martin Pippin in the Daisy-Field (1937), like the woods and its denizens. TW
its predecessor, consists of Sussex fairy tales;
Rye, Wilmington, and Selsey Bill all feature in
it. It contains one of her best-known stories, Feminists have an
F E M I N I S M A N D FAIRY T A L E S .

'Elsie Piddock Skips in her Sleep'. As a child abiding interest in the socio-historical and cul-
Elsie is so expert with a skipping rope that the tural contexts in which literature arises and is
fairies feel she is worthy of learning their own received, how women have helped shape and
steps. At the age of 109 she uses this magic to contributed to traditions, and how women are
defeat the landowner who wants to enclose represented in texts and scholarship. Feminist
Caburn Mount (an ancient camp on the South involvement with fairy tales falls roughly into
Downs) where village children had always two major categories: primary texts, and femi-
skipped from time immemorial. GA nist theory as a critique of the genre and its
Colwell, Eileen H., Eleanor Farjeon (1961). production.
Greene, Ellin, 'Literary Uses of Traditional
Themes: From "Cinderella" to "The Girl who 1. PRIMARY TEXTS
Sat by the Ashes" and "The Glass Slipper" ', Feminist fairy tales, by definition, engage in a
Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 11.3 debate about literary conventions and societal
(fall 1986). norms. But they are also—and this is often ig-
Sylvester, Louise, 'Women, Men and Words: nored in the scholarship—a response to other
Lexical Choices in Two Fairy Tales of the
tales by women, a continuity of narratives and
1920s', Essays and Studies, 47 (1994).
concerns.
F A R M E R , P H I L I P J O S É ( 1 9 1 8 - ), American writer The first production of women's fairy tales
of science fiction and fantasy, who often in- for publication began in the French salons of
corporates fairy-tale and trickster motifs into the 1680s. Isolated from schooling and the
his works. In his famous Riverworld sequence body politic, the French salonnières created a
(1965-93), comprised of novels and stories vehicle to engage in the aristocratic discourse
such as To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1965—6), of the day, the 'Querelle des Anciens et des
The Fabulous Riverboat (1967—71), and Quest to Modernes' ('Quarrel of the Ancients and the
Riverworld (1993), Farmer depicts a number of Moderns', 1687-96), a debate engendered by
F E M I N I S M A N D FAIRY T A L E S I6
5

*Perrault's attack on classicism and defence of continuity of feminist concerns in literary his­
indigenous literary motifs and forms. Writing tory in order to reconsider the history of
primarily for adults, Mme d'*Aulnoy, Mile women and their contribution to the tradition.
*Lhéritier, Mlle *Bernard, Mlle de *La Force, Writing contemporaneously with the *Grimms
Mme de *Murat, and others, poked fun at clas­ and perhaps in even greater numbers than their
sical literature by returning to the archaic and male contemporaries, women fairy-tale writers
'pre-logical' world of the Middle Ages, of of 19th-century Germany dealt with issues an­
nursemaids, and of children. These women ticipatory of those women writers and femi­
were drawn to a genre which allowed them to nists would treat in the last three decades of the
explore alternative realities, create an ideal 20th century. These issues include: voice and
world that could exist only within the imagin­ voicelessness; the commodification of women;
ation, and engage in the intellectual discourse gender relations; the importance of female edu­
of the day from which they were officially ex­ cation; a questioning of the redemption motif
cluded. These writers conceived of worlds of marriage as women's only salvation; and a
inhabited by extraordinarily majestic and series of other social malaises and gender in­
powerful female fairies, a mirror of their own equities in patriarchy.
omnipotence within the salon as contrasted Their tales challenged both literary and so­
with the conditions of their real lives. While set cial conventions, as in Bettina von *Arnim's
in make-believe realms, their stories were 1808 untitled manuscript, in which a woman is
veiled critiques of contemporary society and robbed of a voice for human intercourse and
dealt with issues such as choice of spouse, in­ learns instead the language of beasts. Other
heritance rights, and women's right to educa­ tales take issue with marriage conventions and
tion. The French fairy-tale tradition waned patriarchal narratives, like Fanny Lewald's
with changing political and historical condi­ 'Ein modernes Mârchen' ('A Modern Fairy
tions in France, but the ideas begun in the Tale', 1841). Here Lewald stands the tradition­
female-penned fairy tales made their way to al story of the mermaid in search of a soul on
Germany and found fertile ground in the late its head when a slimy sea creature disguised as
Enlightenment and romantic periods. a cold fish of a man seeks redemption through a
While the salon-based fairy-tale tradition in human mate, and the female protagonist
France faded to re-emerge in the literature of thwarts his attempts to gain 'humanity'. Louise
edification, as professional governesses and Dittmar's 'Affenmârchen' ('Tale of the Apes',
tutors took over the genre as a teaching tool for 1845) tells of apes put on the market, an alle­
girls, Benedikte *Naubert continued the trad­ gory for young women dressed up and trained
ition of storytelling for adults in the 1780s in for a competitive marriage market, levelling a
Germany. Like her French predecessors, she scathing critique of female education, gender
sought inspiration not in classical sources, but relations, and capitalist exploitation. A fascin­
in medieval Anglo-Saxon and Germanic trad­ ating text by Marie Ebner-Eschenbach (one of
itions, and she was fascinated by powerful sor­ the few 19th-century writers to make it into the
ceress figures, 'a memory of that. . . which we standard canon) is in many ways the most
once were, what heights our powers can reach modern: in Die Prinressin von Banalien (Prin­
without losing true femininity'. Themes in her cess Banalia, 1872) a virtuous queen tries to
works include women's rejection of marriage break out of social expectations of her as
in favour of independence and communion queen, woman, and wife, and longs to join her
with nature and magical powers; the creation beloved, a wild man, in his realm. Contempor­
of a female community outside traditional soci­ ary feminists would explore this as her return
ety; the mediating role of magical wisewomen; to her animal side (embracing her own sexual­
the positive rites of passage for females; and ity), a notion Ebner-Eschenbach's time and
the rejection of patriarchal redemption. Nau- own sensibilities could not yet actualize. Isolde
bert's work anticipates the themes and narra­ *Kurz's satiric 'Kônig Filz' ('King Tightwad',
tive structures of women's fairy tales in the 1890) shows how women's skills could be used
19th and 20th century. to triumph when the heroine kills her adversar­
The history of fairy tales in 19th-century ies in a flourish of culinary cunning. By the
Germany is a case in point of how patriarchal end of the century, Ricarda Huch's 'Liigen-
practices have succeeded in diminishing the marchen' ('Pack of Lies', 1896) dissects the
public perception of women's contribution to canon and an entire century of men's and
the genre; it also demonstrates the importance women's fairy-tale writings. She criticizes the
of revisionist scholarship in documenting the patriarchal attempt to usurp the female voice
 F E M I N I S M A N D FAIRY T A L E S

embodied in the siren's song and the fairy tale, tale into the nursery. Mainstream criticism has
an attempt which ultimately fails. The parry portrayed the anthologizing and writing for
and jab of feminist revisions with received children in the 19th century as a predominantly
tradition had begun. In all these tales, as well as male project initiated by the Grimms, but the
a myriad of others in Europe and North Amer­ study of women writers' publishing history re­
ica, writers rewrote the patriarchal narrative to veals that they were at least as active as their
question reader expectations as well as literary male counterparts. For example, while many of
and social conventions. the 19th-century German anthologies rework
In the 20th century, women like Lou or present now-canonical tales from the French
Andreas-Salomé, Hermynia *zur Miihlen, Lisa or German tradition, others by prolific writers
*Tetzner, and Ina *Seidel continued to experi­ like Amalie Schoppe and Agnes Franz include
ment with the form, but perhaps the most sig­ collected and original stories that question
nificant experimentation has been in response patriarchal values and virtues. Rather than re­
to the Women's Movement, beginning in the count the outward journey toward adventure
1960s in the United States. Feminist tales are and success, women's fairy tales often depict
often wicked retellings, rewritings, and funda­ the internal voyage characterized by an interest
mental rejections of traditional gender roles in establishing firm familial bonds. The adven­
and societal expectations; they lay bare the turous hero finds out that there is no place like
implausibility of gender roles in canonical texts home, and the heroine achieves education and
by men and the stifling effects they have on a female community.
women and their identity. Anne *Sexton's The 'patriarchal plot' has kept women's
Transformations (1971) was an important first fairy tales for children from wide distribution,
work because she recognized the impact of the and modern feminists, perhaps unknowingly,
socialization process on women and focused on are reinventing the weal of earlier women's
the socio-cultural context of received tradition. works. In an attempt to change the cultural and
Certain canonical stories, especially those of social paradigms for future generations and to
female subjugation and voicelessness, have res­ regain a sense of women's history, feminists
onated internationally with late 20th-century since the late 1970s have organized their fairy­
feminist writers. *'Bluebeard' provides the tale collections according to three categories:
structuring narrative in poems by the Greek- (1) anthologies of active heroines to counter
American Olga *Broumas (Beginning with O, the negative impact of passive female stereo­
1
977)j m
stories from the Austrian Ingeborg types promulgated by canonical texts on ma­
Bachmann ('Der Fall Franza' ('The Case of turing adolescent girls; (2) 'alternative' or
Franza'), 1978); the British Angela *Carter 'upside-down' stories with reversed plot lines
(The Bloody Chamber, 1979); the Canadian and/or rearranged motifs; and (3) collections
Margaret * Atwood (Bluebeard s Egg, 1983); the of feminist works or original tales based on
German Karin Struck (Blaubarts Schatten well-known motifs. The first category includes
(Bluebeard s Shadow), 1991); the Austrian Eli­ titles like Rosemary Minard's Womenfolk and
sabeth Reichart ('Die Kammer' ('The Cham­ Fairy Tales (1975); Ethel Johnston Phelps's
ber'), 1992); and the Irish Emma Donoghue The Maid of the North: Feminist Folk Tales from
(Kissing the Witch, 1997). *'Beauty and the around the World (1981); Alison Lurie's Clever
Beast' has been another favourite: the Ameri­ Gretchen and Other Forgotten Folk Tales (1980);
can novelist Lynne Tillman, in 'The Trouble James Riordan's The Woman in the Moon and
with Beauty' (1990) has her heroine retreat into Other Tales of Forgotten Heroines (1985);
autism after her father's sexual abuse and her Suzanne Barchers's Wise Women: Folk and
consignment to his friend, the Beast, while Fairy Tales from around the World (1990); and
works by Sylvia Plath (The Bell Jar, 1971), Ali­ Kathleen Ragan's Fearless Girls, Wise Women,
son Lurie (The War between the Tates, 1974), and Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales from
and Alix Kate Shulman (Memoirs of an Ex- around the World (1998). The second category
Prom Queen, 1985) depict women who fall in includes original tales for younger audiences
love with beast-like men without the redemp­ that stand conventional expectations on their
tive denouement. heads: Jay *Williams's The Practical Princess
The fairy tale has always been an important and Other Liberating Fairy Tales (1969); Adela
genre in the socialization of children, and it was Turin, Francesca Cantarelli, and Nella Bos­
in fact the work of a woman, Mme Teprince nia's The Five Wives of Silverbeard (1977); Jane
de Beaumont and her Magasin des Enfants Yolen's Sleeping Ugly (1981); Jeanne Desy's
(Magazine for Children), that ushered the fairy 'The Princess who Stood on her Own Two
F E M I N I S M A N D FAIRY T A L E S I8
5

Feet' (1982); Babette *Cole's Princess Smarty- clear gender bias against women. Feminist
pants (1986); and Judy Corbalis's The Wrest­ folklorists like Claire Farrer demonstrated how
ling Princess and Other Stories (1986), among in the Western tradition patriarchal practices
many, many others. Collections belonging to have kept men in the role of editors and com­
the third category include: Jack Zipes's Don't pilers to the exclusion of women. She found
Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy that folklore collectors consulted men about
Tales in North America and England (1986); the stories and their experiences as raconteurs, but
Irish series 'Fairytales for Feminists', with consulted females only for information on such
titles like Sweeping Beauties (1990) and Rapun- subjects as 'charms, cures, and quaint beliefs'.
lel's Revenge (1995); Angela Carter's Old Other feminists levelled attacks against the
Wives' Fairy Tale Book (1990); Nina Auer- critical and research apparatus for working
bach's Forbidden Journeys: Fairy Tales and Fan­ with fairy tales. Torborg Lundell, for example,
tasies by Victorian Women Writers (1992); argued that primary texts in folklore and fairy­
Barbara *Walker's Feminist Fairy Tales (1996); tale research, like Antti *Aarne and Stith
Virginia *Hamilton's Her Stories: African Thompson's The Types of the Folktale and
American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales Thompson's Motif Index of Folk Literature,
(1995); and Terry Windling's The Armless have an inherent gender bias, ignoring strong
Maiden and Other Tales for Childhood's Sur­ heroines through selective labelling, mislead­
vivors (1995). ing plot summaries, and placing the focus on
male rather than female characters. Her con­
2 . FEMINIST T H E O R Y cluding statement: there is work to be done, as
Feminist literary criticism has failed to keep evidenced by the following cross-references in
pace with contemporary feminist fairy tales the Motif Index: 'Man, see also Person.
and, except for some revisionist scholarship, 'Woman, see also Wife'.
seems generally unaware of the tradition be­ Other work has been done on primary texts,
fore the 1970s. Instead, feminist theory about most notably the ^Kinder- und Hausmdrchen
fairy tales is fundamentally a critique of patri­ {Children's and Household Tales), to examine
archal literary and cultural practices in West­ how editorial practices create traditions and
ern societies and concerns itself primarily with how story selection perpetuates negative
canonical tales, issues of gender, voice, and stereotypes of women. Some of the earliest re­
power in these tales, their impact on socializa­ search on 19th- and 20th-century anthologizing
tion and acculturation, as well as broader social practices surrounding the Grimms' collection
issues like women's access to public discourse, has been done by Kay Stone. She found that a
the representation of women in literature and dozen docile heroines are the 'overwhelming
scholarship, and women's contribution to the favourites', and that 'the passivity of the hero­
fairy-tale tradition. ines is magnified by the fact that their stories
Historically, the feminist theoretical re­ jump from twenty percent in the original
sponse to fairy tales is a product of the Grimm collection to as much as seventy-five
Women's Movement in the United States and percent in many children's books'. Growing
Europe and grew out of attacks on patriarchy out of research like that of Stone, writers and
in the late 1960s by feminists like Simone de critics like Jane *Yolen not only anthologized
Beauvoir, Adrienne Rich, and Betty Friedan. collections with positive heroines, but also re­
This debate spawned a broad discussion about searched and wrote about positive models in
literary practices and their effects on the soci­ less well-received stories ('America's Cinder­
alizing process. In the popular press, texts like ella', 1972).
Madonna Kolbenschlag's Kiss * Sleeping Beauty In the 1980s, critics like Ruth Bottigheimer
Goodbye: Breaking the Spell of Feminine Myths and Maria Tatar launched another attack at the
and Models (1979), Colette Dowling's 1981 Kinder- und Hausmdrchen, namely that not only
best-seller The * Cinderella Complex: Women's is there an inherent sexism built into the collec­
Hidden Fear of Independence explored these tion, but this misogyny was the product of
issues, while within the academy, folklorists Wilhelm Grimm's editorial intent. Working
and literary critics developed critiques in­ from the assumption that language and its use
formed by the debate. are social constructs, Bottigheimer backed up
Some attacks addressed fairy-tale research at her study with a careful analysis of the verbs
the structural level and found that research used in speech acts and found that female char­
agendas, as well as major tools and apparatus acters became increasingly mute in progressive
for discussing folklore and fairy tales, have a editions, while evil female characters used their
*59 F É N E L O N , F R A N Ç O I S D E S A L I C N A C D E LA M O T H E

tongues with ever-increasing acerbity. The ir­ tions of fairy tales were recorded through
refutable conclusion: the Kinder- und Hausmdr­ group discussions, pictures they drew, and
chen were designed to acculturate children and stories they wrote. While the boys appeared to
women into roles and models of behaviour have little incentive to alter the standard fairy­
patriarchy wanted to maintain. In addition to tale structure (beyond enriching the mixture
the critique of the Grimms' tales, there were with added violence) because they had more to
also studies such as Jennifer Waelti-Walters's lose than to gain from the changes, the girls
Fairy Tales and the Female Imagination (1982), argued they would not want to be a princess
which focused on seven French and French because it was simply too boring and restrict­
Canadian women writers whose novels illus­ ive; their stories were closely moulded on pub­
trate the pervasive influence of fairy tales on lished upside-down stories with independent,
women's lives. plain, and active heroines. The work of the
past 30 years has indeed created a generation of
Already as early as 1970, feminist discussion
'resisting readers'.
began to focus on the social and cultural effects
fairy tales had on the children who listened to That the long tradition of feminist fairy tales
them, with respect to the child-rearing process is as yet generally unknown to the larger public
in general, and the process of individuation in has to do with the methods of canon formation,
particular. Feminist critics like Maria Lieber- publishing history, and the distribution of
man rejected the notion that fairy tales are 'uni­ power and literature within patriarchy, as Mar­
versal stories', and argued instead that they ina *Warner has demonstrated in her signifi­
acculturate girls to believe that passivity, pla­ cant study From the Beast to the Blonde: On
cidity, and morbidity, along with physical Fairytales and their Tellers (1994). The question
beauty, will make them the 'best' kind of girl to remains as to what the next step will be. Recent
be. Others like Karen Rowe maintained that work by feminists such as Karen Rowe and
fairy tales prescribe restrictive social roles for Cristina Bacchilega suggests there have been
women and perpetuate 'alluring fantasies' of significant advances brought about by the
punishment and reward: passivity, beauty, and interactions between feminist theorizing and
feminist practice. The anthologies of so-called
helplessness lead to marriage, conferring
alternative stories are, in fact, equally valid pri­
wealth and status, whereas self-aware, 'aggres­
mary stories of realms of experience and long­
sive', and powerful women reap opprobrium
ings for a better world the fairy tale can make
and are either ostracized or killed. Whereas
real. It has been argued that fairy tales reflect
Bruno Bettelheim had suggested in his widely lived realities of the writers and readers; per­
disputed and refuted work The Uses of En­ haps future stories in keeping with the feminist
chantment (1976), that fairy tales describe eter­ project may one day reflect a new reality, a
nal truths about the disposition of the human more prejudice-free world. SCJ
psyche, and that the battles between evil older
women and younger, helpless girls are thera­ Bacchilega, Cristina, Postmodern Fairy Tales:
peutic and gender-neutral for children, feminist Gender and Narrative Strategies (1997).
and other literary critics maintained and still Bernheimer, Kate (ed.), Mirror, Mirror on the
maintain that the 'eternal truths' in tales of the Wall: Women Writers Explore their Favorite Fairy
Western tradition are the story of women's Tales (1998).
subjugation and disenfranchisement under Davies, Bronwyn, Frogs and Snails and Feminist
patriarchy. Tales: Preschool Children and Gender (1989).
Recent work from the reader-response Helms, Cynthia, 'Storytelling, Gender and
school makes it possible to take stock of the Language in Folk/Fairy Tales: A Selected
Annotated Bibliography', Women and Language,
progress made by the feminist cause and femi­
10 (spring 1987).
nist rewritings of the tradition. Bronwyn
Waelti-Walters, Jennifer, Fairy Tales and the
Davies's Frogs and Snails and Feminist Tales:
Female Imagination (1982).
Preschool Children and Gender (1989) demon­
Warner, Marina, From the Beast to the Blonde:
strated how children's play, their conversation,
On Fairytales and their Tellers (1994).
and their responses to feminist stories can pro­ Zipes, Jack (ed.), Don't Bet on the Prince:
vide new insight into the social construction of Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North
gender. In addition, Ella Westland's 1993 study America and England (1986).
'Cinderella in the Classroom: Children's Re­ F É N E L O N , F R A N Ç O I S D E S A L I C N A C D E LA M O T H E
sponses to Gender Roles in Fairy-Tales' in­ ( 1 6 5 1 - 1 7 1 5 ) , prominent French cleric and
cluded over 100 boys and girls aged 9—11 in writer. Fénelon wrote several works for the
five Cornish primary schools, whose percep­ Dauphin (Louis X I V ' s grandson and heir), to
FERRA-MIKURA, VERA 160

whom he was tutor. Among these early ex­ Fetscher begins with the Grimm version, then
amples of children's literature (including his offers his tongue-in-cheek commentary, expos­
famous Télémaque (Telemachus, 1699)) is his ing a history of editorial censorship, class an­
posthumously published Recueil des fables com­ tagonism, and sexual anxiety. *Cinderella, for
posées pour l'éducation de feu Monseigneur le duc example, was a labour activist whose con­
de Bourgogne (Collection of Fables Written for sciousness of 'irreconcilable class differences'
the Education of the late Monseigneur the Duke causes her to reject the prince's offer of mar­
of Burgundy, 1718), which contains moralizing riage; Lucky Hans was not stupid, but inad­
fairy-tale stories that stress proper feminine equately socialized in the ways of capitalist
and aristocratic conduct. Fénelon is the only trade economy; the wolf of several fairy tales
French writer besides Mme *Leprince de Beau­ was a victim of character assassination, and the
mont to have written fairy tales explicitly for kiss that awakened *Sleeping Beauty marked
children before the 19th century. LCS the end of her defloration phobia. MBS
Fetscher, Iring, Marx and Marxism ( 1 9 7 1 ) .
FERRA-MIKURA, VERA (1923-97). Viennese
author of stories, radio plays, and poems for FIELDING, SARAH (1710-68), English novelist.
children and adults. Ferra-Mikura's work is The Governess, or Little Female Academy
characterized by humour, playfulness, and im­ (1749), the first extended work of fiction for
agination. Her fairy-tale-inspired, optimistic, young readers, included two heavily moral
and highly imaginative stories for children are fairy stories. 'The Story of the Cruel Giant
written in gripping and easily accessible prose Barbarico, the Good Giant Benefico, and the
and soon became popular with young readers Pretty Little Dwarf Mignon' is the more ori­
in Austria. Her artistic breakthrough as a ginal of the two, and was sometimes printed in
writer for children came with the story Zauber- chapbook form. 'The Princess Hebe' is in the
meister Opequeh (Sorcerer Opequeh, 1956), high-flown romantic style of d'*Aulnoy. At a
which was followed by many equally humor­ time when such stories were regarded by the
ous and playfully absurd stories. EMM enlightened as a relic of the dark ages, Fielding
Lexikon der osterreichischen Kinder- und
felt bound to apologize for their inclusion, and
Jugendliteratur, i ( 1 9 9 4 ) . Mary Martha Sherwood in her recast 1820 ver­
sion of the book excluded both stories. GA
F E T S C H E R , I R I N G (1922— ), German political sci­
entist and Professor Emeritus at the University
of Frankfurt am Main, best known for his nu­ The content, form, and
FILM A N D FAIRY T A L E S .
merous publications on the history and theory reception of fairy tales in the modern Western
of marxism. In his 1972 collection of ironic world have been heavily influenced by the
fairy-tale adaptations and criticism, Wer hat proliferation of adaptations for film. Many
Dornrbschen wachgekiisst? Das Màrchenverwirr- children now encounter folk literature
buch (Who awakened Sleeping Beauty with a predominantly as it is mediated by filmic ver­
Kiss? The Book of Fairy Tale Confusion), sions, and film versions are produced in the
Fetscher explores alternative meanings and shadow of the commercial and cultural domin­
contexts for the *Grimms' tales. He employs ance of the *Disney industry. Critical re­
what he terms Verwirr-Methoden (methods of sponses to fairy-tale films have in their turn
confusion), borrowing playfully from serious been shaped by presuppositions about the na­
scholarly approaches, such as philological, psy­ ture and functions of the fairy tale. Film is a
choanalytic, and historical materialist textual relatively new medium for the fairy tale, and to
criticism, to produce a unique blend of im­ a great extent might be considered a different
aginative storytelling and light-hearted criti­ genre in its own right, with its own conven­
cism. tions and its own principles, although it may
The collection contains reinterpretations of employ many narrative codes specific to the lit­
13 of the best-loved Grimm tales, divided into erary fairy-tale schemata. The expansion of a
three sections more or less corresponding to story to run for an hour or more may entail
the methods of confusion: the rehabilitation of enhanced characterization, introduction of sub­
the wolf; the rise of the bourgeoisie, the anti- plots or additional minor characters, and the
feudal revolution, and the problems of an an­ development of strategies for maintaining
tagonistic society; and the sexual problems of audience engagement. At the same time, such
princesses. Traditional and adapted tales can be expansions will need to address the overall co­
read nicely in relation to one another, for herence of the narrative and convey a sense
I6I FILM A N D FAIRY T A L E S

that it has a pattern that moves to a meaningful heritage, and inducts children into an under­
outcome. standing of their culture's grounding patterns
A criterion often adduced in discussing film of thought and behaviour. Such an assumption
adaptations is fidelity to the source, but unlike seems reflected in the propensity for fairy-tale
film adaptations of literary classics, for ex­ films to incorporate visual quotations from the
ample, fairy-tale films cannot always be re­ work of well-known illustrators of classic fairy
ferred back to a particular source but may tales. An extension of the notion of cultural
derive from a myriad of indeterminate inter­ heritage, well exemplified in the beautifully
vening retellings. Nevertheless, because fairy­ produced We All Have Tales series of the early
tale film is dominated by versions of a small 1990s, is the idea that fairy tales facilitate inter-
number of literary fairy tales, and is often spe­ cultural communication by bringing out the
cifically allusive to preceding representations, similarities between various world cultures and
there is much interest in the content of a film mediating elements of otherness. We all have
and in what has been changed in the process of tales, and both the impulse to story and the mu­
adaptation—what has been omitted and added, tual comprehensibility of stories from different
how particular problems of representation have lands affirm the common humanity of the
been addressed. Thus a comparison of Dis­ world's peoples. A potential flaw in such think­
ney's The ^Little Mermaid with Hans Christian ing is that otherness can be appropriated and
*Andersen's original tale, for example, dis­ transformed into sameness, and a charge fre­
closes much about the ideological thrust of the quently levelled at the Disney industry, in par­
Disney, especially with respect to gender rep­ ticular, is that it engages in a neo-colonial
resentations and assumptions about the global co-opting of the folklore and stories of other
hegemony of Western (particularly North peoples into the frame of North American soci­
American) culture. Further, because a Disney ety, politics, and capitalism. This process is
transformation usually becomes the dominant identifiable in *Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid,
known version of a tale, and feeds back into *Aladdin, The Lion King, and Pocahontas.
literary retellings, a comparison offers insight A contrary view to this universalizing per­
into the nature of the hopes and aspirations that spective is the argument that folk tales only
are being constructed for children in the mod­ ever express conditions, attitudes, and values
ern era. pertaining at specific socio-cultural moments,
Commentary on fairy-tale film has ground­ and whenever collectors or rewriters turn folk
ed itself in two contrasting conceptions of the tales into literary fairy tales, or invent new lit­
fairy tale. On the one hand is the view that folk erary fairy tales, they express the social and
tales are stories with an essential form which moral assumptions of their own time and cul­
convey universal and timeless truths capable of ture. At most, older meanings persist only in
being reproduced, distorted, or lost in literary dialogue with those of the time of present pro­
or filmic retellings. A fairy tale is thus invested duction. Films are no exception, so that the
with value as story for its own sake. That is, as significances attributable to fairy-tale films
a narrative which audiences may recognize as produced by the 20th-century culture industry
similar to other such narratives because it is will be tied up with assumptions about social
patterned by archetypal situations and charac­ formations in contemporary society, and will
terizations, a story transmits its latent value as a stand in some orientation towards areas of so­
particular working out of perennial human de­ cial change and social contestation, especially
sires and destinies. It contains some instruc­ attitudes relating to ethnicity and race rela­
tion, some mechanism for helping us to tions, economic (and political) stratifications
understand and cope with the problems of within and across societies, and gender.
everyday life. Audiences thus learn the roles Keeping in mind that the sources for any
which pattern their lives, that good always fairy-tale film may be uncertain or multiple,
overcomes evil, and that proper behaviour is and are subject to influence from the multitude
rewarded, usually by romantic marriage. The of retellings in general circulation in the twen­
structural pattern itself signifies without need­ tieth century, it is possible to identify four
ing to be interpreted, because the meaning lies types of adaptation of the fairy tale to film.
in the repeatability and the deeply laid similar­ First, there are renditions which strive to re­
ity amongst otherwise apparently diverse stor­ produce a particular version of a fairy tale with
ies. A further assumption here is that fairy tale minimal addition or change. The second and
is not only germane to childhood but also by far the largest group of adaptations consists
forms an important part of a child's cultural of substantial reinterpretations of fairy tales.
FILM A N D FAIRY T A L E S

The third type treats its pre-text(s) as raw ma­ sen tales released by Weston Woods in the
terial for an original work, and may combine Children's Circle series (1991) achieved varying
various versions of a tale or several tales, or degrees of fidelity to the source text. For ex­
generate a new work in the genre. Examples ample, 'The Swineherd', based on illustrations
are The *Princess Bride (1987), Labyrinth by Bjorn Wiinblad, deftly reproduces Ander­
(1986), and Disney's The Lion King (1994). sen's narrative and dialogue, while using the
Adult films such as the Cinderella story *Pretty visuals to convey narratorial attitude. The
Woman (1990) or the curse and animal trans­ technique owes more to picture-book codes
formation story Ladyhawke (1985) may also be than to filmic codes, however. This comment
considered here. Finally, fairy-tale film con­ also applies to the 1986 Bosustow Entertain­
ventions evolved by the Disney Corporation ment Production *'Beauty and the Beast, a curi­
are used to frame other narratives, thus trans­ ous presentation of two stories, Jay * Williams's
posing them into a fairy-tale discourse. Ex­ The Practical Princess and a version of Beauty
amples are *Peter Pan (1953), Pocahontas and the Beast taken from Marianna Mayer's
(1995), and The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1978 picture book, now edited down to ten
(1996). Discussion here will focus on the first minutes. The presentation is framed by former
two types. child film star Hayley Mills as presenter and
The first type comprises a relatively small interpreter of the tales, which are both about
number of films, mostly brief, simple anima­ 'common sense'. In Beauty and the Beast it is
tions, which aspire to be literal or faithful ren­ the common sense position that people should
ditions of a fairy tale which is considered to not be judged by appearances. The framing di­
have 'classic' status. Most film versions prove dactic commentary effectively reinforces the
to be ephemeral, but this group is particularly deterministic patriarchy of the Mayer retelling:
so. The assumption underlying such produc­ Beauty repeatedly dreams of a handsome
tions is that there is something essential about prince destined to be her partner, while a fairy
the 'original' story which can be reproduced. voice enjoins her to 'Look deep into others'
This type of adaptation also occurs in the less beauty to find your happiness'. The outcome is
thematically experimental films produced in thus always inevitable.
Shelley "Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre series. In the second type of adaptation a film re­
*'Thumbelina', for example, is a humorous re­ produces the story, but in doing so either re­
writing of Hans Christian Andersen's tale, ren­ interprets or deconstructs the source materials.
dered visually delightful by its extensive This group includes the best-known films, that
allusions to George * Cruikshank's 19th-cen­ is, those of Disney, Jim *Henson, Tom
tury illustrations, and further enhanced by the *Davenport, and most of the Faerie Tale
capacity of the Ultimatte process to enable the Theatre films. Disney Corporation films loom
size of characters and objects to be manipulated very large here, despite the small number
and illustrations to be pasted in as backdrops. (nine) of fairy-tale films that have been pro­
The only substantial variations from Ander­ duced by the company and a 30-year hiatus be­
sen's version—a gender switch of the field tween * Sleeping Beauty (1959) and The Little
mouse from female to male, and the reuniting Mermaid (1989). The other films in the feature-
of Thumbelina with her foster-mother brought length corpus are *Snow White (1937), Pinoc­
about by her prince bridegroom—firmly re­ chio (1940), Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty
inforce Thumbelina's status as an object of ex­ (1959), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and
change and hence the tale's use of a male the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and Mulan
discourse to frame women's lives. This film (1998).
also illustrates how the addition of humour A marked effect of Disney animated films
masks and promotes passive acceptance of the has been to narrow and redefine what modern
ideological implications of discourse, as Thum­ children (and adults) know as the folk tale (or
belina is finally coupled with someone of her the fairy tale), and what meanings they ascribe
own race and class. to the folk tale. Disney films operate on the
The use in this 'Thumbelina' of classic illus­ principle, as articulated by Christopher Vogler,
trations not only reflects a common procedure that 'All stories consist of a few common struc­
in the Faerie Tale Theatre series, but also a tural elements found universally in myths, fairy
common practice whereby simpler adaptations tales, dreams and movies'. The nuances and
animate a picture-book version of a tale, and significances given to these 'common structural
hence reproduce an intermediate version. By elements', however, have the potential for
this means, a collection of three Hans Ander­ great cultural influence, especially as the range
i6 3
FILM A N D FAIRY T A L E S

of elements deployed has been reduced in the The Little Mermaid and Aladdin). Black-and-
Disney films. With the exception of Pinocchio, white contrasts, differentiating humour, and
which in any case has a marginal place in the the unequivocal triumph of good over evil at
modern fairy-tale canon, these films employ a the ending of a Disney film consistently repli­
common set of features. cates and effectively advocates a specific con­
First, they draw on a schema in which a fe­ struction of what constitutes a good life.
male protagonist is moved by desire for an­ The structural and thematic consistency of a
other, in some sense better, existence. That fairy-tale corpus spanning much of the century
desire resembles a longing for agency, but the upholds the expression of what is generally an
tales assert that it can only be attained within archaic world view. In so far as these fairy tales
some version of a romance and marriage plot affirm what makes life meaningful, they do so
that denies the female characters individuality, by asserting a social structure which is patri­
self-determination, and agency. The out­ archal and capitalistic. Some limited space has
come—a happy ending in marriage—is been allowed for varieties of pseudo-feminism
reached only after the heroine is commodified, since The Sleeping Beauty, though this tends to
subjected to threat, rendered vulnerable, and fi­ be neutralized by conflating it with versions of
nally rescued by her future husband. It is not­ teenage rebelliousness; and some small vari­
able that one of the several ways Aladdin ations in conceptions of masculinity also began
departs from its *Arabian Nights source is to emerging with Beauty and the Beast. But ultim­
reshape the story and the role of the princess ately these do not constitute recognition of any
within it so that it conforms to this schema: significant paradigm shift, and they are readily
Princess Jasmine is always the principal prize containable within a patriarchal discourse and
for which the males compete, her marriage to traditional images of family life.
Aladdin is part of the denouement, whereas it There have from time to time been various
takes place at about the mid-point of the ori­ attempts to produce fairy-tale films that evade
ginal tale, and her role in the defeat of the evil the hegemony of the Disney formula, most
magician is substantially diminished (instead of notably, perhaps, the many productions of Jim
being the instrument of his death, she herself Henson and Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale
has to be saved from death by Aladdin). Des­ Theatre series. Filmic retellings which take a
pite the illusion of nascent feminist impulses in source from the *Grimms or Andersen and de­
the more recent heroines, they are always final­ liberately deviate from it may succeed in fore­
ly contained within a marriage plot moulded grounding stereotypical fairy-tale motifs and
by a male discourse. structures, and hence the roles and expectations
Secondly, the films add a comic element imbricated within them, and subject them to in­
through the enhancement or addition of sec­ terrogation or subversion. A simple example is
ondary characters—dwarfs, animals (in most a moving retelling of *'Rumpelstiltskin' in the
of the films), fairy godmothers (*Cinderella), We All Have Tales series (1991). Eschewing the
animated kitchen utensils (Beauty and the strategy pursued in some film versions of re­
Beast), or the genie (Aladdin). The comedy not writing the story so that it conforms to the
only engages audience attention, and extends romance and marriage plot, this retelling
and varies an otherwise rather limited action, narratively and visually foregrounds how a
but also regulates audience response in relation young woman's life is framed by and subjected
to a third recurrent element in the films, a sim­ to a male discourse, and how she gains agency
ple dichotomy between good and evil. Warm by her innate commitment to the true relation­
fuzzy humour generated by lovable animals or ship between selfhood, caring, and reciprocity.
teapots is associated with the good characters, Trust, reciprocity, and caring are the human
while a more sardonic humour enters at the ex­ qualities evoked in Faerie Tale Theatre films
pense of evil characters, or such characters' no­ such as Eric Idle's much acclaimed *'Frog
tions of humour are deemed to be unamusing. Prince' or Tony Bill's 'The *Princess and the
In other words, audiences laugh with the good Pea', deconstructive retellings able to render
characters but at the evil ones. The good—evil visible the ideologies naturalized in the pre­
dichotomy has a powerful normative function texts. Faerie Tale Theatre productions have
as battle lines are drawn between good femi­ been criticized for often privileging tour de force
ninity and bad femininity, good masculinity performances over narrative experimentation,
and bad masculinity (the Beast and Gaston, re­ but the juxtaposition of the distinctive acting
spectively, in Beauty and the Beast), and styles of Liza Minnelli and Tom Conti in 'The
American values and un-American values (in Princess and the Pea' effectively functions as a
FINIAN'S RAINBOW 164

marker of difference as the characters renego­ Bazalgette, Cary, and Buckingham, David
tiate the métonymie social meaning of the term (eds.), In Front of the Children: Screen
'princess'. Overstatement is also a strategy in Entertainment and Young Audiences (1993).
Henson's 'The Three Ravens' (from The Bell, Elizabeth, Haas, Lynda, and Sells, Laura
(eds.), From Mouse to Mermaid: the Politics of
Storyteller, 1988), a creative reworking of the Film, Gender and Culture (1995).
Grimms' tale 'The Six Swans'. The script­ Haase, Donald P., 'Gold into Straw: Fairy-Tale
writer Tony Minghella's plot structure is much Movies for Children and the Culture Industry',
tighter than in the Grimms' original, as the The Lion and the Unicorn, 12.2 (1988).
stepmother/wicked witch's lust for power Hastings, A. Waller, 'Moral Simplification in
prompts her not only to transform her stepsons Disney's The Little Mermaid', The Lion and the
into ravens, but to murder her husband and Unicorn, 17.1 (1993).
move on to a new conquest. Both narrative and Stone, Kaye F., 'Things Walt Disney Never
visual images emphasize the stereotypical con­ Told Us'', Journal of American Folklore, 88
(1975)-
trast between the dark-haired witch and the
Vogler, Christopher, The Writer's Journey:
long-haired, blonde princess. As further em­ Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters
phasis, as the ever-present and omniscient nar­ (1992).
rator (John Hurt) and his narratee (a talking Zipes, Jack, Breaking the Magic Spell (1979).
dog) discuss the unfolding story, the dog fre­ 'Once Upon a Time Beyond Disney:
quently declares, T hate that witch!' A second Contemporary Fairy Tale Films for Children',
convention foregrounded by the dog's inter­ in Bazalgette and Buckingham (eds.), In Front of
polations is the equation of speech with indi­ the Children.
vidual power and autonomy in fairy tales: the
heroine has an extended silence laid upon her FINIAN'S RAINBOW, successful stage musical
as the only way to break the transformation which mixes fantasy with social commentary.
spell that holds her brothers, but her inability Premiered in New York on Broadway in 1947,
to speak to defend herself against an accusation the show had a book by E. Y . Harburg (who
of witchcraft generates the danger of being also wrote the lyrics) and Fred Saidy, with
burned at the stake. The outcome, a complete music by Burton Lane. It achieved an initial
restoration of all she had lost, is offered as a run of 725 performances. A father and daugh­
reward for 'the girl who kept faith and had one ter leave Ireland for America's deep South,
face for everyone'. But the dog, as always in taking with them a crock of gold (stolen from
this splendid series, expresses his scepticism the leprechaun Og) in the belief that, by bury­
about the processes and outcomes of the tale. ing it close to Fort Knox, it will grow abun­
In such ways, narrative and filmic strategies dantly. The show's social side deals with the
alert the audience to the constructedness of defeat and rehabilitation of a negro-hating
story, and hence to the relationship between senator. TH
entertainment and pedagogy in fairy-tale films.
Henson and Minghella show the great potential
fairy-tale film has for eliciting an intelligent FlORENTlNO, G I O V A N N I (second half of 14th cen­
audience engagement with story, processes, tury), Italian novella writer. Many of the 20
ideologies, and human values. They pose the novellas in his Pecorone (The Big Sheep) com­
important questions like: How are values com­ bine realistic and folkloric elements. In particu­
municated? What values and attitudes implicit lar, in 4.1, 'La Donna di Belmonte' ('The Lady
in the motifs and structures of a classic, literary of Belmonte') a fairy-tale structure is trans­
fairy tale are retained or discarded in a film posed onto a historical setting; tales 4.2 and
version? Such implicit questions have the im­ 10.1 present the familiar fairy-tale motif of a
portant function of stimulating critical literacy princess married against her will to an old man
in young audiences, and hence empowering (a realistic version of the ogre found in similar
them to look more sceptically at texts of other tales by *Basile, for example); and tale 9.2 in­
kinds. And in addition, we might hope, they cludes the motifs of a mysterious bridegroom,
may also learn, or be reminded, that human a princess closed in a tower, and a final double
qualities such as trust, reciprocity, and caring marriage. NC
must also be sought for and constructed. Petrini, Mario, La fiaba di magia nella letteratura
italiana (1983).
RM/JAS
Addison, Erin, 'Saving Other Women from
Other Men: Disney's Aladdin', Camera Obscura, F I T Z G E R A L D , J O H N A N S T E R (1823-1906), known
31 (1993). by his friends as 'Fairy Fitzgerald', Irish paint-
i6 5
F O L K L O R E A N D FAIRY T A L E S

er of highly original fantasy and fairy scenes. ballets to existing music, important among
Little is known about his life and travels, but which was Les Sylphides (1908), with music by
his grotesque goblin creations suggest that he Chopin. The Firebird (1910) and Petrushka
must have been familiar with works by (1922), with music by *Stravinsky, are two
Brueghel and Bosch. It is also clear that his works on fairy-tale themes for which Fokine is
various 'dream' paintings refer to drug-in- especially remembered. TH
duced hallucinations. 'The Artist's Dream'
(1857), for instance, shows an artist asleep, F O L K A R D , C H A R L E S J A M E S (1878-1963), British
dreaming of the fairy he is painting, while in children's illustrator and comic strip creator. A
the foreground nightmare figures caper round printer's son, he was enthralled by a conjuror
his chair, one of them offering him a potion in at London's Egyptian Hall, learned magic, dis-
a glass. In 'Fairies in a Bird's Nest' (c.1860) the covered a talent for designing programmes and
two fairy figures are dwarfed by the menacing trained at Goldsmith's College and St John's
Bosch-like aberrations that crowd the canvas. Wood Schools of Art. He contributed to Little
GA Folks and the Tatler before gaining notoriety
for the fantastic naturalism of his illustrations
F L A K E , O T T O (1880-1963), German writer and for The Swiss Family Robinson (1910). This
publisher. His extensive œuvre includes two gift-book edition was followed by his definitive
volumes of naively-humorous fairy tales, re- *Pinocchio (1911): with 77 humorous drawings
working traditional folk-tale characters and be- and 8 watercolour plates, it is still reprinted
liefs. They appeared in several revised editions today. The Children's ^Shakespeare (1911),
under changing titles: Maria im Dachgarten und * Grimm's Fairy Tales (1911), Aesop's Fables
andere Mdrchen (Mary in her Roof-Garden and (1912) and The ^Arabian Nights (1913) fol-
other Tales, 1931); second edition Kinderland lowed, with the luminous 'Persian' plates of
(Children's Country, 1948); third edition Ende Ottoman Wonder Tales (1915) being especially
gut, allés gut (All's Well That Ends Well, 1950), noteworthy. In 1915 he created the first British
and Der Strassburger Zuckerbeck und andere comic strip. 'Teddy Tail' was an instant suc-
Mdrchen (The Baker of Strasbourg and Other cess, and appeared for the next 45 years in the
Tales, 1933); second edition Der Mann im Mond London Daily Mail and in a series of adventure
und andere Mdrchen ( The Man in the Moon and books, such as Teddy Tail in Fairyland (1916).
other Tales, 1947), third edition Der Basler In addition to *Mother Goose rhymes and
Zuckerbeck (The Baker of Basle, 1953). KS stories (1919, 1923), Folkard illustrated British
Fairy and Folk Tales (1920), *Alice's Adventures
FLEUTIAUX, PIERRETTE ( 1 9 4 1 - ), French writer in Wonderland (1929), The Princess and Curdie
who began her career with the fantastic (His- and The Princess and the Goblin (1949), and The
toire de la chauve-souris (The Story of the Bat, Book of Nonsense by Many Authors (1956),
1974)) and later published a collection of fairy which featured Struwwelpeter and characters
tales, Métamorphoses de la reine (Metamorphoses from Baron Miinchhausen, Edward Lear, and
of the Queen, 1985), which won the prestigious Lewis *Carroll. MLE
Prix Goncourt. In this latter volume, she re- Dalby, Richard, Golden Age of Children's Book
writes several of *Perrault's stories, most not- Illustration (1991).
ably by amplifying violence and eroticism, Doyle, Brian, Who's Who in Children's Literature
(1968).
developing women's roles, and shifting narra-
Peppin, Brigid and Micklethwait, Lucy,
tive points of view. Above all, play with fairy- Dictionary of British Book Illustrators (1983).
tale conventions allows Fleutiaux to reflect
critically on expectations about feminine F O L K L O R E A N D FAIRY TALES
conduct. LCS
Knapp, Bettina L., Pierrette Fleutiaux (1997). l. THE FAIRY TALE AS A SUBJECT O F FOLKLORE
STUDY
FOKINE, MICHEL (1880-1942), Russian dancer, Of the three main oral prose genres of folklore,
who became the 20th century's first important fairy tale, myth, and legend, the fairy tale has
choreographer, spending the last two decades received the most critical attention in folklore
of his life in America, where he worked on Flo- scholarship. Although early collectors of folk
renz Ziegfeld's 1922 Follies. Engaged as a narrative did not draw fine distinctions,
choreographer earlier in the century by Diagh- scholars have subsequently found it useful to
ilev for his Ballets Russes, Fokine significantly define the fairy tale in relation to these other
developed newer styles of dancing, creating prose genres. Myths are narratives which are
FOLKARD, CHARLES The mischievous puppet knocks the wig off poor Giuseppi, his creator and father, in
Charles Folkard's illustration for Carlo Collodi's *Pinocchio in the English version of 1 9 1 1 .
167 F O L K L O R E A N D FAIRY T A L E S

believed to be true about gods or supernatural onymous with Naturpoesie (nature poetry),
beings who operate beyond the realm of poetry that was natural and spontaneous. In
human existence, and from whose experiences contrast to Kunstpoesie (art poetry), literature
humans can draw moral lessons. Legends gen­ produced by conscious creation, folk poetry re­
erally report of extraordinary events in the presented the most sublime expression of the
lives of ordinary humans, frequently in an en­ nation. Although Herder considered Homer
counter with the supernatural. Although there and Shakespeare great folk poets, he believed
is an inherent truth claim in the legend, there is folk poetry to be best preserved among the
often an element of scepticism or disbelief on unlettered peasants, who had been least affect­
the part of the narrator or audience. In contrast ed by the force of modern civilization. The
to legend and myth, fairy tales are narratives of Grimms fit the fairy tale into Herder's concep­
magic and fantasy, which are understood to be tual framework, distinguishing between Volks­
fictional. mdrchen (folk tales) and Kunstmarchen (artistic
A distinction must also be made between or literary fairy tales) in their effort to establish
'folk tale' and 'fairy tale', for in spite of their the authenticity of their material, and set them­
frequent interchangeability, the terms have dis­ selves apart from contemporary writers of fairy
tinct etymologies and meanings. The words tales, who freely adapted folk tales for their
fairy tale can refer to both a category of oral own artistic creations. With the Grimms, the
folk tale and a genre of prose literature. As a folk tale became exclusively associated with a
term, it is often used by folk narrative scholars narrative of anonymous origin existing in oral
when referring specifically to 'magic tales', or tradition.
tales listed under tale-type numbers 300-749 in
the *Aarne-Thompson tale-type index. The 2 . DEFINITION OF A GENRE
term folk tale is reserved for any tale deriving Since the inception of folklore study, scholars
from or existing in oral tradition and is gener­ have attempted to define the Mdrchen from dif­
ally preferred by folklorists and anthropolo­ ferent vantage points. The following defin­
gists. Literary scholars tend to use the word itions are not meant to be exhaustive, but to
fairy tale to refer to a genre of prose literature, indicate the extent to which the problem of de­
which may or may not be based on oral trad­ scription and definition reflects different em­
ition. phases in folk narrative research. The Grimms'
Fairy tale is a translation of the French conte holistic understanding of folk literature, evi­
de fée, a form of oral narrative that became dent in the inclusion of fables, legends, and an­
fashionable among the men and women of the ecdotes in their ^Kinder- und Hausmdrchen
French court in the late 17th century. The term {Children's and Household Tales), did not gen­
first appeared in the title of Mme *d'Aulnoy's erate nuanced definitions on genre. Although
1697 collection of tales and has been in the the earliest statement on genre was Jacob
English language since the middle of the 18th Grimm's observation that 'the fairy tale is
century. The German word Mdrchen is a di­ more poetic, the legend more historical', it was
minutive form of the Old High German mar, an idea that remained largely undeveloped.
meaning report or story. In German academic Following in the tradition of the Grimms,
and popular usage Mdrchen refers to the liter­ Johannes Bolte observed that since Herder and
ary fairy tale as well as the traditional folk tale. the Grimms, 'the Mdrchen has been understood
Folk tale is a translation of Volksmdrchen and as a tale created from poetic fantasy, particular­
first appeared in the English language in the ly from the world of magic; it is a wonder story
19th century. Although the word was not not concerned with the conditions of real life.'
coined by him, 'Volksmàrchen' first appeared Kurt Ranke, founder of the Enryklopddie des
in Johann Karl August *Musaus's Volksmdr­ Mdrchens, adopted a similar view, defining the
chen der Deutschen {Folk Tales of the Germans) folk tale as 'a magic narrative that is independ­
published between 1782 and 1786. ent of the conditions of the real world with its
The association of traditional narrative with categories of time, place, and causality, and
das Volk, first articulated by Johann Gottfried which has no claim to believability'. Stith
Herder and later reinforced by the *Grimms, Thompson, the American folklorist who pub­
reflected a growing appreciation of the signifi­ lished a six-volume index of motifs in folk lit­
cance of folk culture for the development of the erature and was convinced of the centrality of
nation-state in the late 18th and early 19th cen­ the motif as an element of folk tale analysis,
turies. For Herder, Volkspoesie (folk poetry) defined the folk tale as 'a tale of some length
included all genres of literature and was syn­ involving a succession of motifs or episodes. It
F O L K L O R E A N D FAIRY T A L E S 168

moves in an unreal world without definite lo­ cluding notes on sources and variants of tales
cality or definite characters and is filled with not included in the two volumes of Household
the marvelous. In this never-never land hum­ Tales. The volume was significantly expanded
ble heroes kill adversaries, succeed to king­ in later editions and laid the foundation for
doms and marry princesses'. The Russian subsequent comparative work.
formalist Vladimir Propp viewed the fairy tale Comparative folk-tale analysis continued
morphologically, that is, in terms of its com­ into the early part of the 20th century through
ponent parts and their relationship to the over­ the efforts of Johannes Bolte and Georg
all structure of the tale. He suggested that 'any Polivka, who elaborated upon the Grimms'
narrative can be a wonder tale that develops critical notes in Anmerkungen ru den Kinder-
from an act of injury or state of lack, through und Hausmârchen der Briider Grimm {Annota­
certain mediating functions, to an eventual tions to the Children's and Household Tales of
wedding or other concluding function.' The the Brothers Grimm). Their five-volume work
Swiss folklorist and professor of European lit­ provided a more detailed list of variants and
erature Max Liithi held that the Mârchen was a additional explanations to the texts and sources
'universal adventure story with a clever and contained in the Grimms' third volume. It was
sublime style'. After nearly 200 years interest with the historical-geographic method, a direc­
in the fairy tale has not been exhausted and tion of folk-tale research developed by Finnish
scholarly definitions will continue to evolve as folklorists towards the end of the 19th century,
new perspectives and approaches are explored. that comparative analysis reached its apex.
This method, which constituted the predomin­
3. METHODS O F R E S E A R C H A N D ANALYSIS ant research paradigm in the first half of the
Scholarly interest in the fairy tale at the begin­ 20th century, was predicated on the assump­
ning of the 19th century was fuelled by Her­ tion that every folk tale had a single origin
der's appeal for the collection of folk literature (monogenesis), which could be determined by
and by the Grimms' belief that the custom of assembling all known oral and print versions
storytelling was on the decline. The study of and plotting the distribution of the tale over
the fairy tale began as part of a cultural and time and space. Versions of tales were broken
nationalist project to preserve and revive the down into their component parts called 'motifs'
German national spirit through its folk litera­ and then compared with one another. The goal
ture. From the beginning, fairy-tale research of this type of research was to arrive at the
was text-centred: oral tradition was rendered as Urform (original or primeval form), which was
text, preserved in archives and published in believed to be the original tale. In addition to
collections for general as well as academic introducing key analytic concepts, an inter­
reading audiences. Only towards the middle of nationally recognized classification system, and
the 20th century did this paradigm, with the rigorous methodological practice to the study
aid of modern recording technologies, yield of the folk tale, the other important contribu­
to more context-sensitive and performance- tion of this approach was the publication of The
centred aspects of storytelling. Types of the Folktale and Motif Index of Folk
The earliest type of fairy-tale scholarship Literature, which remains the standard refer­
was comparative in nature and grew out of the ence work for comparative scholarship.
Grimms' understanding of oral tradition and Some of the most important research in the
interest in the problems of language and origin. 20th century has come from European and
Their study of comparative linguistics and American literary scholars, who introduced
mythology led them to believe that folk tales new methods of literary criticism to the study
were the inheritance of a common Indo-Euro­ of the fairy tale. While remaining text-centred,
pean past containing 'fragments of belief dating these approaches have been innovative in the
back to the most ancient times'. Although their exploration of the fairy tale's form, style, and
purpose in publishing the Children s and House­ meaning. One type of comparative analysis,
hold Tales was as a contribution to the history developed in the 1920s by Vladimir Propp, ap­
of German literature, they understood German plied formalist criticism to Aleksandr "'Afana­
folk narrative as part of an Indo-European cul­ syev's collection of Russian fairy tales. Rather
tural inheritance and were, therefore, also than examining the content of many versions
interested in the folk tales of other areas of of the same folk tale through the vehicle of the
Europe. Their appreciation of regional and 'motif, a concept which he considered unscien­
cultural variation led to the publication in 1822 tific, Propp shifted the focus of analysis to the
of a third volume of critical annotations, in­ narrative structure of different folk tales. He
 F O L K L O R E A N D FAIRY T A L E S

determined that every folk tale consists of se­ countries. German scholars since the Grimms
quentially ordered 'functions', defined as the have continued to play a leading role, and until
actions of a character as they relate to the de­ mid-century, German was the academic lingua
velopment of the tale's plot, and numbering no franca for European folk-narrative research.
more than 31 in a given tale. The Finnish folklorist Antti Aarne published
The Swiss folklorist Max Luthi employed his tale-type index in German (VerTeichnis der
the critical vocabulary of art historians in his Màrchentypen) and the multi-volume Enzyklo-
examination of the folk tale as a particular art pddie des Màrchens, based at the University of
form. The style of the folk tale, according to Gôttingen, is published in German, although
Luthi, is characterized by one-dimensionality many of its contributors and users are not na­
(the unproblematic movement between real tive German speakers. German scholars have
and enchanted worlds); depthlessness (absence also taken the lead in international institution-
of psychological feeling or motivation on the building. In 1957 Kurt Ranke, who laid the
part of the fairy-tale characters); abstraction groundwork for the encyclopedia and served
(lack of realistic detail and a tendency toward as its general editor until his death, founded the
extremes, contrasts, and fixed formulas); and journal Fabula, dedicated to folk-narrative re­
isolation and universal connection (abstract search. Ranke was also instrumental in orga­
character types with no sustained relationships nizing the International Society for Folk
to other characters). A lively and productive Narrative Research, which has met at regular
re-examination of the Grimms' Children's and intervals since the first conferences in 1959 in
Household Tales centred on the publication of Kiel and Copenhagen.
John Ellis's One Fairy Story Too Many and In spite of the importance of *Basile and
continued through the 200-year anniversary *Straparola for the development of the Euro­
observation of the births of Jacob and Wilhelm pean fairy tale, there was relatively little inter­
Grimm in 1984 and 1986. Important critical est in Italian folk literature until the end of
studies of this period include Jack Zipes's the 19th century, when Benedetto Croce
psycho-biographical examination of the life (1866—1952) translated Basile's ^Pentamerone
and work of the Grimms, and the feminist an­ from Neapolitan dialect into Italian. The Ita­
alyses of Maria Tatar and Ruth B. Bottigheimer, lian equivalent of the Grimms' Children's and
exploring the Grimms' editorial practices and Household Tales, Fiabe italiene, appeared only
gender-specific treatment of fairy-tale charac­ in the middle of the 20th century through the
ters. effort of the novelist Italo *Calvino (1923-88),
who selected, translated, and annotated 200
4. EUROPEAN FAIRY-TALE S C H O L A R S H I P texts from regional collections that had been
The purpose of this section is not to treat the published in the 19th century.
collective efforts or research emphases of indi­ A similarly paradoxical situation developed
vidual scholars or countries in detail, but to in France, where, until approximately 1870, no
sketch in broad strokes the development of fairy-tale collection with critical annotations
fairy-tale scholarship in Europe. Although the had appeared, in spite of the fact that France
fairy tale has been the most extensively studied was the first country to undertake a scholarly
of folklore genres, it has not received equal collection project on folk literature. Although
critical attention and appreciation across the questionnaire of the Académie celtique,
Europe. Ironically, serious study of the genre conducted between 1805 and 1814, was primar­
faltered in areas where the earliest collections ily concerned with local and historical legends,
had appeared, and some of the most significant it also contained questions on the conte de fée.
impulses for fairy-tale research have come The questionnaire predated Jacob Grimm's
from countries where interest in the genre was Circular wegen der Aufsammlung der Volkspoesie
a relatively late development. {Circular on the Collection of Folk Poetry) by ten
The formal study of the fairy tale began in years and may have been the inspiration behind
Germany with Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, his own appeal for a similar undertaking in
whose statements on methodology and critical Germany. After this initial impulse, interest in
notes, including information on narrators and the fairy tale dropped off and was not revived
sources, made them the first systematic collect­ until the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
ors and scholars in the field. The Children's and The most significant work was carried out by
Household Tales exerted a powerful normative Paul Sébillot (1846-1918), who edited the
effect on oral tradition as well as on folk-tale Revue des traditions populaires, and Emmanuel
collection and scholarship in other European Cosquin (1841—1921), whose Contes populaires
'FOOLISH WISHES, T H E ' 170

de Lorraine has come to be regarded as the shadowed by the significance attributed to the
French equivalent of the Grimms' classic. A c ­ national epic, the *Kalevala. Towards the end
cording to Paul Delarue, the 'Golden Age of of the 19th century the first systematic collec­
the French fairy tale' was between 1870 and tion of fairy tales was undertaken by Kaarle
1914, and it was followed by a sharp decline in Krohn, who also produced one of the first com­
scholarly interest in the genre. prehensive statements on folklore method­
In Great Britain, Thomas Percy's Reliques of ology and, with Antti Aarne, began to develop
Ancient English Poetry (1765) had established a system for the classification of international
the predominance of the ballad in the study of tales. The development of the historical-geo­
folk literature. Although there were early signs graphic method, also known as the Finnish
of interest in other forms of folk narrative, the method, helped establish Finland as one of the
impetus for the collection of fairy tales came most important European centres for folk-nar­
towards the end of the century from outside the rative research. Comparative folk-tale re­
search, initiated by the intellectual interests of
British Isles. None the less, as early as 1825, the
the Grimms and systematized through the crit­
Irish antiquarian Thomas Crofton *Croker
ical annotations of Bolte and Polivka, was in­
published Fairy Legends and Traditions of South
stitutionalized by Finnish folklorists with the
Ireland, a work translated into German by the
creation of the Aarne—Thompson Tale-Type
Grimms. The extent to which Croker was in­
Index and the founding of the Folklore Fel­
fluenced by the Grimms is unclear, but his de­ lows, the first international association devoted
tailed notes helped establish his collection as to the study of folk narrative. Although the as­
the first scholarly fairy-tale collection in Great sociation itself was short-lived and has only re­
Britain. Interest in the fairy tale was furthered cently been revived, its publication series,
by Andrew *Lang, the Scottish poet and phil­ Folklore Fellows ' Communications, has appeared
ologist, who wrote introductions for the Eng­ more or less continuously since 1907 and has
lish translation of *Perrault's Popular Tales produced some important monographs and ref­
(1888) and the Grimms' Children's and House­ erence works. MBS
hold Tales (1909). In addition, Lang published Aarne, Antti, The Types of the Folktale, ed. and
his own 12-volume fairy-tale collection, each trans. Stith Thompson (2nd rev. edn.; 1961).
named after a colour, beginning with The Blue Bolte, Johannes, and Polivka, Georg (eds.),
Fairy Book in 1889 and ending with The Lilac Anmerkungen zu den Kinder- und Hausmarchen
Fairy Book in 1910. Although criticized for der Briider Grimm (5 vols.; 1913—32).
being unscientific, his fairy-tale books were Bottigheimer, Ruth B., Bad Girls and Bold Boys:
enormously popular and did much to establish The Moral and Social Vision of the Grimms ' Tales
popular and academic interest in the fairy tale (1987).
in Britain. Other late 19th-century scholars Ellis, John, One Fairy Story Too Many (1983).
working on the fairy tale included several Luthi, Max, The European Folktale: Form and
whom the American folklorist Richard Dorson Nature (1982).
identified as the 'Great Team' of British folk­ Propp, Vladimir, The Morphology of the Folktale
lorists. Edwin Sydney Hartland published Eng­ (2nd edn.; 1968).
lish Fairy and Other Folk Tales in 1890, a Ranke, Kurt, et al. (eds.), Enzyklopàdie des
collection of English folk narrative based pri­ Màrchens (1975— )•
Tatar, Maria, The Hard Facts of the Grimms '
marily on printed sources, and William Alex­
Fairy Tales (1987).
ander Clouston's Popular Tales and Fictions: Thompson, Stith, Motif Index of Folk Literature
Their Migration and Transformations (1887) (6 vols.; 1932—6; 1955).
examined the history of the European folk tale. The Folktale (1946).
Of the Scandinavian countries, the most en­ Zipes, Jack, The Brothers Grimm: From
during contributions to the development of Enchanted Forests to the Modern World (1988).
folk-tale research have come from Finland.
Although a Danish fairy-tale collection ap­ 'FOOLISH W I S H E S , T H E ' ('Les Souhaits ridi­
peared just two years after the first Danish cules', 1693) is a verse fairy tale by Charles
translation of the Grimms' Children's and *Perrault about a couple who waste wishes
Household Tales, the fairy tale received less from Jupiter. His only tale with mythological
scholarly attention in Denmark than the ballad characters, it alludes to the Quarrel of the An­
and legend. In Sweden fairy tales and folk nar­ cients and the Moderns, and burlesques classic­
rative have not fared well against the tradition­ al tradition by alternating between noble and
ally stronger interest in folklife. In Finland, vulgar registers.
interest in the fairy tale was initially over­ Jean de La Fontaine had also treated this
I7i FOREMAN, MICHAEL

theme of a popular medieval fabliau. Perrault's pleasant black-bearded man called King Mark
silly wish that a sausage grow from the wife's tries to kill her because she has refused to
nose recalls the obscene version in which geni­ marry him. She escapes from both of these dis­
talia sprout from the spouses' faces. The warn­ agreeable father-figures with the help of a talk­
ing that his fairy tale is 'hardly delicate' ing bat, and in the end marries a ploughman
reinforces this sexuality that supposedly horri­ and goes off to live happily ever after in a
fies 'Mademoiselle' of his dedicatory preface. country cottage. The story foreshadows real
This is a good example of how Perrault adapt­ events: when Elsie was sent away to the coun­
ed ribald folk tales for aristocratic readers. try to put her out of her suitor's reach, she
MLE eluded her chaperone and returned to London,
Barchilon, Jacques and Flinders, Peter, Charles where she and Ford were quickly married; he
Perrault (1981). was 20 and she 17. After the wedding, they
Soriano, Marc, Les Contes de Perrault (1968). went to live in the country.
F O R D , F O R D M A D O X (1873—1939), British Ford's last juvenile work, Christinas Fairy
author. Among his over 80 books are four for Book (1906), is a collection of stories and
children, three of them written before his 21st poems written for or about his and Elsie's two
birthday. Two of them are quite remarkable, young daughters, Christina (born 1897) and
combining classic fairy-tale themes and charac­ Katherine (born 1900). Though it has moments
ters with sometimes poetic, sometimes comic of wit and charm, it is weaker and slighter than
invention. They also comment on—and in one The Brown Owl or The Feather, and in many of
case actually predict—the events of his own the tales the fairies are tiny, silly, helpless crea­
life. tures who wear cowslip caps, as in many then-
Ford's first literary fairy tale, The Brown popular, now forgotten books for children.
Owl, appeared in 1891, when he was barely 18. AL
It is the story of an energetic young princess Lurie, Alison, 'Ford Madox Ford's Fairy Tales',
whose father has died, leaving her in the charge Children's Literature, 8 (1979).
MacShane, Frank (ed.), Ford Madox Ford: The
of an evil magician. She is protected by a
Critical Heritage (1972).
brown owl who eventually turns out to be the Saunders, Max, Ford Madox Ford: A Dual Life
spirit of her dead father. Two years before this (1996).
story was written, Ford's father had also died. Weiss, Timothy, Fairy Tale and Romance in
Ford and his brother went to live with their Works of Ford Madox Ford (1984).
grandfather, the painter Ford Madox Brown,
while their sister Juliet, then only 8, was sent to F O R E M A N , M I C H A E L ( 1 9 3 8 - ). Born in Pake-
live with her uncle, William Rossetti, the most field, Suffolk, he graduated from the Royal
practical and conventional member of a very College of Art, London, and lectured in vari­
bohemian family. It seems possible that in this ous art schools and colleges between 1963 and
story Ford was sending a message to his sister 1972. His work as an illustrator has gained him
Juliet, urging her to let their grandfather such major awards as the Maschler (1982), the
Brown, rather than their uncle, take the place Kate *Greenaway (1983) and the Smarties prize
of the lost father. (1993). He has illustrated fairy tales from the
Ford's next literary fairy tale, The Feather European classics—Charles *Perrault (1982),
(1892) is a complex and rambling story which the *Grimms (1978), and Hans Christian
mixes fairy-tale characters with Greek myth­ *Andersen (1974); folk tales from around the
ology. The protagonist, another independent world—Japan, New Zealand, India, Ireland,
and enterprising princess, goes on a supernat­ and Cornwall; and modern fairy tales by Oscar
ural voyage to the moon, where Diana lives in * Wilde, Terry *Jones, and himself (All the
a temple made entirely of green cheese. The King's Horses, 1976). Foreman's distinctive
tale also seems to reflect Ford's courtship of fairy-tale illustrations assert their difference
Elsie Martindale, the 15-year-old girl whom he from more traditional styles. He works with
would marry two years later. The king in The watercolours and often restricts his palette to
Feather, like Elsie's rich, highly respectable blues, browns, or pastels, for example; he
father, opposes his daughter's suitor. makes minimal use of classical perspective, and
The Queen who Flew (1894), Ford's best often layers a scene as a series of planes moving
book for children, is lively, imaginative, and towards a high horizon reminiscent of 19th-
highly untraditional. Its heroine, young Queen century Japanese woodcuts, while vertical lines
Elfrida, is subject to a sour, reactionary regent are curved or wavy and lean away from the
named Lord Blackjowl; later on another un­ perpendicular; figures placed within the scene
F O U Q U É , F R I E D R I C H F R E I H E R R D E LA M O T T E 172

are abstracted towards caricature or the gro­ fairy-tale parodies, but the two serve different
tesque—by elongation of figure, by exagger­ purposes: parodies mock individual tales and
ation of feature and gesture, or by excesses of the genre as a whole; fractured fairy tales, with
beauty or ugliness. The style also enables de­ a reforming intent, seek to impart updated so­
piction of delicate, lyrical beauty, however, cial and moral messages.
counterpointing or offsetting ugliness or senti­ Changes made to the English tales about
mentality in a story. His illustrations not only *Jack and the giants offer a case in point. In its
emphasize thematic implications but also enter original chapbook versions, a plucky hero
into vigorous dialogue with those implications, killed a series of (usually cannibalistic) giants,
accentuating their absurdities and monstros­ and afterwards enriched himself with their
ities and exploring their comic potentialities. treasures. In the modern reformulation 'Jack
The often disconcerting effects of line, layout, and the Beanstalk', Jack's thievery proceeds
and comic grotesquerie effectively discompose piecemeal, first the giant's gold, then his gold­
the spectator, prompting fresh and interroga­ en egg-laying hen, and finally his magical
tive responses to the illustrated stories. JAS golden harp. Like earlier man-eating giants,
the Beanstalk giant also relishes human flesh:
FOUQUÉ, FRIEDRICH FREIHERR D E LA MOTTE Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum,
(1777—1843), writer of fiction romanticizing I smell the blood of an Englishman,
and sentimentalizing the Germanic past. As a Be he alive or be he dead,
youth he was a lieutenant in the Prussian army I'll grind his bones to make my bread.
and later served as an officer in a volunteer The ancient Jack dispatched numerous giants,
corps during the Wars of Liberation from the Beanstalk Jack only one. Unlike the gorily
French rule. Ideals of knighthood, chivalry, detailed deaths of his 18th-century predeces­
and noble virtue are a chief object of depiction sors, Jack's 20th-century gigantic foe is neither
in his novels, which were much esteemed and swiftly decapitated, agonizingly disemboweled,
highly popular during the Napoleonic period, nor stalwartly transfixed, but dies instead in an
not least because of their patriotic sentiment. arranged accident: as the giant pursues Jack
His novels, the most prominent of which were down the beanstalk, Jack chops through its
Der Held des Nordens {The Hero of the North, trunk, the giant plunges to his death, and Jack
1810) and Der Zauberring {The Magical Ring, and his mother live comfortably on the pro­
1813), were subsequently eclipsed by the ceeds of his adventures.
Waverley novels of Walter Scott and their im­ In its fractured version one modern author
mense international popularity. In contrast to (Alvin Granowski) reconfigured the Bean­
Scott's historical fiction, Fouqué's narratives stalk's tale elements to present an altogether
incorporated a great deal of popular legend, different message. His tale begins not in the
folk superstition, and faith in miracles. A chief poverty of Jack and his mother's hut, but with
and most successful example of this practice of Mrs Giant and her husband, Herbert, a friendly
Fouqué's is his * Undine (1811), a mermaid tale old couple dressed in soft pastels, who tell the
that became a minor world classic. Taking sad story of Jack's theft of their savings for re­
its idea from a treatise by Paracelsus tirement. Herbert's ritual quatrain now reads
(c.1494-1541) on elemental spirits {Elementar-
geister), the story is about a mermaid's receipt Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum,
of a soul through marriage to a knight, her loss My wife's cooking is yum, yum, yum.
Be it baked or be it fried,
of him then to a haughty mortal woman, and
We finish each meal with her tasty pies.
her sorrow over his death in her embrace as, in
the end, she wins him back at the moment he is On the final page, Mrs Giant speaks directly to
about to join the new wife in the bridal cham­ the book's readers and explains that 'giants
ber on their wedding night. JMM have feelings, too', and expresses the hope that
Lillyman, William J . , 'Fouqué's Undine', Studies they would never hurt a giant.
in Romanticism, 10 (1971). This example of a fractured fairy tale is one
Mornin, Edward, 'Some Patriotic Novels and among many fairy tales—'The Little Red
Tales by La Motte Fouqué', Seminar, 11 (1975). Hen', 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff, 'Goldi­
locks', and *'Hansel and Gretel'—that have
F R A C T U R E D FAIRY T A L E S are traditional fairy been fractured and reconstituted to teach self-
tales, rearranged to create new plots with fun­ reliance, avoiding hasty conclusions, respect
damentally different meanings or messages. for others' privacy, and compassion for the old
Fractured fairy tales are closely related to and poor. The process of producing a fractured
173 'FROG KING, THE'

fairy tale involves decoding a tale's words, F R A N K L I N B R O T H E R S , T H E (Sidney, 1893-1972,

motifs, and plot, and encoding them in a new and Chester, 1890—1949), co-creators of silent
pattern. Such reutilized fairy tales have entered pantomime films with virtually all-child casts.
elementary school writing curricula in some After a series of short 'kid pictures' they gradu-
American states, such as New York. ated to the Fox Film Corporation, where they
In Germany after 1968, many fairy-tale par- jointly directed their first feature. It was a spec-
odies appeared which shared a common intent tacular adaptation, faithful to literary sources
with fractured fairy tales. 'Hansel and Gretel' rather than to stage versions, of *Jack and the
lent itself particularly well to character inver- Beanstalk (USA, 1917). In it all the actors were
sions (witch as pensioner, Hansel and Gretel as children, except the giant. Standing 8 ft 5 ins
juvenile delinquents), and the mode was taken tall, and weighing 32 stone (450 lb.), the adult
up vigorously in new collections, such as Paul actor needed no camera trickery to make him
Maar's Der tdtowierte Hund (The Tattooed Dog, look several times bigger than any of the 1,200
1968). RBB children (or so the publicity claimed) who
Granowsky, Alvin (ed.),Jack and the Beanstalk, played the inhabitants of the medieval king-
illus. Linda Graves/Giants Have Feelings, Too, dom at the top of the magic beanstalk. In its
illus. Henry Buerchkholtz (1996). original cut the film gave free rein to the giant's
habit of grinding bones to make his bread, and
F R A N C E (see p. 174) of putting babies on the chopping block, but
before its U K release it was pruned from ten
FRANCE, ANATOLE (pseudonym of JACQUES- reels to eight because it was deemed too gory
ANATOLE-FRANÇOIS THIBAULT 1844-1924), French for children to see. With the same basic for-
poet, novelist, critic, and Nobel laureate mula and the same lead actors—including
(1921). France had an abiding interest in fairy 6-year-old Virginia Lee Corbin as the heroine,
tales. An early story, 'L'Abeille' ('The Bee', and 1 o-year-old Buddy Messinger as the
1882), features two young heroes who are heavy—the Franklins went on to make *Alad-
eventually united by the King of the Dwarfs. din and his Wonderful Lamp (1917), full of sinu-
Intended for children, the tale's mythological ous oriental body movement and villainous
allusions and erudition appeal to adults as well. moustache-stroking. Next came Babes in the
Wood (1917, directed by Sidney alone) and *Ali
'Dialogue sur les contes de fées' ('Con-
Baba and the Forty Thieves (1918), which went
versation about Fairy Tales'), found in
on location and used forests, plains, and moun-
France's celebrated Le Livre de mon ami (My
tains as well as studio sets. After that, diminish-
Friends Book, 1885), is a passionate defence of
ing box-office returns prompted Fox to end the
the educational value and imaginative power of
series. TAS
fairy tales. France's best-known tales are sub-
versive reworkings of Charles *Perrault's Brownlow, Kevin, 'Sidney A. Franklin: The
""Bluebeard' and *'Sleeping Beauty'. In 'Les Modest Pioneer', Focus on Film, 10 (1972).
Sept femmes de la Barbe-Bleue d'après des
documents authentiques' ('The Seven Wives F R A U H O L L E , see M O T H E R H O L L E .
of Bluebeard according to Authentic Docu-
ments', 1909), Bluebeard is the unwitting vic- 'FROG KING, THE'. A S the first fairy tale in the
tim of avaricious and adulterous wives. Here Brothers *Grimm, ^Kinder- und Hausmdrchen
the revisionist narrator 'corrects' the 'errors' in (Children's and Household Tales), it has gained
Perrault's account, which he treats as fact ra- an incredible popularity as a didactic lesson for
ther than fiction. France's wilful confusion of children as well as an erotic tale for adults. This
these categories validates fiction by equating it tale of a king's daughter who promises a frog
with history and simultaneously undermines to let it eat and sleep with her if it retrieves a
history's claims to accuracy and objectivity. golden ball that she has dropped into a well
AZ becomes an exemplum for the fact that prom-
Bancquart, Marie-Claire, Anatole France, un ises must be kept. In the German version the
sceptique passionné (1984). princess throws the frog against the wall, and
Bresky, Dushan, The Art of Anatole France this breaks the spell of a witch who had
(1969). changed the prince into the frog. In most other
Levy, Diane Wolfe, 'History as Art: Ironic
versions the frog is kissed by the princess, and
Parody in Anatole France's Les Sept Femmes de
la Barbe-Bleue', Nineteenth-Century French
the prince appears. The relationship of this tale
Studies, 4 (1976). to the larger cycle of *'Beauty and the Beast' is
Tendron, Edith, Anatole France inconnu (1995). much more prevalent here. But Wilhelm
France (17th century to present) has a long, rich, and
diverse tradition of literary fairy tales.
Although the 'conte de fées' (fairy tale) first appeared
so named at the end of the 17th century, what we would
now call fairy-tale motifs are evident from the very be­
ginnings of a written literature in French. Wonder tales
and their elements are found throughout the fables and
exempla used by the medieval Church. The 'marvellous'
is also very much in evidence in medieval secular litera­
ture such as the Lais of *Marie de France, numerous chan­
sons de geste (e.g. 'Huon de Bordeaux'), chivalric
romances (e.g. those by Chrétien de Troyes), and plays,
as well as in Renaissance prose fiction (e.g. Rabelais, du
Fail, des Périers, Cent nouvelles nouvelles). Like the later
literary fairy tales, almost all these precursors adapt
motifs found in oral traditions. Yet, if the fairy tales that
began to appear in France during the 1690s are part of a
long-standing literary tradition, they were recognized at
the time as being something new and different as well:
these stories rework (what are presented as) indigenous,
'popular' narratives at a time when the dominant literary
aesthetic prescribed ancient Greek and Roman models,
and they unabashedly offer for adult consumption narra­
tives readily associated with children.

1. BIRTH OF A GENRE: 1690-1715

Although Marie-Catherine d'*Aulnoy holds the distinc­
tion of publishing the first literary fairy tale in France
('L'île de la félicité ('The Island of Happiness'), pub­
lished in her novel L'Histoire d'Hypolite, comte de Duglas,
1690), the flowering of the genre is actually a collective
phenomenon. From at least the mid-17th century, mem­
bers of Parisian salons and perhaps even the French court
had played a society game in which they told stories (sup­
posedly) resembling those of governesses and nurses.
Once fairy tales along these lines began to be published,
they appeared rapidly in what is best described as a
'vogue'. After a few more isolated stories (by d'Aulnoy,
Catherine *Bernard, Marie-Jeanne *Lhéritier de Villan-
don, and Charles *Perrault), between 1697 and 1700 eight
collections (by Louise d'*Auneuil, d'Aulnoy, Rose de *La
Force, Jean de *Mailly, Henriette-Julie de *Murat, and
Perrault) appeared with over 75 tales in all. Women
writers dominated the vogue, with two-thirds of the tales
published between 1690 and 1715 to their credit, which
suggests that the genre offered them a means of expres­
sion and experimentation not available through other es-
175 FRANCE

tablished literary forms. It was also women who coined

the very expression 'conte de fées' (found in the title to
d'Aulnoy's 1697—8 collection, Les Contes des fées, and
Murat's 1698 Nouveaux contes de fées), which was trans­
lated to give the English 'tales of the fairies' (1699) and
eventually 'fairy tale' (1724).
Perhaps the most enduring legacy of the vogue was
the mythic origin and the aesthetic its initiators created
for the genre. Frontispieces and prefaces accompanying
d'Aulnoy's, Lhéritier's, and Perrault's tales model the
conte de fées on the storytelling by grandmothers, g o v ­
ernesses, and nurses to young children. However real
such storytelling may have been at the time and however
undeniable the resemblance many contes de fées bear to
folkloric narratives, the vogue's intertextual sources are
diverse and decidedly literary. More than by oral trad­
itions, the fairy tales of the first vogue were influenced
directly or indirectly by Italian models, including the
tales of *Straparola and *Basile but also the marvellous
characters and episodes in works by Ariosto, Boiardo,
and Tasso. The fairies, chivalry, and star-crossed lovers
of these Italian sources provided the material with which
to create a (hitherto non-existent) fairy-tale aesthetic that
exerted considerable influence on subsequent fairy tales.
As studied by Raymonde Robert, this aesthetic includes
three components, which are found in most French fairy
tales of the 17th and 18th centuries: (1) the tales state from
the very outset that the hero and heroine will ultimately
triumph over their adversaries; (2) they highlight the ex­
emplary moral and social destiny of the heroic couple;
and (3) they establish the self-sufficiency of the marvel­
lous universe.
For writers and readers of late 17th-century France,
both the fairy tale's mythic origin and its aesthetic served
a particular ideological function. T h e archetypal story­
telling of lower-class women assimilated the popular oral
tradition into élite literary practice so as to obscure the
reality of hierarchical social relations. A t the same time,
the seemingly fantastical aesthetic of the contes de fées
none the less served to celebrate the values of the self-
contained social elite of late 17th-century France, values
which are readily visible in characters and descriptions.
Only in tales by Perrault and Eustache *Le Noble are the
protagonists of this first vogue not royalty, and the other
writers frequently incorporate the discovery of noble
birth as a plot motif. Throughout these fairy tales,
lengthy and tedious descriptions of luxurious settings re-
FRANCE 176

call (sometimes directly) the French court at Versailles.

Given that French aristocrats and the court were experi-
encing severe economic difficulties at the time, both the
protagonists and the settings of these fairy tales suggest
that the genre was at least in part a form of compensation
or escape from the pressures of the real.
Paradoxically, this aesthetic is much less evident in the
most famous tales of the first vogue, those by Charles
Perrault, than in those of his contemporaries. In fact, Per-
rault's are the most atypical of the first vogue. Unlike the
other contes de fées, only half include a romantic plot, and
almost all resemble folkloric tale types. Most distinctive-
ly, Perrault's ^Histoires ou contes du temps passé {Stories or
Tales from Past Times, 1697), or Contes de ma Mère VOye
(*Mother Goose Tales) as they are perhaps best known,
feature an infantilizing narrative voice and a succinct neo-
classical French style with limited description. Com-
bined, these traits led 19th- and early 20th-century folk-
lorists and literary critics to consecrate Perrault's
enormously popular tales as the cultural monument they
had already become through reprints and chapbooks. So
doing, however, scholars exaggerated Perrault's 'faithful-
ness' to the oral tradition and oversimplified the tales'
complex ideological and psychological meanings. The
appearance of Marc Soriano's seminal Les Contes de Per-
rault (1968) addressed these issues straight-on and cleared
the w a y for a critical reassessment of Perrault and his
tales by historians, psychologists, semioticians, and femi-
nists, among others. All of these approaches continue to
shed light on the enduring popularity of Perrault's tales
not only in France but throughout the world.
In spite of their instant success, the Mother Goose Tales
did not inspire direct imitations among writers of fairy
tales in 17th- and 18th-century France. Contrary to what
is often asserted, the other writers were not following
Perrault's but a different and parallel path. T o be sure,
like Perrault's, many of their tales can be traced (prob-
ably indirectly) to folkloric sources; yet, they are also far
more indebted to motifs from novels and make more
prominent use of magic characters and settings. While
Perrault's collection was recognized from the beginning
as being exceptional, if not inimitable, many tales by his
•s. '2 contemporaries were no less popular well into the 19th
century. Almost all of the fairy tales published between
1690 and 1715 were republished and anthologized later in
the 18th century, but d'Aulnoy's tales came the closest to
matching the popularity of the Mother Goose Tales. None
177 FRANCE

the less, Perrault's and d'Aulnoy's fairy tales were popu­

lar for different reasons. Whereas the concision of Per­
rault's tales made them accessible to children and their
irony simultaneously appealed to adults, d'Aulnoy's ex-
pansiveness, both in style and descriptions (e.g. variety of
animals), resonated with adult readers steeped in the ad­
venture novels popular at the time. And whereas Perrault
recycles an age-old gaulois humour replete with misogyn-
istic jibes, d'Aulnoy, like several other of the women
writers of fairy tales, gives central billing to heroines and
mothers, thereby probably appealing to women, the most
avid readers of novels.
Notwithstanding the differences among their tales, all
of these writers were conscious of developing a fashion­
able literary form for an élite public. Following the liter­
ary convention of their time, most of them presented
their tales as 'pleasing' in order to be 'instructive',
although their most immediate imperative was to create
'bagatelles' ('trifles') that entertained readers. Only a few
critics took the trouble to dignify what they doubtless
saw as a marginal and passing phenomenon, among them
the austere abbé de Villiers, who in 1699 virulently de­
nounced 'this heap of tales that has plagued us for a year
or two'. What this dismissive critic failed—or re­
fused—to see was that the vogue was by no means insig­
nificant, and this for two reasons. First, it was intricately
linked to the 'Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns'
that was shaking French cultural life at this time. In sep­
arate manifestos, both Perrault and his niece Lhéritier
argue that the literary fairy tale demonstrates the super­
iority of indigenous French culture over ancient Greek
and Roman models. And, implicitly, all the fairy tales
from this period illustrate the 'modernist' position. Sec­
ondly, the vogue cleared the way for new forms of fan­
tasy fiction in 18th-century France, fantasy that is based
only minimally on indigenous oral traditions and even
less on Greek and Roman mythology and that is put to an
ever-wider array of uses, from humorous escapism to so­
cial and political critique.

2. THE SECOND VOGUE: 1722-78

Although a steady stream of fairy tales appeared over a
period of almost 100 years (1690—1778), it is useful to
distinguish between the 17th- and 18th-century manifest­
ations of the genre. After the explosion of 1697—1700,
fairy tales were not published with anything resembling
the same intensity until the 1740s. Overall, more tales ap-
FRANCE I8
7

peared during the second vogue (approximately 144 be­

tween 1722 and 1778) than during the first (approximately
1 1 4 ) . This increase in quantity was matched by an in­
crease in diversity. In 18th-century France, the genre
blossomed into a myriad of forms, including oriental,
sentimental, philosophical, parodie, satirical, porno­
graphic, and didactic tales. This diversity is an indication
of the distinct social and intellectual groups that produced
fairy tales in this period, as opposed to the collective ef­
fort that provided the impetus for the earlier vogue.
Many of the 17th-century writers knew each other, met
regularly in the same salons, and in some instances en­
gaged in friendly competition with each other to compose
stories based on the same plot (e.g. 'Les Fées' ('The
*Fairies') by Perrault and 'Les Enchantements de l'élo­
quence' by Lhéritier). The same cannot necessarily be
said of the 18th-century writers. Gatherings such as the
salons of the duchesse du Maine at Sceaux, of Mme Le
Marchand, and of Mlle Quinault, and the 'Société du bout
du banc' were responsible for some of the fairy tales pub­
lished during the second vogue (for example, Jean-Jac­
ques *Rousseau probably composed ' L a Reine Fantasque'
for the salon of Mile Quinault); but the majority of the
writers of the second vogue conceived and published
their tales independently. Moreover, a much smaller pro­
portion of the 18th-century tales were written by women
than during the first vogue, suggesting that the conte de
fées had entered the male-dominated literary mainstream.
While respecting the aesthetic defined by their 17th-
century predecessors, the 18th-century writers also pro­
duced fairy tales with far fewer discernible folkloric
traces (one-tenth of the second vogue vs. one-half of the
first vogue). It is a measure of both the genre's develop­
ment and the changing literary climate that writers in­
creasingly used it to give free rein to their imaginations
rather than to adapt extant oral and written traditions.
Numerous are the novel-like fairy tales that continue to
rely on the sentimental romance scheme so frequently
employed by the 17th-century women writers. However,
in stories by Philippe de *Caylus, Marie-Antoinette *Fag-
nan, Louise *Levesque, Catherine de *Lintot, Mlle de
*Lubert, Henri *Pajon, Gabrielle-Suzanne de V i l l e ­
neuve, and others, stock fairy-tale features are exagger­
ated a n d / o r complicated; for instance, conflicts among
good and evil fairies are sharply accentuated and the obs­
tacles to the lovers' union become dizzyingly complex.
Less apparent in these particular tales is the didactic im-
179 FRANCE

perative that their 17th-century counterparts seek to up­

hold, even if only superficially. Indeed, prefaces by Lin-
tot and Lubert define the genre for the first time as
pleasurable, but not necessarily instructive. This shift by
no means implies that the 18th-century conte de fées was
devoid of ideological, social, or philosophical import; ra­
ther, the ludic pleasure of fairy-tale writing, only timidly
and discreetly suggested during the first vogue, was
openly recognized and accepted during the second
vogue.
In addition to these novel-like fairy tales, the 18th cen­
tury produced other strains unlike those of the earlier
period. Perhaps the single most significant of these is the
*oriental tale. Between the first and second vogues ap­
peared the immensely popular 12-volume translation/
adaptation of The ^Arabian Nights (Les Mille et une nuits,
1 7 0 4 - 1 7 ) by Antoine *Galland, which included the first
(and most influential) version in a Western European lan­
guage of such famous stories as '*Aladdin and the Magic
Lamp', *'Ali Baba', and 'The Voyages of Sindbad'. If the
fairy tales of the first vogue laid the groundwork for G a l -
land's best-seller, this work in turn rekindled interest in
the conte de fées and spawned stories that incorporate
vaguely 'oriental' motifs, characters, and decors. More
often than not, such oriental 'material' is superimposed
upon Western European folklore, as in Thomas-Simon
Gueulette's Mille et un quarts d'heure {Thousand and One
Quarter-Hours, 1715) and the abbé de Bignon's Aventures
d'Abdallah (Adventures of Abdallah, 1 7 1 2 — 1 4 ) . T h e re­
verse is apparent in Gueulette's Soirées bretonnes (Breton
Evenings, 1712) in which authentic 'oriental' folklore is
given French dress. Arguably, the vast numbers and im­
mense popularity of 18th-century oriental wonder tales
played a decisive role in the development of Western
European 'orientalist' stereotypes that not only found
their way into literary works of social critique (such as
Montesquieu's Lettres persanes and *Voltaire's Zadig) but
that also prepared the way, ideologically, for 19th-cen­
tury European colonial expansion into North Africa and
the Middle East.
No less numerous than the oriental tales were the 18th-
century satirical and 'licentious' (or pornographic) tales.
The conte de fées was hardly the only literary form to
include satire and 'licentious' descriptions at this time.
Yet, the genre's predictable structures and moralizing
pretext lent themselves particularly well to these subver­
sive uses. Capitalizing on its (purported) innocence,
FRANCE 180

writers such as Louis de Cahusac, Jacques *Cazotte,

Claude-Prosper de *Crébillon fils, Charles *Duclos,
Charles de *La Morlière, Rousseau, Henri-Charles de
Senneterre, and Claude-Henri de *Voisenon satirize reli-
gious and political personages and, occasionally, social
and philosophical norms. In tales by Cahusac, Crébillon,
Senneterre, and Voisenon especially, such satire is put in
starker relief—or overshadowed—by (usually euphem-
istic) anatomical and sexual descriptions. Although often
highly coded, the critique in these tales is conveyed
through blatantly obvious humour. In addition, several
contes de fées are explicit illustrations of Enlightenment
thought (e.g. L a Morlière, Angola (1746) and Rousseau,
' L a Reine Fantasque' (1754)). On the whole, however,
these tales are by no means the most radical form of social
and political critique in pre-Revolutionary France, but
instead portray the mores of the most privileged classes.
Central to the satirical and pornographic tales is par-
ody of the fairy tale itself. Indeed, the humour in these
strains of fairy-tale writing derives from ridiculing the
characters, descriptions, and plots used so frequently dur-
ing the first vogue. Parody was not a uniquely 18th-cen-
tury phenomenon, however. In the midst of the first
vogue, Anthony *Hamilton wrote three fairy-tale par-
odies (1703—4), although they were only published some
30 years later. In addition, two short fairy-tale comedies
(one by Dancourt and another by Dufreny de la Rivière),
staged in 1699, poke fun at fairies and their magic. Yet, it
was only during the second vogue that the fairy-tale aes-
thetic was sufficiently well established to inspire numer-
ous parodies. If the line between 'serious' and 'parodie'
fairy tales is not always clear because some writers, not-
ably Mlle de Lubert, delight in exaggerating the already
hyperbolic features of the genre, several writers never-
theless state an unequivocal parodie intent through meta-
commentaries on the stories made by storyteller and lis-
teners (e.g. Crébillon's ' A h quel conte!' and Rousseau's
' L a Reine Fantasque'). That nearly one-third of all 18th-
century fairy tales employ parody demonstrates the
genre's significant contribution to the increasingly self-
reflexive literature of this period.
Decidedly 'serious' and unparodic are the tales in
Marie *Leprince de Beaumont's Magasin des enfants
{Young Misses Magazine, 1757), which includes the most
famous version of ' L a Belle et la bête' (*'Beauty and the
Beast'). These stories break with the established tradition
of French fairy tales and blaze a new—and henceforth,
I8I FRANCE

dominant—path for the genre. Often considered to be

the inaugural text of French children's literature, this
primer written for English schoolgirls learning French is
one of only two collections of tales written explicitly and
exclusively for children during both the first and second
vogues (the other is *Fénelon's Fables, published posthu­
mously in 1718). For the most part, Leprince de Beau­
mont's collection adapts—that is, reduces and
simplifies—previously published fairy tales (her version
of 'Beauty and the Beast' is a rewriting of a longer and
more complex tale by Villeneuve) and always presents a
clear moral lesson for each of the stories. Alternating be­
tween fairy tales and Bible stories, this text features a ser­
ies of conversations between a governess and young girls
who draw practical moral lessons from the stories told.
Such an explicitly pedagogical approach shifted emphasis
away from the genre's aristocratic roots and promoted a
complex of bourgeois Christian values that was to be at
the core of 19th-century children's literature. In her own
way, then, Leprince de Beaumont reinvigorated the in­
junction to 'please' and 'instruct' that was used by writers
of the first vogue to justify the newly created genre but
that was quickly and conveniently ignored as a conven­
tional commonplace. Coming at the very end of the se­
cond vogue (only two short tales, by Rétif de la
Bretonne, were to appear after hers), Leprince de Beau­
mont's Magasin des enfants created a new model for fairy­
tale writing in France. The pedagogical imperative it
upholds even became a determining factor in the
republication of fairy tales from the first and second
vogues. A t the end of the 18th century, when Charles-
Joseph de *Mayer edited the massive 40-volume Cabinet
des fées (1785—9), he was careful to defend the genre as
being morally instructive and, simultaneously, to exclude
almost all parodie and 'licentious' tales.
Notwithstanding these attempts to rejuvenate it, the
conte de fées had been used overwhelmingly throughout
the 17th and 18th centuries to advocate an aristocratic
ethos incompatible with emerging democratic ideals. A n d
so it is understandable that, by the time of the Revolu­
tion, writers had long since ceased publishing fairy tales.

3. T H E 1Ç)TH C E N T U R Y
Early 19th-century France did not share the enthusiasm
for the literary fairy tale that swept romantic Germany.
In France, unlike in Germany, folk and fairy tales were
not used as a means of defining a national 'essence'.
FRANCE 182

(Ironically, though, the 17th- and 18th-century contes de

fées were an important source of inspiration for writers of
the German romantic Marchent) There was also resist-
ance to including fairy tales in the growing corpus of chil-
dren's literature. Several 18th- and early 19th-century
writers for children, including Stéphanie-Félicité de Gen-
lis, Arnaud Berquin, and J . - N . Bouilly were openly crit-
ical of the literary fairy tale. Some writers, such as Genlis
and Berquin, were highly suspicious of fairy-tale magic
and instead depicted natural wonders and Christian vir-
tues. Institutional control of children's literature also
thwarted the genre. Officially sanctioned children's lit-
erature for use in schools was controlled until 1871 large-
ly by the Church, which was hostile to the idea of giving
schoolchildren fiction, not to mention fairy tales. After
the birth of the Third Republic ( 1 8 7 1 ) , control over
schoolbooks was assumed by the State, whose ideological
criteria were no less rigid than the Church's had been
(although they were obviously of a different nature). The
result was that little changed for the genre.
In spite of these obstacles, the fairy tale had a signifi-
cant impact on readers from all walks of life, from the
Parisian bourgeoisie to the provincial peasantry. With
improvements in mechanical printing techniques came
ever-cheaper and more widely distributed chapbook and
broadsheet versions of fairy tales, especially—but not ex-
clusively—of Perrault's Mother Goose Tales. Although
they had appeared throughout the 18th century, these
versions literally flooded 19th-century France (e.g. those
published by the Oudot family of Troyes and the Image-
rie d'Epinal), and it is difficult to overstate their import-
ance. T h e y transformed a small group of tales into
'classics' and engraved them into the collective French
consciousness. T h e y also had a knock-back effect on the
very oral tradition from which the fairy tales had been
adapted—mostly indirectly—in the first place. No less
consequential was the conception of the genre they pro-
moted: the conte de fées, like many of the texts in the
Bibliothèque bleue, was reduced to the status of a didactic
tool that promoted conservative social norms.
A t the same time as republishing existing fairy tales,
19th-century France made its own contributions to the
genre. Since they were excluded from both Church- and
State-sanctioned school curricula, contes de fées were
published for domestic consumption. Among the most
notable of collections were those produced by Pierre-
Jules Hetzel, perhaps the most prominent editor/publish-
i8 3
FRANCE

er of secular, non-official children's literature during the

first half of the century. Besides a collection of 40 tales
from the Cabinet des fées (Livre des enfants (The Children's
Book, 1837)), he published the Le Nouveau magasin des
enfants {The New Children's Magasine, 1844), which in-
cludes stories by Hans Christian *Andersen but also by
many of the period's best-known French writers, includ-
ing Honoré de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas père, Alfred de
Musset, Charles *Nodier, and George *Sand. In addition
to displaying their authors' deft use of a simple and direct
style, the tales anthologized in this latter collection com-
bine social realism with romantic fantasy. On the one
hand, they repeatedly insist on the dignity of the econom-
ically disenfranchised; on the other, they depict a fantas-
tical flight from modern life. Given the progressive bent
(by the period's standards) of many of these tales, it is not
surprising that they remained on the periphery of 19th-
century French children's literature.
More prominent were collections by two women
writers, George Sand and the comtesse de *Ségur.
Although Sand's Contes d'une grand-mère {Tales of a
Grandmother, 1876) and Ségur's Nouveaux contes de fées
{New Fairy Tales, 1857) share some superficial similarities
(e.g. the minimal use of folkloric tale types and the nos-
talgic representation of country life), most aspects of their
tales evince two very different conceptions of the genre.
Sand's tales are by her own admission addressed to both
children and adults and incorporate many of the philo-
sophical and even scientific theories of her time. T h e y are
complex narratives that reveal a tension between social
realism and nostalgic fantasy: Sand attempts to reconcile
contemporary settings and characters with a muted fairy-
tale magic and an idealized country existence. V e r y dif-
ferent are the seven tales in Ségur's collection. Written
explicitly for children in a simple, direct style, Ségur's
fairy tales utilize interdiction-transgression plots in order
to convey a clear moral didacticism. In contast with Sand
and the other contributors to Le Nouveau Magasin des
enfants, Ségur gives scant attention to social problems but
instead presents ethical dilemmas, solutions of which are
meant to uphold solid bourgeois values. T h e publication
history of Ségur's volume further distinguishes it from
Sand's. Whereas Sand was already a successful writer
when she published her tales (first individually and then
as a collection) and continued to incorporate fairy-tale
motifs in subsequent works for both adults and children,
Ségur used her Nouveaux Contes de fées to test the market
before embarking on her phenomenally successful career
as a writer of children's literature. However, never again
did she return to the fairy tale.
Sand's and Ségur's examples notwithstanding, fairy
tales constituted a relatively small portion of the overall
output of children's literature by 19th-century French
writers. Far more numerous were the fairy tales that were
written for adults during the second half of the century by
writers such as Paul *Arène, Théodore de *Banville, Ana-
tole *France, Jules T e m a î t r e , Léo Lespès, Jean *Lorrain,
and Catulle *Mendès. Between 1862 and 1922, approxi-
mately 500 tales were published in what might best be
termed a third vogue. Issuing from the 'decadent' move-
ment, this corpus of contes de fées departs sharply from
the earlier vogues. Whereas the 17th- and 18th-century
vogues respect the same basic aesthetic, the 19th-century
'decadent' tales meld literary naturalism with the marvel-
lous. The result is fairy tales that undermine the self-suffi-
cient, other-worldly universe so typical of the genre up to
this point. T h e marvellous no longer comforts and re-
assures but rather disturbs and threatens as eroticism,
ugliness, and sex wars take centre stage. In further con-
trast to their 17th- and especially 18th-century predeces-
sors, the 19th-century writers do not create new plot
scenarios as much as they rework Perrault's Mother Goose
Tales by imagining sequels, developing minor characters
or details, and juxtaposing fairy-tale and realistic settings.
Their narrators also eschew the feigned naïveté of the
earlier contes de fées in favour of a (supposedly) positiv-
istic erudition, claiming to uncover intentions and details
left unstated in the original. A s the irony of this narrative
stance indicates (obtaining as it does in wonder tales), this
third vogue was in fact a reaction against the hegemony
of science and realism in the late 19th century. Given a
similar reaction in late 20th-century culture, it is perhaps
not unexpected that many narrative features of the 'deca-
dent' contes de fées reappear in contemporary fairy tales
(particularly in English), even if the fin-de-siècle corpus
seems to have had only a limited influence on subsequent
writers.

4. T H E 2 0 T H C E N T U R Y
A s the 'decadent' movement waned, the literary fairy tale
was reshaped by important institutional and scholarly de-
velopments. Beginning in the 1880s, fairy tales started to
appear on recommended reading lists for pre-school and
elementary school children. And to meet this need new
i8 5
FRANCE

collections were published, such as those by Maurice

Bouchor (Les Contes transcrits d'après la tradition française,
(Tales Transcribed from the French Tradition, 1 9 1 1 — 1 3 ) ) ,
which aim to defend secular Republican ideals while sim-
plifying the language and toning down the violence of his
originals. More important still was the rise of folkloris-
tics. During the period 1870—1914, folklorists hurried to
transcribe oral narratives from regions all over France,
aware that their country was far behind the similar pro-
jects of other European nations. If these transcriptions
were intended primarily as enthnographic evidence af-
firming regional identity (in opposition to central State
authority), many of them served as the basis for popu-
larized series of folk tales. A m o n g the most famous of
these are Henri *Pourrat's Le Trésor des contes (Treasury
of Tales, 1948—62), which in spite of Pourrat's claims are
in fact artful retellings of folk tales, and the ongoing Gal-
limard collection Récits et contes populaires (Popular Stor-
ies and Tales), edited by Jean Cuisenier.
In scholarly circles, the painstaking fieldwork of fin-
de-siècle folklorists culminated in the catalogue Le Conte
populaire français (1957—85) by Paul Delarue and Marie-
Louise Tenèze, which uses the *Aarne—Thompson index
to classify French and Francophone oral narratives and is
enormously useful to students of French folklore and lit-
erary fairy tales alike. Over the past 30 years, the fairy
tale has become an increasingly dynamic field of study in
France and has attracted scholars from a variety of dis-
ciplines and approaches, including literary criticism
(Marc Soriano, Raymonde Robert), psychoanalysis (Jean
Bellemin-Noël, François Flahault), semiotics (Claude
Brémond, Louis Marin), and history (Catherine
Velay-Vallantin).
For writers of the literary fairy tale, the 20th century
has been no less productive than for folklorists and peda-
gogues. During the first half of the century, several major
literary figures, notably Guillaume *Apollinaire and Jean
*Cocteau, produced fairy-tale works designed, most de-
cidedly, for adults. In different ways, both Apollinaire
(poems in Alcools (1913) and Calligrammes ( 1 9 1 8 ) ) and
Cocteau (film, La Belle et la bête (Beauty and the Beast,
1946)) were prominent exponents of the search for alter-
natives to conventional experience and reality and found
in the fairy tale a convenient cultural reference for their
projects. But it is for children that the vast majority of
fairy tales have been written during the 20th century. R e -
nowned series of children's books, such as the stories of
 186

Babar (created by Jean and François de Brunhoff) and

Père Castor (created by Paul Faucher), both inaugurated
in the 1930s, employ fairy-tale-like motifs and characters,
even if they are not fairy tales in the strictest (i.e. folk-
loric) sense of the word. Moreover, the fairy tale has been
the form of choice for scores of writers who devoted only
part of their work to children's literature. Among the
most significant of these are Marcel *Aymé, Les Contes du
chat perché {Tales of the Perched Cat, 1937—9); Beatrix
Beck, Contes à l'enfant né coiffé {Tales for the Child Born
with a Hairdo, 1953); Léonce Bourliaguet, Contes de la
folle avoine {Wild Oat Tales, 1946); Blaise Cendrars,
Petits contes nègres pour les enfants des blancs {African
Tales for White Children, 1928); Etienne *Delessert, Com-
ment la souris reçoit une pierre sur la tête et découvre le
monde {How a Rock Falls on the Head of the Mouse and It
Discovers the World, 1961); Paul Éluard, Grain d'aile {Lit-
tle Wing, 1951); Maurice *Maeterlinck, L'Oiseau bleu {The
*Blue Bird, play, 1939); Antoine de *Saint-Exupéry, Le
Petit Prince {The Little Prince, 1943); and Jules Super-
vielle, La Belle au bois {Beauty in the Woods, 1953).
Almost all of these fairy tales blend magic with realis-
tic settings and psychology. More recent examples of the
genre likewise use realism, but also make subversive use
of the fairy-tale form. Notable are Philippe *Dumas and
Boris Moissard {Contes à l'envers {Upside Down Tales,
1 9 7 7 ) ) ; Pierre *Gripari {La Sorcière de la rue Mouffetard
{The Witch of Mouffetard Street, iy6y),Le Gentil petit dia-
ble {The Nice Little Devil, 1984), and Patrouille du conte
{The Tale Patrol, 1983)); Grégoire Solotareff {Un jour,
un loup {One Day a Wolf 1994)); and Michel *Tournier
{Sept contes {Seven Tales, 1978—80)), who confront eco-
logical, ethical, and social concerns through familiar day-
to-day contexts, anti-conformist characters, and role-re-
versals. None of these writers hesitates to disturb rather
than simply comfort young listeners/readers, sometimes
through the depiction of vengeance and violence (e.g.
Gripari); and all leave the 'moral' of their stories implicit
rather than stating it explicitly. While such features
underscore the double subversion at work in these tales
(subversion of the 'classic' fairy-tale form in order to pro-
duce subversive personal and social effects), they consti-
tute a constructive more than a destructive use of parody.
When contrasted with literatures in English especially,
it is striking that late 20th-century French and Franco-
phone literatures have produced so few literary fairy tales
written primarily for adults. Be this as it may, those tales
i8 7

that have appeared attest to the rich diversity of contem-

porary writing in French. Beyond the use of fairy tales as
important subtexts or cultural references (e.g. Daniel
Pennac, Au bonheur des ogres {The Ogres' Happiness, 1985)
and La Fée Carabine {The Fairy Gunsmoke, 1987)), Jean-
Pierre Andrevon {La Fée et le géomètre {The Fairy and the
Geometer, 1978)), and Pierrette *Fleutiaux {Métamor-
phoses de la reine {Metamorphoses of the Queen, 1985) ) have
reworked fairy-tale plots so as to argue the necessity of
ecological reform (Andrevon) and to depict erotic and
even violent fantasies about feminine sexuality (Fleu-
tiaux). B y comparison, though, Francophone writers have
of late contributed as much if not more to the genre than
French writers. Benefiting from their own considerable
knowledge of folklore in their homelands, writers such as
the French Canadian Germain Lemieux {Les vieux m'ont
conté {The Old People Told Me, 1 9 7 7 ) ) , the Senegalese
Birago Diop {Contes d'Amadou Koumba {Tales of Amadou
Koumba, 1947) and Nouveaux contes d'Amadou Koumba
{New Tales of Amadou Koumba, 1958)), and more recently
the Martinican Patrick *Chamoiseau {Au temps de l'antan:
contes martiniquais {Creole Folktales, 1988)) artfully blur
the distinction between transcription and adaptation while
highlighting the specificity of indigenous folklore from
Francophone countries. O f course, in addition to literary
fairy tales by French and Francophone writers, countless
translations of folk tales from all regions of the world
remain popular among adults and children alike. A s
France and Francophone countries ponder their roles in a
global economy and a much-touted 'new world order', it
is fitting that the fairy tale in French now encompasses
such diverse—Francophone and non-Francophone—
national and ethnic traditions. LCS

Barchilon, Jacques, Le Conte merveilleux français de i6po à iypo ( 1 9 7 5 ) .

Malarte-Feldman, Claire-Lise, 'La Nouvelle Tyrannie des fées, ou la
réécriture des contes de fées classiques', French Review, 6 3 . 5 (April 1 9 9 0 ) .
Marin, Louis, La Parole mangée ( 1 9 8 6 ? ) .
Palacio, Jean de, Les Perversions du merveilleux: ma Mère l'Oye au tournant
du siècle ( 1 9 9 3 ) .
Perrot, Jean (éd.), Tricentenaire Charles Perrault: les grands contes du XVIIe
siècle et leur fortune littéraire ( 1 9 9 8 ) .
Robert, Raymonde, Le Conte de fées littéraire en France ( 1 9 8 2 ) .
Seifert, Lewis C , Fairy Tales, Sexuality, and Gender in France, 1690—1715
(1996).

Soriano, Marc, Les Contes de Perrault ( 1 9 6 8 ) .

Storer, Mary Elizabeth, Un épisode littéraire de la fin du XVIIe siècle: la
mode des contes de fées (1685—1700) ( 1 9 2 8 ) .
Velay-Vallantin, Catherine, L'Histoire des contes ( 1 9 9 4 ) .
Zipes, Jack, Beauties, Beasts, and Enchantments ( 1 9 8 9 ) .
F R 0 L I C H , LORENZ 188

G r i m m de-emphasized the sexual allusions in fairy tale. Most o f these reinterpretations of the
his v a r i o u s editions o f the Children's and House­ traditional ' F r o g K i n g ' fairy tale are frustrated
hold Tales, thus m a k i n g the G e r m a n variant statements regarding the social and p s y c h o ­
a b o v e all an educational children's story. logical problems of people w h o s e dreams clash
T h e idea o f a prince turned into a frog b y a with reality. But b y questioning the happy end
spell has been traced b a c k to the Middle A g e s , of this extremely popular fairy tale, these
people are barely hiding their hope for that re­
but the fairy tale itself w a s collected b y W i l -
deeming kiss. WM
helm G r i m m , p r o b a b l y from D o r t c h e n W i l d .
Bettelheim, Bruno, The Use of Enchantment: The
W h i l e its major purpose appears to be instruc­
Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (1976).
tional, it has been pointed out that the princess
Blair, Walter, 'The Funny Fondled Fairytale
also g o e s through a maturation process. She Frog', Studies in American Humor, 1 (1982).
does not m e r e l y learn that promises must be Ellis, John M., One Fairy Story Too Many: The
kept, but she also comprehends that she must Brothers Grimm and their Tales (1983).
g r o w up and take matters into her o w n hands. Mieder, Wolfgang, 'Modern Anglo-American
It is the liberating and individualizing process Variants of The Frog Prince', New York
that has been emphasized in the interpretation Folklore, 6 (1980).
of this fairy tale b y such psychologists as B r u n o Disenchantments: An Anthology of Modern
Bettelheim. W h e n A n g l o - A m e r i c a n variants Fairy Tale Poetry (1985).
w i t h the kiss scene are added to this v i e w , then Rôhrich, Lutz, Wage es, den Frosch ^u kussen!
the tale also b e c o m e s an indirect expression o f Das Grimmsche Mdrchen Nummer Eins in seinen
sexual development. Wandlungen (1987).
It is doubtless for the latter reason that ' T h e
F r o g K i n g ' has been reinterpreted to such a F R 0 L I C H , LORENZ (1820-1908), Danish artist,

vast d e g r e e b y literary authors in the form o f best k n o w n for his illustrations for Hans C h r i s ­
serious p o e m s and short stories o r intriguing tian *Andersen's fairy tales (1870—4). H e also
satires and parodies. A n n e *Sexton's lengthy illustrated collections o f N o r s e myths, folk
p o e m ' T h e F r o g P r i n c e ' (1971) presents a sex­ tales, and folk songs, G e r m a n folk ballads,
ual interpretation o f the tale, but there are also fables b y L a Fontaine, as w e l l as fairy tales b y
p o e m s b y such authors as S a r a Henderson 19th-century D a n i s h , French, and English
* H a y , R o b e r t G r a v e s , H y a c i n t h e Hill, P h y l l i s writers. H e also w r o t e some texts for his o w n
T h o m p s o n , Elizabeth B r e w s t e r , R o b e r t P a c k , illustrations. Frolich w a s active in Paris, and
and G a l w a y K i n n e l l . T h e s e poetic reactions to m a n y o f his fairy tales for children w e r e initial­
the traditional fairy tale abound with m o d e r n ly published in French. MN
questions about l o v e , marriage, identity, hap­ Bergstrand, Ulla, Bilderhokslandet Ldngesen
piness, and interpersonal communication. In (1996).
G e r m a n p o e m s b y Marie L u i s e Kaschnitz and
F r a n z *Fuhmann, for example, questions o f FUCHS, GUNTER BRUNO (1928-77), G e r m a n
l o v e and maturation are raised as w e l l but with writer, poet, and painter, noted for his surreal­
a lesser sexual implication o w i n g to the fact istic experiments. Fuchs helped found the
that the ' k i s s ' variant has only b e c o m e k n o w n avant-garde g a l l e r y D i e Zinke in Berlin and
in m o r e recent y e a r s . produced w o r k s that parodied the bourgeois
N e v e r t h e l e s s , the fairy tale has been usurped lifestyle. T h e r e are fairy-tale and fantastic
b y the mass media and commercialism. In fact, elements in m a n y of his w o r k s . A m o n g his
the tale has been reduced to the internationally b o o k s that contain ironic fairy tales with extra­
disseminated p r o v e r b ' Y o u h a v e to kiss a lot o f ordinary w o r d p l a y are Einundywan^ig Mdrchen
toads (frogs), before y o u meet y o u r handsome lu je drei Zeilen {Twenty-one Fairy Tales with
prince.' T h i s slogan regarding the anxieties o f Three Lines a Piece, 1968) and Bericht eines
m o d e r n relationships can be found on greet­ Bremer Stadtmusikanten {Report of a *Bremen
ings cards, b a t h r o o m w a l l s , T-shirts, b u m p e r Town Musician, 1968). JZ
stickers, and posters. T h e scene o f the frog
b e i n g t h r o w n against the w a l l o r being kissed FUHMANN, FRANZ (1922-84), East G e r m a n
has also been used repeatedly in cartoons, poet, journalist, and author o f children's and
comic strips, caricatures, and advertisements, y o u n g adult b o o k s . After his return from S o ­
w h e r e the topics range from economics to l o v e viet prison camp following W o r l d W a r I I ,
or from politics to sex. Wishful thinking and F u h m a n n settled in East Berlin, where he
realism are placed in striking confrontation b y began his literary career b y publishing poetry
i n n o v a t i v e manipulations o f the traditional and writing for newspapers and magazines. In
189 FYLEMAN, ROSE

the early decades after the w a r , Fiihmann black-and-white artists, and his effortless,
strongly believed in the cause of c o m m u n i s m . lightning execution and facility o f rendering
His retellings and recreations of G r e e k and faces w e r e ideally suited to caricature. Besides
Germanic myths as w e l l as animal tales and journals, he also illustrated L e w i s * C a r r o l l ' s
folk tales, for which he became famous, reflect Sylvie and Bruno b o o k s (1889, 1893), and the
his ideological conviction. T h e specific qual­ complete editions o f C h a r l e s *Dickens (1910)
ities of Fiihmann's reinterpretations rest on the and W i l l i a m M a k e p e a c e T h a c k e r a y ( 1 9 1 1 ) ;
originality of his approach and his stylistic ele­ the latter includes The Rose and the Ring, a
gance. H u m o u r and playfulness mingle with children's fairy tale about a fairy rose and en­
horror and suspense. T h e mythical and chanted ring. MLE
e v e r y d a y reality meet in his version o f the L o w Doyle, Brian, Who's Who in Children's Literature
G e r m a n animal epic Reineke Fuchs (1964), in (1968).
his retelling of the Iliad and Odyssey, Das hdl- Houfe, Simon, The Dictionary of British Book
lerne Pferd (The Wooden Horse, 1968), in his Illustrators and Caricaturists 1800—1914 (1996).
adaptations of *Shakespeare's fairy tales, Peppin, Brigid, and Micklethwait, Lucy,
(Shakespeare-Mdrchen, 1968), T h e N i b e l u n g e n Dictionary of British Book Illustrators (1983).
epic (Nihelungenlied, 1971), and the tale o f P r o ­
metheus (Prometheus, 1974). A l s o w o r t h y o f FUSELI, HENRY ( 1 7 4 1 - 1 8 2 5 ) , S w i s s - b o r n British
note are his idiosyncratic and v e r y dark adap­ romantic artist; a man o f letters as w e l l as a
tations of * G r i m m s ' fairy tales for radio, painter. A history painter, Fuseli rendered
equipped with the w a r n i n g label 'not for chil­ themes he found e m b o d i e d in literature, legend
dren'. In 1956, Fiihmann received the Heinrich and history, illustrating the w o r k s o f Milton,
Mann Prize; in 1963 he w a s awarded the J . - R . Dante, Charles *Dickens, William *Shake-
Becher Prize; and in 1968, his Shakespeare speare, Sophocles, V i r g i l , P o p e , and H o m e r in
fairy tales and The Wooden Horse w e r e hon­ heroic style. In particular, his illustrations for
oured for fostering socialist children's and E d m u n d *Spenser's Faerie Queene and C h r i s -
youth literature. EMM toph Martin *Wieland's Oberon are notable.
Classicism w a s integral to F u s e l i ' s illustrative
Weise, Hans (ed.), Frani Fiihmann (1972).
w o r k . W h i l e his contemporaries described his
art as bold, dreamlike, w i l d , grotesque, dis­
FuRNlSS, HENRY (1854-1925), Irish caricaturist
turbing, they noted his genius. SS
and juvenile b o o k illustrator, w h o w a s edu­
Auckland City Art Gallery, A Collection of
cated at D u b l i n ' s W e s l e y a n C o l l e g e and stud­ Drawings (1967).
ied art at the R o y a l Iberian A c a d e m y schools. Knowles, John, Life and Writing of Henry Fuseli
A t 19 he left D u b l i n to w o r k as a cartoonist for (1982/1831).
numerous magazines such as the Illustrated Weinglass, D . H., Prints and Engraved
London News, for which he c o v e r e d the C h i ­ Illustrations by and after Henry Fuseli (1994).
cago W o r l d ' s Fair. H e w a s also a regular con­
tributor to Punch, w h e r e he excelled at social FYLEMAN, ROSE (AMY) ( 1 8 7 7 - 1 9 5 7 ) , British
realism, topical humour, and parliamentary children's poet, author, and p l a y w r i g h t . S c o r e s
caricatures: his popular cartoon about G l a d ­ of F y l e m a n ' s deft, light-hearted fairy p o e m s
stone and Irish H o m e R u l e practically invented appeared in Punch in the 1920s, a period w h e n
the Gladstone collar. H e also gained notoriety belief in dainty, f l o w e r - d w e l l i n g fairies w a s
for a Pear's Soap poster that became an a d v e r ­ fashionable e v e n a m o n g adults. ' F a i r i e s ' , w h i c h
tising classic. In 1894 he left Punch—and his begins, notoriously, ' T h e r e are fairies at the
admission to the H o u s e o f C o m m o n s — b e ­ bottom o f our garden!' (Fairies and Chimneys,
cause of a salary dispute and founded Lika Joko 1918) became a b y w o r d for this type of p o e t r y
and the New Budget. A popular lecturer, he and the whimsical mentality associated w i t h it.
later went to N e w Y o r k and w o r k e d as a Fairies also p e r v a d e F y l e m a n ' s children's stor­
writer, producer, and actor in T h o m a s E d i ­ ies in The Rainbow Cat (1923) and Forty Good-
son's films. Morning Tales (1929), and her Eight Little
Furniss w a s hailed as one of the most gifted Plays for Children (1925). SR
 using her o w n w o r d s in English, rather than
m a k i n g a literal translation. G a g always c o m ­
pleted the texts before embarking on the illus­
trations. H e r intention was to create an art
product for adults as well as for children.
T h e r e f o r e , she developed 'dummies' or mock-
ups for each b o o k and designed the double-
page spread o f the b o o k when opened. O n l y
after completing studies in pencil did she draw
the final pictures using an indian ink pen. Until
she became ill, she a l w a y s supervised the print­
er even for later editions. Therefore her books
h a v e strong black-and-white illustrations; only
GADDA, CARLO EMILIO ( 1 8 9 3 - 1 9 7 3 ) , Italian the b o o k jacket and frontispiece were printed
writer and essayist, famous for his novels Quel in full colour.
pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana (That Awful She selected 16 stories for Tales from Grimm
Mess on Via Merulana, 1957) and La cogni^one (1936) and illustrated each with one or usually
del do lore {Acquainted with Grief 1963). Earlier several small ink illustrations. A m o n g them
he had written //primo libro delle favole (The w e r e ""Hansel and Gretel', ' T h e Cat and
First Book of Fairy Tales, 1952) and published Mouse K e e p H o u s e ' , and ' T h e Fisherman and
collections o f stories such as Novelle del ducato His W i f e ' . Out of consideration for the child
in fiamme (Stories about the Duchy in Flames, reader, G a g avoided the more violent G r i m m
1952) and Accoppiamenti giudi^iosi (Judicious tales. T h e b o o k is accessible in w o r d choice to
Unions, 1963). G a d d a ' s r e n o w n for linguistic y o u n g readers, and the illustrations c o n v e y a
g a m e s and multilinguism is also present in his sense of peasant life in the 19th century. Gone is
tales w h i c h are peopled with animals, real his­ Gone (1935) w a s G a g ' s reminiscence of a story
torical people, and objects such as flowers. she thought w a s G e r m a n but could never
G a d d a w r o t e o v e r 186 fairy tales, some o f verify, as the N o r w e g i a n source eluded her.
w h i c h w e r e published posthumously in Favole T h i s story about a capable w o m a n w h o pro­
inédite di Carlo Emilio Gadda (Unpublished poses that she and her complaining farmer hus­
Fairy Tales by Carlo Emilio Gadda, 1983). G a d ­ band exchange tasks for a day reveals h o w G a g
da's fairy tales are peculiar for, though he saw herself as a w o m a n . In the tale, the
begins with imitations o f A e s o p and Phaedrus, husband fails to cope with the feminine daily
and then b o r r o w s from L e o n a r d o and other tasks of childcare, cooking, and house main­
Italian authors, there remains nothing o f the tenance.
classical fairy tale. His fairy tales abound in U r g e d b y librarians and an editor to coun­
aphorisms, epigrams, facetiae, anecdotes, and teract the popular *Disney m o v i e and book
invectives against Mussolini. S o m e o f his w e l l - version o f *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,
k n o w n tales include ' T h e E n g l i s h H o r n ' , ' T h e G a g created an exclusive single title published
Piglet', ' T h e M o u s e ' , ' T h e E a g l e ' , ' T h e M o o n ' . in 1938. She included the stepmother's three
GD temptations, in contrast to D i s n e y ' s one with
the apple. G a g retained the folk image of the
G A G , WANDA (1893—1946), A m e r i c a n transla­ dwarfs; she depicted them as clean and orderly.
tor and illustrator of folk tales b y the Brothers Several years later she selected three more
* G r i m m , w a s born in N e w U l m , Minnesota, Brothers G r i m m tales published during the
w h e n G e r m a n w a s spoken b y the majority o f midst of W o r l d W a r I I as Three Gay Tales
inhabitants. W h i l e an adult l i v i n g in N e w Y o r k 0943)-
C i t y , Connecticut, and later in N e w J e r s e y , Finally, her collection of More Tales from
G a g translated the familiar fairy tales from the Grimm (1947) with 32 stories was published
G r i m m s ' collection in part to refresh her posthumously. A s explained in the foreword,
k n o w l e d g e o f the l a n g u a g e . Aspects o f her G a g had completed the text in her usual careful
popular picture b o o k Millions of Cats (1928) style, but several of the illustrations appear
such as plot and refrains w e r e reminiscent of crude, as they w e r e unfinished o w i n g to her
the folklore style developed b y the G r i m m s . prolonged illness and death from lung cancer.
E n c o u r a g e d b y her editor, G a g then translated S o m e art from her first G r i m m publication was
the G r i m m s ' tales with the intention o f p u b ­ reused. KNH
lishing them. She chose to rewrite 'freely', Hoyle, Karen Nelson, Wanda Gag ( 1 9 9 4 ) .
G Â C , WANDA The Looker can see for miles, and the Listener can hear everything in the world in Wanda
Gag's 'Six Servants' adapted from the *Grimms' 'How Six Made their Way Through the World' and
published in More Tales from Grimm ( 1 9 4 7 ) .
CAIMAN, NEIL 192

GAIMAN, N E I L ( i 9 6 0 - ) British experimental izes that his future lies more in the realm o f
writer o f graphic n o v e l s , comic b o o k s , screen- faerie with the pert star than in the charming
p l a y s , and fantasy. A f t e r w o r k i n g as a journal- but humdrum village. A s in all his w o r k s , G a i -
ist and r e v i e w e r , G a i m a n turned to w r i t i n g man takes a postmodern romantic stand in
comic b o o k s in 1987 and achieved almost defence o f other w o r l d s o f the imagination. J Z
instant notoriety with the publication o f Outra-
geous Tales of the Old Testament that same y e a r . GALDONE, PAUL ( 1 9 1 4 - 8 6 ) , H u n g a r i a n - A m e r i -
H e is most famous for his Sandman graphic can author and illustrator o f more than 30 folk
n o v e l s ( 1 9 9 1 - 6 ) in w h i c h he e m p l o y s all kinds tales a m o n g his 300 illustrated b o o k s . G a l d o n e
of fantasy and fairy-tale character motifs in rewrote most o f the folk tales he illustrated in
h i g h l y original plots that recall traditional terse repetitive l a n g u a g e , selecting a w i d e rect-
h o r r o r stories and romances. O w i n g to the angular shape especially suitable for adults to
i n n o v a t i v e nature o f the Sandman series and hold for children in a g r o u p . Productive in the
other graphic n o v e l s , G a i m a n has achieved cult field for 30 y e a r s , he interpreted English tales
fame in the United States and G r e a t Britain. such as Old Woman and her Pig (i960), the
G a i m a n ' s w r i t i n g tends to appeal to intellec- *Grimms' The ^Bremen Town Musicians (1968),
tuals because o f his ironic h u m o u r and the and *Perrault's *Puss-in-Boots (1976) with
intertextual nature o f his stories that include w h i m s y and bold action. G a l d o n e communi-
references to classical literature and pop cul- cates the plot and m o o d clearly and delineates
ture. H e has also w o r k e d with musicians, film- character differences in both w o r d and picture.
m a k e r s , and illustrators on elaborate projects KNH
that deal with the fanastic in the arts, and he
has collaborated with T e r r y *Pratchett in w r i t - GALLAND, ANTOINE ( 1 6 4 6 - 1 7 1 5 ) , French orien-
i n g the comic n o v e l Good Omens, the Nice and talist, translator, philologist, numismatist, and
Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter (1990). In epigraphist, w h o s e version o f the Thousand and
1996 G a i m a n created the teleplay Neverwhere One Nights (Les Mille et une nuits, 1704—17)
for the B B C , and in 1998 he rewrote and p u b - was the first in a W e s t e r n E u r o p e a n language
lished it as a n o v e l . Set in c o n t e m p o r a r y L o n - (see THE ARABIAN NIGHTS, and ORIENTAL FAIRY
don, it deals w i t h the p r o b l e m o f homelessness. TALES).
T h e protagonist o f this n o v e l , R i c h a r d M a y - After studying at the C o l l è g e R o y a l and the
h e w , is an a v e r a g e businessman, w h o helps a S o r b o n n e , G a l l a n d , w h o w a s k n o w n for his gift
y o u n g girl bleeding from a switchblade w o u n d with languages, spent 15 years in Constantino-
and takes her to his h o m e , w h e r e he hopes she ple as adviser to L o u i s X I V ' s ambassadors. In
w i l l recuperate. T h i s g o o d deed, h o w e v e r , p r o - that capacity he had the opportunity to learn
pels him into a terrifying adventure, and he is e v e n m o r e languages and to travel extensively
transported into the nightmarish London throughout the Middle East. U p o n his return to
u n d e r w o r l d and compelled to deal with a cul- F r a n c e , he devoted his energies to scholarly
ture that he n e v e r k n e w existed. In his next pursuits, writing extensively on Middle Eastern
w o r k , Stardust (1999), a fairy-tale n o v e l based l a n g u a g e s , cultures, and antiquities. A m o n g his
on a c o m i c b o o k that he created with the illus- most important accomplishments w e r e c o m -
trator C h a r l e s V e s s , G a i m a n shifts the setting pleting and publishing Herbelot de Molain-
to W a l l , a small E n g l i s h v i l l a g e during the V i c - ville's encyclopaedic Bibliothèque orientale
torian period, w h e r e a y o u n g shopkeeper's as- (Oriental Library, 1697) and translating the
sistant, T r i s t a n T h o r n , falls in l o v e w i t h a K o r a n . In 1701 he entered the prestigious A c a -
beautiful y o u n g w o m a n named V i c t o r i a F o r - démie des Inscriptions, and in 1709 he w a s
ester, w h o will m a r r y him o n l y if he retrieves a elected the first professor o f A r a b i c at the C o l -
fallen star. S o lovestruck is T r i s t a n that he e m - lège R o y a l .
b a r k s on a j o u r n e y into the realm o f faerie, T o d a y G a l l a n d is k n o w n far less for his
w h e r e he must compete for the star with a scholarly endeavours and much more for his
dreadful and deceitful witch and decadent v e r s i o n o f the Thousand and One Nights, which
counts, w h o will kill a n y o n e in their path. W i t h he b e g a n in 1702 as a gift to a former pupil. H e
m a g i c and fortune on his side, T r i s t a n defeats first translated the tales o f Sindbad, but with-
his opponents, but once he is successful in c a p - d r e w them from publication upon discovering
turing the fallen star, a l o v e l y but feisty y o u n g they w e r e part o f a larger cycle. W o r k i n g from
w o m a n , and b r i n g i n g her back to the quaint a 14th-century A r a b i c manuscript, Galland set
v i l l a g e o f W a l l , he learns that V i c t o r i a wants to about to publish eight v o l u m e s o f the Thousand
m a r r y s o m e o n e else. A t the same time he real- and One Nights between 1704 and 1709. H e
i 3 GALLAND, ANTOINE
9

completed another four v o l u m e s , published b e - erotic pleasure that G a l l a n d represents in spite

tween 1712 and 1717, based on notes taken on o f his tendency to tone d o w n such descriptions.
stories told to him b y Hanna, a Maronite from U n l i k e the predominant literary portrayal o f
Aleppo. the time, l o v e is not as much a p s y c h o l o g i c a l
Galland's translation has often been crit- passion as a physical attraction. N o less o b v i -
icized for taking liberties with the original ous, h o w e v e r , is the pleasure of storytelling.
tales. T h i s , h o w e v e r , oversimplifies the W h e r e a s writers o f fairy tales (and in fact all
period's conceptions of literature and transla- literature) at this time present their w o r k s as
tion as well as the difficulties entailed in trans- both pleasurable and m o r a l l y instructive (fol-
lating the disparate manuscripts that m a k e up l o w i n g the Horatian injunction dulce et utile),
the Arabic Alf Lay la wa-Layla (One Thousand G a l l a n d unabashedly proclaims his tales to be
Nights and a Night). A t a time w h e n the lines 'pleasing and diverting', with no other p r e -
between literary creation and translation w e r e tence. Y e t such a stance does not signify that
not yet clearly drawn, it w a s hardly unusual for the Thousand and One Nights are 'meaningless',
Galland to assert that 'putting into F r e n c h ' the as *Voltaire once quipped. T h e pleasure o f
Thousand and One Nights required 'circum- storytelling in this collection serves m a n y func-
spection' and 'delicacy'. Indeed, the enormous t i o n s — t o allay melancholy, to avert death, to
and immediate success of his translation w a s in satisfy curiosity, and to defend oneself, a m o n g
great part due to the changes he made: toning o t h e r s — a n d G a l l a n d ' s translation highlights
d o w n 'licentious' scenes; eliminating poetic this pleasure in the individual tales as well as
interludes, repetitions, and enumerations; a m p - the frame story with Scheherazade, S h a h r y a r ,
lifying details of plot and decor to explain cul- and Dinarzade. M o r e o v e r , in the denouement
ture-specific material; and transposing stylistic that G a l l a n d g i v e s to this story it is the pleasure
registers (from the colloquial o f the manuscript o f Scheherazade's s t o r y t e l l i n g — a n d not the
to French neo-classical literary style). It is a children she had g i v e n birth t o — t h a t m o v e s
testimony to his success that even G a l l a n d ' s S h a h r y a r to r e v o k e his v o w to kill her. In the
harshest critics praise the quality of his prose end, then, it is pleasure that is the most import-
and acknowledge in him a 'born storyteller'. ant l e g a c y of G a l l a n d ' s translation, and there is
While cognizant of the need to adapt the tales, no doubt that it w a s a m o n g the most important
Galland w a s none the less careful to bring his influences in creating the W e s t e r n stereotype
wide erudition to the task. M a n y o f his add- o f the 'Orient' (encompassing the Middle E a s t ,
itions are explanatory descriptions. Further- South East A s i a , and C h i n a ) as a place o f exotic
more, his text remains remarkably faithful to pleasures.
the original, even w h e n the latter diverges If G a l l a n d ' s tales met with such popular suc-
from standard literary conventions o f his day. cess upon their publication, it is also because
T h u s , for instance, lower-class characters, w h o they simultaneously resembled and differed
have only rare counterparts in the literature of from the fairy tales that had enamoured the
early 18th-century France, appear throughout F r e n c h reading public since the 1690s. T h e
the Thousand and One Nights. A n d yet faithful- c o n v e r g e n c e in G a l l a n d ' s translation of
ness to the original manuscripts did not keep the f a m i l i a r — m a n y recognizable folkloric
Galland from imposing a unity o f tone and p l o t s — a n d the u n f a m i l i a r — ' o r i e n t a l ' local
architecture they lacked as collections c o m - colour and seemingly gratuitous m a g i c —
posed b y multiple authors from the 9th to the p a v e d the w a y for numerous collections o f
14th centuries. N o t only does he rearrange the oriental tales b y J e a n - P a u l * B i g n o n , T h o m a s -
order of the tales found in the A r a b i c manu- S i m o n *Gueulette, and Pétis de la C r o i x
scripts, he also links and intercalates otherwise ( a m o n g m a n y others) and for the oriental motif
independent tales. T h o s e in the last four v o l - exploited b y prominent writers such as M o n -
umes, including some of the best-known o f the tesquieu (in Les Lettres persanes) and V o l t a i r e
entire collection such as *'Aladdin', *'Ali B a b a ' , (in Zadig). Galland's Thousand and One Nights
and 'Harun a r - R a s h i d ' , are not translations at became a popular best-seller in m a n y different
all but adaptations o f stories told to him orally languages. In the E n g l i s h - s p e a k i n g w o r l d , the
and hence reflect most clearly his consummate translation o f the G a l l a n d version w a s better
literary skill. k n o w n than translations based on the original
Perhaps the most original aspect o f G a l - A r a b i c manuscripts until the mid-20th century.
land's w o r k is his treatment o f the theme o f LCS
pleasure, which is apparent on m a n y levels. Abdel-Halim, Mohamed, Antoine Galland: sa vie,
A m o n g the most obvious is the physical, if not son œuvre (1964).
GARCIA MARQUEZ, GABRIEL 194

May, Georges, Les Mille et une nuits d'Antoine Jain, Jasbir, 'Innocent Erendira: The Reversal of
Galland ou le chef-d'œuvre invisible (1986). a Fairy Tale', in Alok Bhalla (ed.), Garcia
Mdrquei and Latin America (1987).
Linker, Susan Mott, 'Myth and Legend in Two
GARCIA MARQUEZ, GABRIEL ( 1 9 2 8 - ) , Colom- Prodigious Tales of Garcia Marquez', Hispanic
bian novelist, short-story writer, and polemical Journal, 9 (1987).
journalist who was awarded the Nobel Prize Penuel, Arnold M., ' A Contemporary Fairy
Tale: Garcia Mârquez's "El rastro de tu sangre
for literature in 1982. His literary works have
en la nieve" ', Studies in Twentieth Century
influenced writers all over the world. In par- Literature, 19 (1995).
ticular, his novel Cien anos de soledad (One
Hundred Years of Solitude, 1967) is a landmark
GARDNER, JOHN (1933—82), American writer
in literary theory and history, since it gave rise
and scholar. He taught medieval literature and
to the term 'magic realism' and led many
creative writing at a number of colleges and
writers to imitate its style. A s a major represen-
universities and eventually became the founder
tative of 'magic realism', Garcia Marquez has
and director of the writing program at the State
always felt suspicious of pure realism which, in
University of New York at Binghamton
his view, is unable to capture the essence of
from 1978 until his death in 1982 in a motor-
Latin America. Consequently, both his novels
cycle accident. His compelling and brilliant
and short stories integrate the real and the fan-
fiction—including Grendel (1971), Nickel
tastic, together with mythic, legendary, and
Mountain (1973), The King's Indian and Other
magical elements. In fact, it is not uncommon
Fireside Tales (1981), and Mikkelson's Ghost
for Garcia Mârquez's short stories to have their
(1982)—has earned him a respected place in
sources in Mdrchen, folklore, and myth. Form-
ally austere and frequently located in rural set- the canon of contemporary American authors.
tings, they are full of surprising elements that In 1975, with the publication of Dragon,
defy rational laws and make demands on the Dragon and Other Timeless Tales, he turned his
reader's imagination. His first volume of short attention to fairy tales for young readers. He
stories, Los funerales de la Mama Grande (Big followed that book with other witty and un-
Mama's Funeral, 1962) has been critically ac- usual fairy-tale works such as Gudgekin the
claimed as his best collection. It includes, Thistle Girl and Other Tales (1976) and King of
among many others, two prodigious tales: ' L a the Hummingbirds and Other Tales (1977). Per-
prodigiosa tarde de Baltazar' ('Balthazar's Pro- haps his major achievement in the genre is his
digious Evening', 1962) and ' L a viuda de Mon- fairy-tale novel In the Suicide Mountains (1977),
tiel' ('The Widow of Montiel', 1962). In the in which three desperate protagonists intent on
1970s Garcia Marquez published two other col- committing suicide meet by chance in the
lections of short stories: La increibley triste his- mountains, help each other, and learn to cher-
toria de la Candida Erendira y de su abuela ish their lives. JZ
desalmada (Innocent Erendira and Other Stories,
1972) and Ojos deperro a^ul (A Blue Dog's Eyes, GARNER, ALAN ( 1 9 3 4 - ) , outstanding British
1972). Several critics have considered the title novelist. Born in Cheshire, in a family of arti-
story of the former as a revision of 'The sans, Garner was educated at Oxford, where he
*Sleeping Beauty', a tale that Garcia Marquez studied classics. In his first novel, The Weird-
goes back to in ' E l avion de la bella durmiente' stone of Brisingamen (i960), he made use of a
('The Sleeping Beauty's Plane', 1982). This local legend from his birthplace, Alderley
tale is included within his last volume of short Edge, as well as motifs from Norse and Celtic
stories, Doce cuentos peregrinos (Twelve Wan- folklore, including the Arthurian cycle. The
dering Tales, 1992). Also incorporated into this child characters are quite ineffective, no more
collection is ' E l rastro de tu sangre en la nieve' than lenses through which the colourful world
('The Trace of Your Blood on the Snow', of magic is described. What fascinated Garner
1976), which is likewise related to the fairy-tale in the legend was the idea of how it might in-
genre. CF fluence contemporary life. This novel, like all
his others, is about the 'here and now' rather
Grullon, Carmen Amantina, 'Once There Was a than about magical countries or a remote past.
Writer: The Narrative of Gabriel Garcia
The philosophical dilemma arising when Gar-
Marquez and the Fairy Tale: A Comparative
ner tries to retell a medieval legend in today's
Study' (Diss., University of Connecticut, 1995).
England can be summarized in his own words
Hancock, Joel, 'Gabriel Garcia Mârquez's
as: 'What if . . . ? ' This phrase is the key to
Erendira and the Brothers Grimm', Studies in
Garner's work. What if the events of the
Twentieth Century Literature, 3 (1978).
i95 GARNER, A L A N

legend are true? W h a t w o u l d the consequences dilapidated form, they remain a b r i d g e into
be, and what w o u l d happen if t w o ordinary mysterious E l i d o r , w h i c h , unlike the multico­
children from today's E n g l a n d w e r e to get in­ loured w o r l d o f The Weirdstone of Brisingamen,
v o l v e d in the strange w o r l d o f the legend? A n d is rather v a g u e l y depicted. Instead, the b o o k is
in his later novels: what w o u l d happen if centred on the serious m o r a l problems facing
magical objects w e r e brought from another the main character. B e c a u s e o f R o l a n d ' s fatal
w o r l d into our o w n ? H o w high is the price for mistake, the front d o o r o f the house can s e r v e
meddling in the affairs o f a m a g i c realm? W h a t as a passage from E l i d o r into the security o f the
w o u l d happen if modern y o u n g people w e r e to real w o r l d . T h e threat o f evil forces is felt as
get caught up in the tragic pattern o f an ancient m u c h stronger than if they had remained in the
fairy tale? alternative w o r l d . In Elidor, the magical realm
G a r n e r is one o f the few writers w h o has is like a s h a d o w , a d r e a m w o r l d , and the old
managed to unite magical secondary w o r l d s church ruin the magical passage, the sound o f
with a real landscape w h i c h can be found on a the fiddle the S u m m o n s C a l l , and the four trea­
map. T h e magical w o r l d o f G a r n e r ' s b o o k s is sures the k e y to this realm. G a r n e r is interested
projected onto the real w o r l d , and the b o u n d ­ in reality and the w a y reality is affected b y the
ary between the t w o is practically non-existent. intrusion o f m a g i c , in the form o f E l i d o r ' s dark
In The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and its se­ w a r r i o r s and unicorn. T h i s connection b e ­
quel, The Moon of Gomrath (1963), there is a tween w o r l d s b e c o m e s the cornerstone o f his
clear sense o f G a r n e r ' s obsession with his na­ later w o r k .
tive district and its numerous g r a v e - m o u n d s , It is e a s y to imagine E l i d o r existing not o n l y
standing stones, and churches oriented a c c o r d ­ in another spatial, but also in another temporal
ing to sunrise on the vernal equinox. T h e s e d e ­ dimension. T h i s is the link b e t w e e n G a r n e r ' s
tails are w o v e n so subtly into the story that first b o o k s , Elidor, and Red Shift (1973), a
they often hamper the reader in f o l l o w i n g the n o v e l about the continuity o f time and the sim­
plot. L i k e many beginning authors, G a r n e r ultaneous existence o f all times. A l t h o u g h there
was too eager to put e v e r y t h i n g he k n e w into is no direct reference to m a g i c in Red Shift,
one and the same b o o k . His first t w o n o v e l s , there is a v e r y strong sense o f mythical
which w e r e supposed to b e c o m e a trilogy, h a v e thought, and the Stone A g e a x e p o r t r a y e d in
all the components o f a successful adventure: the story m a y b e v i e w e d as a magical amulet
mysteries, secret passages, pursuits, c a v e s , false connecting the three historical layers o f the
clues, as well as easily recognizable fairy-tale plot.
elements: magic amulets, g o o d and evil w i z ­ The Owl Service (1967) is the o n l y n o v e l b y
ards, dwarfs, and knights. G a r n e r w h i c h does not h a v e a direct c o n n e c ­
Elidor (1965), w h i c h has some elements tion to his native district and instead takes
from the legends o f Childe R o l a n d , begins in a place in W a l e s . It is based on one o f the stories
church ruin on the outskirts o f Manchester, from The Mahinogion w h i l e at the same time it
where four siblings are enticed to enter a examines the pain and anxiety o f m o d e r n teen­
magical r e a l m — t h e only magical realm in agers. T h i s pain, described already in Elidor,
Garner's w o r k that lies b e y o n d the ordinary reaches its peak in Red Shift; thus fairy-tale
British landscape. T h e connections between patterns are used b y G a r n e r exclusively as nar­
the worlds are places o f ruin and devastation rative devices for investigating his o w n time.
where the b o u n d a r y has been destroyed o r F o r The Owl Service G a r n e r w a s a w a r d e d the
weakened. Characteristically, the street w h e r e C a r n e g i e Medal and G u a r d i a n A w a r d .
one o f the passages emerges is called B o u n d a r y The Stone Book Quartet (1976—8) has been
L a n e . T h e children's treacherous g u i d e , M a l e - praised as G a r n e r ' s best w o r k and regarded as
bron, a duplicitous magician, is prepared to his final conquest o f realism. Superficially,
sacrifice anything for the g o o d o f his country. these are indeed realistic stories about several
After a v e r y short stay in E l i d o r the children generations o f the G a r n e r family, but it w o u l d
return to their o w n w o r l d c a r r y i n g the four be a mistake to v i e w the Quartet as e v e r y d a y
treasures o f Elidor: a precious stone, a s w o r d , a realism. E v e r y t h i n g that is typical o f G a r n e r as
spear, and a cauldron, traditional magical o b ­ an artist, including his interest in the mystical
jects o f Celtic folklore. In the dull and un­ and the inexplicable, and the legends, rites, and
eventful reality o f present-day Manchester, the landscapes o f his childhood, is present in these
treasures are transformed into a worthless c o b ­ four stories and p l a y s a most significant role.
ble, splintered laths, a length o f iron railing, H e r e as w e l l , the real and the magical land­
and a broken cup. Nevertheless, e v e n in this scapes are intertwined.
GARNER, JAMES FINN 196

Besides original novels, G a r n e r has also GAUTIER, THÉOPHILE ( 1 8 1 1 - 7 2 ) , French poet,

published a vast number of collections of retold critic, and author of fantastic tales. H e aban-
fairy tales, a l w a y s with his o w n characteristic doned art studies to pursue poetry after N e r v a l
tone and linguistic flavour, as can be seen in introduced him to H u g o , for w h o m he led the
The Guider (1976), Alan Garner's Fairytales of legendary defence of Hemani (1830). A mem-
Gold (1980), The Lad of the Gad (1980), Alan ber o f L e Petit Cénacle (literary salon of ex-
Garner's Book of British Fairy Tales (1984), and treme romantics), he embraced the bohemian
A Bag of Moonshine (1986). lifestyle represented in Les Jeunes-France (The
G a r n e r ' s most recent n o v e l , Strandloper Young-France, 1833) and caused a scandal with
(1996), marketed for an adult audience, at- the 'art for art's sake' manifesto-preface to Ma-
tempts to combine patterns from Australian demoiselle de Maupin (1835). A lengthy journal-
A b o r i g i n a l and local Cheshire m y t h o l o g y . istic career as a leading art critic followed, with
MN success for his poetry: Émaux et Camées (1852;
'Alan Garner', spec, issue of Labrys, 7 (1981). Enamels and Cameos, 1903) inspired the Par-
Gillies, Carolyn, 'Possession and Structure in nassian poets and influenced Baudelaire, w h o
the Novels of Alan Garner', Children's Literature dedicated to Gautier Les Fleurs du mal (Flowers
in Education, 18 (1985).
of Evil, 1857).
Nikolajeva, Maria, 'The Insignificance of Time',
Gautier also wrote novels (Le Roman de la
Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 14
(1989). momie, iSjS/The Romance of the Mummy,
Philip, Neil, A Fine Anger (1981). 1863; Le Capitaine Fracasse, 1863/Captain Fra-
casse, 1880) and fantastic stories. T h e y incorp-
GARNER, JAMES FINN ( i 9 6 0 - ) , A m e r i c a n orate elements he defined in literary criticism
writer, w h o s e adaptations o f fairy tales and on the fantastic (juxtaposition o f realistic set-
fables satirize the language and politics of p o l - tings with mysterious phenomena, refusal to
itical correctness. G a r n e r ' s first collection, Pol- explain the impossible) and feature romantic
itically Correct Bedtime Stories, appeared in quests for perfection and occult escapes from
1994. It became an international best-seller, material worlds into altered states. His early
and he followed it up a y e a r later with Once stories show the influence of *Cazotte and
Upon a More Enlightened Time (1995). In his *Hoffmann. ' L a Morte amoureuse' ( ' T h e V a m -
revisionist tales, millers and tailors are not pire', 1836), for example, has a twisted *'Sleep-
poor, but 'economically disadvantaged'; ing B e a u t y ' motif: a y o u n g priest kisses
witches are not w i c k e d , but 'kindness i m - the perfection of b e a u t y — a ravishing
paired'; * S n o w W h i t e ' s hosts are 'vertically- c o r p s e — a n d reanimates a vampire w h o falls in
challenged'; and the w o l f in *'Little R e d R i d i n g l o v e with him. In this dark anti-fairy tale,
H o o d ' is 'unhampered b y traditionalist notions beauty no longer signifies goodness, the ideal is
of what w a s masculine or feminine'. G a r n e r ' s neither attainable nor permanent, no one lives
hyperbole is most evident in his penchant happily e v e r after. T h e priest must also lead
for neologism: 'lookist', 'speciesist', and both a real life and a dreamlife. Gautier else-
'mer-persuns'. MBS w h e r e explores this double conflict of real v s .
ideal in relation to madness ('Onuphrius, ou
GASKELL, ELIZABETH (married name of ELIZABETH Les Vexations fantastiques d'un admirateur
C L E G H O R N STEVENSON 1 8 1 0 - 6 5 ) E n g l i s h n o v e l - d'Hoffmann' ('Onuphrius', 1832) and to time
ist, short-story writer and biographer o f C h a r - and space. Past and present mingle whenever
lotte Brontë. She w a s a keen storyteller and R e g e n c y art comes to life to seduce protagon-
l o v e r o f ghost stories. Charles *Dickens re- ists ( ' L a Cafetière' ( ' T h e Coffeepot', 1831);
ferred to her as his 'dear Scheherazade', and ' O m p h a l e ' , 1834) or w h e n objects take men
m a n y o f her short stories w e r e published in his back to Ancient E g y p t or Pompeii ( ' L e Pied de
magazines Household Words and All the Year m o m i e ' , i 8 4 o / ' T h e M u m m y ' s F o o t ' , 1900;
Round. H e r fairy-tale-inspired short stories in- Arria Marcella, 1852/'Arria Marcella, 1900).
clude ' C u r i o u s if T r u e ' (i860), in which an Gautier also wrote lighter fairy tales. ' L a
E n g l i s h m a n tracing his ancestry in F r a n c e Mille et deuxième nuit' ( ' T h e Thousand and
comes across a château full o f strangely famil- Second N i g h t ' , 1842) is a pastiche of the
iar guests, each o f w h o m appears to be a realis- *oriental fairy tale written during the second
tic version o f a fairy-tale character. O f her phase o f the oriental v o g u e in France (the first
novels, Wives and Daughters (1864-6), left un- was occasioned b y *Galland's translation of Les
finished at her death, is most explicit in its use Mille et une nuits (The Thousand and One
of fairy tales. SB Nights) (see ARABIAN NIGHTS). Its frame story
197 GESTA ROMANORUM

concerns Scheherazade: she has run out of fairy: ' L a s hadas del M a r ' ( ' T h e Fairies o f the
tales, begs one from the author, and learns S e a ' ) , ' L a s hadas de la T i e r r a ' ( ' T h e Fairies o f
about a man w h o has v o w e d to l o v e a péri (a the L a n d ' ) , and so forth. CF
fairy in Middle Eastern m y t h o l o g y ) . Gautier
later reworked this as a ballet (La Péri, 1843), GERMANY (see p . 198)
written t w o years after Giselle, ou Les Wilis
(1841). T h i s acclaimed ballet r e w o r k e d Slavic GERSTEIN, MORDECAI ( 1 9 3 5 - ) , A m e r i c a n illus-
legends told b y *Heine: Gautier changed the trator and writer, w h o b e g a n his career in ani-
wilis from fiancées' into dancers' spirits w h o mated films as a writer, director, and producer.
lead men to their death. His other fantastic bal- D u r i n g the 1980s he b e g a n writing and illus-
lets dealt with alchemists, prophesying, and trating b o o k s for children. A m o n g his fairy
magic rings; unperformed scenarios treated tales are Prince Sparrow (1984), Tales of Pan
undines, the Pied Piper, and the P y g m a l i o n (1986), *Beauty and the Beast (1989), and The
myth. MLE Giant (1995). His imaginative use o f ink and
Castex, Pierre-Georges, Le Conte fantastique en pastels g i v e s his d r a w i n g s a surrealist quality,
France de Nodier à Maupassant (1951). and he has transformed some o f his b o o k s such
Richardson, Joanna, Théophile Gautier: His Life as Beauty and the Beast into a w a r d - w i n n i n g
and Times (1959). animated films. JZ
Smith, Albert B., Théophile Gautier and the
Fantastic (1977).
Todorov, Tzevtan, The Fantastic: A Structural GESTA ROMANORUM (Deeds of the Romans), a
Approach to a Literary Genre, trans. Richard collection o f 181 Latin tales, each accompanied
Howard (1973). by a moral, composed in the late 13th century,
is a preacher's g u i d e . A l t h o u g h there w e r e
GAVARNI (pseudonym of GUILLAUME SULPICE early E n g l i s h translations such as the one b y
CHEVALIER, 1804-66), Parisian illustrator and W y n k y n de W o r d e in 1500, Charles S w a n ' s
watercolourist. T r a i n e d as an architect, he w a s version, published in B o h n ' s antiquarian li-
a popular and prolific illustrator w h o s e e n g r a v - b r a r y in 1824 (revised b y W y n n a r d H o o p e r in
ings appeared in La Mode and Le Charivari. H e 1876), is still useful.
was a close friend of Balzac, and his w o r k w a s A m o n g the exempla are fairy tales o f tasks
likewise praised for its encyclopaedic attention o r tests imposed on r o y a l suitors: a princess an-
to detail in portraying all levels of society. In nounces that she will w e d o n l y the man w h o
addition to Robinson Crusoe (1861) and Gulliv- can outrun her in a race. H e r challenger diverts
er's Travels (1862), he illustrated E . T . A . her with a ball inscribed ' W h o s o e v e r p l a y s
*Hoffmann's fantastic tales (1843) and M m e with me shall n e v e r satiate o f p l a y ' ( L X ) . A n -
*Leprince de Beaumont's fairy tales (1865). other princess tells a suitor h o w to remain safe
MLE in a garden guarded b y a l i o n — s m e a r his ar-
Landre, Jeanne, Gavarni (1970). m o u r with g u m to w h i c h the lion's p a w s will
Stamm, Thérèse Dolan, Gavarni and the Critics
adhere ( L X X I I I ) . A princess will w e d a man
(1981).
who solves a riddle: h o w m a n y feet are in the
GEFAELL, MARIA LUISA ( 1 9 1 8 - 7 8 ) , Spanish length, breadth, and depth o f the four elements
author w h o wrote numerous b o o k s for chil- (a supine servant composed o f four elements
dren. H e r prose has been constantly praised for measured).
its poetic nature, and her fairy tales in particu- Other stories h a v e fairy-tale components. A
lar have been said to constitute a revolution wife tells her husband she will die if he leaves.
within the genre of the Mdrchen. In 1951 H e g i v e s her a m a g i c ring called ' O b l i v i o n ' .
Gefaell w a s g i v e n the Spanish National L i t e r - She forgets him ( x ) . A child is born to barren
ary A w a r d for a collection o f children's stories, parents after y e a r s o f p r a y e r ( x v ) . A m a g i c
La princesita que tenia los dedos mdgicos (The stag predicts that a man will kill his parents. H e
Little Princess who Had Magic Fingers, 1951). In leaves home to a v o i d fate. L a t e r he mistakes his
it there are a few fairy tales, such as the story visiting parents for his wife and a l o v e r and
from which the w h o l e b o o k takes its title and kills them ( x v i n ) . A compassionate execution-
the one called ' L o s cartuchos del abuelo' er abandons a b a b y in w o o d s , brings a hare's
('Grandpa's cartridges'). Gefaell's second most heart to his master, w h o had ordered the e x e -
famous collection o f fairy stories is Las hadas cution ( x x ) . A bride's mother g i v e s a g r o o m a
de Villaviciosa de Odôn (The Fairies of Villav- m a g i c shirt that will 'neither be stained nor
iciosa de Odôn, 1953). It is made up of ten tales, rent, nor w o r n ' as l o n g as he is chaste ( L X I X ) .
each of which deals with a different kind of A fisherman's m a g i c flute catches fish ( L X X X V ) .
G e r m a n y , where fairy tales were first considered worthy
of study, occupies a pre-eminent position in the genre.
When Jacob and Wilhelm *Grimm decided to collect
Germany's traditional tale forms, they laid the basis for
the future of the genre in Germany, created a model for
content and style, and set a standard for editing that was
applied in nations around the world.

1 . T H E G E N R E A N D ITS H I S T O R Y
Modern fairy tales emerged together with an urban work­
force that increasingly consumed print products, and
their plots, short and relatively simple, recount the magic
fulfilment of their heroines' and heroes' wishes against a
backdrop of personal deprivation and hostile opponents.
Customary protagonists are poor girls or boys who, with
magic assistance, achieve wealth and power and marry
royalty. Tales about fairies, on the other hand, deal with
the complicated intersections of royal lives with gnomes,
elves, kobolds, giants, and fairies. Tales about fairies
sometimes conclude tragically, sometimes happily. A
third genre, literary fairy tales, share characteristics of
both genres, fairy tales and tales about fairies. Their prot­
agonists can be poor girls and boys or royal children;
they often include excursions into fairyland; and their
plots can be and often are amended by sequentially ap­
pended episodes that loop back to the primary plot.
A large and increasingly influential group of scholars
propose that fairy tales emerged during the Renaissance
from pre-existing medieval literary forms and motifs.
Framed story collections like Boccaccio's Decameron or
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales provided a model for the
structure adopted by the first authors of fairy tales, the
Venetian Giovan Francesco *Straparola and the Neapol­
itan Giambattista *Basile. Fairy-tale motifs, however, de­
rived from widely disparate sources. *Oriental tales from
the eastern Mediterranean supplied magic rings, magical
transport, and magic transformations, while north-west­
ern European Celtic tradition provided fairies. Plot elem­
ents sometimes survived from medieval legends, sagas,
romances, and adventures to become traditional compon­
ents of modern fairy tales, such as the giant who helped
the king by retrieving a ring thrown into the sea in Kônig
Rother {King Rother, c.1150).
Heroic epics provided other elements, such as trea­
sures, dragons, cloaks of invisibility, heroes who had to
free heroines from demonic captors and who had to cut
out and carry off a dragon's tongue or a giant's head in
i99 GERMANY

order to prove themselves the heroic agent. T h e early

13th-century verse novella Asinarius detailed another fa­
miliar plot in its transformation story of a prince who was
an ass during the day and a handsome prince at night,
until his royal bride's father stole away his skin and
burned it to release him from the evil spell. Another nur­
sery story with ancient lineage is *'Sleeping Beauty', first
documented in the French medieval romance Perceforest;
it was read in France, and in northern Germany was per­
formed as a pre-Lenten Shrove Tuesday drama in the
mid-i400s.
The earliest printed books and their downmarket suc­
cessors, chapbooks, were powerful agents in the dissem­
ination of popular narratives in the late Middle Ages and
early modern period, when motifs of magic first entered
broad German popular awareness. It was then that rela­
tively inexpensive printed booklets of 8, 1 6 , 32, 64, or
occasionally 128 pages created a common body of narra­
tive knowledge for large numbers of marginally or semi-
literate people in every European country. Cheap print
mediated a set of stories whose parts were as interchange­
able as the printed type which delivered them. T h e stories
included Arthurian tales with kings, queens, fairies,
dragons, valorous knights and cowering princesses, Sieg­
fried stories, oriental tales, Till Eulenspiegel tales, and
stories of long-suffering girls and women like Genoveva
and Griselda. Sold at fairs, they not only provided the
broad populace with a common set of story elements and
motifs, but also supplied subsequent authors with mater­
ial for their own creations, adaptations, or pirated re­
prints.
Translations also played a role in enriching Germany's
narrative store, with scattered evidence that some of Stra-
parola's tales were translated into German in the 1500s
and again at the end of the 1600s. T w o of Straparola's
tales, 4.5 (which deals with Life and Death) and 5.2
(which is a true fairy tale of social rise with the help of
magic) are documented in Caspar Lolivetta's Das teutsche
Gespenst (1687), but no copy of a complete German edi­
tion of Straparola's tales survives.
Germany's first *'Cinderella'-type fairy tale, 'Ein
schoene geschichte von einer frawen mitt zweyen kindlin'
('A Pretty History of a Woman with T w o Children'),
appeared in the Wegkiirt^er of Martin Montanus in 1560.
It tells the story of a little girl abandoned in the woods to
starve, who is sustained by an 'Erdkuehlein', a magic calf.
Her wicked stepmother discovers and slaughters it, but
GERMANY 200

the little girl eventually gains wealth and position

through its buried bones. In Germany, however, the time
was not yet ripe for the modern fairy tale in which a poor
protagonist, whether boy or girl, rose socially by means
of a marriage mediated by magic. Instead of Cinderella
tale types, the most beloved German popular brief narra­
tives in the 1500s were stomach-filling ones that told of
ponds filled with fish grilled and ready for the eating, of
roast goose running free, and more importantly, free for
the taking. The Land of Cokaigne dreams of most of
Germany's common readers in the 1500s and 1600s rose
only as high as their often empty bellies: tales about fair­
ies (except for Merlin figures in chapbooks with Arthur­
ian tales) did not exist in Germany in the 1500s or 1600s.
T h e first quasi-fairy tale, that is, a series of episodes
detailing a social rise with the help of magic, was 'Baren-
hàuter' ('Bearskin'). According to the respected German
scholar Kurt Ranke, Johann Jakob Christoph von Grim-
melshausen composed it from heterogeneous elements
for his prose novel Simplicissimus (1669). The titular
character, a cashiered soldier, makes a pact with the devil
to gain riches by living in filth until a virtuous and well­
born girl accepts him in that condition; if he fails, the
devil will win his soul. When the youngest of a mer­
chant's three daughters does so, her two sisters mock her
unmercifully; when Bearskin finally washes and shows
himself to be not only rich but also handsome, the sisters
hang themselves. The devil loses his wager with Bear­
skin, but departs satisfied, because he has gained two
souls (the sisters') instead of one (Bearskin's).
Another early fairy tale emerged in the 1600s,
Johannes Praetorius's 'Die drei Spinnerinnen' ('The
Three Spinners'), a now-familiar folk tale which details
the clever manner in which three old women, misshapen
from the rigours of spinning, fool a husband into forbid­
ding his young wife ever to spin again, to her immeasur­
able delight. It typifies the brief narratives available in
Germany at the end of the 1600s, as do the contents of
Andreas Strobl's Ovum Paschale Novum (New Easter Egg)
of 1694, which listed 100 popular tales that priests might
want to tell as part of their Easter sermons: 36 fables, 1
legend, and 63 comic tales, most of which dealt, like 'The
Three Spinners', with the battle of the sexes.
Fairies, ghosts, knights, and magic arrived in Ger­
many with steadily increasing amounts of leisure for mid­
dle- and upper middle-class women in the A g e of
Enlightenment. For most of the 1700s, fairies and fairy
201 GERMANY

tales in Germany were correspondingly restricted to the

reading matter of Germany's middle, upper-middle, and
upper classes. They were an integral part of the new
kinds of reading matter that emerged for a new, often
female, reading public with moderate amounts of leisure
time. The stories were fashionably French in origin, in a
country whose nobility and upper classes spoke and read
French. Easily read in part of a morning or afternoon, the
stories, stylistically pre-romantic, had some literary
merit.
Fairies and fairy tales evoked a broad spectrum of re­
sponse from their 18th-century readers and critics. In
German-speaking Switzerland, Johann Jacob Bodmer
justified the use of fairies and spirits of woods, air, and
water as agents to awaken the imagination. In contrast,
the highly regarded German literary theorist Johann
Christoph Gottsched inveighed against all fables and
stories except those that taught a moral lesson. Christian
Wilhelm Diederichs recommended magic and fairies
as a modern-day manifestation of the kind of tales that
animated the Old and N e w Testaments ( 1 7 9 1 ) . Johann
Gottfried Herder attributed tales to folk belief and
imagination, and theoretically divorced printed French
tales from 'orally transmitted German folk fairy tales'
when he developed a theory of 'Volkspoesie' (folk poet­
ry). His conception of folk poetry was subsequently
understood in terms of anonymous folk authorship of
fairy tales, and later, when growing nationalism had re­
shaped thinking about the folk in the 19th-century, this
diffuse notion was transformed into the idea of national
folk memory.
Despite 18th- and 19th-century theorizing, documen­
tary evidence demonstrates that fairies and fairy tales did
not arise from German tradition, but moved laterally to
Germany from France. From the mid-1700s onward, one
French fairy tale after another was translated into G e r ­
man, sometimes word-for-word, and sometimes re­
worked to suit conditions, tastes, and habits east of the
Rhine. At roughly the same time (1755), the first Ger­
man-language literary fairy tale appeared in a collection
of satires by Gottlieb Wilhelm Rabener, which began
with a story about fairies. A decade later, Christoph Mar­
tin *Wieland introduced fairies and fantasy in his satirical
adventures of Don Sylvio of Rosalva (1764).
In the latter half of the 1700s, magic grew in import­
ance. For a 20-year period, Friedrich Maximilian Klinger
produced one oriental motif-laden fairy tale after another
GERMANY 202

and composed the first German-language fairy-tale play,

Der Derwisch (The Dervish, 1780). Similarly, Johann
Heinrich Voss published a German-language version of
The "Arabian Nights, several of whose tales and many of
whose motifs recur in the Grimm collection.
According to Manfred Grâtz, the most important con-
temporary historian of fairy tales in 18th-century Ger-
many, a translation of long-lasting significance was
Wilhelm Christhelf Siegmund Mylius's rendering of
three fairy tales by Anthony *Hamilton in 1777. Mylius's
translation archaicized the genre by introducing an old-
fashioned vocabulary tinged with folk usage. Mylius sim-
ultaneously created a 'folk' version of fairy tales, a myth
of their folk origins, and a corresponding myth of an oral
tradition for fairy tales in Germany. In the same spirit,
Johann Karl August *Musaus called his own collection of
distinctly literary fairy tales Volksmarchen der Deutschen
(Folk Tales of the Germans, 1782—6), and Benedikte
*Naubert similarly invoked the 'folk' in the title of her
collection of equally literary fairy tales, Neue Volksmar-
chen der Deutschen (New Folk Tales of the Germans,
1789—93), and so did Ludwig T i e c k in his Volksmarchen
(Folk Tales, 1797). B y naming his reworked chapbook
about King Arthur an 'old wives' tale' in 1786, Johann
Ferdinand Roth did the same.
Christoph Wilhelm Guenther furthered the notion of
orality and fairy tales' suitability for children in 1787. He
had compiled his own tales from popular motifs, desig-
nated them 'Denkmaler der Vorzeit' (monuments to pre-
history), and entitled the book Kindermdrchen aus
miindlichen Er^ahlungen gesammelt (Children's Tales
Gathered from Oral Stories). And yet, the kinds of fairy-
tale stories that authors and editors increasingly labelled
'ancient' had not actually formed part of Germany's oral
folk culture, as Rudolf Schenda has persuasively demon-
strated in a lifetime of scholarly investigation.
A comprehensive history of German translations of
French fairy tales is a relatively recent phenomenon
(Gràtz). That history shows that in 1761 the nine-volume
Cabinet der Feen, with 72 tales by Mme de *Murat, Mlle
*Lhéritier, Mme d'*Aulnoy, Mlle de *La Force, and
Louise d'*Auneuil, among others, was published in
Nuremberg, and that from 1790 to 1797 Friedrich Justin
Bertuch published the Blaue Bibliothek aller Nationen
(Blue Library of All Nations) in Gotha. Bertuch's little
books, modelled on those of the French Bibliothèque
bleue, republished the fairy tales of Charles *Perrault and
20 3 GERMANY

Mme d'Aulnoy, as well as those of now less known or

even unknown authors like Catherine de *Lintot, Hamil-
ton, and Jean de *Préchac, and continuations of The
Thousand and One Nights by Chavis and Jacques
*Cazotte, and oriental tales from the Arabic and Persian-
language traditions. In disseminating them to a broad
German readership that included artisans as well as bour-
geois girls, Bertuch made the myth of fairy tales among
the folk a reality. In addition, Bertuch contributed to the
myth of orality by writing of the world-wide ubiquity of
an oral 'Marchentradition' (storytelling tradition; see
below for discussion of the difficulties introduced by ter-
minological confusion), and like so many others, he
ascribed his print sources to oral origins. A flood of fairy-
tale reprints, piratings, and knock-offs followed, of which
Albert Ludwig *Grimm's various editions offer an excel-
lent example. The fairy-tale tradition that we now know
as 'German' was thoroughly international at the begin-
ning of the i8oos.
In the decades on either side of 1800, German classical
and romantic authors elevated the fairy-tale genre into
the nation's literary canon by composing new fairy tales
and reworking old ones. Johann Wolfgang von *Goethe
tried his hand, and E . T . A . *Hoffmann set the fantastic at
the centre of his œuvre.
Against a background of exogenous tales circulating in
Germany, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm formulated re-
quirements for a 'German' collection. The opening sen-
tences of the Foreword to the first edition of their
*Kinder- und Hausmdrchen (*Children's and Household
Tales) refer in coded language to Napoleon's invasion
and subjection of Germany between 1806 and 1 8 1 3 , but
Wilhelm's choice of metaphor raised their enterprise to a
transcendent and eternal level by using the language of
nature to depict the German countryside: 'It is heart-
warming, when tempest or misfortune sent from above
crushes an entire planting to earth, that humble wayside
hedges and bushes provide a small secure place where a
few seedlings remain upright. When the sun shines fa-
vourably, then they grow on alone and unnoticed; no
scythe cuts them in season for the storeroom; but in late
summer, when their swelling seeds ripen, humble, pious
hands come searching and lay stalk upon stalk, carefully
bound up, and regarding them more highly than entire
sheaves, carry them home; and through the winter they
are the nourishment, perhaps the only seeds for the fu-
ture' (vol. i (1812), p. v ) .
GERMANY 204

Despite the Grimms' intention to collect characteris­

tically German tales, their first edition of the Children s
and Household Tales included German translations of sev­
eral Perrault tales, for example, *'Bluebeard', 'Cinder­
ella', and *'Puss-in-Boots'. In part this happened because
the Grimms believed that Perrault had collected from
popular tradition. For the second edition of 1819, Wil­
helm summarily replaced them with German versions of
similar tales, where they existed.
Public taste lagged behind the Grimms' conception of
'German' tales, however, as the sales history of their tales
shows. Volume i, which contained a few French tales and
bourgeois versions of several other tales, sold well; vol­
ume ii with folk versions sold poorly; and when a second
edition in 1819 replaced bourgeois and French versions
with German 'folk' ones, sales dropped to a trickle. On
the other hand, their nationalistic concerns were shared
by many German as well as European intellectuals, and
enthusiasm for the Grimms' tales made them a model for
tale collections in one country after another.
Because the Grimms' collection was so influential, it is
important to describe its contents in the context of Ger­
many's tale tradition. It includes a few literary fairy tales,
extended narratives of magic and transformation with
interlocking sub-stories. It also includes many modern
fairy tales, that is, stories of social reversal through a
royal marriage mediated by magic. And it contains as
well a broad range of traditional minor genres: caution­
ary tales like *'Little Red Riding Hood', animal tales like
'The *Bremen T o w n Musicians', tales of origins like 'The
Moora' or ' T h e Duration of Life', and religious tales like
'Marienkind'. Much of their 19th-century dissemination
derived from school and home readers such as Heinrich
Dittmar's Deutsches Lesebuch {German Reader), produced
in many volumes from 1821 onward.
Within German-speaking Central Europe the Grimm
collection precipitated local collecting activity, so that in
the following decades a tale collection (fairy and other­
wise) for every geographic district became available. All
claimed orality, but more often than not the tales them­
selves came from older published collections. (Literary
fairy tales, with their elaborated vocabularies, and mod­
ern fairy tales, with their tightly structured plots, are par­
ticularly hard to pass on orally, and they derive nearly
exclusively from published precursors.)
Literary fairy tales, as opposed to simplified and simple
folk tales, continued to thrive in the 19th century, in part
2C>5 GERMANY

because childhood experience was redefined in the ro­

mantic period to include fantasy. Foremost among 19th-
century literary fairy tales was Ludwig *Bechstein's
Deutsches Mdrchenbuch (1845), which was repeatedly pub­
lished in both cheap and expensive editions, small and
large formats, illustrated and unillustrated, in northern
and western German-speaking areas. A second Bechstein
collection, the Neues Deutsches Mdrchenbuch, was pub­
lished principally in Vienna and Budapest and distributed
throughout the southern and eastern areas of German-
speaking Central Europe. Like the Deutsches Mdrchen­
buch, it also addressed a variety of market segments.
Bechstein's books dominated the 19th-century G e r ­
man fairy-tale market in terms of book sales, but both
Bechstein's and the Grimms' tales were represented in the
broadly popular poster format. It was principally the
Grimms' tales, however, which made their w a y through
school readers into the core syllabuses of German-speak­
ing Central Europe. Their spare style, with a minimum of
distinguishing adjectives and with little in the w a y of in­
dividually nuanced characterizations of the stories' her­
oes and heroines, made the Grimms' tales ideal vehicles
for didactic classroom discussions. Manuals provided
teachers with word-by-word guidance about how to util­
ize individual tales. The following class-plan segment
draws on the Grimms' tale 'Die Sterntaler' ('The Star-
Money') and specifies both teacher questions, and pupil
response (in bold type):
Goal (read or spoken aloud to the assembled class). W e are
going to discuss a story about a little girl who is richly
rewarded.
Preparatory questions for teacher to ask the class. What's
your name? Where do you live? W h o lives at your
house? Father, mother, brother. What do you receive
from your father and mother? Food, clothing, shelter.
( T o be determined by additional questions!)
Presentation What would you like to know first about the
little girl? Her name. I know your name. But I don't
know the little girl's name . . . N o w what would you like
to know about the little girl? Where she lived . . .?
But soon the little girl was in distress. How did that come
about? Her father died. She cried a lot. Then things got
even worse. What happened? Her mother died too. W h y
was that so bad for the girl? Her parents gave her every­
thing, a room, a little bed for sleeping, food . . .
What do you like about the little girl? I like the w a y she
loved her parents. What would she have said to her
GERMANY 206

mother, when she was given a new dress, a piece of cake,

an apple, and so on? Thank you, dear mother. That's
how the little girl showed herself grateful. What do you
like about the little girl?—that she was grateful . . .
What did G o d like most about her? That she trusted in
God.
That she was compassionate.
All children should be like that . . .
. . . But how can you show your parents that you love
them? Help at home, do what you're told, don't make
noise when father wants to rest, don't get your clothes
dirty . . .
Germany's bookbuyers also continued to be receptive
to foreign fairy tales in the 19th century. Hans Christian
*Andersen's tales appeared in German soon after their
initial publication in Denmark, and continued to be re­
published with ever-new illustrations throughout the
20th century.
Grimm, Bechstein, and A . L . Grimm represent the
best-known 19th-century fairy-tale collections. But the
19th century was awash with the genre. Literarily fash­
ionable, structurally open, and with a pre-available stock
of motifs and plots that could be varied at will, fairy tales
attracted literati as well as antiquarians. The fairy-tale
creations of E . T . A . Hoffmann, *Novalis (Friedrich von
Hardenberg), Ludwig Tieck, Clemens *Brentano, Wil­
helm *Hauff, Eduard *Morike, and Gottfried Keller have
been well documented in secondary literature; others,
like those of Friedrich Wilhelm Carové, Friedrich de la
Motte *Fouqué, and Karl Wilhelm Salice Contessa (des­
pite their names, all German-born German writers) less
so. Fairy tales also formed a customary part of mixed
collections, such as HaufPs story almanacs ( 1 8 2 6 - 8 ) ,
which included folk tales, legends, horror, ghost, and
crime stories.
Fairy tales attracted female attention increasingly in
19th-century Germany. The best-known group com­
prised the girls of the *Kaffeterkreis, who with Gisela von
*Arnim as their leader formed a weekly Berlin salon in
1843, at which the members considered anonymously
submitted writings. Usually fairy tales with female-
centred plots, they were eventually published in their
Kaffeterieitung. T h e Kaffeterheis was symptomatic of
broad interest among 19th-century women in fairy tales,
which both preceded and followed the Grimms' publica­
tions. Examples include Sophie Mereau-Brentano, Wun-
207 GERMANY

derbilder und Tràume in eilf [sic] Mdhrchen (Phantasms

and Dreams in Eleven Stories, 1802); Sophie de la Motte
Fouqué, Drei Mdhrchen von Serena (Serena's Three Tales,
1806); Agnes Franz, Kinderlust (Children's Joy, 1804);
Karoline *Stahl, Fabeln, Mdhrchen und Er^dhlungen fur
Kinder (Fables, Stories, and Tales for Children, 1818);
Amalie Schoppe, Kleine Mdhrchen-Bibliothek (Little Li­
brary of Stories, 1828); and Clara Fechner, Die schwarie
Tante (The Black Aunt, 1848). According to Shawn J a r -
vis, women published over 200 fairy-tale collections in
German-speaking countries in the 19th century.
At the turn of the 20th century, Grimms' Tales, alle-
gorically representative of true Germanness, rose above
its former rivals. Sacralized and nationalized, they be­
came a verbal version of forested Germany in the rhetoric
of publicists like Franz Heyden and then-influential his­
torians of children's literature, like Leopold Kôster.
During the Weimar period, a new wave of fairy-tale
composition developed. Politically committed to revolu­
tionary social change, socialist authors such as Edwin
*Hoernle, Hermynia *Zur Muhlen, Bruno *Schonlank,
Béla *Balâzs, and Felix Fechenbach urged the institution
of a new social and economic order. Because their stories
so frequently end with the protagonist's failure, they can
largely be accounted anti-fairy tales.
With the conclusion of World War I I , Britain, France,
the United States, and the U S S R (the Allies) each occu­
pied a quadrant of Germany. Persuaded that the Grimms'
Tales had socialized Germans to violence and anti-
Semitism, occupying authorities in the American
sector scoured school and municipal library shelves
and removed offending copies to the United States,
where they were redistributed to university and public
libraries.
Despite military efforts to banish the Grimms' Tales,
they returned immediately. In 1945, a Stuttgart publisher
issued a small edition of 29 tales, and for the next few
years licences were required. N e w editions of the
Grimms' Tales were published, at first cautiously and in
expurgated form, and then in a torrent which reached a
high water mark during the celebration of the bicenten­
ary of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimms' births in 1984—6. T h e
popularity of the Grimms' tales continues to the present
day, sustained by popularized Jungian, Freudian, anthro-
posophic, and Christian interpretations.
Coincident with popular acceptance of the Grimms'
Children's and Household Tales in the second half of the
GERMANY 208

20th century were numerous newly composed fairy-tale

collections that their authors intended as replacements for
or as alternatives to the Grimms' tales. Some who were
involved in this effort were Ernst *Wiechert, Otto *Flake,
Hans Watzlik, Hanns Arens, and Paul *Alverdes.
Following a season of university unrest in the spring of
1968, radical social movements spawned fairy-tale revi­
sions in western Germany. Initially anti-capitalist, the re­
visions eventually also decried violence and encouraged
gender equality.
The second half of the 20th century also witnessed a
rising tide of criticism of the Grimms' tales from intellec­
tuals. Parodies of the Grimms and of their tales had long
existed, but these had usually been marked by affection;
that was still the case with Hans Traxler's Die Wahrheit
iiber Hansel und Gretel ( The Truth about Hansel and Gretel,
1963). T h e parodies that appeared after 1968 were often
bitingly bitter and angrily denunciatory. Their authors
understood the Grimms' Tales as the embodiment of
everything that they perceived as morally flawed or polit­
ically and socially wrong in modern Germany. Foremost
among revisionist fairy tale authors were Hans-Joachim
Gelberg (Geh und spiel mit dem Riesen (Go Play with the
Giant, 1 9 7 1 ) ) and *Janosch (Janosch er^dhlt Grimm's Mdr­
chen (Janosch tells Grimm's Tales, 1972)). Among the
broad spectrum of revisionist fairy tales produced in this
period, Jack Zipes identified six distinct streams: socially
satirical, Utopian, pedagogical, feminist, parodie, and
spiritual.
A slightly different set of developments characterized
the USSR-dominated eastern sector of Germany from
1949 to 1989. Just as the socialist ideals of the Weimar
period had engendered revisions of fairy tales, so, too,
did the related ideals implemented by the Kinderbuch-
verlag (Children's Literature Publishing House). School­
^ •
"* ~ * . -'
children there were exposed to translations into German
of fairy tales from other socialist countries, and in add­
ition the Grimms' Tales were carefully edited to remove
' ""Vif egregious violence. Hence, in eastern Germany Snow
White's story no longer ended with her stepmother
forced to dance to death in red-hot iron slippers, and the
Goose Girl's tormenter was simply chased from the land
instead of being rolled downhill in a nail-studded barrel.
!\ '
Eastern intellectuals also rewrote fairy tales. Notable
were Franz *Fuhmann, whose poems and stories ques­
tioned hallowed fairy-tale virtues like obedience (1966),
and Horst Matthies, whose 'non-fairy tales', as he desig-
2C>9 GERMANY

nated them, explored social problems in eastern Ger­

many.
The extent to which German intellectuals have refor­
mulated and reformed individual fairy tales as well as the
genre itself indicates the privileged position accorded
fairy tales in German popular and learned culture. T h e
German Europâische Màrchengesellschaft (European
Fairy Tale Society), the largest of its kind anywhere in
the world, holds large annual meetings at which storytell­
ers and scholars alike gather, while the En^yklopddie des
Màrchens {Encyclopedia of the Tale), an ongoing project
of the German Academy of Sciences whose completion is
envisaged for about 2010, is a monumental scholarly
undertaking funded by the national government.
The publishing history of fairy tales in Germany from
1550 to the present is one of gradual importation of tales
from beyond its borders, their translation and transform­
ation into German tales, and their ultimate integration
into German culture. First to appear were French tales
augmented by oriental literary fairy tales in French. Next
were French and oriental fairy tales translated into Ger­
man, tales that were themselves adapted for the German
Blue Library of all Nations. These popular books pro­
vided Germany's simple readers with a shared repertoire
of tales, which in turn furnished subsequent collectors all
over Germany with 'folk' sources. From a broad field of
competing tale collections in the 19th-century, the
Grimms' Tales slowly gained ground in the popular mind
until they came to dominate the genre at the end of the
19th and through the 20th centuries.

2 . FAIRYTALE S C H O L A R S H I P
It has long been believed that the fairy tale is an ancient
genre that has existed since the beginnings of human
communication, but many 20th-century scholars, begin­
ning with Albert Wesselski, no longer believe that to be
true. They note the medieval documentary evidence from
the lowest to the highest levels of society of a great var­
iety of literary genres, among which were ballads, verse
epics, Aesopic fables, folk tales, legends, animal tales, and
jests, but not a single fairy tale. This is as true of a com­
pendious source like the Karlsruhe Codex 408 as it is of
hundreds of marginal manuscript notations.
A principal cause of confusion surrounding the history
of the fairy tale in Germany is the German word Mdr­
chen, which has designated the fairy-tale genre for nearly
two centuries. Mdrchen means 'brief tale'. Brief tales
GERMANY 210

have existed for uncounted millenia, but because the

word Mdrchen formed part of the title of the Grimms'
Kinder- und Hausmdrchen—which was often translated
into English as Grimms' Fairy Tales—it came to stand for
'fairy tales' in English in the 19th and 20th centuries. A s a
result, everything that was written about Mdrchen was
undifferentiatedly, and often erroneously, applied to
'fairy tales'. That confusion has been further compound-
ed by the fact that certain kinds of tales which are
not themselves fairy tales, but which are routinely in-
cluded in fairy-tale collections, do have a demonstrably
long history. One is the cautionary tale 'Little Red Rid-
ing Hood'.
Many scholars have concluded that Ecbasis captivi
(c. 1043—6) by Egbert of Liège, with its little girl, tunica
rubicunda, and worrying wolf, provides an ancient ren-
dering of the well-known modern story. Most contem-
porary scholars, however, distinguish between individual
motifs and entire stories in the world of contemporary
tales and storytelling, but since the early 19th century be-
ginnings of fairy-tale scholarship, there has existed a ten-
dency to equate the documented existence of an
individual motif with the contemporaneous presence of
an entire fairy tale. The vocabulary and names in 'Cin-
derella' stories provide another relevant example. Its
heroine in the Grimms' version is Aschenputtel, in the
Bechstein version Aschenbrôdel. Some commentators
have pointed to the fact that similar names were used by
Martin Luther ('Aschenbroedel'), Geiler von K e y -
sersberg ('Eschengrudel'), and Georg Rollenhagen
('AschenpoesseP) in the 1500s to prove that the Aschen-
puttel/ Cinderella story was widespread at that time. But
no evidence exists to support that proposition. The great-
er likelihood is that when the 'Cinderella' story entered
Germany, it appropriated an already-existing name for its
heroine. RBB

Apel, Friedmar, Die Zaubergdrten der Phantasie. Zur Théorie und

Geschichte des Kunstmdrchens (1978).
Gratz, Manfred, Das Mdrchen in der deutschen Aufkldrung. Vom
Feenmdrchen ^um Volksmarchen (1988).
Haase, Donald, The Reception of Grimms' Fairy Tales (1993).
Klotz, Volker, Das europdische Kunstmdrchen (1985).
Schenda, Rudolf, Von Mund {u Ohr: Bausteine ^u einer Kulturgeschichte
volkstiimlichen Er^dhlens in Europa (1993).
Tismar, Jens, Kunstmdrchen (1977).
211 G O D O Y ALCANTARA, JOSÉ

W h i l e a husband is on a p i l g r i m a g e to R o m e , singers before their characters on screen. A s an

his wife takes a l o v e r , a necromancer, w h o interpretation o f the fairy-tale film, G l a s s ' s o p -
makes an enchanted w a x i m a g e o f the husband eratic score and media experiment stress the
to kill him in absentia. In R o m e , an adviser l o v e story and the artist's i n w a r d j o u r n e y to-
gives the husband a m a g i c mirror. W h e n he w a r d s creativity. DH
sees the necromancer in the mirror prepared to
shoot, he must immerse himself in w a t e r ( e n ) . GLINKA, MIKHAIL IVANOVICH (1804-57), R u s -
A king dies, leaving to the y o u n g e s t son a sian c o m p o s e r . T h e history o f R u s s i a n art
magic ring with p o w e r to make the w e a r e r b e - music begins with G l i n k a ' s opera A Life for the
loved, a necklace to accomplish the heart's d e - Tsar (Ivan Sussanin), in 1836; in addition to its
sire o f any person, and a cloth that will patriotic story, it w a s the first major c o m p o s -
transport a n y o n e to any destination. H e m a r - ition to e m p l o y themes from R u s s i a n folk
ries a w o m a n w h o steals all three gifts. In his music. His second opera, Russian and Ludmilla
travels he acquires w a t e r that takes flesh off (1842), also rich in folk themes, established the
bones and fruit that causes leprosy. H e finds a R u s s i a n national style. T h e story, from a p o e m
stream that restores the flesh o f his feet, and a b y *Pushkin based on a R u s s i a n folk tale, r e -
second tree that cures leprosy. N o w a great lates h o w the D u k e o f K i e v ' s daughter L u d -
healer, he is called to his w i f e ' s house to cure milla is kidnapped b y the evil flying d w a r f
her. She must first confess her sins and restore C h e r n o m o r and rescued b y the knight R u s s i a n
all defrauded g o o d s in exchange for a cure. H e w i t h his m a g i c s w o r d . SR
gives her the flesh-eating w a t e r and the fruit
that causes leprosy.
GOBLE, PAUL ( 1 9 3 3 - ) , E n g l i s h - b o r n A m e r i c a n
M a n y different versions and translations o f illustrator and author w h o has retold m a n y
the Gesta Romanorum w e r e disseminated 19th-century G r e a t Plains Indian myths and l e -
throughout E u r o p e , and the tales w e r e general- gends, primarily o f the S i o u x , B l a c k f o o t , and
ly used to endorse religious morals and virtues C h e y e n n e cultures. G o b l e ' s w o r k s are w e l l r e -
and to expose vice. Y e t , since they also ceived b y N a t i v e A m e r i c a n readers. In fact, he
stemmed in part from oriental culture and w e r e has been adopted into the Y a k i m a and S i o u x
filled with adventure, miracles, and romance, tribes. The Girl who Loved Wild Horses (1979),
they w e r e often secularized and changed in the a legend about a girl so impassioned b y horses,
oral tradition and w e r e adapted b y such great she is transformed into one, received the C a l -
writers as Boccaccio, C h a u c e r , *Shakespeare, decott M e d a l . It is a text epitomizing G o b l e ' s
and *Schiller. H G illustrative blend o f N a t i v e A m e r i c a n l e d g e r
Marchalonis, Shirley, 'Medieval Symbols and the b o o k art and personal style, w h i c h stems from
Gesta Romanorum', Chaucer Review, 8 (1974). distinguished w o r k as an artist and industrial
Roll, Walter, 'Zur Uberlieferungsgeschichte der designer in E n g l a n d . A m o n g his other import-
"Gesta Romanorum" ', Mittellateinisches ant b o o k s with fairy-tale motifs are: Buffalo
Jahrbuch, 21 (1986). Woman (1984), Her Seven Brothers (1988), and
GIRAUDOUX, JEAN (1882-1944), French n o v e l - Iktomi and the Boulder (1988). SS
ist, playwright, and critic. S t r o n g l y influenced
by G e r m a n romantics, he w r o t e Ondine (1939), G O D O Y ALCANTARA, JOSÉ ( 1 8 2 5 - 7 5 ) , Spanish
a play based on a tale b y Friedrich de la Motte writer and scholar. H i s fame is due both to his
*Fouqué (* Undine, 1 8 1 1 ) , w h i c h w a s itself a w o r k as a journalist and to several research
version o f a 14th-century p o e m . T h r o u g h the w o r k s o f his w h i c h received a w a r d s from the
unsuccessful union o f a n y m p h and a knight, Spanish A c a d e m y o f L a n g u a g e and the Spanish
G i r a u d o u x suggests the difficulty o f reconcil- A c a d e m y o f H i s t o r y . H i s tales appeared in
ing the natural and the human w o r l d s . LCS periodicals such as Semanario Pintoresco Espa-
hol (Spanish Picturesque Weekly). In 1849
GLASS, PHILIP ( 1 9 3 7 - ) , A m e r i c a n c o m p o s e r G o d o y published ' U n abad c o m o hubo m u c h o s
whose La Belle et la Bête: An Opera for Ensem- y un cocinero c o m o no h a y n i n g u n o . C u e n t o '
ble and Film (première, 1994) is an innovative ( ' A n A b b o t as T h e r e H a v e B e e n M a n y and a
operatic adaptation o f J e a n *Cocteau's film La C o o k as T h e r e Is N o Other. T a l e ' . T h i s story
Belle et la Bête (*Beauty and the Beast, 1946). is a literary rendition o f a popular E u r o p e a n
Glass transforms C o c t e a u ' s film into a live p r o - tale w h i c h had already been taken from the oral
duction o f music-theatre b y eliminating the tradition and incorporated into the written one
film's soundtrack, synchronizing his n e w o p e r - b y the Spanish 16th-century w r i t e r J u a n de
atic score with the film, and presenting live Timoneda. CF
GOETHE, JOHANN WOLFGANG VON 212

GOETHE, JOHANN WOLFGANG VON ( 1 7 4 9 - 1 8 3 2 ) . ' T h e F a i r y T a l e ' t w o lands are separated b y a

G e r m a n y ' s O l y m p i a n poet and dramatist, river, and chaos reigns. A peasant man with a
G o e t h e turned to literary fairy tales on several light is called upon to g o to the temple on the
occasions in mid-life, integrating them into other side of the river and to help cure the
m e m o i r s and novels. C h a p b o o k s read in his d y i n g L i l y . V a r i o u s characters such as the
childhood introduced him to popular tales like ferryman, t w o w i l l - o ' - t h e - w i s p s , a beautiful
'Fortunatus', *'Melusine', ' T i l l E u l e n s p i e g e l ' , green serpent, and a y o u n g man must make
and ' T h e W a n d e r i n g J e w ' , and storytelling at sacrifices and w o r k together to bring about the
h o m e made children's stories like ' T h e * B r a v e establishment o f a n e w enlightened realm.
Little T a i l o r ' familiar. In his twenties he made G o e t h e ' s ' F a i r y T a l e ' has been interpreted as a
references in his correspondence to magical religious, political, philosophical, and even
components recognizable from fairy tales such economic allegory. * N o v a l i s , the G e r m a n r o ­
as ' T h e *Juniper T r e e ' , ' O n e - E y e , T w o - E y e s , mantic poet, w r o t e a fairy tale about Klingsohr
and T h r e e - E y e s ' , and ' T h e * F r o g K i n g ' . L i k e to critique G o e t h e ' s w o r k , and numerous G e r ­
all educated urban G e r m a n s o f the 18th cen­ man writers up to the present day have been
tury, G o e t h e w a s also acquainted with F r e n c h influenced b y it.
tales about fairies, both through his o w n read­ L i k e m a n y others in 18th-century G e r m a n y ,
ing and, b y his o w n account, from stories his G o e t h e had been influenced b y imports from
l i v e l y y o u n g mother had told him in his y o u t h . F r a n c e like The ^Arabian Nights and tales about
In his first novel, Die Leiden des jungen Werther fairies. In high old age he enjoyed telling such
(The Sorrows of Young Werther, 1774), he de­ stories to the princesses o f the W e i m a r court
v e l o p e d this motif and had his protagonist and to his o w n grandchildren.
W e r t h e r tell children stories. Respectful 19th-century contemporaries like
A s the 6 1 - y e a r - o l d author o f Dichtung und J . G . B u s c h i n g and W i l h e l m * G r i m m kept
Wahrheit (Poetry and Truth, part I , b o o k 2), G o e t h e informed about n e w l y published G e r ­
G o e t h e reported recounting to childhood p l a y ­ man fairy-tale collections. G o e t h e ' s references
mates a 'fairy tale for b o y s ' , ' D e r neue P a r i s ' to brief narratives and to fairy tales in theor­
( ' T h e N e w P a r i s ' ) . A dream sequence, it etical terms are varied and various, admiring,
e m b e d d e d the narrative in a real and w e l l - analytical, and denigrating in turn. His remarks
k n o w n location, the fortifications surrounding reflect the tension that fairy tales generate and
Frankfurt am Main. But the tale d r e w its elab­ express between competing realms: magic and
orate m a g i c , classic references, colourful cast morality, fantasy and reason. His utterances
of beautiful n y m p h s , and i n v e n t o r y of delicate also e m b o d y his mixed experience with fairy
crystal, exotic fruit, and courtly entertainments tales, which included a notably failed effort to
from the style and content of 18th-century c o m p o s e a sequel to the Zauberflôte. RBB
F r e n c h tales about fairies. Geulen, Hans, 'Goethes Kunstmarchen "Der
In part 2, b o o k 10 o f Poetry and Truth, neue Paris" und "Die neue Melusine": Ihre
G o e t h e recorded telling ' D i e neue Melusine' poetologischen Imaginationen und Spielformen',
( ' T h e N e w Melusine') to a g r o u p o f y o u n g Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift fur
friends near Strasbourg as a y o u n g man. T y p ­ Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte, 5 9 . 1
ical o f the literary trajectory o f m a n y m o d e r n (1985).

stories, it w a s a legend that had been published Hoermann, Roland, 'Goethe's Masked Masque
in "Das Màrchen": Theatrical Anticipations of
as a Volkshuch and d e v e l o p e d b y Mlle de * L u b -
Romanticism's Self-Reflexive Peril', in Clifford
ert as 'Princess C a m i o n ' before it entered Wil­
A. Bernd (ed.), Romanticism and Beyond ( 1 9 9 6 ) .
helm Meisters Wanderjahre (Wilhelm Meister's Mommsen, Katharina, '"Màrchen der Utopien":
Years of Travel, 1821) as a novella (3.6). His Goethes Màrchen und Schillers Àsthetische
final effort, ' D a s M à r c h e n ' ( ' T h e F a i r y T a l e ' ) , Briefe', in Jiirgen Brummack (ed.),
c o m p o s e d in 1795, became part o f Conversation Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte ( 1 9 8 1 ) .
of German Emigrants ( Unterhaltungen deutscher Solbrig, Ingeborg H., 'Symbolik und
Ausgewanderten). ambivalente Funktion des Goldes in Goethes
' T h e F a i r y T a l e ' w a s G o e t h e ' s attempt to "Màrchen" \Jahrbuch des Wiener Goethe- Vereins,
73 (i9<*9)-
c o m p o s e the consummate narrative of this
Witte, Bernd, 'Das Opfer der Schlange: Zur
genre and to address the chaos brought about
Auseinandersetzung Goethes mit Schiller in den
b y the F r e n c h R e v o l u t i o n and N a p o l e o n i c
Unterhaltungen deutschen Ausgewanderten und in
W a r s . T h e basic theme o f the c o m p l e x s y m b o l ­ Mdrchen , in Wilfried Barner (ed.), Unser
ical fairy tale concerns the g o l d e n age and the Commercium: Goethe und Schillers Literaturpolitik
restoration o f order and h a r m o n y on earth. In (1984).
2 I 3
GOREY, EDWARD

GOLDMAN, WILLIAM ( 1 9 3 1 - ), American G u i d o * G o z z a n o . G o l i a experimented with dif­

screenwriter and novelist, w h o s e b e s t - k n o w n ferent styles and w a s influenced b y the B a u h a u s
fantasy w o r k s are the Morgenstern series: The school in the 1920s, but he a l w a y s tended to
Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of stress the m o c k caricature in most o f his w o r k s .
True Love and High Adventure, The 'Good JZ
Parts' Version, Abridged by William Goldman
(1973) and The Silent Gondoliers: A Fable by S. GOMEZ, MARIE-ANGÉLIQUE POISSION, DAME
Morgenstern (1983). A d a p t e d for m o v i e s in GABRIEL DE (1684—1770), F r e n c h writer. M a r ­
1987, The ^Princess Bride is a hilarious p a r o d y ried to an i m p o v e r i s h e d Spanish nobleman, she
of the traditional fairy tale, soap operas, and tried to live b y her pen and published m o r e
popular romances. It i n v o l v e s the rescue o f than 50 v o l u m e s , including poetry, a p l a y , and
Princess Buttercup b y a dashing pirate named particularly n o v e l s . H e r frame narrative Les
W e s t l e y , her childhood sweetheart. N o b o d y is Journées amusantes (Amusing Days, 1722—31) is
what she or he appears in this m o c k fairy tale, unusual in that its storytellers are intent not so
and G o l d m a n leaves the reader up in the air as m u c h on d i s p l a y i n g their w o r l d l y graces as
to whether Buttercup and W e s t l e y will live their b o o k i s h erudition through their tales and
happily e v e r after. JZ g a m e s . O n e o f the tales in this collection, His­
toire de Jean de Calais (Story of Jean de Calais,
GOLDSCHMIDT, MEI'R A R O N ( 1 8 1 9 - 8 7 ) g r e w up 1723) rewrites the folkloric tale t y p e A T 506A.
in a liberal J e w i s h community in C o p e n h a g e n . LCS
H e m a y be best k n o w n for his n o v e l s , but some
of his short stories rely h e a v i l y on folk beliefs. GOODRICH, SAMUEL ( 1 7 9 3 - 1 8 6 0 ) , A m e r i c a n
One such story is ' B j e r g t a g e n ' ( ' B e w i t c h e d ' , publisher and author o f o v e r 100 juvenile
1868), which stems from the belief that super­ b o o k s o f instruction. T h e son o f a C o n g r e g a ­
natural beings m a y 'take y o u into the m o u n ­ tional minister, he encountered fairy tales late
tain', to the w o r l d o f 'the others'. T h i s in his y o u t h , and reacted with h o r r o r to 'these
particular story uses folk belief in a most r o ­ monstrosities', a v i e w w h i c h he retained all his
mantic w a y , for it demonstrates that a y o u n g life, launching m a n y attacks on them and on
w o m a n w h o cannot be satisfied with her m u n ­ nursery r h y m e s . His p s e u d o n y m Peter P a r l e y
dane life must strive to transcend it and find her w a s taken up b y several E n g l i s h authors o f
soulmate in that other w o r l d . NI similar b o o k s o f facts, and ' P e t e r P a r l e y i s m '
b e c a m e a term o f abuse used b y those w h o sup­
GOLDSTEIN, LISA ( 1 9 5 3 - ) , A m e r i c a n writer,
ported w o r k s o f imagination. * K i n g s l e y in The
w h o w o n the A m e r i c a n B o o k A w a r d for The
Water-Babies (1863) referred to him slightingly
Red Magician (1982), a n o v e l with the h o m e ­
as ' C o u s i n C r a m c h i l d ' o f B o s t o n . GA
spun flavour o f J e w i s h folk tales, set in a
magical version o f Eastern E u r o p e prior to
World W a r I I . Strange Devices of the Sun and GOREY, EDWARD ( 1 9 2 5 - ) , artist, illustrator,
Moon (1993) is a delightfully q u i r k y n o v e l printmaker, and writer o f macabre picture
based on the 'changeling' motif, i n v o l v i n g fair­ b o o k s , including m a n y miniature b o o k s and al­
ies and Christopher M a r l o w e in 16th-century phabets. G o r e y studied at the C h i c a g o A r t I n ­
L o n d o n . Goldstein also w o r k s with folklore stitute and H a r v a r d , and later w o r k e d for the
themes in t w o short stories: ' B r e a d c r u m b s and publisher D o u b l e d a y A n c h o r B o o k s as a d e ­
Stones' (1993), a powerful look at *'Hansel and signer and c o v e r artist, and illustrated chil­
Gretel' as seen through the memories o f a dren's b o o k s , such as F l o r e n c e P . H e i d e ' s The
Holocaust s u r v i v o r ; and ' B r o t h e r B e a r ' (1995), Shrinking of Treehorn (1971) and Donald & the
inspired b y ' G o l d i l o c k s ' and the N a t i v e A m e r i ­ . . ., with Peter F . N e u m e y e r . His real fame has
can legend ' T h e G i r l w h o Married a B e a r ' . c o m e from h u m o r o u s l y e x a g g e r a t e d G o t h i c
tales, self-illustrated with his b l a c k - a n d - w h i t e
TW
ink d r a w i n g s with h e a v y crosshatching. T h e s e
GOLIA (pseudonym of EUGENIO COLMO, b o o k s , including The Unstrung Harp (1953),
1885—1967), Italian caricaturist, painter, and il­ The Doubtful Guest (1957), and The Sopping
lustrator. Most o f his ink d r a w i n g s appeared in Thursday (1970) bear the l o o k o f V i c t o r i a n il­
the leading satirical magazines o f his times. H e lustrated texts but recount ominous events and
also provided pictures for journals for y o u n g strange disappearances. Although picture
readers, and his best fairy-tale illustrations can b o o k s , his w o r k s emphasize the adult nature o f
be found in La princessa si spossa ( The Princess the content o f fairy tales and satirize the c o n ­
Gets Married, 1917) written b y his g o o d friend ventions o f didactic b o o k s , especially his m a n y
GOURMONT, REMY DE 214

alphabet b o o k s . O f these, the most notorious is riched b y all the innovations associated with
The Gashlycrumb Tinies or After the Outing the postmodern n o v e l . G o y t i s o l o has also pub-
(1963), w h i c h sardonically describes the deaths lished a few collections o f short stories, but
of 26 children, k n o c k e d off in alphabetical they are all written in a realistic manner. H o w -
order; for example: ' O is for O L I V E run e v e r , in Reivindicacion del Conde don Julian
through with an a w l | P is for P R U E trampled (Count Julian, 1970), one o f his most important
flat in a b r a w l . ' S e v e r a l anthologies h a v e c o l - novels, he makes incursions into folklore. In
lected his w o r k , including Amphigorey (1972), fact, at the beginning o f the fourth and final
Amphigorey, Too (1975), and Amphigorey Also section o f this w o r k there is a revision of ""'Lit-
(1983). A l s o active in theatre design, G o r e y tle R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' , a tale which is repeated-
w o n the ' T o n y ' a w a r d for his costume and set ly alluded to throughout the novel. T h i s
design o f the 1977 B r o a d w a y production r e w o r k i n g is based on *Perrault's version, but
Dracula. GRB there is one outstanding difference between the
Ross, Clifford, and Wilkin, Karen, The World of t w o stories, the fact that the main character in
Edward Gorey (1996). G o y t i s o l o ' s story is a b o y instead o f a little girl.
CF
GOURMONT, REMY DE ( 1 8 5 8 - 1 9 1 5 ) , F r e n c h Lee, Abigail E . , 'La paradigmâtica historia de
writer and critic. H e identified *Marie de Caperucita y el lobo feroz: Juan Goytisolo's Use
F r a n c e ' s Lais as a source for the F r e n c h fairy of "Little Red Riding Hood" in Reivindicacion
tradition. His Histoires magiques {Magic Stories, del Conde don Julian , Bulletin of Hispanic
1894) includes several fantastic tales. T h e s y m - Studies, 65 (1988).
Ugarte, Michael, Trilogy of Treason: An
bolist w o r k ' L e Château singulier' ( ' T h e S i n -
Intertextual Study of Juan Goytisolo (1982).
gular C a s t l e ' ) reflects G o u r m o n t ' s idealist
philosophy as a princess tests her suitors, a c -
cepting o n l y the one w h o can f o r g o sexuality;
the others will be condemned to a life o f p h y s -
GOZZANO, GuiDO ( 1 8 8 3 - 1 9 1 6 ) , Italian poet and
ical d r u d g e r y . In ' L ' É t a b l e ' ( ' T h e Stable', in
writer, most k n o w n for his collections of poet-
D'un pays lointain, 1930) a serving girl also
ry, Via del Rifugio (1907) and / Colloqui (The
passes a test to b e c o m e a prince's bride. AR
Colloquies, 1 9 1 1 ) . After G o z z a n o ' s death, four
collections o f his tales w e r e published: L 'altare
GOVONI, CORRADO (1884-1965), important Ita- del passato (The Altar of the Past, 1918), L'ul-
lian poet, writer, and p l a y w r i g h t . O n e o f Ita- tima traccia (The Last Trace, 1919), I tre talis-
ly's foremost futurist poets, G o v o n i w r o t e mani (The Three Talismans, 1914), and La
lyrical prose and novels influenced b y d ' A n - principessa si sposa ( The Princess Gets Married,
nunzio's style, namely, Anche l'ombra è sole 1916), which contains the classic tale 'Il re por-
(Even the Shadow is the Sun, 1920), La terra con- c a r o ' ( ' T h e P i g K i n g ' ) , the story of the three
tro ilcielo (The Earth against the Sky, 1921) and beautiful princesses w h o s e w i c k e d stepmother
La strada sull'acqua ( The Street over the Water, seeks the aid o f a sorceress to turn them into
1923). G o v o n i ' s tales, collected in Le rovine del piglets. A s they are about to be slaughtered, the
Paradiso (The Ruins of Paradise, 1940) and three succeed in convincing the executioners to
Confessione davanti alio specchio (Confessions in spare their lives and, after many trials and
Front of the Mirror, 1942), often blend the clas- tribulations, they are restored to their rightful
sical fairy tale and a B o c c a c c i e s q u e taste for the place with the aid o f a magical lizard w h o m
j o k e that victimizes the villain, as seen in ' L a Chiaretta, one of the three princesses, had
burla del nanino della T o f a n a ' ( ' T h e P r a n k o f helped. T h e w i c k e d Queen is turned to stone
the Little D w a r f from T o f a n a ' ) , included in / as a monument to her iniquity. Other fairy
racconti della ghirlandàia (The Jay's Tales, tales in this v o l u m e include: ' L a cavallina del
1932). MNP negromante' ('The Necromancer's Little
M a r e ' ) , 'Il reuccio g a m b e r i n o ' ( ' T h e Little
GOYTISOLO, JUAN ( 1 9 3 I - ) , Spanish novelist Shrimp K i n g ' ) , ' N o n s o ' ( ' D o n ' t k n o w ' ) , and
w h o s e w o r k s are written in a realistic but crit- ' L a leggenda dei sei c o m p a g n i ' ( ' T h e L e g e n d
ical manner. G o y t i s o l o is k n o w n for denoun- of the S i x C o m r a d e s ' ) . G o z z a n o w a s greatly
cing the b o u r g e o i s i e , the Catholic C h u r c h , influenced b y *Straparola, Charles *Perrault,
capitalism, and other aspects o f Spanish cul- M m e d ' * A u l n o y , and the Brothers *Grimm.
ture. H e is likewise d e v o t e d to revising the na- GD
tional past and destroying its myths. F r o m the Carletto, M., 'Per uno studio del motivo fiabesco
1960s o n w a r d s his narrative technique w a s en- in C. Gozzano', Italianistica, 4 (1975).
215 GRASS, GUNTER

GOZZI, CARLO (1720—1806), Venetian aristo­ nationalities w e r e based upon his p l a y s , most
crat, p l a y w r i g h t , and memorialist, w h o re­ famously *Puccini's Turandot (1924); there are
w o r k e d a number o f old fairy tales for the also an early * W a g n e r v e r s i o n o f La donna ser­
theatre. L i k e his brother G a s p a r o , a distin­ pente (Die Feen, started 1833, produced 1888), a
guished journalist and writer o f A e s o p i c fables, Busoni Turandot (1917), *Prokofiev's The Love
C a r l o Gozzi w a s a leading figure in the literary of Three Oranges (1919), and Henze's Konig
circles of 18th-century V e n i c e . Culturally c o n ­ Hirsch (Il re cervo, 1956). ALL
servative, he opposed Enlightenment i n n o v ­ Bentley, Eric (ed.), The Genius of the Italian
ation, especially w h e n it radically changed the Theatre (1964).
nature of the theatre. H e held to the tradition Gozzi, Carlo, Fiabe teatrali: testo, introdu^one e
commento, ed. Paolo Bosisio (1984).
of the commedia delVarte with its improvisation,
Carlo Go^i: Five Tales for the Theatre,
its stock situations and stock characters like
trans. Ted Emery, with introduction (1989).
Pantaloon, Punchinello, Harlequin, and C o l ­ Salina Borello, R., Le fate a teatro: le Fiabe di
umbine; he w a s the sworn e n e m y of C a r l o Carlo Goni tra allegoria e parodia (1996).
G o l d o n i , the greatest Venetian p l a y w r i g h t ,
w h o s e realistic scripted comedies swept a w a y GRAHAME, KENNETH (1859-1932), English
the old conventions. G o z z i espoused a sophisti­ author o f The Wind in the Willows (1908), in­
cated theatre of fantasy and set out to p r o v e to cluded a fairy story, ' T h e Reluctant D r a g o n ' ,
G o l d o n i that this w o u l d attract the public a w a y in Dream Days (1898), his second collection o f
from the latter's social critiques. His sequence stories about childhood. T o the children in this
of successful capricci scenici or fiabe drammat- b o o k and its predecessor, The Golden Age
iche began with L'amore delle tre melarance (The (1895), fairy tales are reality, so that w h e n the
Love of Three Oranges, 1761), based on a story narrator in ' T h e F i n d i n g o f the P r i n c e s s ' w a n ­
in *Basile's Lo cunto de li cunti ( The *Pentame- ders into the g a r d e n o f a great house, he as­
ron, 1634—6). It w a s the first o f ten fairy-tale sumes that the couple he finds there are a fairy
plays written in the short period 1761—5, for princess and her prince. Similarly, he and his
which Gozzi d r e w upon existing collections o f sister follow d r a g o n footprints in the s n o w , and
stories such as Basile's, as well as the oral folk then are told a story about a peaceable and
tradition, oriental sources (especially The ^Ara­ friendly d r a g o n w h o is with much difficulty
bian Nights, published b y Antoine *Galland in persuaded into a m o c k fight with St G e o r g e to
French as Les Mille et une nuits in the y e a r s satisfy public expectation. GA
1704—17), and the commedia delVarte itself
which provided G o z z i with some of his charac­ G R A S S , GUNTER (1927— ) , G e r m a n writer, poet,
ters. His Turandot w a s also performed in 1761, and artist. H e w a s born and educated in D a n z i g
and among the later notable and seminal pieces until he w a s called up to the G e r m a n a r m y at
w e r e : 77 re cervo (The King Stag), Il mostro tur- the age o f 16. H e w a s captured b y the A m e r i ­
chino (The Blue Monster), La donna serpente cans, and after his release in 1946, w o r k e d as a
(The Serpent Woman), and L'augellin belverde farm labourer and as a miner before he trained
(The Green Bird). In these plays fairy-tale fan­ as a stonemason and sculptor, later studying art
tasy is wedded to c o m e d y and satire. L a t e r at D i i s s e l d o r f and Berlin. H e then m o v e d to
Gozzi modelled his w o r k on Spanish theatrical P a r i s for some y e a r s , w h e r e he started his car­
precedents, nostalgically e v o k i n g a courtly eer as a writer. His first n o v e l , Die Blechtrom-
mood. Finally, he left one o f the great auto­ mel (The Tin Drum, 1959) is n o w recognized as
biographies of a period rich in such meditative the most important G e r m a n p o s t - w a r n o v e l . In
and confessional writing: his Memorie inutili 1977 he published Der Butt (The Flounder), an
(UselessMemoirs, 1797—8) offer an insight into epic n o v e l that combines fairy-tale, m y t h o ­
his v i e w s on the theatre. logical, and historical elements and that G r a s s
G o z z i ' s w o r k w a s h i g h l y influential abroad, actually w a n t e d to designate as a fairy tale. It
if not in Italy, partly through the interest o f refers in its title and main motif to the * G r i m m
northern romantics: A l f r e d de Musset and, fairy tale ' V o n dem Fischer un siine F r u ' ( ' T h e
earlier, M m e de Staël in F r a n c e , and in G e r ­ F i s h e r m a n and his W i f e ' ) , the tale o f a fisher­
many, *Goethe, L e s s i n g and the Schlegels ad­ man w h o spares the life o f an enchanted floun­
mired the plays, while *Schiller translated him, der he has caught, but is sent b a c k to the fish b y
creating an adaptation of Turandot for G o e t h e his wife Ilsebill, w h o demands the granting o f
to direct. F r o m G o z z i ' s o w n times o n w a r d s , her wishes, until she is reduced to her former
but especially in the early 20th century, numer­ p o v e r t y after insisting on b e c o m i n g G o d . In
ous fairy-tale operas b y composers of v a r i o u s G r a s s ' s n o v e l , the flounder has to face a tribu-
G R A Y , NICHOLAS STUART 216

nal o f feminists w h o condemn the fairy tale as A n d r e w * L a n g , his imagination had been kin­
misogynistic, and accuse him o f h a v i n g caused dled b y H o m e r i c legend, and he not only c o m ­
the change from the matriarchy o f m y t h o l o g i c ­ piled several b o o k s of classical myths
al times to the patriarchal society that has pre­ beginning in 1958 with Old Greek Fairy Tales
vailed since the neolithic period. CS and The Tale of Troy, but also wrote his o w n
Brady, Philip, McFarland, Timothy, and White, children's stories founded on these. H e edited
John J . (eds.), Gunter Grass's Der Butt: Sexual
collections of fairy tales, of which the most
Politics and the Male Myth of History (1990).
w i d e - r a n g i n g is Once, Long Ago: Folk and
Mews, Siegfried (ed.), 'The Fisherman and His
Fairy Stories of the World (1962). His first pub­
Wife ': Giinter Grass's The Flounder in Critical
lication w a s Andrew Lang: A Critical Biography
Perspective (1983).
(1946); in the same y e a r he published Tellers of
Mouton, Janice, 'Gnomes, Fairy-Tale Heroes,
and Oskar Matzerath', Germanic Review, 56.1 Tales, an account of children's writers which in
(winter 1981). later editions he expanded to include contem­
Pickar, Gertrud Bauer (ed.), Adventures of a poraries. H e also edited the diaries and later the
Flounder: Critical Essays on Giinter Grass ' Der letters o f L e w i s *Carroll. His fantasy stories for
Butt (1982). children, such as The Wonderful Stranger
(1950) and The Land of the Lord High Tiger
G R A Y , NICHOLAS STUART ( 1 9 2 2 - 8 1 ) , British (1958) h a v e strong echoes of favourite writers
p l a y w r i g h t , actor, and writer. His numerous such as E . *Nesbit, L e w i s Carroll, and A n d r e w
fairy-tale p l a y s include: *Beauty and the Beast L a n g . Fifty Years of Peter Pan (1954) gives the
(1951), The Tinder-Box (1951), The Princess and history o f the stage production. GA
the Swineherd (1952), The Hunters and the Hen-
wife (1954), The Marvellous Story of *Puss in GREENAWAY, KATE ( 1 8 4 6 - 1 9 0 1 ) , influential
Boots (1955), The Imperial Nightingale (1957), E n g l i s h watercolourist and illustrator. She is
New Clothes for the Emperor (1957), The Other most famous for her innovative use of colour
^Cinderella (1958), The Seventh Swan (1962), w o o d e n g r a v i n g in her hugely successful illus­
The Wrong Side of the Moon (1968), and New trated children's rhymes Under the Window
Lamps for Old (1968). G r a y rewrote The Sev­ (1879) and Marigold Garden (1885), for which
enth Swan as fairy-tale n o v e l o f development, she also w r o t e the verse. T h e s e sensitive and
set in 16th-century Scotland, in w h i c h a y o u n g intimate scenes o f an idealized Victorian child­
m a n learns to mature through his enchantment hood in a rustic idyll w e r e executed in a charm­
as a s w a n . G r a y ' s other important fairy-tale ing and innocent style which w a s w i d e l y
n o v e l s are: Down in the Cellar (1961), Grim- copied. A m o n g her illustrations of fairy tales
bold's Other World (1963), The Stone Cage are Madam D'*Aulnoy's Fairy Tales (c.1871),
(1963), The Sorcerer's Apprentices (1965), The Kathleen K n o x ' s Fairy Gifts (1874), and
Apple Stone (1965), and The Further Adventures *Mother Goose or the Old Nursery Rhymes
of Puss in Boots (1971). T w o o f G r a y ' s w o r k s (1881). KS
feature cats that a c c o m p a n y y o u n g heroes w h o
must perform great deeds. F o r example, in GREETINGS CARDS AND FAIRY TALES. It has b e ­
Grimbold's Other World, G r i m b o l d the cat takes c o m e quite fashionable to play with fairy-tale
the y o u n g b o y Muffler to a strange night w o r l d motifs on greetings cards. Especially birthday
w h e r e he must rescue G a r e t h the sorcerer's son wishes as w e l l as Valentine messages are
from a terrible spell, and in The Stone Cage the couched in fairy-tale language together with
protagonist T o m l y n travels to the far side o f the appropriate illustration. A l l greetings card
the m o o n to cure a witch of her hatred o f companies take part in this mercantile exploit­
w o m e n . G r a y ' s graceful narrative style is often ation of fairy tales, and a leading company like
juxtaposed to the serious themes of his fairy H a l l m a r k C a r d s has an impressive repertoire to
tales w h i c h often explore tense social struggles. choose from. O n e of them proclaimed: ' V a l e n ­
His shorter fairy tales h a v e been collected in tine, this card is just to tell y o u y o u ' r e nothing
Mainly Moonlight: Ten Stories of Sorcery and the 1
but a w o l f . — A n d I ' m g o i n g through the
Supernatural (1965), The Edge of Evening w o o d s to G r a n d m o t h e r ' s house this afternoon.'
(1976), and A Wind from Nowhere (1978). JZ T h e humorous sexual message based on the
fairy tale ""Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' surely w a s
G R E E N , ROGER LANCELYN ( 1 9 1 8 - 8 7 ) , E n g l i s h not missed. A n o t h e r card based on * ' S n o w
writer and historian o f children's literature, is W h i t e ' this time took the w e l l - k n o w n verse of
best k n o w n for his retellings of m y t h s and l e ­ the mirror as a starting-point: 'Mirror, mirror
gends for y o u n g readers. L i k e his hero, on the w a l l w h o ' s the nicest, most wonderful,
217 G R I M M , ALBERT LUDWIG

lovable person of them a l l ? — T h a t one! T h e chard's L'Amant statue (1759). Sandor, a P e r -

one w h o ' s reading this card! H a p p y Valentine's sian merchant, and his servant A l i are stranded
Day!' on the island o f A z o r , a Persian prince and the
T w o other ' S n o w W h i t e ' greetings cards k i n g o f K a m i r , w h o has been transformed into
added an ironic twist to the statement o f the a beast b y a vengeful fairy. A z o r spares their
mirror: 'Mirror, mirror on the w a l l | W h o ' s lives in e x c h a n g e for S a n d o r ' s daughter
the fairest of them a l l ? — I t ' s still S n o w W h i t e , Z é m i r e , w h o s e l o v e redeems A z o r at the end.
but keep trying, kid!' and 'Mirror, mirror on In 1776 G r é t r y b e g a n to set the e n c y c l o p e -
the wall, w h o ' s the y o u n g e s t of them dist Marmontel's opéra féerie, Les Statues,
a l l ? — O h , well, H a p p y Birthday, a n y w a y ! ' based on The ^Arabian Nights, to music, but the
Another card created a pun b y e m p l o y i n g a project w a s abandoned after t w o acts w e r e
proverbial expression: ' T h i s Birthday do as c o m p o s e d . His last fairy-tale opera, Michel-
* R a p u n z e l — L e t y o u r hair d o w n ! (something J e a n Sedaine's Raoul Barbe-bleue (1789), based
exciting m a y come u p ) ' . O n c e again there a p - on C h a r l e s *Perrault's * ' B l u e b e a r d ' , w a s h i g h l y
pears to be an indirect sexual message here. successful, although critics w e r e disturbed b y
T h e most popular fairy tale on greetings its v i o l e n c e , and perhaps b y its implied social
cards is ' T h e * F r o g K i n g ' , usually with the critique. T h e 'abominable tyrant' R a o u l is o f
proverbial statement ' Y o u h a v e to kiss a lot of the ancient nobility, and the peasants celebrate
toads (frogs), before y o u meet y o u r handsome his death at the end, caused b y members o f the
prince.' But there are variations: 'It's V a l e n - n e w e r nobility.
tine's D a y ! Kiss the frog, and it will turn into a G r é t r y ' s operas utilize Italianate m e l o d y ,
Handsome P r i n c e ! — T h e j o k e ' s on y o u , wart s y m p h o n i c instrumental writing, and dramatic
lips!', ' S o m e day our prince will come . . . but musical setting o f text. His Mémoires (2nd edn.,
with our luck, w e ' l l probably be d o w n at the 1797) and other writings are important p r i m a r y
pond kissing toads', and ' I ' l l n e v e r forget the sources. DJB
first time w e k i s s e d ! — W e r e n ' t y o u supposed A . - E . - M . Grétry, Collection complète des œuvres
to turn into a handsome prince or something?' (1884-1936).

T h e intent o f these cards is obvious: they use Charlton, David, Grétry and the Growth of
Opéra-Comique ( 1 9 8 6 ) .
the format of the humorous understatement to
deliver a nice message in an indirect fashion,
always in the hope for a positive o r e v e n fairy-
tale-like result. Since fairy tales are part of cul- GRIMM, ALBERT LUDWIG ( 1 7 8 6 - 1 8 7 2 ) , a c o n -
tural literacy, the well-intended message will temporary o f J a c o b and W i l h e l m * G r i m m , but
hopefully have its desired effect. N o doubt unrelated, published numerous v o l u m e s o f lit-
producers of these cards h a v e taken advantage erary fairy tales that aimed at y o u n g readers'
of the commercial gold-mine o f epistolary amusement and education. His 1809 Kinder-
fairy-tale wishes. WM mdhrchen (Children's Fairy Tales) mixed fairy
Mieder, Wolfgang, 'Survival Forms of "Little tales with fables and parables and w a s f o l l o w e d
Red Riding Hood" in Modern Society', b y Lina's Mdhrchenbuch (Lina's Fairy Tale
International Folklore Review, 2 ( 1 9 8 2 ) . Book, 2 v o l s . ) in 1816. In 1820 he d r e w u p o n
Tradition and Innovation in Folk Literature The ^Arabian Nights with Mdhrchen der Tausend
(1987).
und Einen Nacht (Fairy Tales from the Thousand
Rôhrich, Lutz, Wage es, den Frosch kiissenl
and One Nights), after w h i c h he p r o d u c e d Ges-
Das Grimmsche Màrchen Nummer Eins in seinen
Wandlungen ( 1 9 8 7 ) . chichten des Prin^en Kodadat und seiner 49
Briider (Histories of Prince Kodadat and his
GRÉTRY, ANDRÉ-ERNEST-MODESTE ( 1 7 4 1 - 1 8 1 3 ) , Forty-Nine Brothers, 1824); Mdhrchen der alten
Belgian, later French, composer, w h o s e comic Griechen (Tales of the Ancient Greeks, 1824),
operas enjoyed unequalled success in Paris and classic myths told in fairy-tale style; a 7 - v o l -
abroad. A m o n g his ' m a r v e l l o u s ' operas, G r é t r y ume Mdhrchen-Bibliothekfiir Kinder (Fairy Tale
set two fairy tales. His first, on J e a n - F r a n ç o i s Library for Children, 1826); Bunte Bilder (Col-
Marmontel's *'Beauty and the B e a s t ' , Zémire et ourful Pictures, 1834); Mdhrchen aus dem Mor-
Aior (1771), w a s the most successful fairy-tale genlande (Fairytales from the Orient, 1843).
opera of the century, and it w a s parodied, After his retirement, Grimm published
translated, and r e w o r k e d numerous times. T h e Deutsche Sagen und Mdhrchen (German Legends
characters derive from earlier fairy plays: and Tales, 1867); and edited and republished
Pierre-Claude N i v e l l e de L a Chaussée's Amour the fairy tales o f J . K . A . *Musaus (1868) and o f
pour amour (1742), and J e a n - F r a n ç o i s G u i - W i l h e l m *Hauff (1870) for y o u n g people.
GRIMM, BROTHERS 218

J a c o b and W i l h e l m G r i m m scorned A . L . N a p o l e o n ' s eventual defeat and the Hessian

G r i m m ' s fairy tales, yet J a c o b b o r r o w e d ' D i e Electoral Prince's 1813 return to p o w e r result­
drei K ô n i g s s ô h n e ' ( ' T h e T h r e e P r i n c e s ' ) , edit­ ed in J a c o b ' s being sent to Paris in 1813—14 to
ing and retitling it ' D i e B i e n e n k ô n i g i n ' ( ' T h e reclaim missing Hessian b o o k s and paintings
Q u e e n B e e ' ) ; both incorporated * ' S n o w - carried off b y retreating French troops, to the
W h i t e ' , but A . L . G r i m m treated the Q u e e n C o n g r e s s of V i e n n a in 1 8 1 4 - 1 5 , and back to
m o r e gently. L i k e J a c o b and W i l h e l m , A . L . Paris in the autumn of 1815. Wilhelm w o r k e d
G r i m m included numerous minor genres in his as Cassel librarian from 1814 onward, and
tale collections: m a g i c tale, parable, fable, and J a c o b returned to his position in 1816, both
literary fairy tale. RBB continuing until 1829.
Allgayer, Gustav, Albert Ludwig Grimm: Sein T h e brothers' librarianships facilitated their
Leben, sein ôffentliches und literarisches Wirken scholarship, and although o v e r w o r k e d , under­
I 1
( 93 )- paid, and repeatedly passed o v e r for prefer­
Grimm, Albert Ludwig, Kindermarchen, ed. ment, their remarkable output—Altddnische
Ernst Schade (1992; orig. 1809). Heldenlieder, Balladen und Mdrchen (Ancient
GRIMM, BROTHERS ( J a c o b , 1785—1863, and Danish Hero Songs, Lays, and Tales, 1811);
W i l h e l m , 1 7 8 6 - 1 8 59). T h e Brothers G r i m m Children's and Household Tales (1812, 1815);
produced a w o r l d - r e n o w n e d tale collection, the Altdeutsche Wdlder (Old German Forests, 1813,
*Kinder- und Hausmdrchen (Children's and 1815, 1816); and Irische Elfenmdrchen (Irish
Household Tales) and laid the foundations for Folktales, 1826), a m o n g many other publica­
the historical study o f G e r m a n literature and tions—resulted in nation-wide recognition,
culture. with honorary doctorates from Marburg
T h e i r father, the son and grandson of R e ­ (1819), Berlin (1828), and Breslau (1829). In
formed ( C a l v i n i s t ) Protestant pastors, served 1825 W i l h e l m married D o r o t h e a W i l d , a union
the C o u n t o f H a n a u as a l a w y e r , and from 1791 that produced four children and a hospitable
to 1796 J a c o b and W i l h e l m enjoyed an idyllic domestic sphere w h i c h J a c o b shared to the end
childhood in the spacious grounds and impos­ of his d a y s .
ing house o f their official residence. W i t h their A s J a c o b and W i l h e l m undertook massive
father's sudden death in J a n u a r y 1796 the fam­ collaborative projects, such as their historical
ily's fortunes sank dramatically, and in 1798 the g r a m m a r of the G e r m a n language and their
t w o b o y s w e r e put in the care o f a C a s s e l aunt study o f G e r m a n l a w and custom, their schol­
so that they could prepare for university en­ arly reputations g r e w b e y o n d G e r m a n y . W h e n
trance. the U n i v e r s i t y of Gôttingen offered J a c o b a li-
Intended for the l a w , J a c o b and W i l h e l m brarianship and professorship and Wilhelm a
w e r e both d r a w n instead to G e r m a n medieval (slightly lesser form of) professorship, they ac­
literature at the U n i v e r s i t y o f M a r b u r g . In 1805 cepted with alacrity, but within seven years
J a c o b left M a r b u r g before obtaining a degree they had been summarily dismissed because of
to assist his mentor Friedrich K a r l v o n S a v i g n y their refusal to abrogate an oath of fealty to the
with research in Paris. O n his return to Cassel Constitution of the State of H a n o v e r . Return­
he w a s without regular employment, and it w a s ing to Cassel, they lived with their y o u n g e r
in this period that J a c o b and W i l h e l m first brother, the artist L u d w i g E m i l *Grimm, and
b e g a n to search out traditional stories. T h e re­ w e r e in part sustained b y a national subscrip­
sult w a s a handful o f fairy tales preserved in tion in support of the Gôttingen S e v e n , as they
letters sent to S a v i g n y in the spring o f 1808. w e r e called. B e t w e e n 1837 and 1840 J a c o b
W i t h Cassel ruled b y N a p o l e o n ' s brother began w o r k on his enduring achievement, the
J é r ô m e Bonaparte and n e w l y designated ( A u ­ great dictionary of G e r m a n usage.
gust 1807) the capital o f the K i n g d o m o f W e s t ­ In 1840 the G r i m m s ' fortunes improved dra­
phalia, J a c o b w a s hired first b y the matically w h e n the conservative king of Prus­
C o m m i s s i o n for A r m y P r o v i s i o n i n g , and sub­ sia Friedrich W i l h e l m I I I died and w a s
sequently as a generously paid private librarian succeeded b y his more liberal son, Friedrich
to K i n g J é r ô m e . W i t h a light w o r k l o a d and W i l h e l m I V . T h r o u g h the g o o d offices of their
able to support his brothers and sister (their old friend Bettina v o n *Arnim, both J a c o b and
mother had died shortly before), J a c o b and W i l h e l m w e r e invited to Berlin as members of
W i l h e l m together continued to collect tales, the A c a d e m y o f Sciences, w h o s e stipend en­
the beginning o f W i l h e l m ' s lifelong project o f abled them to live and w o r k in comfort.
expanding and crafting the Kinder- und Haus­ F r o m 1840 until their deaths (Wilhelm in
mdrchen. 1859, J a c o b in 1863), both brothers continued
2 I 9
GRIPARI, PIERRE

to w o r k v i g o r o u s l y . After y e a r s of collecting Seitz, Gabriele, Die Briider Grimm:

and collating, J a c o b began to publish his legal Leben—Werk—Zeit (1984).
Tatar, Maria M., The Hard Facts of the Grimms'
tradition project, which had been undertaken
Fairy Tales (1987).
with the assistance o f volunteers from all parts
Zipes, Jack, The Brothers Grimm: From
of the Germanies. His history of the G e r m a n Enchanted Forests to the Modern World (1988).
language appeared in 1848, and in 1854 reissues
of J a c o b ' s legal tradition, m y t h o l o g y , and his­
tory of the G e r m a n language appeared. W i l ­ GRIMM, LUDWIG EMIL ( 1 7 9 0 - 1 8 6 3 ) , the first il­
helm continued to edit and publish medieval lustrator (1825) for the fairy tales o f J a c o b and
literature and to edit and to refine the Children's W i l h e l m * G r i m m . B e f o r e they w e r e published
and Household Tales. in the Small Edition, W i l h e l m G r i m m s u g g e s t ­
J a c o b w a s also active b e y o n d Prussia's b o r ­ ed changes to his brother's s e v e n initial studies
ders. H e presided o v e r the first t w o confer­ (*'Red Riding Hood', 'The Goosegirl',
ences of Germanists (1846 and 1847) and w a s *'Sleeping B e a u t y ' , ' O u r L a d y ' s C h i l d ' , ^ C i n ­
elected to the Frankfurt Parliament of 1848, derella', * ' S n o w W h i t e ' , *'Hansel and G r e t e l ' )
whose principal purpose w a s to foster national to increase their Christian content (a Bible on
unity. E v e r independent, J a c o b took a seat on grandmother's table in ' R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' )
neither the left nor the right but in the central and s y m b o l i c intent (less foliage and s p i k y
g a n g w a y . In his later y e a r s , unshakeably c o n ­ dead limbs on the tree under w h i c h O u r L a d y ' s
vinced that language determined nationhood, C h i l d took shelter, a tearful G r e t e l ) . L a t e r i l ­
lustrators often quoted G r i m m ' s designs. R B B
he advocated Prussian annexation of Schles-
Koszinowski, Ingrid and Leuschner, Vera (eds.),
wig-Holstein.
Ludwig Emil Grimm 1790—1863: Maler, Zeichner,
J a c o b coordinated p a n - G e r m a n research b y
Radierer (198$).
mobilizing scores of volunteers w h o scoured
local archives for evidence of ancient custom
and folklore, m y t h o l o g y , religion, literature, GRIPARI, PIERRE (1925-90), F r e n c h author o f
linguistics, and law. Sitting at the pinnacle o f m o d e r n fairy tales. G r i p a r i o b s e r v e d that since
massive amounts of detailed information from his mother w a s a witch (a m e d i u m , actually),
G e r m a n y ' s past, J a c o b w a s persuaded that his interest in fairy tales w a s natural. His first
fairy tales, as they circulated in G e r m a n y in the collection o f m a r v e l l o u s tales, Contes de la rue
19th century, w e r e remnants o f ancient G e r ­ Broca {Tales from Broca Street, 1967), w a s writ­
m a n y ' s culture, and, decade after decade, he ten in collaboration w i t h children, w h i l e the
continued to funnel information from e v e r y Contes de la rue Folie-Méricourt (Tales from
area of his scholarly investigations to W i l h e l m Folie-Méricourt Street, 1983) w e r e adapted from
in order to 'restore' 19th-century fairy tales to R u s s i a n and G r e e k folk tales. But it is the par­
their 'original' state. F o r his part, W i l h e l m in­ allel w o r l d of the Patrouille du conte (Fairy Tale
corporated J a c o b ' s contributions and smoothed Patrol, 1983) that pushed fairy-tale discourse to
the language to transcend changes in usage, in its s u b v e r s i v e limits. T o liberate classic tales
the process creating a prose that came to define and g i v e them 'a second w i n d , a second truth',
the fairy-tale genre. T h e result w a s a collection G r i p a r i dismantled their dominant s o c i o - p s y -
of constantly edited tales, which eventually chological codes and updated them to reflect
numbered more than 200. Entitled the Kinder- t o d a y ' s morality and civilizing process. H e r e ,
und Hausmarchen (Children's and Household eight children are on a mission to right certain
Tales) the collection w a s published 17 times b e ­ moral and ideological offences in the K i n g d o m
tween 1812 and 1864, 7 times in its large form of F o l k l o r e . But their politically correct agenda
(with copious notes appended to the first edi­ to eradicate sexism, b i g o t r y , and feudalism
tion, and in a separate v o l u m e in the second backfires—with darkly humorous results.
and seventh L a r g e Editions), 10 times as a Each 'humanitarian' change (prohibiting
Small Edition with 50 tales initially illustrated w o l v e s from eating little p i g s , abolishing m o n ­
b y their brother L u d w i g E m i l , and intended archies in the name o f d e m o c r a c y ) impacts suc­
specifically for children. RBB cessive tales, and the recodified w o r l d b e c o m e s
yet m o r e barbarous. M o v i n g b e y o n d p a r o d y ,
Bottigheimer, Ruth, Grimms ' Bad Girls and Bold
then, G r i p a r i challenged not o n l y the social­
Boys (1987).
Hennig, Dieter, and Lauer, Bernhard (eds.), Die ization models that are part o f our collective
Briider Grimm: Dokumente ihres Lebens und unconscious, but our c o n t e m p o r a r y political
Wirkens (1985). agenda as w e l l . MLE
GROSS, MILT 220

Malarte, Claire-Lise, 'The French Fairy Tale Riese (Mu{ the Giant, 1913), and Der Zauberer
Conspiracy', The Lion and the Unicorn, 12 Burufu (The Magician Burufu, 1922). T h e s e
(1988). b o o k s w e r e popular with the general reading
Paucard, Alain, Gripari: mode d'emploi (1985).
public and reprinted several times. Grôtzsch
Peyroutet, Jean-Luc, Pierre Gripari et ses contes
e m p l o y e d c o m e d y to depict the foibles o f mon­
pour enfants (1994).
strous characters such as the evil magician
GROSS, MILT (1895—1953), A m e r i c a n illustrator Burufu or a great fish, and he expounded a
and humorist, w h o created popular cartoons deep faith in the potential o f the common
for the New York Evening Journal, the New York people to o v e r c o m e despotism. JZ
Tribune, and the New York World. A m o n g his
b e s t - k n o w n h u m o r o u s w o r k s , in w h i c h he p u b ­ CRUELLE, JOHN BARTON (1880-1938), prolific
lished phonetic Y i d d i s h versions o f classical A m e r i c a n author and illustrator, best k n o w n
fairy tales, are Ni\e Baby (1926) and Famous for his Raggedy Ann and Andy stories. Inspired
Fimales from Heestory (1928). S u c h delightful b y his daughter Marcella's favourite doll, R a g ­
stories as ' S t u r r y from R a d R i d i n k H o o t ' and g e d y A n n , G r u e l l e created them to offset the
' F e r r y T a l e from B l o o b i d d , a G o o t - f o r - N o t - grief o f her premature death at the age o f 14.
ting N u b b l e m a n ' are told to a b a b y to encour­ His w r i t i n g and d r a w i n g emphasizes a gentle,
age him to eat his cereal and ridicule traditional optimistic v i e w o f life that reflects Gruelle's
fairy-tale plots. JZ Midwestern, Victorian roots that lost touch
with the dramatically changing A m e r i c a o f the
GRÔTZSCH, ROBERT (1882-1946), German early 20th century.
writer, w h o w o r k e d as a journalist for the soci­ J o h n n y G r u e l l e w a s born in A r e o l a , Illinois,
al democratic n e w s p a p e r Die Sdchsische Arbei- but g r e w up in Indianapolis, Indiana, where
ter-Zeitung in D r e s d e n . A s i d e from w r i t i n g gentle ideals, farm-life, nature, and family
dramas and satires, he published political fairy­ friends such as J a m e s W h i t c o m b R i l e y shaped
tale b o o k s for children: Nauckes Luftreise his vision. H e w a s a genuine innocent w h o
(Naucke's Voyage in the Air, 1908), Verschro- could be nothing but kind to anyone. Gruelle's
benes Volk (Eccentric People, 1912), Mu{ der father w a s a regional landscape painter o f re-

GRÔTZSCH, ROBERT The little fish insists that he can save the town from the monster in this anonymous
illustration to Robert Grôtzsch's tale 'Felix the Fish', published in Der Zauberer Burufu (1922).
221 GUEULETTE, THOMAS-SIMON

pute w h o encouraged his son, yet J o h n n y w a s GRUNDTVIG, SVEND ( 1 8 2 4 - 8 3 ) , D a n i s h folklor­

largely self-taught. Initially, he w o r k e d for ist, professor at C o p e n h a g e n U n i v e r s i t y , son o f
several midwestern publications as a cartoonist the famous w r i t e r N . F . S. G r u n d t v i g , w h o w a s
and caricaturist. His ability to capture the split- a champion o f national culture and p r o m o t e d
second gesture and fleeting nuance with a w r y the preservation o f folklore. S v e n d G r u n d t v i g
sense o f humour epitomized his talent and v e r ­ started collecting fairy tales, legends, s o n g s ,
satility. Modest formal education deflected traditions, and beliefs in the 1840s and p u b ­
lofty ideas and ensured a down-to-earth a p ­ lished Garnie danske Minder i Folkemunde (Old
proach. Danish Legends Alive on Folk Lips, 1854—7).
In 1910 Gruelle w o n a contest that secured a G r u n d t v i g w a s the first in D e n m a r k to s y s t e ­
position with the New York Herald creating a matize a folklore collection, meticulously not­
cartoon strip based on his elfin character M r ing the origins o f texts within D e n m a r k and
T w e e D e e d l e . Gruelle's career blossomed, and abroad. H i s foremost achievement w a s the c o l ­
he began creating illustrations for numerous lection and publication o f folk ballads w h i c h
commercial magazines. His daughter's death in resulted in the first four v o l u m e s o f Danmarks
1918 triggered the R a g g e d y A n n (and A n d y ) garnie Folkeviser (The Old Folk Songs of Den­
books. C o m m e r c i a l l y potent, these w o r k s did mark, 1853—83), completed b y his disciple A x e l
little to secure respect. In the early 1930s, *Olrik. It contains reprints o f all p r e v i o u s tran­
scripts o f D a n i s h folk songs and m a n y n e w
Gruelle m o v e d his family to F l o r i d a for health
ones, as w e l l as songs from S w e d e n , N o r w a y ,
reasons. Sadly, he took to drink and died at the
Iceland, and the F a r o e Islands. T h e collection
age o f 57.
also includes indices and references to the b a l ­
O n e o f Gruelle's earliest commissions w a s
lads' correspondence to all E u r o p e a n folk and
for illustrations to accompany Margaret Hunt's
fairy tales, w h i c h m a k e s it a unique study o f
translation o f * Grimm's Fairy Tales (1914).
folklore. W i t h the t w o collections o f fairy tales,
T w e l v e full-colour illustrations and m o r e than
Danske folkeeventyr (Danish Folktales, 1876 and
50 pen-and-ink d r a w i n g s demonstrate a sure
1878), G r u n d t v i g also made a significant c o n ­
draughtsmanship and debt to such models as
tribution to the collecting o f folklore in S c a n d i ­
H o w a r d *Pyle, W . W . * D e n s l o w , and J o h n R .
navia. T h e third posthumous v o l u m e o f 1884
*Neill. Gruelle infused the w o r k with A m e r i ­
contains m o r e literary retellings o f fairy tales
can motifs and settings that p r o v i d e d familiar­
by Grundtvig. MN
ity to A m e r i c a n readers. H e embraced the
humour and optimism o f the tales, especially
the happy endings. T h i s sanguine approach,
GUEULETTE, THOMAS-SlMON (1683-1766),
combined with the constant triumph o f g o o d
F r e n c h magistrate and prolific w r i t e r o f tales as
over evil, provided the central focus o f all his
well as p l a y s . Gueulette's first collection o f
original writings. His output w a s shaped b y
tales, the Soirées Bretonnes (Breton Nights,
two dominant features: the secretiveness o f the
1 7 1 2 ) , includes one story in w h i c h three men
'real lives' o f his inanimate characters and the
deduce without actually h a v i n g seen it that a
complete eschewal o f violence. G r u e l l e w r o t e
o n e - e y e d camel with a limp c a r r y i n g salt and
and drew for a y o u n g audience, and he g a v e his
h o n e y had g o n e b y . T h i s tale, taken from A r a b
stories a gentle, reassuring cast w h e r e examples
and Persian folklore, w a s later rewritten b y
were set through kind b e h a v i o u r and c o u r a g e .
*Voltaire in Zadig (1747). In the same y e a r ,
H e tried to perpetuate these elements as part o f Gueulette published the Mille et un quarts
the A m e r i c a n dream, just w h e n the dream w a s d'heure, contes tartares (The Thousand and One
losing its validity and A m e r i c a its innocence. Quarter-Hours, Tartarian Tales), w h o s e frame
Gruelle had a profound affection for children narrative imitates that o f The ^Arabian Nights:
and identified with their w o r l d , creating hu­ the doctor A b u l e k e r g o e s to find a cure for the
morous parables informed b y an innate sense k i n g ' s blindness; in the mean time, the doctor's
of w h i m s y . HNBC son tells the k i n g stories for a quarter o f an
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, The Complete Fairy h o u r e v e r y d a y and must satisfy the k i n g until
Tales of the Brothers Grimm, ed. and trans. Jack his father returns or be killed. O t h e r collections
Zipes (1987).
b y Gueulette include: Les Aventures merveil­
Hall, Patricia, Johnny Gruelle Creator of Raggedy
leuses du mandarin Fum-Hoam, contes chinois
Ann and Andy (1993).
(Chinese Tales; or, The Wonderful Adventures of
Williams, Martin, 'Some Remarks on Raggedy
Ann and Johnny Gruelle', Children s Literature, 3 the Mandarin Fum-Hoam, 1723), Les Sultanes
(i974)- de Guzarate, ou Les Songes des hommes éveillés,
GULBRANSSON, OLAF 222

Contes Mogols (The Sultanas of Gu^arate, or The GULBRANSSON, OLAF (1873—1958), N o r w e g i a n

Dreams of Awake Men, Mogul Tales, 1732), and illustrator and painter, w h o emigrated to G e r ­
Les Mille et Une Heures, contes péruviens (Peru­ m a n y and d r e w delightful caricatures for the
vian Tales related in One Thousand and One famous satirical journal Simplicissimus in Mun­
Hours, 1733). AD ich. In addition, he provided droll illustrations
Gueulette, J . E . , Thomas-Simon Gueulette (1977). for an edition o f Hans Christian * Andersen's
fairy tales in 1927. JZ
HACKS, PETER (1928— ) , East G e r m a n p l a y ­
wright and author of fables, fairy tales, and
verse for children. After receiving his doctor­
ate in theatre studies in Munich in 1951, Hacks
relocated to East Berlin in 1955, attracted b y
Brecht and his Berlin Ensemble. H e served as
dramaturg at the Deutsches T h e a t e r until 1963.
Hacks is most renowned for his plays for adults
(among them Moriti Tassow, 1961, Amphitryon,
1967, and Omphale, 1969). F o r his y o u n g audi­
ence he turned from ancient myths and legends
to the minor genres of fable, parable, fantasy,
and fairy tale, experimenting with the comical fairy tales. Indeed, their (usually) subtle wit is
and the absurd. H e pays tribute to children's often compared to * Voltaire's, e v e n if their use
playfulness and their p o w e r o f imagination in of satire is less explicit. Hamilton's use o f par­
his popular story about Meta Morfoss (1975), a ody takes numerous forms, all o f w h i c h e x a g ­
girl w h o , as her name suggests, can change gerate established fairy-tale conventions. O n a
shape into just about anything, from angel to general level, farcical dialogue, frequent
crocodile and from sock to locomotive. B u t hyperbole, and play with onomastics are staple
even his most fantastic tales are laced with les­ features o f Hamilton's tales and set them apart
sons readers should learn. In this as in other from those o f his contemporaries. S e v e r a l
respects, Hacks remains indebted to his mentor other traits are particularly n o t e w o r t h y for
Brecht. Most of H a c k s ' s stories are firmly their influence on 18th-century F r e n c h fairy
based in the Western fairy-tale tradition. In tales. W i t h the knight-errant motif, Hamilton
Dos Windloch (The Wind Hole, 1956) and Dos creates plots o f dizzying complexity, with nu­
Turmverlies (The Tower Prison, 1962), the read­ merous embedded stories, that render the prot­
er encounters a framework structure within agonists more comical than exemplary. In The
which a multitude o f tales unfold, reminiscent Four Facardins, for example, there are four dif­
of the stories of J a m e s Kriiss. Der arme Ritter ferent heroes, the first of w h o m is injured fight­
(The Poor Knight, 1979) and Der Wichtelprin{ ing a lion, must accomplish t w o tests to be
(The Dwarf Prince, 1982) are more recent tales healed, rescues a maiden in distress, battles a
by Hacks. O n l y one of his tales, Der Bar auf giant, and undertakes another series o f tests for
dem Fôrsterball (The Bear at the Huntsmen's a n y m p h just in the first few pages! T h e nature
Ball, 1966), has been translated into English.
of m a n y o f the adventures recounted is also
EMM comical and prefigures the 'licentious' tone o f
Di Napoli, Thomas, The Children's Literature of
m a n y later F r e n c h fairy tales. In both The Four
Peter Hacks (1987).
Facardins and The Ram, for instance, a princess
is obliged to g o naked until an intrepid knight
HAMILTON, ANTHONY (c.1646-1720), exiled defeats her a d v e r s a r y . T h e allegorization o f
English writer of French parodie fairy tales. historical events, persons, and places that w a s
The son of expatriates from the court of C h a r ­
to b e c o m e so popular later is especially evident
les II o f England, Hamilton w a s educated in
in The Ram, which uses the fairy-tale form to
France from an early age. H e served in L o u i s
relate anecdotes about a house in the gardens
X I V ' s army in France and then fought for
of Versailles that L o u i s X I V g a v e to the c o m ­
James II in Ireland. U p o n his return to France,
tesse de G r a m m o n t , Hamilton's sister. B u t b y
he became well k n o w n in Parisian circles for
far the most o b v i o u s parodie device is the
his letters, light verse, and fairy tales. H e is also
frame narrative, w h i c h Hamilton uses to pre­
the author of the fictionalized Mémoires du
sent The Four Facardins and The Story of May­
comte de Grammont (1713).
flower as continuations o f The Thousand and
His three novel-length fairy tales, Le Bélier
One Nights, translated/rewritten and published
(The Ram), Histoire de Fleur-d'Epine (Story of
b y A n t o i n e *Galland beginning in 1704. In his
Mayflower), and Les Quatre Facardins (The
tales, Hamilton's Sultan and Dinarzade express
Four Facardins), w e r e published posthumously
impatience with the stories told b y Schehera­
in 1730, but written in all likelihood during
zade in G a l l a n d ' s w o r k . A n d in so doing,
1703-4. Containing often obscure allusions to
Hamilton m o c k s The Thousand and One Nights
life at L o u i s X I V ' s court, Hamilton's tales are
and the F r e n c h public's enthusiasm for it.
among the earliest examples o f parodie F r e n c h
HAMILTON, VIRGINIA 224

W h i l e obscure allusions and c o m p l e x plots R i n a l d o becomes a willing captive o f the sor­

m a k e Hamilton's tales difficult, their tone and ceress A r m i d a (or A l c i n a ) in her enchanted
a n c
stylistic features charted a n e w course for the palace. Orlando (1733) ^ Ariodante (1735) are
literary fairy tale in F r a n c e . LCS also d r a w n from A r i o s t o . SR
Clerval, Alain, Du frondeur au libertin: Essai sur
Antoine Hamilton (1978). HANNOVER, HEINRICH ( 1 9 2 5 - ) , G e r m a n l a w y e r
and writer. H e studied l a w at Gôttingen and
HAMILTON, VIRGINIA ( 1 9 3 6 - ) , A f r i c a n - A m e r i ­ since 1954 he has been a l a w y e r in Bremen,
can author o f fiction, folklore collections, and h a v i n g made his name as a defence counsel in
biographies for children. H e r most important prominent political trials. F r o m 1962, Han­
n o v e l s , including The Planet of Junior Brown n o v e r published political and judicially critical
(1971), M. C. Higgins, the Great (1974), Sweet papers and b o o k s , but he became especially
Whispers, Brother Rush (1982), and The Magic­ successful as a children's author. His stories,
al Adventures of Pretty Pearl (1983), increasing­ originally tales he had invented for and to­
ly incorporate aspects o f folklore tradition: the gether with his o w n six children, are published
first p o r t r a y s an urban homeless culture; the se­ in several collections such as Das Pferd Hupp-
cond, an A p p a l a c h i a n mountain c o m m u n i t y ; diwupp und andere lustige Geschichten (The
the third, a g h o s t l y visitation; and the fourth, Horse Huppdiwupp and Other Funny Tales,
an epic j o u r n e y b y an A f r i c a n g o d d e s s and her 1968), Der vergessliche Cowboy (The Forgetful
brother J o h n de C o n q u e r during southern R e ­ Cowboy, 1980) and Hasentan{ (The Dance of the
construction. Hamilton's fiction is distin­ Hare, 1995). In his tales H a n n o v e r combines
guished b y i n n o v a t i v e l a n g u a g e , rhythmically fantastic and fairy-tale elements with elements
blending A f r i c a n - A m e r i c a n idiom with her of e v e r y d a y life to produce original stories
o w n imaginative style. F r o m the mid-1980s she w h i c h aim to stimulate the imagination and
has concentrated on folklore anthologies such creativity o f children so that they continue the
as The People Could Fly: American Black Folk tales and create their o w n stories. T h e stories
Tales (1985), In the Beginning: Creation Stories are intended to r e v i v e the oral tradition of
from around the World (1988), The Dark Way: fairy-tale telling and, in his prefaces and anno­
Stories from the Spirit World (1990), Her Stories: tations, H a n n o v e r therefore recommends to
African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and parents not simply to read the stories out loud
True Tales (1995), When Birds Could Talk and to their children, but to retell them in their o w n
Bats Could Sing: The Adventures of Bruh Spar­ w o r d s . In the b o o k Riesen haben kurTe Beine
row, Sis Wren, and their Friends (1996), and A (Giants Have Short Legs, 1976) and the tale
Ring of Tricksters: Animal Tales from America, ' D i e R o s e n des Herrn Funkelstein' ('Mr F u n -
the West Indies, and Africa (1997). H e r original kelstein's R o s e s ' , in Frau Butterfelds Hotel,
short stories, collected in the All Jahdu Story­ 1994), H a n n o v e r e m p l o y s characteristic fairy­
book (1991), are a cycle o f literary myths guest- tale structures and components, combined with
starring B r u h R a b b i t , H a i r y M a n , * R e d R i d i n g a partly real political and socio-critical back­
H o o d , and other folk-tale figures. Hamilton g r o u n d , to create unusual tales about reigns o f
has been recognized in the United States and terror and their outwitting b y courageous
internationally with major a w a r d s , including people. CS
the H a n s Christian *Andersen A w a r d , the N a ­
tional B o o k A w a r d , the N e w b e r y M e d a l , the HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN (film: U S A , 1952),
Coretta Scott K i n g A w a r d , and the L a u r a announces itself not as a biopic, but as a fairy
Ingalls W i l d e r A w a r d . BH tale about the D a n i s h spinner o f fairy tales.
Mikkelsen, Nina, Virginia Hamilton (1994). Within a framing narrative about a trip to
C o p e n h a g e n are embedded songs and a ballet
HANDEL, GEORGE FREDERICK ( 1 6 8 5 - 1 7 5 9 ) , G e r ­ that bring to the screen a few of Andersen's 156
man b a r o q u e c o m p o s e r , naturalized as a British tales. A s p l a y e d b y D a n n y K a y e , Hans is
subject in 1726. H a n d e l ' s Italian operas, w h i c h whimsical, charming, innocent, and fonder o f
dominated the L o n d o n musical scene from 1711 m a k i n g up fanciful stories than o f getting on
to 1 7 4 1 , w e r e notable for c o m p l e x plots and with his w o r k as a cobbler. Persuaded to leave
depth o f characterization. Rinaldo ( 1 7 1 1 ) , the the t o w n o f Odense because his storytelling is
sensation o f H a n d e l ' s first L o n d o n season, and keeping the children a w a y from school, he
Alcina (1735) are based on parallel episodes g o e s to C o p e n h a g e n and meets a little match
from T a s s o ' s Gerusalemme Liberata and A r i o s - girl, a chimney s w e e p , and other characters he
to's Orlando Furioso, in w h i c h the knight will one d a y write about.
225 'HANSEL AND GRETEL'

W h e n he gets a job m a k i n g shoes for the 'HANSEL AND GRETEL', G e r m a n folk tale, with
Danish State Ballet's prima ballerina, D o r o , he analogues all o v e r the w o r l d . T h e tale c o m ­
immediately falls in l o v e with her. Seeing her bines several important motifs: the w i c k e d
quarrelling with her husband, w h o is also the stepmother, the abandoned children, the trail
impresario, Hans mistakenly assumes that they of crumbs o r peas that are eaten, the edible
hate each other and writes ' T h e T i t t l e M e r ­ house, and the tricking o f the w i t c h / o g r e .
maid' as an expression both o f his l o v e and o f Parts o f it closely resemble *Perrault's 'Petit
his belief that she is married to the w r o n g m a n . P o u c e t ' (with an a n a l o g u e in the Italian tale
T h e story reaches D o r o w h o , u n a w a r e o f its ' C h i c k ' ) and d ' * A u l n o y ' s 'Finette C e n d r o n ' , as
meaning for Hans, accepts it simply as the basis w e l l as the c a n d y houses in the m e d i e v a l L a n d
for a n e w ballet. N e x t season the production of C o c k a i g n e .
opens to great acclaim, but Hans at last realizes T h e tale w a s first published b y the Brothers
that he has deluded himself. D o r o will n e v e r * G r i m m in the first edition o f their *Kinder- und
love him. Dejected and w i s e r , he returns to Hausmdrchen (1812); their source w a s their
Odense only to find that, as a published author, n e i g h b o u r D o r t c h e n W i l d , later W i l h e l m
he is n o w w e l c o m e d even b y the schoolmaster. G r i m m ' s wife. It bears striking resemblances to
A m o n g the F r a n k L o e s s e r songs that w r a p other tales in their collection: ' B r o t h e r and S i s ­
up A n d e r s e n tales as memorable, hummable ter', ' G o d ' s F o o d ' , and ' C h i l d r e n o f F a m i n e ' ,
nuggets are ' T h e K i n g ' s N e w C l o t h e s ' and to the recently published tale ' D e a r Mili'.
(changed for metrical reasons from ' T h e E m ­ T h e y persistently lengthened and altered the
peror's N e w C l o t h e s ' ) ; * ' T h u m b e l i n a ' , w h i c h tale from the early terse manuscript v e r s i o n
Hans makes up and performs, using his thumbs (1810), adding names for the children and
as visual aids, for a lonely little girl he sees out­ Christian motifs in 1 8 1 2 , transforming the
mother to a stepmother in 1819, and further r a ­
side the jail w h e r e he is languishing; and ' T h e
tionalizing the abandonment o f the children in
* U g l y D u c k l i n g ' , sung to a shaven-headed b o y a n
1843 d 1857. T h e i r final v e r s i o n (1857) g o e s
w h o is being m o c k e d and shunned b y his
like this: A w o o d c u t t e r is persuaded b y his wife
schoolmates.
to abandon his children, Hansel and G r e t e l , in
T h e songs, h o w e v e r , are secondary to the
the forest because the family faces near-starva­
15-minute Little Mermaid cine-ballet, w h i c h is
tion in a time o f famine. T h e first time the chil­
the emotional centrepiece o f the film. D a n c e d
dren find their w a y b a c k to the family cottage
by the n e w c o m e r Zizi J e a n m a i r e and the film's
b y f o l l o w i n g the trail o f pebbles Hansel has
choreographer, R o l a n d Petit, to music b y
strewn on their path. T h e second time, h o w ­
Liszt, it has 28 supporting dancers and six vast
e v e r , they are unable to return because birds
sets. Its text is not authentic A n d e r s e n : already
eat the crumbs Hansel has scattered. T h e y
tweaked b y the screenplay so that Hans can
w a l k deeper and deeper into the forest, subsist­
think o f it as being simply about a w o m a n w h o
ing on berries, until a bird leads them to a
seeks love in the w r o n g place, it is further
house made o f bread, with ' c a k e for a r o o f and
modified to accommodate the limitations o f
pure s u g a r for w i n d o w s ' . Hansel g o r g e s h i m ­
ballet. T h e mermaids' tails h a v e to b e i m ­
self on a l a r g e piece o f the roof, w h i l e G r e t e l
agined, for if they really had them they w o u l d
eats a piece o f the w i n d o w pane in spite o f the
not be able to dance. L i k e w i s e , the heroine
v o i c e from inside the house c r y i n g :
cannot leave her v o i c e behind with the witches,
N i b b l e , nibble, I hear a m o u s e .
for as a dancer she has none; she is therefore
W h o ' s that nibbling at m y house?
able to get from the witches a m a g i c veil w h i c h
T h e y a n s w e r that it's just the w i n d , but then
makes her human, without h a v i n g to g i v e a n y ­
are appalled to see the w i t c h e m e r g e from the
thing in payment. A n d at the end, h a v i n g not
house. S h e invites them in, feeds them pan­
been recognized b y the prince as his saviour,
cakes and milk, and puts them to b e d in clean
she is free to run back into the w a v e s and r e ­
white sheets. T h e y think they are 'in h e a v e n ' ,
sume mermaid form without fear o f d i s s o l v i n g but the w i t c h ' s cannibalistic intentions are
into foam. clear. T h e next m o r n i n g she puts Hansel in a
Andersen did in fact come from O d e n s e , but c a g e to fatten him u p ; G r e t e l must c o o k him
otherwise the film, as it admits, offers no reli­ nourishing meals, w h i l e eating o n l y crabshells
able information about him o r his stories. It herself. T h e near-sighted witch r e g u l a r l y tests
does, h o w e v e r , g i v e an accurate depiction o f one o f H a n s e l ' s fingers to see if h e ' s getting
the screen D a n n y K a y e at the height o f his fatter, but he c l e v e r l y g i v e s her a chicken b o n e
career. TAS to feel. A f t e r a month she decides to eat h i m
HANSEL AND GRETEL 'Nibble, nibble, I hear a mouse, who's that nibbling at my house?' asks the witch
Hermann Vogel's illustration to 'Hansel and Gretel' in Kinder- und Hausmdrchen gesammelt durch die
Briider Grimm ( 1 8 9 4 ) .
227 HARRIS, JOEL CHANDLER

a n y w a y and commands Gretel to build the fire designed a n e w production o f the opera in
in the o v e n . Gretel tearfully follows her orders, 1997. T h e * D i s n e y industry has not y e t at­
but w h e n the witch tells her to climb in to see if tacked ' H a n s e l and G r e t e l ' , but there is a film
the oven is hot enough, she pretends not to v e r s i o n in T o m * D a v e n p o r t ' s series o f G r i m m
understand and asks the witch to demonstrate. m o v i e s (1975). S e v e r a l recent writers h a v e
T h e witch climbs in, Gretel slams the d o o r p l a y e d variations on the tale, a m o n g them
shut, and then releases Hansel from his c a g e as R o b e r t * C o o v e r in ' T h e G i n g e r b r e a d H o u s e '
in Pricks and Descants (1970), A n n e *Sexton in
the witch, h o w l i n g , is burned to death. T h e y
a p o e m in Transformations (1971), G a r r i s o n
fill their pockets with g o l d and jewels from the
K e i l l o r in ' M y G r a n d m o t h e r , M y S e l f in
witch's house, are carried o v e r a w i d e r i v e r b y
Happy to Be Here (1982), and Emma
a friendly duck, and finally reach the family
* D o n o g h u e in ' A T a l e o f the C o t t a g e ' in her
cottage again. T h e i r stepmother has died, and
Kissing the Witch (1997). EWH
they live with their father (and the jewels
t h e y ' v e brought) 'in utmost j o y ' . Bohm-Korff, Regina, Deutung und Bedeutung
Some scholars h a v e focused on the b i o ­ von 'Hansel und GreteT: Eine Fallstudie (1991).
graphical origins for the G r i m m s ' investment Tatar, Maria, 'Table Matters; Cannibalism and
in the tale and the changes they made, stressing Oral Greed', in Off with their Heads/ (1992).
their o w n closeness as siblings, their reverence Weber, Eugen, 'Fairies and Hard Facts: The
Reality of Folktales', Journal of the History of
for their mother, their 'abandonment' b y their
Ideas, 42 (1981).
long-dead father, and the importance o f d o ­
Zipes, Jack, 'The Rationalization of
mestic harmony and security in their lives.
Abandonment and Abuse in Fairy Tales', in
Others have stressed the historical b a c k g r o u n d
Happily Ever After (1997).
of the tale: the repeated famines in the early
19th century in G e r m a n y , the tradition o f the
HARRIS, JOEL CHANDLER (1848-1908), A m e r i ­
abandonment o f children, the ubiquity o f step­
can author o f the U n c l e R e m u s stories.
mothers because so m a n y mothers died y o u n g ,
B r o u g h t up in rural G e o r g i a , in 1862 he b e ­
the brooding presence o f real forests that w e r e
came printer's devil on the Countryman, a plan­
always threatening, uncivilized places. ( T h i s
tation newspaper. 'It w a s on this and on
urge to see the tale as a historical source has
n e i g h b o r i n g plantations that I b e c a m e familiar
been brilliantly parodied b y Hans T r a x l e r in
with the curious m y t h s and animal stories that
Die Wahrheit iiber Hansel und Gretel ( The Truth
form the basis . . . o f U n c l e R e m u s . ' H e created
about Hansel and Gretel); he p r o v i d e s m o c k -
the character o f U n c l e R e m u s , an elderly e x -
documentation for the location o f the family
slave, in 1876 in a sketch for the Atlanta Consti­
hut near the F r a n k f u r t - W i i r z b u r g autobahn,
tution, but the first appearance in that paper o f
of the witch's cottage and o v e n in the forest
U n c l e R e m u s the storyteller w a s on 20 J u l y
nearby, and o f fossilized biscuits from its roof.) t n e
1879, idea h a v i n g been suggested to him b y
Other scholars h a v e focused on the p s y c h o ­
an article, ' F o l k l o r e o f the Southern N e g r o e s ' ,
logical states and childish impulses the story
in Lippincott's Maga{ine o f D e c e m b e r 1877.
represents. B r u n o Bettelheim insists that the
T h e stories about h o w the cunning and anarch­
story, his favourite tale, is really about depend­
ic B r e r R a b b i t defeats his enemies (and s o m e ­
ence, oral greed, and destructive desires that
times his friends) w e r e immediately popular;
children must learn to o v e r c o m e . T h e y arrive
Uncle Remus, his songs and his sayings w a s pub­
home 'purged o f their oral fixations'. Other in­
lished in 1880, Nights with Uncle Remus in 1883.
terpreters h a v e stressed the satisfying p s y c h o ­
L a t e r U n c l e R e m u s stories w e r e directed pri­
logical effects o f the children vanquishing the
m a r i l y at children. T h e y are trickster tales, a
witch or o f the w i c k e d stepmother's death.
type c o m m o n to all folklore, embellished b y
J a c k Zipes argues that the G r i m m s ' final v e r ­
Harris with elaborate dialogue and set in a
sion o f the tale celebrates the Oedipus complex
f r a m e w o r k o f idealized plantation life. T h o u g h
and the symbolic order o f the father, systemat­
adapted to the A f r o - A m e r i c a n experience, it
ically denigrates the adult female characters
has been s h o w n that o v e r half o f the 220 stories
(who m a y in fact be the same person), and ra­
retold b y Harris originated in A f r i c a . GA
tionalizes the abuse o f the children.
Baer, Florence, Sources and Analogues of the
Engelbert *Humperdinck's opera (1893) is
Uncle Remus Tales (1980).
based on the G r i m m s ' version, though his li­ Bickley, R. Bruce (ed.), Critical Essays on Joel
brettist omits the deliberate abandonment o f Chandler Harris (1981).
the children and transforms the w i c k e d step­ Hemenway, Robert (ed.), Uncle Remus: His
mother back into a mother; Maurice *Sendak Songs and his Sayings (1982).
H A U F F , WiLHELM With the help of his magic shoes Little Muck wins the race against the sultan's best
runner in Wilhelm Hauff s 'Little Muck'. An anonymous illustration from the English translation of
Arabian Days' Entertainments ( 1 8 5 8 ) .
22 9
HAUFF, WILHELM

Keenan, Hugh, 'Joel Chandler Harris' Tales of B y 1826 he had earned e n o u g h m o n e y free­
Uncle Remus: For Mixed Audiences', in lancing to undertake an extended educational
Touchstones: Reflections on the Best in Children s tour through F r a n c e , Flanders, and G e r m a n y .
Literature ( 1 9 8 7 ) .
H e made contacts w i t h literary and intellectual
'Rediscovering Uncle Remus Tales',
circles in Paris, H a m b u r g , B r e m e n , L e i p z i g ,
Teaching and Learning Literature, 5 . 4
(March—April 1 9 9 6 ) . and Berlin. U p o n his return in 1827, after a
Montenyohl, Eric L . , 'Joel Chandler Harris and f o u r - y e a r courtship, H a u f f married his cousin
American Folklore', Atlanta Historical Journal, L u i s e . Hired b y the publisher, J . F . ( B a r o n
3 0 . 3 — 4 (fall—winter 1 9 8 6 — 7 ) . v o n ) Cotta as editor o f the well-established
Morning Newspaper for the Educated Classes
HARTZENBUSCH, JUAN EUGENIO (1806-80), (Morgenblatt fiir gebildete Stànde), Hauff
Spanish romantic p l a y w r i g h t , especially fam­ undertook the difficult task o f reforming and
ous for one play, Los amantes de Teruel (The raising the intellectual level o f the newspaper.
Lovers of Teruel, 1837). In 1845 Hartzenbusch But the autocratic publisher interfered with his
began to write tales and legends w h i c h w e r e editor, b y p a s s i n g H a u f f in important editorial
published in the collection Las mil y una noches decisions. Conflicts o v e r editorial p o l i c y en­
espaholas (The Spanish Thousand and One sued, resulting in a stalemate. H a u f f s older
Nights). F r o m 1848 onwards he published s e v ­ brother, H e r m a n n , approached Cotta, offering
eral tales in a periodical called Semanario Pinto- to edit the paper in his brother's stead, and stat­
resco Espanol (Spanish Picturesque Weekly). ing in a letter that he w o u l d p r o v e m o r e d e c o r ­
Cuentos y Fabulas (Tales and Fables, 1861) is ous and pliable than W i l h e l m . Cotta granted
yet another collection o f Hartzenbusch's short the editorship, a position H e r m a n n held for 37
narratives that s h o w the author's preference for years.
historic and legendary tales, as w e l l as for stor­ In September 1827 W i l h e l m H a u f f fell ill.
ies of popular origin, such as ' P a l o s de M o g u e r ' H e w a s bedridden b y October, and he died in
('Palos de M o g u e r ' , 1861) and ' L a n o v i a de N o v e m b e r o f the same y e a r , eight d a y s after
o r o ' ( ' T h e G o l d e n B r i d e ' , 1861). CF the birth o f his daughter, W i l h e l m i n e .
H a u f f is best k n o w n for his literary fairy
HAUFF, WILHELM ( 1 8 0 2 - 2 7 ) , early 19th-century tales. H e initially told the tales as entertainment
G e r m a n writer, one of the most popular G e r ­ for his t w o y o u n g e r sisters and later, as a tutor
man writers o f literary fairy tales. A l t h o u g h his for the v o n Hiigel family, he continued story­
literary and editorial activities spanned little telling for his t w o y o u n g charges. T h e i r
more than three y e a r s , he w a s extraordinarily mother, the B a r o n e s s v o n H i i g e l , w a s i m ­
productive. H a u f f s stories rank just behind the pressed b y his talent and e n c o u r a g e d H a u f f to
*Grimm brothers' Children's and Household write his stories d o w n . In late 1825 he p u b ­
Tales (*Kinder- und Hausmdrchen) in G e r m a n lished the first c y c l e , entitled The Caravan (Die
language editions. His three fairy-tale alma­ Karawane). T w o additional collections fol­
nacs, containing 14 novella-length tales, are as lowed: The Sheik of Alexandria and his Slaves
well k n o w n to G e r m a n - s p e a k i n g audiences as (Der Scheik von Alessandria und seine Sklaven)
Huckleberry Finn or *Alice in Wonderland are to published in 1827, and The Inn in the Spessart
Anglophones. (Das Wirtshaus im Spessart), published posthu­
In 1820, at the age of 18, Hauff undertook m o u s l y in 1828. Structured s o m e w h a t like
theological studies at T u b i n g e n seminary. H e C h a u c e r ' s The Canterbury Tales, each c y c l e fea­
received his P h . D . in 1824 but w a s not dis­ tures not o n l y multiple narrators, but also a
posed to become a parish pastor. F o r the next frame tale in w h i c h the individual novellas are
two years he w o r k e d as a tutor for the y o u n g embedded.
sons of the Wiirttemberg Minister of W a r , H a u f f s tales w e r e greeted enthusiastically
Baron v o n Hiigel, and did freelance writing. b y his contemporaries and h a v e continued to
H e began modestly, in 1824, b y editing a v o l ­ enjoy unabated popularity for close to t w o cen­
ume of War and Folksongs (Kriegs- und Volks- turies. B u t , w h i l e puzzling o v e r his popularity,
lieder). O v e r the next three y e a r s , in addition to academic critics h a v e for the most part rejected
the three collections o f fairy tales, the y o u n g them as the flawed reflection o f H a u f f s petty
writer produced numerous w o r k s demonstrat­ b o u r g e o i s and philistine spirit. H o w e v e r , re­
ing a remarkable range and variety: journal en­ cent studies h a v e a r g u e d for a re-evaluation o f
tries, letters, parodies, poems, sketches, half a H a u f f s tales as the w o r k o f a sophisticated
dozen novellas, a two-part Rabelaisian satirical cross-writer w h o intentionally speaks to a dual
novel, and a historical romance. audience o f children and adults. In this v i e w ,
HAUGEN, TORMOD 230

H a u f f s tales d r a w on traditional folk- and sider. J a c o b discovers the pain of ostracism as

fairy-tale motifs, and they e v o k e a magical he is cast out b y his parents, and rejected b y the
w o r l d w h i c h allows for a childlike p l a y o f fan­ townspeople w h o fail to recognize him in his
tasy. B u t the writer also p r o v i d e s numerous n e w incarnation. A s D w a r f L o n g N o s e , the
clues signalling the possibility o f a m o r e c o m ­ formerly handsome J a c o b discovers the injuri-
plex and sophisticated 'adult' reading o f ousness o f the prejudices he had previously
H a u f f s multi-layered texts. T h e child is in­ shared with his fellow townsfolk. Despite the
vited to e n g a g e the imagination; the adult is restoration o f order at the conclusion of the
invited to recognize H a u f f s concealed s u b v e r ­ narrative, the child reader is left with the vivid
sive and often critical intent. impression o f J a c o b ' s suffering, while the adult
In a brief preface to the first c y c l e o f tales, a is invited to recognize the mechanisms of
narrative entitled ' F a i r y T a l e as A l m a n a c ' prejudice, and to detect the irony of a 'happy
('Mârchen als A l m a n a c h ' ) , H a u f f signals his ending' w h i c h does not resolve, but merely sets
critical and s u b v e r s i v e intent to b y p a s s contem­ aside, the problems raised in the narrative.
p o r a r y censorship l a w s : F a i r y T a l e has been In each o f the collections, v i v i d tales e v o k e a
barred entrance into the city b y guards (cen­ fantasy w o r l d for children e v e n as Hauff e x a m ­
sors) with sharp pens, w h o malign o r e v e n kill ines questions o f social identity, criticizes p r o ­
those w h o disagree with accepted opinions. T o vincial narrowness, and raises probing
circumvent the censors, F a i r y T a l e dons a dis­ questions about communal prejudice. Unfortu­
guise, the fabulous cloak o f ' A l m a n a c ' . ( H a u f f nately, there are v e r y few translations of
referred to his three cycles as A l m a n a c s . ) H e r H a u f f s tales into E n g l i s h . T h u s , for most
true identity concealed, F a i r y T a l e lulls the A n g l o p h o n e s , H a u f f s 14 tales remain unex­
g u a r d s to sleep with the images she e v o k e s , and plored territory waiting to be discovered.
passes undetected. A sympathetic adult guides DMT
her to his house, w h e r e she can tell her tales to Hinz, Ottmar, Wilhelm Hauff: Mit
his children and the n e i g h b o u r h o o d children, Selbst^eugnissen und Bilddokumenten (1989).
and thus c a r r y out her s u b v e r s i v e activities un­ Schwarz, Egon, 'Wilhelm Hauff: "Der Zwerg
disturbed. Nase", "Das Kalte Herz" und andere
Erzâhlungen (1826—27)', in Paul Michael
A s this allegorical preface suggests, the tales
Liitzeler (éd.), Romane und Er{dhlungen Twischen
in the three collections interweave fantasy and Romantik und Realismus (1983).
finely w r o u g h t ironies in a m a r v e l l o u s and Thum, Maureen, 'Misreading the Cross-Writer:
c o m p l e x interplay. T h e frame tale frequently The Case of Wilhelm Hauff s "Dwarf Long
p r o v i d e s a critical foil for the tales. T h e m u l ­ N o s e ' " , Children's Literature, 25 (1997).
tiple narrators in each c y c l e are p l a y e d off
against each other with consummate skill, HAUGEN, TORMOD ( 1 9 4 5 - ) , N o r w e g i a n writer,
w h i l e the individual narratives h o v e r s u g g e s t ­ A n d e r s e n Medal w i n n e r (1990), author of sev­
i v e l y in that magical and a m b i g u o u s space eral remarkable fairy-tale novels for y o u n g
between childhood innocence and adult experi­ readers. In Slottet det hvite (The White Castle,
ence. 1980) he tells w h a t happened after the prince
Dwarf Long Nose (Der Zwerg Nase), one o f and princess started ' l i v i n g happily ever after'.
H a u f f s b e s t - k n o w n tales, appears to be a c o n ­ Dagen som forsvant (The Day that Disappeared,
ventional tale in w h i c h a w i c k e d witch takes 1983) is a modern version oi*Peter Pan. Farlig
r e v e n g e on a little b o y . T h e H e r b F a i r y trans­ ferd (A Dangerous Ride, 1988) and Tsarens
forms little J a c o b into an u g l y d w a r f because juveler (The Tsar's Jewels, 1992) contain many
he has publicly derided her grotesque appear­ elements of traditional quest fairy tales. A l l
ance. A f t e r a series o f adventures, J a c o b is re­ H a u g e n ' s b o o k s s h o w a deep interest in myth
stored to his human form and lives a contented and fairy tale in combination with social and
life. T h e tale does not seem to s w e r v e from the existential problems of today's y o u n g people.
expected h a p p y ending and restoration o f MN
order. H o w e v e r , on a different level, J a c o b ' s Loslokk, Ola, and Oygarden, Bjarne (eds.),
knee-jerk response to the stranger is represen­ Tormod Haugen—en artihhelsamling (1995).
tative o f the prejudices o f an entire community. Metcalf, Eva Maria, 'The Invisible Child in the
T h e H e r b F a i r y , like the tale itself, is not quite Works of Tormod Haugen', Barnboken, 1
w h a t she seems. She is not a w i c k e d witch, but (1992).
a w i s e , if stringent, mentor w h o demonstrates
to J a c o b and the empathetic reader w h a t it is HAUPTMANN, GERHART (1862-1946), German
like to w a l k in the shoes o f the grotesque out­ dramatist and N o b e l Prize winner. Though
231 HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL

Hauptmann was regarded as the leading repre­ North American Legends, which includes A m ­
sentative of German naturalism, he was deeply erican tall tales, tales of European and African
influenced by the traditions, myths, and le­ immigrants, and folklore of American Indians
gends of his Silesian home. Having become and Eskimos. AD
famous for his naturalist dramas, he increasing­
ly integrated mystical and fairy-tale elements
in his work. This development led to the dra­
matic fairy tale Die versunkene Glocke (The HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL (1804-64), American
Sunken Bell, 1896), telling of the enchantment man of letters, and author of two retellings of
and rescue of the bell-founder Heinrich in a re­ Greek legends for children, A Wonder-Book for
gion populated by wood- and water-sprites; Girls and Boys (1852), and Tanglewood Tales for
and the glassworks fairy-tale drama Und Pippa Girls and Boys (1853). The first set of stories is
tan^t! (And Pippa Dances, 1906). Towards the told against a background of the Berkshire
end of his life he wrote 'Das Màrchen' ('The Hills of Massachusetts where Hawthorne was
Fairy Tale') as a conscious attempt to vary living at the time. Both books reflect an ideal­
*Goethe's 'Das Màrchen' for the purpose of ized American domesticity rather than the sav­
criticizing fascism. Yet his tale about Theo- agery of the original legends. Hawthorne
phrast, a wandering pilgrim, remains too ob­ removed the gods (except Mercury, disguised
tuse to be considered effective. CS as 'Quicksilver'), eliminated all evil and sexu­
Clouser, Robin A., 'The Pilgrim of ality, and introduced child characters wherever
Consciousness: Hauptmann's Syncretistic Fairy he could, so that Proserpina and Pandora be­
Tale', in Peter Sprengel and Phillip Mellen come children, and Midas is given a little
(eds.), Hauptmann-Forschung: Neue Beitrage/ daughter, Marygold, with whom he shares a
Hauptmann Research: New Directions (1986). lavish New England breakfast. T h e student
Nicholson, David, 'Hauptmann's Hannele: narrator in The Wonder-Book defends this
Naturalistic Fairy Tale and Dream Play', treatment of the stories, saying that a modern
Modern Drama, 24.3 (September 1981). Yankee had the same right as the ancient poets
to remodel the myths. Charles *Kingsley was
HAVILAND, VIRGINIA (191 I - ) , American critic so affronted by Hawthorne's renderings that he
and compiler of many collections of fairy tales produced his own, The Heroes (1856).
for children. Each of her collections consists of
Among Hawthorne's short stories are alle­
tales taken from compilations of well-known
gorical tales of the supernatural and a few ex­
writers and folklorists which are retold with a
amples of fantasy. 'Feathertop' (Mosses from an
child reader in mind: the language of the tales
Old Manse, 1846) describes how a witch brings
is simplified, and the narration is in large print
a scarecrow into life and makes him so person­
with many illustrations. Her first collection,
able that he impresses everyone he meets; ' T h e
Favorite Fairy Tales Told in England (1959),
Snow-Image' (The Snow-Image and Other
which includes *'Jack and the Beanstalk' and Twice-Told Tales, 1851) is an allegory. T w o
*'Tom Thumb', are retellings of tales taken children create another child out of snow. She
from Joseph *Jacobs's English Fairy Tales comes to life and plays with them, but their
(1890). In 1959 Haviland published Favorite matter-of-fact father refuses to believe she is
Fairy Tales Told in Germany, in which she made of snow, and, trying to warm her, des­
adapts the *Grimms' version of *'Rumpelstilt- troys her. GA
skin' and *'Hansel and Gretel'; and Favorite Alsen, Eberhard, 'Hawthorne: a Puritan Tieck; a
Fairy Tales Told in France (1959), which in­ Comparative Analysis of the Tales of
cludes retellings of Charles *Perrault's *'Puss- Hawthorne and the Màrchen of Tieck' (Diss.,
in-Boots' and *'Sleeping Beauty in the Wood'. Indiana University, 1967).
Other Favorite Fairy Tales collections include: Bailey, Herbert S., Jr., 'On "Rappaccini's Son":
Told in Ireland (1961) with tales from Seumas A Note on a Twice Told Tale', Nathaniel
*MacManus's collections; Told in Russia (1961) Hawthorne Review, 17.1 (spring 1991).
with tales from R. Nisbet *Bain's collections; Brown, Gaye, 'Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's
Told in Spain, with an adaptation of Cecilia Daughter": The Distaff Christ', Nathaniel
*Bohl de Faber's 'The Carlanco'; Told in Italy Hawthorne Review, 22.2 (fall 1996).
(1965), with an adaptation of the 'Cenerentola' Hundley, Clarence Carroll, Jr., 'Fairy Tale
(""Cinderella') by Giambattista *Basile and Elements in the Short Fiction of Nathaniel
tales from Andrew *Lang's collections; and Hawthorne' (Diss., University of North
Told in Chechoslovakia, with illustrations by Carolina-Greensboro, 1994).
Trina S. *Hyman. In 1979 Haviland published Laffrado, L., Hawthorne's Literature for Children
(1992).
H A Y , SARA HENDERSON 232

Rucker, Mary E . , 'The Art of Witchcraft in The *Pentameron (1954), W i l h e l m *Hauff, Die
Hawthorne's "Feathertop: A Moralized Karawane (The Caravan, 1966), and Jacob and
Legend"', Studies in Short Fiction, 2 4 . 1 (winter W i l h e l m G r i m m , Mdrchen (Fairy Tales, 1969).
1987).
JZ
H A Y , SARA HENDERSON (1906-87), A m e r i c a n
poet. K n o w n for her collection o f fairy-tale HEIDELBACH, NlKOLAUS ( 1 9 5 5 - ) , G e r m a n illus­
sonnets Story Hour (1963; 2nd edn., 1982), H a y trator, w h o has w o n m a n y awards o w i n g to his
uses them to comment acerbically on the ques­ ability to mix realistic and fantastic motifs in
tionable moral stance o f famous fairy tales. In unusual combinations. H e has illustrated the
the title p o e m , the speaker suppresses a child's w o r k s o f both classical and contemporary
question about * ' J a c k and the Beanstalk': ' W a s authors. F o r example, he contributed unique
no one s o r r y for the murdered G i a n t ? ' H a y d r a w i n g s for Christine *Nostlinger's version o f
often shifts the point o f v i e w from hero to v i l ­ *Pinocchio (1988) and for the Mdrchen der
lain, offering ironic c o m m e n t a r y on o u r desire Briider Grimm (The Fairy Tales of the Brothers
for fairy-tale closure. F r e q u e n t l y anthologized *Grimm, 1995). H e e n d o w s his figures with a
are ' I n t e r v i e w , ' a m o n o l o g u e b y *Cinderella's striking and sober e v e r y d a y p h y s i o g n o m y and
stepmother, and ' J u v e n i l e C o u r t , ' positing a symbolical ambience. H e g a v e the w o o d e n
*Hansel and G r e t e l as juvenile delinquents. puppet Pinocchio lifelike eyes, and the d w a r f
NJW w h o guards *Snow White's casket in the night
is surrounded b y empty w i n e bottles. Heidel-
HEARN, LAFCADIO (18 5 0 - I 904), American bach's pictures tell entire stories, reveal the
author and journalist, b o r n in the Ionian is­ inner depths o f characters, and depict contrast­
lands o f I r i s h / M a l t e s e parents. In 1869, Hearn ing incidents that have horrifying and shocking
m o v e d to the United States, w h e r e he w r o t e on features to them. KD
subjects he called 'exotic, strange, and m o n ­
strous'. E m i g r a t i n g to J a p a n in 1890, he re­ HEINE, HEINRICH (1797-1856), G e r m a n poet
n a m e d himself Koizumi Yakumo, married into a and author, m a n y o f w h o s e poems have been
samurai family, b e c a m e a citizen, w r o t e , and set to music b y Franz Schubert, Felix *Men-
held a chair in E n g l i s h literature at T o k y o U n i ­ delssohn, R o b e r t *Schumann, and Johannes
versity. T h e author o f m a n y sketches, e s s a y s , B r a h m s , a m o n g others. H e received a doctor­
and several n o v e l s , H e a r n is noted for sensitive
ate o f l a w from Gôttingen, at which time he
interpretations o f J a p a n e s e traditions, especial­
converted from J u d a i s m to Christianity to im­
ly about spirits and ghosts. Most frequently
p r o v e his prospects for a post in government or
read t o d a y are p r o b a b l y Kwaidan (GhostTales),
at a university. Unsuccessful in these efforts, he
and Japan: an Interpretation (1904). JSN
lived from his pen, with subsidies from a
Hayley, Barbara, 'Lafcadio Hearn, W. B . Yeats w e a l t h y uncle and other sources. Literary fame
and Japan', in Robert Welch and Suheil Badi came rather early, with the publication o f his
Bushrui (eds.), Literature and the Art of Creation first v o l u m e o f Reisebilder (Travel Sketches),
(1988). Die Harreise (Journey through the Har^ Moun­
McNeil, William K . , 'Lafcadio Hearn: American tains, 1826), and with the v o l u m e o f collected
Folklorist', Journal of American Folklore, 9 1 poems Buch der Lieder (Book of Songs, 1827). In
(1978).
1831 he went to Paris to report on events in the
HEGENBARTH, JOSEF (1884-1962), G e r m a n i l ­ w a k e o f the J u l y R e v o l u t i o n and remained
lustrator, k n o w n for his h i g h l y innovative there permanently. His interest in myth, le­
d r a w i n g s and interpretations o f fairy tales and g e n d , and folk tale is evident in much o f his
fables. H e g e n b a r t h ' s illustrations w e r e influ­ w o r k , most prominently in t w o fanciful rendi­
enced b y Impressionism and m a k e use o f un­ tions that became sources for operas b y
usual m o v e m e n t and striking colours to form R i c h a r d W a g n e r : the story o f the F l y i n g
n e w constellations that comment on the text in D u t c h m a n , in ' A u s den Memoiren des Herren
h i g h l y original w a y s . H e did d r a w i n g s for the Schnabelewopski' ( ' F r o m the Memoirs of Herr
w o r k s o f m a n y great authors such as *Goethe, S c h n a b e l e w o p s k i ' , 1834, in Der Salon t) and the
* T o l s t o y , C e r v a n t e s , *Shakespeare, and Swift, legend o f Tannhâuser, in 'Elementargeister'
and a m o n g his best illustrated fairy-tale b o o k s ('Elemental Spirits', 1837, in Der Salon III).
are J . K . A . *Musaus, Volksmdrchen der Deut- T h e folk song, especially in the literary form
schen (Folk Tales of the Germans, 1947—9), pioneered b y his contemporary Wilhelm
J a c o b and W i l h e l m * G r i m m , Die goldene Gans Muller (1794—1827), exerted a considerable in­
(The Golden Goose, 1951), Giambattista *Basile, fluence on Heine's lyric poetry. JMM
 H EN SON, JIM
23
3

Reeves, Nigel, Heinrich Heine: Poetry and Muppet variations on G r i m m and nine i n v o c a -
Politics ( 1 9 7 4 ) . tions o f the fireside storytelling tradition for
Sammons, Jeffrey L . , Heinrich Heine: The television.
Elusive Poet ( 1 9 6 9 ) .
After K e r m i t the F r o g b e c a m e a favourite
Heinrich Heine: A Modern Biography
with A m e r i c a n children f o l l o w i n g the 1969
(i979)-
start o f the Sesame Street T V series, it w a s nat-
HEINE, HELME ( 1 9 4 1 - ) , G e r m a n author and ural that one o f the tales customized for him
illustrator o f picture b o o k s . T h i s popular and other Muppet characters to perform w o u l d
author/illustrator is k n o w n for his playful, be ' T h e F r o g P r i n c e ' (1971). H o w e v e r , K e r m i t
charming, cartoon-like illustrations, w h i c h en- does not p l a y the hero; instead, he is the narra-
chant child readers. A m o n g his picture b o o k s tor, g i v i n g a f r o g ' s - e y e - v i e w o f G r i m m . Sitting
are new, zany, and funny interpretations o f b y a pond, he recalls R o b i n , a frog he once
myths, morality tales, fables, and parables, met, w h o claimed to be really an enchanted
such as Das schdnste Ei der Welt (The Most prince and p r o v e d it b y s h o w i n g h o w he w a s
Wonderful Egg in the World, 1983), in which unable to s w i m . A princess w h o could restore
three hens quarrel about w h o is the most b e a u - R o b i n l i v e d nearby, but she, too, w a s b e -
tiful, while the king decides to h o n o u r the hen witched and could o n l y speak b a c k w a r d s . K e r -
that produces the best e g g instead. Heine's fa- mit continues his recollections and recalls h o w
vourite themes, w h i c h he revisits in m a n y o f he s a v e d R o b i n from being eaten b y an o g r e
his picture b o o k s , are friendship and tolerance. and h o w all the other frogs rallied around to
EMM thwart an evil witch w h o w a s the cause o f
R o b i n ' s problems. K e r m i t reveals that once the
HEINE, THOMAS THEODOR (1867-1948), G e r - princess kissed R o b i n , w h o b e c a m e human and
man caricaturist, writer, and editor k n o w n for succeeded to the throne, the t w o w e r e married.
his satirical illustrations in the periodical Sim- A s the film ends, the r o y a l couple arrive with
plicissimus. F o r c e d into exile b y the N a z i s , their b a b y , Prince K e r m i t . T h e story thus b e -
Heine composed sardonic tales that criticized comes, in H e n s o n ' s hands, a fairy tale about
the social and political ills o f his d a y . H i s first friendship and trust enlivened b y c o m e d y and
collection, Die Màrchen (Fairy Tales, 1935), songs.
was followed b y a revised and expanded edi- D u r i n g the rest o f the 1970s H e n s o n ' s ener-
tion, first published in D a n i s h as Sallsamt han- gies w e n t mainly into Sesame Street and The
der (1946) and later in G e r m a n as Seltsames Muppet Show, but with the cinema feature The
geschieht (Strange Things Happen, 1950). Illus- Dark Crystal ( U K , 1982) he b r o k e a w a y from
trated with his o w n d r a w i n g s , Heine's pessim- them completely, seeking to create a c o m p r e -
istic tales caricature the abuses o f g o v e r n m e n t ,
hensive other w o r l d , free o f both Muppets and
science, business, and the military, as w e l l as
humans. In its conception there w a s inspiration
the weakness o f human nature. DH
from the bleak terrain and carrion-eating birds
Haase, Donald P., 'Thomas Theodor Heine's of D a r t m o o r , from the fantasy illustrations o f
Exile Màrchen', in Uwe Faulhaber, Jerry Glen, the artist Brian F r o u d , and from skills, such as
Edward P. Harris, and Hans-Georg Richert stilt-walking, that particular performers h a p -
(eds.), Exile and Enlightenment: Studies in pened to h a v e . O u t o f this mixture came such
German and Comparative Literature ( 1 9 8 7 ) . creatures as the Skeksis, decadent reptilian
Hiles, Timothy W., Thomas Theodor Heine: predators; the G a r t h i m , crab-like enforcers o f
Fin-de-Siècle Munich and the Origins of the S k e k s i s l a w ; t w o Gelflings, s u r v i v o r s o f an
Simplicissimus ( 1 9 9 6 ) . elf-like race; and the Landstriders, spidery
HENSON, JlM (1936-1990), A m e r i c a n creator o f l o n g - l e g g e d carriers. A r o u n d them H e n s o n
a puppetry style i n v o l v i n g remote animatronic w o v e a c o m p l e x story o f a w o r l d under threat,
control and w h o l e human bodies as well as the ultimately s a v e d b y the triumph o f G o o d o v e r
more traditional hands and rods. B u o y e d b y Evil.
the international success o f Sesame Street, The Labyrinth ( U K , 1986), H e n s o n ' s second
Muppet Show, and their spin-off features, H e n - cinematic fantasy, differs from its precursor b y
son and his team devised a range o f creatures h a v i n g human characters at its centre: H e n s o n
and narratives which pushed back the boundar- had decided that puppet creatures are g o o d at
ies o f the possible. In the t w o decades before being funny or nasty, but do not w o r k as prot-
Henson's death, his c o m p a n y produced t w o agonists, because an audience cannot satisfac-
original fantasies and some characters in *Alice torily identify with them. C h i e f a m o n g the
in Wonderland for the cinema, and various humans are Sarah, a teenager w h o w i s h e s her-
HENSON, JIM Jim Henson's film The Dark Crystal ( 1 9 8 2 ) introduced a fierce and sinister breed of reptile
named the Skeksis, who used dark forces in an endeavour to dominate the world.
235 HENSON, JIM

self rid of her grizzling b a b y brother; and from 'an early G e r m a n folk tale'. H o w e v e r ,
D a v i d B o w i e playing Jareth, the goblin k i n g Minghella's method w a s m o r e ambitious than
w h o grants Sarah's wish. T h e plot g i v e s her 13 that phrase implies: he mixed and matched
hours in which to find her brother in Jareth's freely, added and subtracted with no heed for
labyrinth. She makes friends (an unreliable academic niggles, a l l o w e d the storyteller and
gnome, a gentle lumbering giant), w h o more the d o g to comment on the characters and their
or less help her. A t the climactic moment, actions. T h e result is a fresh re-creation o f the
Sarah realizes that Jareth exists only because tales, rather than a straightforward adaptation
her mind has created him; w h e n she states firm­ o f G r i m m o r a n y other pre-existing texts.
ly that he has no p o w e r o v e r her, he disappears. E a c h p r o g r a m m e is introduced b y the story­
A s well as this W o n d e r l a n d / O z scenario, the teller's v o i c e i n v o k i n g a time w h e n stories
film contains some traditional fairy-tale elem­ w e r e used to keep the past alive, explain the
e n t s — a n uncaring stepmother, a piece o f poi­ present, and foretell the future. T h e l a n g u a g e
soned fruit, a ballroom where Sarah dances he uses to tell the t a l e — w h i c h n e v e r begins
precious hours a w a y . with the phrase ' O n c e U p o n a T i m e ' — i s full
In 1988, as producer of an animated T V ser­ o f devices designed to m a k e it, for teller and
ies about the Muppets as babies, Henson listener, memorable and thrilling. A m o n g them
offered a critique o f D i s n e y in an episode are alliteration (a journey takes in 'cliff and
called ' S n o w White and the S e v e n Muppets'; cavern, crevasse and chasm, c a v e and c a n y o n ' ) ;
then, in the same y e a r , he showed h o w he i m a g e r y (a princess w h o falls for her gardener
thought innovative fairy-tale cinema could be 'felt little fish s w i m up and d o w n her b a c k ' ) ;
done with The Storyteller ( U K ) . E n c o u r a g e d repetition (about a b o y w h o is tempted to tell
b y a daughter w h o had recently studied folk­ someone's secret, the storyteller says, 'but he
lore, Henson aimed to cut through 19th-cen­ can't, so he musn't, so he w o n ' t ' ) ; and n e w -
tury bowdlerizations and try to recapture not minted w o r d s (a w o m a n w h o at l o n g last got
only the essential meaning, but also the origin­ the b a b y b o y she had pined for 'snoodled him
al mode of delivery, o f some seminal tales. T h e to bits'). T h e r e is back-and-forth interplay b e ­
focus was to be on a storyteller, with a d o g as tween the storyteller and the listening d o g ,
audience, seated b y the fire in a large hall. Parts w h o follows false trails ('I thought the babies
of each story w o u l d be dramatized, but the had been k i l l e d ' ) , insists that the teller has got a
storyteller's spoken w o r d s w o u l d begin it, end story w r o n g , o r points out that a character has
it, and hold it all together. b r o k e n her v o w o f silence before the e x p i r y o f
Commissioned to write scripts for this blend the time-limit ( ' Y e s , c l e v e r - c l o g s , the princess
of telling and showing, A n t h o n y Minghella spoke three minutes too s o o n ' ) . T e l l e r and d o g
sifted stories from across E u r o p e , comparing alike are visually linked to the dramatized s e g ­
each version with others, homing in on the es­ ments in a continuing variety o f w a y s : artefacts
sence. In this he w a s helped b y Stith T h o m p ­ pass between storyteller and character, a k i n g
son's standard reference w o r k , which groups sheds a tear w h i c h falls on the d o g ' s head.
together folk and fairy tales, with the same O n e example o f the nine tales presented in
basic theme and structure, from all o v e r the this style is ' S a p s o r r o w ' , which combines as­
world. In particular, Minghella noted differing pects o f the Cinderella story with a different
transition points within a grouping; for e x ­ one, v a r i o u s l y called ' R u s h i e C o a t ' and ' A l l
ample, in a princess's search for her alienated K i n d s o f F u r ' , about a girl w h o escapes human
husband ('Hans M y H e d g e h o g ' ) , the number society b y turning herself into an animal. A s
of pairs of shoes she wears out varies from v e r ­ Henson and Minghella present it, a w i d o w e r
sion to version, as do what they w e r e made of, k i n g has three daughters, o f w h o m t w o are
and h o w long it w a s before she finds him. bad, one g o o d . F e a r i n g to be lonely w h e n his
Minghella selected nine basic narratives daughters leave him, the k i n g proclaims he will
which dealt with strong themes such as he and w e d the w o m a n w h o s e finger fits the late
Henson w a n t e d — p r o m i s e s kept, promises queen's ring. N o b o d y ' s does except that o f the
broken, lust for p o w e r , parental rejection o f g o o d daughter, S a p s o r r o w , w h o o n l y tries it on
children, the fear of incest, oneness with na­ b y accident. Both o f them shrink from such a
ture—and set about developing them into v e ­ union, but the l a w insists. Stalling, S a p s o r r o w
hicles for television storytelling. E x c e p t for insists on three dresses being m a d e — o n e the
' T h e Soldier and Death', which is derived from colour o f the m o o n , one that o f the stars, one
an Arthur *Ransome translation of a Russian that o f the sun —but w h e n the w e d d i n g d a y
:

tale, they are each credited on screen as coming dawns, she is g o n e . T h r e e y e a r s later, n o w
HESSEL, FRANZ 236

c o v e r e d in filthy fur and k n o w n as Straggletag, Indians, 1995). His retellings are well re­
she is in another country, scrubbing pots in a searched and h a v e an authentic feel. In 1965
k i n g ' s kitchen. Upstairs, at a grand ball, the Hetmann w a s awarded the G e r m a n State Prize
prince will dance with no one until a beautiful for children's and youth literature for Amerika
w o m a n in a m o o n - c o l o u r e d dress turns up; at Saga (1964), a rich and varied collection of
the next ball she is in silver, then g o l d . A g o l d ­ A m e r i c a n myths, anecdotes, ghost and trick­
en slipper is the o n l y clue to her identity. T h e ster stories, and personal narratives. H e has
bad sisters turn up to try it on, and from them also written theoretical articles about fairy tales
and fantasy literature. EMM
S t r a g g l e t a g learns that her father has died. S h e
slips her foot into the shoe and secures the Hetmann, Frederik, Traumgesicht und
prince's promise that he will m a r r y her as Zauberspur. Màrchenforschung, Mdrchenkunde,
S t r a g g l e t a g , before r e v e a l i n g that she is also Marchendiskussion (1982).
the princess he l o v e s . Die Freuden der Fantasy. Von Tolkien bis
Since H e n s o n ' s untimely death, the C r e a ­ Ende (1984).
ture S h o p that he founded has remained p r e ­ H E Y M , STEFAN ( p s e u d o n y m of HELMUT FLIEG,
eminent in the w o r l d o f animatronics. T h e 1913— ) . Controversial (East) G e r m a n writer,
1990s, h o w e v e r , h a v e seen these skills being w h o m o v e d from A m e r i c a n exile to East Berlin
put to w o r k primarily in the service o f other in 1952 and became a Member of the G e r m a n
people's films; as a result bears, mice, a gorilla, Parliament after unification. Often using a his­
and an O s c a r - w i n n i n g p i g — a l l as z o o l o g i c a l l y torical framework, his satirical stories, novels,
accurate as p o s s i b l e — h a v e ousted h e d g e h o g and drama criticized social and political condi­
princes and heartless giants. TAS tions in East G e r m a n y . H e also published three
Bacon, Matt, No Strings Attached: The Inside
v o l u m e s o f ironic fairy tales for children: Casi­
Story of Jim Henson's Creature Shop (1997).
mir und Cymbelinchen (Casimir and Little Cym-
Minghella, Anthony, Jim Henson's 'The
Storyteller' (1988). beline, 1966), Cymbelinchen oder der Ernst des
Ransome, Arthur, The War of the Birds and the Lebens, Vier Màrchen fur kluge Kinder (Little
Beasts (1984). Cymbeline, or Real Life: Four Fairy Tales for
Thompson, Stith, Motif Index of Folk Literature Bright Children, 1975), Erich Hiickniesel und das
(6 vols., 1932—6; 1955). fortgeset{te Rotkàppchen (Erich Hiickniesel and
Zipes, Jack, Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Little Red-Riding-Hood Continued, 1977). K S
Children, and the Culture Industry (1997).
HlNDEMlTH, PAUL (1865—1963), G e r m a n com­
HESSEL, FRANZ ( I 8 8 0 - 1 9 4 1 ) , G e r m a n writer poser, theorist, teacher, and viola player. His
and translator. H e dabbled with fairy tales, and dauntingly copious output, encompassing a
in his unusual collection o f stories, Teigwaren huge variety o f forms and instrumental com­
leicht gefàrbt (Noodles Slightly Coloured, 1926), binations, includes the three-act opera Cardillac
he included ' D e r siebte Z w e r g ' ( ' T h e S e v e n t h (1926; revised, 1952), with libretto b y F e r d i ­
D w a r f ) , a retelling o f * ' S n o w W h i t e and the nand L i o n adapted from E . T . A . *Hoffmann's
S e v e n D w a r f s ' , in w h i c h the y o u n g e s t d w a r f novella Das Fràulein von Scuderi (1819). T h e
claims to h a v e saved S n o w W h i t e and to h a v e story, set in 17th-century Paris and telling of a
been neglected b y history. JZ fatally gifted goldsmith w h o s e murderous o b ­
session with his o w n creations p r o v e s his undo­
HETMANN, FREDERIK (pseudonym of HANS- ing, is told v i a a series o f neo-baroque musical
CHRISTIAN KIRSCH, 1934- ), German editor, numbers, characteristic o f Hindemith's essen­
scriptwriter, translator, and author of b o o k s for tially anti-romantic compositional ethos at this
y o u n g people and adults. K i r s c h retells myths time. SB
and folk tales adapted from the N a t i v e A m e r i ­
can, African A m e r i c a n , and Irish-Celtic cul­ HISTOIRES OU CONTES DU TEMPS PASSÉ AVEC DES
tural traditions in such w o r k s as Die Reise in MORALITÉS (Stories or Tales of Past Times, with
die Anderswelt. Feengeschichten und Feenglaube Morals, 1697) is the best-known French fairy­
in Irland (The Journey to the Other World: Fairy tale collection today. It includes ' L a Belle au
Stories and Fairy Belief in Ireland, 1981) and Die bois dormant' (""Sleeping B e a u t y ' ) , ' L e Petit
Biiffel kommen wieder und die Erde wird neu. C h a p e r o n r o u g e ' (*'Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' ) ,
Mdrchen, Mythen, Lieder und Legenden der nor- ' L a B a r b e - b l e u e ' (""Bluebeard'), 'Cendrillon
damerikanischen Indianer (The Buffaloes Return ou L a Petite Pantoufle de v e r r e ' (""Cinder­
and the Earth Becomes New: Fairy Tales, ella'), ' L e Petit Poucet' (""Little Tom
Myths, Songs and Legends of the North American T h u m b ' ) , ' R i q u e t à la houppe' (*'Riquet with
27 HISTOIRES OU CONTES DU TEMPS PASSÉ AVEC DES MORALITÉS
3

the T u f t ' ) , ' L e Maître chat ou L e C h a t botté' as M m e d ' * A u l n o y and other w o m e n w e r e

( * ' P u s s - i n - B o o t s ' ) , and ' L e s F é e s ' ( ' T h e *Fair- transforming oral folk tales into written fairy
i e s ' ) . Later editions w e r e called Contes de ma tales, so did Perrault refine his sources b y re-
Mère l'Oye (*Mother G o o s e T a l e s ) and in- specting bienséance ( p r o p r i e t y ) . H e eliminated
cluded the p r e v i o u s l y published v e r s e fairy g o r e , obscenity, and p a g a n i s m that w o u l d h a v e
tales ' G r i s é l i d i s ' , ' L e s Souhaits ridicules' ( ' T h e frightened children or offended sensibilities:
*Foolish W i s h e s ' ) and ' P e a u d'âne' ^ ' D o n - for e x a m p l e , a w e r e w o l f no l o n g e r seduced L i t -
k e y - S k i n ' ) . Published under the name o f tle R e d R i d i n g H o o d into drinking g r a n d m a ' s
P[ierre Perrault] D a r m a n c o u r , the 1697 stories b l o o d , stripping and joining him in bed. H e
are also attributed to his father, Charles *Per- also polished l a n g u a g e , u p g r a d e d social status,
rault. and added touches o f realism. H e named fairies
W h i c h Perrault w r o t e the Tales} T h e un- and introduced c o n t e m p o r a r y themes, such as
even levels o f style between the prose stories famine or the scores o f w i d o w e d mothers with
and verse morals suggest the 19-year-old p r o d - d o w r y - d e p e n d e n t daughters. H e anchored al-
igy and not the French A c a d e m y polemicist. legorical portraits in history as w e l l , and pat-
A n d yet, this stylistic inconsistency plus w o r l d - terned o g r e s on aristocrats like Gilles de R a i s
ly social commentary on the court, fashion, and ( B l u e b e a r d ) . F i n a l l y , b y including references
marriage m a y indicate a father—son collabor- to V e r s a i l l e s , he p r o v i d e d social c o m m e n t a r y
ation. T h e n again, the Tales w e r e not m e n - r a n g i n g from the necessity o f appearances and
tioned in Pierre's obituary, and Charles w a s the shallowness o f courtiers to w o m e n ' s fash-
the a c k n o w l e d g e d author o f the verse fables ions and g o u r m e t sauces. In short, at e v e r y
and rumoured author o f the collection. F o r juncture Perrault added 'civilizing' social refer-
these reasons, critics n o w champion his literary ences to please and educate the salon public
paternity. T h e dedicatory preface b y ' P . D a r - and e m e r g i n g b o u r g e o i s i e .
mancour' to Mademoiselle ( E l i s a b e t h - C h a r - W h a t could y o u n g s t e r s learn from this nas-
lotte d'Orléans) w a s therefore a trick to present cent genre o f children's literature? T h e tales
the son to society and to curry f a v o u r with her presented the same information as period m a n -
uncle, L o u i s X I V . Similarly, his change in p u b - ner b o o k s and pamphlets, offering models o f
lisher (to Claude Barbin) w a s a w a y to sidestep social comportment that w e r e b r o a d l y d i v i d e d
authorship and a v o i d reinvolvement in the along g e n d e r lines. Questionably moral b o y s '
Quarrel o f the Ancients and Moderns (which stories like 'Little T o m T h u m b ' and ' P u s s - i n -
debated the merits o f classical o v e r contempor- B o o t s ' had active heroes w h o used their wits to
ary literature). Despite these ruses, the ' A n - trick opponents: small size and l o w birth w e r e
cient' partisan Boileau still derided these no obstacles to a c h i e v i n g social success if one
'trifles' as the w o r k o f the ' M o d e r n ' Perrault. k n e w h o w to present oneself. L i k e w i s e , passive
L i k e L a Fontaine's Fables, these moralizing heroines like Sleeping B e a u t y and Cinderella
Tales w e r e unabashedly modern, and reflected taught girls the virtues o f patience, g r a c e , and
the preoccupations o f a w i d o w e r rearing four charity, w h i l e Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d and
sons. T h e y w e r e to 'civilize' a n e w public (chil- B l u e b e a r d ' s bride s h o w e d the importance o f fil-
dren) o f a n e w social class (the e m e r g i n g b o u r - ial and spousal obedience. Perrault also
geoisie) in what he deemed the accepted stressed these qualities in his writings in
political, social, and moral codes o f 17th-cen- defence o f w o m e n . Indeed, the humble G r i s é l i -
tury France. In short, the progressive Perrault dis and incest-fleeing D o n k e y - S k i n w e r e femi-
was continuing the kind o f cultural absolutism nist role models for their time, although they
that he had enforced during 20 years as secre- are not considered so today.
tary to finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert. W h y are Perrault's handful o f tales still
Situated between the earliest literary fairy popular, whereas the hundreds b y female
tales b y *Straparola and *Basile and those o f the authors dominated the 18th century? In g e n -
Brothers * G r i m m and * A n d e r s e n , the Tales are eral, children's literature has b e c o m e a c o n -
at the historical and literary crossroads o f sumer market. Y o u n g s t e r s can m o r e easily
lower-class v s . upper-class culture. T h e y w e r e understand his shorter, linear, timeless narra-
written w h e n the rigid classical hierarchies t i v e s — a s opposed to the l o n g e r , minutely de-
w e r e beginning to dissolve, and thus they in- tailed sub-plots that preoccupied w o m e n t w o
carnated the social and artistic hybridization centuries a g o . F r e n c h children also enjoy his
characteristic o f the period. T h e v o g u i s h ap- tongue twisters, like 'tire la chevillette, la b o b i -
propriation o f peasant tales b y aristocratic nette cherra' ('pull the cord and the latch will
w o m e n in literary salons is a case in point. J u s t fall', from 'Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' ) . M o r e -
H O B A N , RUSSELL 238

o v e r , from a psychoanalytic v i e w p o i n t , his loss and violent retribution, r e c o v e r y , innate

tales o f conflict r e s o l u t i o n — f r o m famine, w a r , fears, and quests or journeys w h e r e chance
and social oppression to sibling r i v a l r y , adoles­ meetings hold the k e y to self-knowledge. In
cent sexuality, and Oedipus c o m p l e x e s — o f f e r The Mouse and his Child t w o tin clockwork
a cathartic experience, w h i l e w o m e n ' s stories mice, broken and rejected, begin life anew
did not a l w a y s end happily. F i n a l l y , the in­ w h e n r e v i v e d b y a tramp. O n their quest to
creasing availability during the 19th century o f regain their lost home and to become self­
cheaper paper and inks made illustrated tales w i n d i n g , they meet g o o d and evil, and survive
m o r e available, and the tri-colour Épinal car­ against all odds. Helped b y animals they meet,
toons favoured tales like 'Little T o m T h u m b ' . they finally outsmart and o v e r c o m e their ad­
N o r can the influence o f G u s t a v e * D o r é ' s 1864 v e r s a r y , the predatory villain Manny R a t ,
edition o f Perrault be stressed e n o u g h . His 36 w h o s e last violent act o f destruction rebounds
e n g r a v i n g s o f p o p - e y e d o g r e s and baroque on himself. Still, the toys accept ' U n c l e Manny'
decor defined Perrault for generations, so w e l l into their household, a situation echoed in the
did they complement his moral and ' b o u r g e o i s - sorcerer's closing w o r d s in La Corona and the
i f i e d ' — y e t t i m e l e s s — s t o r i e s . T o d a y , there are Tin Frog (1979). ' T h e y ' l l want me too,' he said.
hundreds o f editions o f Perrault's Tales in ' E v e r y o n e can't be nice.'
scores o f l a n g u a g e s , w h i l e the fairy tales b y A l t h o u g h H o b a n uses the main structures of
17th-century F r e n c h w o m e n comprise a rela­ traditional fairy and folk tales, most of his
tively limited and erudite market. MLE w o r k has a postmodern edge in that it self-con­
Barchilon, Jacques, and Flinders, Peter, Charles sciously explores h o w w o r d s and language
Perrault (1981). shape our response to the w o r l d . Narrative
Lewis, Philip, Seeing through the Mother Goose strategies foreground a distinction between the
Tales: Visual Turns in the Writings of Charles fantasy w o r l d o f fairy-tale events and endings,
Perrault (1996).
and the real w o r l d o f less fixed outcomes.
Malarte-Feldman, Claire-Lise, 'Perrault's Contes:
H o w e v e r , The Sea-Thing Child (1972) w o r k s
An Irregular Pearl of Classical Literature', in
Out of the Woods: The Origins of the Literary within m o r e traditional structures to express its
Fairy Tale in Italy and France (1996). theme metaphysically. In The Marzipan Pig
Seifert, Lewis, Fairy Tales, Gender, and (1986) a parodie twist to the mouse's independ­
Sexuality in France, 1690—1715 (1996). ence challenges the w i s d o m of conventional
Soriano, Marc, Les Contes de Perrault: Culture tales. T h e verbal and visual cues of La Corona
savante et traditions populaires (1968). and the Tin Frog e v o k e the style of traditional
Zipes, Jack, Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion fairy tale, w h i l e a closer reading o f h o w its
(1983). codes are used situates the text more radically.
H O B A N , RUSSELL ( C O N W E L L ) ( 1 9 2 5 - ) , a w a r d - In the first three stories w o r d s and images pre­
w i n n i n g A m e r i c a n writer, w i d e l y acclaimed for sent the means w h e r e b y characters succeed in
his m o d e r n fantasy classic, The Mouse and his their quests. T h r o u g h the last story, ' T h e
Child (1967). H e w a s born in L a n s d a l e , P e n n ­ C l o c k ' , all the stories cohere, justly so, as tem­
s y l v a n i a , o f R u s s i a n J e w i s h descent. His early porality in a text holds all the story parts to­
talent for d r a w i n g foreshadowed a career in art gether. T h e clock, silent witness to the action
and illustration. A f t e r studying at the P h i l a d e l ­ in all the stories, exerts his influence to arrest
phia M u s e u m S c h o o l o f Industrial A r t , and time. W h e n this happens, all the characters
a r m y w a r service, he w o r k e d as a television art from the b o o k leave through a w i n d o w , c o m ­
director, freelance illustrator, and advertising posed visually b y the text. T h u s , in each story
c o p y w r i t e r . D i s c o v e r i n g a preference for w r i t ­ in La Corona the fictional framework metafic-
ing, he became a full-time writer in 1967. tively carries the tale's insights into the real
G e n e r i c a l l y diverse and prolific, H o b a n ' s w o r l d and exposes the text's constructedness.
writing is particularly notable for its intelli­ CM
gence and w i t , and his w o r k s are multi-layered,
h i g h l y allusive, and h a v e strong allegorical HOERNLE, E D W I N (1883-1952), G e r m a n writer
threads. His recurrent themes o f identity, find­ and politician, w h o helped politicize the fairy
ing a place in the w o r l d , and being true to o n e ­ tale during the W e i m a r Republic. In 1918 he
self m i r r o r the central concerns o f fairy tales, became one of the founders o f the Communist
with the emphasis that characters' intellectual P a r t y and a prominent leader in the revolution­
processes and assistance from others generate ary educational movement. In 1920 he pub­
independence. Into his stories H o b a n i m a g i n a ­ lished Die Occuli-Fabeln, an anthology of
tively w e a v e s the c o m m o n fairy-tale motifs o f radical fables and fairy tales, written during the
 HOFFMANN, E . T . A .

war, which stress the necessity for revolution- and his equally much discussed romantic inter-
ary action. In particular, his short, terse tales pretation o f Mozart's opera Don Giovanni (in
contain a critique o f the Social D e m o c r a t i c the fantasy-piece entitled ' D o n J u a n ' ) . His
Party for compromising the goals o f socialists achievement o f literary fame coincided with his
and communists alike and undermining the reinstatement in the Prussian judiciary, f o l l o w -
p o w e r o f the w o r k i n g classes. D u r i n g the 1920s ing the defeat o f N a p o l e o n ; with an appoint-
he wrote numerous articles about p r o g r e s s i v e ment at the Kammergericht in Berlin (1816); and
education, eventually published in his b o o k also with the successful première (also 1816) o f
Grundfragen der proletarischen Erziehung (Basic his pioneering romantic opera * Undine to a text
Questions about Proletarian Education, 1929), b y *Fouqué (based on the latter's mermaid
which contained a k e y theoretical piece about story o f that title). In the half-dozen y e a r s that
radical fairy tales and the need to 'proletarian- remained before his life w a s cut short b y death
ize' the traditional fairy tale. JZ from a relatively sudden onset o f paralytic ill-
ness, Hoffmann enjoyed both continued p o p u -
HOFFMANN, E . T . A . ( 1 7 7 6 - 1 8 2 2 ) , w r i t i n g name larity and acclaim as an author and distinction
of arguably the w o r l d master o f the genre o f as a high judiciary official.
fantastic tales, Ernst T h e o d o r W i l h e l m Hoff- A s Hoffmann repeatedly explained to his
mann (he adopted the initial ' A . ' in his pen readers, his aim as an author w a s to offer an
name out o f reverence for the composer Wolf- experience o f poetic transport b y depicting the
g a n g A m a d e u s *Mozart). H e w a s born in entry o f a magical spirit realm into the confines
K ô n i g s b e r g , East Prussia (since 1945 K a l i n e n - of earthly existence in such a w a y as to m a k e
grad, Russia) into a family o f l a w y e r s and c o m - that realm seem as v i v i d as familiar reality. T h e
pleted a course o f study in l a w at the university transport created b y such m i n g l i n g o f fantasy
in his native city. F o l l o w i n g family tradition he and reality i n v o l v e d an element o f horror, v e r -
entered upon a career in the Prussian judiciary, tigo, or sense that one w a s perhaps surrender-
passing successfully through the several stages ing to insanity. His immediate literary
of apprenticeship, first in K ô n i g s b e r g , then in precursor in this regard w a s his romantic c o n -
G l o g a u ( n o w G l o g ô w , P o l a n d ) , in Berlin, and temporary L u d w i g * T i e c k , but Hoffmann's
finally in Posen ( n o w Poznan, P o l a n d ) . T h e r e interest in the relation b e t w e e n fantasy and in-
in 1802 he w a s promoted to full rank as coun- sanity w a s much deepened b y his acquaintance
cillor (Rat), but then w a s g i v e n an u n w e l c o m e in B a m b e r g with psychiatric physicians there
posting to P l o c k , as punishment for h a v i n g and the relevant medical literature. Important,
participated in a prank ridiculing g o v e r n i n g of- too, in this regard w a s his o w n experience o f
ficials in Posen. H e w a s happy to be posted t w o fantasy and fear o f insanity r e g a r d i n g his r o -
years later to W a r s a w , then in Prussian hands mantic infatuation with the niece o f one o f
as a result o f the third partition o f P o l a n d in these physicians, his adolescent v o i c e p u p i l — a
1795. T h e r e he participated enthusiastically in devotion that found v a r i o u s depictions in the
the active cultural life o f the city, through Fantasiestiicke and later in the autobiographical
which he became acquainted with the w o r k s o f novel Lebensansichten des Katers Murr (Views
G e r m a n romantic authors and had the o p p o r - on Life of the Tomcat Murr, 2 vols., 1819, 1821).
tunity to further his cherished musical ambi- T h e theme o f the threat o f insanity in c o n n e c -
tions as composer and conductor. A chance to tion with erotic passion is dominant as w e l l in
fulfil that dream presented itself with N a p o l e - his other n o v e l , Die Elixiere des Teufels (The
on's occupation o f P o l a n d in the autumn o f Devil's Elixirs, 2 vols., 1815, 1816) and in his
1806, which necessitated the dismissal o f most t w o v o l u m e s o f tales entitled Nachtstiicke (Noc-
Prussian officials there, including Hoffmann. turnal Pieces, 1816, 1817). H e collected and
After a period o f discouragement and p o v e r t y , published his numerous tales w r i t t e n — o f t e n in
he m o v e d in 1808 to B a m b e r g , w h e r e he w a s a lighter v e i n — f o r almanacs and other p e r i o d -
able to support himself and his wife through icals in the four v o l u m e s entitled Die Serapions-
w o r k as composer, music teacher, and music briider (The Serapion Brethren, 1819—21), for
critic, the latter activity leading him to embark w h i c h he p r o v i d e d a narrative frame o f the sort
on the literary career that made him famous. familiar since B o c c a c c i o ' s Decameron.
T h a t acclaim dated from the publication o f his T h e most popularly famous o f the s e v e n o f
Fantasiestiicke (Fantasy-Pieces, in 4 vols., his stories that Hoffmann considered to be
1814—15), which included republication o f his fairy tales is ' N u s s k n a c k e r und M a u s e k ô n i g '
much debated hailing o f B e e t h o v e n as the most ( ' N u t c r a c k e r and the M o u s e - K i n g ' , 1816), on
romantic o f composers (in the ' K r e i s l e r i a n a ' ) w h i c h the T c h a i k o v s k y ballet is based. Hoff-
HOFFMANN, HEINRICH 240

mann, h o w e v e r , considered the v e r y first o f Hoffmann had often used funny drawings
these Màrchen, Der goldne Topf (The Golden and stories as a w a y of distracting sick and ter­
Pot, 1814), to be his masterpiece. It is indeed in rified children and had perfected this manner of
that tale that Hoffmann most brilliantly suc­ amusing children through the years. T h u s he
ceeds at his p r o g r a m m a t i c intermingling o f was not a complete novice w h e n he decided to
fantasy and reality, using lore about elemental write and illustrate a picture b o o k of his o w n
spirits familiar to him from F o u q u é ' s Undine for his 4-year-old son. His collection of di­
and other literary sources, as he did again in verse, mostly cautionary tales became the pre­
the later fairy tale ' D i e K ô n i g s b r a u t ' ( ' T h e decessor o f the modern cartoon and the
K i n g ' s B r i d e ' , 1821). In the N u t c r a c k e r story, modern picture b o o k . Its short, exciting, and
the magical realm is that familiar from literary amusing r h y m e d tales unfold o v e r several
folk fairy tales like those of *Perrault and the pages and are supplemented b y naive, cartoon­
* G r i m m s , w h i l e in Hoffmann's other four Màr­ like illustrations.
chen—'Das fremde Kind' ('The Strange Published as Lustige Geschichten und drollige
C h i l d ' , 1817), Klein Zaches (Little Zachary, Bilder (Funny Stories and Amusing Pictures)
1819), Prin^essin Bramhilla (Princess Bramhilla, under the p s e u d o n y m Reimerich Kinderlieb,
1820), and Meister Floh (Master Flea, Hoffmann's collection of tales took the chil­
1 8 2 2 ) — t h e element of fantasy is taken from dren's b o o k market b y storm. It w a s renamed
pious legend, F r e n c h literary fairy tales, the Struwwelpeter in 1847, but the picture b o o k b y
commedia delVarte, and lore about ghosts, re­ that name that became an international classic
spectively. In addition, the fantastic in Hoff­ did not take final shape until 1858, when it w a s
mann's Màrchen is usually connected with furnished with n e w illustrations inspired b y
elements from nature mysticism as found in the those that appeared in the Russian translation.
writings o f his G e r m a n romantic contemporar­ Struwwelpeter w a s w i d e l y read and became part
ies, especially the philosopher Schelling, the of childhood lore well into the 20th century,
poet * N o v a l i s , and others influenced b y them. fostering m a n y imitations and parodies. In the
JMM 1970s Struwwelpeter w a s sharply criticized for
Daemmrich, Horst S., The Shattered Self: its authoritarian message and for the drastic na­
E. T. A. Hoffmann s Tragic Vision (1973). ture of punishment in its cautionary tales (see
Hewett-Thayer, Harvey W., Hoffmann: Author Friedrich K a r l Waechter, Ami-Struwwelpeter).
of the Tales (1948). Y e t the b o o k , which has become part of G e r ­
McGlathery, James M., Mysticism and Sexuality: man folklore, seems to have survived this on­
E. T. A. Hoffmann ( 2 vols., 1981, 1985).
slaught as w e l l , perhaps because, like any g o o d
McGlathery, James M., E. T. A. Hoffmann
tale, it allows for contradictory interpretations.
0997)-
Negus, Kenneth, E. T. A. Hoffmann's Other T h e fairy tales Hoffmann wrote later in life,
World (1965). including Kbnig Nussknacker und der arme Rein-
Taylor, Ronald, Hoffmann (1963). hold (King Nutcracker and Poor Reinhold, 1 8 5 1 )
and Prini Griinewald und Perlenfein mit ihrem
HOFFMANN, HEINRICH (1809-94), German lieben Eselein (Prince Griinewald and Perlenfein
physician, satirist, and author o f picture b o o k s with their Dear Little Donkey, 1871) w e r e much
and fairy tales. Hoffmann n e v e r thought o f m o r e conventional in content and style; and
himself as a w r i t e r and considered his political although amusing and b e l o v e d b y their author,
and cultural satires and his children's b o o k s as none o f them w e r e as creative or became as
amusing pastimes that w e r e secondary to his popular as Struwwelpeter. EMM
profession as a medical doctor. Y e t the first o f Miiller, Helmut, 'Struwwelpeter und
several picture b o o k s he w r o t e , Der Struw­ Struwwelpetriaden', in Klaus Doderer (ed.), Das
welpeter (Slovenly Peter, 1845), ^Yn o t on Bilderbuch (1973).
'Struwwelpeter and Classical Children's
a l l o w e d him to p a y off his debts, but brought
Literature', spec, issue of The Lion and the
him instant fame. H e did not achieve r e n o w n as
Unicorn, 2 0 . 2 (1996).
a physician as he did with Struwwelpeter, but
e v e n in his chosen profession he w a s s o m e ­ HOFMANNSTHAL, HUGO VON (1874-1929), A u s ­
thing o f a pioneer, initiating reforms in p s y c h i ­ trian writer and dramatist. W i t h his drama
atric treatment at the Frankfurt insane a s y l u m Jedermann (Everyman, 1911) and the essay ' D e r
o v e r w h i c h he presided from 1851 until his re­ Brief des Philipp L o r d C h a n d o s an Francis
tirement in 1888. It could e v e n be argued that B a c o n ' ('Letter of Philip L o r d Chandos to
Struwwelpeter w a s inspired b y his medical p r a c ­ Francis B a c o n ' , 1925), he became one of the
tice. leading writers of the ' J u n g - W i e n e r G r u p p e ' .
241 HOUSMAN, LAURENCE

His esteem for the Thousand and One Nights tales) ' D e r Faustkampf, das Harfenkonzert und
(see ARABIAN NIGHTS) is evident in his early die M e i n u n g des lieben G o t t e s ' ( ' T h e B o x i n g
fairy tale ' D a s Mârchen der 672. N a c h t ' ( ' F a i r y Match, the H a r p C o n c e r t , and G o d ' s O p i n i o n ' ,
T a l e of the 672nd N i g h t ' , 1895). In this narra- 1924) and ' L é g e n d e v o m Fussballplatz' ( ' L e -
tive a rich y o u n g man gets lost in a l a b y r i n - g e n d o f the Football P i t c h ' , 1926), he created
thine town and meets his death in a unusual fairy tales for adults in w h i c h he causes
nightmarish atmosphere. W h e r e a s this fairy the reader to be sceptical about the relevance o f
tale is determined b y the fin-de-siècle m o o d , fairy tales in m o d e r n times. BKM
Hofmannsthal turned to the romantic tradition Baur, Uwe, 'Sport und Literatur in den
in his posthumously published fairy-tale frag- zwanziger Jahren. Horvàths "Sportmàrchen"
ments ' D a s Marchen v o n der verschleierten und die Miinchner Nonsense-Dichtung', in Kurt
F r a u ' ( ' F a i r y T a l e of the V e i l e d W o m a n ' ) and Bartsch, Uwe Baur, and Dietmar Goltschnigg
' D i e Prinzessin auf dem verzauberten B e r g ' (eds.), Horvàth-Diskussion (1976).
( ' T h e Princess on the Enchanted Mountain').
In addition, Hofmannsthal rewrote his libretto HOSEMANN, THEODOR ( I 8 0 7 - 7 5 ) , German
for Richard *Strauss's fairy-tale opera Die Frau painter and illustrator, a c k n o w l e d g e d as one o f
ohne Schatten {The Woman without a Shadow, the great graphic artists o f the 19th century.
1919) as a prose version, which is often r e g a r d - H o s e m a n n also established a distinguished
ed as his best fairy tale. Influenced b y *Novalis reputation as an illustrator o f children's b o o k s
and J o h a n n W o l f g a n g v o n *Goethe, this alle- and produced numerous d r a w i n g s for fairy-tale
gorical w o r k reveals a social Utopian dimension collections b y J . K . A . *Musaus (Volksmdrchen
and thus deviates from the early w o r k s ' pes- der Deutschen, 1839), b y H a n s Christian
a n <
simistic tenor. BKM * A n d e r s e n (Mdrchen, 1 8 4 4 - 9 ) , ^ by Wilhelm
Csûri, Kâroly, 'Hugo von Hofmannsthals spate *Hauff (Mdrchen, 1877). K n o w n for his realistic
Erzahlung "Die Frau ohne Schatten". Struktur style, H o s e m a n n w a s also a caricaturist and
und Strukturvergleich', Studia Poetica, 2 (1980). contributed pictures to a series o f G e r m a n
Kiimmerling-Meibauer, Bettina, Die broadsheets with fairy tales towards the end o f
Kunstmdrchen von Hofmannsthal, Musil und the 19th century. JZ
Doblin (1991).
HOUSMAN, LAURENCE (1865-1959), E n g l i s h
H O G G , JAMES ( 1 7 7 0 - 1 8 3 5 ) , k n o w n as the dramatist, illustrator, and author o f literary
'Ettrick Shepherd' and v i e w e d as a 'peasant fairy tales for adults. H o u s m a n w a s the m o r e
poet'. H e w a s a collector o f authentic Scottish sociable and outspoken y o u n g e r brother o f the
folklore. F a m o u s for his n o v e l Confessions of a poet A . E . H o u s m a n . H e attended the L a m b e t h
Justified Sinner (1824), H o g g incorporated local School o f A r t in L o n d o n and w a s initially m o r e
fairylore into such w o r k s as The Brownie of interested in illustration than writing; at 30 he
Bodsbeck and Other Tales (1817). His most fam- became the art critic for the Manchester Guard-
ous poem, The Queens Wake (1813), contains a ian. A s an art critic, H o u s m a n championed
literary ballad called ' T h e W i t c h o f Fife' and b o o k illustration and design as a serious art
the verse tale ' K i l m e n y ' about the fairies' a b - form and praised the w o r k o f earlier illustra-
duction of a perfect maiden. ' K i l m e n y ' w a s e x - tors, such as A r t h u r *Hughes and A r t h u r B o y d
tremely popular throughout the 19th century. H o u g h t o n . H o u s m a n ' s illustrated edition o f
CGS Christina *Rossetti's Goblin Market (1893),
with its stunningly sensual series o f b l a c k - a n d -
HOPPER, NORA ( 1 8 7 1 - 1 9 0 6 ) , Irish poet and white d r a w i n g s , continued the tradition o f P r e -
participant in the ' C e l t i c T w i l i g h t ' . Praised b y Raphaelite b o o k design. T h e elegant b o o k d e -
William Butler Y e a t s for her early poems and sign and strikingly grotesque i m a g e s , w h i c h
tales, she incorporated Irish fairylore into her H o u s m a n credited as c o m i n g from his 'freakish
works. Ballads in Prose (1894) and Under imagination', surpass the initial illustrations
Quicken Boughs (1896) contain a number o f done b y D a n t e G a b r i e l *Rossetti for the o r i g i n -
elegiac farewells to members of various fairy al edition o f 1862 and are considered the classic
tribes. Significant w o r k s include the p o e m s visual interpretation o f the p o e m . H o u s m a n ' s
' T h e W i n d a m o n g the R e e d s ' , ' T h e F i d d l e r ' , illustrations o f Goblin Market w e r e w i d e l y
and ' T h e Lament of the L a s t L e p r e c h a n ' as praised in the press and resulted in an invita-
well as the prose tale ' D a l u a n ' . CGS tion from A u b r e y B e a r d s l e y to contribute art-
w o r k to the Yellow Book, although Christina
HORVÀTH, ÔDON VON ( 1 9 0 1 - 3 8 ) , Austrian Rossetti w a s less impressed and remarked, ' I
writer. With his Sportmdrchen (sport fairy don't think m y G o b l i n s w e r e quite so u g l y . '
HOUSMAN, LAURENCE Clémence Housman, Laurence's sister, provided this Jugendstil illustration of a
magic door for her brother's book, The Blue Moon (1904).
243 HUGHES, ARTHUR

Housman's illustrations to J a n e B a r l o w ' s The tone. T h e y reflect the h i g h l y w r o u g h t style and

End of Elfintown (1894) s h o w the strong visual literary excesses o f W a l t e r Pater's aesthetic o f
influence of Beardsley. H o u s m a n also illus- 'art for art's s a k e ' . T h e i r decadence, o r at-
trated Edith *Nesbit's A Pomander of Verse tempts to titillate if not shock middle-class
(1895) and provided her with the concept readers, are reminiscent o f the literary fairy
which she later developed into her fantasy tales found in W i l d e ' s The Happy Prince and
novel The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904). Other Tales (1888) and A House of Pomegran-
H o u s m a n — a l o n g with Nesbit, G e o r g e B e r - ates (1891). Housman's exotic selection of
nard S h a w , and H . G . * W e l l s — w a s a founding Stories from the Arabian Nights (1907) w a s
member of the Fabian Society. H e w a s critical exquisitely illustrated b y E d m u n d *Dulac and
of the social condition o f E n g l a n d , and his fairy became one of the most sought-after gift b o o k s
of the period. JS
tales and plays frequently question the sexual
double standard for men and w o m e n as w e l l as Egan, Rodney, Laurence Housman (1983).
the hypocrisy o f the upper classes. H o u s m a n Kooistra, Lorraine Janzen, 'The Representation
thought o f himself as a romantic socialist and of Violence/The Violence of Representation:
broke from the political conservatism o f his Housman's Illustrations to Rossetti's Goblin
family. H e w a s an early active supporter o f Market', English Studies in Canada, 19.3 (1993).
w o m e n ' s rights. After W o r l d W a r I he p r o - HOUSSAYE, ARSÈNE ( 1 8 1 5 - 9 6 ) , F r e n c h writer,
moted pacifism. H e actively campaigned for editor, and theatre director. A fantaisiste (fan-
more toleration for homosexuals and remained tasist) like m a n y other ' G e n e r a t i o n o f 1830' r o -
friends with O s c a r *Wilde after the latter's sen- mantics, H o u s s a y e exploited c o n t e m p o r a r y
sational trial. H o u s m a n w a s also a m e m b e r o f tastes for the imaginative. H i s popular s o n g s ,
the artistic circle o f authors and writers clus- prose, poetry, and drama include fantastic and
tered around the publisher J o h n L a n e and the fairy themes as in La Pantoufle de Cendrillon
short-lived but influential journal, Yellow Book, (*Cinderella's Slipper, 1851), and his * Arabian
which included W i l d e , B e a r d s l e y , and Kenneth Nights-inspired Les Mille et une nuits parisiennes
*Grahame. T h e fin de siècle celebration o f (The Thousand and One Parisian Nights, 1876).
eroticism, decadence, and excess are apparent A l t h o u g h considered a second-rate talent, he
in both H o u s m a n ' s plays and his literary fairy gained considerable p o w e r as director o f re-
tales. A successful and productive dramatist, v i e w s like L'Artiste and administrator o f the
Housman has the distinction of being C o m é d i e Française (1849-56), forcing a g e n e r -
E n g l a n d ' s most censored p l a y w r i g h t , since his ation o f dramatists and poets, including B a u d e -
dramas dealt directly with sexuality and p r o - laire, to court H o u s s a y e w h i l e they c o v e r t l y
vided unflattering portrayals o f r o y a l t y and re- ridiculed him. AR
ligious figures. H o u s m a n ' s b e s t - k n o w n drama
Victoria Regina remained censored until 1935. HUGHES, ARTHUR ( 1 8 2 3 - 1 9 1 5 ) , British illustra-
Housman published four collections o f liter- tor and artist, associated with L e w i s * C a r r o l l ,
ary fairy tales: A Farm in Fairyland (1894), The G e o r g e * M a c D o n a l d , and the P r e - R a p h a e l i t e
House of Joy (1895), The Field of Clover (1898), B r o t h e r h o o d . H e e d i n g the call o f D a n t e
and The Blue Moon (1904). H e illustrated his G a b r i e l *Rossetti to create art w h i c h could be
first two collections, but eventually stopped reproduced for the mass media, H u g h e s w a s
producing b o o k illustration since the strain o f one o f the artists w h o produced pictures for
his intricate drawings affected his p o o r e y e - w o o d e n g r a v i n g s for the g r o w i n g serial publi-
sight. T h e latter t w o v o l u m e s w e r e illustrated cations o f V i c t o r i a n E n g l a n d . H e illustrated
by his sister C l é m e n c e H o u s m a n , w h o had at- Tom Brown's Schooldays (1869 edition) and
tended art school with her brother and w a s an Christina *Rossetti's Sing-Song (1872) and
accomplished w o o d engraver; her illustrations Speaking Likenesses (1874). His most realized
echo the sensuality found in such fairy tales as w o r k w a s w i t h M a c D o n a l d , including his fairy
' T h e B o u n d Princess', ' T h e Passionate P u p - stories, such as ' T h e L i g h t Princess' and The
pets', ' T h e R a t - C a t c h e r ' s D a u g h t e r ' , and Princess and the Goblin (1871), w h i c h first a p -
'White Birch'. Clémence H o u s m a n also p u b - peared in the magazine Good Words for the
lished The Were-Wolf (1896), a children's fan- Young with illustrations b y H u g h e s . F o l l o w i n g
tasy novel. the conventions o f V i c t o r i a n w o o d e n g r a v i n g ,
Characteristic o f the late 19th-century liter- H u g h e s ' s pictures w e r e printed in sharp black
ary fairy tale, H o u s m a n ' s tales are intended for and white, using a thin outline with texture
adults rather than children, and are written in a p r o v i d e d with h e a v y crosshatching, often w i t h
lyrical but somewhat haunting and bitter-sweet light streaming in from a w i n d o w o r fireplace.
245 HUMPERDINCK, ENGELBERT

His drawings w e r e often e n g r a v e d b y the illus- HUMPERDINCK, ENGELBERT ( 1 8 5 4 - 1 9 2 1 ) , G e r -

trious Dalziel Brothers firm. W o o d e n g r a v i n g , man c o m p o s e r , w h o w r o t e mainly operas and
which H u g h e s used skilfully throughout his music for p l a y s . H e w a s strongly influenced b y
career, allowed a sharper line than the more R i c h a r d * W a g n e r , for w h o m he w o r k e d during
cumbersome w o o d b l o c k and w a s most popular the première o f Parsifal in B a y r e u t h . H u m p e r -
before c o m m o n inexpensive use o f colour and dinck's greatest accomplishment w a s the c r e -
photographic reproduction. H u g h e s ' s dark and ation o f the most significant G e r m a n romantic
brooding pictures for fairy tales treat the stor- fairy-tale opera, Hansel und Gretel (*Hansel and
ies seriously, often emphasizing their frighten- Gretel, 1893). H e w r o t e three other fairy-tale
ing nature. Because m a n y o f his illustrations operas, Die sieben Geisslein (The Seven Little
first appeared in magazines with t w o columns, Kids, 1895), Kbnigskinder (The Royal Children,
they often appear in half-page width. H u g h e s ' s 1897), and Dornrbschen (*Sleeping Beauty,
paintings w e r e less famous since his output w a s 1902), but they could not match the enormous
small, but L e w i s C a r r o l l is k n o w n to h a v e international success o f Hansel and Gretel,
owned one. His printed w o r k has influenced w h i c h w a s first performed in W e i m a r on 23
the 20th-century A m e r i c a n artist Maurice D e c e m b e r 1893 and directed b y R i c h a r d
•Sendak. GB Strauss.
T h e libretto for the opera w a s originally
written b y H u m p e r d i n c k ' s sister A d e l h e i d
HUGHES, RICHARD ARTHUR WARREN (1900-76), W e t t e for a family gathering, and it w a s later
British poet, novelist, and critic, o f W e l s h des- transformed into a three-act opera. In W e t t e ' s
cent. H e began his literary career as a poet and v e r s i o n o f the G r i m m s ' tale, the children o f a
playwright, but received critical acclaim as a b r o o m - m a k e r neglect their chores and, as pun-
novelist with A High Wind in Jamaica (1929). ishment, they are sent into the w o o d s b y their
Hughes w a s preoccupied b y the question o f mother to gather berries. W h e n the father
children's literature which, he believed, w a s learns about this, he is horrified because he has
written much too often with an adult audience heard about a witch in the w o o d s w h o eats chil-
in mind. H e wrote several collections o f stories dren. S o the parents g o in search o f Hansel and
for children: The Spider's Palace (1931), Don't G r e t e l . In the mean time, the children h a v e b e -
Blame Me (1940), and The Wonder-Dog (1977). c o m e lost and, since they are exhausted, they
Hughes considered M o r o c c o 'almost a se- lie d o w n to sleep w h i l e a guardian angel keeps
cond h o m e ' , and in the 1930s w r o t e several w a t c h o v e r them. T h e next d a y the children
stories inspired b y his sojourns there. T h e y c o m e upon the g i n g e r b r e a d house o f the witch
w e r e first published in various magazines. It and begin to nibble on the g i n g e r b r e a d and
was only after his death, h o w e v e r , that they sweets. T h e witch catches them and locks H a n -
w e r e published together as In the Lap of Atlas: sel in a c a g e to fatten him up for a meal. W h e n
Stories of Morocco (1979). T h e collection in- Gretel is asked b y the witch to heat the o v e n ,
cludes ' T h e F o o l and the Fifteen T h i e v e s ' , the girl pretends to be c l u m s y . T h e witch g o e s
w h o s e trickster-simpleton Ish-ha resembles the o v e r to the o v e n to s h o w G r e t e l w h a t to d o ,
popular A r a b folk hero D j u h a , and ' T h e S t o r y and then the girl pushes the witch into the
of J u d a h B e n Hassan', a magical tale based on o v e n . T h e m a g i c o v e n explodes into m a n y
the folklore o f djinns. AD pieces, and G r e t e l utters a m a g i c spell and frees
all the children w h o had been changed into
gingerbread. T h e b r o o m - m a k e r and his wife
HUGHES, TED (EDWARD JAMES, 1930-98), E n g - arrive, and they celebrate the reunion with
lish poet and poet laureate from 1984. R e - their children in a festive h a p p y ending.
nowned for its evocation o f the natural w o r l d , H u m p e r d i n c k used m a n y o f W a g n e r ' s c o m -
Hughes's poetry is deeply influenced b y m y t h - positional techniques and elements o f folk
o l o g y , and v o l u m e s such as Crow (1970) seem music to write this opera. M o r e o v e r , he in-
to distil the stark unsentimentality o f folk tale cluded numerous children's songs and repeated
and fable. His explicit dealings with the fairy these melodies as leitmotivs throughout the
tale include the children's play, *Beauty and the opera. A m o n g his other operas, The Royal
Beast (broadcast 1965; first produced 1971), and Children is the o n l y one that continues to be
the short story ' T h e H e a d ' (1978). His writing performed. T h e first versions w i t h the libretto
for children also includes Tales of the Early b y Ernst R o s m e r w a s a m e l o d r a m a and w a s
World (1988) and a number o f animal fables. performed in Munich in 1897. T h e second v e r -
SB sion w a s expanded into an opera and had its
HYMAN, TRINA SCHART 246

première in the N e w Y o r k Metropolitan Opera and the Hanukkah Goblins (1989) b y E r i c K i m -

H o u s e . T h e plot is an original one that c o m - mel, The Fortune-Te Hers (1992) b y L l o y d
bines various fairy-tale figures: g o o s e girl, *Alexander, *Iron John (1994), and Bearskin b y
prince, witch, knight, fool, b r o o m - m a k e r . T h e H o w a r d P y l e (1997). H y m a n ' s dark, sensuous,
g o o s e girl flees a witch and encounters a w a n - romantic style, reminiscent o f early 20th-cen-
dering prince w h o falls in l o v e with her. Both tury illustration, is informed b y a highly indi-
of them are driven from the city and die b e - vidual and feminist consciousness. Her
cause they eat poisoned bread g i v e n to them b y illustrations for The Water of Life (1986), for
the witch. THH example, e n d o w the Princess with a vivid per-
sonality, two pet lions, and a black cat
( H y m a n ' s o w n cat, Marty) and a more p o w e r -
HYMAN, TRINA SCHART ( 1 9 3 9 - ) , A m e r i c a n il-
ful role than she plays in the G r i m m s ' text. One
lustrator o f children's b o o k s . A timorous little
of her castle guards happens to be dark-
girl w h o s e favourite story w a s *'Little R e d
s k i n n e d — t h e other, a w o m a n . E v e n H y m a n ' s
R i d i n g H o o d ' , H y m a n g r e w up to b e c o m e one
retelling o f The Sleeping Beauty liberates Briar
of the most distinguished late 20th-century il-
R o s e from the cliche o f passivity b y making
lustrators to specialize in picture-book versions
her 'mischievous and clever' as well as 'gra-
of traditional and literary fairy tales. T h e s e in-
cious, merry, beautiful, and kind'. SR
clude H o w a r d * P y l e ' s King Stork (1973), *Snow
Hyman, Trina Schart, 'Caldecott Medal
White (1974), The ^Sleeping Beauty (1977), Lit-
Acceptance', Horn Book, 61 (1985).
tle Red Riding Hood (1983), the Caldecott 'Illustrating The Water of Life', Children's
A w a r d - w i n n i n g Saint George and the Dragon Literature Association Conference Proceedings, 13
(1984, retold b y Margaret H o d g e s from *Spen- (1986).
ser's Faerie Queené), Swan Lake (1989), Hershel Self-Portrait: Trina Schart Hyman (1989).
ILLÉS, BÉLA (1895-1974), Hungarian writer,
who, after participating in W o r l d W a r I , b e ­
came a pacifist and joined the C o m m u n i s t
Party in H u n g a r y . After the failure o f the s o ­
viet republic in H u n g a r y in 1920, he emigrated
to Vienna and later settled in the Soviet U n i o n ,
where he became a leading m e m b e r o f the
International Organization o f R e v o l u t i o n a r y
Writers. M a n y o f his novels and stories w e r e
published in G e r m a n for the G e r m a n - s p e a k i n g
ethnic groups in the Soviet U n i o n , and in 1925
his collection Rote Màrchen (Red Fairy Tales)
appeared in L e i p z i g . Illés made use o f trad­ INCELOW, JEAN ( 1 8 2 0 - 9 7 ) , E n g l i s h poet and
itional oral tales and fables and expressionist novelist, and writer o f children's stories. T h e
techniques to draw parallels with political con­ initial inspiration for her one full-length fairy
ditions in E u r o p e . His major purpose w a s to story, Mopsa the Fairy (1869), w h i c h F . J . H a r ­
illustrate in symbolic form the lessons that the v e y Darton in Children's Books in England de­
oppressed classes had to learn if they w e r e to scribed as 'pure artless fantasy', perhaps came
triumph in the class struggle. JZ from *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which
had appeared four y e a r s earlier. A little b o y ,
out for a w a l k with his nurse, climbs up a h o l ­
IM BRI AN I, VlTTORIO (1840-86), Italian folklor-
low tree and finds a nestful o f fairies. H e
ist, writer, and literary historian. H e dedicated
pockets them and flies off to F a i r y l a n d on the
much o f his life to the study o f Italian oral trad­
b a c k o f an albatross. T h e n follows a dreamlike
itions such as folk poetry, folk songs, fairy
maze o f events, during w h i c h his favourite
tales, and folklore. H e coined the term ' d e m o p -
fairy, M o p s a , g r o w s until she is older than he.
sicologia', which w a s subsequently applied to
After a l o n g j o u r n e y they reach the castle
the new field of the history o f folk traditions.
w h e r e she is to b e queen, and he s o r r o w f u l l y
His earliest w o r k s w e r e collections o f folk
realizes that he must l e a v e her and return
songs in various Italian dialects, compiled in
h o m e . T h o u g h some o f the dialogue and char­
Canti popolari delle province meridionali (Folk
acters in the early pages are C a r r o l l i a n and the
Songs of the Southern Provinces, 2 vols.,
plot is as inconsequential, it is a gentler, m o r e
1 8 7 1 - 2 ) . Imbriani maintained, similarly to the
romantic story than either o f the Alices.
*Grimms and other romantic scholars, that
In contrast, I n g e l o w ' s other w r i t i n g for chil­
these songs had their roots in ancient epic poet­
d r e n — m o s t l y domestic tales and a l l e g o r ­
ry; that they thus documented, in mediated
i e s — h a s a strong moral element. The Little
form, the cultural 'infancy' o f Italy; and that
Wonder-Horn (1872) contains a fairy story,
their study w a s a crucial part o f the formation
' T h e O u p h e o f the W o o d s ' , in w h i c h the cot­
of a modern national culture. His most signifi­
tagers w h o are offered fairy g o l d in return for
cant fairy-tale collections are the Novellaja fio-
hospitality ask for a spinning w h e e l and a h i v e
rentina (Florentine Tales, 1871) and the
of bees instead. 'Nineteen s e v e n t y - t w o ' is an
Novellaja milanese (Milanese Tales, 1872), in
apt guess at w h a t L o n d o n might be like a hun­
which he revealed himself to be scrupulously
dred y e a r s on. GA
faithful to his oral sources; Imbriani himself
Attebery, Brian, 'Women Coming of Age in
termed his method one o f 'stenographic tran­
Fantasy', Extrapolation, 2 8 . 1 (spring 1 9 8 7 ) .
scription'. H e also wrote a number o f original Peters, Maureen, Jean Ingelow: Victorian Poetess
fairy tales, such as Mastr'Impicca (Master (1972).
Hangman, 1874), in w h i c h he incorporated al­
lusions to contemporary society into a fantastic INCEMANN, BERNHARD SEVERIN ( 1 7 8 9 - 1 8 6 2 ) ,
frame. Imbriani w a s one o f the first to publish a achieved popularity as a D a n i s h W a l t e r Scott,
serious critical study o f Giambattista *Basile's but in several stories he revealed a profound
Pentamerone (1875); he also edited an edition o f k n o w l e d g e o f the G e r m a n Mdrchen, and it is
P o m p e o *Sarnelli's Posilicheata (1885). NC o b v i o u s that E . T . A . *Hoffmann w a s a notable
Cirese, Alberto Maria, 'Paragrafi su Vittorio inspiration to him. In some tales I n g e m a n n lets
Imbriani demopsicologo', Problemi: Periodico h a r m o n y rule, but in others he uses the form o f
Quadrimestrale di Cultura, 8 0 ( 1 9 8 7 ) . the tale to study a person w h o is at odds with
Cocchiara, Giuseppe, Popolo e letteratura in Italia himself. In ' S p h i n x e n ' ( ' T h e S p h i n x ' , 1816), a
(1959)- y o u n g man is caught b e t w e e n the ordinary
INNOCENTI, ROBERTO 248

world of everyday life and a fantastic world, the giant. The survivors eventually kill the fe­
and he cannot reconcile those two until he fi­ male giant and the musical ends on a bitter­
nally accepts life as a mystery. NI sweet note with parents learning about the
power of their words on their offspring and
children finding that 'No One Is Alone' in this
INNOCENTI, ROBERTO ( 1 9 4 0 - ) Italian illustra­ world. TSH
tor, known for his exquisite, detailed paintings
that border on surrealism. In particular, his il­
lOLANTHE, OR THE PEER AND THE PERI (1882),
lustrations for * Cinderella (1983), The Adven­
English operetta with libretto by William S.
tures of*Pinocchio (1988) and Nutcracker (1996)
Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. The
are all highly innovative and range from set­
story is based loosely on one of Gilbert's Bab
ting Cinderella in an English village during the
Ballads (1869), 'The Fairy Curate'. By the late
roaring twenties and Pinocchio in 19th-century
19th century, the fairy bride motif beloved of
Florence with palpable reality. His most im­
the romantics had become a cliché and, for G i l ­
portant experimental book is undoubtedly Rose
bert, an object of parody. Iolanthe, a fairy (in
Blanche (1986) written with Christophe Gallaz.
Persian, 'peri'), has been banished by the Fairy
The story concerns a young German girl
Queen for marrying a mortal—a crime which
named Rose Blanche, the name of a German
'strikes at the root of the entire fairy system'.
Resistance movement, who is confronted by
Her son Strephon is 'a fairy down to the
the horrors of the Holocaust and dies while
waist—but his legs are mortal'. In the end,
trying to help concentration camp victims.
Iolanthe is reunited with her husband, now
Though not a fairy tale in any traditional sense,
Lord Chancellor, while the entire House of
this tale has a symbolical and magical quality
Peers marry fairy brides as well and are magic­
that recalls 'Briar Rose' only to challenge the
ally transformed into a 'House of Peris'. The
notion of the sleeping princess by introducing
operetta hints slyly at a family relationship be­
an ordinary German girl whose goodness is il­
tween Wagner's Ring and the 'fairy system';
luminated at the end of the tale. JZ
the chorus of fairies are likened musically to
Brezzo, Steven L., Roberto Innocenti: The Spirit the Rhine maidens, while the statuesque Fairy
of Illustration (1996). Queen wears a winged helmet and corslet like
Brunhilda's. SR
INTO THE WOODS, a 1987 Broadway musical by
James Lapine (libretto) and Stephen Sondheim IRISH FAIRY-TALE FILMS, as often made and set in
(music and lyrics) that utilized familiar and ori­ America as in Ireland. In the post-war period
ginal fairy tales. In a storybook setting, various Irish gold, magic, blarney, and little people
characters set off into the woods with particu­ were popular both in Hollywood and on
lar tasks. *Jack goes to sell the family cow, Broadway: 1947 gave rise not only to a match­
T i t t l e Red Riding Hood travels to see her making leprechaun, but also to a successful
grandmother, *Cinderella steals away to visit stage musical in which a granted wish delivers
the grave of her mother and, in an original sub­ a lesson about racial prejudice. The Luck of the
plot, a baker and his wife search for specific Irish begins with an American on holiday in
items demanded by a witch that has rendered Ireland. Encountering a leprechaun, he wins
the couple childless. The same witch holds her gratitude by not stealing his gold. Back in New
daughter *Rapunzel a prisoner in a tower. York, he falls for an Irish woman but is uncer­
Once in the forest, Jack obtains the magic tain how to approach her, till guidance comes
beans that allow him to climb the beanstalk to from a manservant who turns out to be the lep­
kill the giant. Cinderella goes to the festival rechaun. The path to romance is cleared, the
and meets her Prince while Little Red outwits three return to Ireland, and the leprechaun's
the wolf and he is killed, and Rapunzel is res­ help is acknowledged by the nightly gift of a
cued by her Prince. The first act ends with bottle of whiskey. One of his kin, Og, is like­
everyone singing 'Happily Ever After', but in wise far from home in the musical Finian s
the second act the characters must face up to Rainbow (which crossed from stage to screen in
the responsibilities brought on by their earlier 1967). Og has followed Finian to the multira­
actions. The giant's wife seeks revenge, killing cial community of Rainbow Valley, in the
Red's grandmother, and terrorizing the coun­ vicinity of Fort Knox, because Finian has
tryside. The baker's wife has a brief affair with stolen Ireland's gold. Finian intends to plant it,
Cinderella's shallow Prince, and the disen­ convinced that near Fort Knox it will quickly
chanted Rapunzel runs off and is trampled by multiply. Og (whose name means 'young') has
249 'IRON H A N S '

been watching o v e r Ireland for 459 y e a r s , and product o f a collective guilt engendered b y
wants the gold back, because without it wishes centuries o f tension between a recognition o f
cannot be granted, a blight has fallen on the old the seals' beauty, and the economic necessity o f
country, and the leprechauns are turning m o r ­ clubbing them to death. TAS
tal (he himself is already human size). In the
end Finian's scheme comes to nothing, and O g 'IRON H A N S ' ( G e r m a n , Eisenhans), first incorp­
has to choose between using the last o f three orated into the *Kinder- und Hausmarchen
wishes to make himself immortal again, or (Children's and Household Tales) b y the
using it to save Finian's daughter from being Brothers * G r i m m in 1850. It is also k n o w n as
burned as a witch for turning a white man ' T h e Wild Man', 'Goldener', ' T h e Golden
black. A similar idea of leprechauns can be seen B o y ' and can be found in the oral and literary
in *Disney's Darby O'Gill and the Little People traditions o f different E u r o p e a n countries.
(1959), except that in this they are s h o w n as In the G r i m m s ' v e r s i o n there is a k i n g
being only 21 inches tall, and h a v e a flame­ w h o s e forest is inhabited b y s o m e mysterious
thrower, as well as m a g i c , in their arsenal. creature, and he kills all w h o enter it. A f t e r
After being kicked into a deep hole b y a p o o - m a n y y e a r s a stranger finally arrives and disen­
kah (ghost horse), D a r b y is allowed three chants the forest b y capturing a w i l d man, w h o
wishes w h e n he sets free the k i n g o f the lepre­ had been d w e l l i n g in a deep p o o l . T h e m a n w a s
chauns. A s soon as he wishes for wealth his b r o w n as rusty iron, and his hair h u n g o v e r his
daughter becomes g r a v e l y ill, and he rescues face d o w n to his knees. T h e k i n g has the w i l d
her b y wishing to die in her place. A t the cli­ man imprisoned in an iron c a g e in the castle
max the k i n g saves them both, and D a r b y dis­ c o u r t y a r d , g i v e s the k e y to the queen, and for­
covers within himself a changed sense o f bids a n y o n e to open it under the penalty o f
priorities. death. H o w e v e r , one d a y the k i n g ' s 8-year-old
In the 1990s t w o films i n v o k i n g Irish m y t h son loses his g o l d e n ball, and it bounces into
w e r e shot on location in E i r e itself, and centred the c a g e . C o n s e q u e n t l y , the w i l d man tells him
on animals rather than leprechauns. Into the that the o n l y w a y he can regain his ball is b y
West (Eire, 1992) begins in contemporary stealing the k e y from under his mother's p i l l o w
Dublin, w h e n the traveller grandfather o f t w o and e m p t y i n g the c a g e . W h e n the b o y frees the
motherless b o y s living in a high-rise flat brings w i l d man, he is so terrified o f his father's w r a t h
a white horse which has followed him from the that he asks the w i l d man to take him a l o n g on
sea. T h e horse and its name, T i r na n O g his escape.
('country of eternal y o u t h ' ) , i n v o k e the legend T h e w i l d man carries the b o y to a g o l d e n
of Oisin, w h o w a s taken through the sea, on a spring in the forest and tells him that he must
horse, to the land o f the e v e r - y o u n g . Hunted not a l l o w anything to fall into it or else the
b y the police, the t w o b o y s ride w e s t w a r d s w a t e r will b e c o m e polluted. H o w e v e r , the
until they can g o no further. O n the coast the b o y ' s finger, w h i c h had b e c o m e stuck w h i l e he
horse takes one o f the b o y s out to sea w h e r e , w a s freeing the w i l d man, begins to hurt, and
beneath the w a v e s , he is temporarily reunited he dips it into the spring. T h e finger turns to
with his late mother. T i r na n O g disappears for g o l d , as does his hair after the w i l d man g i v e s
a while, then emerges from flames and gallops him t w o m o r e chances. T h e r e f o r e the b o y must
a w a y . In the following y e a r a similar percep­ leave the forest. B u t the w i l d man reveals his
t i o n — o f the sea as preserver o f life rather than name to the b o y and tells him that w h e n e v e r he
destroyer—imbued The Secret of Roan Inish needs something he is to return to the forest
( U S A , 1993). Set in 1940s D o n e g a l , it tells, and c r y out, ' I r o n H a n s ' .
through the eyes o f 10-year-old F i o n a , o f her T h e prince c o v e r s his g o l d e n hair w i t h a
family's kinship with seals. O n e o f her ances­ little cap and eventually obtains a job as a g a r ­
tors w a s saved from a shipwreck b y a seal; an­ dener's helper at another k i n g ' s castle. O n e
other took a selkie (half-human, half-seal) as day, w h i l e w o r k i n g in the g a r d e n , he takes off
his bride, and had m a n y children with her until his cap, and the k i n g ' s daughter notices his
she tired of being human and resumed seal g o l d e n hair from her w i n d o w . She invites him
form. F i o n a even finds her brother J a m i e , pre­ to her r o o m and rewards him for b r i n g i n g
sumed dead since he w a s swept out to sea in a flowers to her. S o o n after this, with the help o f
w o o d e n cradle as a b a b y . H e has been looked Iron Hans, w h o g i v e s him a magnificent steed
after b y seals, w h o n o w gently drive him back and knights, the b o y helps the k i n g w i n a w a r .
to his human family. T h e film presents the sel­ D i s g u i s e d in armour, he leads a troop o f
kie myth not as empty w h i m s y , but as the knights into battle and then disappears q u i c k l y ,
i r o n h a n s The wild man haunts the king's pond in the Grimms' 'Iron Hans' illustrated by Otto *Ubbelohde and
published in Kinder- und Hausmdrchen gesammelt durch die Briider Grimm (1927).
2 I
5
IRVING, WASHINGTON

returning the stallion and knights to Iron Hans a literary tradition, in particular a 12th-century
to resume w o r k i n g as the simple gardener's romance entitled Robert der Teufel (Robert the
helper. Devil), w h i c h g a v e rise to m a n y different liter­
In order to discover the strange knight's ary and oral versions in medieval E u r o p e .
identity, the king holds a tournament. T h e T h e r e h a v e been numerous stories associ­
princess throws out a golden apple three days ated with ' T h e W i l d M a n ' w h i c h h a v e nothing
in a r o w , and the disguised prince, helped b y to d o with the G r i m m s ' ' I r o n H a n s ' , in w h i c h
Iron Hans, w h o gives him red, white, and the focus is mainly on the y o u n g b o y . In the
black armour and horses, rides off with the W e s t e r n imagination, the w i l d man is often as­
prize each time. H o w e v e r , on the third d a y the sociated with the noble s a v a g e , the dangerous
king's men g i v e pursuit and manage to w o u n d gigantic monster, the mysterious uncivilized
him and catch a glimpse of his golden hair b e ­ barbarian, or the loner w h o refuses to be civil­
fore he escapes. T h e next day, the princess asks ized. In m o r e recent times ' I r o n H a n s ' has been
her father to summon the gardener's helper, associated with men's groups. In G e r m a n y
and she reveals his golden hair. Consequently, Otto Hôfler b e g a n using the tale during the
he produces the golden apples to s h o w that he 1950s in connection with men's initiation rit­
was indeed the true hero o f the tournament. A s uals. In 1990 the A m e r i c a n poet R o b e r t * B l y
a reward, the y o u n g man asks to m a r r y the published his b o o k Iron John based on a m y t h o -
princess, and on the w e d d i n g day his mother poeic interpretation o f ' I r o n H a n s ' to outline
and father attend and are filled with j o y . D u r ­ h o w A m e r i c a n men could recapture their m a n ­
ing the celebration, Iron Hans suddenly a p ­ liness in N e w A g e fashion, and the b o o k b e ­
pears, embraces the bridegroom, and reveals came an international best-seller. JZ
that he had been made wild b y a magic spell, Dammann, Giinter, 'Goldener', in Kurt Ranke et
and since the prince had brought about his re­ al. (eds.), Enzyklopddie des Màrchens ( 1 9 8 7 ) .
lease from that spell, he wanted to reward him Scherf, Walter, 'Der Eisernhans', Lexikon der
with all the treasures that he possessed. Zaubermdrchen, i ( 1 9 8 2 ) .
Zipes, Jack, 'Spreading Myths about Iron John',
Up until 1843, the G r i m m s had published a
in Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale
different version of this tale in the Kinder- und (1994).
Hausmdrchen called ' T h e W i l d M a n ' . In 1850
they eliminated it in favour of 'Iron Hans', a 'IRON J O H N ' , see 'IRON HANS'.
tale which Wilhelm G r i m m virtually w r o t e b y
himself using a dialect version collected from IRVING, WASHINGTON (1783—1859), A m e r i c a n
the Hassenpflug family o f Kassel and a tale en­ author o f essays, travel b o o k s , biographies, and
titled ' D e r eiserne Hans' ('Iron H a n s ' ) from true and legendary histories. His first notable
Friedmund v o n A r n i m ' s 100 neue Mdhrchen im success, A History of New York (1809), sup­
Gehirge gesammelt (One Hundred New Fairy posedly written b y the fictitious D i e d r i c h
Tales Collected in the Mountains, 1844). W i l ­ K n i c k e r b o c k e r , created a legendary history for
helm synthesized literary and oral versions that his native city while satirizing both its early
folklorists have traced to t w o basic tale types, D u t c h inhabitants and contemporary A m e r i c a n
314 (The Youth Transformed into a Horse, also politicians. I r v i n g ' s strong interest in folklore
k n o w n as Goldener in G e r m a n , or The Golden- also influenced The Alhambra (1832), w h i c h in­
Haired Youth at a King's Court) and 502 (the corporates several Moorish legends, gracefully
Wild Man) according to the Types of the Folk- retold, into an account of his stay in G r a n a d a .
Tale b y Antti *Aarne and Stith T h o m p s o n . H e is most famous for t w o stories included in
G i v e n the evidence that w e h a v e from the The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.
Brothers G r i m m , W i l h e l m ' s 'Iron H a n s ' is (1819—20): ' T h e L e g e n d o f S l e e p y H o l l o w '
mainly based on tales that stem from type 314, and ' R i p V a n W i n k l e ' . W h i l e the ' L e g e n d '
The Golden-Haired Youth. A s usual, there is a pokes fun at Ichabod C r a n e ' s superstitious c r e ­
debate among folklorists about the origins o f dulity, ' R i p V a n W i n k l e ' is a genuine fairy
this type. S o m e place the tale's creation in t a l e — t h e first with a distinctively A m e r i c a n
India, while others argue that it originated dur­ flavour. I r v i n g successfully transposed the
ing the latter part of the R o m a n E m p i r e . H o w ­ E u r o p e a n motif o f the enchanted sleeper to his
ever, almost all folklorists agree that, as far as o w n H u d s o n R i v e r V a l l e y , substituting for the
Wilhelm G r i m m ' s version is concerned, the traditional fairy revellers the explorer H e n -
major plotline and motifs of the tale w e r e drick H u d s o n and his c r e w . B o t h stories h a v e
formed during the Middle A g e s in E u r o p e . inspired numerous painters, illustrators (in­
Furthermore, they w e r e strongly influenced b y cluding A r t h u r * R a c k h a m and N . C . W y e t h ) ,
IRWIN, ROBERT 252

cartoonists, and dramatists. A stage version o f Arabic Beast Fable (1992) and The ^Arabian
Rip Van Winkle (i860) starring J o s e p h Jeffer­ Nights: A Companion (1994) have made major
son w a s one o f the longest-running hits in the contributions towards understanding and inter­
history o f the A m e r i c a n theatre, while the plots preting literature o f the Middle East. In add­
of ' R i p ' and ' T h e L e g e n d ' w e r e ingeniously ition, he has written a remarkable fairy-tale
i n t e r w o v e n in R o b e r t Planquette's opera Rip novel, The Arabian Nightmare (1983, rev.
Van Winkle (1882). SR 1987), in which the hero Balian explores Cairo
Attebery, Brian, The Fantasy Tradition in in the 15th century, becomes entangled in the
American Literature (1980). labyrinth o f the city, and falls into a nightmare
Rubin-Dorsky, Jeffrey, Adrift in the Old World: that is never-ending. Irwin combines his erudi­
The Psychological Pilgrimage of Washington tion on the Middle East with conventions of
Irving (1988).
W e s t e r n fantasy to explore the boundaries be­
Tuttleton, James W. (ed.), Washington Irving:
The Critical Reaction (1993). tween dream and story. JZ

IRWIN, ROBERT ( 1 9 4 6 - ) , E n g l i s h scholar and ITALY (see b e l o w )

writer, w h o s e academic w o r k s such as The

Italy. Italy can pride itself on having the earliest and one
of the richest collections of literary fairy tales in Giam-
battista *Basile's Lo cunto de li cunti. T h e seminal experi­
mentations with the fairy tale as an independent literary
genre in the Renaissance and baroque periods on the part
of Basile and *Straparola did not, however, provide the
impetus for the blossoming of a subsequent fairy-tale
'vogue', as was the case in France of the 17th and 18th
centuries. Even Basile's Lo cunto, though recognized by
scholars for centuries as an artistic and folkloric master­
piece, never achieved the status of beloved national treas­
ure that the collections of Charles *Perrault, the Brothers
*Grimm, or Aleksandr *Afanasyev did. Although Italy
has abounded in important fairy-tale collections as well as
fairy-tale authors, a national collection of Italian fairy
tales akin to those published in other European countries
in the 19th century appeared only in 1956. Up to this day
Italian folklorists, literary scholars, and writers continue
to grapple with the question of how to assimilate the vast
storehouse of dialect narratives of oral tradition, still in
part unfamiliar to the modern reading public, into literate
culture.

1. U P TO 1400
T h e oldest example of an 'Italian' literary fairy tale is the
story of 'Cupid and Psyche', embedded in *Apuleius'
2nd-century Latin novel The Golden Ass. During the mil­
lennium that followed, oral tales continued to circulate in
the same fashion that they had for hundreds, if not thou­
sands, of years, but due to various factors, among which
figured the lack of a secular literate culture, there were
253 ITALY

few further experiments with the literary fairy tale. T h e

advent of vernacular culture, especially from the 13th
century on when the novella became a predominant
genre, marked the point at which the mediation between
popular and literary traditions began to manifest itself in
the presence of fairy-tale elements in short narrative,
even if the first integral fairy tales appeared only three
centuries later.
The anonymous late 13th-century Novellino {The Hun­
dred Old Tales), for example, draws on materials from
diverse cultural traditions and thematic areas. Although
many of the tales have the structure of medieval exempla,
the collection also includes animal fables and fantastic
motifs. In other contemporary manuscripts we find more
explicit fairy-tale elements, but in general the exemplum
flavour of many of these earliest novellas did not allow
for the full expression of the secular supernatural and
marvellous that permeates the fairy tale.
We find the most significant early use of fairy-tale
motifs, and perhaps the first explicit reference to fairy
tales, in Giovanni Boccaccio's works. Boccaccio had a
pivotal role as mediator between the feudal-chivalric and
the emerging bourgeois cultures; thematically, his tales
frequently feature ordinary protagonists who triumph
over hardship, thus expressing a fairy-tale-like optimism.
In chapter 10 of book 14 of his treatise on ancient myth­
ology Genealogia deorum gentilium { The Genealogies of the
Gentile Gods, 1350—75), he affirms that we may find wis­
dom not only in the works of great 'official' poets like
Virgil, Dante, and Petrarch, but also in popular narra­
tives: 'there has never been a little old woman . . . as she
invents or recites tales of ogres, fairies, or witches around
the hearth on winter nights . . . who has not been aware
that under the veil of her narrative lies some serious
meaning, with which she can frighten children, or amuse
maidens, or at least demonstrate the power of fortune.'
Among his works of fiction, the prose novel Filocolo
(1336?) adapts the French tale of Florio and Biancofiore's
troubled but ultimately happy-ended love story, and in­
cludes such fairy-tale functions as an initial lack, antagon­
ists and helpers, a difficult quest and series of tasks, the
magic gift, and a final reward and marriage. But it is
above all in his most famous work, the Decameron
(1349—50), that the fairy tale is used most cogently as a
compositional device. N o surprise when we consider the
variety of materials, many of which share characteristics
with the fairy tale, that Boccaccio drew from: classical
ITALY 254

literature, medieval lais and fabliaux, chansons de geste,

and other popular narratives. A s is well known, the entire
book has a consolatory function, for its tales are told by a
group of young people in order to escape the physical and
psychological ravages of the plague. Although they are
presented as examples of the power of fortune, individual
enterprise, and love, the tales often borrow the structure
of the fairy tale, especially in day 2, dedicated to the wiles
of fortune, and day 5, which features love stories with
happy endings. A m o n g such tales are 2.3, the story of
three brothers who miraculously ascend from rags to
riches; 'Andreuccio of Perugia' (2.5), with its tripartite
series of adventures; 'Bernabo of Genoa' (2.9), the tale of
a woman wrongfully accused of adultery by her husband;
'Giletta of Nerbona' (3.9), which bears resemblance to
Basile's ' L a Sapia'; 'Nastagio degli Onesti' (5.8); 'Torello
of Stra and the Saladino' (10.9); and 'Griselda and the
Marquis of Saluzzo' (10.10), which combines motifs com­
mon to 'Cinderella' and 'Beauty and the Beast' and was
later rewritten in verse form by Perrault.
Several other early novella collections offer further ex­
amples of the entrance of fairy-tale motifs into the literary
arena. Four of the 20 novellas in Ser Giovanni Fiorenti-
no's Pecorone {The Big Sheep, second half of the 14th cen­
tury) bear strong resemblance to fairy tales, even if in
realistic garb ( 4 . 1 , 4.2, 9.2, and 1 0 . 1 ) ; just as fairy-tale
motifs are evident in the tales ' D e bono facto', ' D e vera
amicitia et caritate', and ' D e bona ventura' of Giovanni
*Sercambi's Novelle (Novellas, 1390—1402).
Fairy-tale compositional techniques informed two
other genres which were increasingly transported from
the oral to the literary sphere towards the end of this
period. A number of the cantari, epic or romantic ballads
which in their early form were recited in town squares by
minstrels, have an integral fairy-tale structure, such as the
anonymous II bel Gherardino (The Fair Gherardino), Pon-
lela Gaia (The Gay Maiden), and Liombruno, each of
which is composed of two 'movements' including the
typical elements of initial lack, helpers, departures, bat­
tles, donors and magic gifts, and elimination of lack. The
sacre rappresenta^ioni, or religious dramas, were also per­
formed in squares or churches, and had as their subject
biblical stories, Christian legends, and saints' lives. Un­
just persecution was a favourite topic of several of the
most renowned of these dramas, such as Santa Guglielma,
which with its persecution of an innocent wife is similar
to tale 1 0 . 1 of the Pecorone', Santa Uliva, in which a
2
55 ITALY

daughter's victimhood involves having her hands cut off,

and which includes motifs later found in tales by Basile
('The She-Bear' and 'Penta of the Chopped-Off Hands'),
Perrault, and the Grimms; and Stella, whose evil step­
mother is, of course, present in innumerable fairy tales.
2.1400-1600
The cantari were the single most important influence on
the Italian chivalric epic, which emerged in this period,
and accordingly, the fairy-tale motifs present in the for­
mer were often transposed to the latter. In Luigi Pulci's
comic epic Morgante (1483) we find dragons and ogrish
wild men; in particular, the story of Florinetta in canto 19
shares characteristics with Basile's ' T h e Flea' and ' C a n -
netella'. Matteo Maria Boiardo's Orlando innamorato
{Orlando in Love, 1495), is similarly populated by miracu­
lous animals, ogres, and fairies, and Ludovico Ariosto's
entire Orlando furioso {The Frenzy of Orlando, 1516—32),
with its interminable search for the elusive female object
of desire, is structured like an extended fairy tale.
Although a general interest in popular culture and folk
traditions permeated the Renaissance, at least until the
second half of the 16th century novellas generally fa­
voured realistic subjects, often taking up the favourite
Boccaccian theme of the beffa, or practical joke. From the
second half of the 15th century on there was also an in­
creasing interest in fables of the Aesopian type, which
culminated in a work like Giacomo Morlini's Latin Nov-
ellae {Novellas, 1520). It is, however, Giovan Francesco
Straparola who for the first time and in undisguised fash­
ion included entire fairy tales in a novella collection. His
enormously popular Le *piacevoli notti {The Pleasant
Nights, 1 5 5 0 - 3 ) , adopts a frame similar to that of the
Decameron, in which, after the ex-bishop of Lodi Otta-
viano Maria Sforza leaves Milan for political reasons, he
assembles an aristocratic company at his palace near V e n ­
ice to tell tales over the course of 13 nights. The tales are
an eclectic mix of various genres; of the 74 tales, 14 are
fairy tales, whose materials were probably gleaned from
*oriental tales, animal fables, and oral tradition; these are:
'Cassandrino' (1.2), 'Pre' Scarpacifico' ( 1 . 3 ) , 'Tebaldo'
(1.4), 'Galeotto' ( 2 . 1 ) , 'Pietro pazzo' ('Crazy Pietro', 3 . 1 ) ,
'Biancabella' (3.3), 'Fortunio' (3.4), 'Ricardo' (4.1),
'Ancilotto' (4.3), 'Guerrino' (4.5), ' T r e fratelli' ('The
Three Brothers', 7.5), 'Maestro Lattanzio' (8.5), 'Cesa-
rino de' Berni' (10.3), and 'Soriana' ( 1 1 . 1 ) . Although Stra­
parola's versions of the tales are nowhere near as
innovative as Basile's experiment with the genre a cen-
ITALY 2 6
5

tury later, there is no doubt that he had a great influence

not only on Basile, who reworked several of his tales, but
also on Perrault and the Brothers Grimm; all of the fairy
tales from the Nights, in fact, find later counterparts in the
above collections and others.
3. l600-l800
The spread of print culture, the anthropological interest
that the continuing geographical discoveries inspired, and
the attraction to the marvellous that permeated late R e ­
naissance and baroque culture were among the most sig­
nificant factors that resulted in a re-evaluation of native
folkloric traditions and the attempt to transport them into
the realm of literature. And Giambattista Basile'sZo cunto
de li cunti overo lo trattenemiento de peccerille ( The Tale of
Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones, 1634—6), the first
integral collection of fairy tales in Europe, is the work
that truly marks the passage from the oral folk tale to the
artful and sophisticated 'authored' fairy tale. Written in
Neapolitan dialect and also known as the *Pentamerone,
this work is composed of 49 fairy tales contained by a
50th frame story, also a fairy tale. In the frame tale, a
slave girl deceitfully cheats Princess Zoza out of her pre­
destined prince Tadeo, and the princess reacts by using a
magic doll to instil in the slave the craving to hear tales.
The prince summons the ten best storytellers of his king­
dom, a motley group of old women, and they each tell
one tale apiece for five days, at the end of which Zoza
tells her own tale, reveals the slave's deceit, and wins
back Tadeo. In many ways the structure of the Penta-
merone mirrors, in parodie fashion, that of earlier novella
collections, in particular Boccaccio's Decameron, suggest­
ing that Basile was well aware of the radically new course
he was taking: there are five days of telling that contain
ten tales each; the tales are told by ten grotesque lower-
class women; the storytelling activity of each day is pre­
ceded by a banquet, games, and other entertainment; and
verse eclogues that satirize the social ills of Basile's time
follow each day's tales.
Despite its subtitle, the Pentamerone is not a work of
children's literature, which did not yet exist as a genre,
but was probably intended to be read aloud in the 'courtly
conversations' that were an élite pastime of this period.
Moreover, Basile did not merely transcribe oral materials,
but transformed them into original tales distinguished by
an irresistible presence of the comic; vertiginous rhetoric­
al play, especially in the form of extravagant metaphor
that draws on diverse stylistic registers; abundant refer-
257 ITALY

ences to the everyday life and popular culture of the time;

final morals that often poorly fit their tales; characters
who, likewise, often betray our sense of what they should
be, as fairy-tale characters; and a subtext of playful cri­
tique of courtly culture and the canonical literary trad­
ition. The Pentamerone contains the earliest literary
versions of many celebrated fairy-tale types—*' Cinder­
ella', *'Sleeping Beauty', *'Rapunzel', and others—
although they are far more colourful, racy, imbued with
sheer exuberance, and open-ended than their canonical
counterparts. Indeed, Basile does not offer easy answers
to the problem of how an archaic, oral narrative genre
can, or should, be re-proposed in literary form; in the
Pentamerone 'high' and 'low' cultures intersect to create a
'carnivalesque' text in which linguistic and cultural hier­
archies, as well as the conventional fairy-tale hierarchies,
are rearranged or made to show their weak spots. Besides
being one of the most suggestive expressions of the
search for new artistic forms and the attraction to the
marvellous theorized by baroque poetics, Basile's work
exerted a notable influence on later fairy-tale writers such
as Perrault and the women writers of his generation, and
the Grimms.
In the century following its publication the Pentame­
rone inspired much admiration but few further experi­
ments with the genre. Basile's friend Giulio Cesare
Cortese included several fairy-tale episodes in his Viag-
gio di Parnaso (Voyage to Parnassus, 1620), one of which
closely resembles the first story of the Pentamerone, which
was probably already in progress at this time. Salvatore
Rosa made reference to many of the themes present in the
Pentamerone in his Satire (Satires), written in the
mid-17th century, and in Lorenzo Lippi's mock-epic
Malmantile riacquistato (Malmantile Recaptured, 1676) we
also find an episode borrowed from Basile. T h e only
other fairy-tale collection of the 17th century is Pompeo
*Sarnelli's Posilicheata (An Outing to Posillipo, 1684),
composed of five tales told in Neapolitan dialect by peas­
ant women at the end of the country banquet that the
frame story narrates.
The enormous production and popularity of fairy tales
in 17th- and 18th-century France saw no parallel phe­
nomenon in Italy, and it was over 100 years after Basile,
when the fairy-tale 'vogue' was in full fervour in France,
that another Italian author wrote a major work based on
fairy tales. From 1760 to 1770 the Venetian Carlo *Gozzi
published his ten Fiabe teatrali (Fairy Tales for the
^ 2
ITALY 2 8
5

Theatre): L'amore delle tre melarance {The Love of Three

Oranges), based on Basile's tale 5.9; 77 corvo {The Crow),
based on Basile's tale 4.9; Il re cervo {The King Stag);
Turandot; Il mostro turchino {The Blue Monster); La donna
serpente {The Snake Woman); L'augellin helverde {The
Green Bird); Ipitocchi fortunati {The Fortunate Beggars),
La Zoheide; and Zeim re dei geni {Zeim, King of the Gén­
ies). Besides Basile, Gozzi's sources included French
tales, oriental tales and romances such as the recently
translated The Thousand and One Nights (see ARABIAN
NIGHTS), and popular oral tradition. The particularity of
his plays lies in their juxtaposition of fairy tales with the
conventions, improvisational techniques, and masks of
the commedia delVarte, a mix that, somewhat paradoxical­
ly, often results in a rather cerebral interpretation of the
marvellous. Gozzi, a political conservative and literary
traditionalist, wrote his satirical and pointedly ideological
plays in polemical response to his arch-rival Carlo G o l -
doni's dramas of bourgeois realism, and considered his
fairy tales negligible 'children's' stories chosen precisely
for their distance from the everyday world depicted in
Goldoni's plays and for their ability to stimulate curiosity
and surprise. Gozzi's Fairy Tales proved to be greatly
suggestive from a theatrical point of view, as is evidenced
by their inspiration of operas by Richard *Wagner, Fer-
ruccio Busoni, Giacomo *Puccini, and Sergei *Prokofiev.

4.1800-1900
T h e early 19th-century romantic interest in archaic popu­
lar traditions, which supposedly most genuinely re­
presented the 'spirit of a nation', expressed itself in Italy
above all in the study of folk songs and oral poetry, and
in investigations of popular customs, beliefs, supersti­
tions, and other practices. Fairy tales were generally not
included in this sort of research, and foreign endeavours
in this field, such as the Grimms', aroused interest princi­
pally for their aesthetic value. Only later in the century,
during the period of Italian unification (1860—70), did
tales and legends become the focus of positivistic and
comparativistic studies and ethnographic collections.
A m o n g the first fairy-tale collections to appear were Vit-
torio *Imbriani's Novellaja fiorentina {Florentine Tales,
1871) and Novellaja milanese {Milanese Tales, 1872); these
were followed by what is arguably the most important
Italian collection of the century, the four-volume Fiabe
novelle e racconti popolari siciliani {Fairy Tales, Novellas,
and Popular Tales of Sicily, 1875) by Giuseppe *Pitré.
From the last decades of the 19th century to the begin-
259

ning of the 20th century a wealth of other collections ap­

peared that, along with the above, became precious docu­
ments for later anthologists of Italian fairy tales such as
Italo *Calvino. These include: Carolina Coronedi-Berti's
Nov elle popolari bolognesi (Bolognese Popular Tales, 1874),
Domenico Comparetti's Novelline popolari italiane (Ita­
lian Popular Tales, 1875), Isaia Visentini's Fiabe manto-
vane (Mantuan Fairy Tales, 1879), Gherardo Nerucci's
Sessanta novelle popolari montalesi (Sixty Popular Tales
from Montale, 1880), Pietro Pelizzari's Fiabe e cançoni
popolari del contado di Maglie in terra d'Otranto (Fairy
Tales and Popular Songs from the Countryside of Maglie in
Terra d'Otranto, 1881), Antonio D e Nino's Fiabe (Fairy
Tales, 1883), Pitré's Novelle popolari toscane (Tuscan
Popular Tales, 1888), Domenico Giuseppe Bernoni's
Fiabe popolari vene^iane (Venetian Popular Fairy Tales,
1893), Giggi Zanazzo's Novelle, favole e leggende roma-
nesche (Roman Tales, Fables, and Legends, 1907), and
Letterio di Francia's Fiabe e novelle calabresi (Calabrian
Fairy Tales and Stories, 1929—31).
There were also a number of writers at this time who
benefited from the huge amount of 'prime materials'
newly at their disposal to produce highly suggestive cre­
ative elaborations of fairy tales, for the first time written
for a young audience. The most famous of these is Carlo
*Collodi's novel Le avventure di *Pinocchio: Storia di un
burattino ( The Adventures of Pinocchio: Story of a Puppet,
1883). In short, Pinocchio tells of how its homonymous
protagonist, a wooden puppet, is induced both by the
harsh socio-economic conditions in which he lives and by
his own cheerfully transgressive nature to undergo a ser­
ies of perilous adventures that eventually lead to his
transformation into a real boy. Pinocchio, though it shares
with the fairy tale its structure of a journey of initiation
fraught with obstacles that ultimately leads to rebirth on
the higher plane of adulthood, as well as the common
motifs of a fairy godmother, talking animals, magical
helpers and donors, and other marvellous beings, also has
much in common with the more realistic genres of the
picaresque novel, the moralizing family drama so preva­
lent in children's literature of this period, and even the
Bildungsroman, or novel of formation. Pinocchio's ad­
ventures are essentially traumatic, for the social world
that Collodi depicts is coloured by privation, violence,
and indifference, and even in the more intimate, familial
sphere, self-interest and cruelty often reign. Pinocchio
has, in fact, been considered an 'anti-Cinderella' tale for
ITALY 260

its ostensible message that the only way to achieve social

validation is through hard work, self-reliance, and obedi­
ence to one's superiors; and that even when it comes, it is
far from the enchanted happy ending of fairy tales. In­
deed, Pinocchio nearly became a cautionary tale along the
lines of *'Little Red Riding Hood' since, when it was first
being published serially in a children's journal, Collodi
ended his tale at the end of chapter 15, when Pinocchio is
hanged and left for dead, victim of his own unruly in­
genuousness. Ultimately, though, Pinocchio's lasting at­
traction has much less to do with the puppet's
metamorphosis into a responsible member of society than
with the affirmation of the unleashed vitality and essential
humanity of childhood of which he gives constant and
poignant proof up until the very last chapter. Although
the best-known re-adaptation of Pinocchio is Disney's
film, there have been many imaginative contemporary re-
writings of Collodi's classic tale in Italy, among which
figure Carmelo Bene's 1962 dramatized version and Luigi
Malerba's Pinocchio con gli stivali {Pinocchio in Boots).
The birth of Pinocchio coincided with the publication
of the Sicilian Luigi *Capuana's first collection of original
fairy tales, Cera una volta {Once Upon a Time, 1882),
which was then followed by many others, including //
regno dette fate {The Kingdom of Fairies, 1883), La regi-
notta {The Princess, 1883), Il Raccontafiabe {The Fairy
Tale-Teller, 1894), Chi vuolfiabe, chi vuole? {Who Wants
Fairy Tales, Who Wants Them?, 1908), and Le ultime
fiabe {The Last Fairy Tales, 1919); as well as by the theat­
rical fairy tales Rospus {Toad, 1887) and Spera di sole:
Commedia per burattini {Sunbeam: A Comedy for Mario­
nettes, 1898). Capuana used his familiarity with Sicilian
folklore to create tales that evoked the oral tales of trad­
ition, although it is his innovative elaboration of these
materials through the use of humour, whimsical fantasy,
and realistic detail that gives his work its true flavour.
This flavour best emerges in the 19 tales of Once Upon a
Time where, alongside princes and princesses, fierce an­
tagonists, enchanted objects, and marvellous metamor­
phoses, we find loving depictions of domestic tableaux
and Sicilian landscapes, surprisingly earthy fairies and
wizards, and lower-class protagonists consumed by their
primary needs whose final triumph is guaranteed, how­
ever, by their simple virtues of perseverance, goodness of
heart, and humility.
T h e children's author Emma *Perodi's experimenta­
tions with the genre closed the century. Among her
 ITALY

numerous fairy-tale collections should be remembered Le

novelle della nonna {Grandmother's Tales, 1892), whose
frame tale narrates the life of the Marcuccis, a peasant
family that lives in the Tuscan countryside. The narra­
tives, many of which are fairy tales, are told around the
family hearth by the Marcucci matriarch Regina from one
Christmas E v e to the following November, punctuating
the 'real' stories of the Marcucci family; indeed, Regina
often chooses her tales on the basis of the consolation or
instruction that they may offer to members of the family.
Perodi's tales are distinguished by a vividly expressive
style, the juxtaposition of reassuringly domestic scenarios
and uncanny fantastic topographies, the attraction to the
dark and the cruel, and the presence of bizarre and ma­
cabre figures. Although within the frame Regina may
stress the didactic function of her tales, Perodi ultimately
resists any socializing project in favour of the celebration
of the pleasures of narration and of the delectable indeter­
minacy of the fantastic worlds that her tales depict.

5.19OO-PRESENT
By the start of World War I, the flurry of collection and
compilation of tales had died down somewhat, although it
again resumed after World War I I . T h e 'rediscovery' of
the popular narratives of the various Italian regions in the
20th century has been distinguished, on the one hand, by
a more painstakingly philological approach to the source
materials and, on the other, by the relatively recent at­
tempt to determine 'ecotypes' of tales based on the princi­
pal cultural areas of Italy. Furthermore, figures such as
Benedetto Croce and Antonio Gramsci have had an enor­
mous influence in redirecting folkloric and fairy-tale
scholarship of this century. Croce, above all in his sem­
inal studies of Basile's Pentamerone published in the first
decades of the century, maintained that the investigation
of folk tales as historical and aesthetic entities should
supersede questions of origin or comparativistic analysis
of motifs, and thus opened the door to a full-fledged liter­
ary analysis of fairy tales. Gramsci, in his essay 'Osserva-
zioni sul folclore' ('Observations on Folklore', 1950), put
forth the idea that popular folklore expresses a 'concept
of the world' that is radically different from the 'official'
world view, and that by studying these perspectives we
may better understand the contradictions of a society
based on class divisions, an idea that would then be taken
up by ideological criticism.
Notwithstanding the abundant tale collections and the­
oretical reflection on the material contained therein, a de-
ITALY 262

finitive 'master collection' of Italian tales was not pub­

lished until 1956, when Italo Calvino, one of the most
eminent literary figures of the 20th century, filled the gap
with his Fiabe italiane (Italian Folktales). The 200 tales
were chosen with the criteria of offering every major tale
type, of which Folktales includes about 50, often in mul­
tiple versions; and of representing the 20 regions of Italy.
Fairy tales predominate, but there are also religious and
local legends, novellas, animal fables, and anecdotes. Cal­
vino selected his materials primarily from 19th-century
tale collections, and by 'touching up', imposing 'stylistic
unity', and translating from Italian dialects created his
own versions of the tales. This procedure was likened to
the Grimms' by the author himself, but Calvino is entire­
ly self-conscious about his 'half-way scientific' method,
discussing at length his techniques of recasting the tales
and integrating variants so as to produce the 'most un­
usual, beautiful, and original texts'.
Calvino motivates his endeavour by maintaining that
folk tales are the thematic prototype of all stories, just as
he finds an essential structural paradigm for all literature
in the multiple narrative potentialities that folk tales offer,
with their 'infinite variety and infinite repetition'. The
Italian corpus that Calvino discovers is, in his eyes, com­
parable in richness and variety to the great Northern
European collections; at the same time, it possesses a dis­
tinctly personal and 'unparalleled grace, wit, and unity of
design'. He also identifies a series of more specific charac­
teristics of the Italian tales, though critics have pointed
out that they may be in part Calvino's own invention: a
sense of beauty and an attraction to sensuality, an esche-
wal of cruelty in favour of harmony and the 'healing so­
lution', 'a continuous quiver of love' that runs through
many tales, a 'tendency to dwell on the wondrous', and a
dynamic tension between the fantastic and the realistic.
Regarding the vital importance of his material, Calvino
maintains that 'folktales are real', since they encompass
all of human experience in the form of a 'catalogue of the
potential destinies of men and women'. From folk tales
we learn, ultimately, that 'we can liberate ourselves only
if we liberate other people'; that we must salvage 'fidelity
to a goal and purity of heart, values fundamental to salva­
tion and triumph'; 'beauty, a sign of grace that can be
masked by the humble, ugly guise of a frog'; and 'the
infinité possibilities of mutation'.
In the introduction to his Folktales Calvino exhorts his
readers to consult the original sources he used, and
26 3
ITALY

scholars to publish the tales they contain. Since the 1970s,

especially, this challenge has been met on multiple fronts:
there have been re-editions of the classic 19th-century
collections, new compilations of tales and indices of tale
types, the emergence of children's writers with a predi­
lection for fairy tales, and suggestive 'retellings' of trad­
itional tales by well-known contemporary authors.
The most ambitious of the attempts to catalogue Italy's
wealth of popular tales was a series of 16 volumes pub­
lished by Mondadori from 1982 to 1990 dedicated to the
fairy tales of the various Italian regions, in which an
author and scholar teamed up to translate and edit the
material. This sort of endeavour has led to an ever more
precise consideration of both the influences that merge to
form the common types of Italian tales and of their distin­
guishing regional characteristics. In this same period
there have also been noteworthy experiments with re­
writing the classic fairy-tale canon for children, which in
the case of the pedagogue and children's writer Gianni
*Rodari also encompassed a theoretical discussion of how
fairy tales could assume a creative and liberating function
in the hands of both children and educators {Grammatica
della fantasia (A Grammar of Fantasy, 1 9 7 3 ) ) . Rodari's
own most suggestive encounters with the fairy tale in­
clude Favole al telefono {Tales on the Telephone, 1962),
Tante storie per giocare (Lots of Stories for Play, 1 9 7 1 ) , and
Cera due volte il barone Lamberto (Twice Upon a Time
There Lived Baron Lamberto, 1978). Rodari's teachings
served as an ideal model for numerous authors who have,
over the past decades, continued to transform the increas­
ing interest in fairy tales into the invention of original
works often distinguished by the treatment of contem­
porary social and political issues within the traditional
narrative structure of the fairy tale. A m o n g these authors
should be remembered Beatrice Solinas Donghi, whose
playful approach to tradition is most evident in Le fiabe
incatenate {The Linked Fairy Tales, 1967) and La gran
fiaba intrecciata {The Great Interlaced Fairy Tale, 1972);
Bianca Pitzorno, whose revisitation of fairy-tale com­
monplaces often focuses on the development of positive
female protagonists, as in L'incredibile storia di Lavinia
{The Incredible Story of Lavinia, 1985) and Streghetta mia
{My Little Witch, 1988); Roberto Piumini, whose exten­
sive fairy-tale corpus includes both traditional material
and innovative tales which engage with social transform­
ations and political myths of our time (for example, Il
giovane che entrava nelpala^o {The Youth Who Entered
 264

the Palace) and Fiabe da Perserèn (Fairy Tales from Perse-

ren), both written in the early 1980s); and Luigi Malerba,
whose Pinocchio con gli stivali (Pinocchio in Boots, 1977) is
a pastiche in which the itineraries of a modern Pinocchio
lead to encounters with classic fairy-tale characters such
as Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella. And, finally,
there have also been a number of initiatives in which
authors and poets whose principal activity is not chil-
dren's literature have tried their hands at fairy tales, as in
the 1975 anthology Favole su favole (Fairy Tales upon
Fairy Tales).
The cataloguing of popular tales in the second half of
the 19th century was in some sense a response to national
unification and the inevitable weakening of local trad-
itions that its linguistic and educational standardization
would bring. So today the cultural homogenization that
our late-industrial, globalized society thrives on makes
the need to retrieve the narrative remnants of local trad-
itions seem even more urgent. This urgency stems not
from a romantic nostalgia for preserving the past, but
from the hope that the cultures which produced these leg-
acies may regain their fading vitality and continue to tell
their life-affirming tales and that, therefore, we may all
continue to experience and to recreate the power of fairy
tales to delight, instruct, and promote human
communication. NC
Aristodemo, Dina, and de Meijer, Pieter, ' L e fiabe popolari fra cultura
régionale e cultura nazionale', Belfagor, 34 (1979).
Bacchilega, Cristina, 'Calvino's Journey: Modern Transformations of
Folktale, Story, and Myth', Journal of Folklore Research, 26 (1989).
Beckwith, Marc, 'Italo Calvino and the Nature of Italian Folktales', Italica,
64(1987).
Beniscelli, Alberto, Lafinnonedelfiabesco:Studi sul teatro di Carlo Go^n
(1986).
Boero, Pino, and De Luca, Carmine, La letteratura per Tinfanna (1995).
Bottigheimer, Ruth B., 'Straparola's Piacevoli notti: Rags-to-Riches Fairy
Tales as Urban Creations', Merveilles et Contes, 7 (December 1994).
Bronzini, Giovanni Battista, 'Italien', Ençyklopàdie des Màrchens, vii (1992).
La letteratura popolare italiana deU'Otto—Novecento: Profilo storico-
geografico (1994).
Canepa, Nancy L., From Court to Forest: Giambattista Basile's 'Lo cunto de
li cunti' and the Birth of the Literary Fairy Tale (1999).
Cirese, Alberto Maria, 'Folklore in Italy: A Historical and Systematic
Profile and Bibliography', Journal of the Folklore Institute, 11 (June/August
I974)-
Cocchiara, Giuseppe, Popolo e letteratura in Italia (1959).
Emery, Ted, 'The Reactionary Imagination: Ideology and the Form of the
Fairy Tale in Gozzi's / / re cervo', in Nancy L. Canepa (ed.), Out of the
Woods: The Origins of the Literary Fairy Tale in Italy and France (1997).
Faeti, Antonio (ed. and intro.), Fiabe fantastiche: Le novelle della nonna by
Emma Perodi (1993).
Mazzacurati, Giancarlo, ' L a narrativa di G. F. Straparola e l'odeologia del
fiabesco', in Forma e ideologia (1974).
Perella, Nicolas, 'An Essay on Pinocchio', Italica, 63 (spring 1986).
2 6 5
ITALY

Petrini, Mario, La fiaba di magia nella letteratura italiana (1983).

// gran Basile (1989).
Pinocchio Oggi: Atti del Convegno Pescia-Collodi 30 settembre—i ottobre ipy8
(1981)-
Robuschi, Giuseppina, Luigi Capuana, scrittore per I'infanzia (1969).
 d o u b l y outwits his gigantic host, first saving
his o w n life and then tricking the giant into
killing himself: ' S o o n after the Giant arose, and
went to his Breakfast with a B o w l of Hasty-
Pudding, containing four Gallons, g i v i n g Jack
the like Quantity, w h o being loth to let the
Giant k n o w he could not eat with him, got a
large Leathern B a g putting it artificially under
his loose C o a t , into which he secretly con­
v e y e d the Pudding, telling the Giant he w o u l d
shew him a T r i c k ; then taking a large Knife
ript open the B a g , which the Giant supposed to
JACK AND THE BEANSTALK, FILM VERSION, a 1952 be his Belly, and out came the Hasty-Pudding,
adaptation o f the folk tale directed b y J e a n w h i c h the Giant seeing cried out, Cotsplut, hur
Y a r b r o u g h and starring the c o m e d y team o f can do that Trick hurself. then taking a sharp
Bud A b b o t t and L o u C o s t e l l o . B e y o n d the Knife he ript open his o w n Belly from the
requisite H o l l y w o o d l o v e story, the m o v i e e x ­ B o t o m to the T o p , and out dropt his Tripes
plores imagination and acting through the un­ and T r o l l y - b u b s , so that hur fell d o w n dead.
restrained childlike b e h a v i o u r o f C o s t e l l o , w h o T h u s Jack outwitted the Welsh Giant, and pro­
plays J a c k , an adult 'problem child'. In the ceeded forward on his J o u r n e y . '
story o f ' J a c k and the Beanstalk', w h i c h a child In the second part o f this tale cycle, J a c k en­
reads to him, J a c k acts the part o f the giant counters a son o f K i n g Arthur, w h o s e generos­
killer and imagines the p o w e r and social ac­ ity so impresses him that he 'desired to be his
ceptance that he cannot achieve in reality. In servant'. T o g e t h e r they proceed to a castle in­
the end, p l a y and fantasy g i v e w a y to the real habited b y a gigantic uncle o f J a c k ' s , and in a
w o r l d o f adult authority. DH comic episode J a c k acquires his uncle's magic
s w o r d of sharpness, shoes o f swiftness, cloak of
JACK TALES, a constellation o f traditional events invisibility, and cap of k n o w l e d g e . With these,
and motifs, n e w l y formed in early 18th-century J a c k defeats Lucifer himself to free a captive
E n g l a n d , in w h i c h a quick-witted b o y , son princess from an evil spirit, after which the
of a (wealthy C o r n i s h ) farmer, meets and Prince marries her and J a c k is made a Knight
vanquishes numerous giants, acquiring their of the R o u n d T a b l e .
wealth and m a r r y i n g a noble wife. In the third group o f tales 'honest J a c k ' , n o w
N o t a b l y absent from 17th-century folk in K i n g A r t h u r ' s service, continues to fight
amusement such as puppetry and chapbooks, W e l s h giants 'yet living in remote parts of [his]
the first J a c k tale documented w a s Jack and the k i n g d o m . . . to the unspeakeable damage of
Gyants [sic] in 1708. A n immediate success, y o u r majesty's liege subjects'. T h e first un­
J a c k and his giants w e r e frequently alluded to named giant falls to J a c k ' s unstoppable attack:
in familiar terms b y 18th-century writers like 'at length, g i v i n g him with both hands a swing­
Henry Fielding, John Newbery, D r Johnson ing stroke, cut off both his legs, just below the
and B o s w e l l , and W i l l i a m C o w p e r . knee, so that the trunk of his b o d y made not
J a c k ' s 18th-century cycle o f adventures only the ground to shake, but likewise the trees
breaks d o w n into three groups o f tales. In the to tremble with the force of his fall . . . T h e n
first, J a c k defeats his foes physically. U s i n g fa­ had Jack time to talk with him, setting his foot
miliar tools o f hunters (horn), farmers (spade on his neck, saying, thou s a v a g e and barbarous
o r s h o v e l ) , and C o r n i s h miners ( p i c k ) , J a c k wretch, I am come to execute upon y o u the just
o v e r p o w e r s the 18-foot tall C o r n i s h giant C o r - reward of y o u r villany. A n d with that, running
milan and wins his treasure. Subsequently C o r - him through and through, the monster sent
milan's gigantic brother Blunderboar, seeking forth a hideous groan; and so yielded up his life
r e v e n g e , captures J a c k and invites a brother into the hands o f the valiant conqueror Jack the
giant to a feast at w h i c h he proposes to serve G i a n t - K i l l e r . ' W e a r i n g his coat of invisibility
J a c k ' s heart with pepper and v i n e g a r . Instead, J a c k cuts off the nose o f the next giant he en­
J a c k contrives to throttle both giants and to cut counters, then 'runs his s w o r d up to the hilt in
off their heads, much as did D a v i d after his the Giant's fundament, where he left it sticking
battle with Goliath. for a w h i l e , and stood himself laughing (with
In the second g r o u p o f tales, J a c k sets off to his hands a k i m b o w ) to see the Giant caper and
fight W e l s h giants. In his first encounter he dance the canaries, with the s w o r d in his arse,
267 JACK TALES

crying out, he should die, he should die with fiery dragons, and having secured her within
the griping of the guts.' As ritual seemingly re­ the walls of the castle, she was immediately
quires, Jack cuts off both Giants' heads, sends transformed into the shape of a white hind,
them to King Arthur, releases the captives they where she miserably mourned her misfortune;
had been fattening for slaughter, feeds them, and tho' many worthy knights have endea­
and distributes the giants' gold and silver. voured to break the inchantment, and work her
Jack's third giant in this group of tales is the deliverance, yet none of them could accom­
two-headed Welsh Thunderdel, who utters the plish this great work, by reason of two dreadful
now-familiar verse Griffins, who are fixed by magick art; at the
entrance of the castle-gate, which destroyed
Fee, fau, fum, them . . . as soon as they had fixed their eyes
I smell the blood of an English man, upon them: but you, my son, being furnished
Be he alive, or be he dead, with an invisible coat, may pass by them undis­
I'll grind his bones to make my bread. covered; where on the brazen gates of the cas­
before Jack lures him to his destruction using tle, you shall find it engraved in large
his magic cloak, cap, and shoes. His heads, too, characters, by what means the inchantment
are sent to King Arthur. may be broken.' Jack soon cuts off this giant's
Jack's last giant, the 'huge and monstrous' head and (once again) sends it to King Arthur,
Galigantus, is the one whose telling is most who 'prevailed with the aforesaid Duke to be­
evidently influenced by the elaborate magical stow his Daughter in Marriage on honest Jack,
devices of French fairy tales, for instance, an protesting that there was no Man living so
old conjuror whose 'magick art' transforms Worthy of her as he' and 'he and his Lady
knights and ladies into 'sundry shapes and lived the Residue of their Days in great Joy
forms'. Amongst them was 'a duke's daughter, and Happiness'.
whom they fetched from her father's garden, When Jack tales were rewritten for refined
by magick art, and brought. . . through the air sensibilities later in the 18th and 19th centuries,
in a mourning chariot, drawn as it were by two the crudity of their gory killings disappeared,

JACK TALES Little Jack has no mercy for the giant in Richard *Doyle's fabulous illustration in The
Marvellous History of Jack the Giant Killer (1842).
JACOBS, JOSEPH 268

K i n g A r t h u r faded a w a y , J a c k became an variants, reduced 'the flatulent phraseology o f

earthly E v e r y b o y , and the G i a n t a g e o g r a p h i c ­ c h a p b o o k s ' , simplified literary English, arriv­
ally u n r e a l i z a b l e married oaf, reachable o n l y ing at an easy colloquial style that suggested
b y the m a g i c o f a bean that g r e w endlessly their folk origins. H e did not attempt to pret­
h e a v e n w a r d . T h u s revised, J a c k tales incorpor­ tify, though in some cases he admitted to modi­
ated m o d e r n fairy-tale elements o f social rise fying particularly strong material. More
through magical enrichment. orthodox folklorists disapproved, and in the
In the southern A p p a l a c h i a n s , ' J a c k ' b e c a m e preface to More English Fairy Tales (1894) he
the generic hero o f innumerable tales o f cun­ defended himself against the criticism that he
ning o f disparate origin. S o m e , such as ' L a z y had unduly tampered with sources. T h i s sec­
J a c k and his C a l f S k i n ' , ' O l d C a t s k i n s ' , and ond b o o k , w h i c h mostly went o v e r 'hitherto
' O l d G a i l y M a n d e r ' , are g r o u n d e d in * G r i m m untrodden g r o u n d ' , included Marchen, roman­
tales; ' J a c k the G i a n t K i l l e r ' , on the other hand, tic legends, drolls, cumulative stories, beast
descends directly from E n g l i s h c h a p b o o k s , tales, and nonsense.
changes its E n g l i s h H a s t y P u d d i n g into A m e r i ­ T h e Celtic tales are more elaborate and de­
can mush, but ends identically to its E n g l i s h tailed, and are mostly d r a w n from Scotland and
forebears. In N o r t h C a r o l i n a J a c k tales h a v e Ireland, W a l e s contributing only a handful and
been collected from the W a r d , H i c k s , and H a r ­ C o r n w a l l one. In prefaces to them he spoke o f
m o n families o v e r several decades. RBB the l o n g oral tradition in the Celtic culture
Carter, Isabel Gordon, 'Mountain White w h i c h led to a richness o n l y equalled b y the
Folklore: Tales from the Southern Blue Ridge', Russian folk tale. U n l i k e L a n g , he left in all his
Journal of American Folklore, 38 (1925). b o o k s a record o f his sources, with comments
Chase, Richard, The Jack Tales (1943).
on variants and parallels. T h e s e w e r e not al­
Opie, Peter and Iona, The Classic Fairy Tales
w a y s specific enough: an edition o f 1968 re­
(I974)-
marks that ' J a c o b s ' enthusiasm as a collector o f
McCarthy, William Bernard (ed.),Jack in Two
stories sometimes exceeded the care he took in
Worlds (1994).
assembling his Notes and Sources.' T h e y w e r e
JACOBS, JOSEPH ( I 8 5 4 - 1 9 1 6 ) , J e w i s h historian printed as an appendix to each v o l u m e , and in
and folklorist, made several notable collections his first b o o k w e r e divided from the main text
of fairy tales. B o r n in Australia, educated and b y a d r a w i n g o f a town crier announcing that
l o n g resident in E n g l a n d , he w a s from 1900 an 'Little B o y s and G i r l s must not read any fur­
A m e r i c a n citizen. His earliest writings w e r e on ther'. T h e fairy tales w e r e all published b y the
J e w i s h anthropological studies; this led to a firm o f D a v i d Nutt, w h o s e head in J a c o b s ' s day
general interest in folklore. F r o m 1889 to 1900 w a s Alfred Nutt ( 1 8 5 6 - 1 9 1 0 ) , a distinguished
he edited the British journal Folk-Lore and folklorist and Celtic scholar w h o s e help with
d r e w on m a n y contributions there for his c o l ­ the Celtic tales J a c o b s w a r m l y acknowledged.
lections o f stories. In 1888 he published an edi­ GA
tion o f the fables o f B i d p a i , and in 1890 he Fine, Gary Alan, 'Joseph Jacobs: A Sociological
b e g a n a series o f retellings o f folk tales for chil­ Folklorist', Folklore, 98.2 (1987).
dren, w h i c h rank in importance w i t h those o f Shaner, Mary E . , 'Joseph Jacobs', in Jane
Bingham (ed.), Writers for Children (1987).
A n d r e w * L a n g . English Fairy Tales (1890) had
Stewig, John Warren, 'Joseph Jacobs' English
a sequel More English Fairy Tales (1893); Celtic Fairy Tales: A Legacy for Today', in Perry
Fairy Tales (1891) w a s followed b y More Celtic Nodelman (ed.), Touchstones: Reflections on the
Fairy Tales (1894). T h e s e w e r e all illustrated Best in Children s Literature: Fairy Tales, Fables,
b y J o h n D . Batten. T h e r e w a s also a v o l u m e o f Myths, Legends, and Poetry (1987).
Indian Fairy Tales (1892) and Europa's Fairy
Book (1916), a collection o f ' c o m m o n folk-tales JANÂCEK, LEOS (1854—1928), C z e c h composer,
of E u r o p e ' , s o m e o f w h i c h he softened m o r e much influenced b y the language o f his native
than his w o n t . His s i x - v o l u m e edition o f The M o r a v i a , and o f its folk songs, which he col­
Thousand and One Nights appeared in 1896 (see lected. R e n o w n e d for his highly distinctive
ARABIAN NIGHTS). operas, including The Cunning Little Vixen
In his preface to the first English Fairy Tales (1924), adapted b y the composer from a novel
he said that he w a n t e d to write 'as a g o o d nurse b y the C z e c h writer R u d o l f T e s n o h l i d e k (first
will speak' w h e n she recounted tales. H e had published in serial form in a daily newspaper,
rewritten those w h e r e there w a s dialect ( m a n y as accompaniment to line drawings b y the artist
stories came from L o w l a n d Scots sources); Stanislav L o l e k ) . T h e fantastical story o f the
elsewhere he had 'cobbled together' different life and exploits o f a v i x e n cub i n v o l v e s a host
269 JANSSON, TOVE

of v i v i d l y observed human and animal charac- rewarding for both. Friendship is also the
ters, including parts written specifically for theme o f Die Fiedelgrille und der Maulwurf
children's voices and several ballet scenes. S B (The Cricket and the Mole, 1982), a 'de-moral-
ized' fable in w h i c h the cricket carelessly fid-
JANOSCH (pseudonym of HORST ECKERT, dles the s u m m e r a w a y o n l y to be taken in for a
1 9 3 1 - ) , extremely prolific and internationally jolly winter b y her g o o d friend the M o l e . T h i s
renowned German author/illustrator of tale and its illustrations h a v e the perfect blend
books for y o u n g children. J a n o s c h has w r i t - of n a i v e sweetness and h u m o r o u s grotesque
ten a n d / o r illustrated close to 200 b o o k s . His that characterizes all o f J a n o s c h ' s production.
w o r k s have appeared in 47 languages and an EMM
estimated 5 million copies h a v e been sold Children's Literature Review, 26 (1992).
w o r l d - w i d e . Most o f these are playful and g r o - Something about the Author, 72 (1993).
tesquely funny tales for y o u n g children, but
Janosch has written several novels for adults as JANSSON, TOVE ( 1 9 1 4 - ), Finno-Swedish
well. In his autobiographical novel Janosch: writer, A n d e r s e n Medal w i n n e r , internationally
Von dem Gliick, als Herr Janosch iiberlebt çu famous for her n o v e l s about the M o o m i n s .
haben (About the Luck to Have Survived as Mr R a i s e d in a family o f artists within the tiny
Janosch, 1994), J a n o s c h talks about his life and S w e d i s h - s p e a k i n g minority in F i n l a n d , she
his dream of b e c o m i n g a painter. B o r n into a constructs her fairy-tale u n i v e r s e in order to
working-class family, he w a s apprenticed as a emphasize the national identity o f this g r o u p .
blacksmith and later w o r k e d for several y e a r s Situated in p o s t - w a r Finland, the M o o m i n
in a textile factory. His attempt to study at the n o v e l s also clearly reflect their time, c o m b i n i n g
Art A c a d e m y in Munich in 1953 failed, but he traumatic m e m o r i e s o f the past with optimistic
remained in Munich, designing wallpaper and hopes for the future. T h e significance o f family
writing and illustrating stories for the Siid- bonds is accentuated in the M o o m i n n o v e l s ,
deutsche Zeitung, Die Zeit, and the satirical w h e r e separation is apprehended as a t r a g e d y
journal Pardon. and reunion as a cause for celebration. T h i s a p -
Janosch has stated that he m e r e l y stumbled parently expresses the idea o f national identity
into writing children's b o o k s . H e still sees him- in a minority culture b e i n g p r e s e r v e d p r i m a r i l y
self as illustrator first and author second, y e t he through the family. G e n e r o s i t y and hospitality
is extraordinarily talented as both. Social satire are t w o other characteristic features. T h e r e is
and parody h a v e a l w a y s been his preferred also a casual attitude towards material things
means o f expression, but much w a r m t h and that m a y be a reflection o f the repetitive loss o f
gentle fun can also be found in his tales for the property during the w a r , as w e l l as the author's
y o u n g . T h e menagerie o f whimsical, endear- general bohemian v i e w o f life.
ing, sly, and clever anthropomorphized animal U n l i k e most so-called high fantasy w o r l d s ,
characters w h o come to life in his faux-naïve with w h i c h M o o m i n v a l l e y has often been c o m -
drawings are lifted right out o f fable and folk- pared, it is l o o s e l y anchored in the Finnish
tale tradition. M a n y o f his stories are in fact archipelago and has m a n y concrete g e o g r a p h -
playful, demythifying, and anarchist re- ical and climatic features o f real F i n l a n d . In the
creations o f G e r m a n folk tales and fairy tales. picturebook Den farliga resan (1978; The Dan-
Janosch er{dhlt Grimms Màrchen (Not Quite as gerous Journey, 1978), attached to the n o v e l s , an
Grimm, 1972) belonged to the most c o n t r o v e r - o r d i n a r y child is granted entry into M o o m i n -
sial and successful children's b o o k s in G e r - v a l l e y , w h i c h implies that the O t h e r w o r l d is
many in 1972. T h e fairy tales in J a n o s c h ' s open to those h a v i n g a k e y to it. It is thus a
collection are imaginative, creative, original, m o r e realistic realm than, for instance, T o l -
and turn morals upside d o w n and inside out, kien's. T h e M o o m i n characters, although i m -
and they invite readers familiar with the classic a g i n a r y , m o r e closely resemble ordinary
tales to productive comparisons. people, w i t h their faults and virtues, than fairy-
One o f J a n o s c h ' s b e s t - k n o w n b o o k s is per- tale trolls, elves, or dwarfs.
haps Oh, wie schon ist Panama (The Trip to M o o m i n v a l l e y is the Utopian w o r l d o f child-
Panama, 1978) w h i c h w o n the Deutscher h o o d , paradise before the F a l l . H o m e signifies
Jugendliteraturpreis ( G e r m a n Prize for C h i l - security. T h e harmonious c o m m u n i t y o f the
dren's and Y o u t h Literature) in 1979. It is an M o o m i n figures is completely happy; they h a v e
account o f an unsuccessful quest undertaken b y no enemies, and they do not h a v e to think
the two friends, Little B e a r and Little T i g e r , about their daily bread. A s in traditional A r c a -
that ultimately p r o v e s to be fully satisfying and dian children's n o v e l s , it is a l w a y s s u m m e r in
JARRELL, RANDALL 270

M o o m i n v a l l e y , and time stands still. T h e w o r l d the d r a g o n - s l a y e r , the wish-fulfilling magical

of the M o o m i n s is static, its time is cyclical, object, the h e r o - p r i n c e s s relation between
with recurrent events and habits. Eternal sum­ Moomintroll and S n o r k Maiden, and many
m e r is interrupted b y winter hibernation, typical helping and guiding figures. H o w e v e r ,
w h i c h is not depicted as anything m o r e r e ­ most o f these patterns are presented in a parod-
markable than g o i n g to sleep at night. T h e ical o r ironical manner. T h e M o o m i n novels
M o o m i n s d o not g r o w up o r a g e , and there is lack the heroic pathos o f T o l k i e n ' s Hobbits,
no death, at least not in the early n o v e l s . T h i s being much m o r e domestic and down-to-earth.
m a y b e also seen as part o f the national iden­ T h e y depict the maturation o f the central char­
tity, as an attempt to p r e s e r v e the F i n n o - S w e d - acter, not through heroic deeds and struggles
ish idyll without taking into account the between g o o d and evil, but through slow p s y ­
changes in the surrounding w o r l d , for instance, chological development. W h i l e in Comet in
the diminishing S w e d i s h - s p e a k i n g population Moominland the protagonist takes the v e r y first
in F i n l a n d . cautious steps towards liberation from his par­
H o w e v e r , time, changes, and the notion o f ents, the sequels s h o w him at various stages of
death in N o r d i c m y t h o l o g y and i m a g e r y , b r e a k i n g a w a y from h o m e . In the early novels,
closely connected w i t h winter, appear in Troll- the Moomintroll's trials are depicted rather as
vinter (1957; Moominland Midwinter, 1962). In innocent g a m e s and adventures, and the secur­
the late M o o m i n n o v e l s , Pappan och havet ity o f h o m e and family is reinforced. In the
later texts, serious moral dilemmas are put b e ­
(1965; Moominpappa at Sea, 1967) and Sent i
fore him, and his sexual a w a k e n i n g plays a cen­
november (1970; Moominvalley in November,
tral role. T h u s the thematic structure o f the
1971), there is suddenly a clear p r o g r e s s i o n o f
M o o m i n n o v e l s repeats the basic structure o f
linear time. T h e y take place in the autumn, the
fairy tales, illuminating the necessity to leave
time o f d e c a y and farewell, w h i c h , h o w e v e r , is
childhood and proceed into adulthood, in a
necessary for the c o m i n g winter (death) and
fairy-tale-like rite o f passage.
spring (resurrection). In the last M o o m i n
n o v e l , the M o o m i n family itself is absent and is Finn Family Moomintroll is the most idyllic
o n l y seen in a glimpse at the end, m a y b e r e ­ n o v e l , the one in w h i c h the idyll is slightly dis­
turning h o m e , but m o r e likely taking the last turbed but soon brought to order. Moominsum­
v i e w o f their childhood paradise before l e a v i n g mer Madness takes the character a bit further
it definitively behind. T h i s can b e interpreted a w a y from h o m e , keeping the parents and
as the a w a k e n i n g from enchantment on the friends close at hand. Comet in Moominland is
Island o f Immortality, the w e l l - k n o w n fairy­ the most explicit quest n o v e l . A l s o Moominland
tale motif, and the return to reality. T h e circu­ Midwinter, w h i c h introduces the protagonist to
lar fairy-tale time is transformed into m o d e r n death, nevertheless brings him back to idyll.
linear time, w h i c h has a beginning and an end. Moominpappa at Sea breaks up into linearity,
Moominvalley in November w a s the last M o o m i n w h e r e idyll is forever left behind, and Moomin­
n o v e l . Since then, the author has w h o l l y d e ­ valley in November depicts the total disintegra­
v o t e d herself to w r i t i n g adult fiction. H o w e v e r , tion o f childhood paradise. T h e suitability o f
m a n y o f h e r adult n o v e l s and short stories also the later novels for a y o u n g audience has often
h a v e a certain fairy-tale structure. been questioned.
W i t h a f e w exceptions, like the H o b g o b l i n ' s J a n s s o n , w h o illustrates her o w n b o o k s , has
hat in Trollkarlens hatt (1949; Finn Family Moo- also illustrated *Alice in Wonderland, fairy tales
mintroll, 1965), there is n o m a g i c in M o o m i n ­ b y Zacharias T o p e l i u s , and a vast number o f
v a l l e y , and the m a g i c , although tricky and fairy stories b y F i n n o - S w e d i s h authors. MN
unpredictable, is basically g o o d and creative, Huse, Nancy Lyman, 'Equal to Life: Tove
initiating an endless string o f enjoyable a d v e n ­ Jansson's Moomintrolls', in Priscilla A . Ord
tures. W h e n M o o m i n v a l l e y is threatened, the (ed.), Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Conference
threat does not c o m e from dark, evil forces, but of the Children's Literature Association (1982).
from natural catastrophes: a comet in Komet- ' T o v e Jansson and her Readers: No One
jakten (1946; Comet in Moominland, 1968), a Excluded', Children's Literature, 19 (1991).
v o l c a n o eruption and subsequent flood in Far- Jones, W. Glyn, Tove Jansson (1984).
Westin, Boel, Familjen i dalen. Tove Janssons
lig midsommar (1954; Moominsummer Madness,
muminvàrld (1988).
1961) o r — t y p i c a l l y N o r d i c — a n extremely
cold w i n t e r in Moominland Midwinter. JARRELL, RANDALL ( 1 9 1 4 - 6 5 ) , A m e r i c a n poet,
T h e r e are several clear-cut fairy-tale pat­ novelist, critic, and writer for children. R e ­
terns in the M o o m i n n o v e l s , such as the quest, v i e w i n g J a r r e l l ' s Selected Poems (1955), K a r l
271 JONES, DIANA W Y N N E

Shapiro remarked that the b o o k ' s subtitle tremely unusual in fairy-tale novels for chil­
should be ""Hansel and Gretel in A m e r i c a ' . J a r - dren. P l a y i n g with alternative w o r l d s enables
rell's fairy-tale poetry blends a d v o c a c y for J o n e s to discuss existential questions such as:
children with an intense interest in p s y c h o ­ W h a t is reality? Is there m o r e than one definite
analysis. T h e title of his 19 51 collection The truth? T h e recurrent idea in her n o v e l s is the
Seven-League Crutches e v o k e s the difficulty o f existence o f an infinite number o f parallel
'learning from tales' ( ' T h e Màrchen', 1948) in a w o r l d s , w h i c h m a y recall our o w n , but are dif­
post-war w o r l d w h e r e wishing no l o n g e r does ferent in essential w a y s , depending on the d e ­
much g o o d . Jarrell's poems update tales such velopment in each particular w o r l d . T h i s idea
as Andersen's ' T h e T i t t l e Mermaid', ' L a Belle is in accordance with contemporary scientific
au Bois D o r m a n t ' (""Sleeping B e a u t y ' ) , and v i e w s o f the universe. In D i a n a W y n n e J o n e s ' s
*'Cinderella', and the * G r i m m s ' tale ' T h e "'Ju­ model o f the universe, the difference between
niper T r e e ' plays a crucial role in his only w o r l d s implies that in s o m e o f them m a g i c is a
novel, Pictures from an Institution (1954). In the c o m m o n trait. In a g r o u p o f loosely connected
early 1960s Jarrell began translating the novels, Charmed Life (1977), The Magicians of
G r i m m s ' tales collected in The Golden Bird and Caprona (1980), Witch Week (1982), and The
Other Fairy Tales (1962) and those o f L u d w i g Lives of Christopher Chant (1988), our o w n real­
*Bechstein in The Rabbit Catcher (1962). Before ity is featured in the b a c k g r o u n d as a parallel
his untimely death, he went on to write his o w n w o r l d , bleak and dull, since it lacks m a g i c . T h e
children's fairy tales, The Gingerbread Rabbit w o r l d o f her n o v e l s is a combination o f m e d i ­
(1964) illustrated b y Garth Williams, The Bat- eval and modern, w h e r e m a g i c is a natural part
Poet (1964), Fly By Night (1976), and The Ani­ of the e v e r y d a y , and magical p o w e r is a skill to
mal Family (1965), all illustrated b y Maurice be developed in a child, just like languages o r
*Sendak. T h e last is a haunting and disturbing maths.
variation on motifs from Hans Christian In The Power of Three (1976) the characters
* Andersen and the G r i m m s in w h i c h a hunter are supernatural creatures w h o w o r k m a g i c b y
and a mermaid invent a family. RF incantations, can see into the future, and sense
Ferguson, Suzanne, The Poetry of Randall Jarrell danger. T h e r e are other creatures in this w o r l d ,
(i97i)- Giants, w h o eventually appear to be humans,
Flynn, Richard, Randall Jarrell and the Lost and their so-called m a g i c , w h i c h the p r o t a g o ­
World of Childhood (1990). nist admires, takes the form o f radios, cars, and
Griswold, Jerome, The Children's Books of dishwashers. T h e r e is also a m o r e traditional
Randall Jarrell (1988). m a g i c object i n v o l v e d in the story, connected
Pritchard, William, Randall Jarrell: A Literary
with a curse. T h u s J o n e s a l w a y s combines
Life (1990).
elements o f the heroic fairy tale with irony and
JONES, DIANA W Y N N E ( 1 9 3 4 - ) , British author humour. T h e device o f m a k i n g the protagonist
of more than 30 highly original fairy-tale alien is especially invigorated in Archer's Goon
novels, an indisputable innovator of the genre. (1984), w h e r e a y o u n g b o y , the central charac­
E v e n when using typical motifs like the strug­ ter o f the plot, appears in the end to be one o f
gle between g o o d and evil, journeys into alter­ the seven evil wizards striving to take o v e r the
native worlds, or time shifts, she uses quite w o r l d . T h e story is told from H o w a r d ' s point
subtle means, which turns the conventional and of v i e w , and he is facing a hard dilemma: he
well-known into something unexpected. H e r has been trying to reveal the villain, and dis­
novels are intellectually demanding, since they covers to his dismay and horror that he himself
operate with paradoxes, different dimensions, is this villain, against his k n o w l e d g e and will.
and complicated temporal and spatial struc­ In Howl's Moving Castle (1986) w e meet a
tures, but this also makes them stimulating y o u n g girl w h o is enchanted and turned into an
reading. O n e o f her favourite devices is to g i v e old w o m a n . T h i s c o m m o n motif, h o w e v e r , ac­
the protagonist magical p o w e r s , thus breaking quires a different tone since w e are g i v e n a d e ­
the traditional fairy-tale pattern in which the tailed description o f S o p h i e ' s rheumatism and
protagonist is an ordinary person assisted b y a age fatigue, w h i c h traditional fairy tales usually
magical helper. In several novels the narrative omit. Sophie is the eldest o f three sisters and
perspective lies with a witch or wizard. J o n e s therefore k n o w s that according to fairy-tale
portrays otherness, including Other W o r l d s , rules she is bound to fail. T h e story is built
from the inside, while our o w n reality b e ­ upon Sophie's and the reader's anticipation,
comes, for the protagonist, the other w o r l d . w h i c h naturally is disrupted. T h e n o v e l is set in
T h i s device, k n o w n as 'estrangement', is e x ­ the magical land o f Ingaria, and the enchanted
JONES, TERRY 272

Sophie lives in a strange m o v i n g castle b e l o n g ­ and a deep penetration of human nature. T h e r e

ing to H o w l , a powerful magician. T h e castle are n e v e r magical adventures for their o w n
d o o r opens into four different dimensions, one sake, and the traditional struggle between g o o d
of w h i c h is our o w n reality, w h e r e H o w l comes and evil is merely a background for an inner
from. In H o w l ' s childhood h o m e in W a l e s , his struggle within the character. A m o n g J o n e s ' s
nephew is p l a y i n g a computer g a m e i n v o l v i n g strengths, her portraits of y o u n g girls are
a magical castle with four doors ( D i a n a W y n n e d r a w n in a true feminist spirit. MN
J o n e s w a s a m o n g the first to use the i m a g e o f Kondratiev, Alexei, 'Tales Newly Told: A
computers in fairy-tale n o v e l s ) . She thus ques­ Column on Current Modern Fantasy', Mythlore,
tions our c o m m o n notions o f the here and n o w 19.2 (Spring 1993).
and the far a w a y , o f time and space. T h e r e are Waterstone, Ruth, 'Which Way to Encode and
all sorts o f m a g i c in the n o v e l , both g o o d and Decode Fiction', Children's Literature Association
evil, and m a n y magical creatures, both trad­ Quarterly, 16 (1991).
itional and original. Castle in the Air (1991), an
JONES, TERRY ( 1 9 4 2 - ) , W e l s h humorist and
independent sequel, is m o r e o f a magical ad­
children's author. Educated at O x f o r d , he was
venture story, inspired b y The ^Arabian Nights,
a founding m e m b e r of the c o m e d y troupe
with its v a g u e l y oriental setting and tokens
M o n t y P y t h o n ; he wrote and acted for their
such as flying carpets and génies in bottles. T h e
television series, records, and films (which he
y o u n g protagonist sets out on a quest after his
also directed). H e later collaborated with P y -
kidnapped princess and is assisted b y several
thoner Michael Palin for a B B C series and se­
helpers, all o f w h o m appear to be enchanted
quels Ripping Yarns (1977, 1979), w h o s e tall
humans.
tales w e r e later published and issued on v i d e o -
In m a n y o f D i a n a W y n n e J o n e s ' s n o v e l s ,
cassette. H e began his second career as a chil­
the struggle between g o o d and evil takes on
dren's writer with Fairy Tales (1981).
cosmic dimensions, and humans are merely
A c c o m p a n i e d b y Michael *Foreman's delight­
p a w n s in the hands of higher p o w e r s . T h i s dis­
ful watercolours, their refreshing humour and
turbing idea, most explicit in The Homeward
inventiveness contrasts with the sombreness
Bounders (1981), Fire and Hemlock (1984), and and violence o f the traditional European fairy
Hexwood (1993), is often counterbalanced b y
tale. T h e s e l o o p y tales reinvent the genre, and
reflections about Earth being the most beautiful
while some are as dark as the * G r i m m s ' , they
place in the universe. In Dogsbody (1975), the
all offer positive models for children. T h e s e
protagonist and narrator, the star Sirius, is
stories h a v e been adapted for television, issued
exiled on Earth in the form o f a d o g . T h e r e is
on vidéocassette (as East of the Moon, 1987),
thus a double perspective in the story, both the
and republished separately. His Fantastic Stor­
point o f v i e w o f a powerful deity and that o f a
ies (1993) are in the same vein. J o n e s has also
helpless, speechless animal. T h e protagonist's
updated the legend genre with the whimsically
dilemma is the usual one in J o n e s ' s b o o k s : the
didactic Saga of Erik the Viking (1983; filmed as
magician's l o y a l t y to ordinary people, the bur­
Erik the Viking, 1989). T h e irreverent Nicobo-
den and responsibility of unlimited p o w e r . In
binus (1985) followed, taking a youngster to the
her n o v e l s , to be a magician and use m a g i c is a
L a n d of D r a g o n s v i a a literary parody of 19th-
painful and laborious process with ethical i m ­
century adventure b o o k s , swashbucklers, and
plications. T h e r e are n e v e r a n y clear-cut
nonsense tales. Similarly, the 18th century's fic­
boundaries between g o o d and evil, and the
tive historicity of elaborate prefaces and sup­
readers, like the characters, are encouraged to
posed memoirs is hilariously lampooned in
take sides. T h e protagonist o f The Lives of
Lady Cottingtons Pressed Faery Book (1994,
Christopher Chant has nine lives and loses them
diary of a w o m a n w h o presses fairies instead of
one after another during his adventures in al­
flowers) and Strange Stains and Mysterious
ternative w o r l d s . T h i s recalls the structure o f
Smells: Quentin Cottingtons Journal of Faery
computer g a m e s w h i c h allows players to c o n ­
Research (1996, in which her brother preserves
tinue to p l a y the g a m e after h a v i n g 'died'. It is,
their o d o u r s ) . Both are co-written and wittily
h o w e v e r , m o r e fruitful to v i e w this motif as a
illustrated b y Brian F r o u d (Faeries), with
child's training, in his imagination, to live his
w h o m J o n e s p r e v i o u s l y w o r k e d when direct­
o w n life, to d i s c o v e r his identity. Christopher
ing J i m *Henson's film Labyrinth. MLE
learns eventually that besides their lives people
Johnson, Kim 'Howard', The First 200 Years of
also h a v e a soul, w h i c h holds all lives together. Monty Python (1989).
In all o f D i a n a W y n n e J o n e s ' s novels w e see Lesniak, James (ed.), Contemporary Authors, New
unconventional solutions, sharp observations, Revision Series, 35 (1992).
273 'JUNIPER TREE, T H E '

Olendorf, Donna (ed.), Something About the responsible for his death, remains faithful to his
Author, 67 (1992). m e m o r y , buries his bones under the juniper
Perry, George, Life of Python (1983). tree, and watches as a bird rises through mist
and fire from the g r a v e . T h e bird then sings a
JONSON, B E N ( I 5 7 2 - 1 6 3 7 ) , E n g l i s h dramatist s o n g recounting a compressed v e r s i o n o f his
k n o w n for his biting social satire. J o n s o n ' s story:
masques often contained elements o f the m a r ­
M y mother, she killed me.
vellous taken from classical m y t h o l o g y . In
M y father, he ate m e .
Lord Haddington's Masque, or The Hue and Cry
M y sister Marlene
after Cupid (1608), V e n u s descends from her
G a t h e r e d up m y bones,
star to look for her son C u p i d , w h o has united
Put them in a silken scarf,
the couple for w h o m J onson w r o t e the masque.
B u r i e d them under the juniper tree.
Oberon, the Faery Prince (1611) was written for
K e e w i t , k e e w i t , w h a t a fine bird am I .
Prince H e n r y upon his investiture as Prince o f
W a l e s and concerns Prince O b e r o n , w h o T h e bird repeats the s o n g to a goldsmith, to a
emerges from his palace the night o f a full shoemaker, and to some millers, and receives a
moon with his fairies and elves o n l y to disap­ g o l d chain, a pair o f red shoes, and a millstone
pear at daybreak. AD in return. H e then flies back to the juniper tree
and, singing his s o n g again, drops the g o l d
JORDAN, NEIL ( 1 9 5 0 - ) , Irish-born film-maker chain around his father's neck, the red shoes in
and novelist w h o s e film The Company of his sister's lap, and the millstone on his step­
Wolves (1984) adapts A n g e l a *Carter's literary mother's head. H e r e y e s and hair shoot fire, but
r e w o r k i n g o f *Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d tales. after she is crushed the brother appears in the
Using dreams and stories told within dreams, flames and s m o k e . T h e father, sister, and
J o r d a n ' s film explores the subconscious o f an brother joyfully return to the house to eat t o ­
adolescent female in order to question popular gether.
w i s d o m about sexuality, especially as transmit­ T h e tale w a s certainly w e l l k n o w n in G e r ­
ted b y fairy tales. W h i l e affirming the 'beastly' m a n - s p e a k i n g cultures l o n g before R u n g e and
side o f w o m e n , w h o are s h o w n to be equally the G r i m m s w r o t e it d o w n . B e g i n n i n g with the
capable o f being transformed into w o l v e s , the earliest versions o f Faust (1774), *Goethe has
film simultaneously challenges v i e w e r s to re­ his G r e t c h e n sing a v e r s i o n o f the bird's s o n g
flect critically not only on the p o w e r o f sexual­ in prison, strangely appropriating the v o i c e o f
ity but also on the limits o f the visual her murdered child as her o w n .
experience. DH M a n y versions o f this tale are told in cul­
tures around the w o r l d . In R u s s i a the juniper
'JUNIPER TREE, T H E ' . T h e first literary v e r s i o n o f tree b e c o m e s a birch, in E n g l a n d a rose-tree; in
the entire tale w a s written in a L o w G e r m a n E n g l a n d the murdered child is usually a g i r l .
dialect (Plattdeutsch) b y the painter Philip Otto But the motifs o f family violence and cannibal­
R u n g e , and published in A c h i m v o n * A r n i m ' s ism, o f death, retribution, and resurrection are
Journal for Hermits (Zeitung fur Einsiedler) in a l w a y s present.
1809. T h e * G r i m m s then included it in their Maurice *Sendak, R a n d a l l *Jarrell, and L o r e
first collection o f tales in 1 8 1 2 . S o m e critics S e g a l chose ' T h e J u n i p e r T r e e ' as the title tale
argue that R u n g e ' s economical yet poetic v e r ­ for their t w o - v o l u m e collection o f the G r i m m s '
sions of this tale and o f ' T h e F i s h e r and his tales (1973). Margaret * A t w o o d uses motifs
W i f e ' profoundly influenced the G r i m m s ' from the tale in her p o e m ' T h e Little Sister'
treatment o f their tales. and in s o m e o f the l e g e n d a r y folk material in
R u n g e ' s version goes like this: A mother, her 1972 n o v e l Surfacing. EWH
w h o has long wished for a child, at last b e ­
Belgrader, Michael, Das Mdrchen von dem
comes pregnant, but dies (after eating juniper
Machandelbaum (1980).
berries) as her son is born and is buried under
Tatar, Maria, 'Telling Differences: Parents vs.
the juniper tree. H e r son is mistreated and fi­ Children in "The Juniper Tree" ', in Off With
nally decapitated b y his stepmother, w h o then Their Heads! (1992).
serves his mangled b o d y to his father in a stew. Wilson, Sharon Rose, Margaret Atwood's Fairy-
His half-sister, h o w e v e r , convinced that she is Tale Sexual Politics (1993).
 ironic twist. W h e r e a s fairy-tale characters are
at home in the magical landscapes they inhabit,
K a f k a ' s blend o f the irrational and the realistic
disorientates his confused characters and alien­
ates them from the v e r y society they are trying
to join. B y inverting the classical fairy tale and
playing with its motifs, Kafka created what has
been called the anti-fairy tale, which questions
the certainties and optimism o f the classical
genre.
F o r example, the protagonist of his novel
Das Schloss (The Castle, 1926) does not pro­
KAFFETERKRE/S (Coffee C i r c l e ) , initially an e x ­ gress like the conventional fairy-tale hero from
clusively female literary salon established b y the peasant village to the castle, but remains
Gisela, A r m g a r t , and Maximilia v o n *Arnim in dislocated between these fairy-tale extremes
Berlin in 1843. T h e circle produced numerous without achieving a happy end. In ' D i e V e r -
fairy tales and fantasy p l a y s . T h e members w a n d l u n g ' ( ' T h e Metamorphosis', 1915), Kafka
w e r e daughters o f Berlin's intellectual and p o l ­ adapted the fairy-tale motif of transformation
itical aristocracy and bourgeoisie. T h e i r an­ by depicting a travelling salesman w h o has
o n y m o u s l y submitted art w o r k s and literary been transformed into a giant insect-like crea­
and musical compositions appeared in final ture. In contrast to the traditional enchanted
form in the KaffeterTeitung (Coffee Circle News). prince, h o w e v e r , K a f k a ' s middle-class anti-
T h e g r o u p also often w r o t e and performed hero experiences no conventional disenchant­
fairy-tale plays to the likes o f the Prussian ment. Instead, his o n e - w a y transformation
monarch, the Prussian Minister o f Justice, from human to 'beast' ironically frees him from
E d u a r d *Morike, Hans Christian *Andersen, life in modern society and liberates his family
and the Prussian c r o w n prince. P l a y s featured to achieve happiness without him. Kafka ex­
strong female characters like *Frau Holle, perimented with a variety o f related short
L o r e l e y , *Undine, and *Melusine. forms in his writings, including parable and
T h e Kaffeterieitung w a s lost sometime b e ­ animal fable, and these too explore the ambigu­
tween the w o r l d w a r s ; today o n l y a few drafts ities of life in the early 20th century. DH
of writings s u r v i v e in archives. O n e piece b y
Gisela v o n A r n i m , ' D i e R o s e n w o l k e ' ( ' T h e KALEVALA (1835), Finnish national epic consti­
m a v e
R o s e C l o u d ' , c.1845), ^> representative o f tuted o f popular songs, folk tales, myth, and
w o r k s b y the g r o u p . H e r literary rendition o f a fairy-tale motifs. T h e first literary version of
girl's rite o f passage, in w h i c h the girl, w h o s e some 12,000 verses w a s compiled and edited in
aunt serves as her guiding spirit, confronts her u n r h y m e d alliterative trochaic metre b y the
mother, suggests a deconstruction o f the Finnish philologist and district health officer
* G r i m m s ' model o f female maturation. V o n Elias Lônrott (1802—44), w h o w o v e the indi­
A r n i m ' s protagonist seeks intellectual rather vidual songs that he recorded in Karelia, a
than material riches. T h e Kaffeterkreis b r o k e large region on both sides of the Russo-Finnish
the ban o f silence imposed on G r i m m girls as border, into a continuous narrative. T h e se­
the virtuous path to adulthood. T h e last meet­ cond edition o f the Kalevala, published in 1849,
ing took place in 1848. SCJ was composed of 22,900 verses and based on
Jarvis, Shawn C , 'Trivial Pursuit? Women additional research b y Lônrott. Kalevala, the
Deconstructing the Grimmian Model in the abode o f K a l e v a , an obscure gigantic ancestor
Kaffeterkreis', in Donald Haase (ed.), The like the G r e e k Titans, is the mythic name of
Reception of Grimms ' Fairy Tales: Essays on Finland, and the narrative concerns the myth­
Responses, Reactions, and Revisions (1993). ical founding of the country featuring the sing­
(trans.), 'The Rose Cloud', Marvels and e r / shaman Vainamôinen, a culture hero, w h o
Tales, 11 (1997). has numerous marvellous adventures and saves
KAFKA, FRANZ (1883-1924), influential 20th- Finland from pestilence and its enemies. T h e
century G e r m a n - l a n g u a g e writer from P r a g u e . focus throughout the epic is on the heroic feats
K a f k a ' s life and w o r k s epitomize the alienated of Vainamôinen and other legendary charac­
individual in the modern w o r l d . T o portray ters such as his brother Imarinen, the great
that w o r l d in his fiction, K a f k a adapted the smith and craftsman, and, Lemminkainen, the
dreamlike conditions o f the fairy tale with an wanton ladies' man. Lônrott changed many
275 KENNEDY, PATRICK

episodes based on fairy-tale motifs such as the Alderson, Brian, E[ra Jack Keats: Artist and
beautiful maiden A i n o , w h o w a s seduced b y Picture-Book Maker (1994).
the old man V â i n a m o i n e n in a forest. H o w ­ Engel, Dean and Freedman, Florence B., E^ra
Jack Keats: A Biography with Illustrations (1995).
ever, she refuses to m a r r y such an old man,
Nikola-Lisa, W., 'Scribbles, Scrawls and
commits suicide in the sea, and b e c o m e s a
Scratches: Graphic Play as Subtext in the Picture
w o n d r o u s salmon that tantalizes V â i n a m o i n e n , Books of Ezra Jack Keats', Children's Literature
w h o catches and then loses her, causing him to in Education, 22 (1991).
seek another bride and to e n g a g e in conflict
with his brother. In Lônrott's adaptation and KEIGHTLEY, THOMAS ( 1 7 8 9 - 1 8 7 2 ) , Irish author
transformation o f the oral songs he m i x e d of The Fairy Mythology (1828). H e had earlier
Christian elements with apparent Scandinavian contributed m u c h material to T h o m a s * C r o k -
and G e r m a n i c pagan beliefs and m y t h o l o g y to er's Fairy Legends of the South ofIreland (1825).
justify the arrival o f Christianity in Finland. W h i l e C r o k e r gathered tales, K e i g h t l e y c o m ­
T h o u g h m a n y o f his changes w e r e inconsistent pared them; his b o o k is a m o n g the most signifi­
and jarring, it is this strange mixture o f super­ cant studies o f c o m p a r a t i v e folklore written in
stition, paganism, Christianity, and literature the first half o f the 19th century. Often r e ­
that makes the Kalevala such a fascinating na­ published, it w a s enjoyed for its l i v e l y retell­
tional epic. JZ ings o f fairy tales r a n g i n g from the P e r s i a n to
the D a n i s h and v a l u e d for its faithful a c k n o w ­
ledgment o f sources. In Tales and Popular
KEARY, ANNIE (1825-79), E n g l i s h writer o f Fictions (1834), Keightley showed his
children's b o o k s . T h o u g h she e n d o w e d her indebtedness to the * G r i m m s ' theory that the
w o r k s with strong didactic messages, K e a r y source o f lore w a s primitive G o t h o - G e r m a n i c
was a fine stylist and offset her moralism with religion. CGS
fanciful inventions in her stories. H e r major Dorson, Richard M., The British Folklorists
fairy-tale w o r k is Little Wanderlin and Other (1968).
Fairy Tales (1865), w h i c h combine her interest
KENNEDY, PATRICK ( 1 8 0 1 - 7 3 ) , Irish folklorist,
in natural history and religion and reveal h o w
D u b l i n bookseller, and collector and p r e s e r v e r
the imagination can be used for moral
of the v a r i e d tales o f C o u n t y W e x f o r d . A u t h o r
improvement. JZ
of the important Legendary Fictions of the Irish
Celts (1866), K e n n e d y is thought o f as one o f
KEATS, EZRA JACK ( 1 9 1 6 - 8 3 ) , celebrated A m e r i ­ the fathers o f the Irish folklore r e v i v a l and is
can writer/illustrator o f children's b o o k s . thus associated w i t h the Celtic literary renais­
L a r g e l y a self-taught painter with experience as sance. M u c h o f his early w o r k w a s o r i g i n a l l y
a muralist ( W P A ) , c o m i c - b o o k illustrator, and written for the Dublin University Magazine,
camouflage designer, K e a t s is hailed not o n l y t h o u g h he used the p s e u d o n y m o f H a r r y W h i t ­
for his artistic originality and innovation, prin­ n e y to publish Legends of Mount Leinster in
cipally his use o f collage, but also for featuring 1855. F e a r i n g that the tales he had heard as a
children o f colour as central characters. His child w e r e in the process o f b e i n g lost, he p r o ­
most acclaimed text, The Snowy Day, 1963 C a l - duced not o n l y Legendary Fictions but The
decott Medallist, w h i c h tells the story o f a Banks of the Bow (1867), The Fireside Stories of
y o u n g child's experience with s n o w , is the first Ireland (1870), and The Bardic Stories of Ireland
full-colour picture b o o k to feature a black (1871). H i s Fireside Stories are reminiscent o f
child; the b o o k has met with s o m e c o n t r o v e r s y , the * G r i m m s ' *Kinder- und Hausmdrchen (Chil­
for Keats w a s Caucasian. O f note in K e a t s ' s dren's and Household Tales) in implications o f
career is John Henry (1965), the tale o f a l a r g e r - origin; they suggest the domestic c i r c u m ­
than-life African A m e r i c a n railroad w o r k e r , stances in w h i c h folk tales w e r e told. K e n n e d y
' w h o died with his h a m m e r in his hands'. T h e did not attempt to capture the flavour o f the
illustrations h a v e been regarded as some o f original Irish stories o r the tone o f their tellers,
Keats's finest, particularly for their v i b r a n c y , n o r does he cite specific sources o r informants.
size, and consequent force. In evidence as well H e did, h o w e v e r , offer to the public a w i d e
is his collage insignia, particularly here, the range o f traditional narratives including Mdr­
marbling o f cut or torn paper. A m o n g his best chen, ghost stories, local legends, and Ossianic
illustrated fairy-tale b o o k s are Wonder Tales of heroic adventures. E s p e c i a l l y interested in the
Dogs and Cats (1955), The Little Drummer Boy witches and fairies o f Ireland, he effectively r e ­
(1968), and The King's Fountain (1971), written tells m a n y tales o f changelings and fairy a b d u c ­
by L l o y d *Alexander. SS tions. H e w a s praised b y D o u g l a s H y d e for not
KENNEDY, RICHARD 276

further adulterating G a e l i c stories, already i m ­ KERNER, JUSTINUS (1786-1862), G e r m a n poet,

paired b y their E n g l i s h idiom, and b y W i l l i a m writer, and doctor, w h o w a s one of the fore­
Butler *Yeats for p r e s e r v i n g Irish lore as a most members of the Swabian romantics.
writer rather than a scientist. CGS T h o u g h primarily k n o w n for his sentimental
lyrics and folk ballads, K e r n e r also wrote fairy
tales and stories that reflected his interest in
KENNEDY, RICHARD ( 1 9 3 2 - ) , prolific A m e r i c a n magnetism, mysticism, and clairvoyance. His
children's writer, with a keen ear for the folk- most notable fairy tale is ' G o l d e n e r ' ( ' T h e
loristic rhythms o f the l a n g u a g e , and an ironic
G o l d e n B o y ' ) , which is a variant of the
sense o f humour. M a n y o f K e n n e d y ' s literary
* G r i m m s ' *'Iron H a n s ' , and depicts h o w the
folk tales thematically i n v o k e the m i s a d v e n ­
golden b o y , w h o becomes lost in the forest,
tures in the quest for 'true l o v e ' , and the re­
eventually fulfils the prophecy of a mysterious
demptive p o w e r s o f that l o v e w h e n it is found.
l a d y and becomes k i n g of a realm that w a s his
In the 1990s K e n n e d y w r o t e a successful O r e ­
destiny. JZ
g o n production o f a musical based on Hans
Christian *Andersen's ' T h e * S n o w Q u e e n ' .
KlLWORTH, GARRY ( 1 9 4 1 - ) , English writer of
Sixteen o f K e n n e d y ' s bitter-sweet tales and
fantasy, science fiction, horror, and mystery.
novellas are collected in Richard Kennedy: Col­
K i l w o r t h ' s major w o r k in fairy tales is general­
lected Stories (1987). His mythopoeic and
ly addressed to y o u n g readers. In his collection
apocalyptic Amy's Eyes (1985), a n o v e l market­
ed for children, w a s a w a r d e d the G e r m a n R a t -
Dark Hills, Hollow Clocks (1990) Kilworth
often uses dialect and traditional folklore to re­
tenfanger ( R a t Catcher, i.e. P i e d P i p e r ) a w a r d
late stories about changelings, dragons, g o b ­
as best foreign b o o k translated in 1988. PFN
lins, and wizards. H e is most adept at crossing
Neumeyer, Peter F., 'Introducing Richard
Kennedy', Children's Literature in Education the boundaries of different genres such as the
(1984). fairy tale, m y s t e r y , and science fiction, as can
be seen in his collections for adults, Songbirds
of Pain (1984) and In the Hollow of the Deep-
KENT, JACK (1920—85), A m e r i c a n author-illus­ Sea Wave (1984). O n e o f his most innovative
trator o f h u m o r o u s fables, folk tales, r h y m e s , novels for y o u n g readers is The Phantom Piper,
and other picture b o o k s . A f t e r freelancing as a a revision of ' T h e P i e d P i p e r ' , in which the
commercial artist and cartoonist, k n o w n for adults o f a Scottish village answer the call of a
the c o m i c strip ' K i n g A r o o ' , he began to write mysterious piper and leave their children be­
and illustrate children's b o o k s in 1968. H e uses hind to run their o w n lives and eventually to
a similar technique in his b o o k s , with h e a v y confront t w o evil travellers. JZ
outline and flat colour. K e n t ' s Fables of Aesop
(1972) and More Fables of Aesop (1974) are KINDER- UND HAUSMARCHEN (Children's and
uniquely his in selection and interpretation, ap­ Household Tales, 1812—15), compiled b y J a c o b
propriate for y o u n g e r readers. K e n t retold The and W i l h e l m * G r i m m and edited b y Wilhelm
Fat Cat (1971) from a D a n i s h tale. T h e hilari­ G r i m m , is one of the most influential tale col­
ous consecutive scenes describe the cat b e c o m ­ lections in the Western w o r l d . Translated into
ing increasingly obese as he eats w h a t comes scores of languages, Children's and Household
into sight. K e n t ' s cartoon-like art makes the Tales has enriched children's literature w o r l d ­
classic folk-tale texts, frequently reduced in wide.
length and depth, accessible to the y o u n g . N e a r l y all o f the tales of v o l u m e I of the first
W h i l e K e n t retold some stories, he illustrated edition (1812) came from y o u n g acquaintances
the w o r k o f other authors, too. The *Bremen- in the G r i m m s ' bourgeois circle in Cassel and
Town Musicians (1974) and Seven at One Blow nearby towns. V o l u m e I I (1815) had a radically
(1976), based on * G r i m m s ' tales, follow a sim­ different character, its stories stamped b y the
ple plotline and introduce familiar characters in plots and diction of D o r o t h e a Viehmann, a
a w i t t y manner. H e also did a splendid b o o k tailor's w i d o w from the neighbouring village
illustration o f Hans Christian *Andersen's The of Zwehrn.
Emperor's New Clothes (1977), simplifying it for Children's and Household Tales appeared in
y o u n g e r children. Attentive to the concerns of seven L a r g e ( 1 8 1 2 - 1 5 , 1819, 1837, 1840, 1843,
parents, K e n t included only non-violent 1850, 1857) and ten 50-story Small Editions
r h y m e s for the y o u n g in Merry ^Mother Goose (1825, 1833, 1836, 1839, 1841, 1844, 1847, 1850,
(1977) and w a s careful not to introduce conflict 1853, 1858). Often adding n e w tales from pub­
into his w o r k s . KNH lished sources, occasionally substituting more
KINDER- UND HAUSMARCHEN The charming prince parts the briars on his quest to wake the enchanted
princess in E. H. Wehnert's illustration of'*Sleeping Beauty' in Household Stories Collected by the Broth
Grimm (c.1900), the English edition of Kinder- und Hausmdrchen.
KiNCSLEY, CHARLES 278

authentic versions, and constantly smoothing tales metaphorically represented universal

their literary style, W i l h e l m set an internation­ stages o f children's psychological maturation.
al standard for fairy tales, the Gattung Grimm RBB
(Grimm genre). Bastian, Ulrike, Die 'Kinder- und Hausmdrchen'
Within G e r m a n y Children's and Household der Briider Grimm in der literaturpddagogischen
Tales w a s also published as popular poster- Diskussion des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts (1981).
Hennig, Dieter, and Lauer, Bernhard (eds.), Die
sized Bilderbogen (broadsides). Single-text edi­
Briider Grimm. Dokumente ihres Lebens und
tions, such as *'Hansel u n d G r e t e l ' appeared
Wirkens (1985).
early, as did illegal pirated editions o f the Small McGlathery, James, Grimms' Fairy Tales: A
Edition. I n addition, other tale collectors fre­ History of Criticism on a Popular Classic (1993).
quently incorporated the G r i m m s ' tales into Rôlleke, Heinz, Die Mdrchen der Briider Grimm
their o w n w o r k s . F r o m the early 19th century, (1985).
Children's and Household Tales attracted the
interest o f the w o r l d ' s principal illustrators o f KINGSLEY, CHARLES ( 1 8 1 9 - 7 5 ) , English novel­
children's literature. ist, A n g l i c a n c l e r g y m a n , and author o f The
T h e publishing history o f Children's and Water-Babies (1863), one o f the most cele­
Household Tales falls into t w o clearly demar­ brated Victorian fantasies for children. S u b ­
cated segments. D u r i n g nearly the w h o l e o f the titled 'a fairy tale for a land-baby', it is a
19th century (1806-93) the Tales continued curious but v i v a c i o u s jumble o f moral instruc­
under the legal control o f J a c o b and W i l h e l m tion, scientific fact, pronouncements on the na­
and, after their deaths, o f W i l h e l m ' s son H e r ­ ture o f scientific thought and D a r w i n ' s theory
mann. T h e family marketed the Tales conser­ of evolution, references to forgotten m i d - V i c ­
v a t i v e l y , in complete editions, whether L a r g e torian controversies, and choleric outbursts o f
o r S m a l l , and apparently without offering prejudice on topics ranging from 'frowzy
cheaply printed editions for mass consumption. m o n k s ' to the absurd n e w fashion o f dining at
W h e n copyright lapsed in 1893, 30 y e a r s after eight. Brian A l d e r s o n has pointed out h o w
J a c o b ' s death, an explosive increase in the much the b o o k o w e s to Rabelais, greatly ad­
number and kinds o f editions followed. T h i s mired b y K i n g s l e y , not just with the famous
w a v e o f printings, in addition to the tales' his­ w o r d lists, but also with the deliberate digres­
torical inclusion in school readers in the sions and the satiric fantasy. A striking e x ­
preceding decades, brought Children's ample o f the latter is the fable o f the
and Household Tales into the 20th century on D o a s y o u l i k e s which puts evolution into re­
a crest that remained high till a generation verse.
ago. It has a l w a y s been a perplexing story. T h e
T h e history o f publishing and reading in dedication to his y o u n g e s t son Grenville is fol­
G e r m a n y reveals that a flood o f fairy-tale l o w e d b y the couplet ' C o m e read me m y rid­
b o o k s (Marchenbiicher) had inundated G e r m a ­ dle, each g o o d little man: | I f y o u cannot read
ny's w o m e n readers from the late 1700s o n ­ it, no g r o w n - u p folk can.' K i n g s l e y gives the
w a r d , and, in fact, most o f the tales the G r i m m s same w e i g h t to his vehement arguments that
collected in the early y e a r s h a v e been identified water-babies are a fact as he does to his d e­
in published sources. In all probability, there­ scriptions o f natural phenomena, like the
fore, the G r i m m s ' early informants' tales d e ­ hatching o f a dragonfly. W h i l e his enthusiasm
rived not from the folk but either directly o r for the w o n d e r s o f nature is one o f the most
indirectly from printed b o o k s . In the 19th and attractive features o f the b o o k , the most coher­
20th century, h o w e v e r , widespread belief in ent section and the best-remembered n o w is
unbroken chains o f oral transmission, reaching the first, w h e r e T o m , a little chimney sweep,
from the present to antiquity, made critics g o e s with his master to sweep the chimneys of
ascribe the tales' simple and simplified plots to H a r t h o v e r Place. H e loses his w a y in the maze
the 'childhood o f m a n ' and v i e w them as the of flues, and comes d o w n into the bedroom o f a
folk equivalent o f ancient G r e e k m y t h . N a t i o n ­ little girl named Ellie. Here for the first time he
alists o f the 19th century exploited this a p ­ sees himself in a l o o k i n g - g l a s s — ' a little black
proach to posit a continuous link between the ape', and is horrified at the contrast between
fragmented 19th-century G e r m a n nation and himself and the white purity o f Ellie. Pursued
its medieval past. Much o f the influence exerted o v e r the moors, he finally scrambles d o w n a
by Children's and Household Tales in the 20th cliff face and seems to d r o w n in the stream
century stemmed from a related conviction b e l o w . But the reader k n o w s that he has b e ­
a m o n g psychologists and educators that the come a water-baby. A t this point the narrative
279 KORCZAK, JANUSZ

becomes chaotic. It might seem that T o m ' s cratic R e p u b l i c , K i r s c h studied b i o l o g y at Halle

trials and travels are a spiritual p i l g r i m a g e , and and literature at the J o h a n n e s R . B e c h e r Insti­
that the t w o fairies Mrs B e d o n e b y a s y o u d i d and tute for Literature in L e i p z i g . In 1977 she emi­
Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby (representing grated to W e s t G e r m a n y , w h e r e she continued
L a w and L o v e ? ) are preparing him for h e a v e n , to w o r k as a freelance writer. K i r s c h also w r o t e
but it could also be taken as an a l l e g o r y o f e v o ­ the texts for a n u m b e r o f illustrated children's
lution, or a plea for reverence for nature (a fa­ b o o k s , a m o n g them t w o retellings o f G r i m m
vourite topic with K i n g s l e y ) , w h i l e at least t w o fairy tales: Hansel und Gretel (1972) and Hans
critics have suggested that it is a masturbation mein Igel (Hans my Hedgehog, 1980). F a i r y - t a l e
fable. N o r does K i n g s l e y help b y telling his motifs also frequently feature in her prose and
readers to remember 'that this is all a fairy tale, poetry, as in Allerlei-Rauh (1988), w h i c h in­
and all fun and pretence; and, therefore, y o u cludes a m o d e r n v e r s i o n o f ' M a n y p e l t s ' . CS
are not to believe a w o r d o f it, e v e n if it is true'.
K i n g s l e y ' s retellings o f G r e e k myths, The KlSMET, v i s u a l l y spectacular s h o w with a score
Heroes (1856), subtitled ' G r e e k fairy tales for based on the music o f the R u s s i a n c o m p o s e r
my children', is far m o r e straightforward. It A l e x a n d e r B o r o d i n ( 1 8 3 3 - 8 7 ) . T h e writers
was written as a corrective to Nathaniel "'Haw­ G e o r g e F o r r e s t and R o b e r t W r i g h t created
thorne's Tanglewood Tales (1853), w h i c h he their o w n lyrics, h a v i n g founded their musical
found 'distressingly v u l g a r ' , and w h i c h un­ on E d w a r d K n o b l o c k ' s Kismet o f 1 9 1 1 . Kismet
doubtedly falsified the originals. ' N o o n e ' , the musical opened at the Ziegfeld T h e a t r e ,
wrote R o g e r L a n c e l y n *Green in Tellers of N e w Y o r k in 1953, a c h i e v i n g a first run o f o v e r
Tales (1946), 'has caught the m a g i c and the 500 performances. Its *Arabian N i g h t s setting
music and the w o n d e r of the old G r e e k legends follows the adventures o f H a j j , a public poet
as K i n g s l e y did.' GA w h o , in the space o f an adventurous 24 hours,
Alderson, Brian (ed.), The Water-Babies (1995). ascends from his l o w l y and disreputable p o s ­
Chitty, Susan, The Beast and the Monk (1974). ition to a place o f high influence with the C a ­
Cunningham, Valentine, 'Soiled Fairy: The liph in B a g h d a d . TH
Water-Babies in its Time', Essays in Criticism,
35.2 (1985).
KNATCHBULL-HUGESSEN, EDWARD, FIRST BARON
Leavis, Q. D . , 'The Water-Babies', Children's
BRABOURNE ( 1 8 2 9 - 9 3 ) , E n g l i s h politician, m a n
Literature in Education, 23 (winter 1976).
Manlove, C. N., 'Charles Kingsley and the of letters, and author o f 15 b o o k s o f fairy tales
Water-Babies', in Modern Fantasy: Five Studies for children, in w h i c h , the Dictionary of Nation­
(1975)- al Biography declared, 'he failed to distinguish
h i m s e l f . H i s first b o o k , Tales for my Children,
appeared in 1869, his last, Friends and Foes from
KIPLING, RUDYARD (1865—1936), English Fairy-Land, in 1885. His stories are s l o w - p a c e d
author, used P u c k to introduce the characters and v e r b o s e , often macabre and sometimes
from the past in Puck of Pook's Hill (1906) and sadistic; in Crackers for Christmas (1870) he re­
Rewards and Fairies (1910). T w o children, D a n fers to criticism e v o k e d b y ' P u s s y - C a t M e w ' in
and U n a , are acting scenes from A Midsummer the p r e v i o u s v o l u m e , w i t h its description o f an
Night's Dream in a fairy ring on M i d s u m m e r ' s o g r e preparing human meat. ' T h e P i g - f a c e d
E v e , w h e n they find they h a v e conjured up ' a Q u e e n ' (Queer Folk, 1874) is a s a v a g e attack on
small, b r o w n , broad-shouldered, pointy-eared feminism. GA
person'. H e is the last o f the O l d T h i n g s w h o
once w e r e pagan g o d s and then became the KORCZAK, JANUSZ ( p s e u d o n y m o f the P o l i s h
People of the Hills; he is contemptuous o f the writer and educator H e n r y k Goldszmidt,
w o r d ' f a i r y ' — ' l i t t l e buzz-flies with butterfly 1 8 7 8 - 1 9 4 2 ) , author o f the Utopian fairy-tale
wings and gauze petticoats'. In the succeeding n o v e l Krôl Macuis I (1923; King Matt the First,
stories he produces for the children people w h o 1986). H e w a s the director o f an orphanage in
have lived in their part o f Sussex, and in ' D y m - the W a r s a w ghetto and voluntarily f o l l o w e d
church Flit' tells them h o w the Reformation the children into the g a s chambers o f the c o n ­
frightened the last fairies ('Pharisees') out o f centration camp at T r e b l i n k a .
England. GA T h e n o v e l is set in a fictional E u r o p e a n
k i n g d o m . Little Matt is 6 y e a r s old w h e n his
father the k i n g dies and Matt b e c o m e s k i n g . In
KlRSCH, SARAH (1935— ) , G e r m a n writer and an adventurous plot, reminiscent o f The Prince
lyric poet. B o r n in the former G e r m a n D e m o ­ and the Pauper, Matt runs a w a y and learns
KNATCHBULL-HUCESSEN, EDWARD, FIRST BARON BRABOURNE Little Charlie is entranced by a magical world
in 'Charlie and the Elves' in Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen's Moonshine (1871), illustrated by William
Brunton.
28l KREDEL, FRITZ

about the real needs of his people. He tries to danger and comes to rescue her. The series was
be a just and generous ruler and to provide for given little chance of success, but achieved a
the children of his country. However, his re­ surprising degree of 'cult' popularity, particu­
forms fail, mostly owing to his inexperience larly among women viewers, who fell in love
and idealism, and the betrayal of adults. After a with Vincent, fangs and all. SR
long series of adventures and trials, Matt is de­
feated in a war, captured by the neighbouring KOTZWINKLE, WILLIAM E . ( 1 9 3 8 - ) , American
king, and exiled to a desert island. writer of fantasy, who often incorporates fairy­
Korczak's fairy tale is based on his firm be­ tale motifs in such works as Fata Morgana
lief in children's rights as well as his profound (1977) and Herr Nightingale and the Satin
knowledge of their psychological needs. How­ Woman (1978). Kotzwinkle also wrote the
ever, the pessimistic ending of the novel leaves novels on which the films E.T.— The Extra
no illusions as to the possibility of the fulfil­ Terrestrial (1982) and Superman / / / ( 1 9 8 3 ) were
ment of his ideals. There are no magical or based. His fairy tales for children have been
supernatural elements in the novel, but most collected in The Oldest Man and Other Timeless
episodes are built up as a typical fairy-tale Stories (1971) and introduce conventional char­
quest, and the heroic character of the young acters into mysterious situations. Thus in
king is emphasized. This is an inverted *Little 'Hearts of Wood' a troll uses magic to make a
Tom-Thumb plot in which the child character, carousel come alive, and in ' T h e Dream of
his wits and sincere wishes notwithstandning, Chuang' a butterfly catcher dreams he becomes
is unable to defeat the ogres. MN a butterfly but also comes to think he may be a
Bettelheim, Bruno, Introduction to Janusz butterfly who dreams he is a man. Nothing is
Korczak, King Matt the First (1986). ever certain in Kotzwinkle's tales, as he dem­
Lypp, Maria, 'Kindheit als Thema des onstrates in 'The Fairy K i n g ' , who leaves his
Kinderbuchs. Die Metapher des kindlichen throne empty for anyone to become king. J Z
Kônig bei Janusz Korczak', Wirkendes Wort, 3
(1986).
KREDEL, FRITZ (1900-73), popular woodcutter
KOSER-MlCHAELS, RUTH (1896-1968) and and illustrator born in Michelstadt-im-Oden-
KOSER, MARTIN (1903—71), German illustra­ wald, Germany. He attended the Real Gymna­
tors, who produced charming illustrations for sium, entered the military, was apprenticed to a
fairy-tale editions of Jacob and Wilhelm pharmacist, and cared for horses in Pomerania
*Grimm (1937), Hans Christian *Andersen before his family finally permitted him to enter
(1938), Aldelbert von *Chamisso (1938), W i l ­ art school. He studied under the master illus­
helm *Hauff (1939), Ludwig *Bechstein (1940), trator Rudolf Koch at the Kunstgewerbeschule
and Hans Friedrich Blunck (1942). Through in Offenbach-am-Main. Koch encouraged him
detailed ink drawings and bright aquarelles to become a woodcutter, and the left-handed
they produced lovable folk characters and cosy Kredel taught himself to cut 'on the plank' by
scenes that have a quaint quality, and their il­ using discards from the neighbouring Kling-
lustrated books have remained popular up to spor Typefoundry. Their first collaboration
the present. JZ was a compendium of liturgical and craft sym­
bols called Das Zeichenhuch (A Book of Signs,
KOSLOW, R O N ( 1 9 4 7 - ) , American television 1923), for which Kredel cut Koch's illustra­
writer and producer. Koslow was responsible tions. By the time they had finished the incom­
for *Beauty and the Beast (1987-90), a dramatic parable Das Bliimenbuch (The Book of Flowers,
fantasy series inspired by Jean *Cocteau's 1945 1930), Kredel was an acknowledged master at
film version of the fairy tale. 'Beauty' is Cathe­ cutting smooth, delicate lines. A huge wall map
rine (played by Linda Hamilton), a young law­ of Germany, printed from joined woodblocks,
yer who works for New York City's District lithographed and then hand-coloured, was an­
Attorney. Attacked and left for dead one night other collaboration—but the Hitler regime
in Central Park, she is found by 'the had the 1933 prints recalled for undisclosed
Beast'—Vincent, a man with a lion's face (Ron reasons. At that time, violence was erupting
Perlman)—who carries her to his home in the between the Nazis and the Communists at the
hidden tunnels beneath the city and nurses her studios of the Offenbacher Werkstatt. After
back to health. The two form a telepathic bond the death of Koch, who had long acted as a
that deepens into a profound but hopeless love; buffer between the opposing groups, politics
although neither can live in the other's world, forced Kredel to flee to Austria, and then to the
Vincent always knows when Catherine is in United States. He arrived in 1938 to find that
KREIDOLF, ERNST 282

A m e r i c a n b o o k illustration had already been intricate decoration. Other important w o r k s

influenced b y his Fairy Tales by the Brothers include: Der Gartentraum (The Garden Dream,
*Grimm (1931). T h e s e hand-coloured w o o d ­ 1 9 1 1 ) , Alpenblumenmdrchen (Alp Flower Fairy
cuts h a v e a l i v e l y airiness that he w o u l d later Tales, 1922), Ein Wintermdrchen (A Winter
capture in pen d r a w i n g s with w a t e r c o l o u r w a s h Fairy Tale, 1924), and Bei Gnomen und Elfen
for w o r k s such as Baron Munchausen's Adven­ (With Gnomes and Elves, 1928). JZ
tures (1950). Quite different are his linear
w o o d c u t s for the Decameron (1940) and Aucas- KRESS, NANCY ( 1 9 4 8 - ) , A m e r i c a n writer of
sin and Nicolette (1957), w h o s e medieval fla­ science fiction and fantasy, w h o uses many
v o u r reflect the Florentine chapbooks that he fairy-tale motifs in her w o r k s . H e r three fan­
deemed the height o f the decorated b o o k . tasy n o v e l s , The Prince of Morning Bells (1981),
K r e d e l b e c a m e a U S citizen, taught at C o o p ­ The Golden Grove (1984), and The White Pipes
er U n i o n A r t S c h o o l ( 1 9 4 0 - 2 ) , and illustrated (1985), deal with gender issues, magical trans­
a n u m b e r o f popular w o r k s characterized b y an formation and the p o w e r o f story to change
economical, caricature-like line and flowing people's lives, often in disturbing w a y s . JZ
spontaneity. In addition to his o w n b o o k s
about soldiers, puppets, and folk tales about his KRLiss, JAMES (1926-97), G e r m a n author o f
native O d e n w a l d , he illustrated the classic children's and picture b o o k s , illustrator, poet,
Slovenly Peter (Der Struwwelpeter, 1936), m o r e dramatist, scriptwriter, translator, and collector
tales b y the G r i m m s (1937), *Andersen's Fairy of children's poems and folk songs. First and
Tales (1942), The Complete Andersen (1949), foremost, Kriiss is a storyteller, w h o s e fantastic
*Pinocchio (1946), Tales of Aesop (1947), and and whimsical tales are deeply rooted in folk­
Fables of a Jewish Aesop (1966). K r e d e l also il­ tale and oral storytelling tradition. M a n y o f his
lustrated a Christmas tale b y First L a d y E l e a ­ b o o k s are actually collections o f tales held to­
n o r R o o s e v e l t , and for President K e n n e d y gether b y a frame story. Such is the case with
designed the w o o d c u t o f the presidential eagle Mein Urgrossvater und ich (My Great Grand­
for the print o f his inaugural address. father and I, 1959), for which he received the
His m a n y honours include the G o l d e n D e u t s c h e r Jugendliteraturpreis ( G e r m a n Prize
Medal for B o o k Illustration (Paris, 1938), the for Children's and Y o u t h Literature), with its
S i l v e r J u b i l e e Citation o f the L i m i t e d Editions sequel Mein Urgrossvater, die Helden und ich
C l u b ( N e w Y o r k , 1954), and the G o e t h e - (My Great Grandfather, the Heroes, and I,
Plakatte and J o h a n n - H e i n r i c h W e r k - E h r u n g 1967), and with Der Leuchtturm auf den Hum-
( G e r m a n y , i960). MLE merklippen (The Lighthouse on the Lobster Cliffs,
Chappell, Warren, 'Fritz Kredel', Ga{ette of the 1956).
Grolier Club ( 1 9 7 3 ) .
Storytelling and language itself not only
Foster, Joanna, Illustrators of Children's Books:
keep the protagonists in these b o o k s enter­
1957-1966 ( 1 9 6 8 ) .
Kent, Norman, 'Fritz Kredel, Master tained, but p r o v i d e them with n e w insights and
Xylographer', American Artist (May 1 9 4 6 ) . at times the means to s u r v i v e . Stories flatten
Koch, Rudolf, Der Holischneider Friti Kredel the differences and shrink the distances be­
(1932). tween children and adults. B y w a y o f stories
Standard, Paul, 'Fritz Kredel: Artist, Kriiss can and does address his y o u n g readers
Woodcutter, Illustrator', Motif 4 ( i 9 6 0 ) . as equals. W i t h Timm Thaler oder das verkaufte
Lachen (Timm Thaler or the Sold Laughter,
KREIDOLF, ERNST ( 1 8 6 3 - 1 9 5 6 ) , S w i s s illustra­ 1962), a modern version o f the pact with the
tor, w h o d e v e l o p e d the craft o f m a k i n g picture devil, Kriiss prepared the g r o u n d for social
b o o k s into an art. K r e i d o l f produced o v e r 25 criticism in childen's literature. W i t h T i m m ,
illustrated b o o k s for children during his life­ w h o sells his laughter to the devil, Kriiss crit­
time and g e n e r a l l y w r o t e the text, c o n c e i v e d icizes the g r o w i n g materialism and consumer­
the total design, and prepared the script, type, ism o f G e r m a n y ' s economic miracle years.
and binding. H e w a s strongly influenced b y the Kriiss received the Hans Christian Andersen
w o r k o f W i l l i a m *Morris and W a l t e r *Crane as Medal for his b o d y o f w o r k in 1968. EMM
w e l l as the Jugendstil m o v e m e n t . H i s v e r y first Doderer, Klaus, Zwischen Triimmern und
b o o k , Blumen-Mdrchen (Flower Fairy Tales, JVohlstand. Literatur der Jugend 1945—1960
1898), w a s representative o f all the w o r k that (1988).

he w a s to produce throughout his career. T h e

characteristic features included idyllic settings, KUBIN ALFRED (1877-1959), Austrian author
anthropomorphized plants and animals, and and illustrator. His disturbing art with its
28 3
KUSHNER, ELLEN

Bosch-like grotesques is said to reflect the D e m o c r a t i c R e p u b l i c , w h e r e he l i v e d and

search for meaning amid contemporary social, w o r k e d as a freelance w r i t e r until his e m i g r a ­
technological, and political upheavals. H e w a s tion to W e s t G e r m a n y in 1977. H i s prose and
fascinated b y dreams and the subconscious in poetry h a v e been translated into 30 l a n g u a g e s .
both his verbal and his visual art, detailed in H e also w r o t e several children's b o o k s , a m o n g
Die andere Seite (The Other Side, 1909). H e il­ them the fairy-tale collection Der Lowe Leopold
lustrated a w o r k about Munchausen's a d v e n ­ (The Lion Leopold, 1970), including a sequel to
tures and numerous fantastic tales b y H o n o r é * ' S n o w W h i t e ' , in w h i c h he p r o v i d e s a differ­
de Balzac, E d g a r A l l a n P o e , and E . T . A . ent ending for the w i c k e d stepmother, and the
•Hoffmann. MLE fairy-tale v o l u m e Eine stadtbekannte Geschichte
Kallir, Jane, Alfred Kubin: Visions from the Other (A Story Known All Over Town, 1982). CS
Side ( c . 1 9 8 3 ) .
Rhein, Phillip H., The Verbal and Visual Art of KURZ, ISOLDE ( 1 8 5 3 - 1 9 4 4 ) , G e r m a n writer and
Alfred Kubin ( 1 9 8 9 ) .
translator. She explored religious and p h i l o ­
Raabe, Paul, Alfred Kubin ( 1 9 7 7 ) .
sophical ideas in her three v o l u m e s o f fairy
KUMIN, MAXINE (1925— ) , A m e r i c a n poet, n o v ­ tales, Phantasieen [sic] und Màrchen (Fantasies
elist, and essayist. K u m i n advised her close and Fairy Tales, 1890), Zwei Màrchen (Two
friend A n n e *Sexton on Transformations and Fairy Tales, 1914), Die goldenen Tràume (Gold­
also occasionally experimented herself with en Dreams, 1929). T h e story ' D e r g e b o r g t e
fairy-tale motifs. P o e m s like ' C h a n g i n g the Heiligenschein' ( ' T h e B o r r o w e d H a l o ' ) gently
Children' and ' S e e i n g the B o n e s ' in her 1978 satirizes Christianity, w h i l e ' V o m L e u c h t k â f e r '
v o l u m e Retrieval System dwell on * G r i m m - l i k e ( ' T h e G l o w - W o r m ' ) is a bitter-sweet tale o f
spells and metamorphoses. ' T h e A r c h a e o l o g y l o v e and reincarnation: a shooting star is turned
of a M a r r i a g e ' , also in that v o l u m e , is the sar­ into a g l o w - w o r m w h o falls in l o v e with a firefly
donic story o f a 50-ish suburban *Sleeping but dies o n l y to be reborn as a human child.
Beauty w h o suddenly w a k e s to contemplate R e c o g n i z i n g the b a b y ' s grief, the narrator finds
her 'Planned A c r e s C o t t a g e ' , her husband, and the firefly and g i v e s it to the child. KS
her long marriage: ' W h y . . . should a n y |
twentieth-century w o m a n | h a v e to lie d o w n at KUSHNER, ELLEN ( 1 9 5 5 - ) , A m e r i c a n w r i t e r o f
the prick o f | a spindle etcetera etcetera'. fantasy n o v e l s for children and adults. K u s h -
EWH ner's first n o v e l , Swordspoint, m a k e s deft use
of the l a n g u a g e o f fairy tales to relate a m e l o ­
KUNERT, GUNTER (1929— ) , w h o w a s recognized
drama o f manners, concerning a s w o r d s m a n
at one time as one o f the leading poets o f East
and his male p a r a m o u r in the i m a g i n a r y city o f
G e r m a n y . Kunert also d e v e l o p e d a unique tal­
R i v e r s i d e . W i t h her second n o v e l , Thomas the
ent as a prose writer w h o uses concrete and
Rhymer (1990), K u s h n e r turns directly to folk­
striking images in succinct, terse narratives.
lore themes in an impressive retelling o f this
A m o n g his best w o r k s are Tageswerke (Day's
Scottish B o r d e r ballad and fairy tale. T h e n o v e l
Works, 1961), Die Beerdigung findet nicht statt
closely follows the plot o f the traditional tale: a
(The Funeral Does Not Take Place, 1968), Tag-
talented y o u n g harper is seduced b y the Q u e e n
trdume (Daydreams, 1972), Die geheime Biblio-
of F a e r y and w i l l i n g l y agrees to seven y e a r s o f
thek (The Secret Library, 1973), Der andere
service in her court. S e v e r a l things m a k e
Planet (The Other Planet, 1974), and Lesearten
K u s h n e r ' s rendition o f this familiar tale dis­
(Ways of Reading, 1987). T h o u g h he lived in
tinctive. O n e is her prose, as exquisitely m u s i c ­
East G e r m a n y until 1977, K u n e r t ' s w o r k s h a v e
al as a harper's s o n g . S e c o n d l y , she d r a w s u p o n
always been received well in both parts o f G e r ­
a wealth o f traditional ballads to tell her story,
many and continue to h a v e success in reunified
ingeniously incorporating elements o f ' J a c k
G e r m a n y . H e has often experimented with
Orion', ' T h e Famous Flower of Serving Men',
fairy tales in his w o r k and e n d o w e d them with
' T a m L i n ' , ' T h e Unquiet G r a v e ' , and m a n y
subtle social and political meanings. F o r in­
others into the n o v e l . T h i r d l y , she invests the
stance in his version ' D o r n r ô s c h e n ' (*'Sleeping
story w i t h a delicious sensuality in the lush d e ­
B e a u t y ' ) he alludes to the hedge as the Berlin
scriptions o f the faery court, and the c o m p l e x ,
W a l l that conceals not a Utopian socialist soci­
enigmatic relationship between T h o m a s and
ety in the figure o f the sleeping princess but a
his Q u e e n . F i n a l l y , K u s h n e r is too fine a w r i t e r
snoring trollop. JZ
not to k n o w that the best fantasy n o v e l s are
KUNZE, REINER ( 1 9 3 3 - ) , G e r m a n writer and ones w e can read on t w o levels at once. H e r
lyric poet. H e w a s born in the former G e r m a n n o v e l entertains and enchants as w e follow the
KYBER, MANFRED 284

harper 'into the w o o d s ' — b u t K u s h n e r is also tale w o r k s include: Drei Waldmdrchen {Three
exploring a theme relevant to all creative art­ Sylvan Fairy Tales, 1903), Der Konigsgaukler,
ists: the story o f a man w h o follows his muse to ein indisches Mdrchen (The King's Magician, an
the point o f d a n g e r — a n d b e y o n d . TW Indian Tale, 1921), Marchen (1921), Der Maus-
ball und andere Tiermdrchen (The Mice's Ball
KYBER, MANFRED ( 1 8 8 0 - 1 9 3 3 ) , G e r m a n writer, and Other Animal Tales, 1927), Puppenspiel,
theatre critic and editor. H e w a s deeply influ­ Neue Marchen (Puppet Theatre: New Fairy
enced b y R u d o l f Steiner, and anthroposophic Tales, 1928), Das wandernde Seelchen, Der Tod
ideas are evident in all his w o r k but especially und das kleine Mddchen, and Zwei Mdrchenspiele
in his extremely popular fairy tales, w h i c h he ( The Little Wandering Soul, Death and the Lit­
saw as the reality o f another w o r l d . His fairy­ tle Girl, and Two Fairy Tale Plays, 1920). K S
LADA, JOSEF (1887-1957), C z e c h writer and il-
lustrator, best k n o w n for his illustrations for
Soldier Schwejk (1924) b y J a r o s l a v H a s e k . H i s
In-and-outside Tales (1939) and follow-up
Naughty Tales (1946) are collections o f frac-
tured fairy tales p a r o d y i n g famous C z e c h folk
tales. About the Cunning Uncle Fox (1937) is a
parody o f R e y n a r d the F o x , set in the contem-
porary Czech countryside. Purrkin the Talking
Cat (1934—6) is an original fairy-tale story fea-
turing an intelligent pet. L a d a illustrated all his
books himself. His illustrations are inspired b y
the style o f caricature, as he w a s a gifted car- consent, w a s annulled b y her father-in-law;
toonist. H e also illustrated m a n y collections o f and she w a s exiled for a time to a convent for
traditional folk tales. In 1947 he w a s a w a r d e d c o m p o s i n g impious Noels. T h i s period o f exile
the title o f 'National Artist'. MN w a s particularly p r o d u c t i v e , for during it she
w r o t e several historical n o v e l s and a v o l u m e o f
LADY OF THE SLIPPER, THE, the operetta c o m - fairy tales, Les Contes des contes (The Tales of
poser V i c t o r Herbert's version o f the *Cinder- the Tales, 1697).
ella story. Premiered in N e w Y o r k in 1912, the L a F o r c e ' s fairy tales are w i t t y commentar-
show is not generally counted a m o n g the c o m - ies on conventions o f n o v e l s and contes de fées
poser's great successes. Nevertheless, a c o m - of late 17th-century F r a n c e . A l t h o u g h none o f
bination o f his talent and a sumptuous them are parodie, several o f them deftly p o k e
production b y Charles D i l l i n g h a m ensured a fun at metaphorical and m y t h o l o g i c a l p o r t r a y -
run o f 232 performances. TH als o f l o v e . In ' L a Puissance d ' A m o u r ' ( ' T h e
P o w e r o f L o v e ' ) , for instance, literal flames b e -
LADY OR THE TIGER?, THE, 1888 B r o a d w a y mu- c o m e the pleasurable flames o f l o v e for both
sical b y S y d n e y Rosenfeld (libretto), J u l i u s J . hero and heroine. S u c h playfulness a l l o w s L a
L y o n s , and A d o l p h N o w a c k (music), based on F o r c e to defy the period's almost e x c l u s i v e l y
F r a n k R . *Stockton's popular 1882 magazine p s y c h o l o g i c a l representations o f l o v e with
story. Captain Sanjar and the emperor's d a u g h - physical and, sometimes, erotic descriptions.
ter are in l o v e and, their romance discovered, T h u s , in ' V e r t et b l e u ' ( ' G r e e n and B l u e ' ) , per-
he must choose between t w o doors, one c o n - haps the most daring o f her collection, the nar-
cealing a beautiful maiden to w e d and the other rator describes with delectation the heroine
a h u n g r y tiger. T h e original tale ended before bathing nude all the w h i l e e x c h a n g i n g impas-
the hero made his choice, but this musical v e r - sioned glances w i t h her v o y e u r i s t i c admirer.
sion revealed that the princess replaced the L a F o r c e ' s eight fairy tales span a w i d e range
maiden with an old hag. TSH of narrative sub-genres, including the m y t h o -
logical ('Plus Belle que fée' ( ' M o r e a B e a u t y
LA FORCE, CHARLOTTE-ROSE CAUMONT DE than a F a i r y ' ) , ' T h e P o w e r o f L o v e ' , ' T o u r b i l -
(1654—1724), French writer born to a high- lon' ( ' W h i r l w i n d ' ) , ' V e r t et b l e u ' ( ' G r e e n and
ranking noble family k n o w n for defending the B l u e ' ) , the pastoral ( ' L a B o n n e F e m m e ' ( ' T h e
Protestant cause during the W a r s o f R e l i g i o n . G o o d W o m a n ' ) , ' L e P a y s des délices' ( ' T h e
She converted to Catholicism in 1686, w h i c h C o u n t r y o f D e l i g h t s ' ) ) ; the chivalric ( ' L ' E n -
allowed her to nurture numerous connections chanteur' ( ' T h e S o r c e r e r ' ) ) ; and the folkloric
important for her subsequent career as a writer: ('Persinette'). Among her contemporary
she w a s lady-in-waiting to the D a u p h i n e , w a s writers, perhaps o n l y d ' A u l n o y w r o t e a greater
intimately acquainted with Mademoiselle ( E l i - variety o f fairy tales. Particularly n o t e w o r t h y
sabeth Charlotte, duchesse d ' O r l é a n s ) , dedi- are ' T h e S o r c e r e r ' , a retelling o f an episode in
cated several o f her novels to the princesses o f the medieval Perceval romance in w h i c h L a
Conti, and even received a pension from L o u i s F o r c e pastiches old F r e n c h (an innovation at
X I V . L i k e several other late 17th-century the time), and 'Persinette', an early literary
French w o m e n writers (notably M m e d ' * A u l - v e r s i o n o f the * G r i m m s ' m o r e famous ^ R a p u n -
n o y and M m e de *Murat), her name w a s associ- zel'. In L a F o r c e ' s 'Persinette' the heroine's
ated with several public scandals: she w a s secret marriage is revealed not b y her naïveté
k n o w n to have had l o v e affairs; her marriage, (as in ' R a p u n z e l ' ) but b y her pregnant state, and
which had been contracted without parental at the end o f their punishment it is the fairy's
LA FORCE, MLLE DE The two lovers in Mlle de la Force's 'The Good Woman' ( 1 6 9 7 ) find safety in the
woods. An illustration by Eduard Courbould published in Fairy Tales by Perrault, De Villeneuve, de
Caylus, De Lubert, De Beaumont and Others ( i 8 6 0 ) .
28 7
LAMB, CHARLES

powers and not the princess's tears that restore admitted into the Swedish Academy of Letters.
their happiness. Overall, L a Force's fairy tales She was born and lived most of her life in the
stand out among those of her fellow fairy-tale Swedish province of Varmland, famous for its
writers for their diversity, wit, and sensuality, storytelling traditions. In all her novels and
as well as their (relative) brevity. LCS short stories Lagerlôf makes use of folktales
Welch, Marcelle Maistre, 'L'Éros féminin dans and legends, weaving them into everyday sur­
les contes de fées de Mlle de la Force', Actes de roundings. Her most internationally well-
Las Vegas (1991). known book, Nils Holgerssons underbara resa
Vellenga, Carolyn, 'Rapunzel's Desire: A genom Sverige (1906—7; The Wonderful Adven­
Reading of Mlle de la Force', Merveilles et tures of Nils, 1907, The Further Adventures of
Contes, 6.1 (May 1992).
Nils, 1911), originally a geography schoolbook,
LAGERKVIST, PAR (1891-1974), Swedish Nobel has several layers of fairy-tale matter. The
Prize winner, started as an expressionist play­ frame of the book is a traditional fairy-tale plot
wright, but went on to become one of the most in which a lazy boy is punished by being trans­
famous Swedish novelists of the 20th century. formed into a midget and must improve in
Dvdrgen (The Dwarf, 1944) and Barabbas order to become human again. His journey
(1950) are parables of the modern human with the wild geese borrows many traits from
being's moral and religious dilemmas. the animal tale, notably Reynard the Fox, and
In Onda sagor (1924, included in The Mar­ from Rudyard *Kipling's The Jungle Book. Like
riage Feast), Lagerkvist uses the form of the a folk-tale hero, Nils is able to understand ani­
parable and tends to give the folk tale a nasty mal language when he is enchanted, and he ac­
intertextual twist. One text is tellingly called quires both friends and enemies in the animal
'Prinsessan och hela riket' ('The Princess and realm. He is significantly nicknamed *Little
All the Kingdom'), and makes the point that Tom Thumb, and in many of his adventures
life continues in all its complexity and ambigu­ performs the function of the so-called culture
ity after the formulaically happy, but shallow, hero. He also has a typical fairy-tale guide and
ending of the magic tale. mentor, the old wise goose Akka. Places which
In other texts, Lagerkvist tends to revise le­ Nils visits are described in terms of etiological
gends by giving them surprise endings, such as folk tales, explaining the origin of geographical
in 'Den onda anglen' ('The E v i l Angel'), in features of the landscape, and of uncanny local
which an angel of darkness, who hatefully an­ legends. Finally, some well-known plots are
nounces that human beings will perish, is sim­ involved, such as 'Pied Piper of Hamelin' and
ply met with the laconic response that they are the sinking of Atlantis, here both connected
perfectly aware of their mortality. In 'Kàrleken with concrete settings in Sweden.
och dôden' ('Love and Death'), a young Lagerlôf has served as a model and a source
couple walk down the street when suddenly of inspiration for Michel *Tournier. MN
Cupid appears—a brutish, hairy fellow who Edstrôm, Vivi, Selma Lagerlôf (1984).
shoots an arrow into the young man's chest. As Rahn, Suzanne, 'The Boy and the Wild Geese',
the man's blood runs in the gutter, until none is in Rediscoveries in Children's Literature (1995).
left, his sweetheart walks on unaware of what Sale, Roger, Fairy Tales and After: From Snow
White to E. B. White (1978).
has happened to him. Lagerkvist's texts play
with metaphysics and religion, but without a LAMB, CHARLES (1775-1834), British critic, es­
belief in anything beyond the present reality. sayist, and poet, also known for hosting liter­
His texts are funny, bleak, and artistically ary circles frequented by Coleridge and
well-wrought. NI Wordsworth, Leigh Hunt, William Hazlitt,
Lipman-Wulf, Barbara Susanne, 'Die and Robert Southey. Over the course of his
Zwergfiguren in Par Lagerkvists Dvargen und lifetime, Lamb cared for his sister Mary who, in
Gunter Grass' Die BlechtrommeT (Diss., State a moment of insanity, killed their mother in
University of New York—Stony Brook, 1979). 1796. Together they composed Tales from
Schwab, Gweneth B., 'Herod and Barabbas: Shakespeare (1807), prose versions of *Shake-
Lagerkvist and the Long Search', Scandinavica, speare's plays intended as an introduction to
20.1 (May 1981). the dramatist's works, with an audience of
Scobbie, Irene, 'The Origins and Development young girls in mind. He also collaborated with
of Lagerkvist's Barabbas , Scandinavian Studies, his sister on Mrs Leicester's School (1809),
55.1 (1983). another work aimed at young girls in which
LAGERLÔF, SELMA (1858-I940), Swedish novel­ several 'young ladies' relate their personal
ist, Nobel Prize winner (1909), the first woman histories.
LA MORLIÈRE, CHARLES-JACQUES-LOUIS-AUGUSTE ROCHETTE DE 288

In 1811 L a m b published t w o fairy tales in Italo * C a l v i n o , w h o writes: 'the first rule of the
v e r s e , Prince Dorus: Or, Flattery Put out of g a m e established between reader and writer is
Countenance, and *Beauty and the Beast: A that sooner or later a surprise will come; and
Rough Outside with a Gentle Heart. Prince that surprise will never be pleasant or soothing,
Dorus, a tale inspired b y ' T h e E m p e r o r ' s N e w but will h a v e the effect o f a fingernail scraping
C l o t h e s ' , tells the story o f P r i n c e D o r u s w h o , glass, or o f a hair-raising, irritating caress, or
cursed w i t h a l o n g nose, is made to believe that an association o f ideas that one w o u l d wish to
it is in fact quite beautiful b y his mother and expel from his mind as quickly as possible.'
the entire court. It is not until he o v e r c o m e s the Two representative collections are Gogol's
flattery o f others and realizes the true nature o f Wife and Other Stories (1963) and Words in
his nose that the spell is b r o k e n , and he is Commotion and Other Stories (1986). MNP
granted a beautiful nose. L a m b ' s Beauty and the
Beast closely follows M m e *Leprince de B e a u - LANG, ANDREW ( 1 8 4 4 - 1 9 1 2 ) , Scottish folklor-
mont's v e r s i o n , but L a m b g i v e s it an exotic ist, scholar, poet, and man o f letters. Ironically
twist: Beast turns out to be a Persian prince and for someone of his vast output, he is n o w re-
takes B e a u t y back to Persia at the end o f the membered mainly for his fairy tales, and for his
tale. AD F a i r y B o o k series. B o r n in Selkirk in the Scot-
tish B o r d e r s , he w a s steeped in the ballads and
L A MORLIÈRE, CHARLES-JACQUES-LOUIS-AU- legends of those parts. H e w a s sent to school in
GUSTE ROCHETTE DE ( 1 7 0 1 - 8 5 ) , F r e n c h writer. E d i n b u r g h w h e r e G r e e k , which 'for years
In addition to several n o v e l s and p l a y s , he is seemed a mere v a c u o u s terror', became a pas-
attributed with authorship o f Angola, histoire sion once he discovered H o m e r . H e studied
indienne, ouvrage sans vraisemblance {Angola, classics at St A n d r e w s University, and one of
an Indian Story and an Implausible Work, 1746). his earliest b o o k s w a s a translation of the Odys-
T h i s w o r k ' s fairy-tale plot is used to satirize sey (with S. H . Butcher), published in 1879.
w i t h considerable viciousness society life, the L a t e r he w a s to collaborate with H e n r y R i d e r
nobility, and the bourgeoisie o f 18th-century H a g g a r d in The World's Desire (1890), a r o -
P a r i s . Its critique o f the period's barriers to s o - mance chronicling the wanderings of Odysseus
cial mobility are distinctly p r e - R e v o l u t i o n a r y in search o f Helen, and the evil magic o f Meria-
in tone. LCS mun, queen o f E g y p t , w h o tries to foil him.
H e had been a comparative mythologist
LANDOLFI, TOMMASO (1908-80), Italian writer, since his y o u t h with a strong interest in anthro-
poet, p l a y w r i g h t and critic. F r o m his first p o l o g y , and his earliest statement of his anthro-
w o r k , Dialogo dei màssimi sistemi {Dialogue On pological theory w a s in an essay, ' M y t h o l o g y
Great Systems, 1937), Landolfi s h o w e d his in- and F a i r y T a l e s ' , in the Fortnightly Review
clination for paradoxical h u m o u r and g r o - (May 1873), described b y Reinach as 'the first
tesque surrealism. His ten v o l u m e s o f tales and full statement of the anthropological method
novellas reveal his remarkable talent, whether applied to the comparative study of myths'. H e
it is bent to achieve stylistic preciousness, o r to was to return to it again and again in Custom
blend together fantastic, sardonic, and surreal and Myth (1884), Myth, Ritual and Religion
elements to create a sense of anguish and o f (1887), and lengthy polemical essays in M a r g a -
l o o m i n g nightmares, as Landolfi does in Nel ret Hunt's edition of the * G r i m m s ' tales (1884),
mar dette blatte (The Sea of Cockroaches, 1939), in The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche (1887),
La spada (The Sword, 1942), and Racconto d'au- Perrault's Popular Tales (1888), and The Secret
tunno (An Autumn Story, 1947). In this last tale Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies
the author recalls the atmospheres o f the gothic (1893) b y R o b e r t K i r k , a Perthshire Presbyter-
narrative o f such writers as E . T . A . *Hoff- ian minister w h o , according to local legend,
mann, E d g a r A l l a n P o e , and B a r b e y d ' A u r e - was spirited a w a y b y the fairies after he trod on
v i l l y . Moralistic and metaphysical concerns a fairy hill.
permeate instead the science-fiction tale Can- H i s F a i r y B o o k series began in 1889 i w t n

croregina (Cancerqueen and Other Stories, 1950), The Blue Fairy Book. H e had o v e r c o m e his
w h i l e a certain didactical tendency prevails in early distaste for literary tales, and though the
his allegoric fables for y o u n g readers such as series w a s mostly to contain only traditional
La ragnatela doro (The Cobweb of Gold, 1950) folk tales, this first v o l u m e oddly included an
and II principe felice (The Happy Prince, 1950). abridged version of G u l l i v e r ' s v o y a g e to Lilli-
T h e most distinctive aspect o f Landolfi's put. T h e r e w e r e 37 tales, from M m e d'*Aul-
t a l e s — t h e s h o c k i n g e f f e c t — i s captured b y n o y , Charles *Perrault, the G r i m m s , as well as
 s
Prince C

LANG, ANDREW Prince Comical spies the sleeping king in Andrew Lang's The Princess Nobody (1884),
illustrated by Richard *Doyle.
LAST UNICORN, T H E 290

N o r s e , Scottish, and E n g l i s h stories. T h o u g h boots, a w i s h i n g cap, a m a g i c c a r p e t — i n a dire

L a n g himself had chosen the stories, nearly all e m e r g e n c y he learns their v a l u e , and eventual­
the translation and rewriting had been done b y ly wishes himself to seem no cleverer than other
others. T h i s w a s to be the case throughout the people. In contrast, P r i g i o ' s son R i c a r d o relies
series, Mrs L a n g latterly undertaking most o f too m u c h on m a g i c and has to be taught self-
reliance. Tales of a Fairy Court are further
the w o r k . The Blue Fairy Book also contained
chronicles o f P r i g i o and Pantouflia. GA
' T h e T e r r i b l e H e a d ' , a retelling b y L a n g him­
self o f the story o f Perseus and the G o r g o n . H e Burne, Glenn S., 'The Blue Fairy Book', in
did much the same w i t h ' T h e S t o r y o f S i g u r d ' Perry Nodelman (ed.), Touchstones ( 1 9 8 7 ) .
in the next v o l u m e , but did not include this sort Green, Roger Lancelyn, Andrew Lang ( 1 9 4 6 ) .
of m y t h o l o g i c a l material again in the series. Levitt, Andrew, 'Andrew Lang', in Jane
Bingham (ed.), Writers for Children ( 1 9 8 8 ) .
The Red Fairy Book followed in 1890, and the
Montenyohl, Eric, 'Andrew Lang's
Green in 1892, finishing w i t h Lilac in 1910, b y
Contributions to English Folk Narrative',
w h i c h time the tales had m o v e d from e x c l u ­
Western Folklore, 47 (1988).
s i v e l y E u r o p e a n sources to take in A f r i c a n ,
A m e r i c a n , A m e r i c a n Indian, B e r b e r , Brazilian, LAST UNICORN, THE (film: U S A , 1982), ani­
Indian, J a p a n e s e , Persian, Sudanese, and mated fable about beauty, duty, and e c o l o g y .
T u r k i s h examples. T h o u g h he had included in­ Peter B e a g l e himself adapted his 1968 'hip
vented stories b y authors such as d ' A u l n o y , T o l k i e n ' n o v e l in w h i c h a female unicorn
H a n s Christian *Andersen, and Zacharias hears that all others o f her kind, though im­
* T o p e l i u s , b y far the greater part o f the F a i r y mortal, h a v e vanished from the face o f the
B o o k s w a s d e r i v e d from traditional folklore. earth. Helped b y Schmendrick, w h o aspires to
T h e immense popularity o f the series did m u c h be a magician but initially can manage only
to r e v i v e interest in fairy tales. tricks, she sets out to find them. A t the climax,
L a n g himself w r o t e several fairy stories. His h a v i n g been turned human b y Schmendrick as
first, The Princess Nobody (1884) w a s c o m m i s ­ an escape d e v i c e , she has to make a stark moral
sioned to p r o v i d e a text for illustrations b y choice: either to rejoin her species and save
R i c h a r d * D o y l e , originally published in 1870 them from w a t e r y incarceration, or to remain
w i t h p o e m s b y W i l l i a m A l l i n g h a m . T h e most mortal and m a r r y the prince she loves. TAS
striking is The Gold ofFairnilee (1888), inspired
b y B o r d e r ballads and legends. T h e fairies here LASSWITZ, KURD ( 1 8 4 8 - 1 9 1 0 ) , G e r m a n writer,
are the s h a d o w y , feared spirits w h o seek to philosopher, and scientist. A l t h o u g h Lasswitz
steal humans, and Fairnilee is an actual ruined is considered one o f the pioneers o f science fic­
house on the T w e e d k n o w n b y L a n g as a b o y . tion in G e r m a n y , he also w r o t e experimental
R a n a l d K e r , w h o s e father has died at the battle fairy tales. In Seifenblasen: Moderne Mdrchen
of F l o d d e n F i e l d , g r o w s up 'in a country w h e r e (Soap Bubbles: Modern Fairy Tales, 1890) and
e v e r y t h i n g w a s magical and haunted; w h e r e Nie und Nimmer: Neue Màrchen (Nevermore:
fairy knights rode on the leas after dark, and New Fairy Tales, 1902) he tried to integrate
challenged m e n to battle'. His great w i s h is to ethical, political, and scientific thinking that
meet the F a i r y Q u e e n and to be taken into her b r o k e with traditional fairy-tale patterns. F o r
w o r l d , and one M i d s u m m e r ' s E v e he disap­ example, in ' T r ô p f c h e n ' ('Little D r o p ' , 1890)
pears, carried off to Elfland. H e r e he is held the 'romantic h e r o ' o f this tale is a drop of
captive, and though it charms him at first, he w a t e r that reflects critically about his bizarre
c o m e s to see it as h o l l o w and desolate. (In its encounters as he journeys through the w o r l d
account o f Elfland the story resembles D i n a h and observes injustices, exploitation, and sui­
M u l o c k ' s Alice Learmont, w h i c h it is possible cide as well as courage and l o v e . JZ
L a n g had read.) A t the end o f seven y e a r s J e a n ,
his childhood companion, succeeds in rescuing LAZARE, BERNARD (1865-1903), French writer
him. Prince Prigio (1889), Prince Ricardo of and journalist. H e is best k n o w n for his de­
Pantouflia (1893), and Tales of a Fairy Court cisive role, along with Z o l a , in the appeal o f the
(1906) are light-hearted jeux d'esprit in the D r e y f u s case and for his pioneering studies of
T h a c k e r a y manner, sometimes, especially in anti-Semitism. Written for adults, the stories in
the last o f these, v e r g i n g on the burlesque. his collection, Le Miroir des légendes (The Mir­
P r i n c e P r i g i o , cursed b y a fairy at his christen­ ror of Legends, 1892), reinterpret biblical and
i n g b y b e i n g made 'too c l e v e r ' , antagonizes all classical m y t h s , and several incorporate fairy­
around him. H a v i n g spurned the gifts b r o u g h t tale motifs. In ' L e s descendents d'Iskendar'
b y the m o r e benevolent f a i r i e s — s e v e n league ( ' T h e Descendants o f Iskender') and ' L e s
2 1
9
LEE, TANITH

Fleurs' ( ' T h e F l o w e r s ' ) , the accumulation o f animals, helpers and opponents, and is littered
enchanted beings and objects complements with allusions to fairy tales, classical m y t h ­
Lazare's evocative and richly descriptive narra­ o l o g y , and the Bible. Storytelling is pushed to
tive style. AZ an ironic self-reflective absurdity w h e n the 50
questers, captured b y an evil sorcerer, escape
LEE, TANITH (1947— ) , prolific E n g l i s h writer o f b y b o r i n g him with an utterly pointless fairy
novels, short story collections, radio p l a y s , and tale concocted b y passing the story to a n e w
television scripts. B o r n and educated in L o n ­ teller e v e r y few sentences, with each speaker
don, she had completed the manuscripts o f s e v ­ uttering 'the first things that came into his
eral b o o k s b y the time she w a s 25. Initially she head', pursuing v a r i o u s fairy-tale schemata in
was k n o w n principally as a children's writer, random w a y s .
having published The Dragon Hoard (1971), Princess Hynchatti and Some Other Surprises
Princess Hynchatti and Some Other Surprises continues in a similar v e i n o f absurdity, but
(1972), and a picture b o o k , Animal Castle n o w as 12 original fairy tales, alternately about
(1972), although her first published w o r k , The Princesses and Princes. T h e s e tales deal w i t h
Betrothed (1968), w a s a collection o f short stor­ quests s o l v e d b y ingenuity or cunning, c o m i c
ies for adults. A t 25 she began study at an art or foolish quests undertaken b y inept heroes
college, but writing remained her p r i m a r y and heroines, helpful talking animals, mali­
focus and she soon became a full-time writer. cious spells and accidental metamorphoses, and
H e r continued interest in art, especially paint­ female and male *'Cinderella' figures w h o w i n
ing, seems reflected in the powerful visual im­ happiness not b y m a g i c but b y intelligence.
agination which characterizes most o f her T h r o u g h o u t these tales, the heroes' victories
writing. H e r career in the 1970s w a s e v e n l y a l w a y s affirm particular qualities necessary for
divided between b o o k s for y o u n g readers, with their h a p p i n e s s — c o n s i d e r a t i o n for others, a l ­
nine appearing between 1971 and 1979, and truism, humility, thoughtfulness. T h e s e v a l u e s
adult fantasies. After Shon the Taken (1982), are intrinsic to L e e ' s human insight, e v e n w i t h ­
Lee had appeared to abandon children's w r i t ­ in her most macabre adult G o t h i c fantasies.
ing, but has made an impressive return with T h e adult fairy tales, a g o o d selection o f
Black Unicorn (1991) and Gold Unicorn (1994). w h i c h w e r e gathered together in Red as Blood,
L e e ' s output is diverse, but the genres w h i c h or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer (1983), are
dominate her w o r k are fairy tale, fantasy, and parables about the human p s y c h e . T h e signifi­
science fiction, often intermingled in v e r y c r e ­ cances o f the nine stories in this v o l u m e are
ative w a y s . H e r contribution to fairy tale is o f readily evident in those tales w h i c h are r e -
three main kinds: playful original stories for w o r k i n g s o f classics, that is, in ' P a i d P i p e r '
y o u n g readers, w h i c h adduce familiar c o n v e n ­ ( ' T h e P i e d P i p e r ' ) , ' R e d as B l o o d ' (*'Snow
tions for comic or parodie purposes; retellings W h i t e ' ) , ' T h o r n s ' (*'Sleeping B e a u t y ' ) , ' W h e n
for an adult audience o f classic tales, placing the C l o c k Strikes' ( ' C i n d e r e l l a ' ) , ' T h e G o l d e n
the tales in a n e w context, or g i v i n g them a R o p e ' (*'Rapunzel' ) , ' T h e Princess and her
startling n e w twist or point o f v i e w ; o r m o r e F u t u r e ' ( ' T h e * F r o g K i n g ' ) , and ' B e a u t y '
allusive uses o f k n o w n tales within other (*'Beauty and the B e a s t ' ) . H e r e the c o m e d y o f
genres, especially fantasy. H e r propensity for L e e ' s children's tales is replaced b y g r i m i r o n y ,
playing with the fairy tale is quickly evident in the blithe archaic settings b y medievalist
her first foray into the genre, The Dragon wastelands, G o t h i c ruins, and deserts o f the
Hoard. T h i s humorous n o v e l for y o u n g e r chil­ mind, and the simple conflicts b e t w e e n g o o d
dren exploits the comic potential in m a n y fairy­ and evil are teased out into a kind o f p s y c h o -
tale motifs b y a mixture o f pastiche and absurd­ machia. L e e ' s adult writings deal in almost
ity. Prince Jasleth is sent out to seek his fortune o v e r w h e l m i n g emotions, and human desires
in the hope o f alleviating a spell cast on himself are figured b y supernatural horrors and illu­
and his twin sister b y a w i c k e d witch w h o w a s minations. T h u s in the opening tale, ' P a i d
not invited to their 17th birthday party (and P i p e r ' , the P i p e r from R o b e r t B r o w n i n g ' s
w h o o f course still bore a g r u d g e o v e r being p o e m subsumes the lost g o d s o f fertility and
left out o f the christening), but discovers that ecstasy, P a n and D i o n y s u s , and the sterility
all the fairy-tale quests he expects h a v e been visited on the v i l l a g e that rejects him s y m b o l ­
performed years a g o , and the quest he finally izes the aridity o f mundane, material lives l i v e d
joins (itself a parody o f the story o f the A r g o ­ without j o y and l o v e for others. T h e tales
nauts) becomes a series o f comic adventures. evince a p e r v a s i v e desire for transcendence,
T h e novel has more than its quota o f talking but in attributing to human beings an endemic
LE G U I N , URSULA 292

propensity for evil a c k n o w l e d g e a d a n g e r that A m o n g other features o f the Earthsea books

this m a y be w o n at the cost o f humanity. E l s e ­ that recall fairy tales are the magic p o w e r o f
w h e r e , in ' B l o o d m a n t l e ' (in Forests of the Night, names and naming (as in *'Rumpelstiltskin'),
1989), a tale l o o s e l y connected with *'Little and the animal helpers: dragons w h o s e ancient
R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' , the main character r e c o g ­ w i s d o m aids the protagonists. L e G u i n has also
nizes that the ghostly w e r e w o l f she has met is written some remarkable variations on classic
stranded with 'no self to b e c o m e ' and that the fairy tales, such as ' T h e P o a c h e r ' (1996), in
human quest is 'not to find the bestial in hu­ which a peasant b o y chops his w a y through the
mankind, b u t . . . to be free o f it'. Sometimes in thorny hedge surrounding *Sleeping B e a u t y ' s
L e e ' s adult fairy tales characters meet the b e s ­ castle, but decides not to w a k e her. AL
tial, in paranormal o r supernatural forms, and Attebery, Brian, 'Gender, Fantasy, and the
are d e v o u r e d b y it. T h u s ' T h e Princess and her Authority of Tradition', Journal of the Fantastic
F u t u r e ' — i n w h i c h the creature from the well in the Arts, 7.1(25) (1996).
Hatfield, Len, 'From Master to Brother: Shifting
fulfils the ' y o u n g and handsome P r i n c e ' cliché
the Balance of Authority in Ursula K . Le Guin's
but eats his bride on their w e d d i n g d a y — c h a l ­
Farthest Shore and Tehanu , Children's Literature,
lenges banal p s y c h o a n a l y t i c readings o f ' T h e 21 (1993).
F r o g K i n g ' w h i c h assert that the frog, r e p ­ McLean, Susan, 'The Power of Women in
resenting a fear o f sexuality, will be trans­ Ursula K . Le Guin's Tehanu , Extrapolation, 38.2
formed into an ideal life partner. C o n v e r s e l y , (summer 1997).
in the science-fiction retelling o f ' B e a u t y ' the Reid, Suzanne Elizabeth, Presenting Ursula K. Le
heroine's relationship with the 'monster', w h o Guin (1997).
figures a fusion o f mind and b o d y transcending
mundane existence, lifts her a b o v e the super­
ficiality and ennui o f aimless being. LEM, STANISLAW ( 1 9 2 1 - ) , Polish writer and
C o m m o n to all o f L e e ' s fairy tales, whether philosopher, physician b y education, author of
for children o r adults, and whether they e x ­ several popular science-fiction novels and short
plore the positive or negative aspects o f human stories. H e lived in W e s t Berlin in 1980—3 and
desire, is a faith in w h a t she has elsewhere in A u s t r i a in 1983—8. His early novels, such as
called 'the rays o f human l o v e and human abil­ The Astronauts (19 51) and The Magellan Cloud
ity, that are the best o f all o f us' (author's fore­ (1953—5), are Utopian fairy tales, depicting
w o r d to Eva Fairdeath, 1994). J AS interplanetary communist paradise. L e m ' s
b e s t - k n o w n w o r k s , Eden (1959) and Solaris
LE G U I N , URSULA ( 1 9 2 9 - ) , A m e r i c a n author. (1961), also adapted for film b y A n d r e i T a r -
She is p r o b a b l y most famous for her brilliant k o v s k y , are more like contemporary existential
fantasy n o v e l s for children: A Wiiard of Earth- n o v e l s , reflecting on the essence o f human
sea (1968), The Tombs of Atuan (1971), and The civilization, possible contacts with other
Farthest Shore (1972). In 1990, 18 y e a r s later, a w o r l d s , and the problems and dilemmas o f mu­
fourth and final v o l u m e o f the story, Tehanu, tual understanding. T h e s e 'serious' novels are
appeared. deeply psychological and display the writer's
T h e Earthsea b o o k s d r a w on m a n y o f the extreme erudition and keen insight into human
conventions o f the fairy story and the quest nature.
tale. T h e y take place in an i m a g i n a r y island B y contrast, quite a number o f his novels
archipelago w h e r e m a g i c exists and is practised and stories, for instance, Robot Fairy Tales
b y both official wizards and v i l l a g e witches. In (1964) or Cyberiade (1965), are full o f humour
the first three v o l u m e s , the b o y G e d , w h o and the grotesque. Closest to traditional fairy
travels to distant lands and o v e r c o m e s both in­ tales are Star Diaries of Ijon Tichy, Space Vaga­
ternal and external obstacles to b e c o m e a fam­ bond (1957), a p a r o d y on themes, characters,
ous w i z a r d , is a central character. and stylistic clichés o f contemporary science
T h e final v o l u m e o f the series, Tehanu, as L e fiction, w h i c h d r a w s inspiration from Munch­
G u i n has said, m a r k s a shift in her v i s i o n o f the ausen and Gulliver's Travels. A m o n g L e m ' s
w o r l d a w a y from the male tradition o f heroic h u m o r o u s w o r k s are also several collections of
fantasy. H e r e , as in m a n y E u r o p e a n fairy tales, r e v i e w s and prefaces to non-existent b o o k s ,
it is w o m e n w h o h a v e supernatural ability; and such as Provocation (1984).
their m a g i c is o f a v e r y different sort. T h e e m ­ L e m has received a vast number o f national
phasis is on k n o w l e d g e , kindness, and patience, and international literary awards, including a
rather than strength and v i o l e n c e , as a w a y o f medal from the International Association of
defeating evil. Astronauts (1995). MN
 LENSKI, LOIS

Berthel, Werner (ed.), Stanislaw Lem. Der ' T h e S o r c e r e r ' s A p p r e n t i c e ' in that an appren­
dialektische Weise aus Krakow (1976). tice, A l e x i s , experiments with the m a g i c o f his
Nikolchina, Miglena, 'Love and Automata: master, L a R a n c u n e . H e r e the resemblance
From Hoffmann to Lem and from Freud to
stops, for it is metempsychosis that A l e x i s tries.
Kristeva', in Joe Sanders (ed.), Functions of the
C h a n g i n g into a m y r i a d o f forms to escape L a
Fantastic: Selected Essays from the Thirteenth
International Conference on the Fantastic in the R a n c u n e ' s w r a t h , he finally succeeds in killing
Arts (1995). his master, w h i c h frees him to m a r r y a captive
Ziegfeld, Richard E . , Stanislaw Lem (1985). princess. ' T h e T r u t h B i r d ' shares the same plot
as M m e d ' * A u l n o y ' s ' L a Princesse B e l l e - É t o i l e
LEMAÎTRE, JULES ( 1 8 5 3 - 1 9 1 4 ) , F r e n c h writer et le prince C h é r i ' . A central feature o f this
and influential theatre critic. His collection o f story is the search for identity b y three r o y a l
stories Contes blancs (White Tales, 1 9 0 0 ) in­ children w h o w e r e banished from court at birth
cludes several fairy tales, such as ' L e s A m o u ­ b y an evil queen mother. B o t h d ' A u l n o y ' s and
reux de la princesse M i m i ' ('Princess M i m i ' s L e N o b l e ' s retellings use this plot to introduce
Suitors'), in w h i c h T i t t l e T o m T h u m b and the the theme o f incest. B u t w h e r e a s d ' A u l n o y
cyclops P o l y p h e m u s compete for the hand o f m a k e s the hero and heroine fear, for a time,
*Cinderella's daughter, the e p o n y m o u s M i m i . their mutual inclination (they are raised as
T h e y o u n g narrator o f ' L e s Idées de Liette' brother and sister but are actually cousins), L e
('Lietta's Ideas') protests at the unjust endings N o b l e explores the m o r e troubling scenario o f
of some classic fairy tales. In her imaginative a father pursuing his daughter until he dis­
revisions o f *'Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' and c o v e r s w h o she is. C o m p a r e d with d ' A u l n o y ' s
""Bluebeard', the V i r g i n M a r y and J e s u s inter­ tale, L e N o b l e ' s is considerably m o r e concise
vene on behalf o f the persecuted heroines. A Z in terms o f length and style, w h i c h has led
s o m e scholars to suggest that he m a y h a v e had
LEMON, M A R K (1809-70), E n g l i s h writer and access to popular versions o f this tale. W h a t is
the first editor o f Punch. A m o n g a handful o f certain is that both o f L e N o b l e ' s tales c o m e
books for children he w r o t e t w o fairy stories, close to Perrault's attempts to combine the
described b y F . J . H a r v e y D a r t o n in Children's concision o f oral storytelling w i t h classical
Books in England (1932) as 'jocularly m o r a l ' . In F r e n c h literary style. LCS
The Enchanted Doll ( 1 8 4 9 ) , illustrated b y
Richard * D o y l e , a grasping old d o l l - m a k e r is LENSKI, LOIS ( 1 8 9 3 - 1 9 7 4 ) , A m e r i c a n illustrator
reformed b y fairy means and b y the altruistic and artist best k n o w n for her realistic regional
kindness o f the neighbour he despises. L e m o n b o o k s and her b o o k s for v e r y small children.
was a close friend o f Charles *Dickens, and E a r l y in her career, w h i c h stretched o v e r 50
characters and setting h a v e echoes o f A Christ­ y e a r s , L e n s k i illustrated five b o o k s o f fairy
mas Carol ( 1 8 4 3 ) . T h e strange story o f Tiny- tales, three edited b y V e r o n i c a Hutchinson and
kin's Transformations ( 1 8 6 9 ) describes h o w the t w o b y Kathleen A d a m s and F r a n c e s A t c h i n -
fairy queen, Titania, aids a b o y to take on v a r i ­ son. T h e style for w h i c h she b e c a m e famous
ous animal shapes and thereby gather experi­ depends on place, except for these b o o k s . S h e
ence and w i s d o m to rule o v e r a S a x o n also used c o l o u r in interesting w a y s ; her w o r k
kingdom. G A is detailed and s u g g e s t i v e , as w e l l as e c o n o m i c ­
al. H e r faces are often similar, e v e n inter­
LE NOBLE, EUSTACHE ( 1 6 4 3 - 1 7 1 1 ) , French changeable.
writer. After a tumultuous early life that in­ L e n s k i w a s born in O h i o , the fourth child o f
cluded banishment, prison, and l o v e affairs, L e a Lutheran minister w h o w a s g i v e n to ecletic
N o b l e began a prolific writing career. H e in­ interests, w h i c h ranged from raising cactii to
serted two fairy tales, ' L ' A p p r e n t i magicien' p h o t o g r a p h y . S h e attended and graduated from
( ' T h e Apprentice M a g i c i a n ' ) and ' L ' O i s e a u de O h i o State, r e c e i v i n g a B . S c . in E d u c a t i o n .
vérité' ( ' T h e T r u t h B i r d ' ) , into a collection o f L e n s k i w a s expected to b e c o m e a teacher, but
intercalated stories, Le Gage touché (The Wager found herself increasingly d r a w n to art.
Paid, 1700). L i k e his contemporaries Mile P r o m p t e d b y the head o f the A r t D e p a r t m e n t
*Lhéritier and Charles *Perrault, L e N o b l e at O h i o State, she w e n t to N e w Y o r k to study
a v o w s and idealizes the popular origins o f his at the A r t Students L e a g u e . T h e r e she met her
two fairy tales, both o f w h i c h are narrated b y lifelong friend Mabel P u g h and her future hus­
y o u n g girls w h o in turn had been told these band, A r t h u r C o v e y . E n c o u r a g e d b y P u g h ,
stories b y their governesses. T h e plot o f ' T h e L e n s k i studied for t w o y e a r s in L o n d o n at the
Apprentice Magician' resembles s o m e w h a t Westminster S c h o o l o f A r t , w h e r e she w a s
LEPRINCE DE BEAUMONT, JEANNE-MARIE

g i v e n her first b o o k commission, The Green 1741 she married M . de Beaumont, a dissolute
Faced Toad b y V e r a B i r c h , followed b y K e n - libertine, and the marriage w a s annulled after
neth * G r a h a m e ' s The Golden Age. S h e travelled t w o y e a r s . In 1745 she departed for E n g l a n d ,
and sketched in Italy, returning to the U S A to w h e r e she earned her living as a governess.
m a r r y A r t h u r C o v e y in 1921. D u r i n g her l o n g residence in L o n d o n , she
The Golden Age contains four coloured made a name for herself b y publishing short
tipped-in plates on b r o w n paper with tissue stories in magazines and producing collections
c o v e r s . T h e y feature children, the girls in of anecdotes, stories, fairy tales, commentaries,
dresses and the b o y s in sailor suits. T h e colours and essays directed at specific social and age
are solid; a blue dress is completely blue. C o l - g r o u p s , all with a strong pedantic bent. F o r in-
oured outlines are used on curtains and cloth- stance, she published a series o f pedagogical
ing. C o m p l e m e n t i n g the coloured plates are w o r k s with the following titles: Le Magasin des
black-and-white ink d r a w i n g s as chapter heads enfants (1757), Le Magasin des adolescents
and endings. S o m e , such as the decorations for (1760), Le Magasin des pauvres (1768), Le Men-
' A l a r m s and E x c u r s i o n s ' , feature d r a g o n s , tor moderne (1770), Manuel de la jeunesse
knights, castles, and princesses. T h e s e w e r e (1773), and Magasin des dévotes (1779). In 1762
precursors to the three Hutchinson b o o k s , the she returned to F r a n c e , w h e r e she continued
first, Chimney Corner Stories, appearing in the her v o l u m i n o u s production, and retired to a
United States in 1925. A l l three b o o k s are a country estate in H a u t e - S a v o i e in 1768. A m o n g
mixture o f folk and fairy stories representing her major w o r k s o f this period w e r e Mémoires
r h y m e s , p o u r q u o i tales, cumulative tales, silly de la Baronne de Batteville (1776), Contes
tales, and r e w a r d - f o r - v i r t u e tales. T h e first moraux (1774), and Œuvres mêlées (1775). B y
contains * ' C i n d e r e l l a ' , in w h i c h the fairy g o d - the time o f her death, she had written o v e r 70
mother appears as a k i n d l y witch. E a c h story books.
begins w i t h a chapter picture and a decorated Mme Leprince de Beaumont's major fairy
first letter. Candle-Light Stories and Fireside tales w e r e all published in Le Magasin des
Stories w e r e both published in 1927, each with Enfants (translated as The Young Misses'
six c o l o u r plates. T h e t w o b o o k s are c o m p o s - Magazine), w h i c h w a s designed to frame stor-
ites o f v a r i o u s kinds o f folk tales, including ies, history lessons, and moral anecdotes told
N o r t h A m e r i c a n Indian, B l a c k tales, and tall b y a g o v e r n e s s to y o u n g girls. A m o n g the fairy
tales like ' P a u l B u n y a n ' , and anticipate L e n - tales w e r e : ' L a Belle et la Bête' (*'Beauty and
ski's regional b o o k s . A l t h o u g h there is a E u r o - the B e a s t ' ) , ' L e Prince C h é r i ' ('Prince D a r -
pean peasant quality, such as w o o d e n shoes, l i n g ' ) , ' L e Prince D é s i r ' ('Prince D e s i r e ' ) , ' L e
tights on the men, patterned aprons, and odd Prince C h a r m a n t e ' ('Prince C h a r m i n g ' ) , ' L a
hats, the interiors resemble those o f N e w V e u e v e et les deux filles' ( ' T h e W i d o w and her
E n g l a n d , w h e r e L e n s k i w a s l i v i n g at the time. T w o D a u g h t e r s ' ) , ' A u r o r e et A i m é e ' , ' L e
In 1927, D o d d , M e a d published A Book of P ê c h e u r et le V o y a g e u r ' ( ' T h e Fisherman and
Princess Stories and in 1928, A Book of Enchant- the T r a v e l l e r ' ) , ' J o l i o t t e ' , and 'Bellotte et L a i -
ment. In these b o o k s L e n s k i commented that dronette'. H e r version o f ' B e a u t y and the
she could indulge her passion for the medieval Beast', w h i c h w a s based on M m e Gabrielle-
and m a k e use o f the tapestries and medieval Suzanne de *Villeneuve's longer narrative o f
costumes w h i c h she had seen in E n g l a n d and 1740, is perhaps the most famous in the w o r l d .
Italy. Most o f L e n s k i ' s w o r k w a s preceded b y H e r e Belle, the y o u n g e s t daughter o f a bank-
sketches; she recorded visits in sketchbooks, rupt merchant, is willing to sacrifice herself to a
and w h e n e v e r possible she w o r k e d from s a v a g e beast to s a v e her father. H e r conduct at
models. T h u s her characters, whether animal the beast's palace is so exemplary that she not
o r human, appear realistic e v e n if dressed in only p r o v i d e s the means to restore her father's
quaint clothing and put into fairy-tale g o o d name, but she also saves the beast from
backgrounds. LS certain death. M m e Leprince de Beaumont's
Lenski, Lois, Journey into Childhood (1972). emphasis in all her fairy tales w a s on the proper
upbringing o f y o u n g girls like Beauty, and she
LEPRINCE DE BEAUMONT, JEANNE-MARIE continually stressed industriousness, self-sacri-
(1711—80), popular F r e n c h w r i t e r o f didactic fice, modesty, and diligence in all her tales as
literature. E d u c a t e d in a convent school in the qualities y o u n g ladies and men must pos-
R o u e n , she later b e c a m e a teacher in the sess to attain happiness. A s i d e from ' B e a u t y
schools w h i c h , at that time, w e r e being de- and the B e a s t ' , several other fairy tales have
v e l o p e d for children o f all social classes. In remained somewhat popular in France and re-
LEPRINCE DE BEAUMONT, MME Beauty modestly refuses the beast's marriage proposal in Eleanor Vere
*Boyle's adaptation of Mme Leprince de Beaumont's 'Beauty and the Beast', which she also illustrated in
Beauty and the Beast: An Old Tale New-Told (1875).
LERMONTOV, MIKHAIL 296

fleet M m e L e p r i n c e de B e a u m o n t ' s major about his native Scotland, but it w a s a remark

theme: the transformation o f bestial b e h a v i o u r b y his musical collaborator, Frederick (Fritz)
into goodliness. F o r instance, ' P r i n c e D a r l i n g ' L o e w e , that inspired the story o f Brigadoon.
concerns a conceited and tyrannical prince w h o 'Faith m o v e s mountains', L o e w e had said, and
is turned into v a r i o u s animals until he resolves L e r n e r created a tale o f t w o Americans on a
to b e g o o d and gentle. ' P r i n c e D e s i r e ' depicts a hunting trip in Scotland w h o come upon the
prince w h o does not w a n t to accept the fact that magical v i l l a g e . T h e y fall in l o v e with t w o o f
he has a h u g e nose but learns that he must a c ­ the v i l l a g e girls, but at first they are not able to
cept his faults if he wants to m a r r y the Princess g i v e up their o w n w o r l d to join the village in
M i g n o n n e . M m e L e p r i n c e de B e a u m o n t w a s its 100-year sleep. After they return to N e w
one o f the first F r e n c h writers to write fairy Y o r k , h o w e v e r , the m e n realize their mistake
tales explicitly for children, and thus she kept and seek out the site o f B r i g a d o o n again. T h e r e
her l a n g u a g e and plot simple to c o n v e y h e r the p o w e r o f their l o v e brings the village back
major moral messages. T h o u g h h e r style w a s to life. T h e prominent drama critic G e o r g e
limited b y the lesson she w a n t e d to teach, she J e a n Nathan accused L e r n e r o f taking his plot
w a s careful not to destroy the m a g i c in h e r tales from a G e r m a n story, 'Germelschausen', b y
that triumphs despite h e r preaching. JZ Friedrich W i l h e l m Gerstacker, but L e r n e r al­
Clancy, Patricia, ' A French Writer and Educator w a y s maintained Brigadoon w a s his original
in England: Mme Le Prince de Beaumont', creation. W h a t e v e r the source, Brigadoon is
Studies on Voltaire, 201 (1982). characteristic o f L e r n e r ' s idyllic and romantic
Hearne, Betsy, Beauty and the Beast: Visions and approach to the A m e r i c a n musical and p r o ­
Revisions of an Old Tale (1989). duced such enduring songs as ' A l m o s t L i k e
Kempton, Adrian, 'Education and the Child in B e i n g in L o v e ' . PF
Eighteenth-Century French Fiction', Studies on
Voltaire, 124 (1974). Lees, Gene, Inventing Champagne: The Worlds of
Pauly, Rebecca M., 'Beauty and the Beast: From Lerner and Loewe.
Fable to Film', Literature/Film Quarterly, 17.2 Lerner, Alan J a y , The Street Where I Live.
(1989).
Stewart, Joan Hinde, 'Allegories of Difference: LEVESQUE, LOUISE CAVELIER (1703-45), French
An Eighteenth-Century Polemic', Romanic writer. H e r Le Prince des Aiguës marines (The
Review, 75 (May 1984). Prince of the Sea Waters) and Le Prince invisible
Wilkins, Kay S., 'Children's Literature in (The Invisible Prince), published in 1722, fea­
Eighteenth-Century France', Studies on Voltaire,
ture the more complicated plot scenarios that
176 (1979)-
w e r e to dominate 18th-century French fairy
Zipes, Jack, ' T h e Origins of the Fairy Tale', in
Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale (1994). tales. In The Invisible Prince L e v e s q u e incorp­
orates v a g u e allusions to caballistic magic in an
LERMONTOV, MIKHAIL ( 1 8 1 4 - 4 1 ) , major R u s ­ otherwise conventional plot. A n d in The Prince
sian romantic poet and writer. I n his romantic of the Sea Waters she uses the killing glance
p o e m s and ballads, such as ' T h e D e m o n ' motif both as an obstacle to the union o f t w o
( 1 8 3 0 - 4 1 ) , ' T a m a r a ' ( 1 8 4 1 ) , and ' T h e C o m b a t ' lovers and as a means o f 'civilizing' an island o f
(1841), he used motifs from folklore, mainly 'primitive' peoples. LCS
T r a n s c a u c a s i a n , w h i c h he k n e w w e l l from his
travels. A l s o , his o n l y fairy tale in p r o s e , Ashik- LEWIS, C . S . (CLIVE STAPLES, 1898—1963), British
Kerib ( 1 8 3 7 , pub. 1846) is based o n an oriental author, scholar, and popular theologian. L e w i s
folk story, with its specific poetic style and and his older brother W a r r e n , sons o f a Belfast
exotic setting. MN solicitor, enjoyed a protected middle-class
childhood w h o s e happiness and security w e r e
LERNER, A L A N JAY ( 1 9 1 8 - 8 6 ) , A m e r i c a n lyricist destroyed b y the death o f their mother from
and librettist for such B r o a d w a y musicals as cancer in 1908, followed b y a grim succession
My Fair Lady (1956) and Camelot (i960). I n of b o a r d i n g schools. After W o r l d W a r I , L e w i s
these musicals L e r n e r f o l l o w e d the practice o f returned to O x f o r d , w h e r e he achieved a triple
other B r o a d w a y librettists in adapting an exist­ First C l a s s degree at U n i v e r s i t y C o l l e g e . In
ing literary w o r k into a musical, but in his first 1925 he became a F e l l o w o f Magdalen C o l l e g e .
major s h o w , Brigadoon (1947), L e r n e r claimed His scholarly reputation in medieval and R e ­
to h a v e created his o w n original story about a naissance E n g l i s h literature w a s established
Scottish v i l l a g e that o n l y comes to life for one w h e n his b o o k The Allegory of Love w o n the
d a y e v e r y hundred y e a r s . H e a c k n o w l e d g e d H a w t h o r n d e n Prize in 1936. In 1954 he w a s
that he w a s influenced b y J a m e s B a r r i e ' s b o o k s offered a professorship at C a m b r i d g e U n i v e r -
297 LEWIS, C . S .

s k y , where he taught until his retirement. against her. Despite the unmistakable a n a l o g y
Meanwhile, he w a s becoming increasingly well to Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, L e w i s
k n o w n as a popular theologian. A militant did not begin the story consciously intending
atheist in his teens, as he relates in his spiritual to teach Christianity. ' S u d d e n l y ' , he says,
autobiography Surprised by Joy (1955), L e w i s ' A s i a n came bounding into it . . . But once H e
finally surrendered to Christianity in 1931. w a s there H e pulled the w h o l e story together,
After recasting his spiritual journey as a fantas­ and soon H e pulled the six other Narnian stor­
tic allegory in The Pilgrim's Regress (1933), he ies in after H i m ' (Of Other Worlds). L e w i s real­
began experimenting, more successfully, with ized that he might circumvent children's
other modes. The Problem of Pain (1940) and negative associations with religious subjects b y
Mere Christianity (1952) w e r e straightforward 'stripping them o f their stained-glass and S u n ­
expository w o r k s . The Screwtape Letters (1942), d a y school associations' and recasting them in
on the other hand, inspired b y his study o f an i m a g i n a r y w o r l d . A l t h o u g h the Narnian
Paradise Lost, entertains the reader with a ser­ stories are not a l l e g o r i e s — a n d h a v e been mis­
ies of letters from a senior devil, instructing his used b y being treated as s u c h — t h e y are per­
junior in effective techniques of damnation. meated with Christian concepts. Prince Caspian
Out of the Silent Planet (1938) w a s the first of a (1951), for example, raises the question o f faith
science-fiction trilogy in which spiritual con­ in a secular age. T h e four children return to
cepts were expressed in terms of an original Narnia only to learn that several hundred years
m y t h o l o g y . A struggle between cosmic g o o d h a v e passed; human beings h a v e taken o v e r ,
and evil that begins on Mars continues on the trees are 'asleep', and the s u r v i v i n g mythic­
Venus in Perelandra (1943) and concludes on al creatures, driven into hiding, are unsure
Earth in That Hideous Strength (1945), subtitled whether A s i a n even exists. T h e triumphant re­
A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups. L e w i s ' s turn o f A s i a n , h o w e v e r , and the restoration o f
planets are v i v i d l y imagined; not surprisingly, Narnia to its former self can represent the v i c ­
he went on to create an entirely imaginary tory of imagination o v e r materialism as readily
world in his fantasy series for children, T h e as that o f faith o v e r disbelief. The Voyage of the
Chronicles of Narnia. 'Dawn Treader' (1952) and The Silver Chair
Narnia, as D o c t o r Cornelius tells Prince (1956) follow the classic fairy-tale pattern o f
Caspian, w a s not made for human beings. 'It is the quest-journey. T h e former is both the most
the country of A s i a n , the country o f the W a k ­ 'Arthurian' o f the series, with its echoes of the
ing T r e e s and Visible Naiads, o f Fauns and Grail quest, and the most H o m e r i c , in its v o y ­
Satyrs, of D w a r f s and Giants, o f the g o d s and a g i n g a m o n g strange islands. In The Magician's
the Centaurs, of T a l k i n g Beasts' {Prince Cas­ Nephew (1955), L e w i s depicted the creation o f
pian). L e w i s filled Narnia with all the mythical his imaginary w o r l d , and in The Last Battle
creatures that appealed to him, w h a t e v e r their (1956), a C a r n e g i e A w a r d - w i n n e r , its final
o r i g i n — g o d s and centaurs from G r e e k m y t h ­ apocalypse. A s a w h o l e , The Narnia Chron­
o l o g y , giants and dwarfs from G e r m a n i c folk­ icles—beautifully illustrated by Pauline
lore, talking animals from Beatrix *Potter and B a y n e s — a r e considered one o f the finest
Kenneth *Grahame. Contributing to the eclec­ achievements o f 20th-century children's fan­
tic effect is the variety of literary sources, from tasy.
Homer, Malory, and Milton to Hans Christian L e w i s ' s last n o v e l for adults, Till We Have
*Andersen, J . R . R . *Tolkien, E . *Nesbit, and Faces: A Myth Retold (1956), is an interesting
The ^Arabian Nights. G e o r g e *MacDonald, in r e w o r k i n g o f ' C u p i d and P s y c h e ' , set in a small
particular, taught L e w i s h o w to infuse the liter­ k i n g d o m on the fringes o f ancient G r e e k civil­
ary fairy tale with Christian meaning. A s i a n ization, and narrated b y P s y c h e ' s u g l y sister
the L i o n , the Son o f the E m p e r o r - b e y o n d - t h e - Orual, w h o s e deep but possessive l o v e for P s y ­
Sea, represents the animal form that divine in­ che makes her hostile to the D i v i n e L o v e to­
carnation might assume in a w o r l d like Narnia. w a r d s which her sister, an anima naturaliter
In the first of the series, The Lion, the Witch, Christiana, is instinctively drawn.
and the Wardrobe (1950), four children from L e w i s ' s essays on children's literature and
our w o r l d enter a Narnia frozen in perpetual fairy tales, though few, h a v e had considerable
winter b y the White Witch (clearly inspired b y influence. In ' O n T h r e e W a y s o f W r i t i n g for
Andersen's *Snow Q u e e n ) . A s i a n dies v o l u n ­ Children' he argued that children's literature
tarily at the Witch's hands, trading his life for should be j u d g e d as literature—a radical v i e w
one of the children's, but he is miraculously in 1 9 5 2 — a n d defended the fairy tale from
resurrected and leads his forces to victory charges o f being escapist and too frightening
LHÉRITIER DE VILLANDON, MARIE-JEANNE 298

for children. ' S o m e t i m e s F a i r y Stories M a y S a y late 17th-century F r e n c h cultural life. N o n e the

Best W h a t ' s to B e S a i d ' described L e w i s ' s at- less, she held ambivalent v i e w s about the value
traction to the genre and its special p o w e r . of (what w e w o u l d n o w call) oral folklore.
B o t h essays appear in Of Other Worlds (1966). A l t h o u g h she, like Perrault, idealized the
SR i m a g e o f the nurse or grandmother telling tales
Manlove, Colin, The Chronicles of Narnia: The to children, she unapologetically rewrote (i.e.
Patterning of a Fantastic World (1993). expanded) stories w h o s e origins she recog-
Schakel, Peter J . , Reading with the Heart: The nized as popular. T h i s is especially true o f her
Way into Narnia (1979). last t w o tales, ' R i c d i n - R i c d o n ' , the first literary
Wilson, A . N., C. S. Lewis: A Biography (1990). version o f the story made famous b y the
LHÉRITIER DE VILLANDON, MARIE-JEANNE * G r i m m s as *'Rumpelstiltskin', and ' L a R o b e
Q1664—1734), F r e n c h writer. D a u g h t e r o f a de sincérité' ( ' T h e T r u t h D r e s s ' ) , both of
R o y a l Historiographer and the niece o f C h a r l e s w h i c h w e r e published in La Tour ténébreuse
*Perrault, Lhéritier received an exceptional {The Dark Tower, 1705).
education for a w o m a n o f her d a y . A l t h o u g h O f all the late 17th-century French w o m e n
little is k n o w n o f her early life, she b e c a m e a writers, Lhéritier w a s arguably the most overt-
prominent participant in literary circles o f the ly feminist. Besides celebrating the accomplish-
1690s and 1700s, contributed frequently to the ments o f prominent w o m e n writers and
Mercure Galant, w o n prizes sponsored b y the responding to the satirist Boileau's m i s o g y n i s -
A c a d é m i e française, w a s g i v e n h o n o r a r y m e m - tic attacks, she repeatedly defended w o m e n ' s
bership in literary academies, and is said to education in her fiction. T h i s latter defence can
h a v e inherited Madeleine de S c u d é r y ' s salon be found in ' T h e Enchantments o f E l o q u e n c e ' ,
u p o n that w r i t e r ' s death. T h r o u g h o u t her life- in w h i c h she explicitly defends w o m e n ' s read-
time, she published several collections o f her ing and outlines a classically inspired 'femi-
w o r k s — p o e t r y , letters, novellas, and fairy nine' rhetoric. Lhéritier also repeatedly
tales. She also edited the m e m o i r s o f her p r o - e m p l o y e d the figure o f the female cross-dresser
tectress, the duchesse de N e m o u r s (1709), and to denounce inequalities between the sexes
translated O v i d ' s Heroides into F r e n c h (1723). (e.g. ' M a r m o i s a n ' ) . Y e t she also attempted to
Lhéritier w a s a k e y p l a y e r in the g r o u p o f reconcile such feminist arguments with trad-
writers w h o inaugurated the late 17th-century itional 'feminine' virtues such as submission
' v o g u e ' o f fairy tales. T h e tales in her Œuvres and obedience (e.g. ' T h e Discreet Princess').
meslées {Assorted Works, 1 6 9 5 ) — ' L ' A d r o i t e M o r e than perhaps a n y o f her contemporaries,
then, Lhéritier used the fairy tale not simply to
Princesse' ('The Discreet Princess'), ' L e s E n -
c o n v e y conventional moral lessons but also to
chantements de l'éloquence' ( ' T h e Enchant-
address real social concerns. LCS
ments o f E l o q u e n c e ' ) , and ' M a r m o i s a n ' — w e r e
published e v e n before Perrault's *Histoires ou Fumaroli, Marc, 'Les Contes de Perrault, ou
contes du temps passé (1697). In this same c o l - l'éducation de la douceur', in La Diplomatie de
lection, Lhéritier offers glimpses into the e n v i r - l'esprit: de Montaigne à La Fontaine (1994).
onment that fostered the w r i t i n g o f contes de Seifert, Lewis, 'The Rhetoric of Invraisemblance:
fées. A m o n g other things, she g i v e s indications Lhéritier's "Les Enchantements de
that the ' v o g u e ' w a s a collective phenomenon. l'éloquence"', Cahiers du Dix-septième, 3.1
Besides e n c o u r a g i n g other w o m e n to write (1989).
fairy tales in letters and p o e m s , Lhéritier cites Velay-Vallantin, Catherine, La Fille en garçon
phrases from Perrault's ' L e s F é e s ' ( ' T h e d a i r -
(1992).
i e s ' ) in ' T h e Enchantments o f E l o q u e n c e ' , LlESTOL, KNUT ( 1 8 8 1 - 1 9 5 2 ) , N o r w e g i a n folk-
w h i c h is based on the same folk tale and w a s lorist, professor at O l s o U n i v e r s i t y 1 9 1 7 - 5 1 ,
written at about the same time as her uncle's, minister o f church and education 1933—5, dir-
p r o b a b l y as a friendly competition with him. ector o f the N o r w e g i a n Collection of F o l k l o r e
Lhéritier also includes a manifesto-type 'Lettre 1914—51. His most important contributions to
à M m e D . G . ' in w h i c h she links fairy tales to folklore studies include Norske trollvisor och
n o v e l s , traces their c o m m o n origins to trouba- norrone sogor {Norwegian Fairy Songs and Old
d o u r s ' poetry, and calls for moral and literary Scandinavian Sagas, 1915) and Norske aettesogor
renewal through the élite rewriting o f indigen- (Norwegian Clan Sagas, 1922). In his studies,
ous F r e n c h stories. In this text and others, Liestol combined philological and folkloristic
Lhéritier uses the example o f the fairy tale to approaches with high artistic quality. H e w a s
defend the 'modernist' position in the Quarrel especially interested in the evolution and regu-
of the A n c i e n t s and the M o d e r n s that m a r k e d larities o f folklore texts. H e wrote a biography
29 LlNDGREN, ASTRID
9

of P . C . *AsbJ0rnsen in 1947 and of Moltke consolation for lonely children. A n o t h e r c o l ­

*Moe in 1949. MN lection o f fairy tales, Sunnandng (South Wind
Meadow, 1959), is m o r e traditional, based on
LlNATI, CARLO (1878-1949), Italian writer and local legends and heroic tales, although firmly
literary critic, k n o w n for his novel Duccio da anchored in the 19th-century S w e d i s h land­
Bontà (1912). H e wrote autobiographical tales, scape. T h e y stand closer to L i n d g r e n ' s t w o
allegoric and psychological tales, and fairy major contributions to the fairy-tale n o v e l
tales. In Storie di bestie e di fantasmi (Animal genre, Mio, min Mio (Mio, My Son, 1954) and
and Ghost Stories, 1925), he d r a w s from the fan­ Broderna Lejonhjàrta (The Brothers Lionheart,
tastic and the animal w o r l d to create such ori­ 1973). In both n o v e l s , L i n d g r e n uses first-per­
ginal tales as ' F a v o l a Marina' ( A Sea F a i r y son narrative, an unusual perspective in fairy
T a l e ' ) , a fast-paced story of the marine k i n g ­ tales, w h i c h p r o v i d e s stronger identification
dom in which a clever little fish fools a v o r ­ with the reader and signals the radical trans­
acious shark. MNP formation o f conventional patterns.
A t first sight, Mio, My Son is a typical c o n ­
LlNDGREN, ASTRID ( 1 9 0 7 - ) , the most promin­ temporary fairy tale: an ordinary b o y is trans­
ent contemporary children's author in S w e d e n , ported to a distant country b e y o n d space and
Andersen Medal-winner, translated into more time, w h e r e he is sent a w a y on a quest in order
than 70 languages. T h e appearance and success to meet an evil e n e m y . B u t his ties to the real
of her first b o o k s immediately after W o r l d w o r l d are n e v e r lost. T h e b o y constructs his
W a r I I w a s prepared b y the vast interest in i m a g i n a r y w o r l d after the model o f his o w n
p e d a g o g y and child p s y c h o l o g y in S w e d e n reality, at the same time furnishing it with the
during the 1930s, as well as a general awareness brilliance o f a fairy tale. Nevertheless, m a n y
about children's rights. L i n d g r e n stands w h o l l y inhabitants o f F a r a w a y l a n d definitely c o m e
on the child's side, rejecting the early didactic from fairy tales: the genie in the bottle, the
and authoritarian w a y s of addressing y o u n g magical helpers and donors, and the antagon­
readers. In terms o f literary tradition, her fairy ist, the cruel Sir K a t o .
tales came in the w a k e o f the m a n y translations U n l i k e the traditional fairy-tale hero, M i o is
into Swedish o f w o r l d fairy-tale classics. A t the at times scared and ready to g i v e up. T h e most
same time, the w a r experience presented earlier important battle takes place within himself.
idyll and adventure in a n e w light, bringing her L i n d g r e n rejects the basic pattern o f the fairy
writing closer to e v e r y d a y reality and g i v i n g it tale with a safe h o m e c o m i n g . She n e v e r brings
a more optimistic tone. Mio back to his o w n w o r l d , but lets him stay in
A l t h o u g h L i n d g r e n has written in almost F a r a w a y l a n d because n o b o d y and nothing
every possible genre and style, her foremost waits for him in his o w n w o r l d . M i o ' s quest is
achievements are in the field o f the modern caused b y his profound unhappiness in the real
fairy tale. H e r internationally best-known w o r l d . But the magical j o u r n e y is not an escape
work is Pippi Langstrump (Pippi Longstocking, into daydreams; it is a p s y c h o d r a m a w h i c h
1945), featuring the strongest girl in the w o r l d , makes the protagonist strong enough to cope
independent and defiant, e m p o w e r i n g the child with his inner problems. T h e ending is open: as
in an unheard-of manner. readers w e are a l l o w e d to decide whether the
In Lillebror och Karlsson pà taket (Karlsson- b o y is still sitting on a park bench and has in­
on-the-roof, 1955) L i n d g r e n also brings the fairy vented the w h o l e story, o r whether he is happy
tale into daily life, presenting an unexpected and safe with his l o v i n g father the K i n g in F a r ­
solution to lonely children in the image o f the a w a y l a n d . T h e ending e v o k e s Hans Christian
selfish fat man with a propeller on his back. *Andersen's fairy tale ' T h e Little Match G i r l ' .
Adult critics often get irritated b y K a r l s s o n and A l m o s t 20 y e a r s later A s t r i d L i n d g r e n v e n ­
wonder w h y the b o y puts up with him. B u t tured on a similar theme in The Brothers Lion-
Lindgren's deep confidence in her readers heart, in w h i c h the force o f the p s y c h o d r a m a is
makes her sure that they will see through stressed b y the s h a d o w o f death. T h e features
Karlsson and learn from his misbehaviour. o f the heroic fairy tale are e v e n stronger in this
T h e same merging of the e v e r y d a y and the n o v e l ; h o w e v e r , it also breaks from the c o n ­
extraordinary is true of L i n d g r e n ' s collection ventional linear pattern o f safe h o m e c o m i n g
of short fairy tales, Nils Karlsson Pyssling and instead sends the t w o heroes further on a
(1949, sometimes translated as Simon Smalt), in path o f trials. F a i r y - t a l e monsters, like the fe­
which supernatural figures appear in contem­ male d r a g o n K a t l a , represent evil; but, typical­
porary Stockholm, often p r o v i d i n g help and l y for L i n d g r e n , her protagonist is a pacifist.
LINTOT, CATHERINE CAILLOT, DAME DE 300

T h e impact o f the story is all the stronger since ly nothing is k n o w n . She is the author o f Trois
the t w o characters h a v e less o f the valiant nouveaux contes de fées, avec une préface qui
fairy-tale hero about them. T h e final sacrifice n 'est pas moins sérieuse ( Three New Fairy Tales,
of the brothers has no parallels in traditional with a Preface that is No Less Serious, 1735),
fairy tales, and has been criticized b y s o m e w h i c h contains ' T i m a n d r e et Bleuette', ' L e
scholars as escapist and defeatist. Prince Sincer', and ' T e n d r e b r u n et Constance'.
L i k e w i s e , the s e e m i n g l y 'realistic' n o v e l s b y T h e sentimental plots, allusions to cabbalistic
L i n d g r e n s h o w a clear fairy-tale structure. F o r m a g i c , and abundance o f fairies in these tales
instance, the protagonist o f Emil i Lbnneberga are fairly typical o f 17th- and 18th-century 'ser­
(Emil in the Soup Tureen, 1963) and its sequels ious' F r e n c h fairy tales. In 'Prince Sincer' and
bears close resemblance to the traditional fairy­ ' T e n d r e b r u n and C o n s t a n c e ' , she develops the
tale trickster, also e v o l v i n g from a fool o r a monstrous spouse motif, like several w o m e n
*Little T o m T h u m b into a hero. In the Kalle writers o f fairy tales in this period, including
Blomkvist (Bill Bergson) series, w h i c h takes the M m e *Leprince de Beaumont, Marguerite de
form o f a detective story, traces o f the d r a g o n - *Lubert, and M m e de *Villeneuve. T h e preface
slayer motif can be found. Most important, all to her collection, purportedly written b y l'abbé
of L i n d g r e n ' s characters share c o m m o n traits P r é v o s t , defends the genre b y shifting em­
w i t h the traditional folk-tale hero: they are phasis t o w a r d the pleasures o f fantasy and
g e n e r a l l y the y o u n g e s t son or daughter; they a w a y from its (conventionally i n v o k e d ) didac­
are o f the oppressed, the p o w e r l e s s , the under­ tic v a l u e . LCS
p r i v i l e g e d ; and they gain material and spiritual
wealth during a period o f trials. T h i s feature o f
L i n d g r e n ' s w r i t i n g , seldom a c k n o w l e d g e d b y 'LITTLE MERMAID, T H E ' . T h e figure of a mer­
scholars, has gained her a special appreciation maid w h o strives to gain an immortal soul was
in the former totalitarian states o f Eastern made famous b y Hans Christian *Andersen in
E u r o p e , w h e r e the rebellious pathos o f her his ' D e n lille H a v f r u e ' ( ' T h e Little Mermaid',
children's b o o k s and the s u b v e r s i v e question­ 1837). T h e tale is based on the Christian-
ing o f all forms o f authority w a s recognized. inspired folk belief that supernatural beings are
Lindgren's last full-length novel, Ronja not e n d o w e d with a soul but will vanish into
Rbvardotter (Ronia, the Robber's Daughter, nothingness w h e n they die. A l t h o u g h sea crea­
1981) is a fairy tale o f female maturation, fea­ tures in folklore tend to be depicted as demonic
turing a number o f i m a g i n a r y creatures, o n l y and seductive, this mermaid reflects romanti­
slightly resembling traditional folklore: har­ cism's l o n g i n g for transcendence. She sacrifices
pies, goblins, d w a r f s , rumphobs, and m u r k - an alluring v o i c e to b e c o m e human so that she
trolls. U n l i k e so m a n y female characters in can m a k e a prince fall in l o v e with her, for only
m o d e r n fairy tales, w h o are forced b y the then can she gain an immortal soul. She fails in
authors into conventional male roles as her quest, but w h e n g i v e n the chance o f return­
d r a g o n - s l a y e r s or space-ship p i l o t s — a simple ing to her former e l e m e n t — b y killing the
g e n d e r permutation, t o k e n i s m — R o n i a ' s di­ p r i n c e — s h e refuses. F e e l i n g a l o v e for the
l e m m a is to reconcile her independence with prince that he cannot feel for her and acting
the female identity, w h i c h a m o n g other things accordingly, she passes a test and is rewarded
will not permit her to b e c o m e a robber chief­ b y the divine b e i n g with the promise o f an im­
tain. T h e n o v e l sums up all the specific traits o f mortal soul. T h e story glorifies suffering and
L i n d g r e n ' s writing, such as her superb mastery self-denial, and its ending m a y seem sentimen­
of the fairy-tale plot, her poignant and poetic tal, but the tale has p r o v e d to be tremendously
l a n g u a g e , powerful characterization, and a popular. W h e n adapted to other m e d i a — s u c h
deep understanding o f human relationships. as in the *Disney production o f 1989, which
turned the plot into a close approximation of a
MN
Bamberger, Richard, 'Astrid Lindgren and a m a g i c t a l e — i t s philosophical overtones tend
New Kind of Books for Children', Bookbird to be lost. NI
(1967). Johansen, Jergen Dines, 'The Merciless Tragedy
Edstrôm, Vivi, Astrid Lindgren—vildtoring och of Desire', Scandinavian Studies, 68 (1996).
Idgereld (1992). Zipes, Jack, Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion
Astrid Lindgren och sagans makt (1997). (1983).
Metcalf, Eva-Maria, Astrid Lindgren (1995).

LINTOT, CATHERINE CAILLOT, DAME DE 'LITTLE N E M O ' , comic strip character created b y
( C I 7 2 8 — ? ) , F r e n c h writer about w h o m virtual­ W i n s o r * M c C a y w h o s e adventures appeared
 oi 'LITTLE R E D RIDING H O O D '
3

weekly in the Sunday Supplements of the New filmed on location in the Sahara rather than
York Herald (1909—11), the Herald Tribune create a desert in a studio. Even Saint-Exu­
(1924—7) and were reissued by McCay's son in péry's drawings are used, both as part of the
1947. Influenced by Jonathan Swift's Gulliver s credits and in a short animation sequence.
Travels, Lewis *Carroll's *Alice in Wonderland, Only the songs, by Lerner and Loewe, have no
and Freud's ideas about dreams and their rela­ counterpart in the original. TAS
tionship to the unconscious, Little Nemo in
Slumberland is a ground-breaking departure 'LITTLE R E D RIDING H O O D ' .The first literary
from the coarse slapstick humour of contem­ version of this tale, 'Le Petit Chaperon Rouge',
porary strips. Structured around the unexpect­ was published by Charles *Perrault in his col­
ed logic of dream association, each episode tells lection, *'Histoires ou contes du temps passé (Stor­
an adventure experienced in his sleep by ies or Tales of Past Times, 1697). Though it is
5-year-old 'Little Nemo', who anticipates these not certain, Perrault probably knew an oral tale
with excitement each night. KS that emanated from sewing societies in the
south of France and north of Italy. This folk
LITTLE PRINCE, THE (film: USA, 1974), an adap­ tale depicts an unnamed peasant girl who meets
tation of the book by French aviator/writer a werewolf on her way to visit her grand­
Antoine de *Saint-Exupéry, who died in 1944 mother. The wolf asks her whether she is tak­
on a flying mission over the Mediterranean. In ing the path of pins or needles. She indicates
the story a pilot crash-lands in the desert and that she is on her way to becoming a seamstress
meets a small boy who has come to earth from by taking the path of the needles. The were­
the small, distant asteroid he rules. Seeking fi­ wolf quickly departs and arrives at the grand­
delity to the book, the director Stanley Donen mother's house, where he devours the old lady

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD The curious wolf seeks to know where Little Red Riding Hood is going in
Gustav *Doré's famous illustration to Charles *Perrault's tale, published in Les Contes de Perrault (1867).
'LITTLE T O M THUMB' 302

and places s o m e o f her flesh in a b o w l and s o m e mother and the naïve girl. O n the other hand,
of her b l o o d in a bottle. A f t e r the peasant girl there h a v e been hundreds o f notable literary
arrives, the w e r e w o l f invites her to eat s o m e revisions b y such gifted authors as L u d w i g
meat and drink s o m e w i n e before getting into * T i e c k , A l p h o n s e *Daudet, J o a c h i m * R i n g e l -
bed w i t h him. O n c e in bed, she asks several natz, Milt * G r o s s , J a m e s T h u r b e r , A n n e *Sex-
questions until the w e r e w o l f is about to eat her. ton, T o m i *Ungerer, A n g e l a *Carter, and
A t this point she insists that she must g o out- T a n i t h *Lee in w h i c h the nature o f sexuality
side to relieve herself. T h e w e r e w o l f ties a rope and g e n d e r stereotypes h a v e been questioned
around her l e g and sends her through a w i n - and debated in most innovative w a y s . F o r in-
d o w . In the garden, the girl unties the rope and stance, there are tales in w h i c h a rambunctious
w r a p s it around a fruit tree. T h e n she escapes grandmother eats up e v e r y o n e ; the w o l f is a
and l e a v e s the w e r e w o l f holding the rope. In vegetarian and the girl a lesbian; the girl shoots
s o m e v e r s i o n s o f this folk tale, the w e r e w o l f the w o l f with a r e v o l v e r ; and the girl seduces
m a n a g e s to eat the girl. B u t for the most part the wolf. Needless to say, these literary alterna-
the girl p r o v e s that she can fend for herself. tives and m a n y films, such as the adaptation of
Perrault changes all this in 'Little R e d R i d - A n g e l a Carter's In the Company of Wolves
i n g H o o d ' b y m a k i n g the girl appear spoiled (1985) directed b y N e i l *Jordan and Freeway
and n a i v e . S h e w e a r s a red cap indicating her (1996) written and directed b y Matthew Bright,
'sinful' nature, and she m a k e s a w a g e r w i t h the reflect changes in social mores and customs; as
w o l f to see w h o will a r r i v e at grandmother's one o f the most popular fairy tales in the w o r l d ,
house first. A f t e r d a w d l i n g in the w o o d s , she 'Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' will most likely
arrives at her g r a n d m o t h e r ' s house, w h e r e she u n d e r g o interesting changes in the future, and
finds the w o l f disguised as the g r a n d m o t h e r in the girl and her story will certainly never be
bed. She gets into b e d w i t h him and, after p o s - eliminated b y the wolf. JZ
i n g several questions about the w o l f s strange Dundes, Alan (ed.), Little Red Riding Hood: A
appearance, she is d e v o u r e d just as her g r a n d - Casebook (1989).
mother w a s . T h e n there is a v e r s e m o r a l to Jones, Steven Swann, 'On Analyzing Fairy
Tales: "Little Red Riding Hood" Revisited',
conclude the tale that indicates girls w h o invite
Western Folklore, 46 (1987).
strange men into their parlours d e s e r v e w h a t
Laruccia, Victor, 'Little Red Riding Hood's
they get. A f t e r the translation o f Perrault's tale Metacommentary: Paradoxical Injunction,
into m a n y different E u r o p e a n languages in the Semiotics and Behavior', Modem Language
18th century, the literary and oral variants Notes, 90 (1975).
m i x e d , and w h a t had formerly been an oral tale Mieder, Wolfgang, 'Survival Forms of "Little
of initiation b e c a m e a type o f w a r n i n g fairy Red Riding Hood" in Modern Society',
tale. W h e n the Brothers * G r i m m published International Folklore Review, 2 (1982).
their first v e r s i o n , ' R o t k a p p c h e n ' ('Little R e d Zipes, Jack (ed.), The Trials and Tribulations of
C a p ' ) in *Kinder- und Hausmdrchen (Children's Little Red Riding Hood (1983; 2nd rev. edn.,
1993)-
and Household Tales) in 1 8 1 2 , they introduced
n e w elements such as the Jdger o r g a m e k e e p e r , 'LITTLE TOM THUMB' ( ' L e Petit poucet'), a tale
w h o saves Little R e d C a p and her g r a n d - b y C h a r l e s *Perrault published in the ^Histoires
mother. In turn, they cut open the b e l l y o f the ou contes du temps passé (Stories or Tales of Past
w o l f and place stones into it. W h e n he a w a k e s , Times, 1697), is an amalgam o f folk-tale motifs.
he dies. T h e r e is also an anticlimactic tale that A n early literary version b y *Basile ('Nennillo
the G r i m m s attached to this v e r s i o n in w h i c h et Nennilla' from the ^Pentamerone, 1634) con-
another w o l f c o m e s to attack Little R e d C a p cerns t w o children abandoned in the w o o d s .
and her grandmother. T h i s time they are p r e - Perrault enlarges the family and shrinks his
pared and trick him into j u m p i n g d o w n the hero. T o m , the y o u n g e s t o f seven sons, o v e r -
c h i m n e y into a pot o f boiling w a t e r . hears his impoverished parents planning to lose
Since the G r i m m s ' v e r s i o n o f 'Little R e d their children in the forest because they cannot
R i d i n g H o o d ' appeared, their tale and P e r - feed them. T h e self-reliant b o y first leads his
rault's v e r s i o n h a v e been reprinted in the thou- brothers h o m e thanks to a trail o f stones, but
sands in m a n y different v e r s i o n s , and they h a v e the second time, his trail o f crumbs is eaten b y
also been m i x e d together a l o n g with oral v a r i - birds. S p y i n g a light in the distance, he leads
ants. Most o f the n e w v e r s i o n s up to the present his siblings to the castle o f an o g r e , and begins
h a v e been directed at children, and they h a v e a D a v i d - a n d - G o l i a t h confrontation o f wits. H e
been s o m e w h a t sanitized so that the w o l f rarely tricks the o g r e into murdering his seven
succeeds in touching o r g o b b l i n g the g r a n d - daughters and steals his treasure and seven-
 LOBEL, ANITA

league boots. W i t h these, he secures a post as a childhood in G e r m a n y and emigrated to P a l -

courier doing reconnaissance for armies and estine in 1936. T h e r e she b e g a n w r i t i n g for
lovers, and b u y s positions at court for family children, w h i c h she resumed in 1950 after her
members. T h e concluding moral o f this r a g s - m o v e to V i e n n a . H e r story Die Omama im
to-riches tale reassures e v e n the smallest b o y Apfelbaum {Granny in the Apple Tree, 1965) is
that looks can be deceiving: quick wits can help considered a milestone in the d e v e l o p m e n t
the underdog triumph, advance in society, and of the h u m o r o u s , fantastic children's tale in
bring honour to one's family. It also stresses A u s t r i a . L o b e ' s w o r k displays strong social
that large families don't h a v e to be a burden. commitment and a deep psychological
Perrault's insistence on hardship anchors understanding o f childhood and its difficulties.
this tale in the socio-economic climate o f 17th- EMM
century F r a n c e . T h e plague had reappeared,
droughts had caused disastrous harvests, fam- LOBEL, ANITA (1934— ) , P o l i s h - b o r n A m e r i c a n
ine w a s widespread, and an extra mouth to feed illustrator best k n o w n for her interpretation o f
could literally mean the difference between life folk tales as both writer and artist. S h e b e g a n
and death. Children w e r e sometimes aban- illustrating children's b o o k s in 1965 after a
doned; w i d o w s with children needed to re- s e v e n - y e a r career as a freelance textile d e s i g n -
marry, and became stepmothers. R e v e r s a l o f er. L o b e l carried the design and textures into
fortune affected the upper classes as well: such her illustrations. F o r e x a m p l e , in her early
is the b a c k g r o u n d o f a version b y M m e d ' * A u l - Troll Music (1966), borders o f flowers and
noy, w h o includes a *Cinderella variant. leaves surround the text and illustrations as
'Finette-Cendron' (1697) features a k i n g and though the v i e w e r w e r e l o o k i n g through a
queen in economic straits w h o abandon their w i n d o w at the action. S o m e 30 y e a r s later, in
three daughters: the y o u n g e s t saves her sisters, Toads and Diamonds (1995) retold b y Charlotte
tricks the o g r e into an o v e n , and decapitates his H u c k , the concept o f l o o k i n g at stop-action
wife. T h e * G r i m m s ' version o f ""Hansel and drama is still present, although the surrounding
Gretel' also repeats elements o f these tale flowers h a v e been replaced b y a full-page illus-
types, while Michel T o u r n i e r ' s 20th-century tration and a b o x - l i n e around the p a g e s with
parody, ' L a F u g u e du petit P o u c e t ' ( ' T o m text. In her earlier w o r k , L o b e l w o r k e d w i t h
T h u m b R u n s A w a y ' , 1978) subverts Perrault's pen and ink and w a t e r c o l o u r s that did not a l -
tale with politically correct c o m m e n t a r y on w a y s stay within the lines. In her most recent
materialism and e c o l o g y . w o r k , she uses w a t e r c o l o u r and g o u a c h e paints
N e x t to ""Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' , 'Little w h i c h g i v e the illustrations a c h a l k y texture. In
T o m T h u m b ' has enjoyed the greatest p o p u - both periods, she is e x t r e m e l y detailed in her
larity b e y o n d the salon public thanks to the presentation o f flowers and v e g e t a b l e s — a n d
widespread distribution o f 19th-century chap- attentive to her child v i e w e r . F o r e x a m p l e , in
books and images d'Epinal, and G u s t a v e her a w a r d - w i n n i n g collaboration w i t h her hus-
*Doré's illustrations. Most o f the m o r e than 80 band A r n o l d * L o b e l , A Treeful of Pigs, t w e l v e
regional French versions, h o w e v e r , h a v e little pigs appear in each o f her pictures.
in c o m m o n with Perrault's tale s a v e the name L o b e l c o n v e y s an o l d - w o r l d charm in her
of his hero. T h i s is also the case with the illustrations. E v e n the beautiful maidens in
G r i m m s ' ' T o m T h u m b ' and ' T o m T h u m b ' s Princess Furball (1989) are not particularly
Travels' or Tragedy of Tragedies, or, The Life beautiful; the noses are too b i g , the e y e s too
and Death of Tom Thumb. Indeed, from P . T . expressive. It is e a s y to b e l i e v e that beauty is
Barnum's diminutive entertainer to celebrated internal, resides in the personality. S t r o n g l y in-
locomotives to foodstore chains, the name fluenced b y the theatre, L o b e l transformed her
' T o m T h u m b ' remains popular. MLE illustrations into frozen scenes. T h e action is
Darnton, Robert, 'Peasants Tell Tales: The stopped, but the v i e w e r k n o w s that action p r e -
Meaning of Mother Goose', in The Great Cat ceded the picture and will continue after the
Massacre (1984). p a g e is turned. ' I wanted to be in the theatre at
Delarue, Paul, and Marie-Louise Tenèze (eds.),
one time. W h e n I am illustrating a manuscript,
Le Conte populaire français (1997; orig. 4 vols.,
I do it as if it might be a stage p l a y . ' It is an
1957-85).
Soriano, Marc, Les Contes de Perrault (1968). unusual quality in children's picture b o o k s . A
further d e v e l o p m e n t in one o f her latest w o r k s ,
LOBE, MIRA (1913—95), popular and h i g h l y es- Toads and Diamonds, is to incorporate the
teemed Austrian children's b o o k author. B o r n y o u n g e r daughter R e n é e ' s thoughts into four
into a J e w i s h family in Silesia, L o b e spent her different scenes all pulled together b y clouds o f
LOBEL, ARNOLD

s m o k e , rounded trees, and a figure-eight p i c - cess S n o w f l o w e r ' ) , and *Sleeping Beauty, ' L a
ture fence on a black b a c k g r o u n d . Princesse sous v e r r e ' ( ' T h e Princess U n d e r
Incarcerated in a concentration camp in G l a s s ' ) . *'Mélusine enchantée' ('Melusina E n -
G e r m a n y , she and her brother w e r e reunited chanted', 1892) and ' L a M a n d r a g o r e ' ( ' T h e
with their parents in S w e d e n and then came to M a n d r a k e ' , 1899) reveal the N o r m a n author's
the United States in 1952. She w a s a w a r d e d a interest in the fairy tradition o f his region. A R
degree in fine arts from Pratt Institute in 1955
w h e r e she met her husband, A r n o l d L o b e l . H e r LORTZlNG, ALBERT ( 1 8 0 1 - 5 1 ) , German com-
w o r k continues to add n e w elements w h i l e r e - poser o f * Undine a romantische Zauberoper (ro-
taining the recognizable quality that character- mantic m a g i c o p e r a ) . L o r t z i n g wrote and
izes most o f her w o r k . LS c o m p o s e d (one o f the first G e r m a n composers
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, Books are by People before R i c h a r d * W a g n e r to do so) comic
(1969). operas w h o s e music and humour o w e d much
to G e r m a n folk traditions. A partisan of G e r -
LOBEL, ARNOLD ( 1 9 3 3 - 8 7 ) , a w a r d - w i n n i n g man music, L o r t z i n g imported appropriate
A m e r i c a n w r i t e r and illustrator o f w o r k s for elements such as plots and devices from French
children. A m o n g his honours are the Caldecott comic opera and the buffo from the Italian,
though he publicly inveighed against the per-
and N e w b e r y Medals and H o n o r B o o k selec-
v a s i v e influence o f Italian opera. Lortzing's
tions; National B o o k A w a r d ; N e w Y o r k T i m e s
opera Regina celebrated the revolutions erupt-
Best Illustrated B o o k o f the y e a r ; A m e r i c a n I n -
ing around E u r o p e in 1848, but the political lib-
stitute o f G r a p h i c A r t s C h i l d r e n ' s B o o k S h o w -
eralism it expressed cost him a crucial position
case. In her r e v i e w o f *Hansel and Gretel
in V i e n n a , and he subsequently died in p o v -
(1971), the folklorist A n n e P e l l o w s w k i stated
erty, notwithstanding the popularity o f his
that L o b e l w a s one o f o n l y a few w h o came
operas. Undine w a s something o f an aberration
'close to the spirit o f intimacy and homeliness
for L o r t z i n g , w h o s e w o r k s are more generally
in the * G r i m m stories', h o m e being a p r e d o m -
comic. F r e e l y adapted from the literary fairy
inant i m a g e in L o b e l ' s w o r k . A l t h o u g h L o b e l
tale o f the same name b y Friedrich de la Motte
illustrated tales told b y others, several o f his t n e
*Fouqué ( w h o had died in 1 8 4 3 ) , opera was
texts are m o d e r n tales that reflect a w i d e reper-
premiered in M a g d e b u r g in 1845. Undine c o m -
t o r y o f styles. His storytelling is pastoral and
bines the robust G e r m a n humour for which
Victorian. In fact, L o b e l has said that w h i l e
L o r t z i n g is famous with an uncharacteristically
Beatrix Potter w a s his artistic mother, E d w a r d
romantic theme. L o r t z i n g altered F o u q u é ' s plot
L e a r w a s his artistic father; the latter is particu-
to introduce comic parts for n e w minor charac-
larly evident in ' T h e M a n W h o T o o k the I n -
ters (the squire V e i t and cellarer Hans) and a
doors O u t ' (1974), a fantastical nonsense
happier ending, in which, rather than dying,
r h y m i n g p o e m about B e l l w o o d B o u s e , w h o the l o v e r s Undine and H u g o are taken to live
l o v e d all things in his house and so one d a y he under the sea b y her watchful father
invited all o f it to spend the d a y outdoors. O f Kùhleborn. NJW
his m o r e than 100 texts, L o b e l is best noted for
his beginning reader b o o k s , the F r o g and T o a d Subotnik, R. R., 'Lortzing and the German
quartet, folk-style tales o f t w o best friends: Romantics: a Dialectical Assessment', Musical
F r o g the m o r e reasonable and w o r l d l y ; T o a d Quarterly, 62 (1976).
the m o r e impulsive and innocent. T h e m a r - Schlôder, Jiirgen, Undine auf dem Musiktheater.
riage o f setting and theme, o f the pastoral and Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der deutschen Spieloper
friendship (and w h i m s y ) , distinguish these (i979)-
tales o f daily life dramatized. SS LOVER, SAMUEL (1797-1868), Irish novelist,
Shannon, George, Arnold Lobel (1989). dramatist, song-writer, and painter. Primarily
k n o w n for his miniature paintings, L o v e r w a s
LORRAIN, JEAN (1855—1906), F r e n c h writer and also a gifted musician and writer, w h o took a
critic, born P a u l D u v a l . N o t o r i o u s for his flam- strong interest in Irish folklore. F o r instance,
b o y a n c e , L o r r a i n often reveals the dark side o f he collected tales and anecdotes from the Irish
fin-de-siècle Paris in his w o r k s . T h e collection peasantry in Legends and Stories of Ireland
Princesses d'ivoire et d'ivresse (Princesses of Ivory (1831), and his two novels, Rory O'More (1837)
and Intoxication, 1902) reflects his decadent and Handy Andy (1831), incorporate a great
taste for ephebes and femmes fatales, but also deal o f Irish folklore. In 1844, after his eyesight
includes versions o f traditional fairy tales like b e g a n to fail, he began touring E n g l a n d and
* S n o w W h i t e , ' L a Princesse Neigefleur' ( ' P r i n - A m e r i c a performing Irish ballads, songs, and
305 LYNCH, PATRICIA

tales that w e r e v e r y successful and contributed istics exaggerate the implausibility o f the o b s ­
to the rise of Irish national consciousness. J Z tacles to l o v e and, thus, underscore their
Bernard, W. B., The Life of Samuel Lover ( 1 8 7 4 ) . phantasmagorical quality. Sometimes these
Symington, A . J . , Samuel Lover (1880). obstacles include monstrosity if not sadism, as
in 'Princess C a m i o n ' . In w h a t e v e r form, they
LUBERT, MARGUERITE DE (C. 1 7 1 0 - 7 9 ) , one o f the a l w a y s g i v e the appearance that the l o v e r s are
most important w o m e n writers of 18th-century incompatible, an appearance L u b e r t is careful
French fairy tales. She is said to h a v e been a c ­ to sustain until the last possible moment. T h u s ,
quainted with Fontenelle and *Voltaire and to in ' D r y and B l a c k ' , the heroine, destined to
have spurned marriage so as to pursue a w r i t ­ l o v e a m a n w h o does not l o v e her, is eventually
ing career. B e y o n d this, little is k n o w n of her united with the hero, w h o s e indifference w a s
life. o n l y caused b y a fairy's spell.
Lubert w r o t e six novel-length fairy tales: La In the preface to ' D r y and B l a c k ' , L u b e r t is
Princesse Camion (1743), La Princesse Couleur- the first w r i t e r to defend the fairy tale in terms
de-Rose et le prince Céladon (Princess Rose Col­ of pleasure alone. It is not surprising, then, that
our and Prince Celadon, 1743), Le Prince Glacé et didacticism is not much in evidence in her
la princesse Etincelante (Prince Frozen and Prin­ tales. N o r is it surprising that they contain
cess Sparkling, 1743), La Princesse Lionnette et le h i g h l y original and often comical situations
prince Coquerico (Princess Lionnette and Prince and characters that none the less conform to
Cockadoodledoo, 1743), La Princesse Sensible et the fundamental structure o f the w o n d e r tale.
le prince Typhon (Princess Sensitive and Prince In the end, L u b e r t ' s corpus is perhaps best de­
Typhoon, 1743), and Sec et Noir, ou la Princesse scribed as playful. H e r light-hearted approach
des fleurs et le prince des autruches (Dry and to the g e n r e and its conventions b o r d e r s — b u t
Black, or the Flower Princess and the Ostrich n e v e r crosses the line o f — p a r o d y . F o r enthu­
Prince, 1737). In addition, L u b e r t inserted siasts and detractors alike, hers w e r e the epit­
shorter tales in frame narratives, such as ' L e o m e o f non-parodic, non-satirical literary fairy
Petit chien blanc' ( ' T h e Little W h i t e D o g ' ) in tales in 18th-century F r a n c e . LCS
La Veillée galante (The Galant Gathering, Duggan, Maryse-Madeleine-Elisabeth, 'Les
1747); 'Etoilette' ('Starlet') and ' P e a u d'ours' Contes de Mlle de Lubert: les textualités du
('Bearskin') in her edition o f M m e de *Murat's ludique' (Diss., University of British Columbia,
Les Lutins du château de Kernosy (The Ghosts of 1996).
the Castle of Kernosy, 1753).
Lubert develops and pushes to its limits the LYNCH, P . J . (PATRICK JAMES, 1 9 6 2 - ) , Irish illus­
fairy-tale discourse o f her time. L i k e d ' * A u l - trator. H e w a s born in Belfast and received his
noy, d'*Auneuil, and Murat before her, L u b e r t art education there and in E n g l a n d . W h i l e not
writes tales that are sentimental l o v e stories all of his w o r k has focused on fairy-tale mater­
that highlight magical opponents and helpers. ial, he has s h o w n a particular affinity with this
Y e t , she adds more twists and turns to her plots genre. A m o n g the most striking o f his illustra­
and, especially, amplifies several stock features tions h a v e been those for W i l l i a m Butler
consecrated b y her precursors. Magical objects * Y e a t s ' Fairy Tales of Ireland (1990; a c o m p e n ­
and characters proliferate at e v e r y turn, w h i c h dium o f Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peas­
accentuates the implausibility o f her stories. antry and Irish Fairy Tales), O s c a r *Wilde's
Lubert also delights in lengthy descriptions o f Stories for Children (1990), H a n s Christian
luxurious but also horrifying settings. O n the *Andersen's The ^Steadfast Tin Soldier (1991)
level of narrative structure, her stories place and The *Snow Queen (1993), the traditional
particular emphasis on the opposition between East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon (1991),
' g o o d ' and ' e v i l ' — s o c o m m o n to fairy and The Candlewick Book of Fairy Tales (1995).
t a l e s — b y multiplying the rivalries a m o n g RD
characters. 'Prince Frozen and Princess S p a r k ­
ling', for instance, features rivalries between LYNCH, PATRICIA ( 1 8 9 4 - 1 9 7 2 ) , Irish children's
the hero and another man, the heroine and an­ writer. S h e w a s born in C o r k and spent her
other w o m a n , t w o fairies, as well as a sorcerer early y e a r s m o v i n g between Ireland, E n g l a n d ,
and a sylph. Particularly noteworthy is the fre­ Scotland, and B e l g i u m , before eventually re­
quency with which L u b e r t depicts conflicts turning to settle in her native land in the 1920s.
among fairies, w h o are decidedly m o r e a m ­ A s her autobiographical A Story-Teller's Child­
bivalent than their counterparts in late 17th- hood (1947) makes clear, she g r e w up in C o r k
century fairy tales. T h e s e and other character­ in an environment w h e r e the oral and literary
LYNCH, PATRICIA 306

tradition o f native story w a s remarkably (1953), and Brogeen and the Lost Castle (1956).
strong. In particular, she p a y s tribute to a Mrs Several o f the characters from these stories ap­
Hennessy, described as 'a shanachie, one o f the pear also in various L y n c h novels dealing with
real old story-tellers', w h o w a s a v e r y strong the resourceful and omniscient L o n g Ears, the
influence on the y o u n g child, transmitting to d o n k e y m a k i n g his debut in 1934 in The Turf-
her a wonderful treasure o f Irish stories and Cutter's Donkey. T h e s e and the B r o g e e n books
imbuing her with w h a t w a s to be a lifelong fas­ are typified b y a level o f activity which borders
cination with them. In virtually all o f the 50 or on the frenetic and b y a fondness for the kind
so children's n o v e l s w h i c h L y n c h w r o t e , this of transformational magic which ensures a rap­
indebtedness to childhood memories o f story is idly changing plotline. In addition to these full-
o b v i o u s , affecting e v e n those o f her b o o k s length novels, L y n c h produced a collection of
w h i c h set out to be realistic in tone and setting. 19 short stories entitled The Seventh Pig and
H e r fictional w o r l d is a place w h e r e reality and Other Irish Fairy Tales (1950), subsequently re­
fantasy are v e r y closely linked, and the picture issued (with one extra story, ' T h e Fourth
of Ireland w h i c h emerges is o f a place w h e r e Man') as The Black Goat of Slievemore and
the possibilities o f magical experience are to be Other Irish Fairy Tales (1959). T h e stories in
found around e v e r y corner. M a n y o f her full- these v o l u m e s (dedicated, incidentally, to her
length fantasy stories are, in effect, extended old mentor, Mrs H e n n e s s y ) rank among
fairy tales, testifying to L y n c h ' s fondness for L y n c h ' s greatest achievements, combining her
e m p l o y i n g the structures and motifs o f the usual exuberance with a discipline in the telling
genre. H e r most successful b o o k s in this cat­ and a sense o f other-world atmosphere which
e g o r y include The Grey Goose of Kilnevin is frequently haunting. T h e emphasis in such
(1939) and Jinny the Changeling (1959), both stories as ' T h e S h a d o w Pedlar', ' T h e C a v e of
characterized b y a Y e a t s i a n sense o f l o n g i n g to the Seals', and ' T h e G o l d e n C o m b ' is on the
recapture a lost childhood. In a lengthy se­ misty veil which separates our w a k i n g exist­
quence o f n o v e l s , especially popular in Ireland ence from our dreams and on the sadness
o v e r a number o f generations, she featured the w h i c h marks our understanding of the differ­
adventures o f the fairy folk w h o live in the ences between them. RD
F o r t o f Sheen, especially those i n v o l v i n g B r o - Watson, Nancy, ' A Revealing and Exciting
geen, the leprechaun cobbler. A m o n g the best Experience: Three of Patricia Lynch's
k n o w n o f these titles are Brogeen Follows the Children's Novels', The Lion and the Unicorn,
Magic Tune (1952), Brogeen and the Green Shoes 21.3 (September 1997).
MAAR, PAUL ( 1 9 3 7 - ) , G e r m a n author, transla­
tor, and illustrator of children's b o o k s for all
ages w h o also scripts plays for radio, theatre,
film, and television. Maar has created the li­
bretto for an opera and musicals and designed
sets for the theatre. H e had great success with
his first book, Der tdtowierte Hund (The Tat­
tooed Dog, 1968), a tale about bad *Hansel and
Gretel and the g o o d witch. But b y far his most
popular fictional creation is the ' S a m s ' , an
uppity fantastic creature with blue spots w h o
represents Mr Taschenbier's suppressed e g o in
Eine Woche voiler Samstage (A Week Full of v e r y m e a g r e . Phantastes, subtitled 'a faerie r o ­
Saturdays, 1973), Am Sams tag kam das Sams m a n c e ' , his earliest prose w o r k , w a s published
luriick (Sams Returned on Saturday, 1980), and in 1858. It is a quest story, ostensibly for a
Neue Punkte fur das Sams (New Spots for Sams, beautiful marble lady, but behind this it is a
1992). In 1996 Maar w a s awarded the search for spiritual perfection, and a repudi­
Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis ( G e r m a n Prize ation o f C a l v i n i s m w h i c h seems to be repre­
for Children's and Y o u t h Literature) for the sented b y the idol that A n o d o s topples in the
entire b o d y o f his w o r k . EMM last pages. A n o d o s makes his w a y into fairy­
Tabbert, Reinbert, 'Kindergeschichten von Paul land through the a g e n c y o f a fairy w o m a n , the
Maar—nicht nur fur Kinder', prototype o f the grandmother figures o f his
Kinderbuchanalysen I (1989). fantasies. ( H i s G r e e k name is usually translated
as 'pathless', a rare u s a g e , and is m u c h m o r e
MACDONALD, GEORGE (1824-1905), Scottish likely to be intended as 'a spiritual ascent', one
author of many notable fantasies. H e w a s born of its other meanings.) In a series o f dreamlike
in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, w h e r e his family at­ adventures he acquires a malignant black
tended the Missionary K i r k , w h o s e Calvinistic s h a d o w that blights and diminishes e v e r y t h i n g
teaching M a c D o n a l d w a s later to discard, it falls upon, and w h e n he finally a w a k e s in the
though traces of this can be found in the retri­ ordinary w o r l d , it is only to find that this has
bution theme in a few o f his children's stories, g o n e . ' T h u s I , w h o set out to find m y Ideal,
notably The Wise Woman (1875). came back rejoicing that I had lost m y
His mother died w h e n he w a s 8, and, signifi­ S h a d o w . ' It w a s the first M a c D o n a l d w o r k that
cantly, his fantasy w o r k s w e r e to be peopled C . S. * L e w i s encountered, and w a s to h a v e a
with beautiful w o m e n w h o appear to symbolize profound influence on him.
a semi-divine motherhood. Educated at K i n g ' s Lilith (1895), M a c D o n a l d ' s o n l y other fan­
C o l l e g e , A b e r d e e n , w h e r e he w a s already re­ tasy for adults, w a s his last major w o r k , and
garded as a visionary, he w a s , through family like Phantastes is an exploration o f the uncon­
money troubles, obliged to spend one o f his scious. It took him five y e a r s to write and went
undergraduate years 'in a nobleman's mansion' through eight drafts. Full o f sexual i m a g e r y , it
cataloguing the library. T h i s has never been was much disliked b y his wife, w h o at this
identified, but it is probable that it w a s T h u r s o stage o f his life w a s increasingly disturbed b y
Castle, o w n e d b y Sir G e o r g e Sinclair, w h o s e his state o f mind. Lilith (a name uncomfortably
father had been a G e r m a n scholar, educated at like that o f Lilia, his m u c h - l o v e d dead d a u g h ­
Gôttingen, and that it w a s here that M a c ­ ter) is the demon figure o f J e w i s h m y t h o l o g y ,
D o n a l d first encountered the w o r k s o f such used b y M a c D o n a l d to represent death as well
writers as *Novalis, *Hoffmann, * T i e c k , and de as sexual desire. It is another spiritual j o u r n e y
la Motte *Fouqué w h o w e r e to h a v e such an w h e r e V a n e , the central character, m o v e s
influence on his writing. After less than t w o through a nightmare landscape from w h i c h he
years at H i g h b u r y T h e o l o g i c a l C o l l e g e , w h e r e can o n l y escape w h e n the evil in Lilith has been
he left without receiving a degree, he w a s or­ exorcized. A s he at last seems to be entering
dained as a Congregational minister, and took Paradise, he w a k e s . T h e b o o k finishes with a
o v e r the charge of a chapel at A r u n d e l , Sussex. quotation from N o v a l i s : ' O u r life is no dream,
But his unorthodoxy displeased the c o n g r e g a ­ but it should and will perhaps b e c o m e one.'
tion and he resigned in 1853. T h e theme o f a search for spirituality recurs
Thereafter he depended on writing and lec­ in most o f M a c D o n a l d ' s fairy stories for chil­
turing for a living, w h i c h for m a n y years w a s dren, w h i c h like Phantastes are full o f hidden
MACDONALD, GEORGE The prince is astonished to see the floating princess in George MacDonald's 'The
Light Princess', published in The Light Princess and Other Stories ( 1 8 7 4 ) , illustrated by Arthur *Hughes.
3 o 9
M C K I L L I P , PATRICIA A .

symbolic meaning, but cannot p r o p e r l y be McCAY, WlNSOR ( 1 8 6 7 - 1 9 3 4 ) , A m e r i c a n p i o n ­

called allegories. His first children's n o v e l , At eer o f comic b o o k s and animation. H e b e g a n
the Back of the North Wind (serialized in Good his career as editorial cartoonist for the Cin­
Words 1868-9, published 1871) has as its cen­ cinnati Commercial Tribune in 1898 and d r e w
tral character a Christ-like child (a feature also national attention with his experimental car­
of M a c D o n a l d ' s Sir Gibbie, 1879) regarded b y toon strip ' T h e T a l e s o f the J u n g l e I m p s b y
those around him as simple. T h e N o r t h W i n d F e l i x F i d d l e ' in 1903. A s a result, the New York
visits him at night and sweeps him off to her Herald Tribune offered him a j o b , and his first
own country, which M a c D o n a l d himself likens major w o r k w a s a cartoon strip for adults,
to Dante's P u r g a t o r y . She is a mother-figure, Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend (1904), c o m p o s e d
but also a personification o f death. ( A r t h u r of nightmare episodes with characters in e x c r u ­
*Hughes did striking illustrations for this b o o k ciating situations. S o o n afterward M c C a y b e ­
and the t w o that follow.) Finally she carries came famous for his creation o f Little Nemo in
him off for ever. ' T h e y thought he w a s dead. I Slumberland (1905—11), w h i c h w a s continued
k n e w he had g o n e to the back o f the north in W i l l i a m R a n d o l p h Hearst's New York
wind.' American as In the Land of Wonderful Dreams
O n l y D i a m o n d sees the N o r t h W i n d , and in (1911—14), and then concluded in the Herald
The Princess and the Goblin (serialized in Good Tribune under the original title (1924—7). Influ­
Words 1870—1, published 1872) the Princess enced b y A r t N o u v e a u , M c C a y d r e w meticu­
Irene alone can see the glorious being w h o calls lously intricate scenes describing the fantastic
herself Irene's great-great-grandmother. H e r v o y a g e s and adventures o f his protagonist L i t ­
nurse is a n g r y and contemptuous, and C u r d i e tle N e m o . T h e plots ranged from dream fanta­
the miner's son, still earthbound, can o n l y see a sies to futuristic sketches based on science
bare garret with a tub, a heap o f musty straw fiction and appealed to children and adults. A l l
and a withered apple. In the sequel The Princess M c C a y ' s stories about Little N e m o h a v e a
and Curdie (serialized 1877, published 1883) fairy-tale quality to them, but he transcended
Curdie, g r o w i n g out o f sceptical adolescence, the traditional stories and brilliantly adapted
sees the grandmother at last, and though at first the fairy-tale motifs to m o d e r n developments.
she seems a bent old w o m a n , as he watches she A prolific artist and inventor, M c C a y did al­
becomes beautiful and straight and strong. T h e most all the d r a w i n g s for a series o f animated
unusual presence o f mines and miners in these films {Little Nemo, 1 9 1 1 , How a Mosquito Oper­
two b o o k s , and indeed M a c D o n a l d ' s frequent ates, 1 9 1 2 , Gertie the Dinosaur, 1914, and The
use o f mountains as a setting, o w e much to Sinking of the Lusitania, 1918), w h i c h are un­
G e r m a n romantic writing such as N o v a l i s ' s usual for their graphic details, extraordinary
Heinrich von Ofterdingen and E . T . A . Hoff­ plots, and burlesque h u m o u r . Unfortunately,
mann's ' T h e Mines o f F a l u n ' . M c C a y , w h o set high standards o f quality for
' T h e G o l d e n K e y ' , a short story first p u b ­ animation, abandoned this m e d i u m after 1918
lished in Dealings with the Fairies (1867), is the and w o r k e d primarily as a c o m i c strip artist
most concise and accessible o f all M a c D o n a l d ' s and illustrator until the end o f his life. JZ
fantasies. Here t w o children, M o s s y and T a n ­ Canemaker, John, Winsor McCay: His Life and
gle, set out to find the lock w h i c h their golden Art (1987).
key will open, and w h i c h they hope will bring
them into a land w h e r e the beautiful s h a d o w s M C K I L L I P , PATRICIA A . ( 1 9 4 8 - ) , A m e r i c a n
they have seen on the journey at last b e c o m e writer o f fantasy n o v e l s for children and adults.
reality. T h e y g r o w old as they g o , b e c o m e sep­ W h i l e none o f M c K i l l i p ' s m a n y fine b o o k s are
arated, but at the last stage M o s s y finds T a n g l e direct retellings o f fairy tales, this author's
waiting for him, and they climb together up the prose is so t h o r o u g h l y steeped in the l a n g u a g e
stairs out o f the earth: ' T h e y k n e w they w e r e of folk and fairy tales that all o f her w o r k has
g o i n g up to the country w h e n c e the shadows the flavour o f stories passed d o w n through the
fall' GA generations. M c K i l l i p established her reputa­
Carpenter, Humphrey, 'George MacDonald and tion with the a w a r d - w i n n i n g n o v e l The Forgot­
the Tender Grandmother', in Secret Gardens
ten Beasts of Eld (1974), a mysterious tale o f a
(1985).
y o u n g enchantress w h o w i e l d s a powerful
Goldthwaite, John, 'The Name of the Muse', in
magic y e t lies emotionally frozen, awaiting the
The Natural History of Make-Believe (1996).
Raeper, William, George MacDonald (1987). kiss that will w a k e her human heart. The Rid-
(ed.), The Gold Thread: Essays on George dlemaster Trilogy (1976—9) uses riddles and
MacDonald (1990). snippets o f invented folklore as it follows a
M C K I N L E Y , ROBIN

poetic y o u n g prince on a q u e s t — a n d his stub- Cadden, Michael, 'The Illusion of Control:

b o r n l y down-to-earth sister, e n g a g e d in a quest Narrative Authority in Robin McKinley's Beauty
of her o w n . T h e a w a r d - w i n n i n g Something and The Blue Sword, My More, 76 (Spring 1994).
'Home Is a Matter of Blood, Time, and
Rich and Strange (1994), based on fairy art b y
Genre: Essentialism in Burnett and McKinley',
B r i a n F r o u d , spins mermaid tales, British fairy
Ariel, 28.1 (1997).
lore, and o c e a n o g r a p h y into a romantic c o n - Hains, Maryellen, 'Beauty and the Beast: 20th
t e m p o r a r y story set on the coast o f the Pacific Century Romance?', Merveilles et Contes, 3.1
N o r t h w e s t . The Book of Atrix Wolfe (1995) (May 1989).
m a k e s beautiful use o f the 'lost child' theme in Woolsey, Daniel P., 'The Realm of Fairy Story:
an original adult fairy tale set in a w o o d l a n d o f J . R. R. Tolkien and Robin McKinley's Beauty ,
w o l v e s and magicians. ' T h e L i o n and the L a r k ' Children's Literature in Education, 22.2 (81) (June
(1995) r e w o r k s motifs from ' E a s t o f the S u n , 1991).
W e s t o f the M o o n ' . Winter Rose (1996) is not
o n l y the author's finest w o r k to date, but the MACMANUS, SEUMAS (c.1868-1960), Irish
one most closely aligned to a single fairy-tale dramatist, poet, and prolific writer o f popular
theme. T h i s n o v e l , set in an E n g l i s h w o o d , stories, w h o p l a y e d an important role in the
m a k e s skilful use o f traditional ' T a r n L i n ' m a - rise o f Irish national literature. Son o f a poor
t e r i a l — w r i t t e n in the g o r g e o u s l y sensual prose farmer, M a c M a n u s became a schoolteacher in
w h i c h has earned M c K i l l i p recognition as a C o u n t y D o n e g a l and b e g a n contributing art-
m o d e r n master o f the fantasy form. TW icles and stories to m a n y Irish newspapers in
the 1890s. S o m e o f his best retellings o f Irish
M C K I N L E Y , (JENNIFER CAROLYN) ROBIN ( 1 9 5 2 - ), fairy tales are in In Chimney Corners: Merry
A m e r i c a n fantasy w r i t e r for y o u n g adults. Tales of Irish Folk-lore (1899). D u r i n g the 20th
M c K i n l e y ' s w o r k falls into t w o o v e r l a p p i n g century MacManus travelled back and forth be-
categories: the fictionalization o f fairy tales and tween Ireland and the United States and be-
the creation o f fantasy k i n g d o m s . P r o m i n e n t came one o f the most popular interpreters o f
a m o n g the former are her n o v e l s based on Irish folklore for A m e r i c a n s through his collec-
* ' B e a u t y and the B e a s t ' , Beauty (1978) and tions o f tales. A m o n g his best w o r k s are The
Rose Daughter (1997), both realizing Bewitched Fiddle and Other Irish Tales (1900),
B e a u t y — i n different depths o f d e t a i l — a s the Donegal Fairy Stories (1900), Tales that Were
strong, independent central figure o f a fantas- Told (1920), The Donegal Wonder Book (1926),
tical r o m a n c e , w i t h the 1997 v e r s i o n harbour- Tales from Ireland (1949), and The Bold Heroes
ing a surprise conclusion. Deerskin (1993), of Hungry Hill, and Other Irish Folk Tales
patterned on *Perrault's * ' D o n k e y - S k i n ' , e x - (1951). T h o u g h MacManus often exaggerated
plores faerie's darker side in p o r t r a y i n g the the Irish aspects o f the tales with a mannered
heroine's escape from her father's incestuous style, he also expanded upon the Irish fairy-tale
rage. M c K i n l e y ' s fast-paced fantasy The Blue tradition in innovative w a y s . JZ
Sword (1982) and its sequel The Hero and the
Crown (1984), w h i c h w o n the N e w b e r y H o n o r MAETERLINCK, MAURICE (1862-1949), Belgian
and N e w b e r y Medal respectively, d e v e l o p the poet, p l a y w r i g h t , and essayist. Consistent with
k i n g d o m o f D a m a r as the setting for exploits his ties to the symbolist movement, Maeter-
b y t w o bold y o u n g w o m e n , H a r i (or ' H a r r y ' , linck displays a distinct attraction for fantasy,
as she prefers to be called) the w a r r i o r and dreams, and the imaginary throughout his
A e r i n the d r a g o n slayer. M c K i n l e y ' s signature œuvre. G o i n g against the prevai\ingjin-de-siècle
creation is a blend o f the magical and the m u n - theatrical aesthetic o f realism and naturalism,
dane in the shape o f dramatic, resourceful, a d - m a n y o f his plays d r a w on pseudo-chivalric r o -
v e n t u r o u s heroines w h o b e g i n with a m a r k mance and folklore (e.g. Les Sept Princesses
against them and end triumphantly, w i t h a true (The Seven Princesses, 1891), Pelléas et Méli-
l o v e as w e l l . It is an appealing formula that she sande (1893), Ariane et Barbe-Bleue (1901)).
fosters s m o o t h l y and i m a g i n a t i v e l y , often with Maeterlinck's most famous fairy-tale w o r k is
a prominent animal helper in the form o f a b e - L'Oiseau bleu (The *Blue Bird, 1909), a play for
l o v e d d o g o r horse, a l o n g with v a r i o u s s y m - children. T h e plot, w h i c h bears no resemblance
bolic objects. O n e o f M c K i n l e y ' s collections o f to the tale b y d ' * A u l n o y with the same title,
short stories, The Door in the Hedge (1981) in- concerns t w o children, T y l t y l and M y t y l , w h o
corporates several fairy-tale retellings, w h i l e A are sent b y the fairy B e r y l u n e to find the Blue
Knot in the Grain and Other Stories (1994) fea- B i r d that will cure her sick daughter. In many
tures stories from D a m a r . BH magical adventures, the children are set against
3 ii M A I L L Y , J E A N , CHEVALIER D E

forces o f darkness, and at one point the Blue Mahfouz', Journal of Arabic Literature, 2 3 . 1
Bird plots to keep T y l t y l and M y t y l from (1992).

learning the 'great secret o f all things and hap­

piness' which it holds. T h e children eventually M A H Y , M A R G A R E T ( 1 9 3 6 - ) , N e w Zealand
return home, without the Blue Bird, o n l y to author o f juvenile fiction. A children's librar­
watch in amazement as their pet d o v e turns ian, M a h y counts the O r d e r o f N e w Zealand
blue. Bérylune takes the Blue B i r d home for a m o n g her awards for folklore and fantasy for
her daughter, but it escapes, prompting T y l t y l all reading levels. H e r h u m o r o u s and didactic
at the end o f the play to ask the audience to find picture b o o k s are illustrated b y a w a r d - w i n n i n g
it so that they can be happy. W i t h the quest for artists (Quentin *Blake, Steven K e l l o g g ) , and
the Blue Bird, Maeterlinck confirms the adage she has twice w o n the C a r n e g i e Medal for
that 'the grass is not greener on the other side y o u n g adult novels about family relationships
of the fence' and invites adults to discover spir­ (The Haunting, 1982; The Changeover: A Super­
ituality through a childlike state o f mind. natural Romance, 1984). A fairy tale o f sorts,
Popular in the United States, The Blue Bird The Changeover s metatextual references to
was twice made into a film (in 1940 and 1976). *Alice in Wonderland, The ^Wi^ard of and
Maeterlinck wrote a much less successful s e ­ ""Sleeping B e a u t y ' underscore the heroine's
quel to this play, Les Fiançailles (The Engage­ inner j o u r n e y (from mortal to witch, from
ment, 1922), in which T y l t y l is an adolescent in child to adult) as she a w a k e n s the magical
search o f love. LCS p o w e r s within. MLE
Olendorf, Donna (ed.), Something About the
Author, 6 9 ( 1 9 9 2 ) .
M A H F O U Z , N A G U I B (191 I - ), Nobel Prize-win­ Lesniak, James G., and Trosky, Susan M. (eds.),
ning and prolific E g y p t i a n novelist. Arabian Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, 3 8
Nights and Days, the 1995 English translation (i993)-

of his 1982 novel Layali Alf Layla (literally

' T h e Nights o f the T h o u s a n d N i g h t s ' ) , adapts M A I L L Y , J E A N , C H E V A L I E R D E (.'-1724), F r e n c h
The ^Arabian Nights from within the Islamic writer. A military officer and g o d s o n o f L o u i s
tradition, rather than from an orientalizing X I V , Mailly published w i d e l y , including a c o l ­
(John *Barth) o r a hybridizing (Salman *Rush- lection o f 11 fairy tales, Les Illustres Fées, contes
die) perspective. It explores what happens after galons (The Illustrious Fairies, Galant Tales,
the happy ending, what S h a h r y a r must d o to 1698). (It is uncertain whether o r not he c o n ­
purify himself, and h o w ordinary people suc­ tributed to a later collection, Nouveau recueil de
cumb to and struggle against the p o w e r abuses contes de fées (New Collection of Fairy Tales,
and corruption o f absolutism. T h e Café o f the 1730).) I n The Illustrious Fairies Mailly displays
Emirs, rather than the Sultan's palace, is the a w i d e k n o w l e d g e o f the literary (and perhaps
storytelling heart o f the n o v e l . Mahfouz retells folkloric) sources o f the 17th-century F r e n c h
specific tales (e.g. ' M a r o u f the C o b b l e r ' , ' T h e ' v o g u e ' o f fairy tales. F o r example, at least
P s e u d o - C a l i p h ' , the J e w i s h D o c t o r ' s tale in the three o f the tales in this v o l u m e ( ' F o r t u n i o ' ,
Hunchback's cycle) and traces Sufi-based spir­ 'Blanche Belle' ( ' W h i t e B e a u t y ' ) , and ' L e
itual transformations, as both 'believing' and Prince G u e r i n i ' ) are versions o f stories found
mischievous génies test the minds and souls o f in *Straparola's Pleasant Nights; the plots o f
humans. ' W h i t e B e a u t y ' and ' G u e r i n i ' are also retold b y
T h e author o f more than 30 novels, ranging his contemporaries d ' * A u l n o y and *Murat; and
from historical to socialist and existentialist, four o f Mailly's tales h a v e discernible folkloric
and o f several volumes o f short stories, M a h ­ traces (the aforementioned, plus ' L e Bienfai­
fouz is also an active journalist. H i s w e l l - sant o u Quiribirini' ( ' T h e Benefactor o r Q u i r i -
k n o w n Cairo Trilogy w a s serialized for the b i r i n i ' ) ) . In addition, his stories feature a w i d e
Cairo daily. A defender o f Rushdie in 1989, range o f the motifs c o m m o n l y found in fairy
Mahfouz has continued to promote the coexist­ tales o f the period, including chivalric a d v e n ­
ence o f religion and democracy within Islam. tures, cabbalistic m a g i c , enchanted islands,
Condemned as a blasphemer b y one religious metamorphosis, and metempsychosis. Mailly
group for his controversial novel translated as makes frequent and deft use o f the last t w o . In
Children of Gebelawi (1981), he s u r v i v e d an at­ both ' L e Prince R o g e r ' and ' L e R o i magicien'
tempt on his life in 1994. CB ( ' T h e Magician K i n g ' ) , for example, a main
Al-Mousa, Nedal, 'The Nature and Uses of the character changes form to pursue l o v e inter­
Fantastic in the Fictional World of Naguib ests. A n d in ' T h e Benefactor o r Quiribirini' the
MALAMUD, BERNARD 312

p o w e r o f souls to travel from b o d y to b o d y is 1973). T h i s w o r k together with Mo^iconi

central to the plot. Metamorphosis o f a m o r e (1975) represents the author's attempt to try to
figurative kind occurs in ' L e Prince G u e r i n i ' reach y o u n g people and propose to them an al­
w h e n the hero, an uncouth but gentle ' s a v a g e ' , ternative type of reading. 'Millemosche' is also
blossoms into a predictably incomparable h e r o - an attempt to reread history from the l o w e r
prince. Without being parodie, m a n y o f Mail- ranks o f society. T h e three protagonists, Mille­
l y ' s tales treat fairy-tale scenarios with hu­ mosche, Pannocchia ( ' C o b ' ) and Carestia
m o u r . Indeed, his tales often make use o f ( ' F a m i n e ' ) are unable to defeat their hunger,
'galanterie', a refined but light-hearted defer­ and through their eyes w e relive the Middle
ence for w o m e n that is none the less androcen­ A g e s from the point of v i e w of the oppressed.
tric; hence, the tongue-in-cheek criticism o f Mozziconi ('Butts') is an uprooted person, a
husbands w h o d o not tolerate their w i v e s ' clochard w h o decides to dismantle his house
extramarital affairs in ' W h i t e B e a u t y ' . F o r their and throw everything out o f the w i n d o w , and
variety and humour, M a i l l y ' s fairy tales evince
then the w i n d o w itself. T h i s w a y he can create
a conception o f the genre shared b y d ' A u l n o y ,
his fairy tale and enter it. Something similar
*La F o r c e , and *Perrault. LCS
talkes place in Pinocchio con gli stivali (Pinoc­
Hannon, Patricia, 'Feminine Voice and the chio with the Boots, 1977), in which *Pinocchio
Motivated Text: Mme d'Aulnoy and the leaves his o w n fairy tale and enters that of T i t ­
Chevalier de Mailly', Merveilles et Contes, 2 . 1 tle R e d R i d i n g H o o d , *Cinderella, and then is
(1988). brought back b y guards to the same point from
which he departed, between chapters 35 and 36.
MALAMUD, BERNARD (1914-86), American Malherba's stories deal with the question of
writer, k n o w n for his n o v e l s and tales based on freedom and o f creating one's o w n fairy tale in
J e w i s h social and cultural experience. Malamud the modern w o r l d .
made his reputation with the n o v e l The Assist­ T h e author's predilection for this type of
ant (1957), w h i c h uses the legend o f St Francis narrative is evident in his other collections of
o f Assisi to address questions of anti-Semitism stories such as: Le rose imperiali (The Imperial
and J e w i s h identity in N e w Y o r k during the Roses, 1975), Storiette (Little Stories, 1977), and
1930s. In t w o superb collections o f stories, The Nuove storie delVanno Mille (New Stories of the
Magic Barrel (1958) and Idiots First (1963), he Year 1000, 1981). Storiette e storiette tascabili
d r a w s upon eastern E u r o p e a n folklore, F r a n z (Little Stories and Pocket Stories, 1994) contain
*Kafka, and N e w Y o r k J e w i s h h u m o u r to cre­ perhaps the author's best modern tales, from
ate unique kinds o f stories and modern fairy ' L a favola di Orestone', in which the father
tales. T h u s , in ' T h e J e w b i r d ' , a talking bird writes a fairy tale for his son, to ' L a maiala'
named Schwartz flies into the kitchen of the ( ' T h e S o w ' ) , the story o f a professor of letters,
C o h e n family to escape anti-Semeets (anti- history, and g e o g r a p h y w h o goes to teach
Semites) but ironically meets his end in the e v e r y day to take revenge on her husband.
hands o f the J e w i s h salesman C o h e n . JZ GD
Cannon, JoAnn, Postmodern Italian Fiction: The
M A L E R B A , LuiGl ( 1 9 2 7 - ) , contemporary Italian Crisis of Reason in Calvino, Eco, Sciascia,
writer and screenwriter. His first b o o k , La Malerba (1989).
Colonna, Marco (ed.), Luigi Malerba (1994).
scoperta dell'alfabeto (The Discovery of the Al­
Sora, S., Modalitdten des Komischen: Eine Studie
phabet, 1963), w h i c h anticipates the fantastic
iu Luigi Malerba (1989).
type o f narrative that he later develops, is a c o l ­
lection o f tales in w h i c h the old A m b a n e l l i d e ­ M A R D R U S , J O S E P H C H A R L E S (1848-1949), C a u ­
cides to learn h o w to read and write w h e n he casian doctor and scholar born in C a i r o , re­
discovers that he can m o v e around the letters sponsible for an important French translation
o f the alphabet. T h e n o v e l II serpente (The Ser­ of Les Mille et Une Nuits (Thousand and One
pent, 1966) deals with a stamp collector w h o Nights, 1899—1904) based primarily on the 1835
realizes that, b y using his imagination, he can E g y p t i a n edition o f The ^Arabian Nights b y
b e c o m e a king, an explorer, an e m p e r o r — a n y ­ Boulak. Mardrus studied classics and A r a b i c
thing he wishes. literature in Beirut, and went on to receive a
Malerba's ' M i l l e m o s c h e ' ( ' A Thousand doctorate in medicine at the Sorbonne in 1895.
F l i e s ' ) , a series o f stories for children written in W h i l e w o r k i n g as a doctor on shipping lines,
cooperation with T o n i n o G u e r r a in 1969, w a s which took him from the Middle East to South-
published under the title Storie delVanno Mille East A s i a , he began to translate and publish Les
(Stories of the Year One Thousand, 7 v o l s . , Mille et Une Nuits, the revenues from which
 MARTIN GAITE, CARMEN

allowed him to settle permanently in Paris b y traditional Russian folk tales, as well as U k r a i -
1899. Within Parisian literary circles, Mardrus nian, Lithuanian, and •oriental folk and fairy
frequented Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul V a l é r y , tales. H e has also retold in r h y m e some fairy
Maurice •Maeterlinck, A n d r é G i d e , and Marcel tales b y Hans Christian • A n d e r s e n .
• S c h w o b , and dedicated to each o f them a v o l - Most o f his fairy tales are clearly didactic.
ume of his 16-volume w o r k . Mardrus's transla- F o r instance, in one o f them animated b o o k s
tion became the object o f critical debate, which run a w a y from a lazy and s l o v e n l y b o y . M a r -
opposed the partisans of Antoine *Galland, shak has written several p l a y s based on Slavic
w h o claimed the superiority of the latter's clas- folk tales, the most famous being The Twelve
sical style, to those w h o favoured Mardrus's Months (1943), a S l o v a k fairy tale, reminiscent
more sensual, unexpurgated version. U n l i k e o f • ' M o t h e r H o l l e ' ; and an original play Pussy-
Galland, Mardrus did not Frenchify the A r a - cat's House (1945). Marshak's status in Russian
bian tales but retained much o f their cultural children's literature is comparable to that o f
specificity. AD Milne in Britain o r D r •Seuss in the United
States; his fairy tales are a m o n g the v e r y first
M A R I E DE F R A N C E , 12th-century French poet. literary texts y o u n g readers encounter. A s an
T h e first k n o w n European w o m a n writer to editor o f a literary magazine for children, and
compose vernacular narrative poetry, Marie later the chairman o f the S o v i e t Children's
was best k n o w n for her A e s o p - b a s e d Fables W r i t e r s ' G u i l d , Marshak made an outstanding
and her twelve w i d e l y translated Lais contribution to the promotion o f S o v i e t fairy
(c.ii6o— 1215). Short verse romances, the Lais tales and the introduction o f international fairy
are sophisticated retellings of traditional B r e - tales in the S o v i e t U n i o n . MN
ton oral lais. In several, the supernatural plays Bode, Andreas, 'Humor in the Lyrical Stories
a k e y role: ' L a n v a l ' , a fairy bride story w h o s e for Children of Samuel Marshak and Korney
hero is one of Arthur's knights; ' B i s c l a v r e t ' , Chukovsky', The Lion and the Unicorn, 13.2
the story of a virtuous werewolf; and ' Y o n e c ' , (December 1989).
an animal-groom tale w h o s e captive heroine is
visited b y a l o v e r in the form of a h a w k . SR MARSHALL, JAMES (EDWARD) (1942-92),
American author-illustrator of numerous
MARINUZZl, GlNO (1882-1945), Italian conduct- b o o k s for y o u n g children. In addition to his
or and composer, w i d e l y praised for his con- popular 'Stupids' series (1974 o n w a r d s ) —
ducting of *Wagner and Richard •Strauss, but 'simpleton' tales transposed to contemporary
also important as an interpreter of w o r k s b y his A m e r i c a — M a r s h a l l has reinterpreted s e v -
countrymen, directing the première o f • P u c c i - eral individual •Mother G o o s e rhymes and folk
ni's La rondine in 1917. H e studied at the tales as humorous picture b o o k s . His colour-
Palermo C o n s e r v a t o r y and made his conduct- ful, cartoonlike illustrations expand and c o m -
ing debut in Catania. A m o n g the several posts ment on the stories, à la • C a l d e c o t t — t h e cat
he held w a s artistic director of C h i c a g o O p e r a tucked up with G r a n n y in *Red Riding Hood
Association (1919—21), and chief conductor L a (1987), for example, or the crocodile hopefully
Scala, Milan, from 1934. A c t i v e as a composer, pursuing the heroine on the last p a g e , o r the
he wrote the ballet Le avventure di *Pinocchio, b o o k s piled b y the three beds in Goldilocks and
which w a s later reworked b y his son, G i n o the Three Bears (1988). SR
Marinuzzi (1920— ) in 1956 and entitled, Pinoc-
chio, storia di un burattino. TH M A R T I N G A I T E , C A R M E N ( 1 9 2 5 - ) , Spanish
writer highly regarded for her novels and short
MARSHAK, S A M U I L (1887-1964), Russian chil- stories. She has also experimented with other
dren's writer and translator, one o f the pion- literary genres, and her w o r k in the field o f
eers of Soviet children's literature. Besides children's literature is exemplified b y fairy tales
being one of the foremost translators of such as ' E l castillo de las très murallas' ( ' T h e
*Shakespeare's sonnets into Russian, he trans- Castle o f the T h r e e W a l l s ' , 1981) and ' E l pastel
lated English nursery rhymes and ballads, R . L . del diablo' ( ' T h e F i e n d ' s C a k e ' , 1992). In add-
•Stevenson, *Kipling, E d w a r d L e a r , and A . A . ition, she is the author o f La reina de las nieves
•Milne. H e wrote a number of original versified (The Snow Queen, 1994), a n o v e l based on
fairy tales, often featuring animals, for instance Hans Christian • A n d e r s e n ' s ' T h e • S n o w
The Tale of the Stupid Mouse (1923), The Tale Q u e e n ' . O f all her fairy stories, the most suc-
of the Clever Mouse (1956), or Why the Cat was cessful has been Caperucita Roja en Manhattan
Called a Cat (1939). M a n y o f them are based on (Little Red Riding Hood in Manhattan, 1990), a
MATEOS, AURORA
3M

short n o v e l in w h i c h she rewrites the story of 'Caballito l o c o ' ( ' C r a z y Little H o r s e ' , 1961),
""Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' with feminist ' C a r n a v a l i t o ' ('Little C a r n i v a l ' , 1961), and ' E l
overtones. CF saltamontes v e r d e ' ( ' T h e G r e e n Grasshopper',
1969). M o r e recently, Matute has participated
M A T E O S , A U R O R A (n.d.), Spanish 20th-century in the fairy-tale revisionist trend popular in
writer. F o r y e a r s she w a s the editor o f Ba{ar, a Western literature since the 1970s. H e r contri­
magazine for adolescent girls that b e g a n to be bution to this phenomenon is a rewriting of
published after the Spanish C i v i l War Charles "Terrault's ' T h e *Sleeping Beauty' en­
(1936—9) and became a transmitter o f the femi­ titled La verdadera historia de la Bella Dur-
nine ideal as it w a s defined b y the official ideol­ miente (Sleeping Beauty's True Story, 1995). In
ogists o f F r a n c o ' s military regime. In Ba^ar, this short novel Matute tries to stick as closely
Mateos published children's p l a y s , saints' lives, as possible to her source, but she introduces
and numerous fairy tales o f her o w n . T w o re­ certain changes. T o start with, she pays little
curring characters in Mateos's w o r k s became attention to the first part of the story that con­
v e r y w e l l k n o w n : D o n a Sabionda, a g o o d - cludes w h e n Beauty is w a k e n e d b y the prince.
hearted and plump fairy, and Guillermina, a She is mainly interested in narrating the second
candid and naughty girl w h o s e life w a s full of and least k n o w n part, that in which w e are told
adventures. A great number o f Mateos's plays about the prince's mother's murderous drives
can be considered as fairy tales in dramatic towards her grandchildren and daughter-in-
form. S o m e examples o f these are: La hija de law. Matute's major contribution consists in
Blanca Nieves (Snow White's Daughter, 1947), g i v i n g extra information on the biographies of
El reino de la felicidad ( The Kingdom of Happi­ the prince's parents. CF
ness, 1948), and La princesa Remilgadina (Prin­ Ellenberger, Madeleine Michell, 'Reality and
cess Remilgadina, 1949). CF Fantasy in Three Tales for Children by Ana
Maria Matute' (Diss., University of Virginia,
MATTHIESSEN, WILHELM (1891-1965), German 1973)-
writer and librarian. A l t h o u g h his popularity Ulyatt, Philomena, 'Allegory, Myth and Fable in
the Work of Ana Maria Matute' (Diss.,
has w a n e d , Matthiessen w a s once a m o n g the
University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1977).
best-selling authors for children, with a vast
production o f quaint fairy tales that includes:
Das alte Haus (The Old House, 1923), Deutsche MAYER, CHARLES-JOSEPH, CHEVALIER DE
Hausmdrchen (German Household Fairy Tales, (1751—1825), French writer and editor of the
1927), Turm der alten Mutter (Tower of the Old 40-volume Cabinet des fées (1785-9). T h i s
Mother, 1930), Die griine Schule (The Green massive collection brought together fairy tales
School, 1931 ) , and Die alte Gasse (The Old written and published o v e r a period of 100
Alley, 1931 ), Dasgehemnisvolle Konigreich (The years in France. A l t h o u g h M a y e r rejected al­
Mysterious Kingdom, 1933), and Die gliicklichen most all 'licentious' tales, he none the less in­
Inseln (The Happy Islands, 1949). Most o f these cluded ""oriental' tales. In addition to his w o r k
collections of tales are set in frame narratives as editor, M a y e r also wrote for this collection
and take place in a mysterious realm called useful biographical essays on 17th- and 18th-
' M y t h i k o n ' . Matthiessen w a s fond o f repeated­ century writers of fairy tales and an essay
ly introducing the same anthropomorphized ('Discours préliminaire') that is one of the first
characters, a m o n g them little firemen, cellar attempts at a critical synthesis of the literary
men, mother pine tree, and the great magician fairy tale in F r a n c e . M a y e r speculates on the
ventilator into his tales. T h e s e had a clear s y m ­ social and literary origins o f the genre, defines
bolical relationship to A r y a n m y t h o l o g y and its function as primarily didactic, and extols it
mysticism. JZ as an expression o f French refinement. Both
this essay and the Cabinet as a whole are
M A T U T E , A N A M A R I A ( 1 9 2 6 - ) , one of the most marked b y a sense o f nostalgia for (what is per­
talented 20th-century novelists in Spain. She ceived to be) the decline of the French literary
has received numerous literary a w a r d s , includ­ fairy tale at the end of the 18th century. H o w ­
ing the C e r v a n t e s A w a r d in 1959. Besides writ­ e v e r , this collection made it possible for a
ing n o v e l s for adults, Matute is w e l l k n o w n for broad E u r o p e a n public to become acquainted
her children's stories in w h i c h she makes fre­ with the tradition o f 17th- and 18th-century
quent use o f traditional fairy-tale motifs and F r e n c h fairy tales and w a s a particularly im­
stylistic features. A m o n g Matute's fairy tales portant source o f inspiration for romantic fairy
are: ' E l aprendiz' ( ' T h e A p p r e n t i c e ' , 1961), tales in G e r m a n y . LCS
3i5 MÉLIÈS, GEORGES

M A Y E R , M E R C E R ( 1 9 4 3 - ) , A m e r i c a n author reflected b y foreshortened figures, G o t h i c sur-

and illustrator o f children's b o o k s . His father roundings, sombre colours, or E g y p t i a n motifs
was in the n a v y , and M a y e r spent his childhood o f death and rebirth. MLE
in the South, and his adolescence in H a w a i i . Hearne, Betsy, Beauty and the Beast: Visions and
*Rackham, *Tenniel, Beardsley, and *Ford Revisions of an Old Tale (1989).
were his favourite illustrators, and he studied at Lesniak, James, and Trosky, Susan M. (eds.),
the Hawaii A c a d e m y o f A r t s and the A r t Stu- Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, 38
dents' L e a g u e in N e w Y o r k . H e w o r k e d with (1993)-
an advertising agency before devoting himself Montreville, Doris de, and Crawford, Elizabeth
D . , Fourth Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators
full-time to his art.
(1978).
M a y e r has received numerous awards for his
more than 100 b o o k s that humorously rep- M E C K E L , C H R I S T O P H ( 1 9 3 5 - ) G e r m a n writer
resent a child's w o r l d from a child's perspec- and artist. B o r n in Berlin, Meckel studied
tive. H e developed the wordless children's graphics and painting in F r e i b u r g and Munich.
picture b o o k with A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog A s i d e from producing outstanding art w o r k ,
(1967), which led to a five-book series. F e e l i n g Meckel has written experimental poetry, stor-
more comfortable with w o r d s , he added text to ies, and novels with strong surrealist and fairy-
plots with the classic There's a Nightmare in my tale elements. A m o n g his best w o r k s are Tarn-
Closet (1968; U K , There's a Nightmare in my kappe (The Invisible Cap, 1956), Tullipan
Cupboard, 1969), eventually producing only the (1965), Kranich (Crane, 1973), Der wahre Muf-
text for unconventional silliness, such as the toni (The True Muftoni, 1982), and Ein roter
Appelard and Liverwurst b o o k s illustrated b y Faden (A Red Thread, 1983). H e has a predilec-
Steven K e l l o g g . . tion for the absurd situation, and his stories
Mayer is best k n o w n for t w o self-illustrated h a v e a bizarre K a f k a e s q u e quality to them. In
series that address children's frustrations and ' D i e K r a h e ' ( ' T h e C r o w ' , 1962), for example,
fears. T h e Little Monster and Little Critter the narrator attempts to save a talking c r o w
books with their menagerie of minority protag- from persecution, but fails because o f the
onists reject both racial and sex stereotyping, prejudices o f small-minded people. JZ
and feature topics ranging from jealousy o f
new siblings to the responsibility of keeping MÉLIÈS, GEORGES ( 1 8 6 1 - 1 9 3 8 ) , influential
pets, to fear of the dentist. Important social- French film producer and director o f numerous
ization tools, these mass-marketed titles target films, m a n y o f which w e r e adaptations o f clas-
a variety o f reading levels and media. In add- sical fairy tales. H e w a s the accidental inventor
ition to books, there are audio cassettes, film o f trick photography and thus w h a t w e today
adaptations, and interactive C D - R O M s (such call special effects. Méliès' most famous fantasy
as Little Monster at School, 1994; The Smelly film—ox féerie—is undoubtedly the 30-scene
Mystery, 1997). science-fiction adventure Le Voyage dans la
In 1991 M a y e r published three fairy-tale lune (A Trip to the Moon, 1902) in w h i c h a
adaptations in the Little Critter series: ^Little rocket launched from earth lands in the m o o n ' s
Red Riding Hood, *Hansel and Gretel, and *Jack e y e . H o w e v e r , Méliès, a stage magician and il-
and the Beanstalk. T h e s e highly detailed board lusionist b y training w h o became one o f the
books for toddlers all feature his ' C r i t t e r - M o n - first directors to use film techniques such as dis-
ster' style o f deft, scratchy pen strokes and bold solve, time-lapse photography, and artificial
colours. V e r y different are his earlier b o o k s for lighting, also adapted The Grasshopper and the
older children, which feature a richly muted Ant (from A e s o p ' s Fables) in 1897, made a 20-
'Victorian' palette and design: these include scene version o f Cendrillon (*Cinderella) in
a R
The ^Sleeping Beauty (1981) and East of the Sun 1899, d completed versions o f Barbe-Bleue
and West of the Moon (1980), a N o r w e g i a n folk (*Bluebeard) and Le Petit Chaperon Rouge (^Lit-
tale. H e has also illustrated other authors' re- tle Red Riding Hood) in 1901. In 1903, Méliès
tellings of Favorite Tales from *Grimm (1978) made Kingdom of the Fairies, 15 minutes long
and *Beauty and the Beast (1978). R e t o l d b y and 1,080 feet in length. H e remade Cinderella
Marianna M a y e r (his first w i f e ) , the latter in 1912.
shows the influence of * Villeneuve's version O w n e r o f the appropriately named Star F i l m
with its dreams of the prince and fairy w a r n - c o m p a n y , Méliès, at his zenith between 1896
ings. Here, text and illustration beautifully and 1902, influenced E u r o p e a n and A m e r i c a n
complement each other as tension, foreboding, directors. E d w i n Porter, popularly k n o w n for
loneliness, and metamorphosis are dramatically his Life of a Fireman (1902) also made *Jack and
'MELUSINE' 316

the Beanstalk in 1902. Porter's version of Jack is Geschichte von der schbnen Melusine ( The Story
modelled on Méliès's version o f Bluebeard. of the Beautiful Melusine, 1456) ) , Paul-François
Ferdinand Zecca further developed the trick *Nodot w a s the next writer to rework the le-
p h o t o g r a p h y techniques 'invented' b y Méliès gend in his pseudo-historical novels Histoire de
in the fairy-tale adaptations *Ali Baba et les 40 Melusine (Story of Melusine, 1698) and Histoire
Voleurs (1902) and *Aladin (1906). Charlie de Geofroy (Story of Geoffroy, 1700). Later v e r -
Chaplin and D . W . Griffith (T o w e him e v e r y - sions tend to take greater liberties with the
thing') also testified to the influence o f Méliès. story, often setting the interdiction-transgres-
T h e F r e n c h film director R e n é C l a i r ' s 1947 sion and metamorphosis motifs in less magical
tribute to Méliès w a s called Le Silence est dor and more contemporary contexts (e.g. *Arnim,
(Silence is Golden). Initially, Méliès's films w e r e *Goethe, L a R o c h e ) . T h e composers *Men-
so successful that they w e r e pirated, until his delssohn and Hoffmann each wrote pieces in-
brother, G a s t o n Méliès, began registering them spired b y Ringoltingen's version of the legend.
with the L i b r a r y o f C o n g r e s s . M o r e recently, A . S. *Byatt used the Melusine
F i l m historians argue that whilst the story as a subtext in Possession (1990), and both
L u m i è r e s invented realist narratives, or actual- historians and literary critics have turned their
ities, in films like Sortie des ouvriers de l'usine attention to the meanings and uses of the le-
Lumière ( Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory) gend in medieval and early modern culture.
and L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de la Ciotat LCS
(Train Arriving at the Station), Méliès invented Maddox, Donald, and Sturm-Maddox, Sara
fantasy narratives. D a v i d Shipman writes: ' T h e (eds.), Melusine of Lusignan: Founding Fiction in
L u m i è r e s photographed nature; Méliès photo- Late Medieval France (1996).
graphed a reconstructed life.' Méliès w a s d e -
clared bankrupt in 1 9 2 3 — a fallen star. In true (1809-47), G e r m a n r o -
M E N D E L S S O H N , FELIX
fairy-tale style, though, he later married J e a n n e mantic composer. A s children, the four y o u n g
d ' A l c y , a former actress and protégée. F o r his Mendelssohns staged their o w n outdoor per-
considerable contributions to film, including formances o f *Shakespeare's plays. A Midsum-
the fairy-tale film, Méliès w a s awarded a L e - mer Night's Dream w a s their favourite, and at
gion o f H o n o u r medal in 1931. IWA 17 Felix Mendelssohn wrote an Overture for it
n e w a s
Bendazzi, Giannalberto, Le Film d'animation which ensured his fame. In 1843 re-
(1985). quested b y K i n g Frederick William I V of
Parkinson, David, History of Film (1995). Prussia to provide complete incidental music
Shipman, David, The Story of Cinema: A for a production o f the play, and used themes
Complete Narrative History from the Beginnings to from his overture to create interludes,
the Present (1982). entr'actes, dances, a nocturne, and a wedding
Mast, Gerald, A Short History of the Movies (4th
march. Incidental Music to 'A Midsummer
edn., 1986).
Night's Dream ' remains one of the finest music-
' M E L U S I N E ' , F r e n c h legend that has inspired al realizations of a literary fairy tale. Mendels-
numerous literary w o r k s . T h e essential elem- sohn's Mdrchen von der Schdnen Melusina (Fair
ents o f the plot are laid out in t w o medieval Melusina Overture, 1834) w a s inspired b y the
versions o f Le Roman de Melusine (The Ro- French legend of the mermaid w h o married a
mance of Melusine), one in prose b y J e a n d ' A r - nobleman. Its opening theme, suggestive of
ras (1392—3), and one in v e r s e b y Coudrette flowing water, w a s b o r r o w e d b y *Wagner for
(c.1402). Melusine, the daughter o f a fairy, the Prelude to Das Rheingold. SR
marries R a y m o n d i n on the condition that he
n e v e r l o o k at her on Saturdays. She bears him M E N D È S , CATULLE ( 1 8 4 1 - 1 9 0 9 ) , French writer.
ten sons, w h o pursue chivalric adventures all Unable to establish a lasting reputation for
o v e r E u r o p e and constitute the L u s i g n a n d y n - himself, Mendès none the less played a role in
asty. E v e n t u a l l y R a y m o n d i n breaks his p r o m - the Parnassian and symbolist movements. A s
ise and sees Melusine transformed into a literary editor o f La Revue fantaisiste (1861)
serpent, w h o then disappears. T h e story holds and Le Parnasse contemporain (1866—76), he
that she keeps a watchful e y e o v e r her descend- provided opportunities for writers n o w con-
ants from her château at L u s i g n a n . W h i l e these sidered important. Cultivating contemporary
medieval versions are m o r e genealogical myths tastes for la fantaisie (fantasy), Mendès pub-
than w o n d e r tales, later rewritings place great- lished w o r k s with fairy themes for himself and
er emphasis on the marvellous. After a G e r m a n others like *Banville and *Daudet. His ' L e s
version b y T h i i r i n g v o n R i n g o l t i n g e n (Die Mots perdus' ('Lost W o r d s ' , 1886) recounts a
 i7 MERMAID FAIRY-TALE FILMS
3

wicked fairy's vengeance upon a nation b y r e - quires the ability to w a l k . A n d e r s e n ' s ending,
m o v i n g the w o r d s ' I l o v e y o u ' from its m e m - h o w e v e r , is reversed. T w i c e Madison saves
ory. O n l y when she falls in l o v e with a y o u n g A l l e n from d r o w n i n g , once w h e n he is 8 and
poet does she release the land from the curse. again 20 y e a r s later: her presence m a g i c a l l y
His marvellous and fantastic stories generally g i v e s him the p o w e r to breathe underwater.
reflect this fin-de-siècle taste for the 'cruel'. I n W h e n she comes to N e w Y o r k to find him, h e r
' L e Miroir' ( ' T h e Mirror', 1886), an u g l y queen tail dries out and is transformed into a pair o f
w h o has forbidden all mirrors in her realm con- legs. A t first unable to communicate with
demns a beautiful princess to death. T h e girl A l l e n , she learns E n g l i s h from watching televi-
refuses to believe in her beauty until she sees it sion. A l l e n falls in l o v e with her, not realizing
reflected in the hangman's s w o r d . T h e double- she is a mermaid. T h e idyll ends w h e n M a d i -
bind moral o f ' L e s D e u x Marguerites' ( ' T h e son's legs g e t w e t and h e r tail returns; she suf-
T w o Daisies', 1886) further illustrates his pes- fers the fate that Miranda f e a r e d — b e i n g
simistic decadent aesthetic. A fairy g i v e s t w o exhibited and experimented o n — b e f o r e A l l e n
y o u n g men each a magic flower w h i c h will comes to the rescue and plunges into the deep
provide them with various sensations. O n e with h e r s o that they can b e together forever.
man rapidly uses up his share of pleasure, while Instead o f d y i n g in an attempt to b e c o m e
the other hoards the daisy; this delay results in human, she has caused a human to renounce
the flower d y i n g and thus losing its p o w e r . O f humanity and b e c o m e aquatic.
the two choices, using up all o f one's happiness A range o f other films (including Hans
in youth o r never experiencing it at all, neither Christian Andersen) h a v e based themselves
appears satisfactory. AR m o r e closely o n ' T h e Little M e r m a i d ' , but
none has stuck with that text to the end. • D i s -
M E R M A I D FAIRY-TALE F I L M S , a s u b - g e n r e d e r i v e d n e y ' s The Little Mermaid ( U S A , 1989), because
directly or indirectly from Hans Christian its medium is animation rather than live action,
•Andersen's ' T h e •Little M e r m a i d ' . N o n e o f is able to follow A n d e r s e n in presenting the
the films is interested in the metaphysical ideas underwater w o r l d and its characters in consid-
of that story; instead, they concentrate o n e x - erable detail, illuminated b y songs, before A r i e l
ploring the comic and tragic potential o f beau- goes to see the witch Ursula. T h e deal they
tiful voices, tails versus legs, cross-species strike is the standard o n e — A r i e l g i v e s u p h e r
relationships, and slippery sex. beautiful v o i c e in exchange for l e g s — b u t a
In Andersen, the mermaid has h e r tongue time limit is added to it: A r i e l has o n l y three
cut off as the price to be paid for entering the days in w h i c h to w i n Prince E r i c ' s l o v e . I f she
human w o r l d , but in the c o m e d y Miranda ( U K , fails, she will not die (as in A n d e r s e n ) ; instead
1948) that idea is turned on its head. T h r o u g h - she will b e c o m e U r s u l a ' s possession. B y using
out, the mermaid's tongue is her chief strength. A r i e l ' s v o i c e , U r s u l a thwarts h e r attempts to
Initially, she uses it to persuade a handsome charm the prince. W h e n the time limit expires,
doctor she has rescued to take h e r to L o n d o n . A r i e l ' s distraught father relinquishes his k i n g -
T h e r e she g i v e s v o i c e to a n y desires she has, d o m in order to save h e r from perpetual e n -
telling men h o w strong they are, and what nice slavement. A t the climax, Prince E r i c ' s ship
ears they have; and she takes what she wants kills Ursula. A r i e l becomes human again, and
when she sees it, d e v o u r i n g b o w l after b o w l o f the prince marries her. O n l y a final shot o f
cockles. Such conduct charms, excites, and s e - A r i e l ' s father, realizing sadly that he has lost
duces three men, w h o vie with each other for his daughter not just to a husband but to a spe-
the pleasure o f carrying her around in their cies that lives in a different element, suggests
a r m s — a n operation rendered necessary b y the that this happy ending is not happy for e v e r y -
fact that, in order to keep h e r tail permanently one.
draped, she is posing as an invalid unable to A n d e r s e n himself appears as a character in
walk. W h e n her secret gets out, she returns to Rousalochka ( U S S R / B u l g a r i a , 1976), telling
the sea, fearing to be made an aquarium e x - the story to a little girl in a stagecoach. H e p r e -
hibit. In a n y case, she has g o t what she really sents a n e w side to the fabled beauty o f m e r -
came for: whereas A n d e r s e n ' s mermaid wants maids' v o i c e s — i t is their siren singing, rather
an immortal soul, all Miranda wants from her than a storm, that causes the prince's ship to b e
contact with humans is impregnation. dashed against rocks in the first p l a c e — b e f o r e
Another mermaid c o m e d y begins a bit like dwelling o n the particular mermaid w h o saves
Andersen: the heroine o f Splash ( U S A , 1984) the prince. A n d e r s e n then inserts himself, as a
loses her v o i c e — a l b e i t t e m p o r a r i l y — a n d a c - troubadour, into the story he is telling, and
MEYRINK, GUSTAV 318

persuades a witch to m a k e the mermaid human. mer Night's Dream, which included dancing
In e x c h a n g e , the mermaid has to g i v e up her fairies choreographed to the music Mendels­
v o i c e before trying to w i n the prince's l o v e . sohn had written for the play in the previous
D u r i n g the attempt, she is exposed as a m e r ­ century. W h e n W a r n e r Bros, invited R e i n ­
maid, and condemned to be burned at the hardt to co-direct a film o f it ( U S A , 1935), they
stake. T h e prince rescues her, but is killed in a did not want a straightforward record of the
duel, till the witch intercedes at the mermaid's stage production. N o r did Reinhardt. H e aimed
behest and r e v i v e s him. F o r this she must p a y instead to continue to s h o w respect for S h a k e ­
with her life, unless someone is w i l l i n g to die in speare's text but use some of W a r n e r s ' estab­
her place. T h e troubadour does. A s a result she lished m o v i e s t a r s — s u c h as J a m e s C a g n e y
will live forever, but not with the prince; she (Bottom), Dick Powell (Lysander), Joe E .
returns to the sea alone, to be seen in future B r o w n (Flute), and 14-year-old M i c k e y R o o -
o n l y b y believers. In stressing that l o v e re­ n e y ( P u c k ) — r a t h e r than his stage actors.
quires sacrifice, and in not endorsing miscegen­ E q u a l l y , Reinhardt wanted to exploit cinema's
ation, this adaptation comes closest in spirit to unlimited space, and the camera's technical
A n d e r s e n ' s original story. TAS possibilities, to create a w o r l d of magic and en­
chantment. A large troupe of gossamer fair­
MEYRINK, GUSTAV (1868-1932), Austrian i e s — n e a r l y 1,000 extras w e r e used, according
writer. M e y e r , w h o later changed his name to to the p u b l i c i t y — i s s h o w n skipping up to the
M e y r i n k , w e n t to P r a g u e at the age o f 16 to stars on a spiral p a t h w a y of clouds, then float­
attend the business school and stayed there for ing d o w n on a moonbeam; Bottom's head is
a number o f y e a r s . H e w a s deeply influenced transformed into that o f a d o n k e y before the
b y the atmosphere o f the city, and it w a s here v i e w e r ' s eyes, b y means o f overlapping dis­
that he started his career as a writer o f fantastic solves; and some o f the forest scenes are shot
literature. H e b e g a n with grotesque satires, through a lens partially coated in oil, to en­
w h i c h he later combined with occultism and hance perception o f the story as a hazy dream.
mysticism, culminating in his most famous T h i s cinematography w o n an A c a d e m y
n o v e l Der Golem (1915). H e also w r o t e several Award.
fables like ' D e r F l u c h der K r ô t e ' ( ' T h e C u r s e A b o u t 20 years later the celebrated Czech
of the T o a d ' , 1903). CS animator J i r i T r n k a started w o r k on a non­
verbal C i n e m a S c o p e puppet version ( C z e c h o ­
M I C H E L S T A E D T E R , C A R L O (1887-1910), Italian slovakia, 1958). Shakespeare's dialogue w a s cut
poet and philosopher o f J e w i s h ancestry w h o out completely, except for the occasional few
committed suicide soon after writing his disser­ w o r d s o f plot explanation. In place of dialogue
tation, later published as La persuasione e la ret- T r n k a relied on visual richness and inventive­
torica in Platone e Aristotele (Persuasion and ness to c o n v e y character. P u c k , for example,
Rhetoric in Plato and Aristotle, 1913). His com­ s h o w s his impish humour in the w a y he trans­
plete w o r k s , published in 1958, include p o e m s forms himself into little animals from time to
and some tales, one o f w h i c h , entitled ' L a b o r a ' time; and O b e r o n ' s m o o d s are implied b y a
( ' T h e N o r t h W i n d ' ) , personifies this famous succession of costume changes. A twist not
w i n d as the benevolent sister o f Slavic w a r ­ found in Shakespeare is that in the final scene,
riors. ' L a b o r a ' w a s used b y Michelstaedter as w h e n the artisans are performing their play b e ­
an e x e m p l u m in his philosophical w o r k s , and fore T h e s e u s and the court, P u c k uses magic to
he customarily used his tales to e m b o d y his transform their acting from silly to sublime for
pessimistic thought. GD a few brief moments.
In the 1980s came a radical r e w o r k i n g ( U K /
MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, A, film v e r s i o n s . Spain, 1984) w h i c h used more of Shakespeare's
It has been filmed m o r e than 30 times, with a text than T r n k a had done, but not b y much.
w i d e range o f approaches, often derived from a Directed b y Celestino C o r o n a d o , and based on
stage production. T h e b e s t - k n o w n screen a well-travelled stage production, it posits the
adaptation w a s o n l y the second *Shakespeare dream as being that o f P u c k in a lascivious and
play to be filmed with sound; other interpret­ voyeuristic m o o d . T h e only bits of text used
ations include speechless, erotic, and p o s t m o d ­ are those w h i c h P u c k as satyr likes, and they
ern. are enhanced for him b y the addition of sex,
In 1934 the Austrian stage producer M a x mime, and transvestism. N o longer are the flee­
Reinhardt ( 1 8 7 3 - 1 9 4 3 ) put on in the H o l l y ­ ing l o v e r s , Demetrius and Helena, separated
w o o d B o w l a popular and acclaimed Midsum­ during their night in the f o r e s t — t h e y lie to-
 MILNE, A . A .

gether. N e x t morning, w h e n he w a k e s with house (1972), From the Realm of Morpheus

eyes befuddled b y P u c k ' s m a g i c , the first per­ (1986), and Martin Dressier: The Tale of an
son Demetrius sees and fancies is not Helena, American Dreamer (1996) explore and tran­
but his rival L y s a n d e r . H o w e v e r H e r m i a , w h e n scend the boundaries between realism and fan­
she opens her eyes, does fall for Helena. T h e y tasy. C l e a r l y influenced b y the w o r k o f J o r g e
all make l o v e , then change partners. In other L u i s * B o r g e s , Millhauser has subtly revised
parts of the w o o d Bottom, instead o f acquiring classical fairy tales and challenged our inter­
an ass's head, turns into a horned Beast w h o pretations o f these tales in v a r i o u s collections
excites and satisfies Titania (played b y a m a n ) ; o f short stories: In the Penny Arcade (1986), The
and Oberon carries off the changeling Bamum Museum (1990), Little Kingdoms
b o y — c a u s e of his problems with T i t a n i a — f o r (1993), and The Knife Thrower (1998). F o r in­
private pleasures. stance, ' T h e E i g h t h V o y a g e o f S i n b a d ' and
' A l i c e F a l l i n g ' in The Barnum Museum are droll
A R o y a l Shakespeare C o m p a n y production
and h i g h l y sophisticated investigations o f clas­
transferred to film ( U K , 1996) similarly inter­
sical fairy tales that u n c o v e r n e w meanings in
prets it as one particular person's dream. In this
the exploits o f Sindbad and *Alice. In ' T h e
case it is a sleeping b o y , in ancient A t h e n s , w h o
Princess, the D w a r f , and the D u n g e o n ' (Little
becomes a silent onlooker. T h e production
Kingdoms) Millhauser transforms a fairy tale
thus reaches out to touch and join earlier other-
into a G o t h i c tale o f jealousy and horror. ' T h e
land excursions such as The *Wi{ard of 0{ and
N e w A u t o m a t o n ' in The Knife Thrower recalls
*Alice in Wonderland. T h e r e are also, in the v i s ­ E . T . A . *Hoffmann's tales and highlights a
uals, invocations of Beatrix *Potter, A r t h u r major theme in all o f Millhauser's unusual
*Rackham, E.T., and Mary Poppins. T h i s 'postmodern' fairy tales: the exhaustion and
child's-eye perception is extended b y a presen­ abuse o f the imagination. P a r a d o x i c a l l y , Mill­
tation of the enchanted Athenian w o o d as a hauser's compelling tales o f m a g i c realism seek
virtual w o r l d generated b y computer. T h e to save humanity from nihilistic tendencies in
dreaming b o y is also, like P u c k in the 1984 v e r ­ imaginations run a m o k . JZ
sion, interested in the sexual potential of the
comings and g o i n g s in the w o o d , but not so Fowler, Douglas, 'Steven Millhauser,
deeply. Miniaturist', Critique, 3 7 (winter 1996).
Perhaps because o f its fairy-tale elements, A Kinzie, Mary, 'Succeeding Borges, Escaping
Midsummer Night's Dream seems to be the most Kafka: On the Fiction of Steven Millhauser',
versatile and adaptable of all Shakespeare's Salmagundi, (fall 1991).
plays. TAS Salzman, Arthur M., 'In the Millhauser
Archives', Critique, 3 7 (winter 1996).
MILNE, A . A . (ALAN ALEXANDER, 1882-1956),
M I L L A R , H A R O L D R O B E R T (1869-1942), British
British humorist, p l a y w r i g h t , and children's
illustrator of the Black and W h i t e S c h o o l ,
writer. Best k n o w n for his children's poetry
trained at the B i r m i n g h a m School o f A r t .
and for his t o y stories, Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)
K n o w n for his w o r k for b o o k s b y E . *Nesbit
and The House at Pooh Corner (1928), Milne
and R u d y a r d *Kipling, he also p r o v i d e d fairy­
w a s also intrigued b y the form and conventions
tale illustrations for the Strand Magazine and
o f the fairy tale and w r o t e a number o f literary
Little Folks from 1890 until the 1920s. B e g i n ­
fairy tales for adults and for children. Indeed,
ning in 1893 with Aunt Louisa's Book of Fairy
according to his o w n account in It's Too Late
Tales and concluding with Our Old Fairy Stor­
Now (1939), as the y o u n g e s t o f three sons, he
ies b y Mrs Herbert Strang (1939), Millar illus­
g r e w up half-expecting the charmed future
trated o v e r 15 books of fairy stories, along with
fairy tales predicted for him. A t H e n l e y H o u s e ,
many reissues of these b o o k s . Especially p o p u ­
the small school run b y his father in L o n d o n ,
lar w e r e The Golden Fairy Book (1894), The
he s h o w e d outstanding promise in mathematics
Silver Fairy Book (1895), The Diamond Fairy
and w o n a scholarship to Westminster School
Book (1897), and The Ruby Fairy Book (1900).
at the remarkably early a g e o f 1 1 . D e p r i v e d o f
Millar w a s noted for his faultless line, his per­
his father's imaginative teaching, h o w e v e r , he
spectives, and his attention to detail. His early
soon lost interest in s c h o o l w o r k . H i s h o b b y o f
background as a civil engineer served him well
w r i t i n g light v e r s e in collaboration with his
in depicting fairy buildings such as castles. L S
brother K e n became an avocation, and at C a m ­
bridge U n i v e r s i t y his chief ambition w a s to
MILLHAUSER, STEVEN (1943- ), American edit Granta, then k n o w n as the Cambridge
writer. His extraordinary novels Edwin Mull- Punch. H a v i n g scraped through with a T h i r d
MITCHISON, NAOMI 320

Class degree in mathematics, Milne spent s e v ­ o f his fairy tales for adults, such stories as
eral precarious years in L o n d o n as a freelance ' P r i n c e Rabbit' and ' T h e Princess and the
writer before being invited, at 24, to be Punch's, A p p l e T r e e ' seem insipid imitations of trad­
assistant editor. A l t h o u g h his Liberal politics itional folk tales. C l e a r l y , Milne needed the
prevented his being asked to join the P u n c h fresh inspiration o f his son's toy animals before
T a b l e (where editorial policy w a s determined) he could realize his gifts as a children's writer.
until 1910, his witty and light-hearted sketches His most successful experiment with the
found an enthusiastic audience and w e r e re­ fairy tale w a s written for the pleasure of him­
peatedly collected and republished. Milne m a r ­ self and his 'collaborator' Daphne, during the
ried D a p h n e de Sélincourt in 1 9 1 3 , but this wartime months w h e n , as a signals officer, he
happy period ended with W o r l d W a r I . w a s expecting at any moment to be shipped out
A l t h o u g h Milne s u r v i v e d the trenches, the de­ to F r a n c e . Once on a Time, which appeared,
g r a d i n g y e a r s o f military service left him a virtually unnoticed, in 1 9 1 7 , takes place in the
committed pacifist. After the w a r , he turned to imaginary kindom of Euralia. W h e n K i n g
playw r i t i n g — i n the early 1920s, he w a s B r i t ­ M e r r i w i g sets off to w a r with the neighbouring
ain's most popular d r a m a t i s t — a n d , at the s u g ­ k i n g d o m of Barodia, the w i c k e d but delightful
gestion o f R o s e * F y l e m a n , to writing light Countess B e l v a n e attempts to seize p o w e r from
verse for children. T h e phenomenal success o f M e r r i w i g ' s shy y o u n g daughter, Hyacinth.
When We Were Very Young (1924), Now We T h e Princess sends to Prince U d o o f A r a b y for
Are Six (1927), and the Pooh b o o k s left Milne help, but B e l v a n e uses a wishing ring to trans­
unwillingly but permanently typecast as a chil­ form him into a ridiculous composite ani­
dren's writer, though he continued to publish mal—part-rabbit, part-lion, and part-sheep.
plays, novels, stories, and essays into the early L i k e his predecessor in ' A Matter-of-Fact F a i r y
1950s. T a l e ' , U d o becomes egotistically obsessed b y
L i k e T h a c k e r a y ' s The Rose and the Ring the problem of what to eat, and easily suc­
and *Dickens's The Magic Fishbone, the hand­ cumbs to B e l v a n e ' s manipulations. But H y a ­
ful o f fairy tales for adults Milne published in cinth discovers an a l l y — a n d a l o v e r — i n
Punch before W o r l d W a r I and included in U d o ' s more intelligent companion, Coronel,
Those Were the Days (1929) satirized the con­ and the t w o succeed in putting the Countess in
ventions o f the genre. In ' T h e K i n g ' s S o n s ' , a her place. M e r r i w i g returns triumphantly from
fairy tests the three sons b y transforming her­ a bloodless w a r and marries Belvane, Hyacinth
self into a d o v e pursued b y a h a w k . T h e marries C o r o n e l , and U d o returns to A r a b y in
y o u n g e s t son, kind-hearted Prince G o l d i l o c k s , his proper shape but alone.
is prompt with his b o w ; unfortunately, he is a In Once on a Time, which can be enjoyed b y
p o o r shot, and hits the d o v e . ' A M o d e r n C i n ­ both adults and children, the fairy tale is no
derella' transposes the story to present-day longer the target of Milne's satire but the m e ­
L o n d o n . A blasé debutante, Milne's "'Cinder­ dium through which he observes human foibles
ella, is tired o f balls; she kicks off her shoes at a and pretensions (including such foibles as ab­
d a n c e — a n d loses o n e — s i m p l y because her surd and unnecessary w a r s ) . T h e imaginary
feet are hurting. In ' A Matter-of-Fact F a i r y k i n g d o m 'once on a time' frees his characters
T a l e ' , Prince C h a r m i n g sets out to kill the from the constraints of time, place, and social
G i a n t Blunderbus and rescue Princess B e a u t y ' s milieu, while a light touch o f magic reveals
brother U d o , transformed b y the giant into a more clearly what they are. H a v i n g discovered
tortoise seven y e a r s before. H e r e , as in the this n e w capability o f the fairy tale, Milne made
other tales, Milne associates the fairy-tale trad­ similar use o f it in several plays for adults. Por­
ition with a sentimental and unrealistic v i e w of trait of a Gentleman in Slippers ( 1 9 2 6 ) , The Ivory
life and human nature. U d o is unromantically Door ( 1 9 2 7 ) , and The Ugly Duckling (1941),
preoccupied b y his ignorance o f what tortoises while unsuccessful as stage plays, are closet
are supposed to eat. Prince C h a r m i n g is disillu­ dramas o f high quality. SR
sioned w h e n the d y i n g giant reveals that U d o is Milne, A. A., Its Too Late Now: The
not B e a u t y ' s brother, while the l o v e r s , reunited Autobiography of a Writer (1939).
at last, d i s c o v e r that they are no l o n g e r attract­ Swann, Thomas Burnett, A. A. Milne (1971).
ed to each other. Thwaite, Ann, A. A. Milne: The Man Behind
Winnie-the-Pooh (1990).
Milne's A Gallery of Children (1925) includes
his few and disappointing fairy tales for chil­
dren, some o f w h i c h w e r e originally published MITCHISON, NAOMI (1897-1999), British polit­
in the annual Joy Street. L a c k i n g the ironic bite ician and prolific writer, who published
3 2I MOLESWORTH, M A R Y LOUISA

short stories, novels, poetry, plays, essays, M o e ' s greatest achievement w a s a t h r e e - v o l ­

biographies, memoirs, and political articles. ume collection, Norske Folkeviser (Norwegian
A m o n g her w o r k s are fantasy novels and col­ Folk Songs), published posthumously in
lections of fairy tales that are stamped b y her 1 9 2 0 - 4 b y K n u t T i e s t o l . M o e coined the n o ­
feminist and socialist perspective. T h e r e is al­ tion o f 'epic l a w s ' in folklore studies. MN
w a y s social commentary in her fantasy. F o r e x ­ Liestol, Knut, Moltke Moe (1949).
ample, in The Bull Calves (1947), w h i c h takes
place in Scotland during 1747, a g o o d w o m a n MOLESWORTH, MARY LOUISA (1839-1921),
becomes a witch in opposition to the conform­ E n g l i s h writer, popular in late Victorian and
ity of her times. In The Big House (1950), a E d w a r d i a n nurseries. H e r first published w o r k
fairy-tale novel for children, S u from a rich for children, Tell me a Story (1875) included
family and the fisherman's b o y W i n k i e o v e r ­ ' T h e R e e l F a i r i e s ' , based on her o w n childhood
come class differences and take a magical jour­ imaginative g a m e s with the reels in her
ney through space and time, and Su learns to mother's w o r k b o x , and ' C o n and the Little
make up for the sins o f her proud forebears. To P e o p l e ' , about a b o y w h o is stolen b y the fair­
the Chapel Perilous (1955) is a retelling o f the ies, one o f her few to use folk-tale elements,
Grail legend that develops into a satire of the and the o n l y one w h e r e she s h o w s fairyland as
contemporary press. Not by Bread Alone (1983) sinister rather than benevolent. B u t her large
is a science-fiction novel and critique about the output o f 87 children's b o o k s is mostly made
multinational corporation P A X , w h i c h seeks to up o f small domestic chronicles and teacup
produce free food for the entire w o r l d and yet dramas in w h i c h she closely identifies with her
causes many people to die. A l t h o u g h most o f child characters. E d w a r d S a l m o n said (Juvenile
her fairy-tale plays such as Nix-Nought Nothing Literature as it is, 1888) that her greatest charm
(1928) and Kate Crackernuts (1931) and her was her realism: ' O n this g r o u n d her stories o f
fairy tales such as Graeme and the Dragon e v e r y d a y child life are preferable to her fairy
(1954), The Fairy who Couldn't Tell a Lie stories.'
(1963), and The Two Magicians (1978), were T h o u g h she had enjoyed the * G r i m m s ,
intended for y o u n g readers, Mitchison also Hans Christian *Andersen, and E . T . A . "'Hoff­
published t w o superb collections o f political mann's Nutcracker and Mouse King as a child,
tales for adults, The Fourth Pig (1936) and Five she w r o t e that ' s a v e for an occasional flight to
Men and a Swan (1957). In her version of fairyland, children's b o o k s should be reat
*'Hansel and G r e t e l ' , the witch's R o l l s R o y c e (Atlanta, M a y 1893). She also understood
stops in Corporation Street, B i r m i n g h a m , and y o u n g children's desire for security and a solid
lures children of the unemployed w o r k m e n to b a c k g r o u n d , and her fantasy stories reflect this.
the dangerous house o f Capital, and in ' T h e T h e r e is nothing frightening o r s t r a n g e — i n
*Snow Maiden' the talented y o u n g M a r y S n o w , the article a b o v e she w r o t e o f the care with
w h o had w o n scholarships at the university, w h i c h the scrupulous writer for children 'ban­
abandons her plans, sacrifices her career to ished from the p l a y g r o u n d . . . all things un­
marry plain G e o r g e H i g g i n s o n , and melts sightly, or terrifying, o r in any sense hurtful'.
a w a y . A l l of the tales in this v o l u m e are intend­ T h u s her child characters w h o visit such places
ed to p r o v o k e the reader to think about the s o ­ as butterfly-land, an eagles' e y r i e , or a squirrel
cial conditions o f the Depression y e a r s and family find e v e r y o n e courteous, friendly, and
combine unique social commentary with trad­ h a r d - w o r k i n g ; tempting meals are s e r v e d at
itional fairy-tale motifs. JZ regular intervals but no one is e v e r g r e e d y , and
Calder, Jenni, The Nine Lives of Naomi Mitchison even the eagles turn out to be fruitarian. She
(i997)- liked children to be polite, w e l l - b e h a v e d , and
a b o v e all contented, and most o f her fairies,
MOE F J0RGEN, see ASBJ0RNSEN, PETER CHRIS­ such as the C u c k o o in The Cuckoo Clock (1877),
TIAN, AND MOE, J0RGEN. b e h a v e like g o v e r n e s s e s and insist on g o o d
manners. T h i s w a s her first full-length fairy
M O E , M O L T K E (1859-1913), N o r w e g i a n lin­ story and her most popular. It begins with a
guist and folklorist, son o f J o r g e n M o e (see favourite formula: ' O n c e upon a time in an old
A S B J O R N S E N A N D M O E ) , and professor at C h r i s ­ t o w n , in an old street, there stood a v e r y old
tiania (Oslo) University. H e w a s assigned b y house.' Here motherless G r i s e l d a g o e s to live
P. C . Asbjornsen to revise the language for a with her great-aunts, and is irked b y the order­
new edition of Asbjornsen and M o e ' s collec­ ly life and the discipline imposed on her (a fa­
tion Norske Folkeeventyr (Norwegian Folktales). vourite M o l e s w o r t h theme). T h e fairy c u c k o o
MOLESWORTH, MARY LOUISA Aureole has a magical relationship to animals in Mary Louisa Molesworth's
Christmas-Tree Land (1884), illustrated by Walter *Crane.
 M O O M I N CHARACTERS

in the clock made b y her great-great-grand­ MONCRIF, FRANÇOIS-AUGUSTE PARADIS DE

father takes her on magic adventures through (1687—1770), French writer o f Scottish des­
which she becomes happier and more content­ cent, w h o served as secretary to several notable
ed, and she is also provided b y the end with a personages, including Marie L e s z c y n s k a , and
child companion to ease her loneliness, and a eventually became secretary-general o f the
surrogate mother. French postal system. Besides p l a y s , and moral
The Tapestry Room (1879) w a s
almost equal­ and scientific treatises, he w r o t e Les Aventures
ly popular. It is set in an old house in N o r ­ de Zéloide et d'Amançarifdine (The Adventures
mandy where Jeanne and Hugh find of Zeloide and Aman^arifdine, 1715). In this tale,
themselves in the tapestry that hangs in H u g h ' s which includes numerous embedded stories,
bedroom. T h e i r guide in their adventures there Moncrif combines an oriental setting and the
is D u d u , the autocratic old raven w h o belongs marvellous to portray a sentimental l o v e plot
to the house. In one o f their dreamlike a d v e n ­ with detailed psychological descriptions. L C S
tures they meet a lady at a spinning-wheel w h o Assaf, Francis (éd.), Les Aventures de Zéloide et
tells them the traditional tale o f ' T h e Black Bull d'Amaniarifdine (1994).
of N o r r o w a ' . In Christmas-Tree Land (1884),
set in an ancient castle in T h u r i n g i a w h e r e M O N T R E S O R , B E N I ( 1 9 2 6 - ) , celebrated Italian
R o l l o and Maia are sent to stay with their eld­ writer o f radio plays (including adaptations o f
erly cousin, there is another inset fairy tale, fairy tales), b o o k illustrator, and stage design­
' T h e Story of a K i n g ' s D a u g h t e r ' , this time b y er. Montresor w a s knighted b y the Italian g o v ­
Molesworth herself. It is told to them b y their ernment for distinguished contribution to the
fairy mentor w h o calls herself their godmother, arts. B o r n in B u s s o l e n g o , Italy, he m o v e d to
and w h o bears some resemblance to G e o r g e the United States in i960, w h e r e he developed
*MacDonald's wise w o m e n . T h e influence o f his great talent for picture-book illustration.
MacDonald is also evident in Four Winds Farm His studies o f art at the A c c a d e m i a di Belle A r t i
(1887), more subtle than most o f her fantasies. in V e n i c e and o f set and costume design at the
Here the four winds appoint themselves G r a - Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in
tian's preceptors and gently nudge him out o f R o m e and his w o r k staging E u r o p e a n films and
his dreamy w a y s . The Children of the Castle t h e a t r e — o p e r a s , ballets, and m u s i c a l s — p r e ­
(1890) is less successful in its imitation o f M a c ­ pared him for children's b o o k illustration. B e ­
Donald; spiritual mysteries w e r e not her line. cause Montresor filled a b o o k ' s blank pages
F o r the great-great-grandmother o f The Prin­ with the colour, m o v e m e n t , and lighting as he
cess and the Goblin she substitutes the F o r g e t - did the stage, the reading of his b o o k s is akin to
me-not L a d y (also in a turret r o o m ) , w h o suc­ experiencing all the splendour o f a theatrical
ceeds in making wilful R u b y and odious event. A m o n g his most notable achievements
Bertrand feel remorse. In The Ruby Ring are the illustrations for The Princesses (1962),
(1904) a magic ring helps spoilt Sybil to b e ­ ^Cinderella (1967), Nightingale (1985), Witches
come more contented, and in ' T h e G r o a n i n g of Venice (1989), and *Little Red Riding Hood
C l o c k ' (Fairies—of Sorts, 1908) an old clock is (1991). SS
inhabited b y a brownie w h o groans and g r o w l s
if children are ill-tempered or careless. M O O M I N C H A R A C T E R S ( O R MOOMINTROLLS) are
Some of her most attractive fairy stories are portrayed in the fairy-tale novels b y T o v e
the short ones. In three tales in An Enchanted *Jansson, beginning with Kometjakten (1946; A
Garden ( 1 8 9 2 ) — ' T h e Story o f the T h r e e Comet in Moominland, 1968). T h e Moomins are
Wishes', ' T h e S u m m e r Princess', and ' T h e a variety o f i m a g i n a r y creatures, half-animals,
Magic R o s e ' , and in ' " A s k the R o b i n " ' , ' A half-dwarfs or trolls, inhabiting the self-con­
Magic T a b l e ' and ' T h e Weather Maiden' in tained w o r l d o f the M o o m i n valley. T h e y are
Fairies Afield ( 1 9 1 1 ) , all with a timeless folk­ clearly human beings in disguise and often
tale background, she sheds the governess man­ h a v e prototypes in real life. T h e core o f the
ner, and writes w a r m l y of g o o d people family consists o f M o o m i n m a m m a , M o o m i n -
rewarded. GA pappa, and their son Moomintroll, w h o can be
v i e w e d as the central character o f the novels.
Green, Roger Lancelyn, Mrs. Molesworth (1961).
Otherwise, the M o o m i n figures function as a
Keenan, Hugh T., 'M. L. S. Molesworth', in
Jane M. Bingham (éd.), Writers for Children collective character, representing different
(1988). human traits. T h u s Sniff is c o w a r d l y , selfish,
Laski, Marghanita, Mrs. Ewing, Mrs. Molesworth, and g r e e d y . Snufkin is an artist w h o despises
and Mrs. Hodgson Burnett (1950). material possessions and values his independ-
MORAVIA, ALBERTO

ence most o f all. S n o r k is b o s s y and pedantic, tery. H e r offspring are instrumental in destroy­
and his sister S n o r k Maiden kind, v a i n , and a ing Camelot.
little silly, a p a r o d y on a female stereotype. Starting with Geoffrey o f Monmouth's 12th-
H e m u l e n is a b o r e and a numskull, Muskrat a century Vita Merlini, M o r g a n , w h o s e name
caricature of a cynical philosopher, and F i l l y - m a y be a W e l s h form of the Irish Morrigan,
junk a neurotic spinster. Little M y is a strong appears in various guises in w o r k s ranging
and independent female. T h e G r o k e is the o n l y from 12th-century romances to 20th-century
evil, o r rather ambivalent, character in the novels. A l t h o u g h M o r g a n m a y be human or
M o o m i n gallery, w h o can be v i e w e d as the supernatural, u g l y or beautiful, her talents are
dark side o f M o o m i n m a m m a and interpreted in relatively consistent. She often learns magic
terms of J u n g i a n S h a d o w . M o o m i n m a m m a from Merlin, is a shape-shifter and an enchant­
changes most throughout the M o o m i n suite, ress w h o , as M o r g a n the W i s e , compounds
abandoning her nurturing role and finding her magic healing balms. She transports the dying
identity as an artist. to her other-world island, A v a l o n , to heal
T h e M o o m i n s h a v e no m a g i c p o w e r s them­ them, so that, like Arthur, they m a y sleep to
selves; h o w e v e r , in Trollkarlens hatt (1949; return to earth w h e n they are needed.
Finn Family Moomintroll 1965) they c o m e into Vindictive toward G u i n e v e r e and Arthur,
the possession o f magical objects and meet a M o r g a n sometimes administers chastity tests,
wizard w h o can grant wishes. MN using a drinking horn or a mantle. In *Sir
Jones, W. Glyn, Tove Jansson (1984). Gawain and the Green Knight, Morgan tests
Lowe, Virginia, 'Snufkin, Sniff and Little My: Arthur's court, later appearing as a hag at Sir
The "Reality" of Fictional Characters for the Bercilak's castle. W h e n e v e r a mysterious being
Young Child', Papers, 2 (1991).
threatens Arthurian society, cognoscenti
Westin, Boel, Familjen i dalen. Tove Janssons
should suspect M o r g a n . She is called Morgana
muminvdrld (1988).
in Orlando Inamorata and Orlando Furioso,
w h e r e she is also the L a d y o f the L a k e . JSN
MORAVIA, ALBERTO (pseudonym of ALBERTO Fries, Maureen, 'From the Lady to the Tramp:
PlNCHERLE, 1907-90), Italian novelist, p l a y ­ The Decline of Morgan le Fay in Medieval
w r i g h t and essayist. H e achieved immediate Romance', Arthuriana (1994).
success with his first n o v e l Gli indifferenti (The Harf-Lancner, Laurence, Les Fées au Moyen
Time of Indifference, 1929). T h e popularity o f Age, Morgane et Melusine, La Naissance des fées
his n o v e l s — m a n y o f w h i c h w e r e made into (1984).
films—has somewhat obscured the merits o f MORGNER, IRMTRAUD (IRMTRUD ELFRIEDE
his remarkable production o f short stories and SCHRECK, 1933-90). East G e r m a n feminist
tales. S o m e o f the v e r y best, written between writer w h o investigated in her highly innova­
1935 and 1945, n o w appear in Racconti surrealis- tive writing the condition of w o m e n in the
tici e satirici (Surrealistic and Satirical Tales, G e r m a n Democratic Republic. W e a v i n g to­
1982). H e r e the abstract, the metaphysical, the gether elements o f myth, fairy tale, legend,
absurd, the grotesque, and the fantastic are superstition, and even biblical motifs, her
used to pose important questions for the reader montage novel Leben und Abenteuer der Trobad-
to ponder. W h e t h e r he draws sketches o f ora Beatrii nach Zeugnissen ihrer Spielfrau
R o m a n life, as he does in Racconti romani Laura. Roman in drei^ehn Bilchern und sieben
(Roman Tales, 1954), Nuovi racconti romani Interme^os (Life and Adventures of Troubadour
(More Roman Tales, 1959), o r writes tales o f sex Beatrii as Chronicled by her Minstrel Laura: A
and eroticism as he does in //paradiso (Paradise Novel in Thirteen Volumes and Seven Interment,
and Other Stories, 1971), and Racconti erotici 1974) has as its main theme the impossibility of
(Erotic Tales, 1983), M o r a v i a probes aspects o f female subjecthood under patriarchy. Using
reality and reveals them as a multitude o f k a l ­ the motif o f the sleeping princess from ' D o r n -
eidoscopic images that are as varied and mut­ rôschen' ('Briar R o s e ' or ' T h e *Sleeping
able as human experience. MNP B e a u t y ' ) , the eponymous Beatriz, a historical
12th-century French countess, decides to with­
M O R G A N LE F A Y , a sorceress most familiar d r a w from her unbearable life b y sleeping for
through Sir T h o m a s M a l o r y ' s 15th-century Le 800 years in the hope of a w a k i n g in a world not
morte d'Arthur. H e r e , she is A r t h u r ' s malignant determined b y men. In Morgner's parodie
sister, aunt, o r mother (as M o r g a w s e ) o f treatment of the fairy-tale motif, her sleep is
M o r d r e d , and mother o f A g r a v a i n , the knight abruptly cut short b y two y e a r s — n o t to be res­
w h o reveals Lancelot and G u i n e v e r e ' s adul­ cued b y a p r i n c e — b u t when her castle is
325 MOTHER GOOSE

blown up b y engineers to make w a y for a m o d - M O R R I S , W I L L I A M (1834-96), British author,

ern development. Beatriz's disenchantment is designer, and socialist. A l t h o u g h Morris did
fully effected when she is raped, and the fairy- not write original fairy tales, he used fairy-tale
tale figure is forced into the 20th century to and folk materials throughout his literary car-
engage with its problems and disappointments eer, beginning with the pseudo-medieval tales
as a w o m a n in a w o r l d still run b y and for he w r o t e for the Oxford and Cambridge Maga-
m e n — e v e n in the 'ideal' conditions o f the zine (1856) and the Arthurian and supernatural
G D R . In another m o c k fairy tale, Der Schdne poems for the Defence of Guenevere v o l u m e
und das Tier: Eine Liebesgeschichte {Beauty and (1858). T h e 24 tales that comprise The Earthly
the Beast: A Love Story, 1991), M o r g n e r sub- Paradise (1858-70) use plots, motifs, and char-
verts traditional gender expectations with a acters from The ^Arabian Nights, * Gesta
male beauty. KS Romanorum, the * G r i m m s ' (*"Kinder- und Haus-
Biddy, Martin, 'Socialist Patriarchy and the marchen/Children's and Household Tales), and
Limits of Reform: A Reading of Irmtraud Scandinavian saga and folklore. His late r o -
Morgner's Life and Adventures of Troubadora mances or 'fairy n o v e l s ' , especially The Wood
Beatrix as Chronicled by her Minstrel Laura ', beyond the World (1894) and The Well at the
Studies in Twentieth Century Literature, 5.1 World's End (1896) influenced the w o r k o f
(1980). W i l l i a m Butler *Yeats, L o r d *Dunsany, C . S.
Cardinal, Agnes, ' "Be realistic: Demand the * L e w i s , J . R . R . T o l k i e n , and others. CGS
impossible": On Irmtraud Morgner's Salman
trilogy', in Martin Kane (ed.), Socialism and the
M O T H E R G O O S E , legendary female figure often
Literary Imagination: Essays on East German
writers (1991). associated with fairy tales. S o m e scholars b e -
Lewis, Alison, Subverting Patriarchy: Feminism lieve her origins m a y lie in the stories and rep-
and Fantasy in the Works of Irmtraud Morgner resentations o f Queen Blanche (d. 783), the
(i995)- mother o f C h a r l e m a g n e , called ' L a R e i n e
P é d a u q u e ' for her large, flat, g o o s e - l i k e foot.
M Ô R I K E , E D U A R D (1804-75), Swabian novelist
Others h a v e connected her with the Q u e e n o f
and poet. Môrike published three prose narra- Sheba (also sometimes represented with a w e b -
tives explicitly called 'fairy tales'. ' D e r B a u e r bed foot or a mermaid's tail), or with the clas-
und sein Sohn' ( ' T h e F a r m e r and his S o n ' , sical sibyls, or with St A n n e , the g o o d , w i s e
1856) chronicles the supernatural punishment grandmother of the child J e s u s . A l l o f these fig-
and redemption o f an animal-abusing farmer. ures are ambiguously associated with story-
In ' D i e Hand der Jezerte' f j e z e r t e ' s H a n d ' , telling, spinning, and female, sometimes b a w d y
1853), the king's jealous consort is supernatur- mystery.
ally deformed and killed for defiling her late W h a t e v e r her origins, Mother G o o s e w a s
rival's g r a v e . Both picaresque and fairy-tale- certainly linked with fairy tales in F r a n c e .
like, the novel Das Stuttgarter Hutielmannlein T h e y w e r e often referred to as 'contes de ma
(The Wrinkled Old Man from Stuttgart, 1853) Mère l ' O i e ' (in a letter M m e de S é v i g n é w r o t e
employs the entire fairy-tale arsenal (water her daughter in 1674, for example); Charles
sprites, helpful dwarfs, magic shoes, spell o f in- *Perrault used the phrase as the subtitle o f his
visibility) in the story of a shoemaker seeking 1697 collection *Histoires et contes du temps
the right wife. WC passé (Stories and Tales of Times Past). O n the
frontispiece three children, under a placard
bearing the subtitle, listen to a nurse with a dis-
MORIN, HENRY ( 1 8 7 3 - 1 9 6 1 ) , French illustrator. t a f f — a representation of the motherly, l o w e r -
Born in Strasbourg, he studied at the É c o l e des class storytellers Mother G o o s e , Mother
Beaux-arts in Paris, w o r k e d for magazines B u n c h , G a m m e r Grethel, F r u G o s e n , and all
(Mon Journal, Le Petit Français Illustré, La the other 'old w i v e s ' and gossips.
Semaine de Sujette), and specialized in illustrat- In E n g l a n d and A m e r i c a , h o w e v e r , Mother
ing children's b o o k s (1906—25) before turning G o o s e became the icon o f nursery rhymes dur-
to religious art. In addition to L a Fontaine's ing the 18th century, probably following J o h n
Fables, he illustrated the fairy tales o f M m e N e w b e r y ' s publication o f Mother Goose's Mel-
d'*Aulnoy, Mme *Leprince de Beaumont, and ody, or Sonnets for the Cradle (c.1765). ( T h e old
Charles *Perrault ( ' L a Barbe-bleue' (*'Blue story that she w a s a Mrs Elizabeth G o o s e o f
B e a r d ' ) ) as well as French editions o f the Boston has been discredited; no c o p y o f the
Brothers *Grimm and L e w i s *Carroll's *Alice collection o f rhymes bearing her name sup-
books. MLE posedly published in 1719 has e v e r been
MOTHER HOLLE 326

found.) Mother G o o s e continues to be illus­ she slacks off, and Mother Holle dismisses
trated, usually as a large g o o s e with an apron her. A s ' r e w a r d ' for her behaviour, Mother
o r bonnet and spectacles, in endless collections Holle has a big kettle o f pitch poured o v e r her.
o f verses for children and is also still a popular W h e n she returns home, the pitch does not
d r a g role in British pantomime. EWH come off her and remains on her for the rest of
Opie, Iona and Peter (eds.), The Oxford her life.
Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (19 51). T h e r e are important literary precursors to
Warner, Marina, From the Beast to the Blonde 'Mother H o l l e ' . Giambattista *Basile published
(i994)- ' T h r e e Fairies' in the *Pentamerone (1634-6)
and Charles *Perrault ' T h e *Fairies' in *His­
M O T H E R H O L L E ( G e r m a n : Frau Hoik), also toires et contes du temps passé (1697). In their
k n o w n as Mother H o l d a / Hulda. T h e definitive m o r e baroque versions the l o v e l y stepdaughter
version came from the hands o f the Brothers is rewarded with gold and jewels for helping a
* G r i m m , w h o first heard the tale about her p o o r helpless w o m a n / f a i r y , and these gems fall
from the 1 8 - y e a r - o l d D o r t c h e n W i l d in 1 8 1 1 . out o f her mouth w h e n she speaks, while the
In their final v e r s i o n of 1857, published in u g l y daughter spits out toads and snakes. T h e
*Kinder- und Hausmdrchen {Children's and stepdaughter marries a prince, and the u g l y
Household Tales), the G r i m m s took material daughter experiences a horrible death. T h e r e
from other versions to c o m p o s e a synthetic tale are hundreds if not thousands of oral versions
about a y o u n g maiden, w h o is l o v e l y and in­ that i n v o l v e the friendly and the unfriendly
dustrious but is unfortunately the stepdaughter maidens, and the rewards they reap are based
o f a nasty w o m a n , w h o s e o w n daughter is u g l y on their behaviour. In both the oral and the
and lazy. T h e g o o d girl, unnamed in the tale, literary traditions, the myth about Mother
sits b y a well all d a y l o n g and spins until her Holle has little significance. In Deutsche Myth­
fingers bleed. O n e d a y she drops the spindle ologie (German Mythology) J a c o b G r i m m wrote
d o w n the w e l l , and her stepmother compels that Mother Holle w a s a mythical creature w h o
her to find it. S o , out o f fear, she jumps could do g o o d or evil depending on whether
d o w n into the well and discovers herself in an one maintained an orderly household. She can
u n d e r w o r l d . A s she wanders in this strange be found in lakes and fountains, and stories
country, she encounters an o v e n that asks her about her circulated in Hesse and Thuringia.
to take out some hot buns, otherwise they will T h i s mythical aspect is virtually forgotten in
burst. S h e accommodates the o v e n . N e x t she the literary tales and adaptations that followed
meets a tree full o f ripe apples that asks her to the G r i m m s ' tale. L u d w i g *Bechstein published
k n o c k the apples off of it because they are a version, ' D i e G o l d m a r i a und die Pechmaria'
ready to be eaten. She does this, too. F i n a l l y , (1853), which virtually neglects the mythical
she c o m e s to a cottage w h e r e she meets a fear­ aspect and stresses the contrast between the
ful-looking old w o m a n with b i g teeth. T h i s g o o d and bad sisters. T h i s theme is also at the
w o m a n , Mother H o l l e , asks her in a friendly basis of Ferdinand H u m m e l ' s opera of 1870,
w a y to help her keep house, and the maiden and in the 20th century there have been numer­
complies and w o r k s v e r y hard. W h e n e v e r she ous adaptations for the stage, screen, and tele­
makes up Mother H o l l e ' s bed and shakes her vision, and b o o k s for children that combine the
quilt, the feathers fly, and in the upper w o r l d , it Perrault version of ' T h e Fairies' with the
snows. G r i m m s ' 'Mother H o l l e ' to illustrate the re­
Despite the fact that she is treated well b y w a r d s that kindness to old ladies can bring. J Z
Mother H o l l e , the maiden is homesick and Hagen, Rolf, 'Der Einfluss der Perraultschen
w o u l d like to return h o m e . T h e old w o m a n Contes auf das volkstumliche Erzàhlgut' (Diss.,
then takes her to a gate and rewards her with a Gôttingen, 1955).
s h o w e r o f g o l d that sticks to her, and she is also Jones, Steven Swann, 'Structural and Thematic
g i v e n the lost spindle. O n c e the girl returns Applications of the Comparative Method: A
h o m e , her stepmother g i v e s her a w a r m w e l ­ Case Study of "The Kind and the Unkind
c o m e because o f the g o l d . A f t e r she explains Girls" ', Journal of Folklore Research, 23 (1986).
Roberts, W. E . , The Tale of the Kind and Unkind
w h a t happened to her, the stepmother decides
Girls (1958).
to send her o w n daughter d o w n the well. H o w ­
Rumpf, Marianne, 'Frau Holle' in Kurt Ranke et
e v e r , once the u g l y , lazy maiden arrives in the al. (eds.), En^yklopddie des Màrchens, v (1987).
u n d e r w o r l d , she refuses to help the o v e n and Wienker-Piepho, Sabine, 'Frau Holle zum
the tree. M o r e o v e r , w h e n she is offered a job BeispieF, Jahrbuch der Briider Grimm Gesellschaft,
b y Mother H o l l e to help her clean her house, 2 (1992).
 2 MOZART, WOLFGANG AMADEUS
3 7

MOZART, WOLFGANG AMADEUS (1756-91), *Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman
Austrian musician and composer. B o r n in Salz­ without a Shadow, 1919).
burg, though seldom remaining long in one Mozart w a s attracted to Schikaneder's li­
place, he travelled extensively throughout bretto partly because he could d e v e l o p a n u m ­
E u r o p e , where he performed or conducted ber o f contrasting dramatic roles. M o r e o v e r ,
many of his compositions. In his short life o f like Schikaneder, Mozart w a s an earnest F r e e ­
only 35 years, Mozart wrote o v e r 600 w o r k s in mason, h a v i n g been initiated into the Craft in
every kind of musical form available to him, 1784. H e evidently believed that his n e w opera
including 22 operas. T h e last of these, and his should exalt Masonic ideas and principles in a
final completed composition, is the famous w a y meaningful for both initiated and uniniti­
'magic opera', Die Zauberflote (The Magic ated, and he transforms much o f the original
Flute, 1791), principally based upon a fairy tale fairy tale into musical writing o f considerable
b y A . J . Liebeskind (originally, Lulu, oder die solemnity, ritual, m a g i c , and s y m b o l i s m . T h e
Zauberflote) in *Wieland's collection of oriental overture to the opera opens in E flat major,
tales called Dschinnistan (1786). Other sources with its three flats in the k e y signature, three
for the magical and ritual elements m a y h a v e being an important number to 18th-century
included Philipp Hafner's play Megdra (1763) F r e e m a s o n s . But there are m a n y other features
and the novel Sethos (1731) b y J e a n T e r r a s s o n . of Die Zauberflote generally descriptive or in­
Emanuel Schikaneder (1751—1812), long-time terpretive o f F r e e m a s o n r y , most notably the
friend of the Mozart family and a w e l l - k n o w n lofty idealism and super-denominational reli­
actor w h o had toured south G e r m a n y and A u s ­ gious spirit that permeates the w h o l e opera.
tria (playing especially such Shakespearian Y e t Mozart combines such seriousness with
roles as Hamlet, K i n g L e a r , and Macbeth), set­ farcical c l o w n i n g , presenting the opera on t w o
tled finally in Vienna in 1789 w h e r e he man­ levels, the spirituality o f Tamino—Pamina and
aged the Theater auf der W i e d e n , and fostered the earthy Papageno—Papagena relationship.
there the fashionable Singspiel ('song-play', T h e opera begins with the entrance o f
often comic, in which musical numbers are sep­ T a m i n o , w h o is pursued b y a huge serpent but
arated b y dialogue). Schikaneder, as actor- lacks the a r r o w s with w h i c h to defend himself.
manager and librettist (possibly assisted b y the H e calls for help, falls unconscious, and at this
obscure C . L . G i e s e c k e ) , eager to promote his moment three L a d i e s dressed in black and
theatre, suggested to Mozart that the t w o o f c a r r y i n g spears enter and kill the serpent.
them should collaborate in an opera for S c h i k a - W h e n T a m i n o recovers consciousness, he
neder's theatre. H a v i n g recently composed the meets the bird-catcher P a p a g e n o , w h o boasts
three Italian comic operas to libretti b y that he has killed the serpent himself. T h e L a ­
Lorenzo da Ponte (1749—1838)—Le none di dies return, lock up the l y i n g P a p a g e n o ' s
Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Cost fan mouth with a padlock, and s h o w T a m i n o a
tutte—Mozart w a s eager to write a G e r m a n portrait o f P a m i n a , daughter o f the Q u e e n o f
opera again. A l s o , he had just completed, sup­ the N i g h t , w h o is alleged to h a v e been abduct­
posedly in only 18 days, a commission to write ed b y Sarastro. T a m i n o falls at once in l o v e
an opera seria (a 'serious o p e r a ' ) . T h i s w a s La with P a m i n a and determines to find and release
Clemenia di Tito, composed for the coronation her. N o w the L a d i e s r e m o v e the padlock from
of the emperor L e o p o l d I I as k i n g o f B o h e m i a , P a p a g e n o ' s mouth, g i v e him a chime o f m a g i c
in P r a g u e on 6 September 1791. But Mozart bells, and to T a m i n o a m a g i c flute, bidding
was thinking n o w most o f all about Die Zau­ them to carry on their j o u r n e y to find P a m i n a ,
berflote. He had written Singspiele before this w h i c h will be guided safely b y three b o y s o r
one, but nothing so a m p l e — f a i r y tale, m a g i c , G e n i i . In subsequent scenes, w e discover that
quasi-religious devotion, l o w c o m e d y all g e n ­ Sarastro ( ' Z o r o a s t e r ' ) is no monster, but rather
erously combined. Mozart's previous best of the chief priest o f the T e m p l e o f W i s d o m , and
this kind w a s Die Entfiihrung aus dem Serail the Q u e e n o f the N i g h t is in fact the w i c k e d
(The Abduction from the Harem, 1782) with its character. T a m i n o is put through three tests b y
exotic T u r k i s h setting (reminiscent o f another w h i c h he is made w o r t h y o f P a m i n a , w h i l e
foreign location in Idomeneo, 1781, placed in P a p a g e n o parodies this grand j o u r n e y o f initi­
ancient C r e t e ) . But Die Zauberflote is the ation on a v e r y different level, being united at
apotheosis o f the Singspiel and o f the exotic last with his bird-wife P a p a g e n a . A t the same
fairy tale, a remarkable grafting together o f time, the unholy Q u e e n o f the N i g h t is v a n ­
forms that w a s to p r o v e an important influence quished, w h i l e the reign o f k n o w l e d g e and the
on later G e r m a n opera, such as R i c h a r d just l a w o f nature endures. T a m i n o and P a m i n a
MR CINDERS 328

thus represent ideal beings w h o seek to realize M U L D E R , E L I Z A B E T H (1904-87), Spanish novel-

an ideal union, w h i l e P a p a g e n o and P a p a g e n a ist and translator. She wrote a couple of books
are children o f nature w h o yet long for and for children: Los cuentos delviejo reloj (The Old
achieve a simple union o f a lesser kind; for all Clock's Tales, 1941) and Las noches del gato
sorts and conditions o f people m a y live in verde (The Green Cat's Nights, 1963). T h e for-
Sarastro's w o r l d o f h a r m o n y and true w i s d o m . mer is a collection of beautifully written tales,
Mozart's opera w a s first performed on 30 S e p - m a n y o f w h i c h can be considered fairy stories.
tember 1791; the c o m p o s e r died nine w e e k s T h e teller o f the tales is an old clock set on
later, in V i e n n a , on 5 D e c e m b e r . PGS entertaining t w o children on a rainy afternoon.
Angermuller, Rudolph, Mozart's Operas ( 1 9 8 8 ) . Most of the tales h a v e a traditional happy end-
Dent, Edward J . , Mozart's Operas: A Critical ing as in ' L o s très gigantes tristes' ( ' T h e T h r e e
Study (2nd edn., 1 9 4 7 ) . U n h a p p y G i a n t s ' ) , ' L a princesa que no podia
Einstein, Alfred, Mozart: His Character; His llorar' ( ' T h e Princess w h o D i d n ' t K n o w H o w
Work ( 1 9 4 5 ) .
to C r y ' ) , and ' C u e n t o de una reina que estaba
Mann, William, The Operas of Mozart ( 1 9 7 7 ) .
triste' ( ' T a l e o f an U n h a p p y Q u e e n ' ) . N e v e r -
M R CINDERS, British musical w h i c h turns theless, other fairy stories in the collection,
around the familiar *Cinderella story b y creat- such as ' E l nino que encanto al sol' ( ' T h e Child
ing a male hero w h o has t w o u g l y stepbrothers. who Cast a Spell on the S u n ' ) , end on a sad
It became the first b i g success for its c o m p o s e r note in much the same vein as Hans Christian
V i v i a n Ellis (it should not be o v e r l o o k e d that * A n d e r s e n ' s tales. CF
Ellis had a c o - c o m p o s e r in R i c h a r d M y e r s )
w h e n premiered at L o n d o n ' s A d e l p h i T h e a t r e M U N S C H , R O B E R T (1945- ) , Canadian writer for
in 1929, achieving an initial run o f 529 per- children. His non-sexist fairy tale The Paperhag
formances. Ellis, in c o m p a n y with L e o R o b i n , Princess (1980), about a princess w h o carries
p r o v i d e d additional lyrics to those supplied b y paper bags and rejects a status-conscious
G r e a t r e x N e w m a n and Clifford G r e y , w h o prince, had a major impact among writers and
also w r o t e the b o o k . T h e s h o w ' s most famous educators in the 1980s. Since his success with
song, ' S p r e a d a Little Happiness', has b e c o m e The Paperhag Princess, Munsch has become one
especially popular. TH of the most popular authors and storytellers for
children in N o r t h A m e r i c a . H e writes about
M R S P E P P E R P O T , title character in the fairy-tale various controversial topics with a w r y sense of
collection b y the N o r w e g i a n writer A l f * P r o y - h u m o u r and a propensity for the fantastic. F o r
sen, published in 1956-66 and translated into example, Good Families Don't (1990) concerns
all major languages. Mrs Pepperpot ( ' T e s k j e k - a child w h o discovers a great big purple, green,
jerringa' in N o r w e g i a n , literally ' T e a s p o o n and y e l l o w fart in her home. W h i l e her parents
L a d y ' ) , an old farmer's wife, turns into a lilli- refuse to a c k n o w l e d g e the fart's existence,
putian the size o f a pepperpot at w h i m , and in claiming that g o o d families like theirs do not
this shape experiences all sorts o f funny a d v e n - have farts in their house, the fart monster takes
tures, acting as a magical helper and assisting o v e r the house and overcomes the police. O n l y
both people and animals. In a true fairy-tale the quick-thinking girl manages to find a w a y
spirit, she is able to understand the language o f to drive the fart from the house. JZ
animals w h e n she turns small and loses this
ability upon regaining her normal size. MN M U R Â T , HENRIETTE JULIE DE CASTELNAU, C O M -
TESSE D E (1670—1716), French writer from an
MUELLER, LISEL ( 1 9 2 4 - ) , A m e r i c a n poet and old noble family o f Brittany, w h o s e w o r k s can
translator, born in H a m b u r g , G e r m a n y . W i n - be situated within the late 17th-century fairy-
ner o f the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for her Staying tale v o g u e . A t the age o f 16 Murat w a s sent to
Alive: New and Selected Poems, Mueller has court in Paris to m a r r y the comte de Murat and
often returned to her G e r m a n roots, particular- soon became k n o w n as a w o m a n of little v i r -
ly to the tales o f the Brothers * G r i m m , w h i c h tue. L a t e r in life, Murat contested the narrow
she also studied as a graduate student in the confines and contradictory expectations her s o -
folklore department at Indiana U n i v e r s i t y . ciety placed on w o m e n , which resulted in the
P o e m s that reflect her interest in the tales in- kind o f reputation she had to endure, in the
clude her l o n g sequence ' V o i c e s from the F o r - pseudo-autobiographical Mémoires de Madame
est', ' R e a d i n g the Brothers G r i m m to J e n n y ' , la comtesse de M * * * (1697). In 1694 Murat pub-
' T h e S t o r y ' , and 'Immortality' (based on lished her first w o r k , Histoire de la courtisane
*'Sleeping B e a u t y ' ) . EWH Rhodope, w h i c h w a s considered a libel against
329 MUSÀUS, JOHANN KARL AUGUST

the court and resulted in her exile from the cap- petually in a crystal palace is the surest w a y to
ital in that same y e a r to the provincial city o f put out the flames o f their passion.
Loches, a sentence w h i c h w a s not r e v o k e d In her tales Murat emphasized the connec-
until the death of L o u i s X I V in 1715. tion between the fairies and the fates, for fairies
Her husband h a v i n g since died, Murat went constantly foresee and even try to control the
to Loches on her o w n and pursued her career destinies o f the tales' protagonists. H o w e v e r ,
as a writer. In 1698 she published Contes de fées there is one domain in w h i c h fairies h a v e no
(Fairy Tales) comprised o f ' L e Parfait A m o u r ' control, w h i c h is the lesson o f ' L e Prince des
('Perfect L o v e ' ) , 'Anguillette', and ' J e u n e et feuilles': the domain o f l o v e . AD
Belle' ( ' Y o u n g and Beautiful'). T h a t same y e a r Cromer, Sylvie, ' " L e Sauvage"—Histoire
Les Nouveaux Contes des fées appeared, con- sublime et allégorique de Madame de Murat',
taining ' L e Palais de la V e n g e a n c e ' ( ' T h e P a l - Merveilles et Contes, 1 . 1 (May 1 9 8 7 ) .
ace of R e v e n g e ' ) , ' L e Prince des feuilles' ( ' T h e Welch, Marcelle Maistre, 'Manipulation du
Prince of L e a v e s ' ) , ' L e B o n h e u r des moineaux' discours féerique dans les Contes de Fées de Mme
( ' T h e Happiness o f S p a r r o w s ' ) , and ' L ' H e u - de Murat', Cahiers du Dix-septième, 5.1 (spring
1991).
reuse peine' ( ' T h e H a p p y S o r r o w ' ) . H e r final
collection of tales, Histoires sublimes et allégo-
riques (Sublime and Allegorical Stories, 1699) in- MusAus J O H A N N K A R L A U G U S T (1735-87), one
r

cluded ' L e R o y P o r e ' ( ' T h e P i g K i n g ' ) , ' L ' i s l e o f the leading cultural figures at the W e i m a r
de la Magnificence' ( ' T h e Island o f Magnifi- court, published Volksmarchen der Deutschen
cence'), ' L e S a u v a g e ' ( ' T h e S a v a g e ' ) , and ' L e (Folktales of the Germans) in five v o l u m e s b e -
T u r b o t ' . Murat also wrote a n o v e l , Les Lutins tween 1782 and 1786. T h e 14 tales include
du château de Kernosi ( The Elves of Kernosi Cas- magical elements and embrace disparate
tle, 1710). genres. Despite their title, the tales are literary
Murat often combined traditional F r e n c h rather than 'folk' and m a n y derive from non-
fairy lore with G r a e c o - R o m a n m y t h o l o g y . F o r G e r m a n sources. Musàus's playfully sophisti-
instance, the fairy D a n a m o of ' L e Parfait cated literary style met the approval o f his c o n -
A m o u r ' is a descendant of C a l y p s o , and the temporary Christoph Martin *Wieland, w h o
princess of 'Anguillette' becomes a second noted that 'all fairy tales did not h a v e to be told
Hebe, the G r e e k goddess of youth. Murat also in the childlike style o f m y *Mother G o o s e ' .
borrowed from *Straparola, as the v e r y title L i k e the * G r i m m s , Musàus excluded the fairy
' L e R o i P o r c ' w o u l d suggest, and for her tale w o r l d and populated his tales with n o w - t r a d -
' L e S a u v a g e ' , the plot of w h i c h follows closely itional characters such as transformed animals,
Straparola's story about Constantine, the sorcerers, giants, animal b r i d e g r o o m s , and
daughter of the king of E g y p t w h o disguises w i c k e d stepmothers.
herself as a m a n — a source which w a s also the Musàus personified his characters as c l e v e r l y
likely inspiration for M m e d ' * A u l n o y ' s ' B e l l e - as did L u d w i g *Bechstein, in a stylistically e x -
Belle, ou le C h e v a l i e r Fortuné' ('Belle-Belle, or pansive text. O n e canny hero w h o understands
the Chevalier F o r t u n é ' ) . fairy-tale m a g i c recognizes that talking animals
In many of her tales Murat grappled with the must be creatures under an enchantment, and
question o f l o v e , which she treated from differ- quickly marries all three o f his daughters to
ent perspectives. In 'Anguillette', for instance, beasts, w h o enrich him and eventually return
the princess Plousine is kind to a fairy w h o , in to human shape. In one form o r another, all o f
the tradition of *Mélusine, is transformed into Musàus's tales explore l o v e and the married
an eel for a few days each month. Plousine is state.
rewarded with both beauty and wit, but learns C l a i m i n g to be the first to r e w o r k G e r m a n
that fairies are powerless in matters of l o v e . Volksmarchen, that is, fairy tales told b y the
She is caught between her passionate l o v e for people, Musaus stressed that the tales w e r e all
Atimir and her more tempered l o v e for the thoroughly native, transmitted orally through
Prince of the Peaceful Island; passion overrides numberless generations. However, 9 of
temperance, and the tale ends tragically. In ' L e Musàus's 14 tales derive demonstrably from
Palais de la V e n g e a n c e ' , Murat explores an- prior literary sources:
other tragic end to passionate l o v e : b o r e d o m . 1. *Basile, ' L i tre ri anemale' d'*Aulnoy,
W h e n the d w a r f P a g a n falls in l o v e with the ' L a Belle au c h e v e u x d'or' Musàus,
princess Imis, he places obstacles between her ' B û c h e r der C h r o n i k a der drei Schwestern'
and her l o v e r Philax until he realizes that con- 4. J o h a n n e s Pràtorius, Volksbuch —•
demning the two lovers to live together per- Musàus, 'Riibezahl'
MUSIL, ROBERT 330

5. *Perrault, ' P e a u d'âne' ( * ' D o n k e y - S k i n ' ) MUSIL, ROBERT (1880-1942), distinguished

+ ' L a belle au bois dormant' (*'Sleeping Austrian writer. A s i d e from the fairy tale-nov-
B e a u t y ' ) + M m e de "Willeneuve, ' L e s ellas in his trilogy Drei Frauen {Three Women,
Nayades' Musàus, ' N y m p h e des 1924) which show his interest in the romantic
Brunnens' tradition, Musil also incorporated fairy-tale
6. Piccolomini, Historia Bohemica + motifs into his collection of stories Nachlass {«
J o h a n n e s D u b r a v i u s , Historia regni Leb^eiten {Posthumous Papers while Alive,
bohemiae —• Musàus ' L i b u s s a ' 1936). In his major w o r k Der Mann ohne Eigen-
7. * Thousand and One Nights + motifs from schaften (The Man without Qualities, 1930—43),
S w a n Maidens —• Musàus, ' D e r geraubte Musil developed a mode o f cognition in which
Schleier' the fairy tale functions as a preliminary stage to
8. ' D i e Matrone v o n E p h e s u s ' - • Musàus, his Utopie des anderen Zustands (Utopia of the
'Liebestreue' Other Condition). BKM
10. various F r e n c h versions o f *'Riquet à la Kummerling-Meibauer, Bettina, Die
H o u p p e ' (Perrault, *Bernard, *Lheritier) Kunstmdrchen von Hofmannsthal, Musil und
Musaus, ' U l r i c h mit dem Biïhel' Doblin ( 1 9 9 1 ) .
12. B o d m e r , G r a f v o n Gleichen ->•
[Volksbucherr] —• Musaus, 'Melechsala'
14. E r a s m u s Francisci, 'Hôllischer Proteus' M Y T H / M Y T H O L O G Y A N D FAIRY T A L E S . In the late
B i i r g e r , ' L e n o r e ' - » Musàus, ' D i e 20th century, the proliferation o f reading ma-
Entfiihrung' terials for y o u n g people and significant para-
The most enlightening source about d i g m shifts within Western societies have led
Musâus's fairy-tale production comes from his to a re-evaluation o f the status of myth and folk
o w n pen. T o a correspondent he w r o t e that tale. O n c e considered a standard element with-
fairy tales w e r e back in fashion and that he w a s in a child's reading, these interrelated genres
therefore preparing a collection 'that will bear h a v e undergone rather different fates. In the
the title, Fairy Tales of the Folk: a Reader for W e s t , myth usually denoted G r e e k , R o m a n ,
Big and Little Children ( Volksmarchen, ein Lese- and N o r s e mythologies, recognizable b y story
buch fiir grosse und kleine Kinder). F o r it I ' m elements or motifs. T h e s e mythologies have
gathering the most h a c k n e y e d old w i v e s ' tales been relegated to a minor position in the b o d y
that I ' m inflating and m a k i n g ten times more of children's literature and have been replaced
magical than they originally w e r e . M y dear b y 'myth' in the v e r y different sense o f grand
wife has high hopes that it will be a v e r y lucra- cultural narratives. F o l k tale has also shrunk in
tive product.' Manfred G r à t z , historian o f the scope, but with the difference that a relatively
emergence o f fairy tales in G e r m a n y , notes that small number o f 'literary' folk tales—that is,
Musàus used the w o r d ' V o l k s m a r c h e n ' in the fairy tales derived for the most part from the
older sense o f fanciful tales (Lugengeschichte) collections o f Charles "Terrault, the Brothers
and that Musâus's purpose paralleled P e r - * G r i m m , and Hans Christian *Andersen—still
rault's, in that he wished to praise ancient v i r - remain v e r y w i d e l y k n o w n and frequently re-
tues w h i l e depicting the medieval period as less produced in modern Western society. Instead
simple than his romantic contemporaries of the range of tales available in, for example,
w i s h e d to believe. the 12 v o l u m e s of A n d r e w "Tang's Fairy Book
Musâus's collection, reprinted in 1 7 8 7 - 8 , series (published between 1889 and 1910), late
1 7 9 5 - 8 , and 1804-5, enjoyed a l o n g popular- 20th-century children are likely to k n o w few
ity, w h i c h m a n y contemporaries attributed to fairy tales other than a reduced corpus of 10 or
his h u m o r o u s style. In 1845 it w a s translated 15. T h e s e tales are often only those popularized
into E n g l i s h as The Enchanted Knights. RBB b y *Disney films, although more local condi-
Gratz, Manfred, Das Marchen in der deutschen tions, such as the continuance o f the Christmas
Aufkldrung: Vom Feenmarchen ^um Volksmarchen pantomime tradition in E n g l a n d , also play a
(1988).
part in determining which fairy tales survive.
Klotz, Volker, Das europdische Kunstmdrchen T h e modern corpus includes *'Snow White',
(1985).
""Cinderella', ""Sleeping B e a u t y ' , ""Beauty and
McGlathery, James M., 'Magic and Desire from
the Beast', ""Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' , ' T h e
Perrault to Musaus: Some Examples',
Eighteenth-Century Life, 7 . 1 (October 1 9 8 1 ) . * F r o g K i n g ' , ""Hansel and Gretel', *'Aladdin',
Miller, Norbert (éd.), Johann Karl August ' T h e * U g l y D u c k l i n g ' , and ' T h e "Tittle Mer-
Musaus. Volksmarchen der Deutschen ( 1 9 7 6 ) . maid'; also well k n o w n but slightly less famil-
Tismar, Jens, Kunstmdrchen ( 1 9 7 7 ) . iar are tales such as ""Rapunzel', ' T h e Dancing
33i M Y T H / M Y T H O L O G Y A N D FAIRY T A L E S

Princesses', *'Puss-in-Boots', ' T h e *Princess classical canon also resists the reintroduction o f
and the P e a ' , and *'Rumpelstiltskin'. 'forgotten' traditional w o r k s w h i c h are not
T h e s e literary stories h a v e become mythic, subject to c o p y r i g h t restrictions.
not in the old sense of the term, but in the sense A pertinent example is afforded b y J i m
that they have naturalized particular and for­ *Henson's television series The Storyteller,
mulaic w a y s o f thinking about individuals and w h i c h included some v e r y inventive re­
social relationships. In other w o r d s , they h a v e creations and combinations o f less familiar
become the bearers o f grand cultural narra­ stories such as ' A l l F u r ' , ' T h e S i x S w a n s ' , ' T h e
tives. T h e tales listed a b o v e constitute a mythic T r u e B r i d e ' , and ' T h e Soldier and D e a t h ' .
matrix constructed around three assumptions: A l t h o u g h it reached a w i d e audience through
gender and sexuality, and hence male and fe­ television and a subsequent v i d e o release, there
male behaviour, are ordered according to a has been no indication that the series changed
patriarchal hierarchy; g o o d will a l w a y s con­ the contemporary classical canon, either
quer evil; and the meritorious individual will through incorporation o f some o f these n e w
rise in the w o r l d , w i n n i n g prestige, riches, and versions o r recuperation o f the stories l y i n g b e ­
p o w e r . H o w s o e v e r a retold tale varies in its hind them. A plausible reason for this lack o f
focus and emphasis, its processes and outcome effect is that the H e n s o n retellings deviated in
will normally be a configuration o f these as­ both form and theme from the tales character­
sumptions. D i s n e y films h a v e tended to nat­ istic o f the canon. T h e intrusive presence o f the
uralize this matrix b y reaffirming conservative storyteller and his talking d o g might h a v e
social structures, and especially through a 'dis­ served to e v o k e the oral and folk origins o f
equilibrium between g o o d and e v i l ' , such that fairy tales, but instead the comic and frame-
the forces of evil dominate events until the b r e a k i n g aspects o f their dialogue d r e w atten­
denouement, when the final v i c t o r y o f the tion to the constructedness o f the genre and its
forces of g o o d restores the proper or 'natural' tendency to b e c o m e inadvertently comic o r
order (that is, normative social values) and dis­ melodramatic. F o r example, the p e r v a s i v e
tributes rewards to the deserving. W h e r e the comic w o r d p l a y in The True Bride—a tale
instrument of victory is male, his p o w e r lies in w o v e n mainly out o f a combination o f motifs
courage and resourcefulness; w h e r e female, her from the G r i m m s ' ' T h e T r u e B r i d e ' and the
strength is in her beauty, sensibility, and c o m ­ Scandinavian ' E a s t o f the S u n , W e s t o f the
passion. In Aladdin, for example, once evil has M o o n ' — i s a clear indicator o f the tale's self-
overreached and brought about its o w n de­ reflective character. M o r e important, h o w e v e r ,
struction, the film swiftly comes to a close b y is the tales' departure from the familiar mythic
instantiating all three elements o f the mythic significances o f the canon, as in Sapsorrow, for
matrix. Such a close represents social i d e o l o g y example, w h i c h is a degradation-and-disguise
as if it w e r e simply the w a y things are. story w o v e n from elements o f three related
T h e concentration of fairy tale into a rela­ tales: Perrault's * ' D o n k e y - S k i n ' , the G r i m m s '
tively small number o f frequently reproduced ' A l l F u r ' , and (for the ending) the Scandina­
examples is not merely a historical accident. vian ' K a r i W o o d e n g o w n ' (from L a n g , The Red
Because such tales h a v e a long history within Fairy Book). T h e tale type is a c o m p l e x depic­
the civilizing process w h e r e b y a society deter­ tion o f male domination and female submis­
mines its o w n structures o f behaviour and rela­ sion, in that its central figure is a princess
tionships, the tales most likely to h a v e endured w h o s e w i d o w e d father attempts to m a r r y her,
are those which most aptly reflect the social and to a v o i d this she flees in the guise o f a base
and political assumptions o f the social groups and u g l y creature and hides b y taking up a
which control a community's economic, polit­ menial occupation. H e r period o f d e g r a d a ­
ical, educational, and media institutions. Other tion before marriage to the local prince and re­
tales have been effectively excluded, and the instatement to her proper rank seems to rep­
late 20th-century fairy-tale canon seems to be resent a period in w h i c h she expiates the guilt
virtually closed. N e w l y created tales, even o f the female sexuality w h i c h has made her an
those which conform closely with the struc­ object o f attention and hence a victim in the
tures and forms of the classical tales, d o not first place.
enter the canon, and are soon forgotten. O f Sapsorrow arrives at its h a p p y outcome b y
course, problems of copyright inhibit repro­ d e v e l o p i n g a potentiality in the structure o f
duction and r e w o r k i n g o f such stories, but ' K a r i W o o d e n g o w n ' , w h e r e b y K a r i has deal­
their lack of underpinning b y tradition is p r o b ­ ings with the prince three times in her w o o d e n
ably a greater barrier. O n the other hand, the g o w n and three times in magnificent clothing,
M Y T H / M Y T H O L O G Y A N D FAIRY T A L E S 332

but Sapsorrow transforms this pattern b y d e ­ b y Hades, for example, signifies the origin of
picting its heroine as a resourceful y o u n g seasonal climatic change, as the w o r l d 'dies'
w o m a n w h o not o n l y arouses the prince's d e ­ with Persephone's winter descent to the
sire w h e n she appears in her beautiful, ball­ U n d e r w o r l d , and revives with her return in
r o o m form, but also brings about a g r o w t h of spring. O n c e the process has been set in m o ­
his humanity b y repeatedly challenging struc­ tion, it goes on being repeated as an aspect of
tures o f social and gender hierarchy in her con­ human experience of the w o r l d , as in many
versations with him w h e n she is in her other fertility myths.
' S t r a g g l e t a g ' disguise. Hence the tale is no Further, because the process has its origins
l o n g e r about a forlorn princess w h o s e destiny in the actions of supernatural beings, it is ex­
is to gain a high-ranking husband as r e c o m ­ emplary for all significant human activities,
pense for her patient suffering, but about for­ from birth, through the social life of people, to
g i n g an equal and companionate relationship, death, and imbues such incidents with the qual­
for the prince n o w must implicitly p r o v e him­ ities and value of a religious experience. A s
self w o r t h y o f S a p s o r r o w / S t r a g g l e t a g . Unlike such, it guarantees that human experience of
the princes o f both ' D o n k e y - S k i n ' and ' K a r i the w o r l d is not random and meaningless, but
W o o d e n g o w n ' , this prince neither k n o w s nor repeatable and significant. Such a structuring of
suspects that Straggletag is his dream princess, thought has crucial implications in the modern
and w i l l i n g l y agrees to m a r r y her before her era, either because w e return to the ancient
identity is revealed. T h i s outcome (redemption myths seeking a sense of purpose and order w e
through romance) does not represent a radical find lacking from our o w n e v e r y d a y narratives,
r e w o r k i n g o f the basis o f relationships between or because traditional tales are reframed in
male and female in fairy tales, but in that it is conformity with new cultural codings so that
reached through a combination o f female they express myths of another kind. T h e
a g e n c y and a modification o f masculinity, it de­ strands which g o to make up what w a s referred
viates significantly from the mythic matrix. to a b o v e as a mythic matrix are more properly
F a i r y tales pose a particular challenge for referred to as metanarratives. T h a t is, narrative
storytellers, illustrators, and critics w h o w i s h to forms—fictions, histories, personal narratives,
use literature to disseminate contemporary and, of course, myths and fairy t a l e s — a r e
forms o f humane values. T h e y often p i v o t on shaped so that they conform in terms of theme
o r incorporate w o r l d v i e w s antithetical to those and outcome with values and norms which are
preferred b y m a n y members o f modern soci­ assumed to be central or common within a s o ­
eties, an aspect they share with mythological ciety at a particular historical moment. A meta­
narratives. F o r a l o n g time m y t h w a s generally narrative thus supplies presuppositions about
(though not u n i v e r s a l l y ) considered to be an what are proper social and material objects of
older form than folk tale, and e v e r since the desire and what behaviours will produce an ap­
G r i m m brothers proposed that Marchen, o r propriate outcome. Its function as such is quite
folk tales, w e r e vestiges o f ancient myths, the similar to ancient myth in its capacity to offer
thought has persisted that these tales often p r e ­ exemplary models for life.
serve in their story structures elements o f an T h e fairy tales which modern scholars most
older, intuitively figurative vision o f b e i n g and often discuss in relation to an antecedent myth
existence, and h a v e an innate cultural v a l u e for are those which i n v o l v e an animal as bride­
that reason. Hence it can be claimed that w e l l - g r o o m , best k n o w n b y versions of 'Beauty and
k n o w n tales such as ' S l e e p i n g B e a u t y ' o r the Beast'. T h e s e tales can be related back to
' R a p u n z e l ' , in w h i c h the main character under­ the myth of C u p i d and P s y c h e retold b y "'Apu­
g o e s a l o n g period o f d o r m a n c y w h i c h is per­ leius in the 2nd century, and so there exists a
haps a figurative death, reflect a fertility myth textual tradition which includes both myth and
p i v o t i n g on images o f death and rebirth. W h a t fairy tale and which has common structures
has disappeared from the folk tales, in this and motifs. W h e r e the genres most clearly di­
v i e w , is some anterior religious significance. In v e r g e , h o w e v e r , is in theme. A p u l e i u s ' retelling
this context, an essential premiss for the identi­ portrays the marriage o f P s y c h e to a mysteri­
fication o f m y t h is that it deals with the irrup­ ous husband w h o visits her only in the dark,
tion o f the sacred, and especially supernatural and w h o is possibly a monster. A s in many sub­
beings, into the w o r l d . T h e effect o f such ir­ sequent versions o f the story, when she at­
ruptions is to bring something into the w o r l d , tempts to see him one night she loses him and
to be a beginning. T h e G r e e k death-and-re- can only w i n him back b y undergoing a quest
birth m y t h about the abduction o f Persephone i n v o l v i n g m a n y tests and tribulations. In fairy
333 M Y T H / M Y T H O L O G Y A N D FAIRY T A L E S

tale versions the quest normally ends with a as individualism, imperialism, masculinism,
disenchantment motif as the heroine regains and m i s o g y n y . N e w metanarratives w h i c h are
her partner b y ending the spell w h i c h has en­ d e v e l o p e d either b y retelling or reinterpreting
chanted him. A s myth, ' C u p i d and P s y c h e ' w a s the stories are apt to e m e r g e within and repro­
probably a narrative about a process of initi­ duce those ideological structures. H e n c e , as
ation, or rite of passage, w h e r e b y faith w a s with the older myths, they present their the­
tested and confirmed as the initiate g r e w in matic implications as an inherent property o f
spiritual stature. In the version w h i c h comes human experience o f the w o r l d .
d o w n to us, the names of the characters w e r e a In the modern era, there h a v e been four
cue for Apuleius to recast the story as a 'philo­ main w a y s in w h i c h tellers and interpreters o f
sophical allegory of the progress o f the rational fairy tales h a v e attempted to p r e s e r v e the genre
soul towards intellectual l o v e ' ( R o b e r t G r a v e s ) while reforming the metanarratives w h i c h h a v e
or 'the journey o f the soul towards the con­ shaped it since the 17th century. T h e first is b y
cealed godhead' (Marina *Warner), though as the invention o f n e w tales w h i c h e m p l o y trad­
a forerunner of the Beauty and Beast tale it has itional structures and m o t i f s — f o r example, the
been interpreted rather as a quintessential ac­ formulaic beginnings and endings, the general
count of gender role modelling. recourse to character stereotypes, the recurrent
F o r adults w h o retell traditional stories, patterns o f a c t i o n — b u t seek outcomes no
both myth and fairy tale are attributed with longer shaped b y patriarchal or b o u r g e o i s
value as story itself. T h a t is, as a narrative i d e o l o g y . S e c o n d , because the conventional­
which audiences m a y recognize as similar to ized forms o f fairy tales tend to reinforce exist­
other such narratives because it is patterned b y ing metanarratives and so m a k e it difficult to
archetypal situations and characterizations, a reshape the stories without recourse to drastic
story transmits its latent value as a particular processes of revision, m a n y attempts are made
w o r k i n g out of perennial human desires and to transform the tales through p a r o d y , o r in the
destinies. T h e pattern seems meaningful in it­ form o f the 'fractured' fairy tale. T h e usual o b ­
self without need of explanation, because signi­ jects o f p a r o d y are the most w i d e l y k n o w n
fication inheres in the repeated structures and tales. Parodies h a v e nevertheless had o n l y
motifs. T h i s combination o f structure and as­ limited success in questioning contemporary
sumptions about reception facilitates the trans­ social formations, both because the parodied
formation of story from one kind o f mythic story is inevitably reinscribed as a normative
significance to the other. A m o n g s t other func­ pre-text, and because they continue to conform
tions, the story of a myth or a fairy tale can be with conventional outcomes dependent on
conventionally thought o f as pointing towards happy endings and the evocation o f an orderly
five key areas o f signification, all o f which can society.
be discerned in both ' C u p i d and P s y c h e ' and T h e third method is to g r o u p carefully
later animal bridegroom narratives. S t o r y refashioned tales in anthologies so that their
alerts audiences to the distinctions between conjunction instantiates metanarratives of
surfaces and depths and hence between mater­ other kinds, or to embed them within a frame
ial and transcendent meanings; it fosters re­ w h i c h constructs a point o f v i e w from w h i c h
sponses to the numinous or mysterious; it the gathered tales are to be interpreted. A n e x ­
suggests w a y s o f making sense o f being and ample o f the former type is R o b e r t L e e s o n ' s
existence; it helps define the place of the indi­ Smart Girls ( 1 9 9 3 ) , a bundle o f tales in w h i c h
vidual in the w o r l d ; and it offers social and meritorious females deftly overturn patriarchal
moral guidance. In practical terms, the distance hierarchy; an example of the latter is Susan
between transcendent meanings and social b e ­ P r i c e ' s Head and Tales ( 1 9 9 3 ) , in w h i c h the
haviour can be v e r y great indeed, but their c o - frame narrative focuses on issues o f social class
presence within a bundle of significations indi­ and draws attention to the v o l u m e ' s p e r v a s i v e
cates that the business of such story is to themes o f social justice, personal freedom, and
produce versions of subjective wholeness. human responsibility. Such strategies success­
T h u s the social behaviours inscribed within fully instantiate alternative metanarratives, but
story are naturalized, on the grounds that 'this usually at the cost o f w i d e audience appeal b e ­
is h o w things are' and that 'this organization is cause the tales included are generally d r a w n
confirmed b y its link with the timeless and from outside the classic literary canon.
transcendent'. T h e apparent seamlessness of F i n a l l y , the fourth approach to altering the
the complex masks the fact that m y t h and fairy metanarrative o f fairy tales begins as acts o f in­
tale are structured ideologically b y such things terpretation and thence impacts on processes o f
M Y T H / M Y T H O L O G Y A N D FAIRY T A L E S 334

retelling. T h i s approach is g r o u n d e d in modern is, from textual representations or cultural as­

myths derived from psychoanalysis. J u s t as the sumptions.
Oedipal m y t h o f p s y c h o s e x u a l development A l l attempts to redirect the metanarratives
w a s fashioned from an appropriation o f an of fairy tales are based on the assumption that
ancient G r e e k m y t h , so fairy tales are subject the tales are one o f culture's primary mechan­
to retrospective interpretation as narratives a d ­ isms for inculcating roles and behaviours, s y m ­
dressing the p s y c h o l o g i c a l problems o f child­ bolically portraying basic human problems and
hood: narcissistic disappointments; Oedipal social prescriptions. T h e different w a y s of re­
dilemmas; sibling rivalries; learning to relin­ writing and rereading them accept that they
quish childhood dependencies; gaining a feel­ function to help children find meaning in life,
ing o f selfhood and self-worth, and a sense o f but the history and contemporary contestation
moral obligation. F r o m this perspective, the o f myths and metanarratives associated with
animal b r i d e g r o o m tales b e c o m e , p s y c h o a n a - fairy tales is a salutary reminder that meaning,
lytically, 'illustrations o f a process w h e r e guilt subjectivity, and sociality are historically p r o ­
and fear because o f the sexual desires are fol­ duced and subject to w h a t e v e r assumptions
l o w e d b y sublimation o f those wishes into about gender, class, and so on prevail at m o ­
something pure and fine' ( H e u s c h e r ) , o r an a c ­ ments o f production and reproduction. JAS
count o f h o w the aspects o f 'sex, l o v e and life' Bettelheim, Bruno, The Uses of Enchantment:
are w e d d e d into a unity (Bettelheim). The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales
Such conclusions h a v e often met with a (1976).
Eliade, Mircea, Myth and Reality (1963).
sceptical response, especially from feminist
Heuscher, Julius E . , A Psychiatric Study of Myths
critics w h o question the presumption that fairy
and Fairy Tales (1963; 2nd edn., 1974).
tales express universal values, and argue in­ Rose, Ellen Cronan, 'Through the Looking
stead that they reflect distinct culturally and Glass: When Women Tell Fairy Tales', in
historically determined developmental para­ Elizabeth Abel, Marianne Hirsch, and Elizabeth
d i g m s for b o y s and girls, and these paradigms Langland (eds.), The Voyage In: Fictions of
are products o f gendered social practices. Female Development (1983).
H e n c e the tales are apt to simplify what is in Thompson, Stith, The Folktale (1946).
practice a complicated process o f socialization. Warner, Marina, From the Beast to the Blonde
W h a t still remains unresolvable is whether the (1994).
Zipes, Jack, Fairy Tales and the Art of
m e a n i n g o f the tales lies in their story struc­
Subversion: The Classical Genre for Children and
t u r e s — w h e r e , for example, b o y s are usually the Process of Civilisation (1983).
active and resourceful, and girls are passive Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale
and d e p e n d e n t — o r their metanarratives, that (1994).
N A P O L I , D O N N A J O ( 1 9 4 8 - ) , professor o f lin­
guistics and leading A m e r i c a n writer o f fairy
tales for y o u n g readers. H e r first w o r k , The
Hero ofBarletta (1989), based o n an Italian folk
tale, concerns a clever giant w h o saves his v i l ­
lage from a hostile a r m y . Since the publication
of this humorous story, N a p o l i has focused o n
the retelling o f classical fairy tales with great
originality and extraordinary depth. The Prince
of the Pond: Otherwise Known as De Fawg Pin
(1992), is a revision o f ' T h e * F r o g Prince' told
from the viewpoint of J a d e , a female frog, w h o
recalls h o w she helped a bewildered prince, w h i c h feature creative versions o f the f o l l o w ­
w h o w a s transformed into a frog b y a w i c k e d ing tales o r figures: St J u l i a n ; Q u e e n G u i n e v e r e
hag, to survive in the wilderness and regain his and tales o f A r t h u r ' s court in tandem with the
human form. In a sequel Jimmy, the Pickpocket *Mother Holle tale; the legends o f the British
of the Palace (1995), a frog w h o w a s sired b y and G e r m a n supernatural spirits Mother
the prince when he w a s a frog is turned into a L u d l a m and Riibezahl; the lady in white; St
human when he tries to save the pond from the Ottilie; the O l d e n b u r g H o r n ; the P i e d P i p e r o f
hag and discovers that he does not like human Hamelin; the daughter o f the E l f K i n g ; S t G e o ­
life in the palace. In The Magic Circle (1993), a r g e , and the N i b e l u n g treasure. A second,
powerful retelling o f ""Hansel and G r e t e l ' , smaller collection o f fairy tales, Heitere Trdume
Napoli investigates the prehistory o f the witch in kleinen Er^dhlungen (Delightful Dreams in
with great sympathy, and she reveals that the Short Tales, 1806), s h o w s the influences o f the
witch w a s at o n e time a g o o d healer but b e ­ F r e n c h w o m e n writers around Charles "'Per­
came transformed into an ogress b y evil spirits. rault in the tales ' F a n c h o n vielleuse', ' P e r s i n -
T h e dark side o f fairy tales is also examined in Persinet', and ' B l a n c a B e l l a ' . H e r ' m a g i c n o v e l '
Zel (1996), a revision o f ""Rapunzel', in w h i c h Velleda (1795) treats legendary w o m e n o f
Napoli explores the p s y c h o l o g y o f the three A n g l o - S a x o n and G e r m a n i c tales. B o a d i c e a ,
main characters—the girl locked in the tower, Q u e e n o f ancient Britain, strives to rescue h e r
the prince w h o wants to save her, and the seven daughters, c o m i n g into conflict with the
w i t c h / m o t h e r , w h o wants to keep h e r — b y G e r m a n i c enchantress, V e l l e d a , w h o is protect­
allowing each one to tell the story and shift ing them. T h i s n o v e l also contains t w o other
perspectives. Napoli's fairy tales are subtle and stories o f ancient legend and m a g i c in ancient
complex and can b e considered c r o s s o v e r E g y p t , a favourite locale for N a u b e r t ' s tales.
w o r k s that appeal to y o u n g readers and adults. H e r other collections also combine detailed
JZ narrative, legend, and m a g i c o r m y s t e r y : Wan-
derungen der Phantasie in die Gebiete der Wahr-
N A U B E R T , B E N E D I K T E (b. Hebenstreit; m . H o l d - heit (Fantastic Excursions into the Realm of the
erieder, w i d o w e d ; m . Naubert, 1756—1819). A Truth, 1806) and the ' m y t h o l o g i c a l tale', ' D i e
popular and prolific G e r m a n novelist, Naubert M i n y a d e n ' (1806). M a n y o f h e r historical
was born in L e i p z i g and after marriage lived in novels combine elements o f m a g i c and legend
N a u m b u r g . S h e used fairy-tale motifs exten­ with fact and fiction: Amalgunde, Konigin von
sively in her fictional w o r k s ; she stands with Italien oder das Mdrchen von der Wunderquelle
"Musaus and *Wieland in the tradition o f the (Amalgunde, Queen of Italy or the Tale of the
G e r m a n Enlightenment fairy tale. H e r w o r k Magic Fountain, 1787), Gehhard Truchses von
characteristically combines the genres o f his­ Waldburg Churfurst von Coin oder die astrologis-
torical novel (particularly m e d i e v a l ) , G o t h i c chen Fiirsten (Gebhard, Steward of Waldburg,
novel, legend, and fairy tale. She is noted for Elector of Cologne, or the Astrological Princes,
her care with historical sources, using such 1791) and Ottilie, oder das Schloss Zdhringen
w o r k s as Tacitus' Germania, P e r c y ' s Reliques, (Ottilia, or The Castle Zdhringen, 1791). S o m e
and archival material from the university l i ­ o f h e r other w o r k s h a v e m o r e affinity with
brary of Leipzig, provided b y male friends with magical romantic fiction: Aimé oder Egyptische
access. F o l l o w i n g the success o f Musâus's c o l ­ Mdhrchen (Aimé or Egyptian Tales, 5 v o l s . ,
lection o f G e r m a n tales (1782—6), Naubert 1793—7). A l t h o u g h well k n o w n f o r the m o r e
wrote the four-volume Neue Volksmdhrchen der than 50 novels she published, Naubert carefully
Deutschen (New German Tales, 1789—93), maintained h e r a n o n y m i t y until 1819; w i d e l y
NEILL, JOHN R(EA) 336

esteeemed as 'the author o f W a l t e r v o n Mont- encircled Z ) and his name ( ' J n o ' ) . In addition
b a r r y and T h e k l a v o n T h u r n ' , her most p o p u ­ to the hundreds of characters he brought to life
lar w o r k s , she w a s read b y such writers as Sir in b o o k illustrations, he also designed p r o m o ­
W a l t e r Scott, A c h i m v o n *Arnim, and the tional materials ranging from posters to cellu­
* G r i m m s . W i l h e l m G r i m m discovered her loid buttons. After The Emerald City of 0{
identity through a friend o f her publisher and (1910), w h i c h B a u m wrote as his last Oz story,
travelled to N a u m b u r g to interview her about Neill illustrated his Sea Fairies (1911) and Sky
her w o r k s in D e c e m b e r 1809. After republica­ Island (1912). But disappointing sales forced
tions and translations into F r e n c h and E n g l i s h the author and artist to return to O z for annual
during the period from the 1780s to the 1820s, sequels. Marketing became aggressive when
her w o r k w a s largely forgotten until the 1980s. the publishers R e i l l y & Britton suggested that
JB Neill produce a b o o k of cardstock dolls (The
Blackwell, Jeannine, 'Die verlorene Lehre der 0 { Toy Book, Cut-outs for the Kiddies) to pro­
Benedikte Naubert: die Verbindung zwischen mote The Scarecrow of 0 { (1915). Unfortunate­
Fantasie und Geschichtsschreibung', in Helga ly, they neglected to secure B a u m ' s permission.
Gallas and Magdalene Heuser (eds.), T h e ' R o y a l Historian o f O z ' w a s furious that
Untersuchungen ^um Roman von Frauen um 1800
he might be embroiled in another copyright
(1990).
dispute, but accepted an a p o l o g y none the less.
Dorsch, Nikolaus, Sich rettend aus der kalten
Wiirklichkeit: die Briefe Benedikte Nauberts: T h e relationship became strained, h o w e v e r ,
Edition, Kik, Kommentar (1986). and he tried to replace Neill because he did not
Grâtz, Manfred, Das Mdrchen in der deutschen feel the illustrations w e r e whimsical enough for
Aufkldrung: Vom Feenmarchen cum Volksmarchen y o u n g readers. But Neill collaborated on the
(1988). rest of B a u m ' s novels plus all 19 titles b y Ruth
Jarvis, Shawn C., 'The Vanished Woman of P l u m l y T h o m p s o n , the Second R o y a l Histor­
Great Influence: Benedikte Naubert's Legacy ian of O z .
and German Women's Fairy Tales', in
After d r a w i n g O z for 38 years, Neill had his
Katherine R. Goodman and Edith Waldstein
chance to describe it w h e n he became the
(eds.), In The Shadow of Olympus: German
Women Writers from 1790—1810 (1991). T h i r d R o y a l Historian. The Wonder City of 0\
Schreinert, Kurt, Benedikte Naubert: ein Beitrag (1940), The Scalawagons of 0 { (1941), and
iur Entstehungsgeschichte des historischen Romans Lucky Bucky in (1942) differed radically
in Deutschland (1941; repr. 1969). from previous b o o k s . His somewhat unbridled
Runge, Anita, Literarische Praxis von Frauen um imagination modernized O z with elections,
1800: Briefroman, Autobiographie, Màrchen automobiles, and animate, w a r r i n g houses. A l ­
(I997)- lusions to W o r l d W a r II w e r e further under­
Sweet, Denis, 'Introduction to Benedikte
scored b y a dustjacket letter from B u c k y of Oz:
Naubert, "The Cloak" ', in Jeannine Blackwell
he tells b o y s and girls that ' T h e Nazis and J a p s
and Susanne Zantop (eds.), Bitter Healing:
German Women Writers 1700—1830. An are harder to beat than the G n o m e s ' and urges
Anthology (1990). them to b u y V i c t o r y Bonds and Stamps.
Slumping wartime sales and a paper shortage
N E I L L , J O H N R ( E A ) (1877-1943), definitive illus­ prompted the publishers to postpone a fourth
trator of 0 { b o o k s . T r a i n e d at the P e n n s y l v a ­ Neill title, The Runaway in C \ . Published in
nia A c a d e m y o f F i n e A r t s , Neill w a s 25 w h e n 1995 b y B o o k s of W o n d e r , it is the 36th Oz
he got his b i g b r e a k — l i t t l e suspecting that he b o o k that Neill either illustrated or wrote.
w o u l d spend the next 41 y e a r s as 'Imperial I l ­ MLE
lustrator o f O z ' . H e w a s hired to succeed W . W . Greene, David L . , and Martin, Dick, The 0 {
* D e n s l o w as L . F r a n k *Baum's illustrator Scrapbook (1977).
after a bitter c o p y r i g h t dispute o v e r The Won­ Snow, Jack, Who's Who in 0 { (1954).
derful *Wiiard of 0{ (1900). Insolvent, B a u m
hoped that a sequel w o u l d s o l v e his financial NERVAL, GÉRARD DE (pseudonym of GÉRARD
w o e s . It did (temporarily). The Marvelous Land LABRUNIE, 1808-55), a
French writer best
of 0 { (1904), a profusely illustrated text with 16 k n o w n for his poetry and fantastic tales.
colour plates, 24 full-page line d r a w i n g s and R e a r e d in the country, he felt that the 'old
o v e r 100 smaller pictures, w a s an immediate F r e n c h ballads' o f the provinces should be pre­
success, and N e i l l continued his collaboration. served, yet feared being labelled too 'historic'
H e had a beautifully detailed style similar to or 'scientific'. N o n e the less, his w o r k between
A r t h u r * R a c k h a m ' s and an e c o n o m y o f line, 1842 and 1854 included 26 folk songs and many
evidenced in his trademark designs o f O z (an legends: some w e r e collected as Chansons et
 NESBIT, EDITH
337

légendes du Valois (1842). T h e occult and delir- build a t o w n out o f b o o k s and picture blocks
ium, which ultimately led to his suicide, also and toy bricks. T h e y w a l k up the steps o f
influenced his writing. b o o k s into it and find their o w n house there,
T h e G e r m a n romantics inspired N e r v a l ' s and on the library floor the same t o w n as they
early w o r k . His translation of Faust at 19 w a s had built and realize that this could repeat itself
praised b y *Goethe, and he later penned "'Hoff- into infinity. She w a s to d e v e l o p the theme in
mann-inspired fantastic stories set in the the full-length The Magic City (1910). Signifi-
Valois, such as ' L a Main enchantée' ( ' T h e E n - cantly, the cities are built from b o o k s , and
chanted H a n d ' ) and ' S y l v i e ' (in Les Filles du people both friendly and hostile e m e r g e from
feu (Daughters of the Fire, 1854)). After collab- them. B o o k s p l a y an enormous part in her child
orating with D u m a s père and obsessing about characters' lives; Stephen Prickett writes o f 'a
an actress, N e r v a l led a bohemian existence n e t w o r k o f literary cross-references to other
throughout G e r m a n y and the Orient. H e suf- writers', and in her last fantasy, Wet Manic
fered his first b r e a k d o w n in 1841, and recorded (1913), there is a Battle o f the B o o k s between
the resulting confusion between dream and her favourites and those she despised.
reality, illusion and delusion in Aurélia (1855), Nesbit's first full-length fantasy, Five Chil-
his masterpiece. R e l i g i o u s syncretism o f m y t h - dren and It, w a s published in 1902. Its c o m e d y
o l o g y , the Cabbala, and S w e d e n b o r g i a n the- and m a g i c are reminiscent o f F . *Anstey, and
osophy, plus a metaphysical 'descent' into the indeed the children speak o f The Brass Bottle.
psyche, g a v e N e r v a l ' s w o r k an Orphic quality 'It' is a P s a m m e a d , a sand fairy, a furry crea-
whose Illuminism prefigured symbolism. Les ture with eyes on antennae. It w a s to be the
Illuminés (1852) and Les Chimères (1855) typify prototype o f t w o other Nesbit fairies w h o o r -
his esoteric poetry. MLE chestrate e v e n t s — t h e M o u l d i w a r p and the
Bénichou, Paul, Nerval et la chanson folklorique P h o e n i x . A l l are touchy, vain, and caustic, but
(1970). are presented with humour, unlike Mrs "'Moles-
Knapp, Bettina, Gérard de Nerval: The Mystic's w o r t h ' s fairy c u c k o o (The Cuckoo Clock) from
Dilemma ( 1 9 8 0 ) .
w h i c h they m a y h a v e been derived. T h e P s a m -
Richer, Jean, Nerval: expérience vécue & création
mead condescends to allow the children one
ésotérique ( 1 9 8 7 ) .
Strauss, Walter A . , Descent and Return: The w i s h a d a y . In the style o f the T h r e e W i s h e s
Orphic Theme in Modern Literature ( 1 9 7 1 ) . folk story, their rash c h o i c e s — t o h a v e w i n g s ,
to be as beautiful as the d a y — i n e v i t a b l y lead
N E S B I T , E D I T H (1858-1924), E n g l i s h writer to disaster, and their final wishes h a v e to be
whose children's books include m a n y fantasies used to undo the h a v o c . Nesbit returned to the
with a contemporary setting. O b l i g e d to sup- theme in The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904),
port herself and the family in the early years o f w h e r e the children find an e g g in an old car-
her marriage to Hubert Bland in 1880, she did p e t — i n fact a m a g i c travelling carpet, with a
much hack w o r k before she began writing stor- phoenix inside the e g g . T h e narcissistic P h o e -
ies for children. Initially these w e r e about the nix, one o f her best comic creations, much re-
Bastable family, genteelly poor like the Blands, sembles the ludicrously v a i n D o d o in G . E .
and their efforts to restore the family fortunes. F a r r o w ' s The Little Panjandrums Dodo (1899),
But in 1899 she contributed a series of modern w h o bursts into a L o n d o n office in the same
fairy tales to the Strand under the title ' S e v e n w a y as the P h o e n i x w a s to do at the P h o e n i x
D r a g o n s ' — t h e beginning of a long association F i r e Office. ( L i k e The Enchanted Castle, this
with that magazine, in w h i c h all her fantasies n o w forgotten fantasy also featured prehistoric
were to be serialized. T h e dragon stories, light- creatures from the C r y s t a l Palace dinosaur
hearted and inventive, collected under the title park w h i c h opened in 1854.)
of The Book of Dragons in 1900, m a y h a v e been T h e P s a m m e a d reappears in The Story of the
suggested b y Kenneth *Grahame's anti-heroic Amulet (1906), w h e n the children, in L o n d o n
' T h e Reluctant D r a g o n ' . T h e r e is a fabulous n o w , find it in a pet-shop near the British M u -
creature, a manticore, in the opening story seum. It leads them to a c h a r m — h a l f an E g y p -
' T h e B o o k of Beasts', w h o is v e r y like G r a - tian amulet w h i c h , if they can only find the
hame's dragon in his extreme reluctance to other half, will be able to g i v e them their
fight. T h e drawings w e r e b y H . R . *Millar, al- hearts' desire. T o search for it, the children use
w a y s to be her favourite illustrator. Nine Un- their half o f the amulet and the W o r d o f P o w e r
likely Tales followed in 1901. It contains the inscribed on it to step b a c k into the remote
remarkable ' T h e T o w n in the L i b r a r y in the past. T h e story o w e s its origins and historical
T o w n in the L i b r a r y ' , where t w o children details to W a l l i s B u d g e , K e e p e r o f E g y p t i a n
 NESTROY, JOHANN 338

and A s s y r i a n Antiquities at the British M u ­ fairy-tale plays are Die Verhannung aus dem
seum. H i m s e l f the author o f Egyptian Magic Zauberreiche oder Dreissig Jahre aus dem Leben
(1901), he suggested that she should use a form eines Lumpen {The Banishment from the Magic
of amulet w h i c h supposedly g a v e its dead Kingdom or Thirty Years in the Life of a Tramp,
w e a r e r access to the different regions o f the 1828), Der konfuse Zauberer oder Treue und
u n d e r w o r l d . Such an amulet carries a w o r d o f Flatterhaftigkeit ( The Confused Wizard or Fidel­
p o w e r , and he invented one for her, U r H e k a u ity and Fickleness, 1832), Die Zauberreise in die
Setcheh, w h i c h might be translated as ' G r e a t o f Ritter^eit oder die Ubermutigen ( The Magic Jour­
m a g i c is the Setcheh-snake' (a m y t h o l o g i c a l ney into the Days of Knights or the Exuberant
serpent named in some early spells for the Ones, 1832), Genius, Schuster und Markôr oder
dead). die Pyramiden der Ver^auberung (Genius, Shoe­
T i m e travel w a s then an innovation in chil­ maker and Waiter or The Pyramids of Enchant­
dren's b o o k s , and Nesbit m a y h a v e been in­ ment, 1832), Der Feenball oder Tischler,
spired b y H . G . * W e l l s ' s The Time Machine Schneider und Schlosser (The Fairy Ball or Car­
(1895). She w a s to use it in The House of Arden penter, Tailor and Locksmith, 1832), Der Zau­
(1908) and its companion Harding's Luck berer Sulphurelektromagnetikophosphoratus und
(1909). In the first, t w o children m o v e back die Fee Walburgiblocksbergiseptemtriolanis oder
into the past b y dressing up in clothes they find des ungeratenen Herrn Sohnes Leben, Taten und
in an old chest. In the second b o o k , the central Meinungen wie auch dessen Bestrafung in der
character, a p o o r lame b o y from a L o n d o n Sklaverei und was sich alldort Ferneres mit ihm
slum w h o discovers that he is in fact the heir o f begab (The Wizard Sulphurelektromagnetiko-
the A r d e n estates, elects to g o back forever to phosphoratus and the Fairy Walburgiblocksbergi-
the great J a c o b e a n household w h i c h he has septemtriolanis or the Life, Deeds and Opinions
visited with the help o f the M o u l d i w a r p . of the Spoiled Master Son as Well as his Punish­
H e r most elaborately constructed fantasy is ment in Slavery and All the Rest that Happened
The Enchanted Castle (1907). It starts, like with him There, 1834), Das Verlobungsfest im
m a n y o f her b o o k s , with children in search o f Feenreiche oder die Gleicheit der Jahre ( The En­
m a g i c . T h e y find a castle, and in it a m a g i c gagement Feast in Fairyland or the Equality of
ring. T h i s brings misadventures w h i c h at first Years, 1834), Die Familien Zwirn, Knieriem und
are c o m i c , but g r a d u a l l y b e c o m e m o r e serious, Leim oder Der Welt-Untergangs-Tag (The
e v e n terrifying, as w h e n the children m a k e Zwirn, Knieriem and Leim Families or The Day
d u m m y figures and idly w i s h they w e r e alive. the World Ended, 1834), and Der Koberl oder
T h e ring also allows the wearers to enter a Staberl im Feendienst (The Goblin or Staberl in
w o r l d w h e r e the statues in the castle garden the Service of the Fairies, 1838). Undoubtedly
c o m e to life, and in the last pages the children his most famous fairy-tale play is Der bôse Geist
and t w o sympathetic adults h a v e a vision o f Lumpa^ivagabundus oder Das Liederliche Klee-
eternity. blatt ( The Evil Spirit Lumpaçivagabundus or the
The Wonderful Garden ( 1 9 1 1 ) also s h o w s Roguish Trio, 1833), which begins with the
children pursuing m a g i c , but here, though they fairy goddesses Fortuna and A m o r o s a making
cast spells w h i c h apparently w o r k , this is a bet to see whether man can be improved b y
brought about by luck and outside riches. A c c o r d i n g to the w a g e r , if t w o out of
intervention. GA three v a g a b o n d s i m p r o v e themselves, Fortuna
Briggs, Julia, A Woman of Passion (1987). wins, but if only one changes, A m o r o s a wins,
Lurie, Alison, ' E . Nesbit', in Jane Bingham and Fortuna must g i v e her daughter Brillantine
(ed.), Writers for Children (1988). to the magician's son Hilarus, w h o maintains
Prickett, Stephen, Victorian Fantasy (1979). that only l o v e can reform the evil w a y s of man,
Robson, W.W., ' E . Nesbit and The Book of as does A m o r o s a , w h o wins the bet and sets out
Dragons', in Gillian Avery and Julia Briggs
to reform the t w o v a g a b o n d s w h o have led dis­
(eds.), Children and their Books (1989).
solute lives. M a n y o f the folk characters re­
N E S T R O Y , J O H A N N ( 1 8 0 1 - 6 2 ) , A u s t r i a n actor appear in N e s t r o y ' s plays, and m a n y of his
and dramatist, w h o w r o t e approximately 83 other farces h a v e strong elements of the fairy
plays and w a s h i g h l y regarded for his acerbic tale in them. But magic w a s a l w a y s employed
wit. N e s t r o y e m p l o y e d dramatic forms ranging b y N e s t r o y to make fun o f humankind's foibles
from fairy-tale p l a y and farce to political satire. and to expose the absurd nature of reality. J Z
H e w a s a master o f the V i e n n e s e dialect and Corriher, Kurt, 'The Conflict between Dignity
folk tradition and mixed high and l o w culture and Hope in the Works of Johann Nestroy',
-to startling effect. A m o n g his most notable South Atlantic Review, 46 (1981).
339 NIELSEN, K A Y RASMUS

Decker, Craig, 'Toward a Critical Volksstiick: flict with the N o t h i n g is d o w n g r a d e d to sec-

Nestroy and the Politics of Language' ondary dramatic status: the climax is instead
Monatshefte, 79 (1987). p r o v i d e d b y Bastian c o m i n g back from Fanta-
Diehl, Siegfried, Zauberei und Satire im Friihwerk
sia on F a l k o r and using him to get his private
Nestroys (1969).
r e v e n g e on the bullies.
Hein, Jûrgen, Das Wiener Volksstiick: Raimund
und Nestroy (1978). F e e l i n g betrayed, E n d e angrily rejected this
Johann Nestroy (1990). treatment o f his b o o k , but had sold the rights
and could not stop it. H e therefore took his
NEVERENDING STORY, THE (Die unendliche Ges- name off the film completely and wished a
chichte), a multi-million-selling fairy tale about plague on its producers. It w a s none the less a
the death of fairy tales. Much to the author commercial success and prompted t w o sequels,
Michael *Ende's disgust, it has spawned three neither o f w h i c h finishes the job o f filming
films (West G e r m a n y , 1984; G e r m a n y , 1989; E n d e ' s b o o k . T h e first—The Next Chap-
and G e r m a n y , 1994). First published in W e s t ter—largely replicates the original, taking B a s -
G e r m a n y in 1979, E n d e ' s 428-page n o v e l b e - tian back to Fantasia w h e r e he and A t r e y u ,
came a cult book; it contains echoes o f earlier aided b y F a l k o r and some n e w characters, bat-
w r i t e r s — c o m p r e h e n s i v e m y t h o l o g y like "'Tol- tle to save the realm from the Emptiness cre-
kien's, a talkative Carrollian giant tortoise, ated b y the evil sorceress X a y i d e , w h o w o r k s
reader-involvement such as that w h i c h *Barrie b y persuading people to g i v e up their m e m o r -
i n v o k e s — b u t also enough originality for the ies in exchange for miracles. In Escape from
novel to sell o v e r a million copies in G e r m a n Fantasia it is Nastiness that is the threat, caus-
alone, and g o on to be translated into 27 other ing e v e r y o n e to b e c o m e selfish and avaricious.
languages. H o w e v e r , it can be fought only in the outside
It tells two parallel stories which gradually w o r l d . W h e n Bastian returns h o m e to begin
interlock. Bastian Balthasar B u x , an anxious the task, he inadvertently takes with him t w o
overweight G e r m a n b o y w h o s e mother has re- g n o m e s , a b a b y rockbiter, a talking tree, and
cently died, takes refuge from bullies b y hiding F a l k o r . T h e s e creatures end up scattered across
in a bookshop. T h e r e he finds ' T h e N e v e r - the N o r t h A m e r i c a n continent, and must find
ending S t o r y ' and b o r r o w s it. R e a d i n g in an Bastian in order to get back.
attic when he should be in class, he gets d r a w n T h e s e t w o sequels must h a v e seemed to
into the w o r l d of Fantasia, which is in immi- E n d e empty and nasty. Certainly they did
nent danger of being destroyed b y the N o t h - nothing to mollify his sense o f betrayal. A
ing. People are losing their hopes and b o o k w h i c h had been intended to illustrate the
forgetting their dreams. O n l y the Childlike importance o f nourishing the individual i m -
Empress can save Fantasia, but she is too ill, so agination, and the danger o f it being stultified
A t r e y u the b o y - w a r r i o r sets out to find the one b y mass-production and literal-mindedness,
person w h o can cure her. W h e n A t r e y u , jour- had in his eyes b e c o m e on screen part o f the
neying across the plains, needs refreshment, problem rather than the solution. TAS
Bastian in the attic opens his lunch-box. O n his
quest A t r e y u is variously helped or opposed b y
a rockbiter, a racing snail, a vicious black beast N I E L S E N , K A Y R A S M U S (1886-1957), D a n i s h il-
called G m o r k , the Southern Oracle, and F a l k o r lustrator and designer, studied in Paris at the
the flying luck-dragon. Despite his b r a v e r y , A c a d é m i e Julienne under J e a n - P a u l L a u r e n c e
h o w e v e r , A t r e y u loses heart and fails in his and later with Kristian K r o g and L u c i a n
mission; extinction looms for Fantasia until at S i m o n , b e c a m e fascinated b y the w o r k o f
last Bastian realizes that he is the saviour the A u b r e y B e a r d s l e y and, like others in the g o l d -
Empress needs, and heals her b y g i v i n g her his en age o f children's b o o k illustration, w a s
mother's name. deeply influenced b y J a p a n e s e art. H e lived and
F o r film-makers, the b o o k ' s international w o r k e d in L o n d o n , C o p e n h a g e n , and from
popularity made it irresistible, but its length 1939 to 1957 in southern California.
made it impossible. W o l f g a n g Petersen, direct- Nielsen w a s d r a w n early on to fairy tales
or and co-screenwriter o f the first adaptation, and illustrated m a n y v o l u m e s for H o d d e r &
cut out the digressions, simplified the plotline Stoughton: In Powder and Crinoline (1913), East
and characters, turned Bastian into a fit and of the Sun, West of the Moon (1914), Hans
bright American b o y , shot in E n g l i s h , and *Andersen's F a i r y T a l e s (drawings completed
made no attempt to encompass more than just in 1 9 1 2 , but first published in 1924), *Hansel
the first half o f the b o o k . T h e apocalyptic con- and Gretel (1925), and Red Magic (Jonathan
NIELSEN, KAY An image by Kay Nielsen from East of the Sun and West of the Moon ( 1 9 1 4 ) , showing his
characteristic strength of composition and design. The 15 Nordic tales in the collection, written by
Gudrun Thorne-Thomsen, have become forever associated with Nielsen.
34i NODIER, CHARLES

Cape, 1930), a collection of fairy tales from often supposed to have learned m a g i c from
around the w o r l d . Merlin. JSN
Nielsen's designs unite strong linearity with Lacy, Norris J . (ed.), The New Arthurian
delicate colouring. F o r example, the heroine o f Encyclopedia (1993).
'Prince L i n d w o r m ' in East of the Sun kneels in Paton, Lucy Allen, Studies in the Fairy
Mythology of Arthurian Romance (1903, i960).
a perfect arc of physiologically impossible
grace before a tree w h o s e w e e p i n g branches
echo her curves. In the same v o l u m e in ' T h e NODIER, CHARLES (1780-1844), F r e n c h l e x i c o g ­
Lassie and her G o d m o t h e r ' the heroine, shoul­ rapher and author o f fantastic tales. A child
ders hunched, turns to watch the splendidly p r o d i g y w h o had published t w o J a c o b i n
coloured sun flying a w a y through the forbid­ speeches b y the age of 10, he experienced the
den chamber door she has just opened. T e r r o r at first hand: his magistrate father r e g u ­
Characterized b y a sense of two-dimension­ larly guillotined the condemned. T h e s e e x e c u ­
al flatness, Nielsen's objects and people are tions led N o d i e r to reject the R e v o l u t i o n (he
highly stylized: foxglove blossoms hang in eventually became an ultraroyalist) and e x ­
measured asymmetry; princes and princesses plore death in fantastic stories. His non-fiction
stand on improbably long legs; and their g a r ­ interests ranged from compiling dictionaries to
ments billow in g r a v i t y - d e f y i n g parabolas. T h e writing on e n t o m o l o g y , botany, history, g e o g ­
p o w e r of his illustrations lies in his uncanny raphy, and linguistics. Librarian o f the A r s e n a l ,
ability to retrieve a story's emotional effect on he w a s the first head of the F r e n c h romantic
its reader and to recreate it visually in t w o m o v e m e n t , hosted its first cénacle (salon) from
dimensions. RBB 1824 to 1827, and advanced the careers o f
Larkin, David (ed.), and Keith Nicholson V i g n y , Musset, and H u g o . H e w a s elected to
(intro.), Kay Nielsen (1975). the F r e n c h A c a d e m y in 1833.
Poltarnees, Welleran, Kay Nielsen: An N o d i e r ' s early fiction imitated *Crébillon
Appreciation (1976). and *Goethe; *Cazotte inspired his collabor­
ation on ' L e V a m p i r e ' (1820), a supernatural
NlMUE, a nymph or fay in M a l o r y ' s Morte d'Ar­ melodrama. H e became increasingly fascinated
thur, is also referred to as N y m a n n e , Ninien, b y occult folklore, the C a b b a l a , F r e e m a s o n r y ,
Niniane or V i v i e n n e , etc., depending on the Illuminism, and m e t e m p s y c h o s i s — a s s h o w n
w o r k in which she appears. T h e s e w o r k s b y Smarra, ou Les Démons de la nuit, songes
range, in both date and language, from the romantiques (1821; Smarra or The Demons of the
12th-century romances of Chrétien de T r o y e s Night, 1893) and Trilby ou le Lutin d'Argail
through the later romances of Hartman v a n (1822; Trilby, The Fairy of Argyle, 1895). T h e s e
A u e and Ulrich v o n Zatzikhoven, to R e n a i s ­ tales g o b e y o n d Cazotte's in blurring the d e ­
sance Italian and English Victorian poetry. In marcation between reality and illusion, and
the 13th-century Prose Lancelot, she is the L a d y w e r e a m o n g the first F r e n c h w o r k s to address
of the L a k e w h o rears Lancelot and g i v e s him a dreams and the unconscious (thus prefiguring
white steed. F r e u d and J u n g ) . T h e y also influenced the
Nimue has several salient traits. In the Huth symbolists and surrealists in free-associative
Merlin, she gallops a palfrey into A r t h u r ' s explorations o f inner truths.
court to demand the head o f the murderer o f In 1830, after the J u l y M o n a r c h y and during
her brother. Described there as 'the most beau­ the v o g u e o f *Hoffmann, a politically disen­
tiful w o m a n that e v e r rode into A r t h u r ' s court', chanted N o d i e r published an essay on the fan­
she is granted her wish, picks up the severed tastic. In addition to addressing G e r m a n
head, and rides off. romanticism, he chronicled the marvellous in
N i m u e has supernatural p o w e r s and is r o ­ literature, and likened U l y s s e s and Othello to
mantically linked with Merlin, of w h o s e atten­ *Perrault's Petit Poucet and B a r b e - B l e u e ("'Lit­
tions she eventually tires. In the Vulgate tle T o m T h u m b and *Bluebeard). H e also
Lancelot, she encloses Merlin in a wall of air. praised fairy tales and the fantastic as salutary
Malory portrays her as an enchantress w h o re­ genres necessary in political times o f transition,
strains Merlin's ardour b y imprisoning him w h e n society must escape g r i m reality and take
under a stone. L i k e V i v i a n e in T e n n y s o n ' s refuge in the imagination. N o d i e r elsewhere
Idylls of the King, she pursues Merlin for the proclaimed that he w o u l d write nothing but
spell that enables her to enclose him in an oak fairy tales. His first w a s La Fée aux miettes
tree. A s in the case of M o r g a n , w h o m m a n y (1832; The Crumb Fairy), n o w considered his
scholars believe to be her model, N i m u e is masterpiece. It is about an insane a s y l u m in-
NODOT, PAUL-FRANÇOIS 342

mate and an a g i n g hag: he saves with a magical bed is used to travel back to the past, where
mandrake and metamorphoses her back into a Miss Price eventually elects to stay. A com-
beautiful fairy. Its interpretations range from bined version o f the t w o , Bed-Knob and Broom-
alchemical to psychoanalytical, centre on inte- stick, appeared in 1957.
grating the fragmented self, address the theme The Borrowers (1952) and the five subsequent
o f madness and insight, and juxtapose dreams b o o k s about them, can be read at different
and reality, time and s p a c e — i d e a s that w o u l d levels. Children are fascinated b y a perspective
fascinate * N e r v a l . N o d i e r also w r o t e a simpler o f the w o r l d observed at six inches from the
fairy tale for children, Trésor des fèves et fleur g r o u n d , and b y the wealth of practical details;
des pois (1837; The Luck of the Bean-Rows, for adults it is a poignant parable of the strug-
1846), about an elderly, childless couple, a tiny gle for survival of the stateless, displaced, and
b o y , and an e v e n tinier princess. It underscores homeless. T h e three B o r r o w e r s , the parents
l o v e and constancy, and has, says N o d i e r , 'the P o d and H o m i l y , and their daughter Arrietty
usual l u c k y ending o f all g o o d fairy tales'. (even their names are b o r r o w e d and have be-
MLE c o m e transmuted in the process) are among the
Castex, Pierre Georges, Le Conte fantastique en handful o f their kind w h o have survived. T h e y
France de Nodier à Maupassant (1951). are not fairies, but miniature people; s y m -
Crichfield, Grant, 'Charles Nodier', Dictionary of bionts, dependent on humankind for all the es-
Literary Biography, 119 (1992). sentials o f existence. T h e y search for stability
Hamenachem, Miriam S., Charles Nodier: Essai
and permanence and they echo the follies and
sur l'imagination mythique (1972).
delusions o f the upper w o r l d . T h e last chapter
Juin, Hubert, Charles Nodier (1970).
Vodoz, Jules, 'La Fée aux miettes ': Essai sur le o f The Borrowers sees them driven out of the
rôle du subconscient dans l'œuvre de Charles Nodier b i g old house w h e r e they h a v e lived under the
(1925). floorboards, and fleeing across the fields. The
N O D O T , P A U L - F R A N Ç O I S ( / ? . 1695-1700), F r e n c h Borrowers Afield (1955) describes their R o b i n -
writer. His n o v e l s Histoire de Mélusine (Story of son C r u s o e existence in the open air, enjoyed
Melusine, 1698) and Histoire de Geofroy (Story b y Arrietty a l o n e — s h e has a l w a y s longed to
of Geofroy, 1700) embroider on the legend o f escape from houses. In The Borrowers Afloat
the fairy *Mélusine and continue a tradition o f (1959) they are forced out of the gamekeeper's
literary rewritings that b e g a n as early as the cottage w h e r e they h a v e sheltered during the
14th century with J e a n d ' A r r a s ' s Le Roman de winter, and v o y a g e downstream in an old ket-
Mélusine (The Romance of Mélusine, 1392—3). tle. The Borrowers Aloft (1961) sees them cap-
U n l i k e the medieval Mélusine, w h o combines tured b y rapacious humans w h o want to exhibit
Christian belief with m a g i c , N o d o t ' s fairy and them. Imprisoned in an attic, they use all their
son G e o f r o y p o s s e s s — a n d are dominated b o r r o w e r ingenuity to construct a balloon in
b y — p o w e r s o f occult m a g i c . A b o v e all, N o d o t w h i c h they can float out of the w i n d o w .
tailors the legend to the period's taste for senti- Offered a comfortable house in a model v i l -
mental historical fiction. LCS lage b y a sympathetic human with w h o m
A r r i e t t y — t o her parents' h o r r o r — h a s frater-
N O R T H A M E R I C A N A N D C A N A D I A N FAIRY T A L E S , nized, P o d insists that they must m o v e
1900 to present, (see opposite) o n — h u m a n s can never be trusted. ' " W h e r e
are w e g o i n g t o ? " asked H o m i l y , in a tone of
N O R T O N , M A R Y (1903-92), E n g l i s h writer o f blank bewilderment. H o w many times, she
fantasy b o o k s for children and creator o f the w o n d e r e d n o w , had she heard herself ask this
B o r r o w e r s , minuscule beings w h o live b y ' b o r - question?' The Borrowers Avenged (1982) takes
r o w i n g ' items that humans leave around. H e r up the story for the last time; they are leaving
first b o o k , The Magic Bed-Knob, w a s published this house with all its comforts in search of a
in N e w Y o r k in 1943 w h i l e she and her four n e w resting-place a w a y from human eyes.
children w e r e l i v i n g in A m e r i c a . Subtitled T h e y find one, behind a grate in an old rectory,
' H o w to B e c o m e a W i t c h in T e n E a s y L e s - but w e k n o w , as do the B o r r o w e r s , that inevit-
sons', it s h o w s the genteel Miss Price strug- ably they will h a v e to m o v e on. GA
g l i n g to master the black arts, and a b e d - k n o b
w h i c h through her spells will take a bed and its NÔSTLINGER, CHRISTINE ( 1 9 3 6 - ) , prolific,
occupants on m a g i c travels. T h e comic misad- popular, and versatile postwar Austrian chil-
ventures that follow w e r e clearly inspired b y E . dren's b o o k author. She has published more
*Nesbit, as w a s the sequel, Bonfires and Broom- than 100 b o o k s in all categories, from picture
sticks, published in L o n d o n in 1947. H e r e the b o o k s to y o u n g adult novels, and has written
North American a n d C a n a d i a n fairy tales, 1900 to
present. Even though it is often dismissed as infantile and
non-serious literature, the fairy tale pervades 20th-cen­
tury American culture in a variety of forms and media,
operates in multiple contexts from education to therapy
as well as entertainment, and performs contradictory but
significant ideological functions. T h e following overview
of fairy tales in 20th-century North America and Canada
seeks to provide an understanding of social dynamics af­
fecting the national production and reception of fairy
tales, the institutionalization of fairy tales both through
the dominant role of fairy-tale films and in the schools as
children's literature, the rethinking of gender in fairy
tales, the radical but marginal role of literary fairy tales
for adults, and the relatively recent revival of storytell­
ing. While the general parameters of this overview apply
to all of North America, Canadian specifics will also be
addressed.
'When I first saw The ^Wi^ard of 0%, writes Salman
*Rushdie, 'it made a writer out of me.' It may be inevit­
able that a presentation of the 20th-century fairy tale in
North America should begin with L . Frank *Baum's 1900
The Wonderful IViiard of 0{ novel, but Rushdie's tribute
to its 1939 M G M screen adaptation—which he saw in
Bombay in the 1950s—also underscores the radically for­
eign even though central character of fairy tales in mod­
ern and contemporary North America as well as the wide
dissemination of American fairy-tale films.
In the 19th century American publishers marketed
translations or adaptations of European fairy tales for
children with some caution, following a puritan and utili­
tarian suspicion of make-believe. Such versions often
emphasized the moralizing aspect of these tales and de­
veloped a contemporary setting for them. It is only in the
20th century that—through the effective combination of
the genre's adaptation to American concerns and its
other-worldly vision—the fairy tale becomes an institu­
tion of American culture, playing significant and contra­
dictory functions within it.
Commonly dubbed the first great American fairy tale,
0 { exhibits the fairy tale's typical journey and initiation
patterns in both its printed and its cinematic versions.
Dorothy leaves her grey and threatening Kansas farm
world to explore the colourful and wonderful world of
Oz, where she discovers her own strengths, empowers
others, and defeats the forces of evil. Transformed b y this
new understanding of herself and her possibilities, she
NORTH AMERICAN AND CANADIAN FAIRY TALES, 1900 TO PRESENT 344

clicks her ruby shoes three times and returns home. Baum
also incorporated familiar details of American Midwes­
tern agrarian life and focused on a resourceful and curi­
ous female protagonist whose common sense and
frankness bear a distinctly American imprint. Clearly, 0 {
Americanized the fairy tale, but the continuing appeal of
this narrative rests on its forceful commentary on Amer­
ica itself. Scholars disagree as to the interpretation of this
meta-national commentary. For Paul Nathanson in Over
the Rainbow: The Wizard ofO^asa Secular Myth ofAmer­
ica (1991), it is Dorothy who requires changing so as to
appreciate the wonders of Kansas; thus, when reading
Baum's novel and especially when watching the film on
T V as it has been regularly offered starting in the 1950s,
Americans participate in a collective initiation ritual con­
firming the value o f ' h o m e ' , their own nation. For others,
including Selma Lanes ( 1 9 7 1 ) , Brian Attebery (1980), and
Jack Zipes (1994), Baum's novel and its various sequels
expose the failure of the American dream—Kansas is no
land of milk and honey and, by the fifth volume of the Oz
series written by Baum, Dorothy moves to Oz perman­
ently—at a time when it was visible at the turn of the
century, and the film in turn asserts the validity of hope
and the possibility of social change in the continued pur­
suit of that dream precisely when the depression of the
1930s and the ideological rigidity of the 1950s seemed
overpowering. Along the assertive lines suggested by the
latter reading, gay male American audiences in the 1980s
appropriated the 1939 film, particularly its representation
of the Lion.
T h e fairy tale as genre has elsewhere served nation-
building projects because of its ethnically marked distri­
bution and its culture-specific values. In America, the
genre's association with the nation as it develops in the
20th century is different: either America itself is glorified
as the fairy-tale realm where wishes come true, or the
Utopian project of the fairy tale works to remark on the
failed American dream and at the same time rekindle
hope for change. Thus, on the one hand, the glitter and
happy ending of fairy tales promote an acritical consent
to the ideological, economic, and social status quo; on the
other hand, the transformative dynamics both within the
tales and through their multiple tellings enable alternative
visions.
Film has been the most powerful medium for the
mythifying workings of the American fairy tale. A s we
have already seen with The Wizard of 0 { , and as other
345 NORTH AMERICAN AND CANADIAN FAIRYTALES, 1900 TO PRESENT

film-makers have proven, the fairy-tale film can make dif­

ferent uses of its magic. Nevertheless, it is abundantly
clear that, as Donald Haase states, the 'normative influ­
ence of *Disney's animated fairy tales has been so enor­
mous, that the Disney spirit . . . [has] become the
standard against which fairy tale films are created and re­
ceived.' State-of-the-art animation, fireworks displays of
ever-improving technology, aggressive marketing and
distribution, and the double-voicing strategy that allows
for spellbinding children while entertaining adults with
off-colour or political jokes are the not so magic ingredi­
ents that have ensured the success of Disney movies all
over the world. Disney's celebrated and money-making
animated films, from *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(1937) to ^Beauty and the Beast (1991), are an institution
and one that has not only dominated the fairy-tale film,
but also influenced fairy tales on television, on video, in
print through the Disney Books series, on audiotape, etc.
These films have consistently promoted a certain ' D i s -
neyfied' image of the fairy tale, specific social values, and
definite gender roles.
Drawing from diverse sources such as Charles *Per-
rault's and Hans Christian *Andersen's literary tales,
Carlo *Collodi's 19th-century fairy-tale novel * Pinocchio,
and The ^Arabian Nights (and consistently avoiding the
*Grimms' texts), Disney's films have clearly privileged
the fairy-tale genre. If metaphor, as the magically imme­
diate verbal expression of an image, is the core of classic
European fairy tales, in the Disney 'classics' the image
dominates the word and the song subordinates narrative.
Furthermore, even though films are the product of team­
work, each Disney fairy-tale film contributes to and con­
firms its own image, naturalizing its particular brand of
fairy tale: minimal character development, humour and
cuteness to fill in the storyline, an unequivocal happy
ending, no ties to the historicity or cultural specificity of
the chosen tales. Overall, the strategies and effects of
Disney's industry have been to enforce sameness on
fairy-tale diversity and to put storytelling at the service of
spectacle or passive entertainment.
Disney films have also explicitly intervened in the so­
cialization at first of American children, but increasing­
l y — g i v e n the globalization of the market in the second
half of the 20th century—all children. One can say that
these films' values are morally good (truthfulness, cour­
age, love, and loyalty) and as such these successful films
are a significant communal reference point for 2oth-cen-
NORTH AMERICAN AND CANADIAN FAIRY TALES, 1900 TO PRESENT 346

tury generations. One can also say that Disney films have
celebrated American individualism and enterprise as uni­
versally normative behaviour, have stereotyped other
cultures (even in Disney's apparently multicultural pro­
jects such as *Aladdin 1992 and Mulan 1998 which are as
basically ahistorical as the 1940 Pinocchio was), and have
blatantly promoted consumerism through the association
of fairy-tale films with brand products for children and,
of course, the Disneyland or Disneyworld theme parks.
It is perhaps on matters of gender, however, that Dis­
ney fairy-tale films have attracted the strongest criticism
and at the same time exerted the greatest influence. B e ­
tween the late 1930s and the early 1950s, Disney cano­
nized a few fairy tales which glamorized anachronistic
gender roles. T h e passive heroines of Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs, *Cinderella, and The ^Sleeping Beauty
simply wished for love and found in the prince a solution
to all their problems; in turn the prince was one-
dimensional (either a status symbol or a man of action)
and attracted to the heroine's beauty. Fairy-tale heroines
and heroes were reduced to this simplistic formula. In
response to feminist criticism in the 1970s and a growing
gender awareness in the 1980s, Disney presented more
assertive and active heroines (Ariel in The ^Little Mer­
maid, Beauty in Beauty and the Beast, and Jasmine in
Aladdin), but the romance plot has continued to sub­
merge that of personal development and to assert a visible
uniformity of desirability.
Rather than imitate the Disney look (as in the Cannon
Group movies from the late 1980s and the 1998 Quest for
Camelot) or reproduce the 'my prince will come' mental­
ity in fairy-tale films for adults (as in Gary Marshall's
romanticized * Pretty Woman), a few American films have
employed diverse strategies to break the Disney monop­
oly on fairy tales. Unlike Disney, first of all, these film­
makers have drawn on the Grimms' texts or on modern
fairy-tale novels, and have also incorporated storytelling
to encourage a more interactive response on the part of
the audience. Second, their use of humour is often point­
ed at outdated social arrangements or questionable values
within the tales instead of acting as a simple diversion.
Third, rather than creating a fantasy world which impli­
citly advertises American values and products, these films
Americanize the fairy tale explicitly either by featuring
well-known actors, or by adapting North American folk
versions, or by setting the action in a recognizably specif­
ic time of American history. In practice, these strategies
347 NORTH AMERICAN AND CANADIAN FAIRY TALES, 1900 TO PRESENT

have not been uniformly successful, but beginning with

the iconoclastic and often repeated ^Fractured Fairy Tales
series that was part of the 1960s Rocky and his Friends and
The Bullwinkle Show on American television, there is an
identifiable counter-tradition that includes Jim *Henson's
various Muppet fairy-tale films and The Storyteller (1987),
Shelley *Duvall's live-action Faerie Tale Theatre episodes
aired in the 1980s, the strikingly historicising work of
Tom *Davenport (from * Hansel and Gretel in 1975 to The
Step Child in 1997), and a few other films like The ^Never-
ending Story (1984), The ^Princess Bride (1987), and the
1997 Snow White featuring Sigourney Weaver and Sam
Neill.
While it did not explicitly replicate Disney patterns,
the popular 1980s C B S television series Beauty and the
Beast belongs only marginally to the counter-tradition
outlined above. Set in a violent N e w Y o r k City, the series
portrays the strong tie between Vincent—a vaguely leo­
nine Beast who lives in the uncorrupted under world of
'Father' Jacob's community of outcasts—and Catherine,
a rich lawyer who after being kidnapped and raped be­
comes committed to fighting for social justice. Catherine
is brave, and Vincent has depth, but the series participates
in the romance replotting of fairy tales and reproduces
the violent solutions of most crime shows.
In the more traditional media of storytelling and print,
schools and libraries constitute another significant con­
text for the institutionalization of fairy tales in 20th-cen­
tury North America. From the beginning of the century,
children were reading fairy tales at school; and in the
1990s it is still through fairy tales that American children,
both as listeners/readers and tellers/writers, are often
first encouraged to achieve an understanding of narrative
within the educational system. Overall, in terms of the
19th-century debate over the value of fairy tales for chil­
dren, one can say that fairy tales in North America have
done well for a variety of reasons. The European fairy
tale has been Americanized through books like the C \
series, E v a Katharine Gibson's Zauberlinda the Wise
Witch (1901), Carl *Sandburg's Rootabaga Stories (1922),
James *Thurber's tales in the 1940s and 1950s, as well as
the popular novels for girls with a fairy-tale plot such as
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903), Daddy Long-Legs
(1912), and, later, literary adaptations of the fairy tale's
magic for younger children such as the extremely popular
Dr *Seuss's The Cat in the Hat (1957) and Maurice *Sen-
dak's Where the Wild Things Are (1984). Other factors
NORTH AMERICAN AND CANADIAN FAIRY TALES, 1900 TO PRESENT 348

working to promote fairy tales with North American

children in the 20th century include a consistent emphasis
on storytelling as part of the training of children's librar­
ians; the increasingly aggressive marketing of quality
picture books illustrated by American artists; the
bowdlerization and simplification of tales; and, in more
recent years, thanks to the proliferation of 'new' fairy
tales in response to multicultural critiques of the curricu­
lum, the recognition that folk and fairy tales are powerful
points of entry into other cultures and not exclusively
into the lofty realm of the imagination.
In approaching the fairy tale as children's literature
more broadly, several trends are especially notable. First,
some adults select fairy tales for their children because
they are classics, in a nostalgic reaction against the per­
ceived shallowness of the present; for many others, fairy­
tale books are the extension of Disney and its glamorous
world. In either case, the fairy tale is still a measure of
'cultural literacy' and is most in demand because of its
socializing functions. It is also important to note in this
context that, perhaps paradoxically, it is through the sim­
plified Disney fairy-tale books, as well as the popular Ses­
ame Street T V series, that many American children in the
latter part of the century learned to read before attending
school. Secondly, modern American illustrators—such
as Nancy Ekholm *Burkert, Tomie *De Paola, Michael
Hague, Trina S. *Hyman, Gerald McDermott, and Maur­
ice Sendak—have played a crucial role in both the mar­
keting and aesthetic success of fairy tales. Thirdly, the
representation of gender in fairy tales has been the fore­
most challenge to this genre in the 20th century, and it
has profoundly affected the production and consumption
of fairy tales for both children and adults.
In her 1949 ground-breaking study The Second Sex,
Simone de Beauvoir had already identified passive and
docile fairy-tale heroines as pernicious role models for
women. In North America the discussion of acculturation
in fairy tales began in the 1970s as part of the growing
feminist movement, and was initially (with, for instance,
Andrea Dworkin's influential study Woman Hating) a
blanket rejection of fairy tales as narratives that promote
rigid, hierarchical, and limiting gender roles (the helpless
princess and the heroic prince). The debate has de­
veloped since then along the lines of the larger feminist
frameworks and as enhanced by various complementary
feminist projects: consciously expanding the repertoire of
fairy tales for children to include stories with clever and
349 NORTH AMERICAN AND CANADIAN FAIRYTALES, 1900 TO PRESENT

resourceful heroines; editing traditional fairy tales so as

to de-emphasize beauty and marriage; writing new fairy
tales which question conventional gender roles and other
social conventions; and providing scholarly critiques of
gender politics and representation in fairy tales.
Fairy-tale anthologies—which together with expen­
sively illustrated single fairy-tale books are most preva­
lent in the contemporary market for children—played a
particularly significant role in the context of the first two
overlapping feminist projects outlined above. Rosemary
Minard's Womenfolk and Fairy Tales (1975), Ethel John­
ston Phelps's Tatterhood and Other Tales (1978), Alison
Lurie's Clever Gretchen and Other Tales (1980), and Jack
Zipes's Don't Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist
Fairy Tales in North America and England (1986) are just a
few of the collections that exemplified the wits of fairy­
tale heroines not as well known as Cinderella or Sleeping
Beauty. A s editor, Phelps went further to launder the
traditional tales of undesirable or anachronistic character
features. A similar spirit of feminist revisionism animated
writers for children in North America, especially from
the 1970s on, to promote the values of gender equality
and women's assertiveness in contrast to the dominant
pattern of women's oppression as seen in the Perrault or
Disney fairy-tale classics. In particular, several writers
chose to rework well-known fairy tales; role reversal, hu­
mour, and a new ending are some of the most common
strategies in adaptations such as Jane *Yolen's Sleeping
Ugly (1981) or Harriet Herman's The Forest Princess
(1974). Others (e.g. J a y *Williams with 'Petronella' in
1979, Jeanne Desy with ' T h e Princess who Stood on Her
Own T w o Feet' in 1982, and Wendy *Walker with her
psychological probing of fairy-tale characters in the 1988
collection The Sea-Rabbit, or The Artist of Life) sought to
transform the genre by writing new stories which imitate
general fairy-tale patterns and themes, but promote in­
novative gender and other social arrangements. Jane
Yolen's contribution in particular stands out. Though her
lyricism at times seems to counter the project of unmask­
ing women's oppression, Yolen has widely experimented
with adapting the fairy tale to feminist uses (see her 1983
collected Tales of Wonder), published an impressive fairy­
tale novel Briar Rose in 1993 for young adults, and writ­
ten a study of fairy tales, Touch Magic (1986).
As the presence of women's studies, feminist theory,
and children's literature became stronger in academia in
the 1980s, American feminist research on fairy tales also
NORTH AMERICAN AND CANADIAN FAIRY TALES, 1900 TO PRESENT 350

continued in interdisciplinary ways to question the

genre's magic spell, but in historically framed projects
such as Ruth B . Bottigheimer's and Maria Tatar's various
studies of the Grimms' tales, Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan
Gubar's influential analysis of 19th-century British litera-
ture as re-enacting the innocent child/manipulating
woman conflict in 'Snow White', and Jack Zipes's exten-
sive œuvre on the changing ideological functions of the
genre both in Europe and the United States. These critics
have recontextualized the analysis of gender within the
tales by asking other important questions: who is telling
or publishing the story? when? and for whom? The folk-
lorist K a y Stone in particular has contributed to a specific
understanding of gender and fairy tales in a North
American context. She observed early on that North
American folk-tale heroines were not as passive as their
European counterparts but, owing to the Disney influ-
these heroines have remained largely unknown
ence,
within modern American popular or mass culture.
Through extensive interviewing, she also noted how
North American women often reinterpreted seemingly
victimizing plots to emphasize and identify with the fe-
male protagonist's heroics.
Because, on the one hand, the fairy tale continues to
provide a convenient repertoire of stock characters and
plots as well as a short cut to presumably shared cultural
knowledge if not values, and because, on the other hand,
the revision of fairy tales in both the individual's mind
and historically framed ideologies is an ongoing and un-
predictable practice, the influence of fairy tales on 20th-
century North American literature for adults is consider-
able and remarkably diversified, extending to the use of
fairy tale as structuring frame for novels such as William
Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! (1936), and to writers oc-
casionally experimenting with the genre, as E . E . *Cum-
mings did with poems for his young daughter. But this
influence has also developed in clearly recognizable dir-
ections. A s Brian Attebery has argued, the strong 20th-
century fantasy tradition in America has stretched fairy-
tale magic into the creation of a whole world which can
stand in different relations to the contemporary social
world. For instance, out of an intense disappointment in
the American dream, James Branch Cabell's Jurgen
(1919) offered an alternative world of bookish origins to
the exploration of a witty, excessively ironic, and hollow
hero. James Thurber, who highly praised L . Frank
Baum's 0 { and strongly politicized the fairy tale, com-
35i NORTH AMERICAN AND CANADIAN FAIRY TALES, 1900 TO PRESENT

posed a playfully self-reflective world in his The White

Deer in which words themselves weave a spell and rather
complex heroes reach only tentatively happy endings.
And after World War II and the publication of J . R . R .
*Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, we see the explosion of
disturbing and radical fantasies by writers such as Philip
K. *Dick and Ursula *Le Guin. Another recent develop­
ment of the fairy-tale fantasy not 'for children only' com­
bines elements of fantasy and gender politics to address
young adults, especially adolescent girls, as their select
audience. The novel Beauty (1978) by Robin *McKinley,
the imaginative Ohio-born fantasist, and the 1993 Snow
White, Blood Red anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and
Terri Windling have been particularly popular within
this genre. Fantasy, like fairy tales, then, is rarely a sim­
ple escape in this tradition; rather it holds an unflattering
mirror up to our own world and at the same time envis­
ions possibilities for change.
Extending the fairy tale in a different direction, post­
modern literary texts from the late 1960s to the 1990s
hold a mirror up to the foundational narratives of West­
ern literature and culture, those fictions that, like the fairy
tale, have framed and naturalized the social arrangements
of the contemporary Western world. Beginning with
John *Barth's 'Once upon a time' Môbius-strip frame for
the experimental Lost in the Funhouse, these highly self-
reflexive fictions have sought to question and unmake the
rules of narrative itself while paradoxically exploiting, in
an anti-modernist move, the wonders of folk narrative
and pre-modern traditions. While Barth remained tied to
The Arabian Nights, which he has appropriated through­
out his career in sophisticated but self-indulgent novelis-
tic tours de force, Donald Barthelme in Snow White
(1967) and 'The Glass Mountain' (1970) experimented
with parodying the Western tale of magic. Some of
Robert *Coover's most successful fictions also use the
fairy tale as their point of departure. Humorous, disrup­
tive of expectations, intensely political, and persistently
confronting the entanglements of sexuality and power in
fairy tales, Coover's work from Pricksongs & Descants
(1969) to 'The Dead Queen' (1973), Pinocchio in Venice
(1991), and Briar Rose (1996) unmakes and remakes the
fairy tale within the framework of a rigorous critique of
American mainstream politics and consumeristic mental-

From a feminist perspective, Anne *Sexton's collection

of poems, Transformations ( 1 9 7 1 ) , stands out as a violent
NORTH AMERICAN AND CANADIAN FAIRY TALES, 1900 TO PRESENT 352

and modern revision of the Grimms' tales; Olga *Brou-

mas's haunting woman-centred poems in Beginning with
O (1977) foreshadow the experimental vitality of Kissing
the Witch, the 1997 lesbian collection by the Irish writer
Emma *Donoghue; Ursule Molinaro's 'The Contest
Winner' (1990) exposes the 'void' of Snow White's 'help­
less purity'; and Karen Elizabeth Gordon plays with the
fabric of tales by Hans Christian Andersen and the
Brothers Grimm in her witty The *Red Shoes and Other
Tattered Tales (1996). But, overall, in the United States
there is no 20th-century sorceress or white witch of the
literary acclaim or popularity of, for instance, the British
Angela *Carter or the Canadian Margaret *Atwood.
Turning back to the larger picture, it is important to
underline that both postmodern and feminist literary ex­
perimentations with the fairy tale play only a marginal
role in the production and reception of fairy tales for
adults in late 20th-century North America, where humor­
ously benevolent parodies and conservative updates of
classic fairy tales are far more popular in the entertain­
ment industry, whether it be literature (e.g. The Frog
Prince Continued and the 1994 Politically Correct Bedtime
Stories) or the performance arts (e.g. the 1987 Broadway
musical *Into the Woods). Furthermore, as the British
author Angela Carter noted, it is as joke—especially the
dirty joke—that the fairy tale ironically flourishes as we
move into the 21st century; and it is in association, not
only with Disney, but with television soap operas and
royalty tabloid stories that the fairy-tale stereotype con­
tinues to gain credence.
A different non-literary medium that has also become
central to adult consciousness of fairy tales during the last
30 years of the century is storytelling in non-traditional
contexts. Rooted in the training of librarians and teachers
from the early 20th century on and exploding in the 1970s
with the popularity of storytelling festivals and the rise of
professional organizations, the revival of storytelling has
attracted a large number of adults seeking cultural roots,
forgotten values, community interaction, therapy, stage
experience, and entertainment. Folk and fairy tales from
all over the world constitute a large part of these story­
tellers' repertoires. K a y Stone's Burning Brightly: New
Light on Old Tales Told Today (1998) describes four
storytelling approaches—the traditional, the dramatic,
the educational, and the therapeutic—as streams that
have contributed to the energy of organized contempor­
ary storytelling communities in North America, includ-
353 NORTH AMERICAN AND CANADIAN FAIRY TALES, 1900 TO PRESENT

ing the two largest ones: the National Association of

Storytelling, which held its first festival in 1973 in T e n ­
nessee; and the Storytellers' School of Toronto, first es­
tablished in 1979. According to Stone's statistics, by 1995
over 800 individuals and approximately 300 groups were
listed in the National Storytelling Association.
Within this context, the therapeutic uses of profession­
al storytelling have been particularly controversial.
Bruno Bettelheim's influential Freudian analysis The Uses
of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy
Tales (1976), and more recently two Jungian best-sellers,
providing gendered readings of fairy tales to heal con­
temporary American men and w o m e n — R o b e r t *Bly's
*Iron John: A Book about Men (1990), and Clarissa Pinkola
*Estés's Women who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stor­
ies of the Wild Woman Archetype ( 1 9 9 3 ) — h a v e exempli­
fied the popular appeal and scholarly dangers of such
approaches. But Susan Gordon has also powerfully de­
scribed her use of Grimms' tales with groups of abused
adolescents, and the practice of storytelling in therapeutic
situations is certainly more complex than anything that
books modelled on self-help and ahistorical mythification
might indicate.
Other complicated matters evolving from the profes­
sional dimension of this storytelling revival include the
role of the storyteller as stage performer rather than as
member of a community, as well as questions of cultural
appropriation, and increasingly of copyright. Internet
discussion groups and fairy-tale web pages simply multi­
ply the possibilities of exchange and exploitation of
sources. Nevertheless, more traditional storytellers have
also been featured at organized festivals, and—because
many professional tellers work from printed
sources—the revival process has put into wider circula­
tion regional and ethnic collections of North American
narratives, such as Vance *Randolph's Ozark tales, the
many Jack tales, Native American tales, and recent immi­
grants' adapted traditions.
Stone argues that in Canada this organized storytelling
revival has been less commercialized and more commu­
nity-oriented than in the United States. Perhaps the shape
of this recent development can be related to the diversi­
fied fairy-tale tradition for children that developed in
Canada: from Howard Kennedy's 1904 The New World
Fairy Book, which wove materials from various indigen­
ous and immigrant traditions together, to Cyrus Macmil-
lan's important Canadian Wonder Tales, a 1918 collection
NORTH AMERICAN AND CANADIAN FAIRY TALES, 1900 TO PRESENT 354

of tales recorded just before World War I and edited to

conform to a European fairy-tale style; from French-
Canadian tales as collected most notably by Marius Bar-
beau in The Golden Phoenix and Other French-Canadian
Fairy Tales (1958), to Celtic fairy beliefs. This is not to
say that The Wonderful Wizard of C \ , for instance, was
not influential—Baum's successful formula has been
adapted to a northern Canadian setting—or that the
orphan-heroine novel for girls modelled on 'Cinderella'
and Jane Eyre was not also produced in Canada, as
proven by the well-known 1908 Anne of Green Gables by
L . M. Montgomery. But, perhaps because of the different
kinds of magic alive in Canadian traditions and the patch­
work Canadian approach to immigrant cultures as dis­
tinctive from the American melting pot, Disney has not
had as domineering an effect on the perception of what a
fairy tale is or does.
el- However, the 'Rapunzel syndrome', as Margaret
Atwood called it, has imprisoned many Canadian hero­
ines in a tower from which no hero can liberate them. In
this sense, the fairy tale has mythified the image of
Canada itself as the great and threatening unknown. In
more experimental fairy tales, whether for children or
adults, feminism and metanarrative are as strongly at
work in Canada as in the United States, while fantasy is
not as strong a tradition. The following stand out: The
Paper Bag Princess by Robert *Munsch, a tongue-in-
cheek 1980 fairy tale for children; the hauntingly meta-
fictional Truly Grim Tales by Priscilla Galloway (1995);
and Margaret Atwood's many acclaimed revisions of the
Grimms' tales, in which disturbing fairy-tale themes be­
come tools for demanding change in gender and social
dynamics. The Hungarian-born Canadian illustrator Las-
zlo Gal is also notable.
A t the close of the 20th century in North America, the
fairy tale has found a new operative context in the inter­
net—where parodies and jokes are often exchanged and
multiple versions of a tale are made instantly available on
web pages. The question of whether the normative and
commodified uses of the fairy tale or its 'antimythic' and
transformative powers will prevail can only be addressed
within a broadly political and social framework of analy­
sis; given the increasing power of technology and of a
global culture industry, however, the multifarious per­
mutations of the fairy tale in the 20th century offer some
hope that the fairy tale's wonderful diversity will survive
and thrive. CB
355 NORTH AMERICAN AND CANADIAN FAIRYTALES, 1900 TO PRESENT

Attebery, Brian, The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving

to Le Guin (1980).
Atwood, Margaret, Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature
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Avery, Gillian, Behold the Child: American Children and their Books
1621-1922 (1994).
Birch, Carol and Heckler, Melissa (eds.), Who Says? Essays on Pivotal
Issues in Contemporary Storytelling (1996).
Davenport, Tom, and Carden, Gary, From the Brothers Grimm: A
Contemporary Retelling of American Folktales and Classic Stories (1992).
Davies, Bronwyn, Frogs and Snails and Feminist Tales: Preschool Children
and Gender (1989).
Gordon, Susan, 'The Powers of the Handless Maiden', in Joan N . Radner
(ed.), Feminist Messages: Coding in Women's Folk Culture (1993).
Grant, Agnes, ' A Canadian Fairy Tale: What Is It?' Canadian Children's
Literature/La Littérature Canadienne pour la Jeunesse, 22 (1981).
Haase, Donald P., 'Gold into Straw: Fairy Tale Movies for Children and
the Culture Industry', The Lion and the Unicorn, 12.2 (1988).
Jones, Steven Swann, The Fairy Tale: The Magic Mirror of Imagination
(i995)-
Lanes, Selma, Down the Rabbit Hole: Adventures and Misadventures in the
Realm of Children's Literature (1971).
McCarthy, William, Jack in Two Worlds (1994).
Mieder, Wolfgang, Disenchantments: An Anthology of Modem Fairy Tale
Poetry (1985).
Tradition and Innovation in Folk Literature (1987).
Nathanson, Paul, Over the Rainbow: The Wizard of O^ as a Secular Myth of
America (1991).
Preston, Cathy Lynn, '"Cinderella" as a Dirty Joke: Gender,
Multivocality, and the Polysémie Text', Western Folklore, 53.1 (1994).
Rushdie, Salman, The Wi[ard of 0 { (1992).
Schickel, Richard, The Disney Version (1968; rev. edn., 1985).
Stone, Kay, 'Feminist Approaches to the Interpretation of Fairy Tales', in
Ruth B. Bottigheimer (ed.), Fairy Tales and Society (1986).
Burning Brightly: New Light on Old Tales Told Today (1998).
Zipes, Jack (ed.), Don't Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy
Tales in North America (1986).
(ed.), 'The Fairy Tale', spec, issue of The Lion and the Unicorn, 12.2
09
• (ed.), Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western
Culture (1991).
Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale (1994).
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Children, and the Culture Industry
(I997)-

countless w e e k l y newspaper glosses and art­ free-flowing, off-beat, spirited, and sometimes
icles, film scripts, popular children's radio p r o ­ masterful prose, and, a b o v e all, her wit and hu­
grammes, and poems in both H i g h G e r m a n m o u r w h i c h ranges from slapstick to sophisti­
and the Viennese dialect. M a n y o f these b o o k s cated irony, laced, at times, with a shade o f
have broken new ground, w o n prestigious sarcasm.
awards, and become classics o f modern chil­ N o s t l i n g e r w a s b o r n in 1936 in a w o r k i n g -
dren's literature. A l l of her stories, both the class district of V i e n n a , w h i c h became the set­
fantastic and the realistic ones, contain sharp ting for m a n y o f her stories. She studied art and
social commentary and critique. W h a t has design before she took up writing. A l r e a d y her
made her b o o k s appealing to both critics and first b o o k , Die feuerrote Friederike (Fiery Fre-
millions of devoted readers are her boundless derica, 1970), w o n her recognition. Friederike
imagination, her deep insight into the human is teased and taunted b y the other children on
psyche, her willingness to defend and fight for account o f her raspberry-red hair w h i c h , h o w ­
the rights of the powerless and outsiders, her e v e r , has m a g i c qualities that allow her to d e -
NOVALIS 356

fend herself and finally to fly off to a better lies somewhere in the middle, as the b o o k ' s
world. ending suggests.
Despite this heroine's escape from a Despite Nôstlinger's strong political convic­
troubled w o r l d , Nôstlinger's b o o k s are a n y ­ tions, her b o o k s are never didactic. Her super­
thing but escapist. H e r brand o f fantasy is ior narrative talent, and especially her
emancipatory, distorting reality in order to subversive humour, undo the intentionality that
d r a w attention to things that are in need of fuelled her stories during the early and most
change. G e n d e r roles, the economic structure, creative part of her career. She is a master of the
p a r e n t - c h i l d relations, and the status and treat­ short narrative, and her poems are intense,
ment o f the child in society are burning issues witty, and full of imagination and wordplay.
in post-1968 E u r o p e that she addresses in Die Nôstlinger has a special affinity for the g r o ­
Kinder aus dem Kinderkeller (The Disappearing tesque that permeates her writing and domin­
Cellar, 1971), Wir pfeifen auf den Gurkenkonig ates her novel Hugo, das Kind in den besten
(The Cucumber King, 1972), Konrad oder das Jahren (Hugo, the Child in the Prime of Life,
Kind aus der Konservenbiichse ( U K , Conrad: The 1983), fantastic tales spun around absurdist
Factory-Made Boy, U S A , Konrad, 1975), and drawings b y the Austrian artist J o r g Wollmann.
Rosa Riedl, Schutqgespenst (Rosa Riedl, Guard­ T w o major phases can be discerned in N ô s ­
ian Ghost, 1979). T h e y all feature shy, lonely, tlinger's writing. H e r militant social revolu­
o r too well-adapted and w e l l - b e h a v e d children tionary stance during the 1970s and early 1980s
w h o , with the help o f a m a g i c agent o r under­ s l o w l y g a v e w a y in the mid-1980s to a stage of
standing friends, turn into assertive, socially deep despair and pessimism about the effect fic­
e n g a g e d , and self-assured y o u n g people. In tion can h a v e on readers and a state of resigna­
The Disappearing Cellar, the optimism and tion in the 1990s. Y e t Nôstlinger continues
idealism that runs through Nôstlinger's early writing. In Der Hund kommt (The Dog Arrives,
w o r k is embodied in the down-to-earth fairy 1987) she portrays her o w n situation in the fate
g o d m o t h e r P i a Maria T i r a l l a . She helps the of an anthropomorphized old d o g w h o travels
children step out into the w o r l d and take the country to help the y o u n g and powerless,
charge as opposed to F e r r i Fontana, the repre­ but has only limited success. T h e story ends in
sentative o f the conventional, escapist kind o f a w a y that is reminiscent o f *Janosch's bear and
fantasy literature, w h o lulls children into sweet tiger tales, w h e n the d o g retreats into privacy
dreams in his cellar. together with his friend, the bear. A more
The Cucumber King, a n o v e l of greater c o m ­ fairy-tale-like atmosphere reigns in Der gefro-
plexity, w a s a w a r d e d the Deutscher J u g e n d - rene Prini (The Frozen Prince, 1990), in which
buchpreis ( G e r m a n Prize for Children's and conventional magical motifs are interspersed
Y o u t h Literature) in 1973. It takes a stab at the with grotesque ideas.
patriarchal and authoritarian structure o f the Perhaps one of Nôstlinger's most beautiful
H o g e l m a n n household that is mirrored in the modern fairy tales about l o v e ' s uneasy g i v e and
dictatorial rule o f the C u c u m b e r K i n g o v e r his take is the picture b o o k Einer (Someone, 1980),
K u m i - O r i people in the H o g e l m a n n ' s cellar. w h i c h is illustrated b y J a n o s c h . It starts out in
T h e nasty b e h a v i o u r o f the C u c u m b e r K i n g the traditional fairy-tale manner: ' O n c e upon a
and the example o f the K u m i O r i s , w h o h a v e time . . .', but does not use magic and has an
thrown out their oppressor, inspire the H o g e l ­ unconventional plot. L i k e all of Nôstlinger's
mann children to do the same and open the modern fantasy and fairy tales, this tale rests
road to an uneasy, fledgling family democracy. firmly in today's reality and takes issue with
In Konrad the fantastic acquires an element today's problems. Nôstlinger has received
of science fiction. T h e instant-boy K o n r a d is m a n y prizes and recognitions, the most prom­
sent out as canned g o o d s b y a mail-order c o m ­ inent o f which w a s the 1984 Hans Christian
p a n y specializing in the production o f w e l l - b e ­ Andersen A w a r d . EMM
h a v e d children. H e is delivered to the w r o n g Dilewsky, Klaus Jiirgen, Christine Nôstlinger als
address, and what follows is a hilarious account Kinder- und Jugendbuchautorin. Genres, Stoffe,
of mishaps and misunderstandings in an Sonalcharaktere, Intentionen ( 1 9 9 3 ) .
Kaminski, Winfred, 'Fremde Kinder—Zwei
upside-down w o r l d in w h i c h the child acts like
moderne Klassiker', in Einfuhrung in die Kinder-
an adult and the parent like a child. A l t h o u g h
und Jugendliteratur ( 1 9 9 4 ) .
the b o o k ' s criticism is aimed at a b o u r g e o i s , au­
thoritarian education in the grip and service o f NOVALIS (pseudonym o f FRIEDRICH VON HARDEN-
a technocratic consumer society, Nôstlinger's BERG, 1 7 7 2 - 1 8 0 1 ) , an important G e r m a n r o ­
ultimate message is m o r e balanced. T h e truth mantic writer w h o pioneered a revolutionary
357 NOVALIS

new aesthetic for the literary fairy tale. B o r n on Instead, he conceived o f a literary fairy tale
the family estate in Oberwiederstedt, N o v a l i s that w a s written according to a radically n e w
was the eldest son in a family dominated b y a aesthetic for a h i g h l y literate audience. N o v a l i s
strict father, w h o belonged to the pietistic believed the fairy tale should not be character­
Herrnhuter sect. Despite being drawn to phil­ ized b y simplicity and predictable order, but b y
osophy and literature, N o v a l i s studied l a w in chaos and 'natural anarchy', w h i c h w o u l d re­
deference to his father's expectation that he quire n e w , m o r e challenging m o d e s o f i m ­
pursue an administrative career. After receiv­ aginative perception on the part o f his readers.
ing his law degree from the University o f W i t ­ S o the romantic fairy tale envisioned b y N o v a ­
tenberg in 1794, N o v a l i s w a s apprenticed b y lis w a s a p r o g r e s s i v e , not a regressive, genre. It
his father to the district director of T h u r i n g i a w a s not meant to recapture the ancient spirit o f
so that he could pursue his administrative the folk and m e r e l y restore the lost h a r m o n y o f
training. In the course of an officiai visit to a the simple past. Rather, it w a s to be the p r o p h ­
landowner's estate, N o v a l i s met the 1 2 - y e a r - etic expression o f the creative individual,
old Sophie v o n Kiihn, with w h o m he fell in w h o s e imagination could synthesize the chaos
love. T h e t w o w e r e secretly e n g a g e d , but she and contradictions o f the present and project a
died in 1797. Sophie's death, coupled with the Utopian future on a m o r e c o m p l e x , higher
loss of his brother E r a s m u s less than one level. B y e n g a g i n g the imagination o f its s o ­
month later, devastated N o v a l i s , w h o entered a phisticated readers, this romantic fairy tale
period of mourning and deep introspection. H e w o u l d liberate them from the constraints o f
emerged from this life-changing experience one-dimensional rationality and allow them to
prepared not only to embrace the fullness of envision a n e w w o r l d . S o , in an era o f r e v o l u ­
life, but also to o v e r c o m e life's reverses tions, the Utopian fairy tale that N o v a l i s theo­
through the creative p o w e r o f the imagination. rized w a s not only an epistemological and
Novalis immersed himself in the d y n a m i c aesthetic innovation, but a social and political
philosophical, scientific, and aesthetic currents gesture as w e l l .
of his time. He resumed his study o f philoso­ T h e fairy tales that N o v a l i s w r o t e are
phy, especially the w o r k o f Immanuel K a n t and embedded in his t w o uncompleted novels. His
J o h a n n Gottlieb Fichte; he pursued his scientif­ philosophical n o v e l Die Lehrlinge {u Sais ( The
ic interests and prepared for a new career as a Disciples of Sais, 1802) contains the story o f
mining engineer b y undertaking technical 'Hyazinth und Rosenblutchen' ('Hyacinth and
studies at the F r e i b e r g Mining A c a d e m y ; and R o s e b l o o m ' ) . T h i s deceptively simple tale e m ­
he experimented with n e w forms of literary e x ­ bodies N o v a l i s ' s fairy-tale theory o f history as
pression and interacted with writers such as a triadic progression: a y o u t h separated from
Friedrich and A u g u s t W i l h e l m Schlegel, L u d ­ his family and his b e l o v e d w a n d e r s in search o f
w i g T i e c k , and Friedrich Schleiermacher, his lost past and re-achieves his original state
w h o w e r e the v a n g u a r d o f early romanticism in on a much higher level. T h i s plot is repeated in
Germany. Heinrich von Ofterdingen (1802), a n o v e l o f edu­
Novalis, w h o s e pen name means 'preparer cation based on Heinrich's fairy-tale journey
of new land', experimented with a broad spec­ towards e v e r higher levels o f poetry and i m ­
trum of genres, including aphorisms, essays, agination. T h e n o v e l includes three tales, each
poetry, novels, and fairy tales. W i t h the e x c e p ­ o f w h i c h mirrors the larger narrative and elab­
tion of some poetry and t w o collections of aph­ orates the profound connections between
orisms, most of N o v a l i s ' s writings w e r e first Heinrich's o w n story and the fairy tale o f his­
published after he died at the age of 28. His tory itself. T h e first tale, w h i c h is told to H e i n ­
contributions to the development o f the fairy rich b y a g r o u p o f merchants, alludes to the
tale come from posthumously published note­ ancient G r e e k myth o f A r i o n and depicts the
book entries and from drafts of t w o fragmen­ triumph o f art o v e r n a r r o w - m i n d e d material­
tary novels. ism. T h e next, also told b y the merchants, is
In his notebooks, N o v a l i s began to articu­ m o r e elaborately constructed and adapts the
late a theory of the fairy tale, w h i c h he con­ m y t h o f Atlantis to suggest the rebirth o f a s o ­
sidered the quintessential genre o f romantic ciety ruled b y the spirit of poetry. T h e last tale,
literature. In contrast to m a n y writers of the k n o w n as ' K l i n g s o h r s Màrchen' ( ' K l i n g s o h r ' s
18th century, N o v a l i s did not v i e w the fairy F a i r y T a l e ' ) after the master poet w h o tells the
tale as a children's genre with a morally didac­ story, is a narrative o f extreme complexity. It
tic purpose. N o r did he value the fairy tale b e ­ d r a w s eclectically on w o r l d m y t h o l o g i e s ,
cause it preserved the oral tradition o f the folk. science, and philosophy in order to break
NOVARO, A N G E L O SILVIO 358

traditional aesthetic boundaries and create a stories, as did ' B a b e s in the W o o d ' (1957),
Utopian v i s i o n through an act o f imagination. *'Peter P a n ' (1959), and ' W i z a r d W e e z l e '
In the end, all o f N o v a l i s ' s fairy tales proclaim (1966) w h e n the comic w a s incorporated with
the legitimacy o f the imagination and its p o w e r Playhour.
to transcend restrictive realities and to create a A number of other nursery comics have
n e w state ruled b y l o v e and imagination. published fairy stories, the most prolific being
N o v a l i s ' s multifaceted and v e r y c o m p l e x Bimbo which between 1962 and 1972 included
w o r k has been often oversimplified and misun­ 'Tom T h u m b ' , * ' S n o w W h i t e ' , ' M a n d y the
derstood. N o n e the less, his innovative theories M e r m a i d ' , ""Aladdin', ""Jack and the Beanstalk'
and sophisticated literary fairy tales prepared and *'Puss in B o o t s ' . T h e s e stories have tended
the w a y for writers such as E . T . A . "'Hoff­ to be harmless, pleasant, well illustrated v e r ­
mann, J o s e p h v o n ""Eichendorff, H e r m a n n sions which h a v e avoided material which
Hesse, Maurice ""Maeterlinck, G e o r g e ""Mac­ might p r o v e frightening.
D o n a l d , U r s u l a ""Le G u i n , and m a n y others, T o d a y ' s nursery comics are much more fo­
who discovered in his w o r k strategies for p r o ­ cused on early learning. O n e comic is unique
ducing n e w forms o f fantasy and fairy tale for because it has based its approach w h o l l y on
the times in w h i c h they l i v e d . DH folk and fairy tales, including both text and pic­
Birrell, Gordon, The Boundless Present: Space ture stories alongside the puzzles and prob­
and Time in the Literary Fairy Tales of Novalis lems. / Love to Read—Fairy Tales has been
and Tieck (1979). published monthly since 1995. Recent issues
Calhoon, Kenneth S., Fatherland: Novalis, h a v e included ' D i c k Whittington', ' T h e ""Ugly
Freud, and the Discipline of Romance (1992).
D u c k l i n g ' , ' T h e F r o g P r i n c e ' , 'Puss in B o o t s ' ,
Mahoney, Dennis F., The Critical Fortunes of a
Romantic Novel: Novalis's 'Heinrich von 'Hansel and G r e t e l ' and ' T h e D r a g o n and his
Ofterdingen (1994). G r a n d m o t h e r ' . T h i s comic changed its title to
Neubauer, John, Novalis (1980). Storyland in 1998, although the emphasis on
O'Brien, William Arctander, Novalis: Signs of fairy tales has remained. GF
Revolution (1995).

N O V A R O , A N G E L O S I L V I O (1868—1938), Italian N Y B L O M , H E L E N A (1843-1926), pioneer of the

writer and poet w h o s e first literary effort w a s a S w e d i s h literary fairy tale, author of more than
v o l u m e o f sea tales entitled Sul mare (At Sea, 80 fairy tales written between 1896 and 1920.
1889). T h e collection o f tales entitled La bot- H e r most famous fairy tales include versions of
tega dello stregone (The Sorcerer's Shop, 1 9 1 1 ) ""Beauty and the Beast' and a variant of Hans
contains the story o f a man (a sorcerer, accord­ Christian ""Andersen's ' T h e "Tittle Mermaid'.
ing to the local w o m e n ) w h o s e shop is cursed M a n y of her tales, in which she mixes Swedish
since e v e r y o n e w h o rents it fails to succeed in folklore, ancient myths, and romantic motifs,
business. A y o u n g shoemaker, h o w e v e r , w h o contain clear feminist messages, typical of her
is in l o v e with a beautiful maid with golden time; they also reflect the general didacticism
of turn-of-the-century Swedish literature for
tresses, has great success and is rewarded with
children. MN
m a r r y i n g the maid and k e e p i n g the shop.
N o v a r o ' s most successful w o r k is, h o w e v e r , Nordlinder, Eva, Sekelskiftets svenska konstsaga
the prose p o e m / / Fabbro armonioso ( The Har­ och sagodiktaren Helena Nyblom (1991).
monious Blacksmith, 1919) w h i c h deals with his
son's death at w a r . N o v a r o w r o t e the collection NYSTRÔM, JENNY (1854-1946), pioneer of
of p o e m s / / cestello (The Little Basket, 1910) for Swedish fairy-tale illustrations. She illustrated
children, as well as the stories Garibaldi ricor- one o f the v e r y first S w e d i s h literary fairy tales,
dato ai ragafti (Garibaldi Recorded for Children) Lille Viggs dfventyr pâ julafton (Little Viggs'
D v
and La festa degli alberi spiegata ai raga^i (The Adventure on Christmas Eve, 1875) Viktor
Feast of Trees Explained to Children, 1912). R y d b e r g . H e r most famous b o o k , Barnkamma-
GD rens bok (The Nursery Book, 1882), is a collec­
tion o f folk songs and nursery rhymes. She also
NURSERY C O M I C S h a v e included m a n y fairy created the figure o f the Swedish Christmas
tales. The Chicks ' Own, the first nursery comic, 'tomten' (corresponding to Santa C l a u s ) in nu­
was initially published in 1920 and continued merous magazine c o v e r s , posters, and cards.
until 1957. G i f f o r d ' s records are incomplete for MN
this c o m i c but s h o w that ' T h e T h r e e B e a r s ' Forsberg Warringer, Gunnel, Jenny Nystrôm:
(1936), ' F a i r y F a y and E d d i e E l f (1939) and konstndrinna (1992).
""Hansel and G r e t e l ' (1957) occurred in picture Jenny Nystrôm: malaren och illustratôren (1996).
OATES, JOYCE CAROL ( 1 9 3 8 - ) , prolific A m e r i -
can writer, w h o s e w o r k includes plays, n o v e l s ,
stories, poetry, and literary criticism. H e r first
collection of short stories, By the North Gate,
appeared in 1963, and since then she has p u b -
lished many other collections such as The Land
of Abyssalia (1980) and Raven's Wing (1986), in
which she has w o v e n fairy-tale motifs into her
narratives. Other w o r k s such as Bellefleur
(1980) and A Bloodsmoor Romance (1982)
reflect her interest in supernatural and G o t h i c
fiction. H e r collections, Night-Side: Eighteen
Tales (1977), Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque OFFENBACH, JACQUES (1819-80), German-
(1994), and Demon and Other Tales (1996), in- F r e n c h composer, one o f the most important
clude dark fantasy and w e i r d fiction. In 1988 representatives o f the opéra bouffe and the
she published t w o fairy tales, ' B l u e - B e a r d e d F r e n c h operetta. B o r n in C o l o g n e , the son o f a
L o v e r ' and 'Secret Observations on the G o a t J e w i s h cantor, Offenbach went with his father
G i r l ' in The Assignation, and ' T h e C r o s s i n g ' to Paris in 1833 and w a s admitted to study at
(1995) and 'In the Insomniac N i g h t ' (1997) ap- the Paris C o n s e r v a t o i r e at 14 because o f his
peared in the Ontario Review. A l l her fairy tales extraordinary talent. O n c e he had completed
have a dreamlike quality to them and develop his studies, he w o r k e d as a cellist and conduct-
psychological and surprising twists to trad- or. In 1853 he produced his first operetta, and
itional narrative plots. T h u s *'Bluebeard' is re- during the f o l l o w i n g y e a r s he w a s the head o f
visited from the perspective o f a w o m a n w h o t w o theatres and also lived in the United States
wins his trust and will bear him children. JZ for a l o n g time. His greatest successes, h o w -
ever, w e r e in Paris, w h e r e he w a s regarded as a
pioneer o f musical c o m e d y o f the kind created
O'CASEY, S E A N (1880-1964), Irish dramatist b y J o h a n n Strauss in A u s t r i a and Gilbert and
and y o u n g e r rival of W i l l i a m Butler *Yeats. Sullivan in E n g l a n d . W h a t made Offenbach's
O ' C a s e y ' s career took off with the A b b e y operettas so distinctive w a s his social critique.
Theatre's production of The Shadow of a H e combined satire and i r o n y with an unusual
Gunman (1923), a realistic play about pre- compassion and understanding for his charac-
independence Ireland. W i t h the Silver Tassie ters.
(1929), O ' C a s e y began experimenting with e x - A m o n g his approximately 90 operettas,
pressionism and allegory, but it w a s not until Offenbach w r o t e a p a r o d y o f the *Bluebeard
later in his career that he experimented with tale, Barbe-bleue (1866). T h i s fascinating and
fantasy, resulting in Cock-a-Doodle Dandy mysterious fairy-tale character, created b y
(1949), in which an enchanted cock, w h o m the Charles *Perrault, has been adapted in operas
village priest believes to be the incarnation of m a n y different times: Raoul Barbe-bleue (King
the devil, represents 'the joyful, active spirit of Bluebeard, 1789) b y A n d r é - E r n e s t - M o d e s t e
life'. Figuro in the Night (1961) is a fantasy writ- *Grétry, Ariadne et Barbe-bleue (1907) b y Paul
ten in much the same vein. AD *Dukas, A Kéksiakdllû herceg vara (Duke Blue-
beard's Castle, 1918) b y Béla *Bart6k, Ritter
Blaubart (Knight Bluebeard, 1920) b y E m i l
O E H L E N S C H L A C E R , A D A M (1779-1850) tends to N i k o l a u s v o n R e z n i c e k . In Perrault's tale,
be considered the D a n i s h W o r d s w o r t h . His Bluebeard wants to kill his disobedient wife b e -
writings reveal his fascination with folklore, cause she has opened the forbidden d o o r b e -
and in 1816 he translated Mdrchen b y *Musaus, hind w h i c h the other murdered w i v e s o f
*Fouqué, *Hoffmann, and *Chamisso into Bluebeard are concealed. Offenbach collabor-
Danish, thus stimulating such writers as *Inge- ated closely with his librettists Henri Meilhac
mann and *Andersen. His plays *Aladdin and L u d o v i c H a l é v y in his adaptation, and he
(1806) and Aly og Gulhyndy (Aly and Gul- set the action in the south of F r a n c e during the
hyndy, 1813) are romantic adaptations from crusades, but he made references through cari-
The ^Arabian Nights, in which, true to the trad- catures to the conditions in F r a n c e during the
ition of the multi-phased magic tale, Oehlen- reign o f N a p o l e o n I I I and he depicted the af-
schlager takes his protagonists through a fable relations between the aristocracy and the
process of Bildung. NI c o m m o n people while also revealing the servil-
OLE LUKK0JE 360

ity o f the nobles. T h e knight Bluebeard has six O L R I K , A X E L (1864-1917) w a s professor of folk­
w i v e s killed b y his Alchemist P o p o l a n i s o that lore at the University o f Copenhagen, D e n ­
he can m a r r y the daughter o f the king. H o w ­ mark; his international claim to fame rests
e v e r , P o p o l a n i had instead g i v e n the w i v e s mainly on the article ' E p i s k e l o v e i folkedigtn-
sleeping tablets and eventually brings them ingen' ('Epic L a w s o f F o l k Narrative', in­
alive and w e l l to the king. Bluebeard's mar­ cluded in A l l e n D u n d e s , The Study of Folklore).
riage is then nullified, and as 'punishment' he Olrik, w h o s e observations foreshadowed many
must live the rest o f his life with his sixth of V l a d i m i r P r o p p ' s , w a s thereby one o f the
c r a n k y and a n g r y wife. initiators o f the structural study o f folk narra­
Offenbach did not write o n l y operettas. H e tives, and his analysis of narrative laws clarifies
also composed important operas. O n e fairy­ the differences between oral tales and literary
tale opera, Die Rheinnixen (The Nixies of the imitations. NI
Rhine, 1864), commissioned b y the Viennese Dundes, Allen, The Study of Folklore (1965).
C o u r t O p e r a , w a s not particularly successful. Olrik, Axel, 'Episke love i folkedigtningen',
H o w e v e r , during his last y e a r s Offenbach w a s Danske Studier (1908).
Thompson, Stith, The Folktale (1946).
w o r k i n g o n his opus summum, the great fantas­
tical opera, which he n e v e r completed, Les
Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann, ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, a musical v e r s i o n o f

1880). T h e composer died during the r e ­ ' T h e *Princess and the P e a ' fairy tale. T h e
hearsals o n 5 October 1880. T h e opera w a s s h o w ' s title refers to the attempt b y Princess
completed b y Ernest G u i r a u d and produced in Winnifred to p r o v e that she w a s born o f royal
Paris in F e b r u a r y 1881. T h e librettists, J u l e s blood. I f she is a real princess, then a pea
Barbier and Michel C a r r é , took episodes from placed under the mattress will rob her of sleep.
various tales b y the G e r m a n writer E . T . A . T h e s h o w w a s premiered at the Phoenix
*Hoffmann, w h o m Offenbach greatly admired, T h e a t r e , N e w Y o r k , in 1959, enjoying a run of
and they fused them together in a frame story. 460 performances. O n e interesting feature o f
T h e central figure o f the opera is the writer the s h o w ' s creation w a s that it had music b y
Hoffmann, w h o tells drinking companions M a r y R o d g e r s , daughter o f the legendary
about three adventures with w o m e n w h o m he B r o a d w a y composer Richard R o d g e r s . T h e
had l o v e d . O l y m p i a , a mechanical doll, w h o m lyrics w e r e b y Marshall Barer. TH
Hoffmann v i e w s through magical glasses and
mistakes for a live w o m a n , is destroyed b e ­ O P E R A A N D FAIRY T A L E S . O p e r a is a s u n g dra­
cause of a mysterious duel between her invent­ matic w o r k designed for theatrical perform­
ors. T h e fragile and beautiful singer A n t o n i a ance. W h i l e opera's broad appeal is expressed
dies from consumption. T h e courtesan G i u - mainly through music and drama, its complete
letta, w h o has a liaison with a sorcerer, m o c k s theatrical experience frequently relies on cos­
and deceives Hoffmann, w h o is left forlorn and tume, scenery, and movement: in France, a bal­
alone at the end o f the opera. Offenbach c o m ­ let sequence w a s long considered a crucial part
bined reality, m a g i c , and the grotesque in his in a n y opera's construction. After a 400-year
final w o r k , w h i c h is o n e o f the greatest fairy­ history, opera n o w has a long list o f constitu­
tale operas e v e r c o m p o s e d . THH ents, o f which the foregoing are among the
most significant. F o r at least half that time,
O L E L U K K 0 J E , title character o f one o f the most fairy tales have provided a rich source o f in­
popular fairy tales b y Hans Christian A n d e r s e n spiration for composers w h e n selecting subjects
(1841; translated into E n g l i s h as ' W i l l i e W i n - for their w o r k s .
kie', ' T h e S a n d m a n ' , ' T h e D u s t m a n ' , ' O l d Part o f opera's continuing fascination lies in
L u k e ' ) . T h e name means literally ' O l e , close its e v e r - c h a n g i n g complexity, reflecting con­
y o u r e y e s ' , ' O l e ' being a b o y ' s name. T h e ori­ temporary tastes in music and drama, styles o f
gin o f the figure goes back to the G e r m a n folk­ singing, and scale o f production. Opera has
lore character Sandmànnchen, a little m a n o r seldom been free from controversy. While one
d w a r f w h o makes children g o to sleep. O l e v i e w maintains that it is an invaluable part o f
L u k k o j e carries t w o umbrellas, one with beau­ civilized society, another holds that it is an ir­
tiful pictures, g i v i n g children interesting r e l e v a n c e — a diversion which has n o connec­
dreams, and a plain black o n e . H e m a y b e tion with e v e r y d a y life. W h a t is undeniable,
v i e w e d as o n e o f A n d e r s e n ' s m a n y self-por­ h o w e v e r , is that it has the ability to uplift audi­
traits as a storyteller. O l e L u k k o j e has a ences, inspiring in them an almost religious de­
brother w h o s e name is Death. MN votion.
3 6i O P E R A A N D FAIRY T A L E S

l. HISTORY not only active as a composer but undertook

Opera has played a pivotal role in theatrical en- w i d e - r a n g i n g reforms to opera-house prac-
tertainment not just for centuries, but for sev- tices.
eral millennia, dating back to the ancient F r o m the mid-17th until the early 20th cen-
Greeks. T h e prototype o f its present-day form tury, Paris w a s a significant centre for opera,
began to appear in late Renaissance I t a l y — t h e reaching its zenith in the 19th century, h a v i n g
first surviving acknowledged operatic w o r k attracted the Italian composer G i o a c c h i n o
being J a c o p i Peri's Euridice in 1600. Peri b e - *Rossini and the G e r m a n G i a c o m o M e y e r b e e r
longed to a select group o f musicians and (1791—1864) to settle there. But Paris w a s rich,
learned nobles w h o s e aim w a s the reinstate- too, in native-born talent: Hector Berlioz
ment of clearly declaimed sung text, rather as it (1803-68); Charles Gounod (1818-93);
had been in ancient G r e e c e . Consolidating G e o r g e s Bizet (1838-75); and J u l e s Massenet
Peri's w o r k , Claudio Monteverdi (1567—1643), (1842—1912). T h a t said, one o f the most p o p u -
a far more historically important composer, lar 'Parisian' composers o f all time w a s G e r -
produced La Favola d'Orfeo (The Fable of man-born J a c q u e s *Offenbach. T h i s period
Orpheus) in 1607. was remarkable also for the number o f theatres
Opera's rapid g r o w t h during the 17th cen- presenting opera in Paris. S o m e sources claim a
tury, first in Italy and shortly after throughout figure as high as 30.
the rest of E u r o p e , o w e d much to the encour- A s opera g r e w m o r e international, countries
agement of the aristocracy, w h o s e taste for such as G e r m a n y , Russia, and C z e c h o s l o v a k i a
grand festive occasions g a v e it an important became more musically nationalistic in charac-
platform. Italian influence led to early enthusi- ter, as did H u n g a r y and Poland. C z e c h o -
asm for the new art form in France and G e r - slovakia, an important part of the
many, although, initially at least, attempts b y A u s t r o - H u n g a r i a n E m p i r e , had a long trad-
centres such as Paris and Dresden to found an ition o f importing musical talent and experi-
indigenous school w e r e invariably rooted in ence from G e r m a n y and Austria. N o w native
the Italian style. A t first the spread o f opera composers such as Bedrich Smetana (1824—84)
was greatly assisted b y travelling troupes, usu- and Antonin * D v o f a k e m e r g e d , followed later
ally from Italy. T h i s w a s later mirrored in b y the highly individual L e o s *Janacek. In
America, where early opera w a s largely a mat- Russia the national m o v e m e n t w a s led b y M i k -
ter of what w a s provided b y visiting E u r o p e a n hail *Glinka, succeeded b y A l e x a n d e r B o r o d i n
companies. Mid-17th-century French opera ( 1 8 3 3 - 8 7 ) , Modest M u s s o r g s k y ( 1 8 3 9 - 8 1 ) ,
and ballet (for a considerable time in F r a n c e Piotr T c h a i k o v s k y , and N i k o l a i * R i m s k y -
the two w e r e virtually indivisible), is invari- K o r s a k o v . M a n y o f these Slav composers p r o -
ably remembered today through the Italian- duced a conspicuous number o f fairy-tale
born composer Jean-Baptiste L u l l y (1632-87), operas in an astonishingly short space o f oper-
a musician of great influence at the court of atic history (see b e l o w ) .
Louis X I V . Meanwhile, as the 19th century unfolded,
In the early 18th century, L o n d o n enjoyed the arrival o f G i u s e p p e V e r d i (1813—1901) and
the double benefit of G e r m a n - b o r n G e o r g e R i c h a r d * W a g n e r focused musical attention as
Frederic *Handel, w h o composed and con- n e v e r before on Italy and G e r m a n y . F o r a time
ducted operas in the Italian manner, and the V e r d i w a s almost certainly the w o r l d ' s most
R o y a l A c a d e m y of M u s i c — a business enter- popular composer, a belief w h i c h has changed
prise which promoted them. Later in the same little in 100 y e a r s . His wonderful melodic gifts,
century both Christoph Willibald v o n G l u c k unerring sense o f theatre, and expert k n o w -
( 1 7 1 4 - 8 7 ) and W o l f g a n g A m a d e u s *Mozart ledge o f the v o i c e make his w o r k s instantly ac-
made Vienna their centre of operations, cessible. W a g n e r based m a n y o f his operas on
although some of their important w o r k s re- N o r d i c m y t h o l o g y and G e r m a n legends, and
ceived premières in other leading E u r o p e a n as such has more relevance to this article on
cities. G l u c k sought to 'reform' Italian opera fairy tales (see b e l o w ) .
with a more natural form o f expression: it had T h e pattern o f a contemporaneous Italian
lapsed into a somewhat stilted form. Mozart, and G e r m a n each individually breaking n e w
the incomparably superior composer, tapped g r o u n d w a s repeated again with G i a c o m o
deeper emotional currents through detailed *Puccini and R i c h a r d *Strauss. Puccini, a sig-
character development. Dresden flourished in nificant figure in the ' V e r i s m o ' m o v e m e n t ,
the early 19th century o w i n g to C a r l Maria v o n g a v e opera a much-needed 'naturalist' impetus,
*Weber, w h o as R o y a l S a x o n Kapellmeister w a s as did R u g g e r o L e o n c a v a l l o (1857—1919), and
O P E R A A N D FAIRY T A L E S 362

Pietro Mascagni (1863—1945). L i k e these c o m - small and large scale, Britten revitalized British
posers, Strauss too dealt frequently in h i g h l y opera, g i v i n g it a n e w self-assuredness. Menot-
charged emotion w h i c h w a s liable to take a ti's greatest successes h a v e tended to be with
violent turn. Indeed, some o f his early operas small-scale w o r k s , in w h i c h stories are often
such as Salome and Elektra frequently touched h i g h l y focused. T h e y are heavily endowed
on extremes o f brutality. with powerful drama, made more naturalistic
T h e closest he came to a fairy-tale opera w a s b y choosing a contemporary setting.
Der Rosenkavalier (The Rose Cavalier, premi-
ered 1 9 1 1 ) , a believable fantasy set in 18th-cen- 2 . OPERA STORIES
tury V i e n n a w i t h text b y Hugo von F r o m opera's earliest times its stories or plots
*Hofmannsthal. Sophie is d o o m e d to a p r e - h a v e been as varied as storytelling itself. G r e e k
arranged m a r r i a g e with the a g e i n g , licentious and R o m a n myths and legends w e r e early fa-
B a r o n O c h s and is rescued b y her l o v e r C o u n t vourites, and have continued to be so through
O c t a v i a n . Strauss w a s also a noted conductor to the present day. Other operas deal in p o w e r
and in 1893 conducted the première o f E n g e l - and corruption, such as Beethoven's Fidelio
bert *Humperdinck's *Hansel and Gretel, a r g u - (1805), or Puccini's Tosca (1900). L o v e stories,
ably the most famous o f all fairy-tale operas usually with unhappy endings, abound.
(see b e l o w ) . A m o n g the most prominent are V e r d i ' s La
T h e 20th century has been characterized b y Traviata (1853) a n
^ Puccini's La Bohème
the appearance o f m a n y m o r e sharply defined (1895). G a e t a n o Donizetti (1797—1848) often
styles o f composition, including the v o g u e for took historical figures as his subjects (almost
small-scale w o r k s , such as The Soldier's Tale invariably female), portraying, a m o n g others,
b y I g o r *Stravinsky. P r e m i e r e d in 1918, it is A n n a B o l e n a , Lucrezia B o r g i a , and M a r y
without doubt a c u r i o s i t y — a n opera with Stuart.
speech and drama and no singing. S t r a v i n s k y ' s
fellow R u s s i a n s , h o w e v e r , still thought on the
g r a n d scale. S e r g e i * P r o k o f i e v ' s lyrical yet 3. EARLY 'FANTASTIC' SUBJECTS
rhythmically i n v i g o r a t i n g manner c o m p l e - H e n r y *Purcell's The Fairy Queen (1692), an
mented D m i t r i S h o s t a k o v i c h ' s (1906-75) rous- adaptation o f *Shakespeare's A Midsummer
ing and often satirical style. B o t h at v a r i o u s Night's Dream, is an early example o f an exist-
times fell foul o f S o v i e t censure. ing 'fantastic' story set to music. Y e t another is
his King Arthur (1691). S o m e sources claim a
G e r m a n y has been well represented b y Hans
tally o f around 30 operas on the Arthurian le-
W e r n e r Henze (1926— ) . His The Bassarids
gends. Purcell's b e s t - k n o w n opera is Dido and
(premiered 1966) is v e r y much on the g r a n d
Aeneas (1689), w h o s e story places great reli-
scale and continues the l o n g tradition o f basing
ance on witches and sorcery.
a w o r k on G r e e k legend. In contrast to former
times, F r a n c e has not been so fortunate. T h e 17th century w a s also a time for the s o -
F r a n ç o i s P o u l e n c (1899-1963), a brilliant and called ' S l u m b e r S c e n e ' . Popular in Italian
popular c o m p o s e r , w r o t e a quantity o f songs opera, it w a s a dramatic device requiring a
and w a s strongly identified w i t h L e s S i x , a character to fall asleep. In this state, characters
g r o u p o f F r e n c h c o m p o s e r s . H i s operatic out- w o u l d receive w e l c o m e news or otherwise
put w a s small, but powerful: Les Mamelles de from an apparition, or impart the same to
Tiresias (The Mammaries of Tiresias, 1944) and eavesdroppers b y talking in their sleep. T h e
Dialogues des Carmélites (Dialogues of the Car- v o g u e for such theatricality continued for some
melites, 1957), for example. T h e most signifi- considerable time, eventually producing a
cant contributions b y the so-called S e c o n d w h o l e opera on the subject, La Sonnambula
V i e n n e s e S c h o o l led b y the c o m p o s e r o f Moses (The Sleepwalker, 1831) b y Vincenzo Bellini
und Aron, A r n o l d S c h o e n b e r g ( 1 8 7 4 - 1 9 5 1 ) (1801-35).
came, ironically, from one o f S c h o e n b e r g ' s
pupils, A l b a n B e r g ( 1 8 8 5 - 1 9 3 5 ) , w h o w r o t e 4. FAIRY TALES
Woneck (premiered 1925) and Lulu (premiered F a i r y tales, with their strong dramatic oppos-
1937). ites o f g o o d / e v i l , l o v e / h a t e make appealing
W h e n the m i d - to late 20th century is as- operatic material. * Cinderella (French Cendril-
sessed, it will be seen that lasting impacts w e r e lon, Italian Cenerentola, G e r m a n Aschenhrbdet),
made b y G i a n C a r l o Menotti (1911— ) and B e n - was one o f the first fairy tales as such to receive
jamin Britten (1913—76), and to a lesser extent staged musical t r e a t m e n t — R o s s i n i ' s Ceneren-
Michael Tippett (1905—98). W r i t i n g for both tola o f 1817 being the best k n o w n . It remains
3*3 O P E R A A N D FAIRY T A L E S

popular to the present day. Other versions o f the tribulations w h i c h can arise w h e n a m o r ­
from the mid-i8th to late 19th century are b y tal and a fairy fall in l o v e . W h i l e W a g n e r did
Laruette (1759); Isourard (1810); Steibelt not turn out to be a setter o f fairy tales as such
(1810); Garcia (1826); C . T . W a g n e r (1861); (he invariably w r o t e his o w n librettos), m a g i c
Cheri (1866); Conradi (1868); L a n g e r (1874); often plays a significant part in m a n y o f his
8
R o k o s n y (1885); Massenet (i 99> a rival in plots, which w e r e synthesized from N o r d i c and
popularity to R o s s i n i ' s ) . A t the beginning of T e u t o n i c myths and sagas.
the 20th century, six appeared in quick succes­ F o r instance, the supernatural runs right
sion: W o l f - F e r r a r i (1900); Albini (c.1900); through the w h o l e o f Der Ring des Nibelungen,
Forsyth; Blech (1905); A s a f y e v (1906); and a cycle o f four operas. T h u s A l b e r i c h (a
B u t y k a y (1912). dwarf), changes his appearance b y means o f a
D u r i n g the last y e a r o f his life, 1791, Mozart magic helmet in Das Rheingold. S i e g m u n d in
produced his remarkable Die Zauberflote (The Die Walkiire is the only one w h o can d r a w a
Magic Flute). It is a story steeped in allegory s w o r d left embedded in a tree. In the third
and Masonic symbolism. S o m e directors p r o ­ opera, Siegfried slays a dragon, but burns his
duce the w o r k emphasizing its fairy-tale side; finger in the creature's blood. H e nurses the
certainly in the right hands it does take on this w o u n d , discovering thereby that he can under­
form with its magic flute which can charm ani­ stand a w a r n i n g g i v e n him b y a w o o d b i r d . T h e
mals and magic bells that subdue enemies. final opera, Gotterddmmerung, sees a return o f
Mozart's death coincided with the emer­ the magic helmet w h i c h p l a y s a vital part in
gence of ' r o m a n t i c i s m ' — a development in lit­ H a g e n ' s plot to kill Siegfried. W a g n e r ' s a w e ­
erature and the arts which found a deep some originality in the use o f the orchestra, in­
response among a rising generation o f c o m ­ novative harmonic l a n g u a g e , and dramatic
posers: Beethoven, Berlioz, Schubert, *Men- presentation marked a turning-point in opera
delssohn, *Schumann, and C h o p i n . A m o n g its w o r l d - w i d e . O n e unfortunate side effect w a s
achievements in literature, romanticism helped that contemporary G e r m a n composers found
re-examine old fairy tales and ghost stories, themselves o v e r l o o k e d .
thus stimulating composers into creating the Nevertheless, Engelbert Humperdinck did
'romantic opera'. manage to m a k e an impact with one opera in
In 1821 W e b e r composed Der Freischut{ particular, even though his music bears superfi­
based on a story from a collection, Gespenster- cial similarity to that o f W a g n e r , for w h o m ,
buch (Ghost Book, 1810), b y J o h a n n A p e l and early in life, he w o r k e d as a copyist. Based on
Friedrich L a u n . It tells of a shooting contest, an the * G r i m m brothers' story in ^Kinder- und
evil spirit, magic bullets, and redemption Hausmdrchen, *Hdnsel und Gretel w a s highly
through confession. N o t so well remembered successful w h e n first produced, and has stayed
as W e b e r , but nevertheless important in the in the repertoire, being greatly popular in G e r ­
history of G e r m a n romantic opera, w a s Hein­ many, Britain, and A m e r i c a . H u m p e r d i n c k ' s
rich Marschner (1795—1861), w h o s e best- Kbnigskinder (The Royal Children, 1910), also
k n o w n opera, Hans Heiling (1833), is based on explored the realms o f fairy tale, being c o n ­
a folk tale. It relates h o w a mortal girl is cerned with a g o o s e girl w h o loves a k i n g ' s
w o o e d , unsuccessfully, b y a supernatural son. T h e i r l o v e is thwarted b y a witch.
being. Marschner's contemporary Albert T h e strong operatic m i x o f the romantic
T o r t z i n g composed one of several operas on with the supernatural in 19th-century G e r m a n y
the subject o£*Undine (1845)—a water spirit w a s not matched in F r a n c e , although J a c q u e s
(female), famous in Central E u r o p e a n folk Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann (premiered
myth, w h o seeks to marry a mortal. Earlier in posthumously in 1881), is an outstanding e x ­
the century E . T . A . *Hoffmann, w h o like ception. Offenbach based his opera on stories
Lortzing w a s active in several other areas as b y E . T . A . Hoffmann, the w o r k ' s e p o n y m o u s
well as composing, also took Undine as an o p ­ 'hero', w h o s e quest for l o v e is d o o m e d . H e is
eratic subject (1816). either ensnared b y magic or frustrated b y it.
It could be argued that one major accom­ A l m o s t all the composers associated with the
plishment of W e b e r , Marschner, Lortzing, and blossoming o f R u s s i a ' s national school w r o t e
Hoffmann was to prepare the w a y for Richard operas. S o m e w e r e most prolific in this area.
W a g n e r , w h o in 1833—4 produced his first N o doubt because o f that country's literature,
complete opera, Die Feen (The Fairies). Based fairy tales w e r e often a prominent feature o f
on *Gozzi's c o m e d y La donna serpente (1762), their w o r k . Mikhail G l i n k a ' s Russian and Lud-
W a g n e r ' s opera deals with the familiar theme milla (1842), is based on *Pushkin's p o e m o f
OPERETTA A N D FAIRY T A L E S 364

1820. A fairy-tale opera on a grand scale, it is In A m e r i c a , the Italian-born G i a n C a r l o

cast in five acts. L u d m i l l a ' s abduction b y a Menotti w r o t e an opera with fairy-tale ingredi­
d w a r f sets R u s s i a n off on a series of fabulous ents, Amahland the Night Visitors (1951). It w a s
adventures in w h i c h he encounters fairies the first opera written especially for television
( g o o d and b a d ) and acquires a m a g i c s w o r d . and relates the story o f a crippled b o y w h o is
H e finally discovers L u d m i l l a and a w a k e n s her cured on joining the three kings on their w a y
from her trance with the aid o f a m a g i c ring. to Bethlehem.
Among R i m s k y - K o r s a k o v ' s 14 operas Hans W e r n e r Henze (1926— ) is one of the
(some sources claim 15), are several w h i c h take 20th century's most prolific G e r m a n com­
fairy tales or folk stories as their theme. In May posers. His Konig Hirsch (The Stag King, 1956),
Night (1880) w a t e r n y m p h s ( R u s a l k i ) help narrates the adventures of a king w h o as a child
L e v k o o v e r c o m e his father's objections in was abandoned in the forest and brought up b y
m a r r y i n g Hanna. Other operas that kept R i m - animals as a result of which he has the gift of
sky occupied with fairy tales and m a g i c are The m o v i n g in and out of human and animal form.
*Snow Maiden (1882), Sadko (1898), The Tale D u r i n g the second half of the 20th century
of Tsar Saltan (1900), and The Legend of the composers, directors, and producers creating
Invisible City of Kiteih (1907). H i s last opera, operas to focus on social issues have emerged.
The Golden Cockerel (premiered posthumously W h i l e such operas do not tend to employ the
in 1909), tells o f a miraculous golden cockerel traditional fairy tale as such, they follow the
that c r o w s at the sign o f impending danger. custom o f moralizing through colourful fiction.
T c h a i k o v s k y ' s b e s t - k n o w n operas, on the TH
other hand, are based on characters w h o b e ­ Ardoin, John, The Stages of Menotti (1985).
h a v e like real people in believable surround­ Carpenter, Humphrey, Benjamin Britten: A
ings, although Iolanta (1892) does h a v e a blind Biography (1992).
Gammond, Peter, Offenbach: His Life and Times
princess w h o recovers her sight through find­
(1981).
ing l o v e .
Harewood, George Henry Hubert Lascelles,
R u s s i a n composers did not lose their taste Earl of (ed. and rev.), Kobbe's Complete Opera
for fairy tales in the 20th century. P r o k o f i e v ' s Book (10th edn., 1987).
The Love for Three Oranges (1921) is based on Holden, Amanda, Kenyon, Nicholas, and
G o z z i ' s p l a y o f 1761. A series o f adventures b e ­ Walsh, Stephen (eds.), The Viking Opera Guide
fall a melancholic prince after attempts are l
( 99l)-
made to induce him to laugh. Headington, Christopher, Westbrook,
In C z e c h o s l o v a k i a , too, nationalism had set Christopher, and Barfoot, Terry, Opera: A
itself on an unstoppable course, c o m m e n c i n g History (1987).
with Smetana. It w a s D v o r a k , h o w e v e r , w h o in Kloiber, Rudolf, and Konold, Wulf, Handbuch
der Oper (1993).
writing his masterpiece Rusalka (1900) also
Landon, H. C. Robbins, 1791: Mozart's Last Year
g a v e the w o r l d a great fairy-tale opera, perhaps
(1988).
the finest o f all w o r k s on the subject o f l o v e Warrack, John, and West, Ewan, The Concise
between a w a t e r sprite and a mortal. J a n â c e k Oxford Dictionary of Opera (1992).
took C z e c h opera into the 20th century, p r o d u ­
cing in the last decade o f his life a h i g h l y indi­
vidual series o f w o r k s . The Cunning Little OPERETTA A N D FAIRY T A L E S . Operetta is a form
Vixen (1924), has animals and humans i n v a d ­ of opera in w h i c h the style is essentially light-
ing each other's social domain. hearted with tuneful music. T h e translation
N a t i v e opera, w h i c h had l o n g been dormant from Italian is 'little opera', indicating that in
in Britain (with the exception o f the p h e n o m ­ the 18th century short entertainments w e r e fre­
enal Gilbert and Sullivan partnership in the late quently performed in the middle of a serious
19th century) suddenly b e g a n a r e v i v a l with w o r k . A p a r t from 'operetta' various other
the astonishingly successful The Immortal Hour names describing the form, which could be ex­
(1914) b y Rutland B o u g h t o n . Intended as the tremely varied depending on country of origin,
centrepiece o f an ' E n g l i s h R i n g ' , it w a s a tragic became attached, including 'intermezzo', 'opera
l o v e tale set in fairyland. Benjamin Britten p r o ­ buffa ( I t a l y ) , 'opéra bouffé', 'opéra comique'
duced no fairy tales as such, but did p r o v i d e ( F r a n c e ) , and 'SingspieT ( G e r m a n y ) .
another operatic v e r s i o n o f A Midsummer In time, operetta separated itself from its
Night's Dream. H e also set a ghost story, The parent, turning into a stage genre in its o w n
Turn of the Screw (1954), based on H e n r y right and often taking as long as an opera to
J a m e s ' s story o f 1898. perform. O n e main difference to emerge w a s
365 OPERETTA A N D FAIRY T A L E S

the lighter form's reliance on spoken dialogue. Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde (The Knights
T h u s while 'singing actors' are to be found of the Round Table, 1866). A l t h o u g h H e r v é w a s
only intermittently in opera, their absence in an important figure in the e m e r g e n c e o f oper­
operetta is unimaginable. T h e 'musical' g r e w etta, it w a s J a c q u e s *Offenbach, older b y six
out of operetta, gradually, finding its place in y e a r s , w h o consolidated its position, partly b y
the 20th century. Its most recognizable ingre­ tapping into the contemporary taste for satire.
dients are tuneful scores, upbeat stories, spoken His lasting popularity, h o w e v e r , has m o r e to
dialogue, and lavish p r o d u c t i o n s — a scenario d o with his brilliance as a c o m p o s e r .
which has often enhanced the fairy tale. Premiered in 1858, Orphée aux Enfers
T h e evolution, h o w e v e r , had m o r e inter­ (Orpheus in the Underworld), Offenbach's most
mediate stages than is often realized. F o r a time enduring w o r k , w a s a caricature o f the
there w a s a v o g u e for descriptive titles. D e s i g ­ Orpheus story. T h e demand for Offenbach's
nations such as 'a musical p l a y ' , 'a fantastic satirical operettas w a s especially strong during
musical p l a y ' , or 'a play with music' w e r e en­ F r a n c e ' s S e c o n d E m p i r e . W i t h the F r a n c o -
countered (at least in Britain), during the years Prussian W a r (1870—1), and the fall o f N a p o ­
encompassing the 1890s and the early 20th cen­ leon I I I , the public lost its appetite for such en­
tury. T h i s is not to say that a line m a y be tertainments, as Offenbach soon found out.
drawn between the end of one species and the T h e c o m p o s e r ' s foray into the realms o f fairy
beginning o f another. Indeed, there h a v e been tale came with Le Roi Carotte (King Carotte,
times w h e n they have co-existed quite happily, 1872), containing a scene in w h i c h a witch
influencing each other at crucial periods in turns vegetables into humans. T h e drama
their development. b y Victorien S a r d o u w a s based on a tale b y
E . T . A . *Hoffmann, w h o s e tales Offenbach
l. OPERETTA IN THE 1 9 ™ CENTURY IN FRANCE, incorporated later in his great posthumous
BRITAIN, AUSTRIA, AND GERMANY opera The Tales of Hoffmann (1881).
T h e second half of the 19th century, m o v i n g After Offenbach, late 19th-century F r e n c h
into the early 20th, marked operetta's h e y d a y . operetta continued to g o from strength to
Its antecedents w e r e to be found in the light strength, resulting in an upsurge o f c o m p o s i n g
stage w o r k s popular during the 18th century b y talent, although few could match Offenbach's
Italian composers such as G i o v a n n i Pergolesi genius and wit. B o r n in Paris, R o b e r t P l a n -
(1710-36) and Domenico Cimarosa quette (1848-1903), w r o t e Les Cloches de Cor-
( 1 7 4 9 - 1 8 0 1 ) . W o l f g a n g A m a d e u s *Mozart, neville (The Chimes of Normandy, 1877). It
and A n t o n i o Salieri (1750—1825) w e r e far m o r e became his most popular w o r k , with a story
substantial composers, but w r o t e opera buffa concerning the marquis de C o r n e v i l l e , a polit­
too: Mozart's Le none di Figaro (The Marriage ical exile from his estate in N o r m a n d y . A local
of Figaro) which premiered in 1786, is general­ legend proclaims that a set o f g h o s t l y bells will
ly described as 'opera buffa'. ring out on the o w n e r ' s return.
C o m e d y w a s still the mainstay o f such en­ A later w o r k from Planquette, Rip (1882)
tertainments, and w a s continued into the 19th was based on W a s h i n g t o n * I r v i n g ' s Rip Van
century b y G i o a c c h i n o *Rossini, b y w h i c h time Winkle. A s realized b y Planquette and the l i ­
a v o g u e for other subjects w a s e m e r g i n g . A brettists H . Meilhac, Philippe G i l l e , and H . B .
point worth remembering is that R o s s i n i made F a r n i e , R i p , a mortal, finds himself in the c o m ­
his name with opera buffa, but later turned his p a n y o f ghostly mariners. Enticed b y a w a t e r
attention to more serious subjects. His La n y m p h to drink w i n e w h i c h has a spell upon it,
Cenerentola of 1817 is a rather darker v e r s i o n o f he falls asleep for 20 y e a r s . After w a k i n g , he
the *Cinderella story than is represented b y the returns h o m e an aged man and succeeds in
familiar pantomime variant. R o s s i n i ' s popular­ righting some old w r o n g s .
ity in Paris probably helped create a taste for a Reminiscent o f a popular theme in fairy
lighter form o f opera. His energetic, melodious tales, La Poupée (The Doll, 1896), b y E d m o n d
style influenced m a n y contemporaries, so that A u d r a n , takes up the theme o f a t o y m a k e r w h o
by the time composer, actor, and singer F l o r i - manufactures a lifelike d o l l — a n exact replica
mund R o n g e r (1825—92) appeared, the time of his o w n daughter.
was ripe for a m o r e individual kind of oper­ T h e craze for operetta, especially w o r k s b y
e t t a — F r a n c e being generally considered as the Offenbach, spread q u i c k l y throughout E u r o p e ,
country which g a v e it birth. resulting not o n l y in m a n y imitators but, cru­
R o n g e r took the p s e u d o n y m H e r v é , c o m ­ cially, stimulating w h a t can best be described
posing o v e r 100 operettas, a m o n g w h i c h w a s as national schools o f light opera, not least the
OPERETTA A N D FAIRY T A L E S 366

l e g e n d a r y Gilbert and Sullivan partnership in Luna effectively marked the beginning of what
Victorian Britain. Ironically, it w a s p o o r b o x - has been called the Berlin School of Operetta.
office receipts for Offenbach's Perichole at L o n ­
don's R o y a l t y T h e a t r e w h i c h led the impres­ 2 . MUSICAL COMEDY AND COMIC OPERA
ario R i c h a r d D ' O y l y C a r t e to invite W . S. A l t h o u g h operetta w a s the begetter o f the mu­
G i l b e r t (1836—1911) and A r t h u r Sullivan sical, there w a s an intermediate stage to be
(1842-1900) to collaborate on the one-act Trial g o n e through. T h e era c.1890-1939 saw oper­
etta expanding in m a n y directions at once.
h Jury (1875)-
G e n e r a l l y , such developments m a y be identi­
T h i s operetta w a s no fairy tale, but plots
fied with the single title, musical c o m e d y . T h a t
with m a g i c lozenges, etc., w e r e n e v e r far from
said, operetta did not die out completely during
G i l b e r t ' s dramas. H e n c e the partnership's next
this time, certainly not the Viennese variety
collaboration, The Sorcerer (1877), included M r
thanks to F r a n z L e h a r (1870—1948), w h o re­
John Wellington Wells, of J . W . Wells & C o . ,
v i v e d it with his phenomenally successful The
F a m i l y Sorcerers. *Iolanthe (1882), w a s billed
Merry Widow (1905).
as ' A n E n t i r e l y N e w and Original F a i r y O p e r a
L e h a r operettas are peopled with real char­
in T w o A c t s ' and r e w o r k e d the oft-repeated
acters, w h o find themselves in generally believ­
theme in m y t h and drama o f a fairy w h o mar­
able circumstances. His style and melodic gifts
ries a mortal. F i v e y e a r s later, in 1887, the part­
set a benchmark for a great number of c o m ­
nership produced Ruddigore, containing a
posers such as O s c a r Straus (1870—1954), L e o
scene in w h i c h portraits o f dead ancestors c o m e
Fall ( 1 8 7 3 - 1 9 2 5 ) , R o b e r t Stolz (1880-1975),
to life.
and E m m e r i c h K a l m a n (1882—1953), w h o all
The Beauty Stone (premiered in 1898), a c o l ­
produced a considerable number of w o r k s ,
laboration b e t w e e n Sullivan and A r t h u r W .
forming the core of the genre k n o w n as ' V i e n ­
P i n e r o (1855—1934), lived up to its description
nese Operetta'.
o f a 'romantic musical d r a m a ' , being the story
In Britain, during the 20th century's first
o f a stone w h i c h has the p o w e r to transform
decade, E d w a r d G e r m a n (1862—1934), kept the
ugliness into beauty. S u l l i v a n ' s last w o r k for
flag o f British Operetta flying with w o r k s such
the stage, The Rose of Persia (a collaboration
as Merrie England (1902). Set in the 16th cen­
with Basil H o o d ) , took various themes from
tury, it w a s written b y Basil H o o d and styled a
The * Arabian Nights. P r e m i e r e d in 1899, it con­
' c o m i c opera', as w e r e all G e r m a n ' s collabor­
tained a scene in w h i c h several persons under
ations with this dramatist. T h e following y e a r
sentence o f death e n d e a v o u r to think o f a story (1903), G e r m a n and H o o d produced A Princess
with w h i c h to entertain the Sultan, thus h o p i n g of Kensington. O w i n g something to ""Shake­
to spin out their lives. In their ensemble 'It has speare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, it de­
reached m e ' , they consider various fairy-tale scribes the exploits of fairies w h o occupy
options such as ' O l d Mother H u b b a r d ' , 'Little K e n s i n g t o n G a r d e n s , L o n d o n , for a d a y —
Miss Muffet', and ' T h e C a t and the F i d d l e ' . M i d s u m m e r D a y . A s might be imagined, they
T h e triumphs o f F r e n c h and British operetta take to interfering in the l o v e lives of mortals.
found a parallel in V i e n n a , w h e r e J o h a n n A happy end follows a series of trials and tribu­
r s t
Strauss the second (1825-99), ^ came to lations. T h a n k s to a collaboration with W . S.
prominence as a c o m p o s e r o f waltzes. His first Gilbert, G e r m a n w r o t e another fairy oper­
operetta, Indigo und die vier^ig Ràuber (Indigo etta—*Fallen Fairies (premiered in 1909). A s
and the Forty Thieves), w a s premiered in 1871, in Iolanthe, a quarter-century earlier, Gilbert's
to be f o l l o w e d three y e a r s later b y his most drama dealt with the theme of l o v e between
famous and enduring w o r k for the stage, Die fairies and mortals. Intriguingly, Gilbert ad­
Fledermaus (The Bat). Strauss's fame ensured a v a n c e d the theory (in the drama), that e v e r y
spectacular first night for Indigo w h i c h , in con­ mortal has a fairy doppelganger.
taining the character * ' A l i B a b a ' , o w e d much to T h e rise of musical c o m e d y in Britain is
The Arabian Nights. Indigo w a s revised a n u m ­ often linked to The Shop Girl of 1894. Lionel
b e r o f times. O n e v e r s i o n appeared in 1906 Monkton (1861—1924), w h o co-wrote some of
after Strauss's death, entitled Tausend und eine its music, also contributed to the highly popu­
Nacht (Thousand and One Nights). lar The Arcadians o f 1909, in which beings from
A s the old 19th century prepared to b o w an i m a g i n a r y w o r l d ( A r c a d i a ) invade L o n d o n
out, P a u l L i n k e ' s Frau Luna (Castles in the Air, with the intention o f i m p r o v i n g its w a y s .
premiered in 1899 in B e r l i n ) , took its charac­ M o n k t o n ' s contemporaries included Leslie
ters on a trip to the m o o n — i n a balloon. Frau Stuart (1864-1928), composer of The Silver
 6
3 7 OPERETTA A N D FAIRY T A L E S

Slipper of 1901, a version of the Cinderella But n o w something else w a s added to the
story. *Chu Chin Chow (1916), billed as ' A m u ­ crucible of old-style operetta and the n e w m u ­
sical tale of the East told b y O s c a r A s c h e and sical comedies b y A m e r i c a n composers such as
set to music b y Frederic N o r t o n ' , turned out to J e r o m e K e r n (1885-1945; t w o songs b y K e r n
be a mixture o f pantomime, operetta, and m u ­ w e r e included in one o f m a n y musical adapta­
sical c o m e d y , with a story beholden to ' A l i tions o f Peter Pan), C o l e P o r t e r ( 1 8 9 1 - 1 9 6 4 ) ,
Baba and the F o r t y T h i e v e s ' . G e o r g e G e r s h w i n ( 1 8 9 8 - 1 9 3 7 ) , and R i c h a r d
Parallel to what w a s happening in Britain, R o d g e r s (1902—79). E m e r g i n g almost simul­
around the turn o f the century A m e r i c a w a s taneously in Britain and A m e r i c a , the n e w d e ­
developing its o w n operetta/musical c o m e d y v e l o p m e n t w a s termed v a r i o u s l y as either a
style. R e g i n a l d D e K o v e n (1859—1920), w h o s e s h o w or a r e v u e , and its vitality and e x t r a v a ­
The Begum has been hailed as an ' A m e r i c a n gance reflected the n e w w o r l d ' s g r o w i n g self-
First', wrote Robin Hood in 1891. B a s e d on the confidence in its o w n culture, and the old
legendary adventures of the S h e r w o o d F o r e s t w o r l d ' s desire to share in it. I r v i n g Berlin
outlaws, Robin Hood had b o o k and lyrics b y (1888—1989), perhaps A m e r i c a ' s most prolific
H a r r y B . Smith. D e K o v e n and Smith c o n ­ w r i t e r o f s o n g s , w a s closely associated w i t h
tinued to collaborate, producing in 1894 an­ m a n y such B r o a d w a y ventures o v e r several
other folk-hero operetta, Rob Roy. O f interest decades.
later w a s D e K o v e n ' s sequel to Robin Hood: O n e A m e r i c a n impresario, F l o r e n z Ziegfeld
Maid Marian was premiered in 1902. (1867—1932), refined the m e d i u m b y d e v i s i n g
B y n o w , the composer V i c t o r Herbert ' T h e Ziegfeld F o l l i e s ' , c o m m e n c i n g a series o f
n a
(1859—1924), c l overtaken D e K o v e n in such productions in 1907. A l m o s t invariably,
popularity. Herbert w a s an Irish-born, G e r ­ they w e r e a concoction o f celebrated p e r f o r m ­
man-trained musician w h o settled in A m e r i c a . ers, popular music, g l a m o r o u s w o m e n , and
A cellist and conductor o f s y m p h o n y orches­ lavish staging. In 1930 Ziegfeld also produced
tras, Herbert gradually turned his attention to Simple Simon w i t h music b y R i c h a r d R o d g e r s
operetta in the 1890s, enjoying some success and lyrics b y L o r e n z Hart (1895-1943). T h e
with a number of w o r k s . His first significant b o o k , b y the A m e r i c a n comedian E d W y n n
triumph came with *Babes in Toy land (1903; and the British dramatist G u y B o l t o n , deals
b o o k and lyrics b y G l e n M a c D o n o u g h ) . Its w i t h a n e w s p a p e r v e n d o r w h o finds escapism in
music and s t o r y — g e n e r a l l y a procession o f a sort o f fairyland.
fairy-tale and n u r s e r y - r h y m e characters, made T h r e e y e a r s before, in 1927, R o d g e r s and
a spectacular impact on audiences o f all ages. Hart, w h o w e r e already an established team,
Intriguingly, Babes in Toyland w a s an attempt w r o t e A Connecticut Yankee, based on M a r k
to capitalize on the success in that same y e a r o f T w a i n ' s original tale entitled A Connecticut
The *Wi$ard of 0{ (music b y A . B a l d w i n Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Audiences
*Sloane, and P a u l Tiejens, b o o k and lyrics b y w a r m e d to the story o f a m o d e r n A m e r i c a n
L . F r a n k *Baum, adapted from B a u m ' s n o v e l ) . w h o dreams he is b a c k in C a m e l o t .
A m o n g Herbert's h i g h l y prolific output is a R u n n i n g parallel with Ziegfeld in A m e r i c a ,
variation on the Cinderella story, The *Lady of Britain's C . B . C o c h r a n (1872—1951) b e c a m e
the Slipper, produced in 1 9 1 2 . his c o u n t r y ' s foremost producer o f musicals,
revues, and operettas. F o r a time he w a s associ­
3. THE 20TH CENTURY: THE EMERGENCE OF THE ated with the multi-talented N o ë l C o w a r d
MUSICAL ( 1 8 9 9 - 1 9 7 3 ) . H e also produced a n u m b e r o f
T h e 1920s in Britain and A m e r i c a w e r e typified s h o w s b y the c o m p o s e r and librettist V i v i a n
b y a brand of stage w o r k signalling the b e g i n ­ Ellis, with the exception o f Ellis's g e n d e r -
nings of the modern musical. R o m a n t i c oper­ reversal musical *Mr Cinders (1929).
etta in A m e r i c a w a s still able to hold its o w n , as T h e ' J a z z A g e ' o f the 1920s had, b y n o w ,
was p r o v e d b y composers from the old w o r l d reached its peak and straightforward treat­
such as the Czech-born Rudolf Friml ments o f fairy tales w e r e b e c o m i n g a thing o f
(1879—1972), and the Hungarian-born S i g - the past. Indeed the syncopated rhythms o f jazz
mund R o m b e r g (1887—1951). F r i m l ' s The itself had already made deep inroads into
Vagabond King of 1925 w a s based on the p l a y A m e r i c a n musical c o m e d y .
and novel If I Were King and followed the In the y e a r s prior to W o r l d W a r I I , Britain
story of François V i l l o n — a n outlaw w h o became accustomed to a steady diet o f musicals
cheats the g a l l o w s and succeeds in b e c o m i n g b y N o ë l C o w a r d and c o m p o s e r / a c t o r I v o r
K i n g of France for a day. N o v e l l o (1893—1951), w h o forged his o w n kind
ORAL T R A D I T I O N A N D FAIRY T A L E S 368

of eye-catching operetta with the accent on r o ­ laborated with the lyricist Marshall Barer to
mance. In storyline these w o r k s had much in produce *Once Upon a Mattress, an enlarged
c o m m o n with their contemporary G e r m a n , musical version of the humorous fairy tale
F r e n c h , and V i e n n e s e counterparts. T a l e s o f ' T h e *Princess and the P e a ' . A highly signifi­
y o u n g lovers divided b y rank and station w e r e cant musical appeared in 1987, namely Stephen
popular, as w e r e exotic locations far r e m o v e d Sondheim's *Into the Woods, in which a series
from the country in w h i c h the w o r k originated. of fairy-tale characters are i n v o l v e d ; they con­
front the evil force o f a giant with tragic results
4. POST-1945 DEVELOPMENTS but help a baker and his wife have a child. A n ­
If in the decades f o l l o w i n g the end o f hostilities other important musical w a s created b y T i m
in 1945 the A m e r i c a n musical seemed to d o m ­ R i c e , w h o became part of the team which p r o ­
inate audiences w o r l d - w i d e , there w e r e g o o d duced *Beauty and the Beast in 1994.
reasons for this. A m e r i c a ' s vitality w a s in stark A l t h o u g h the foregoing w o u l d suggest that
contrast to a E u r o p e tired b y w a r : the e n e r g y the musical's immediate past has been domin­
and escapism w h i c h the A m e r i c a n musical ra­ ated b y A m e r i c a , shows b y Britain's A n d r e w
diated suited the contemporary m o o d exactly. L l o y d W e b b e r , including fantasy subjects such
A l m o s t immediately, as if to aid the desire for as Phantom of the Opera, and Starlight Express,
escapism, a number o f musicals appeared h a v e been just as popular and in many cases
w h i c h concerned themselves with the supernat­ m o r e commercially successful w o r l d - w i d e .
ural. W i t h a few exceptions, such successes have not
In 1945 R i c h a r d R o d g e r s and O s c a r H a m ­ been matched b y home markets in other E u r o ­
merstein (1895—1960) collaborated on the se­ pean countries, which frequently prefer to im­
cond o f their m a n y hit s h o w s , Carousel. H e r e port A m e r i c a n and British shows.
the h e r o , B i l l y B i g e l o w , h a v i n g killed himself In conclusion, a point worth bearing in mind
to a v o i d capture for theft, is allowed to leave is that in the second half of the 20th century it
P u r g a t o r y for a d a y . H e returns to Earth, seek­ is chiefly A m e r i c a , through the medium of the
ing to help his daughter, as a result o f w h i c h he musical, which has helped extend the European
finds R e d e m p t i o n and is finally allowed into fairy-tale tradition. TH
H e a v e n . T w o y e a r s later, in 1947, t w o musicals Bailey, Leslie, The Gilbert and Sullivan Book (4th
steeped in fantasy w e r e premiered in N e w edn., 1956).
Y o r k . *Finian's Rainbow had a b o o k b y E . Y . Block, Geoffrey, Enchanted Evenings: The
H a r b u r g and F r e d S a i d y , lyrics b y H a r b u r g , Broadway Musical from Showboat to Sondheim
(i997)-
and music b y Burton L a n e . A crock o f g o l d is
Gammond, Peter, Offenbach: His Life and Times
taken from Ireland to a mythical part o f A m e r ­
(1981).
ica's deep South and has the p o w e r to grant
Larkin, Colin (ed.), The Guinness Who's Who of
three wishes. Stage Musicals (1994).
B y contrast, Brigadoon, b y the lyricist A l a n Lubbock, Mark, The Complete Book of Light
J . L e r n e r (1918—86), and the c o m p o s e r F r e d e r ­ Opera (1962).
ick L o e w e (1904—88), w a s set in Scotland, tak­ Rees, Brian, A Musical Peacemaker: The Life and
ing the theme o f a mythical village w h i c h Work of Edward German (1986).
materializes just for a d a y once e v e r y 100 Traubner, Mark, Operetta: A Theatrical History
y e a r s . *R~ismet (1953), noted for its opulent p r o ­ (1984).
duction, w a s a return b y the lyricists G e o r g e
Forrest and R o b e r t W r i g h t to The Arabian ORAL TRADITION A N D FAIRY T A L E S . Oral tradition
Nights. T h e y adapted music b y the R u s s i a n refers to the sum of folklore that is verbally
composer Alexander Borodin (1833-87). communicated as well as to the process of
T h e Faustian story w a s g i v e n a n e w twist b y transmission, b y which a g i v e n item of folklore
J e r r y R o s s and R i c h a r d A d l e r with Damn Yan­ is learned, recreated, and disseminated. In soci­
kees in 1955. A senator sells his soul to the devil eties without writing, oral tradition accounts
in exchange for his favourite baseball team for much of the cultural transmission from one
being allowed to w i n . L e r n e r and L o e w e con­ generation to the next. In societies with writ­
tinued their run o f successes with * Camelot ing, it has been heavily influenced but seldom
(i960), w h i c h w a s based on a fresh approach to entirely replaced b y print culture as a mode of
the Arthurian legend as contained in T . H . communication. A n o n y m o u s in origin and
White's story The Once and Future King. transmitted through face-to-face communica­
In the previous y e a r the c o m p o s e r M a r y tion, fairy tales deriving from oral tradition
R o d g e r s (daughter o f R i c h a r d R o d g e r s ) , col­ exist in multiple, standardized versions and e x -
3 6 9
O R A L T R A D I T I O N A N D FAIRY T A L E S

hibit patterns of stability and variation o v e r torial practices that shaped the development o f
time and space. their collection through subsequent editions.
Since the * G r i m m s , scholars h a v e distin- T h e G r i m m s reconstructed the tales on the
guished between oral and literary traditions o f basis o f their recorded notes and in comparison
the fairy tale, with the terms reflecting differ- with other variants, w h i c h they included in the
ences in the origin and style of a tale. In identi- bibliographic information in the third v o l u m e .
fying their tales as Volksmarchen (folk tales) in T h e y w e r e careful to p r e s e r v e , sometimes e v e n
contrast to the Kunstmdrchen (literary fairy p r o v i d e , what they perceived to be the authen-
tale), J a c o b and W i l h e l m G r i m m not only tic oral style o f the folk tale and omitted from
elaborated upon J o h a n n Gottfried v o n H e r - later editions tales w h i c h , in their opinion, did
der's differentiation between Volkspoesie (folk not pass the test o f traditionality.
poetry) and Kunstpoesie (art p o e t r y ) , but Ironically, although their research w a s
claimed an authenticity for their material that fuelled b y the desire to preserve the oral trad-
set the *Kinder- und Hausmdrchen (Children s ition o f folk tales and the custom of storytelling
and Household Tales) apart from the collections that they feared w a s on the decline, J a c o b and
of their contemporaries. L i t e r a r y fairy tales W i l h e l m G r i m m w e r e in m a n y w a y s instru-
were defined as the conscious creations o f a mental in blurring the distinctions between the
single author of middle- or upper-class back- oral and literary traditions. O v e r the course o f
ground, as opposed to fairy tales from oral the seven editions published during their life-
tradition, which w e r e considered to be the nat- time, they refashioned and revised the tales,
ural and spontaneous expression o f illiterate or creating a uniquely stylized folk tale that has
semi-literate peasants. T h e assumptions under- been subsequently termed Buchmdrchen ( b o o k
lying the oppositions of folk versus élite and folk tale) because it is not entirely oral or liter-
natural versus artful continue to be modified as ary. T h e popularity and p e d a g o g i c a l v a l u e o f
research sheds n e w light on the complex, often their collection, the rise o f literacy rates in
reciprocal, relationship between oral and liter- E u r o p e , and the g r o w i n g affordability o f b o o k s
ary traditions. combined both to stabilize the oral tradition
T h e r e has been much debate o v e r whether and to create an eager readership in the G e r -
the G r i m m s ' tales w e r e recorded from oral man middle class for fairy tales from the oral
tradition, though they claimed that most of tradition.
them w e r e collected from 'oral traditions in Until the middle o f the 20th century, the
Hesse and in the Main and K i n z i g regions of study o f the oral tradition and fairy tales w a s
the duchy of H a n a u ' . C o n t r a r y to popular per- essentially text-centred. T h i s tended to mini-
ception, the G r i m m s did not travel the G e r m a n mize the role o f narrators to that o f tradition-
countryside collecting tales directly from the bearers, w h o w e r e j u d g e d according to their
mouths of peasants. S o m e of their best sources adherence to tradition, rather than for their e x -
were people from the l o w e r and middle class pressive artistry or innovation. T h e stability o f
familiar with printed fairy-tale editions, w h o tradition w a s p r i v i l e g e d o v e r variation, with
were invited to the G r i m m s ' home to recite stability v i e w e d as an ideal and variation as the
their stories. T h e y also received versions of degeneration from that hypothetical ideal.
fairy tales mailed to them b y friends and c o l - T h e o r i e s advanced to explain the remarkable
leagues, in response to J a c o b ' s appeal for as- stability o f oral tradition include A x e l *Olrik's
sistance in his ' C i r c u l a r on the Collection of epic laws o f folk literature and W a l t e r A n d e r -
Folk Poetry'. son's l a w o f self-correction.
A l t h o u g h they w e r e the first systematic A n appreciation for expressive creativity
scholars of folk literature w h o conscientiously within the parameters o f oral tradition w a s ini-
documented the sources of their material, par- tiated through the g r o u n d - b r e a k i n g insights o f
ticularly printed sources, the annotations to Milman P a r r y and A . B . L o r d into the c o m p o s -
their tales often consisted of no m o r e than the ition o f Classical and S e r b o - C r o a t i a n epics.
w o r d 'mùndlich' (oral), along with the region P a r r y and L o r d outlined a theory 'oral-formu-
where it w a s recorded and the identity of the laic' composition, based on their observation
storyteller. Because they destroyed their o r i - that formulas, g r o u p s o f w o r d s regularly e m -
ginal notes, most o f what is k n o w n about their p l o y e d under the same metrical conditions to
research methods is limited to their o w n p r o - express the same idea, constitute the building
grammatic statements in the prefaces to the blocks o f oral composition. T h e s e formulas
editions of the Kinder- und Hausmdrchen or has m a k e up the generic k n o w l e d g e o f an individ-
been deduced b y analysing the unwritten edi- ual epic singer and reflect the traditional char-
ORIENTAL FAIRY T A L E S 370

acter o f the orally composed epic. W i t h each strong and highly self-conscious empire.
performance the singer creates a n e w song; W h e n , in the Middle A g e s , the European
each performance is both creation and re-cre­ centres o f p o w e r had shifted to the north, not
ation. only had G r e e k antiquity largely been o b ­
A l t h o u g h their research w a s confined to the scured, but also the reality o f the Orient had
epic, the ideas o f P a r r y and L o r d prompted been relegated to the realm o f fantasy, largely
folk-tale scholars to investigate the dynamic nourished b y fictitious narratives based on the
processes o f composition in performance. B e ­ oral tradition o f merchants, pilgrims, and
ginning in the 1960s, sociolinguistic and ethno­ travellers. T h e crusades brought parts o f the
graphic perspectives introduced a shift from Islamic Orient back into European conscious­
text-centred to contextual analyses o f storytell­ ness, but the fall o f the crusader states and the
ing and oral tradition. T h e focus o f perform­ ensuing political development once more pre­
ance-centred folkloristic research w a s n o vented the free flow o f information between
l o n g e r limited to the item o f folklore per se, but the East and the W e s t that alone could have
embraced the storytelling event, the expressive contributed to creating an unbiased mutual ap­
and aesthetic function o f storytelling, and the prehension o f both sides. T h e conquest o f
role o f narrative in the social and cultural life o f Constantinople b y the T u r k s (1453) document­
a community. MBS ed the imminent 'oriental' threat to the whole
Cocchiara, Giuseppe, The History of Folklore in o f E u r o p e , whereas, o n the other hand, the pol­
Europe (1981). itical consolidation at the end o f the 17th cen­
Dégh, Linda, 'What did the Grimm Brothers tury engendered an unprecedented enthusiasm
Give to and Take from the Folk?', in James M. for e v e r y t h i n g oriental, be it food, clothing,
McGlathery (ed.), The Brothers Grimm and
music, architecture, o r tales. T h e introduction
Folktale (1988).
Kamenetsky, Christa, The Brothers Grimm and o f The ^Arabian Nights to E u r o p e at the begin­
their Critics (1992). ning o f the 18th century until the present con­
stitutes the single most important event in the
O R I E N T A L FAIRY T A L E S . Things oriental since inspiration o f Western creativity through
time immemorial h a v e constituted a source o f oriental models and elements. T h o u g h N a p o l e ­
inspiration for W e s t e r n imagination and cre­ on's expedition to E g y p t (1798—9) is usually
ativity. G e o g r a p h i c a l l y , the East is not o n l y the interpreted as h a v i n g inaugurated a more sci­
direction o f sunrise ('ex oriente l u x ' ) , and thus entific line in creative orientalism, still at the
the immediate source o f life, but a l s o — a s has turn of the 20th century exact and reliable first­
aptly been expressed b y G e o r g e Eliot hand information about the Orient appears to
(1856)—the place w h e r e beautiful flowers, be available to fewer specialists than w o u l d be
strange animals, precious fabrics, and valuable needed to liberate the Orient from being e x ­
spices originated, besides the great reli­ ploited as a mine o f fictitious and often heavily
g i o n s — a n d the w o r l d ' s internationally r e ­ biased depictions.
n o w n e d collections o f tales ( ' e x oriente P s y c h o l o g i c a l l y , the Other has contributed
fabula'). as much to the definition o f the Self as the rele­
Historically, the notion o f h o w to define the vant individual's o r culture's o w n apprehen­
Orient has been shifting in accordance with the sion o f itself. I n this respect, the Orient as the
changing centres o f p o w e r . I n antiquity, the W e s t ' s neighbouring Other has always served
encounter between the G r e e k s and the Persians as a matrix for Western creative projections,
in the 5th century B C is one o f the starting- whether they be purely invented and innocent
points o f the ensuing relationship between the in an uncompromising and friendly w a y , or
E a s t and the W e s t , w h i c h until the v e r y present whether they b e ignorant, malicious, and a g ­
has remained essentially political. W h i l e H e r o ­ gressive. N o n e o f these projections w a s ser­
dotus still preserves fragmentary testimonies iously intended to make available o r distribute
that the early G r e e k s regarded the Northern k n o w l e d g e about the Other. Rather, as E d w a r d
barbarians as similarly exotic as, for example, Said has argued in his highly influential study
the E g y p t i a n s , the Hellenistic era inaugurated Orientalism (1978), in attempting to document
b y A l e x a n d e r the G r e a t ' s conquests to some the Orient (the Other, the opposite), the Occi­
extent integrated the Orient, shifting its eastern dent came to document itself. A t the same time,
boundaries to the far side o f the R i v e r Indus. I n paradoxically, the W e s t has y e t fully to a c ­
R o m a n times, w h e n the w h o l e Mediterranean k n o w l e d g e the fact that its culture relies on a
b e l o n g e d to a single dominion, the Orient con­ threefold legacy, constituted b y G r e e k , Latin,
stituted a minor factor o n the outskirts o f a and A r a b elements, of which the latter is large-
37i O R I E N T A L FAIRY T A L E S

ly ignored. Since exact k n o w l e d g e in certain genre and document the fact that e v e n minor
w a y s is counter-productive to imagination, the genres such as jokes and anecdotes formed part
lack of k n o w l e d g e appears as a prerequisite to o f the large narrative stock exchange taking
imaginative reception. Imagination, on the place between E u r o p e and the Orient. B e g i n ­
other hand, relies on specific preconceived con­ ning with the 16th century, the great period o f
ditions, which in their turn are outlined b y the translation, popular versions o f the important
accessibility of information as well as the cul­ narrative collections w e r e produced in the re­
tural background o f the informant, writer, or gional languages and continued to transmit
artist. T h i s implies certain misconceptions and oriental motifs to the W e s t e r n readership.
prejudices, since all parties implied are highly A case in point here is the collection Peregri-
susceptible to the influence of their societies. naggio di tre giovani figliuoli del re di Seren
T h e i r presentation o f the Orient as well as the (Voyage of the Three Young Sons of the King of
resulting literary production p r o v e d that o b v i ­ Ceylon), published 1557 in V e n i c e and written
ously, in the Western mind, imagination and b y a certain Christoforo A r m e n o . T h i s author,
reality possessed little overlap, o r rather that w h o s e identity has o n l y recently been con­
imagination overruled reality. firmed, compiled an adaptation o f the Persian
T h e s e are, in terms o f cultural history, the Hasht Behesht (Eight Paradises) b y A m i r K h o s -
general outlines one has to consider w h e n re­ rau o f D e l h i ( 1 2 5 3 - 1 3 2 5 ) , itself inspired b y the
searching the reception o f oriental narratives in famous Haft Peikar (Seven Portraits), by
Western literature. N e z a m i (d. 1209). T h e Peregrinaggio's frame
Oriental fiction in the E u r o p e a n literatures story is about three princes w h o p r o v e their e x ­
prior to 1700 had contributed to a more o r less treme sensitivity and cleverness to the Persian
v a g u e and general imaginative acquaintance emperor B a h r a m G u r ; within this frame, a
with the Orient. A s for English literature, as far number o f tales are told, the best k n o w n o f
back as the n t h century, fictitious descriptions w h i c h p r o b a b l y became the 'tall tale' about the
of the marvels of India are found in A n g l o - l u c k y hunter w h o shoots the foot and the ear o f
Saxon translations of legends concerning A l e x ­ a deer with one a r r o w . T h e Peregrinaggio w a s
ander the Great; m o r e o v e r , the romance o f extremely popular in late 17th- and 18th-cen­
Alexander itself, so popular all o v e r E u r o p e tury E u r o p e . F o l l o w i n g several Italian editions
(and the Islamic Orient), to a large extent is (1577,1584, etc.), it w a s translated into G e r m a n
indebted to oriental sources. T h e Middle A g e s (1583, 1599) and F r e n c h (1610). A F r e n c h re­
witnessed scholarly (Latin) translations o f w o r k i n g w a s published b y the chevalier de
some o f the great oriental collections o f tales, *Mailly (1719), again inspiring G e r m a n (1723),
such as Sendebar (Syntipas), Kalila and Dimna E n g l i s h (1722), and D u t c h (1766) translations.
or The Fables of Bidpai (the P e r s i a n / A r a b i c It w a s H o r a c e W a l p o l e ( 1 7 1 7 - 9 7 ) w h o after
adaptation o f the Indian *Panchatantra). T h e reading w h a t he labelled a 'silly fairy tale'
Disciplina Clericalis of Petrus A l p h o n s i , a coined the term 'serendipity', defined as 'the
Spanish J e w converted to Christianity, while faculty o f m a k i n g happy and unexpected dis­
drawing on oriental material, constitutes the coveries b y accident'. In the 17th century one
first European collection o f short novellas, in­ o f the most influential authors with respect to
augurating a n e w genre in E u r o p e a n literature. the adaptation o f oriental narrative w a s the
T h e narrative of Barlaam and Josaphat, one o f F r e n c h poet J e a n de L a Fontaine ( 1 6 2 1 - 9 5 ) .
the most popular legends in medieval E u r o p e , His Fables, published in 1668-93 in t w e l v e
derived largely from an Indo-Persian version b o o k s , notably in their latter half d r a w on the
of the legend of Buddha's youth. Medieval r o ­ oriental collection o f fables Kalila and Dimna.
mances, apologues, legends, and tales o f ad­ L a Fontaine in the course o f the 18th century
venture drew heavily on oriental motifs. w a s translated and adapted into most major
Famous English examples besides Arthurian E u r o p e a n languages.
romance include J o h n Mande ville's Travels or A l l previous instances o f the adaptation of
Chaucer's 'Squire's T a l e ' . R o m a n c e s of chiv­ oriental narrative in the W e s t are outshone b y
alry, travel (such as the Navigatio Sancti Bren- the o v e r w h e l m i n g success staged b y the recep­
dani) and adventure all o v e r E u r o p e , e v e n up tion o f The Arabian Nights in E u r o p e . T h o u g h
to the Icelandic saga incorporate oriental single tales from the Nights, as well as its frame
motifs. Collections of jocular tales such as the tale, had already been k n o w n in E u r o p e at least
Facetiae b y P o g g i o Bracciolini (compiled from the 14th century o n w a r d s ( G i o v a n n i *Ser-
around 1450) constitute a precursor to E u r o ­ cambi (1347—1424), Novelle; L u d o v i c o A r i o s t o
pean literature of the chapbook and vademecum (1474—1533), Orlando furioso), a comprehensive
ORIENTAL FAIRY T A L E S 372

edition w a s published b y the F r e n c h orientalist e.g. R o b e r t L o u i s *Stevenson, New Arabian

scholar A n t o i n e *Galland o n l y at the beginning Nights (1882); (5) Imitations pure and simple,
o f the 18th century. T w o arguments help to e.g. G e o r g e Meredith (1828—1909), Shaving of
understand the extraordinary success G a l l a n d ' s Shagpat: An Arabian Entertainment (1855); (6)
publication met with. T h e F r e n c h interest in Imitations more or less founded on genuine
the Orient had been g r o w i n g throughout the oriental sources, e.g. the Tales of the comte de
17th century in connection with the colonial *Caylus; (7) G e n u i n e oriental tales, e.g. Mille
and commercial expansion o f F r a n c e in the et un jours b y Pétis de la C r o i x .
reign o f L o u i s X I V ; m o r e o v e r , The Arabian T h e literary merit o f the European produc­
Nights w e r e ' d i s c o v e r e d ' in an atmosphere tion inspired b y oriental fairy tales has been
t h o r o u g h l y impregnated b y the narrative con­ evaluated highly divergently o v e r the centur­
ventions and fashion o f the conte de fées and ies. W h i l e W . A . Clouston (1843-96) regarded
their c r a v i n g for the extravagant. T h e m a g i c Frances Sheridan's Nourjehad as 'one of the
elements in the Nights combined with the expli­ v e r y best o f the imitations of Eastern fiction',
cit and unpretentious representation o f sexual­ R o b e r t I r w i n (1994) concedes only with a cer­
ity created a powerful inspiration for the tain reluctance 'strangeness and originality' to
E u r o p e a n imagination. C o n t r a r y to the w i d e ­ this moral tale, a genre he evaluates as boring,
spread depreciation o f contemporary oriental extremely exasperating, and 'leadenly moral'.
people ( w h o w e r e predominantly characterized I r w i n , in his chapter on 'Children of the
as proficient liars and thiefs, at best as cultural­ Nights', presents a number of European
ly degenerate), the Nights represented things authors w h o alluded to, b o r r o w e d from, or
oriental in an attractive garb w h i c h w a s all the w e r e influenced in one w a y or another b y the
more appealing to the E u r o p e a n taste since in Nights. T h e list of names he discusses in add­
G a l l a n d ' s adaptation the tales w e r e E u r o p e a n - ition to those already named includes Joseph
ized (and, in fact, Frenchified). A d d i s o n ( 1 6 7 2 - 1 7 1 9 ) , Samuel J o h n s o n (Rasse-
o n n
N o serious author o f F r e n c h , E n g l i s h , o r las: Prince of Abyssinia (1759)), J Hawkes-
G e r m a n literature o f the 18th and 19th centur­ w o r t h ( 1 7 1 5 - 7 3 ) , J e a n Potocki ( 1 7 6 1 - 1 8 1 5 ) ,
ies could a v o i d the challenge o f the Nights, and J a c q u e s *Cazotte (Les Mille et une fadaises,
most o f them in some w a y h a v e s h o w n that 1742), R o b e r t Southey (Thalaba the Destroyer,
they read (and l o v e d ) the Nights. In F r a n c e , the 1800), T h o m a s M o o r e (Lalla Rookh, 1817),
Nights first o f all prompted the publication of Samuel T a y l o r C o l e r i d g e (1772—1834), W a s h ­
other similar collections, such as the Mille et un ington *Irving, E d g a r A l l a n P o e ( ' T h e T h o u -
jours (Thousand and one days, 1710—12) b y sand-and-Second T a l e of Scheherazade'),
F r a n ç o i s Pétis de la C r o i x , and T h o m a s - S i m o n J a m e s J o y c e (1882—1941), Marcel Proust
*Gueulette's numerous compilations (Les mille ( 1 8 7 1 - 1 9 2 2 ) , J o r g e Luis *Borges (1899-1986),
et un quarts d'heure, 1 7 1 2 ; Aventures merveil­ and Salman *Rushdie (Haroun and the Sea of
leuses du mandarin Fum-Hoam, 1723; Sultanes Stories, 1990). M a n y more writers w e r e influ­
de Gu^arate, 1732; Mille et une heures, contes enced b y the Nights, such as the French F l a u b ­
péruviens, 1733). T h e oriental m o d e these ert, Stendhal, D u m a s , and Gobineau; the
w o r k s inaugurated also inspired Montesquieu's English W a l t e r Scott, T h a c k e r a y , *Dickens,
Lettres persanes (1721), and * V o l taire claimed to C o n a n D o y l e , and A n g e l a *Carter; the Russian
h a v e read the Nights 14 t i m e s — t h o u g h he did *Pushkin and T o l s t o y ; the G e r m a n *Goethe,
not necessarily share the sympathetic attitude *Wieland, Mirger, E . T . A . *Hoffmann, R i i c k -
towards the contemporary oriental craze. ert, *Hauff, Grillparzer, and *Chamisso. In­
W . F . K i r b y in his s u r v e y o f 'Imitations and deed, according to Irwin, it might be easier to
miscellaneous w o r k s h a v i n g more or less con­ discuss those writers w h o w e r e not influenced
nection with the N i g h t s ' (1885) classified the b y the Nights.
aftermath o f the Nights according to seven cat­ T h e term 'orientalism', in the coinage it has
egories, w h i c h are not a l w a y s clearly defined: acquired in recent decades, primarily denotes
(1) Satires on the N i g h t s themselves, e.g. the N e a r East or Middle East. T a k e n in a wider
A n t h o n y *Hamilton; (2) Satires in an oriental sense, a similar attitude of cultural and intellec­
g a r b , e.g. W i l l i a m B e c k f o r d (1760—1844), His­ tual h e g e m o n y applies to other areas of the
tory of the Caliph Vathek (French original 1787, Orient, and terms such as ' E g y p t o m a n i a c ' ,
unauthorized E n g l i s h translation 1786); (3) ' C h i n o i s e r i e ' , or 'Japonaiserie' have been
Moral tales in an oriental g a r b , e.g. Frances coined to denote comparable uncritical and
Sheridan, Nourjahad (1767); (4) Fantastic tales self-revealing attitudes of exploiting the orien­
with nothing oriental about them but the name, tal Other. O n e specific aspect that separates
 OUTHWAITE, IDA RENTOUL
373

oriental fairy tales in Western literature (or Imagination: Lessons from the Rushdie Affair
(1990).
fairy tales à l'orientale) from the literature o f
other regions is that the tales in general are OSSORIO Y BERNARD, MANUEL ( 1 8 3 9 - 1 9 0 4 ) ,
evaluated as the Islamic Orient's major contri­ writer and distinguished journalist w h o collab­
bution to w o r l d literature. In the W e s t e r n orated with several magazines and newspapers,
evaluation, they are foreign enough to be ap­ both for adults and for children. H e d e v o t e d
pealing, yet they appear familiar enough not to much attention to i m p r o v i n g children's educa­
remain entirely exotic. It might, h o w e v e r , be tion, and for this reason w r o t e several chil­
useful to keep in mind that the Orient as de­ dren's b o o k s full o f short stories, tales,
picted in its tales portrays a narrative w o r l d epigrams, and short p o e m s , all o f w h i c h had a
with a similar degree o f fantasy and i m a g i n ­ clear moralistic intention. T h r e e collections
ation as do its Western adaptations. E s p e c i a l l y are: Lecturas de la infancia {Childhood Readings,
in the 19th century, m a n y E u r o p e a n s believed 1880), Cuentos novelescos {Fantastic Tales,
the w o r l d of The Arabian Nights to present a 1884), and Cuentos ejemplares {Exemplary
faithful reproduction o f oriental reality, so they Tales, 1896). T h e fairy tale o f ' T h e F i s h e r m a n
confused the real East with the E a s t of the stor­ and his W i f e ' w a s revised twice b y O s s o r i o y
ies. T h e decidedly negative response o f the B e r n a r d , first in ' U n cuento de viejas' ( ' A n O l d
A r a b - A m e r i c a n community to the depiction o f C r o n e ' s T a l e ' , 1862) and secondly in ' L a mujer
oriental reality in * D i s n e y ' s *Aladdin p r o v e d , if del pescador. B a l a d a ' ( ' T h e F i s h e r m a n ' s W i f e .
such a p r o o f be needed after the affair (1989) B a l l a d ' , 1859). C F

initiated b y Salman *Rushdie's Satanic Verses,

that towards the end o f the 20th century a dif­ OUTHWAITE, IDA RENTOUL (fl. 1 9 2 0 - 3 5 ) , A u s ­
ferent kind of sensitivity might be required in tralian writer and illustrator w h o collaborated
dealing with the narrative adaptation of orien­ with her husband G r e n b r y in several picture
tal fairy tales. UM b o o k s about fairies. T h e s e differ from E n g l i s h
Caracciolo, Peter L. (ed.), The Arabian Nights in fairy b o o k s o f the period o n l y b y the occasion­
English Literature ( 1 9 8 8 ) . al introduction o f k o o k a b u r r a s , koalas, and
Conant, Martha P., The Oriental Tale in England gum trees. In The Enchanted Forest (1921)
in the Eighteenth Century ( 1 9 0 8 ) . A n n e joins in fairy revels and sees ' a d u c k y lit­
Irwin, Robert, The Arabian Nights: A Companion tle b a b y - b o y ' , w h i c h later turns out to be her
(1994).
o w n n e w little brother. In The Little Fairy Sis­
Kabbani, Rana, Europe's Myth of Orient: Devise
ter (1923) B r i d g e t visits her dead sister N a n c y
and Rule ( 1 9 8 6 ) .
in 'the l o v e l y country o f the F a i r i e s ' . The Little
Meester, Marie E. de, Oriental Influences in the
English Literature of the Nineteenth Century Green Road to Fairyland (1922) has a rather
m o r e l i v e l y story b y Outhwaite's sister, A n n i e
Sardar, Z., and Davies, M. W . , Distorted Rentoul. GA
 techniques w h i c h , along with Cinerama, he
later e m p l o y e d partly in service o f the
* G r i m m s . B o r n in H u n g a r y , P a l made his first
f i l m — a n advertisement s h o w i n g cigarettes
marching in and out o f their p a c k a g e s — i n
1934. D u r i n g the next five y e a r s , w o r k i n g in
H o l l a n d , he developed a series o f short films
w h i c h he called Puppetoons. T h e y w e r e car­
toon-style stories told b y means o f three-
dimensional animation, in w h i c h Pal achieved
fluency o f m o v e m e n t b y h a v i n g a different
puppet made for each frame o f film. F o r each
PAGET, FRANCIS (1806-82), E n g l i s h c l e r g y m a n eight-minute Puppetoon, around 6,000 w o o d ­
and author o f The Hope of the Kat^ekopfs en figures had to be individually carved and
(1844), the first published fantasy for children. painted. T h i s system w a s expensive, but the re­
Written under the name ' W i l l i a m C h u r n e o f sults it achieved w e r e popular; Pal m o v e d to
Staffordshire', it contains the p o e m ' F a r e w e l l , the U S A in 1939, w h e r e his O s c a r helped him
rewards and fairies' b y B i s h o p R i c h a r d C o r b e t c a r r y on m a k i n g Puppetoons for another ten
(1582—1635). It is a l i v e l y burlesque w h i c h c o n ­ years.
cludes on a m o r a l note, telling the story o f the A l l this time he wanted to g o b e y o n d the
spoilt P r i n c e E i g e n w i l l i g ( S e l f - w i l l e d ) , w h o is eight-minute format and make a full-length
w r e n c h e d a w a y from his doting parents b y the Puppetoon feature, but the enormous cost de­
fairy A b r a c a d a b r a . S h e rolls him into a rubber terred potential backers. In the 1950s in
ball and bounces him to F a i r y l a n d w h e r e he E n g l a n d , he w a s finally able to direct an adap­
has to submit to the g r a v e old m a n , Discipline, tation o f the G r i m m s ' ' T h u m b l i n g ' (*'Little
before he can return h o m e . GA T o m T h u m b ' ) , under the title Tom Thumb
( U K , 1958). It w a s , h o w e v e r , mainly live-ac­
PAINE, ALBERT BIGELOW ( 1 8 6 1 - 1 9 3 7 ) , editor tion, with R u s s T a m b l y n in the title role. O n l y
and author o f a b i o g r a p h y o f M a r k * T w a i n , a small Puppetoon element remained.
w r o t e a n u m b e r o f children's b o o k s , including T h e attraction o f the story to P a l lay in the
The Arkansaw Bear (1898), an original fantasy size difference between T o m and the other
about a homeless b o y w h o meets a fiddle-play­ characters, not in the original narrative, virtu­
i n g bear. T h e y w a n d e r through A r k a n s a s , fid­ ally all o f w h i c h he jettisoned. T o m ' s adven­
dling and dancing for their k e e p , the bear's tures inside a c o w ' s stomach, and later inside a
music h a v i n g Orpheus-like p o w e r s o v e r listen­ wolf, w e r e omitted as being distasteful and
ers. P a i n e ' s ' H o l l o w T r e e ' series consists o f unfilmable. His method o f riding a h o r s e — s i t ­
short stories about animals, reminiscent o f J o e l ting inside its ear and g i v i n g instructions from
C h a n d l e r *Harris's U n c l e R e m u s tales. GA t h e r e — i s one o f the few details retained.
T h e r e are also t w o robbers w h o , as in the ori­
PAJON, HENRI (.^-1776), F r e n c h l a w y e r w h o ginal, use T o m to help them steal from the
enjoyed an early career as a successful author t o w n ' s coffers. T h e rest o f the screen time is
of fabliaux. H e w r o t e several fairy tales, in­ taken up b y a romance between a mortal
cluding 'Eritzine & P a r e l i n ' (1744), ' L ' E n c h a n ­ ( W o o d y the piper) and an immortal (the F o r ­
teur, ou la b a g u e de puissance' ( ' T h e S o r c e r e r est Q u e e n ) ; b y T o m singing and dancing; b y
a n
o r the M a g i c a l R i n g ' , 1745), d 'Histoire des T o m ' s efforts to p r o v e that his parents are not
trois fils d ' H a l i B a s s a ' ( T h e S t o r y o f Hali B a s - thieves; and b y a sequence i n v o l v i n g P u p p e ­
sa's T h r e e S o n s ' , 1745), w h i c h w e r e first p u b ­ toon c h a r a c t e r s — C o n - F u - S h o n (an oriental
lished p s e u d o n y m o u s l y in the monthly Mercure s a g e ) , T h u m b e l l a (a female counterpart to
de France. Incorporating the oriental setting T o m ) , and a Y a w n i n g Man.
and characters o f A Thousand and One Nights F o u r y e a r s later P a l returned to the G r i m m s
(see ARABIAN NIGHTS), his tales are distin­ as co-director o f a romantic musical which w a s
guished b y their elaborate plots, embedded about W i l h e l m and J a c o b themselves as well as
narratives, and proliferation o f magical objects w h a t they collected. Called The Wonderful
and beings. AZ World of the Brothers Grimm ( U S A , 1962), it
had been chosen as a g o o d subject for exploit­
P A L , GEORGE (1908—80), O s c a r - w i n n e r in 1943 i n g the potential o f a n e w three-directional
for the d e v e l o p m e n t o f n e w film animation cinematography and projection system called
 PANZINI, ALFREDO
375

Cinerama, which produced an image up to 10 centuries; the oldest extant v e r s i o n , w h i c h is

metres (30 feet) high and 30 metres (90 feet) regarded as quite close to the original, is the
wide on a curved screen. Within the film are Tantrakhayika ( T a l e s containing a system o f
embedded dramatizations, directed b y P a l , o f w i s d o m ) , attributed to a certain V i s h n u s h a r -
three of the stories the brothers record: ' T h e man. T h e Panchatantra w a s circulated in the
D a n c i n g Princess' (reduced to one from the W e s t b y a series o f adaptations and translations
twelve o f the original), ' T h e C o b b l e r and the in v a r i o u s languages: the Persian physician
E l v e s ' , and ' T h e S i n g i n g B o n e ' . B u r z o y (6th century) prepared a ( n o w lost)
T h e first in particular w a s shaped to m a x i ­ middle-Persian adapted v e r s i o n , w h i c h also
mize its Cineramic possibilities. F o r one s e ­ incorported tales d e r i v e d from the Indian n a ­
quence the three-in-one C i n e r a m a camera w a s tional epic Mahabharata ( T h e great [tale about
strapped underneath four coach-pulling horses, the w a r o f the] Bharata f a m i l y ) ; this text in turn
in order to capture for v i e w e r s the sensation o f served as the basis for the A r a b i c adaptation b y
being surrounded b y flying h o o v e s ; for another Ibn al-Muqaffa (first half o f the 8th c e n t u r y ) ,
it w a s mounted inside a giant drum careering named after t w o jackal protagonists Kabila and
d o w n a hillside, to c o n v e y the experience o f Dimna. T h e most influential text for W e s t e r n
falling and rolling. In the second story P a l tradition w a s the Latin version o f Kalila and
went back to his Puppetoon technique to bring Dimna, the Directorium vitae humanae (Manual
the elves to life; in the last o n e , to animate the of instructions for human life; compiled
mighty dragon, he resorted to a rival, cheaper, 1263—78) b y the converted J e w J o h n o f C a p u a .
system which w a s based on h a v i n g just one Neither the Panchatantra n o r its later v e r ­
creature-model, with m o v a b l e parts. D e ­ sions contain fairy tales in the n a r r o w sense,
veloped in 1933 for King Kong, it had been r e ­ n o r e v e n tales o f m a g i c . O n the other hand,
v i v e d with spectacular success in the 1950s, some o f its tales h a v e circulated w i d e l y , since
under the name D y n a m a t i o n , for The Seventh they offer moral instruction in an attractive
Voyage of Sinbad. narrative g a r b . A m o n g the b e s t - k n o w n tales
Pal carried on w o r k i n g in films for m o r e are ' L l e w e l y n and his D o g ' (in w h i c h a faithful
than another decade, but did not revisit either d o g is killed b y rash action; 5.2) and ' T h e M a n
the G r i m m s o r the Puppetoons. TAS w h o builds air castles' (5.13). UM
Benfey, Theodor, Pantschatantra (2 vols., 1859).
PALACIO VALDÉS, ARMANDO (1853—1937), S p a n ­ De Blois, François, Bur^oy's Voyage to India and
ish novelist w h o belonged to the school o f lit­ the Origin of the Book of Kalilah wa Dimna
erary realism. His w o r k s are characterized b y
(1990).
Edgerton, Franklin, The Panchatantra
his profound longing for a simple w o r l d , his
Reconstructed (2 vols., 1881).
relish for the idyllic, and his unconditional Hertel, Johannes, Tantrakhyayika (2 vols.,
defence o f traditional virtues. A s well as w r i t ­ 1909).
ing novels, Palacio V a l d é s composed a g o o d
number o f short stories, 20 o f which w e r e p u b ­ PANCRAZI, PIETRO ( 1 8 9 3 - 1 9 5 2 ) , Italian literary
lished in a collection called Aguasfuertes (Etch­ critic, journalist, and writer. P r i m a r i l y k n o w n
ings, 1884). N o n e o f his stories can b e said to b e for his penetrating critical essays, Pancrazi left
literary renditions o f the folk-tale tradition, the t w o collections o f tales, L'Esopo moderno (The
exception being ' E l crimen de la calle de la P e r - Modern Aesop, 1930) and Donne e buoi deipaesi
seguida' ( ' T h e C r i m e o f L a Perseguida Street', tuoi (Women and Oxen of your Home Countries,
1884), which is based on a Spanish popular tale. 1934). M a n y o f Pancrazi's tales, especially the
CF ' A e s o p i a n ' ones, are short and amusing, but d o
not disguise the author's social c o m m e n t a r y
PANCHATANTRA (Sanskrit: Five Books), famous and ironic intent, as seen in ' L e età d e l l ' u o m o '
Indian collection o f fables and other m o r a l l y ( ' T h e A g e o f M a n ' ) , 'Politica del pipistrello'
instructive tales. T h e Panchatantra belongs to ( ' T h e Politics o f the O v e r c o a t ' ) , and ' C r i t i c i '
the literary genre o f mirror for princes, intend­ ('Critics'). MNP
ing to teach w i s d o m to future rulers. Its five
books treat the following topics: (1) disunion PANZINI, ALFREDO ( 1 8 6 3 - 1 9 3 9 ) , Italian w r i t e r
of friends, (2) gaining o f friends, (3) w a r and and literary critic. Panzini's c o n s e r v a t i v e idea
peace, (4) loss o f possession, (5) consequence of society, as it transpires from La Lanterna di
of rash action. T h e author o f the Panchatantra Diogene (The Lantern of Diogenes, 1907) and / /
is unknown. T h e b o o k ' s original text, n o w lost, padrone sono me (I Am the Boss, 1922), stands in
was probably compiled between the 1st and 6th contrast with his masterful rendering of
PARDO B A Z A N , EMILIA 376

w o m e n characters in his best w o r k s , n a m e l y his most notable w e r e E u g e n e Field's Poems of

Santippe (1913) and Ilbacio diLesbia {The Kiss Childhood (1904), The ^Arabian Nights (1909),
ofLesbia, 1937). Panzini's interest in the fantas- Tanglewood Tales (1910), and The Knave of
tic is evident in Le fiabe della Virtu {The Fairy Hearts (1925). F o r Hearst Magazine, Parrish
Tales of Virtue, 1 9 1 1 ) and I tre re con Gelsomino created a series of covers based on fairy tales,
buffone del re {The Three Kings with Gelsomino, including ' T h e * F r o g P r i n c e ' , * ' S n o w W h i t e ' ,
the King's Clown, 1927). H i s tales, often based and ""Sleeping B e a u t y ' , n o w much sought after
on classical models, speak o f k i n g s and villains, b y collectors. E v e n t u a l l y , Parrish g r e w tired,
and o f the w i s d o m o f r e w a r d i n g ingenuity. 'Il as he said, o f 'girls on rocks' and devoted the
tesoro rubato' ( ' T h e Stolen T r e a s u r e ' ) , from remainder o f his life to landscapes. SR
Novelline divertenti per bambini intelligenti Gilbert, Alma, Maxfield Parrish: The
{Amusing Stories for Intelligent Children, 1937) Masterworks ( 1 9 9 2 ) .
is a g o o d e x a m p l e . MNP Ludwig, Coy, Maxfield Parrish (1973).

PARDO B A Z A N , EMILIA ( 1 8 5 1 - 1 9 2 1 ) , Spanish PASOLINI, PIER PAOLO ( 1 9 2 2 - 7 5 ) , Italian poet,

novelist and short-story w r i t e r and major p r o - writer, and film director. In 1974 he directed / /
ponent o f naturalism in her country. S h e w r o t e fiore délie mille e una notte {The Flower of The
several hundred short stories that h a v e been Thousand and One Nights), part of the 'trilogy
u n a n i m o u s l y praised b y the critics and c o n - of life' which also included the Decameron
sidered, in most cases, perfect models o f the (1971) and Iraccontidi Canterbury (1972). P a s o -
g e n r e . H e r œuvre includes stories ranging from lini does a w a y with The ^Arabian Nights frame
the h u m o r o u s to the historical, from the r o - tale, and adapts a number of its tales into a
mantic to the religious. S h e also w r o t e fantasy c o m p l e x l y embedded narrative structure. T h e
tales, some o f w h i c h m a y be said to h a v e been film is a celebration o f sexual delights, and in
influenced b y the fairy-tale g e n r e , such as ' E l its polemic mythicizing of a homoerotic, non-
principe a m a d o ' ( ' T h e B e l o v e d P r i n c e ' , 1884), W e s t e r n , peasant society is one of the most
' E l llanto' ( ' T h e W e e p i n g ' , 1905), and ' E l b a l - suggestive rewritings o f the Nights. NC
con de la princesa' ( ' T h e Princess's B a l c o n y ' , Rumble, Patrick, 'Stylistic Contamination in the
1907). ' A g r a v a n t e ' ( ' T h e A g g r a v a t i n g C i r c u m - Trilogia della vita: The Case of //fiore délie mille
stance', 1892) is an example o f a literary narra- e una notte', in Patrick Rumble and Bart Testa
tion inspired b y a traditional story, that o f ' L a (eds.), Pier Paolo Pasolini: Contemporary
matrona de E f e s o ' ( ' T h e Matron o f E p h e s u s ' ) . Perspectives (1994).
CF

PATON, JOSEPH NOËL ( 1 8 2 1 - 1 9 0 1 ) , Scottish il-

PARRISH, MAXFIELD (1870-1966), A m e r i c a n
lustrator and painter, w h o s e w o r k s have strong
painter, muralist, illustrator, and commercial
religious features. H e achieved fame as an
artist. E n c o u r a g e d b y his father, an etcher, and
illustrator with his drawings for Charles
b y H o w a r d * P y l e , Parrish b e g a n his long and
* K i n g s l e y ' s Water-Babies (1863). His other
phenomenally successful career in 1895 with a
successful illustrated fairy-tale b o o k s are Com-
c o v e r for Harper's Magazine and a mural o f Old
positions from ^Shakespeare's Tempest (1845)
King Cole for the M a s k and W i g C l u b in P h i l a -
and The Princess of Silverland and Other Tales
delphia. F r o m the outset, he specialized in fan-
(1874). H e frequently mixed motifs from Celtic
t a s y — i n idyllic landscapes and cloud castles
myths and Arthurian romance in his paintings.
peopled with whimsical o r idealized figures,
His most famous w o r k , The Reconciliation of
controlled b y a strong sense o f design and ren-
Oberon and Titania, hangs in the National G a l -
dered in a luminous, photo-realistic style en-
lery o f Scotland. JZ
tirely his o w n . Often, his pictures are suffused
with c o l o u r — g o l d , crimson, or the intense
' P a r r i s h blue'. T h e first b o o k Parrish illus- PAULDING, JAMES KIRKE (1778-1860), A m e r i -
trated w a s L . F r a n k * B a u m ' s first as w e l l , can satirist and writer o f realistic stories, pub-
*Mother Goose in Prose (1897), followed b y The lished his only fantasy, A Christmas Gift from
Golden Age (1899) and Dream Days (1902) b y Fairyland, a n o n y m o u s l y in 1839, seemingly the
K e n n e t h * G r a h a m e . T h e s e illustrations w e r e first fairy stories in a N e w W o r l d landscape. It
executed in black and white, using a stippled contains four tales inside a frame story about a
pen-and-ink technique; i m p r o v e m e n t s in c o l - K e n t u c k y trapper w h o finds in his trap 'the
our printing enabled Parrish to illustrate later queerest little vermint w o m e n I e v e r did see'.
b o o k s with g l o w i n g full-colour plates. A m o n g T h e stories the fairies leave reflect Paulding's
 PENTAMERONE
377

v i e w s about the value o f imagination, and the A n t i c , F r o l i c , and Fantastic, b e c o m e lost in a

G o d - g i v e n freedom of the N e w W o r l d . ' T h e forest and are rescued b y O l d C l u n c h , w h o
Nameless Old W o m a n ' , set in N e w A m s t e r ­ takes them to his cottage. A f t e r M a d g e , his
dam, introduces such A m e r i c a n elements as w i f e , serves them supper, she regales them with
witches and St Nicholas. GA a m a r v e l l o u s fairy tale, and, as she begins
speaking, the characters o f the tale arrive and
PEACOCK, THOMAS LOVE (1785-1866), British act it out. T h e story concerns the evil magician
novelist, poet, and satirist, w h o composed t w o Sacrapant, w h o has imprisoned the l o v e l y
romances inspired b y British and W e l s h folk­ maiden D e l i a in a castle. O t h e r characters in­
lore in which he adeptly combined romanti­ clude her sister w h o has been d r i v e n insane,
cism with biting political satire. Maid Marian and her husband transformed into an old m a n
(1822), as the title suggests, is based on the b y d a y and a bear that g u a r d s a crossroads b y
folklore of R o b i n H o o d , P e a c o c k ' s main night. N o t until the virtuous knight E u m e -
source being J o s e p h R i t s o n ' s Robin Hood: A nides, w h o is assisted b y the ghost o f ""Jack the
Collection of All the Ancient Poems, Songs, and G i a n t K i l l e r , arrives on the scene can Sacrapant
Ballads Now Extant Relative to that Celebrated be defeated. JZ
Outlaw (1795). In 1822 Maid Marian w a s made
into a comic opera, with libretto b y J . R . ""Plan­ PENTAMERONE, secondary title o f Giambattista
ché. F o r The Misfortunes of Elfin (1829), P e a ­ ""Basile's Lo cunto de li cunti overo lo trattene-
cock drew heavily from W e l s h folklore, the miento de peccerille ( The Tale of Tales, or Enter­
sources of which his W e l s h wife, J a n e G r y f - tainment for Little Ones, 1634—6). T h e name
fydh, helped him translate. H e r e P e a c o c k Pentamerone appeared on the dedication p a g e
intertwined traditional W e l s h folk ballads with of the first edition, published posthumously. It
ironic parodies o f contemporary political dis­ w a s subsequently included on the title-page in
course, resulting in one of his most acclaimed P o m p e o ""Sarnelli's 1674 edition o f Lo cunto;
works. AD whether Basile had anything to do with this al­
ternative title is uncertain.
PEAKE, MERVYN LAURENCE ( 1 9 1 1 - 6 8 ) , author o f T h e Pentamerone is c o m p o s e d o f 49 fairy
three Gothic fantasy novels, Titus Groan tales contained b y a 50th frame story, also a
(1946), Gormenghast (1950), and Titus Alone fairy tale, and is the first such framed collection
(1959), which describe the life o f T i t u s , 77th of literary fairy tales to appear in E u r o p e a n lit­
earl of G r o a n in his d e c a y i n g ancestral h o m e of erature. T h e tales are told in Neapolitan dialect
G o r m e n g h a s t castle, his struggle to escape b y ten grotesque old w o m e n o v e r five d a y s ; the
from it and to find a n e w identity. P e a k e in his end o f the frame tale closes the collection.
lifetime w a s better k n o w n as an illustrator. H e D a y s 2—5 are preceded b y a banquet and enter­
excelled at the grotesque and macabre, and his tainment, and d a y s 1—4 conclude with eclogues
drawings for L e w i s ""Carroll's The Hunting of in dialogue form that satirize c o n t e m p o r a r y s o ­
the Snark (1941) and the t w o "Alice b o o k s (1946 cial ills.
and 1954) are a m o n g his finest w o r k , as are T h e frame tells o f Princess Z o z a , w h o has
those for the ""Grimm Brothers' Household n e v e r laughed. O n c e she does laugh, a m y s t e r i ­
Tales (1946). G A ous old w o m a n tells her that she must rescue a
certain prince T a d e o from a sleeping spell and
PEELE, GEORGE ( c i 5 5 8 - 9 6 ) , E n g l i s h dramatist, then m a r r y him. A s she is completing the task
regarded as one of the 'university wits' w h o necessary to w a k e him, she falls asleep and a
made a major contribution to the development black s l a v e , L u c i a , finishes the j o b . T a d e o
of English drama during the Elizabethan a w a k e s and marries L u c i a . Z o z a then m o v e s
period. A s i d e from writing several o f the lord into a palace facing T a d e o ' s and tempts L u c i a ,
m a y o r ' s pageants in L o n d o n , Peele w r o t e five n o w pregnant, with three m a g i c objects p r e v i ­
plays representative o f different genres: The ously g i v e n to her b y fairies. L u c i a demands to
Arraignment of Paris (c.1584), a court pageant; h a v e them; the last object instils in her the need
Edward / (1592—3?), a chronicle play; The Bat­ to hear tales. T a d e o s u m m o n s the best story­
tle of Alcazar (c.1589), a patriotic drama; The tellers o f his k i n g d o m , and the first d a y b e g i n s .
Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe (c.1589), T h e Pentamerone contains m a n y famous
a biblical piece written in verse; The Old Wives' fairy-tale types, such as ""'Sleeping B e a u t y ' ,
Tale (1591—4?), a burlesque and p a r o d y o f ""'Puss-in-Boots', and ""Cinderella', and held
chivalric romance, which could be considered great interest for later fairy-tale writers (in p a r ­
a fairy-tale play. T h r e e w a n d e r i n g knights, ticular, the ""Grimms) and scholars. It consti-
PEREDA, JOSÉ M A R I A DE 378

tuted a culmination o f the interest in popular 20 stories, t w e l v e are of a fantastic nature. T h e

culture and folk traditions that permeated the latter, recently published in a collection en-
Renaissance, and w a s one of the most signifi- titled Cuentos Fantdsticos {Fantastic Tales,
cant expressions o f the b a r o q u e poetics o f the 1996), suggest that Pérez G a l d ô s w a s influ-
m a r v e l l o u s and its thirst for d i s c o v e r i n g n e w enced at least in part b y E . T . A . *Hoffmann
inspirations for and forms o f artistic expres- and E d g a r A l l a n P o e . In particular, his tale ' L a
sion. Structurally, Basile's tales are close to the princesa y el granuja' ( ' T h e Princess and the
oral tradition from w h i c h they d r a w . But
U r c h i n ' , 1977) bears some resemblance to
through the use o f Neapolitan as a literary lan-
Hoffmann's ' T h e Sandman' (1817) to the e x -
g u a g e , the extravagant metaphor, and the
tent that the central male characters in both
abundant representations o f the rituals o f daily
stories fall in l o v e with a w a x doll. CF
life, Basile's versions o f these tales b e c o m e a
laboratory o f rhetorical experimentation as
w e l l as an encyclopaedia o f Neapolitan popular
culture. In his w o r k Basile also e n g a g e s in a PERODl, EMMA ( 1 8 5 0 - 1 9 1 8 ) , Italian writer and
playfully polemical dialogue w i t h contempor- journalist. She devoted most of her life to chil-
ary s o c i e t y — e s p e c i a l l y courtly c u l t u r e — a n d dren's literature, serving as editor of the most
the canonical literary tradition, a b o v e all the important children's periodical of her time,
Italian n o v e l l a tradition, w h o s e most illustrious Giornaleper i bambini {Children's Journal), edit-
exponent w a s B o c c a c c i o . NC ing scholastic b o o k s for use in elementary
schools, and, a b o v e all, producing numerous
Canepa, Nancy L . , From Court to Forest: collections o f fairy tales. A m o n g these collec-
Giambattista Basile s 'Lo cunto de li cunti' and the tions are: Al tempo dei tempi . . . Fiabe e leg-
Birth of the Literary Fairy Tale (1999). gende del Mare, délie Città e dei Monti di Sicilia
Croce, Benedetto, Intro, to Giambattista Basile, {In Days of Old . . . Fairy Tales and Legends
Il pentamerone (1982). from the Sea, Cities, and Mountains of Sicily),
Guaragnella, Pasquale, Le maschere di Democrito Fate e Fiori {Fairies and Flowers), Il Paradiso dei
e Eraclito: Scritture e malinconie tra Cinque e
folletti {The Paradise of Elves), La Bacchetta
Seicento (1990).
Fatata {The Enchanted Wand), Le Fate Belle
Petrini, Mario, / / gran Basile (1989).
{The Beautiful Fairies), Le Fate d'Oro {The
Rak, Michèle, Intro, to Giambattista Basile, Lo
Golden Fairies), Nell'antro dell'orco {In the
cunto de li cunti (1986).
Ogre's Cave), and Le novelle della nonna
PEREDA, JOSÉ M A R I A DE ( 1 8 3 3 - 1 9 0 6 ) , Spanish {Grandmother's Tales). A l t h o u g h Perodi w a s
realistic novelist w h o had an idyllic vision o f active in the y e a r s w h e n major folkloric collec-
the rural w o r l d w h i c h he opposed to the cor- tions w e r e being assembled in Italy, her tales
rupt urban w o r l d . P e r e d a ' s style is character- w e r e not the product o f scientifically conducted
ized by linguistic archaisms, and his field research, but offered a creative re-elabor-
descriptions o f the northern Spanish landscape ation o f the oral tradition.
h a v e received much praise. A s a writer of short Le novelle della nonna (1892), her most im-
stories, P e r e d a published several collections, portant w o r k , comprises 45 tales, many of
such as Escenas montahesas {Mountainous w h i c h are fairy tales. T h e realistic frame tale
Scenes, 1864) and Tipos y paisajes {Types and narrates the life o f the Marcuccis, a peasant
Landscapes, 1871), in w h i c h he included t w o family that lives in the T u s c a n countryside.
stories w o r t h mentioning: ' P a r a ser buen T h e first tale is told around the family hearth
arriero...' ( ' I f Y o u W a n t T o B e a G o o d M u l e - on Christmas E v e b y the Marcucci matriarch
teer...', 1871), based on the popular Spanish and designated storyteller R e g i n a , and the tales
tale ' E l zapatero p o b r e ' ( ' T h e P o o r C o b b l e r ' ) , continue into the following N o v e m b e r . T h e
and ' A l a m o r de los tizones' ( ' B y the F i r e s i d e ' , Novelle are generally told on Sundays or holi-
1871). T h e latter is a story about a gathering o f d a y s , and are punctuated b y the 'real' stories of
country people w h o enjoy listening to U n c l e the Marcucci family, which include marriages,
T a n a s i o ' s famous fairy stories. CF n e w jobs, and food shortages; indeed, R e g i n a
often chooses her tales on the basis of the con-
PÉREZ GALDÔS, BENITO ( 1 8 4 3 - 1 9 2 0 ) , most i m - solation or instruction that they m a y offer to
portant Spanish novelist in the 19th century. members of the family. T h e conclusion to the
H i s contribution to the short-story genre has frame takes place a y e a r later, on Christmas
been traditionally o v e r l o o k e d , and not until re- D a y , w h e n the birth o f a b a b y brings new hope
cently h a v e his tales been published together to the Marcucci family, although w e also learn
and regarded as a valuable corpus. Out o f his that six months later R e g i n a dies.
379 PERRAULT, CHARLES

Perodi's tales are distinguished b y a v i v i d l y great deal in the arts and sciences o w i n g to
expressive style, b y the juxtaposition o f cred- C o l b e r t ' s p o w e r and influence. In 1671 he w a s
ible and incredible scenarios and domestic and elected to the A c a d é m i e F r a n ç a i s e and w a s also
fantastic topographies, b y the attraction to the placed in charge o f the r o y a l buildings. H e
dark and the cruel, and b y the presence o f b i - continued w r i t i n g poetry and took an active
zarre and macabre figures, as w e see, for e x - interest in cultural affairs o f the court. In 1672
ample, in the tales 'Il morto risuscitato' ( ' R i s e n he married Marie G u i c h o n , w i t h w h o m he had
from the D e a d ' ) , ' I l teschio di A m a l z i a b e n e ' three sons. She died in childbirth in 1678, and
('Amalziabene's S k u l l ' ) , ' L a fidanzata dello he n e v e r remarried, supervising the education
scheletro' ( ' T h e Skeleton's F i a n c é e ' ) , ' M o n a of his children b y himself.
Bice e i tre figli storpi' ( ' L a d y Bice and her W h e n C o l b e r t died in 1683, Perrault w a s
T h r e e Crippled S o n s ' ) , ' I l ragazzo con due dismissed from g o v e r n m e n t s e r v i c e , but he had
teste' ( ' T h e B o y with T w o H e a d s ' ) , ' L ' i m p i c - a substantial pension and w a s able to support
cato v i v o ' ( " H u n g A l i v e ' ) , and ' I l lupo his family until his death. R e l e a s e d from g o v -
mannaro' ( ' T h e W e r e w o l f ) . A l t h o u g h within ernmental duties, Perrault could concentrate
the frame R e g i n a m a y stress the didactic func- m o r e on literary affairs, and in 1687 he i n a u g -
tion o f her tales, P e r o d i ' s tales are too contra- urated the famous ' Q u a r r e l o f the Ancients and
dictory and uncanny to be considered as the M o d e r n s ' ('Querelle des A n c i e n s et des
exempla in the 'literature o f acculturation' for M o d e r n e s ' ) b y reading a p o e m entitled ' L e
children that w a s being created in this period in Siècle de L o u i s le G r a n d ' . Perrault took the
Italy and in E u r o p e . Ultimately, the Novelle side o f modernism and believed that F r a n c e
celebrate the pleasures o f narration and the d e - and Christianity could p r o g r e s s o n l y if they in-
lectable indeterminacy o f the fantastic w o r l d s corporated p a g a n beliefs and folklore and d e -
that they depict in order to resist a n y socializ- v e l o p e d a culture o f enlightenment. O n the
ing project, and it is perhaps for this reason that other hand, N i c o l a s B o i l e a u , the literary critic,
they still hold appeal for us today. NC and J e a n R a c i n e , the dramatist, took the o p p o s -
Faeti, Antonio, Intro, to Emma Perodi, Fiabe ite v i e w p o i n t and a r g u e d that F r a n c e had to
fantastiche: Le novelle della nonna ( 1 9 9 3 ) . imitate the great empires o f G r e e c e and R o m e
and maintain stringent classical rules in respect
PERRAULT, CHARLES (1628-1703), French to the arts. T h i s literary quarrel, that had great
writer, poet, and academician. H e w a s born in cultural ramifications, lasted until 1697, at
Paris into one o f the more celebrated b o u r g e o i s w h i c h time L o u i s X I V decided to end it in fa-
families o f that time. His father w a s a l a w y e r v o u r o f Boileau and R a c i n e . H o w e v e r , this d e -
and member o f Parliament, and his four cision did not stop Perrault from t r y i n g to
b r o t h e r s — h e w a s the y o u n g e s t — a l l went on incorporate his ideas into his poetry and prose.
to become renowned in such fields as architec- Perrault had a l w a y s frequented the literary
ture and law. In 1637 Perrault b e g a n studying salons o f his niece Mlle T h é r i t i e r , M m e
at the C o l l è g e de B e a u v a i s (near the S o r - d ' * A u l n o y , and other w o m e n , and he had been
bonne), and at the age o f 15 he stopped attend- a n n o y e d b y B o i l e a u ' s satires written against
ing school and largely taught himself all he w o m e n . T h u s , he e n d e a v o u r e d to write three
needed to k n o w so he could later take his l a w v e r s e tales ' G r i s é l i d i s ' (1691), ' L e s Souhaits
examinations. After w o r k i n g three y e a r s as a R i d i c u l e s ' ( ' T h e *Foolish W i s h e s ' , 1693) and
l a w y e r , he left the profession to b e c o m e a sec- ' P e a u d'âne' ( * ' D o n k e y - S k i n ' , 1694) a l o n g
retary to his brother Pierre, w h o w a s the tax with a l o n g p o e m , ' A p o l o g i e des femmes'
receiver o f Paris. B y this time Perrault had al- (1694) in defence o f w o m e n . W h e t h e r these
ready written some minor p o e m s , and he b e g a n w o r k s can be considered p r o - w o m e n t o d a y is
taking more and more o f an interest in litera- another question. H o w e v e r , Perrault w a s def-
ture. In 1659 he published t w o important initely m o r e enlightened in regard to this ques-
poems, 'Portrait d'Iris' and 'Portrait de la v o i x tion than either B o i l e a u o r R a c i n e , and his
d'Iris', and b y 1660 his public career as a poet p o e m s m a k e use o f a h i g h l y mannered style
received a big boost w h e n he produced several and folk motifs to stress the necessity o f a s s u m -
poems in honour o f L o u i s X I V . In 1663 P e r - ing an enlightened moral attitude t o w a r d
rault w a s appointed secretary to J e a n - B a p t i s t e w o m e n and exercising just authority.
Colbert, controller general o f finances, perhaps In 1696 Perrault e m b a r k e d on a m o r e a m b i -
the most influential minister in L o u i s X I V ' s tious project o f transforming several popular
government. F o r the next 20 y e a r s , until C o l - folk tales with all their superstitious beliefs and
bert's death, Perrault w a s able to accomplish a m a g i c into moralistic tales that w o u l d appeal to
PERRAULT, CHARLES 380

PERRAULT, CHARLES The cunning cat approaches the ogre in Gustav *Doré's illustration of Charles
Perrault's 'Puss in Boots' in Les Contes de Perrault (1867).

children and adults and demonstrate a modern Darmancour, Perrault's son, and although
approach to literature. He had a prose version some critics have asserted that the book was
of *'Sleeping Beauty' ('La Belle au bois dor­ indeed written or at least co-authored by his
mant') printed in the journal Mercure Galant in son, recent evidence has shown clearly that this
1696, and in 1697 he published an entire collec­ could not have been the case, especially since
tion of tales entitled ^Histoires ou contes du his son had not published anything up to that
temps passé, which consisted of new literary point. Perrault was simply using his son's name
versions of'Sleeping Beauty', *'Little Red Rid­ to mask his own identity so that he would not
ing Hood' ('Le Petit Chaperon Rouge'), be blamed for re-igniting the 'Quarrel of the
'Barbe Bleue' (*' Bluebeard'), 'Cendrillon' Ancients and the Moderns'. Numerous critics
(*'Cinderella'), 'Le Petit Poucet' (*'Little Tom have regarded Perrault's tales as written direct­
Thumb'), 'Riquet à la Houppe' (*'Riquet with ly for children, but they overlook the fact that
the Tuft'), 'Le Chat botté' (*'Puss-in-Boots'), there was no children's literature per se at that
and 'Les Fées' ('The *Fairies'). All of these time and that most writers of fairy tales were
fairy tales, which are now considered 'classic­ composing and reciting their tales for their
al', were based on oral and literary motifs that peers in the literary salons. Certainly, if Per­
had become popular in France, but Perrault rault intended them to make a final point in the
transformed the stories to address social and 'Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns',
political issues as well as the manners and then he obviously had an adult audience in
mores of the upper classes. Moreover, he added mind that would understand his humour and
ironic verse morals to provoke his readers to the subtle manner in which he transformed
reflect on the ambivalent meaning of the tales. folklore superstition to convey his position
Although Histoires ou contes du temps passé was about the 'modern' development of French
published under the name of Pierre Perrault civility.
3 8i PETER P A N

T h e r e is no doubt but that, a m o n g the w h o longs for a mother figure. Interestingly,

writers of fairy tales during the 1690s, Perrault early versions (written w h e n F r e u d w a s defin­
w a s the greatest stylist, w h i c h accounts for the ing adolescent sexuality) h a v e the female char­
fact that his tales h a v e withstood the test o f acters rejecting this maternal role. T h e y f a v o u r
time. Furthermore, Perrault claimed that lit­ a sexual relationship, one to w h i c h the b o y can­
erature must b e c o m e modern, and his trans­ not or will not commit emotionally. A v o i d a n c e
formation of folk motifs and literary themes of responsibility (the ' P e t e r P a n s y n d r o m e ' ) , is
into refined and p r o v o c a t i v e fairy tales still also s y m b o l i z e d b y confrontations o f y o u t h
speak to the modern a g e , ironically in a w a y and maturity w h e n e v e r Peter battles H o o k .
that m a y compel us to ponder whether the a g e W h e n each unconsciously mimics the other,
of reason has led to the progress and happiness H o o k represents Peter's adult self. A t other
promised so charmingly in Perrault's tales. J Z times, because the same actor usually p l a y s
Barchilon, Jacques, and Flinders, Peter, Charles H o o k and the F a t h e r ( M r D a r l i n g ) , an Oedipal
Perrault (1981).
confrontation arises. F i n a l l y , perhaps H o o k
Burne, Glenn S., 'Charles Perrault 1628—1703',
wants Peter to remain a b o y , t o o — f o r p a e d o -
in Jane M. Bingham (ed.), Writers for Children:
Critical Studies of Major Authors since the philic reasons. T h i s reading prompts c o n s e r v a ­
Seventeenth Century (1988). tives to ban the b o o k from schools, and is
Lewis, Philip, Seeing through the Mother Goose supported b y claims that B a r r i e w a s a b n o r m a l ­
Tales: Visual Turns in the Writings of Charles ly attracted to the L l e w e l y n D a v i e s b o y s . ( T h e
Perrault (1996). brothers, w h o m B a r r i e eventually adopted, al­
McGlathery, James M., 'Magic and Desire from w a y s denied improper b e h a v i o u r . )
Perrault to Musaus: Some Examples',
Peter Pan w a s a Christmas tradition in L o n ­
Eighteenth-Century Life, 7 (1981).
Marin, Louis, 'La cuisine des fées: or the don's W e s t E n d from 1904 to 1990, with o n l y
Culinary Sign in the Tales of Perrault', Genre, nine seasons on hiatus. A f t e r Hamlet, Peter is
16 (1983). the most sought-after role and is usually p l a y e d
Seifert, Lewis C , 'Disguising the Storyteller's b y a w o m a n : female casting is in the tradition
"Voice": Perrault's Recuperation of the Fairy o f pantomime, and a child star necessitates p r o ­
Tale', Cincinnati Romance Review, 8 (1989). portionately smaller L o s t B o y s , perhaps too
Soriano, Marc, Les Contes de Perrault. Culture
y o u n g to act. N i n a Boucicault, M a u d e A d a m s ,
savante et traditions populaires (1968).
and Betty B r o n s o n created the role in L o n d o n ,
on B r o a d w a y , and on film. O t h e r notable
PETER P A N , eternal youth created b y Sir J a m e s
Peters include E v a L e G a l l i e n n e , E i s a L a n c h e s -
Matthew *Barrie. H e w a s first mentioned in an
ter (with husband C h a r l e s L a u g h t o n as H o o k ) ,
adult novel {The Little White Bird, 1902): Peter
D a m e M a g g i e Smith, and C a t h y R i g b y .
used to be a bird, flew a w a y from his parents
B a r r i e ' s p l a y has u n d e r g o n e m a n y changes
when they w e r e discussing his future, and set­
tled in Kensington G a r d e n s . Barrie expanded o v e r the y e a r s . L e o n a r d Bernstein added music
this idea in the play, Peter Pan, or The Boy who (1950), W a l t * D i s n e y animated it (1953), and
Wouldn't Grow Up (1904), which w a s inspired J e r o m e R o b b i n s created a flying ballet (1954).
b y Victorian fairy dramas, D r u r y L a n e panto­ T h i s M a r y Martin—Cyril Ritchard musical
mimes, and five y o u n g b o y s . Here, Peter and made history w h e n it w a s televised live and in
the fairy Tinkerbell help the D a r l i n g children colour in 1955, and remains the definitive v e r ­
fly to N e v e r l a n d w h e r e they h a v e adventures sion for p o s t - w a r A m e r i c a n B a b y B o o m e r s . In
with L o s t B o y s , Indians, and Pirates. T h e play 1982 Miles A n d e r s o n b r o k e the 'Peterless P a n '
was immediately successful. But while Barrie tradition with the R o y a l Shakespeare C o m ­
had Arthur *Rackham illustrate earlier short p a n y , w h i c h restored the 1928 stage direction,
stories for Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens added a narrator resembling B a r r i e , and in­
(1906), others w e r e already adapting his play. corporated his epilogue in w h i c h W e n d y
Barrie's Peter and Wendy did not appear until g r o w s up. S t e v e n *Spielberg expanded this idea
1911; the finalized play, in 1928. In short, ' P e t e r in Hook (1990), a film about W a l l Street pirate
P a n ' w a s a classic fairy tale even before B a r r i e Peter (a father married to W e n d y ' s g r a n d ­
published it for children! daughter) w h o fights H o o k for their children.
S o m e critics feel that Peter o w e s his life to F i n a l l y , an a g e d Peter and his wife A l i c e are
the death of Barrie's brother. Because his allegorized in Death Comes for Peter Pan
mother became obsessive o v e r her dead child (1996), a study o f A m e r i c a ' s N e v e r l a n d / W o n ­
( w h o never aged) and ignored the one w h o derland o f Medicare. N o l o n g e r m e r e l y the
matured, Barrie immortalized an ageless y o u t h hero o f a fairy p l a y , then, Peter P a n has b e -
PETER P A N 382

come a transcendent m y t h for all generations interest in the story continued with another
of (former) children. MLE production in 1979, which overtook previous
Birkin, Andrew, J . M. Barrie & The Lost Boys: versions b y achieving a run o f 551 perform­
The Love Story that Gave Birth to Peter Pan ances. L o n d o n ' s W e s t E n d saw a similar v e r ­
(1979)- sion in the mid-1980s. Y e t another Peter Pan
Brady, Joan, Death Comes for Peter Pan (1996). opened in N e w Y o r k in 1990 for a short six-
Hanson, Bruce K., The Peter Pan Chronicles w e e k season, forming part o f the show's na­
(1993)- tion-wide tour. TH
Kelley-Lainé, Kathleen, Peter Pan: The Story of
Lost Childhood (1997).
Rose, Jacqueline, The Case of Peter Pan, or The
Impossibility of Children's Fiction (1984). PIACEVOLI NOTTI, LE (1550-3), translated b y
W . G . Waters in 1894 as The Facetious Nights
PETER PAN (film). T h e celebrated British play
of Giovanni Francesco Straparola. Other pos­
of 1904 has rarely been tackled b y the cinema.
sible titles are The Entertaining Nights or The
For the major silent version ( U S A , 1924), the
Pleasant Nights. Little is k n o w n about the
author J . M . *Barrie himself a p p r o v e d the cast­
author G i o v a n Francesco *Straparola. H o w ­
ing o f b o y i s h 18-year-old n e w c o m e r Betty
ever, his collection of tales w a s v e r y popular in
B r o n s o n as Peter. T h e C h i n e s e - A m e r i c a n ac­
the 16th century and went through 20 editions
tress A n n a M a y W o n g , p l a y i n g the redskin
and influenced numerous European writers of
princess T i g e r L i l y , w a s only 17 but had ap­ fairy tales. N o t all the novelle are fairy tales in
peared on screen before, notably in Fairbanks's this collection. Similar to Boccaccio's Decame­
The *Thief of Bagdad. C o m p l e m e n t i n g these ron, the Notti has a framework: thirteen ladies
youngsters w e r e veterans such as the e y e - r o l l ­ and several gentlemen flee to the island of
ing Ernest T o r r e n c e as H o o k , and G e o r g e A l i Murano near V e n i c e during the last 13 days of
who, inside a d o g costume, repeated a per­ C a r n i v a l to avoid political persecution. T o
formance as N a n a the nurse that he had g i v e n amuse themselves, they dance and tell 75 stor­
m a n y times on stage. Most other elements o f ies. E a c h one ends with a riddle with multiple
the film, including the use o f wires to a c c o m ­ meanings. O f the 75 tales there are 14 fairy
plish the flying scenes, also followed the stage tales: ' C a s s a d r i n o ' ( ' T h e Master T h i e f ) , ' P r e
production closely. T h e only significant differ­ Scarpafico' ( ' T h e Little F a r m e r ' ) , ' T e b a l d o '
ence is that whereas on stage T i n k e r Bell the ('All F u r ' ) , ' G a l e o t t o ' ('Hans M y H e d g e h o g ' ) ,
fairy is represented simply b y a darting spot o f ' P i e t r o ' ( ' T h e Simpleton H a n s ' ) , 'Biancabella'
light, in the film she is fleshed out b y V i r g i n i a ( ' T h e Snake and the Maiden'), 'Fortunio'
B r o w n F a i r e , w h o w a s miniaturized b y photo­ ( ' T h e N i x i e in the P o n d ' ) , ' R i c a r d o ' ('Six w h o
graphic multiple-exposure techniques. In the Made their W a y into the W o r l d ' ) , 'Aciolotto'
U K the film's director w a s praised for not h a v ­ ( ' T h e T h r e e Little B i r d s ' ) , ' G u e r r i n o ' ( T r o n
ing Americanized the play, but in fact some H a n s ' ) , ' I tre fratelli' ( ' T h e F o u r Skillful
scenes w e r e shot with alternative versions: for Brothers'), 'Maestro Lattantio' ( ' T h e T h i e f and
British audiences the flag the L o s t B o y s raised his Master'), ' C e s a r i n o ' ( ' T h e T w o Brothers'),
was the U n i o n J a c k , while in the U S A it w a s and 'Soriana' (*'Puss-in-Boots'). T h e s e tales
the Stars and Stripes. TAS w e r e either European or oriental in origin, and
their translations in the 16th, 17th, and 18th
PETER PAN (musical), J . M . *Barrie's enduring centuries influenced French and German
children's story w h i c h has inspired a number o f writers. Straparola's 'Soriana' is the first liter­
musical adaptations, mostly A m e r i c a n ; the first a r y version o f ' P u s s - i n - B o o t s ' . Straparola w a s
appeared in 1905 in N e w Y o r k . A production not a great stylist, but his succinct, witty narra­
in 1924 contained t w o songs b y J e r o m e K e r n . tives h a v e effective dramatic structures and
A n o t h e r version in 1950 w a s again notable for contain biting social commentary. Indeed,
musical contributions from an important c o m ­ some o f the narratives about priests offended
poser, L e o n a r d Bernstein; it ran for 321 per­ the C h u r c h during the Counter-Reformation
formances. A m o r e lasting version appeared in in the 17th century, and the Notti w a s placed on
1954 opening at the W i n t e r G a r d e n , N e w the Index in 1624. JZ
Y o r k , with music b y M o o s e Charlap and C a r o ­
Boscardi, Giorgio, 'Le Novelle di G . F.
lyn L e i g h . J u l e S t y n e , a m o n g others, later con­
Straparola', Rassegna Lucchese, 3 (1952).
tributed additional numbers. A German
Pozzi, Victoria Smith, 'Straparola's Le piacevoli
translation appeared at the T h e a t e r des W e s t -
notti: Narrative Technique and Ideology' (Diss.,
ens, Berlin, in 1984. Meanwhile, A m e r i c a n
University of California-Los Angeles, 1981).
PlACEVOLI NOTTI The ladies gather to tell their stories in Giovan Francesco *Straparola's Le piacevoli Notti (1550—3). This illustration by
Jules Gamier and E. R. Hughes appeared in the English edition The Facetious Nights of Gian Franco Straparola (1894).
PINKNEY, BRIAN 384

Rua, Giuseppe, 'Intorno aile Piacevoli Notti adopted on the relaunching of the serial, the
dello Straparola', Giornale Storico della w h o l e eventually reaching 36 short chapters.
Letteratura Italiana, 15 (1890). Pinocchio is a fairy story not only because the
Waters, W . G . (trans.), The Facetious Nights of
' F a i r y with indigo hair' is prominent as a kind
Giovanni Francesco Straparola ( 2 vols., 1894).
of fairy g o d m o t h e r to the puppet w h o longs to
PlNKNEY, BRIAN ( 1 9 6 1 - ) , A m e r i c a n illustrator b e c o m e a real b o y ; in addition, m a n y of the
of children's b o o k s , w h o is committed to e x ­ other characters and some narrative devices
p l o r i n g A f r i c a n - A m e r i c a n culture in his w o r k s . link it to the age-old w e b of oral and literary
H e has collaborated w i t h R o b e r t *San S o u c i in storytelling concerning the marvellous, and
p r o d u c i n g the important a n t h o l o g y Cut from not just to those strands identified with the
the Same Cloth: American Women of Myth, Le­ c o m p l e x art o f the fairy tale. A m o n g the fairy­
gend, and Tall Tale (1993) and has also illus­ tale features o f C o l l o d i ' s fantasy of picaresque
trated San S o u c i ' s Sukey and the Mermaid adventure are the m a n y talking animals and
(1992). P i n k n e y uses scratchboard techniques birds w h i c h m i x with human beings, the mon­
to sculpt stark black-and-white i m a g e s , and he strous creatures and ogre-like humans, the
also e n d o w s his lines and figures with an un­ transformations and illogical happenings, the
usual rhythm. P i n k n e y has also p r o v i d e d s h o w i n g of b r a v e r y in the face of repeated dan­
d r a w i n g s for L y n n J o s e p h ' s A Wave in her g e r s , and the c o m i n g of g o o d from evil. Specif­
Pocket: Stories from Trinidad (1991) and Patri­ ically, the r e w a r d i n g o f virtue is part of a
cia M c K i s s a c k ' s The Dark Thirty: Southern rags-to-comfort-if-not-riches theme which
Tales of the Supernatural (1992). JZ e v o l v e s from within the social ambit of the
v e r y p o o r . Six y e a r s before writing Pinocchio,
PINKNEY, JERRY ( 1 9 3 9 - ) A m e r i c a n illustrator, C o l l o d i had translated Charles *Perrault's
w h o has dedicated himself to p r o d u c i n g h i g h l y F r e n c h fairy tales into Italian, but his w i d e
original multicultural b o o k s . P i n k n e y ' s major reading made his children's story into a pal­
w o r k s h a v e led to a r e d i s c o v e r y and celebra­ impsest o f cultural allusions. I f the F a i r y en­
tion o f the A f r i c a n - A m e r i c a n heritage. A m o n g courages and protects and sometimes surprises
his fairy-tale b o o k s are: The Adventures of with m a g i c , as the fairy godmother does in
Spider: West African Folk Tales (1964) b y *' Cinderella' (to w h i c h there are several refer­
J o y c e C o o p e r , Folktales and Fairytales of Africa ences), then C o l l o d i ' s F o x and C a t belong to
(1967) edited b y L i l a G r e e n , The Beautiful Blue the A e s o p i c tradition of fables with morals, as
Jay and Other Tales of India (1967) edited b y filtered through the verse versions of Perrault's
J o h n Spellman, The King's Ditch: A Hawaiian contemporary and compatriot, L a Fontaine.
Tale (1971) b y Francine J a c o b s , Prince Little- T h o u g h O v i d is not absent from Pinocchio, the
foot (1974) b y Berniece Freschet, Tonweya and specific metamorphosis o f the puppet into a
the Eagles and Other Lakota Indian Tales (1979) d o n k e y more closely mirrors the circumstances
b y R o s e b u d Y e l l o w R o b e , and The Talking and moral purpose of *A p u l e i u s ' The Golden
Eggs (1989) b y R o b e r t San S o u c i . H e has also Ass. C o l l o d i ' s inspiration, while not religious,
collaborated w i t h J u l i u s L e s t e r in reinterpret­ was deeply moral; g o o d and evil are ever-pre­
ing the U n c l e R e m u s tradition in A m e r i c a with sent, sometimes accompanied b y Dantesque
The Tales of Uncle Remus (1988), More Tales of i m a g e r y . His sense of fun w a s regarded as
Uncle Remus (1988), and Further Tales of Uncle emulating the ' E n g l i s h humour' of L e w i s "'Car­
Remus (1990). P i n k n e y ' s illustrations are char­ roll and the Nonsense school. T h e w h o l e story
acterized b y bold action, extraordinary colours, is imbued with the theatrical, whether it be dra­
and compelling interpretations o f the texts. J Z matic use o f light and dark or overt reference
to the Commedia dell'arte. W i t h its apparently
PINOCCHIO, THE ADVENTURES OF (LE AWENTURE direct and natural manner, Pinocchio is a highly
Dl PINOCCHIO). C a r l o * C o l l o d i first published sophisticated tale rendered sparkling b y the
his v i v a c i o u s masterpiece as a serial story in a w o r d p l a y and renowned irony. A s in Carroll,
children's w e e k l y paper, / / Giornale per i bam­ the allusions are not all literary; Collodi w a s
bini, between 1881 and 1883. In F e b r u a r y 1883 prompted b y his commitment to political and
it w a s issued as a v o l u m e w i t h black-and-white social reform. T h e episodes of the doctors
illustrations b y E n r i c o Mazzanti, w h o had c o l ­ called to diagnose Pinocchio's condition and of
laborated with C o l l o d i in earlier w o r k . T h e the j u d g e pronouncing on the theft of his coins
serial w a s originally entitled La storia di un are akin to the fairy tale and the fable (and
burattino (The Story of a Puppet) and ended tra­ *Alice in Wonderland) in the use of talking ani­
gically with chapter 15; the definitive title w a s mals and in the danger threatening the prot-
3«5 PIPPI LONGSTOCKING

agonist, but at a deeper level these episodes for the frightening and the incomprehensible,
pungently criticize professional malpractice but a l w a y s with a bearing upon the real w o r l d ,
and the shortcomings o f society. P a r a d o x i c a l l y , m a k e s Pinocchio an authentic scion o f the fairy­
Pinocchio has the timelessness and universality tale tradition. ALL
of the fairy tale and yet w a s pertinent to mat­ Citati, Pietro, 'Una fiaba esoterica' and ' L a fata
dai capelli turchini', in / / velo new (1979).
ters o f moment in C o l l o d i ' s place and time.
Collodi, Carlo, The Adventures of Pinocchio,
Collodi died before producing any strict s e ­
trans, and ed. Ann Lawson Lucas (1996).
quel to Pinocchio, but the b o o k ' s best-seller sta­
Goldthwaite, John, The Natural History of Make-
tus in Italy ensured that n e w editions w e r e Believe (1996).
constantly available, with illustrations b y n u m ­
Perella, Nicolas J . , 'An Essay on Pinocchio', in
bers o f different artists; between 1883 and 1983 Carlo Collodi, Le avventure di Pinocchio—The
in Italy alone there w e r e 135 different illus­ Adventures of Pinocchio (1986).
trated editions, well o v e r one per y e a r . F r o m Wunderlich, R., and Morrissey, T . J . , 'Carlo
early d a y s , there w e r e m a n y emulators and Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio: A Classic
imitators, a distinguished disciple being C o l l o ­ Book of Choices', in Perry Nodelman,
di's nephew. S o n s , brothers, friends galore o f Touchstones: Reflections on the Best in Children's
the puppet w e r e spawned, as w a s e v e n a fian­ Literature, i (1985).
cee. Pinocchio w a s subjected to an inexhaust­
ible sequence o f adventures in m a n y named
PIPPI LONGSTOCKING, title character o f three
lands, as an explorer, hunter, policeman,
novels b y A s t r i d *Lindgren, Pippi Lângstrump
mountaineer, magistrate, journalist, diver,
{Pippi Longstocking, 1945) and sequels, the
spaceman, dancer, soldier, castaway, and in
strongest girl in the w o r l d , independent and
1927—8 as a Fascist. T h e s e exploitative imita­
free in confrontation with the w o r l d o f adults.
tions missed the point, namely the universality
P i p p i lives on her o w n in a little t o w n w i t h her
and comprehensiveness o f the puppet's experi­
horse and her m o n k e y ; she does not g o to
ence. H e w a s a w o o d e n E v e r y m a n .
school and defies the dictatorship o f n o r m s and
T h e original Pinocchio quickly b e g a n to be conventions, o f dull reality, o f authority, o f
translated around the w o r l d in innumerable structure and order. A l t h o u g h m a n y critics
editions and adaptations. A t any one time there h a v e v i e w e d the character as an expression o f
are m a n y E n g l i s h versions available, the m a ­ escape, her spirit is chiefly anti-authoritarian,
jority abridgements. S o m e are e v e n modifica­ w h i c h signals her strong links with b r a v e and
tions o f the first E n g l i s h translation o f 1892 b y clever fairy-tale heroines, such as M o l l y
M a r y A . M u r r a y , as the 1996 N o r t h A m e r i c a n W h u p p i e , o r the princesses o f c o n t e m p o r a r y
version b y E d Y o u n g is. M o r e than 100 y e a r s feminist fairy tales.
on, Pinocchio also appears in m a n y non-literary
Pippi has no m a g i c p o w e r s and no m a g i c
guises: toys, trinkets, publicity, and numerous
objects to assist her, and she uses her wits ra­
films. Interesting and faithful film versions are
ther than her physical strength to w i n o v e r i m ­
still being made, but the one that dominates
pertinent adults. U n l i k e the typical u n d e r d o g
w o r l d - w i d e perceptions o f Pinocchio, e v e n after
heroine o r hero o f the fairy tale, P i p p i is s e ­
50 years, is W a l t * D i s n e y ' s 1940 animated in­
cure, self-assured, strong and rich from the b e ­
terpretation. W h i l e countless children h a v e
ginning. T h u s her role is not o f a hero, but
loved it for itself, it bears little resemblance to
rather that o f a magical helper o r d o n o r in a
Collodi's Pinocchio; the story is fundamentally
fairy tale, b r i n g i n g c o l o u r and j o y into ordin­
altered, the m o o d softened and H o l l y w o o -
ary children's lives. S h e is also the source o f
dized, and the puppet deprived o f his personal­
unlimited wealth, fulfilling the wildest dreams
ity. D i s n e y is sentimental w h e r e C o l l o d i is
of a n y child.
uncompromising, challenging, and exhilarat­
L i k e *Peter P a n , Pippi does not w a n t to
ing. Whether or not prompted b y cinematic or
g r o w u p , but mainly because she refuses to be
illustrators' images, readers and critics o f dif­
socialized. W h e n she offers her friends magical
ferent times and places have understood Pinoc­
pills w h i c h will prevent them from g r o w i n g up,
chio in a myriad different w a y s , according to
she acts like a witch enticing them with en­
the political, religious, or cultural imperatives
chanted food into an eternal childhood akin to
informing their perception. Interpretations
death. T h u s P i p p i is a h i g h l y ambivalent
have been variously Christian, marxist, anti-
figure. MN
communist, Freudian, and the product o f m a n y Edstrôm, Vivi, 'Pippi Longstocking: Chaos and
other 'isms'. T h i s capacity to mean m a n y Postmodernism', Swedish Book Review, suppl.
things to m a n y people, to p r o v i d e metaphors (1990).
PITRE, GIUSEPPE 386

Hoffeld, Laura, 'Pippi Longstocking: The Paris stage, E n g l i s h pantomime, and burlesque.
Comedy of the Natural Girl', The Lion and the Planché suggested the essential elements of a
Unicorn, 1 (1977). successful fairy extravaganza w e r e : ' A plot, the
Lundqvist, Ulla, Arhundradets barn. Fenomenet
interest of which is sustained to the last m o ­
Pippi Langstrump och dess fdrutsattningar (1977).
ment, and is not in the least complicated, a ser­
Metcalf, Eva-Maria, AstridLindgren (1995).
Moebius, William, L'Enfant Terrible Comes of
1 ies o f startling and exciting events, the action
Age', Notebooks on Cultural Analysis, 2 (1985). w h i c h required no verbal explanation, and nu­
Reeder, Kik, 'Pippi Longstocking—a Feminist merous opportunities for scenic display and
or Anti-feminist Work?' Racism and Sexism in sumptuous d e c o r a t i o n — W h a t more could be
Children s Literature (1979). desired?' Planché produced his first extrava­
ganza in 1825 using mythological subjects, but
PITRE, GIUSEPPE ( 1 8 4 1 - 1 9 1 6 ) , Italian folklorist turned to F r e n c h fairy tales for his plots begin­
and ethnographer. H e w a s the foremost figure ning with *Riquet with the Tuft (1836). Other
in 19th-century Italian folklore studies, and had fairy extravaganzas quickly followed including
a central role in establishing the study o f p o p u ­ comic adaptations of *Puss in Boots (1837),
lar traditions as an independent discipline in *Bluebeard (1839), *Sleeping Beauty in the
Italy. H e opposed a strictly aesthetic approach Wood (1840), *Beauty and the Beast (1841), and
to folklore, maintaining that folk traditions The White Cat (1842). Planché eventually
offered precious historical information on na­ w r o t e 44 extravaganzas that combined song,
tional heritages that often revealed different dance, spectacle, and topical allusions.
realities from 'officiai' history. His homeland W h i l e pantomime w a s considered a w o r k ­
of Sicily offered him an especially rich corpus ing-class genre, the extravaganza w a s thought
of materials, w h i c h he studied and collected to be middle-class in its appeal, despite the fact
throughout his life. Pitré's major w o r k s include that both forms of entertainment relied on
the 2 5-volume Biblioteca delle tradi^ionipopolari transformation scenes, fantastic plots and lav­
siciliane (Library of Popular Sicilian Traditions, ish custumes, and numerous changes of scen­
1870—1913); Fiabe novelle e racconti popolari ery. B o t h became British theatrical institutions
siciliani (Fairy Tales, Novellas, and Popular during the Christmas and Easter seasons, and
Tales of Sicily, 1875); the journal Archivio per lo Planché's extravaganzas in particular w e r e in­
studio delle tradi^ioni popolari (Archive for the fluential in the creation of Gilbert and Sulli­
Study of Popular Traditions, 1882—1909), w h i c h v a n ' s comic operettas. T h e fairy extravaganza
he founded and edited; the 1 6 - v o l u m e Curiosité is a pantomime with the harlequinade re­
popolari tradi^ionali (Curiosities of Popular m o v e d , n e w lyrics written for popular songs,
Traditions, 1885—99); a n <
^ Bibliografia delle tra- extensive use of puns, and an elaborate con­
di^ioni popolari d 'Italia (Bibliography of Italian cluding transformation scene i n v o l v i n g spec­
Popular Traditions, 1894). Pitré's principal tacular changes in scenery and costumes.
source for the Fiabe w a s the oral storyteller W h i l e the extravaganza w a s considered re­
A g a t u z z a Messia, w h o s e tales he transcribed spectable family entertainment, some of the
with precision, o p p o s i n g his method to that o f adult appeal w a s due to the sometimes reveal­
m o r e 'creative' scholars like the * G r i m m s . T h e ing costumes o f the actresses. Planché took
Fiabe became a precious document for later care to produce historically accurate costumes
anthologists o f Italian fairy tales such as Italo and eventually published History of British Cos­
*Calvino. NC tumes (1834) and An Encyclopaedia of Costume
Cocchiara, Giuseppe, Pitre, la Sicilia e il folklore or Dictionary of Dress (1876—9).
(i95i)- Planché's theatrical adaptations of fairy tales
The History of Folklore in Europe (1981). w e r e published shortly before his death in the
five-volume The Extravagant of J. R. Planché,
PLANCHÉ, JAMES ROBINSON (1796-1880), E n g ­ n
Esq. (1879). I addition to his extravaganzas,
lish dramatist and translator o f F r e n c h fairy Planché translated t w o collections of French
tales. Planché w a s a h i g h l y productive and fairy tales, The Fairy Tales of the Countess
popular dramatist o f the L o n d o n stage w h o D'*Aulnoy (1855) and the companion v o l u m e
created nearly 180 productions from 1818 to Four and Twenty Fairy Tales (1858), which w a s
1856, and is best k n o w n for his theatrical e x ­ reprinted as Fairy Tales by *Perrault, De Ville­
travaganzas w h i c h w e r e frequently based on neuve, De *Caylus, De *Lubert, De Beaumont
F r e n c h fairy tales. Planché a c k n o w l e d g e d his [*Le Prince de B e a u m o n t ] , and Others. H e also
sources for the extravaganzas as the folie féerie w r o t e a version of 'Sleeping B e a u t y ' in verse
(fairy c o m e d y ) w h i c h he b o r r o w e d from the w h i c h accompanied R i c h a r d * D o y l e ' s illustra-
PLANCHÉ, JAMES ROBINSON The charming prince is about to kiss Sleeping Beauty in James Robinson
Planché's unusual adaptation of *Perrault's tale in An Old Fairy Tale Told Anew (1865), illustrated by
Richard *Doyle.
P o c c i , FRANZ VON 388

tions in An Old Fairy Tale Told Anew (1865). winter are G e r m a n poets w h o w e r e intrigued
JS and influenced early b y the G r i m m s ' fairy
Booth, R. Michael, Prefaces to English tales. F r o m the A n g l o - A m e r i c a n w o r l d Alfred
Nineteenth-Century Theatre (1980). Tennyson, Samuel R o g e r s , Bret Harte,
Planché, James Robinson, The Recollections and Frances Sargent O s g o o d , Ethel L o u i s e C o x ,
Reflections of J. R. Planché (1872). J o h n G r e e n l e a f Whittier, J a m e s N . Barker,
Roy, Donald (ed.), Plays by James Robinson
T o m H o o d , and G u y W e t m o r e C a r r y l come to
Planché (1986).
mind for such lengthy poetic retellings. F o r the
most part their poems are nothing more than
POCCI, FRANZ VON ( 1 8 0 7 - 7 6 ) , G e r m a n drama­
stylistic variations o f the traditional fairy tales,
tist, poet, painter, and composer, w h o w r o t e
and they add little to a deeper o r differentiated
n u m e r o u s fairy-tale plays for the puppet
understanding o f the psychological underpin­
theatre. A s i d e from d r a w i n g illustrations for
nings o f the tales' messages.
collections o f fairy tales b y *Perrault, the
* G r i m m s , and *A n d e r s e n , P o c c i w r o t e o v e r 40 T h i s changed considerably at the turn of the
plays for the Munich Marionettentheater. S o m e century w h e n authors w e r e no longer satisfied
w e r e based on traditional classical plots, and in mechanically retelling the entire fairy tales
s o m e w e r e his o w n inventions. A m o n g his best in v e r s e . Modern authors recognized early that
fairy-tale p l a y s are Blaubart {*Bluebeard, 1845), although fairy tales depict a supernatural w o r l d
Schattenspiel {Shadow Play, 1847), *Hansel und with miraculous, magical, and numinous as­
Gretel (1861), Zaubergeige {The Magic Violin, pects, they also present in a symbolic fashion
1868), Eulenschloss {The Castle of Owls, 1869), c o m m o n problems and concerns o f humanity.
Kasperl wird reich {Punch Becomes Rich, 1872). F a i r y tales deal with all aspects o f social life
A t his best, P o c c i combined comic features o f and human behaviour: not only such rites of
the P u n c h and J u d y s h o w s w i t h fantastic e l e m ­ passage as birth, courtship, betrothal, marriage,
ents o f the traditional fairy tales to create social old a g e , and death, but also episodes that are
farces aimed at enlightening and amusing typical in most people's lives. T h e emotional
children. JZ range includes in part l o v e , hate, distrust, j o y ,
persecution, happiness, murder, rivalry, and
Dreyer, A., Frani Pocci, der Dichter, Kunstler
und Kinderfruend (1907). friendship, and often the same tale deals with
Lucas, A., Franz Pocci und das Kinderbuch such phenomena in contrasting p a i r s — g o o d
(1929). versus evil, success versus failure, benevolence
versus malevolence, p o v e r t y versus wealth,
POETRY AND FAIRY TALES. It is n o secret that lit­ fortune versus misfortune, victory versus de­
e r a r y authors frequently reach b a c k to classical feat, compassion versus harshness, modesty
and traditional stories and motifs to create their versus indecency; in short, black versus white.
o w n poetic w o r k s . T h e tragic stories o f Tristan T h a t is indeed rich material for lyric poets, es­
and Isolde o r R o m e o and Juliet h a v e been r e ­ pecially as they critically confront the basic
told m a n y times, and this is certainly true for idea o f fairy tales that all conflicts can be re­
the short fairy tales w h i c h most authors k n o w solved at the end. T h e fairy tales end with hap­
e x t r e m e l y w e l l from personal childhood e x ­ piness, j o y , contentment, and harmony in a
periences. T h e * G r i m m s ' *Kinder- und Haus­ w o r l d as it should be, w h e r e all g o o d wishes
mdrchen {Children's and Household Tales) are in are fulfilled. In the more modern fairy-tale
fact so ubiquitous that it w o u l d be surprising if p o e m s this w o r l d is regrettably more often than
there w e r e no entire literary w o r k s in the form not anything but splendid and perfect. T h e
of n o v e l s , dramas, short stories, and p o e m s basic m e s s a g e o f most 20th-century poems
based on them. A n d w h e r e this is not the case, based on or at least alluding to fairy tales is one
it will not b e difficult to find at least short v e r ­ that this is a w o r l d o f problems and frustra­
bal allusions to traditional fairy tales, especially tions, w h e r e nothing w o r k s out and succeeds as
in l y r i c poetry w i t h its interest in metaphorical in those beautiful stories o f ages past. A n d yet,
and indirect communication. b y c o m p o s i n g their poems around fairy-tale
T h e r e existed a tradition o f fairy-tale poetry motifs, these authors if only v e r y indirectly
already in the 19th century, with authors pri­ seem to l o n g for that miraculous transform­
m a r i l y being interested in retelling the tale ation to bliss and happiness.
quite literally in p o e m s o f numerous stanzas. Realistic reinterpretations o f entire fairy
L u d w i g U h l a n d , A u g u s t Heinrich Hoffman tales or certain motifs h a v e b e c o m e the rule in
v o n Fallersleben, Heinrich *Heine, E d u a r d modern fairy-tale poetry, a sub-genre o f lyric
*Morike, and W o l f g a n g Millier v o n K ô n i g s - poetry that has received little attention from
3 8 9
P O E T R Y A N D FAIRY T A L E S

the scholarly w o r l d . E v e n though some literary deeply felt moral statements, v a r y i n g from
historians have commented on the fairy-tale subjective statements to m o r e general claims.
poems b y such acclaimed poets as F r a n z "'Fiih­ A n d yet, there are also poems o f natural
mann, Giinter *Grass, Randall *Jarrell, and beauty, both in l a n g u a g e and spirit, as can be
A n n e *Sexton, the fact that m a n y modern poets seen from A i l e e n F i s h e r ' s ' C i n d e r e l l a G r a s s '
have written fascinating poems either based on p o e m : ' O v e r n i g h t the n e w green grass | turned
fairy tales or at least alluding to them has been to Cinderella glass. | F r o z e n rain decked t w i g s
overlooked. A t the beginning of the 20th cen­ and w e e d s | with strings o f Cinderella beads. |
tury J a m e s W h i t c o m b *Riley composed a num­ G l a s s y slippers, trim and neat, | c o v e r e d all the
ber of generally traditional fairy-tale p o e m s , c l o v e r ' s f e e t . . . | just as if there'd been a ball |
and his ' M a y m i e ' s Story o f R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' with a m a g i c w a n d and all.'
was even written in dialect. But contrast such a Modern fairy-tale p o e m s concern them­
poem with the recent retelling of several p o p u ­ selves with e v e r y imaginable human problem.
lar fairy tales for children and adults b y R o a l d T h e r e are poems about l o v e and hate, w a r and
*Dahl. In his lengthy poems the fairy tales are politics, marriage and d i v o r c e , responsibility
restated in the jargon of the modern w o r l d , so and criminality, and also emancipation as w e l l
that one finds in them such w o r d s as 'discos', as sexual politics. S u c h productive fairy-tale
'pistols', and 'panty hose'. D a h l has brought poets as Sara Henderson * H a y , A n n e S e x t o n ,
fairy tales up to date, somewhat as J a m e s and O l g a *Broumas deal specifically with
"Thurber did in his short prose texts based on w o m e n ' s concerns and do not shrink from
fairy tales and fables. m a k i n g explicit sexual comments. T h e i r p o e m s
A few poems do exist that contain somewhat are n e v e r v u l g a r o r promiscuous but rather sin­
positive reactions to the perfect w o r l d o f fairy­ cere personal expressions. H a y ' s b o o k Story
tale endings. A s an example, J o y D a v i d m a n ' s Hour (1982) contains primarily p o e m s alluding
""Rapunzel' p o e m , ' T h e Princess in the I v o r y to such G r i m m tales as ' T h e * F r o g K i n g ' ,
T o w e r ' , comes to mind; though even in this ""Snow W h i t e ' , ""Rumpelstiltskin', and ""Han­
poem it is not clear whether the prince will sel and G r e t e l ' , w h e r e the titles o f ' T h e M a r ­
reach his b e l o v e d or not: ' L e t d o w n y o u r hair, riage', ' O n e o f the S e v e n H a s S o m e w h a t to
let d o w n y o u r golden hair, | that I m a y be free S a y ' , ' T h e N a m e ' , and ' J u v e n i l e C o u r t ' o n l y
. . .'. A n d the poem ' R e a d i n g the Brothers allude to the u n d e r l y i n g tale. B u t other p o e m s
G r i m m to J e n n y ' b y Lisel ""Mueller, clearly are called explicitly ' T h e G o o s e g i r l ' o r
written b y a mother for a child, also does not ' R a p u n z e l ' . E a c h p o e m is c o m p o s e d o f t w o
remain unproblematic, juxtaposing as it does r h y m e d stanzas o f unequal length, with the se­
the wonderful w o r l d o f fairy tales and the dan­ cond one presenting a realistic twist to w h a t
gerous w o r l d of reality: ' K n o w i n g that y o u appears to be like a fairy tale in the first stanza.
must climb, | one day, the ancient t o w e r | H e r e is the second stanza o f H a y ' s ' R a p u n z e l '
where disenchantment binds | the curls o f in­ p o e m : ' I k n e w that other girls, in A p r i l s past, |
nocence, I that y o u must live with p o w e r | and H a d leaned, like m e , from some old t o w e r ' s
honor circumstance, | that choice is what r o o m I A n d watched him clamber up, hand
comes t r u e — | O , J e n n y , pure in heart, | w h y o v e r fist... I I k n e w that I w a s not the first to
do I lie to y o u ? ' twist I H e r heartstrings to a rope for him to
O n l y a few poems retain the peace and har­ climb. I I might h a v e k n o w n I w o u l d not be
m o n y reached in the conclusions o f the original the last.'
tales. A n d with the exception o f some h u m o r ­ A n n e Sexton treats numerous fairy tales in
ous poems that are in fact ridiculous nonsense much l o n g e r poems o f free v e r s e , and she does
verses, the modern G e r m a n and A n g l o - A m e r i ­ not shy a w a y from calling them directly ' T h e
can fairy-tale poems are critical reactions to F r o g P r i n c e ' , ' R a p u n z e l ' , ""Little R e d R i d i n g
fairy tales that are no longer believed or a c ­ H o o d ' , ' S n o w W h i t e and the S e v e n D w a r f s ' ,
cepted. Transformed into parodistic, satirical, etc., in her celebrated b o o k Transformations
or cynical anti-fairy tales, these poems often (1971). T h e s e are indeed transfigured tales in
contain serious social criticisms. B y reading w h i c h questions of sexuality, sexual politics,
these modern renderings the readers are sup­ and emancipation all add up to a feministic
posed to re-evaluate societal problems. T h e statement against g e n d e r stereotypes. W h i l e
unexpressed hope is perhaps that such alienat­ her p o e m s might be s h o c k i n g and a g g r e s s i v e at
ing anti-fairy tales might eventually be trans­ times, Sexton is without doubt a genius at l y r ­
formed again to real fairy tales in a better ical reinterpretations o f G r i m m tales. T h e titles
w o r l d . M a n y fairy-tale poems are therefore of several poems in O l g a B r o u m a s ' s b o o k Be-
P O E T R Y A N D FAIRY T A L E S 390

ginning with O (1977) are the same as S e x t o n ' s . w o r l d , as can be seen from W . Mieder's anthol­
C l e a r l y inspired b y the latter, B r o u m a s l o o k s at o g y Disenchantments: An Anthology of Modern
fairy tales from a lesbian point of v i e w in her Fairy Tale Poetry (1985). A m o n g the many
l o n g p o e m s o f free v e r s e . W h i l e her poems poets not y e t mentioned but represented in this
might be disagreeable to s o m e , she presents b o o k are such distinguished authors as Eliza­
deeply felt emotions and illustrates the p s y c h o - beth B r e w s t e r , H a y d e n Carruth, William
sexual meaning o f fairy tales to w o m e n . D i c k e y , R o b e r t Gillespie, Louise Gliick,
But sex is o n l y one major theme o f fairy-tale R o b e r t G r a v e s , W i l l i a m H a t h a w a y , Robert
p o e m s . M a n y o f them also deal with such p r o b ­ Hillyer, Paul R . J o n e s , G a l w a y Kinnell, W a l ­
lems as v a n i t y , deception, lovelessness, materi­ ter *de la Mare, E l i Mandel, R o b i n Morgan,
alism, and p o w e r . T h e adult w o r l d is simply H o w a r d N e m e r o v , Wilfred O w e n , Robert
not a perfect fairy tale. T h e philosophical fairy­ *Pack, S y l v i a Plath, D a v i d R a y , D o r o t h y L e e
tale poems b y Randall Jarrell especially capture Richardson, Stevie Smith, Phyllis T h o m p s o n ,
the frustrations that modern people experience L o u i s U n t e r m e y e r , E v e l y n M . Watson, and
in a w o r l d v o i d o f happy endings. But again, E l i n o r W y l i e . M a n y more names could be
m a n y o f the pessimistic statements conceal a added to this list, indicating once and for all
quiet hope for a better w o r l d . A s J a r r e l l puts it that the sub-genre of fairy-tale poetry is some­
at the end o f his p o e m ' T h e Marchen ( G r i m m ' s thing to be reckoned with b y scholars and
T a l e s ) ' : 'It w a s not p o w e r that y o u lacked, but poetry enthusiasts.
wishes. I H a d y o u not l e a r n e d — h a v e w e not Hundreds of G e r m a n and English fairy-tale
learned, from tales | Neither o f beasts nor poems reveal that they can be grouped accord­
k i n g d o m s n o r their L o r d , | But of our o w n ing to the specific tale being discussed or men­
hearts, the realm o f d e a t h — N e i t h e r to rule nor tioned. But there are also those poems which
die? to change, to change!' C h a n g e s are neces­ deal in general with the sense of fairy tales in
sary in an increasingly complex w o r l d , and the the modern w o r l d . T h e following four lines
transformations depicted in these poems might from Alfred C o r n ' s poem ' D r e a m b o o k s ' give a
just be guideposts for humanity to find positive flavour of this approach: ' G r i m fairy tale.
solutions to its difficult problems. ' O n c e upons' are a l w a y s | Puns, double under­
W h i l e R a n d a l l J a r r e l l w r o t e searching fairy­ standings for I T h e double life, to be read and
tale poems in A m e r i c a , F r a n z F u h m a n n a p ­ dreamed | Until the secret order appears.' A
proached the G r i m m tales in a similarly philo­ second m o r e general group could be termed
sophical w a y in G e r m a n y . T o g e t h e r with A n n e fairy-tale potpourris in that their authors create
Sexton, these t w o authors b e l o n g to a g r o u p of tour-de-force combinations of various fairy-tale
truly outstanding poets w h o s e w o r k s contain allusions. G a i l White's poem ' H a p p y Endings'
numerous fairy-tale p o e m s . T h e r e are other might serve as an appropriate example: ' R e d
poets w h o must be mentioned, though. F r o m R i d i n g H o o d and her grandmother | made the
the G e r m a n - s p e a k i n g countries the following w o l f I into a b i g fur coat | and Gretel | shoved
poets are included with m o r e than one p o e m in Hansel into the o v e n | and ate him with the
W o l f g a n g Mieder's a n t h o l o g y Màdchen, pfeif witch I and the B e a u t y enjoyed | her long
auf den PrinzenJ Màrchengedichte von Giinter sleep I quite as much | as the awakening kiss j
Grass bis Sarah Kirsch {Girls, Don't Care about and the Prince might take | Cinderella to the
the Prince! Fairy-Tale Poems from Giinter Grass palace | but she w o u l d insist | on scrubbing
to Sarah Kirsch, 1983): F r a n z J o s e f D e g e n h a r d t , floors I and scouring pots | and getting her
Giinter B r u n o *Fuchs, A l b r e c h t G o e s , Ulla g o o d clothes | c o v e r e d with ashes f after all |
Hahn, R o l f K r e u z e r , K a r l K r o l o w , Helmut it w a s what | she w a s used to.' T h e r e are more
Preissler, J o s e f Wittmann, etc. B u t w e l l - serious poems of this type, but clearly their
k n o w n authors like Bertolt Brecht, Paul C e l a n , authors delight in the montage of various fairy­
H a n s M a g n u s Enzensberger, G u n t e r G r a s s , tale motifs.
E r i c h K â s t n e r , Marie L u i s e Kaschnitz, Sarah O f the m a n y poems dealing with one specif­
*Kirsch, Elisabeth L a n g g a s s e r , E v a Strittmat- ic fairy tale it can be stated that the tales 'Briar
ter, Martin W a l s e r , R u d o l f Otto W i e m e r h , to R o s e ' (usually called ""'Sleeping B e a u t y ' ) ,
name a few, are represented as w e l l . In fact, *'Cinderella', ' T h e F r o g K i n g ' , ' S n o w White',
most m o d e r n l y r i c poets h a v e at least one fairy­ and 'Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' have inspired the
tale p o e m or at least a p o e m or t w o alluding to greatest number of poets. F o r the most part,
a G r i m m tale in passing in their published these poems carry those exact titles, thus indi­
poems. cating from the outset that the poem will o c ­
T h e same is true for the A n g l o - A m e r i c a n c u p y itself with a traditional tale. But often the
 POGÂNY, W I L L Y

surprise comes immediately after the title, as both languages there are also a few p o e m s
for example in Charles J o h n s o n ' s short p o e m about Hans Christian * A n d e r s e n ' s t w o best-
'Sleeping B e a u t y ' , w h e r e only the title is a dir­ k n o w n tales of ' T h e E m p e r o r ' s N e w C l o t h e s '
ect allusion to the tale itself: ' A Beautiful B l a c k and ' T h e *Princess and the P e a ' b y such
man | Sleeping in a corner | His mind w a n d e r ­ authors as R o l f Haufs, Maurice L i n d s a y , C h r i s ­
ing into the deepest of | D a r k n e s s | His suffer­ toph *Meckel, P a u l M u l d o o n , G e r d a Penfold,
ing eyes closed | His mouth open w i d e as if he J a n e S h o r e , C a r o l y n Z o n a i l o , etc. A p o e m b y
I Wants to eat up the W h i t e w o r l d | A n d spit J o y K o g o w a with the first line being identical
it out into the hand | o f the W h i t e man and with its title, m a y serve as an example: T think
then I w a k e up.' T h e harmless title had clearly I am that fabled princess | W h o could not sleep
conjured up the image of the sleeping princess, I U p o n layers o f soft mattresses | B e c a u s e o f
only to be utterly destroyed b y this social that one hard pea beneath | A n d I am w o n d e r ­
ing, m y l o v e , | I f w e will d i s c o v e r | T h a t y o u
wake-up call. A n o t h e r short p o e m entitled
are that prince | W h o sought m e . | F o r if y o u
'Ella o f the Cinders' b y M a r y B l a k e F r e n c h
are not \ T h e n I am a silly saint | A n d y o u are
also debunks the passive w o r l d of the fairy-tale
a bed o f nails.' W h a t all o f the authors o f fairy­
character Cinderella: ' I am not physically per­
tale poetry seem to h a v e taken to heart is an
fect: I I have no spherical s y m m e t r y . | I need
aphorism b y Elias Canetti from the y e a r 1 9 4 3 :
no Prince C h a r m i n g to a w a k e n me. | I am
' A closer study o f fairy tales w o u l d teach us
fully conscious of y o u r happily-ever-after! |
what w e can still expect from the w o r l d . ' C o l ­
M y feet g r o w large to break y o u r glass slip­
lectively their p o e m s a c k n o w l e d g e that m o d e r n
pers; I I shall use the shivered glass for m y life is not a fairy-tale existence and point out
o w n collage.' T h e s e few lines represent numer­ disenchantments e v e r y w h e r e . But b y d o i n g so
ous poems that address the emancipatory goals they offer the hope that people will learn from
of independence for modern w o m e n . their experiences and from the fairy tales w h i c h
T h e poems based on ' T h e F r o g K i n g ' centre h a v e couched them in such poetic l a n g u a g e .
primarily on transformations with an o b v i o u s T h e interplay o f traditional fairy tales and
emphasis on sexual matters. A few lines out of i n n o v a t i v e fairy-tale p o e m s certainly results
A n n e Sexton's p o e m ' T h e F r o g P r i n c e ' s h o w in a meaningful process of effective
to what grotesque i m a g e r y some of the reinter- communication. WM
pretations might lead: ' F r o g has no nerves. |
F r o g is as old as a cockroach. | F r o g is m y Bechtolsheim, Barbara von, 'Die Briider Grimm
father's genitals. | F r o g is a malformed d o o r ­ neu schreiben: Zeitgenossische Marchengedichte
knob. I F r o g is a soft b a g o f green. | T h e amerikanischer Frauen' (Diss., Stanford
moon will not have him. T h e sun wants to University, 1 9 8 7 ) .
shut off I like a light bulb. A t the sight of him Horn, Katalin, 'Heilserwartung im Mârchen und
I the stone washes itself in a tub. | T h e c r o w ihre Spiegelung in einer Auswahl moderner
thinks he's an apple | and drops a w o r m in. | Lyrik', Neophilologus, 7 3 ( 1 9 8 9 ) .
A t the feel of frog | the touch-me-nots explode Hôsle, Johannes, 'Volkslied, Marchen und
I like electric slugs. | Slime will h a v e him. | moderne Lyrik', Ak{ente, 7 ( i 9 6 0 ) .
Maurer, Georg, 'Das Marchenmotiv bei Franz
Slime has made him a house.' But Sexton can
Fiihmann', Neue deutsche Literatur, 1 2 ( 1 9 6 4 ) .
also be much more realistic and less repulsive,
McClatchy, J . D . (éd.), Anne Sexton: The Artist
as for example in the last few lines of her l o n g
and her Critics ( 1 9 7 8 ) .
poem about S n o w W h i t e . H e r evil stepmother
Mieder, Wolfgang (ed.), Grimms
is just dancing herself to death in the red-hot Marchen—modern: Prosa, Gedichte, Karikaturen
iron shoes, and 'Meanwhile S n o w W h i t e held (!979)-
e

court, rolling her china-blue doll eyes open and ( d.), Màdchen, pfeif auf den Prin^en!
Marchengedichte von Giinter Grass his Sarah
shut I and sometimes referring to her mirror |
Kirsch ( 1 9 8 3 ) .
as w o m e n do.' T h e question about and w i s h (éd.), Disenchantments: An Anthology of
for beauty appear to be indestructible. Modern Fairy Tale Poetry ( 1 9 8 5 ) .
Other fairy tales that h a v e found their w a y Tradition and Innovation in Folk Literature
into modern poetry with somewhat less fre­ (1987).

quency are 'Hansel and G r e t e l ' , ' R a p u n z e l ' , Ostriker, Alicia, 'The Thieves of Language:
'Rumpelstiltskin', and ' S n o w W h i t e and R o s e Women Poets and Revisionist Mythmaking',
Signs, 8 ( 1 9 8 2 - 3 ) .
R e d ' . T h o s e are also the fairy tales best k n o w n
in the English-speaking w o r l d . W h i l e in G e r ­ POGÂNY, W I L L Y ( 1 8 8 2 - 1 9 5 5 ) , H u n g a r i a n - b o r n
man poetry a few additional tales appear, the artist; distinguished painter, illustrator, mural-
ones mentioned here are dealt with the most. In ist, architect, stage designer, film art director,
POGODIN, RADI 392

sculptor; naturalized U S citizen, 1921. P o g â n y lante' ('Cichita the T a l k i n g M o n k e y ' ) is a

illustrated m o r e than 100 b o o k s and w a s noted modern fairy tale originally published in 1979,
for his stylistic variety. W h i l e living in L o n ­ in which Cichita comes to the financial rescue
don, he produced—designed and exe­ of the circus she belongs to b y becoming a talk­
cuted—what have been regarded as ing sensation. Bandits kidnap her for ransom,
masterpieces: C o l e r i d g e ' s , Rime of the Ancient but Cichita manages to escape and have the
Mariner (1910) and the W a g n e r i a n trilogy: bandits arrested.
Tannhduser ( 1 9 1 1 ) , Parsifal (1912), and Lohen­ P o n t i g g i a edited and prefaced C a r l o C o l l o ­
grin (1913). A n anecdote about P o g â n y notes di's Iracconti delle fate (Fairy Tales), with illus­
that w h e n he w a s preparing for his departure trations b y G u s t a v e *Doré. His novels 77
from L o n d o n and immigration to A m e r i c a , he giocatore invisibile {The Invisible Player, 1978),
illustrated ' S t o r y o f H i a w a t h a ' (c.1914), an e x ­ and La grande sera (The Great Evening, 1989)
ceptional panoramically designed text. H e also w o n the Campiello and Strega prizes, respect­
did singular illustrations o f traditional fairy ively. T h e author's fondness for the fantastic is
tales such as *'Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' and still apparent in his latest w o r k , L'Isola volante
*'Cinderella', and p r o v i d e d the artwork for W . (The Flying Island, 1996). GD
J e n k y n T h o m a s ' s The Welsh Fairy Book (1907)
and N a n d o r P o g â n y ' s Magyar Fairy Tales from POPULAR S O N G A N D FAIRY TALES. Popular song is
Old Hungarian Legends (1930). SS a short v o c a l item w h o s e melodic line is per-
formable b y singers o f all standards—from
amateur to professional. T h u s , an important
P O G O D I N , R A D I (1925-93), outstanding Russian
element in what makes a song popular is the
children's writer, author o f philosophical and
ease with which it can be sung. Closely allied
existential fairy tales. U n l i k e most S o v i e t fairy
to this is the nature o f the w o r d s — a successful
tales, P o g o d i n ' s are totally free from i d e o l o g y
fusing of text and music frequently produces
and didacticism. H e makes use of the tradition­
the most memorable songs. Y e t another ingre­
al Russian fairy-tale patterns and characters,
dient is the character o f the song's accompani­
blending them with contemporary settings and
ment. A s the E u r o p e a n art song developed,
a l l o w i n g ordinary children to experience ad­
G e r m a n romantic composers especially culti­
ventures in fairy-tale countries. H e also e m ­
vated a particularly fluent style in establishing
p l o y s elements from animal tales, both using
and maintaining the m o o d of a song through
traditional figures, such as a m o u s e , and in­
the piano accompaniment.
venting his o w n i m a g i n a r y creatures. T h e cen­
tral idea in his tales is the tension between the
innocence and creative p o w e r o f childhood and l . HISTORY
the burden and corruption o f adulthood. M N Singing is the most natural form of all human
music-making, with its origins in prehistoric
Nikolajeva, Maria, 'On the Edge of Childhood',
Bookbird, 35 ( 1 9 9 7 ) . times. Most early s u r v i v i n g music dates from
around the 13 th century, being a variety of
church music, and secular songs, notated either
P O L i V K A , J l R I (1858—1933), C z e c h folklorist,
by c l e r g y , or aristocratic laity educated b y
professor o f Slavic studies at K a r l U n i v e r s i t y in
clergy. T h e 13th century also saw the rise of
P r a g u e . H e w r o t e several major studies o f
the t r o u b a d o u r s — s i n g e r s and poets, w h o fre­
Slavic folk tales such as Slavic Fairy Tales
quently performed their o w n material at im­
(1932), in w h i c h he paid great attention to the
portant court functions, or for the delight of a
narrative form o f the folk tale. T o g e t h e r with
favoured lady. Originating in France, the art of
his G e r m a n colleague J o h a n n e s Bolte, he edit­
the troubadour spread quickly throughout
ed the highly significant, five-volume anno­
E u r o p e , helped immeasurably, no doubt, b y
tated study o f the * G r i m m s ' fairy tales,
the great mobility of knights and their armies
Anmerkungen ru den 'Kinder- und Hausmdrchen '
en route to the crusades.
(1913-32). MN
B y the late Middle A g e s , part-singing (a
g r o u p o f singers with one or more of its num­
PONTIGGIA, GIUSEPPE ( 1 9 3 4 - ) , Italian writer ber assigned to a series of individual parts,
and critic w h o , from the start o f his literary which w h e n performed together create a satis­
career, s h o w e d an interest in fairy tales, p u b ­ fying w h o l e ) , had developed to the point
lishing ' L a morte in banca' ( ' T h e D e a t h in the w h e r e it w a s a fashionable social pastime. T h i s
B a n k ' ) in 1959 (republished in 1979 with six is not to o v e r l o o k the e v o l v i n g importance of
other short stories). ' C i c h i t a la scimmia par­ religious choral music, which for many C h r i s -
393 POPULAR SONG AND FAIRY TALES

tian denominations w a s central to their acts o f ing an especial v o g u e in the United States,
worship. Meanwhile, stage plays in late R e n a i s ­ Britain, and Australia. D u r i n g W o r l d W a r I , in
sance Britain often helped individual secular both A m e r i c a and Britain, the practice w a s a
songs achieve popularity through the w i d e ­ popular pastime within the armed services.
spread habit o f inserting them into the drama. T h e m o v e m e n t w e n t on to gain impetus
William *Shakespeare made extensive use o f w i t h the publication o f special s o n g b o o k s . In
music in his plays, including a great quantity o f Britain it reached a peak o f popularity, helping
song. to d r a w vast c r o w d s to public events such as in
1926 w h e n 10,000 people attended L o n d o n ' s
2. APPEARANCE OF SONGS WITH SUPERNATURAL- R o y a l A l b e r t Hall to inaugurate the D a i l y E x ­
RELATED TEXTS press C o m m u n i t y S i n g i n g M o v e m e n t . T h e
A s the A g e o f R e a s o n d a w n e d (18th c e n t u r y ) , repertoire w a s , b y and l a r g e , an a m o r p h o u s
the Italian solo art song w a s already well estab­ collection o f traditional airs, interspersed with
lished. Later, during the 19th century, the form h y m n s and carols, sea shanties, and N e g r o
found its greatest expression in G e r m a n y and spirituals, including songs w h i c h had fairy­
to some extent in R u s s i a also. T h i s w a s a time tale-style narratives, such as ' O l d K i n g C o l e ' ,
when poems dealing in supernatural elements ' W h o Killed C o c k R o b i n ? ' , o r the nursery
began to interest composers. Schubert's Erl- rhyme 'Hot Cross Buns'.
kônig (The Ed King) o f 1817 is a setting o f
*Goethe's celebrated ballad, concerning a 5. T H E 2 0 T H CENTURY
y o u n g b o y w h o is lured to his untimely end b y T h r o u g h the continuing demand for panto­
an evil goblin. T h e same composer's Der mime in the 20th century, m a n y popular songs
Alpenjdger (The Alpine Hunter), another h a v e found themselves allied to fairy tales,
Goethe setting, invokes the spirit o f the m o u n ­ while not in themselves dealing with the sub­
tains. ject. T h u s a pantomime about ""Cinderella' o r ,
say, ""Jack and the Beanstalk', might not c o n ­
3. NURSERY AND CRADLE SONGS tain a v o c a l item w h i c h relates to the story as
A point worth bearing in mind is that m a n y such. A g o o d example o f this is the 1937 W a l t
leading composers o f the 18th, 19th, and 20th * D i s n e y film *Snow White and the Seven
centuries wrote cradle songs—*Mozart, Dwarfs, although it could b e argued that the
Schubert, ""Schumann, B r a h m s (his Wiegenlied, song, ' S o m e D a y m y P r i n c e W i l l C o m e ' , is
O p . 49 N o . 4, being especially famous), and part o f the narrative.
Richard *Strauss. T h e Russian composer M o d ­ E l s e w h e r e , fairy-tale references w e r e to b e
est M u s s o r g s k y (1839—81), set a cycle o f five found, including a s h o w with a fairy-tale title,
nursery songs. ( H e also composed a setting o f Cinderella on Broadway (1920), and a s o n g ,
Goethe's The Flea.) ' C i n d e r e l l a stay in m y a r m s ' , written b y
Michael C a r r and J i m m y K e n n e d y in 1938. B e ­
4. FOLK SONG AND COMMUNITY SONGS fore that, in 1933, K e n n e d y , in collaboration
T h e folk song tradition is widespread through­ with H a r r y Castling, w r o t e w h a t b e c a m e p r o b ­
out E u r o p e and R u s s i a , being most often at its ably the most popular o f all songs in the fairy­
strongest in rural and industrial communities. tale tradition: ' T h e T e d d y B e a r s ' P i c n i c ' . T h e
For centuries it relied for its continuation on s o n g has l o n g been established as a 'classic',
transmission from parent to child. M a n y lead­ b e i n g a favourite a m o n g y o u n g and o l d
ing composers in the 20th century h a v e turned alike.
to arranging such material. Manuel de F a l l a ' s A m o d e r n fairy tale created especially for
collection Seven Spanish Folk Songs contains a popular s o n g w a s ' R u d o l f the R e d - N o s e d
cradle song, ' N a n a ' , as does Béla *Bartôk's R e i n d e e r ' . Based on a story b y R o b e r t L . M a y
Hungarian collection, Village Scenes. written in 1939, R u d o l f the R e d - N o s e d R e i n ­
T h e arrival o f printed collections, as distinct deer w a s fashioned into a s o n g b y J o h n n y
from the arrangements mentioned a b o v e , indi­ M a r k s in 1949. A n enduring favourite, espe­
cated that countries w e r e b e c o m i n g m o r e cially at Christmas time, it first gained popular­
aware o f their cultural heritage, including indi­ ity with a recording m a d e b y the r e n o w n e d
genous folk o r fairy tales. W i t h the absorption A m e r i c a n actor and singer G e n e A u t r y . A
of traditional airs into the public consciousness, similar tale o f an animal disadvantaged b y its
together with a h e a v y reliance on contempor­ physical appearance, y e t w h o eventually w i n s
ary popular commercial song, community acceptance, e m e r g e d with a s o n g made famous
singing arose in the early 20th century, attain­ b y the British actor and dancer T o m m y Steele
PORTUGUESE FAIRY TALES 394

in 1959. ' T h e Little W h i t e B u l l ' , w h i c h he sang his oil paintings o f the G r i m m s ' tales trans­
in the film, Tommy the Toreador, became one o f formed into picture postcards.
his greatest hits. H a n s Christian *Anderson's T h r o u g h o u t the 20th century artists in all
' T h e * U g l y D u c k l i n g ' found its w a y into s o n g countries w o r k e d in different modes to p r o ­
thanks to the 1952 film based on the life o f the duce fairy tales for postcards. M a n y French
D a n i s h writer o f fairy tales. W i t h music b y photographers, especially at the beginning o f
F r a n k L o e s s e r , the film *Hans Christian Ander­ the 20th century, used posed live characters
sen starred the celebrated A m e r i c a n comedian and animals in photographs to illustrate
and singer, D a n n y K a y e . *Perrault's tales. Scenes from the Epinal fairy­
T h e rise and eventual domination b y ' p o p ' tale broadsides w e r e published as postcards.
and 'beat' music in the last few decades has not T h e r e are art deco cards, black-and-white
tended to include the traditional fairy tale. ink d r a w i n g s , w o o d c u t s , silhouettes, and
N e v e r t h e l e s s , it continues to h a v e a firm place comic-strip cards as w e l l as advertisements for
in commercial ventures, as can b e seen with the products and department stores printed as
n u m b e r o f musical s h o w s and films (such as chromolithographs. In the latter half o f the
*Beauty and the Beast from W a l t D i s n e y Stu­ 20th century reproductions have been made o f
d i o s ) , based on such stories. TH famous illustrated b o o k s , and theme parks and
Fischer-Dieskau, Dietrich, Book of Lieder (1976). films h a v e printed fairy-tale postcards to c o m ­
Gammond, Peter, The Oxford Companion to plement their products. C a r d s from the begin­
Popular Music (1991). ning o f the 20th century have become valuable
Goss, John (ed.), Daily Express Community Song
collectors' items and are remarkable for their
Book (1927).
originality and exquisite artistic qualities.
Larkin, Colin (ed.), The Guinness Who's Who of
A m o n g the best artists are: Mabel L u c i e *Att-
Stage Musicals (1994).
Sadie, Stanley, (ed.), The New Grove Dictionary well ( U K ) , G . L . Barnes ( U K ) , Fritz B a u m -
of Music and Musicians, xvii (1980). garten ( G e r m a n y ) , Margret Boris ( T h e
Netherlands), Frances Brundage (USA),
O s k a r Herrfurth ( G e r m a n y ) , Paul H e y ( G e r ­
PORTUGUESE FAIRY TALES (see opposite)
m a n y ) , Ernst Kutzer (Austria), J e n n y * N y s -
trôm ( S w e d e n ) , Heinz Pingerra (Austria),
POSTCARDS AND FAIRY TALES. Picture postcards Bernhard T o h n ( G e r m a n y ) , L o u i s W a i n
w e r e first introduced in E u r o p e and N o r t h ( U K ) , and Lisbeth * Z w e r g e r (Austria). JZ
A m e r i c a during the 1890s. G i v e n the popular­ Cope, Dawn and Peter, Red Riding Hood's
ity o f fairy tales and the craze for picture post­ Favorite Fairy Tales (1981).
cards at the turn o f the century, there w e r e Mashburn, J . L., Fantasy Postcards (1996).
Willoughby, Martin, A History of Postcards
numerous fairy-tale postcards printed b y inter­
(1992).
national firms such as Birn B r o s . , D a v i d s o n
B r o s . , M a x Ettlinger & C o . , C . W . F a u l k n e r , POTTER, BEATRIX (1866-1943), author o f the
S. Hildesheimer & C o . , W . M a c k , Misch & 'Peter R a b b i t ' b o o k s . H e r first b o o k , The
Stock, R a p h a e l T u c k , U v a c h r o m , Valentine, Tailor of Gloucester, printed privately in 1902
and others. C a r d s w e r e mainly sold in e n v e l ­ and published b y W a r n e in 1903, is in effect a
opes o r in sets o f six o r t w e l v e . S o m e fairy-tale fairy story: an old tailor has his incomplete
postcards w e r e signed, but most remained a n ­ w o r k finished on Christmas E v e , not b y the
o n y m o u s . Since p a y m e n t for postcard illustra­ traditional b r o w n i e s , but b y grateful mice. The
tion w a s v e r y l o w and p r o v i d e d only Fairy Caravan, her penultimate b o o k , w a s pub­
supplementary income, w o m e n w e r e m o r e lished in A m e r i c a in 1929, in E n g l a n d in 1952.
likely to accept the j o b . T h i s w a s certainly the A long and rambling tale about an animals'
case in E n g l a n d , w h e r e the early illustrators travelling circus, it has t w o inset fairy tales,
w e r e H i l d a Miller (1876—1939), Millicent ' F a i r y Horseshoes' and ' T h e F a i r y in the O a k ' .
Sowerby (1878—1967), Susan Pearse GA
(1878—1959), Margaret *Tarrant (1881—1959),
Lilian G o v e y (1886—1974), and J o y c e Mercer POURRAT, HENRI (1887-1959), collector-author
(1896—1965). B o t h T a r r a n t and S o w e r b y , gift­ of F r e n c h folk and fairy tales. B o r n in the town
ed artists, illustrated editions o f the * G r i m m s ' of A m b e r t , Pourrat spent 50 years amassing re­
fairy tales. A n o t h e r important illustrator, gional tales o f his native A u v e r g n e . A s with
C h a r l e s *Folkard ( 1 8 7 8 - 1 9 6 3 ) , had his illustra­ *Perrault and the * G r i m m s , he wanted to re­
tions for Grimms' Fairy Tales (1911) made into cord and preserve folk heritage. B u t unlike
picture postcards. In G e r m a n y Otto K u b e l had Perrault, w h o transcribed but a dozen tales for
Portuguese fairy tales. N o one has yet written a his-
t o r y , definitive or otherwise, o f Portuguese fairy tales
('historias d a C a r o c h i n h a ' ) , a n d s t u d i e s o f c h i l d r e n ' s l i t -
erature are a r e l a t i v e l y recent d e v e l o p m e n t . Y e t there is a
wealth of material—incontrovertible evidence of a deep-
rooted, v i g o r o u s tradition w h i c h parallels and frequently
interacts w i t h other p o p u l a r g e n r e s s u c h as the p r o v e r b i a l
s a y i n g or the b a l l a d — t h a t d e m a n d s c o m m e n t a r y a n d a n -
alysis.
T h e earliest c o l l e c t i o n o f stories i n P o r t u g u e s e dates
b a c k to the late 14th o r e a r l y 15th c e n t u r y : the Horto do
Esposo (The Orchard of the Husband), an exemplum col-
l e c t i o n i n w h i c h w e find s o m e tales o f d e v i l s , m a g i c i a n s ,
a n d spells. P o r t u g a l also h a s its o w n c o m p i l a t i o n o f A e s o -
p i a n fables i n a 1 5 t h - c e n t u r y m a n u s c r i p t k n o w n as the
Fabuldrio Português {Portuguese Fable Book). Many of
these tales s e e m to h a v e t a k e n r o o t i n the c o l l e c t i v e c o n -
s c i o u s n e s s — p o s s i b l y as a d i r e c t c o n s e q u e n c e o f the p u l -
p i t — a n d reappear later i n c o l l e c t i o n s o f p o p u l a r tales.
T h e c u r r e n t s i t u a t i o n c a n b e s u m m e d u p as f o l l o w s .
Two distinct tendencies coexist and o c c a s i o n a l l y c o m -
pete, at least i n t e r m s o f r e a d e r s h i p . O n the o n e h a d , w e
find n u m e r o u s t r a n s l a t i o n s i n t o P o r t u g u e s e f r o m F r e n c h ,
German, a n d E n g l i s h o f the 'canonical' literary fairy
tales. A n a de C a s t r o O s ô r i o (1872—1935), d e s c r i b e d b y
some literary h i s t o r i a n s as the f o u n d e r of Portuguese
c h i l d r e n ' s literature, collected traditional folklore and
w a s also r e s p o n s i b l e for n u m e r o u s t r a n s l a t i o n s o f f o r e i g n
a u t h o r s i n c l u d i n g the B r o t h e r s * G r i m m a n d H a n s C h r i s -
tian * A n d e r s e n . I n fact, t r a n s l a t i o n s o f the G r i m m s a n d
Andersen, w h o himself visited and wrote about Portugal,
are still b e i n g p r o d u c e d i n a b u n d a n c e , either as s i n g l e
tales o r i n c o m p i l a t i o n s . T h e f a i r y tales o f C h a r l e s * P e r -
rault are also f o u n d i n c o u n t l e s s e d i t i o n s , o n e o f the m o s t
recent b e i n g the l a v i s h l y i l l u s t r a t e d Très contos de Perrault
(1997), translated b y L u i z a N e t o J o r g e a n d M a n u e l J o a o
G o m e s . O f the three tales selected for t r a n s l a t i o n , ' A P e l e
de B u r r o ' ( * ' D o n k e y - S k i n ' ) h a s b e e n r e n d e r e d i n v e r s e ,
while 'O Barba A z u l ' (*'Bluebeard') and ' O Polegar-
z i n h o ' (""Little T o m T h u m b ' ) are i n p r o s e .
T h e tales o f the c o m t e s s e d e * S é g u r , at o n e t i m e e x -
t r e m e l y f a s h i o n a b l e , w e r e r e - e d i t e d u p to the m i d - 1 9 8 0 s ,
b u t are n o w less w i d e l y r e a d , h a v i n g b e e n d i s p l a c e d b y
mystery and adventure stories. L e w i s * C a r r o l l has also
attracted s o m e attention: *Alice's Adventures in Wonder-
land w a s first translated i n 1936 u n d e r the title Alice no
pais das fadas (Alice in the Country of Fairies), an abridged
PORTUGUESE FAIRY TALES 396

e d i t i o n i n t e n d e d for y o u n g c h i l d r e n . S u c c e s s i v e t r a n s l a ­
tions o f v a r y i n g quality and length have followed, and
the P o r t u g u e s e f o r t u n e s o f A l i c e h a v e r e c e n t l y b e e n the
subject o f critical essays b y G l o r i a Bastos and José A n t o ­
nio G o m e s .
O n the o t h e r h a n d , there exists a substantial c o r p u s o f
t r a d i t i o n a l f o l k tales i n P o r t u g u e s e . L i t t l e is r e a l l y k n o w n
about Portuguese fairy tales o u t s i d e Portugal—some
m i g h t e v e n a r g u e w i t h i n the c o u n t r y as w e l l — b e c a u s e o f
the l a n g u a g e b a r r i e r a n d as a result o f ' a c o n t i n u i n g f a i l ­
u r e to a r c h i v e , c a t a l o g u e a n d p u b l i c i z e the a v a i l a b l e m a ­
t e r i a l ' ( C a r d i g o s , 1996). W h e r e tales h a v e b e e n c o l l e c t e d ,
p u b l i s h e d , a n d a n a l y s e d , this h a s b e e n v e r y m u c h the l a ­
b o u r o f l o v e o f a h a n d f u l o f intellectual pioneers writing
at the e n d o f the 19th c e n t u r y o r i n the e a r l y y e a r s o f the
20th. S e v e r a l m a j o r c o l l e c t i o n s exist, b u t these w e r e p u b ­
lished i n a c a d e m i c journals or scholarly editions never
i n t e n d e d for the l a y r e a d e r a n d are n o w o u t o f p r i n t . B u t
four scholars in particular deserve mention. T h e works of
A n a d e C a s t r o O s ô r i o c o n t i n u e to b e p u b l i s h e d , e v e n as
r e c e n t l y as 1997, m a k i n g traditional P o r t u g u e s e stories
a v a i l a b l e to n e w g e n e r a t i o n s o f r e a d e r s . T h e s a m e h o l d s
true o f A d o l f o C o e l h o ( 1 8 4 7 - 1 9 1 9 ) , author of Contos
populates portugueses {Popular Portuguese Tales, 1879);
Zôfimo Consiglieri Pedroso (1851—1910), compiler of
Contos populares portugueses {Popular Portuguese Tales,
1 9 1 0 ) ; a n d T e ô f i l o B r a g a (1842—1924), a u t h o r o f Contos
tradicionais do povo portugués ( Traditional Tales of the Por­
tuguese People, first p u b l i s h e d i n t w o v o l u m e s i n 1883).
A d o l f o C o e l h o a n d C o n s i g l i e r i P e d r o s o are also n o t ­
able, a n d their w o r k s have been widely disseminated.
Thirty o f P e d r o s o ' s 500 o r so u n p u b l i s h e d Portuguese
Folk-Tales appeared in E n g l i s h before they were p u b ­
l i s h e d i n P o r t u g a l , w h i l e C o e l h o ' s tales a p p e a r e d i n L o n ­
d o n s i x y e a r s later u n d e r the title Tales of Old Lusitania
from the Folklore of Portugal. Many o f the Portuguese
stories are v a r i a n t s o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y k n o w n f a i r y tales.
T h e n a r r a t i v e s c o l l e c t e d b y P e d r o s o d e r i v e d f r o m the
A e s o p i a n t r a d i t i o n , the R e n a r d C y c l e , a n d L a F o n t a i n e ,
a m o n g other sources. T h e y include a Portuguese variant
o f * ' B e a u t y a n d the B e a s t ' , ' A m e n i n a e o b i c h o ' ('The
M a i d e n a n d the B e a s t ' ) , i n w h i c h first the beast, t h e n the
maiden dies. Pedroso's ' O s dois pequenos e a bruxa'
('The T w o C h i l d r e n a n d the W i t c h ' ) , also p u b l i s h e d as
' O s m e n i n o s p e r d i d o s ' i n C o e l h o ' s c o l l e c t i o n , is o b v i o u s ­
l y a version o f * ' H a n s e l and Gretel'. Pedroso's ' A rainha
orgulhosa' ('The Vain Queen') and 'A estalajadeira'
397 PORTUGUESE FAIRY TALES

-
( ' T h e I n n k e e p e r ' ) display a m a r k e d r e s e m b l a n c e to

* ' S n o w W h i t e ' . P e d r o s o ' s tale ' A s tias' ( ' T h e A u n t s ' ) ,

k n o w n as ' A s fiandeiras' in B r a g a , has several points o f

contact w i t h *'Rumpelstiltskin'. ' B r a n c a F l o r ' ( ' W h i t e

F l o w e r ' ) , w h i c h exists in at least 13 P o r t u g u e s e versions,

#i
has b e e n identified as ' T h e G i r l as H e l p e r in the H e r o ' s

Flight' ( A T 313, C a r d i g o s , 1996). T h e s a m e author's ' A

princesa q u e n a o queria casar c o m o pai' ( ' T h e P r i n c e s s

W h o D i d N o t W a n t to M a r r y h e r F a t h e r ' ) is a P o r t u ­

g u e s e e x a m p l e o f ' D o n k e y - S k i n ' , w h o b e c o m e s ' P e l e - d e - I • C L j i ^ t ^ -

cavalo' ( ' H o r s e - S k i n ' ) in C o e l h o . ^ ' C i n d e r e l l a ' is k n o w n

as ' T h e H e a r t h C a t ' o r ' A g a t a borralheira' in P e d r o s o ,

a n d P e d r o s o has his o w n v e r s i o n o f *'Little R e d R i d i n g

f'fcf j3'*'y%$*.':y 1

H o o d ' , ' A m e n i n a d o c h a p e l i n h o v e r m e l h o ' . ' C a r a d e boi'

( ' O x F a c e ' ) has s t r o n g e c h o e s o f the G r i m m s ' ^ R a p u n ­

zel'.

Nevertheless, not all o f the fairy tales m a t c h the t y p e s

classified b y A n t t i * A a r n e a n d Stith T h o m p s o n in The

Types of the Folktale. S o m e m a y w e l l b e exclusive to P o r ­

tugal, w h i l e others are certainly u n u s u a l in their d e g r e e

o f deviation f r o m the established version. P o r t u g u e s e

scholars are n o w b e g i n n i n g to investigate these questions;

the last d e c a d e has seen a handful o f theses o n P o r t u g u e s e

fairy tales or related topics, a n d the recently established

journal Estudos de Literatura Oral, published b y the U n i ­

versity o f the A l g a r v e , s e e m s set to stimulate fresh inter­

est in P o r t u g u e s e folklore. P A O B

Bastos, Gloria, A escrita para crianças em Portugal no Se'culo XIX (1997).

C a r d i g o s , I s a b e l , ' S t o r i e s a b o u t T i m e in F o u r F a i r y t a l e s f r o m Portuguese
Speaking Countries', Portuguese Studies, 11 (1995).
In and Out of Enchantment: Blood Symbolism and Gender in
Portuguese Fairytales (1996).
G o m e s , J o s é A n t o n i o , Literatura para crianças—alguns percursos (1991).
Towards a History of Portuguese Children's and Youth Literature
(1998).
L o p e s , A n a Cristina M a c â r i o , 'Literatura culta e literatura tradicional de
transmissao oral: a bipartiçao da esfra literâria', Cadernos de Literatura, 15
(1983).

aristocrats o f literary salons, Pourrat in his Tré­ writing, with m o r e physical afternoons d e ­
sor des contes (Treasury of Tales) passed on voted to w a l k i n g the countryside and
1,009 rustic stories for e v e r y d a y r e a d e r s — a n interviewing storytellers. F r o m them he col­
audience somewhat closer to the bourgeois lected some 30,000 regionalisms, w h i c h he r e ­
public of the G r i m m s . corded in a succession o f notebooks and later
Ironically, it is to ill health that w e o w e his used to enrich his numerous essays, folk-tale
astounding collection, for tuberculosis at the collections, and historical romances.
age o f 18 prevented him from pursuing a career Pourrat achieved fame with his first n o v e l ,
as an agricultural engineer. Thereafter, he Gaspard des montagnes (Gaspardfrom the Moun­
passed his sedentary mornings resting and tains, 1922—32), w h i c h w o n the P r i x F i g a r o
POWELL, MICHAEL AND PRESSBURGER, EMERIC 398

(1922) and the F r e n c h A c a d e m y ' s G r a n d P r i x demics w h o scrupulously recorded and pub­

for Best N o v e l (1931). E a c h o f its four v o l u m e s lished their sources along with the tales,
spans seven nights in w h i c h ' O l d M a r i e ' tells Pourrat resolutely kept such documentation for
numerous tales o f c o u r a g e o u s country folk his personal records. H e hoped this 'anonymity'
w h o outwit E v i l . T h e frame story for this 'folk w o u l d impart a timelessness to the tales, instead
Scheherazade' is set after the F r e n c h R e v o l u ­ of reducing them to dry accounts told b y a
tion, and is based on several versions o f the certain person o f a certain age at a certain time.
folk tales ' L e s Y e u x r o u g e s ' ( ' R e d E y e s ' ) and S e c o n d l y , the ethnologists felt he violated the
' L a Main c o u p é e ' ( ' T h e S e v e r e d H a n d ' ) . A l o n e sacred rules o f ' n e v e r omit anything, never add
one night during her parents' absence, A n n e - anything' w h e n transcribing sources. T h i s is
Marie G r a n g e discovers that an intruder has precisely what Pourrat could not bring himself
entered her A u v e r g n e farmhouse. S h e outwits to d o . R a t h e r than strictly recording tales told
the thief b y cutting off his hand, and he swears b y , say, a g e i n g lacemakers, Pourrat w a s faithful
v e n g e a n c e . Seasons later, she is unwittingly to their spirit b y inventing an oral, 'rustic style'
married to this violent bandit chief, w h o e v e n ­ uniquely his o w n . H e recreated the atmosphere
tually steals a w a y their child born o f her rape. of storytelling itself in confidential asides to the
T h r o u g h o u t a thousand p a g e s o f h a r r o w i n g reader and reproduction o f sounds, smells, and
and melodramatic adventures, A n n e - M a r i e ' s tactile sensations: the clicking o f needles or the
cousin G a s p a r d is her constant support. ringing o f the angelus, the aroma o f freshly
Chaste, star-crossed l o v e r s o f sorts, this m o w n h a y , the humidity o f a late-summer
couple's strength, spirituality, and folk w i s d o m evening. H e w o u l d also combine several v e r ­
incarnate the ennobling simplicity o f rustic life. sions o f a folk tale, flesh out psychological
A f t e r Gaspard, Pourrat continued to write portraits, and pepper his stylized narratives
extensively about the A u v e r g n e . R e c o g n i z e d as with colloquialisms and minute details o f local
a major F r e n c h author during W o r l d W a r I I , colour. Because o f these modifications to ori­
he w a s a w a r d e d the P r i x G o n c o u r t in 1944 for ginal source material, critics regarded him more
Le Vent de mars {March Wind), an essay c o n ­ as an author than folklorist, and felt that his
cerning w a r t i m e A u v e r g n e . But it is The Treas­ attention to detail w o r k e d against his goal o f
ury of Tales (1948-62) that sealed his rendering the tales timeless. T h e y also crit­
reputation as a folklorist. Published at a time icized his censuring o f data: the devout Pourrat
w h e n p o s t - w a r F r a n c e w a s battling rising fas­ d o w n p l a y e d the b a w d y or anticlerical elements
cism, its 13 v o l u m e s incarnate w h a t Pourrat of fabliaux-inspired tales, and eliminated verses
termed 'the original m y t h o l o g y o f the F r e n c h of songs w h e n translating from Occitan (a
p e o p l e ' . T h e tales are d i v i d e d into categories dialect o f P r o v e n ç a l ) into standard French.
about fairies, the d e v i l , bandits, village life, the T o d a y , Pourrat's ethno-literary ode to the
m a d and the w i s e , beasts, and l o v e and m a r ­ A u v e r g n e is u n d e r g o i n g a long-overdue re­
riage. A s complete as this thousand-tale collec­ appraisal. A journal dedicated to Pourrat stud­
tion m a y seem, h o w e v e r , the Treasury n e v e r ies, as well as n e w F r e n c h editions o f the
attained prominence a m o n g the ' a c a d e m i c ' Treasury and an E n g l i s h translation, are n o w
folklorists. Indeed, it occasioned a rather v i o ­ available to the public. His celebration o f 19th-
lent debate. First, ethnologists w h o had p u b ­ century peasant life, with its 20th-century post­
lished regional folk tales had commented on w a r agenda o f revitalizing the French national
the rarity o f those in the A u v e r g n e : they w e r e spirit, is n o w universally acclaimed as a mile­
sceptical that ' n e w *Mother G o o s e tales' c o n ­ stone in F r e n c h folklore studies. MLE
tinued to b e told. Pourrat, in his comprehen­ Bricout, Bernadette, Le Savoir et la saveur: Henri
sive picture o f regional folklore, did indeed Pourrat et Le Trésor des contes (1992).
include not o n l y stories, but fables, p r o v e r b s , Cahiers Henri Pourrat (1981—present).
j o k e s , and songs from oral sources (some 106 Gardes, Roger, Un écrivain au travail: Henri
Pourrat (1980).
storytellers and 86 singers) as well as printed
Plessy, Bernard, Au pays de Gaspard des
matter (regional c h a p b o o k s , almanacs, texts
montagnes (1981).
from R a b e l a i s to L a F o n t a i n e ) . L i k e Perrault Zipes, Jack, 'Henri Pourrat and the Tradition of
and the G r i m m s , P o u r r a t thus found himself at Perrault and the Brothers Grimm', in The
the crossroads o f the existing traditions o f the Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the
oral folk tale and literary fairy tale. But in try­ Modern World (1988).
ing to transform these genres through ingeni­
ous methods o f translating their orality, he POWELL, MICHAEL (1905-90) and PRESSBUR­
committed t w o major 'sins'. U n l i k e the aca­ GER, EMERIC (1902—88), film-makers w h o s e
399 PRATCHETT, TERRY

company twice turned its attention to p r o d u ­ the fantastic irrupts into the e v e r y d a y m o d e r n
cing cinematic w o r k s inspired b y literary tales. w o r l d , as in his trilogy for y o u n g readers,
F o r The *Red Shoes ( U K , 1948) the idea o f cre­ Truckers (1989), Diggers (1990), and Wings
ating an original ballet that w a s pure film and (1991). A m o n g s t his m a n y inventive and en­
could never be reproduced on stage w a s the g a g i n g rereadings o f literature, culture, and s o ­
reason for the w h o l e project. T h e result w a s ciety, Pratchett has presented readers w i t h
The Ballet of the Red Shoes. D e r i v e d from playful and at times parodie versions o f H o m e r
*Andersen's story of the girl w h o s e n e w shoes and D a n t e (Eric, 1989), o f Shakespeare (Wyrd
dance her to death, it compresses numerous Sisters, 1988, and Lords and Ladies, 1992), o f
changes of scene and time into 13 minutes, and The Phantom of the Opera (Maskerade, 1995),
uses special-effects techniques to s h o w her and the origins o f pop music in the 1950s (Soul
dancing in t w o places at once, or c o m i n g d o w n Music, 1994). Specifically fantastic elements are
from a leap so s l o w l y that she floats. T h e story d r a w n extensively from m y t h s , legends, and
filling the other t w o hours parallels this central fairy tales, and b o r r o w i n g s or allusions appear
ballet: a y o u n g student becomes a great baller­ throughout the n o v e l s . P a r t o f the g a m e is to
ina but is driven to suicide w h e n forced to d r a w attention to the processes o f b o r r o w i n g
choose between l o v e o f her husband and l o v e and refashioning, as w h e n a character in
of her art. Guards! Guards! (1989) explains an item o f
T h r e e years later P o w e l l and P r e s s b u r g e r k n o w l e d g e as ' W e l l k n o w n folk m y t h ' .
followed up this cine-ballet with a cine-opera, F o l k - t a l e motifs p e r v a d e the n o v e l s , but
The Tales of Hoffmann ( U K , 1951), but this their function is usually c o m i c o r ironic.
time used existing texts. A d a p t e d from *Offen- Guards! Guards!, for example, pivots on a le­
bach's operatic version of a play based on the g e n d about the finding o f a descendant o f a
life and stories of E . T . A . *Hoffmann, it starts vanished r o y a l line, and this heir to the throne
with a prologue in which Hoffmann, h a v i n g is easily identified b y readers because he is an
just had old w o u n d s reopened, offers to tell the orphan possessing a special s w o r d and a birth­
students in a tavern three tales o f the follies he mark. H e himself n e v e r realizes the truth, h o w ­
has committed in the name o f l o v e . In the first, e v e r , remaining in his humble station and so
as a v e r y y o u n g man, he is tricked into an in­ exemplifying a point Pratchett made o v e r t l y in
fatuation with O l y m p i a , only to find out e v e n ­ his note to the 1992 revision o f Carpet People
tually that she is merely a mechanical doll. In (originally 1971): 'the real concerns o f fantasy
the second, n o w older, he is enslaved b y a ought to be about not h a v i n g battles, and d o i n g
beautiful courtesan, Giulietta, w h o gains p o s ­ without k i n g s . ' T h e T r u c k e r s trilogy has e l e m ­
session of his soul b y capturing his reflection, ents o f the folk-tale quest narrative, but is
then goes off with another man. F i n a l l y , h a v ­ l a r g e l y a p a r o d y o f T o l k i e n e s q u e 'high fan­
ing reached maturity, he falls in l o v e with tasy', with touches o f science fiction. T h e first
Antonia, a singer d y i n g o f consumption, w h o v o l u m e , Truckers, introduces a w o r l d on the
promises him she will not sap her strength b y periphery o f human society inhabited b y
performing again; h o w e v e r , she is misled b y a nomes, small beings w h o s e v a r i o u s social for­
quack doctor, breaks her promise, and dies in mations reflect and p a r o d y the familiar human
Hoffmann's arms. T h e epilogue s h o w s h o w 'real' w o r l d (the spelling foregrounds their dif­
Hoffmann, seeing his audience spellbound, ference from the ' g n o m e s ' o f fairy tale).
realizes that his true destiny is to be a poet, not T h r o u g h his depiction o f the nomes Pratchett
a lover. TAS critiques familiar social systems and b e ­
h a v i o u r s , especially customs associated with
PRATCHETT, TERRY ( 1 9 4 8 - ) , E n g l i s h writer of religion, class, and gender. H e does this b y
comic fantasy novels. H e w o r k e d as a journal­ means o f parodie citation o f familiar texts and
ist and then as a press officer between 1965 and discourses and b y p l a y i n g with signs and
1987, w h e n he became a full-time writer. Most meanings. T h e nomes h a v e a society, culture,
of his novels are intended primarily for adults, and religion w h i c h is a bricolage o f discourses
but like much popular fantasy they also h a v e a misappropriated from department store signs
strong appeal to adolescent readers. Stories, and advertising, mixed w i t h parodie forms o f
themes, and motifs are d r a w n from v e r y di­ biblical and religious discourse, philosophical
verse areas of history, literature, popular cul­ and pseudo-scientific discourse, and clichéd
ture, and traditional story, whether the novels e v e r y d a y utterances. T h e p a r o d y d r a w s atten­
are set in the D i s c w o r l d he has invented as the tion to the constructedness o f the represented
setting for most of his adult novels, or whether w o r l d and, through that, to the w a y s in w h i c h
PRÉCHAC, JEAN DE 400

representations o f the w o r l d outside the text tales addresses large themes: the responsibility
are similarly constructed and ascribed with of authors in shaping stories, the role of readers
meanings. in challenging the grand cultural narratives
T h e novels w h i c h m a k e most particular and w h i c h inhere in fairy tales, and finally the cen­
extensive use o f folk and fairy tale are Witches tral importance of creativity and imagination to
Abroad (1991) and Hogfather (1996). Hogfather the humanity of human beings. J AS
can in part be read as a manifesto about the Broderick, Kirsten, 'Past and Present: The Uses
value and functions o f fairy tales within cul­ of History in Children's Fiction', Papers:
ture. T h e Hogfather o f the title is a Santa C l a u s Explorations into Children's Literature, 6.3 (1996).
figure in danger o f disappearing because of the Stephens, John, 'Gender, Genre and Children's
Literature', Signal, 79 (1996).
p e r v a s i v e failure o f belief under the h e g e m o n y
'Not Unadjacent to a Play about a
o f rationalism. A g a i n s t this threat, the n o v e l ' s
Scottish King: Terry Pratchett Retells Macbeth',
protagonists assert a kind o f o n t o l o g y o f the
Papers: Explorations into Children's Literature, 7.2
fantastic w h e r e b y belief brings concepts into
0997)-
being. D e a t h , for example, w h o s e character has and McCallum, Robyn, Retelling Stories,
e v o l v e d through the D i s c w o r l d series into the Framing Culture: Traditional Story and
embodiment o f a deeply humanistic v i e w o f e x ­ Metanarratives in Children's Literature (1998).
istence and the imagination, asserts that
' H u m a n s need fantasy to be human. T o be the PRÉCHAC, JEAN DE ( 1 6 7 6 - ? ) , French writer.
place w h e r e the falling angel meets the rising A u t h o r o f numerous novels, Préchac published
ape.' T h e point is to be able to imagine a differ­ Contes moins contes que les autres {Tales Less
ent w o r l d , other possibilities. T h u s elsewhere Tale-like than the Others, 1698) at the height of
in the n o v e l , D e a t h interrogates and dismisses the ' v o g u e ' o f fairy tales in late 17th-century
*Andersen's ' T h e Little Match G i r l ' because its France. Reflecting Préchac's excellent court
recourse to religious consolation constitutes an connections, his 'Sans P a r a n g o n ' ('Without
evasion o f social justice and responsibility. In a E q u a l ' ) and ' L a R e i n e des fées' ('Queen of the
m o r e light-hearted w a y , the n o v e l m o c k s the fairies') are panegyrics of L o u i s X I V ' s court.
rationalizing binary opposites o f structural an­ 'Without E q u a l ' contains an allegory about
thropology: if there is a T o o t h F a i r y w h o c o l ­ m a n y of the high points of L o u i s ' s reign, in­
lects there can also be a V e r r u c a G n o m e w h o cluding the construction of Versailles, which is
delivers, and all it takes to bring the latter into erected b y fairy magic; and ' L a Reine des fées'
being is a linguistic formulation o f the idea o f describes the banishment of bad fairies and the
it. praise of g o o d fairies, w h o are none other than
Earlier, in Witches Abroad, Pratchett had prominent aristocratic w o m e n of Préchac's
examined the more negative possibilities o f day. T h e s e tales are extreme examples of w a y s
fairy tales, their capacity to be implicit p u r v e y ­ the fairy-tale form could be used to promote
ors o f i d e o l o g y within powerful teleological official propaganda. Préchac is the first French
structures. In this n o v e l , Lilith, an evil-minded writer o f fairy tales to make such explicit and
m a g i c - w o r k e r , has set herself up as a fairy g o d ­ sustained allusions to historical reality, a tech­
mother and compels people to live their lives as nique frequently employed during the 18th
if they w e r e fairy-tale characters. T h e frame century (albeit more often in the satirical
tale is a version o f *'Cinderella', with various mode). LCS
other tales incorporated, from classics such as
*'Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' to modern tales like PRETTY WOMAN (film: U S A , 1990), frequently
The ^Wizard of 0 { . T h r e e ' g o o d ' witches set described as a modern *Cinderella story, star­
out to oppose Lilith, striving to bring about ring Julia Roberts and Richard G e r e , and dir­
endings other than the traditional ones, and ected b y G a r y Marshall. Set in H o l l y w o o d , the
hence striving to avert the ideological implica­ film involves the relationship between a ruth­
tions o f the tales. F a i r y - t a l e schemata h a v e less corporate executive and a prostitute, w h o
their o w n momentum, h o w e v e r , so on their fantasizes of being rescued like a fairy-tale
w a y to a successful outcome the three witches princess. A l t h o u g h she claims that they have
must resist b e c o m i n g absorbed into Lilith's rescued each other through their love, the
v e r s i o n o f the narrative, w h e r e b y she is the film's happy ending relies on both characters
' g o o d ' one and they are assigned the adversar­ acting out the stereotypical fairy-tale roles: she
ial function and are hence destined for defeat. the imprisoned princess, he the rescuing
B e y o n d the comic turns and surface hu­ knight. Allusions to the illusory nature of
m o u r , Pratchett's refashioning o f familiar fairy H o l l y w o o d ' s commercial dream-making frame
40i 'PRINCESS AND THE P E A , T H E '

the film, but are secondary to the sentimental the name J u l n a ) becomes a skilled thief h i m ­
love story, which has made the film so popular. self, and meets T i n a , an acrobatic street
DH entertainer w h o falls in l o v e with him. H e ,
h o w e v e r , has e y e s for none but Princess Y a s -
PREUSSLER, OTFRIED ( 1 9 2 3 - ) , G e r m a n author
min. T h i s leads him to o v e r t h r o w the ruling
of children's b o o k s . D u r i n g his y e a r s as a
prince, o n l y to d i s c o v e r that the throne is his
schoolteacher and headmaster in B a v a r i a , P r e -
b y right. Y u s s e f and T i n a conspire to s h o w
ussler wrote a series o f popular children's
him that Y a s m i n is u n w o r t h y o f his l o v e ; in the
books using traditional fairy-tale characters
end he sees the light and marries T i n a . TAS
and motifs, including Der Heine Wassermann
(The Little Water Sprite, 1956), Die kleine Hexe
(The Little Witch, 1957), Der Rauber Hotzen- 'PRINCESS AND THE PEA, T H E ' ('Prindsessen paa
ploti (The Robber Hotzenploti, 1962), and Das y E r t e n ' ) , one o f Hans Christian * A n d e r s e n ' s
kleine Gespenst (The Little Ghost, 1966). shortest yet b e s t - k n o w n stories, appeared in his
Demythified traditional folk-tale and fairy-tale first collection of tales for children, Eventyr,
villains are the main protagonists of these stor­ fortalte for Born (Tales, Told for Children, 1835).
ies. T h e child-sized, spunky, and zany witches, In a S w e d i s h folk-tale analogue, ' P r i n c e s s a '
robbers, and ghosts, w h o are stripped of the s o m lâ' pâ sju àrter' ( ' T h e Princess w h o L a y on
dark, evil, and threatening side o f their charac­ S e v e n P e a s ' ) , an orphan girl pretends to be a
ter, are entertaining rather than threatening. princess on the advice o f her pet cat. Subjected
A m p l e use of suspense, slapstick, and situation to a series o f tests, the last consisting o f s e v e n
c o m e d y further endeared these b o o k s to chil­ peas under her mattress, the girl claims to h a v e
dren so that they remained best-sellers for s e v ­ slept p o o r l y , as befits a true princess.
eral decades. In contrast to the folk-tale heroine, w h o re­
T o a somewhat older audience Preussler is lies on deception, A n d e r s e n ' s is genuinely sen­
perhaps best k n o w n for Krabat (The Satanic sitive. O n e stormy night, a b e d r a g g l e d girl
Mill, 1971), a fantastic tale of suspense and r o ­ seeks refuge at the castle. A l t h o u g h the girl
mance about a miller's apprentice w h o suc­ claims to be a princess, the sceptical queen tests
ceeds in breaking the evil spell surrounding the her claim b y placing a single pea under 20 mat­
mill through friendship and l o v e . Preussler re­ tresses and 20 featherbeds. U p o n arising, the
ceived the Deutscher Jugendbuchpreis ( G e r ­ girl laments her sleeplessness, b e m o a n i n g the
man Prize for Children's and Youth presence of 'something so hard that I am black
Literature) twice; once in 1963 for The Robber and blue all o v e r ' . W i t h e v e r y o n e thus per­
Hotrenploti and again in 1972 for Krabat. suaded that she is 'a real princess', she and the
EMM prince are married and the pea enshrined in a
Baumgartner, Clemens Alfred, and Pleticha, museum. T h o u g h suffused w i t h b o u r g e o i s d o ­
Heinrich, ABC und Abenteuer. Texte und
mesticity (the k i n g opens the gate, the queen
Dokumente zur Geschichte des deutschen Kinder-
makes the b e d ) , the tale is told from the aristo­
undJugendbuches ( 2 vols., 1985).
cratic perspective o f the y o u n g prince seeking a
Doderer, Klaus, Zwischen Trummern und
Wohlstand. Literatur der Jugend 1945—1960 r o y a l bride. It thus reflects A n d e r s e n ' s pre­
(1988). occupation with issues o f class as w e l l as, b y his
Scharioth, Barbara, 'Auch im dritten o w n direct admission elsewhere, his feelings o f
Jahrtausend: Geister sind "in" ', Borsenblatt fiir personal fragility.
den Deutschen Buchhandel, 33 (1977). T h e tale gained w i d e popularity with *Once
PRINCE WHO WAS A THIEF, THE (film: USA, Upon a Mattress, a i960 musical burlesque star­
1951), an 'eastern' ( A r a b y - s e t western) based ring C a r o l Burnett as the irrepressible Princess
on a b o o k b y T h e o d o r e D r e i s e r and, though Winnifred, w h i c h has had numerous profes­
set in 13th-century T a n g i e r s , flavoured b y his sional and amateur r e v i v a l s . O t h e r dramatic
socialist convictions. Directed b y R u d o l p h versions abound, for radio, television, and the
Mate, it starred T o n y Curtis and Piper L a u r i e stage, most addressed to children. T h e r e are
in a story which picks up from F a i r b a n k s ' s also several recent ballet versions. JGH
Bredsdorff, Elias, Hans Christian Andersen: The
* Thief of Bagdad the idea o f the g l a m o r o u s 1
Story of his Life and Work 180J—7 ) (1975).
felon w h o redeems himself through either
Conroy, Patricia L. and Rossel, Sven H. (trans.
being or becoming a prince. O p e n i n g se­ and intro.), Tales and Stories by Hans Christian
quences show h o w Yussef, a thief, saves royal Andersen (1980).
baby Hussein from death and raises him as his Rubov, Paul V., 'Idea and Form in Hans
own. Ignorant of his lineage, Hussein (under Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales', in A Book on
PRINCESS BRIDE, T H E 402

the Danish Writer Hans Christian Andersen: His tion. O b v i o u s l y didactic stories abound in the
Life and Work (1955). use o f traditional proverbs to express tradition­
al w i s d o m handed d o w n from generation to
PRINCESS BRIDE, THE ( R o b R e i n e r , 1987), film
generation. But proverbs also play a role in hu­
based on a b o o k o f the same title b y W i l l i a m
m o r o u s tall tales, jokes, riddles, legends, and
* G o l d m a n (1973). F r a m e d b y a grandfather
fairy tales.
reading to his sick grandson, the h i g h - a d v e n ­
In general, fairy tales e m p l o y proverbs and
ture plot includes m a n y fairy-tale characters
proverbial expressions rather sparingly. T h e
and motifs, including s w a s h b u c k l i n g musket­
unreal and imaginary w o r l d of fairy tales is
eers, a captive princess, an enchanted forest, a
perhaps not especially suited to the mundane
giant, and m a g i c . A cult classic in some circles,
and didactic p r o v e r b . A n d yet, fairy tales have
this film w a v e r s between parodie and serious
their lessons to present, and a careful search
treatment o f fairy-tale conventions and h i g h ­
through the * G r i m m s ' *Kinder- und Hausmdr­
lights the pleasure storytelling can afford to
chen (Children s and Household Tales) reveals a
children. LCS
considerable number o f proverbial statements
used as part o f the direct discourse or in the
PROKOFIEV, SERGEI SERGEIEVITCH ( 1 8 9 1 - 1 9 5 3 ) ,
narrative prose. W h i l e proverbs add w i s d o m
R u s s i a n composer. P r o k o f i e v studied under
and didacticism to the individual tales, p r o ­
* R i m s k y - K o r s a k o v and L i a d o v , both noted for
verbial expressions, comparisons, and e x a g g e r ­
their use o f R u s s i a n folklore materials. H e
ations seem to reflect the folk speech of the
spent W o r l d W a r I in L o n d o n , then m o v e d to
c o m m o n people from w h o m the Brothers
the United States, but in 1934 w a s induced b y
G r i m m claimed to h a v e collected their stories.
the S o v i e t g o v e r n m e n t to return permanently
It has been noted, h o w e v e r , that the tales of the
to R u s s i a . H i s Peter and the Wolf (1936), a
Brothers G r i m m contain a higher frequency of
' s y m p h o n i c fairy tale' for w h i c h he w r o t e the
proverbial language than those folk tales col­
a c c o m p a n y i n g text, is designed to teach chil­
lected and recorded b y others in G e r m a n y and
dren the components o f an orchestra. Peter (re­
other countries. T h i s fact has led scholars to a
presented b y a string quartet) and his friend the
number o f studies regarding the surprisingly
Bird (flute) c l e v e r l y capture the W o l f ( F r e n c h
large number o f proverbial texts in the G r i m m
h o r n s ) . Beneath its cheery musical surface, the
versions, and it has been established that both
tale w e a v e s a dark pattern o f predator—prey re­
brothers added proverbial materials to their
lationships; the C a t (clarinet) stalks the B i r d ,
sources with W i l h e l m being the more fervent
hunters (tympani) stalk the Wolf, and the W o l f
proverbialist o f the t w o .
d e v o u r s the D u c k ( o b o e ) , still mournfully
q u a c k i n g inside him as the piece ends. P r o k o ­ A study o f the role o f proverbs in the com­
fiev's ballet ^Cinderella (1945) also undermines plete w o r k s o f the Brothers G r i m m has shown
the conventional expectations o f the fairy tale. that they w e r e v e r y interested in proverbial
W h i l e Cinderella is portrayed as an innocent l a n g u a g e . T h e y used them in their letters, they
child o f nature, the P r i n c e ' s court is as corrupt cited them as references in their scholarly
and materialistic as her stepmother's house; she w o r k s , they quoted dozens of them in their v o ­
and her P r i n c e will o n l y find their h a p p y end­ luminous dictionary of the G e r m a n language,
ing in a w o r l d y e t to c o m e . The Stone Flower and they commented upon them w h e n e v e r the
(1954), based on a R u s s i a n tale, is the story o f a occasion arose in lectures and essays. In fact, it
craftsman w h o y e a r n s to create a perfect stone was W i l h e l m G r i m m w h o gained a special e x ­
v a s e and follows the Mistress o f the C o p p e r pertise in medieval p r o v e r b s , commenting in
Mountain into her u n d e r g r o u n d realm to learn detail on them in his edition of Vridankes Bes-
her secrets, w h e n c e he is rescued b y his peasant cheidenheit (Vridankes'Modesty, 1834), a medi­
sweetheart. - SR eval collection o f g n o m i c verses b y the poet
Prokofiev, Sergei, Autobiography (i960). Freidank. W i l h e l m even put together his v e r y
o w n collection o f medieval proverbs which has
PROVERBIAL LANGUAGE AND FAIRY TALES. T h e n o w been published. J a c o b G r i m m had his spe­
use o f folk speech in folk tales should c o m e as cial interest in proverbs as w e l l , excelling pri­
no surprise. T a l e s o f a n y type collected from marily in the codification of G e r m a n i c law in
folk tradition exhibit the use o f formulaic lan­ p r o v e r b s . H e cited and commented on m a n y of
g u a g e in the form o f p r o v e r b s , proverbial e x ­ them in his invaluable legal treatise Deutsche
pressions, proverbial comparisons, proverbial Rechtsaltertiimer (German Legal Proverbs, 1828).
exaggerations, and twin formulas as part of T h e Brothers also had most of the standard
e v e r y d a y speech and colloquial c o m m u n i c a ­ p r o v e r b collections in their private library, and
 PROVERBIAL LANGUAGE A N D FAIRY TALES

it is k n o w n that they made ample use o f these pression 'to prick up one's ears' and the
treasures of folk w i s d o m . colloquial interjection 'what in the w o r l d ' that
T h e r e is no doubt that W i l h e l m G r i m m in help to clarify the short statement o f the first
particular w a s cognizant o f the proverbial char­ edition through popular folk speech. E v e n
acter of some of the fairy tales that he and his though he m a y h a v e found the actual p r o v e r b
brother had assembled. In his o w n detailed already in his source, he changed its subjunct­
notes to his fairy-tale collection he explains ive form to the normal text and surrounded it
that the tale ' T h e Sun W i l l B r i n g It to L i g h t ' with additional proverbial material. T h e s e are
obviously also exemplifies the G e r m a n p r o v e r b conscious stylistic variations in accordance
'Nothing is so finely spun that it w o n ' t come to with the fairy-tale style that W i l h e l m G r i m m
light' and even traces it back to medieval docu­ felt to be appropriate.
ments. T h i s tale clearly exemplifies a p r o v e r b , W i l h e l m started primarily with the second
and Wilhelm did not 'tinker' with its p r o v e r b ­ edition o f 1819 to add proverbial materials, and
ial language. T h i s , h o w e v e r , is not the case in he made considerable further additions e v e n
the many instances w h e r e he added e v e r more for the seventh edition o f 1857. T h u s the w e l l -
proverbial language to the tales. It has in fact k n o w n p r o v e r b ' w e learn b y experience' w a s
been shown v e r y convincingly that he enriched incorporated into the fairy tale ' T h e G o l d e n
the tales in the progression o f their seven edi­ G o o s e ' in 1819; the p r o v e r b 'he w h o has b e g u n
tions from 1 8 1 2 / 1 8 1 5 to 1857. H e had a definite a thing must g o on with it' w a s added to ""Han­
a n <

proverbial style in mind for the Children's and sel and G r e t e l ' in 1843; ^ the p r o v e r b ' w e l l
Household Tales, and b y m a k i n g his o w n add­ b e g u n is half d o n e ' found its w a y into ' T h e
itions he altered some o f the traditional tales to C l e v e r Little T a i l o r ' o n l y in 1857. It should be
become fairy tales in language and form as he noted that W i l h e l m G r i m m did not add these
saw fit. p r o v e r b s in a manipulative o r deceptive fash­
ion. In the introduction to the sixth edition o f
A short passage from three different editions
the Children's and Household Tales o f 1850, he
of the fairy tale ' T h e Magical Tablecloth, the
states quite openly: ' I n the sixth edition, too,
G o l d - A s s , and the C u d g e l ' m a y serve as an e x ­
n e w tales h a v e been added and individual i m ­
ample of Wilhelm G r i m m ' s w o r k as a p r o v e r b ­
provements made. I h a v e been e v e r e a g e r to
ial stylist. In this case Wilhelm did not add the
incorporate folk p r o v e r b s and unique p r o v e r b ­
proverb (unless he did so w h e n he recorded the
ial expressions, w h i c h I am a l w a y s listening
text originally), but he continued to w o r k on for.' T h e r e is thus no conscious deception as
the proper integration of the p r o v e r b until he far as the proverbial additions to the fairy tales
found the fairy-tale style he wanted. are concerned. Since p r o v e r b s and proverbial
1812: T h e innkeeper w a s curious, told expressions b e l o n g intrinsically to the fairy-tale
himself that all g o o d things w o u l d come in style, W i l h e l m G r i m m felt justified in m a k i n g
threes, and wanted to fetch this third suitable additions and clearly enriched the
Children's and Household Tales with this p r o ­
treasure that same night.
verbial l a n g u a g e . WM
1819: T h e innkeeper pricked up his ears
Bluhm, Lothar, 'Sprichwôrter und Redensarten
and thought, what can this be? A l l g o o d
bei den Briidern Grimm', in Annette Sabban and
things come in threes, and b y rights I
Jan Wirrer (eds.), Sprichwôrter und Redensarten
should have this one as well.
im interkulturellen Vergleich (1991).
1857: T h e innkeeper pricked up his ears:
Mieder, Wolfgang, 'Findet, so werdet ihr suchenf
' W h a t in the w o r l d can that b e ? ' he
Die Briider Grimm und das Sprichwort (1986).
thought to himself. ' T h e sack surely is
filled with nothing but jewels. I should 'Wilhelm Grimm's Proverbial Additions
have this one, too, for all g o o d things come in the Fairy Tales', in James McGlathery (ed.),
in threes.' The Brothers Grimm and Folktale (1988).
Rôhrich, Lutz, 'Sprichwôrtliche Redensarten aus
A s can be seen, W i l h e l m intentionally Volkserzahlungen', in Wolfgang Mieder (ed.),
changed the proverb from its syntactically Ergebnisse der Sprichwôrterforschung (1978).
a w k w a r d w o r d i n g 'all g o o d things w o u l d c o m e and Mieder, Wolfgang, Sprichwort (1977).
in threes' to the usual statement 'all g o o d Rôlleke, Heinz, and Bluhm, Lothar (eds.), Das
things come in threes'. In the seventh edition Sprichwort in den Kinder- und Hausmdrchen der
he even introduces the p r o v e r b with the con­ Briider Grimm (1988; 2nd edn. 1997).
junction 'for', which as a short introductory Wilcke, Karin, and Bluhm, Lothar, 'Wilhelm
formula emphasizes this bit of proverbial w i s ­ Grimms Sammlung mittelhochdeutscher
Sprichwôrter', in Ludwig Denecke (ed.), Briider
dom. Furthermore, he adds the proverbial e x ­
Grimm Gedenken, suppl. vol. xix. Kasseler
PROYSEN, A L F 404

Vortrdge in Erinnerung an den 200. Geburtstag der e t h n o p s y c h o l o g y is exemplified in Wilhelm

Briider Grimm, Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm (1987). W u n d t ' s Vblkerpsychologie (Folk Psychology,
1900-9), which maintained that the fairy tale is
the oldest o f all narrative forms and reveals
P R 0 Y S E N , A L F ( 1 9 1 4 - 7 0 ) , N o r w e g i a n writer,
fundamental aspects of the primitive mind.
internationally r e n o w n e d for his m a n y collec­
In contrast to ethnopsychology, Sigmund
tions o f h u m o r o u s fairy tales about Little O l d
F r e u d ' s psychoanalytic theory attempted to
*Mrs Pepperpot, published in 1956—66. H e also
discern the more universal p s y c h o l o g y of
w r o t e a n u m b e r of fairy tales i n v o l v i n g trad­
human behaviour and culture. F r e u d found
itional folklore characters like trolls and
fairy tales especially useful for illustrating his
dwarfs, as w e l l as animal tales, especially about
theories of the mind because they seemed so
mice. C o n t i n u i n g the tradition of Hans C h r i s ­
much like dreams. A c c o r d i n g to Freud, both
tian *Andersen, P r o y s e n uses e v e r y d a y lan­
fairy tales and dreams used symbols to express
g u a g e and tone and combines e v e r y d a y
the conflicts, anxieties, and forbidden desires
settings with folktale elements, for instance
that had been repressed into the unconscious.
w h e n he lets his c o m i c figure Mrs Pepperpot
In writings such as Die Traumdeutung (The In­
meet the most famous N o r w e g i a n folktale
terpretation of Dreams, 1900), ' D a s Motiv der
character V a l e m o n the W h i t e B e a r (from the
K a s t c h e n w a h l ' ( ' T h e T h e m e o f the T h r e e C a s ­
N o r w e g i a n version o f * ' B e a u t y and the
kets', 1913), and 'Mârchenstoffe in T r a u m e n '
Beast'). MN
( ' T h e Occurrence in D r e a m s of Material from
F a i r y T a l e s ' , 1913), F r e u d demonstrated that
PSYCHOLOGY AND FAIRY TALES. T h e p s y c h o ­ fairy tales used a symbolic language that could
logical significance o f fairy tales has been one be interpreted psychoanalytically to reveal
of the most p e r v a s i v e topics in the history o f the latent or hidden content o f the mind. F o r
fairy-tale studies. T h e r e are m a n y different example, in his famous analysis of the
theories concerning the fairy tale's p s y c h o ­ W o l f M a n — d e s c r i b e d in the essay ' A u s der
logical meaning and v a l u e , but most start with Geschichte einer infantilen N e u r o s e ' ( ' F r o m
the premiss that the stories are s y m b o l i c e x ­ the History o f an Infantile Neurosis',
pressions of the human mind and emotional e x ­ 1 9 1 8 ) — F r e u d noted that his patient's dreams
perience. A c c o r d i n g to this v i e w , fairy-tale used the same symbolism as the G r i m m s ' stor­
plots and motifs are not representations of ies o f ' T h e W o l f and the S e v e n Y o u n g K i d s '
socio-historical reality, but s y m b o l s of inner and ""Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' to express sex­
experience that p r o v i d e insight into human b e ­ ual anxiety resulting from traumatic childhood
h a v i o u r . C o n s e q u e n t l y , the p s y c h o l o g i c a l a p ­ experiences.
proach to fairy tales i n v o l v e s s y m b o l i c F r e u d ' s earliest followers produced numer­
interpretation, both for psychoanalysts, w h o ous psychoanalytic studies of fairy tales, in
use fairy tales diagnostically to illustrate p s y ­ which they elaborated on different aspects of
chological theories, and for folklorists and lit­ his theories. Franz R i k l i n ' s Wunscherfullung
e r a r y critics, w h o use p s y c h o l o g i c a l theories to und Symbolik im Mdrchen (Wishfulfilment and
illuminate fairy tales. Symbolism in Fairy Tales, 1908) pursued
A l t h o u g h the p s y c h o l o g i c a l approach to F r e u d ' s idea that fairy tales are a form of wish
fairy tales is usually associated with Freudian fulfilment that use dream symbolism to express
p s y c h o a n a l y s i s and other 20th-century theor­ repressed sexual desires. R i k l i n ' s w o r k w a s
ies, it actually had its beginnings in the p r e v i ­ supported b y Herbert Silberer, w h o similarly
ous century, w h e n nationalistic awareness argued that fairy tales demonstrate the path­
motivated collectors and scholars to study folk o l o g y o f sexual repression. In essays on ' P h a n -
tales as expressions o f the folk soul o r p s y c h e . tasie und M y t h o s ' ('Fantasy and M y t h ' , 1910)
F o c u s i n g on the relationship o f folk tales to and ' M â r c h e n s y m b o l i k ' ( ' F a i r y - T a l e S y m b o l ­
m y t h , scholars l o o k e d to these stories for e v i ­ ism', 1912), Silberer analysed ' T h e *Frog K i n g '
dence o f the v a l u e s , customs, and beliefs that and a female patient's sexual dream of animal
expressed a specific people's cultural identity. transformation to s h o w that the fairy-tale
O v e r the course o f the 19th century and into pattern of enchantment and disenchantment
the 20th, mythic and anthropological ap­ mirrors the psychological phenomenon of
proaches to the fairy tale relied on the notion repression followed b y the healing release that
that the study o f folk tales could reveal the comes from psychoanalysis. In a 1928 paper on
' p s y c h o l o g y ' o f ethnic cultures, especially that ' P s y c h o - A n a l y s i s and F o l k l o r e ' , Ernest J o n e s
of so-called primitive people. T h i s form o f also offered a psychoanalytic reading of ' T h e
 o5 PSYCHOLOCY A N D FAIRY TALES
4

F r o g K i n g ' . In typical Freudian fashion, o l o g y o f the T r i c k s t e r - F i g u r e ' , 1954). His ideas

J o n e s ' s interpretation stressed the female's h a v e not o n l y influenced the literary fairy tales
aversion to sexual intimacy, symbolized b y the o f writers such as H e r m a n n Hesse, they h a v e
princess's reluctance to allow the phallic frog also generated a great number o f fairy-tale in­
into her bed. terpretations. O n e o f the b e s t - k n o w n studies is
Otto R a n k expanded the discussion about H e d w i g v o n Beit's three-volume w o r k on the
the psychological origin of fairy tales in his in­ Symbolik des Màrchens (The Symbolism of the
fluential study Der Mythus von der Geburt des Fairy Tale, 1952—7), w h i c h examines the
Helden ( The Myth of the Birth of the Hero, 1909) archetypal basis o f fairy-tale motifs and the
and in his Psychoanalytische Beitrdge cur Myth- quest for self-realization and redemption. T h e
enforschung (Psychoanalytic Contributions to psychological quest for self-realization is also
Myth Research, 1919). R a n k proposed that fairy taken up b y J u l i u s Heuscher in The Psychiatric
tales are adult projections of childhood fanta­ Study of Fairy Tales (1963) and b y J o s e p h
sies, and he specifically examined mythological C a m p b e l l in The Hero with a Thousand Faces
and fairy-tale heroes in the light o f F r e u d ' s the­ (1949). T h e difference between the F r e u d i a n
ories about the Oedipus complex and F a m i l y and J u n g i a n approaches to s y m b o l s is especial­
R o m a n c e . F r e u d ' s idea that fairy tales use the ly w e l l illustrated in C a m p b e l l ' s interpretation
symbolic language of dreams received an intri­ o f ' T h e F r o g K i n g ' . C a m p b e l l reads ' T h e F r o g
guing twist in the prolific research o f G é z a K i n g ' not specifically as a story o f sexual anx­
R o h e i m . In w o r k s like The Gates of the Dream iety and maturation, as the Freudian J o n e s had
(1952) and ' F a i r y T a l e and D r e a m ' (1953), done, but as an illustration o f the b r o a d e r
R o h e i m did not simply agree that fairy tales archetypal theme o f the call to a d v e n t u r e — t h e
resembled dreams; he asserted that fairy tales individual's a w a k e n i n g to unconscious forces
were dreams that had been retold b y the and a n e w stage o f life.
dreamer. A p p l y i n g the psychoanalytic prin­ T h e archetypal studies b y M a r i e - L o u i s e v o n
ciples of dream interpretation to variants o f F r a n z h a v e been w i d e l y recognized as classic
tales from E u r o p e and around the w o r l d , w o r k s o f J u n g i a n fairy-tale analysis. V o n
R ô h e i m produced intriguing readings of stor­ F r a n z , too, has dealt with individual d e v e l o p ­
ies such as *'Hansel and G r e t e l ' , *'Mother ment and redemption in Individuation in Fairy­
Holle', and 'Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' . tales (1977) and The Psychological Meaning of
Carl G u s t a v J u n g , w h o had also been a dis­ Redemption Motifs in Fairytales (1980). She il­
ciple of F r e u d , developed a n e w branch o f ana­ luminates the classic s h a d o w archetype in
lytic p s y c h o l o g y that has had an enormous Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales (1974) and e x ­
impact on fairy-tale scholarship and the p o p u ­ plores the basis o f the female archetype in
lar reception of fairy tales. W h i l e Freudian Problems of the Feminine in Fairy Tales.
psychoanalytic theory generally v i e w e d patho­ T h e J u n g i a n treatment o f male and female
logical behaviours and symbolic expressions as archetypes has been criticized b y feminists,
manifestations of the individual's unconscious, w h o point out that J u n g ' s archetypes are actu­
J u n g looked b e y o n d pathology and b e y o n d the ally socio-cultural constructions, not timeless
individual mind for the source and meaning o f psychological truths. N o n e the less, some femi­
symbols. J u n g posited the existence o f an i m ­ nist scholars and psychoanalysts h a v e followed
personal and ahistorical collective unconscious the lead o f v o n F r a n z and used J u n g i a n analy­
that w a s a reservoir of images and forms uni­ sis to elucidate w o m e n ' s issues in fairy tales.
versally shared b y all humans. A c c o r d i n g to T h i s is the case in Sibylle B i r k h à u s e r - O e r i ' s
J u n g , the symbolic language o f myths, dreams, study o f Die Mutter im Mdrchen (The Mother,
and fairy tales w a s composed o f these timeless 1976) and T o r b o r g L u n d e l l ' s examination o f
symbolic forms, which he called archetypes. Fairy Tale Mothers (1989). In Leaving my
F r o m the J u n g i a n perspective, archetypes w e r e Father's House (1992), Marion W o o d m a n , a
universal symbols s h o w i n g the w a y to trans­ feminist psychoanalyst, presents a J u n g i a n in­
formation and development. terpretation o f G r i m m s ' ' A l l F u r ' and includes
J u n g described the archetypal basis o f fairy commentaries b y her patients to s h o w w o m e n
tales in w o r k s like ' Z u r P h â n o m e n o l o g i e des h o w to take control o f their lives in a m a l e -
Geistes im Marchen' ( ' T h e P h e n o m e n o l o g y o f dominated society.
the Spirit in F a i r y T a l e s ' , 1948), ' Z u r P s y c h o l ­ Because J u n g i a n p s y c h o l o g y stresses uni­
ogie des K i n d - A r c h e t y p u s ' ( ' T h e P s y c h o l o g y versal myths o f higher consciousness and re­
of the Child A r c h e t y p e ' , 1941), and ' Z u r P s y ­ demption, it has quasi-religious o r spiritual
chologie der Schelmenfigur' ( ' O n the P s y c h - overtones, w h i c h has g i v e n it a w i d e popular
PSYCHOLOGY A N D FAIRY TALES 406

appeal. E u g e n D r e w e r m a n n has combined the w o m e n develop their personal identities. F r o m

perspectives o f t h e o l o g y and analytical p s y c h ­ another perspective, R o b e r t * B l y ' s *Iron John
o l o g y in a popular series o f fairy-tale interpret­ (1990) offers G r i m m s ' tale as a story that helps
ations called Grimms Mdrchen tiefen- men heal their psychic w o u n d s and realize their
psychologisch gedeutet (Grimms' Fairy Tales true masculine personality.
Interpreted According to Depth Psychology, A l t h o u g h the psychotherapeutic value of
1981— ) . D r e w e r m a n n ' s v o l u m e s h a v e been reading fairy tales is speculative, some analysts
criticized for r e l y i n g too much on archetypal h a v e presented case histories as evidence of the
associations and too little on literary or folk­ fairy tale's efficacy in treating patients. T h e
loric expertise. A n o t h e r example o f J u n g i a n J u n g i a n analyst Hans D i e c k m a n n , for example,
p s y c h o l o g y being mixed with religious beliefs advocated in m a n y different publications the
is A r l a n d U s s h e r and C a r l v o n Metzradt's b o o k diagnostic and therapeutic importance of
Enter These Enchanted Woods (1954), w h i c h in­ the Lieblingsmdrchen—the favourite fairy
terprets selected G r i m m s ' tales from a J u n g i a n - t a l e — b a s e d on his clinical experience with pa­
flavoured Christian perspective. F a i r y tales tients. A c c o r d i n g to D i e c k m a n n , the neuroses
h a v e also been interpreted b y adherents of an- o f adults are exposed in their favourite child­
throposophy, a spiritual m o v e m e n t that g r e w h o o d stories. Consistent with his Jungian
out o f the w o r k o f R u d o l f Steiner under the orientation, D i e c k m a n n maintained that ther­
influence o f psychoanalytic theories. T h e read­ apy is facilitated w h e n the patient consciously
ings that Steiner included in The Interpretation recognizes the identity that exists between the
of Fairy Tales (1929) sought to reveal spiritual personal psyche and the cosmos. O n the other
truths and became a model for his followers, hand, the psychoanalyst Sândor L o r a n d used a
w h o considered fairy tales a kind o f scripture case history in 1935 to point out that fairy tales
that could inspire spiritual development. T h e experienced in childhood can also have adverse
unusual nature o f anthroposophic fairy-tale in­ effects that cause psychological trauma. He
terpretation is evident in P a u l P a e d e ' s b o o k of cites in particular a patient w h o s e fear of cas­
anthroposophic medicine Krankheit, Heilung tration w a s traced to the tale o f 'Little R e d R i d ­
und Entwicklung im Spiegel der Mdrchen (Dis­ ing H o o d ' .
ease, Healing and Development in the Mirror of T y p i c a l l y , h o w e v e r , psychologists v i e w the
Fairy Tales, 1986). P a e d e ' s interpretation of fairy tale as h a v i n g a significant and positive
*'Cinderella' contends that the story's s y m b o l ­ role in the psychological development of chil­
ism deepens our appreciation o f feet and their dren. T h e s e developmental psychologists con­
role in maintaining spiritual and physiological sider the fairy tale not simply as a useful
h a r m o n y in the human organism. therapeutic tool in clinical practice, but as chil­
T h e psycho-spiritual claims o f J u n g i a n an­ dren's literature that should be part of e v e r y
alysis and anthroposophy are echoed in the child's experience. T h e basic premiss is that
m a n y self-help b o o k s o f fairy-tale interpret­ children learn h o w to o v e r c o m e psychological
ation published for the popular b o o k trade, es­ conflicts and g r o w into n e w phases of develop­
pecially since the advent o f N e w A g e ment through a symbolic comprehension of the
philosophy in the 1980s. F o r example, in the maturation process as expressed in fairy tale.
eclectic G e r m a n series Weisheit im Mdrchen A m o n g the earliest studies of this kind was
(Wisdom in the Fairy Tale, 1983—8), each v o l ­ Charlotte Biihler's Das Mdrchen und die Phan-
u m e is written b y a different author w h o inter­ tasie des Kindes (The Fairy Tale and the Child's
prets a single tale to s h o w readers h o w to Imagination, 1918), w h i c h identified p s y c h o ­
achieve better relationships, self-confidence, logical connections between the fairy tale and
self-acceptance, and other improvements in the mind of the child. Buhler pointed out that
their lives. T h e J u n g i a n psychotherapist both the formal and the symbolic aspects of the
V e r e n a K a s t claims to s h o w the w a y to person­ fairy tale corresponded to the child's imagina­
al a u t o n o m y and better interpersonal relation­ tive mode o f perception, and that because of
ships in her popular b o o k s o f fairy-tale this correspondence the genre assumed a spe­
interpretation, including one entitled Wege aus cial function in the mental life of the develop­
Angst und Symbiose (Through Emotions to Ma­ ing child. In Der Weg rum Mdrchen (The
turity, 1982). F r o m a Christian perspective the Pathway to Understanding the Fairy Tale, 1939),
A m e r i c a n authors R o n d a C h e r v i n and M a r y B r u n o J ô c k e l stressed the fairy tale's symbolic
Neill published The Woman's Tale (1980), a depiction o f the conflicts and sexual maturation
self-help b o o k o f pop p s y c h o l o g y that p r o ­ that occur during puberty. Josephine Bilz's
motes the idea that reading fairy tales can help study of Menschliche Reifung im Sinnbild (Sym-
 PSYCHOLOGY A N D FAIRY TALES

bols of Human Maturation, 1943) emphasized Patricia G u é r i n T h o m a s ' s 1983 dissertation on

the maturation process more generally and ' C h i l d r e n ' s R e s p o n s e s to F a i r y T a l e s ' used
showed h o w ""Rumpelstiltskin' symbolically Piaget's theory o f cognitive development and
enacts the female's development from youth to E r i k E r i k s o n ' s theory o f p s y c h o - s o c i a l d e v e l ­
motherhood. Walter Scherf has made the case opment to analyse the responses o f children to
in numerous essays and in his b o o k Die the G r i m m s ' stories ' B r o t h e r and Sister' and
Herausforderung des Damons (Challenging the ' T h e Q u e e n B e e ' . A l t h o u g h T h o m a s found
Demon, 1987) that magic tales are dramas o f that children d o respond to the stories based on
family conflict in which children can identify the inner conflicts and moral understanding
their o w n problems. A c c o r d i n g to Scherf, these they h a v e at a g i v e n stage o f development, she
magic stories engage the dramatic imagination could find no evidence to support the p s y c h o ­
of children and allow them to o v e r c o m e their analytic claim that fairy tales aid children in re­
conflicts, separate from the parents, and inte­ s o l v i n g p s y c h o l o g i c a l conflicts.
grate themselves into society. S o m e recent p s y c h o l o g i c a l studies o f fairy
T h e discussion about the fairy tale's place in tales h a v e attempted to a v o i d the reductionism
child development has been dominated b y typical o f psychoanalytic fairy-tale interpret­
Bruno Bettelheim's b o o k The Uses of Enchant­ ations, w h i l e others h a v e applied n e w models
ment (1976). N o study of fairy tales has been as as alternatives to F r e u d and J u n g . T h e folklor­
popular or as controversial as Bettelheim's. His ist A l a n D u n d e s has argued throughout his re­
Freudian readings are based on the idea that search that psychoanalytic theory in the study
fairy tales are existential dramas in w h i c h chil­ o f a folk tale can be v e r y valuable w h e n a d ­
dren subconsciously confront their o w n p r o b ­ equately informed b y a rigorous comparative
lems and desires on the path to adulthood. analysis o f the tale's variants. In her b o o k The
Oedipal conflicts and sibling rivalry play espe­ Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales (1987),
cially important parts in Bettelheim's analyses. the literary scholar Maria T a t a r illuminated
Bettelheim's critics object that his p s y c h o a n a ­ psychological themes b y using F r e u d ' s idea o f
lytic readings are not only reductionist but also the F a m i l y R o m a n c e within the interpretive
blatantly moralistic. Opponents note, too, that constraints demanded b y formal aspects, s o c i o -
Bettelheim proposes a model of socialization historical factors, and the editorial history o f
that is repressive and sexist. T h e y also point to the G r i m m s ' collection. In Fairy Tales and the
his ignorance o f the fairy tale's historical d e v e l ­ Art of Subversion (1983), J a c k Zipes used
opment and his failure to take into account the F r e u d ' s theory o f the uncanny in tandem with
many variants o f the stories that he dis­ ideas from F a v a t , P i a g e t , and the philosopher
cusses—factors that w o u l d complicate his Ernst B l o c h to d e v e l o p a theory o f the fairy
premiss that the fairy tale communicates time­ tale's liberating potential; and in his b o o k on
less truths. W h i l e Bettelheim's influential w o r k The Brothers Grimm (1988), he advocated a n e w
has been the focus of much criticism, these o b ­ psychoanalytic approach to violence in fairy
jections are typical of those lodged against the tales that w o u l d build on the w o r k o f the S w i s s
psychoanalytic v i e w of fairy tales. psychoanalyst A l i c e Miller. In Du sollst nicht
A s an alternative to Bettelheim's p s y c h o a n a ­ merken (Thou Shalt Not Be Aware, 1981), Miller
lytic v i e w , F . A n d r é F a v a t ' s study o f Child and challenged the Freudian notion that violence
Tale (1977) used J e a n Piaget's ideas about the inflicted b y fairy-tale parents is an inverted
stages of development to consider the affinity projection o f the child's o w n negative feelings
between fairy tales and child p s y c h o l o g y . towards the parent. Instead, using ' T h e V i r g i n
What draws the child to the fairy tale, accord­ M a r y ' s C h i l d ' and 'Rumpelstiltskin' as e x ­
ing to F a v a t , is not the opportunity to confront amples, Miller theorized that some fairy tales
conflicts symbolically as part o f the socializa­ are adults' censored projections o f abuse that
tion process. Instead, the fairy tale relaxes the they actually experienced as children, a fantasy
tensions brought on b y socialization and possibly m o r e in tune with socio-historical and
change, and provides a fictional realm w h e r e familial reality than adults can admit.
children can re-experience the pleasure of a P o s t m o d e r n literary fairy tales for adults
magical, egocentric w o r l d ordered according h a v e also stimulated n e w w a y s o f thinking
to their desires. Experimental psychologists about fairy tales and p s y c h o l o g y . Peter
have also w o r k e d in various w a y s with the Straub's revision o f ' T h e ""Juniper T r e e '
fairy tale to test the theoretical claims and as­ (1990), for example, links fairy-tale violence
sertions made about the psychological import­ with child abuse in a w a y that confirms Miller's
ance of fairy tales for children. F o r example, theory. Other writers like Margaret * A t w o o d ,
PUCCINI, GIACOMO 408

A n g e l a *Carter, and R o b e r t * C o o v e r h a v e highlights Titania, queen o f fairyland, b y pro­

understood the socio-historical dynamics o f the v i d i n g music appropriate for her and the fairy
fairy tale and p r o d u c e d fairy-tale adaptations train, and an elaborate dance setting for the
that complicate, undercut, and frustrate c o n ­ F o l l o w e r s of the N i g h t . Purcell's final achieve­
ventional p s y c h o a n a l y t i c r e a d i n g s — e s p e c i a l l y ments include The Indian Queen (1695), with its
as they relate to the p s y c h o l o g y o f identity, s o ­ famous conjuring scene in A c t I I I , Scene ii, in
cialization, gender, and sexuality. S u c h r e v i ­ w h i c h Z e m p o a l l a consults the magician Isme-
sions challenge readers to rethink classical ron, w h o summons the G o d o f D r e a m s to re­
psychoanalytic premisses and search for n e w
veal her fate. Bonduca is probably Purcell's last
models to understand the p s y c h o l o g i c a l impli­
major w o r k (also o f 1695), which tells of the
cations o f the fairy tale in social, historical, and
struggles of the British heroine Boadicea, with
cultural contexts. DH
an impressive temple scene of p r a y i n g Druids.
Dundes, Alan, 'The Psychoanalytic Study of PGS
Folklore', Annals of Scholarship, 3 (1985). Holman, Peter, Henry Purcell (1994).
'The Psychoanalytic Study of the Pinnock, A., 'Play into Opera: Purcell's The
Grimms' Tales', in Folklore Matters (1992). Indian Queen', Early Music, 18 (1990).
Grolnick, Simon A . , 'Fairy Tales and Savage, R., 'The Shakespeare—Purcell Fairy
Psychotherapy', in Ruth B . Bottigheimer (ed.), Queen'Early Music, 1 (1973).
Fairy Tales and Society: Illusion, Allusion, and
PUSHKIN, ALEXANDER ( 1 7 9 9 - 1 8 3 7 ) , Russian na­
Paradigm (1986).
tional poet and a major writer of fairy tales. In
Laiblin, Wilhelm (ed.), Marchenforschung und
his versified fairy tales he used some common
Tiefenpsychologie (1969).
Liithi, Max, 'Psychologie und Padagogik', in plots, as in The Tale of the Dead Princess and
Mdrchen, rev. Heinz Rôlleke (8th edn., 1990). the Seven Heroes (1833), a version of *'Snow
W h i t e ' , or in The Tale of the Fisherman and the
PUCCINI, GIACOMO (1858-1924), Italian c o m ­ Fish (1833), a w e l l - k n o w n tale of the Brothers
poser. His opera in three acts, Turandot (li­ * G r i m m . H o w e v e r , unlike the G r i m m s , Push­
bretto b y A d a m i and S i m o n i ) , remained kin lets the w o m a n benefit from the w i s h -
uncompleted at his death and w a s performed, granting, while the man remains poor and op­
with the last scene completed b y another c o m ­ pressed, thus emphasizing social injustice. The
poser, in 1926. Turandot is based on C a r l o Tale of Tsar Saltan (1831) is based on a popular
*Gozzi's p l a y o f the same name (1762), w h i c h S l a v i c chapbook, but it also has many recog­
in turn w a s in part adapted from The ^Arabian nizable elements from E u r o p e a n fairy tales. In
Nights. T h e plot r e v o l v e s around Princess The Tale of the Golden Cockerel(1834), Pushkin
T u r a n d o t ' s promise to m a r r y w h o e v e r can an­ retold the story o f the A r a b astrologer from the
s w e r three riddles that she poses. NC Alhambra b y W a s h i n g t o n *Irving, making it
Ashbrook, William, Puccini's Turandot: The End into a biting political satire of Tsarist Russia.
of the Great Tradition (1991). The Tale of the Priest and Balda, his Hired
Hand (1830, pub. 1840), the plot of which is
PURCELL, HENRY ( 1 6 5 8 / 9 - 9 5 ) , E n g l i s h court also found in the Brothers G r i m m , is another
c o m p o s e r , especially o f v o c a l w o r k s , but also example o f his satirical use o f the fairy tale; the
w e l l k n o w n for anthems and liturgical w o r k s . tale w a s banned o w i n g to its disrespectful por­
Purcell w a s a chorister o f the C h a p e l R o y a l , trayal of the c l e r g y and published posthumous­
L o n d o n , in 1669, eventually b e c o m i n g organist ly with m a n y alterations: for instance, the
at Westminster A b b e y in 1680. L a t e in his car­ priest w a s changed into a merchant.
eer, he c o m p o s e d music for the theatre, in par­ F o r e i g n sources notwithstanding, Pushkin's
ticular settings for masques and so-called fairy tales have v e r y tangible details of Russian
' s e m i - o p e r a s ' . Most important amongst these settings, historical and social context. T h e y
are Diocletian (1690; p r o p e r l y k n o w n as ' T h e also h a v e brilliant characterizations, unusual
Prophetess; or, T h e H i s t o r y o f D i o c l e t i a n ' ) , for traditional fairy tales. T h e language, often
w i t h its representation of v a r i o u s mythical fig­ imitating folk songs or ballads, is distinctly col­
ures, F l o r a , B a c c h u s , P o m o n a , and the Sun loquial and abounds in poetical figures. Many
G o d ; King Arthur (1691), with a text b y J o h n punchlines from the fairy tales have entered the
D r y den, featuring both g o o d and evil spirits; treasury o f Russian p r o v e r b s . A l t h o u g h the
and the Fairy Queen (1692), an a n o n y m o u s fairy tales w e r e not primarily addressed to chil­
adaptation o f *Shakespeare's A Midsummer dren, they h a v e been w i d e l y used in school-
Night's Dream. N o t a single line o f the p l a y a c ­ b o o k texts, thus b e c o m i n g a notable part of the
tually occurs in the Fairy Queen, but Purcell national heritage. T h e significance of Pushkin
 P Y L E , HOWARD

for the Russian fairy-tale tradition cannot be le Maître chat' for ^Histoires ou contes du temps
overestimated. MN passé (Stories or Tales of Past Times, 1697). H e
Debreczeny, Paul, The Other Pushkin: A Study upgraded the son's social rank, conferred sta­
of Alexander Pushkin's Prose Fiction (1983). tus-symbol boots on his (male) cat, omitted
Edmunds, Catherine J . , 'Pushkin and Gogol as post-marriage scenes and 'sincerity test', had
Sources for the Librettos of the Fantastic Fairy the cat threaten peasants with death, and re­
Tale Operas of Rimskij-Korsakov' (Diss.,
invested the tale with m a g i c . T h e castle o f his
Harvard University, 1985).
'Marquis de C a r a b a s ' is inhabited b y an o g r e ,
Eimermacher, Karl, 'Aspekte des literarischen
w h o m the c o n n i v i n g cat has change into a
Marchens in Russland', in Klaus-Dieter Seemann
(éd.), Beitràge çur russischen Volksdichtung m o u s e before eating him. C u n n i n g , confisca­
(1987). tion o f lands, m u r d e r — a l l are featured in this
portrait o f society under L o u i s X I V ( w h i c h ,
Puss-IN-BOOTS, archetypal folk tale in w h i c h unlike Basile's, r e w a r d s the l o y a l s e r v a n t / s e c ­
an inherited cat rescues an impoverished r e t a r y ) . T w o morals conclude the text. T h e
youngest son and civilizes him to c u r r y r o y a l first ironically values ingenuity and hard w o r k
favour, gain p o w e r , and w i n a princess. N u ­ (neither o f w h i c h is displayed b y the son) o v e r
ances in early literary versions reflect societal inherited wealth as a means to attain p o w e r ; the
variations on this trickster c a t / f o x motif. second s o m e w h a t misogynistically suggests
*Straparola's tale o f social mobility appears that mere appearances and civility can seduce
in Night 11 o f Le *piacevoli notti (The Pleasant w o m e n and society. MLE
Nights, 1550). Constantino Fortunato is a peas­ Seifert, Lewis, Fairy Tales, Sexuality, and
ant w h o s e cat (actually a fairy in disguise), res­ Gender in France, 1690—1715 (1996).
cues him from cruel siblings. T o help him gain Soriano, Marc, Les Contes de Perrault (1968).
Zipes, Jack, ' O f Cats and Men', in Happily Ever
a royal audience, she repeatedly traps p r e y as
After: Fairy Tales, Children, and the Culture
presents in her master's name. T o m a k e him
Industry (1997).
presentable to Society, she licks a w a y his
stress-induced acne and tricks the k i n g into PYLE, HOWARD (1853-1911), well-known
lending him fine garments. T h e entire court is A m e r i c a n illustrator and author. P y l e l i v e d in
duped b y his appearance. Constantino marries D e l a w a r e ' s B r a n d y w i n e V a l l e y near W i l m i n g ­
the princess, receives her d o w r y , and lives in a ton for most o f his life except for a brief a p ­
castle which the cat coerces e v e r y o n e to say is prenticeship in N e w Y o r k C i t y and the ill-fated
his. Because the former peasant eventually in­ E u r o p e a n j o u r n e y that ended w i t h his death.
herits the throne (which is passed d o w n P y l e ' s first successful b o o k w a s The Merry Ad­
through his children), this tale legitimizes ventures of Robin Hood (1883), a beautifully d e ­
patriarchy through duplicitous p o w e r politics. signed, illustrated and retold edition o f the
Its rags-to-riches treatment w o u l d h a v e inter­ classic tales. Published simultaneously in B r i t ­
ested élite Renaissance readers in the Venetian ain and A m e r i c a , the b o o k ' s design w o n w i d e ­
republic and Italian city-states. spread critical a c c o l a d e s — e v e n from W i l l i a m
S o m e 80 years later, the Neapolitan *Basile *Morris, dean o f the beautiful b o o k . P y l e ' s
stressed ingratitude in D a y 2 o f the *Pentame- A r t h u r i a d , published 1903—10, demonstrates
rone (1634). Emphasizing local colour and real­ his continuing fascination with E n g l i s h tales o f
ity o v e r fantasy, he presents a real c a t — a l b e i t chivalry. T h e stylized medievalesque diction in
a talking one, in g o o d folklore tradition. T h i s w h i c h P y l e chose to relate these tales has been
animal-heroine's manners and flattering speech v a r i o u s l y admired and criticized, but it does
are much finer than her master's, w h o s e drivel lend a tone o f high seriousness to his rendition.
she stifles while arranging his marriage o f c o n ­ In both the R o b i n H o o d and A r t h u r i a n cycles,
venience. O n the advice o f this e v e r - l o y a l , P y l e altered the stories in order to enhance his
h a r d - w o r k i n g servant, he gains y e t m o r e riches heroes' virtues, particularly emphasizing chas­
after the d o w r y , and promises to reward her. tity and leadership in k e e p i n g w i t h contempor­
She tests his sincerity, finds him ungrateful, a r y b o u r g e o i s norms. T h e potential i r o n y that
and flees her non-existent job security. Critiqu­ medieval E n g l i s h stories should be offered to
ing all classes of feudal society, she observes A m e r i c a n y o u t h is partially explained b y P y l e ' s
that reversals of fortune can ruin character. She support o f ' T h e K n i g h t s o f K i n g A r t h u r ' , an
m a y have socialized, but not civilized, her m a s ­ early precursor to the B o y Scout m o v e m e n t ,
ter. and his friendship w i t h President T h e o d o r e
T h e French A c a d e m i c i a n Charles *Perrault R o o s e v e l t . V a l u i n g the republican, civilizing
modified these storylines in ' L e Chat botté ou (or colonizing) themes o f the old tales, P y l e
PUSS IN BOOTS The clever cat cries for help to save his master in Charles *Perrault's 'Puss in Boots',
illustrated by Gustav *Doré and published in Les Contes de Perrault (1867).
4ii PYLE, HOWARD

emphasized social order and the rule o f law. In can D r e a m . F i n a l l y , P y l e w r o t e literary fairy
addition to revising English legends, P y l e p u b ­ tales, most notably The Garden behind the Moon
lished three collections o f folk tales: Pepper & (1895), a Swedenborg-influenced fantasy in
Salt (1886), The Wonder Clock (1888), and Twi­ part inspired b y the untimely death o f his o l d ­
light Land (1895). R e n d e r e d in the avuncular est son. A n extended parable about death and
style of the Brothers * G r i m m and J o s e p h imagination indebted to the fantasies o f G e o r g e
*Jacobs, the collections are more accessible * M a c D o n a l d , The Garden behind the Moon is
than the legendary exploits of R o b i n H o o d and unusual in that it begins with a p r i m a r y ,
K i n g Arthur. T h e y emphasize the democratiz­ e v e r y d a y w o r l d , m o v e s to a magical faerie
ing aspects of the folk tradition, but also justify plane, and then demonstrates the mutual inter-
the unequal distribution of wealth b y appeals to penetration o f the t w o w o r l d s b y unexpectedly
fate and a social-Darwinist v i e w of individual resolving the plot in the p r i m a r y w o r l d . P y l e
value. P y l e ' s illustrations e v o l v e from rather exerted further influence through teaching,
static Morris-influenced w o o d c u t designs in the notably o f Maxfield *Parrish and N . C . W y e t h .
first collection to impressionistic pen-and-ink NJW
drawings in the last. In Twilight Land and A
Modern Aladdin (1892), P y l e m o v e s a w a y from
Agosta, Lucien L., Howard Pyle (1987).
English and G e r m a n i c influences and draws on Howard Pyle Commemorative Issue, Children's
18th-century French orientalism for his inspir­ Literature Association Quarterly, 8 (summer
ation, particularly The ^Arabian Nights. In all 1983).
these collections, P y l e recombines old folk Pitz, Henry C , Howard Pyle: Writer, Illustrator,
motifs into new stories supporting the A m e r i ­ Founder of the Brandywine School (1965).
QUILLER-COUCH, SlR ARTHUR THOMAS
(1863—1944), E n g l i s h critic, writer, and com­
piler of Cornish descent w h o published under
the p s e u d o n y m ' Q ' . A m o n g his many antholo­
gies, Q u i l l e r - C o u c h put together three collec­
tions of fairy tales. In 1895 he published Fairy
Tales Far and Near Re-told, with illustrations
b y H . R . ""Millar. F o r his The Sleeping Beauty
and Other Fairy Tales from the Old French Re­
told (1910), illustrated b y E d m u n d ""Dulac,
Q u i l l e r - C o u c h translated and retold tales b y
Charles *Perrault (""Bluebeard', ""Cinderella',
and ""Sleeping B e a u t y ' ) and Mme de ""Ville­
neuve (""Beauty and the B e a s t ' ) taken from the
French Cabinet des fées (1785-9). His third col­
lection, In Powder and Crinoline: Old Fairy
Tales Retold (1913), illustrated b y K a y ""Niel­
sen, includes a version of ' T h e T w e l v e D a n ­
cing Princesses'. AD
RACKHAM, ARTHUR (1867-1939), British illus­
trator, w h o s e gift for gracefully portraying
fairy w o r l d inhabitants within familiar settings,
captured the affection o f his contemporaries,
and continues to elicit the admiration o f critics.
R a c k h a m ' s first fairy-tale illustrations, in the
Fairy Tales of the Brothers *Grimm (1900), in­
cluded 95 drawings w h o s e immediate popular­
ity led him to revise some o f its illustrations for
colour reproduction. In 1902 he illustrated The
Little White Bird. His subsequent illustrations
for Rip van Winkle (1905) established him as
'the leading decorative illustrator o f the
Edwardian period', in the w o r d s o f his b i o g ­ expressively detailed black-and-white pen-
rapher D e r e k Hudson. A torrent o f illustra­ and-ink d r a w i n g s , and watercolour.
tions followed: *Peter Pan in Kensington R a c k h a m achieved financial independence
Gardens (1906), *Alice in Wonderland (1907), A early and enjoyed a steady income from c o m ­
Midsummer Night's Dream (1908) visually missions from the publisher Heinemann. In
based on the Suffolk landscape where he v a c ­ 1903 he married E d y t h Starkie, herself an ac­
ationed, de la Motte *Fouqué's * Undine (1909), complished painter w h o w o n a g o l d medal in
Aesop's Fables (1912), *Mother Goose (1913), Barcelona in 1 9 1 1 , a y e a r before her husband
Arthur Rackham's Book of Pictures (1913), did, and w h o encouraged his bent for the fan­
which included many goblins, elves, and fair­ tastic. His goblins e m b o d y emotions that range
ies, The Allie's Fairy Book (1916), Little Brother from sombre malevolence to malicious glee;
and Little Sister (1917), 40 additional G r i m m his human characters can be tenderly beautiful
tales in * Cinderella (1919), The ^Sleeping Beauty o r touchingly earnest, like G e r d a and K a y in
(1920), which displayed his gift for silhouette, ' T h e *Snow Queen'. RBB
Irish Fairy Tales (1920) b y J a m e s Stephens, and Gettings, F., Arthur Rackham (1975).
finally The Arthur Rackham Fairy Book (1933). Hamilton, J . , Arthur Rackham: A Life with
In 191 o R a c k h a m expressed the idea that Illustration (1990).
an illustrator's partnership with an author Hudson, D., Arthur Rackham: His Life and Work
reached its highest level when illustrations (i974)-
communicated the 'sense of delight or emotion RAIMUND, FERDINAND ( p s e u d o n y m o f JAKOB
aroused b y the accompanying passage o f litera­ RAIMANN, 1790-1836), Austrian dramatist,
ture' (Hudson, 88). His w o r k w a s regularly e x ­ actor, and director w h o , along with J o h a n n
hibited in E u r o p e and w o n international *Nestroy, cultivated the fairy-tale farce and
recognition in Milan (1906) and Barcelona transformed it into high art. R a i m u n d w a s
(1912). strongly influenced b y the baroque theatre and
A s a child R a c k h a m had drawn indefatig- the commedia delVarte and combined elements
ably. O n a journey to Australia at 17 to of social satire with romance to write unique
strengthen his delicate health, he sketched un­ dramas about Austrian society and the folk
interruptedly and determined to make d r a w i n g tradition. His first t w o p l a y s , Der Barometer-
his lifework. T r a i n e d at the L a m b e t h School of macher auf der Zauberinsel (The Barometer
Art, he began his career in the 1890s with jour­ Maker on the Enchanted Island, 1823) and Der
nalistic illustrations of social and political life Diamant des Geisterkônigs (The Diamond of the
for two L o n d o n weeklies, the Pall Mall Budget King of Spirits, 1824) w e r e rough experiments
and the Westminster Budget. H e also illustrated in the fairy-tale genre. B e g i n n i n g with Das
travel books and brochures, memoirs, garden­ Mddchen aus der Feenwelt oder der Bauer als
ing and nature books, which required a high Millionar ( The Maiden from Fairyland or The
degree of realism, as well as m y s t e r y novels Farmer as Millionaire, 1827), R a i m u n d s h o w e d
and literary b o o k s (by A n t h o n y H o p e , W a s h ­ his remarkable ability to e n d o w the fairy-tale
ington *Irving, M a g g i e B r o w n e , F a n n y B u r - play with deeper meaning and great humour.
ney, Ingoldsby, Charles and M a r y * L a m b , and In this farce the powerful fairy L a c r i m o s a is
*Shakespeare) which g a v e scope to his pen­ stripped o f her m a g i c p o w e r s because she falls
chant for the fantastic. Exhibiting his technical in l o v e with a human and g i v e s birth to a
versatility, his illustrations for Hans Christian daughter. She can o n l y regain her p o w e r s if her
"Andersen's tales mixed dramatic silhouette, daughter marries a p o o r y o u n g man before she
RACKHAM, ARTHUR Since he thinks no one will guess his name, the mysterious little creature dances
happily in the Grimms' '*Rumpelstiltskin', illustrated by Arthur Rackham in Fairy Tales of the Brothers
Grimm (1910).
4i5 RANSOME, ARTHUR

reaches her 18th birthday. In another fascinat­ logical underpinnings of S l a v i c folklore.

ing play, Der Alpenkbnig und der Menschenfeind Russian Folk-Tales (1873), consisting o f tales
(The King of the Alps and the Enemy of Man, mainly from A l e k s a n d r * A f a n a s y e v ' s collec­
1828), R a i m u n d depicts a rich, misanthropic tions, again reflects R a l s t o n ' s interest in the re­
landowner named Rappelkopf, w h o refuses to lation between m y t h o l o g y and folk and fairy
allow his daughter to m a r r y an artist. In order tales. R a l s t o n also w r o t e introductions to In­
to punish R a p p e l k o p f and reform him, A s t r a l a - dian Fairy Tales (1880 edn.), Portuguese Folk-
gus, K i n g of the A l p s , transforms R a p p e l k o p f Tales (1882), and Tibetan Tales (1882) in w h i c h
into his o w n brother-in-law, and the k i n g as­ he p r o v e s to be a rigorous comparatist and
sumes R a p p e l k o p f s identity to s h o w the mis­ typologist, demonstrating his vast k n o w l e d g e
anthrope h o w cruel he w a s . In the end, in both Eastern and W e s t e r n folk traditions.
R a p p e l k o p f reforms and becomes kind and
AD
gentle, and allows his daughter to m a r r y the
artist. R a i m u n d ' s last great play, Der Versch- RANDOLPH, VANCE (1892-1980), American
wender (The Spendthrift, 1834), concerns a folklorist and expert on O z a r k folklore and
nobleman named Julius von Flottwell, culture. R a n d o l p h w a s an accomplished story­
endowed with great wealth b y the fairy C h e r i s - teller and self-trained scholar, w h o w o r k e d
tane. H o w e v e r , F l o t w e l l likes to spend his outside o f the academic setting most o f his life.
money without regard for the consequences His fieldwork a m o n g the O z a r k mountain
despite Cheristane's warnings. S o o n he loses
people b e g a n in 1919 and spanned m o r e than
his fortune, and his friends and servants turn
four decades, y i e l d i n g publications on n u m e r ­
on him. G r a d u a l l y he learns his lesson, and
ous folklore topics: O^ark Folksongs (1946—50),
Cheristane helps him regain his wealth and
O^ark Superstitions (1947), We Always Lie to
position in society. R a i m u n d w r o t e three other
Strangers: Tall Tales from the O^arks (1951),
fairy-tale plays, Moisasurs Zauberfluch (The
Down in the Holler: A Gallery of O^ark Folk
Magic Curse of Moisasur, 1827), Die gefesselte
Speech (1953), Hot Springs and Hell, and Other
Phantasie (The Fettered Imagination, 1828), and
Folk Jests and Anecdotes from the O^arks (1965)
Die unheilige Krone oder: Konig ohne Reich,
Held ohne Mut, Schônheit ohne Jugend ( The Un­ and Pissing in the Snow, and Other O^ark Folk­
holy Crown or: King without Kingdom, Hero tales (1976). T h e latter, a collection o f b a w d y
without Courage, Beauty without Youth, 1829), tales omitted from earlier publications at the
which w e r e unsuccessful attempts to introduce insistence o f his editors, m a r k e d an important
tragic elements into the fairy-tale tradition. J Z departure from the practice o f censoring folk­
Crockett, Roger, 'Raimund's Der Verschwender: lore's erotic o r obscene content. Ironically,
The Illusion of Freedom', German Quarterly, 58 R a n d o l p h ' s insistence on p r e s e r v i n g the c o l ­
(1985). ourful idiom o f folk speech did not translate
into a rigorous fieldwork m e t h o d o l o g y . A s a
Harding, Laurence V., The Dramatic Art of folk-tale collector, R a n d o l p h e s c h e w e d the
Ferdinand Raimund and Johann Nestroy: A w i d e l y accepted practice o f p r o v i d i n g verbatim
Critical Study (1974). transcripts o f recorded storytelling events,
Hein, Jiirgen, Ferdinand Raimund (1970). c h o o s i n g instead to rely upon his handwritten
Holbeche, Yvonne, 'Raimund and Romanticism: notes o f a folk-tale performance. C e n s o r e d m a ­
Ferdinand Raimund's "Der Alpenkônig und der terial from t w o unpublished manuscripts, 'Un­
Menschenfeind" and E . T . A . Hoffmann's printable' Songs from the O^arks and 'Vulgar
"Prinzessin Brambilla"', New German Studies, 18 Rhymes from the O^arks ', w a s published posthu­
(1994). m o u s l y in 'RollMe in Your Arms' and 'Blow the
Jones, Calvin N., Negation and Utopia: The Candle Out'. MBS
German Volksstiick from Raimund to Kroet^
Cochran, Robert, Vance Randolph: An Oiark
(i993)-
Life(i ^).
9

RALSTON, WILLIAM RALSTON SHEDDEN Legman, G., 'Unprintable Folklore? The Vance
(1828-89), English translator and specialist in Randolph Collection,' Journal of American
Russian folklore, librarian and scholar with the Folklore, 103 (1990).
British Museum, and founding m e m b e r o f
the F o l k - L o r e Society. Modelled on J a c o b RANSOME, ARTHUR (1884-1967), E n g l i s h j o u r ­
* G r i m m ' s Deutsche Mythologie (1835), R a l ­ nalist and author o f children's adventure stor­
ston's first compilation, The Songs of the Rus­ ies. His first substantial b o o k w a s Old Peter's
sian People, as Illustrative of Slavic Mythology Russian Tales (1916). In his autobiography he
and Russian Social Life (1872), is an attempt to describes h o w he had seen the richness o f the
reconstruct from peasant tradition the m y t h o ­ material in W . R . S. *Ralston's Russian Folk
'RAPUNZEL' 416

Tales (1873), and had g o n e to R u s s i a in 1913 to literary revision, E m m a * D o n o g h u e uses the

collect folklore material, subsequently b e c o m - motif o f the blind girl in ' T h e T a l e o f the Hair'
ing R u s s i a n correspondent for the Daily News. (Kissing the Witch, 1997), but her version fo-
The t a l e s — w r i t t e n mostly from m e m o r y , cuses on the old w o m a n ' s care for the self-
R a n s o m e says in his i n t r o d u c t i o n — a r e sup- centred girl, fulfilling all her wishes from
p o s e d l y told b y a grandfather to t w o children, building the t o w e r to e v e n impersonating the
and skilfully incorporate explanations o f the desired prince. In A n n e *Sexton's lesbian read-
R u s s i a n b a c k g r o u n d for the benefit o f y o u n g ing o f ' R a p u n z e l ' (Transformations, 1972), the
E n g l i s h readers. GA older w o m a n is left b y her y o u n g lover, w h o
g i v e s in to social pressure for a conventional
heterosexual relationship. Edith *Nesbit's ' M e l -
'RAPUNZEL', the b e s t - k n o w n v e r s i o n o f w h i c h
isande: or, L o n g and Short D i v i s i o n ' (1908), in
was published in the * G r i m m s ' ^Kinder- und
contrast, is an ironic interpretation where the
Hausmdrchen {Children's and Household Tales,
princess's over-abundant hair-growth is prag-
1812) from w h i c h the title originates. In the
matically treated as the k i n g d o m ' s most v a l u -
G r i m m s ' v e r s i o n , a k i n g climbs into the garden
able export, but romantic interest requires a
of a witch to steal some o f her R a p u n z e l salad
prince w h o can stop her hair g r o w i n g . H e
leaves w h i c h his pregnant wife c r a v e s . U p o n
achieves the desired happy end after the initial
being caught b y the witch, he promises her
misfortune o f the girl g r o w i n g to immense
their child, w h o m the witch keeps in a doorless
h e i g h t — w h i c h , h o w e v e r , allows her to defend
t o w e r . O n e d a y , a prince o b s e r v e s the witch her father's k i n g d o m against invasion. KS
climbing up the girl's l o n g g o l d e n hair and, Auerbach, Nina, and Knoepflmacher, U . C ,
d o i n g l i k e w i s e , he enjoys a secret relationship Forbidden Journeys: Fairy Tales and Fantasies by
with R a p u n z e l until she becomes pregnant and Victorian Women Writers (1992).
the tightness o f her clothes u n c o v e r s her deceit Bolte, Johannes, and Polivka, Georg,
to the witch. In later editions, the G r i m m s re- Anmerkungen ru den Kinder- und Hausmârchen
v i s e d this motif so that a naïve R a p u n z e l g i v e s der Briider Grimm (5 vols., 1913—32).
herself a w a y w h e n she u n f a v o u r a b l y compares Liithi, Max, 'Die Herkunft des Grimmschen
the w i t c h ' s w e i g h t to that o f the prince. T h e Rapunzelmàrchens', Fabula, 3:1—2 (1959).
witch banishes R a p u n z e l to a desert and lures Warner, Marina, From the Beast to the Blonde:
up the prince b y letting d o w n the g i r l ' s hair On Fairy Tales and their Tellers (1994).
w h i c h she had cut off and tied to a w i n d o w
h o o k . T o s a v e himself, he throws himself out RAPUNZEL LET DOWN YOUR HAIR (film: UK,
of the t o w e r and, blinded b y thorns, he w a n - 1978), a feminist discourse on the images o f
ders the w o r l d for m a n y y e a r s until he finds female enslavement created b y cinema and
R a p u n z e l with her twin children. W h e n her television. U s i n g the * G r i m m s ' tale as a
tears fall on his eyes, he regains his sight. jumping-off point, it starts with a plain acting-
T h e G r i m m s ' source w a s a translation o f a out o f the original text, as read b y a mother to a
F r e n c h literary version b y C h a r l o t t e - R o s e de child. A w o o d s m a n ' s daughter, *Rapunzel, has
*La F o r c e entitled 'Persinette' ( ' P a r s l e y ' , Les for y e a r s been imprisoned b y a witch in a room
Contes des contes, 1697), and the tale's plot is at the top o f a high t o w e r in w h i c h there are no
also contained in M a r i e - C a t h e r i n e d ' * A u l n o y ' s stairs. A passing prince, attracted b y her sing-
' L a chatte blanche' ( ' T h e W h i t e C a t ' , Contes ing, gets up b y climbing her long hair. W h e n
nouveaux ou les fées à la mode, 1698). T h e senti- the witch finds out, she strikes the prince blind
mental ending f o l l o w i n g the victimization o f and exiles him, but her triumph is cut short
the l o v e r s is a literary motif not found in oral w h e n Rapunzel bears twins. Exiled herself,
precursors o f the tale, in w h i c h the l o v e r s s u c - Rapunzel takes her babies, seeks the prince,
cessfully escape the witch because o f the girl's finds him, and cures his blindness with her
magical p o w e r s . In *Basile's 'Petrosinella' tears.
(^Pentamerone, 1634—6), the girl t h r o w s three T h e film then g o e s on to present four differ-
o a k - g a l l s behind her w h i c h turn into a d o g , a ent perceptions o f what the tale could be about
lion, and finally a wolf, w h o tears up the witch; in relation to the 1970s. T h e first, from the
and in a Catalan v e r s i o n , white and red roses, child's point o f v i e w , shows Rapunzel as the
t h r o w n in the path o f the pursuing giant, turn princess-heroine o f a *Disney animated fea-
into a stream and fire. ture. In the second, shot in film noir style, the
V e r s i o n s o f the tale are found throughout prince sees himself as a detective, and Rapunzel
E u r o p e , R u s s i a , and the A m e r i c a s in w h i c h the as a g o o d girl needing to be rescued from a
girl is blinded or turned into a frog. In a recent lesbian protector w h o has turned her into a
417 ' R E D SHOES, T H E '

junkie living at the top o f a t o w e r block. Pref- R a v e l ' s ingenious score includes a foxtrot for
acing the third v i e w p o i n t is a dissertation on the Chinese cup and the famous cats' duet. S B
the evolution of witches, a r g u i n g that the idea Nichols, Roger, Ravel (1977).
of witchcraft derives from patriarchal societies
in which w o m e n e n d o w e d with exceptional
skills or insights w e r e stigmatized and perse- ' R E D SHOES, T H E ' ( ' D e R o d e S k o ' , 1845).
cuted. F o l l o w i n g this the witch casts herself as K n o w n to m o d e r n audiences l a r g e l y through
a gynaecologist in a television melodrama; in the haunting 1948 film o f the same name, dir-
this script, Rapunzel is her w a y w a r d teenage ected b y Michael * P o w e l l and E m e r i c P r e s s -
daughter. Finally, the fifth section offers b u r g e r , H a n s Christian * A n d e r s e n ' s ' T h e R e d
Rapunzel's o w n reading of the situation: she S h o e s ' tells the story o f a girl w h o s e v a n i t y and
begins as a singer forced to earn her living b y obsession with her red shoes lead to grotesque
w o r k i n g in a supermarket as a check-out girl. punishment and then death.
Falling in with a g r o u p of like-minded female 'Little K a r e n ' is g i v e n a pair o f makeshift
performers, she finds fulfilment doing g i g s red cloth shoes, w h i c h she w e a r s to her
which attract w o m e n of all persuasions. A s the mother's funeral. S h e is pitied and adopted b y a
film ends she is singing a song called ' L e t w e a l t h y w o m a n w h o has the red shoes burnt.
D o w n Y o u r Hair', which she has written to e x - T a k i n g advantage o f her guardian's p o o r e y e -
press the j o y she feels in her d i s c o v e r y of fe- sight to b u y another pair for her confirmation,
male solidarity. T h e naturalist style in which K a r e n g o e s through the c e r e m o n y thinking
the last scenario is shot emphasizes that, for the o n l y o f the shoes. F o r b i d d e n to w e a r them to
w o m e n ' s cooperative that made the film, this church, she d i s o b e y s . A t the church d o o r the
interpretation is reality. TAS following S u n d a y , a red-bearded soldier taps
the soles o f her shoes, both as she enters and as
she leaves, saying: ' M y ! w h a t l o v e l y dancing
RAVEL, MAURICE ( 1 8 7 5 - 1 9 3 7 ) , F r e n c h c o m - shoes! S t a y on tight w h e n y o u dance!' W h i l e
poser. A l o n g with several other influential art- kneeling at the altar, K a r e n thinks o n l y o f the
ists w o r k i n g in Paris in the early y e a r s o f the red shoes, forgetting to sing the h y m n s and to
20th century, R a v e l in his early w o r k s exhibits p r a y . B u t as she leaves the church, K a r e n
an attraction to the exotic. O f a projected opera begins to dance. O n c e started, she cannot stop
inspired b y The ^Arabian Nights, only the o v e r - until the shoes are forcibly r e m o v e d and hid-
ture, Shéhéraçade (1898), w a s written. T h e lush den in a cupboard.
orchestral song cycle Shéhéraïade (1903), in R a t h e r than tend her sick guardian, K a r e n
which no reference is made to the e p o n y m o u s accepts an invitation to a ball, again d o n n i n g
heroine, sets three orientally inspired p o e m s the red shoes. B u t once she starts dancing, the
from a collection of the same name b y Tristan shoes take on a p o w e r o f their o w n , clinging to
Klingsor. R a v e l ' s interest in fairy tales w a s part her feet despite her efforts to tear them off and
of a general fascination he had with the r e m e m - dancing her into the forest and churchyard. In
bered w o r l d o f childhood. Ma Mère l'Oye the church, an angel appears, his face 'stern and
(^Mother Goose, 1908—10), originally written as solemn'. ' D a n c e y o u shall,' he proclaims,
a set of five piano duets for children, w a s in- 'dance in y o u r red shoes until y o u are cold and
spired b y characters from Charles *Perrault, pale, until y o u r skin shrivels up like a skel-
Mme d'*Aulnoy, and M m e *Leprince de B e a u - eton's!' D a n c i n g ceaselessly, K a r e n feels aban-
mont. Orchestrated in 1 9 1 1 , the suite w a s also doned b y humans and cursed b y G o d .
expanded to act as a ballet score, based around D e s p e r a t e , she implores the executioner to cut
the story of ""Sleeping Beauty (1912). T h e care- off her feet, and, as he does s o , the shoes and
fully crafted evocation of a child's v i e w p o i n t is feet dance off alone, across the fields and into
further developed in the opera, or 'fantasie the forest. N o w with w o o d e n feet and crutches,
lyrique', L'Enfant et les sortilèges (The Child she is afraid to enter the church, w h i c h is
and the Spells, 1925). T h e libretto, b y Colette, barred b y the red shoes still dancing before her
involves a naughty y o u n g b o y w h o , h a v i n g eyes. Modest and pious, she b e c o m e s the p a r -
been reprimanded b y his mother, finds the o b - son's servant. A s she p r a y s , the angel re-
jects in his room c o m i n g to life, singing o f their appears, transforming her simple r o o m into the
maltreatment at the hands o f the y o u n g terror. glorious church she had so feared to enter.
In the second scene, after demonstrating his ' F u l l o f sunshine and peace and j o y ' , her heart
better nature b y dressing a w o u n d e d squirrel, at last breaks, her soul flying 'to h e a v e n , w h e r e
the child is tearfully reunited with his ' M a m a n ' . there w a s no one to ask about the red shoes'.
REDGROVE, PETER 418

A n d e r s e n ascribed this harsh and puritanical RÉGNIER, HENRI DE (1864-1936), French writer.
story to his o w n childhood guilt o v e r caring O n c e a leader o f the symbolist movement,
m o r e about a pair o f n e w boots than the c o n - R é g n i e r produced v o l u m e s o f prose and poetry
firmation to w h i c h he w o r e them. H o w e v e r , d r a w i n g upon a classical pantheon o f nymphs,
the red shoes seem to symbolize not m e r e l y satyrs, and d e m i g o d s . In Contes à soi-même
v a n i t y but also normal sensuality, w h i c h the {Tales to oneself, 1894), his ' L e Sixième
narrative seeks unremittingly to expose and Mariage de B a r b e - B l e u e ' (*'Bluebeard's Sixth
punish. M a r r i a g e ' ) grafts a happy ending onto a dark
W h i l e e m p l o y i n g A n d e r s e n ' s s y m b o l i c lan- legend. R é g n i e r ' s novel Le Passé vivant (The
g u a g e , the film offers a m o r e c o m p l e x story, Living Past, 1909) has been considered a fairy
with the red shoes representing the lure o f the story, w h i l e collections like La Canne de jaspe
artistic life. T h e heroine o f the embedded ballet (The Jasper Cane, 1897), and Histoires incer-
dances herself to death, beguiled into w e a r i n g taines (Uncertain Tales, 1919) juxtapose natur-
the shoes b y the sorcerer-like ' s h o e m a k e r ' . alist detail with supernatural events. AR
T h e ballerina-heroine o f the frame narrative
must choose b e t w e e n art (represented b y a
forceful and hypnotic director) and l o v e (her
REGO, PAULA (1935— ) , Portuguese-born paint-
temperamental c o m p o s e r husband). I r r e v o c -
er, w h o trained at the Slade School o f A r t in
ably torn b e t w e e n art and life, w e a r i n g the red
Britain and settled permanently in L o n d o n in
shoes o f her signature ballet, she dances w i l d l y
1976, w h e r e she n o w teaches at the Slade. She
to a parapet and leaps in front o f a passing
represented Britain and Portugal in the Sâo
train. A 1993 B r o a d w a y musical, c h o r e o -
P a o l o Bienal, and, in 1990, w a s appointed the
graphed b y L a r L u b o v i c h , w a s based on the
first associate artist for the National G a l l e r y in
film. A n e w ballet, c h o r e o g r a p h e d b y F l e m -
L o n d o n . After a grant from the Gulbenkian
m i n g Flindt for the R o y a l D a n i s h Ballet,
Foundation in 1976 to research fairy tales, she
premiered in J a n u a r y 1998. JGH
illustrated Portuguese fairy tales in Contos
Andersen, Hans Christian, The Fairy Tale of My
Populares (1974—5) and the more successful
Life (1868).
Bredsdorff, Elias, Hans Christian Andersen: The 1989 etchings o f E n g l i s h Nursery Rhymes. H e r
Story of his Life and Work 180J—75 (1975). inspired illustration o f *Peter Pan (1992) and
the *Pinocchio paintings (1995—6) are typical in
their exploration o f the m u r k y underside and
emotional conflicts o f these familiar stories. T o
REDGROVE, PETER ( 1 9 3 2 - ) , British poet and
paint, R e g o must h a v e a story, found in fairy
novelist. T h o u g h k n o w n m a i n l y for his poetry,
tales, " D i s n e y ' s films, opera, magazines, night-
R e d g r o v e has written several erotic and occult
mares, and from sights in the street. R e g o ' s
fantasies: The God of Glass (1979), The Sleep of
w o r k is figurative, often using caricatured, an-
the Great Hypnotist (1979), The Beekeepers
thropomorphic animals to express p s y c h o l o g i c -
(1980), and The Facilitators, or Mister Hole-in-
al states w h e r e the story functions as shared
the Day (1982). In 1989 he published The One
cultural k n o w l e d g e , p r o v i d i n g an entry to the
who Set Out to Study Fear, a collection o f re-
exploration o f conflicting emotions. Often of a
vised classical fairy tales w h i c h h a v e a meta-
personal nature, they confront childhood terror
physical and J u n g i a n flavour to them. Set in
and the violence o f family relationships; the
c o n t e m p o r a r y E n g l a n d , the tales address the
1995 *Snow White series, w h e r e the narrative
need for c h a n g i n g sexual and social relations
across the four paintings shifts the sites o f
while raising the issue o f p s y c h o l o g i c a l trans-
p o w e r between S n o w White and her step-
formation. In a ' J o b at H o l l e P a r k ' , a contem-
mother, s h o w s the contradictory intersections
p o r a r y v e r s i o n o f ""Mother H o l l e ' , the
of l o v e and hate, nurturing and torture, rather
maltreated y o u n g e r daughter breaks with her
than r e s o l v i n g them in a conventional happy
mother and sister to b e c o m e the m a n a g e r o f an
ending. A s in R e g o ' s later w o r k , the Dog
amusement park, thereby o v e r c o m i n g the
Woman (1994) and Dancing Ostriches (1995)
monsters o f her past. In ' T h e R o s e o f L e o
series, these pictures e m p o w e r the female fig-
M a n n ' , based on * ' B e a u t y and the B e a s t ' , a
ure, with men the absent but implicit object o f
y o u n g w o m a n rescues her beastly husband L e o
love. KS
from d r u g s and alcohol. Most o f R e d g r a v e ' s
McEwen, John, Paula Rego (2nd edn., 1997).
tales depict v o y a g e s and quests in w h i c h the Rego, Paula, Paula Rego (1988).
protagonists b e c o m e at one with themselves Tales from the National Gallery (1991).
and exhibit great spiritual determination. JZ Paula Rego (1997).
 i9 REINIGER, LOTTE
4

REID BANKS, LYNNE ( 1 9 2 9 - ) , British novelist the * G r i m m s ' ' A s c h e n b r ô d e l ' (""Cinderella'),
and writer of fantasy for y o u n g adults, w h o is most of his w o r k is literary. His lastingly p o p u ­
mainly k n o w n for her O m r i series: The Indian lar a n t h o l o g y Mdrchen-, Lieder- und Geschich-
in the Cupboard (1980), The Return of the Indian tenbuch, Gesammelte Dichtungen fiir die Jugend
(1986), The Secret of the Indian (1989), and The (A Book of Fairy Tales, Songs, and Stories,
Mystery of the Cupboard (1993). T h e s e w o r k s 1873) contains most o f his w o r k , and all o f his
centre on a cupboard with a m a g i c k e y , and fairy tales. KS
w h e n e v e r the y o u n g b o y O m r i puts his plastic Sturm, K. F., Robert Reinick der Kinderdichter
Indian named Little B e a r o r other things in­ (1907).
side, they either come to life or are reduced in
size. T h e k e y also brings about time-travel ad­ REINIGER, LOTTE ( 1 8 9 9 - 1 9 8 1 ) , pioneer e x p o ­
ventures into the past, and O m r i himself b e ­ nent o f silhouette films and director o f the
comes i n v o l v e d in them. T h e series w a s w o r l d ' s first animated feature, a fantasy culled
transformed into the *Disney film The Indian in from The ^Arabian Nights. B o r n in Berlin, she
the Cupboard (1995). L y n n e R e i d B a n k s has had d e v e l o p e d her free-hand scissor technique,
also written fairy-tale novels such as The Far- and m a d e her first short film, b y the a g e o f 20.
thest-Away Mountain (1976), w h i c h i n v o l v e s a H e r method o f animation w a s simple: h a v i n g
girl and a frog, w h o travel together to break designed and cut out her protagonists from
the frog's spell; The Fairy Rebel (1985), w h i c h paper, she joined together the different parts o f
concerns a fairy w h o defies her queen b y help­ each b o d y b y means o f w i r e hinges. T h e fig­
ing a w o m a n have a b a b y girl; and *Melusine: A ures w e r e then arranged directly beneath the
Mystery (1988), which depicts a y o u n g b o y ' s camera on a horizontal glass table lit from
sexual a w a k e n i n g in a F r e n c h château and his b e l o w . A f t e r e x p o s i n g one frame o f film, she
encounters with a teenage girl w h o has m y s ­ w o u l d slightly modify the position o f the fig­
terious p o w e r s of transformation. JZ ures, and then expose the next.
H e r feeling for character and h o w to c o m ­
REINICK, ROBERT (1805-52), much l o v e d G e r ­ municate it in a silhouette extended right d o w n
man poet and writer for children. O r i g i n a l l y a to the fingertips: an evil character w o u l d be
painter, Reinick started w r i t i n g — p r i m a r i l y for g i v e n w i c k e d hands as w e l l as an evil face and
c h i l d r e n — i n the 1840s w h e n bad health forced posture. T h i s art can be seen g r a d u a l l y reach­
him to g i v e up painting, but his early training ing its peak in her 6 5-minute feature Die Aben-
remains evident in his closely o b s e r v e d and teuer des Prin^en Achmed (The Adventures of
l o v i n g l y portrayed descriptions of nature. His Prince Achmed), made o v e r three y e a r s b e t w e e n
output is not large but is v e r y v a r i e d ; his first 1923 and 1926. It is based on ' T h e T a l e o f the
collection of rhymes, poems, and stories ap­ E b o n y H o r s e ' w h i c h R e i n i g e r blends with
peared in 1845, ABC-Buch fur grosse und kleine ""Aladdin' and some original material as w e l l .
Kinder (ABC-Book for Children Big and Smalt), T h e story starts w h e n an u g l y and powerful
and he contributed to three v o l u m e s o f the sorcerer appears on the caliph's birthday with a
Deutscher Jugendkalender (Calendar for German m a g i c flying horse he has created. T h e caliph
Youth, 1849—52). H e w a s close to the romantic wants to possess it at once, but the sorcerer will
poets w h o s e interest in nature and folklore he part with it o n l y in exchange for the hand o f
shared, and his w o r k is characterized b y its the caliph's beautiful daughter D i n a r s a d e . T h i s
simplicity, purity, naive joyfulness, and a l y r i c ­ proposal incenses A c h m e d , her brother, and he
al style. A l t h o u g h he is not considered the persuades the caliph to reject it, thereby caus­
equal of his contemporaries, his w o r k w a s as ing the sorcerer to retaliate b y casting a spell
often set to music as that of Heinrich *Heine. w h i c h lures him to mount the horse and set off
Reinick's fairy tales tend to be didactic, but the on a flight w h i c h , the sorcerer intends, will be
moral is balanced b y humour, and his interest fatal. H o w e v e r , A c h m e d averts disaster, lands
in the romantic literary fairy tale, especially on the enchanted island o f W a k W a k , and falls
E . T . A . *Hoffmann's w o r k . Hoffmann's in l o v e w i t h its ruler, the princess P a r i B a n u .
'Nussknacker und M a u s e k ô n i g ' ( ' T h e N u t ­ F o r the rest o f her life, most o f w h i c h w a s
cracker') provided the model for R e i n i c k ' s first spent w o r k i n g in E n g l a n d because o f N a z i per­
fairy tale, ' D i e Wurzelprinzessin' ( ' T h e R o o t secution in her homeland, R e i n i g e r carried on
Princess', 1847). W h i l e he tells one oral tale, p r o d u c i n g silhouette films, all o f them shorts
'Die Hausgenossen' ( ' T h e H o u s e m a t e s ' ) , and rather than features, m a n y o f them made for
'Prinz Goldfisch und das Fischermadchen' television. A m o n g the fairy tales that she
('Prince Goldfish and the F i s h e r g i r l ' ) follows adapted to suit her m e d i u m w e r e several from
421 RICHTER, LUDWIG

the *Grimms (e.g. * ' S n o w W h i t e and R o s e Ramsland, Katherine, Prism of the Night: A
Red', 'The Golden Goose', ' T h e Three Biography of Anne Rice (1991).
W i s h e s ' ) , and some from *Andersen (e.g. ' T h e The Roquelaure Reader: A Companion to
Anne Rice's Erotica (1996).
Little C h i m n e y S w e e p ' , ' T h e F l y i n g Suitcase').
Roberts, Bette B., Anne Rice (1994).
One such io-minute film, ' T h e Gallant Little
Smith, Jennifer, Anne Rice: A Critical Companion
T a i l o r ' , w o n her recognition at the 1955 V e n i c e (1996).
Biennale where, in the short television film cat-
egory, she was awarded a Silver Dolphin. RICHTER, (ADRIAN) LUDWIG (1803-84). A phe-
TAS nomenally popular 19th-century G e r m a n illus-
trator o f *Bechstein's fairy tales, Richter's
RICARD, JULES (1848-1903), French novelist illustrations w e r e sought for other fairy tale
and playwright. His collection o f short stories, collections and w e r e later b o r r o w e d for the
Acheteuses de rêves {Buyers of Dreams, 1894), * G r i m m s ' Tales. F r o m the age o f 12 Richter
contains 'Contes de la fée M o r g a n e ' ( ' T a l e s o f learned draftsmanship in his father's copper-
the F a i r y M o r g a n e ' ) . Here the Celtic fairy plate e n g r a v i n g w o r k s h o p . A t 17 his p r e c o -
Morgane recounts five stories that examine the cious artistic accomplishment w o n him a
nature of l o v e , including a retelling o f * ' C i n - position recording the F r e n c h j o u r n e y s o f a
derella'. A curious mix of reality and fantasy, Russian prince. Sent subsequently b y a D r e s -
the narrative framework for the stories consists den patron to Italy for three y e a r s (1823—6), he
of conversations between the earthy, ironic joined the G e r m a n community o f artists in
fairy, w h o grouses about silly human wishes, R o m e , w h i c h included the influential J u l i u s
and the first-person narrator, a writer w h o m Schnorr v o n Carolsfeld. C a l l e d the ' S t L u k e
she accuses of plagiarizing her stories. AZ B r o t h e r h o o d ' {Lukasbriider), their w o r k w a s
generally Nazarene in style.
O n his return to G e r m a n y , Richter instruct-
RlCE, ANNE (1941— ) , A m e r i c a n author of hor- ed aspiring porcelain painters, concentrating
ror and erotica. She w a s born H o w a r d A l l e n on S a x o n scenes. In meeting a demand for
O'Brien and g r e w up in the 'Irish C h a n n e l ' ' G e r m a n ' art, Bechstein's landscapes made his
section of N e w Orleans, just blocks a w a y from reputation. Appointment to the professorship
the genteel quarter o f her horror novels. A of landscape painting at the D r e s d e n A c a d e m y
modern-day myth maker, she synthesized a of A r t (1836) w a s followed b y commissions
variety of folk legends for her Vampire Chron- from the L e i p z i g publishers W i g a n d for en-
icles (1976-95), which includes Interview with a g r a v i n g s w h i c h culminated in a 2 1 - v o l u m e re-
Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the print series o f 15th- and 16th-century G e r m a n
Damned, The Tale of the Body Thief, and chapbooks.
Memnoch the Devil. H e r originality lies in Richter's illustrations for A u g u s t *Musaus's
their sympathetic treatment: vampires are Volksmarchen der Deutschen {Folktales of the
philosophizing victims w h o must spend eter- Germans, 1842) established his fame, and calls
nity debating g o o d and evil. T h e s e supernatur- for further fairy-tale illustrations followed.
ally erotic heroes find special favour with g a y s , A b o u t his w o r k on Musàus's Tales, Richter
w h o identify with their banishment from main- w r o t e that, w h i l e he w o r k e d on one scene, he
stream society. H e r Lives of the Mayfair imagined three more and regretted h a v i n g to
Witches series (1990—4) also has a cult follow- lay his pencil d o w n at evening. His fertile i m -
ing, and includes The Witching Hour, Lasher, agination resulted in 2,600 w o o d c u t s in nearly
and Taltos. 150 b o o k s during his professional career. B y his
She penned erotica under the p s e u d o n y m o w n account, the influence o f A l b r e c h t D u r e r ,
A n n e Rampling, and as A . N . R o q u e l a u r e fash- which is e v e r y w h e r e apparent in his most fully
ioned the ultimate subversion of a b e l o v e d realized cityscapes, l o o m e d large in his artistic
fairy tale. A w a k e n e d not b y a kiss but b y sex- development.
ual initiation, her *Sleeping B e a u t y becomes a Richter's b e s t - k n o w n illustrations w e r e un-
sado-masochistic sex slave in the pornographic doubtedly those for the fairy tales o f L u d w i g
Sleeping Beauty Novels (1982—5; The Claiming Bechstein. R e u s e d in poster editions o f B e c h -
of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty's Punishment, stein's fairy tales and pirated for editions o f
Beauty's Release). H e r self-proclaimed ' D i s - G r i m m s ' tales, they contributed lastingly to
neyland of S & M ' is meant to be a p s y c h o - G e r m a n visual culture. RBB
logical portrait of dominance and submission, Hand, Joachim Neidhardt, Ludwig Richter
sexuality and spirituality. MLE (1969).
RILEY, JAMES WHITCOMB 422

Stubbe, W . (ed.), Das Ludwig Richter Album: k o v ' s best-known musical moment, 'The
Sdmtliche Holischnitte ( 1 9 7 1 ) . Flight o f the B u m b l e b e e ' . In the story, T s a r
Saltan, falsely informed that his wife has borne
RILEY, JAMES WHITCOMB ( 1 8 4 9 - 1 9 1 6 ) , A m e r i ­ a monster, has them put in a barrel and thrown
can poet. D u r i n g his lifetime, R i l e y enjoyed into the sea. T h e son g r o w s up on a desert
e n o r m o u s popularity. K n o w n as ' T h e H o o s i e r island, acquires magical p o w e r s , and trans­
P o e t ' or 'the people's poet', he d r e w material forms the island into a place of wonders. T h i s
from Midwestern literature, fairy tales, and is possibly the only opera in which a squirrel
speech patterns. His v e r s e s , written in folk dia­ sings a Russian folk song while cracking g o l d ­
lect, expressed the m y t h o f rural A m e r i c a , with en nuts and extracting emeralds from them.
phrases such as ' W h e n the frost is on the R i m s k y - K o r s a k o v ' s last opera, The Golden
punkin' and 'the old s w i m i n ' - h o l e ' . R i l e y ' s Cockerel (Le Coq d'Or, 1908), originated in the
' R a g g e d y M a n ' inspired J o h n n y *Gruelle's folk tale of the foolish T s a r D a d o n , trans­
R a g g e d y A n n and A n d y b o o k s . His most en­ formed b y Pushkin into a biting satire on au­
during creation, 'Little O r p h a n A n n i e ' — ' t h e tocracy. R i m s k y - K o r s a k o v created the musical
G o b b l e - u n s ' l l git y o u | E f y o u | D o n ' t | equivalent o f satire b y p a r o d y i n g military
W a t c h I O u t ' — b e c a m e part o f childhood marches and other popular tunes, while Ivan
folklore and the name o f a classic comic strip *Bilibin parodied cheap popular prints in his set
(the source o f the B r o a d w a y musical Annie). designs and costumes.
AS R e a d i n g The ^Arabian Nights inspired R i m ­
Morrow, Barbara Olenyik, From Ben-Hur to s k y - K o r s a k o v ' s most famous orchestral w o r k ,
Sister Carrie: Remembering the Lives and Works of Scheheraiade (1888). T h i s symphonic poem
Five Indiana Authors ( 1 9 9 5 ) . consists o f four movements tied together b y
Revell, Peter, James Whitcomb Riley ( 1 9 7 0 ) . passages for solo violin, representing the voice
o f Scheherazade as she tells her stories to the
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV, NIKOLAI ANDREIEVICH misogynistic sultan, w h o s e loud and threaten­
(1844—1908), R u s s i a n c o m p o s e r . A s a y o u n g ing theme is heard at the beginning of the
m a n w i t h virtually no musical training, R i m ­ piece. T h e first m o v e m e n t is titled ' T h e Sea
s k y - K o r s a k o v sought advice from Mili B a l a k i - and Sindbad's S h i p ' ; the second, ' T h e Story of
rev, w h o w e l c o m e d him into the small g r o u p the C a l e n d e r P r i n c e ' ; the third, ' T h e Y o u n g
of R u s s i a n nationalist composers he had Prince and the Y o u n g Princess'; and the
f o u n d e d — t h e ' M i g h t y Handful', w h i c h also fourth, ' T h e Festival o f B a g d a d ; T h e Sea; T h e
included B o r o d i n and M u s s o r g s k y . F a m i l y Ship G o e s to Pieces on a R o c k Surmounted b y
tradition pointed him t o w a r d the n a v y , h o w ­ a Bronze W a r r i o r ' . T h e piece ends serenely as
e v e r ; not until returning from a three-year Scheherazade concludes, h a v i n g finally w o n
cruise as an officer could he rejoin his musical the l o v e of her lord. In 1910 Scheheraiade b e ­
friends and complete his first s y m p h o n y (1865). came the musical setting for one of D i a g h i l e v ' s
In 1871 he w a s invited to b e c o m e a professor o f most famous ballets, with a n e w plot superim­
composition at the St P e t e r s b u r g c o n s e r v a ­ posed on the music. SR
t o r y — s o m e w h a t to his d i s m a y , as he still Abraham, Gerald, Rimsky-Korsakov ( 1 9 4 5 ) .
k n e w almost nothing o f structure o r theory. Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai, My Musical Life
P r u d e n t l y retaining his commission, he accept­ (i947)-

ed, studying all night to keep ahead o f his

classes; eventually, he b e c a m e an outstanding RINGELNATZ, JOACHIM (pen name of HANS BÔT-
teacher, a m o n g his pupils being I g o r S t r a v i n ­ TlCHER, 1 8 8 3 - 1 9 3 4 ) , G e r m a n writer and cabaret
sky. performer w h o s e connection to the D a d a
R i m s k y - K o r s a k o v ' s music is k n o w n for v i ­ m o v e m e n t w a s reflected in the satirical chil­
tality and brilliant orchestration. M a n y o f his dren's tales and nonsense rhymes he created.
melodies came directly from the folk songs he H i s Kuttel D a d d e l d u character, found in R i n -
collected, and o f his 15 operas, 14 w e r e inspired gelnatz's p o e m s and short stories, is a cynical
b y R u s s i a n folklore. His first opera, Sadko seaman and storyteller w h o s e colourful stories
(1867; revised 1897), w a s based on the folk tale often blend dialect and foreign phrases with
of ' S a d k o the S a i l o r ' . The *Snow Maiden political criticism and nonsense, while subvert­
(1882), The Tsar Saltan (1900), and The Invis­ ing narrative conventions and audience
ible City ofKiteih (1906) also h a v e folk-tale ori­ expectations. MBS
gins. Tsar Saltan, from *Pushkin's poetic Pape, Walter (ed.), Joachim Ringelnat^ Das
v e r s i o n o f the tale, contains R i m s k y - K o r s a ­ Gesamtwerk in sieben Bdnden ( 1 9 8 3 ) .
4 2 3
'ROBBER BRIDEGROOM, T H E '

Ringelnatz, Joachim, Kuttel Daddeldu erzdhlt Auerbach, Nina, and Knoepflmacher, U. C.

seinen Kindern das Mdrchen vom Rotkdppchen (eds.), Forbidden Journeys (1992).
(1923). Zipes, Jack (ed.), Victorian Fairy Tales (1987).
Zipes, Jack (ed.), Fairy Tales and Fables from
Weimar Days (1989).

'ROBBER BRIDEGROOM, T H E ' . T o l d to the

Brothers * G r i m m b y Marie Hassenpflug, ' D e r
'RlQUET WITH THE TUFT' ('Riquet à la h o u p p e ' ) , R â u b e r b r à u t i g a m ' is closely related to another
a variant of the ' C u p i d and P s y c h e ' and tale from *Kinder- und Hausmdrchen (Children's
""Beauty and the Beast' motif, has three F r e n c h and Household Tales), 'Fitchers Vogel'
versions written for a literary salon contest. A n ('Fitcher's B i r d ' ) , as w e l l as to "Perrault's
ugly-yet-brilliant g n o m e king, prince, or devil ' B a r b e bleue' (""Bluebeard'). In addition, the
loves a beautiful-yet-stupid princess on w h o m 1812 v o l u m e o f the first edition o f the G r i m m s '
he bestows intelligence in exchange for m a r ­ tales included ' D a s Mordschloss' ( ' T h e Castle
riage. "Terrault's princess renders R i q u e t of Murder', omitted in subsequent editions),
handsome: L o v e blinds her to his faults. "'Ber­ which reads as an amalgam o f ' T h e R o b b e r
nard's heroine takes a l o v e r , w h o m Riquet B r i d e g r o o m ' and 'Fitcher's B i r d ' .
transforms into his double: she ironizes that all In the version o f ' T h e R o b b e r B r i d e g r o o m '
lovers eventually become husbands. In *Lhér- w h i c h appears in Children's and Household
itier's ' R i c d i n - R i c d o n ' (precursor of ""Rumpel- Tales, a rich but slightly u n n e r v i n g suitor b e ­
stiltskin'), the w o m a n must guess the devil's comes e n g a g e d to a miller's daughter at her
name. MLE father's behest. Invited to the forest h o m e o f
her husband-to-be, the girl w a r i l y marks her
tracks with peas and lentils. O n arriving at the
RITCHIE, A N N E THACKERAY ( 1 8 3 7 - 1 9 1 9 ) , daugh­ forbidding, seemingly deserted house she is
ter of British Victorian novelist W i l l i a m M a k e ­ w a r n e d b y a caged bird that she should turn
peace " T h a c k e r a y , aunt to V i r g i n i a Woolf, and back, as the house belongs to murderers. In the
a significant author and editor in her o w n right. cellar she comes across an old w o m a n w h o
Best k n o w n for her biographical introductions confirms the bird's w a r n i n g : the house is a can­
to her father's w o r k s , she also wrote several nibals' den, and the y o u n g girl is to be their
'domestic novels', numerous essays on her victim. Hidden behind a barrel, she then
contemporaries, and two collections o f modern watches as the murderous c r e w , including her
fairy tales. Five Old Friends and a Young Prince future husband, return home with their latest
of 1868 (published in A m e r i c a as Fairy Tales catch. A s they chop her up, a finger flies into
for Grown Folks) and Bluebeard's Keys (1874) the y o u n g heroine's lap. H o w e v e r , h a v i n g had
are Mdrchen in Victorian dress for adult audi­ their drinks spiked b y the old w o m a n , the m u r ­
ences. Ritchie's versions of classic tales includ­ derers are soon asleep, and the girl is able to
ing ""Beauty and the Beast', ' T h e "Sleeping escape.
Beauty in the W o o d ' , ""Cinderella', and ""Little A t the w e d d i n g feast a round o f storytelling
Red R i d i n g H o o d ' have been criticized as is proposed. A s k e d b y her b r i d e g r o o m to con­
heavily moralized and pedestrian, lacking the tribute, the y o u n g girl proceeds to recount a
magic of their originals. But they are a l w a y s dream, which turns out to be the tale o f her trip
realistic in setting, revelatory of Victorian mid­ to the murderers' den. R e a c h i n g the point in
dle- and upper-class manners and mores, and the story at w h i c h the chopped finger landed in
clever in their p s y c h o l o g y . T h e y are s o m e ­ her lap, she miraculously produces the real
times feminist in orientation. Ritchie's female thing. T h e robber and his g a n g are duly ar­
protagonists, y o u n g w o m e n journeying to m a ­ rested.
turity (often aided b y wise old spinsters) a w a k e A particularly g r u e s o m e tale, ' T h e R o b b e r
to the problems of society's foolish and superfi­ B r i d e g r o o m ' is also relatively lacking in fairy­
cial judgements or battle against marriages o f tale m a g i c (as is ' B l u e b e a r d ' ) , which is the rea­
convenience. H e r villains: misers, fanatics, son w h y , in terms o f tale type, it has been cate­
nouveau riche industrialists, and hard-hearted gorized as a novella. Variants h a v e been
materialists of both sexes are the ogres, m o n ­ recorded throughout E u r o p e , notably the witty
sters, and witches of traditional fairy lore trans­ and poetic E n g l i s h tale, ' M r F o x ' , in w h i c h the
formed. Ritchie also provided a valuable e p o n y m o u s villain is m e r e l y a murderer rather
introduction to The Fairy Tales of Madame than a cannibal, acting alone, and w h i c h in­
d'*Aulnoy in 1895. CGS cludes the notable refrains ' B e bold, be bold,
ROBINSON, CHARLES 424

but not too b o l d ' , and 'It is not s o , n o r it w a s ROBINSON, THOMAS HEATH (1869-1950), Brit­
not s o ' . ish illustrator, second o f the R o b i n s o n brothers
T h e G r i m m s ' tale has served as the source to achieve prominence in illustration. With his
for a n o v e l b y E u d o r a W e l t y (The Robber t w o brothers, Charles and William Heath,
Bridegroom, 1942). M o r e recently, the elements R o b i n s o n illustrated Fairy Tales from Hans
it shares with ' B l u e b e a r d ' — i n c l u d i n g d i s m e m ­ Christian *Andersen (1899). T h e brothers were
bered female victims and a cunning female dubbed the three musketeers.
h e r o i n e — h a v e been explored in fiction b y Educated at C o o k ' s A r t School and the
A n g e l a *Carter and Margaret * A t w o o d , the lat­ Westminster A r t S c h o o l , T . H . R o b i n s o n went
ter o f w h o m has g i v e n ' T h e R o b b e r B r i d e ­ on to illustrate Fairy Tales from The ^Arabian
g r o o m ' a late 20th-century twist in the form o f Nights in 1899. His talent resided more with
her n o v e l The Robber Bride (1993). SB realistic art than with the fantasy ability o f his
t w o brothers, so his w o r k w a s better applied to
ROBINSON, CHARLES ( 1 8 7 0 - 1 9 3 7 ) , British illus­ such b o o k s as The Scarlet Letter b y Nathaniel
trator, son o f T h o m a s R o b i n s o n w h o w a s an *Hawthorne, and w o r k s b y Laurence Sterne,
artist and e n g r a v e r ; a l o n g with his t w o Mrs *Gaskell, and W i l l i a m Makepeace "'Thack­
brothers W i l l i a m Heath *Robinson and T h o ­ eray. H e contributed to b o y s ' adventure stories
mas Heath *Robinson, he w o r k e d in the A r t s in numerous magazines as well as to books
and Crafts tradition. In 1899 he and his with religious subjects, such as G e o r g e R .
brothers illustrated Fairy Tales from Hans L e e s , The Life of Christ (1920). LS
Christian *Andersen for D e n t . Before that he
had already illustrated *Stevenson's A Child's ROBINSON, WILLIAM HEATH (1872-1944), Brit­
Garden of Verses and A e s o p ' s Fables. In the ish illustrator, y o u n g e s t o f the three talented
same y e a r , he also d r e w illustrations for C h a r ­ R o b i n s o n brothers. H e collaborated with his
les *Perrault's Tales of Past Times, and in t w o brothers on Fairy Tales from Hans Chris­
1 9 0 0 - 2 D e n t published a three-volume set, tian Andersen (1899). A v o l u m e o f *Andersen's
The True Annals of Fairy-Land, edited b y W i l ­ tales appeared in 1 9 1 3 , Hans Andersen's Fairy
liam C a n t o n with C h a r l e s R o b i n s o n ' s illustra­ Tales, with 16 tipped-in colour illustrations b y
tions. W . H . R o b i n s o n . T r a i n e d at the Islington
In 1908 he illustrated E v e l y n Martinengo School o f A r t (1887), he initially planned on
C e s a r e s c o ' s The Fairies' Fountain, and Other being a landscape artist, but then followed in
Stories and another t w o - v o l u m e True Annals of his brothers' footsteps. H e developed a talent
Fairyland in the Reign of King Cole for D e n t in for h u m o r o u s d r a w i n g s , often contributing d e ­
1909. T w o particular fairy-tale b o o k s appeared signs o f dotty contraptions to periodicals.
in 1910 and 1913: the first, J a c o b and W i l h e l m A l t h o u g h he began under the influence o f
* G r i m m s ' Grimms' Fairy Tales, and the second, B e a r d s l e y and A r t N o u v e a u , he experimented
O s c a r * W i l d e ' s The Happy Prince, and Other with various styles and the use o f light, some­
Tales. times backlighting the subjects. H e also used
L a r g e l y self-taught, he w a s apprenticed as a the circular frame for his illustrations. H e w a s
lithographic artist and w a s dedicated to the one o f the most versatile o f British illustrators.
ideal o f the b o o k beautiful, an ideal w h i c h e n ­ LS
compassed the text, layout, illustrations, and
c o v e r . H e w o r k e d primarily in black and white RODARI, GlANNl (1920-80), w a s the most dis­
and w a t e r c o l o u r , and w a s o n e o f the first to tinguished and original o f writers for children
integrate the text with illustration. A c c o r d i n g in Italy in the 20th century; he has been w i d e l y
to T e s s a Chester and Irene W h a l l e y , his w o r k translated abroad and is greatly respected
was characteristic o f the A r t N o u v e a u period a m o n g scholars and cognoscenti. W h i l e his sub­
with its ' i n t e r w e a v i n g , c u r v i n g line, the solid ject-matter is unequivocally identifiable with
black areas relieved b y white, and the careful the 20th century, his connection with the fairy
use o f stylised pattern'. tale resides in the markedly fantastic inclin­
His w o r k s w e r e exhibited at the R o y a l ation o f his w o r k and in his (often parodie) re­
A c a d e m y and he w a s a lifelong m e m b e r o f the use o f traditional forms and devices. Brought
L o n d o n Sketch C l u b . A l t o g e t h e r , he illustrated up in the era o f fascism in Italy, R o d a r i began
o v e r 100 b o o k s , o n e o f the last o f w h i c h w a s reading philosophers, including Marx, while
Granny's Book of Fairy Stories (1930). LS still at school and w a s a l w a y s drawn to novel
Whalley, Joyce and Chester, Tessa Rose, A and radical ideas. Musically gifted, his career
History of Children's Book Illustration ( 1 9 8 8 ) . was begun as a teacher, but towards the end o f
 ; :
THE KING OF TROY

ROBINSON, WILLIAM HEATH A characteristically humorous and detailed illustration by William Heath
Robinson for his own children's book Bill The Minder ( 1 9 1 2 ) .
Roi ET L'OISEAU. L E 426

W o r l d W a r I I he joined the C o m m u n i s t P a r t y ation, and sometimes s y n o n y m o u s with it. T h e

and participated in the Italian Resistance w o r k w a s to b e c o m e a touchstone handbook
m o v e m e n t . L i k e so m a n y Italian intellectuals, for teachers and parents. In it R o d a r i repeated-
he s a w Utopian m a r x i s m as the c o u n t r y ' s polit- ly discusses the pleasures and uses o f familiar
ical salvation, a guarantee against future a u - fairy tales, ancient and modern, from *'Little
thoritarian oppression. After the w a r he R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' to ^Pinocchio. H e refers to
committed himself full-time to the communist Italo * C a l v i n o , w h o s e life and w o r k exhibited
cause, launching a n e w P a r t y journal, L'ordine some significant parallels with his o w n . F r o m
nuovo, in 1945. S o b e g a n his lifelong w o r k as a the 1950s, this eminent close contemporary had
journalist. I n 1947 he b e g a n to write for the been e v o l v i n g n e w approaches to fantasy and
leading communist daily newspaper, L'Unità, fairy-tale narratives in his major w o r k s for
in Milan, o n e assignment b e i n g the c o m p o s - adults, as w e l l as minor pieces for children,
ition o f some pieces for children. I n 1950 the thus establishing a liberating alternative to the
P a r t y sent h i m to R o m e to co-edit II pioniere prevailing literary m o o d o f neo-realism. C a l -
(The Pioneer), a w e e k l y paper for the y o u n g , v i n o had been responsible, t o o , for the first
w h o s e future he w a s dedicated to i m p r o v i n g . compendious national collection o f folk tales,
T h e 1950s w e r e an intensely creative time for rewritten from their regional dialects into Ita-
R o d a r i , during w h i c h he published hundreds o f lian (Fiabe italiane, 1956), a revelatory w o r k
p o e m s and stories for children, as a journalist for R o d a r i as for the cultural establishment.
m o v i n g a w a y from communist control but still S o m e o f R o d a r i ' s later titles clearly demon-
w o r k i n g for the press o f the Left. H i s first strate his kinships within the fairy-tale family
tree: Marionette in liberté (Marionettes at liberty,
b o o k , II lihro delle filastrocche (The Book of 1
9 7 4 ) 5 La filastrocca di Pinocchio (Pinocchio's
Rhymes, 1950), contained comic v e r s e s in the
Rhyme, 1974), Cera due volte il barone Lamb erto
manner o f E d w a r d L e a r and L e w i s *Carroll,
(Twice Upon a Time There was Baron Lamberto,
and the second, 77 romanzo di Cipollino (1951),
1978), and La gondola fantasma (The Phantom
w a s a fantastic narrative about a tyrant prince,
Gondola, 1978). T h e imaginative inheritance
but for h i m ' N o n s e n s e ' and fantasy w e r e
w h i c h R o d a r i elaborated and enriched did not,
methods o f addressing the political and social
for h i m , p r o v i d e a diverting escape route but
evils o f the time. T h r o u g h o u t the decade the
instead an e m p o w e r i n g and liberating approach
C h u r c h s a w h i m as a threat to youthful minds
to civilized modern life. R o d a r i ' s purpose w a s
and u r g e d the banning o f his b o o k s in schools.
not to disguise and sweeten through fantasy,
T h e eminent publisher E i n a u d i o f T u r i n first
but to use imagination to teach children the
handled R o d a r i ' s w o r k in i960, a turning-
truth about reality. ALL
point, and during the 1960s R o d a r i w o r k e d in
close contact with both children and teachers Argilli, Marcello, del C o r n ô , L u c i o , a n d d e
through the Educational C o o p e r a t i o n M o v e - L u c a , Carmine ( e d s . ) , Le provocazioni della

ment. I n the same period he helped to advance fantasia. Gianni Rodari scrittore e educatore
educational reforms. S o m e o f his most noted (I993)-
and popular w o r k s n o w b e g a n to appear; Bini, G . (ed.), Leggere Rodari ( 1 9 8 1 ) .
Favole al telefono (Telephone Tales, 1962; a s e - Boero, Pino, Una storia, tante storie: guida
alTopera di Gianni Rodari ( 1 9 9 2 ) .
lection, 1965), the brief stories o f a commercial
P e t r i n i , E n z o , A r g i l l i , Marcello, a n d Bonardi,
traveller nightly p h o n i n g his family, illustrates
C a r l o ( e d s . ) , Gianni Rodari (1981).
both R o d a r i ' s concern with c o n t e m p o r a r y real- R o d a r i , G i a n n i , The Grammar of Fantasy, t r a n s .
ity and the surreal quality o f his humour. / / w i t h intro. Jack Zipes (1996).

lihro degli errori (The Book of Errors, 1964), La

torta in cielo (1966; A Pie in the Sky, 1966;
1971), and Novelle fatte a macchina (Tales Told R O I ET L'OISEAU, LE (The King and the Bird).
by a Machine, 1973; a selection, 1976) followed W h i l e in keeping with the tradition o f the fairy
amongst m a n y others. I n 1973 he published an tale, this animated film reflects the changing
important personal statement and wittily p r o b - values o f its time. A d a p t e d from *Andersen's
ing exploration in Grammatica della fantasia: ' T h e Shepherdess and the C h i m n e y S w e e p ' ,
Introduzione alVarte di inventare storie (The and first released in France (1953) under the
Grammar of Fantasy: An Introduction to the Art title La Bergère et le ramoneur, Le Roi et l'oiseau
of Inventing Stories), in w h i c h he illustrates the is a remake o f the first full-length film b y Paul
p o w e r and riches o f the imagination and eluci- G r i m a u l t with a screenplay b y Jacques Prévert
dates his o w n ideas and m e t h o d o l o g y ; he (1950). G r i m a u l t ' s 33 m m . , 87-minutes-long
s h o w s l a n g u a g e to b e as important as i m a g i n - film, in colour, w a s produced in France (1979)
427 ROMANO, LALLA

ROI ET L'OISEAU. LE The chimney sweep and the shepherdess escape from the tyrannical king in Paul
Grimault's animated film Le roi et l'oiseau (1953). Jacques Prévert's screenplay transformed the Hans
Christian *Andersen tale 'The Chimney Sweep and the Shepherdess' into a political commentary about
contemporary fascism.

and was awarded the Louis Delluc prize in faceted artist: a poet, a film-maker, and a song
1980. writer. Throughout his art, he tirelessly de­
The Grimault-Prévert production diverges nounced the oppressive power of the rich—a
from its Danish model in respect to gender prevalent theme of 'The King and the
roles and ideology. Andersen stressed the para­ Bird'—with a judicious blend of provocative
digm of the unassertive female, and the accept­ humour and endearing simplicity. AMM
ance of one's destiny. Overwhelmed by the
sight of the world, the shepherdess returns to
an anti-climactic self-inflicted captivity. In con­
trast, in the French animated film, the shep­ ROMANO, LALLA ( 1 9 0 6 - ), Italian poet, painter,
herdess and the chimney sweep equally aspire translator, and critic. She is best known for her
to their freedom. Grimault's film, a witty satire autobiographical narrative Le parole tra noi leg-
against tyranny, celebrates the formidable gere (The Words between Us Weightless, 1969,
power of peace. Particularly stirring is the clos­ Strega Prize), which resembles in its conclu­
ing image of the redeemed bulldozer destroy­ sion the morals of fairy tales. Romano's flirting
ing the bird's cage, which eloquently with fairy tales is most evident in Le Metamor-
synthesizes Prévert's message of freedom. fosi (1951, rev. 1983), a collection of short prose
Grimault (1905—94) was the originator of narratives based on dreams. Some of them are
French animated films. He founded 'Les truly fairy tales, since the author believes that
Gémeaux' (1936), the first French corporation dream-transformations are of the same material
of animated films and the most prominent one one finds in myths and fairy tales. Other works
in Europe. Grimault left 'Les Gémeaux' (19 51) with a fairy-tale atmosphere include L'ospite
to found his own film association: 'Les Films (The Guest, 1973) and Ho sognato Vospedale (I
Grimault'. Prévert (1900-77) was a multi- Dreamed the Hospital, 1995). GD
R O S S E ™ , CHRISTINA 428

ROSSETTI, CHRISTINA (1830-94), E n g l i s h poet. dini, falls in l o v e with A n g e l i n a . T h e Prince's

She is best k n o w n today for her brilliant l o n g tutor A l i d o r o has the role o f magic helper as he
p o e m Goblin Market (1862), an extended tale assists A n g e l i n a in her attempt to g o to the
about t w o sisters w h o meet a band o f sinister Prince's ball. A n g e l i n a finally p r o v e s that she is
half-human, half-animal creatures w h o tempt the object o f the Prince's desire b y means of a
them to b u y exotic fruit. L a u r a eats the fruit, silver bracelet, a variation on the glass slipper
and then craves m o r e and m o r e — b u t the next found in Perrault's tale. NC
d a y she cannot find the goblins, and she begins Osborne, Richard, Rossini (1986).
to waste a w a y from l o n g i n g . Lizzie, w h o can
still see and hear the goblin men, b u y s their
ROUSSEAU, JEAN-JACQUES ( 1 7 1 2 - 7 8 ) , pre-emi-
fruit but refuses to eat it; instead, she hurries
nent S w i s s Enlightenment philosopher and
h o m e to L a u r a , w h o licks the juice from L i z -
writer. His witty salon fairy tale ' L a Reine F a n -
zie's face and is cured. T h e p o e m d r a w s upon
tasque' ('Queen Fantastic', 1754) reflects many
legends about humans w h o are lost in fairyland
of his educational, social, and political theories.
after eating enchanted food; but it is also clear-
T h e tale is told b y a druid to the arab Jalamir
ly an a l l e g o r y o f sexual sin and redemption that
and recounts the capriciousness with which a
has been interpreted in m a n y w a y s . AL
queen enlists a fairy's help to become pregnant
DeVitis, A . A . , 'Goblin Market: Fairy Tale and and e n d o w her offspring, a b o y and a girl.
Reality'', Journal of Popular Culture, i (1968). M a k i n g effective use o f narrative suspense and
Kooistra, Lorraine Janzen, 'Goblin Market as a parenthetical dialogue, R o u s s e a u ' s story cri-
Cross-Audienced Poem: Children's Fairy Tale,
tiques monarchy, but also pokes fun at w o m e n .
Adult Erotic Fantasy', Children's Literature, 25
LCS
0997)-
Marsh, Jan, 'Christina Rossetti's Vocation: The
Importance of Goblin Market', Victorian Poetry, RUBINO, ANTONIO (1880-1964), Italian writer,
32.3—4 (Autumn—Winter 1994). w h o became an important illustrator in 1908
Smulders, Sharon, Christina Rossetti revisited w h e n he could not find anyone to draw pictures
(1996). for his poems. O n e of the founders of Corriere
Watson, Jeanie, ' "Men Sell Not Such in Any
dei Piccoli, a magazine for children, R u b i n o be-
Town": Christina Rossetti's Goblin Fruit of
came famous for his cartoon characters P i e -
Fairy Tale', Children's Literature, 12 (1984).
rino, Burattino, Quadratino, Barbabucco, and
m a n y others. S t r o n g l y influenced by Jugendstil,
ROSSETTI, DANTE GABRIEL ( 1 8 2 8 - 8 2 ) , E n g l i s h R u b i n o developed a highly unusual comic style
painter and poet. A founding m e m b e r of the that e m p l o y e d pastels, ink, and caricatures to
P r e - R a p h a e l i t e B r o t h e r h o o d (1848), Rossetti illustrate numerous fairy tales and his o w n ori-
d e v e l o p e d a h i g h l y personal subject-matter and ginal w o r k s filled with ironic depictions of ec-
s y m b o l i s m inspired b y m e d i e v a l poetry (par- centric figures. JZ
ticularly D a n t e ) . A l t h o u g h his later w o r k w a s
almost entirely d e v o t e d to sensuous allegorical
images o f w o m e n , earlier paintings included RUHMKORF, PETER ( 1 9 2 9 - ) , G e r m a n poet, es-
m a n y subjects from medieval literature, includ- sayist, and editor. K n o w n for his socialist com-
ing the A r t h u r i a n c y c l e . Closest in feeling to a mitment and ironical wit, R u h m k o r f has
fairy tale is ' T h e W e d d i n g o f St G e o r g e and published t w o b o o k s of fairy tales for adults
Princess S a b r a ' (1857); Rossetti g i v e s the le- that reflect his satirical critique of G e r m a n soci-
g e n d a magical h a p p y ending in a g o l d - a n d - ety. In Auf Wiedersehen in Kenilworth (Until
crimson chamber, with the d r a g o n ' s head near- We Meet Again in Kenilworth, 1980) R ù h m k o r f
b y in a w o o d e n b o x . SR transforms the steward of a castle named J a m
M c D a m m into a cat and his cat Minnie into a
beautiful maiden, sends them off to R o m e , and
ROSSINI, GIOACCHINO (1792-1868), Italian reveals h o w difficult it is to have happy endings
c o m p o s e r . A m o n g his m a n y operas is the t w o - in h a p p y homes. In Der Hitter des Misthaufens
act La Cenerentola (*Cinderella, 1817), w h o s e li- (The Caretaker of the Dung Heap, 1983), he
bretto b y J a c o p o Ferretti w a s adapted from published 13 'enlightened fairy tales' that make
C h a r l e s *Perrault's fairy tale. In R o s s i n i and use o f traditional * G r i m m s ' fairy tales to par-
Ferretti's v e r s i o n of this tale, A n g e l i n a ( C i n - o d y capitalist greed and to m o c k the provin-
derella) is maltreated b y her father D o n M a g - cialism of G e r m a n s . R u h m k o r f suggests
nifico and her stepsisters C l o r i n d a and T i s b e . through the magical transformations in his
Prince R a m i r o , disguised as his servant D a n - fairy tales that it is only through cunning and
429 'RUMPELSTILTSKIN'

the imagination that social change can come The best-known version of this tale, 'Rum-
about. JZ pelstilzchen', was published by the Brothers
*Grimm in their collection ^Kinder- und Haus-
mdrchen (Children's and Household Tales, 1812),
'RUMPELSTILTSKIN'. When a poor miller boasts but there are many other variants, mainly
that his daughter can spin straw into gold, the European, such as the English 'Tom-Tit-Tot',
king places her into a chamber full of straw to the Italian 'Zorobubù', or the Swedish 'Titteli
prove this claim under threat of death. An ugly Ture'; the name-guessing motif also links it to
little man appears and performs this impossible *Puccini's opera Turandot. The Grimms' story
task for her in exchange for her ring and, on is an amalgamation of three sources, one of
the second night, her necklace. On the third which is similar to the influential 'Ricdin-Ric-
night, the king puts her into the largest cham- don' (Bigarrures ingénieuses, 1696) by Marie-
ber yet and promises to marry her if she suc- Jeanne *Lhéritier, in which it is the king or
ceeds. With nothing left to trade, she is forced prince who discloses the name. The Grimms'
to promise the dwarf her first child. When he printed version differs from oral variants in
comes to claim it, he is moved by her tears to which the girl's predicament lies in her inabil-
let her keep the baby if she can find out his ity to spin anything but gold. She acts on her
name in three days' time. Failing to answer own behalf when she willingly accepts the little
correctly on the first two nights, the young man's help to perform her work and, as spin-
queen is told by her messenger at the last mo- ning was a marriage test in rural communities,
ment how he had overheard a strange little gain a husband. Emma *Donoghue in her revi-
man calling himself 'Rumpelstiltskin' as he was sion, 'The Tale of the Spinster' (Kissing the
dancing round a fire in the woods. When the Witch, 1997), takes up the theme of spinning as
queen confronts 'Rumpelstiltskin' with the cor- productive work and translates her version into
rect name, he tears himself apart in his fury. an entirely female context; however, it is also a

RUMPELSTILTSKIN The little man asks the queen to guess his name in the *Grimms' 'Rumpelstiltskin'
illustrated by Ernst Liebermann in Rumpelstilichen (1911).
RUSHDIE, SALMAN 43°

critique o f materialistic self-interest and entre­ expression o f manifold possibility, of new, un­
preneurial exploitation. A w i d o w ' s daughter told, and retold stories: '1001, the number of
continues her mother's successful spinning night, of m a g i c , of alternative realities'.
business after her death, but needs to take on a R u s h d i e ' s third n o v e l , Shame (1983), an­
s l o w - w i t t e d girl, Little Sister, to c a r r y out the other fictionalized history, experiments further
fine spinning. W h e n the w i d o w ' s daughter b e ­ with a form of written orality, conjuring a host
comes pregnant in the course o f soliciting m o r e of fairy-tale characters and motifs from both
w o r k , Little Sister agrees to pretend to be the E u r o p e a n and A r a b i c / I n d i a n traditions, and
mother to protect the business. B u t she finally using the ingredients and techniques of trad­
leaves w h e n the b a b y is punished for d a m a g i n g itional storytelling, notably the juxtaposition of
the w o o l , taking the child with her, since the c o m e d y and violence, to tell a story of ' P e c c a -
w i d o w ' s daughter had s h o w n so little interest vistan', the narrator's 'looking-glass Pakistan'.
in either o f them that she had not e v e n asked R u s h d i e ' s use of folk- and fairy-tale material
their names. A n n e S e x t o n interprets her ' R u m ­ is a l w a y s integral to the w o r k as a w h o l e : the
pelstiltskin' (Transformations, 1972) as a figure use o f non-Western traditions and modes of
of interiorized infantile rage and despair, w h i l e storytelling in novels dealing with the legacies
W i l l i a m H a t h a w a y ' s 'Rumpelstiltskin' (Disen­ of colonial rule, and the use of genuinely popu­
chantments, 1985) is an a n g r y meditation on lar culture to tell the unofficial stories l y i n g b e ­
c o n t e m p o r a r y pressures on men to be g o o d at neath orthodox histories. N o w h e r e is this more
sports and p h y s i c a l l y beautiful to w i n the girl. apparent than in Haroun and the Sea of Stories
KS (1990), the children's n o v e l Rushdie wrote in
Bolte, Johannes, and Polivka, George, the w a k e of the fatwa issued against him for
Anmerkungen den Kinder- und Hausmarchen w h a t w a s seen as blasphemy against Islam in
der Briider Grimm (5 vols., 1913—32). The Satanic Verses (1988). Haroun takes its
Mieder, Wolfgang (ed.), Disenchantments: An basic conceit from S o m a d e v a ' s enormous S a n ­
Anthology of Modern Fairy Tale Poetry (1985). skrit story cycle, Kathasaritsagara (The Ocean
Rôhrich, Lutz, 'Rumpelstiltskin. Vom of the Sea of Story, c.1070), the title of which is
Methodenpluralismus in der Erzahlforschung', in
literalized in the form of the ocean visited b y
Sage und Mdrchen, Erzahlforschung heute (1976).
the e p o n y m o u s y o u n g hero, in his quest for the
Zipes, Jack, 'Spinning with Fate: Rumpelstiltskin
solution to his storyteller father's mysterious
and the Decline of Female Productivity',
Western Folklore (January 1993). narrative sterility. A n A r a b i a n night in its o w n
right, it is an argument against the silence that
RUSHDIE, SALMAN ( 1 9 4 7 - ) , Indian-born n o v e l ­ follows w h e n storytelling ends, and a reminder
ist. B o r n in B o m b a y to a Muslim family, R u s h ­ of the continued relevance of the wellsprings of
narrative tradition. SB
die w a s sent to school in E n g l a n d in 1961. A f t e r
reading history at C a m b r i d g e , he spent some Batty, Nancy E., 'The Art of Suspense:
time as an advertising c o p y w r i t e r . H i s first Rushdie's 1001 (Mid-) Nights', Ariel, 18 (1987).
n o v e l , the allegorical Grimus (1975), already Brennan, Timothy, Salman Rushdie and the
demonstrates t w o distinctive elements: the use Third World: Myths of the Nation (1989).
o f a fantastical narrative i d i o m — n o t a b l y less Cundy, Catherine, 'Through Childhood's
restrained in Grimus than e l s e w h e r e — a n d the Window: Haroun and the Sea of Stories ', in
exploration, in both form and content, o f the D. M. Fletcher (ed.), Perspectives on the Fiction
meeting o f the cultures o f E a s t and W e s t (he of Salman Rushdie (1994).
has since published a collection o f stories en­ Rushdie, Salman, Imaginary Homelands: Essays
titled East, West, 1994). and Criticism 1981—1991 (1991).
H o w e v e r , it is in Midnight's Children (1981) RUSHFORTH, P . S . ( 1 9 4 5 - ) , E n g l i s h writer,
that R u s h d i e ' s m o d e o f storytelling appears w h o s e first n o v e l Kindergarten (1979) w a s
fully formed. A dense, discursive epic o f post- a w a r d e d the Hawthornden Prize in 1980.
Independence India, it fuses b a r o q u e realism U s i n g the * G r i m m s ' tales 'Fitcher's B i r d ' and
and a Shandean narratorial v o i c e with a spirit *'Hansel and G r e t e l ' , Rushforth w e a v e s to­
of storytelling deeply informed b y oral and gether t w o incidents o f violence: a small girl
folk traditions. It d r a w s h e a v i l y on The *Ara- taken hostage in Berlin has her image broad­
bian Nights, both as a model for fantastical, e x ­ cast on television, and it compels three b o y s in
pansive tale-spinning against a b a c k g r o u n d o f Suffolk, E n g l a n d , to recall their mother lying
personal and national disorder, and, in the dead on the concourse o f R o m e airport, victim
form o f the one-thousand-and-one children of an attack b y the same terrorist organization
b o r n in the first hour o f independence, as an that is threatening the girl in Berlin. R u s h -
RUSKIN, JOHN 432

forth's n o v e l of realism and fairy tales also re­ their p o w e r 'to fortify children against the gla­
calls the Holocaust to address the problem o f cial cold of selfish s c i e n c e ' — a sentiment which
senseless cruelty. JZ lies at the heart o f his o w n story. G A
Burns, Marjorie J . , 'The Anonymous Fairy Tale:
RUSKIN, JOHN ( 1 8 1 9 - 1 9 0 0 ) , E n g l i s h author and Ruskin's King of the Golden River, Mythlore,
artist, w h o s e The King of the Golden River 14.3 (spring 1988).
Coyle, William, 'Ruskin's King of the Golden
might be regarded as the first E n g l i s h fairy
River. A Victorian Fairy Tale', in Robert A.
story for children. T h o u g h it w a s not published
Collins and Howard D. Pearce (eds.), The Scope
until 1851, seven y e a r s after Francis *Paget's of the Fantastic: Culture, Biography, Themes,
The Hope of the Katrekopfs, it w a s in fact w r i t ­ Children's Literature (1985).
ten in 1841 for 1 2 - y e a r - o l d Effie G r a y , w h o m Dearden, James S., 'The King of the Golden
he later married. It is a story of the three River. A Bio-Bibliographical Study', in Robert
brothers of tradition, t w o bad, the y o u n g e s t E. Rhodes and Del Ivan Janik (eds.), Studies in
g o o d , and their reception of a supernatural v i s ­ Ruskin: Essays in Honor of Van Akin Burd
itor, the South W e s t W i n d . R u s k i n described it (1982).
Filstrup, Jane Merrill, 'Thirst for Enchanted
himself as 'a fairly g o o d imitation o f * G r i m m
Views in Ruskin's The King of the Golden River,
and *Dickens, mixed with some true A l p i n e
Children s Literature, 8 (1979).
feeling o f m y o w n ' , but the South W e s t W i n d
Prickett, Stephen, Victorian Fantasy (1979).
is a powerful and original character, described
b y Stephen Prickett as the 'first magical per­ RuY-VlDAL, FRANÇOIS ( 1 9 3 I - ) , French author
s o n a g e to s h o w that combination o f kindliness of children's literature. H e creates unusual
and eccentric irascibility that w a s to appear so fairy tales, such as ' L e V o y a g e extravagant de
strongly in a w h o l e tradition o f subsequent lit­ H u g o B r i s e - F e r ' ( ' T h e Secret J o u r n e y o f H u g o
erature'. R i c h a r d D o y l e , w h o illustrated the the B r a t ' , 1968), in which enchanted creatures
original edition, made a striking d r a w i n g of help mend the selfish w a y s o f an unlikable brat.
him. ' L e Petit Poucet' (*'Little T o m T h u m b ' , 1974),
E d g a r * T a y l o r ' s translation o f the G r i m m s ' an elaborate retelling o f Perrault's tale, fore­
stories with illustrations b y G e o r g e * C r u i k - grounds the socio-historical and political
shank w a s published in 1823; in Praeterita R u s ­ causes o f the woodcutter's p o v e r t y and misery.
kin recorded h o w he had copied these w h e n he T h e inclusion o f such details is designed to dis­
was 10 o r 1 1 . T h e b o o k w a s reissued in 1868 rupt the seductive p o w e r of fairy tales and
with an introduction b y R u s k i n in w h i c h he thereby subvert their authoritarian and con­
spoke o f the v a l u e o f the traditional tales, with formist messages. AZ
S . , S V E N D O T T O (real n a m e SÔRENSEN, 1 9 1 6 - ),
Danish illustrator o f fairy tales, notably those
b y Hans Christian * Andersen. H i s first picture
books based on A n d e r s e n ' s fairy tales w e r e
' T h e F i r T r e e ' (1968), ' T h e T i n d e r B o x '
(1972), and ' T h e * U g l y D u c k l i n g ' (1975). H e
also illustrated a collection, Bornenes H. C.
Andersen (Children's Andersen, 1972).
Svend Otto S. has published a number o f
picture books based on famous fairy tales, such
as ""Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' (1970), ""Puss-in-
Boots' (1972), ""Sleeping B e a u t y ' (1973), ' T h e
*Bremen T o w n Musicians' (1974) ""Snow perished during his 10th reconnaissance flight
White' (1975), ""Little T o m T h u m b ' (1976), and w a s posthumously awarded a second C r o i x
and many others. Most o f his b o o k s have also de G u e r r e .
been published in English and are highly S a i n t - E x u p é r y is best remembered as the
praised internationally. H i s illustrations are author-illustrator o f Le Petit Prince (The Little
characterized b y a richness o f detail, elaborate Prince, 1943), the number one best-selling chil­
technique, and w a r m humour. T h e y also s h o w dren's b o o k . Dedicated to a friend w h o w a s at
a clear tendency to counterbalance the *Disney the time a W o r l d W a r I I hostage, it is a fairy
style. Unlike many illustrators of classical fairy tale addressed to children and to the children
tales, S v e n d Otto S. addresses primarily an that g r o w n - u p s had once been. A b o y - p r i n c e
audience o f children, avoiding adult connota­ has fled a vain rose o n asteroid B - 6 1 2 . I n his
tions or allusions. H e has also written and interplanetary travels, he encounters other alle­
illustrated original fairy tales, exploring char­ gorical characters, meets a marooned pilot in
acters from N o r s e m y t h o l o g y , like trolls. H e the Sahara, and asks him to d r a w a sheep. B e ­
w o n the Andersen Medal for illustration in cause the only acceptable sketch is o f a closed
1978. MN b o x with the (invisible) animal inside, the adult
learns from the child that that w h i c h is truly
SAINT-EXUPÉRY, ANTOINE JEAN-BAPTISTE M A R I E meaningful can only b e perceived b y the
R O G E R D E (1900-44), French aviator and s p i r i t — a theme that resonates throughout
author o f autobiographical novels and meta­ S a i n t - E x u p é r y ' s w o r k . L i k e w i s e , the b o y
physical fantasy. ' S t - E x ' w a s an impoverished learns about social responsibility and returns
aristocrat w h o had a mystical communion with home to tame his rose.
aviation, the source o f his creativity. H i s
T h i s slim v o l u m e has elicited scores o f di­
sparse, spiritual w o r k s all record the transcend­
vergent analyses. Because the Little Prince sac­
ence of perspective he experienced while flying
rifices himself and his (transfigured) b o d y is
over North Africa or being stranded in the des­
not found, theologians note analogies to
ert—events that crystallized for him man's r e ­
Christ, the Prince o f P e a c e . Philosophers cite
sponsibility towards others.
parallels to Plato's ' A l l e g o r y o f the C a v e ' ,
He w o r k e d as a mail pilot, negotiated airline
Aristotle's Ethics, and H e i d e g g e r ' s phenomen­
routes on two continents, ran rescue missions
o l o g y . Social critics refer to the imaginary v o y ­
in the desert, and reported on the Spanish C i v i l
ages o f ' C a n d i d e ' , Gulliver's Travels, and * Alice
W a r . While convalescing from various
in Wonderland, while psychoanalysts posit
crashes, he wrote aviation novels such as Cour­
models o f solitude, m e m o r y , and maturation.
rier sud (Southern Mail, 1929) and the prize-
Finally, those arguing against over-interpret­
winning Vol de nuit (Night Flight, 1931). Terre
des hommes (Wind, Sand and Stars, 1939), w i n ­ ation urge us to accept this lyrical fable with
ner o f the French A c a d e m y ' s prize for Best childlike w o n d e r , lest its m a g i c b e destroyed.
N o v e l and the (American) National B o o k MLE
A w a r d , was based on his mystical near-death Capestany, Edward J . , The Dialectic of The Little
Prince (1982).
epiphany in the Sahara; a reconnaissance sortie
Higgins, James E., The Little Prince, A Reverie
that earned him the C r o i x de G u e r r e inspired
of Substance (1996).
Pilote de Guerre (Flight to Arras, 1942), which Monin, Yves, L'Esotérisme du Petit Prince (1975).
V i c h y banned as a 'Gaullist manifesto'. Exiled Robinson, Joy D. Marie, Antoine de Saint
for t w o years, he lived in N e w Y o r k before Exupéry (1984).
returning to North Africa to train pilots. H e Schiff, Stacy, Saint-Exupéry: A Biography (1994).
SAND, GEORGE 434

SAND, GEORGE (pseudonym of AMANDINE- scrapers, and a farm buried in popcorn mix
AURORE-LUCILE DUDEVANT, NÉE D U P I N , 1 8 0 4 - 7 6 ) , with classic fairy-tale motifs and magic objects
F r e n c h romantic novelist and writer. In her like the G o l d B u c k s k i n Whincher, which
pastoral n o v e l s like La Mare au diable (The causes Blixie B i m b e r to fall in l o v e with the
Devil's Pool, 1846), Sand included scenes o f first man she meets with an x in his name.
storytelling and references to folklore. Sand AL
was raised on tales b y C h a r l e s *Perrault and Lynn, Joanne L., 'Hyacinths and Biscuits in the
Mme d ' * A u l n o y , w h o s e impact on her œuvre Village of Liver and Onions: Sandburg's
resides primarily in her idealized representa- Rootabaga Stories', Children's Literature, 8 (1979).
tions o f the countryside and nature, but her Niven, Penelope, Carl Sandburg: A Biography
specific brand o f the m a r v e l l o u s clearly w a s in- (1991).
Thistle, Mary S., 'Carl Sandburg's Rootabaga
fluenced b y E . T . A . *Hoffmann's fantastic
Stories: American Fairy Tales' (Diss., Florida
tales. It w a s not until Sand w a s herself a g r a n d -
Atlantic University, 1991).
mother that she put together a collection o f
tales for her granddaughters A u r o r e and S A N SOUCI, ROBERT ( 1 9 4 6 - ) , A m e r i c a n writer
G a b r i e l l e , entitled Contes d'une grand-mère of b o o k s for children and y o u n g adults, w h o is
(Tales of a Grandmother, 1873). w i d e l y regarded as one of the finest adapters of
H e r tales h a v e an o v e r r i d i n g p e d a g o g i c a l folk tales and legends in the U S . In particular,
function, in w h i c h children w h o h a v e been San Souci has carefully w o v e n a multicultural
abandoned in some w a y b y their parents learn repertoire o f b o o k s that also includes a feminist
to o v e r c o m e their w e a k n e s s e s , often with the agenda. H e has adapted tales from E s k i m o ,
help o f surrogate parents and a belief in the N a t i v e A m e r i c a n , African A m e r i c a n , E u r o -
supernatural. In ' L e C h â t e a u de P i c t o r d u ' pean, and oriental lore. A m o n g his best-known
('Pictordu C a s t l e ' ) , for instance, the feeble fairy-tale b o o k s are: The Legend of Scarface: A
D i a n e , rejected b y her stepmother and w h o s e Blackfeet Indian Tale (1978), The Enchanted
father is unimaginative, is brought b a c k to life Tapestry: Adapted from a Chinese Folktale
b y the intervention o f the veiled l a d y o f the (1987), The Six Swans (1988), The Talking
castle, w h o b e c o m e s her artistic inspiration. Eggs (1989), The White Cat (1990), Sukey and
Characters often e m b o d y nature and anti-na- the Mermaid (1992), and Sootface (1994). H e
ture, as in the case o f Marguerite and her false has collaborated with such fine illustrators as
cousin Mélidor in ' L a R e i n e C o a x ' ( ' Q u e e n D a n i e l San Souci, J e r r y *Pinkney, and Brian
C o a x ' ) . In this tale, the fantastic is limited to *Pinkney to produce his fairy-tale books, and
the talking frog Q u e e n C o a x , w h o is in fact a he has also written his o w n texts such as Nicho-
projection o f Marguerite's penchant for the un- las Pipe (1997) about a marvellous merman,
natural w h i c h she must o v e r c o m e . O t h e r tales w h o falls in l o v e with the daughter of an ordin-
in the collection include ' L e N u a g e r o s e ' ( ' T h e ary fisherman. In keeping with his innovative
P i n k C l o u d ' ) , ' L e s A i l e s de c o u r a g e ' ( ' W i n g s approach to fairy tales, San Souci has compiled
of C o u r a g e ' ) , ' L e G é a n t Y é o u s ' ( ' Y e o u s the an important anthology o f tales about remark-
G i a n t ' ) , ' L e C h ê n e parlant' ( ' T h e T a l k i n g O a k able A m e r i c a n w o m e n entitled Cut from the
T r e e ' ) , and ' L a F é e P o u s s i è r e ' ( ' T h e F a i r y Same Cloth: American Women of Myth, Legend,
Dust'). AD
and Tall Tale (1993). JZ
Lane, Brigitte, 'Les Contes d'une grand-mère I:
'Les Ailes de courage' ou Tenvol du paysan': SANVITALE, FRANCESCA ( 1 9 2 8 - ) , Italian play-
Reinvention d'un genre', George Sand Studies, w r i g h t , essayist, and translator w h o has shown
11.1—2 (spring 1992). a particular interest in fairy tales. H e r tales,
Persona, Mariangela, 'L'Imaginaire pédagogique h o w e v e r , are sad for, as she says, they cannot
dans les Contes d'une grand'mère de George be otherwise, as they concern ghosts and death.
Sand', Quaderni di Lingue e Letterature, 11
H e r first n o v e l , Cuore borghese (Bourgeois
(1986).
Heart, 1972), w a s an immediate success which
SANDBURG, CARL ( 1 8 7 8 - 1 9 6 7 ) , A m e r i c a n poet, has steadily increased with titles such as Madre
biographer, and folklorist. H i s h u m o r o u s tales e figlia (Mother and Daughter, \^%6),L'uomo del
for children, Rootabaga Stories (1922) and Roo- parco (The Man in the Park, 1984), Verso Paola
tabaga Pigeons (1923), w e r e originally told to (Towards Paola, 1991), and //figlio dell'Impero
his t w o y o u n g daughters. S a n d b u r g ' s best stor- (The Son of the Empire, 1993).
ies are as full of poetic invention and comic H e r collections of tales include La realtà e un
nonsense as E d w a r d L e a r , but they take place dono (Reality Is a Gift, 1987), Tre favole dell'an-
in an A m e r i c a n M i d w e s t w h e r e trains, s k y - sia e dell'ombra (Three Fairy Tales of Anxiety
435 SCHAMI, RAFIK

and Shadow, 1994), and Separa^ioni {Separ­ Bill Hiccup the racoon, and his stock o f pigs,
ations, 1997). 'Fanciulla e il gran v e c c h i o ' , rabbits, d o g s , cats, and bears. It comes as no
'Bambina', and 'Rosalinda' are imbued with a surprise that he illustrated tales like ' T h e Little
sense o f anguish characterizing the plight of R e d H e n ' and ' T h e * U g l y D u c k l i n g ' (Nursery
w o m e n , typical o f Sanvitale's tales. GD Tales, 1958); *'Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' , ' T h e
T h r e e Little P i g s ' , ' G o l d i l o c k s and the T h r e e
SARCOOD, CORINNA (1941- ), London-born B e a r s ' , and ' T h e Musicians o f *Bremen'
artist. She illustrated t w o collections o f (Richard Scarry's Animal Nursery Tales, 1975).
woman-centred fairy tales edited b y A n g e l a In his ' T i n k e r and T a n k e r ' series for y o u n g
*Carter, The Virago Book of Fairy Tales (re­ children, which follows the adventures o f a
printed as Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book, 1990) rabbit and a hippopotamus, S c a r r y d r e w from
and The Second Virago Book of Fairy Tales (re­ the genres o f fantasy (Tinker and Tanker and
printed as Strange Things Sometimes Still Hap­ their Space Ship, 1961), adventure (Tinker and
pen, 1992). Informed b y folk art traditions, Tanker and the Pirates, 1961), and medieval r o ­
especially from Mexico and Italy, S a r g o o d ' s mance ( Tinker and Tanker Knights of the Round
lino cuts conflated the natural and human
Table, 1963). Medieval romance w a s also the
worlds to bizarre effect. She also did the paint­
inspiration for Richard Scarry's Peasant Pig and
ings for The Magic Toyshop, the 1987 fairy-tale
the Terrible Dragon: with Lowly Worm the Jolly
film based on A n g e l a Carter's screenplay and
Jester (1980). S c a r r y also w r o t e The Animals'
directed b y D a v i d Wheatley. CB
^Mother Goose (1964), containing a selection o f
Bacchilega, Cristina, 'In the Eye of the Fairy popular nursery rhymes, and Teeny Tiny Tales
Tale: Corinna Sargood and David Wheatley (1965), a collection o f animal stories. AD
Taik about Working with Angela Carter',
Marvels and Tales, 12.1 (1998). SCHAMI, RAFIK (1946- ) , Syrian-born German
satirist and storyteller. Schami, born Suheil
SARNELLI, POMPEO (1649-1724), Italian writer
F a d é l , emigrated from S y r i a to G e r m a n y in
and bishop. His edition of Giambattista
1971. T h e r e he shared the fate o f G e r m a n guest
*Basile's Lo cunto de li cunti (1674) used for the
w o r k e r s before taking a doctorate in chemistry
first time the title *Pentamerone, b y which
at Heidelberg. In 1982 he left his job at a G e r ­
Basile's w o r k w o u l d subsequently be best
man chemical c o m p a n y to devote himself full-
k n o w n . His later w o r k , the Posilicheata (An
time to storytelling and writing. A r o u n d that
Outing to Posillipo, 1684), is composed o f five
time, Schami co-founded t w o literary o r g a n ­
fairy tales, probably o f oral origin, that are told
izations for guest w o r k e r s , Siidwind and PoLi-
in Neapolitan dialect b y peasant w o m e n at the
Kunst, w h i c h allowed him to publish some o f
end of a banquet in the country. T h e tales are:
his stories. His genre o f choice is the modern
' L a pietà ricompensata' ('Mercy R e c o m ­
fairy tale or fantastic tale w h o s e style he has
pensed'), ' L a serva fedele' ( ' T h e Faithful S e r ­
perfected since he began writing in G e r m a n in
vant'), 'L'ingannatrice ingannata' ('The
1978. T h e stories he tells are indebted to the
D e c e i v e r D e c e i v e d ' ) , ' L a gallinella' ( ' T h e
oral storytelling tradition he g r e w up with and
Y o u n g H e n ' ) , and ' L a testa e la coda' ( ' T h e
keeps alive during extensive lecture tours in
Head and the T a i l ' ) . NC
G e r m a n y . His tales are only committed to print
Sarnelli, Pompeo, Posilicheata, ed. Enrico Malato
(1986).
after they h a v e withstood the test o f m a n y p u b ­
lic performances.
SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES (see p.436) Schami tells stories about e v e r y d a y people
and e v e r y d a y courage. S o m e stories could be
S C A R R Y , R I C H A R D (1919—94), A m e r i c a n author called trickster tales, in w h i c h a powerless per­
and illustrator o f children's picture b o o k s . son outwits the high and mighty, while others
Scarry's career w a s launched in 1948 w h e n he end in failure and disappointment. L o d g e d b e ­
signed with the Artists and Writers G u i l d , re­ tween m o d e r n - d a y reality and fantasy land, b e ­
sponsible for the Little G o l d e n B o o k s series tween Orient and Occident, between adult and
published b y Simon and Schuster. Scarry illus­ children's literature, his story collections, such
trated several Little G o l d e n B o o k s for which as Der erste Ritt durchs Nadelohr ( The First Ride
his wife Patricia wrote the text, including The Through the Eye of a Needle, 1985) and Eine
Country Mouse and the City Mouse, the Dog and Hand voiler Sterne (A Hand Full of Stars, 1990),
His Bone, the Fox and the Crow: Three Aesop reflect Schami's childhood y e a r s in D a m a s c u s
Fables (1961). S c a r r y ' s claim to fame is his use in their setting and flavour, and his adopted
of animal characters like L o w l y W o r m , W i l d homeland and culture in literary style. His tales
Scandinavian countries. Scholars in the Scandinavian
region began relatively early to collect, classify, and com­
ment on folk tales. A s in Germany, this movement was
inspired b y romanticism with its interest in and idealiza­
tion of folk literature. Although each of the Scandinavian
countries had its own political and cultural peculiarities,
they were all very much influenced by Germany. There­
fore, the publication of the *Grimms' collection, *Kinder-
und Hausmdrchen, was the chief stimulus toward collect­
ing folk tales among the Scandinavian people. Denmark,
the southernmost and closest country to Germany and
Western Europe, as always took the lead. In 1816 the
major Danish romantic poet and playwright Adam *Oeh-
lenschlâger (1779—1850) published a collection, which
contained six fairy tales b y the Brothers Grimm as well as
several fairy tales b y *Musaus and *Tieck. Among early
endeavours, mostly aimed at preserving the national
treasury of folklore, the four volumes of Danske Folke-
sagn (Danish Folk Legends, 1819—23) by Just Mattias
Thiele (1794—1874) should be mentioned. This collection
was important as a source for Hans Christian *Andersen.
In addition, Svend *Grundtvig made his major contribu­
tion to the classification and study of Scandinavian folk­
lore with his collections of Danish legends and folk tales
(1853-83).
In Norway, which was part of Denmark until 1814 and
afterwards united with Sweden up to 1905, the collection
and study of folklore was intimately connected to the
emergence of a national identity. T h e first collections of
Norwegian folk tales marked a significant step towards
the establishment of a national written language, which
did not emerge until the mid-19th century. Norwegian
folklorists were most active during the 1840s, by which
time the Grimm tradition was firmly rooted in Scandina­
via. T h e world-famous collection by P . C . *AsbJ0rnsen
and J o r g e n Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr {Norwegian Folk­
tales), appeared between 1841 and 1844; and Asbjernsen's
collection Norske huldreeventyr og folkesagn {Norwegian
Fairy Tales and Folk Legends) in 1845—8. Both collections
reflect the striving to accentuate specific Norwegian cul­
tural features rather than present variants available also in
other European countries. This is especially apparent in
the settings. While many Danish folk tales are of trick­
ster-type, Norwegian fairy tales abound in magic: magic­
al adventures and magical creatures, mainly trolls. T h e
major protagonist of Norwegian narratives is Askeladden
('Ash-lad'), the 'low' hero who wins fortune at the end.
437 SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES

Swedish scholars were slow in showing interest in

folklore collecting. During the Enlightenment, fairy tales
were used for political and educational purposes—for in­
stance Olof Dalin (1708—63) produced Sagan om hasten
{The Tale of a Horse) in 1740, and some anonymous col­
lections with translated fairy tales by the Grimms and the
German romantic writers appeared in the early 1820s.
However, it was not until the 1840s that Gunnar Olof
Hyltén-Cavallius (1818—89) and his Scottish colleague
George *Stephens published Svenska folksagor och afven-
tyr {Swedish Folk Tales and Folk Stories, 1844—9). This
collection had a purely scholarly purpose, and never
achieved the same popularity with readers as the
Grimms' or Asbjornsen's collections. Unlike their Dan­
ish and Norwegian counterparts, Swedish collectors re­
told folk tales in an accurate literary language. Many
Swedish folk tales are animal tales, especially the cycle
about the cunning fox; a vast number are aetiological
tales, accounting for the peculiarities of landscape. T h e
first collection for children was published by Fridtjuv
Berg (1851—1916) in 1899.
A significant contribution to the initial collection of
folk tales was made by the Swedish-speaking scholars in
Finland; the publication in 1835—6 of the Finnish national
epic ^Kalevala was an important source of inspiration, as
well as the collection of Finnish folk tales published in
1852—66 by Eero Salmelainen (1830—67). Between 1809
and 1917, Finland was a part of the Russian Empire as a
separate grand duchy, but culturally part of Scandinavia.
The first Finnish folk-tale collection addressed to chil­
dren was published in 1901—23 by Anni Swan
(1875-1958)-
The father of the literary fairy tale in Scandinavia was
Hans Christian Andersen. With his four collections pub­
lished between 1835 and 1872, Andersen indeed created a
completely new literary genre which inspired many gen­
erations of writers not only in Scandinavia, but through­
out the world, since his fairy tales were translated into
many languages already during his lifetime.
Although most of Andersen's fairy tales are based on
well-known sources and exploit familiar plots, they show
a totally new approach to the folklore material. First, he
gave the fairy tale a personal touch, using everyday, col­
loquial language, individual narrative voice, and obvious
irony. Secondly, with very few exceptions, his fairy tales
have realistic settings, concrete geographical locations,
and details incompatible with the fairy-tale atmosphere.
Further, Andersen invented several new types of fairy
SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES 438

tale which have no origins in folklore, but which have

been widely used by his successors: for instance, stories
about animated toys ('The *Steadfast Tin Soldier') and
objects ('The Darning Needle'). His animal tales are ori­
ginal as well, devoid of the conventional moral of a fable,
but instead presenting satirical sketches of human ways
and opinions. ' T h e *Ugly Duckling' may be seen as an
autobiography, describing the thorny path of a washer­
woman's son to world fame.
Although Andersen primarily addressed his fairy tales
to children, they are free from didacticism and very often
lack happy endings, notably in ' T h e *Little Mermaid' or
' T h e Shadow'. It is remarkable that he is universally con­
sidered a children's writer. Indeed, only a small portion
of his most famous fairy tales is included in contemporary
volumes for children. His late fairy tales, which he him­
self preferred to call 'Stories', are definitely too compli­
cated for children, in subject-matter as well as in style.
Also, many others have a clear dual audience, where chil­
dren will enjoy the plot, while adults may note irony and
satire, for instance, ' T h e Emperor's N e w Clothes'.
The impact of Andersen on the world fairy-tale trad­
ition cannot be overestimated, although it is hardly his
pessimistic world view to which his followers have paid
most attention. For the Scandinavian fairy-tale tradition
Andersen's heritage has been decisive, and can also be
seen in the work of the other popular Danish fairy-tale
writer, Carl *Ewald.
Zacharias *Topelius is considerably less known inter­
nationally than Andersen; however, he should be regard­
ed as the creator of Swedish-language literary fairy tales.
Topelius belonged to the Swedish-speaking minority in
Finland and thus contributed to the genre in both coun­
tries. Topelius's Làsningfôr barn {Reading Matter for Chil­
dren, 8 vols., 1865—96) contained a variety of magical,
moral, and animal tales, showing a clear influence by
Andersen. Another significant Swedish writer of the 19th
century was Victor Rydberg (1828—95), whose fairy tale
Lille Viggs àfventyrpà julafton (Little Vigg's Adventure on
Christmas Eve, 1875) introduced the figure of the brownie
('tomten').
T h e turn of the century in Sweden saw the heyday of
fairy tales, reflecting the strong neo-romantic movement
beginning in the 1890s. Helena *Nyblom was the most
prominent of a large number of fairy-tale writers; among
others, Anna Maria Roos (1862—1938), Anna Wahlen-
berg (1858—1933), Alfred Smedberg ( 1 8 5 0 - 1 9 2 5 ) , Hugo
 SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES
439

Gyllander (1868—1955), Cyrus Granér (1870—1937)

should be mentioned. A t that time, the abundance of chil­
dren's and Christmas magazines provided new channels
for the publication of fairy tales; one of them, called
Bland Tomtar och Troll (Among Brownies and Trolls) spe­
cialized in fairy tales and is still being published every
year. Several outstanding illustrators, like John Bauer
( 1 8 8 2 - 1 9 1 8 ) and Jenny *Nystrom, contributed to these
publications; however, the quality of the texts was often
very poor.
At the same time, picture books for children became a
prominent genre, many based on fairy-tale plots. T h e
most famous, still read and enjoyed today, were written
and illustrated by Eisa Beskow (1874—1953): Tomtebobar-
nen (Elf Children of the Woods, 1910), Puttes àfventyr i
blâbârskogen (Peter's Adventures in the Blueberry Patch,
1901), Resan till landet Ldngesen (Travels to the Land of
Long Ago, 1923), and many others. Magical adventure
was the subject of Kattresan (Journey with a Cat, 1909) by
Ivar Arosenius ( 1 8 7 8 - 1 9 0 9 ) .
The major early 20th-century contribution to the
Scandinavian fairy-tale tradition was made by Selma
*Lagerlof, an outstanding Swedish novelist, the winner of
the Nobel Prize in 1909, and, together with Andersen, the
most internationally well-known Scandinavian writer.
Her Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige
(1906—7; The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, 1907, The
Further Adventures of Nils, 1 9 1 1 ) , originally a schoolbook
in geography, has several layers of fairy-tale matter. The
frame of the book is a traditional fairy-tale plot in which a
lazy boy is punished by being transformed into a midget
and forced to improve in order to become human again.
His journey with wild geese borrows many traits from
the animal tale. Places which Nils visits are described in
terms of aetiological folk tales, explaining the origin of
the landscape, and the history of uncanny local legends.
Finally, some well-known plots are involved, such as
'The Pied Piper of Hamelin' and the sinking of Atlantis.
Unlike Andersen's tales, Selma Lagerlof s novel made lit­
tle impact in Sweden itself, chiefly because it has been
regarded as a schoolbook; it has, however, inspired many
fairy-tale writers abroad.
After the explosive development of Swedish fairy tales
around the turn of the century, the period between the
wars is characterized by the decline of the genre. T h e
only author worth mentioning is probably Gôsta Knuts-
son (1908—73) with his series of animal fables, starting
SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES 440

with Pelle Svanslds {PeterNo-Tail, 1939). They depict an­

thropomorphic cats and occasionally dogs in realistic
Swedish settings, mainly the university town of Uppsala;
the characters are supposed to reflect the academic world
of Uppsala.
The year 1945, often called ' Y e a r Zero' in the history
of modern Swedish children's literature, mark the appear­
ance of two major fairy-tale authors, Astrid *Lindgren
and T o v e *Jansson.
Astrid Lindgren is the most prominent and famous
contemporary children's author in Sweden. Her highly
original modern fairy tales can roughly be divided into
two groups. One brings the marvellous into the
everyday, for instance in her internationally best-known
book Pippi Langstrump (*Pippi Longstocking, 1945), fea­
turing the strongest girl in the world; or in Lillebror och
Karlsson pà taket {Karlsson-on-the-roof, 1955), presenting
an unexpected solution to lonely children in the image of
the selfish fat man with a propeller on his back. The same
merging of the everyday and the extraordinary is mani­
fest in her short fairy tales, in which supernatural figures
appear in contemporary Stockholm, often providing help
and consolation for lonely children.
The other group takes the protagonist from the
everyday into a magical realm, thus adhering to the trad­
itional heroic fairy tale. However, there are several ways
in which Lindgren's two major contributions to the fairy­
tale novel genre, Mio, min Mio {Mio, My Son, 1954) and
Broderna Lejonhjarta {The Brothers Lionheart, 1973), pre­
sent a radical transformation of conventional patterns. In
both novels, Astrid Lindgren uses first-person narrative,
an unusual perspective in fairy tales. Further, she makes
her characters scared and even reluctant to perform their
heroic deeds, thus allowing a considerable psychological
development. She also rejects the traditional happy end­
ing and safe homecoming, instead leaving the readers in
hesitation as to whether the described events have actual­
ly taken place or are merely products of daydreams and
fancies.
If these two novels are based on the typical male quest,
Ronja Rovardotter {Ronia, the Robber's Daughter, 1981) is
a fairy tale of female maturation, featuring a number of
imaginary creatures. Also, the seemingly 'realistic' novels
show a clear fairy-tale structure, Emil i Lonneberga {Emil
in the Soup Tureen, 1963) drawing from the trickster tale,
Masterdetektiven Kalle Blomkvist {Bill Bergson Master De­
tective, 1964) from the dragon-slayer. Most important, all
44i SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES

of Lindgren's characters have common traits with the

traditional folk-tale hero, the youngest son or daughter,
the oppressed, the powerless, the underprivileged gaining
material and spiritual wealth during a period of trials.
Fairy-tale novels by T o v e Jansson are of a different
kind. Like Topelius, Jansson represents the Swedish-
speaking minority in Finland, and her novels about
*Moomintrolls, although sometimes compared to ' T o l ­
kien's works, are a reflection of this minority's marginal
and isolated position in relation to Sweden as well as Fin­
land. Appearing in post-war Finland, the Moomin novels
also clearly reflect their time, combining traumatic mem­
ories of the past with optimistic hopes for the future. T h e
significance of family bonds is accentuated in the Moomin
novels, which apparently expresses the idea of national
identity in a minority culture being preserved primarily
through the family.
The Moomin cycle comprises seven novels, a collec­
tion of short fairy tales, and three picture books. Unlike
most so-called high fantasy worlds, Moominvalley is
loosely anchored in the Finnish archipelago and has
many concrete geographical and climatic features of real
Finland. The Moomin characters, although imaginary,
resemble ordinary people, with their faults and virtues,
more than fairy-tale trolls, elves, or dwarfs. With a few
exceptions, there is no magic in Moominvalley, and the
little magic there is, although tricky and unpredictable, is
basically good and creative, initiating an endless string of
enjoyable adventures. When Moominvalley is threat­
ened, the threat does not come from dark evil forces, but
from natural catastrophes: a comet, a flood, or an ex­
tremely cold winter.
T o v e Jansson's Finno-Swedish compatriot, Irmelin
Sandman Lilius (1936— ) , writes a very different kind of
fairy tale, clearly inspired by international tradition, but
at the same time highly original. Enhdrningen (The Uni­
corn, 1962) starts a sequence of fairy-tale novels portray­
ing a young girl and her adventures in an imaginary
realm. In her series about the town of Tulavall, beginning
with Gullkrona Grand (Gold Crown Lane, 1969), Sandman
Lilius builds up a mythical universe, firmly rooted in real­
ity and using traits of Scandinavian folk legends.
Another Finno-Swedish writer worth mentioning is
Christina Andersson (1936— ) who published several col­
lections of *fractured fairy tales during the 1970s. Unfor­
tunately, they went almost unnoticed.
SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES 442

A m o n g the Finnish-language writers, Marja-Leena

Mikkola (1939— ) is the author of remarkably original
fairy-tale novels such as Anni Manninen {Anni Manninen,
1977), based on Finnish folklore. Stories about the failed
magician Mr Huu by Hannu Màkelà ( 1 9 4 3 - ) are humor­
ous and parodical. Because of the language barrier, there
is seldom any interaction between Finnish and other Nor­
dic literatures.
Still another outstanding Swedish author of fairy-tale
novels is Maria Gripe (1923— ) , the 1974 Andersen Medal
winner. Her Glasblâsarns barn {The Glassblower's Chil­
dren, 1964) is a powerful and poetic story, using elements
of Norse mythology. / klockornas tid {In the Time of the
Bells, 1965) combines medieval setting with extensive
symbolic imagery. Landet Utanfor {The Land Beyond,
1967) is an experimental fairy tale: the same story is told
twice, the second version being more sophisticated and
presenting a sort of comment on the first.
T h e 1960s in Sweden were the years of social commit­
ment in literature, and all imaginative writing was pro­
nounced harmful and undesirable by many critics.
Several parodical fairy tales, labelled as 'socialist', were
published during this time. During the 1970s and 1980s,
occasional fairy-tale novels appeared, which exploited
conventional motifs like journeys into magical realms or
magical objects; they were rather colourless and medi­
ocre compared to their apparent British models. Later
some heroic tales, imitating Tolkien, appeared, for in­
stance by E v a Uddling (1944) and Bertil Mârtensson (/?.
1945)-
Unlike their Swedish colleagues, Norwegian writers
seem to prefer humorous and entertaining fairy tales,
among which stories about little Old *Mrs Pepperpot by
A l f *Proysen are best-known internationally. Another re­
nowned master of the genre is Torbjorn *Egner with his
animal tales and absurd adventures. More like British
models is Trapp med 9 trinn {Staircase with 9 Steps, 1952),
a time-shift fairy tale by Odd Bang-Hansen (1908—84).
However, the most original author is Zinken Hopp
(1905—87) with her Trollkrittet {The Magic Chalk, 1948),
a remarkable nonsensical story about a boy who gets hold
of a magical piece of chalk, and whatever he draws be­
comes real. In the sequel, Jon og Softs (Jon and Sofus,
1959), the same boy and his drawn and animated friend
find a wish-granting wand. Both books have a strong sa­
tirical tone. One of Zinken Hopp's followers in this res-
443 SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES

pect was T o r  g e Bringsvaerd (1939— ) , with a series of

socially critical fairy tales.
Tormod *Haugen belongs to a totally different trad­
ition, closer to Astrid Lindgren and clearly influenced by
the contemporary British fairy tale. Slottet det hvite (The
White Castle, 1980) tells what happened after the prince
and princess started 'living happily ever after' and had
children of their own. Dagen som forsvant (The Day that
Disappeared, 1983) brings *Peter Pan into today's N o r ­
wegian capital. Children's rights and adults' responsibil­
ity is Haugen's primary concern, much like Astrid
Lindgren's. He works extensively with symbols and
metaphors, transforming traditional fairy-tale patterns
into moral and ethical issues. Several novels contain
elements of quest fairy tales, while still others successful­
ly combine magical and science-fiction motifs. Haugen
stands out considerably in light of the predominantly
realistic contemporary literature in Norway.
The most recent addition to the Norwegian fairy-tale
genre is Jostein Gaarder ( 1 9 5 2 - ) , the author of the inter­
national best-seller Sophie's World. His fairy-tale novels,
for instance, Kahalmysteriet (The Solitaire Mystery, 1990),
bear resemblance to the German romantic tale, but they
may also have been influenced by Michael *Ende.
Remarkably, in Denmark, the home country of
Andersen, the modern fairy-tale tradition is virtually
non-existent. It may partly be explained by Andersen fill­
ing the need, since his fairy tales are widely published and
illustrated by many contemporary Danish artists. In the
second half of the 20th century, especially during the
1960s and later, Denmark has been significantly more
politically radical than Sweden and Norway. A s a result,
the realistic tradition is much stronger in Denmark than a
fairy-tale or fantastic one. Indeed, a great deal of criticism
has been aimed against Astrid Lindgren by Danish critics.
The only well-known modern Danish fairy tale is the
cautionary dream-story Palle alene i verden (Palle Alone
in the World, 1942) by Jens Sigsgaard (1910—91). With
some reservations, a series by Cecil Bodker (1927— ) , be­
ginning with Silas og den sorte hoppe (Silas and the Black
Mare, 1967) can be considered in terms of the fairy tale.
In summary, it should be pointed out that, with a few
exceptions, Scandinavian countries cannot boast of a sig­
nificant and persistent fairy-tale tradition, and there is
definitely no continuity comparable to the modern British
fairy-tale tradition. One of the reasons may be that the
need for fairy-tale and fantastic literature is satisfied by
SCHEHERAZADE 444

translations of English-language texts, with which native

writers cannot compete. When, in the early 1980s, after a
period of social commitment, a new wave of translated
fantasy and fairy tales entered Sweden, Swedish writers
reacted primarily by switching from contemporary to his­
torical settings; thus the historical novel partly plays the
role of the fairy tale in Scandinavia. Strange as it may
seem, the rich history, mythology and epic writing of the
Scandinavian people have not inspired writers to create
anything similar to Middle Earth or explore the device of
time travelling. Moreover, the notion of the fairy tale is
mainly associated with the works of *Perrault and the
Grimms than with any native texts. MN

are pared d o w n to the bare essentials and told hand, the narrator Scheherazade has been sub­
matter-of-factly with humour, irony, and a hint jected to various interpretations largely from a
of cynicism. EMM feminist perspective. T h o u g h Shahryar appears
Deeken, Annette, 'Der listige Hakawati', the supreme ruler commanding life and death,
Deutschunterricht, 48 (1995). he readily falls victim to a (daring, yet simple)
S C H E H E R A Z A D E , female character within the female ruse. B y arousing the ruler's curiosity,
frame story and narrator o f all tales but the Scheherazade inadvertently educates him.
frame o f The ^Arabian Nights (also k n o w n as G e n e r a l l y speaking, Scheherazade is the per­
the Thousand and One Nights). T h e sultan fect threefold w o m a n : mother, w h o r e , and
S h a h r y a r , disillusioned b y the sexual infidelity friend. T h e male she confronts is brutal and in­
of w o m e n , has decided to m a r r y a n e w wife sensitive and has to be tricked into allowing his
e v e r y night o n l y to kill her the next morning. own positive qualities to unfold. T h e fact that
T h r e e years later, all marriageable w o m e n the male authors of the Nights have a female
h a v e either been killed or deserted the t o w n , narrator educate a male w r o n g d o e r contains
and none are left except the vizier's o w n m o r e than an obvious simple moral and has
daughters Scheherazade and D i n a r z a d e . S c h e ­ continued to inspire literary reworkings of
herazade, the elder one, is well educated and Scheherazade's b a c k g r o u n d , motivation, and
has read a thousand b o o k s o f histories and fate, notably in the modern A r a b i c novel. U M
tales. A g a i n s t her father's advice she insists on Gerhardt, Mia I., The Art of Story-Telling
(1963).
challenging the k i n g . After the consummation
Lahy-Hollebecque, Marie, Scheheraiade, ou
of their marriage, Scheherazade has her sister
l'éducation d'un roi (1927, 1987).
ask her to tell a tale in order to pass the time. Malti-Douglas, Fedwa, 'Shahrazad feminist', in
Scheherazade narrates a fascinating tale, but Richard G. Hovannisian and George Sabagh
breaks off without reaching the end. O u t o f (eds.), 'The Thousand and One Nights ' in Arabie
curiosity the k i n g decides not to kill her and Literature and Society (1997).
listens to the continuation next night. T h i s
strategy o f suspense g o e s on for a thousand S C H E N C K , J O H A N N B A P T I S T (1753-1836), A u s ­
nights, until Scheherazade in the thousand and trian composer and teacher, w h o is remem­
first night discloses her ruse and presents to the bered partly for his association with W o l f g a n g
k i n g the three children to w h o m she mean­ A m a d e u s *Mozart and chiefly for his opera D e r
w h i l e has g i v e n birth. T h e k i n g pardons her, Dorfbarbier (The Village Barber). Der Dorfbar-
renounces his former habit, and all rejoice. bier w a s premiered in V i e n n a in late 1796,
In W e s t e r n literary criticism, The Arabian enjoying popular success well into the 19th
Nights w a s regarded for a l o n g time as e q u i v a ­ century. It belongs firmly to the Singspiel
lent o f 'Scheherazade's tales', a label that veils genre, to w h i c h Schenk's not inconsiderable
the quality o f Scheherazade herself constituting number o f stage w o r k s belong. T h e story's
the protagonist o f a narrative. O n the other brush with fairy lore encompasses a village
445 SCHOOLS OF FOLK-NARRATIVE RESEARCH

barber's unsuccessful attempt to m a r r y his tive can be g r o u p e d according to four general

y o u n g w a r d , Suschen, and his claim that he has directions o f inquiry, w h i c h d o not a l w a y s con-
a wondrous bacon-cure which will alleviate stitute separate schools, concerning the ques-
ills. TH tion of origin, form, meaning, and style.

SCHILLER, FRIEDRICH VON (1759-1805), classical

l. P R E C U R S O R S
G e r m a n poet, dramatist, and historian, w h o
T h e formal study of folk narrative b e g a n with
wrote one major fairy-tale play, Turandot,
J a c o b and W i l h e l m * G r i m m , w h o w e r e the first
Prinzessin von China {Turandot, Princess of
systematic collectors and scholars. Others
China, 1802), based on C a r l o G o z z i ' s play
predated them, but it w a s the G r i m m s
Turandot (1762). Schiller's tragicomedy con-
cerns the gifted but cruel Princess T u r a n d o t o f w h o p r o v i d e d the earliest theoretical and
China w h o will m a r r y only the man w h o can methodological statements on folk narrative,
solve three riddles. A daring prince named from J a c o b ' s initial observations on genre to
Calaf, w h o is travelling incognito, solves the W i l h e l m ' s description o f their sources and re-
riddles, but the enraged princess demands a re- search methods. F o r the G r i m m s , their re-
taliatory trial. C a l a f must demonstrate his in- search on folk narrative w a s part o f a
tegrity one more time, and after a near tragedy conceptually holistic project o f Germanistik
the princess agrees to m a r r y him. JZ ( G e r m a n studies) encompassing the areas o f
p h i l o l o g y , l a w , m y t h o l o g y , and literature.
Snook, Lynn, 'Auf den Spuren der
A l t h o u g h their fairy tales w e r e appropriated b y
Ratselprinzessin Turandot', in Jiirgen Janning,
the G e r m a n middle class, w h o s a w in them an
Heino Gehrts, and Herbert Ossowski (eds.),
instrument for the socialization o f children,
Vom Menschenbild im Mdrchen (1980).
Witte, W., 'Turandot', Publications of the their primary purpose in publishing the *Kind-
English Goethe Society, 39 (1969). er- und Hausmdrchen (Children's and Household
Tales') w a s first and foremost as a contribution
SCHÔNLANK, BRUNO (1891-1965), G e r m a n
to the history o f G e r m a n folk poetry.
journalist and writer k n o w n especially for his
Collections o f literary fairy tales, such as
chorus w o r k s . Schonlank's commitment to s o -
Giambattista *Basile's ^Pentamerone and C h a r -
cial justice for the w o r k i n g class found expres-
les *Perrault's Contes de ma Mère l'Oye had al-
sion in his two fairy-tale collections,
ready enjoyed considerable popularity b y the
Grossstadt-Mdrchen (Big City Fairy Tales, 1923)
time the first collections o f folk literature, f o -
and Der Kraftbonbon und andere Grossstadtmdr-
cusing initially on poetry, ballads, and folk
chen (The Power Candy and Other Big City
songs, w e r e published. Thomas Percy's
Fairy Tales, 1928). In the modern urban setting
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, a t h r e e - v o l -
of these Berlin-based tales, Schonlank's charac-
ume collection o f traditional E n g l i s h and S c o t -
ters surmount problems through their shared
tish ballads, appeared in 1765, the same y e a r as
sense o f community. His Schweizer Mdrchen
J a m e s Macpherson's Poems of Ossian, w h i c h
(Swiss Fairy Tales, 1938), written in exile from
w o u l d later be denounced as the fraudulent
Nazi G e r m a n y , incorporate aspects o f the
fabrication o f the editor. T h e collections o f
Swiss culture and landscape, but remain f o -
P e r c y and Macpherson had a profound impact
cused on this ideal vision of community. DH
on the G e r m a n philosopher and writer J o h a n n
SCHOOLS O F FOLK-NARRATIVE RESEARCH. The Gottfried v o n Herder, w h o in turn inspired the
different theories and schools o f thought that Grimms.
have attempted to explain the historical d e v e l - H e r d e r w a s convinced that Volkspoesie (folk
opment of folk narrative date back to the early p o e t r y ) , w h i c h included prose and lyric genres,
collections and analyses of folk literature in the w a s the only true poetry, because its natural
late 18th century and extend up to present-day vitality and simplicity w e r e uncorrupted b y the
considerations about the nature of storytelling destructive forces o f modern civilization. F o r
in modern, technological societies. In the his- Herder, folk poetry constituted the genuine e x -
tory of folk narrative scholarship, the main pression o f national character. H e believed that
prose genres have been folk tale, legend, and G e r m a n literature had lost touch with its native
myth. T h e folk tale continues to be the most traditions, and that only through studying folk
extensively studied of the prose genres. poetry, w h i c h still s u r v i v e d a m o n g the G e r m a n
Although m a n y theoretical perspectives h a v e peasants, could G e r m a n y r e c o v e r its true na-
e v o l v e d directly from the study of the folk tale, tional and cultural identity. H e articulated his
they have often been applicable to other genres goal o f r e v i v i n g the nation's past in Fragmente
as well. A n o v e r v i e w of research on folk narra- iiber die neuere deutsche Literatur (Fragments on
SCHOOLS OF FOLK-NARRATIVE RESEARCH 446

Recent German Literature) and published his the attempt to explain obsolete concepts and
o w n collection o f international folk songs, linguistic forms no longer comprehensible to
Lieder (Songs), later retitled Stimmen der Volker modern man.
in Liedern (The Voice of People in Songs) in A n o t h e r school o f thought on the origins of
1778-9. the folk tale w a s proposed b y T h e o d o r Benfy,
a G e r m a n orientalist w h o s e reading of the
2 . ORIGIN ^Panchatantra led him to believe that India was
In the mid-19th century the prevailing intellec­ the probable source o f the European folk tale.
tual climate w a s concerned with the question R a t h e r than rely on the philological speculation
of origins. R a p i d l y d e v e l o p i n g technology practised b y Miiller, Benfy examined Indie
brought about increased travel to and greater texts as well as the relationship between oral
k n o w l e d g e o f other places in the w o r l d , and and literary traditions. H e concluded that the
with it investigations into the origins o f the dissemination o f tales from India to Europe o c ­
human race as well as that o f l a n g u a g e and cul­ curred through three avenues: first through
ture. Related to the question of origins for oral tradition before the 10th century, later
folk-narrative scholars w e r e the issues o f distri­ through the vehicle of Persian and Arabic
bution and dissemination, as these processes translations of Indian literary texts, and finally
constituted the traceable links between past and through contact between Muslim and E u r o ­
present forms o f folk narrative. pean populations. Present-day scholars con­
Both the G r i m m s and Friedrich M a x Miiller, sider India as one of several important sources
a Sanskrit scholar w h o translated the Rig- for the E u r o p e a n folk narrative tradition and
Veda, w e r e proponents o f the I n d o - E u r o p e a n subscribe to the theory o f polygenesis (many
theory o f mythic origins, w h i c h held that origins) w h e n accounting for the similarity of
E u r o p e a n folk tales w e r e the fragmented re­ narrative traditions throughout the world.
mains o f the myths o f I n d o - E u r o p e a n peoples. T h e search for origins acquired greater rig­
T h e aim o f research w a s to reconstruct the our in the hands o f Finnish folk-tale scholars,
I n d o - E u r o p e a n parent l a n g u a g e , and b y exten­ w h o developed what is k n o w n as the historical-
sion I n d o - E u r o p e a n folk tales and their origin­ geographic method of folk-tale analysis. E s ­
al meanings. O n the basis o f comparative c h e w i n g preconceptions about the origin and
linguistics and comparative m y t h o l o g y , they meaning o f folk tales that characterized much
attempted to reconstruct the myths and the of 19th-century thought, this approach consist­
mythic-religious beliefs that g a v e rise to these ed of assembling all k n o w n variants o f a single
narratives. folk tale from archival and literary sources as
Statements expressing the belief that folk well as oral tradition, isolating the tale b y its
tales w e r e part o f the cultural inheritance from component parts, and plotting the distribution
a c o m m o n I n d o - E u r o p e a n past can be found in of the tale o v e r time and space. T h e central
J a c o b G r i m m ' s 1834 Deutsche Mythologie premiss of this method w a s that each tale had a
(Teutonic Mythology) and in the preface to the single origin (monogenesis). Multiple variants
1856 edition o f the G r i m m s ' Kinder- und Haus­ of a particular tale w e r e attributed to diffusion,
mdrchen. In the latter, W i l h e l m G r i m m o b ­ with the best tales travelling the furthest in
served that folk tales contain 'fragments o f w a v e - l i k e circles from their point of origin.
belief dating back to the most ancient times'. T h e goal of the researcher w o r k i n g within
Demonstrating his penchant for naturalistic the Finnish school w a s to reconstruct the his­
metaphors, he compared the mythic in folk tory o f a particular tale and determine its h y p o ­
tales to 'small pieces o f a shattered jewel w h i c h thetical Urform (original form). T h e central
are l y i n g strewn on the g r o u n d all o v e r g r o w n units o f historical-geographic analysis consist­
with grass and flowers, and can o n l y be dis­ ed o f the ' m o t i f , defined as the smallest narra­
c o v e r e d b y the most far-seeing e y e ' . tive element capable of persisting in tradition,
Miiller and G e o r g e C o x w e r e also p r o p o n ­ and ' t y p e ' , a traditional tale comprising many
ents o f 'solar m y t h o l o g y ' , the idea that folk motifs and h a v i n g an independent existence. In
tales derive from myths about natural p h e n o m ­ addition to developing k e y analytic concepts in
ena. T h e y posited that early humans w e r e fas­ folklore scholarship, this direction of folk nar­
cinated b y the dramas o f nature, specifically the rative research produced important research
m o v e m e n t o f the sun, and that early language tools and reference w o r k s for comparative an­
described natural processes in concrete and alysis, most notably Antti A a r n e ' s Types of the
personified terms. M y t h e v o l v e d as language Folktale, expanded and translated b y Stith
became increasingly abstract and rational, in T h o m p s o n and therefore k n o w n as the
447 SCHOOLS OF FOLK-NARRATIVE RESEARCH

*Aarne—Thompson index, and Stith T h o m p ­ and to the tale as a w h o l e . H i s basic unit o f

son's s i x - v o l u m e Motif-Index of Folk Literature. analysis w a s the 'function', defined as the a c ­
Although their usefulness is greatest w h e n ana­ tions o f a character from the point o f v i e w o f its
lysing European and E u r o p e a n - d e r i v e d trad­ significance for the development o f the course
itions, they offer the most w i d e l y recognized of action. P r o p p determined that functions
classification system for the identification o f occur in a fixed sequential order, often in pairs
international folk narratives. In addition to the constituting an action and its consequence, and
compilation of indices, several important hand­ that there is a m a x i m u m o f 31 possible func­
books and methodologies developed out o f the tions, although not all 31 will necessarily occur
Finnish school, a m o n g them K a a r l e K r o h n ' s in a g i v e n tale. H e demonstrated that folk tales
Die folkloristische Arbeitsmethode (Folklore with v e r y different content h a v e a similar
Methodology) and Stith T h o m p s o n ' s The Folk­ structure, consisting o f a series o f ' m o v e s ' from
tale. conflict to the resolution o f that conflict.
A l t h o u g h P r o p p ' s Morphology of the Folktale
3. F O R M appeared in 1928, its importance for inter­
Folk-narrative scholars h a v e also asked them­ national folk-tale scholarship w a s o n l y fully
selves w h y certain ideas and experiences take a realized with the first E n g l i s h translation in
particular form. A n d r e Jolies approached the 1968. T h e A m e r i c a n folklorist A l a n D u n d e s
problem of form as a category o f poetic expres­ applied P r o p p ' s system to N o r t h A m e r i c a n I n ­
sion in Einfache Formen (Simple Forms). N a r r a ­ dian folk tales as well as in investigations into
tive, he suggested, originates in and takes its the structure o f p r o v e r b s .
form from the expression of fundamental F o r L é v i - S t r a u s s , w h o analysed myths w i t h ­
human experiences, which exist in the mind o f in the study o f comparative religion, myths re­
the individual as a Geistesbeschdftigung (mental flected the logical structure o f the human mind.
occupation) until they are expressed linguistic­ In ' T h e Structural S t u d y o f M y t h ' , he c o m ­
ally in a particular narrative form. Social pared the structure o f the Oedipus m y t h with
change brings about different experiences, and Zuni origin myths, concluding that the l o g i c o f
this has prompted scholars to re-examine the mythological thought and the structure o f nar­
analytic categories and typologies developed in rative w e r e based on the mediation o f binary
earlier times from the study of traditional nar­ opposites, such as nature and culture or man
rative. T h e G e r m a n folklorist Hermann B a u s - and w o m a n . U n l i k e P r o p p , for w h o m structure
inger demonstrated in 'Strukturen des remained a question o f syntax, L é v i - S t r a u s s
alltâglichen Erzàhlens' ('Structures of sought to relate structure to cultural context
E v e r y d a y Narration') and Folk Culture in the and s y m b o l i c meaning.
Technical World that contemporary storytell­
ing, while often non-traditional in form and 4. M E A N I N G
content, none the less is created out of m a n y o f Most studies o f folk narrative h a v e ultimately
the narrative impulses outlined b y J o l i e s . been driven b y the search for meaning,
Considerations of form h a v e contributed to although o n l y a few theories about the mean­
the analysis of narrative structure. Structuralist ing o f folk narrative led to fully d e v e l o p e d
approaches to folk narrative had their h e y d a y schools o f thought. H e r d e r and the G r i m m s ,
from the 1950s to the 1970s and w e r e applied convinced that folk narrative w a s the purest
primarily to the study o f the folk tale and myth. expression o f national character, attributed
Folk-narrative scholars generally distinguish great cultural importance to the collection and
between t w o types o f structuralism, one de­ interpretation o f folk narrative for all nations,
veloped b y the Russian formalist and literary in particular for G e r m a n y . T h e i r belief that
scholar V l a d i m i r P r o p p , the other b y the folk narrative reflected cultural values did not
French anthropologist C l a u d e L é v i - S t r a u s s . translate into a detailed analysis o f specific
Propp's The Morphology of the Folktale a p ­ tales, but rather contributed to the general a p ­
plied Russian formalist criticism to the relative­ plied nature of their w o r k . M e a n i n g w a s as
ly small corpus of tales in A l e k s a n d r much a question o f political and cultural appli­
*Afanasyev's collection o f Russian fairy tales. cation in their contemporary context as it w a s a
Rejecting A a r n e ' s classification system based problem o f historical development.
on categories of the motif and type, w h i c h he T h e o r i e s o f meaning in the 19th century
considered inconsistent and unscientific, P r o p p w e r e also linked to questions o f origins and
devised a method of identifying the structure often conceived within paradigms o f progress:
of narrative elements in relation to one another the G r i m m s believed that the meaning o f tales
SCHOOLS OF FOLK-NARRATIVE RESEARCH 448

w a s linked to the I n d o - E u r o p e a n past; solar (folk p o e t r y ) , derived from his philosophy o f

mythologists held that myths and folk tales d e ­ aesthetics and contributed to the romantic idea
v e l o p e d out o f early man's explanations o f nat­ that folk literature, with its strong rhythms and
ural phenomena; and British anthropologists, vibrant i m a g e r y , w a s closer to nature because
adopting the evolutionary theories o f the d a y the peasants, w h o retained the folk-narrative
that all societies pass through the same stages traditions, remained tied to the land and w e r e
of culture at different historical moments, c o n ­ less affected b y the force o f civilization. Similar
cluded that folk tales w e r e survivals o f primi­ statements can also be found with the G r i m m s ,
tive myths. A l l held that w h i l e the forms o f w h o s e understanding o f the style o f folk narra­
narrative persisted, their original meanings had tive w a s both romantic and rigorous. T h e r o ­
been lost. mantic underpinnings o f their ideas derived
In the 20th century psychoanalytic inter­ from the period o f romanticism in which they
pretations, following in the tradition o f S i g - lived, while their rigour w a s the result o f their
mund F r e u d and C a r l J u n g , h a v e claimed to comprehensive k n o w l e d g e o f and extensive
u n c o v e r the meanings o f folk narrative in the study into G e r m a n language, literature, and
unconscious desires o f individuals, often in the culture. Influenced as they w e r e b y Herder,
correlation between dreams, fairy tales, and they held that the style o f Volkspoesie, in con­
myths. T h i s direction o f analysis b e g a n with trast to the deliberate and conscious creation of
F r e u d ' s 1913 essay ' T h e Occurrence in D r e a m s Kunstpoesie (art p o e t r y ) , w a s organic, resem­
of Material from F a i r y T a l e s ' , analysing a p a ­ bling the 'half-unconscious g r o w t h o f plants
tient's dreams containing motifs from ""Little watered b y the source o f life itself. Prefaces to
R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' and ' T h e W o l f and the editions o f the Kinder- und Hausmdrchen, for
S e v e n K i d s ' . It w a s supported b y K a r l A b r a ­ example, praised the simplicity, innocence, and
h a m ' s assertion that 'the dream is the m y t h o f purity o f the oral traditions they sought to pre­
the individual' and extended in G é z a R o h e i m ' s serve. F o r them the inherent style o f folk litera­
conclusion that dreams p r o v i d e the r a w sub­ ture derived from its social and cultural context
stance for myths and tales. W h e r e solar m y t h ­ and resided in the text. T h e i r w o r k on G e r m a n
ologists s a w nature s y m b o l i s m in myths and g r a m m a r , the history o f the G e r m a n language,
folk tales, F r e u d i a n psychoanalytic readings and particularly on their Deutsches Wbrterbuch
see s y m b o l i s m o f a sexual nature. C a r l J u n g , {German Dictionary) provided them with an
h o w e v e r , rejected the n a r r o w emphasis on sex­ impressive k n o w l e d g e o f the evolution o f G e r ­
ual s y m b o l i s m in f a v o u r o f what he called the man language and the place o f folk literature
'collective unconscious'. O n e o f his m o r e i m ­ within that framework. J a c o b ' s Deutsche Gram-
portant essays for folk narrative research an­ matik {German Grammar) included a compari­
alyses the p s y c h o l o g y o f the trickster figure in son o f G e r m a n regional dialects and Wilhelm's
the m y t h o l o g y o f N o r t h A m e r i c a n Indians. appreciation for folk speech and idiom w a s re­
In The Uses of Enchantment the F r e u d i a n - flected in later editions o f the Kinder- und
trained child p s y c h o l o g i s t B r u n o Bettelheim Hausmdrchen. J a c o b also addressed the ques­
concluded that fairy tales speak to the uncon­ tion o f generic styles, w h e n he observed that
scious o f a child, thereby aiding the child in the fairy tale is m o r e poetic, the legend more
o v e r c o m i n g inner struggles, such as sibling r i ­ historical.
v a l r y and Oedipal conflicts, through the p r e ­ In the 20th century, important contributions
sentation o f simple situations, polarities that to the study o f folk narrative style have come
are easy to comprehend, and solutions to con­ from literary scholars as well as ethnographers.
flicts in the form o f happy endings. In the In The European Folktale, the Swiss folklorist
United States, the most prolific proponent o f and professor o f literature M a x Luthi identified
psychoanalytic interpretations o f folk narrative the central stylistic features o f the folk tale as:
has been the folklorist A l a n D u n d e s . one-dimensionality (the unproblematic coex­
istence o f real and enchanted w o r l d s ) ; depth-
5. S T Y L E lessness (an absence of psychological depth and
Stylistic considerations h a v e been textual and motivation); abstraction (the lack o f realistic
contextual in nature, with text-centred a p ­ detail and a proclivity towards extremes, con­
proaches predominating from the beginning o f trasts, and fixed formulas); and isolation and
folk narrative research up through the first half universal connection (the lack o f sustained re­
o f the 20th century. T h e earliest conceptions o f lationship between characters).
folk narrative, defined alternately b y H e r d e r as A s style w a s thought to be inherent in the
Naturpoesie (natural p o e t r y ) and Volkspoesie narrative itself, the text-centred approaches of
449 SCHUMANN, ROBERT

the G r i m m s and later scholars v i e w e d story- and Scherzer, Joel, Explorations in the
telling from the vantage point o f an abstract Ethnography of Speaking ( 1 9 7 4 ) .
ideal, favouring stability and adherence to Bettelheim, Bruno, The Uses of Enchantment
(1976).
tradition o v e r individual artistry and innov-
Jolies, Andre, Einfache Formen ( 1 9 3 0 ) .
ation. Storytellers w e r e seen as 'bearers o f trad- Lord, A. B., The Singer of Tales ( i 9 6 0 ) .
ition', w h o s e role it w a s faithfully to reproduce Liïthi, Max, The European Folktale: Form and
stories they had learned. A l t h o u g h the G r i m m s Nature ( 1 9 8 2 ) .
appreciated F r a u D o r o t h e a V i e h m a n n , one o f Propp, Vladimir, The Morphology of the Folktale
their main sources, for her ability to narrate ( 1 9 6 8 ; orig. 1 9 2 8 ) .

'carefully and confidently and in an unusually Thompson, Stith, The Folktale ( 1 9 4 6 ) .

lively manner', their praise w a s based m o r e on Motif-Index of Folk Literature ( 1 9 5 5 — 8 ) .
her accuracy while adapting to their recording
needs than her actual performance style. L a t e r S C H R O D E R , B I N E T T E ( 1 9 3 9 - ) , G e r m a n illustra-

theories explaining the stability of oral trad- tor and photographer, w h o has gained an inter-
ition, such as Walter A n d e r s o n ' s ' l a w o f self- national reputation, especially in J a p a n . In 1997
correction', regarded stylistic variation as an she w o n the G e r m a n Literature Prize for her
error corrected b y a communal aesthetic. collected w o r k s . H e r fantastic fairy-tale w o r l d
is strikingly stylized and filled with graceful
In the 20th century ethnographers intro-
dolls and artificial landscapes. She frequently
duced a shift in focus from text-centred studies
depicts charming futuristic scenes on a w e l l - o r -
of folk narrative to the social context and cre-
dered but lifeless theatrical stage. H e r first i l -
ative process of storytelling. Ethnographies
lustrated fairy-tale b o o k , Lupinchen (1977), w a s
from the Russian and Hungarian schools o f
translated into 17 languages and established her
folklore examining the personality of storytell- international fame. She has also illustrated
ers and the social function of storytelling in a Hans Christian *Andersen's fairy tales (1974),
community, such as Mark A a d o w s k i j ' s Eine *Beauty and the Beast (1986), The *Frog King
Siberische Mdrchenerzdhlerin (A Siberian Teller (1987/9), and The "Juniper Tree (1997), w h i c h
of Fairy Tales) and L i n d a D é g h ' s Folktales and she e n d o w e d with mythic proportions. KD
Society: Storytelling in a Hungarian Peasant
Community, contributed towards a richer S C H U L Z , H E I N R I C H (1872-1932), G e r m a n edu-
understanding of the meaning o f storytelling cator and writer, w h o b e c a m e head o f the c u l -
for narrator and audience. In the United States, tural ministry in 1920 w h e n the Social
context-sensitive ethnographers from various D e m o c r a t s came to p o w e r in the W e i m a r R e -
disciplines began to conceive of performance as public. A t the same time he b e g a n w r i t i n g
an aesthetically marked event, in which narra- b o o k s for children. A m o n g his b o o k s are Der
tors assume responsibility for artistic c o m m u - kleine Jan (Small Jan, 1920), Aus meinen vier
nication. V i e w i n g performance as an emergent Pfdhlen (Out of my Four Posts, 1921), and Von
event in which aesthetic aspects of communica- Menschen, Tierlein und Dinglein: Mdrchen aus
tion predominate, researchers in this tradition dem Alltag (About People, Little Animals, and
are as much interested in the process of story- Little Things: Fairy Tales from Every Day Life,
telling as the text produced through perform- 1924). T h i s last b o o k , a collection o f fairy tales,
ance. Precursors to this 'performance-centred' w a s most important because the tales w e r e c o n -
approach include the w o r k of P r a g u e School ceived to clarify social relations and to offer
linguists emphasizing actual performance o v e r possibilities for the solution o f political con-
rule-based competence, and the 'oral-formula- flicts. In such tales as ' T h e Castle with T h r e e
ic' theory of Milman P a r r y and A . B . L o r d de- W i n d o w s ' and ' T h e Quiet E n g i n e ' Schulz f o -
lineating the complex technique o f oral cused on the necessity to e n c o u r a g e solidarity
composition b y which lengthy epics are created a m o n g w o r k e r s and introduced proletarian
and recreated in performance through the use elements into traditional folk tales and fables.
of 'formulas', groups of w o r d s regularly e m - JZ
ployed under the same metrical conditions to
express a g i v e n idea. MBS SCHUMANN, R O B E R T (1810-56), regarded as
one o f the great G e r m a n romantic composers,
Aarne, Antti, The Types of the Folktale (1910;
enl., with Stith Thompson, 1928; 2nd rev. edn., k n o w n for his piano music, chamber music,
1961). songs, and symphonies. A l t h o u g h Schumann
Bauman, Richard, Verbal Art as Performance w r o t e some operas, the o n l y one he finished,
(1978). Genoveva (1850), w a s n e v e r as successful as his
SCHWARTZ, YEVGENI 450

other w o r k s that often had strong fairy-tale m a y be one o f the earliest contemporary v e r ­
elements. sions o f this fairy tale where the little girl is
Influenced b y E . T . A . *Hoffmann, S c h u ­ brighter than the wolf; she also receives help
mann w r o t e t w o important fairy-tale piano from a number of animals to w h o m she has
compositions during the 1830s: Phantasiestiicke been kind. ^Cinderella (1947), originally a film
(Fantasy Pieces), a collection o f poetic m o o d script, abounds in funny, e v e r y d a y details and
pieces based on Hoffmann's tales, and Kreisler- introduces a number of colourful secondary
iana, fantasy pieces that recall the mad musi­ characters, especially the absent-minded and
cian Kreisler, w h o appears in several of charming king. In this play, figures from other
Hoffmann's stories. famous fairy tales appear, such as T i t t l e T o m
In his choral w o r k Das Paradis und die Peri Thumb.
(Paradise and the Peris, c.1850), O p . 50, S c h u ­ Schwartz also wrote several original plays
mann set to music one o f the poems from T h o ­ loosely based on fairy-tale motifs, such as the
mas M o o r e ' s Lalla Rookh (1817). T h e Peris are lyrical c o m e d y The Ordinary Miracle (1956), an
descendants o f fallen angels, related to fairies inversion o f *'Beauty and the Beast'. The
and elves, and have been banished from Dragon (1943) makes use of the dragon-slayer
heaven. O n e o f these fallen angels endeavours motif to s h o w h o w slavery corrupts people and
to complete three tasks so that she will be h o w easily the oppressed become oppressors.
allowed to return to heaven, and she succeeds. D u r i n g the w a r , it w a s easy for official Soviet
A n o t h e r choral composition b y Schumann, Der criticism to declare that the play w a s a satire on
Rose Pilgerfahrt (The Pilgrimage of the Rose, G e r m a n y ; h o w e v e r , the true target w a s o b v i ­
1851, O p . 1 1 2 ) places the listener in the sphere ous. T h e most subtle satire is probably to be
o f m a g i c . T h e queen of the fairies grants the found in Schwartz's original fairy-tale play,
w i s h o f a rose to become a human being. O n c e The Two Maple-Trees (1953). In the play a con­
the rose becomes a beautiful maiden, she ceited witch, the traditional *Bâba Y a g â of
travels through the w o r l d on a kind o f pilgrim­ Russian folklore, transforms two brothers into
age and experiences rejection and pain but also trees, effectively hiding them from their
l o v e and happiness. In the end, she dies while mother, although they are within her reach.
g i v i n g birth to a child and then is received in L i k e all of Schwartz's plays, it appeared to be
heaven b y angels. addressed to children; h o w e v e r , adult audi­
Schumann also composed music for L o r d ences recognized at once the millions of inno­
B y r o n ' s verse drama Manfred (1849, O p . 1 1 5 ) . cent people hidden forever in Stalin's prisons
H e r e the magician Manfred conjures up earth and labour camps amidst e v e r y d a y life. T h e
and s k y spirits that make him restless. After witch w a s a brilliant satirical portrait of the
numerous adventures in the A l p s and a battle C o m m u n i s t Party: admiring herself, boasting,
with the spirits, Manfred finally regains his promising too much, and never keeping her
peace o f mind and dies. THH promises.
Schwartz also wrote some prose fairy tales,
most notably an original sequel to *'Puss-in-
SCHWARTZ, YEVGENI (1896-1958), Russian B o o t s ' (1937), in which he places the main
p l a y w r i g h t , author o f several p l a y s based on character in a contemporary Soviet setting and
Hans Christian *Andersen's fairy tales. The has him defeat an evil frog-witch, w h o has en­
Naked King (1934, pub. i960) follows the basic chanted a little b o y , turning him into a villain.
plot o f A n d e r s e n ' s ' T h e E m p e r o r ' s N e w A t the end o f the tale, Puss attends the M a y
C l o t h e s ' , incorporating some elements from D a y parade on R e d Square. ' T w o Brothers'
' T h e S w i n e h e r d ' and ' T h e *Princess and the (1943) is based on the c o m m o n motif of en­
P e a ' , as w e l l as a g o o d deal o f social satire. The chantment and rescue, introducing a parody of
*Snow Queen (1939) and The Shadow (1940) are the Father Frost figure, the cruel and cynical
closer to the originals, while they h a v e a clear wizard Great-Grandfather Frost. ' A T a l e of
satirical focus, the latter portraying a country L o s t T i m e ' (1948) portrays a lazy schoolboy
ruled b y a dictator. H o w e v e r , unlike the ori­ w h o is enchanted b y wicked wizards and
ginal, Schwartz's version o f The Shadow has a turned into an old man. A l l three fairy tales
happy ending. M a n y o f Schwartz's plays w e r e have a clear didactic tone. MN
banned w h e n C o m m u n i s t censorship detected
possible satires o f the regime in their motifs o f Corten, Irinia H., 'Evgenii Shvarts as an
p o w e r and falseness. Adapter of Hans Christian Andersen and
Schwartz's *Little Red Riding Hood (1937) Charles Perrault', Russian Review, 37 (1978).
45i S C I E N C E F I C T I O N A N D FAIRY T A L E S

S C H W I N D , M O R I T Z V O N (1804-71), Austrian causes his death. I n most o f S c h w o b ' s tales

painter, illustrator, and writer, w h o w a s fam- there is a paradoxical connection between hor-
ous for his prodigious fairy-tale paintings and ror and truth. JZ
drawings and his fairy-tale contributions to the Champion, Pierre, Marcel Schwob et son temps
Miinchner Bilderbogen (Munich Broadsheets), (1927).
one of the most popular series o f broadsheets in Trembley, George, Marcel Schwob, faussaire de
the 19th century. After studying art and phil- la nature (1969).
osophy in Vienna, Schwind m o v e d to Munich
in 1828 and began to make a career for himself S C I E N C E FICTION A N D FAIRY T A L E S . S c i e n c e fiction
as painter and illustrator. H e is best k n o w n for ( S F ) and the fairy tale both deal with situations
three cycles o f fairy tales that he wrote and i l - that are contrary to fact, a quality Samuel R .
lustrated: Aschenputtel (* Cinderella, 1854), anD e l a n y calls 'subjunctivity'. A l t h o u g h the term
oil painting, Von den sieben Raben und der 'science fiction' might seem automatically to e x -
treuen Schwester (The Seven Ravens and their clude a n y meaningful contact with the fairy
Faithful Sister, 1857—8), 15 aquarelles, and Von tale, both are subsets o f the m o d e called fantas-
der schbnen Melusine ( The Beautiful *Melusine,
tic. R o s e m a r y J a c k s o n defines m o d e as a set o f
1869), 11 aquarelles. Schwind's w o r k has a clas- general rules not limited to a particular literary
sical, monumental quality to it. T h e lines o f his type (genre) o r time period, and the critics
drawings are strong and graceful, and his fig- Brian A l d i s s and D a m i e n B r o d e r i c k h a v e
ures are realistically drawn. H i s classical style found it more useful to speak o f S F as a m o d e
can especially b e seen in the eight w o o d c u t s than as a genre o r story type, since one can
that he did for the Miinchner Bilderbogen b e - then focus on w h a t S F does instead o f on what
tween 1848 and 1855. A m o n g his best fairy-tale e l e m e n t s — s p a c e travel o r a l i e n s — i t includes.
broadsheets are ' P u s s - i n - B o o t s ' and ' T h e * J u -
A t the same time, S F is marketed as a genre
niper T r e e ' . Schwind's interpretations o f the separate from fantasy in recognition o f the dis-
fairy tales w e r e not particularly original. R a - tinctive formulaic elements o f each type.
ther, his illustrations endowed the tales with S F is the most recent addition to the fantas-
formidable traditional features. KStic m o d e . It b e g a n in the 19th century as narra-
Bredt, E. W. (ed.), Moritz von Schwind: Frohliche tive response to scientific enquiry and the
Romantik (1917). increasing application in society o f the results
o f experimentation. S F came into its o w n in the
SCHWITTERS, KURT (1887-1948), German w o r k s o f H . G . * W e l l s and J u l e s V e r n e , and
Dadaist painter and writer. H e developed in- addresses the anxieties not o n l y o f the destabi-
novative forms o f printing and became one o f lizing effects o f industrialization but also those
the leading experimental artists in Berlin after o f evolutionary theory. E v e n i f the dominant
W o r l d W a r I . H e created unusual fairy tales cultural attitude w a s hopeful belief in the p r o -
for children and adults, such as ' D e r H a h - gressive amelioration o f the human condition,
nenpeter' ('Peter the R o o s t e r ' , 1924), ' D i e serious consideration o f the implications o f
Marchen v o m Paradies' ( ' T h e F a i r y T a l e s o f D a r w i n ' s theories, for example, that the d e v o -
Paradise', 1924), and ' D i e drei W u n s c h e ' ( ' T h e lution depicted in The Time Machine (1895)
Three Fairy Tales'). JZ w a s a possibility, served o n l y to heighten the
tension between hope and fear. I f J u l e s V e r n e
S C H W O B , M A R C E L (1867-1905), F r e n c h essay- produced exuberant fantastic v o y a g e s , the
ist, critic, and novelist, w h o w a s strongly influ- writings o f W e l l s , e v e n if he called them 'scien-
enced b y E d g a r A l l a n P o e and w r o t e haunting tific romances', presented a darker vision. T h e
tales that incorporated fairy-tale motifs. apparent changes o f fortune in fairy tales bring
Schwob wrote his unusual tales for various the w o r l d back to a (possibly better) sameness,
Parisian newspapers and journals and collected whereas S F m o v e s its w o r l d s into an uncer-
them in three important b o o k s , Cœur double tainty and difference. D a r k o S u v i n speaks o f
(Double Heart, 1891), Le Roi au masque d'or S F as a literature dependent on an 'imaginative
(The King with the Golden Mask, 1893), and Les framework alternative to the author's empirical
Vies imaginaires (Imaginary Lives, 1896). environment' based on a creative departure he
Schwob's tales w e r e brief reveries with ironic calls a ' n o v u m ' that both generates and grants
twists, such as the king w h o w e a r s a golden an inner logic to the plot; its v a l u e rests not in
mask unaware that he has leprosy. B y discard- sheer n o v e l t y but in its genuine alternatives to
ing the mask, he purifies himself; and with his w h a t w e k n o w and to the social structures w e
o w n blood he heals the leprosy, but thereby n o w inhabit.
S C I E N C E FICTION A N D FAIRY T A L E S 452

T h e boundaries between S F and fantasy are against incredible o d d s — R a b k i n cites ' T h e

the subject o f numerous debates because S F *Brave Little T a i l o r ' — m a k e up the plots that
does not a l w a y s achieve the level o f purity culminate in such endings.
from the purely fantastic desired b y its most In terms of setting, the w o r l d of the fairy
rigorous proponents. F o r example, the practice tale tends to be positively oriented towards the
most often associated with S F narratives is ex­ protagonist, p r o v i d i n g helpers as needed, a de­
trapolation from our current state o f science. tail noted both b y Northrop F r y e and some­
P r o b l e m s in disentangling S F from fairy tale what differently b y Stanislaw *Lem; the world
arise, h o w e v e r , w h e n a futuristic device is e m ­ of an S F tale tends to be neutrally oriented, it is
p l o y e d as a substitute for a m a g i c w a n d , as it a place and nothing more, even if populated b y
tends to be in the variety o f S F k n o w n as 'space beings inimical to the protagonist. T h e S F tale
opera'. T h e resulting narrative b e c o m e s a fairy does not demand the 'happy ending' as an ab­
tale with futuristic h a r d w a r e . solute criterion, and the most empirically-ori­
O n e basic constraint separates the S F m o d e ented tales do not p r o v i d e it. A t best, the more
from the fairy tale: both fairy tales and S F are Utopian S F will be open-ended, with future
rule-based, but the rules of S F either replicate positive results contingent on continued strug­
or are modelled upon the empirical physical gle for social change.
principles of our e v e r y d a y w o r l d . O n e will not In traditional fairy tales the Utopian content
find witches, m a g e s , elves, or dragons in those is attenuated to an improvement in the social
p s e u d o - m e d i e v a l aspects they present in trad­ condition of the protagonist (most often an un­
itional fairy tales; nor will one find the super­ married female) within the existing social
natural or magical agencies that dominate the structure, a situation quite different from the
fairy-tale m o d e o f writing. G e o r g e "'MacDo­ m o r e o b v i o u s utopianism of traditional folk
nald describes the fantastic environment as an tales w h i c h advocates the destabilizing of social
'inverted w o r l d , with l a w s o f other kinds'. hierarchies. Fairy-tale individualism persists in
MacDonald's own fantasies occasionally a great deal of S F , although the hero takes on
touched upon elements o f science, as in the ar­ the enemies of an oppressed or beleaguered
rangement o f mirrors used in Lilith, w h i c h w a s w o r l d as often as not, and the S F monster-
praised for its ingenuity b y H . G . W e l l s , but slayer encounters e v e r more exotic opponents
the ' l a w s ' o f the narrative w o r l d are not the and uses the most up-to-date weaponry. Such
central focus. M a c D o n a l d called his fantasies tales, the 'galactic empire' stories, show S F at
'fairy stories', and e v e n the scientific romantic its most conservative; v i c t o r y means the restor­
tales o f *Hawthorne such as ' R a p p a c i n i ' s ation of the existing social order b y destroying
D a u g h t e r ' o r ' T h e Birthmark' h a v e the indi­ the invading or disruptive element.
vidual soul, so to speak, at their narrative S F contains a strong and essential admixture
centre. In ' D o - I t - Y o u r s e l f C o s m o l o g y ' , U r s u l a of the fantastic; time travel and propulsion be­
K . * L e G u i n describes fantasy as 'introverted', y o n d the speed o f light, both patently impos­
lending itself to private fantasizing, and S F as a sible, are S F commonplaces. Brian Aldiss
modern, extraverted variety o f fantasy more designates M a r y Shelley's Frankenstein as argu­
suited to address issues o f t e c h n o l o g y in soci­ ably the first w o r k o f S F , but one must deal
ety. with the n o v e l ' s notable lack of rigour in the
T h e fairy tale has t w o p r i m a r y functions in 'science' surrounding the fabrication of Victor
S F : it offers a structural formula, following to a Frankenstein's creature. A t the same time,
greater o r lesser degree the motif patterns o f Shelley's manipulation of Gothic fiction's
quest and initiation ( d e p a r t u r e - t e s t - r e t u r n ) dread of the Other effectively uses the fantastic
described b y V l a d i m i r P r o p p , and it p r o v i d e s to highlight the anxieties p r o v o k e d b y techno­
the reader with appealing compensatory fanta­ logical advances. A l d i s s ' s definition of S F in­
sies. In his essay ' F a i r y T a l e s and Science sists on its G o t h i c content: 'Science fiction is
Fiction', Eric Rabkin discusses the the search for a definition of mankind and his
psychoanalytical and developmental concepts status in the universe which will stand in our
shared b y fairy tales and science fiction: w i s h advanced but confused state of k n o w l e d g e (sci­
fulfilment, the illusion o f centrality, and o m ­ ence), and is characteristically cast in the G o t h ­
nipotence o f thought. In fairy tales, the 'happy ic or p o s t - G o t h i c m o d e . ' T h i s definition serves
ending' is the most c o m m o n element o f w i s h - to underscore S F ' s continuity with an older
fulfilment, but the triumph o f the d o w n t r o d ­ narrative tradition while taking account of the
den, the possession o f extraordinary or preter­ demands o f empiricism. F a i r y tales do not offer
natural talents or a talisman, o r the v i c t o r y explanations of their magic; it is simply part of
SCHWIND, MORITZ VON The complete triumphant story of '*Puss-in-Boots' is portrayed by Moritz von
Schwind in this Munich broadside of 1848.
S C I E N C E F I C T I O N A N D FAIRY T A L E S 454

the narrative w o r l d o f the stories. S F arises in Smith's 1930s ' L e n s m a n ' series, his warriors
an interrogative context, so to speak, and its w e a r 'space armour' and wield 'space axes' as
departures from accepted 'reality' are m o r e well as their blasters. A more up-to-date v e r ­
evident, since its narrative universe shares its sion of medievalism, heroics, and S F hardware
basic principles with our o w n . is F r a n k Herbert's Dune (1965), the first and
T h e issues o f probability, possibility, and most successful in a series that combined cre­
plausibility focus on the reader's expectations ative extrapolation—the desert world of A r r a -
o f and responses to S F . W e read a f a n t a s y / k i s — w i t h a solid story of initiation.
fairy story with a different set o f protocols T h e use o f fairy-tale motifs ensured S F ' s
from those active w h e n w e read S F ; the 'enab­ success a m o n g those readers w h o craved ad­
ling d e v i c e s ' o f S F are different from those of venture along with the detailed technical dis­
the fairy tale; the distinguishing fea­ cussions that sometimes halted the progress of
t u r e s — m u l t i - s u n solar systems or silicon- the plot, but that v e r y success led to the stagna­
based p h y s i o l o g y — a r e not at all trivial; rather, tion o f A m e r i c a n S F . T h e r e w e r e a few twists
they signal to the reader S F ' s narrative uni­ to the standard imitation heroic epic such as the
verse and its attendant rules. F o r instance, in a doctor-as-hero stories of Murray Leinster,
much-quoted example, Samuel R . D e l a n y written in the late 1950s and early 1960s, which
notes that the phrase 'her w o r l d exploded' featured the human and animal team of C a l ­
means one thing in a mainstream n o v e l and houn and the m o n k e y - l i k e Murgatroyd, com­
something entirely different in S F . S F has panion and bio-synthesizer in one, or, in the
made strategic use o f fairy-tale conventions 1940s, stories such as Fritz Leiber's stories of
since they are older, m o r e w i d e l y available, Fafrhd and the G r e y Mouser, for which he
and m o r e a part o f the experience o f the g e n ­ coined the term 'sword-and-sorcery'. On the
eral reader; hence, fairy-tale elements h a v e w h o l e , h o w e v e r , for e v e r y novel b y Alfred
served to m a k e arcane content m o r e accessible Bester such as The Stars My Destination (1956)
to its readers. Mainstream fiction abandoned with its space-warping mode of personal travel,
fantasy in the name of 'realism', but for a l o n g More than Human (1953) b y T h e o d o r e Stur­
time the isolation o f A m e r i c a n S F within a g e o n , which presented the next stage of human
c o m m u n i t y o f 'fans' kept a large proportion o f evolution as a composite psyche, H o m o G e s -
its narratives closer to the conventions o f fairy talt, o r the evolution-as-apocalypse of Child­
tales than might be evident to casual readers hood's End (1953) b y A r t h u r C . C l a r k e , there
put off b y too-evident h a r d w a r e ; these are the w e r e scores o f writers content simply to p r o ­
narratives k n o w n as 'space operas'. vide the fans with more of the formulaic fiction
T h e 'space opera' w a s canonized in the pulp they craved.
magazines b e g u n in the 1920s b y H u g o G e r n s - T h e presence o f fairy-tale elements in S F
b a c k ' s Amazing Stories, and brought to its full­ suggests that it might be especially attractive to
est development in J o h n W . C a m p b e l l ' s y o u n g e r readers. T h e ' p o w e r fantasies' of
magazines o f the 1930s, most notably Astound­ space opera tend to be described, pejoratively,
ing Science-Fiction. G e r n s b a c k ' s novel Ralph as 'adolescent', and the S F reader is caricatured
124 C41+ (1925) set the pattern for m a n y to as an alienated y o u n g male. T h e straightfor­
follow: the super-scientist with a d e v i c e for w a r d action-oriented narratives of S F , as well
e v e r y situation and the wits and c o u r a g e to as its avoidance, especially from the 1930s to
conquer foes o f a n y size and anatomical config­ the 1960s, of any adult sexuality made S F ac­
uration, w h o defends a heroine predictably cessible and appealing to y o u n g and older
attractive to the opposite s e x — M a r t i a n o r readers alike, with the result that both groups
human. read the same stories. T o this day, b o o k club
T h e space opera, aptly named since it is an notices tend to place warnings about explicit
elaborately costumed s p e c t a c l e — A l d i s s calls it language, violence, or sexual content after their
' p o w e r f a n t a s y ' — f e a t u r e s the radically polar­ promotional statements in recognition of this
ized conflict o f g o o d v s . evil o f the fairy tale; dual audience.
imperilled w o r l d s and maidens are rescued b y T h e r e has been, nevertheless, a relatively
clean-cut heroes. In the earlier stories, for small amount o f S F directed to pre-adolescent
e v e r y d e v i c e that w a s a rigorous extrapolation readers. T h e s e stories use space travel and off-
from k n o w n p r i n c i p l e s — t h e then hypothetical w o r l d settings for stories of quests and initi­
radar w a s described with uncanny accuracy in ation, with a generous portion o f w o r l d - s a v i n g
G e r n s b a c k ' s Ralph—many w e r e carried o v e r heroics. In the 1950s, Isaac A s i m o v (writing as
from medieval romance. F o r example, in E . E . ' P a u l F r e n c h ' ) published the ' L u c k y Starr' ser-
455 S C I E N C E FICTION A N D FAIRY T A L E S

ies; Robert Heinlein's Bildungsromane such as in a quasi-Arthurian Bildungsroman. T h e w i s h -

Citizen of the Galaxy (1957) or Red Planet fulfilment o f finding the absent father and g a i n ­
(1949) anticipated the revolution-centred The ing a magical friend is the central motivation o f
Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966). In the y o u n g Steven *Spielberg's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
adult fiction of these two authors, the quality of (1982), and Spielberg's Close Encounters of the
the prose is strikingly high, in general less Third Kind (1977) offers similar compensatory
hackneyed than classic pulp S F repackaged as fantasy for the adult audience.
novels. O n the other hand, novels b y A l a n E . If w i s h fulfilment is enlarged to the concepts
Nourse, notably Rocket to Limbo (1957), or of adult desires, fears, or hopes, and the self-
Lester del R e y ' s Marooned on Mars and Rocket k n o w l e d g e that is the ideal g o a l o f the fairy­
Jockey (both 1952) replicated the tried and true tale quest is enlarged to a g e n c y in social trans­
space opera formulas. formation, then fairy-tale content remains a v i ­
F o r much y o u n g e r readers, Eleanor C a m e ­ able structuring element in contemporary S F .
ron's 'Mushroom Planet' b o o k s (the first w a s T h e monster-slayer, or the (generally) Male
written in 1954 for her 9-year-old son) fol­ *Cinderella, o f w h o m G e o r g e L u c a s ' s L u k e
lowed the ' b o y explorer' pattern. A l t h o u g h S F S k y w a l k e r is but the latest exemplar, do not
is traditionally male-oriented fiction, it w a s exhaust the relationship o f fairy tale to S F .
read b y girls, w h o admittedly found v e r y few T h r e e such stories are Samuel R . D e l a n y ' s
females except those waiting to be rescued. Babel-iy (1966), V o n d a N . M c l n t y r e ' s Superlu-
Still, they had Heinlein's Podkayne of Mars: razrea/(1984), and M a r g e P i e r c y ' s He, She, and
Her Life and Times (1963) with its female p r o ­
It (1991). In the 1960s, S F ' s ' N e w W a v e '
tagonist, and Have Spacesuit—Will Travel
brought deliberately self-reflexive literary
(1958), in which the girl is a p r o d i g y , surpass­
techniques to the forefront in S F writing. In
ing the b o y in intellect if not in strength. In the
addition to the older structures, fairy tales
1970s, J a m e s H . Schmitz used the popular pat­
a m o n g them, these writers experimented with
tern established b y the ' N a n c y D r e w ' stories in
aligning techniques from contemporary fiction
his short stories and novels featuring T e l z e y
with the narrative content o f S F . In Babel-iy
A m b e r d o n ; earlier, in 1965, he published ' B a l ­
D e l a n y addresses the effects o f linguistics on
anced E c o l o g y ' , combining a serious topic with
our perceptions o f reality as his heroine, the
a satisfying story of effectively heroic children.
poet R y d r a W o n g , her accomplice, the
T o d a y , the fairy-tale adventure has, to a
Butcher, w h o seems more humanoid than
great extent, been taken o v e r b y role-playing
human, and her c r e w — 1 2 teenagers, a married
and computer games. T h e w o r k o f S y l v i a
'triple', and three 'discorporates' (i.e. dead per­
Louise Engdahl, such as Enchantress from the
s o n s ) — s e e k the source o f a mechanical lan­
Stars (1970), the Tripod Trilogy (1980) o f J o h n
g u a g e linked with successful e n e m y sabotage;
Christopher, or the ' T o r i n ' series of C h e r r y
theoretical complexity and freewheeling trad­
Wilder, which began with The Luck of Brins
itional narrative structures function here in
Five (1977), continue the tradition o f heroic S F
unison. V o n d a N . M c l n t y r e i n v o k e s m a n y o f
adventures for children. Y o u n g adult S F in
the conventions o f adult romance, yet the l o v e
print tends to focus more on Utopias and d y s t o ­
stories a m o n g humans so radically altered for
pias than on wish-fulfilment, which is n o w
mostly the province o f fantasy fiction, flourish­ survival in the oceans or in deep space that they
ing for this market more than e v e r before. can no longer sustain meaningful relationships
T h e r e are elements o f dystopia in E n g d a h l ' s with the unaltered, undermine reader expect­
later w o r k and in Christopher's trilogy; L o i s ations as often as they fulfil them; thus she re­
L o w r y ' s The Giver (1993) is a more recent e x ­ cuperates what w o u l d otherwise be banality.
ample of this tendency. P i e r c y reflects on the nature o f story itself,
Part o f the attraction o f the y o u n g audience interweaving the political and ecological strug­
to S F and fantasy can be attributed to the popu­ gles o f an imperilled c o l o n y o f J e w i s h descent
lar films from the 1970s to the present; it is here against world-controlling corporations, with
that the links between S F and the fairy tale the 'bubbe meise', or ' g r a n n y tales' o f the
have been deliberately affirmed and exploited. G o l e m o f the P r a g u e g h e t t o — n o t simple fairy
G e o r g e L u c a s ' s four 'Star W a r s ' films, Star tales, to be sure, but told b y an elderly p r o ­
Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), g r a m m e r as part o f the socialization o f the an­
The Return of the Jedi (1983), and The Phantom droid w a r r i o r she has helped to c r e a t e — a
Menace (1999), replay a version o f F r e u d ' s re-enactment o f the ancient cultural w o r k o f
' F a m i l y R o m a n c e ' (the child as hidden royalty) the fairy tale.
SCIESZKA, J O N 456

A l t h o u g h the most transparent appropri­ b y the A m e r i c a n L i b r a r y Association as a C a l ­

ations of the fairy tale appear in A m e r i c a n S F , decott H o n o r B o o k for its sophisticated, sur­
the Utopian potential o f fairy-tale structure w a s realistic paintings b y the illustrator Lane
also exploited in the former S o v i e t U n i o n , pri­ Smith. BH
marily in the 1960s and early 1970s b y the Apseloff, Marilyn Fain, 'The Big, Bad Wolf:
brothers B o r i s and A r k a d y Strugatsky, notably New Approaches to an Old Folk Tale',
The Snail on the Slope (1966—8) and Roadside Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 15.3
Picnic (1972), to express the hope that technol­ (fall 1990).
Stevenson, Deborah, ' " I f You Read This Last
o g y w o u l d help to reduce the g a p between s o ­
Sentence, It Won't Tell You Anything":
cialist Utopian dreams and human reality. T h e
Postmodernism, Self-Referentiality, and The
P o l i s h writer Stanislaw L e m , one o f the most Stinky Cheese Man, Children s Literature
stringent critics o f S F ' s dissipation o f its critical Association Quarterly, 19.1 (spring 1994).
potential in the ' e m p t y g a m e s ' o f space opera,
used fairy-tale structures to p a r o d y the foibles S C O T T , S I R W A L T E R ( 1 7 7 1 - 1 8 3 2 ) , novelist, poet,
of his robot inventors in the short stories col­ and essayist o f the romantic period, concerned
lected as The Cyberiad (1967). with Scottish B o r d e r legends and traditions
A l l o f these stories attest to the durability o f throughout his lifetime. His Minstrelsy of the
the fairy tale while not replicating S F ' s earlier Scottish Border (1802—3) w a s a collection of
trite use o f the old motifs. T h e ' s t o r y ' o f S F has folk and literary ballads in three volumes and
n e v e r been separate from that o f the fairy tale; contained his important early essay ' T h e Fair­
these contemporary w o r k s speak o f some o f ies o f P o p u l a r Superstition'. W h i l e the elfin
the best that that l o n g association has to offer. people play a role in his poetry, notably in ' T h e
AAR L a y o f the Last Minstrel', they and their lore
Aldiss, Brian, and Wingrove, Owen, Trillion- are featured even more prominently in his
Year Spree (1986). novels. The Monastery (1820) discusses the na­
Broderick, Damien, Reading by Starlight (1995). ture o f elemental spirits and presents a fairy-
Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., Istvan, 'Towards the Last sylph in the form o f the White L a d y o f A v e n e l .
Fairy Tale: On the Fairy-Tale Paradigm in the A fairy changeling appears in Peveril of the
Strugatskys' Science Fiction, 1963—72', Science-
Peak (1822), and a *Rumpelstiltskin-like super­
Fiction Studies, 13.1 (1986).
natural d w a r f in The Pirate (1822). Discussions
Delany, Samuel R., 'About 5,750 Words', The
Jewel-Hinged Jaw: Notes of[sic] the Language of of fairy lore permeate other novels.
Science Fiction (1977). Scott's most important contribution, h o w ­
Jackson, Rosemary, Fantasy: The Literature of ever, is to folklore analysis and theory. In his
Subversion (1981). Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft (1820),
Le Guin, Ursula K., 'Do-It-Yourself he examines the possible origins o f the fairies,
Cosmology', in The Language of the Night the connections between fairies and witches,
(I979)- the evidence for fairy abductions, and the w a y s
Rabkin, Eric, 'Fairy Tales and Science Fiction', of a v o i d i n g elfin malice. H e suggests a rational
in George E . Slusser et al. (eds.), Bridges to and historical basis for supernatural beliefs,
Science Fiction (1980).
thus popularizing the euhemerist position. H e
Scholes, Robert, 'Boiling Roses: Thoughts on
plays a significant role in legitimizing the 19th-
Science Fantasy', in George Slusser and Eric
Rabkin (eds.), Intersections: Fantasy and Science century study o f fairies. CGS
Fiction (1987). Dorson, Richard M., The British Folklorists
Suvin, Darko, Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: (1968).
Parsons, Coleman O., Witchcraft and
On the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre
Demonology in Scott's Fiction (1964).
(i979)-
Silver, Carole G., Strange and Secret Peoples
SCIESZKA, J O N (1954— ) , A m e r i c a n picture- (1998).
b o o k author w h o satirizes folk and fairy tales
with a h u m o r o u s postmodern twist. The True S C U D D E R , H O R A C E (1838-1902), American edi­
Story of the Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf (1989) tor and author. H e w a s a passionate supporter
parodies the traditional villain as an unreliable of imaginative literature, at a time when
narrator, w h i l e The *Frog Prince, Continued A m e r i c a n opinion w a s uncertain about its
(1991) challenges the premiss o f l i v i n g 'happily value. H e w r o t e three v o l u m e s o f fairy stories,
e v e r after' with the * G r i m m s ' witches lurking much influenced b y writers such as Hans
about. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Christian *Andersen, G e o r g e *MacDonald,
Stupid Tales (1992), including the * U g l y D u c k ­ and Charles *Dickens, and in his B o d l e y F a m ­
m
ling that g r e w into an u g l y duck, w a s selected ily series o f b o o k s (which began in 1875) ~
457 SEIDEL, I N A

corporated many traditional tales. In 1867 he grandmother writing stories for her grandchil-
became editor o f the n e w Riverside Magazine dren. R e c e n t scholarship has s h o w n , h o w e v e r ,
for Young People and later persuaded Hans that she w a s a true novelist w h o s e career w a s
Christian Andersen to contribute. Childhood in closely associated with the Hachette publishing
Literature and Art (1894) contains a long essay house and the creation of the famous B i b l i o -
about fairy tales and Hans A n d e r s e n . GA thèque R o s e , a collection o f b o o k s aimed at the
largest possible children's audience. CLMF
SÉCUR SOPHIE, COMTESSE DE (1799-1874), Doray, Marie-France, 'Cleanliness and Class in
French writer o f children's b o o k s . T h e d a u g h - the Countess de Ségur's Novels', Children's
ter of Count Rostopchine w h o served as minis- Literature, 17 (1989).
La Comtesse de Ségur: une étrange
ter during the reign of T s a r Paul I and as
paroissienne (1990).
g o v e r n o r of the C i t y of M o s c o w in 1 8 1 2 , she
Kreyder, Laura, L'Enfance des saints et des
spent her childhood in M o s c o w and on the vast autres. Essai sur la comtesse de Ségur (1987).
family estate in V o r o n o n o . In 1817 her father Lastinger, Valérie, ' O f Dolls and Girls in
fell into disgrace, and the family went into exile Nineteenth-Century France', Children's
to France. T w o years later she married C o u n t Literature, 21 (1993).
E u g è n e de S é g u r , w h o soon preferred the Malarte-Feldman, Claire-Lise, 'La Comtesse de
glamour of Paris, while Sophie spent most of Ségur: A Witness of Her Time', Children's
her time at L e s Nouettes, the country estate in Literature Association Quarterly, 20 (fall 1995).
N o r m a n d y that w o u l d be the setting for most
of the stories she wrote. Neglected b y her hus- SEIDEL, H E I N R I C H (1842-1906), much l o v e d
band, S é g u r devoted herself entirely to the G e r m a n writer o f children's stories and songs.
education of the couple's eight children. T h e H e is best k n o w n for his novels on the B i e d e r -
countess w a s 58 years old w h e n she launched meier idyll o f the e p o n y m o u s Leberecht Hiihn-
her literary career. First, she w r o t e t w o fairy chen (1882—90). Influenced b y R o b e r t *Reinick
tales, 'Histoire de Blondine' and ' L e bon petit and Hans Christian * A n d e r s e n , he w r o t e his
Henri', which w e r e originally published in La first fairy tale 'Schmetterlingskônigin W i e -
Semaine des Enfants, a w e e k l y magazine for glinde' ( ' W i e g l i n d e , Queen o f the Butterflies')
children published b y L o u i s Hachette, w h o in 1864. A l t h o u g h didactic-moral tales, the e x -
eventually bought the copyrights to a manu- quisite stories in his t w o - v o l u m e collection
script that included three other tales: 'Histoire Wintermdrchen (Winter Tales, 1885) are also
de la Princesse Rosette', ' L a Petite Souris g r i s e ' entertaining and h a v e been published in v a r i -
( ' T h e Little G r a y M o u s e ' ) and ' O u r s o n ' . T h e ous collections since 1945: Zitrinchen und andere
five fairy tales appeared under the title Nou- Mdrchen (Citronella and Other Fairy Tales,
veaux Contes de fées (New Fairy Tales, 1857) 1958, 1969) and Das Zauberklavier (The Magic
with 20 illustrations b y G u s t a v e * D o r é . A l l the Piano, 1959). KS
heroes in these tales, which combine an e x -
uberant taste for the marvellous with a r i g o r - S E I D E L , I N A (1885-1974), G e r m a n writer w h o
ous moral intention, are children w h o must w r o t e numerous p o e m s , n o v e l s , essays, and
overcome great difficulties and their human memoirs. H e r major contribution to the fairy-
weaknesses to earn the happiness they will tale tradition in G e r m a n y w a s Das wunderbare
surely find at the end o f their adventures. A f t e r Geissleinbuch (The Wonderful Book about the
the publication of Nouveaux Contes de fées, Little Kids, 1925), w h i c h has the subtitle ' N e w
Ségur left behind the realm of fairy tales in fa- Stories for Children w h o A r e W e l l - A c q u a i n t e d
v o u r of a different literary genre: the realistic with the O l d O n e s ' . Seidel portrays a child
novel for children, in which she g i v e s an accur- w h o visits the seven kids and their mother, and
ate rendition of French society during the S e - he encounters other characters from the
cond Empire. T h e 20 novels she produced * G r i m m s ' tales in adventures that do not in-
between 1857 and 1869 secured her a founding v o l v e m a g i c , bewitchment, and punishment. In
place in the tradition o f French children's lit- this w a y Seidel sought to modernize the
erature. T h e trilogy consisting of Les Malheurs G r i m m s ' tales and m a k e them m o r e cheerful
de Sophie (The Misfortunes of Sophie), Les Pe- and soothing for y o u n g children. D u r i n g the
tites Filles modèles (Model Little Girls) and Les difficult p o s t - w a r y e a r s in G e r m a n y , parents
s o n e
Vacances (Vacation, 1859) * ° f Ségur's and educators w e r e attracted to the non-violent
most popular w o r k s , which still today find an nature o f the b o o k , w h i c h w a s reissued in 1949,
enthusiastic audience a m o n g y o u n g readers. and remained v e r y popular until the early
L e g e n d once portrayed S é g u r as a sweet 1960s. JZ
SENDAK, MAURICE The Mouse King looks about him. Sendak reworked his famous illustrations for
E. T . A. Hoffmann's Nutcracker (translated by Ralph Manheim, 1984) into a set design for Seattle's Pacific
Northwest Ballet in December 1983.
 SERCAMBI, GIOVANNI
459

SÉLIS, NICOLAS (1737-1802), French teacher A m e r i c a n popular c u l t u r e — h a s b e c o m e stead­

and royal censor. H e annotated L a Fontaine's ily more evident in his w o r k , as has his l o v e for
fables and wrote one fairy tale, ' L e Prince *Mozart.
désiré' ( ' T h e C o v e t e d Heir', n.d.), presented to In his o w n picture b o o k s , Sendak d r a w s
Marie-Antoinette on the birth of the dauphin. deeply on fairy-tale motifs and impulses. His
A beloved king and queen rejoice w h e n a long- elegiac fantasy Higglety Pigglety Pop! (1967)
awaited heir is born. A g o o d fairy and b e n e v o ­ traces the journey o f a terrier, J e n n i e , to a
lent génies, former monarchs w h o have been w i d e r w o r l d o f artistic experience, including a
granted supernatural p o w e r , e n d o w the n e w ­ climactic performance in the *Mother G o o s e
born with all the virtues o f an ideal prince. A W o r l d Theater. T h e three b o o k s in his major
panegyric to the French and Austrian royal ' t r i l o g y ' — W h e r e the Wild Things Are (1963),
families, this brief tale reiterates royalist ideol­ In the Night Kitchen (1970), and Outside Over
o g y on the eve of the French R e v o l u t i o n . A Z There ( 1 9 8 1 ) — d i f f e r m a r k e d l y in style and
texture, but all feature a child's m o v e m e n t
S E N D A K , J A C K (1923—95), A m e r i c a n writer and from anger or fear into a fantastic inner w o r l d
illustrator, w h o began writing children's stories w h e r e the child's o w n actions resolve the con­
in the 1950s. His first two b o o k s , The Happy flicts.
Rain (1956) and Circus Girl (1958), w e r e illus­ In the late 1970s Sendak began designing
trated b y his brother Maurice. A m o n g his other sets and costumes for operas in collaboration
w o r k s are The Second Witch (1965), Marthe with the director F r a n k C o r s a r o : first Mozart's
(1968), and The Magic Tears (1971), selected Magic Flute in 1979, then *Janacek's Cunning
b y the New York Times as one o f the best illus­ Little Vixen (1981), *Prokofiev's Love of Three
trated children's b o o k s of the y e a r . His collec­ Oranges (1982), Mozart's Idomeneo (1990), and
tion, The King of Hermits and Other Stories *Humperdinck's *Hansel and Gretel (1997). A l l
(1966), contains several tales with a bizarre and o f them s h o w his delight in the theatrical and
charming Central E u r o p e a n atmosphere. JZ the fantastic—speaking animals, battles o f
polarized forces, symbolic objects and figures.
S E N D A K , M A U R I C E ( 1 9 2 8 - ) , A m e r i c a n illustra­ S o m e o f these operas later became picture
tor, writer, and set designer. Sendak is easily b o o k s , as his designs for the ballet The Nut­
the most important designer of children's cracker in 1984. H e has also collaborated in
books in the English-speaking w o r l d ; winner turning his o w n b o o k s into television s h o w s
of the Hans Christian Andersen prize in 1970, {Really Rosie, Starring the Nutshell Kids in
he has continued to e v o l v e as a writer and illus­ 1975) and into operas (Where the Wild Things
trator. Are in 1979 and Higglety Pigglety Pop! in 1985,
E a r l y in his career Sendak illustrated m a n y both with music b y O l i v e r K n u s s e n ) . EWH
books written b y contemporaries (Ruth K r a u s s Cech, John, Angels and Wild Things: The
and Elsie Minarik among them). Later, h o w ­ Archetypal Poetics of Maurice Sendak (1995).
ever, he turned to older b o o k s , often fairy Lanes, Selma G., The Art of Maurice Sendak
tales: Seven Tales b y Hans Christian * Andersen
(1980).
Tatar, Maria, 'Wilhelm Grimm/Maurice
(1959), tales b y Wilhelm *Hauff and Clemens
Sendak: Dear Mili and the Art of Dying Happily
*Brentano (1960—2), The Golden Key and The Ever After', in Off with their Heads! (1992).
Light Princess b y G e o r g e *MacDonald (1967,
1969). He also illustrated a collection o f stories S E R C A M B I , G I O V A N N I (1348-1424), Italian n o v ­
based on J e w i s h folk material b y Isaac B a s h e - ella writer and historian. M a n y o f his Novelle
vis *Singer (Zlateh the Goat, 1966). H e seems (Novellas, 1390—1402) b o r r o w from popular
most drawn to the strange mixture of realism genres such as fabliaux, anecdotes, oral poetry,
and fantasy, piety and violence, in the and fairy tales. Fairy-tale motifs are most e v i ­
*Grimms' tales: he has produced The ^Juniper dent in ' D e b o n o facto' ( ' O n a H a p p y E v e n t ' ) ,
Tree, 27 tales in two volumes, with translations the story o f a simpleton w h o ends up m a r r y i n g
b y L o r e Segal and Randall *Jarrell (1973); King the daughter o f the k i n g o f F r a n c e ; ' D e v e r a
Grisly-Beard (1974); and Dear Mili, a tale amicitia et caritate' ( ' O n T r u e Friendship and
found in an 1816 letter b y W i l h e l m G r i m m C h a r i t y ' ) , w h i c h adopts the fairy-tale motif o f
(1988). T h e influence of romantic artists like 'the t w o brothers'; and ' D e bona ventura' ( ' O n
William Blake, Samuel Palmer, Philipp Otto G o o d L u c k ' ) , in w h i c h fairies and tripartite
R u n g e , and Caspar D a v i d F r i e d r i c h — a s well trials are incorporated into a fabliau. NC
as of 19th-century b o o k illustrators like Walter Petrini, Mario, La fiaba di magia nella letteratura
*Crane and G e o r g e *Cruikshank and of italiana (1983).
SETON, ERNEST THOMPSON 460

S E T O N , E R N E S T T H O M P S O N (1860-1946), C a n a ­ people's lack o f imagination. Horton the ele­

dian naturalist, artist, and author o f numerous phant, w h o previously appeared in Horton
realistic animal stories. Inspired b y his o w n Hatches the Egg (1940), hears a noise coming
close observations, Wild Animals I Have Known from a speck of dust, which he discovers to his
(1898), Biography of a Grimly (1900), Lives of surprise to be the v o i c e of the m a y o r of W h o -
the Hunted (1901), and Animal Heroes (1905) ville asking for Horton's protection. T h e other
are a m o n g the most famous of their kind and animals in the jungle, w h o fail to understand
helped to create the beginnings o f an e n v i r o n ­ w h y Horton is protecting the speck of dust,
mental consciousness in N o r t h A m e r i c a . ridicule and torture him until Horton gets the
Woodmyth and Fable (1905), a collection o f W h o s to make themselves heard to the other
short tales based on animal lore, stands apart animals. T h e story ends with a mise-en-abyme,
from the main current o f his w o r k as Seton's the m a y o r o f W h o - v i l l e himself discovering an
one experiment with the fairy tale. SR entire w o r l d on a speck of dust.
Seuss w r o t e The Cat in the Hat (1957), per­
haps his most famous b o o k , as a reading
primer, using a total o f 237 w o r d s . T h e two
S E U S S , D R ( p s e u d o n y m o f T H E O D O R SEUSS G I E - children in the story encounter the Cat, w h o
SEL, 1904—91), popular A m e r i c a n author and il­ appears to entertain them, juggling various
lustrator o f children's b o o k s . In his stories household objects, conjuring up the rambunc­
Seuss p l a y s on the imaginative p o w e r s o f chil­ tious T h i n g s , and generally creating chaos in
dren, w h i c h adults often dismiss o r repress, and their home while their mother is gone. L i k e
uses the stylistic techniques o f accumulation Marco, the children of The Cat in the Hat hesi­
and mise-en-abyme to create his fantasies. In his tate to explain to their 'realistic' mother their
verse tale And To Think That I Saw It on Mul­ fantastic adventures with the Cat when she
berry Street (1937), M a r c o prepares for his asks them, ' D i d y o u h a v e any fun? T e l l me.
father a tall tale about w h a t he s a w c o m i n g W h a t did y o u d o ? '
h o m e from school that d a y . A h o r s e - d r a w n The Cat in the Hat Comes Back (1958) came
cart becomes in M a r c o ' s imagination a circus out in the same y e a r as How the Grinch Stole
w a g o n with a brass band, and fantastic details Christmas!, w h i c h recalls *Dickens's A Christ­
p r o g r e s s i v e l y accumulate in his mind; but mas Carol. Other fantasy stories b y Seuss in­
w h e n his father indifferently asks him what he clude The Lorax (1971), a parable about
has seen that d a y , M a r c o replies, ' N o t h i n g . . . pollution; and The Butter Battle Book (1984), an
I B u t a plain horse and w a g o n on M u l b e r r y allegory about the arms race. AD
Street'. M a r c o later returns in McElligot's Pool Lurie, Alison, 'The Cabinet of Dr. Seuss',
(1947) to tell a tall fish tale. Popular Culture: An Introductory Text (1992).
In his first prose tale The Five Hundred Hats MacDonald, Ruth K., Dr. Seuss ( 1 9 8 8 ) .
of Bartholomew Cubbins (1938), fantasy is not
stifled b y indifference but is the pretext for
questioning the arbitrariness o f p o w e r . B a r t h o ­ S E X T O N , A N N E (1928—74), major American
l o m e w has a magical hat w h i c h is quite plain poet, w h o s e b o o k Transformations (1971) w a s
and shaped like that o f R o b i n H o o d . W h e n one of the most significant ' s u b v e r s i v e ' adapta­
B a r t h o l o m e w takes off his hat to p a y his re­ tions o f the G r i m m s ' tales from a w o m a n ' s per­
spects to the k i n g , another hat appears in its spective. Sexton w a s born A n n e G r e y H a r v e y
place, w h i c h he subsequently r e m o v e s , and an­ into an upper-middle-class family in N e w t o n ,
other then appears, until b y the end o f the story Massachusetts; after attending a Boston finish­
he h a s accumulated 500 hats. Seuss again e m ­ ing school, she eloped with Alfred Muller S e x ­
p l o y s the technique o f accumulation to present ton and w o r k e d for a time as a model. In the
his tale, w h i c h pits a simple but imaginative early 1950s, during which time she g a v e birth
man against an easily threatened k i n g . B a r t h o ­ to her t w o daughters, she had a series of mental
l o m e w also makes an appearance in Bartholo­ b r e a k d o w n s , and she w a s advised b y her p s y ­
mew and the Oobleck (1949), an e c o l o g y story in chiatrist, D r Martin Orne, to write poetry.
w h i c h B a r t h o l o m e w saves the k i n g d o m from Consequently, Sexton began taking courses in
the threatening ' o o b l e c k ' (a sticky ooze) in­ J o h n H o l m e ' s poetry w o r k s h o p at the Boston
vented b y the k i n g ' s magicians. C e n t e r for A d u l t Education, and her talent was
In Horton Hears a Who! (1954), an a l l e g o r y immediately recognized. She received a schol­
for the situation o f J a p a n after Hiroshima, arship in 1958 to the Antioch Writers' Confer­
Seuss points to the potential dangers of ence, and later that y e a r she w a s accepted into
461 SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM

Robert L o w e l l ' s graduate writing seminar at their darling smiles pasted on for eternity.
Boston University, w h e r e she met and became Regular Bobbsey Twins.
friends with S y l v i a Plath, Maxine K u m i n , and T h a t story.
G e o r g e Starbuck. In i960 she published her Indeed, Sexton retold 'that story' or fairy stor-
first important collection of poetry, To Bedlam ies because she wanted to unveil the u g l y truths
and Part Way Back, and she also began teach- they contained to question the deadliness o f
ing poetry at H a r v a r d and Radcliffe. T h r o u g h - b o u r g e o i s life, the p o w e r relations between the
out the 1960s Sexton w o n numerous prizes and sexes, and the oppression o f w o m e n . H e r out-
published several collections of poetry, but she l o o k on w o m e n ' s liberation w a s not optimistic,
also suffered from severe depressions, attempt- but her fairy-tale p o e m s can be considered
ed suicide, and w a s hospitalized on occasion. 'feminist' in the manner in w h i c h they seek to
She w o n the Pulitzer Prize for Live or Die in deal with the 'true situation' o f w o m e n during
1967, and she taught at Boston University, the 1950s and 1960s and undermine the false
w o r k e d at the A m e r i c a n Place T h e a t r e , and promises o f the classical fairy tales. JZ
conducted poetry w o r k s h o p s in her h o m e . Hall, Caroline King Bernard, Anne Sexton
H o w e v e r , she continued to feel disturbed and (1989).
tried to commit suicide again in 1970, the y e a r Middlebrook, Diane Wood, Anne Sexton: A
before she published Transformations, which Biography (1992).
Sexton, Linda Gray, Searching for Mercy Street:
was performed in an operatic adaptation in
My Journey Back to my Mother, Anne Sexton
Minneapolis in 1973. T h i s w a s also the y e a r in (1996).
which she divorced her husband and w a s hos-
pitalized at the M c L e a n ' s Hospital. T h e f o l l o w - S H A K E S P E A R E , W I L L I A M (1564-1616), E n g l i s h
ing y e a r she took her life in the g a r a g e o f her p l a y w r i g h t , poet, director, and actor, w h o uses
home b y carbon monoxide poisoning. forms of the w o r d 'fairy' in at least ten of his
A l l Sexton's poems are intensely personal plays, as well as in Venus and Adonis. S h a k e s -
and reflect the pain and suffering she endured peare mentions elves in five p l a y s ; n y m p h s in
during her life. Transformations is unique in eight p l a y s , Venus and Adonis, The Passionate
that she gains distance on her personal p r o b - Pilgrim, and the Sonnets; sprites o r supernat-
lems b y transposing them on to fairy-tale fig- ural spirits in 20 p l a y s , Venus and Adonis, Troi-
ures and situations. T h e b o o k consists o f 17 lus and Cressida, and The Rape of Lucrèce;
poems taken from the * G r i m m s ' Children's and goblins and hobgoblins in five p l a y s . T h e s e
Household Tales, and a m o n g them are such references, as w e l l as m a r k e d presence o f fairies
classics as * ' S n o w White and the S e v e n in the w o r k s o f Spenser, D r a y t o n , and L y l y ,
D w a r f s ' , ' T h e * F r o g P r i n c e ' , *'Rumpelstilt- a m o n g m a n y other contemporaries, indicate
skin', *'Rapunzel', ' R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' , ^ C i n - that fairy folk and legends w e r e familiar to
derella', and *'Hansel and G r e t e l ' as well as Shakespeare's audience.
such lesser-known ones as ' T h e W h i t e S n a k e ' In The Anatomy of Puck, thus far the longest
and ' T h e Little Peasant'. In each of the p o e m s , recent study o f Shakespeare's general use o f
written in free v e r s e , Sexton has a prologue in fairy material, K . M . * B r i g g s maintains that the
which she addresses social and psychological Elizabethan era w a s a golden age o f fairy lore.
issues such as sexual abuse, abandonment, in- She ascribes this to an increasing number o f
cest, commodification, alienation, and sexual y e o m a n writers w h o had learned fairy lore
identity. T h e n she retells the G r i m m s ' tale in a from their ancestors and felt freer to articulate
modern idiom with striking and frequently it in an a g e less intimidated b y fears o f heresy.
comic metaphors and with references to her B r i g g s hints at, but does not elaborate upon,
own experiences. Instead of a moral at the end, the tenor o f humanism and humanists w h o , like
there is a coda that raises disturbing questions M a r l o w e ' s D r Faustus, w e r e intrigued b y o p -
about the issues with which she has dealt. T h u s portunities to tinker with the supernatural. T h e
'Cinderella' does not end on a happy note. In- alchemical and necromantic interests o f such
stead Sexton writes: scholars are but further evidence o f a g r o w i n g
Cinderella and the prince, fascination with the human p o w e r to affect,
lived, they say, happily e v e r after, e v e n to c o m m a n d , the universe. In such an at-
like two dolls in a museum case mosphere, fairies, sprites, and elves w e r e m o r e
never bothered b y diapers or dust, innocent familiars than devils, w h i l e n y m p h s
never arguing o v e r the timing of an e g g , and nature spirits e v o k e d ancient G r e e k and
never telling the same story twice, R o m a n beliefs harmonious with the taste for
never getting a middle-aged spread, the classical past.
SHARP, EVELYN 462

W i t h rare exceptions, h o w e v e r , the origins make his master's wishes come true, creating
o f Shakespeare's fairy lore remain uncertain. illusions, charming mortals and monsters alike,
Celtic legend is the most frequently i n v o k e d , and controlling the weather. T h e air surround-
though often questionable, source. Perhaps the ing the island is 'full of spirits', as Caliban, the
Shakespearian fairy with the clearest g e n e a l o g y resident monster and colonial, complains. T h e
is O b e r o n o f A Midsummer Night's Dream, p l a y ' s masque includes goddesses like Iris and
w h o s e avatar is A u b e r o n , the fairy k i n g o f features a pageant o f supernaturals.
Huon de Bordeaux, a 15th-century romance. T h e tiniest of all Shakespeare's fairies is
G e n e r a l l y , Shakespeare's fairies serve as Mab, recognized in Shakespeare's England as
light embellishments with a strong appeal for queen o f the fairies. In Romeo and Juliet she
audiences. P a g e a n t r y , so entrancing to Eliza- drives a nutshell coach drawn b y ants and small
bethan c e r e m o n y and theatre, w a s enhanced b y enough to light on suitors' noses. She is touted
the addition o f glittering creatures with m a g i c here for her ability to make men dream of love
p o w e r s . A s Shakespeare's A Midsummer and courtship.
Night's Dream illustrates so w e l l , portrayals o f Perhaps the strongest Shakespearian proof
fairies w e r e h i g h l y effective in creating the at- that fairies w e r e conventional enough in the
mosphere desirable in masques. lore and literature o f the era to be mocked and
Shakespeare's fairies appeared in several parodied appears in The Merry Wives of Wind-
sizes and guises: in a stature equal to that o f sor. Here the fairies, though the size of children
v e r y y o u n g children, as full-sized o r e v e n out- and ruled b y an adult-sized queen, are not real
sized mortals, as miniature creatures, as h o b - fairies. B r i g g s has pointed out h o w faithfully
goblins, as g o o d and as evil spirits. In general, these false fairies reflect popular beliefs. T h e y
h o w e v e r , fairies in the literature o f this period carry torches of g l o w w o r m s and rattles for
w e r e meant to be charming figures o f fun, and fairy bells. L i k e g o o d legendary fairies of their
the frequent appearance o f full-length portraits era, they dance around in a circle and control
o f w i c k e d fairies w a s , with rare exceptions (see the order o f things. But the ultimate Shake-
M O R G A N L E F A Y ) , a later phenomenon. spearian evidence of the fairy fashion m a y be
Most o f Shakespeare's references to fairies that Macbeth's witches k n o w the traditional
are brief. T h e r e are three notable exceptions: A terpsichorean kinship of fairies and witches.
Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, and Both witches and fairies dance, as the witches
The Merry Wives of Windsor. Outstandingly sing, like 'elves and fairies in a ring'. JSN
fey a m o n g Shakespeare's p l a y s is, o f course, A Blount, Dale M., 'Modifications in Occult
Midsummer Night's Dream, t w o o f w h o s e chief Folklore as a Comic Device in Shakespeare's A
Midsummer Night's Dream , Fifteenth-Century
characters are O b e r o n and Titania, k i n g and
Studies, 9 (1984).
queen o f the fairies. T h e same p l a y features
P u c k , also k n o w n as R o b i n G o o d f e l l o w . His Briggs, Katherine M., The Anatomy of Puck
appeal to generations o f theatregoers m a y be (ï959)-
attributed to his mischief-making charm as a Levy, Michael-Marc, 'The Transformations of
hobgoblin or his philosophical u n m a s k i n g o f Oberon: The Use of Fairies in Seventeenth
Century Literature' (Diss., University of
' W h a t fools these mortals b e ' . In this p l a y , the
Minnesota, 1982).
actions o f fairies both divide and unify three
Milward, Peter, 'Fairies in Shakespeare's Later
w o r l d s — t h e d r e a m w o r l d , the w o r l d o f the Plays', English Language and Literature, 22
fairies, and the w o r l d o f ordinary mortal af- (1985).
fairs. T h e intervention o f the fairies in the lives Tave, Stuart M., Lovers, Clowns and Fairies: An
o f mortals is part o f the d r e a m w o r l d that unites Essay on Comedies (1993).
the lovers with their desired partners and S H A R P , E V E L Y N (1869-1955), English writer
solves all the problems in the play, partly b y and suffragette, w h o joined the famous Yellow
potions and spells, but ultimately b y means o f Book staff in 1895 and began publishing stories,
the fairy ex machina. articles, novels, and b o o k s for children. A s a
The Tempest is densely populated with pacifist and feminist, she became deeply com-
strange creatures, some o f w h o m are fairy-like, mitted to doing relief w o r k in G e r m a n y after
but some o f w h o m , like Caliban, seem to chal- W o r l d W a r I , and her concern in the welfare of
lenge or e v e n defy classification. P r o s p e r o , the children led her to writing The London Child
typical humanist scholar, spends too much time (1927) and The Child Grows Up (1929), two
on his b o o k s . B e c o m i n g a wizard king, he con- studies o f working-class life, and The African
jures A r i e l , the airy spirit w h o m m a n y call an Child (1931 ) , which deals with social conditions
elemental. ' A s swift as thought', A r i e l can in Africa. H e r fairy-tale b o o k s for children,
SHARP, EVELYN An unusually mild dragon who loves to read features in Evelyn Sharp's 'The Last of the
Dragons', collected in Round the World to Wympland, illustrated by Alice *Woodward.
SHEPARD, ERNEST HOWARD 464

Wymps and Other Fairy Tales (1897), All the solid w o r k in subsequent years, but the P o o h
Way to Fairyland (1898), The Other Side of the b o o k s o v e r s h a d o w e d all subsequent efforts.
Sun (1900), Round the World to Wympland Most memorable w a s Wind in the Willows
(1902), w e r e written early in her career and (1931), which Shepard considered his favourite
w e r e not as explicitly political as her other d r a w i n g s . H e visited the aged Kenneth * G r a -
writings. Y e t there is a sense in m a n y o f her hame and sketched the riverbank and meadows
tales that rebellion against the accepted notions w h e r e the characters lived and cavorted. He
of b e h a v i o u r and propriety will lead to greater brought them alive in a manner that G r a h a m e
self-awareness on the part o f the y o u n g protag­ especially liked. H a v i n g lost his wife suddenly
onists. Certainly in one o f her best tales, ' T h e in 1927, Shepard threw himself into his w o r k ,
Spell o f the Magician's D a u g h t e r ' , Firefly, the and in the 1930s he illustrated 14 books as well
y o u n g heroine, realizes her full potential as a as executing his regular w o r k for Punch and
unique w o m a n b y exercising her imaginative various other projects.
p o w e r s and o v e r c o m i n g tyranny. JZ In the late 1940s, commissions began to de­
cline and he w a s let g o b y Punch in 1953. T h i s
SHEPARD, ERNEST HOWARD (1879-1976), B r i t ­ invigorated him, h o w e v e r , and he illustrated
ish illustrator and author, best remembered for nine b o o k s in 1954 and 1955 alone (Modern
the black-and-white ink d r a w i n g s a c c o m p a n y ­ Fairy Tales, 1955; Pancake, 1957; Briar Rose,
ing A . A . *Milne's Christopher R o b i n and 1958). Shepard interpreted some traditional
W i n n i e - t h e - P o o h stories. A consummate p r o ­ fairy tales including those b y Hans Christian
fessional w h o s e output w a s constant and con­ *Andersen in 1962, but his last project w a s to
sistent, Shepard illustrated nearly 100 b o o k s create coloured editions of Winnie-the-Pooh
w h i l e contributing regularly to Punch and and The House at Pooh Corner. Shepard's gentle
other periodicals. observation of life w a s combined with a pen­
T h e son o f an architect and a mother w h o s e chant for accuracy. His sensitive draftsmanship
father w a s a distinguished watercolourist, S h e - contained a delicacy which generated a w h i m ­
pard's ability w a s innate. His mother's untime­ sical sense o f magic. HNBC
ly death disrupted the family, and Shepard w a s Knox, Rawle (ed.), The Works of E. H. Shepard
enrolled at the prestigious St P a u l ' s School in (1980).
L o n d o n (under the auspices o f an uncle w h o Meyer, Susan E., A Treasury of the Great
Children's Book Illustrators (1983).
taught there). His talent for d r a w i n g surfaced
Shepard, E. H., Drawn from Memory (1957).
here, and he enjoyed free range to explore his
visual imagination. Despite significant success S H E R M A N , D E L I A ( 1 9 5 1 - ) , A m e r i c a n writer of
at the R o y a l A c a d e m y S c h o o l s , Shepard lacked historical fantasy novels. In Through a Brazen
confidence to pursue a career as an oil painter Mirror (1989), Sherman uses a traditional E n g ­
and followed the m o r e pragmatic course o f il­ lish ballad ( ' T h e F a m o u s F l o w e r of Serving
lustration. T h i s calling w a s marked with the Men') as the basis for an elegant exploration of
acceptance o f a d r a w i n g b y Punch in 1907. H e gender issues. In The Porcelain Dove (1993),
also b e g a n illustrating b o o k s at this time, in­ she w o r k s motifs from classic French fairy tales
cluding David Copperfield and Aesop's Fables, into a study o f socio-sexual mores during the
but W o r l d W a r I interrupted his career, and he French R e v o l u t i o n . She also uses fairy-tale
joined the artillery. Shepard continued to sub­ themes extensively in short fiction and poetry,
mit d r a w i n g s to Punch, and after the armistice including ' T h e Printer's D a u g h t e r ' (1995),
he w a s invited to a regular position on its staff. based on the Russian story ' T h e S n o w C h i l d ' ;
H e r e he w a s connected with A . A . Milne to ' S n o w W h i t e to the P r i n c e ' (1995), a poignant
illustrate verses for When We Were Very look at mother—daughter relationships; and
Young, submitted to the magazine in 1923. ' T h e F a i r y C o n y - C a t c h e r ' (1998), a b a w d y ac­
Despite initial m i s g i v i n g s , Milne capitulated, count o f the Elizabethan fairy court. TW
and the complete b o o k appeared in 1924. T h i s
forged the alliance that resulted in Winnie-the- SHWARTZ, SUSAN (1949- ) , A m e r i c a n writer of
Pooh (1926); Now We Are Six (1927); and The science fiction and fantasy novels. Shwartz spe­
House at Pooh Corner (1928). A l t h o u g h based cializes in sagas set in thoroughly detailed 'al­
on photographs and visits to Milne's farm, S h e ­ ternative-worlds' in which the history of the
pard w a s acutely a w a r e o f a child's ' p o w e r to Orient has been changed b y the addition of
transform reality into something m a g i c a l ' . T h e m a g i c . Silk Roads and Shadows (1988), set in
success o f these b o o k s engendered creative lands resembling Byzantium and China,
frustrations for both men. Shepard did v e r y w e a v e s ' T u l k u ' legends into the story of a
465 SINGING RINGING TREE, T H E

w o m a n i n v o l v e d in the silk trade. The Grail of S I N G E R , I S A A C B A S H E V I S (1904-91), writer o f

Hearts (1992), inspired b y Arthurian legends, Y i d d i s h stories, n o v e l s , memoirs, and chil­
tells the story of K u n d r y (from * W a g n e r ' s Par­ dren's b o o k s . Most o f his w o r k has been trans­
sifal) and the Fisher K i n g . Shwartz is also the lated into E n g l i s h , with his o w n careful
editor of Arabesques (2 vols.; 1988, 1989), c o l ­ direction and participation, and much of it re­
lections of original stories based on the tales of flects motifs o f J e w i s h folklore. S i n g e r w a s
The *Arabian Nights. TW born in P o l a n d but emigrated to the United
States before W o r l d W a r I I . His fiction is
populated with demons, d y b b u k s , imps,
SIBELIUS, JEAN (1865—1957), highly individual
witches, ghosts, angels, magicians, and other
Finnish composer, w h o s e importance w a s
traditional figures (including the G o l e m ) s u m ­
recognized b y a government decision to grant
moned in part from the mystical vision o f his
him a pension for life w h e n he w a s 32. His
father, a Hassidic rabbi, but d r a w n with the
eight symphonies (written between 1899 and
sharp-edged realism that characterized his
1924) offered n e w thinking on the symphonic
mother. Fuelled b y his parents' active storytell­
form, while his early interest in the Finnish na­
ing and his o w n experience o f shtetl culture,
tional epic, *Kalevala, led to compositions,
Singer believed that all g o o d literature has
such as the symphonic poems En Saga, Finlan-
roots in ethnic lore. Zlateh the Goat and Other
dia, and Tapiola, which either deal with F i n ­
Stories (1966), The Fearsome Inn (1967), and
nish nationalism, or (as in the case of Tapiola),
When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw and Other Stor­
draw on images o f supernatural figures from
ies (1968) w o n critical acclaim as N e w b e r y
the forest. Direct influence from the Kalevala
H o n o r B o o k s , w h i l e The Fools of Chelm (1973)
emerged with the Kullervo Symphony o f 1892
remains an all-time favourite with children. A
and the Lemminkdinen Suite of 1896, w h o s e
deceptively simple style, rhythmic pace, and
third movement, ' T h e S w a n o f T u o n e l a ' , d e ­
orally tuned narrative patterns contribute to
scribes Lemminkàinen's quest for the S w a n on
the folkloric tone o f his w o r k . ( S i n g e r ' s distin­
the river of death ( T u o n e l a ) . TH
guished illustrators include Maurice *Sendak,
U r i Shulevitz, M a r g o t *Zemach, and N o n n y
SlNDBAD (musicals). T h e mythological sailor- H o g r o g i a n . ) In his adult b o o k s , too, S i n g e r
hero has been the subject o f no fewer than four j u g g l e d fantastical dreams and desperate
N e w Y o r k musicals, dating back to an 1868 plights, with the ultimate miracle often d e ­
musical burlesque. A n 1872 version featured pending on the w i s d o m of innocents, as in
the beautiful L o u i s e Montague in the title role, ' G i m p e l the F o o l ' (1954). S i n g e r w o n a U S N a ­
and the 1898 B r o a d w a y production b y H a r r y tional B o o k A w a r d for A Day of Pleasure: Stor­
B . *Smith (subtitled ' T h e Maid o f B a l s o r a ' ) ies of a Boy Growing up in Warsaw (1969) and
also had Sindbad as a trouser role. T h e most received the N o b e l Prize for Literature in 1978.
popular Sindbad w a s the 1918 musical c o m e d y BH
featuring A l J o l s o n as the black-faced c l o w n Allison, Alida, Isaac Bashevis Singer: Children's
Inbad w h o poses as the famous Sindbad and Stories and Childhood Memoirs (1996).
gets caught up in various misadventures in an­ Collar, Mary L., 'In His Father's House: Singer,
cient Baghdad. TSH Folklore and the Meaning of Time', Studies in
American Jewish Literature, 1 (1981).
Lenz, Millicent, 'Archetypal Images of
S I N C L A I R , C A T H E R I N E (1800-64), Scottish writer
Otherworlds in Singer's "Menaseh's Dream"
whose children's b o o k , Holiday House (1839), and Tolkien's "Leaf by Niggle"', Children's
includes ' U n c l e D a v i d ' s Nonsensical S t o r y Literature Association Quarterly, 19.1 (spring
about Giants and Fairies'. T h o u g h her preface 1994).
to Holiday House looks back wistfully to the Schwarz, Martin, 'Two Practitioners o f the
days when children w e r e like ' w i l d horses on Grotesque: Sherwood Anderson and Isaac
the prairies' instead o f being stuffed with Bashevis Singer', in Olena H. Saciuk (ed.), The
Shape of the Fantastic (1990).
k n o w l e d g e , Uncle D a v i d ' s story is a moral
one, about h o w indolent and gluttonous Master
N o - B o o k rejects education and is seized b y
Giant Snap-'em-up. T h e g r u e s o m e details o f SINGING RINGING TREE, THE (DOS Singende
h o w the giant prepares him for dinner m a y Klingende Bdumchen), a 1957 East G e r m a n film
have influenced E d w a r d *Knatchbull-Hugues- in the * G r i m m s t y l e — t h o u g h not directly
sen in his stories about ogres and their eating based on any one specific t a l e — w h i c h cap­
habits. GA tured the imagination of y o u n g B B C television
SLEEPING BEAUTY The entire court is still asleep as the prince approaches the lovely sleeping princess in
Charles *Perrault's 'Sleeping Beauty'. This anonymous illustration was published in Les Contes des fées
offerts à Bébé ( c i 9 0 0 ) .
467 'SLEEPING BEAUTY'

viewers in the 1960s. It w a s written and direct­ Duncan Pétrie (ed.), Cinema and the Realms of
ed b y Francesco Stefani. Enchantment (1993).
Under a title perhaps inspired b y the Koenig, Ingelore, et al., Zwischen Marx und
Muck: DEFA-filmefur Kinder (1996).
G r i m m s ' ' T h e Singing Soaring L a r k ' , the film
tells the story of haughty self-willed Princess
SIR CAWAIN AND THE CREEN KNIGHT, late 14th-
Thousandbeauty, w h o refuses to w e d her latest
royal suitor unless he brings her the fabled but century alliterative Arthurian romance. Its an­
hitherto unattainable tree. After a long, ardu­ o n y m o u s E n g l i s h a u t h o r — w h o s e w o r k sur­
ous journey the prince finds it in an enchanted v i v e s in a single manuscript ( C o t t o n N e r o
grotto where its guardian, a malevolent dwarf, A 1 0 ) — f u s e d t w o source motifs from Celtic l e ­
gives it to him on condition that he wins the gend to create a dazzling literary fairy tale. Sir
princess's love before sunset. H o w e v e r , w h e n G a w a i n , challenged to a B e h e a d i n g G a m e b y
he presents her with the tree, it remains silent, the supernatural G r e e n K n i g h t , travels into the
and she rejects him. In an episode that e v o k e s northern wilderness to keep his pledge, finding
*'Beauty and the Beast', he is then forced to hospitality at the castle o f Sir Bertilak and
assume the b o d y of a bear and carries off the temptation from Bertilak's wife. T h e magical
princess to the grotto w h e r e , under a spell cast elements and threefold repetitions o f a folktale
by the dwarf, she becomes u g l y . S l o w l y she are combined with v i v i d description, p s y c h o ­
learns to l o v e nature—birds, animals, logical insight, sly humour, and the moral
fish—and with each act of goodness regains complexity characteristic o f classic fantasy. S R
part of her former beauty. A t the moment
when she realizes her l o v e for the prince, he SIR ORFEO, 14th-century a n o n y m o u s E n g l i s h
loses his bear-form, her looks are fully re­ v e r s e romance w h i c h audaciously transforms
stored, and the tree sings and rings in affirm­ the G r e e k myth o f Orpheus into a charming
ation of the lessons they have learned. T h e fairy tale. Queen Heurodis ( E u r y d i c e ) is stolen
dwarf is disposed o f b y a lightning flash which from her husband Orfeo b y the K i n g o f F a i r y ­
causes him, like *Rumpelstiltskin, to disappear land (the g o d H a d e s ) and taken to his under­
into the ground. g r o u n d realm. L i k e Orpheus, O r f e o is a
In the 1950s the communist East G e r m a n superlative harper, w h o s e music wins back his
government was uncertain about the use o f wife. U n l i k e the m y t h , h o w e v e r , the romance
G r i m m as a basis for films for children (see ends happily; the t w o return triumphantly to
C O M M U N I S T F O L K - T A L E F I L M S ) ; in principle the the k i n g d o m w h i c h their l o y a l steward has kept
cultural policy-makers preferred stories that safe for them. T h e p o e m contains much au­
contained social analysis. F o l l o w i n g this line, thentic fairy lore, including the strong trad­
some East G e r m a n critics condemned The itional association o f fairies with the dead. S R
Singing Ringing Tree as petty bourgeois and as
resembling a product o f the capitalist entertain­ SLAVIC A N D BALTIC COUNTRIES, (see p.468)
ment industry. Children, h o w e v e r , liked it.
Consequently the film p r o v o k e d a dispute ' S L E E P I N G BEAUTY* ( ' B r i a r R o s e ' ) appears in the
about the criteria to be used in selecting stories Catalan Frayre de Joy e Sor de Placer (14th cen­
for adaptation for children. t u r y ) , as ' T r o y l u s and Zellandine' in the
In the U K there w a s no such argument. F r e n c h Perceforest (16th century), as ' S o l e ,
After a showing at the 1957 E d i n b u r g h F i l m L u n a e T a l i a ' in The ^Pentamerone (The Penta-
Festival, The Singing Ringing Tree w a s ac­ meron, 1634—6) b y Giambattista *Basile, as ' L a
quired b y the B B C for inclusion in a series Belle au bois dormant' in *Histoires ou contes du
called Tales from Europe. Screened several temps passé (Stories or Tales of Times Past,
times in the 1960s as a three-part serial, its en­ 1697) b y Charles *Perrault, and as ' D o r n r ô s -
closed hand-painted studio setting, and its chen' in *Kinder- und Hausmdrchen (Children's
equation of beauty and morality, struck in and Household Tales, 1 8 1 2 - 1 5 ) b y J a c o b and
children a chord which resonated for decades. Wilhelm Grimm.
A s a result, aided b y its susceptibility to a 1990s T h e story begins with a royal couple's w i s h
ecological interpretation, it w a s brought in for a child. W h e n the b a b y is born, the parents
to distribution in 1990 and remains today as plan a celebration but invite o n l y 12 o f the 13
well k n o w n in the U K as it is in G e r m a n y . w i s e w o m e n (godmothers, fairies) in the realm.
TAS Perrault makes the uninvited fairy a disgrun­
Creeser, Rosemary, 'Cocteau For Kids: tled old w o m a n , long absent from the court,
Rediscovering "The Singing Ringing Tree" ', in and creates a g o o d fairy w h o hides so that she
Slavic and Baltic countries. A systematic collection of
folk tales did not start in Eastern Europe until the middle
of the 19th century, which reflects the late development
of national literatures in this region as compared to most
Western countries. A m o n g the first collections in the
Russian Empire were Russian Fairy Tales (i860) by Ivan
Khudyakov (1842—76), and the famous eight-volume
collection of Russian Fairy Tales (1855—63) by Aleksandr
*Afanasyev, the first serious Russian scholar of Slavic
folklore. Unlike the *Grimms' collection, these publica­
tions never reached a wide audience; however, many of
the subsequent retellings were based on Afanasyev's ver­
sions.
On the other hand, already at the beginning of the 19th
century, the first literary fairy tales appeared in Russia,
clearly influenced by German romantic writers. The
Black Hen, or The Underground People (1829) by Antony
Pogorelsky (pseudonym of Aleksei Perovsky,
1777—1836), bears a close resemblance in plot and style to
The Nutcracker, Pogorelsky was a good friend of E . T . A .
*Hoffmann. Like its model, this didactic story starts in
the everyday and takes its young protagonist into a
magical realm. A similar plot and overt didacticism is to
be found in The Town in the Music-Box (1834) by Vladi­
mir Odoyevsky (1803—63). Unlike most fairy tales from
the same period, often written by less talented female
authors, these two are still popular today.
In his versified fairy tales, Alexander *Pushkin, Rus­
sian national poet, used well-known European plots in
The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Heroes (1833),
The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish (1833), and The
Tale of the Priest and Balda, his Hired Hand (1830, pub.
1840) as well as popular chapbooks in The Tale of Tsar
Saltan (1831) and romantic literary sources in The Tale of
the Golden Cockerel (1834). Pushkin's fairy tales contained
a biting political satire of Tsarist Russia, and some of
them were banned by the censorship. T h e y have tangible
Russian settings in a historical and social context, and
they were the first to introduce colloquial language into
the literary fairy tale.
Many 19th-century Russian writers wrote fairy tales
for children and adults. One of the most popular was The
Scarlet Flower (1859) by Sergei Aksakov (1791—1859), a
version of *'Beauty and the Beast'. The contribution of
L e v T o l s t o y is especially significant. A n ardent educa­
tionalist, Tolstoy published several school primers, which
contained retellings of folk and fairy tales from all over
469 SLAVIC AND BALTIC COUNTRIES

the world. These collections, addressed to peasant chil­

dren, are very simple in structure and style and also use
typical Russian settings. Another classic was Frog the
Traveller (1887) by Vsevolod Garshin ( 1 8 5 5 - 8 8 ) , the
forerunner of animal tales.
Fairy tales flourished during the so-called Silver A g e
of Russian literature from the turn of the century to 1 9 1 7 ,
when many symbolist poets wrote fairy tales addressed to
an adult audience. Parallel to this highly artistic trend, a
vast number of sentimental and didactic tales were writ­
ten for children.
During the communist regime in the Soviet Union,
fairy tales occupied an ambivalent position. On the one
hand, they were treated with suspicion, as a 'bourgeois'
form, and pronounced dangerous, escapist, and undesir­
able reading matter. Kornei *Chukovsky and Samuil
*Marshak, both translators of foreign classics, education­
alists, and authors of verse fairy tales, worked hard for
the preservation of the Russian fairy-tale tradition and
the creation of new, modern fairy tales. Chukovsky's
pedagogical pamphlet From Two to Five (1928) contains a
chapter on the importance of fairy tales for the imagin­
ation and psychological development of young children.
On the other hand, fairy tales for children were the
only genre where authors, including major adult authors,
were relatively free from the prescriptions of 'socialist
realism', the approved method in literature and art. T h e
tradition of camouflaged criticism of the authorities,
going back to Afanasyev, Pushkin, and Tolstoy, was
prominent in the 20th-century Russian fairy tale and
yielded some excellent results.
As early as 1928, Yuri Olesha (1899—1960) published a
fairy-tale novel entitled The Three Fat Men, an allegorical
story of struggle against oppression. Especially during
the 1930s, the worst years of communist terror, fairy tales
became a legitimate genre for many writers. Most of them
depict the abstract struggle between good and evil.
Veniamin Kaverin (1902—87) was rather transparent in
his The Tale of Mitya and Masha, of the Merry Chimney­
sweep and Master Golden Hands (1939), where a girl is
kidnapped by evil forces and carried away to a distant
country where everything is brown. The connotation of
the colour brown was obvious in the late 1930s. T h e kid­
napper is Kashchey the Immortal, the traditional evil fig­
ure of Russian folk tales. However, both the evil country
and the villain could be easily related to contemporary
Soviet conditions. Other fairy tales by Kaverin are
SLAVIC AND BALTIC COUNTRIES 470

more firmly anchored in reality, where good and evil

magical forces intrude. The tales focus on ethical issues
and often portray artists—poets, painters, musicians—as
possessing magical powers, which in the Soviet context
was quite a subversive idea. In this regard, Kaverin was
by far the most original fairy-tale writer of his gener­
ation.
Most of his contemporaries exploited the motif of the
infinite fulfilled wishes, as in The Rainbow Flower (1940)
by Valentin Katayev (1897—1986). The tendency to use
the everyday contemporary setting rather than send the
protagonist to a magical world, dominant in the Western
fairy tale, is typical of Soviet writers, presumably as a
compromise to the demands of 'realism'. Thus, in The
New Adventures of *Puss-in-Boots (1937), Yevgeni
*Schwartz places the famous character in a communist
youth summer camp and lets him defeat an evil frog-
witch, representing the capitalist past. Another familiar
fairy-tale figure appears in Old Man Khottabson (1938) by
Lazar Lagin (1903—79), a free adaptation of a minor Brit­
ish classic, The Brass Bottle by F . *Anstey. A genie is
released from his bottle-prison by a Russian boy and sets
out to fulfil his rescuer's wishes. Naturally his ways and
morals come into conflict with the young communist, and
his obliging magic causes many funny, but awkward situ­
ations. A t the end the old man is 'reformed' and becomes
an exemplary Soviet citizen.
Using foreign sources and adapting them to the de­
clared needs of the Soviet audience was a common prac­
tice among Russian writers, possibly due to the cultural
isolation of the Soviet Union, where most contemporary
Western fairy tales were totally unknown at least until
the 1960s. Thus, the most popular Russian fairy-tale
novel The Wizard of the Emerald City (1939) by Alek­
sandr *Volkov, is a slightly adapted version of The Won­
derful *Wicard of G\. Such adaptations focus mostly on
social improvements and group achievements rather than
individual development manifest in their models. In the
Russian version of*Pinocchio, entitled The Golden Key, or
The Adventures of Burattino (1935) by Aleksei T o l s t o y ,
the object of the quest is a key to a secret door concealing
a puppet theatre, which Burattino and his puppet friends
happily take into possession. N o psychological change is
allowed or even suggested. The puppet remains a puppet,
and individual fulfilment is replaced by collective happi­
ness, achieved through socially beneficial labour.
47i SLAVIC AND BALTIC COUNTRIES

Thus, the fairy-tale form became in the Soviet Union

the main channel for subversive literature. Quite a num­
ber of books followed the traditional folk-tale pattern: the
hero comes to a country oppressed by a tyrant or devas­
tated by a dragon and delivers it from evil. In the plays by
Yevgeni Schwartz, loosely based on Hans Christian
*Andersen's fairy tales and other famous plots, political
undertones are promptly amplified. Many of Schwartz's
plays were banned when the Soviet censorship detected a
possible satire on the regime: The Emperor's New Clothes
(1934, pub. i960) and The Shadow (1940) both deal with
power and falseness; The Dragon (1943) makes use of the
dragon-slayer motif to show how liberators can become
tyrants. A n implicit critique of the ruling 'revolutionary
élite in the Soviet Union', the play was produced during
World War II and accepted by official Soviet criticism as
a satire on Germany; however, the true target was obvi­
ous.
It is sometimes debatable as to whether the writers
consciously included political satire in their narratives. It
is clearly the case, however, whenever the falsehood of
the tyrant is emphasized. One such example is The Land
of Crooked Mirrors (1951) by Vitali Gubarev (1912—81),
which could exploit the motif of a Looking-Glass country
because Carroll's classic was at that time practically un­
known in the Soviet Union. Behind the looking glass, the
main character Olga finds not only her own reflection
(which magnifies all her worst traits) but a country where
crooked mirrors serve the purpose of unscrupulous
rulers, distorting reality and making beautiful things ugly
and vice v e r s a — a more tangible form of Orwell's N e w -
speak. Naturally, Olga triumphs over evil and witnesses a
revolution. A s with Schwartz's plays, the depicted
country allegedly embodied hateful capitalism, and
Olga—wearing a Soviet school uniform with a red
tie—supposedly represented the victorious ideas of com­
munism.
The practice of reading between lines and assuming
that words always meant something else than their dic­
tionary definition became a habit with the Soviet adult
audience, resuscitating the old phenomenon called in
Russian 'Aesopian language', and partially reminiscent of
the notion of palimpsest in contemporary feminist criti­
cism. Unfortunately, like any artistic device which is ab­
used, the satirical arrowhead became more and more
blunt as time went by. Likewise, the obtrusive didacti­
cism of Russian fairy-tale writers eventually resulted in
SLAVIC AND BALTIC COUNTRIES 472

a vast number of fairy-tale novels exploiting the same

motif of a wish-granting magical object used for the pur­
pose of teaching the protagonist a moral lesson, as in the
works by Yuri Tomin (1929— ) , Sofia Prokofieva (1928— ),
or Valeri Medvedev (1925— ) . In all of these texts, the
struggle between 'right' and 'wrong' values, always ex­
plicitly or implicitly connected with Soviet versus West­
ern ideology, is the central theme. Individualism is
condemned and collectivism praised as a virtue.
Another popular strategy for a successful fairy tale was
educational. In these works, the protagonist was sent to a
country inhabited by numbers, colours, or musical instru­
ments so that the readers acquired some useful know­
ledge alongside the hero. The subversive effect of such
fairy tales was considerably less, if any.
A t best, fairy tales could be entertaining, creating a
childhood Utopia comparable with the Utopian promises
of the communist doctrine, as in the trilogy by Nikolai
Nosov (1908—76), portraying an idyllic society of mini­
ature people, Dunno and his Friends (1954). A much later,
but likewise popular author, Eduard Uspensky ( 1 9 3 7 - ),
showed possible influences from Western humorous and
nonsensical fairy tales, notably Astrid *Lindgren, espe­
cially in Uncle Theodor, the Dog and the Cat (1974).
More often, the limited access to fairy tales from the
West stimulated Soviet writers to fill in the gaps with
their own products, occasionally resulting in quite origin­
al works. However, the isolation inevitably led to stagna­
tion. In the 1980s Russian fairy tales, lacking inspiration
and insight from Western authors, were still primarily
didactic and politicized. This pertains even to the best
writers such as Irina Tokmakova (1929— ). T w o promin­
ent exceptions are Radi T o g o d i n and Vladislav Krapivin
(1938— ) , authors of philosophical, existential fairy tales,
completely free from any foreign influences, as well as
from ideology or didacticism. The popular novels of Kir
Bulychov ( 1 9 3 4 - ) combine elements of fairy tale and
science fiction.
In other Eastern European countries, the collection
and publication of fairy tales were closely connected with
movements of independence, the emergence of national
identity, and the establishment of a written literary lan­
guage.
T h e first collectors of folktales in Poland were Zorian
Chodakowski (1784—1825), Kazimierz Wojticki
a n Q l
(1807—79), Antoni Glinski (1817—66). Glinski's col­
lection The Polish Storyteller (1853) also contained Belo-
473 SLAVIC AND BALTIC COUNTRIES

russian and Lithuanian folklore. One of the first authors

of literary fairy tales was Maria Konopnicka (1842—1910),
the author of The Tale about the Gnomes and Marysia the
Orphan (1895), the pioneering work of Polish national
children's literature. Based on folklore, this fairy tale used
colloquial language, many everyday details, and warm
humour.
In the period between the wars, the most outstanding
work was the children's Utopian novel King Matt the First
(1923) by Janusz *Korczak. In communist Poland, as in
other Eastern European countries, fairy tales were often a
means of avoiding censorship, while presenting the faults
of society. Such are the novels by Jan Brzechwa
( 1 9 0 0 - 6 6 ) , with their eccentric wizards Mr Lens and Mr
Blot, also featuring characters from traditional tales, like
*'Little Red Riding Hood' and *'Sleeping Beauty'. Little
Carole (1959) by Maria Kruger (1911— ) is based on the
motif of a capricious wish-granting object.
Of all Slavic peoples, Czech folklore was greatly influ­
enced by the German tradition. T h e characteristic feature
of Czech folk tales is a cunning peasant or servant. T h e y
were first collected and retold by the poet and folklorist
Karel Erben (1811—70). The most famous Czech collect­
or and author of fairy tales was Bozena Nemcova
(1820—62), whose retellings were characterized by the
striving to overcome the romantic view of folklore and
create a more realistic and everyday touch. She also amp­
lified the female heroines of traditional fairy tales. Both
Erben and Nemcova published Slovak fairy tales, often
similar to Czech ones, but sometimes with a national fla­
vour. Alois Jirâsek (1851—1930) published Old C^ech Le­
gends (1894). Contemporary fairy tales, often with
satirical and political overtones, were written between the
wars by Jiri Volker (1900—24), Marie Majerovâ
(1882—1967), Karel *Capek, Vîtezslav Nezval (1900—58),
Vladislav Vancura (1891—1942), and Josef *Lada
(1887—1957). Among post-war works, Three Bananas
(1964) by Zdenek Slaby ( 1 9 3 0 - ) should be mentioned. It
seems that Slovak authors were less interested in fairy
tales than their Czech colleagues.
Yugoslavian (Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Bosnian,
Macedonian) fairy tales were collected by V u k Karadzic
(1787—1864). They show a strong influence of ancient
Greek and oriental sources. For instance, the oriental
trickster hero Hodja Nasreddin is also popular in Y u g o ­
slavian folk tales. The specific mixture of Christian and
Islamic tradition makes them different from other Slavic
SLAVIC AND BALTIC COUNTRIES 474

folklore. Literary fairy tales did not appear until after

World War I I . The Gnome from the Lost Country (1956)
by Ahmet Hromadzic ( 1 9 2 3 - ) is based on a Bosnian le­
gend.
Bulgaria was an agrarian country until the end of the
19th century, and its fairy tales reflect motifs from peasant
life. Half a millennium of Turkish occupation made the
liberation pathos of Bulgarian fairy tales prominent. The
two best-known characters of Bulgarian tales are Krali
Marko (featured also in Yugoslavian fairy tales), an au­
thentic historical figure, who became mythologized as a
heroic image, and Cunning Peter, a typical trickster.
There is also a cycle of humoristic tales about the lazy
and greedy inhabitants of the town of Gabrovo, similar to
the German Schildbiirger. A m o n g animal tales, cats play
a significant role. Systematic collection and publication of
folk tales in Bulgaria began in the late 19th century. The
Bulgarian writers Elin Pelin (1877—1949) and Angel
Karalijcev (1902—72) both retold traditional fairy tales
and wrote many original ones.
In the three Baltic countries, the development of fairy
tales has been closely connected with political history.
Estonia and Latvia existed as independent states only for
a short period between the two world wars, while Lithua­
nia has a long history as a powerful European realm, first
as an independent state, later in union with Poland.
T h e Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg (1862, similar to
the Finnish ^Kalevala) marks the origin of national litera­
ture. T h e first collection of fairy tales for children, Old
Tales of the Estonian People, was published in 1866 in Fin­
land. It was followed by Estonian Fairy Tales in 1884.
Around the turn of the century many writers retold or
imitated folk tales. During independence, realistic prose
dominated the fairy tale. During the Soviet occupation,
on the contrary, fairy tales became a powerful vehicle of
subversive literature, often based on allegory and animal
fable. T h e 1960s and 1970s saw the heyday of the literary
fairy tale. T h e most important work was the four-volume
Three Jolly Fellows (1972—82) by Eno Raud (1928—96),
depicting three imaginary beings, trolls or dwarfs, called
Muff, Half-Shoe, and Mossbeard, and their funny adven­
tures in an otherwise realistic world.
In Latvia folklore, especially the specific Latvian folk
song, dainas, was collected by Krisjanis Barons
(1835—1923). A n early literary tale was Little Devils
(1895) by Rudolfs Blaumanis (1863—1908). Karlis Skalbe
(1879—1945) was also a renowned author of fairy tales
475 SLAVIC AND BALTIC COUNTRIES

based on Latvian and international folklore. During the

period of independence, several allegorical fairy tales ap­
peared (otherwise literature from this period was mostly
realistic, focusing on class struggle). During the Soviet
occupation, folk and fairy tales were considered the most
'safe' genres, and the most popular ones. In most in­
stances, writers composed fairy tales intended for chil­
dren, as in the case of Imants Ziedonis (1933— ) . These
fairy tales naturally have many dimensions, addressing
both an adult and a young audience. Some fairy tales
were written by Latvian writers in exile; these were for
the most part quite conventional, showing clear influ­
ence from Western writers such as *Tolkien or Michael
*Ende.
Lithuania was closely connected to Poland for a long
time, and shared much of its folklore. Strange as it may
seem, this connection delayed the emergence of national
literature. The first literary tale, based on Lithuanian
folklore, appeared in 1905, written by Vincas Pietaris
( 1 8 5 0 - 1 9 0 2 ) . During independence the foremost author
of fairy tales was Pranas Masiotas (1863—1940). Under
Soviet occupation many writers, such as Kazys Boruta
(1905—65), sought inspiration in folklore and published
stories and novels based on folklore motifs. Contempor­
ary fairy tales, depicting magical realms or portraying
humanized animals and animated toys, often with didac­
tic tones, were written by Vincas Giedra (1929— ) , Vitau-
tas Petkevicius ( 1 9 3 0 - ) , and Kazys Saja (1932— ) . The
major author of fairy-tale plays was Violeta Palcinskaite
( 1 9 4 3 - ) . A n important landmark was the allegorical
fairy tale Clay Matthew, the King of Men (1978) by Pet­
kevicius, which described Lithuania's history in disguise.
Short, philosophical fairy tales were published by
Vytaute Zilinskaite (1930— ) , who also wrote an allegor­
ical fairy-tale novel set in the country of broken toys,
Travels to Tandadrika (1984).
After the fall of communism in the 1990s, the former
Soviet republics and satellites have tried to re-establish
and emphasize their national identity and language. Fairy
tales have proved to be an important part of their national
heritage, while the fairy-tale form appears to be the best
artistic device to treat the traumatic past and the compli­
cated present. They often have an optimistic tone, reflect­
ing the countries' hope for a better future. On the other
hand, a huge wave of translated Western fairy tales and
fantasy has inspired national authors to write original
works especially noticeable in the new trend of 'sword
SLOANE, A[LFRED] BALDWIN 476

and sorcery' fantasy in Poland. Also in Russia, new at­

tempts are being made to create indigenous fantasy, in­
spired by Tolkien, but based on traditional Russian epics.
MN

can counteract any harmful gift. E l e v e n fairies with his neighbour, and his mother seeks to
had g i v e n the b a b y such gifts as beauty, virtue, h a v e the c o o k make meals out of the prince's
wealth, and w i s d o m w h e n the 13 th interrupts children and his wife. T h e cook uses a subter­
with a prophecy: the girl will die at the age of fuge to save them, and in the end it is the queen
15 w h e n she pricks her finger with a spindle. mother w h o dies in a vat filled with vipers,
T h e 12th fairy modifies the p r o p h e c y to a toads, and snakes.
sleep o f 100 y e a r s . T h e k i n g tries to e v a d e fate T h i s ending has generally been eliminated
b y banning all spindles in the realm. T h e story in the fairy-tale tradition of the 19th and 20th
deals with the futility o f trying to escape one's centuries, especially w h e n the tale has been re­
fate, a theme familiar in Eastern literature. written or retold for children. Generally speak­
Despite precautions, the princess violates the ing, most traditional literary versions have
interdiction b y pricking a finger on a spindle sanitized the tale and place great emphasis on
b e l o n g i n g to an old w o m a n in a hidden r o o m the unfortunate plight of the helpless princess
in the castle. A l l the residents o f the castle, both and the v a l o u r of the rescuing prince. T h e most
human and animal, share her sleep. Perrault's sentimental version is, of course, the *Disney
g o o d fairy returns to ensure that the princess film o f 1959, but almost all of the classical pic­
will return to an unchanged w o r l d , unlike the ture b o o k s for children are no different. T h e
m o n k w h o followed a bird for 300 y e a r s , and great break in the tradition of the comatose
returned to a strange w o r l d ( ' M o n k F e l i x ' ) . princess and the daring prince comes in the
T h e storytellers p l a y with the idea o f halted 1970s when contemporary writers began to ex­
time, describing the comic attitudes o f the ser­ plore the political implications and sexual innu­
vants w h o s e daily chores had been interrupted endoes of the tale. T h u s , O l g a *Broumas and
at the onset o f the sleep. A l t h o u g h time has E m m a * D o n o g h u e turn the tale into a story
stopped within the castle, a briar thicket had about lesbianism. A n n e *Sexton explores sex­
g r o w n around it hiding it from sight. D u r i n g ual abuse, and J a n e * Y o l e n transforms it into a
the 100 y e a r s , bold knights had made attempts novel about the Holocaust. In his novella Briar
Rose (1996) R o b e r t * C o o v e r repeats and varies
to b r a v e the thicket but had died in the attempt.
the narrative ad nauseam to question the v e r ­
F i n a l l y a prince w a s able to pass through it to
acity o f the traditional tale. G i v e n the social
the palace and to find the sleeping princess. In
changes with regard to gender roles in Western
the early versions her d i s c o v e r e r rapes her, and
societies, it is inconceivable for the fairy-tale
she a w a k e n s w h e n her b a b y is born. But the
princess o f the classical ' S l e e p i n g - B e a u t y ' trad­
a w a k e n i n g is m o r e chaste in the Perrault v e r ­
ition to serve as a model for female readers in
sion. J u s t the prince's proximity arouses the
contemporary fairy tales. More appropriate, it
sleeping princess while the G r i m m s h a v e their
w o u l d seem, w o u l d be a tale in which the prin­
prince b e s t o w a kiss upon her lips, and the en­
cess has nothing but sleepless nights. H G
tire castle bustles with resumed activities that
Franci, Giovanna, and Zago, Ester, La bella
are related with comic j o y . T h i s story o f an
addormentata. Genesi e metamorfosi di una jiaba
interruption in time has the strange advantage
(1984).
of the sleeper's being able to take her w h o l e
w o r l d with her into the lapse. M o r e c o m m o n is Romain, Alfred, 'Zur Gestalt des Grimmschen
Dornrôschenmàrchens', Zeitschrift fiir
the situation o f a sleeper w h o a w a k e n s to find a
Volkskunde, 42 (1933).
w o r l d empty o f familiar faces. Here there is an
Vries, Jan de, 'Dornrôschen', Fabula, 2 (1959).
important difference between the Perrault and Zago, Ester, 'Some Medieval Versions of
the G r i m m s ' versions, for Perrault (like Basile) "Sleeping Beauty": Variations on a Theme',
extends the story b y h a v i n g the princess g i v e Studi Francesci, 69 (1979)-
birth to a girl ( ' D a w n ' ) and a b o y ( ' D a y ' ) . T h e Zipes, Jack, 'Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy
prince is afraid to b r i n g his bride h o m e to his Tale' in The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted
parents because his mother is an o g r e s s . W h e n Forests to the Modern World (1988).
his father dies, and he becomes k i n g , he finally
does b r i n g his wife and children to his court. SLOANE, A[LFRED] BALDWIN (1872-1925),
S o o n , h o w e v e r , he must g o off to d o battle A m e r i c a n theatre composer. T h e most prolific
 S N O W , J O H N FREDERICK 'JACK'
477

B r o a d w a y composer at the turn of the century, W o m e n in Philadelphia in 1884, and then at the
Sloane scored some t w o dozen N e w Y o r k m u ­ P e n n s y l v a n i a A c a d e m y o f F i n e A r t s under
sicals between 1896 and 1912. B o r n in Balti­ T h o m a s E a k i n s , she fortuitously studied with
more, where his songs w e r e first heard in such H o w a r d * P y l e in his first class at D r e x e l Insti­
semi-professional theatres as his o w n Paint and tute of A r t s in Philadelphia. H e encouraged her
P o w d e r C l u b , he arrived in N e w Y o r k in 1894 to think o f illustration as an art, to emphasize
and soon had his melodies interpolated into the reality o f b a c k g r o u n d and surroundings,
others' scores, such as the successful Excelsior, and importantly, to regard the commercial end
Jr. (1895). His first full score in N e w Y o r k w a s of illustration.
for the children's extravaganza *Jack and the In 1909 a Smith painting entitled Goldilocks
Beanstalk (1896), which featured such familiar and the Three Bears appeared in Thirty Favorite
characters as K i n g C o l e , Miss Muffett, O l d Paintings. T h e standing bears are stuffed, with
Mother Hubbard, Sindbad the Sailor, and b o w s around their necks; G o l d i l o c k s is seated
*Puss-in-Boots. Sloane's most famous B r o a d ­ in front o f them. T h i s w o r k first appeared in
w a y musical w a s The *Wizard of 0{ (1903), in Collier's Magazine in 1907. Subsequently, full-
which he collaborated with the author L . F r a n k colour pictures for *'Beauty and the B e a s t ' , ' A
*Baum. Because they w e r e played b y popular Modern ""Cinderella', *'Little R e d R i d i n g
stars, D a v e M o n t g o m e r y and F r e d Stone, the H o o d ' , *'Sleeping B e a u t y ' , * ' J a c k and the
characters of the S c a r e c r o w and the T i n Man Beanstalk', and ""Hansel and G r e t e l ' appeared
dominated the show. Other Sloane musicals in Collier's Weekly between 1907 and 1914.
that contained fairy-tale or fantasy elements in­ Woman's Home Companion also featured
clude The Hall of Fame (1902), The Ginger­ Smith's illustrations for ' T h e G o o s e G i r l ' ,
bread Man (1905), and Tillie's Nightmare 'Hansel and G r e t e l ' , ' C i n d e r e l l a ' , ' G o l d i l o c k s ' ,
(1910), which featured his most famous song, ' J a c k and the Beanstalk', and * ' S n o w W h i t e
' H e a v e n W i l l Protect the W o r k i n g G i r l ' . and the S e v e n D w a r f s ' from 1910 to 1915. T h e
Sloane w a s not a distinguished composer and full-page colour illustrations w e r e painted in
few of his songs became popular, but he w a s a oil o v e r the charcoal d r a w i n g s .
competent craftsman with a sound theatrical T h r o u g h publication in family magazines,
sense. TSH readers became familiar with Smith's style o f
illustration for fairy tales. T h e s e illustrations
S M I T H , H A R R Y B . (1860-1936), A m e r i c a n p l a y ­ are still available today in b o o k s such as A
wright and lyricist. T h e most prolific of all Child's Book of Stories (1986), published b y
American theatre librettist/lyricists, Smith Children's Classics but first issued in 1911 b y
wrote 123 B r o a d w a y musicals and operettas b e ­ Duffield and C o m p a n y with ten full-page illus­
tween 1887 and 1932, often with such distin­ trations. T h a t same y e a r s a w the Now-a-Day's
guished composers as V i c t o r Herbert and Fairy Book b y A n n a A l i c e C h a p i n , issued with
J e r o m e K e r n . A m o n g his w o r k s that drama­ six full-page tipped-in illustrations b y Smith,
tized fairy tales and used fantasy extensively including the ' T h r e e B e a r s ' , ' B e a u t y and the
were a version of*Cinderella called The Crystal Beast', 'Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' , and ' A M o d ­
Slipper (1888), Robin Hood (1891), Jupiter ern Cinderella'. In this b o o k , three children
(1892), The Wizard of the Nile (1895), The Ca­ interact with various fairy-tale characters.
liph (1896), Sinbad, or The Maid of Balsora T h e s e t w o collections w e r e published in B r i t ­
(1898), Maid Marian (1902), The White Cat ain b y Chatto and W i n d u s (1913) and Harrap
(1905), and The Enchantress ( 1 9 1 1 ) . TSH (1917). LS
Nudelman, Edward D., Jessie Willcox Smith: A
(1863-1935), A m e r i c a n
S M I T H , JESSIE W I L L C O X Bibliography (1989).
illustrator instantly recognized for her sweet Schnessel, S. Michael, Jessie Willcox Smith
(n.d.).
yet realistic portrayals of children; also popular
in Britain. She w a s noted for her portraiture,
her 180 covers for Good Housekeeping Maga­ SNOW, JOHN FREDERICK 'JACK 1
(1907-56),
zine, her advertisements, and particularly for A m e r i c a n author of 0{ b o o k s . A t L . F r a n k
her illustrations to G e o r g e *MacDonald's The *Baum's death, 1 2 - y e a r - o l d J a c k w r o t e to the
Princess and the Goblin and At the Back of the publishers R e i l l y & L e e and offered to con­
North Wind, and Charles * K i n g s l e y ' s Water- tinue the *Wi{ard of 0{ series. Nineteen y e a r s
Babies. Educated as a kindergarten teacher, she later, he got his w i s h . A s the Fourth R o y a l H i s ­
discovered her d r a w i n g talent accidentally. torian o f O z , he imitated B a u m ' s writing style
Trained first in the School o f D e s i g n for and purified O z o f n o n - B a u m characters in
'SNOW QUEEN, THE' 4 7 8

Magical Mimics in 0{ (1947) and The Shaggy favourite h y m n , K a y bursts into tears, washing
Man of 0 { (1949). B y this date, h o w e v e r , post­ the splinter from his e y e . N o w 'both adults, yet
w a r A m e r i c a w a s losing interest in O z , and children still—children at heart', they retrace
S n o w ' s n o v e l s w e r e not popular. H e later c o m ­ G e r d a ' s journey, arriving at last at their old
piled Who's Who in (1954), an illustrated h o m e w h e r e 'it w a s summer, w a r m , glorious
encyclopaedia based o n his extensive collection summer'.
o f B a u m i a n a and Oziana. MLE J u x t a p o s i n g doctrinaire piety with colloqui­
Greene, David L. and Martin, Dick, The 0{ alism, sentimentality with irony, ' T h e S n o w
Scraphook (1977). Q u e e n ' addresses both child and adult audi­
Snow, Jack, Who's Who in 0 { (1954). ences. O n o n e level about 'the victory o f the
heart o v e r cold intellect' (Andersen, in a let­
'SNOW Q U E E N , T H E ' ('Sneedronningen') was ter), it is also a perceptive psychological alle­
published in Hans Christian *Andersen's s e ­ g o r y o f male adolescence, depicting an
evolution from alienation to sensibility through
cond collection o f tales: Nye Evyntyr, Anden
the p o w e r o f l o v e . I n modern times, the story
Samling (New Tales, Second Collection, 1845).
has inspired a science-fiction novel b y J o a n
C o m p o s e d o f seven individual stories and thus
V i n g e (1980), several dramatic and ballet v e r ­
one o f A n d e r s e n ' s longest tales, it is an i m ­
sions, an orchestral suite, an interactive video
aginative blend o f the natural and supernatural
g a m e , and a song b y Elton J o h n (1976). J G H
and o f Christian and folk elements. Andersen, Celia Catlett, 'Andersen's Heroes and
In the devil's mirror, what is g o o d and b e a u ­ Heroines: Relinquishing the Reward', in
tiful diminishes while what is evil and u g l y i n ­ Francelia Butler and Richard Rotert (eds.),
tensifies. When the m i r r o r accidentally Triumphs of the Spirit in Children's Literature
smashes into 'hundreds o f millions, billions and (1986).
even m o r e pieces', t w o o f the glass splinters
Bredsdorff, Elias, Hans Christian Andersen: The
pierce the e y e and heart o f a little b o y named Story of his Life and Work 1805-75 (1975).
K a y . Hitherto content to p l a y simply and affec­ Conroy, Patricia L., and Rossel, Sven H. (trans,
tionately with little G e r d a next door, K a y n o w and intro.), Tales and Stories by Hans Christian
disdains e v e r y t h i n g he p r e v i o u s l y v a l u e d , his Andersen (1980).
heart a lump o f ice. Science displaces i m a g i n ­ Lederer, Wolfgang, The Kiss of the Snow Queen:
ation, and he prefers the neighbourhood b o y s Hans Christian Andersen and Man's Redemption
to his former playmate. O n e d a y , a sleigh a p ­ by Woman (1986).
pears in the square, its d r i v e r barely visible. Rubow, Paul V., 'Et Vinterevyntyr' ('A
R e c k l e s s l y hitching his small sled to the larger Winter's Tale') in Reminiscencer (1940).
one, K a y is d r a w n through ice and s n o w to the ' S N O W W H I T E A N D T H E S E V E N D W A R F S ' deals
realm o f the S n o w Q u e e n . Terrified, he tries to with an 'innocent persecuted heroine'. E a r l y
escape but w h e n ' h e tried to s a y the " O u r written versions appeared in Giambattista
F a t h e r " , all he could remember w a s the multi­ *Basile's *Pentamerone (The Pentameron,
plication table'. Enchanted b y the S n o w 1634—6), J . K . *Musaus's Volksmarchen der
Q u e e n ' s beauty, his protests stilled b y h e r Deutschen (1782), and W i l h e l m and J a c o b
chilling kiss, he forgets his past and devotes * G r i m m ' s *Kinder- und Hausmdrchen (Chil­
himself to arithmetic and science. dren's and Household Tales, 1812—15). It has
T h e rest o f the story follows G e r d a ' s quest circulated w i d e l y in Africa, A s i a Minor,
for her b e l o v e d playmate. F u l l y at h o m e in the Scandinavia, Ireland, Russia, Greece,
natural w o r l d , her faith in K a y ' s s u r v i v a l n e v e r S e r b o - C r o a t i a , the Caribbean, and North,
w a n i n g , she is assisted o n her j o u r n e y north b y South, and Central A m e r i c a . T h e tale consists
several fantastic companions, including talking o f stable elements: origin, jealousy, expulsion,
flowers, an assertive princess, t w o bourgeois adoption, renewed jealousy, death, exhibition
c r o w s in domestic service, and a w i l d robber o f corpse, resuscitation, and a multiplicity o f
girl. A t the S n o w Q u e e n ' s palace, she finds incidental variant details.
K a y , almost black with cold, beside a frozen S n o w W h i t e ' s origin is marked b y a magical
lake (named the ' M i r r o r o f R e a s o n ' ) , w h e r e he sequence o f events. H e r mother, longing for a
tries in vain to arrange pieces o f ice into the child, pricks h e r finger while sewing; three
one w o r d — ' E t e r n i t y ' — t h a t can free him from droplets o f b l o o d fall o n the s n o w (or she eats a
the S n o w Q u e e n ' s domination. G e r d a e m ­ rose leaf, a pomegranate seed, a tangerine). She
braces h i m , and h e r hot tears penetrate his wishes for a child as red as blood, as white as
heart, 'melting the lump o f ice and burning s n o w , and as black as ebony. T h e wish ful­
a w a y the splinter o f g l a s s ' . W h e n she sings a filled, she dies in childbirth. S n o w White's
479 'SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS'

father remarries, and this generates jealousy ician to kill the girl with poisoned pomegranate
between stepmother and stepdaughter, creating soap, and then with a poisoned letter. H e r
a surrogate mother towards w h o m S n o w death (death-like sleep) occurs despite the p r e ­
White can direct hostility, while revering her cautions o f her companions, w h o w a r n her
birth mother's image. H e r stepmother, aware against strangers. In the G r i m m s ' v e r s i o n the
that beauty declines with years, is jealous o f the dwarfs rescue her twice, once from the stay-
girl's youth and beauty. In the G r i m m s ' v e r ­ laces and then from the c o m b . In an E n g l i s h
sion she has a magic mirror she consults to v e r ­ text, the robbers also save her twice. T h e y take
ify w h o is the fairest in the land. W h e n the girl a w a y the pedlar's basket and burn the flowers
passes from infancy to girlhood (seven y e a r s ) that she offers to her victim. T h e n the pedlar
the mirror acknowledges S n o w W h i t e as the throws poisoned apples in a glade, and S n o w
fairest. Elsewhere the stepmother consults an W h i t e picks one up and eats it. A n ingenious
omniscient trout in a w e l l , the sun, or the pedlar puts a poisoned dart in the k e y h o l e , and
moon; she overhears passers-by remarking on entices S n o w W h i t e to insert her finger so that
the stepdaughter's beauty; a visiting nobleman it might be kissed. In a Mexican v e r s i o n , the
prefers her daughter; guests declare the girl storytellers recognize the temporary nature o f
more beautiful than she. her death. She dons poisoned slippers one at a
A n x i o u s to restore her primacy, the queen time. W i t h the first she starts to shake, and
orders the heroine's execution, a terminal e x ­ with the second she is stunned and l o o k s dead.
pulsion from the family. A huntsman is to kill T h e G r i m m s h a v e the dwarfs mourn her ap­
her and bring back her lungs and liver. Instead, parent death in the exhibition episode and dis­
as the traditional compassionate executioner, play her corpse in a glass coffin on a mountain
he stabs a boar (stag, d o g ) and substitutes the top in a sort o f wildlife shrine to w h i c h animals
animal's lungs and liver (heart, intestines). H e come to w e e p . In another tale it is cast into the
brings a blood-soaked dress (undershirt, sea. In Basile's version she is placed in seven
hands, eyes, tongue, intestines, hair, bottle o f nested crystal chests. E l s e w h e r e her bejewelled
blood stoppered with her little finger) to p r o v e casket is carried on a horse that will stop o n l y if
he has completed the task. T h e queen, deter­ someone g i v e s it a m a g i c c o m m a n d (in a g o l d ­
mined to consume her rival's essence, has the en coffin in an oxcart, suspended between elk's
parts cooked and served. A unique motif has antlers). H e r casket is v a r i o u s l y left on a w i n -
the father lead her into the forest and abandon dowsill or on a doorstep. H e r b o d y is placed in
her as in *'Hansel and G r e t e l ' . T h e adoption a four-poster surrounded b y candles o r on a
phase begins w h e n she finds a home with seven stretcher suspended between t w o trees. A M e x ­
dwarfs (thieves, w o o d s m e n , ogres, J i n n s , ican storyteller confuses her with the V i r g i n
bears, bandits, giants, m o n k e y s , cannibals, M a r y and places her on an altar in church. T h e
brothers, wild men, old w o m e n ) . chance arrival o f a prince (a hunter, a noble­
In almost all the versions S n o w W h i t e man) brings about her resuscitation. In the
sweeps the house, washes the dishes, and p r e ­ G r i m m s ' tale he convinces the dwarfs to g i v e
pares a meal for the occupants. T h e s e domestic him the coffin. W h e n his men carry it, they
tasks represent the y o u n g w o m a n ' s first as­ stumble. T h e jolt causes the piece o f poisoned
sumption of responsibility. R e n e w e d jealousy apple to be released from the sleeping prin­
occurs when the mirror or the queen's other cess's throat. In other versions someone re­
informants continue to name S n o w W h i t e as m o v e s the lethal instrument, and she r e v i v e s .
the fairest. T h e stepmother's rage and her de­ T h e resolution is marriage with the prince, and
termination to find S n o w White confirm the punishment o f the stepmother (immolation,
idea that the daughter cannot escape, but must immuration, decapitation).
learn h o w to cope with danger. T h e queen L i k e all the great classical fairy tales, ' S n o w
makes various attempts to kill her rival. She W h i t e ' has undergone numerous literary trans­
disguises herself as a pedlar (sends a b e g g a r formations in the 19th and 20th centuries. T w o
w o m a n in her stead) to sell lethal items: p o i ­ o f the more important adaptations w e r e films:
soned staylaces, a poisoned comb, a poisoned W a l t * D i s n e y ' s Snow White and the Seven
apple (flowers, corsets, shoes, raisins, grapes, Dwarfs (1937) and H o w a r d H a w k s ' s Ball of
needles, rings, belts, neckbands, shirts, w i n e , Fire (1941), starring G a r y C o o p e r and Barbara
gold coins, headbands, hats, cakes, shoes, S t a n w y c k (see B U R L E S Q U E F A I R Y - T A L E F I L M S ) .
white bread, brooches) that S n o w White eats In an important literary study, Sandra Gilbert
and apparently dies. Musàus has the step­ and Susan G u b a r used the fairy tale as a theor­
mother, the Countess of Brabant, order a p h y s ­ etical p a r a d i g m about h o w 19th-century litera-
SOCIALIZATION A N D FAIRY TALES 480

ture depicted older w o m e n being pitted against the same time often feature adventurous cross-
y o u n g e r w o m e n within the framework o f a dressing heroines, powerful fairies, and uncon­
male mirror and w e r e driven mad. D u r i n g the ventional marriage arrangements b y the stand­
1970s and 1980s numerous writers such as ards of the times. T h e y implicitly question
A n n e *Sexton, O l g a *Broumas, Tanith T e e , dominant patriarchal and heterosexual norms.
and R o b e r t * C o o v e r h a v e focused on the sex­ T h o u g h both Perrault and his female contem­
ual connotation o f this tale in different w a y s . poraries w e r e products of the literary salons,
Central to all the r e w o r k i n g s o f the classical they saw the social potential of the fairy tale
tale is the theme o f jealousy. H G v e r y differently.
Baeten, Elizabeth M., The Magic Mirror: Myth's D u r i n g the 18th century, the fairy tale be­
Abiding Power (1996). came even more explicitly a disciplinary genre.
Girardot, N. J . , 'Initiation and Meaning in the Sarah *Fielding's The Governess (1749) and
Tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs', Jeanne-Marie T e p r i n c e de Beaumont's anthol­
Journal of American Folklore, 90 (1977).
ogy for children Le Magasin des enfants (1757;
Gilbert, Sandra M., and Gubar, Susan, The
translated as the Young Misses' Magazine in
Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and
the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination 1761) both included many tales framed b y
0979)- edifying dialogues between a governess and
Holliss, Richard, and Sibley, Brian, Walt her charges. T h o u g h unadulterated fairy tales
Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and lived on in the popular imagination, chap­
the Making of the Classic Film (1987). b o o k s , and n e w editions (particularly in the 40-
Jones, Steven Swann, The New Comparative v o l u m e Cabinet des fées, 1785—9; see M A Y E R ,
Method: Structural and Symbolic Analysis of the C H A R L E S - J O S E P H ) , they often became occasions
Allomotifs of 'Snow White'(1990). for clumsy didactic interventions.
Stone, Kay, 'Three Transformations of Snow
J a c o b and Wilhelm *Grimm, writing in the
White', in James M. McGlathery (ed.), The
Brothers Grimm and Folktale (1988). first half o f the 19th century, continued this di­
dactic, socializing tradition, though somewhat
SOCIALIZATION A N D F A I R Y T A L E S . T h o u g h fairy more subtly. In the preface to the second v o l ­
tales often seem to be products o f pure fantasy, ume of their *Kinder- und Hausmdrchen (1815),
they a l w a y s h a v e designs on their audiences they refer to their collection as an 'Erziehungs-
and readers, defining proper b e h a v i o u r and en­ buch' (conduct b o o k , or manual of manners).
forcing codes o f conduct. A s Maria T a t a r says, In the successive versions o f tales from 1810 to
'Any attempt to pass on stories becomes a dis­ 1857, as critics like Heinz R ô l l e k e , Maria Tatar,
ciplinary tactic aimed at control.' F o l l o w i n g and J a c k Zipes have shown, they carefully re­
Norbert Elias's w o r k on the civilizing process, shaped or 'sanitized' the tales to be more effect­
m a n y recent scholars h a v e focused on the w a y s ive instruments for the education of
fairy tales shape social expectations and indi­ middle-class children. T h e y often omitted or
vidual actions in different periods. A s fairy softened sexually explicit material. T h o u g h
tales became primarily a genre for children, they excised m a n y o f the most violent episodes,
their socializing function becames m o r e and they retained much punitive violence, making
m o r e explicit. sure that powerful older w o m e n would dance
Certainly oral tales h a v e a l w a y s been told in in red hot shoes, or that Cinderella's wicked
part to instruct, to ensure that the hearers, par­ sisters w o u l d have their eyes pecked out.
ticularly children, w o u l d act in a p p r o v e d w a y s . W o m e n ' s transgressive acquisition of k n o w ­
But literary fairy tales, at least since the 1690s ledge and p o w e r is often severely punished.
in F r a n c e , h a v e more insistently reinforced T h e G r i m m s also stressed g o o d behaviour, dif­
(and sometimes questioned) existing social ar­ fering for b o y s and girls: T i t t l e R e d Riding
rangements. T h e earliest written tales in H o o d must not stray from the orderly path
F r a n c e in fact a l w a y s ended with a verse prescribed b y her mother, while y o u n g heroes
'moralitez', though these morals often seem de­ like the *Brave Little T a i l o r are encouraged to
liberately flat or out of tune with the tale itself. be resourceful, independent, and cunning.
*Perrault's tales (1697) in general both pre­ T h o u g h the G r i m m s often show a lower-class
scribe and reinscribe sharply differentiated boy rising to a higher social station, their tales,
roles for men and w o m e n ; for example, he Perrault's, and Hans Christian *Andersen's in
takes *Bluebeard's p o w e r and violent history as fact reinforce the existing structures of power
an acceptable g i v e n , while stressing his wife's and o f gender relations, affecting generations
dangerous curiosity. In contrast, the tales w r i t ­ of children throughout E u r o p e and North
ten b y w o m e n like d ' * A u l n o y and *Lhéritier at A m e r i c a . T h e *Disney films based on their
 SPIELBERG, STEVEN

tales have continued to reinforce these ideo­ ^Sleeping Beauty and the Beast ( N e w Y o r k ,
logical patterns. 1901), Mr ^Bluebeard ( N e w Y o r k , 1903),
In his 1976 b o o k The Uses of Enchantment, ^Mother Goose ( N e w Y o r k , 1903), and Humpty
Bruno Bettelheim claims that the G r i m m s ' tales Dumpty ( N e w Y o r k , 1904). TSH
help children accept their necessary place in the
social and family order. His readings of the S 0 R E N S E N , VlLLY ( 1 9 2 9 - ) , D a n i s h writer. E x ­

tales focus on the dark antisocial impulses that tremely w e l l - v e r s e d in philosophy, he delights
children must learn to resist, from oral greed in in r e w o r k i n g texts o f the past, be they about
*'Hansel and Gretel' to jealousy o f the mother G r e e k or O l d N o r s e m y t h o l o g y or the gospels,
(strangely enough) in * ' S n o w W h i t e ' . Feminist b y g i v i n g them a modernist turn. In such c o l ­
literary critics have exposed Bettelheim's late- lections as S cere historier (Strange Stories, 1953)
Victorian and rigidly Freudian assump­ or Formynderfortcellinger (Tutelary Tale$, 1964),
tions—often simultaneously condemning the he m a y i n v o k e a Mdrchen, and then turn it
patterns in fairy tales that d o o m w o m e n to pas­ topsy-turvy. T h e brief ' F j e n d e n ' ('The
sivity, narcissism, and inactivity (sleeping for E n e m y ' , 1955) demonstrates that Sorensen's
100 years, lying in a glass coffin). T h e y pre­ k n o w l e d g e o f the conventions o f the folk tale is
scribe new patterns that will socialize w o m e n so facile that he can w i c k e d l y play with them.
in different w a y s — c a l l i n g for reclaimed, new, NI
or rewritten tales for children that stress
SPAIN (see p.483)
w o m e n ' s independence and resourcefulness.
Marxist critics have also promoted tales that SPENSER, E D M U N D (1552-99), E n g l i s h poet.
have a 'liberatory' function and contribute to Spenser's magnificent marriage p o e m , Epitha-
the formation of n e w social attitudes and social lamion (1594), with its G r e e k n y m p h s , C h r i s ­
structures or a 'utopian' future. tian angels, and English hobgoblins,
Most writers on fairy tales assume, w h a t e v e r foreshadows the multiple mythologies o f his
their ideological position, that tales will have unfinished allegorical epic The Faerie Queene
effects on their child audiences; reader re­ (1590—6), w h e r e G r e e k goddesses and satyrs
sponse always includes reader acculturation. share the forest with giants, dragons, and en­
T h e current controversies focus on the cultural chanted castles. Inspired b y the epics o f
projects and norms, often seen as conservative A r i o s t o and T a s s o , Spenser planned a multi-
or reactionary, that traditional tales promote levelled 1 2 - b o o k structure, its 12 heroes corres­
and their value in the late 20th century. ponding to the 12 virtues o f the perfect C h r i s ­
EWH tian gentleman. L i n k i n g their interwoven
Bottigheimer, Ruth, Grimms ' Good Girls & Bad adventures is A r t h u r , the K i n g to be, and his
Boys (1987).
quest for G l o r i a n a , the F a i r y Queen, w h o rep­
Rowe, Karen, 'Feminism and Fairy Tales',
resents both true G l o r y and Q u e e n Elizabeth I .
Women's Studies, 6 (1979).
Stone, Kay F., 'The Misuses of Enchantment: SR
Controversies on the Significance of Fairy
Tales', in Rosan Jordan and Susan J . Kalcik SPIELBERG, STEVEN (1946- ) , A m e r i c a n director
(eds.), Women's Folklore, Women's Culture o f t w o films o f fantasy which both e v o k e J . M .
(1985). *Barrie's play and novel *Peter Pan. T h e first
Tatar, Maria, Off With Their Heads! (1992). w a s E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial ( U S A , 1982),
Zipes, Jack, Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion w h i c h has joined The ^Wizard of 0 { , King
(1983). Kong, and a few other films in achieving a fixed
place in Western cultural consciousness. O n e
SOLOMON, FRED (FREDERICK CHARLES; 1853— interpretation is that Spielberg and the script­
1924), British-born playwright-composer- writer Melissa Mathison conceived the charac­
director. B o r n in L o n d o n to a musical family, ter o f E . T . as a combination o f both Peter P a n
Solomon had an extensive career as a per­ and his fairy companion T i n k e r b e l l . Before
former first in L o n d o n and, after emigrating to E . T . is domesticated and identified, the chil­
America in 1886, on B r o a d w a y . S o o n he w a s dren in the film speculate that he might be an
conducting musicals and later writing them, elf, or a goblin, o r — m o s t P e t e r - l i k e — a lepre­
often adapting British pantomimes for the chaun. T h e r e is, after all, a forest just outside
B r o a d w a y stage. A m o n g his w o r k s with fan­ their house. L i k e Peter, E . T . comes from afar,
tasy or fairy tale subjects w e r e Captain Kidd enters his n e w friend's b e d r o o m , and flies a w a y
(Liverpool, 1883), The Fairy Circle ( L o n d o n , with him across the face o f the m o o n . Later,
1885), King Kalico ( N e w Y o r k , 1892), The the film explicitly a c k n o w l e d g e s Peter Pan as
STEVEN SPIELBERG The fascinating and mysterious creature from outer space makes his appearance in
Steven Spielberg's film E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Spain. Since there were no notable compilers of fairy­
tales in Spain like the Brothers *Grimm, these fanciful
narratives must be sought either in isolated texts or in
literary allusions to familiar tales. Although the univer­
sally recognized stories of 'Cenicienta' (*'Cinderella'),
'Blanca Nieve' (*'Snow White'), ' L a bella durmiente'
(•'Sleeping Beauty') 'Caperucita Roja' (*'Little Red Rid­
ing Hood'), and 'Los ninos abandonados' (*'Hansel and
Gretel') have been circulating in Spain and in Latin
America for some time now, it is not clear when they
became part of the native canon of wonder tales.

1. T H E 1 1 T H C E N T U R Y T O T H E 17TH CENTURY
Nevertheless, Spain produced its share of wonder tales,
some of which reflect the 800-year Arab presence in the
Iberian peninsula. A n important collection of tales of
Arabic origin is Disciplina Clericalis, translated into Latin
by Moisés Sefardi (born in Huesca in 1056, converted,
christened Petrus Alphonsi in 1106). In ' T h e Rustic and
the Bird' a man captures a bird. T o gain her freedom she
gives him some words of advice: ' D o not believe every­
thing that is said' (a precious stone in her body), 'what is
yours you will always possess' (she is in the sky; he can­
not possess her), 'do not sorrow over lost possessions' (he
must not lament loss of the stone). This tale was dissem­
inated widely with variants and was interpolated in a
chivalric text, in a translation of the life of Buddha, and in
a compilation of sermonic exempla. Also from Disciplina
is the tale o f ' D r e a m Bread' (whose literary trajectory led
it to the Golden A g e dramatist Lope de Vega's San Isidro
labrador de Madrid, 1599), in which a clever rustic tricks
his urban travelling companions by pretending to have
had a miraculous dream.
Fadrique, Alfonso X ' s brother, was the patron in 1253
for a translation of another Arabic text, Seven Sages
(modern Spanish title Sendebar). Sendebar includes three
tales set in a perilous forest: ' T h e Hunter and the She-
Devil', 'The Three Wishes', and 'Spring that Changes
Prince into a Woman'. The common element is a prince
or nobleman who leaves home to go hunting and comes
to grief in a forest.
In another Arabic text, Kalila and Dimna (translated as
a s a e
Calila e Dimna by order of Alfonso X , 1221—84), g
leaves home on a quest. He journeys to India seeking a
resuscitative herb. The topic reappears in a 13th-century
poem, Ra^on de amor, in which the scent of magical
flowers in an enchanted meadow will revive the dead.
SPAIN 484

Calila contains two transformation tales. In 'The Rat

Maiden' a monk raises a tiny rat and prays that she be
transformed into a young woman. Old enough to wed,
she wants the most powerful mate of all. He offers her the
sun, but it is covered by clouds; the clouds are controlled
by winds; a mountain blocks the winds, but the mountain
is gnawed by rodents. Therefore, she must marry a rat.
He prays that she will return to her previous shape. In
' T h e F r o g - K i n g ' s Mount', a serpent's arrogance is pun­
ished by a transformation into serving as a frog-king's
mount, condemned to eat only those frogs given him by
the king.
A chivalric novel, Cavallero Zifar (1300, translated as
The Book of the Knight in 1983) strings together a number
of fairy tales. The good knight's adventures begin when
he is unable to serve any royal master for long because he
had been cursed. A n y horse or other beast that served
him as a mount dies after ten days ('Equine Curse'). He
seeks a new post repeatedly since he represents a consid­
erable expense for his royal masters. One day a son is
carried off by a lioness, nurtured by her until he is adopt­
ed by kind strangers ('Child Nurtured by Lioness'). His
wife, captured by pirates, defeats her captors, throws
their corpses overboard, and sails magically to a safe port.
In another episode Zifar's squire becomes a knight, and is
lured into the underwater realm of the 'Lady of the Lake',
whom he marries. His fairy wife orders him not to speak
to anyone in her realm. He disobeys the interdiction. In
this land parturition follows conception by seven days.
Fruit trees bear fruit every day, and beasts have young
every seven days. Having violated her interdiction
against speech, he and his adult son are ejected violently
from his underworld kingdom soon after his arrival. In a
parallel episode, Zifar's son, Roboân, is at the court of the
emperor of Tigrida, a monarch who never laughs.
Roboân is punished for asking why the emperor does not
laugh. He is set adrift in an oarless, rudderless boat to a
:
magic kingdom, the Fortunate Isles. There he is chosen
yj
by the empress, Nobility, to be the emperor with the
understanding that if he completes a year successfully on
the throne, he will never lose the empire. Three days be­
fore his year ends, an enchantress seduces him with a
magical mastiff, an enchanted hawk, and finally a horse
that can outrun the wind. Mounted on the magical horse
faster than the wind, he touches its flanks lightly with his
spurs, and the horse carries him away from his empire
back to Tigrida. There he learns that he and the doleful
4«5 SPAIN

emperor were two in a long succession of unlucky men

who had lost the empire of the Fortunate Isles in the same
demonic way.
In the chivalric novel Amadû de Gaula (1508) lovers
are tested for constancy and nobility in another enchant-
ed kingdom (Insola Firme). Before the noble Apolidon
and his bride Grimanesa leave their enchanted realm,
they must select successors who match them in nobility,
skill in arms, and in governance as well as in physical
beauty and loving constancy. A s a test they build an en-
chanted arch leading to four chambers. Unworthy pairs
passing under the arch are ejected by a horrific mechanic-
al trumpeter and terrible flames and smoke. T h e same
trumpeter plays wonderfully sweet music for the deserv-
ing couple, Amadis and Oriana. A n evil enchanter, Arca-
laus, disguised as a mysterious stranger, devises a test to
tempt Amadis and Oriana to come out of hiding. T w o
magnificent gifts are offered: a magic sword that can be
taken from its sheath only by a lover whose devotion to
his beloved is greater than any other's in the world, and a
headdress adorned with flowers that will bloom only
when worn by a woman whose devotion to her beloved
equals his. T o counter the efforts of Arcalaus, a good
enchantress, Urganda the Unknown, guides and protects
Amadis throughout his life. Every time he needs her help
she appears. Similarly, the evil enchanter, Arcalaus, ap-
pears when the storyteller needs a limit to his hero's al-
most unlimited powers; for example, he tricks Amadis
into entering an enchanted chamber whose power causes
him to faint and appear to die. Arcalaus comes to court to
trick King Lisuarte into permitting him to wed Oriana.
He lends the king two magical objects: a crown that guar-
antees its wearer perpetual honour and power, and an en-
chanted cloak for the queen that ensures that there can
never be discord between the wearer and her mate. T h e y
may retain the gifts until Arcalaus comes to claim them. If
for any reason Lisuarte cannot return them, he must
promise to grant him whatever he wants. The evil en-
chanter sends an emissary to the queen for the crown and
cloak, and then comes in person to claim the missing
items. Unable to return them, Lisuarte must surrender his
only daughter Oriana to the evil magician.
A traditional paradisaical land of abundance, La Tierra
de Jauja, where the streets are paved with eggs and
sweets, rivers run with wine and honey, roast partridges
fly by with tortillas in their beaks saying 'Eat Me' is de-
scribed by Luis Barahona de Soto (1548—95) in Diâlogo
SPAIN 486

de la monteria (also in Lope de Rueda's La Tierra de Jauja,

1547). Mateo de Alemân alludes to this territory in the
picaresque novel Guzman de Alfarache, as does Fray Juan
de Pineda in Didlogos familiar es de la agricultura cristiana
(1589).
Heroes kill two grotesque, horrific monsters, another
feature of fairy tales. One in Amadis is the hideous fruit of
an incestuous union between the giant Bandaguido and
his daughter Bandaguida, and the other is a fearsome
dragon said to have consumed a whole town, in the cru­
sade narrative Gran Conquista de Ultramar. In a ballad, a
dragon abducts a princess ('El culebro raptor'), and in
another a seven-headed serpent gnaws at a penitent sin­
ner ('Penitencia del rey don Rodrigo'). The fantasy of a
grotesque mountain woman, who preys on travellers, ap­
pears in many tales. Her horrible nature is best described,
in a ballad, as a lamia with the head and breast of a
woman and the body of a serpent ('La Gallarda, mata-
dora').
Time is manipulated magically in many ballads and
tales. In a ballad, a captive's magic sleep makes him think
only minutes have passed. In reality seven years have
gone by ('El conde Arnaldos'). In prose this motif oc­
curred in the tale o f ' D o n Illân and the Dean of Santiago'
in El Conde Lucanor (1335) by Don Juan Manuel
(1282—1347). In a 15th-century compilation of sermonic
exempla a friar follows a bird to paradise and returns 100
years later (Libro de los enxenplos por a.b.c. by Clémente
Sanchez de Vercial, 1 3 7 0 - 1 4 2 6 , translated as The Book of
Tales by A.B.C. in 1992). In the most famous Golden A g e
drama, La vida es sueno (1631—2), Pedro Calderôn de la
Barca (1600—81) has his hero Segismundo fall into a
magic time-distorting sleep.
Storytellers interpolated fairy tales in larger narratives.
T h e Libro de Apolonio (1235—40) begins with a princess
who is the prize offered to the solver of a hermetic riddle.
In Gran conquista de Ultramar (1295—1312), 'The Swan
Knight' is inserted into a crusade story. Princess Isom-
berta's family arranges a marriage for her, and she es­
capes in a rudderless boat without sails. She lands on a
deserted island where Count Eustacio finds her in a hol­
low tree. He is uneasy about this strange apparition and
consults his mother Ginesa about marriage to her. His
mother disapproves, but they wed anyway. While Eusta­
cio is away Isomberta has seven babies. Multiple births
were thought to be results of adulterous behaviour, but
an angel comes to save her and the babies putting a gold
4 8 7
SPAIN

collar on each child. Ginesa orders a servant to kill the

children, but he takes them to a wilderness and abandons
them. A deer nurses them until a hermit adopts them and
raises them. Ginesa spies six of the boys, takes them to
her palace, and orders her servants to kill them, but first
to remove their collars. Their collars removed, the boys
turn into swans and fly away. She takes the gold (silver)
to a metalworker who melts it and makes a goblet. He
keeps the metal from the five collars since one suffices for
the goblet. When their father learns the truth, the five
remaining collars are restored. The seventh lad, still
wearing his collar and accompanied by his swan brother,
spends his life defending those who need him, including
his calumniated mother. When he marries, he imposes an
interdiction on his bride. She may never ask him for his
name, nor his origin. If she does, he must leave forever,
carried away by his swan brother.
Sometimes fairy tales leave only traces of themselves
in the form of allusions. Allusive passages in literary
works are signs that the tale had spread widely enough in
the community to be familiar to the average reader. For
instance, the anonymous author of a 16th-century picar­
esque novel La^arillo de Tormes alluded to an Arabic tale
'The House Where N o One Eats Nor Drinks' in a chap­
ter where his hero serves an impoverished squire. Cer­
vantes refers to the 'Frogs who asked Jupiter for a King'
and the 'Princess Rescued by a Half-Man, Half-Bear' in
Don Quixote. Later Fernân Caballero (pseudonym of
Cecilia *Bôhl de Faber) and Alonso de Morales related
the same story as 'Las princesas encantadas'.
Many stories like 'The *Tale of a Youth who Set Out
to Learn What Fear Was' were part of Spain's cultural
heritage (Quinquagenas, Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo,
1 4 7 8 - 1 5 5 7 ) . Lope de Vega (1562—1635) alluded to it in
two dramas (Losporceles de Murcia, c. 1604—8), Quien ama
no haga fiero, c. 1620—2), and later Juan de Ariza wrote a
story 'Perico sin Miedo' (1848).
While the interest for the modern reader of the anto-
nomastic lover, Don Juan, is his indefatigable pursuit of
women, in El burlador de Sevilla, the public for Tirso de
Molina (pseudonym of Friar Gabriel Tellez, 1571—1648)
was more concerned with his lack of repentance as evi­
denced in his invitation to dinner to the dead Comenda-
dor's statue, a situation paralleled in the tale o f ' T h e Skull
Invited to Dinner'. Antonio de Zamora (1664—1728)
wrote a version No hay pla^o que no se cumpla, ni deuda
que no se pague, y convidado de piedra (No Agreement Goes
 Unfulfilled, nor Any Debt Unpaid). A dead person grants
good fortune to his benefactor and returns to demand the
reward promised him in Lope de Vega's Don Juan de Cas­
tro (c. 1604—8), a theme also used by Calderôn in Elmejor
amigo el muerto (1636).
Similarly, proverbs that enjoyed popular currency are
evidence that the tales to which they refer existed in the
oral tradition. For example, a fanciful story tells of an
encounter between a giant who reproached Pedro de
Urdimales when he tried to carry off a mountain full of
firewood, telling him to be satisfied with one tree. A 17th-
century proverb collection lists the tale's echo, 'Pedro de
Urdimales, o todo el monte, o nonada' ('Either the
Whole Mountain or Nothing').
Another source of information about fairy tales is the
oral-traditional ballad. These brief narratives were first
written down in the 16th century, but it was not until 1832
that Agustfn Durân published his Romancero general and
Ferdinand W o l f and Conrad Hoffman collected them in
Primaveray flor de romances (1856). Among these popular
narratives, we find the tale of a hunter who comes upon
an enchanted princess in a tree. Like the princess in
*'Sleeping Beauty' ('Briar Rose') she had been cursed at
birth by one of seven fairies who had come to bring her
gifts. She was compelled to spend seven years in an en­
chanted tree. Like the count in the 'Swan Knight' story,
the frightened hunter must first consult his mother (aunt)
before he can agree ('La infantina'). In variant versions,
he makes sexual demands on her. She reveals she is the
Virgin Mary ('El caballero burlado a lo divino'). In an­
other ballad he comes upon a magical dove and promises
that her offspring and his will be brothers and sisters ('El
mal cazador'). In still another, a deer is really an enchant­
ed princess who asks him to marry her ('La nina encan-
tada').
A serpent appears to a woman at a fountain. He is a
king enchanted for six years ('La inocente acusada'). In a
Portuguese ballad, a man falls in love with a Moorish
woman in a castle. He captures the castle, but she disap­
pears magically ('A moura encantada'). Echoing the ex­
perience of the 'Bold Knight' and Prince Roboân, a fairy
takes her lover to her bed in a far-off land and keeps him
enchanted. He has a son with her ('Los amores de Flor-
iseo y de la reina de Bohemia'). Extraordinary people are
said to be other-worldly. A man whose beauty rivals the
stars causes the goddess of beauty to fall in love with him
('Romance del infante T r o c o ' ) .
4 8 9 SPAIN

Strange, magical happenings are often associated with

the sea. A sailor's song calms the sea and the winds,
causes fish to leap out of water, and birds to perch on a
ship's mast ('El conde Arnaldos'). The protagonist of
several ballads travels in a magic boat. Just as in the chiv-
alric novel El caballero Zifar, in which the knight's wife
single-handedly steers a boat whose sails fill miraculously
and whose rudder takes her to a safe harbour, a galley
without sails and oars is invincible in battle ('La toma de
Galera'). In a Portuguese ballad, an exiled woman re­
turns home in a boat without sails ('A filha desterrada').
Hero seeks Leander in a boat using her sleeves as sails,
and her arms as oars ('Hero y Leandro'). Reminiscent of
*Rapunzel, imprisoned in a tower, Leander lets down her
long hair so that her lover can climb ('Hero y Leandro'),
and still another woman uses her long tresses as a lifeline
for a drowning man ('Repuisa y compasiôn').
Other unusual objects have migrated from fairy tales
to ballad narratives. A gigantic sapphire adorns a castle
tower and illuminates the area, promising marvellous
events. Night becomes day ('Romance de Rosaflorida').
A magic sword promises that the hero need only brandish
it to cut a swath through the enemy ranks ('El conde
Nino'). Just as fairy-tale objects had migrated to ballads,
they also made their w a y into prose narratives. Cervantes
alluded to magic wands in two of his Exemplary Novels:
El casamiento engahos ( The Deceitful Marriage) and Los
banos de Argel {The Bagnios of Algiers).
Magic animals figure in many ballads. A marauding
deer leads seven lions and a lioness to kill knights and
their horses ('Romance de Lanzarote'). A speaking horse
will aid the hero if given winesop and not fodder ('Gaife-
ros libera a Melisendra'), 'Pérdida de don Beltrân', 'Passo
de Roncesval', 'Conde Olinos'). Birds carry messages
from captives to their potential rescuers ('El Conde Cla-
ros en hâbito de fraile'; ' L a esposa de D . Garcia'). A n ­
other bird warns men not to trust women ('La tortola del
peral'). A dove sustains a shepherdess for seven years
with a magic flower ('A pastora devota de Maria', ' L a
devota del rosario'). Problem pregnancies in ballads are
attributed to inhaling the magic fragrance of some
flowers or treading upon magic grass ('Romance de don
Tristan', ' L a mala hierba').

2 . T H E l8TH C E N T U R Y
As far as fairy tales are concerned in Spanish literature,
SPAIN 490

the 18th century constitutes a tremendous gap; the almost

total absence of fantasy short narrative in that period
comes to an end in the next century. However, before
exploring the main tendencies and writers of the Marchen
in the 19th century, it is worth recounting the reasons
w h y the Spanish A g e of Reason showed such a negative
attitude towards a genre that was otherwise profusely
used in neighbouring countries, above all in France.
In 18th-century Spanish literature, both the short
novel and the short story failed to develop any degree of
quality, and therefore they offer little interest to contem­
porary readers and scholars. Writers of the 18th century
tended to devote their talents to other genres. While
scarcely any attention was paid to short narrative genres,
the Spanish literary heritage was enriched by many a
writer's devotion to such genres as diaries, travel litera­
ture, speeches, journalistic essays, and Utopias, as the crit­
ic Esther Lacadena Calero has pointed out.
According to Juan Antonio Rîos Carratala, one of the
reasons w h y imaginative narrative genres were neglected
in 18th-century Spain is that an omnipresent censorship
controlled all kinds of publications and was especially
vigilant with respect to periodicals and translations,
mainly from French into Spanish. Such censorship, of
both a civil and a religious nature, made it very difficult
for editors to publish unauthorized works; however,
there were some exceptions to this. Mariano José Nipho,
for example, was an editor who went against the grain,
supporting several publications which regularly pub­
lished short narratives and some moralistic tales ad­
dressed to a female reading public.
Rîos Carratala also affirms that short narratives were
despised by most important literary figures of the period
as non-respectable genres, on the basis that they lacked
the support of a classical literary tradition. Moreover, the
same critic points out that literary theorists and writers of
the time showed great mistrust of pure fiction; for them,
literature had to play a moral and instructive role that
short narratives of a fictitious nature could never per­
form, since they were considered to be simply destined to
entertain their readers.
Despite the forces working against the development of
short narrative in 18th-century Spain, some examples of it
can still be traced. Thus, Professor Antonio Fernandez
Insuela of the University of Oviedo (Spain) studied the
small corpus of short narrative publications in the 18th
century, particularly in Tertulia de la aldea {A Village
49 1 SPAIN

Literary Gathering). This journal was structured in sev­

eral sections, one of which included brief texts under the
heading of 'tales', 'jokes', 'sayings', 'funny stories', etc.,
which had a historical or pseudo-historical origin and
also sometimes a traditional or folk one. Rios Carratala
(1993) mentions yet another 18th-century periodical
which gave some attention to the short-story genre: El
Correo de Madrid {The Madrid Post). In this periodical,
apart from some moralistic stories, jokes, and anecdotes,
it was likewise possible to read brief tales with a folk
source.

3 . T H E 19TH CENTURY
With the advent of the 19th century, the situation of short
narratives radically changed. In fact, it was during this
century that the short story became an autonomous liter­
ary genre. Excellent examples of short narrative were
produced at the time, and most of the great literary fig­
ures of the century tried their hand at writing short stor­
ies. It is Rios Carratala (1993) again who best summarizes
the reasons why this change took place. First of all, he
mentions the end of censorship during the 1830s. Second­
ly, he points out the enormous development of the press,
since it benefited all literary genres, particularly the short
story. In fact, the 19th-century short story was almost
always initially published in literary sections of period­
icals. Throughout the 19th century the short story gained
a degree of acceptance that it had lacked in the past;
moreover, it received some critical attention, this being
especially true in the case of the literary tale based on folk
material.
One aspect concerning the short stories produced in
19th-century Spanish literature is that they can be cate­
gorized according to many different types, as Baquero
Goyanes has demonstrated in his seminal study El cuento
espanol en el siglo XIX { The Spanish Short Story in the 19th
Century, 1949). Some of the categories that he has distin­
guished are: literary versions of folk tales, fantastic tales,
children's tales (in which the main character is a child),
legendary tales, rural tales, historical and patriotic tales,
religious tales, and humoristic and satiric tales. It is worth
pointing out for our purposes that literary versions of
folk tales were not often cultivated by Spanish 19th-cen­
tury writers. In fact, Baquero Goyanes is quite convinced
that this category might just be comprised of Cecilia
*Bohl de Faber's works as well as those of a couple of her
SPAIN 492

followers, Antonio de Trueba (1819—89) and Luis

Coloma (1851—1914).
Nevertheless, it would seem that the list of 19th-cen­
tury Spanish writers who appropriated folk material for
their literary purposes could be further expanded so as to
include the names of those who, in the history of Spanish
literature, tend to figure prominently in categories dis­
tinct from that of the literary folk tradition. This would
be the case of Emilia *Pardo Bazân and Vicente *Blasco
Ibanez, generally regarded among the ranks of the natur­
alist school; Pedro Antonio de *Alarcôn, who is other­
wise grouped with romantic novelists; and writers like
José Maria de *Pereda, Armando *Palacio Valdés, and
Benito *Pérez Galdos, who were part of the realist trad­
ition; all of these writers cultivated to some degree the
genre of the literary fairy tale. Furthermore 19th-century
scholars and journalists such as Manuel *Ossorio y Ber­
nard and José *Godoy Alcantara can be added to the list,
as can Juan Eugenio *Hartzenbusch, the famous romantic
playwright. Mainly known for his poetry, Gustavo
Adolfo *Bécquer nevertheless should be accorded a place
within the history of the Spanish literary tale on account
of his Leyendas {Legends, 1 8 7 1 ) , for which he drew motifs
from Spanish legends as well as from the European folk
tradition. A special case is that of Leopoldo *Alas 'Cla-
rin'; he was not a writer of literary fairy tales himself, but
was none the less a major defender of the genre, and was
also responsible for some of the best short stories of the
19th century.
There were no notable compilers of fairy tales like the
Grimm brothers in Spain; yet, it should be pointed out
that the romantic impulse to collect folk tales systematic­
ally did produce some outstanding results, if not as note­
worthy as those gathered in Germany. Cecilia Bôhl de
Faber, generally referred to by her male pseudonym 'Fer-
nân Caballero', is the most important figure to have
transformed this impulse into an actual compilation of
folk stories entitled Cuentos y poesias populates andalu^as
(Popular Andalusian Tales and Poems, 1859). Her project
was not as ambitious as that of the Grimms', since she did
not aim at gathering folk tales from the whole of Spain,
but only from one of its regions, Andalusia. However,
like the Grimms she transcribed the stories she collected
from different folk sources and subsequently adapted
them to her own literary taste.
493 SPAIN

4. T H E 2 0 T H C E N T U R Y
In the 20th century it becomes much more difficult to
make a comprehensive analysis of literature written in
Spanish owing to the influence of other cultures and lit­
eratures. In fact, after gaining their independence, all
South American countries began to develop their own
sense of identity, out of which new forms of literature
grew.
At the turn of the century, two writers figure promin­
ently in Spain: Pio *Baroja and the Nobel Prize-winner
Jacinto *Benavente. A s was the trend in the 19th century,
neither of them was associated explicitly with the fairy­
tale genre, but both had some connection to it. Baroja,
one of the greatest contemporary Spanish novelists,
wrote some short narratives of a fantastic nature akin to
those by Edgar Allan Poe, while Benavente's plays for
children were almost always inspired by one classical
fairy tale or another.
From the 1940s to the 1960s, however, a good number
of writers began to devote themselves more specifically to
the fairy-tale genre. It should be noted that many of them
were women writers who had in mind an adolescent audi­
ence, or who were simply writing for children. Thus ap­
peared collections of fairy stories by writers like Maria
Luisa *Gefaell, Concha *Castroviejo, Maria Luisa
*Villardefrancos, and Elizabeth *Mulder. During these
decades of Franco's dictatorship, the fairy tale was often
used to convey a traditional ideology that was being pro­
moted by the followers of the regime. The girls' maga­
zine Ba^ar, for instance, was intended to inculcate in its
readers an ideal of femininity characterized by docility,
passivity, and piety. It promoted a kind of woman who
had no other interests beyond household and marital du­
ties, whose body was to conform to canonical beauty, and
who duly fulfilled the precepts of Catholicism. Aurora
*Mateos, for years the editor of Ba^ar, made sure that one
or several fairy tales imbued with such an ideology filled
some of the pages of each issue.
For the most part, the approach to folk and fairy-tale
materials underwent a dramatic change from the 1970s
onwards in Spain, although examples can still be found,
such as that of Ana Maria *Matute, of writers who vener­
ate the established fairy-tale canon and do not wish to
subvert it. With the beginnings of democracy, the censor­
ship imposed by the Franco regime was brought to an
end, with the result that many themes, until then con­
sidered taboo, could be freely dealt with in literature.
SPAIN 494

Fairy-tale material was used in works that tried to decon­

struct traditional discourses concerning the national past,
Catholic morals and manners, and a good number of sex­
ual taboos, as in Juan *Goytisolo's work. Feminist ideol­
ogy was also soon easily identifiable in much of
post-Franco literature, and feminist writers were often in­
spired by the genre of the fairy tale, as is the case of a
good number of Sara *Suârez Solis's short stories, and
also of Carmen *Martin Gaite's novels and fairy tales;
some famous publishing houses even produced whole
collections in which the best-known traditional fairy tales
were rewritten with a feminist bias, of which the series
' T h e Three T w i n s ' , published by Planeta, is an excellent
example.
Feminist revision of fairy tales is a phenomenon that
has likewise affected the production of several Latin
American writers from the 1970s onwards. The Puerto
Rican Rosario Ferré, Luisa *Valenzuela, and Marco
Denevi, both Argentinian, figure among those writers
who have used fairy-tale material in their short stories in
order to socialize their reading public according to values
other than the patriarchal ones, or at least, to make their
readers conscious of the patriarchal ideology inscribed in
many traditional narratives.
In Chile, during Salvador Allende's presidency
(1970—3) a publishing house called Quimantu working
under the auspices of the Unidad Popular (Allende's pol­
itical party) published Cabrochico (Small Child), a chil­
dren's magazine in which several classical fairy tales
appeared; they were all refashioned according to the so­
cialist ideology that the leaders of the country wanted to
disseminate.
Leaving aside the socializing aim which fairy stories
have often been intended to fulfil in contemporary South
American literature, what is undeniable about the genre is
that it has ignited such movements as magical realism in
Spanish. Moreover, in the case of the short story, a num­
ber of South American writers are reputed to have pro­
duced the best examples of the literary fairy tale in the
Spanish language. The three names most often cited are:
Gabriel *Garcîa Marquez, Julio *Cortazar, and above all
Jorge Luis *Borges. In their works, folk and fairy-tale
material are intertwined with features borrowed from the
genres of the fantastic and magic realism, the fundamen­
tal South American contribution to contemporary world
literature. Borges, one of the best short-story writers in
the Spanish language, adds yet another element to his
495 SPRINGER, N A N C Y

literary production—the inspired touch of The ^Arabian

Nights, the masterpiece which influences almost all of his
works. HG/CF

Baquero Goyanes, Mariano, El cuento espahol en el siglo XIX (1949).

El cuento espahol. Del Romanticismo al Realismo (1992).
Boggs, Ralph Steele, Index of Spanish Folktales (1930).
Bravo-Villasante, Carmen, Historia de la literatura infantil espanola (1972).
Antologia de la literatura infantil espanola (1979).
Cerda, Hugo, Ideologiay cuentos de hadas (1985).
Chevalier, Maxime, Cuentos folkoricos espaholes del Siglo de Oro (1983).
Cuentos maravillosos, Biblioteca Românica Hispânica (1995).
Espinosa, Aurelio, The Folklore of Spain in the American Southwest:
Traditional Spanish Folk Literature in Northern New Mexico and Southern
Colorado (1985).
Fernandez Insuela, Antonio, 'Notas sobre la narrativa breve en las
publicaciones periodicas del siglo X V I I I : Estudio de la Tertulia de la
aldea', Estudios de historia social, 52—3 (1990).
Garcia Collado, Marian, 'El cuento folklorico y sus adaptaciones: Entre la
tradicion oral y la fijacion escrita. Très apropiaciones del cuento "Juan el
oso" (cuento tipo A T 301b)', Revista de Dialectologlay Tradiciones
Populares, 47 (1992).
Goldberg, Harriet, Motif-Index of Medieval Spanish Narrative (1998).
Lacadena Calero, Esther, La prosa en el siglo XVIII (1985).
Rios Carratala, Juan Antonio, 'La narrativa breve en Espafia (siglos X V I I I
y X I X ) ' , in J . L. Alonso Hernandez, M. Gosman, and R. Rinaldi (eds.),
La Nouvelle Romane (Italia—France—Espaha) (1993).

one of its reference points w h e n the mother own, g o t married to W e n d y ' s niece, b e c a m e a
reads to Gertie the chapter in w h i c h T i n k e r - cellphone-addicted l a w y e r in A m e r i c a , and
bell, h a v i n g drunk poison to save Peter's life, is erased all m e m o r y o f his former life. T h e se-
herself saved from death b y children all o v e r cond w a s that H o o k did not perish inside the
the world clapping in affirmation o f their belief crocodile at the end o f the original story, but
in fairies. S o o n after, w h e n both E . T . and s u r v i v e d , and reopens the old battle b y abduct-
Elliott are near death, E . T . saves Elliott b y ing Peter's children. T h a n k s to T i n k e r b e l l ' s
breaking the empathie bond which links them; continuing devotion to him, Peter manages to
as a result Elliott r e v i v e s while E . T . is p r o - pursue them to N e v e r l a n d , w i n o v e r the L o s t
nounced clinically dead. A l o n e with the b o d y , B o y s and get b a c k into fighting s h a p e — e x c e p t
in a scene which caused cinema audiences that he cannot fly—within the allotted three
around the w o r l d to w e e p , Elliott tells E . T . days. H a v i n g once again s a v e d his life, though
that he loves him. A l m o s t immediately, E . T . ' s less dramatically than before, T i n k e r b e l l lets
inner light begins to g l o w . Within the narra- Peter g o , accepting with s o r r o w that he will
tive, this resuscitation is ascribed to his h a v i n g n e v e r be hers. H e finally b e c o m e s airborne,
received a telepathic energy injection from his and able to defeat H o o k , as a result o f h a v i n g a
mothership; but to audiences it is quite plain happy thought about his children. Reunited
that their tears, and Elliott's l o v e , are the real with his family, he throws his cellphone a w a y
cause of E . T . ' s resurrection. to symbolize that he intends n e v e r again to lose
Nine years later, with Hook ( U S A , 1991), contact with the child within. T h e B o y w h o
Spielberg returned to Barrie. H e had long W o u l d N o t G r o w U p has b e c o m e T h e Man
wanted to film the play more or less straight, w h o at L a s t L e a r n e d to G r o w U p . TAS
but seems to have decided that modern audi-
ences could not take its w h i m s y or its political S P R I N G E R , N A N C Y (1948- ) , A m e r i c a n writer
incorrectness, so approached the play oblique- of fantasy novels for children and adults.
ly, using a script based on t w o suppositions. A l t h o u g h standard folklore and fantasy tropes
T h e first o f these w a s that Peter eventually left (wizards, fairies, magical beasts) can be found
Neverland so that he could h a v e children o f his throughout this author's early fiction, it is
STAHL, KAROLINE 496

S p r i n g e r ' s powerful mature w o r k o n w h i c h her 1985 ( J a c o b G r i m m ' s 200th birthday) the Swiss
reputation rests. I n The Hex Witch of Seldom postal service followed a similar approach
(1988), she makes highly original use o f P e n n ­ using such tales as 'Cinderella', 'Hansel and
sylvania D u t c h folklore. I n Fair Peril (1996), G r e t e l ' , ' S n o w W h i t e ' , and 'Little R e d R i d i n g
Springer creates a droll modern fairy tale for Hood'.
adult readers. T h e n o v e l concerns a middle- A l s o in 1985 the East G e r m a n postal service
aged w o m a n , her daughter, an a n n o y i n g talking issued a set o f six Brothers G r i m m c o m m e m ­
frog, and the magical realm of F a i r Peril w h i c h orative stamps. Once again there w a s one
lies between t w o stores at the mall. TW stamp depicting J a c o b and W i l h e l m , while the
other five stamps each illustrated one scene out
S T A H L , K A R O L I N E (née D U M P F , 1776-1837), of ' T h e *Brave Little T a i l o r ' , ' T h e Seven
L i v o n i a n writer o f fairy tales and didactic lit­ R a v e n s ' , ' L u c k y H a n s ' , *'Puss-in-Boots', and
erature for children. M u c h in the tradition o f ' T h e S w e e t P o r r i d g e ' . T h e Hungarian postal
the F r e n c h tales she partially emulated, Stahl's service also remembered the G r i m m s with
fables and r e w o r k i n g s o f fairy-tale and saga similar stamps during that y e a r , and stamps
motifs included moral instruction for upper- h a v e also been issued in Bulgaria, C z e c h o ­
class children, enjoining them to a v o i d the slovakia, D e n m a r k , Finland, L u x e m b o u r g ,
seven deadly sins o f childhood: e n v y , tattling, P o l a n d , and R o m a n i a . A t least such stamps
vanity, prattling, unhealthy snacking, danger­ w e r e affordable and brought j o y and memories
ous p l a y , and haughtiness. A few o f the tales to many. O n e w o n d e r s h o w many people will
from h e r Fabeln, Màrchen und Errdhlungen e v e r see the 1,000 G e r m a n marks bill that d e ­
(Fables, Fairy Tales and Stories, 1818) found picts the Brothers G r i m m and which w a s put
their w a y in altered form into the second edi­ into circulation in 1990 shortly after
tion o f the * Kinder- und Hausmdrchen (Chil­ reunification. WM
dren s and Household Taies). SCJ Partington, Paul, Fairy Tales and Folk Tales on
Stamps (1970).
S T A M P S A N D FAIRY T A L E S . M a n y national postal
services h a v e recognized what pleasure it 'STEADFAST T I N SOLDIER, T H E ' ('Den Standhaf-
w o u l d b r i n g to children and adults if they w e r e tige T i n s o l d a t ' ) , published in the third collec­
to produce series o f stamps depicting certain tion o f Eventyr, fortaltefor Born ( Tales, Told for
fairy-tale motifs. I n addition to the pragmatic Children, 1838), remains a m o n g the most popu­
aspect o f selling stamps needed to post mail, lar o f Hans Christian *Andersen's tales. It is the
the postal services also appreciated the c o m ­ first o f several stories to animate inanimate o b ­
mercial advantage o f these stamps since m a n y jects; others include 'Grantraeet' ( ' T h e F i r
customers purchased them as collectors' items. T r e e ' ) and 'Stoppenaalen' ( ' T h e D a r n i n g N e e ­
F a i r y - t a l e stamps are thus part and parcel o f dle').
the mercantile exploitation o f the traditional O n e o f 25 tin soldiers in a b o x , the protago­
tales, n o matter h o w delightful the images o n nist lacks one leg 'as he w a s the last to be made
the stamps might be. and there wasn't enough tin to g o round'. D e s ­
T h e G e r m a n postal services issued a series pite this handicap (or perhaps because of it), his
o f fairy-tale stamps, starting with a single devotion to military decorum is uncompromis­
stamp illustrating the Brothers * G r i m m , b e ­ ing, and he never slackens in his erect and sto­
tween 1959 ( W i l h e l m G r i m m died 100 y e a r s ical demeanour. Falling in l o v e with a paper
earlier) and 1967. C h o o s i n g a l w a y s four major b a l l e r i n a — b o t h for her beauty and because he
motifs o f each individual tale, these sets depict­ thinks that she, t o o , has only one l e g — h e
ed such w e l l - k n o w n fairy tales as ' T h e Star spends his days gazing longingly at her but
C o i n s ' , *'Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' , *'Hansel n e v e r betraying his feelings. Whether b y acci­
and G r e t e l ' , * ' S n o w W h i t e ' , ' T h e W o l f and the dent o r through the ill will o f a jealous goblin,
S e v e n Y o u n g K i d s ' , *'Sleeping B e a u t y ' , ^ C i n ­ the soldier falls from the w i n d o w . W h e n the
derella', ' T h e * F r o g K i n g ' , and ""Mother owners look for him, he refrains from calling
H o l l e ' . B u t there w a s a positive price to be paid out, thinking such action unbecoming his uni­
for these stamps. I n addition to their v a l u e o f form. S e v e r a l misadventures follow: t w o ur­
10, 20, and up to 50 pfennigs, purchasers had to chins place him in a paper boat; he is swept into
p a y between 5 and 25 pfennigs extra for the a culvert and, J o n a h - l i k e , swallowed b y a fish.
purpose o f helping needy children: a clever T h r o u g h all, he remains silent, staunchly
idea b y the national postal service, and one that shouldering his w e a p o n and a l w a y s standing
benefited children throughout the country. I n erect. Miraculously returned to the toy room
497 STEIN, GERTRUDE

(the fish is caught, then purchased b y the based on *'Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' , examines
c o o k ) , he is o v e r j o y e d to find the dancer still in the allure o f the w o l v e s in our lives. 'In the
the d o o r w a y of her castle and almost w e e p s N i g h t C o u n t r y ' (1995) turns ' B r o t h e r and S i s ­
'tears of tin' at what he sees as her fidelity, ter' into a powerful novella about troubled
though he restrains himself. O n e o f the chil­ teenagers. ' T h e Cats o f San Martino' (1998)
dren suddenly seizes and throws him into the sets an Italian fairy tale in modern T u s c a n y .
fire. Still erect, the soldier begins to melt, but ' T h e Season o f the R a i n s ' (1998) w o r k s ' L i l i t h '
whether the heat consuming him 'came from legends into the story o f a scientist w h o s e heart
the actual fire or from l o v e , he had no idea'. is as d r y as the desert he studies. TW
A l m o s t simultaneously b l o w n into the fire b y a
gust of w i n d , the paper dancer is similarly con­ S T E I C , W I L L I A M ( 1 9 0 7 - ) , an A m e r i c a n artist
sumed. T h o u g h the t w o are united at last, all w h o s e cartoons in the New Yorker led to suc­
that remains are a lump of tin in the shape of a cess as a children's b o o k illustrator and author.
heart and the dancer's spangle 'burnt black as Steig's stories are often talking-beast tales in
coal'. w h i c h the good-hearted y o u n g protagonist dis­
T h e story is unusual a m o n g A n d e r s e n ' s plays the attributes o f a fairy-tale hero(ine) in
early tales both in its emphasis on sensual d e ­ undertaking a j o u r n e y and o v e r c o m i n g a d v e r ­
sire and in its ambiguities. Blind fate, not inten­ sity with the aid o f m a g i c . H e w o n the C a l d e -
tion, determines all events. M o r e o v e r , the cott Medal for Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
narrative questions the v e r y decorum it praises. (1969), the story o f a d o n k e y turned to stone
T h e tin soldier's passive acceptance o f w h a t ­ because of a misguided w i s h , and a Caldecott
ever happens to him, while exemplifying pietis- H o n o r for The Amazing Bone (1976), about a
tic ideals of self-denial, also contributes to his p i g rescued from the clutches o f a fox b y a
doom. W e r e he to speak and act, the soldier bone that speaks in several languages, includ­
might gain both life and l o v e . Restrained, h o w ­ ing at least one effective witch spell. His N e w -
ever, b y inhibition and convention, he finds b e r y H o n o r B o o k Dr DeSoto (1982) is a
only tragedy and death. T h e tale is often read trickster tale about a mouse dentist w h o out­
autobiographically, with the soldier v i e w e d as smarts another foxy a d v e r s a r y , this one with a
symbolizing Andersen's feelings o f inadequacy toothache as w e l l as a taste for r a w rodent 'with
with w o m e n , his passive acceptance o f bour­ just a pinch o f salt, and a d r y white w i n e ' .
geois class attitudes, or his sense o f alienation, A l t h o u g h Steig has also p r o v e d adept at l o n g e r
as an artist and outsider, from full participation fantasies, including the N e w b e r y H o n o r B o o k
in e v e r y d a y life. A ballet version, set to music Abel's Island (1976), his most prolific genre has
b y G e o r g e s Bizet, w a s choreographed b y been the picture b o o k , in w h i c h spontaneous
G e o r g e *Balanchine in 1975. T h e tale has in­ pen-and-wash illustrations project his clear
spired several short children's films, as w e l l as plots and witty narrative with equally clear c o l ­
a feature-length science-fiction fantasy film, ours and witty linework. Steig's o n g o i n g send-
The Tin Soldier (1975), and several orchestral ups o f traditional lore are clearly reflected in
compositions. JGH Shrek! (1990), w h i c h includes a witch, a
dragon, and a princess, w h o is just as u g l y as
Bredsdorff, Elias, Hans Christian Andersen: The
the d r a g o n himself, with w h o m she lives ' h o r ­
Story of His Life and Work 1805— j<j (1975).
ribly e v e r after'; and The Toy Brother (1996), a
Rossel, Sven Hakon (ed.), Hans Christian
cross between T i t t l e T o m T h u m b and the sor­
Andersen: Danish Writer and Citizen of the World
cerer's apprentice theme. BH
(1996).
Bottner, Barbara, 'William Steig: The T w o
Rubov, Paul V., 'Idea and Form in Hans
Legacies', The Lion and the Unicorn, 2.1 (1978).
Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales', in A Book on
Moss, Anita, 'The Spear and the Piccolo: Heroic
the Danish Writer Hans Christian Andersen: His
and Pastoral Dimensions of William Steig's
Life and Work (1955).
Dominic and Abel's Island', Children's Literature,
Zipes, Jack, 'Hans Christian Andersen and the
Discourse of the Dominated', in Fairy Tales and 10 (1982).
the Art of Subversion (1983). Wilner, Arlene, ' "Unlocked by Love": William
Steig's Tales of Transformation and Magic',
STEIBER, ELLEN (1955- ) , A m e r i c a n writer o f Children's Literature, 18 (1990).
fantasy novellas with fairy-tale themes. J a p a ­
nese folklore permeates Shadow of the Fox STEIN, GERTRUDE (1874-1946), A m e r i c a n poet
(1994) and ' T h e F o x W i f e ' (1995), illuminating and writer. In the 'Transatlantic I n t e r v i e w '
the boundaries between husbands and w i v e s , (1946), Gertrude Stein insisted that all her
passion and madness. ' S i l v e r and G o l d ' (1994), poetry w a s 'children's poetry'. C l e a r l y , she
STEPHENS, GEORGE 498

often experimented with children's genres, S T E W A R T , S E A N (1965— ) , Canadian writer of

such as the alphabet b o o k . H e r most famous thoughtful, well-crafted fantasy novels in the
w o r k for children, The World is Round (1939), tradition of Ursula * L e G u i n . Nobody's Son
experiments with fairy-tale discourse b y juxta­ (1993) is a compelling 'post-fairy-tale' story,
posing the linear narrative o f a fairy tale within following its commoner-hero after the quest is
the tale (chapters 2 9 - 3 4 ) to the 'rounder' nar­ done and the princess w o n . Clouds End (1996)
rative o f the b o o k as a w h o l e . Stein's satire o f
takes place in a v i v i d invented w o r l d and in­
narrative and g e n d e r stereotypes in children's
cludes the folk tales o f that l a n d — o r i g i n a l to
literature is wittily reinforced b y Clement
the text but clearly modelled on traditional
H u r d ' s pink-and-blue colour scheme. RF
European folk tales. T h e 'changeling' and 'lost
DeKoven, Marianne (ed.), 'Gertrude Stein
Special Issue', MFS: Modern Fiction Studies, 42.3 child' motifs can be found threaded throughout
(fall 1996). Stewart's w o r k , in Resurrection Man (1995) and
The Night Watch (1997) as well as the two
Rust, Martha Dana, 'Stop the World, I Want to novels listed a b o v e . TW
Get Off! Identity and Circularity in Gertrude
Stein's The World Is Round, Style, 30.1 (spring
1996). STOCKTON, FRANK (1834-1902), American
Watts, Linda S., 'Twice upon a Time: Back author, particularly noted for his humorous
Talk, Spinsters, and Re-Verse-als in Gertrude stories for adults and his fairy tales for chil­
Stein's The World Is Round (1939)', Women and dren. A l t h o u g h , at his father's insistence,
Language, 16.1 (spring 1993). Stockton w a s trained as a w o o d - e n g r a v e r , he
soon began writing short stories in his spare
time; b y his mid 30s, he w a s supporting himself
STEPHENS, GEORGE ( 1 8 1 3 - 9 5 ) , Scottish linguist
as a freelance writer and journalist. His first
and folktale collector, resident o f S w e d e n
b o o k of fairy tales, Ting-a-ling (later Ting-a-
1 8 3 4 - 5 1 , professor at the U n i v e r s i t y o f
ling Tales), w a s published in 1870; rather crude
C o p e n h a g e n beginning in 1855. Stephens edit­
and violent in comparison to his later w o r k , the
ed and published collections o f S w e d i s h folk
adventures of the diminutive fairy T i n g - a - l i n g
tales and songs. T o g e t h e r with G u n n a r O l o f
also suggest the humour and imagination that
H y l t é n - C a v a l l i u s , he founded the S w e d i s h S o ­
a n (
w e r e to become his special strengths. In 1873
ciety for A n c i e n t W r i t i n g s in 1843, ^ p u b ­
he w a s invited to b e c o m e the assistant editor to
lished Svenska folksagor och afventyr (Swedish
M a r y Mapes D o d g e of the new children's
Folktales and Folk Stories, 1844—9). T h i s c o l ­
magazine St. Nicholas. H e held this position for
lection, h a v i n g a p u r e l y scholarly purpose,
five y e a r s , until ill health forced him to take an
n e v e r achieved the same popularity with read­
easier job with Scribner's Monthly, and con­
ers as those compiled b y the * G r i m m s or
tinued to write for St. Nicholas well into the
*Asbjornsen and M o e . MN
1890s—so prolifically, in such a variety of
genres, that he w a s obliged to adopt two add­
S T E V E N S O N , R O B E R T L O U I S (1850-94), Scottish itional pseudonyms. D u r i n g the 1880s and
writer o f adventure stories and travel essays, 1890s Stockton w a s also one of A m e r i c a ' s most
especially k n o w n for Treasure Island (1883) and popular authors for adults, best k n o w n for such
a n c
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde humorous novels as Rudder Grange (1879) ^
(1886), both o f w h i c h h a v e b e c o m e Western The Casting Away of Mrs. Leeks and Mrs. Alesh-
cultural icons. O v e r the course o f his lifetime, ine (1886) and for wild and ingenious short
Stevenson published three collections o f tales. stories, sometimes bordering on science fiction.
His first collection, New Arabian Nights (1882) His single most famous short story w a s the
includes ' T h e Suicide C l u b ' and ' T h e R a j a h ' s classic teaser ' T h e L a d y or the T i g e r ? '
D i a m o n d ' , in w h i c h Prince Florizel o f B o h e ­ In addition to Ting-a-ling, Stockton pro­
mia and C o l o n e l Géraldine p a r o d y The *Ara~ duced four v o l u m e s of literary fairy tales, most
bian Nights' Harun a r - R a s h i d and his o f which w e r e originally published in the St.
grand-vizier. T h e title story of The Merry Men Nicholas: The Floating Prince and Other Fairy
and Other Tales and Fables (1887) d r a w s from Tales (1881), The Bee-Man of Orn and Other
Scottish lore, and his third collection, Island Fanciful Tales (1887), The Queen's Museum
Nights' Entertainments (1893), contains a F a u s - (1887), and The Clocks of Rondaine and Other
tian tale set in H a w a i i , ' T h e Bottle I m p ' , in Stories (1892). His role w a s pivotal in the de­
w h i c h K e a w e b u y s a m a g i c bottled imp and is velopment of the A m e r i c a n fairy tale. Before
granted all he desires, but must sell it before he 1880 little fantasy had been written in America,
dies or 'burn in hell forever'. AD even for children; Stockton became the first
STOCKTON, FRANK The majestic griffin carries away the canon in Frank Stockton's 'The Griffin and the
Minor Canon', collected in The Queen's Museum ( 1 8 8 7 ) , illustrated by Frederick Richardson.
STORM, THEODOR 500

A m e r i c a n author to d e v e l o p a species o f fairy w a s that o f a bee-man. T h e king w h o begins

tale with a distinctively A m e r i c a n character. his travels under the direction o f a sphinx in
A l t h o u g h he d r e w liberally from the stock ' T h e Banished K i n g ' , intending to learn h o w to
plots and characters o f E u r o p e a n and N e a r rule m o r e w i s e l y , never returns to his king­
Eastern folk tales, he had, he says, ideas o f his d o m , l e a v i n g it in the competent hands of his
o w n about the 'fanciful creatures' o f tradition, queen. T h e prince of 'Prince Hassak's March'
w h i c h he consciously incorporated into his becomes hopelessly lost in his attempt to march
stories: ' I did not dispense with monsters and from one k i n g d o m to another in 'a mathemat­
enchanters, or talking beasts and birds, but I ically straight line'. T h e three conceited
obliged these creatures to infuse into their princes in ' T h e Sisters T h r e e and the K i l m a r e e '
extraordinary actions a certain leaven of c o m ­ are unable to reach the three beautiful sisters
m o n sense.' T h e incongruity o f c o m m o n sense on their island until they h a v e learned humility
in a monster became not o n l y a source o f w r y and built a fairy 'kilmaree', a boat shaped like a
h u m o u r , but also a reflection o f A m e r i c a n scep­ ram's horn that cannot possibly sail straight.
ticism towards the irrational. Stockton's fairy­ T h o s e characters w h o do succeed in Stockton's
land is essentially democratic, too, despite its metaphor for life do not march arrogantly to­
kings and queens; there is little o f the j o c k e y ­ w a r d their g o a l ; like Prince Nassime, ' T h e
ing o v e r status or social class characteristic o f Floating P r i n c e ' , they must be willing to
L e w i s *Carroll's i m a g i n a r y w o r l d s . A n d while ' f l o a t ' — t o be flexible and take what comes to
the 'fanciful creatures' m a y p l a y a traditional them in their journey, and to learn from all
animal-helper role in assisting the protagonist the strange creatures they meet along the w a y .
on a quest, they are in no w a y subject to him; SR
often, they are pursuing quests o f their o w n . In Golemba, Henry L., Frank Stockton (1981).
this, as in other respects, Stockton's fairy tales Griffin, Martin I. J . , Frank Stockton: A Critical
m a y well h a v e influenced those o f L . F r a n k Biography (1939).
*Baum. Rahn, Suzanne, 'Life at the Squirrel Inn: Frank
Stockton's Fairy Tales', in Rediscoveries in
Most o f Stockton's tales are based on famil­
Children's Literature (1995).
iar folk-tale patterns. S o m e , the simplest, are Zipes, Jack, 'Afterword', in The Fairy Tales of
about children w h o encounter a 'fanciful crea­ Frank Stockton (1990).
ture' and earn some r e w a r d from it, like the
heroines o f ' T o a d s and D i a m o n d s ' o r ' S n o w
W h i t e and R o s e R e d ' . A larger and m o r e inter­ STORM, THEODOR (1817-88), G e r m a n novelist
esting g r o u p o f stories is based on such tales o f and lyric poet w h o studied law at Kiel and B e r ­
quests and j o u r n e y s as ' T h e W a t e r o f L i f e ' and lin. D u r i n g this time he fell in love with the
' T h e S e v e n R a v e n s ' . In these, the protagonists 1 1 - y e a r - o l d Bertha v o n Buchan, w h o later re­
are r o y a l ; their quests often take them to dis­ jected his proposal. F o r her, he composed nu­
tant lands, w h e r e they m a y encounter a w i d e merous poems and his first fairy tale, 'Hans
variety o f c r e a t u r e s — f r o m the d r y a d s o f B a r ' (1837), written in the * G r i m m tradition.
G r e e k m y t h , to the giants, fairies, and h o b g o b ­ Storm gained renown for novellas of poetic
lins o f E u r o p e a n folklore, to the sphinxes and realism, but he also kept on writing fairy tales,
génies o f the East. T h e third g r o u p is farthest resulting from a lifelong interest in m y t h o l o g y
from folktale origins and contains some o f and folklore. His most popular fairy tale, Der
Stockton's most original and philosophical kleine Hdwelmann (The Little Hdwelmann,
tales. T h e i r protagonists are o f l o w l y social sta­ 1849), written for his 1-year-old son, is the
tus, their problems are u n i v e r s a l — o l d a g e in story of a child's nocturnal journey in its cra­
' O l d Pipes and the D r y a d ' , destiny in ' T h e dle. 'Hinzelmeier' (1857), a tale about the
B e e - M a n o f O r n ' , the failure o f g o o d n e s s to choice between the philosopher's stone and the
redeem human nature in ' T h e Griffin and the rose maiden, deviates from the traditional
M i n o r C a n o n ' — a n d their outcomes are not fairy-tale pattern in not providing a happy end­
conventional h a p p y endings. ing. In 1866 Storm published the book Drei
T h e r e is an u n d e r l y i n g melancholy in m a n y Mdrchen (Three Fairy Tales, 1873), consisting
o f Stockton's best fairy tales, and the quest- o f three tales previously published individually
j o u r n e y , his favourite plot d e v i c e , is generally in magazines: 'Bulemanns H a u s ' ('Bulemann's
g i v e n an ironic twist. Quests tend to g o a w r y , H o u s e ' ) , ' D i e R e g e n t r u d e ' ( ' T h e R a i n Maid­
and m a n y end inconclusively o r in failure. T h e e n ' ) , and ' D e r Spiegel des C y p r i a n u s '
B e e - M a n ' s long search for his 'original form' ( ' C y p r i a n u s ' M i r r o r ' ) . 'Bulemanns H a u s ' is the
results in his d i s c o v e r y that his original form uncanny tale about the literal decline of a
5oi STORYTELLING A N D FAIRY TALES

stingy misanthropist. In ' D i e R e g e n t r u d e ' , Stephens, John, Language and Ideology in

Storm combines an old folk tale with the l o v e Children's Fiction (1992).
story of t w o y o u n g peasants w h o are sent to Storr, Catherine, 'Folk and Fairy Tales',
w a k e up the rain maiden in order to avert the Children's Literature in Education, 17 (1986).
drought caused b y her deep sleep. ' D e r Spiegel
des C y p r i a n u s ' is based on a theme that recurs STORYTELLING A N D FAIRY TALES. F a i r y stories o c ­
in Storm's later w o r k s : unbridled passion as de­
c u p y an important place in storytelling. A n n e
structive p o w e r . CS
P e l l o w s k i ' s 1977 s u r v e y revealed the existence
Artiss, David S., 'Theodor Storm's Four
o f the activity in e v e r y part o f the inhabited
Marchen: Early Examples of his Prose
Technique', Seminar: A Journal of Germanic w o r l d . In the past, storytelling required an a p ­
Studies, 14 (1978). prenticeship in some places, and in others it
w a s passed d o w n b y families o f storytellers
Freund, Winfried, 'Ruckkehr zum Mythos:
from one generation to the next. Storytelling
Mythisches und symbolisches Erzahlen in
encompasses oral history, religion, m y t h o l o g y ,
Theodor Storms Marchen "Die Regentrude" ',
Schriften der Theodor-Storm-Gesellsckaft, 35 legends, fables, folk tales, and fairy stories.
(1986). Distinctions between the last three are blurred.
Hansen, Hans-Sievert, 'Narzissmus in Storms Elizabeth C o o k a c k n o w l e d g e d that critics h a v e
Marchen: Eine psychoanalytische Interpretation', spent much time trying to identify the differ­
Schriften der Theodor-Storm-Gesellschaft, 26 ences between them. She claimed that, in fact,
(i977)- all three w e r e about human b e h a v i o u r in a
w o r l d o f m a g i c . I f this definition is accepted,
then it becomes o b v i o u s that A n n e P e l l o w s k i
STORR, CATHERINE ( 1 9 1 3 - ) , born in L o n d o n , found that fairy tales w e r e being told in coun­
earned degrees in E n g l i s h and medicine, prac­ tries as diverse as R u s s i a , Ireland, C h i n a , A u s ­
tised as a psychiatrist and psychologist from tralia, India, and M o r o c c o , as w e l l as m a n y
1948 until 1962, and then devoted herself full- others.
time to writing. H e r treatment o f fairy tales o c ­ Storytelling can be defined in a number o f
curs mainly in her four b o o k s about P o l l y and w a y s . It might be regarded as telling a tale to
the Wolf, beginning with Clever Polly and the an audience without depending on the written
Stupid Wolf (1955) and concluding with Last w o r d , or it might be seen as taking the printed
Stories of Polly and the Wolf (1990). In these w o r d s from a b o o k and g i v i n g them life b y
stories the w o l f attempts to capture P o l l y b y reading them orally to one o r m o r e listeners.
replaying the events and conventions o f fairy In pre-literate societies, fairy tales w o u l d be
tales or other familiar narratives (a hijack, for told and passed d o w n from one generation to
example), and the theme which most c o m m o n ­ the next. A s a consequence, the content o f the
ly emerges from this pattern is that individuals stories w o u l d gradually change. O n c e b o o k s
achieve agency b y comprehending society's became more c o m m o n and people more liter­
cultural and linguistic codes and handling them ate, fairy stories w e r e collected in printed form.
flexibly and adaptively. P o l l y a l w a y s wins b y Thereafter, storytelling b e g a n to incorporate
reordering the narrative sequence, b y pushing story reading, and it is likely that most fairy
it to a logical outcome detrimental to the wolf, stories are n o w told in this w a y . T h a t is not to
or because fairy-tale conventions do not apply say that this n e w e r approach meets with uni­
in the 'real' w o r l d . In ' T h i n k i n g in T h r e e s ' versal approval. S o m e folklorists claim that a
(Last Stories), she advises the w o l f to read fairy story loses its p o w e r and authority once it
fewer fairy tales and 'face real life instead'. is recorded in print, and there are still storytell­
Here the series' p e r v a s i v e scepticism about ers w h o believe that a story should be the p r o p ­
fairy tales as blueprints for life experience erty o f its creator. A l t h o u g h these are minority
emerges most overtly, though the idea also opinions and reading aloud must n o w be ac­
surfaced in a separate collection, It Shouldn't k n o w l e d g e d to be the m o d e , there are still
Happen to a Frog (1984), in which the main powerful arguments for fairy stories being told
character attempts to replay four w e l l - k n o w n rather than read.
fairy tales with the advantage of already k n o w ­ O n e o f the most convincing cases for telling
ing the tale, and discovers that to h a v e the rather than reading fairy stories comes from
blueprint is not enough, as changing social cir­ B r u n o Bettelheim in his classic b o o k on fairy
cumstances produce either different outcomes tales, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning
or a different route to the expected outcome. and Importance of Fairy Tales (1976). Bettel­
JAS heim claimed that fairy tales should be told ra-
S T O R Y T E L L I N G A N D FAIRY T A L E S 502

ther than read because their meanings are L e w i s ' s b o o k s results in most o f the associated
interpersonal. T h i s applies particularly to older storytelling being confined mainly to reading
fairy tales as opposed to n e w l y created ones. from the b o o k s .
T h e ancient fairy tales h a v e been shaped and M a n y children demonstrate the ability to re­
reshaped through millions o f tellings, w h e r e a s tell fairy stories from an early age. Arthur
n e w e r versions, b e i n g committed to print, are A p p l e b e e ' s study in 1973 revealed that even at
m o r e static. T e l l i n g , claimed Bettelheim, is the age o f 2 a considerable number could make
preferable to reading because it allows for use o f a formal beginning and the past tense
greater flexibility. consistently. It is, in all probability, the estab­
It is clear that Bettelheim is mainly con­ lished pattern o f fairy stories which helps chil­
cerned with family storytelling in this respect, dren to retell them with some competence.
preferably on a one-to-one basis. T h i s allows Standardized beginnings and endings, the rapid
both teller and listener to empathize with the identification of principal characters, a crisis or
story and m a k e subtle changes to it. T h a t is not challenge followed b y a rapid chain of events
to s a y that the story should be used in a didac­ followed b y a successful resolution all assist in
tic w a y ; the child will be able to derive mean­ this process, as does the frequent repetition of
ings w h i c h are individually related. T h e r e is no w o r d s and phrases.
need for the teller to explain the story. A p p l e b e e also found that at the ages of both
A l t h o u g h Bettelheim advocates telling rather 6 and 9 fairy tales w e r e the most frequently
than reading fairy stories mainly in a family chosen stories for retelling. A m o n g the most
setting, Eileen C o l w e l l — h e r s e l f a distin­ popular with 6-year-olds w e r e *'Cinderella'
guished s t o r y t e l l e r — a l s o recommends this ap­ and ' G o l d i l o c k s ' . A t nine the most popular
proach with larger audiences. She regards the choices w e r e ' T h e T h r e e Little P i g s ' , B e d -
use o f a b o o k as a barrier to the intimate rela­ knobs and B r o o m s t i c k s ' , ' T h e L i o n , the Witch,
tionship with the audience w h i c h the storyteller and the W a r d r o b e ' , *'Sleeping B e a u t y ' , ' T h e
should h a v e . *Princess and the P e a ' , and * ' S n o w White'. A
A u d i e n c e s w h o listen to the telling o f fairy significant difference between the 6- and
stories v a r y from culture to culture, as do the 9-year-olds w a s that the former w e r e far less
v e n u e s for the activity. A n n e P e l l o w s k i (1977) likely to be able to distinguish between fantasy
found that in some societies storytelling o c ­ and reality. T h e y w e r e far more likely to think
curred in the w o r k p l a c e , at festivals, and in the that Cinderella w a s real or to be certain that
street and market-place. E x a m p l e s o f the last they had personally encountered a real giant.
named can still be found in M o r o c c o , notably S o m e o f A p p l e b e e ' s findings have been con­
in the city o f Marrakesh. A u d i e n c e s in these firmed b y G o e f f F e n w i c k . H e found y o u n g
places will at times be mainly adult, at other children to be enthusiastic about the retelling
times m i x e d . In W e s t e r n society the telling o f of fairy tales, although before the age of 5 they
fairy tales is much m o r e likely to take place in encountered some trouble with providing a sat­
the h o m e or school and, to a much lesser e x ­ isfactory ending. T h e y found fairy tales much
tent, in parks, around camp fires, and in librar­ more easy to retell than other kinds of stories,
ies. T h e main reason for this is p r o b a b l y that and i m p r o v e d with practice. A l t h o u g h their re­
once fairy stories w e r e recorded in w r i t i n g they tellings w e r e in the main accurate, they added
lost some of their v i g o u r , became less frighten­ their o w n individual touches in much the same
ing and m o r e genteel, and w e r e consequently w a y as adult storytellers do. F o r example, there
regarded as b e i n g mainly for a juvenile audi­ might be four rather than three little pigs, the
ence. wise pig might trick the w o l f b y g o i n g to pick
F a i r y stories are often thought to be mainly apples at '40 o'clock' in the morning, one of the
for y o u n g children, but in 1971 Elizabeth C o o k pigs might be rescued from the same cauldron
claimed that pupils aged between 8 and 14 also in w h i c h the w o l f is being boiled, Cinderella's
enjoyed them. She mentions m a n y of the stor­ coach can be motorized, and Goldilocks might
ies from the collections b y the Brothers steal the little bear's teddy bear. M a n y children
* G r i m m , * A n d e r s e n , and *Perrault in this re­ retell their stories dramatically, adopting the
spect, but also the m o r e recent w o r k s o f O s c a r appropriate m o d e . T h e i r g r o w i n g competence
W i l d e , G e o r g e * M a c D o n a l d , C . S. * L e w i s , and often seems to influence their ability to record
J . R . R . T o l k i e n . Certainly Tolkien's books the same material in writing.
The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings J a c k Zipes in Creative Storytelling suggests
(1954—5) h a v e been v e r y popular in recent that children might recognize the dynamic na­
years. T h e length o f both T o l k i e n ' s and ture o f fairy stories b y being asked to provide
 S T O R Y T E L L I N G A N D FAIRY T A L E S

their o w n endings. In addition, characters and A m e r i c a , one o f the b e s t - k n o w n being the

plots from different fairy stories might be Canadian-based Storytelling School of
mixed up to illustrate the same point. F o r e x ­ T o r o n t o . T h e interest has been so great that
ample, *Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d and S n o w National Festivals o f Storytelling h a v e been
White might be included in the same story. A l ­ held from time to time in the United
ternatively, different versions of the same story States.
might be considered. B y these means, children In G r e a t Britain there are a number o f influ­
are likely to understand the personal nature o f ential societies. O n e o f them, the C o m p a n y o f
fairy stories and h o w they can change from one Storytellers, comprises some 200 professionals
telling to the next. T e r e s a G r a i n g e r also under­ w h o m a k e some part o f their l i v i n g b y g i v i n g
lines the creative element in children's story­ public performances o f their art. Other associ­
telling. B y retelling fairy tales, they are not ations include C o m m o n L o r e , the C r i c k - C r a c k
only demonstrating their p o w e r s o f recall and C l u b , the National Association for Storytell­
comprehension, they are d e v e l o p i n g the p o w e r ing, and the Society for Storytelling. A l l o f
of their o w n language. G r a i n g e r recommends these groups m a k e use o f w e l l - k n o w n fairy and
the use of fairy tales from different parts o f the folk tales, and extend the range o f their expert­
w o r l d and suggests that children should share ise to material from m a n y ethnic g r o u p s .
the telling of a fairy story or dramatize it. N o r Storytellers w h o h a v e helped to extend the
should the audience be confined to the class­ range o f storytelling in G r e a t Britain include
room. Children might tell fairy tales to pupils Ben H a g g e r t y , Beula C a n d a p p a , G r a c e H a l l -
y o u n g e r or older than themselves or to selected w o r t h , and D u n c a n W i l l i a m s o n . T h e r e v i v a l o f
groups of adults. storytelling might be due to some extent to a
T h e media's contribution to storytelling in reaction against the passive nature o f much
Great Britain has been considerable. F r o m modern entertainment. A l t h o u g h all o f the as­
1922 until 1966 Children's Hour, aired each d a y sociations mentioned regard w o r k with chil­
in the early evening on British radio, told m a n y dren as being important, their i n v o l v e m e n t
types of stories, including fairy tales. T h e best- with teenagers and adults has demonstrated
k n o w n w a s probably the long-running series that fairy tales are b y no means e x c l u s i v e l y for
' T o y T o w n ' . Children's Hour w a s particularly the v e r y y o u n g .
important during W o r l d W a r I I w h e n b o o k s T h e public library service has been influen­
and other forms o f entertainment w e r e in short tial in the development o f storytelling in both
supply. A n o t h e r w e l l - k n o w n radio pro­ the United States and G r e a t Britain. T h e activ­
gramme, also broadcast b y the B B C , w a s Listen ity can be traced as far b a c k as 1896 in the F r e e
with Mother, which w a s on the air w e e k d a y L i b r a r y in B r o o k l y n , N e w Y o r k , but it w a s
afternoons. F a i r y tales w e r e also a part o f its p r o b a b l y a visit b y Marie Shedlock in 1900
corpus of stories. T h e p r o g r a m m e lasted from w h i c h g a v e it the impetus w h i c h resulted in it
1950 until 1982. b e c o m i n g established in public libraries across
F o r large audiences to be captured b y un­ the nation.
seen readers is an indication o f the p o w e r o f Marie S h e d l o c k (1854—1935) spent most o f
story. A medium even more unlikely than her life in E n g l a n d , b e c o m i n g a professional
radio for communicating stories is television, storyteller in 1885. A versatile practitioner, she
unless those stories are dramatized. Y e t from specialized in telling the stories o f Hans C h r i s ­
1964 until the early 1980s, a British p r o g r a m m e tian A n d e r s e n such as ' T h e S w i n e h e r d ' , ' T h e
specializing in storytelling, Jackanory, had a *Steadfast T i n S o l d i e r ' , and ' T h e Princess and
w e e k d a y slot in the late afternoon. Often the the P e a ' . H e r w a r m , natural style w a s a depart­
readers w e r e accomplished actors, such as the ure from the stilted dramatics o f the d a y . She
late Kenneth Williams. O n one occasion demonstrated this c l e v e r l y b y telling A n d e r ­
Prince Charles read his o w n folk tale, ' T h e O l d sen's story ' T h e N i g h t i n g a l e ' , in w h i c h the
Man of L o c h n a g a r ' . Jackanory lasted for 15 s o n g o f the live bird is contrasted with that o f
minutes, an ideal time for a storytelling p r o ­ its c l o c k w o r k rival. She claimed that, to tell a
gramme. story effectively, y o u had to c o n v e y the i m ­
Storytelling associations exist in m a n y coun­ pression that y o u w e r e part o f it. Marie S h e d ­
tries. T h e i r aims are to preserve, promote, and lock made further visits to the United States,
develop this ancient art. T h e r e has been a re­ including an extended one between 1915 and
surgence of interest in storytelling on both 1920. H e r b o o k The Art of the Story-Teller, first
sides of the Atlantic since the early 1980s. published in 1913, is regarded as a classic o f its
Many groups have been formed in N o r t h kind.
STRAPAROLA, GIOVAN FRANCESCO 504

Others noted for their w o r k in promoting b o o k s are read aloud when children are learn­
storytelling include A n n C a r r o l l M o o r e and ing to read. A fairly recent innovation in the
A n n C o g s w e l l T y l e r . Mainly through their ef­ teaching o f reading has been the use of B i g
forts, storytelling became a popular feature in B o o k s . T h e s e are outsize with attractive pic­
the public libraries o f N e w Y o r k . In 1909, for tures and a small amount of v e r y large print.
example, stories w e r e told to o v e r 28,000 chil­ M a n y of them consist o f simple fairy tales with
dren in the city's libraries. R u t h S a w y e r a great deal of repetition, often with only one
(1886-1970) also collaborated on this w o r k . n e w w o r d on each successive page. Several
H e r source w a s mainly Celtic and her version children can read a B i g B o o k at once. T h e y can
o f ' T h e V o y a g e o f the W e e R e d C a p ' w a s a learn the content so quickly that they can tell
m u c h - l o v e d feature at Christmas in the librar­ the stories with ease.
ies o f N e w Y o r k . H e r b o o k The Way of the T e a c h e r s have not developed storytelling to
Storyteller (1942) is regarded, like S h e d l o c k ' s , the same extent as librarians, probably because
as a classic. they face a wider, less voluntary audience. In­
In G r e a t Britain, Eileen C o l w e l l and G r a c e fluenced b y a statutory National Curriculum
H all w o r t h made outstanding contributions to w h i c h includes both storytelling and fairy tales,
the development o f storytelling in libraries. there are indications that teachers are n o w de­
Eileen C o l w e l l became a librarian in 1920, and v e l o p i n g considerable expertise. T h e y have
in 1926 assumed responsibility for children's li­ been assisted in this respect b y the National
braries in H e n d o n , N o r t h L o n d o n , m a k i n g O r a c y Project, which w a s established in 1987
them w e l l k n o w n for their pioneering w o r k . and which placed considerable emphasis on
She became a friend o f J o h n Masefield, the then storytelling, including w o r k with older pupils.
Poet Laureate, w h o helped to establish an an­ Children as old as 16 w e r e encouraged to tell
nual festival o f the spoken w o r d at O x f o r d . local folk tales.
Eileen C o l w e l l ' s style o f storytelling is quiet Both audiotape and videotape also play a
and undemonstrative, with no use o f visual part in storytelling in schools. Videotapes usu­
aids. She published several collections o f stor­ ally present dramatized versions of stories,
ies for telling, including A Storyteller's Choice whereas audiotapes use narration, often b y ac­
(1961) and A Second Storyteller's Choice (1963). complished actors, and can be used b y either
H e r range o f stories includes modern tales such groups or single listeners. GF
as Ursula M o r a y W i l l i a m s ' s ' T h e C l e v e r Little Applebee, Arthur, The Child's Concept of Story:
Christmas T r e e ' , and the Celtic Tales o f J o s e p h Ages Two to Seventeen ( 1 9 7 3 ) .
*Jacobs. C o l w e l l eventually became a lecturer Bettelheim, Bruno, The Uses of Enchantment:
at the L o u g h b o r o u g h School o f Librarianship. The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales
(1976).
G r a c e Hallworth came from T r i n i d a d in 1957
Colwell, Eileen, A Storyteller's Choice ( 1 9 6 1 ) .
to w o r k in a library in Hertfordshire, w h e r e
A Second Storyteller's Choice ( 1 9 6 3 ) .
she developed storytelling, specializing in Storytelling ( 1 9 8 0 ) .
W e s t Indian folk tales. H e r b o o k Stories to Cook, Elizabeth, The Ordinary and the Fabulous:
Read and to Tell, written in collaboration with An Introduction to Myths, Legends and Fairy
J . M a r r i a g e , w a s published in 1970. A n o t h e r li­ Tales for Teachers and Storytellers ( 1 9 6 9 ) .
brarian notable for her w o r k w a s J a n e t Hill, Fenwick, Geoff, Teaching Children's Literature in
w h o encouraged outdoor storytelling in the the Primary School ( 1 9 9 0 ) .
L o n d o n parks in the 1970s. Grainger, Teresa, Traditional Storytelling in the
Primary Classroom ( 1 9 9 7 ) .
Storytelling in schools in G r e a t Britain takes
Hallworth, Grace, and Marriage, J . , Stories to
place mainly in the early years. M a n y of the Read and to Share ( 1 9 7 0 ) .
stories w h i c h teachers tell are traditional fairy Howe, Alan, and Johnson, John, Common Bonds.
tales. B e y o n d the first t w o years o f schooling, Storytelling in the Classroom: The National Oracy
the incidence o f both fairy tales and storytell­ Project ( 1 9 9 2 ) .
ing decreases m a r k e d l y . Thereafter, if fairy Pellowski, Anne, The World of Storytelling
tales are e m p l o y e d in the classroom, they are (i977)-
likely to be read rather than told. F a i r y tales in Sawyer, Ruth, The Way of the Storyteller ( 1 9 4 2 ) .
general are thought to be for y o u n g children. Shedlock, Marie, The Art of the Story- Teller
F a i r y tales play an important part in the (1913)-
teaching o f reading. T h e i r structure, especially Zipes, Jack, Creative Storytelling: Building
the frequent repetition o f w o r d s and phrases Community, Changing Lives ( 1 9 9 5 ) .
and the use o f r h y m e , make them ideal subjects STRAPAROLA, GIOVAN FRANCESCO (c.1480-
for b o o k s within reading schemes. T h e s e 1558), Italian writer and poet, generally con-
STRAPAROLA, GIOVAN FRANCESCO The princess talks to her serpent sister in a garden in Giovan Francesco
Straparola's tale 'The Snake and the Maiden' (1550), illustrated by E. R. Hughes in the English edition
The Facetious Nights of Gian Franco Straparola (1888).
STRATTON, H E L E N 506

sidered the 'father' or progenitor o f the literary Squarotto, Giorgio Bàberi, 'Problemi di tecnica
fairy tale in E u r o p e . H e w a s born in C a r a v a g - narrativa cinquentesca: lo Straparola', Sigma
g i o , Italy, but left few documents, so that little (March 1965).
is k n o w n about his life. E v e n the name 'Strapa-
rola' itself m a y be a pen-name, for it indicates S T R A T T O N , H E L E N (fi. 1892-1925), British illus-

someone w h o is loquacious. W h o e v e r he w a s , trator, w o r k e d primarily with children's stories

Straparola w a s the first truly gifted author to and fairy tales. A l t h o u g h she lived in K e n s i n g -
write numerous fairy tales in the vernacular ton, L o n d o n her w o r k w a s strongly influenced
and cultivate a form and function for this kind b y the A r t N o u v e a u school of G l a s g o w , par-
o f narrative to make it an acceptable genre ticularly with regard to children's clothing and
a m o n g the educated classes in Italy and soon backgrounds. H e r animals and birds were quite
after in F r a n c e , G e r m a n y , and E n g l a n d . A s i d e realistic. She w o r k e d both in black and white
from a small v o l u m e o f poems published in and in colour, and illustrated at least five edi-
V e n i c e in 1508, his major w o r k is Le *piacevoli tions o f Hans Christian *Andersen's fairy tales
notti (1550—3), translated v a r i o u s l y as The for Blackie between 1896 and 1908, an edition
Pleasant Nights, The Entertaining Nights, The o f *Grimms' Fairy Tales (1903), and finally
Facetious Nights, o r The Delectable Nights. T h e Stories from Andersen, Grimm and the Arabian
collection has a framework similar to B o c c a c - Nights (1929). A l s o notable w e r e her watercol-
cio's Decameron. In this case, the tales are told our illustrations for G e o r g e *MacDonald's The
in 13 consecutive nights b y a g r o u p o f ladies Princess and the Goblin (n.d.) and The Princess
and gentlemen gathered at the Venetian palace and Curdle (1912) for Blackie. LS
o f Ottaviano Maria Sforza, former bishop o f
L o d i , w h o has fled Milan with his w i d o w e d S T R A U S S , G W E N ( 1 9 6 3 - ) , Haitian-born A m e r i -
daughter Lucretia to a v o i d persecution and can writer and poet. In Trails of Stone (1989), a
capture b y his political enemies. T h e frame- unique collection o f poetry inspired b y classical
w o r k and tales influenced other Italian and fairy tales and illustrated b y A n t h o n y B r o w n e ,
E u r o p e a n writers, a m o n g them Giambattista Strauss g i v e s each poem its o w n ' v o i c e ' : ' T h e i r
*Basile, Charles *Perrault, and the Brothers Father' is told from the point of v i e w of ""Han-
* G r i m m . O f the 73 stories, there are 14 fairy sel and Gretel's father; ' T h e Waiting W o l f
tales, w h i c h can be traced to the G r i m m s ' Chil- from that o f T i t t l e R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' s wolf;
dren 's and Household Tales and m a n y other c o l - and ' H e r S h a d o w ' from that o f the miller's
lections: ' C a s s a d r i n o ' ( ' T h e Master T h i e f ) , daughter in *'Rumpelstiltskin'. Strauss does
'Pre Scarpafico' ('The Little Farmer'), not simply retell the tales from the perspective
' T e b a l d o ' ( ' A l l F u r ' ) , ' G a l e o t t o ' ('Hans m y o f a particular character; rather, she makes of
H e d g e h o g ' ) , ' P i e t r o ' ( ' T h e Simpleton H a n s ' ) , the tales psychological allegories for the inner
'Biancabella' ( ' T h e Snake and the M a i d e n ' ) , life, exploring such issues as 'fear of love,
' F o r t u n i o ' ( ' T h e N i x i e in the P o n d ' ) , ' R i c a r d o ' shame, grief, jealousy, loneliness, j o y ' . AD
( ' S i x w h o M a d e their W a y into the W o r l d ' ) ,
' A c i o l o t t o ' ( ' T h e T h r e e Little B i r d s ' ) , ' G u e r - S T R A U S S , R I C H A R D (1864-1949), Bavarian, the
rino' (*Tron H a n s ' ) , T tre fratelli' ( ' T h e F o u r most important successor of W a g n e r , c o m -
Skilful B r o t h e r s ' ) , 'Maestro Lattantio' ( ' T h e poser of 15 operas, numerous Lieder, and much
T h i e f and his M a s t e r ' ) , ' C e s a r i n o ' ( ' T h e T w o instrumental music. His early symphonic poem
B r o t h e r s ' ) , and ' S o r i a n a ' ( * ' P u s s - i n - B o o t s ' ) . Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulen-
JZ spiegeVs Merry Pranks, 1895) recalls the exploits
Bottigheimer, Ruth B., 'Straparola's Piacevoli of the 14th-century north G e r m a n peasant
notti: Rags-to-Riches Fairy Tales as Urban c l o w n and v a g a b o n d hero, immortalized in
Creations', Merveilles et Contes, 7 (December m a n y chapbooks, the first appearing about
1994). 1500. Strauss's collaboration with the Viennese
Gillet, Anne Motte, 'Giovan Francesco poet H u g o v o n *Hofmannsthal resulted in sev-
Straparola: Les Facétieuses Nuits. Notice', in eral w o r k s based on classical or mythological
Anne Motte Gillet (éd.), Conteurs de la themes, including Elektra (1909), Ariadne auf
Renaissance (1993). Naxos (1912, revised 1916), and especially Die
Mazzacurati, Giancarlo, 'La narrativa di G. F.
Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a
Straparola e l'ideologia del fiabesco', in Form &
Shadow, 1919). In this ambitious opera, which
Ideologia (1974).
Piejus, Marie-Françoise, Individu et société. Le p a y s general h o m a g e to *Mozart's Die Zauber-
Parvenu dans la nouvelle italienne du XVI siècle flote (The Magic Flute, 1791), Hofmannsthal
(1991). provided Strauss with a fairy tale v a g u e l y in-
 STRAVINSKY, IGOR FYODOROVICH

spired b y Wilhelm *Hauff s Dos Kalte Heri STRAVINSKY, IGOR FYODOROVICH (1882-1971),
(The Stone Heart, 1887), expanded b y various Russian-born composer. H e left R u s s i a in 1913,
ideas from *Goethe's Hafii poems, from living in Switzerland and F r a n c e until finally
Bachofen's Myths of the Occident and the Orient, m o v i n g to the United States in 1939. Stravin­
The ^Arabian Nights, and other sources, but sky had already b e g u n w o r k i n g on what w a s to
above all from his fertile imagination. become the opera Le Rossignol (The Nightin­
Hofmannsthal's verse libretto for Strauss's gale, 1914), based on the Hans Christian
opera, which he also expanded into a prose *Andersen fairy tale, w h e n S e r g e i D i a g h i l e v ,
narrative (Errahlung), is a story o f enchant­ founder o f the h u g e l y influential Ballets
ment set v a g u e l y in a region called the South Russes, requested a score for a ballet based on
Eastern Islands where a certain emperor reigns. the Russian legend o f ' T h e F i r e b i r d ' . W i t h
He will lose his wife, the daughter o f the m y s ­ scenario b y Michel *Fokine, choreographer for
terious K e i k o b a d of the spirit w o r l d , unless she the Ballets R u s s e s , L'Oiseau de feu (The Fire­
conceives a child within 12 m o n t h s — t h a t is, bird, 1910) tells o f the defeat o f the o g r e K a s h -
casts a s h a d o w — a n d at the same time he will chei b y the y o u n g Prince I v a n , with help from
turn to stone. T h e opera describes h o w the the Firebird. Written for large orchestra, Stra­
empress finds her shadow, or becomes fully v i n s k y ' s colourful score simultaneously looks
human. Meanwhile, in the mundane and ma­ back to the music o f his teacher * R i m s k y - K o r -
terialistic w o r l d live B a r a k the d y e r and his s a k o v , and forward to the violent rhythmic in­
wife. She has a shadow but wants to renounce novations o f Le Sacre du printemps ( The Rite of
Spring, 1913). The Firebird p r o v e d to be the
it. T h e point is that neither the empress nor
first in a series of fairy-tale-based ballet scores
Barak's wife understands her potential for life,
written b y S t r a v i n s k y for D i a g h i l e v ' s c o m ­
which is not merely the desire or the ability to
pany. Before The Rite came Petruschka ( 1 9 1 1 ) ,
bear children, but rather to have compassion
with scenario b y S t r a v i n s k y and A l e x a n d r e
and sympathy for h u m a n k i n d — t h i s is to have
Benois, set during a v i v i d l y realized Shrovetide
a shadow. Strauss composes music of astonish­
F a i r in St Petersburg in the 1830s, and featur­
ing brilliance that well illustrates these different
ing the traditional figure o f the fairground p u p ­
spheres of action. T h e empress in her first
pet (danced in the original production b y
scene, for example, has music of shimmering
Vaslav Nijinsky).
coldness and translucence, emphasizing her
F o l l o w i n g t w o idiosyncratic stage w o r k s
connection with the spirit w o r l d ; but B a r a k ' s
based on Russian tales from the collections
music is more thickly and deeply orchestrated.
o f A . N . * A f a n a s y e v — R e n a r d (composed
Both c o u p l e s — t h e emperor and empress, and
1 9 1 5 - 1 6 ; first performed 1922), an animal fable
Barak and his w i f e — m u s t undergo tests o f
i n v o l v i n g R e y n a r d the F o x , and Histoire du sol­
confession and repentance to become w o r t h y
dat (The Soldier's Tale, 1 9 1 8 ) — S t r a v i n s k y
of possessing a shadow. A t the triumphal end
composed music for the one-act ballet Pulci-
of the opera, with trials completed, the two
nella (1920). W i t h costumes and sets designed
couples are shown to be w o r t h y o f l o v e b y p o s ­
b y P a b l o P i c a s s o , Pulcinella tells a simple story
sessing virtuous desire and purity of motive.
i n v o l v i n g the hero o f the Neapolitan commedia
T h e D y e r ' s wife n o w m a y properly embrace
delVarte. T h e score is one o f the first examples
her shadow, while the empress gains her v e r y
o f S t r a v i n s k y ' s neo-classicism, based as it is on
o w n shadow. Strauss's glorious music inter­
music from the Italian baroque; he later re­
prets and elevates Hofmannsthal's marvellous
ferred to it as ' m y d i s c o v e r y o f the past'. Such
tale at e v e r y stage in what m a y be the greatest creative interaction with the music o f previous
achievement of his career and one o f the most centuries also formed the basis o f Le Baiser de
successful of all operatic fairy tales. PGS la fée (The Fairy's Kiss, 1928), w h i c h d r a w s on
Del Mar, Norman, Richard Strauss: A Critical some o f the less familiar music o f T c h a i k o v ­
Commentary on his Life and Works ( 3 vols., s k y , to accompany a condensed version o f
1962—72). Hans Christian A n d e r s e n ' s ' T h e Ice Maiden'.
Mann, William, Richard Strauss: A Critical Study Dedicating it to the m e m o r y o f T c h a i k o v s k y ,
of the Operas ( 1 9 6 4 ) . S t r a v i n s k y conceived o f the story as an alle­
Pantle, Sherrill Hahn, 'Die Frau ohne Schatten '
g o r y o f his predecessor's w o r k . SB
by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss:
An Analysis of Text, Music, and their Relation Stravinsky, Igor, An Autobiography ( 1 9 3 6 ) .
(1978). Stravinsky, Igor, Selected Correspondence, ed.
Stanwood, Paul G., 'Fantasy and Fairy Tale in Robert Craft, iii ( 1 9 8 4 ) .
Twentieth-Century Opera', Mosaic, 1 0 . 2 ( 1 9 7 7 ) . Taruskin, Richard, Stravinsky and the Russian
STRINDBERG, AUGUST 508

Traditions: A Biography of the Works through prince. More clearly feminist are Suârez Solis's
Mavra' (1 vols., 1996). t w o other revisions of 'Cinderella'. T h e
White, Eric Walter, Stravinsky: The Composer author's intention in both texts is to unveil the
and his Works (1966).
patriarchal stereotypes that permeate classical
versions o f the story, and to supply humorous
S T R I N D B E R G , A U G U S T (1849-1912), S w e d i s h
commentaries, often spoken b y a fairy g o d ­
p l a y w r i g h t . His early drama Lycko-Pers Resa
mother, about the refusal of contemporary
(Lucky Per's Journey, 1881) suggested that
young women—contemporary Cinder­
Strindberg w a s familiar with narrative folklore;
e l l a s — t o follow the traditional patterns that
and various folk beliefs m a k e their w a y into
contributed to their mothers' subjection. CF
such late s y m b o l i c plays as Spoksonaten (The
Ghost Sonata, 1907). A d m i r a t i o n for Hans
S U T E R M E I S T E R , O T T O (1832-1901), Swiss folk­
Christian *Andersen reveals itself in Sagor
(Tales, 1903), in w h i c h Strindberg imitates the lorist and professor, w h o collected and revised
D a n e ' s whimsical and experimental use o f the numerous folk tales, legends, fables, and p r o v ­
folk tale and Marchen. NI erbs. His major w o r k s are Frisch und Fromm:
Er^dhlungen, Mdrchen, Fabeln, Schwdnke fiir
Mays, Milton A . , 'Strindberg's Ghost Sonata:
die Jugend (Fresh and Pious: Stories, Fairy
Parodied Fairy Tale on Original Sin', Modern
Tales, Fables, and Anecdotes for the Young,
Drama, 10 (1967).
1863), Kinder- und Hausmdrchen (Children's and
Syndergaard, Larry, 'The Skogsra of Folklore
and Strindberg's The Crown Bride', Comparative Household Tales, 1869), and Kornblumen:
Drama, 6 (1972). Fabeln und Mdrchen (Cornflowers: Fables and
Fairy Tales, 1870). Strongly influenced b y
S T U C K E N B E R G , VlGGO (1863-1905), D a n i s h the Brothers * G r i m m , Sutermeister emphasized
novelist w h o dealt mainly with intricate marital the didactic aspect o f Swiss folklore and re­
relationships. In his Vejbred (The Plantain, w r o t e m a n y o f the tales to suit y o u n g
1899), he demonstrates, h o w e v e r , a critical readers. JZ
turn o f mind that uses the tale form to censure
b o u r g e o i s society. In ' K l o d s H a n s ' ( ' C l o d S V E V O , ITALO ( p s e u d o n y m of ElTORE SCHMITZ,
H a n s ' , 1 8 5 5 ) — a continuation o f Hans C h r i s ­ 1861—1928), Italian writer of novels, short stor­
tian *Andersen's t a l e — S t u c k e n b e r g reveals ies, plays, and essays, born in Trieste. H e
that the farmboy w h o , b y his forthright manner introduced the psychological novel in Italy
had w o n the hand o f the princess, has n o w b e ­ with his first novel Una vita (A Life, 1892), fol­
c o m e bored with life at court. T h i s anti-tale l o w e d b y Senilità (As a Man Grows Older,
concludes with the protagonist eloping with a 1898). Both novels w e r e greatly admired b y
lusty country girl and, thereby, regaining his J a m e s J o y c e , w h o m S v e v o met in 1905, and
freedom. Stuckenberg offers a s a v a g e inter- w h o s e influence w a s visible in the stream of
textual criticism o f A n d e r s e n . NI consciousness of La coscien^a di Zeno (Zeno's
Conscience, 1923). S v e v o had read and trans­
SuÂREZ SOLJS, SARA ( 1 9 2 5 - ) , Spanish writer lated F r e u d ' s Interpretation of Dreams, which
w h o is best k n o w n as a novelist. Influenced b y had a direct impact on his novels of introspec­
fairy tales, she has publicly advocated that tion and interior monologues, and which
Mdrchen should be revised from a feminist fuelled his fascination and cultivation of fairy
point o f v i e w and has published some unusual tales and short stories. D u r i n g his lifetime
fairy tales herself. A l l three o f them revise the S v e v o published only seven stories and left
story o f *'Cinderella': 'Cenicienta 39' ( ' C i n d e r ­ m a n y unpublished. His fairy tales have been
ella '39', 1989), ' L a s Cenicientas y a no son lo collected in Racconti, Saggi, pagine sparse
que eran' ('Cinderellas A r e N o L o n g e r W h a t (Stories, Essays, Sparse Pages, 1968). His earli­
T h e y U s e d T o B e ' , 1990), and 'Bibicenicienta' est story, ' U n a lotta' ( ' A Contest', 1888), is a
('Bibicinderella', 1991). 'Cenicienta 39' brings p a r o d y o f chivalric romances peopled with
the story o f Cinderella to Spain and sets it dur­ names such as A r t u r o , Ariodante, and Rosina,
ing the years o f the Spanish C i v i l W a r a character keep out o f Don Quixote. T h i s was
(1936-9). It is an ironic tale in w h i c h the hap­ followed b y 'L'assassinio di via B e l p o g g i o '
piness o f those w h o w o n the w a r is contrasted ('Murder on B e l p o g g i o Street', 1890), a p s y ­
with the calamities that befell the losers. Pili, chological thriller, and ' L a tribu' ( ' T h e T r i b e ' ,
the Cinderella in this story, is a y o u n g girl w h o 1897), a political allegory about the life of a
has been mutilated b y a cannon ball and will nomadic tribe and its leader Hussein.
therefore n e v e r be rescued b y a charming S v e v o had a predilection for fairy tales and
5o 9
SWINCIN' THE DREAM

wrote La madre (1910, rev. 1927), a tale about w e r e a l w a y s e n d o w e d with unique meanings.
chicks w h o are v e r y upset because they w e r e GD
hatched in an incubator and d o not h a v e a
mother. O n e o f them is named C u r r a (Roller o r SWINCIN'THE DREAM, a 1939 B r o a d w a y musical
Runner), for he w a s the first to run for food. version o f W i l l i a m *Shakespeare's A *Midsum-
T h i s fairy tale symbolically depicted S v e v o ' s mer Night's Dream that reset the fantasy in
relationship with 'mother' Italy w h o had i g ­ 1890s L o u i s i a n a and used jazz and s w i n g music
nored him for a v e r y long time before his liter­ b y J i m m y M c H u g h to tell its tale. T h e p r e d o m ­
ary recognition. ' U n a burla riuscita' ( ' A inantly black cast featured L o u i s A r m s t r o n g as
Successful H o a x ' , 1926) is the story o f a 70- B o t t o m , Butterfly M c Q u e e n as P u c k , and
year-old author w h o s e novel Giovinena has J a c k i e ' M o m s ' M a b l e y as Quince. Despite a
had no recognition, thus forcing him secretly v i v a c i o u s score p l a y e d b y B e n n y G o o d m a n
to write tales about sparrows. A n o t h e r v e r y and his Sextet, the s h o w o n l y ran 13 perform­
short tale is ' U n eroe salvo una fata' ( ' A H e r o ances. T h e musical retained much o f the story's
S a v e d a F a i r y ' ) . In general, fairy-tale motifs characters and plot but little o f its fantasy
can be found in most o f his w o r k s and elements. TSH
 TALE OF A YOUTH WHO SET OUT TO LEARN WHAT
FEAR WAS, THE (Von einem, der aus^og, das
Gruseln çu lernen), a prize-winning puppet film
based on the * G r i m m s , and used for teaching
Nazi values. In its written form the story is
about a y o u n g man w h o has a tender heart but
is such a simpleton that he cannot even under­
stand what people mean w h e n they talk about
something ' g i v i n g them the shivers'. R e ­
proached for his stupidity b y his father, he pro­
tests that he is v e r y willing to learn, and w o u l d
like to start b y finding out h o w to get the
TABART, BENJAMIN (c.1767/8-1833), London shivers. A sexton guarantees to frighten him
bookseller and proprietor o f the J u v e n i l e L i ­ inside a church tower at midnight, but that has
brary, w h o published m a n y notable children's no effect. N o r does sleeping under a gibbet
b o o k s including fairy tales, at a time w h e n from which seven bodies are hanging. T h e
moral tales and b o o k s o f instruction prevailed. youth even passes three nights in a haunted
In 1804 he began issuing a sixpenny series o f castle, thereby winning the king's daughter in
fairy and popular stories, including tales b y marriage, without anything g i v i n g him the
*Perrault, d ' * A u l n o y , and from The ^Arabian shivers. Finally his new wife solves the prob­
Nights, and also versions o f chapbook tales lem b y emptying a bucket of small fish o v e r his
such as Valentine and O r s o n , Fortunatus and naked b o d y . T o l d like this, it embodies folk-
R o b i n H o o d . His 1807 publication, The History w i s d o m — ' H e w h o does not k n o w fear is a
of *Jack and the Beanstalk w a s perhaps the first f o o l ' — a n d at the same time it is a comic tale
time this story had appeared in print. Popular about the superiority of female tactics o v e r
Tales (1804), published in four v o l u m e s , in­ male.
cluded m a n y o f these. GA H o w e v e r , Paul D i e h l ' s 1935 adaptation of
this story g i v e s it a different inflection. His was
one of a range of silent short films made for the
TACLIONI, FlLlPPO ( 1 7 7 8 - 1 8 7 1 ) , Italian chore­
Reichstelle fur den Unterrichtsfilm (State Of­
ographer, w h o s e La Sylphide (The Sylph, 1832)
fice for Educational F i l m s ) and w i d e l y shown
is considered the first romantic ballet. T h e
in G e r m a n schools. T h e scene of the night in
story o f a Scottish farmer w h o s e possessive
the castle, though it follows G r i m m closely in
l o v e for a sylph causes her death, La Sylphide
parts, shows clearly this altered ideological
became the prototype for innumerable ballets
orientation. T h e youth, n o w given the name
based on the motif o f the fairy bride. T a g l i o n i
Hans, is swift and violent in his dispatch of a
created the role of the sylph for his daughter
variety o f grotesque creatures. H e skewers one
Marie, w h o s e ethereal grace and elevation
on a fork and holds it o v e r a flame. H e fastens a
made her unusually c o n v i n c i n g in supernatural
cat in a v i c e , cuts its head off, and tosses it into
roles. H e also featured her in his fairy ballet La
the moat. Unlike the written text, in which the
Fille du Danube (The Daughter of the Danube,
youth feels sorry for a dead b o d y and tries to
1836) and in L'Ombre (The Shadow, 1839),
w a r m it up, Diehl presents him as pitiless.
w h o s e heroine becomes a ghost. SR
Since the film has no sound-track, teachers
could talk o v e r it and impose an interpretation:
TAGLIONI, P A U L (1808-84), dancer and chore­ children w e r e taught that the action in the film
ographer, born in V i e n n a , the son o f Filippo symbolized the necessity for G e r m a n fearless­
T a g l i o n i . T h e y o u n g e r T a g l i o n i created o v e r ness in stamping out enemies of the state ( J e w s ,
three dozen romantic ballets, several o f which g a y s , G y p s i e s , n o n - A r y a n s ) . In 1937 the film
w e r e variations on the fairy-bride motif first w a s g i v e n a gold medal b y the government de­
utilized in dance b y his father. His Coralia, or partment for which it w a s made. Nine years
The Inconstant Knight (1847), based on de la later, h o w e v e r , a U n e s c o commission, charged
Motte *Fouqué's * Undine, w a s far m o r e faithful with the task o f de-Nazifying the teachers and
to the original than the earlier ballet Ondine materials that w e r e to be employed in post-war
(1843). Other fairy ballets included Thea, ou la G e r m a n schools, came to a different verdict:
fée aux fleurs (Thea, or the Flower Fairy, 1847) ' T h o u g h there is nothing that is specifically
and Fiorita et la reine des elfrides (Fiorita and the subversive in this film, there is much that is
Queen of the Elves, 1848). SR typically Nazi in outlook, with its approbation
5" TCHAIKOVSKY, PIOTR ILYICH

of killing and force, coupled with callousness.' T a r r a n t w a s considered an accessible and

T h e film w a s therefore suppressed, and is popular illustrator. H e r illustrations w e r e nat­
today little k n o w n , despite the technical profi­ uralistic, sometimes h u m o r o u s , and w a r m . B e ­
ciency of its animation. TAS sides illustrating tales b y W e b b , A n d e r s e n ,
Lang, Andrew, Blue Fairy Book, ed. Brian Perrault, as w e l l as her o w n retellings, she also
Alderson (1975). illustrated fairy-tale b o o k s b y H a r r y G o l d i n g
Warner, Marina, Cinema and the Realms of (Fairy Tales (1930) a m o n g others) and M a r y
Enchantment (1993). G a n n ' s Dreamland Fairies (1936), w h i c h con­
tained 35 original short stories such as ' H o u s e
TARRANT, MARGARET (1888—1959), British illus­ G o b l i n s ' and ' G a r d e n o f D r e a m s ' . T h e frontis­
trator noted for her innovative w o r k for the piece of the latter s h o w s a child in a bathrobe
Medici Society in the 1920s. H e r colour illus­ and slippers sliding hand-in-hand with a fairy
trations accompanied Marion W e b b ' s poems d o w n a m o o n b e a m . L i k e other original w o r k
about unusual fairies such as insects and w i l d she illustrated, this b o o k w a s sentimental and
fruits. Altogether 13 little b o o k s , about 10 b y 13 often too sweet, but her illustrations n e v e r
cm. (4 b y 5 inches), w e r e produced from 1917 demonstrated that aspect o f the text. Instead
to 1929. T h e y featured glued-in watercolour il­ they c o n v e y e d w a r m t h and humour.
lustrations with decorative and varied borders In 1978 W a r d L o c k printed Fairy Tales by
surrounding the illustration. T a r r a n t dressed Margaret Tarrant w h i c h contained six fairy
her fairies in varied garb. F o r instance, the cat­ tales accompanied b y 18 colour plates. T h e s e
erpillar in The Insect Fairies sported a sunshade, illustrations showcased T a r r a n t ' s innovative
veil, bag, purse, and sailor's hat, and carried a talent. F o r example, the first o f her t w o illustra­
seaside spade and pail. tions for ' T h e T h r e e B e a r s ' depicts m a m a and
B o r n in Battersea, L o n d o n , T a r r a n t studied papa bear facing b a b y bear holding his empty
at the C l a p h a m School of A r t and later at H e a - p o r r i d g e b o w l , w h i l e steam spirals up from
therley's School o f A r t . In 1935 she took an­ theirs. O v e r this picture is a frieze-type b o r d e r
other course at the Guildford School o f A r t . s h o w i n g the three bears approaching a table set
She began her career b y designing cards and with three appropriately sized porridge b o w l s .
calendars, gaining her first commission in 1908 T h e second illustration is a circle outlined in
for Charles * K i n g s l e y ' s The Water-Babies. In golden bear b r o w n representing little bear
1910 she illustrated both Fairy Stories from hanging on the end o f his bed w h i l e G o l d i l o c k s
Hans Christian ^Andersen and Charles ^Perrault's sleeps in it. Circular shaped pictures appear in
Contes. She exhibited at the R o y a l A c a d e m y ' T h e *Sleeping B e a u t y ' , ' T o m T h u m b ' , and
and the W a l k e r R o y a l Society o f Artists. In ' B a b e s in the W o o d ' . B o r d e r s with additional
1936 she went to Palestine to collect material characters complement the illustrations. T h e
for her w o r k . most unusual is keyhole-shaped in w h i c h
Tarrant produced three editions o f Hans B e a u t y bends o v e r the collapsed Beast. LS
Christian Andersen stories, the first in 1917 and
the last in 1949 for W a r d L o c k as part o f the TAYLOR, EDGAR (1793-1839), first E n g l i s h
Sunshine Series. Altogether in this latter b o o k translator o f the * G r i m m s ' fairy tales. T a y l o r ' s
there are 24 colour plates, some in circle form. t w o - v o l u m e collection German Popular Stories
In ' T h e Swineherd', she depicts the princess (1823—6), illustrated b y G e o r g e *Cruikshank,
wearing stilts w h e n asking the price o f the pip­ w a s c o m p o s e d , as he explained in a letter to the
kin, which saves the princess's feet from b e ­ G r i m m s , with 'the amusement o f some y o u n g
coming embedded in the mud. friends principally in v i e w ' . T a y l o r translated a
A s an author and editor, T a r r a n t produced third v o l u m e o f the G r i m m s ' tales, Gammer
six books beginning with Autumn Gleanings Grethel, or German Fairy Tales and Popular
from the Poets in 1910 and concluding with The Stories (1839), illustrated b y C r u i k s h a n k and
Margaret Tarrant Story Book, first published in L u d w i g E m i l * G r i m m . T h e popularity o f Ger­
1947. In the latter, all the stories are either trad­ man Popular Stories helped to m a k e fairy tales
itional or b y w o m e n . H e r black-and-white il­ an acceptable form o f children's literature in
lustrations are all shaded around the edges, England. JS
making them softer and filled-in, while the col­ Michaelis-Jena, Ruth, The Brothers Grimm
our illustrations are watercolours with washes (1970).
softening the images and m a k i n g the back­
ground slightly blurry, as though the reader TCHAIKOVSKY, PIOTR ILYICH (1840-93), R u s s i a n
were looking into a magical mirror. composer. A l t h o u g h T c h a i k o v s k y ' s w o r k s in-
TCHAIKOVSKY, PIOTR ILYICH 512

elude six symphonies, t w o piano concertos, a m a r r y , though he resigns himself to his

violin concerto, and several operas, none are mother's command that he choose a bride at
m o r e highly regarded than his fairy-tale bal­ her next ball. His l o v e for Odette, the enchant­
lets; his music for Swan Lake (Le Lac des ed swan, is in the romantic fairy-bride trad­
cygnes, 1877), The ^Sleeping Beauty (La Belle ition, in which such a relationship represents
au hois dormant, 1890), and The Nutcracker no earthly sexual passion but the yearning for
(Casse noisette, 1892) is considered incompar­ an ideal that exists only in the imagination.
able o f its kind. His father, a g o v e r n m e n t offi­ W h e n he succumbs to Odile at the ball, it is
cial in the Department o f Mines, allowed him only because she resembles Odette, and this
piano lessons as a child, but planned a career in unfaithfulness to his ideal brings about his de­
the civil service for him. T c h a i k o v s k y spent struction as well as hers. Odette loses her
seven y e a r s at the School of Jurisprudence and magical protection and they are drowned to­
obtained a clerkship at the Ministry o f Justice gether in the lake.
in 1859. Before long, h o w e v e r , he w a s attend­ T h e first production w a s not a success. T h e
ing classes at St Petersburg's n e w music con­ c h o r e o g r a p h y w a s poor, and T c h a i k o v s k y ' s
servatory, and in 1863 he resigned his bold attempt to realize the dramatic possibil­
u n r e w a r d i n g position to study music full-time. ities of the story through his music w a s puz­
A l t h o u g h he became friends with B a l a k i r e v ' s zling both to the dancers and to the audience,
' M i g h t y Handful', particularly with "'Rimsky- w h o expected ballet to be primarily a decora­
K o r s a k o v , he n e v e r shared their commitment tive spectacle with an incidental plot. Swan
to R u s s i a n folk sources, but remained primarily Lake w a s not produced again until 1895, when
oriented towards the E u r o p e a n musical main­ it w a s completely re-choreographed b y Marius
stream. In 1866 he became a professor of har­ Petipa and L e v I v a n o v and its scenario re­
m o n y at the n e w music c o n s e r v a t o r y in v i s e d — i n c l u d i n g the substitution of a happy
M o s c o w ; within a few y e a r s he w a s a w e l l - ending for T c h a i k o v s k y ' s tragic and powerful
k n o w n , though not a l w a y s successful, c o m ­ conclusion.
poser. T c h a i k o v s k y suffered all his life from T h e collaboration of T c h a i k o v s k y with
mental instability and depression, exacerbated Petipa in The Sleeping Beauty, h o w e v e r , w a s a
b y the need to conceal his homosexuality. In true partnership, to a degree unheard of at that
1877 he made a desperate attempt at marriage, time. Petipa g a v e T c h a i k o v s k y a complete pro­
w h i c h ended a few w e e k s later w h e n he w a d e d g r a m m e to w o r k from, specifying the charac­
into an icy river, v a i n l y hoping to catch pneu­ ter, tempo, and exact duration of each dance,
monia, and then fled to St Petersburg in a state and T c h a i k o v s k y invented brilliantly within
o f mental collapse; he n e v e r s a w his wife again. this framework. F o r dancers, Petipa's master­
A far more congenial and productive relation­ piece requires, a b o v e all other ballets, the
ship w a s his long epistolary friendship with the greatest command of classical technique. It is
w e a l t h y w i d o w Nadezhda v o n Meek. A l t h o u g h also the ballet which most strongly emphasizes
they n e v e r m e t — s a v e for a few accidental its relationship with the fairy tale. Petipa uses
g l i m p s e s — s h e supported him both artistically only the first half of *Perrault's 'Sleeping
and financially for y e a r s . W h e n she abruptly B e a u t y ' — o m i t t i n g the long episode of the
b r o k e off their correspondence, he w a s d e v a s ­ Prince's ogrish mother. H e greatly elaborates
tated. T h r e e y e a r s later, he w a s dead o f chol­ what remains, in effect constructing a literary
era, after drinking a glass of unboiled fairy tale of his o w n based on P e r r a u l t ' s — a s ­
w a t e r — p o s s i b l y , a suicide. signing new names to the characters, creating
N o one k n o w s w h o had the initial idea or additional characters and episodes, and enhan­
w r o t e the scenario for Swan Lake, but it m a y cing the magical aspect of the story. ( F o r ex­
h a v e been T c h a i k o v s k y himself. A l t h o u g h the ample, Prince F l o r i m u n d first sees Princess
story is nominally set in G e r m a n y , s w a n maid­ A u r o r a in a vision, dancing amid a band of fair­
ens recur in m a n y R u s s i a n folk tales, and ies, then v o y a g e s to her castle in the Lilac
T c h a i k o v s k y had apparently devised a chil­ F a i r y ' s m a g i c boat.) Petipa's homage to the
dren's ballet on this theme for his nieces six fairy tale reaches a climax in the final scene
y e a r s earlier, from w h i c h he d r e w the s w a n (sometimes performed independently as Auro­
theme introduced b y the oboe in the finale of ra's Wedding), in which characters from several
A c t I . T h e situation o f the hero, Prince S i e g ­ other tales join the w e d d i n g celebration: the
fried, is e v e n reminiscent of the c o m ­ W h i t e C a t dances with *Puss-in-Boots, the
p o s e r ' s — o n l y months before his disastrous *Bluebird with the Enchanted Princess, even
marriage. T h e Prince, too, is reluctant to "Tittle R e d R i d i n g H o o d with her Wolf.
5i3 T E L E V I S I O N A N D FAIRY T A L E S

T c h a i k o v s k y w a s less satisfied with the ary k n o w l e d g e o f fairy tales comes mainly

Petipa—Ivanov collaboration w h i c h produced from television.
The Nutcracker. T h e scenario, based on a sim- Before television, the reception o f the clas-
plified version b y A l e x a n d r e D u m a s père o f sical fairy tale depended to a large degree on
E . T . A . *Hoffmann's fairy tale The Nutcracker literacy. T h e televised fairy tale, h o w e v e r ,
and the Mouse King (Nussknàcker und Mause- does not essentially require that its v i e w e r s b e
kbnig), seemed incoherent and pointless. A c t able to read. I n v o l v i n g principally sight and
I I , for example, consisted o f a series o f unre- sound, television is a visual and oral-aural m e -
lated dances performed for the entertainment dium. It has the potential to address a w i d e r
of the heroine and her Prince. T c h a i k o v s k y felt and m o r e diverse audience than the printed
enthusiasm only for his n e w instrument, the tale, especially since television sets h a v e b e -
celeste, which he had ordered from its Parisian come accessible to a broad range o f s o c i o - e c o -
inventor to play the tinkling music o f the S u g a r nomic g r o u p s . R e l y i n g on performances that
Plum F a i r y . Since its unimpressive première, are v i s u a l l y and aurally experienced, the tele-
h o w e v e r , The Nutcracker has b e c o m e the most vised fairy tale bears some affinity to the m e -
widely performed o f all ballets and, for innu- dium o f storytelling. C o n s e q u e n t l y , w h e n
merable children, an unforgettable introduc- broadcast to an audience, the televised fairy
tion to ballet's magic w o r l d . E a c h ballet tale might seem to b e a social event reminiscent
company has tackled the problematic scenario of the oral tradition. S o m e broadcasts inten-
in its o w n w a y — t w o famous solutions being tionally i n v o k e this affinity b y framing stories
G e o r g e *Balanchine's and the K e n t S t o - with a narrator's v o i c e o r images o f a storytell-
w e l l - M a u r i c e *Sendak production, w h i c h at- ing event. F o r instance, episodes o f the A m e r i -
tempts to reinstate Hoffmann's version o f the can series Amazing Stories ( N B C , 1985-7)
story. W h a t remains constant and timeless is opened with i m a g e s o f prehistoric people
T c h a i k o v s k y ' s music. SR gathered around a fire and listening to a story-
Anderson, Jack, The Nutcracker Ballet (1979). teller, a tableau w h i c h w a s g r a d u a l l y revealed
Brown, David, Tchaikovsky (1982). to b e a scene o n a television screen, around
Sendak, Maurice, Introduction to E . T . A. w h i c h a m o d e r n family o f v i e w e r s w a s assem-
Hoffmann, Nutcracker (1984). bled.
Wiley, Roland John, Tchaikovsky's Ballets
T h e literary affinities o f the televised fairy
(1985).
tale, h o w e v e r , are equally evident. N o t o n l y
does the televised fairy tale frequently d r a w on
TEGNER, H A N S KRISTIAN (1853-1932), D a n i s h stories from the print tradition, it is also a
artist and illustrator, professor, m e m b e r o f the scripted presentation that has none o f the spon-
Danish A c a d e m y o f A r t s , mainly k n o w n for taneity o r variability associated with traditional
his illustrations o f Hans Christian *Andersen's notions o f oral storytelling. Similarly, v i e w e r s
fairy tales. His first watercolours o f A n d e r s e n ' s are clearly not e n g a g e d in a face-to-face, t w o -
' T h e T i n d e r b o x ' w e r e shown at an art exhib- w a y social relationship with the narrator, per-
ition in 1882. A selection o f A n d e r s e n ' s fairy formers, o r creators. In this sense, although the
tales with T e g n e r ' s exquisite illustrations w a s reception o f the televised fairy tale m a y simu-
produced in a so-called international publica- late a communal event, it is in m a n y w a y s a
tion (in various languages) up to 1901. MN private act. Fairy-tale broadcasts sometimes r e -
call the authority o f the print tradition b y b e -
TELEVISION A N D FAIRY T A L E S . T e l e v i s i o n has s i g - ginning with the image o f a b o o k , w h i c h opens
nificantly influenced the production and recep- up as an authoritative v o i c e - o v e r intones a
tion o f the fairy tale during the latter half o f the traditional introductory formula such as 'once
20th century. L i k e other t e c h n o l o g i e s — f r o m upon a time'.
the printing press and graphic illustration to L i k e the literary fairy tale, the televised fairy
film and r a d i o — t e l e v i s i o n provided a n e w m e - tale is essentially a middle-class phenomenon.
dium for the adaptation, presentation, and con- T e l e v i s i o n e m e r g e d as a viable technology
sumption o f the genre. J u s t as the technology after W o r l d W a r I I , and in the United States
of print publication produced the classical fairy the number o f households with television sets
tale and promoted the oral tale from folklore to g r e w dramatically in 1948, w h e n nation-wide
the literary canon, so television's w i d e distribu- n e t w o r k broadcasts b e c a m e possible. F r o m the
tion o f fairy tales has made the genre an endur- beginning, television's target audience w a s the
ing part o f late 20th-century popular culture. A middle-class family, those consumers with the
1976 G e r m a n s u r v e y confirms that contempor- means to purchase the products advertised on
TELEVISION A poised Alice, played by Anne-Marie Mallick, plays the central role in the BBC television
film *Alice in Wonderland ( 1 9 6 6 ) , directed by Jonathan Miller.
5*5 T E L E V I S I O N A N D FAIRY T A L E S

the broadcasts. W i t h the post-war b a b y - b o o m , ed. S o commercial television adapts the basic
conducive socio-economic developments, and structure o f the classical fairy tale in both ad­
the rapidly developing role of children as con­ vertising and the situation c o m e d y to promote
sumers, the appeal of fairy tales as children's a specific notion of personal, familial, and
and family fare g r e w . A t the same time, the social happiness.
cultural values and commercial interests it e m ­ T h e popular A m e r i c a n p r o g r a m m e Be­
bodied w e r e broadcast to all segments of soci­ witched ( A B C , 1964-72) actually took the
ety. intersection o f family situation c o m e d y , a d v e r ­
While the fairy tale is certainly a c o m m o d i t y tising, and fairy tale as its basic theme. T h e sit­
in both the oral and print traditions, the c o m ­ c o m ' s premiss i n v o l v e d the marriage o f an
mercial nature of network television has made advertising executive to a witch, w h o promises
the televised fairy tale not only a valuable c o m ­ to g i v e up her magical p o w e r s in order to live
modity but also a vehicle for other commercial as a mortal. W h i l e the wife's m a g i c frequently
interests. In fact, the television advertisement profits her husband in his business dealings, her
itself is a form that makes frequent and signifi­ p o w e r also regularly disrupts the order o f the
cant use of the fairy tale. F a i r y tales are well family and their suburban neighbourhood.
suited to television commercials because they A d a p t i n g the fairy-tale witch and the supernat­
are popular and easily recognized. T h e i r famil­ ural maiden w h o is supposed to d e n y her true
iar motifs can be truncated and adapted for identity in order to b e c o m e mortal, Bewitched
brief commercials while still remaining mean­ mirrored A m e r i c a n attitudes towards business,
ingful. In G e r m a n y even the animated Main- family, and gender during a time o f shifting s o ­
{elmannchen, w h o s e antics p r o v i d e transitions cial values in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
a m o n g commercials during advertising s e g ­ A s this example suggests, the fairy tale and
ments, are reminiscent o f fairy-tale characters. its motifs h a v e p l a y e d a significant role in tele­
M o r e o v e r , basic fairy-tale elements like m a g i c , vision p r o g r a m m i n g . T h e fairy tale appears in
transformation, and happy endings lend them­ m a n y different formats for both children and
selves perfectly to the advertiser's pitch that the adult a u d i e n c e s — f r o m animated cartoons and
featured product will miraculously change the dramatic series to feature films and other spe­
v i e w e r ' s life for the better. Products act as cial broadcasts. Despite the tendency to p r o ­
magic helpers w h o assist the heroes and h e r o ­ duce adaptations that are familiar, predictable,
ines of the mini-fairy tale o v e r c o m e w h a t e v e r and consistent with v i e w e r s ' expectations, tele­
dilemma they face. vision has also produced remarkable adapta­
Much like commercials, television situation tions that experiment with the fairy tale in
comedies have also imitated the basic plotline innovative w a y s .
of the fairy t a l e — e s p e c i a l l y in those tradition­ R e l y i n g on the fairy tale's popularity, televi­
ally based on family situations. R e q u i r e d b y sion specials h a v e long featured the fairy tale as
generic necessity to complete its story within a mass entertainment. Since the 1950s, A m e r i c a n
limited period of time, the typical situation networks h a v e produced numerous musicals
comedy replicates the e c o n o m y of the fairy tale based on popular tales and starring w e l l - k n o w n
b y using recognizable character types w h o e x ­ actors. T h e s e musical specials h a v e included
perience and resolve a dilemma against a b a c k ­ ^Pinocchio with M i c k e y R o o n e y and F r a n A l l i ­
ground of explicit contrasts and values. A s in son ( N B C , 1957); The Pied Piper with V a n
the fairy tale, the protagonist's happiness is J o h n s o n and C l a u d e R a i n s ( N B C , 1957); *Han-
achieved less through personal action than sel and Gretel with R e d Buttons and R u d y V a l ­
through the requirements of the genre itself. lée ( N B C , 1958); *Once Upon a Mattress with
T h e structuralist formula 'lack-lack liquidated', C a r o l Burnett ( C B S , 1964 and 1972); The Dan­
which has been used to characterize the fairy gerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood with L i z a
tale, applies as well not only to the 'plot' o f the Minnelli, V i c D a m o n e , and the musical g r o u p
television commercial, but also in general to the A n i m a l s ( A B C , 1965); and *Alice in Won­
the situation c o m e d y . derland with S a m m y D a v i s J r . , T e l l y S a v a l a s ,
T h e fairy tale and television situation c o m ­ Sid C a e s a r , Shelley Winters, and C a r o l C h a n -
edy, h o w e v e r , sometimes differ in their Utopian ning ( C B S , 1985). T h e story o f *'Cinderella'
thrust. W h e r e a s the classical fairy tale fre­ has been a particular favourite on A m e r i c a n
quently depicts a triumph o v e r an unjust famil­ television. R i c h a r d R o d g e r s and O s c a r H a m -
ial or social order, the plot of the situation merstein's musical adaptation o f ^Cinderella
comedy usually restores the conventional order w a s broadcast b y C B S in 1957 with J u l i e
of family and society after it has been disrupt­ A n d r e w s in the starring role and again in 1965,
T E L E V I S I O N A N D FAIRY T A L E S 5 l6

this time featuring L e s l e y A n n W a r r e n . In 1997 presentation o(*Jack and the Beanstalk ( N B C ) ,

W a l t * D i s n e y Corporation and Whitney w h i c h w a s the first A m e r i c a n television special
H o u s t o n produced a live action version of to mix animation with live action. Animation
R o d g e r s and Hammerstein's Cinderella with has also produced some o f the most interesting
p o p singers B r a n d y and Houston cast in the generic and thematic revisions of the fairy tale
title role and as the fairy g o d m o t h e r , respect­ on A m e r i c a n television. In some cases, these
i v e l y . Other historically important fairy-tale innovations actually h a v e their roots in films
specials include the musical version o f *Peter from the years before television. Just as seg­
Pan with M a r y Martin, w h i c h w a s originally ments o f D i s n e y ' s animated feature films found
broadcast b y N B C in i960 and rerun in 1989, their w a y to television and more recently to
and the frequent televised s h o w i n g s o f the 1939 h o m e v i d e o , so h a v e the cartoons of important
film adaptation of L . F r a n k * B a u m ' s The *Wi{- animators such as Walter Lantz and the W a r ­
ard of 0{, starring J u d y G a r l a n d . P o p u l a r tele­ ner Brothers studio been serialized for televi­
casts such as these h a v e p l a y e d an enormous sion and re-packaged for the home video
role in defining the p o s t - w a r generations' e x ­ market. T h e s e 1940s fairy-tale cartoons w e r e
perience o f the fairy tale. televised on series such as The Bugs Bunny
E c h o i n g a E u r o p e a n tradition that presents Show ( A B C , 1960—7) and The Woody Wood­
fairy-tale theatre during the winter holiday sea­ pecker Show ( A B C , 1957-8). With titles like
son, m a n y A m e r i c a n fairy-tale specials are 'Little R e d R i d i n g Rabbit' (1944) from W a r n e r
broadcast between T h a n k s g i v i n g and Christ­ Brothers Merrie Melodies, these zany cartoons
mas, w h i c h also makes them a significant v e ­ resist the D i s n e y model and offer no romantic
hicle for holiday advertising. Telecasts o f l o v e stories or conventional morals. Instead
fairy-tale musicals, ballets, and operas are espe­ they demystify the classic tales b y mixing allu­
cially c o m m o n during the winter holidays on sions to social trends with self-conscious irony
both commercial and public television. F o r e x ­ and generic humour. T h e s e irreverent cartoons
ample, The Enchanted Nutcracker, adapted from w e r e the forerunners o f J a y W a r d ' s *Fractured
T c h a i k o v s k y ' s ballet and featuring musical Fairy Tales, one of television's most significant
stars C a r o l L a w r e n c e and R o b e r t G o u l e t , aired contributions to the modern revision of the
on A B C in D e c e m b e r 1961 as a special p r o d u c ­ fairy tale. A regular feature on the popular
tion o f W e s t i n g h o u s e Presents; and the N e w children's p r o g r a m m e s Rocky and his Friends
Y o r k C i t y Ballet production o f The Nutcracker ( A B C , 1959—61) and The Bullwinkle Show
w a s s h o w n on C B S in D e c e m b e r 1965. T h e ( N B C , 1961—4), 'Fractured F a i r y T a l e s ' con­
Public Broadcasting S e r v i c e ( P B S ) regularly sisted o f 91 episodes that revel in w o r d p l a y ,
broadcasts fairy-tale ballets during the Christ­ p o k e fun at traditional storytelling conven­
mas season, such as its D e c e m b e r 1972 presen­ tions, and destroy fairy-tale illusions with
tation o f R u d o l f N u r e y e v and the National irony and references to contemporary reality.
Ballet o f C a n a d a in * Sleeping Beauty. A l o n g A n t h o l o g y series featuring classic fairy tales
with T c h a i k o v s k y ' s fairy-tale ballets, especial­ are staples of commercial, public, and cable
l y The Nutcracker, and ice ballet adaptations o f television, but they have rarely produced in­
Hans Christian *Andersen's * ' S n o w Q u e e n ' , novative forms o f storytelling. Fairy-tale an­
performances o f Engelbert *Humperdinck's thologies h a v e included syndicated series like
opera Hansel und Gretel are trotted out on the The Amazing Tales of Hans Christian Andersen
television screen as part o f this holiday trad­ (1954) and Story Theatre (1971), Once Upon a
ition. H o w far television n e t w o r k s will g o to Classic ( P B S , 1976—9), Shelley *Duvall's Faerie
adapt fairy tales to the successful holiday for­ Tale Theatre ( S h o w t i m e , 1982—5), and Happily
mat is evident in The Trial of Red Riding Hood Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child ( H B O ,
(1993), a special D e c e m b e r broadcast b y the 1995). N o n e of these generated adaptations is
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that as remarkable as those of J i m *Henson in his
adapted the classic story about *Little R e d R i d ­ series The Storyteller ( N B C , 1987). In re-envis­
ing H o o d and set it in the K l o n d i k e in order to ioning nine fairy tales for television, Henson,
create a holiday musical on ice. w o r k i n g with puppets and actors, shed new
Despite the conservative tendency o f c o m ­ light on traditional tales b y experimenting cre­
mercial interests to stick with p r o v e n formulas, atively with visual and musical aspects; and he
televised fairy tales h a v e occasionally produced e n g a g e d v i e w e r s to a new degree b y question­
technological o r generic innovations, especial­ ing the authority of the storyteller. Henson
ly in the medium o f animation. In 1967, for also creatively interpreted fairy tales and fairy­
example, H a n n a - B a r b e r a produced a special tale motifs in other television programmes, in-
5i7 T E L E V I S I O N A N D FAIRY T A L E S

eluding Sesame Street ( N E T / P B S , 1 9 6 9 - ), plore g e n d e r stereotypes, and to frame the

The Frog Prince ( C B S , 1971), The Muppet Show b a b y b o o m e r s ' adult rites o f passage ironically
(syndicated, 1976—81), and Muppet Babies in terms o f childhood stories. In addition, a
( C B S , 1984-92). 1980s situation c o m e d y entitled The Charmings
T h e challenges to traditional representations ( A B C , 1987—8) transplanted S n o w W h i t e and
of the fairy tale that are characteristic of H e n - Prince C h a r m i n g to a suburban A m e r i c a n
son's w o r k reflect the reassessment of the genre neighbourhood, w h e r e they lived with other
that began in the 1970s in E u r o p e a n and fairy-tale characters such as S n o w W h i t e ' s evil
A n g l o - A m e r i c a n society. M a n y cultural critics, stepmother, a dwarf, and the m a g i c mirror.
writers, and film-makers questioned the trad- Unlike the much earlier situation comedies Be-
itional authority and values of classic tales, and witched and / Dream of Jeannie (NBC,
looked for w a y s to encourage readers and 1965—70), w h i c h had also m o v e d magical
viewers to regain control o v e r the genre. F o r fairy-tale characters into suburbia, The Charm-
example, an innovative special on G e r m a n tele- ings did not enchant the v i e w i n g public. U n -
vision in 1987 encouraged public participation able to e v o l v e b e y o n d its basic premiss, it
in re-visualizing the G r i m m s ' fairy tales for d e v e l o p e d no significant reinterpretation o f the
television. In the w a k e of the bicentennial cele- fairy-tale genre for its postmodern era.
bration of the births of the Brothers G r i m m in Since the 1980s the g r o w t h o f n e w national
1984 and 1986, the G e r m a n television network networks, cable television, and h o m e videos
Z D F (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) collabor- has also p r o v i d e d n e w opportunities for fairy-
ated with Japanese state television and the tale production and reception. C a b l e television
Goethe Institute, a G e r m a n cultural organiza- has not o n l y enabled the s h o w i n g o f theatrical
tion, on a contest that invited y o u n g film- films, it has also facilitated the production o f
makers up to the age of 30 to submit their o w n made-for-cable series, such as D u v a l l ' s Faerie
video adaptations of G r i m m s ' classic tales. S e - Tale Theatre, and made-for-cable films, such as
lected videos w e r e shown in G e r m a n y in D e - *Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1996). E v e n i m -
cember 1987 on a special broadcast entitled portant commercial television series such as
Von Frôschen, Freaks und Video-Hexen (Frogs, Fractured Fairy Tales are b e i n g reprised on
Freaks, and Video Witches), w h e r e they w e r e cable for n e w audiences. In addition, films and
discussed b y the psychoanalyst B r u n o Bettel- made-for-cable fairy tales can n o w be pur-
heim. chased and o w n e d b y v i e w e r s . N o l o n g e r limit-
T h e critical and creative reassessment of the ed entirely by television programmers,
fairy tale resulted in renewed possibilities for consumers use their television sets to v i e w
the genre in the 1980s. In addition to anthology v i d e o s o f fairy-tale films that w e r e once a v a i l -
series like Amazing Stories and Henson's The able to them o n l y rarely or not at all. V i e w e r s
Storyteller, several dramatic and adventure ser- h a v e access not o n l y to the classic fairy-tale
ies based on fantasy and fairy-tale motifs films of D i s n e y , but also to films that m o v e b e -
emerged on A m e r i c a ' s commercial networks, y o n d the D i s n e y model, including animated
including Wizards and Warriors ( C B S , 1983), fairy-tale adaptations o f the 1930s and 1940s,
The Wiiard ( C B S , 1986-7), Werewolf ( F o x , and important fairy-tale films such as J e a n
1987—8), and Beauty and the Beast ( C B S , *Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the
1987—90). T h e most successful o f these w a s Beast, 1947), Neil *Jordan's The Company of
*Beauty and the Beast, w h i c h depicted the rela- Wolves (1984), W o l f g a n g Petersen's The
tionship between Catherine, a socially con- *Neverending Story (1984), and R o b R e i n e r ' s
scious N e w Y o r k attorney, and Vincent, a The *Princess Bride (1987). Similarly, fairy-tale
half-man-half-lion from a society of outcasts films o f independent film-makers like T o m
living in tunnels b e l o w the city. A l t h o u g h the *Davenport, w h o s e innovative series From the
series used the fairy tale to explore problems of Brothers Grimm: American Versions of Folktale
American society and urban life, the romantic Classics (1975-96) w a s broadcast on Instruc-
relationship dominated the series. Other dra- tional T e l e v i s i o n b y P B S , can be v i e w e d on
matic series such as L.A. Law ( N B C , 1986—94) v i d e o . A s a c o m m o d i t y that can be purchased,
and thirty something ( A B C , 1987—91) based o w n e d , and privately v i e w e d , the fairy-tale
some episodes explicitly on fairy-tale motifs v i d e o g i v e s the v i e w e r a degree o f freedom
from stories such as 'Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' , o v e r the process o f reception that has not been
Alice in Wonderland, and ' T h e T i t t l e M e r - typical or possible with commercial television.
maid'. T h e s e fairy-tale allusions w e r e used in T e l e v i s i o n and the n e w technologies associ-
different w a y s to exploit sexual themes, to e x - ated with it h a v e multiplied the opportunities
TEMPLE, SHIRLEY 518

available for experiencing both classical and al­ T V series, 'Shirley T e m p l e S t o r y b o o k ' (1958)
ternative fairy tales. M o r e o v e r , despite its his­ and 'Shirley T e m p l e Theatre' (1961), which
torical reliance on predictable formulas and the both included numerous fairy-tale adaptations
influence o f commercial interests, television of the classics, also made into books. In politics
has participated in the cultural reassessment o f she held different elected positions, and in 1987
the fairy tale and contributed to its renewal b y she w a s made H o n o r a r y F o r e i g n Service
producing fairy tales that are technically, aes­ Officer. IWA
thetically, and thematically innovative. T h e Black, Shirley Temple, Child Star (1988).
best o f these demonstrate the potential that the
Greene, Graham, 'Wee Willie Winkie. Review',
medium has to help us understand the fairy
in John Russell Taylor (ed.), Graham Greene on
tale's visual and postmodern possibilities. D H
Film: Collected Film Criticism, 1935—1940 (1972).
Dégh, Linda, and Vâzsonyi, Andrew, 'Magic for
Sale: Màrchen and Legend in T V Advertising', TENGGREN, GUSTAF (1896-1970), Swedish art­
Fabula, 20 (1979). ist, w h o emigrated to A m e r i c a in 1922 and had
a distinguished career as illustrator and anima­
Jerrendorf, Marion, Grimms Mdrchen in Medien:
tor. Before he left Sweden, h o w e v e r , he had
Aspekte verschiedener Erscheinungsformen in
already established a name for himself with his
Horfunk, Fernsehen und Theater (1985).
w o r k for Bland Tomtar och Troll (Among Elves
Odber de Baubeta, Patricia Anne, 'Fairy Tale
Motifs in Advertising', Estudos de Literaturo and Trolls), a Christmas annual for children,
Oral, 3 (1997). and he did drawings for a collection of fairy
Schmitt, Christoph, Adaptionen klassischer tales b y Hans Christian *Andersen. In America
Mdrchen im Kinder- und Familienfernsehen: Eine his w o r k found quick recognition, and he pro­
volkskundlich-filmwissenschaftliche Dokumentation vided the illustrations for a number of fairy­
und genrespe^ifische Analyse der in den acht^iger tale projects such as D'Aulnoy's Fairy Tales
Jahren von den westdeutschen Fernsehanstalten (1923), '1925 F a i r y T a l e Calendar' (Beck E n ­
gesendeten Mdrchenadaptionen mit einer Statistik g r a v i n g C o . ) , and Sven the Wise and Svea the
aller Ausstrahlungen seit 1954 (1993). Kind (1932), as well as some elegant drawings
Zipes, Jack, 'Once Upon a Time beyond for Grimms Mdrchenschati (1923) in G e r m a n y .
Disney: Contemporary Fairy-Tale Films for T e n g g r e n ' s illustrations, influenced b y Arthur
Children', in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, *Rackham and K a y *Nielsen were colourful,
Children, and the Culture Industry (1997). florid, and dramatic and always added a new
TEMPLE, SHIRLEY ( 1 9 2 8 - ) , child star from the dimension to the tales. In 1936 he went to w o r k
1930s and 1940s w h o s e 50-odd films contain for W a l t *Disney and designed many of the
numerous fairy-tale elements. W a t c h e d o v e r scenes in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and
b y her mother (fairy g o d m o t h e r ) Gertrude Pinocchio. After W o r l d W a r I I , T e n g g r e n
A m e l i a T e m p l e (née K r i e g e r ) , Shirley began abandoned animation and published numerous
fairy-tale b o o k s such as Tenggren's Story Book
her film career with The Runt Page (1931). S u b ­
(1946), Tenggren's The Giant with the Three
sequently, New Deal Rhythm (1933), Stand Up
Golden Hairs (1955), Snow White and Rose Red
and Cheer (1934), Bright Eyes (1934), Wee Wil­
(1955), and Tenggren's Jack and the Beanstalk
lie Winkie (1937), and other films cast their
(1956), and he also provided drawings for
spells o v e r Depression audiences w h o watched
m a n y Little G o l d e n B o o k s , a popular and inex­
enchanted as Shirley, usually p l a y i n g an aban­
pensive series for children in the United States.
doned child, magically o v e r c a m e w h a t e v e r
But the w o r k of this later period lacked the ex­
personal and political problems confronted
perimental flair o f his early stunning w o r k , for
her and her friends. Shirley's films invari­
which he is still k n o w n today. JZ
ably ended with g o o d triumphing o v e r evil,
wealth o v e r p o v e r t y , marriage o v e r d i v o r c e , Canemaker, John, Before the Animation Begins:
a booming economy over a depressed The Art and Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch
e c o n o m y — c l a s s i c fairy-tale endings. U n s u r ­ Artists (1996).
prisingly, Shirley T e m p l e describes herself as a Swanson, Mary T., 'From Swedish Fairy Tales
'tiny c o m m o d i t y ' , a 'potential g o l d mine for to American Fantasy' (Diss., University of
F o x ' in the fairy tale that is A m e r i c a n capital­ Minnesota, 1986).
ism. L o n e , outspoken critics like G r a h a m TENNIEL, JOHN (1820-1914), English illustrator
G r e e n e , critical o f T e m p l e ' s flirtatious acting, and cartoonist for Punch. Tenniel is best
w e r e silenced in the courts. k n o w n for his striking black-and-white illus­
A successful film career capped b y an Oscar trations o f L e w i s *Carroll's *Alice in Wonder­
in 1935 w a s followed b y a successful T V and land (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass
political career. She served as narrator for t w o (1872). Alice in Wonderland became the most
 TETZNER, LISA

popular children's literary fairy tale o f the V i c ­ and author o f children's b o o k s . After complet­
torian period. T h e w o r k i n g relationship ing her studies in speech communication at the
between author and illustrator w a s strained Soziale Frauenschule in Berlin, T e t z n e r b e g a n
since Carroll had originally illustrated Alice's criss-crossing southern and central G e r m a n y in
Adventures Under Ground (1863), the prototype 1918 as a storyteller. Inspired b y the ideals o f
of Alice in Wonderland, while Tenniel frequent­ the socialist branch o f the G e r m a n y o u t h
ly reused characters and settings from his pre­ m o v e m e n t and with little support, T e t z n e r
vious Punch drawings. C a r r o l l ' s respect for tried to reach, help, and enlighten children w h o
Tenniel's artwork is revealed in his recalling o f had little access to k n o w l e d g e and information
the first edition of Alice in Wonderland after with the one genre that b e l o n g e d to the people,
Tenniel expressed dissatisfaction with the the fairy tale. After six y e a r s o f travelling and
printing of the illustrations. JS telling fairy tales, T e t z n e r reconsidered the i m ­
Hancher, Michael, The Tenniel Illustrations to the pact o f what she w a s doing as w e l l as her m o ­
'Alice ' Books (1985). tives and opted for less traditional storytelling
Simpson, Roger, Sir John Tenniel: Aspects of His in a n e w medium. She returned to Berlin and
Work (1994). organized a children's radio p r o g r a m m e in
1927.
TENNYSON, ALFRED LORD (1809-92), E n g l i s h
T w o y e a r s later, T e t z n e r collaborated with
poet, central figure in the Arthurian r e v i v a l ,
one o f the leading socialist theatre directors,
w h o drew from classical myth and Celtic le­
Béla *Balâsz, in the production o f a fairy-tale
gend to write allegorical stories about the
play, Hans Urian geht nach Brot (Hans Goes in
ideals and failings o f his society. H e w a s par­
Search of Bread, 1927), w h i c h became one o f
ticularly influenced b y Sir T h o m a s M a l o r y ' s Le
the most important proletarian-revolutionary
Morte d'Arthur (1485), an important source for
children's plays o f the W e i m a r period. T h i s
his Arthurian idylls. In his first fully Arthurian
'proletarian N i l s H o l g e r s s o n ' depicts Hans
poem ' T h e L a d y o f Shalott' (1833), the lady,
U r i a n ' s fantastic journey around the w o r l d on a
whose fairy nature is only referred to in pass­
flying rabbit during w h i c h Hans learns about
ing, is drawn out o f her island-world b y the
economic conditions and class distinctions.
sight of Lancelot on his w a y to C a m e l o t , and
T h e p l a y is far m o r e revolutionary than its in­
dies. In 1842, T e n n y s o n published three
spirational sources, w h i c h include a F r e n c h
Arthurian poems, 'Morte d'Arthur', ' S i r G a l a ­
n o v e l for children, Jean sans Pain (Jean without
had', and ' S i r Launcelot and Queen G u i n e v ­
Bread) b y Paul Vaillant-Couturier. T h e desire
ere', which w o u l d later be incorporated into
to enlighten b y m a k i n g untenable social and
Idylls of the King (1859). W h i l e T e n n y s o n ' s
political conditions transparent b e c a m e the
poems can be read as socio-political or reli­
d r i v i n g force behind all o f Tetzner's writing.
gious allegories, they are also reflections on art
and the artist: in 'Merlin and the G l e a m ' A l t h o u g h T e t z n e r returned to fairy tales at
(1889), Merlin the magician is the figure of the v a r i o u s times later in life, both writing her o w n
poet ( ' / a m Merlin'). AD and editing collections, the y e a r s f o l l o w i n g the
adaptation o f Hans Urian into a n o v e l Hans
TEPPER, SHERI S . ( 1 9 2 9 - ) , prolific A m e r i c a n Urian, oder, Die Geschichte einer Weltreise
writer of speculative and (under p s e u d o n y m s ) (Hans Urian Sees the World, 1929), mark a
detective fiction. T e p p e r ' s characteristic blend turning-point in her career. F r o m then on,
of folklore with contemporary environmental T e t z n e r m o v e d a w a y from s y m b o l i c narration
and population issues is best seen in her time- towards a realistic style o f writing. Der Fussball
travel novel Beauty (1991), which uses classic (The Soccer Ball, 1932) is her first social realist
fairy tales like ""Sleeping B e a u t y ' , ""Cinder­ story about city kids. It g r e w out o f her contact
ella', ""Snow W h i t e ' , 'Tarn L i n ' , and ' T h e with w o r k i n g - c l a s s children in Berlin w h o par­
*Frog K i n g ' to structure a parable about the ticipated in her radio p r o g r a m m e s . B o t h this
rape of nature in the service o f anthropocentric story and her magnum opus, Die Kinder aus Nr.
greed. T e p p e r ' s emphatic political s t a n c e — s h e 67. Kinder-Odyssée (A Childhood Odyssey,
advocates abortion in the interest of population 1933—49) are, as the reference to H o m e r ' s epic
control and has been criticized as being anti- suggests, the w o r k o f a storyteller, not a n o v e l ­
s e x — e a r n her both strong supporters and ist. T h i s nine-volume w o r k u n c o m p r o m i s i n g l y
detractors. NJW chronicles the fate o f a g r o u p o f w o r k i n g - c l a s s
children l i v i n g in a tenement building in Berlin
TETZNER, LISA (1894-1963), G e r m a n - b o r n through 12 years o f fascism and w a r . Most o f
storyteller, collector, and editor o f folk tales, T e t z n e r ' s b o o k s w e r e written and published in
THACKERAY, WILLIAM MAKEPEACE 520

S w i s s exile, w h e r e she remained until her and g o e s off to w i n back his throne. T h e story
death. EMM finishes with the marriages of G i g l i o and
Karrenbrock, Helga, R o s a l b a (their respective misfortunes n o w
Marchenkinder—Zeitgenossen. Untersuchungen ^ur ended) and of B u l b o and A n g e l i c a , Gruffa-
Kinderliteratur der Weimarer Republik (1995). n u f f s husband h a v i n g ceased to be a door
Kaulen, Heinrich, and Steinke, Heidi, 'Neue k n o c k e r just in time to prevent the marriage of
Materialien zu Leben und Werk von Lisa the Countess to G i g l i o , w h o had once un­
Tetzner (1894—1963). Zum 100. Geburtstag der guardedly proposed to her. GA
Jugendbuchautorin', Der Deutschunterricht, 3 Sorensen, Gail D . , 'Thackeray's "The Rose and
(1994). the Ring": A Novelist's Fairy Tale', Mythlore,
Zipes, Jack (ed.), Fairy Tales and Fables from 15.3 (spring 1989).
Weimar Days (1989).
Tremper, Ellen, 'Commitment and Escape: The
Fairy Tales of Thackeray, Dickens, and Wilde',
THACKERAY, WILLIAM MAKEPEACE (1811-63),
The Lion and the Unicorn, 2.1 (1978).
E n g l i s h novelist and author o f The Rose and the
Ring (1855). T h i s satirical fairy story, subtitled THIEF OF BAGHDAD, THE, a title which has been
'a fireside pantomime for great and small chil­ used b y a cluster of oriental fantasies exploit­
dren', w a s written to amuse his t w o daughters ing the iconography of The ^Arabian
w h o w e r e in R o m e with him in 1853. T h e pref­ Nights—winged horses, omnipotent sorcerers,
ace describes h o w they wanted to g i v e a m a g i c lamps, jinn in bottles, veiled princesses,
T w e l f t h N i g h t party, but that no shop in R o m e precious flowers and, a b o v e all, flying carpets.
could p r o v i d e 'the c h a r a c t e r s — t h o s e funny Within this context, each production w a s in­
painted pictures o f the K i n g , the Q u e e n , the flected to catch the m o o d of the moment.
L o v e r , the L a d y , the D a n d y , the Captain, and T h e first Thief w a s that of D o u g l a s F a i r ­
so on, with w h i c h our y o u n g ones are w o n t to banks w h o , in 1924, as producer and star, used
recreate themselves at this festive time'. B a g h d a d as a setting for spectacle, morality,
T h a c k e r a y thereupon d r e w the characters and and his personal athleticism. T h e arrogant,
w o v e a story round them. W e see K i n g V a l o - flamboyant thief flouts religion and all forms of
r o s o and his queen on facing p a g e s — ' H e r e b e ­ authority until he sets forbidden eyes on the
hold the monarch sit | W i t h her majesty Princess. T h e n , pretending to be a prince, he
opposite'; this running commentary in couplets wins her l o v e but is driven to confess the truth
continues through the b o o k . V a l o r o s o has to a H o l y Man, w h o sends him on a long, haz­
usurped the throne o f his nephew, Prince ardous journey for a magic chest. O n l y
G i g l i o , w h o has been encouraged to lapse into through struggle and penitence will he earn
a state o f unambitious indolence. A t G i g l i o ' s happiness. F i n a l l y o v e r c o m i n g all obstacles, he
christening the gift o f F a i r y B l a c k s t i c k — b o r e d returns on a flying carpet just in time to rescue
with n e c r o m a n c y after t w o or three thousand B a g h d a d and the Princess from a M o n g o l inva­
y e a r s — m e r e l y had been that he should h a v e 'a sion.
little misfortune'. She had made a similar w i s h In 1939, 15 years later, w o r k began on an­
at the christening o f Princess R o s a l b a o f C r i m other Thief T h i s w a s intended b y the producer
T a r t a r y , w h o s e identity is lost w h e n she is a A l e x a n d e r K o r d a to s h o w the w o r l d that the
small child, and w h o becomes maid to Princess U K could make films just as colourful and en­
A n g e l i c a , V a l o r o s o ' s daughter. T h e rose and chanting as those from H o l l y w o o d . One of the
the ring are gifts that Blackstick had once b e ­ rivals in K o r d a ' s mind w a s *Snow White; he
stowed on godchildren, and h a v e been passed boasted that he could do with living actors
on; they h a v e the p o w e r o f m a k i n g w e a r e r s what D i s n e y had done with drawings. K o r d a ' s
seem a t t r a c t i v e — e v e n the lumpish Prince thief is A b u , a b o y of the B a g h d a d streets w h o
B u l b o w h o comes to w o o A n g e l i c a . helps a y o u n g king, A h m a d , escape the wicked
T h e r e are m a n y subsidiary comic charac­ schemes o f Jaffar, the G r a n d Vizier. In Basra,
ters, a m o n g them the hideous Countess Gruf- A h m a d sets forbidden eyes on the Sultan's
fanuff and her husband, porter at V a l o r o s o ' s daughter, and they fall in l o v e , but she has been
palace, w h o is turned into a d o o r k n o c k e r b y promised to Jaffar. T h r o u g h Jaffar's magic
Blackstick as a punishment for his insolence. A h m a d is blinded, and A b u turned into a dog,
T h e story is labyrinthine in its complexity, and until the Princess releases them from the spell
the only moral is a flippant one; G i g l i o grasps by agreeing to m a r r y Jaffar. W i t h the help of a
that to be attractive he must h a v e education. giant jinni, A b u steals the A l l - S e e i n g E y e and
H e departs for ' B o s f o r o ' ( O x f o r d ) w h e r e he returns to B a g h d a d on a flying carpet just as
studies assiduously, then discards his b o o k s A h m a d is about to be beheaded. Ironically, this
THIEF OF BAGHDAD The powerful genie gives a helping hand to Abu in Alexander Korda's film The Thief of Baghdad (1940).
THOMPSON, ALFRED 522

film that sought to outdo H o l l y w o o d had to style o f the musical entertainment of that era.
m o v e there w h e n the outbreak o f w a r made M a n y of his scripts and designs celebrated fan­
continued shooting in E n g l a n d impossible. tasy and famous fairy tales, including The
Despite this rupture, the finished film w o n an Lion's Mouth ( L o n d o n , 1867), Aladdin II, or An
O s c a r for its achievement in creating T e c h n i ­ Old Lamp in a New Light ( L o n d o n , 1870), Cin­
color opulence, magical feats, and the djinni's derella the Younger ( L o n d o n , 1871), Bella­
enormous size. donna, or The Little Beauty and the Great Beast
T h e start o f the 1960s s a w a third foray into ( L o n d o n , 1878), Pépita, or The Girl with the
Thief territory, 77 Ladro di Bagdad, an Italian- Glass Eyes ( N e w Y o r k , 1886), The Arabian
F r e n c h co-production shot in C i n e m a S c o p e Nights, or Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp ( N e w
using T u n i s i a n locations, had an A m e r i c a n dir­ Y o r k , 1887), and The Crystal Slipper, or Prince
ector, A r t h u r L u b i n ( w h o had made the w a r ­ Prettywiti and Little Cinderella ( N e w Y o r k ,
time version o f *Ali Baba and the Forty 1888). TSH
Thieves). T h e reason for the film's existence
w a s , h o w e v e r , not L u b i n but its muscleman THOMPSON, RUTH PLUMLY (1891-1976), A m e r i ­
star, S t e v e R e e v e s . In the early 1950s R e e v e s can author o f juvenile literature and 0 { books.
got into films through w i n n i n g the titles ' M r L . F r a n k *Baum's death in 1919 posed a finan­
W o r l d ' and ' M r U n i v e r s e ' . Before taking on cial problem: w h o w o u l d continue his lucrative
the role o f K a r i m the thief, he had appeared * Wizard of 0 { series, so recently recuperated
v a r i o u s l y as Hercules, Goliath, and other giant from a W o r l d W a r I sales slump? T h o m p s o n
characters. T h e storyline harks back to F a i r ­ w a s children's editor of the Philadelphia Public
banks in that it g i v e s K a r i m a series o f redemp­ Ledger w h e n she became the Second R o y a l
tive tests of character and skill to Historian o f O z . She carried on the tradition of
u n d e r g o — h o s t i l e trees, burning s w a m p s , sud­ a n e w 0{ b o o k for Christmas for 19 consecu­
den floods, a beautiful n y m p h o m a n i a c — a s he tive y e a r s , writing five more novels than Baum
searches for the S e v e n G a t e s w h e r e the blue himself. H e r first title (The Royal Book of 0 { ,
rose g r o w s w h i c h alone will restore the prin­ 1921) w a s supposedly edited from his notes.
cess to health. U n l i k e Hercules and Goliath, T h i s false statement plus the continuation of
K a r i m does not triumph through muscle p o w e r J o h n R . *Neill as illustrator eased the transition
alone: thanks to his friendship with a magician, between authors.
he sometimes uses a vanishing cloak to escape But while the artwork remained the same,
danger, and at the climax is able, b y rubbing a T h o m p s o n ' s sequels differed. H e r brisk-yet-
m a g i c ring, to s u m m o n to his aid an a r m y o f poetic style full o f w o r d p l a y w a s more polished
acrobats. and featured regularized spellings ( ' G n o m e ' in­
T h i s periodic appearance o f Thief films cul­ stead o f ' N o m e ' ) . She also preferred b o y s as
minated at the end o f the 1970s with a protagonists. But while she rivalled Baum in
U K — F r a n c e co-production in 1978, and a U K - creating fanciful places (Bafflesburg, Pumper-
o n l y variant called Arabian Adventure a y e a r dink) and colourful characters (Jinnicky the
later. Inspired b y the recent w o r l d - w i d e suc­ R e d J i n n , K a b u m p o the Elegant Elephant), her
cess o f special effects m o v i e s such as Superman, imagination w a s not as unleashed. B a u m ' s tales
w h i c h w a s sold on the promise that cinema- w e r e largely original; her enchanted objects
g o e r s w o u l d believe a man could fly, these t w o and royal w e d d i n g s recalled The ^Arabian
films used the same techniques to convince Nights and E u r o p e a n fairy tales, while charac­
audiences that a carpet could fly. TAS ters like Captain Salt, R e a l b a d , and the Y e l l o w
K n i g h t clearly imitated L o n g J o h n Silver,
T H O M P S O N , A L F R E D (pseudonym of THOMPSON R o b i n H o o d , and D o n Quixote. Finally,
E. J O N E S , 1 8 3 1 - 9 5 ) , British musical theatre li­ T h o m p s o n ' s references to contemporary cul­
brettist and artist. T h o m p s o n studied art at ture, while popularizing her titles, rendered
Munich and Paris and w a s soon one o f the most them less timeless than B a u m ' s fantasy.
innovative costume and scenic designers o f the In addition to writing novels, T h o m p s o n ac­
musical stage, in particular for fantasy bur­ tively marketed them. She revived characters
lesques and pantomines. H e b e g a n writing to increase backlist title sales and wrote p r o m o ­
stage pieces in the 1860s and p r o v i d e d some of tional playlets. A l t h o u g h the B a u m heirs pro­
the most literate early British music-theatre hibited her from recording O z stories, her
pieces. Continuing to design, T h o m p s o n spent radio contest promoting ' T h e Enchanted T r e e
the next 30 years in the L o n d o n and N e w Y o r k o f O z ' (1926—7), for which children submitted
theatre and helped to establish the l o o k and their o w n endings to her unfinished tale, was
 TIECK, LUDWIG

especially popular. But her shrewdest market­ w o m a n ' s trials and tribulations until she is
ing came in 1939. Foreseeing the impact o f the united with a prince o f her o w n size. T h e
upcoming M G M musical, she negotiated with A n d e r s e n tale is a c o m i n g - o f - a g e story that not
Walt *Disney Studios about animating O z , but o n l y chides society for narrow-mindedness,
B a u m ' s w i d o w had already sold the rights. She but also suggests that one m a y be better off
then capitalized on the film b y reprising origin­ with one's o w n kind. NI
al characters and scenes for O^oplaning with the
Wizard of 0 { (1939). Literally offering a bird's THURBER, JAMES (1894-1961), A m e r i c a n writer
eye v i e w of a miniaturized O z , it seems to pres­ and illustrator, m o v e d to N e w Y o r k from O h i o
age the b o o k s ' diminished role in defining O z in 1933 and became one o f the great writers o f
in the public imagination. h u m o u r for the New Yorker. K n o w n for his
T h o m p s o n passed on the mantle o f R o y a l i r o n y and w i t , T h u r b e r produced the satirical
Historian to the illustrator Neill in 1939. H e r ' T h e G i r l and the W o l f , one o f the most re­
plots w e r e repeating; she w a s straining their j u ­ markable versions o f *'Little R e d R i d i n g
venile perspective; and she tired o f contract H o o d ' , in his unique collection Fables for our
disputes about her other fairy tales and (ghost­ Time (1940). H e r e the girl shoots the w o l f with
written) D i s n e y b o o k s . She retired to freelance a r e v o l v e r , and the story ends with a moral:
for Jack and Jill children's magazine and write 'Little girls are not so easy to fool n o w a d a y s as
fairy-tale scripts for radio and television. T w o they used to b e . ' A l t h o u g h most of T h u r b e r ' s
later O z novels and a collection of poetry ironic fables and sketches w e r e intended for
{Yankee in 0{, 1972; The Enchanted Island of adults, he also w r o t e four charming fairy-tale
0 { , 1976; The Curious Citizens of 0 { ) w e r e pub­ b o o k s for y o u n g readers: Many Moons (1943),
lished b y the International W i z a r d o f O z C l u b . The Great Quillow (1944), The White Deer
MLE (1945), and The Thirteen Clocks (1950). O f
Greene, David L. and Martin, Dick, The Oi these b o o k s , Many Moons, in w h i c h a fragile
Scrapbook (1977). princess uses great inner resources to o v e r ­
Hearne, Michael Patrick, 'Ruth Plumly come the forces of a castle that threatens to en­
Thompson', American Writers for Children v e l o p her, is regarded as his best w o r k .
(1983). T h u r b e r ' s g l o o m y v i e w o f humankind, h o w ­
Snow, Jack, Who's Who in 0 { (1954). e v e r , is m o r e dominant in his other fairy-tale
w o r k , w h e r e his satire tends to subvert the
THORPE, BENJAMIN (1782-1870), British phil­
traditional happy ending o f his narratives. J Z
ologist, A n g l o - S a x o n scholar, and translator.
Holmes, Charles, 'James Thurber and the Art of
In 1851 his three-volume Northern Mythology,
Fantasy', Yale Review, 55 (1965).
which included a selection of Scandinavian lit­ Long, Robert, James Thurber (1988).
erary and folk legends, acquainted the British Maharg, Ruth, 'The Modern Fable: James
public with trolls, water sprites, and other Thurber's Social Criticisms', Children's Literature
N o r s e supernaturals. In 1853 a companion v o l ­ Association Quarterly, 9 (1984).
ume, Yule-Tide Stories, helped popularize Morsberger, Robert, James Thurber (1964).
Scandinavian fairy tales in E n g l a n d . T h o r p e
retold Northern versions of such popular tales TIECK, LUDWIG (1773—1853), one o f the earliest
as *'Jack and the Beanstalk' and *'Rumpelstilt- G e r m a n romantic writers to d e v e l o p the liter­
skin', noting their analogues. His translations ary potential o f fairy tales. T i e c k w a s born in
of less-known stories like ' T h e Beautiful P a l ­ Berlin, a city with a d y n a m i c literary culture
ace East of the Sun and W e s t of the M o o n ' , a and enhanced opportunities for the middle
S w a n Maiden tale, influenced Victorian authors class. His father, a master ropemaker, w h o w a s
including William *Morris. CGS himself w i d e l y read, encouraged his son's liter­
ary inclinations and s a w to it that he w a s well
THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, THE, see ARABIAN educated and poised to rise a b o v e his family's
NIGHTS. social station. F r o m 1782 to 1792 T i e c k attend­
ed the respected F r i e d r i c h - W e r d e r - G y m n a ­
'THUMBELINA' (OR 'INCHELINA'). The diminutive sium, w h e r e he developed a close friendship
person, only the size of a thumb or o f an inch, with W i l h e l m Heinrich *Wackenroder, an­
is a character w h o c o m m o n l y appears in fairy other important figure in early G e r m a n r o m a n ­
tales, for example *'Little T o m T h u m b ' (1621) ticism. D u r i n g this time T i e c k completed
or ' L e petit Poucet' (1697), but its best-known diverse literary efforts of his o w n , including
representation is Hans Christian *Andersen's fairy tales, and assisted with the literary p r o ­
' T o m m e l i s e ' (1836), which relates a tiny y o u n g jects o f his teachers, w h o recognized his talent.
TIECK, LUDWIG 524

After studying p h i l o l o g y and literature at ically underlining the unmistakable literary

the universities in Halle, Gôttingen, and E r l a n - character of his innovative fairy tales.
gen from 1792 to 1794, T i e c k embarked on a T i e c k ' s fairy-tale plays, which sometimes
career as a professional writer. H e returned to portray their o w n audiences, exhibit a high de­
Berlin, w h e r e he remained until 1799, writing gree of literary self-consciousness and playful­
moralistic-satiric tales as a hack writer for the ness. Plays like Der gestiefelte Kater
Enlightenment publisher Friedrich N i c o l a i , but (*Puss-in-Boots, 1797), Die verkehrte Welt (The
also publishing his o w n innovative fairy tales Topsy-Turvy World, 1799), and Prinç Zerbino
and fantasy. T h r o u g h o u t the rest o f his life, (1799) not only satirize and parody literary
T i e c k w a s able to gain a livelihood as a writer conventions o f the Enlightenment, but repeat­
and theatre director in Ziebingen, D r e s d e n , edly break the dramatic illusion in order to
and Berlin. question the distinctions artists and spectators
T i e c k w o r k e d in m a n y literary genres, in­ m a k e between fantasy and reality. Literary and
cluding lyrical poetry, n o v e l s , novellas, p l a y s , socio-political satire also characterize T i e c k ' s
libretti, and adaptations o f folk tales, legends, other fairy-tale plays, which include Der Blau-
1
and chapbooks. H e also penned critical essays, bart (*'Bluebeard, 1797), Rotkdppchen (" Little
produced important translations o f writers such Red Riding Hood, 1800), Ddumling (Thum-
as Miguel de C e r v a n t e s and W i l l i a m "'Shake­ bling, 1812), and Fortunat (1816).
speare, and edited medieval G e r m a n texts and T i e c k ' s fairy-tale novellas challenge percep­
the writings of contemporaries such as "'Nova­ tions and question conventional truths b y dis­
lis and Heinrich v o n Kleist. F a i r y - t a l e elements rupting the reader's expectations of the fairy
p e r v a d e much o f T i e c k ' s w o r k , w h a t e v e r the tale itself. In tales like ' D e r blonde Eckbert'
genre, and are found in his earliest, unpub­ ( ' B l o n d E c k b e r t ' , 1797), ' D e r Runenberg'
lished literary attempts, as well as in later writ­ ( ' R u n e Mountain', 1804), and ' D i e Elfen' ( ' T h e
ings. A s early as 1790, at the a g e o f 17, he had E l v e s ' , 1812), reality and fantasy do not blend
written at least t w o fairy-tale plays in the man­ seamlessly, as in conventional fairy tales. In­
ner o f the Italian writer C a r l o *Gozzi: Das Reh stead, reality and fantasy are juxtaposed, and
(The Deer) and Konig Braddeck (King Brad- w h e n they do m e r g e , the results are disorient­
deck). N e a r l y half a century later T i e c k con­ ing and disastrous. W h e r e a s the stereotypical
tinued to experiment with the fairy tale in fairy tale leads its hero towards social and p s y ­
stories like ' D i e V o g e l s c h e u c h e ' ( ' T h e S c a r e ­ chological integration, T i e c k ' s tales generally
c r o w ' , 1835), w h i c h not o n l y combined novella depict alienated characters w h o experience
and fairy tale, but also m i x e d this romantic h y ­ psychological disintegration. In ' B l o n d E c k ­
brid with drama. bert', for instance, the title character seeks to
T i e c k is best k n o w n for the fairy-tale n o v ­ o v e r c o m e his solitary life b y confiding his in­
ellas and satirical fairy-tale plays that he p u b ­ nermost secrets to others; but introspection and
lished in three collections: Volksmarchen confession only reveal a more horrible truth,
(Folktales, 1797), Romantische Dichtungen (Ro­ w h i c h plunges Eckbert into utter insanity. In
mantic Works, 1799—1800), and Phantasus ' R u n e Mountain' the main character Christian
(1812—16). T h e last o f these, Phantasus, c o m ­ escapes from the ordered life that oppresses
bines selections from the t w o earlier collections him b y seeking higher truths in nature and the
with n e w w o r k s and w e a v e s them into a frame supernatural; h o w e v e r , in the end the reader is
story in w h i c h upper middle-class and aristo­ uncertain whether Christian has been liberated
cratic characters read these poetic w o r k s to one b y a higher consciousness or suffers from in­
another in the course o f their literary and cul­ sane delusions. T a l e s of this kind, which ex­
tural conversations. T h e traditional device o f plore unresolved ambiguities and the dark side
the frame story enabled T i e c k to emphasize the of the romantic imagination, distinguish
literary and social contexts in w h i c h his stories T i e c k ' s stories not only from the didactic
and p l a y s w e r e produced and consumed. A s a moral tales o f the Enlightenment, but also from
professional writer, T i e c k w a s acutely aware the Utopian tales of romantic writers like N o v a ­
that his literary w o r k s w e r e commodities, and lis.
this self-awareness expresses itself ironically in Neither moralist nor prophet, T i e c k w a s a
his writings, w h i c h p l a y with readers and their professional writer w h o sought to burst his
expectations. W h e n he represented his 1797 readers' illusions even as he sought to sell them
collection as Folktales, 'edited b y Peter L e b e - n e w ones. B y incorporating this paradox into
recht' (a p s e u d o n y m ) , T i e c k w a s t o y i n g with his w o r k , he created a literary fairy tale that
his readers' expectations o f the genre and iron­ embodied the aesthetic, social, and existential
525 TOLKIEN, J . R. R.

contradictions of his a g e . W i t h irony, playful­ Lord of the Rings. T h e c o m i n g of W o r l d W a r I I

ness, and profound ambiguity he created the nearly halted his s l o w progress, and o n l y the
romantic prototype o f the modern fairy tale. encouragement o f his friend C . S. * L e w i s and
DH his son Christopher enabled him to complete
Birrell, Gordon, The Boundless Present: Space the three-volume w o r k , published in 1954—5.
and Time in the Literary Fairy Tales of Novalis T h e 1965 paperback publication of ' T h e T r i l ­
and Tieck ( 1 9 7 9 ) . o g y ' (as early enthusiasts named it) trans­
Haase, Donald P., 'Ludwig Tieck', in E. F. formed it into a best-seller, particularly on
Bleiler (ed.), Supernatural Fiction Writers:
college campuses. T o l k i e n w a s still at w o r k on
Fantasy and Horror, i ( 1 9 8 5 ) .
The Silmartllion w h e n he died; it w a s published
Jager, Hans-Wolf, 'Tràgt Rotkappuchen eine
Jakobinermiitze? Ubermutmassliche Konnotate and edited b y Christopher T o l k i e n in 1977.
bei Tieck und Grimm', in Joachim Bard (ed.), A s a child, T o l k i e n l o v e d G e o r g e * M a c D o -
Beitrdge {ur Praxis (Literatur-soziologie, ii, nald's ' C u r d i e ' b o o k s and the fairy-tale collec­
1974)- tions o f * A n d r e w L a n g . A l t h o u g h Bilbo
Lillyman, William J . , Reality's Dark Dream: The B a g g i n s o f The Hobbit is not the usual fairy-tale
Narrative Fiction of Ludwig Tieck ( 1 9 7 9 ) . p r o t a g o n i s t — n o t a handsome y o u n g e s t son,
Thalmann, Marianne, 'The Tieck Fairy Tale', in but a p l u m p , middle-aged hobbit o f M i d d l e -
The Romantic Fairy Tale: Seeds of Surrealism E a r t h — h e finds himself on a classic quest j o u r ­
(1964).
n e y with a g r o u p of dwarfs w h o hope to re­
TOLKIEN, J. R. R. (JOHN RONALD REUEL, c o v e r their ancestral treasure from the d r a g o n
1892-1973), British author and scholar, best o f the L o n e l y Mountain. His first adventure, an
k n o w n for his w o r k s of fantasy, The Hobbit and encounter with three h u n g r y trolls, is closely
The Lord of the Rings. T h o u g h his first three modelled on those Scandinavian folk tales in
years w e r e spent in South Africa, T o l k i e n and w h i c h a troll's attention is distracted till the ris­
his y o u n g e r brother Hilary g r e w up in an E n g ­ ing sun turns him into stone. His s e c o n d — i n
lish country village and, after 1900, in B i r m i n g ­ the underground realm o f the g o b l i n s — r e c a l l s
ham, where he attended K i n g E d w a r d ' s C u r d i e ' s exploits u n d e r g r o u n d in The Princess
School. T h e r e he discovered a l o v e of lan­ and the Goblin (1871). T h e ring o f Invisibility
g u a g e s — O l d English, G o t h i c , W e l s h , F i n ­ that Bilbo finds there seems at first no m o r e
n i s h — a n d began to invent his o w n . His than the usual h a n d y magical d e v i c e . A s the
w i d o w e d mother w a s disowned b y her family story progresses, h o w e v e r , it becomes m o r e
after her conversion to Catholicism, and w h e n original, m o r e serious in tone, and m o r e akin
she died in 1904 she named as her t w o sons' to saga and heroic legend than to folk tale. T h e
guardian a friendly priest w h o lodged them in a expected fairy-tale outcome, in w h i c h Bilbo
boarding house. A t 16 T o l k i e n met and fell in w o u l d s o m e h o w slay the d r a g o n and w i n the
love with Edith Bratt, w h o m he married eight treasure, is deliberately subverted. A m i n o r
years later. After obtaining a degree in E n g l i s h character kills the dragon; the unguarded treas­
language and literature from O x f o r d , he served ure brings dwarfs, elves, and men to the brink
in W o r l d W a r I as a signals officer. W h i l e he o f w a r ; and B i l b o ' s greatest heroic feat is not
was in the trenches of Flanders, he created a one o f violence but of renunciation, in w h i c h
m y t h o l o g y and w o r l d based on E l v i s h lan­ he risks his life to m a k e peace. H e w i n s no
guages that he had invented to help keep him princess and o n l y a modest share o f treasure;
sane. After the w a r , he went on to teach at the his greatest r e w a r d is the n e w self he has real­
University of L e e d s and then at O x f o r d , w h e r e ized and his rich store o f memories.
he remained until his retirement, achieving an The Lord of the Rings amplifies and darkens
admirable reputation as a scholar in A n g l o - the pattern of The Hobbit. A g a i n , a hobbit sets
Saxon and medieval literature. A m o n g his im­ forth on a quest with his companions, s u r v i v ­
portant w o r k s w e r e a definitive edition o f *Sir ing m a n y perilous adventures to reach a lonely
Gawain and the Green Knight (1925) and his mountain. In this fairy-tale novel for adults,
essay 'Beowulf. T h e Monsters and the Critics' h o w e v e r , an act of renunciation becomes the
(1936). In private, he w o r k e d on The Silmaril- g o a l . B i l b o ' s ring has been revealed as a deadly
lion, a mythological epic o f his imagined M i d ­ R i n g o f P o w e r , w h i c h its master S a u r o n is
dle-Earth, and told stories to his four children. seeking. H e intends to enslave all of M i d d l e -
O n e of the tales became The Hobbit (1937). Earth with it, and B i l b o ' s nephew F r o d o must
U r g e d b y his publisher to produce a sequel, reach the mountain w h e r e it w a s forged in
T o l k i e n began what soon developed into order to destroy it forever. T o l k i e n ' s w o r k is
something darker and far more complex, The equally remarkable for the depth o f its moral
TOLSTOY, ALEKSEI 526

vision and the quality o f its i m a g i n a r y w o r l d , group o f puppets, revolting against the tyran­
w h o s e complexity, detail, and consistency cre­ nical puppeteer and becoming their o w n mas­
ate for the w i l l i n g reader the illusion o f a real ters. The adventure and struggle are
yet enchanted universe. highlighted, while the philosophical and exist­
Both the cultural and the literary influence ential aspects o f *Collodi's novel are deleted.
o f Lord of the Rings h a v e been considerable. Burattino has become one of the most popular
A d u l t fantasy, all but extinct before its startling characters o f Russian children's literature, al­
success, is today a flourishing mainstay o f the most a national hero. MN
publishing industry. A n d although much post-
T o l k i e n fantasy has been w e a k l y imitative, TOLSTOY, L E V (1828-1910), Russian writer,
some o f t o d a y ' s most original w r i t e r s — i n c l u d ­ most famous for his novels War and Peace and
ing D i a n a W y n n e *Jones and Ursula K . * L e Anna Karenina, but also the author of many
G u i n — h a v e a c k n o w l e d g e d T o l k i e n as a fairy tales for children. T o l s t o y w a s an ardent
source o f inspiration. In Strategies of Fantasy, educationalist and used the fairy-tale form for
Brian A t t e b e r y identifies The Lord of the Rings didactic and educational purposes. In the 1860s
as our 'mental template' for fantasy, suggesting and 1870s he opened several rural schools and
that w o r k s w e n o w generally recognize as fan­ published a number of school primers, which
tasy share its salient characteristics: violation of mostly contain retellings of folk and fairy tales
natural l a w , comic structure (that o f the trad­ from all o v e r the w o r l d : fables, animal tales,
itional fairy tale), and sense o f w o n d e r . In the magical tales, and some local aetiological tales.
late 1960s, the alternative reality o f M i d d l e - T h e s e collections w e r e addressed to peasant
E a r t h endeared T o l k i e n to the counter-culture, children and are v e r y simple in structure and
while the ease with w h i c h that reality lends it­ style. W h e n using w e l l - k n o w n plots, such as
self to role-playing led to the creation o f games *'Little T o m T h u m b ' , T o l s t o y often followed
like ' D u n g e o n s and D r a g o n s ' and its succes­ Russian chapbooks rather than *Perrault, and
sors, as w e l l as the pioneering text-based c o m ­ he a l w a y s described Russian peasant settings in
puter g a m e ' A d v e n t u r e ' . detail. H o w e v e r , he also included in his collec­
T o l k i e n is important not only as a practi­ tions several oriental and A r a b i a n fairy tales,
tioner but as a theorist o f fantasy. T w o o f his retaining and accentuating their exotic settings.
short tales, ' L e a f b y N i g g l e ' (in Tree and Leaf T h e source o f m a n y of his fairy tales are to be
1964) and Smith of Wootton Major (1967) deal found in the collections of the famous Russian
symbolically with the nature o f fantasy and the folklorists *Afanasyev and K h u d y a k o v . Some
artist w h o creates it. His influential 1939 essay of the more complicated and original fairy
' O n F a i r y - S t o r i e s ' expresses analytically what tales, i n v o l v i n g criticism of social injustice,
' L e a f b y N i g g l e ' says in story. T o l k i e n argues such as ' T h e T a l e o f Ivan the F o o l ' (1885),
that the fairy tale is not inherently 'for chil­ w e r e banned because of their disrespectful por­
dren' but for adults as w e l l . H e defends the trayal o f T s a r s , the state, and the clergy.
m a k i n g o f i m a g i n a r y w o r l d s as divinely sanc­ T o l s t o y ' s most popular fairy tale, ' T h e
tioned 'sub-creation', and suggests that the T h r e e Bears' (1872), is a version of ' G o l d i ­
special significance o f the fairy tale lies in its locks', w h i c h also appears as a subtext in the
distinctive qualities o f Fantasy, E s c a p e , R e c o v ­ n o v e l Anna Karenina. MN
e r y , and Consolation. F o r T o l k i e n , the 'euca-
tastrophe', in w h i c h the story turns suddenly
'TOM T H U M B ' , see 'LITTLE TOM THUMB'.
from s o r r o w to j o y , is the defining moment o f
the fairy tale. SR
Attebery, Brian, Strategies of Fantasy (1992). TOPELIUS, ZACHARIAS (1818-98), F i n n o - S w e d -
Carpenter, Humphrey, Tolkien: A Biography ish writer, the creator of Swedish and F i n n o -
(i977)- Swedish children's literature and especially
Lobdell, Jared (éd.), A Tolkien Compass (1975). fairy tale. H e w a s professor of history and later
Shippey, T . A., The Road to Middle-Earth Chancellor o f Helsinki University. He also
(1983). w r o t e poetry, drama, and historical novels. His
TOLSTOY, ALEKSEI ( 1 8 8 2 / 3 - 1 9 4 5 ) , Russian n o v ­ Ldsning for barn (Reading Matter for Children, 8
elist. H e w r o t e The Golden Key, or The Adven­ v o l s . , 1865—96) contains a variety of magical
tures of Burattino (1935), the Russian version o f tales, moral tales, animal tales, and retellings of
*Pinocchio, far more famous in R u s s i a than the traditional tales. E v e r y d a y settings and events
original. Instead o f the individual dilemma o f are intertwined in them with romantic and fan­
P i n o c c h i o , striving to b e c o m e a real b o y , T o l ­ tastic motifs to suit the educational purposes of
stoy focuses on the collective achievements o f a the time. His best-known fairy tales, such as
527 TOURNIER, MICHEL

' S a m p o Lappelill' ( ' S a m p o the Little L a p p b i o g r a p h y entitled Le Vent Paraclet (The Wind
B o y ' ) , ' K n u t spelevink' ('Knut the Musician'), Spirit, 1977), and fictionalized accounts in-
or ' K y r k t u p p e n ' ( ' T h e C h u r c h W e a t h e r c o c k ' ) , spired b y history such as Gilles et Jeanne
are clearly influenced b y Hans Christian (1983), about G i l l e s de R a i s and J o a n o f A r c ;
*Andersen. MN Gaspard, Melchior et Balthazar ( The Four Wise
Men, 1980), w h i c h d r a w s from Bible stories;
TOURNIER, M I C H E L ( 1 9 2 4 - ) , French author of and Eléa^er ou La Source et le buisson (Eléa^er or
mythical, multi-layered narratives for adults The Spring and the Bush, 1996), a metaphysical
and children. H e w a s the son of Germanicists, interpretation o f Moses. H e has published
and his family w a s deeply affected b y W o r l d travel b o o k s about C a n a d a , Madagascar, and
W a r I I . H e experienced at first hand the rise o f W e i m a r , and written numerous essays on p h o -
Nazism in G e r m a n y , the adulation b y some t o g r a p h y (Des Clefs et des serrures (About Keys
Frenchmen o f their conquerers, the appropri- and Locks, also translated as Waterline, 1979)),
ation of his home as Nazi headquarters, and the reading (Le Vol du vampire (Flight of the Vam-
round-up of fellow villagers for concentration pire, 1981)), and art criticism (Le Tabor et le
camps. H e w o u l d later record these reactions Sinai, 1988). T o u r n i e r also has several short-
and interview prisoners o f w a r in Le Roi des story collections for adults and for children in-
Aulnes (translated as both The Erl King and cluding Le Coq de bruyère (The Fetishist, 1978),
The Ogre, 1970). H e studied philosophy, ini- Le Médianoche amoureux (The Midnight Love
tially in Paris. After defending his Sorbonne Feast, 1985), and Sept Contes (Seven Tales,
thesis on Plato in 1946, he studied G e r m a n 1991).
philosophy at the University of T u b i n g e n and A multifaceted and prolific author, T o u r n i e r
returned in 1950 to take the agrégation (the b o r r o w s his ideas from folklore, fairy tales, lit-
highly competitive examination leading to sec- erary masterpieces, and the Bible in a process
ondary- and university teaching positions). he terms bricolage. H e then rewrites these cul-
Ironically, it is because he failed this exam that tural m y t h o l o g i e s to reinterpret chapters from
he eventually turned to literature. H e drifted Genesis or v o y a g e s o f initiation. T h e s e sources
about post-war Paris for a few y e a r s , attended are especially important w h e n addressing j u -
ethnology lectures b y L é v i - S t r a u s s , translated venile readers, for he uses m y t h o l o g y and fa-
the novels of E r i c h Maria R e m a r q u e , and edit- miliar texts as a bridge to bring metaphysics to
ed texts at a Paris publishing house. H e then children's literature. T o u r n i e r ' s r e w o r k i n g o f
became a radio announcer for E u r o p e N u m é r o his first n o v e l is a case in point. F e e l i n g that
U n (which he w o u l d later write about in ' T r i - one should write concisely and clearly e n o u g h
stan V o x ' , 1978), and from 1960—5 hosted a for a 1 0 - o r a 1 2 - y e a r - o l d to understand, he dis-
television series called ' L a C h a m b r e noire' tilled his metaphysical Friday as Vendredi ou la
( ' T h e Black B o x ' ) . P h o t o g r a p h y remains vie sauvage (Friday and Robinson: Life on Espe-
Tournier's passion: he co-founded an inter- ran{a Island, 1971). N o t o n l y has it b e c o m e the
national photographic society and has written second most popular children's b o o k after Le
numerous texts to accompany other p h o t o g - Petit Prince (The Little Prince) (see S A I N T - E X U -
raphers' w o r k . T h e photographic image is also P É R Y , A N T O I N E D E ) , but T o u r n i e r prefers it to
a recurrent theme in his short stories and his original text, itself a r e w o r k i n g o f D e f o e ' s
novels like ' L e s Suaires de V é r o n i q u e ' mythical hero.
('Veronica's Shrouds', 1978) and La Goutte d'or In addition to retooling his o w n n o v e l (a
(The Golden Droplet, 1985). kind o f self-plagiarism), T o u r n i e r recycles his
It w a s not until the age of 43, h o w e v e r , that short stories for a w i d e r , dual readership o f
T o u r n i e r began his career as a writer. His first children and adults. His favourite tale, 'Pierrot
novel w o n the French A c a d e m y ' s G r a n d P r i x ou les secrets de la nuit' ('Pierrot o r the Secrets
du R o m a n for Vendredi ou Les Limbes du Pac- o f the N i g h t ' , 1978), has appeared in several o f
ifique (Friday or The Other Island, 1967), a his anthologies and presents the commedia del-
metaphysical r e w o r k i n g o f Robinson Crusoe b y Varte characters Harlequin and Pierrot as e m -
w a y of F r e u d , Sartre, and L é v i - S t r a u s s . T h r e e bodiments of diametrically opposed aesthetics,
years later, b y the first-ever unanimous v o t e , Platonism and postmodernism, through their
he w o n the P r i x G o n c o u r t for The Erl King, his courtship of C o l u m b i n e . T o u r n i e r also e x -
mythic treatment of Nazism. H e is a m e m b e r o f cerpts intercalated stories from n o v e l s and
the A c a d é m i e G o n c o u r t and winner o f the P r i x issues them separately a n d / o r in collections.
Goethe, w h o s e other major w o r k s include Les T h i s is the case o f ' B a r b e d o r ' ( ' G o l d e n b e a r d ,
Météores (Gemini, 1975), an intellectual auto- or T h e P r o b l e m o f S u c c e s s i o n ' ) , an * Arabian
TRAVERS, PAMELA L Y N D O N 528

Nights-inspired story of an heirless, a g e i n g ten m a n y essays on folklore and myth which

k i n g w h o m a g i c a l l y becomes his o w n succes- h a v e appeared regularly in the review Parabola
sor, w h i c h originally appeared as a tale-within- and h a v e been republished, along with some of
a-tale in The Four Wise Men and w a s subse- her o w n tales and retellings, in What the Bee
quently reissued for children in a separate, Knows: Reflections on Myth, Symbol and Story
illustrated edition as w e l l as in the collection (1989). AD
Seven Tales.
Other 'oriental' fairy tales include ' B a r b e - TRNKA, JlRl (1912—69), C z e c h painter and illus-
rousse' ( ' R e d b e a r d ' ) and ' L a R e i n e blonde' trator, also active in animated film and puppet
( ' T h e B l o n d e Q u e e n ' ) from The Golden Drop- theatre. H e illustrated fairy-tale collections b y
let, w h i l e t w o republished stories o f E u r o p e a n W i l h e l m *Hauff (1941), the Brothers *Grimm
influence are particularly important. S w e d i s h (1942), Hans Christian *Andersen (1955), The
folklore colours ' L e N a i n r o u g e ' ( ' T h e R e d *Arabian Nights (1957), and several volumes of
D w a r f ) , a disturbing tale about an o v e r s e x e d , Czech folk tales, such as the Legends of Old
malevolent dwarf. W h i l e this story is clearly Bohemia (i960). A m o n g his internationally
for adults, ' L a F u g u e du petit P o u c e t ' ( ' T o m w e l l - k n o w n w o r k s are illustrations for Peter
T h u m b R u n s A w a y ' ) appeals to both children and the Wolf (1965). His original fairy tales,
and their parents. It is a s u b v e r s i v e update o f self-illustrated, include Through the Magic Gate
*Perrault's ' L e Petit P o u c e t ' (""Little T o m (1962). T r n k a w o n the Andersen Medal for il-
T h u m b ' ) in w h i c h the persecuted o g r e , a v e g e - lustrations in 1968. MN
tarian h i p p y / C h r i s t figure trying to s a v e the
TUCKER, CHARLOTTE M A R I A ( 1 8 2 1 - 9 3 ) , English
forests from urbanization, g i v e s a y o u n g b o y
writer, w h o s e b o o k s w e r e published under the
his magical S e v e n L e a g u e B o o t s to escape spir-
a c r o n y m A . L . O . E . ( A L a d y of E n g l a n d ) . A n
itual suffocation b y his father. L i k e his best
evangelical missionary, T u c k e r published nu-
stories, it is written in a brief, clear, and naive
merous popular didactic books that had great
style that has been compared to that of L a F o n -
success in Britain and the United States. Many
taine, *Kipling, and S a i n t - E x u p é r y . Metatext-
o f her tales w e r e allegorical in nature, such as
ual and multi-layered, this rewritten fairy tale
The Giant Killer; or, The Battle which All Must
o f social criticism is a prime example of w h y
Fight (1855), in which impatient, greedy, and
T o u r n i e r is one o f the most popular and w i d e l y
proud children must abandon their bad traits to
read contemporary novelists today. MLE o v e r c o m e the giant. A n o t h e r interesting alle-
Beckett, Sandra, Des grands romanciers écrivent g o r y is The Crown of Success; or, Four Heads to
pour les enfants (1997).
Furnish (1863), in which M r Learning, w h o
Bouloumié, Ariette, Michel Tournier. Le roman
drinks ink and eats paper for breakfast, pro-
mythologique (1988).
Petit, Susan, Michel Tournier's Metaphysical vides some children the means to furnish the
Fictions (1991). Villa of the H e a d and also magic purses of time
Redfern, Walter, Michel Tournier. Le Coq de to spend in the T o w n of Education. In such
bruyère (1996). other b o o k s as Wings and Stings: A Tale for the
Roberts, Martin, Michel Tournier. Bricolage and Young, Fairy Know-a-Bit (1865) and Fairy Fris-
Cultural Mythology (1994). ket; or, Peeps at Insect Life (1874) she included
themes dealing with natural history. JZ
TRAVERS, PAMELA LYNDON (1906-96), A u s t r a - Giberne, Agnes, A Lady of England: The Life
lian writer and essayist o f Irish and Scottish and Letters of Charlotte Maria Tucker (1895).
descent, best k n o w n for her Mary Poppins
(1934), w h i c h * D i s n e y made into a m o v i e in TWAIN, MARK (pseudonym of SAMUEL LANG-
1964, starring J u l i e A n d r e w s as M a r y Poppins HORNE C L E M E N S , 1835-1910), A m e r i c a n writer
and D i c k V a n D y k e as her friend Bert. H e r and humorist. H e incorporated a variety of
1934 b o o k about an eccentric nanny with motifs from folklore and fairy tales in his
magical p o w e r s w a s followed b y a series o f w o r k s from the v e r y outset of his career. In
others, including Mary Poppins Comes Back such stories as ' T h e Celebrated J u m p i n g F r o g
(1935), Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943), o f C a l a v e r a s C o u n t y ' (1865) he developed the
and Mary Poppins in the Park (1952). In 1975 traditional tall tale into a unique art form. Such
T r a v e r s published About the Sleeping Beauty, a stories as ' L ' A r b r e F é e de Bourlemont' (1895),
collection o f five versions o f the tale (by the ' T w o Little T a l e s ' (1901), and ' T h e F i v e Boons
* G r i m m s , Charles *Perrault, Giambattista o f L i f e ' (1902) w e r e based on narratives from
*Basile, J e r e m i a h *Curtin, and F . B r a d l e y - B i r t ) the E u r o p e a n fairy-tale tradition. Many of his
a l o n g with her o w n retelling. T r a v e r s has writ- stories and novels reflect his strong interest in
 TWAIN, MARK

the *Grimms' fairy tales, and the posthumous West, Victor Royce, Folklore in the Works of
'1002nd Arabian Night' (1967) was part of a Mark Twain (1930).
larger project of rewriting The ^Arabian Nights Wohnham, Henry B., Mark Twain and the Art of
that he never completed. JZ the Tall Tale (1993).
 T h e Undine plot involves a water sprite
w h o surfaces to marry a human being to gain a
soul, which elemental spirits d o not have. H e r
marriage with the knight Huldbrand ends
badly on account o f Huldbrand's indiscretion
in m a r r y i n g his ex-girlfriend after Undine has
returned to the water, on the one hand, and the
intercession o f Undine's cranky water sprite
uncle K u h l e b o r n , w h o tells her she must kill
her husband as a consequence, on the other.
T h e K u h l e b o r n character remains enigmatic
because of the motive behind his mean rules. In
UBBELOHDE, OTTO (1867-1922) illustrated a F o u q u é ' s version, he seems concerned that his
three-volume edition o f * G r i m m s ' fairy tales niece will b e betrayed in l o v e ; in Hoffmann's
(1907—9) with simply and strongly executed version, an implication o f vengeance exists b e -
designs. H i s illustrations, w h i c h recalled early cause Undine had been an important figure in
G e r m a n w o o d c u t s and expressed his abiding the water sprite w o r l d and had been stolen,
l o v e for the landscape o f central Hesse w h e r e although her parents sent her earthward.
he spent his adult life, w e r e reprinted in vast Undine tales are based on traditional mer-
numbers in s c h o o l b o o k editions in the late maid stories, but especially Paracelsus' treatise
1930s and early 1940s. on nymphs. T h e tales emphasize the taboo o f
U b b e l o h d e studied graphics and painting in b o u n d a r y violation between the elemental
Munich and subsequently spent 1894—5 at the realms o f earth, air, fire, and water, with water
north G e r m a n artists' settlement W o r p s w e d e . being a privileged element. In Undine's 20th-
His fairy-tale œuvre also includes 56 d r a w i n g s century transformations, the privilege o f water
for Deutsches Mdrchenland (German S tory land), comes to represent art, an interpretation al-
a ' K a l e n d e r ' for 1 9 2 1 - 2 ; a special edition o f ready implicit in Hoffmann's g o r g e o u s d e -
*'Iron H a n s ' ; and an oil painting, The Fairytale scriptions o f the w a t e r y w o r l d . WC
of the Goose Girl. RBB Fassbind-Eigenheer, Ruth, Undine oder die nasse
Grenue iwischen mir und mir (1994).

' U G L Y DUCKLING, THE'. With 'Den grimme f i l -

U N G E R E R , T O M I ( p s e u d o n y m o f JEAN THOMAS,
ing' ( ' T h e U g l y D u c k l i n g ' , 1837), Hans C h r i s -
1931— ) , Alsatian French illustrator, author-
tian *Andersen wistfully provided an
illustrator, political cartoonist, and commercial
autobiography in narrative form. T h e duckling
artist. B o r n in Strasbourg, U n g e r e r emigrated
is persecuted b y all in the hierarchical duck
to the United States in 1957, m o v e d to Canada
y a r d , escapes, perseveres, and eventually real-
20 years later, and eventually settled in Ireland
izes that he is not u g l y , but a beautiful s w a n .
with his wife and three children. His children's
T h e tale concludes with the marvellous k n o w -
b o o k s — o v e r 8 0 — h a v e been written and pub-
ledge that it hardly matters w h e r e y o u are born
lished in several languages. Since the 1970s,
if y o u h a v e the right talents. T h e tale and its
they h a v e been labelled 'controversial' and
message h a v e gained proverbial authority,
' s u b v e r s i v e ' for the biting satire, earthy sexual-
although A n d e r s e n s l y l y suggests that the swan
ity, o r streak o f sadism that lurks beneath the
has b e c o m e a captive o f b o u r g e o i s society. N I
seemingly innocuous surface o f a colourful i l -
Zipes, Jack, Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion lustration o r a simple story. In his picture b o o k
(1983). Moon Man (1967), for example, the Moon Man
lands on earth, innocently hoping to socialize;
U N D I N E . T h e earliest literary representations o f instead, he is mobbed b y scientists, television
the U n d i n e fairy tale are Friedrich de la Motte crews, thrill-seekers, and policemen, and
*Fouqué's Undine. Eine Er^dhlung ( 1 8 1 1 ) and d r a g g e d off to gaol as a dangerous 'invader'.
E . T . A . *Hoffmann's opera Undine. Zauber- Fortunately, as he wanes, he g r o w s thin
opera in drei Akten (1812—14). T c h a i k o v s k y enough to slip between the bars and escape.
w r o t e and destroyed an opera on the theme W h i l e this fable satirizes contemporary society,
(1869). In the 20th century r e w o r k i n g s include in other stories U n g e r e r uses the fairy-tale
J e a n * G i r a u d o u x ' s Ondine (1938), Hans W e r - form to undermine traditional values. A Story-
ner Henze's ballet Undine (1956), and I n g e b o r g book from Tomi Ungerer (1974) includes U n g e r -
B a c h m a n n ' s ' U n d i n e geht' ( 1 9 6 1 ) . er's o w n version o f *'Little R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' ,
U B B E L O H D E , O T T O The wild man in the Grimms' tale '*Iron Hans' takes the young prince with him into

the woods in Kinder- und Hausmdrchen gesammelt durch die Briider Grimm ( 1 9 2 7 ) , illustrated by Otto
Ubbelohde.
UNGERER, TOMI 'They fell in love, married, led an elegant life, and had a lot of children. And, so it would
seem, they lived happily ever after.' But in this final illustration of Zeralda's Ogre, written and illustrated
by Tomi Ungerer, one of the ogre's children holds a knife and fork discreetly behind his back as he views
his new sibling.
533 UTTLEY, ALISON

no longer a w a r n i n g to y o u n g girls, but a hint into the p s y c h e o f the character, to investigate

that outworn sexual taboos are meaningless in her inmost thoughts, and to register the min­
today's w o r l d . A n elegantly dressed w o l f o v e r ­ imal reactions o f her senses. It also s h o w s h o w
comes R e d R i d i n g H o o d ' s suspicions, takes her the encounter with the supernatural changes
to his castle, and marries her, and they live the protagonist's life and affects her identity in
happily ever after. T h e grandmother (an au­ a negative manner, m a k i n g her unable to a c ­
thority figure from an older generation) is a cept herself in 'real' life.
nasty-tempered old w o m a n , shrivelling a w a y T h e n o v e l i n v o l v e s a traditional magical o b ­
as the story ends. In Zeralda's Ogre (1967), ject as a means o f transportation into another
possibly U n g e r e r ' s best-known original fairy time. H o w e v e r , the reader's attention is not
tale, a little girl tames an o g r e b y c o o k i n g him immediately d r a w n to it: it takes a keen e y e to
such delicious gourmet meals that he loses his recognize that the little manikin P e n e l o p e has
appetite for children; in the end, he marries for a mascot is possibly the ' k e y ' to the m a g i c
her, and they raise a family together. W h i l e the door. Besides, P e n e l o p e ' s entrance into the
text seems to suggest demurely that a nurturing past is anticipated, since from early childhood
w o m a n with fine domestic skills can civilize a she has been credited with second sight.
man into domesticity, the illustrations tell a Witchcraft is a p o w e r permeating the story.
somewhat different story. T h e staring eyes o f W i t h her k n o w l e d g e o f the future, especially
the helpless animals and birds hung up in Z e r - the tragic fate o f M a r y Q u e e n o f Scots, P e n e ­
alda's kitchen remind us that she, too, is a prac­ lope is accused of b e i n g an evil witch. A jealous
tised butcher, w h o feels no qualms about rival and a real witch, daughter o f an astrol­
slaughtering what she serves for dinner. A n d in o g e r , almost kills her. A l l this stands in sharp
the final illustration, one o f Zeralda's children contrast to P e n e l o p e ' s ordinary life in her o w n
admires the n e w b a b y — w i t h a sharp knife and time.
fork concealed behind his back. A story that U n l i k e m a n y characters in time-shift n o v e l s ,
seems to celebrate the triumph o f civilization Penelope does not realize right a w a y that she
o v e r barbarism also intimates that the murder­ has arrived in a different time. She comes and
ous o g r e survives in all of us. SR g o e s , in a dreamlike fashion, and she can n e v e r
be sure w h e n it will happen next. N o r is she
UTTLEY, A L I S O N (1884-1976), British author o f quite sure that she will be able to come b a c k to
fairy tales for children, notably animal tales, her o w n time. T h e story acquires a deeper p s y ­
continuing the tradition of Beatrix Potter. H e r chological meaning and might be explained in
best-known characters include Little G r e y terms o f visions as much as pure m a g i c .
Rabbit, T i m Rabbit, Little B r o w n M o u s e , L i t ­ A l t h o u g h the n o v e l strays from traditional
tle R e d F o x , and S a m P i g . A selection o f her fairy-tale patterns, it has some characters r e m ­
best animal tales w a s published in Magic in My iniscent o f the fairy tale such as J u d e , the d u m b
Pocket (1957). She also w r o t e a variety of o r i ­ kitchen b o y , a typical chthonic figure with
ginal fairy tales and retold traditional ones, al­ supernatural p o w e r s and senses, and D a m e
w a y s focusing on the unexpected appearance o f C e c i l y , the fairy godmother.
magic in e v e r y d a y countryside surroundings. T h e end o f the n o v e l is deeply tragic. T h e
Uttley also wrote a play, The Washerwoman's usual supposition in fairy tales is that the prot­
Child (1946), based on the life of Hans C h r i s ­ agonists will b e c o m e m o r a l l y better, w i s e r , and
tian *Andersen and i n v o l v i n g seven o f his fairy stronger through their trials. In this n o v e l , a
tales. In these as well, the focus is on the complete disintegration o f character is depict­
e v e r y d a y rather than typical fairy-tale features. ed. T h u s the foremost characteristic o f a fairy
Alison Uttley's major contribution to the tale, the happy ending, is definitely rejected.
genre is A Traveller in Time (1939), a novel e x ­ MN
ploiting the motif of time shift, and well ahead Aers, Lesley, 'The Treatment of Time in Four
of the tradition in its narrative structure. F o r Children's Books', Children s Literature in
one thing, it involves a first-person narrator, Education (1970).
which is unusual in fairy tales since it demands Nikolajeva, Maria, 'Fantasy: The Evolution of a
Pattern', in Rhonda Bunbury (ed.), Fantasy and
a stronger identification with the character.
Feminism (1993).
Unlike traditional fairy tales, the novel is Nodelman, Perry, 'Interpretation and the
centred on the protagonist's feelings and sensa­ Apparent Sameness of Children's Literature',
tions, allowing the author to g o much deeper Studies in the Literary Imagination, 18 (1985).
 uration of the Angel, 1957) and La domenica col
poeta (The Sunday with the Poet, 1973). It also
pervades his tales, particularly those published
in Campanellino (1928), such as 'Il Fraticello
R e ' ( ' T h e F r i a r K i n g ' ) in which the beauty of
nature and of human feelings does not allow
the tragic to prevail, and l o v e and innocence
naturally triumph o v e r mischief and betrayal.
MNP

V A N D E VELDE, VIVIAN ( 1 9 5 1 - ) , A m e r i c a n writer

o f fantasy for y o u n g adults. Beginning with
VALENZUELA, LUISA (1938- ) , of Argentinian Once Upon a Test (1984), a collection of three
origin, one of the most important writers in innovative fairy tales that break with standard
c o n t e m p o r a r y South A m e r i c a n literature. She depictions o f princesses and princes, V a n d e
has produced a g o o d number o f n o v e l s , a few V e l d e has written a series o f humorous books
p l a y s , and several short stories. T h r o u g h o u t geared to upset audience expectations. In A
her literary career, she has been preoccupied b y Hidden Magic (1985) a plain princess named
the w a y dominant g r o u p s use discourse to o p ­ Jennifer frees a conceited, handsome prince
press other people; l i k e w i s e , her w o r k s often from a witch's spell. A Well-Timed Enchant­
deal with sexual politics, m a k i n g explicit the ment (1991) concerns a y o u n g girl and her cat
dual opposition o f d o m i n a t i o n / s u b m i s s i o n that w h o retrieve an old watch from the past.
presides o v e r m a n y male—female relationships. Dragon's Bait (1992) depicts a courageous girl
A l l o f this is especially o b v i o u s in her revisions w h o denies allegations o f witchcraft and be­
o f classical fairy tales w h i c h she included in a comes the friend of a dragon that is supposed
collection o f stories called Simetrias (Symme­ to d e v o u r her. In Tales from the Brothers Grimm
tries, 1993) in a section entitled ' C u e n t o s de and the Sisters Weird (1996), she parodies 13
H a d e s ' ( ' T a l e s o f H a d e s ' ) w h i c h contains six popular fairy tales and g i v e s them unusual
feminist fairy tales, all o f w h i c h revise one or twists. F o r instance, after g r o w i n g into a beau­
several famous stories, such as *'Little R e d tiful swan, the u g l y duckling pecks all his tor­
R i d i n g H o o d ' , ' T h e *Princess and the P e a ' , mentors to death. T h e elves lock the
""Sleeping B e a u t y ' , ' T h e * F r o g K i n g ' , * ' C i n ­ shoemaker and his wife in the basement o f their
derella', * ' S n o w W h i t e ' , and *'Bluebeard'. T h e h o m e , take all their m o n e y , and run off to C e n ­
tale o f ' S l e e p i n g B e a u t y ' is particularly import­ tral A m e r i c a , w h e r e they operate a pirate radio
ant to V a l e n z u e l a ' s creative imagination, con­ station. T h o u g h shocking, the tales are told in
sidering the fact that it is revised twice, both in a light comic vein aimed at exposing social
' N o se detiene el p r o g r e s o ' ( ' P r o g r e s s C a n n o t contradictions in such a manner that y o u n g
be S t o p p e d ' , 1993) and in 'Principe I I ' ('Prince adults can easily grasp the targets of criticism.
I I ' ) , one o f the sections o f '4 Principes 4' ('4 JZ
Princes 4', 1993). T h e dominant feature o f the
'4 Princes 4' is the presence o f a Prince C h a r m ­ V I C T O R I A N FAIRY P A I N T I N G . In his final speech of
ing w h o rejects his role as rescuer and refuses The Tempest, Prospero recognizes the necessity
to m a k e use o f his talent for g i v i n g spell-break­ for a friendly collusion between the audience
ing kisses, since the passion he has for a beauty and the performer in order that the illusion of
that remains forever sleeping w o u l d vanish the fantasy prevails. Victorian fairy painters and il­
moment she a w o k e to her o w n desire. CF lustrators depended upon a similar supportive
relationship as they conjured up 'realms of fae­
VALERI, DlEGO (1887-1976), Italian lyric poet, rie' for appreciative spectators. T h e i r enthusi­
writer, literary critic, and fine translator of astic admirers included such diverse luminaries
F r e n c h and G e r m a n poetry. H e captured the as Q u e e n Victoria, Charles D o d g s o n ( L e w i s
beauty o f his b e l o v e d V e n i c e in Guida senti­ *Carroll), W i l l i a m Makepeace *Thackeray,
mentale di Venecia (Sentimental Guide to Ven­ Charles *Dickens, J o h n *Ruskin, and Samuel
ice, 1942) and other w o r k s . V a l e r i w a s b y Carter Hall. F a i r y paintings appeared regularly
vocation and b y moral choice a poet o f the in R o y a l A c a d e m y exhibitions throughout the
g o o d life, evident in his m a n y collections ran­ 19th century and well into the 20th. Most of the
g i n g from Le gaie triste^e ( The Merry Sorrows, artists from the early Victorian period took
1913) to Metamorfosi delVangelo (The Transfig­ their subjects from the plays of *Shakespeare,
535 V I C T O R I A N FAIRY P A I N T I N G

most notably A Midsummer Night's Dream and fairy painting to both entertain and edify the
The Tempest, and the poetry o f Milton and British public. Fuseli, in his efforts to establish
*Spenser. T h e y usually added imaginative de­ a n e w kind o f poetic history painting, estab­
tails to these w o r k s culled from folklore and lished the basic v o c a b u l a r y o f the genre: the
fairy tales. A n even larger audience for fairy quotation o f high art and literature, the add­
images emerged with the expanding readership ition o f folkloric themes, and the establishment
of illustrated books and magazines after m i d - of a central narrative scene surrounded b y c o l ­
century. laborative vignettes. In his w o r k s for A l d e r ­
Artists chose to paint fairy pictures for a man J o h n B o y d e l l ' s Shakespeare G a l l e r y ,
variety of reasons. S o m e artists, like Daniel Titania and Bottom (c. 1780—90) and Titania's
Maclise, Richard *Dadd, and J o s e p h N o ë l Awakening (1793—4), he set the standards for a
*Paton, chose fairy painting as one w a y to es­ n e w kind o f literary history painting. His influ­
tablish their professional careers and to solicit ence w o u l d be felt later in both Victorian fairy
critical and public recognition. Other artists, painting and illustration, especially in his hand­
such as J o h n Anster Fitzgerald, J o h n S i m m o n s , ling o f multiple vignettes that comment upon
Robert Huskisson, and J o h n A t k i n s o n G r i m - the central action.
shaw, developed a popular following for their W i l l i a m Blake (1757—1827) also incorpor­
small fantasy w o r k s , which mixed fairy scenes ated fairy i m a g e r y and lore into his idiosyn­
with eroticism and dream imagery. T h e P r e - cratic c o s m o l o g y . U n l i k e F u s e l i , he had no
Raphaelite artists J o h n Everett Millais, W i l l i a m interest in the grand scale o f history painting,
Bell Scott, and A r t h u r *Hughes found an inter­ preferring to w o r k with the media o f e n g r a v i n g
est in fairy subject-matter that engaged them and watercolour. H e s a w fairies as nature elem-
with varied success. O f the three, H u g h e s went entals. In Oberon, Titania, and Puck with Fair­
on to make a name for himself as a fantasy il­ ies Dancing (c.1785), the artist conceives o f
lustrator. fairies as nature worshippers, miniature druidic
N o t all artists chose an academic career as celebrants o f the corporeal earth. Blake depicts
the best route to public approbation. G e o r g e the k i n g and queen o f the fairies presiding o v e r
*Cruikshank and Richard ' D i c k y ' " D o y l e , for a free-spirited dance, a 'fairy ring'. H e differs
example, w e r e the successful founders of a cen­ from Fuseli's approach to the fairy painting b y
tury-long dynasty of Victorian fairy illustra­ concentrating solely on the diminutive partici­
tion. Cruikshank's art acted as a link between pants and g i v i n g the fairies w i n g s , w h i c h add
the satirical broadsides of the R e g e n c y period to the airy feeling o f the dance. W h e r e Fuseli
and the moral bromides of the early Victorian had set the tone for literary history painting,
era. D o y l e helped initiate the Victorian r e v o l u ­ Blake p r o v i d e d the model for an imaginative
tion in popular media with his contributions to use o f scale and schemata o f b o d y language for
the satirical journal Punch and his illustrations future artists to use w h e n dealing with fairy
to Charles Dickens's Christmas novels. B y the subjects. A t the same time, B l a k e served as a
1870s, D o y l e had become one o f the most spiritual godfather to artists searching for v i s ­
prominent fairy illustrators in a field that in­ ual metaphors for poetic inspiration in fantasy
cluded his brother Charles Altamont D o y l e , art.
Arthur Hughes, Kate * G r e e n a w a y , and E l e a ­ Surprisingly, the romantic era saw little i m ­
nor V e r e *Boyle. A t the end of the century, portant w o r k in fairy painting. Artists like
Arthur *Rackham, E d m u n d *Dulac, J o h n H e n r y Singleton (1766-1839), H e n r y H o w a r d
Dickson Batten, H e n r y Justice F o r d , R o b e r t (1769-1847), F r a n k H o w a r d (1805-66), and
A n n i n g Bell, Jessie M . K i n g , and the "'Robin­ J o s h u a Cristall (1767—1847) carried on the
son brothers (Charles, W i l l i a m Heath, and tradition in small-scale w o r k s . T h e s e w o r k s ,
T h o m a s Heath) developed the fairy v o c a b u ­ h o w e v e r , did little but sustain the prevailing
lary into a variety of sophisticated illustrative types established b y Blake and Fuseli o f di­
styles, both in colour and in black and white. minutive figures closely associated with the
A l l of these artists contributed to the popularity w o r l d o f flora and fauna. A more productive
of fairy imagery through their illustrations in expansion of fairy lore came out o f the writings
novels, fairy-tale collections, folklore studies, o f such folklorists as Sir W a l t e r Scott
engraved folios, and popular journals. ( 1 7 7 1 - 1 8 3 2 ) , Nathan D r a k e (1766-1836),
Fairy painting w o u l d seem to be a quintes- Thomas Crofton * C r o k e r , and Thomas
sentially Victorian product, yet its roots lie *Keightley (1789-1872). Most important, an
firmly within late 18th-century British art. E n g l i s h translation o f J a c o b and W i l h e l m
Henry *Fuseli recognized the potential for * G r i m m ' s ^Kinder- und Hausmdrchen (Chil-
V I C T O R I A N FAIRY P A I N T I N G 536

dren's and Household Tales) appeared in 1823. Maclise's early painting Faun and the Fairies,
T h e publication o f these various collections of which also served as a w o o d - e n g r a v e d illustra­
ballads, p l a y s , folklore, and fairy tales through­ tion to E d w a r d B u l w e r - L y t t o n ' s Pilgrims on the
out the Victorian era w o u l d offer alternative Rhine (1834). Maclise returned to G e r m a n -
literary sources for fairy painters and illustra­ derived 'fairy' subject-matter in his Scene from
tors to those sources associated with the *Undine (1843), based upon a story b y Frie­
Shakespearian tradition. drich de la Motte *Fouqué. T h i s painting was
Francis D a n b y (1793—1861), an Irish artist, purchased b y Queen Victoria as a birthday pre­
a
and D a v i d Scott (1806—49), Scot, represent sent for her husband Albert, the Prince C o n ­
t w o notable exceptions to the general lack of sort, signalling the royal support of certain
inventiveness in fairy painting during the r o ­ kinds o f fantasy painting and the affinity some
mantic era. D a n b y painted t w o watercolour o f the British populace felt for G e r m a n culture
versions o f Scene from a Midsummer Night's at this time.
Dream (1832) during a period o f self-imposed Victorian fairy painting experienced its hey­
exile in Switzerland. T h e w o r k s h a v e a Blakean d a y during the 1840s. Its popularity arose part­
simplicity made e v o c a t i v e through the addition l y out of the desire for n e w kinds of art b y a
o f a moonlit landscape as a setting and the i m ­ g r o w i n g middle-class audience and partly be­
aginative use o f scale and vantage point. Scott, cause o f the surreptitious restrictions gradually
in contrast, grafted the theatricality o f Fuseli imposed on other painting genres in the R o y a l
onto the poetic expressivity o f B l a k e and i m ­ A c a d e m y . F a i r y painting became a surrogate
bued the mixture with his o w n peculiar meta­ for certain subject-matter, motifs, and themes
physical temperament. H e drives the pictorial unavailable or unacceptable in more élite cat­
narrative o f his fairy paintings Ariel and Cali­ egories of the academic hierarchy of painting.
ban (1837) and Puck Fleeing the Dawn (1837) T h i s genre crossed boundaries between the
with deliberately asymmetrical compositions, nude figure study, pastoral landscape, erotic
an innovative use o f b o d y l a n g u a g e and e x ­ mythological scenes, sentimental narrative, and
pression, and a robustly applied paint surface. literary history painting. Its success g r e w con­
Neither D a n b y ' s nor Scott's fairy paintings currently out o f a confusion engendered b y a
w o u l d have much o f an immediate impact upon crisis of identity about the nature of history
the R o y a l A c a d e m y and the L o n d o n art scene, painting within the R o y a l A c a d e m y itself. F o r
h o w e v e r . D a n b y , despite the popularity of the artist, critic, and art lover, this change
such fantasy landscape paintings as The En­ emerged from the demands of a burgeoning
chanted Island (1825) and The Wood-Nymph's middle-class consumer culture for genre, land­
Hymn to the Rising Sun (1845) suffered from a scape, and portrait painting, as well as a devel­
covert ostracization within the academic hier­ oping popular taste for a new kind of narrative
archy, w h i l e Scott, despite a legendary reputa­ painting. T h e cultural sense of an established
tion a m o n g y o u n g e r Scottish artists, led an artistic tradition, a l w a y s shaky in the British
isolated existence cut short b y his death at a arts, fell p r e y to the developing values o f the
relatively y o u n g a g e . middle class as they infiltrated in greater num­
T h e w o r k o f the Irish artist D a n i e l Maclise bers the ranks o f patronage, the academic
(1806-70) represents a m o r e viable link b e ­ organization, the art publication industry, and
tween the A c a d e m y and fairy painting, as well the critical press. A t this critical juncture in
as the shift from romantic to Victorian art. H e early Victorian art history, fairy painters
recognized early in his career the possibilities scored their greatest successes.
o f fairy i m a g e r y ; his first published d r a w i n g s Both Richard D a d d and J o s e p h N o e l Paton
appeared, etched b y W . H . B r o o k e , in T h o m a s used fairy paintings as a w a y o f garnering crit­
Crofton C r o k e r ' s Fairy Legends and Traditions ical and popular attention in the 1840s. D a d d
in the South of Ireland (1826). T h e y o u n g artist began to experience a gradual success with
entered the R o y a l A c a d e m y in 1828. B y the b e ­ such w o r k s as Titania Sleeping (c.1841) and
ginning o f the 1830s, he had turned his atten­ Come unto these Yellow Sands (1842). His des­
tion to unique interpretations o f historical cent into madness, culminating in the murder
genre painting, including fairy scenes, for e x ­ o f his father, led to his incarceration in Bethlem
ample The Disenchantment of Bottom (1832). Hospital and his removal from consideration
A n o t h e r source o f influence on Maclise's art (except as a curiosity) as a member o f Victor­
came from the G e r m a n Màrchen painters ian art circles. N o e l Paton made a satisfying
Moritz v o n S c h w i n d and L u d w i g Schnorr v o n artistic debut with t w o fairy paintings, The
Carolsfeld. T h i s G e r m a n i c style can be seen in Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania (1847) and
537 V I C T O R I A N FAIRY P A I N T I N G

The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania (1849). O n e o f Millais's early Pre-Raphaelite paint­
Planned as possible decorations for the W e s t ­ ings, Ferdinand Lured by Ariel (1849), P" r e

minster Hall competitions, these pendant resents his adoption o f the n e w naturalistic
w o r k s led to the y o u n g artist's highly success­ style and, concomitantly, testifies to the p o p u ­
ful career as a painter of historical, allegorical, larity o f fairy painting at the end o f the 1840s.
and religious scenes. C o m m i s s i o n e d b y the dealer W i l l i a m W e t h -
E v e n such established artists as W i l l i a m E t t y ered, this w o r k e v o l v e d from t w o earlier v e r ­
(1787-1849), J o s e p h William Mallard T u r n e r sions b y Millais on the same subject: a
(1775—1851), and E d w i n L a n d s e e r (1803—73) pen-and-ink d r a w i n g (1848) and a small oil
briefly explored fairy subject-matter in the sketch (1849—50). A dramatic change occurs in
1840s, taking advantage o f the genre's popular­ the final painting, w h i c h contains the h i g h l y
s a
ity. E t t y ' s The Fairy of the Fountain (1845) * saturated colours and the meticulously o b ­
fairy painting in name only, while T u r n e r ' s served details o f the nascent P r e - R a p h a e l i t e
Queen Mab's Cave (1846) uses fairy subject- style. Millais's desire to depict the surface detail
matter as a peripheral element in what is essen­ o f e v e r y form accurately leads to a flat cut-out
tially a landscape and colour study. Landseer, effect that emphasizes individual areas and cre­
the youngest o f the three, had already estab­ ates a separation o f one part from another. T h i s
lished his reputation as the best o f the Victorian effect can be seen most clearly in the a w k w a r d
animal painters. His Scene from 'A Midsummer relationship o f Ferdinand's head, modelled b y
w a s
Night's Dream' (1849) privately c o m m i s ­ F . G . Stephens, and his b o d y , taken from
sioned for Isambard K i n g d o m Brunei's dining- C a m i l l e B o n n a r d ' s Costumes Historiques. W e t h -
room, which the famous engineer had planned ered refused to purchase the finished painting,
to decorate with a Shakespearian gallery. either because o f the unusual naturalism o f the
E a r l y Victorian fairy painters relied not o n l y piece o r because he w a s disappointed with the
upon the approval but also the recognition b y grotesquely rendered sprites. Millais n e v e r
their audience o f their subject-matter. T h e cit­ painted another fairy subject.
ation of fairy scenes in Shakespeare's plays D a n t e G a b r i e l Rossetti, the most romantic
brought a special kind o f response, because the o f the Pre-Raphaelites, interpreted fairy
Victorian audience brought along certain e x ­ themes in a w h o l l y different w a y . H e contrib­
pectations, derived from both their theatre e x ­ uted an illustration to W i l l i a m A l l i n g h a m ' s
periences and their readings o f Shakespeare, poetry collection The Music-Master (1855), for
about what a fairy might look like or d o . W i t h the p o e m ' T h e Maids o f Elfin-Mere'. T h e p o e m
the advent of Pre-Raphaelitism, the problem o f describes the encounter o f a parson's son with
investing fantastic subject-matter with some the w o r l d o f the supernatural in the form o f
kind of verisimilitude takes on a n e w impera­ three sisters, w h o appear m a g i c a l l y e v e r y night
tive. to sing to the lad and then, at the stroke o f the
T h e formation o f the Pre-Raphaelite ' E l e v e n t h H o u r ' , disappear. His attraction
Brotherhood g r e w out o f a dissatisfaction on p r o v e s so keen that he tries to keep them past
the part of Dante Gabriel *Rossetti, W i l l i a m their time on earth, unleashing a g r u e s o m e fate
Holman Hunt ( 1 8 2 7 - 1 9 1 0 ) , and J o h n E v e r e t t on the female trio. Rossetti concentrates on the
Millais (1829—96) with current academic prac­ eerie relationship between the crooning
tice and the perceived sterility o f subject-mat­ w o m e n and the spellbound man, and takes his
ter in contemporary Victorian art. T h e image o f the fairy from the medieval tradition
Brotherhood found some direction in their o f the fey sorceress, the femme fatale w h o en­
search for acceptable modern subjects in the raptures men. H e w o u l d continue this interest
technique of realism they found in their study throughout his career in a series o f sexually
of early Italian and Northern E u r o p e a n paint­ charged portraits o f beatific, predatory, o r v i c ­
ing before Raphael and in J o h n R u s k i n ' s first timized w o m e n . T h e popularity o f Rossetti's
volume of Modern Painters (1843). A t the same i m a g e r y w o u l d sustain a w h o l l y different kind
time, these y o u n g artists, despite their disaffec­ o f fantasy art in the symbolism and A r t N o u ­
tion with the R o y a l A c a d e m y , felt a sympathy v e a u o f the 1890s.
with the w o r k o f certain older artists w o r k i n g W i l l i a m Bell Scott ( 1 8 1 1 - 9 0 ) stays closer to
in the 1840s, including F o r d M a d o x B r o w n , the romantic tradition o f the small cabinet p i c ­
Maclise, and Paton, w h o anticipated the ture in Cockcrow (1856), based upon T h o m a s
Brotherhood's interest in revitalizing history Parnell's 18th-century p o e m ' A F a i r y T a l e , in
painting through complex narrative schemes the ancient E n g l i s h style'. Scotts p a y s h o m a g e
and an accurate use o f historical details. to the w o r k o f his older brother D a v i d , w h o
VlLLARDEFRANCOS, MARIA LUISA 538

had established in the 1830s a pictorial i m a g e r y British exhibitions, magazines, and books well
of a private visionary experience associated into the 20th century. Artists such as Arthur
with fairy phenomena. T h e y o u n g e r Scott R a c k h a m and E d m u n d D u l a c revitalized the il-
grafts the brightly hued Pre-Raphaelite style lustrative tradition with their conceptions of
onto this more traditional visual conception o f fairies as either fantastic grotesqueries or ether-
fairy behaviour. In melding fairy m y t h o l o g y to eal beauties. J o h n D i x o n Batten (i860—1932)
poetic vision, he chose a path more in tune with and H e n r y Justice F o r d (1860-1941) illustrated
the direction o f fairy painting after 1855. important fairy-tale collections like those o f
T h i s m o r e intimate v i e w o f fairy life can A n d r e w * L a n g , carrying on the tradition o f
also be found in the w o r k o f F r e d e r i c k G o o d a l l Pre-Raphaelitism and the Aesthetic Movement.
(1822—1904) and R o b e r t Huskisson (1820—61). Fairies still p r o v e d popular in early 20th-cen-
G o o d a l l ' s Fairy Struck (c.1846) depicts the pla- tury children's b o o k illustrations in the w o r k of
cid confrontation o f t w o fairies with a mouse. Florence M a r y A n d e r s o n (ft. 1914—30), Ida
T h e artist uses the transparency o f w a t e r c o l - Rentoul *Outhwaite, and Jessie M . K i n g
ours to richly colourful effect, as the sunlight (1876—1949). T h e p o s t - W o r l d W a r II era has
drenches the fairies' b o w e r in a shimmering also witnessed a g r o w i n g revival o f interest in
light. A more erotic m o o d inhabits Huskisson's fairy i m a g e r y . A painting b y the British P o p
The Midsummer Night's Fairies (c.1847), which artist Peter Blake, Titania (1978), for example,
s h o w s O b e r o n watching a sleeping Titania as updates the canon with a depiction of the fairy
belligerent fairies w a r with fauna in the fore- queen as a barely pubescent y o u n g w o m a n ; the
ground. T h e frame makes reference to the w o r k makes an explicit association o f w o m e n
human protagonists in the play; the figures o f with nature and natural processes through the
Bottom, H e r m i a , and L y s a n d e r slumber on a decoration o f her breasts and genitalia with
ledge beneath the fairy scene. B o t h artists flowers, stems, and grass stalks. RAS
examine the minutiae o f fairy existence, p r o - Adlard, John, The Sports of Cruelty: Fairies,
v i d i n g the spectator with the experience o f Folk-Songs, Charms, and Other Country Matters
eavesdropping on the daily life o f these tiny in the Works of William Blake ( 1 9 7 2 ) .
beings. Briggs, Katherine, A Dictionary of Fairies ( 1 9 7 6 ) .
Butlin, Martin, The Paintings and Drawings of
T h i s voyeuristic element reappears in v a r i -
William Blake ( 2 vols., 1 9 8 1 ) .
ous guises in the w o r k o f J o h n A n s t e r Fitzger- Friedman, Winifred H., BoydelTs Shakespeare
ald (1819—1906), J o h n S i m m o n s (1823—76), Gallery ( 1 9 7 6 ) .
T h o m a s Heatherley (exhib. 1858—87), and Johnson, Diana L., Fantastic Illustration and
J o h n A t k i n s o n G r i m s h a w (1836—93). Fitzger- Design in Britain, 1850—1930 ( 1 9 7 9 ) .
ald created perhaps the most interesting v a r i - Landow, George P., 'There Began to Be a Great
ations on fairy themes with his small, brilliantly Talking about the Fine Arts', in Josef L. Altholz
coloured oil paintings. F o r example, his series (ed.), The Mind and Art of Victorian England
(1976).
o f w o r k s on the conflict between the fairy
Maas, Jeremy, Victorian Painters ( 1 9 6 9 ) .
populace and C o c k R o b i n mingles humanoid
et al., Victorian Fairy Paintings ( 1 9 9 7 ) .
fairies and imaginative Boschian grotesques Ormond, Richard, Daniel Maclise, 1806—1870
with carefully rendered birds, flowers, and in- (1972).
sects. Fitzgerald's fairies, dressed in elaborate Packer, Alison, Beddoe, Stella, and Jarrett,
finery, possess a childlike bemusement as they Lianne, Fairies in Legend and the Arts ( 1 9 8 0 ) .
m o v e with tremulous b r a v a d o through a lush, Phillpots, Beatrice, Fairy Paintings ( 1 9 7 8 ) .
exotic floral w o r l d . S i m m o n s , Heatherley, and Roberts, Hélène E., 'Exhibition and Review:
G r i m s h a w present a m o r e forthright eroticism The Periodical Press and the Victorian
Exhibition System', in Joanne Shattock and
in their depictions o f the s y l v a n creatures.
Michael Wolff (eds.), The Victorian Periodical
T h e i r paintings usually focus on a single nude Press: Samplings and Soundings ( 1 9 8 2 ) .
female figure, framed b y a natural setting and Schindler, Richard, 'Art to Enchant: A Critical
occasionally surrounded b y the fairy court. In Study of Early Victorian Fairy Painting and
some o f these w o r k s , the inclusion o f a toad- Illustration' (Diss., Brown University, 1 9 8 8 ) .
stool adds a phallic detail to the erotic subtext. Tomory, Peter, The Life and Art of Henry Fuseli
T h e s e w o r k s h a v e a d r e a m y cast to them as the (1972).

fairies g o about their business, unmindful o f

their human observers. VlLLARDEFRANCOS, MARIA LUISA ( 1 9 1 5 - ? ) ,
Interest in fairy subject-matter did not die Spanish writer. H e r sister, G l o r i a Villardefran-
with the end o f the Victorian era. F a i r y paint- cos, often collaborated with her in the creation
ings and illustrations appeared regularly in o f her w o r k s , which include fairy tales, le-
VILLENEUVE, MME DE The beast reveals his heart to the merchant's daughter in Mme de Villeneuve's
'*Beauty and the Beast', illustrated by Jules Pellcoq in Les Contes des fées offerts a Bébé ( c . 1 9 0 0 ) .
VILLENEUVE, GABRIELLE-SUZANNE BARBOT DE 540

gends, biographies, religious b o o k s , novels, tion for E n g l i s h schoolgirls learning French

screenplays, and p l a y s for children. T h e y all w h i c h appeared in Le Magasin des enfants (The
are influenced b y her religiosity and her peda- Young Misses' Magazine) in 1757. In addition to
gogical intention. [Erase que se era! (Once Upon the basic plot retained b y Leprince de Beau-
a Time!, 1947) is her most important collection mont, V i l l e n e u v e provides the Beast's story
o f fairy tales. T h e stories gathered in this w o r k (his enchantment b y a fairy w h o s e l o v e he had
are written in both prose and v e r s e , a m o n g rebuffed) as well as the narrative of Belle's true
them ' E l b e s o ' ( ' T h e K i s s ' ) , ' E l principe M i e d o ' identity (she is a princess and not the daughter
('Prince F e a r ' ) , ' E l enano del b o s q u e ' ( ' T h e of the merchant w h o raised her). Belle's story
D w a r f in the W o o d s ' ) , and ' N o c h e de R e y e s ' is crucial to the dénouement w h e n it is revealed
( ' T h e M a g i ' s N i g h t ' ) . Villardefrancos's plays that the Beast m a y marry only a w o m a n of
for children are also greatly influenced b y the royal blood. F o r a g o o d part of the narra-
fairy-tale genre. S o m e o f her most famous t i v e — a n d unlike the vast majority of French
plays are La princesita fea (The Ugly Little fairy tales at the t i m e — B e l l e is portrayed as a
Princess, 1949), El principe que no tenia common non-noble but none the less virtuous heroine.
(The Prince without a Heart, 1949), and La In the end, though, her virtue is revealed to be
princesa de nieve (The Princess of Snow, 1951). the innate consequence of her aristocratic birth,
CF and she m a y m a r r y the Beast-turned-Prince.
Considered as a w h o l e , then, Villeneuve's tale
VILLENEUVE, GABRIELLE-SUZANNE BARBOT DE displays a somewhat ambiguous stance towards
(1685—1755), F r e n c h writer w h o s e ' L a Belle et social class, witnessed especially in the favour-
la bête' (*'Beauty and the B e a s t ' ) w a s the basis able treatment o f Belle's adoptive father (a
for M m e *Leprince de B e a u m o n t ' s famous v e r - merchant).
sion. U n h a p p i l y married to a military officer, V i l l e n e u v e ' s version of the tale also differs
V i l l e n e u v e w a s left impoverished after his from Leprince de Beaumont's in its eroticism
death and attempted to earn extra m o n e y and its insistence on the Beast's monstrosity.
through her writings, specifically historical and V i l l e n e u v e makes explicit the transgressive
sentimental n o v e l s . She eventually became ac- sexual union at the heart of this tale type. N o t
quainted with C r é b i l l o n fils, another writer o f o n l y does the Beast repeatedly ask Belle to
fairy tales ( a m o n g other things), and, from all sleep with him (in Leprince de Beaumont's v e r -
accounts, cohabited with him. A l t h o u g h con- sion he asks her to marry him), but Belle has
temporaries w e r e quick to dismiss her as the pleasurable dreams o f being courted b y a hand-
mere ' g o v e r n e s s ' and mistress o f her more il- some prince. T h e transgressiveness of these
lustrious partner, V i l l e n e u v e w a s in fact his in- descriptions is intensified b y details of the
tellectual companion and continued to write Beast's frightening appearance and his equally
fiction on her o w n . repulsive stupidity. But at the end o f the tale,
H e r version o f ' B e a u t y and the Beast' a p - this transgression is resolved when Belle dis-
peared in La Jeune Amériquaine et les contes covers that the Beast is none other than the
marins (The Young American Girl and the Sea prince in her dreams.
Tales, 1740). T h i s frame narrative recounts the O v e r a l l , one of V i l l e n e u v e ' s most important
v o y a g e of a y o u n g girl returning to Santo contributions is her representation of w o m e n .
D o m i n g o , w h e r e her parents are plantation In her n o v e l s and fairy tales alike she pays par-
o w n e r s , after finishing her studies in F r a n c e . ticular attention to w o m e n ' s plight in marriage,
D u r i n g the trip, the girl's chambermaid is their financial constraints, and ultimately their
joined b y e v e r y o n e on board in telling stories. difficult quest for happiness. LCS
T h i s v o l u m e contains t w o fairy t a l e s — ' L e s Hearne, Betsy, Beauty and the Beast: Visions and
N a i a d e s ' and ' B e a u t y and the B e a s t ' — b u t it is Revisions of an Old Tale ( 1 9 8 9 ) .
the latter that w a s to be V i l l e n e u v e ' s claim to
fame. L a t e r , V i l l e n e u v e w r o t e Les Belles soli- VOGELER, HEINRICH (1872-1942), G e r m a n
n
taires (Solitary Beauties, 1745), i w h i c h assem- painter, architect, illustrator, and writer, w h o
bled friends tell the fairy tales ' P a p a J o l y ' , w a s one o f the pioneers of Jugendstil at the turn
'Mirliton ou la prison volontaire' ('Mirliton or o f the century. Influenced b y Walter* Crane
the V o l u n t a r y P r i s o n ' ) , and 'Histoire du roi and W i l l i a m *Morris, V o g e l e r produced books
Santon' ( ' S t o r y o f K i n g S a n t o n ' ) . that had a total unity; he designed the typeface,
V i l l e n e u v e ' s b e s t - k n o w n tale, ' B e a u t y and illustrations, and b o o k covers o f his w o r k s , and
the B e a s t ' , is considerably l o n g e r and more he favoured intricate and florid etchings that
c o m p l e x than L e p r i n c e de B e a u m o n t ' s adapta- ornamented the entire page and heightened
VOGELER, HEINRICH The witch in ""Hansel and Gretel' contemplates her next step in this 1895 illustration
by Heinrich Vogeler.
VOISENON, CLAUDE-HENRI DE FUZÉE, ABBÉ DE 542

particular scenes o f a story. Most o f his fairy­ years and w e r e translated into English in 1886.
tale illustration w o r k w a s accomplished b e ­ KS
tween 1900 and 1911. A m o n g his most notable
illustrations o f this period w e r e those done for V O L K O V , A L E K S A N D R (189 I - 1 9 7 7 ) , Russian
H u g o v o n *Hofmannsthal, Der Kaiser und die writer, best k n o w n for his series o f fairy-tale
Hexe (The Emperor and the Witch, 1900), J a c o b novels for children. T h e first o f these, The
and W i l h e l m * G r i m m , Màrchen (Fairy Tales, Wizard of the Emerald City (1939), is a free
1900), C l e m e n s *Brentano and L u d w i g T i e c k , adaptation o f F r a n k *Baum's The *Wi{ard of
Romantische Màrchen (Romantic Fairy Tales, 0{. I n V o l k o v ' s version, the focus o f the story
1902), O s c a r *Wilde, The Ghost of Canterville is shifted towards collective rather than indi­
and Five Other Stories (1905), and J a c o b and vidual achievements, and friendship and obedi­
W i l h e l m G r i m m , ^Kinder- und Hausmdrchen ence are presented as main virtues. In order to
(Children's and Household Tales, 1907). D u r i n g accentuate this, several new dramatic side epi­
W o r l d W a r I V o g e l e r volunteered for military sodes are added; otherwise the story follows
service as a c o m m o n soldier; disappointed and v e r y closely that o f B a u m . T h e five sequels,
outraged b y the deceit and h y p o c r i s y o f the following the great success o f the first book,
G e r m a n g o v e r n m e n t , he joined the revolution­ have nothing to d o with B a u m : Urfin Jus and
ary m o v e m e n t in the 1920s to transform the his Wooden Soldiers (1963), The Seven Under­
country into a democratic if not socialist state. ground Kings (1967), The Fiery God of the Mar-
C o n s e q u e n t l y , his art became political, and he rans (1971), The Yellow Fog (1974), and The
was strongly influenced b y D a d a i s m and futur­ Mystery of the Deserted Castle (published post­
ism. H e also became i n v o l v e d in architectural humously, 1982). T h e plot o f each involves
projects for communal l i v i n g and eventually n e w threats to the M a g i c L a n d , as the L a n d o f
emigrated to the S o v i e t U n i o n in 1931. His last O z is called, whereupon first Ellie, the counter­
important fairy-tale illustrations w e r e c o m ­ part o f D o r o t h y , and then her little sister
pleted for the radical writer H e r m y n i a *zur A n n i e , are summoned to assist in the struggle.
Muhlen's b o o k s , Es war einmal. . . und es wird T h e three characters o f B a u m ' s novel, the
S c a r e c r o w , the T i n W o o d m a n , and the C o w ­
sein (Once Upon a Time . . . and the Time Will
ardly L i o n , are central in all these sequels. T h e
Come, 1930) and Schmiede der Zukunft (Smiths
enormous popularity o f V o l k o v must be
of the Future, 1933). JZ
ascribed to the isolation of Soviet children's lit­
Petzet, H. W . , Von Worpswede nach Moskau.
Heinrich Vogeler. Ein Kunstler ^wischen den Zeiten erature w h e n the rich variety o f Western liter­
(1972). ary fairy tale w a s practically u n k n o w n to
Soviet readers, and V o l k o v ' s tales were appre­
VOISENON, CLAUDE-HENRI D E FUZÉE, ABBÉ DE
hended as utterly original. I f B a u m ' s stories
(1708—75), F r e n c h writer especially k n o w n for have been regarded as A m e r i c a n national
his p l a y s , w h o also w r o t e libertine n o v e l s and myth, V o l k o v ' s reflect the communist ideol­
fairy tales. T h e p a r o d y and light-hearted erotic ogy, not least the v i e w s o n literature as educa­
tional and socializing tool. MN
a l l e g o r y in his Tant mieux pour elle (So Much
Mitrokhina, Xenia, 'The Land of Oz in the Land
the Better for Her, 1745), Zulmis et Zelmaide
of the Soviets', Children's Literature Association
(1745), and Le Sultan Mispouf et la princesse
Quarterly 21.4 (1996—7).
Grisemine (Prince Mispouf and Princess Gray-
face, 1746) are typical o f m a n y fairy tales w r i t ­
ten in 18th-century Parisian salons. LCS VOLTAIRE (pseudonym of FRANÇOIS MARIE
AROUET, 1694-1778), French author, political
VOLKMANN, RICHARD V O N (pseudonym of polemicist, and Enlightenment philosopher. In
RICHARD LEANDER, 1830-89). A G e r m a n doctor, his fairy tale ' L e T a u r e a u blanc' ( ' T h e White
he w a s popular for his p o e m s and stories but B u l l ' , 1774), Voltaire freely mixes reality and
only his fairy tales h a v e stood the test o f time. the marvellous in an ironic critique of Old T e s ­
T h e s e he w r o t e for his children w h i l e serving tament stories. Built around the literal inter­
as a surgeon during the siege o f Paris in the pretation o f Nebuchadnezzar's metamorphosis
F r a n c o - P r u s s i a n W a r : Trdumereien an franid- into a white bull, the tale features humanized
sischen Kaminen (Dreams by a French Fireside, talking animals and a princess w h o reads
1871). U s i n g motifs and themes from both the L o c k e . T r u e to the Enlightenment belief in ra­
romantic literary fairy tale and folk tales, the tional enquiry, Voltaire specifically targets the
stories e v o k e an idyll o f domesticity. A great G a r d e n o f E d e n myth and denounces a G o d
success, they had 48 G e r m a n editions in 40 that w o u l d forbid k n o w l e d g e to humanity. A Z
WACKENRODER, WILHELM HEINRICH (1773-98),
one of the most important writers o f the early
romantic movement in G e r m a n y . H e studied
law at Erlangen and Gôttingen and w a s a close
friend of L u d w i g T i e c k . His early w o r k s on
Italian Renaissance painters indicate that he
w o u l d have played an important role in G e r ­
man romanticism if he had not died at an early
age. A s it is, he wrote t w o significant romantic
w o r k s : Her^ensergiessungen eines kunstliebenden
Klosterbruders (Confessions from the Heart of an
Art-Loving Friar, 1797) and Phantasien iiber die
Kunstfiir Freunde der Kunst (Fantasies on Art for WAECHTER, FRIEDRICH KARL (1937- ), German
Friends of Art, published posthumously in cartoonist and author o f satirical essays for
1799), which included ' E i n wunderbares m o r - adults and picture b o o k s for children. W a e c h ­
gendlandisches Marchen v o n einem nackten ter had made a name for himself b y w o r k i n g
Heiligen' ( ' A W o n d r o u s Oriental T a l e of a for the G e r m a n satirical weeklies pardon, Kon-
N a k e d Saint'). T h e protagonist o f this tale is a kret, and Twen before he turned to children's
misunderstood genius w h o rejects the pettiness b o o k s . T h e turning-point w a s his parodistic re­
of e v e r y d a y life. O n l y music can save him, and telling o f Heinrich Hoffmann's famous Der
he abandons earth for a more divine artistic Struwwelpeter. W a e c h t e r had originally intend­
life. T h i s theme w a s central to the G e r m a n r o ­ ed it for an adult audience, but because o f its
mantic fairy tales of the 19th century and w a s subject-matter the And-Struwwelpeter (1970)
also picked up b y Hermann Hesse at the begin­ was readily adopted as a children's b o o k b y
ning of the 20th century. JZ parents w h o , in the w a k e o f the 1968 cultural
Alewyn, Richard, 'Wackenroders Anteil', revolution, appreciated its subversiveness. T h e
Germanic Review, 19 (1944). u p s i d e - d o w n w o r l d that can be found in Anti-
Frey, Marianne, Der Kiinstler und sein werk bei Struwwelpeter and other parodies b y W a e c h t e r
W. H. Wackenroder und E. T. A. Hoffmann is not just playful entertainment, reaffirming
(1970).
existing p o w e r structures, but instead an attack
Schubert, Mary Hurst, Wilhelm Heinrich
on moral taboos and the old social and political
Wackenroder s Confessions and Fantasies (1971).
Thornton, Karin, 'Wackenroder's Objective order. W a e c h t e r ' s Tischlein deck dich (1972) is
Romanticism', Germanic Review, 37 (1962). such an ideologically charged revision o f the
Zipes, Jack, ' W . H. Wackenroder: In Defense of Brothers' G r i m m fairy tale ' T h e T a b l e , the
his Romanticism', Germanic Review, 44 (1969). A s s , and the Stick', in w h i c h the stick, the s y m ­
bol o f oppression and v i o l e n c e , is banned for­
e v e r . In addition to parodies, W a e c h t e r also
WADDELL, MARTIN ( 1 9 4 1 - ) , prolific author for w r o t e original experimental tales for children.
children and y o u n g adults, w h o also writes In Die Kronenklauer (The Crown Thieves, 1972),
under the p s e u d o n y m Catherine Sefton. A d e p t w h i c h W a e c h t e r w r o t e together with B e r d
at many different genres, W a d d e l l ' s b o o k s for Eilerts, the authors not only create e x e m p l a r y
y o u n g children are often slapstick, while his children w h o are imaginative, active, and stand
books for y o u n g adults are either mysteries or up for their rights, they apply the lesson to the
novels that deal with social problems in N o r t h ­ reading process itself b y inviting readers to
ern Ireland. His Little D r a c u l a series, written l o o k behind the scenes and participate in the
between 1986 and 1992, recounts the comic ad­ storytelling process itself. EMM
ventures of a fantastic dracula and his family Wild, Reiner, Geschichte der deutschen Kinder-
and employs numerous fairy-tale motifs. His und Jugendliteratur (1990).
most significant fairy-tale w o r k , h o w e v e r , is
The Tough Princess (1986) illustrated b y WAGNER, R I C H A R D ( 1 8 1 3 - 8 3 ) , G e r m a n opera
Patrick Benson. T h i s delightful feminist story c o m p o s e r and music theorist w h o w r o t e the
depicts a y o u n g feisty princess, w h o rebels texts o f his musical dramas and w h o remains as
against her g r e e d y , manipulative parents and h i g h l y controversial as he has been extremely
takes a journey to determine her o w n destiny. influential. H e studied music in L e i p z i g and
A l o n g the w a y , she w a k e s a sleeping prince held brief appointments at theatres in W u r z -
with a kiss and bikes off with him into an un­ b u r g , M a g d e b u r g , and R i g a in the 1830s while
k n o w n future. JZ writing and c o m p o s i n g several early operas. It
WALKER, BARBARA G . 544

w a s with one o f these, Rienii (1840), in the McCreless, Patrick, Wagner's Siegfried: Its
style o f grand opera o f the 1830s, that he Drama, History, and Music (1982).
achieved his first notable stage success and ap­ McGlathery, James M., Wagner's Operas and
Desire (1998).
pointment in 1843 as court Kapellmeister in
Rank, Otto, Die Lohengrinsage: Ein Beitrag ^u
D r e s d e n . His fame rests, though, on the operas
ihrer Motivgestaltung und Deutung (1911).
that followed: Der fliegende Hollander (The
Flying Dutchman, 1841); Tannhduser (1845); WALKER, B A R B A R A G . ( 1 9 3 0 - ) , American
Lohengrin (1847); the tetralogy Der Ring des author o f feminist b o o k s such as The Women's
Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), com­ Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (1983), The
prising Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold, 1854), Crone (1985), and The Woman's Dictionary of
Die Walkure (The Valkyrie, 1856), Siegfried Symbols and Sacred Objects (1988). In 1996 she
(1870), and Gbtterddmmerung (The Twilight of published Feminist Fairy Tales, a collection of
the Gods, 1874); Tristan und Isolde (1859); Die 28 stories with didactic morals. She retells
Meistersinger von Niirnberg (The Mastersingers m a n y o f the classical tales such as *'Little R e d
of Nuremberg, 1867); and Parsifal (1882)—all R i d i n g H o o d ' , *'Jack and the Beanstalk',
o f which continue to be performed regularly. *'Beauty and the Beast', and *'Aladdin' with
W i t h the exception o f Die Meistersinger, these n e w titles. T h u s , *'Cinderella' becomes ' C i n -
operas that followed Rien{i d r e w h e a v i l y on der-Helle', w h o is born to a priestess of the
myth, legend, folk beliefs, and medieval epic. G o d d e s s o f the U n d e r w o r l d . After the mother-
E v e n Die Meistersinger prominently e m p l o y s spirit enables her to witness the death of g o d ­
the biblical story of the Fall and Christian i m ­ dess worship, she revives the temples of the
a g e r y and folk traditions, notably that sur­ goddess. Most o f W a l k e r ' s tales are contrived
rounding St J o h n ' s E v e . W a g n e r ' s v e r y first and contain overtly didactic messages that
opera, Die Feen (The Fairies, 1833), w a s based smack of N e w A g e ideology. JZ
on a fairy-tale play b y C a r l o *Gozzi; and fairy­
tale motifs are evident in several o f the later WALKER, WENDY ( 1 9 5 1 - ) , American writer.
operas, particularly the b o r r o w i n g o f the motif H e r b o o k The Sea-Rabbit, or, The Artist of Life
o f the youth w h o yearns to experience g o o s e (1988) is a collection of six tales based on the
flesh (the fourth story in the * G r i m m s ' *Kinder- * G r i m m s ' *Kinder- und Hausmdrchen (Chil­
und Hausmdrchen) for Siegfried and, less o b v i ­ dren's and Household Tales) along with two
ously, the motif of a sister's magically trans­ n e w stories about Samson and Delilah and the
formed b r o t h e r — a s found in a number o f w o m a n w h o lived in a shoe, and a parable
G r i m m tales, notably ' D i e z w ô l f Briider' ( ' T h e about the cathedral o f Notre D a m e . W a l k e r
T w e l v e B r o t h e r s ' ) , 'Briiderchen und S c h w e s - seeks to alter our customary notions about the
terchen' ('Little Brother and Little Sister'), and classical fairy-tale tradition b y fleshing out the
' D i e sechs S c h w a n e ' ( ' T h e S i x S w a n s ' ) — i n lives o f the original characters, probing their
Lohengrin. T h e legends o f the F l y i n g D u t c h ­ psyches, and altering narrative perspectives. In
man, w h o is cursed with sailing the seas until the title tale o f the b o o k , The Sea Rabbit, based
he finds salvation through l o v e , and o f T a n n - on the G r i m m s ' ' T h e Little Hamster from the
hàuser's sojourn with the l o v e goddess W a t e r ' , she presents an unlikely protagonist
V e n u s — l e g e n d s w e l l - k n o w n in W a g n e r ' s d a y w h o refuses to accept the role of hero, for he is
as popularized by the poet Heinrich not particularly enamoured o f the cruel and
H e i n e — f o r m e d the basis for those t w o operas. haughty princess, w h o takes pleasure in cutting
T h e W a g n e r operas from Der fliegende Hollan­ off the heads o f her suitors. In another w o r k ,
der to Parsifal invariably include such elements Stories out of Omarie (1995), W a l k e r revises
o f m a g i c , m a r v e l , or miracle, e m p l o y i n g it to tales based on the Lais o f *Marie de France
p r o v i d e a transcendent or metaphysical dimen­ from a feminist perspective that celebrates the
sion to the action and its psychological m o t i v ­ p o w e r s o f w o m e n as storytellers. JZ
ation. His Musikdramen (music dramas)
represent both a culmination o f G e r m a n r o ­ WALSER, R O B E R T (1878-1956), w e l l - k n o w n
mantic opera and a development b e y o n d it to­ Swiss writer. In his fairy-tale dramolettes
w a r d s realism and modernism. JMM 'Aschenbrôdel' (*'Cinderella', 1901) and
Cooke, Deryck, / Saw the World End: A Study 'Schneewittchen' (*'Snow White', 1901), he
of Wagners Ring'(1979). treated the * G r i m m fairy-tale tradition with
Donington, Robert, Wagners Ring' and its irony. Metareflections about these dramolettes
Symbols: The Music and the Myth (1963, repr. are integrated in his prose story 'Dornrôschen'
1974)- (*'Sleeping B e a u t y ' , 1916). In such stories as
545 WARNER, SYLVIA TOWNSEND

'Marchen' ( ' F a i r y T a l e ' , 1910) and ' D a s E n d e (1992) and her unique stories in The Mermaids
der W e l t ' ( ' T h e E n d of the W o r l d ' , 1917) his in the Basement (1993) contain fairy-tale elem­
satire tends to subvert the traditional happy ents that revise conventional motifs and reflect
endings of fairy tales. BKM her concern in restoring creative p o w e r to
Hiibner, Andrea, 'Ei, welcher Unsinn liegt im w o m e n as strong protagonists and authors o f
Sinn?' Robert Walsers Umgang mit Marchen und their o w n lives. JZ
Trivialliteratur (1995).
( 1 9 3 7 - ) , E n g l i s h novelist,
W A L S H , JILL P A T O N WARNER, SYLVIA TOWNSEND (1893-1978), E n g ­
w h o is highly regarded for her historical fiction lish novelist, short-story writer, and b i o g r a p h ­
for y o u n g adults. H o w e v e r , W a l s h is a v e r s a ­ er. H e r first n o v e l , Lolly Willowes (1926), w a s
tile writer, w h o has also explored different the story o f a spinster w h o m o v e s to the depths
genres related to the fairy tale. F o r instance, A o f the country and becomes a witch; it w a s a
Chance Child (1978) is a time-travel n o v e l that best-seller. In 1940 she published The Cat's
sends an unloved y o u n g b o y , locked in a Cradle Book, w h i c h purports to be a collection
closet, into the past where he learns all about o f old stories told b y cats to their kittens. A c ­
the abuse and exploitation o f w o r k i n g - c l a s s cording to the narrator o f the frame story, all
children in the 19th century. The Green Book o u r fairy tales originated with cats. T h a t is w h y
(1981) is a science-fiction w o r k that recounts their m o o d is not heated and sentimental, but
the trials and tribulations o f a g r o u p o f families ' c o o l . . . o b j e c t i v e — a n d catlike'.
w h o leave earth as it is about to disintegrate. T h e tone o f the C a t ' s C r a d l e tales is one o f
Another science-fiction n o v e l , Torch (1987), is calm, detached amusement. T w o o f the best
about children in a post-nuclear w o r l d , and the are riffs on the future adventures o f the charac­
torch they carry symbolizes the values o f ters in * ' P u s s - i n - B o o t s ' and *'Bluebeard' o r
friendship, honesty, and sincerity that they their descendants. In ' B l u e b e a r d ' s D a u g h t e r ' ,
must maintain if the torch is to keep burning in for instance, blue-haired D j a m i l e h and her hus­
their new society. In her w o r k for adults, band are consumed with curiosity about the
W a l s h has made use o f folk tales, myths, and locked r o o m in the castle, w h i c h fortunately
history in one collection of stories, Five Tides turns out to be empty.
(1986), that recall folk tales, legends, and his­ In the last y e a r o f her life, w h e n she w a s 84,
tory about people w h o live along the coast dur­ S y l v i a T o w n s e n d W a r n e r published her last
ing the time of C r o m w e l l . H e r most important and most remarkable b o o k , Kingdoms of Elfin
fairy-tale w o r k for y o u n g adults is Birdy and (1977). It is a brilliantly written and original
the Ghosties (1989), w h i c h is about the ferry­ fantasy in the form o f a series o f linked stories.
man's daughter B i r d y , w h o learns from a m y s ­ T h e y take off from traditional reports o f the
terious old w o m a n that she has second sight, appearance and b e h a v i o u r o f the fairies in
and this p o w e r enables her to reap great E u r o p e a n folklore and Shakespearian drama.
benefits. JZ T h u s the fairies are slightly smaller than
humans but much l o n g e r - l i v e d ; they can fly
WARNER, MARINA (1946- ) , E n g l i s h writer and and, unless they choose, are usually invisible to
critic. She has investigated h o w myths rule our mortals. T h e y sing and dance with great skill,
perceptions in several important studies such as enjoy parties and feasts, and live in large
Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and Cult of the g r o u p s underground. T h e w a y to their w o r l d is
Virgin Mary (1976), Monuments and Maidens: through the small green hills k n o w n in Britain
The Allegory of the Female Form (1985), Man­ as fairy mounds. A s in the folk tales, from time
aging Monsters: Six Myths of Our Time (1994) to time the fairies kidnap a human b a b y , substi­
and No Go the Bogeyman: Scaring, Lulling and tuting a changeling; they m a y also take adult
Making Mock (1998). W a r n e r incorporates a captives.
feminist perspective in all her endeavours, and A c c o r d i n g to W a r n e r , fairies h a v e no souls:
her most notable w o r k in the field o f the fairy they are beautiful and charming, but also cool,
tale is From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy rational, and detached. T h e y cannot w e e p o r
Tales and their Tellers (1995), a social history hate, and their l o v e affairs tend to be brief. In
which seeks to recuperate the role that w o m e n most Elfin societies there are o n l y aristocrats
have played in both the oral tradition o f the and servants: politically, this suggests E u r o p e
folk tale and the literary one o f the fairy tale. in the late Middle A g e s , except that the fairy
W a r n e r has also edited Wonder Tales: Six Stor­ k i n g d o m s are a l w a y s ruled b y queens.
ies of Enchantment (1994), a collection o f 17th- T h e k i n g d o m s o f Elfin are located in several
century French fairy tales. H e r novel Indigo E u r o p e a n countries and in Persia, and a satiric-
W E B E R , CARL M A R I A FRIEDRICH ERNST V O N

al intention is visible in the w a y in w h i c h the WELLS, H . G . (1866-1946), British novelist and

inhabitants o f each k i n g d o m share the charac­ social critic, regarded as one of the pioneers of
teristics o f the local humans. T h e N o r t h G e r ­ science fiction. His most famous w o r k s in this
man fairies, for example, enjoy metaphysical genre are The Time Machine (1895), The Invis­
argument and the Austrians, rich, h e a v y c o o k ­ ible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds
ing; the F r e n c h Elfin court is elaborate, with (1897). H e also published numerous stories of
m u c h emphasis on proper dress and manners, the supernatural such as ' T h e Man w h o C o u l d
while the N o r w e g i a n k i n g d o m is simpler and W o r k Miracles' and fairy tales such as ' T h e
cruder, and includes witches and trolls. M a g i c S h o p ' and ' M r Skelmersdale in F a i r y ­
Kingdoms of Elfin is witty, subtle, and often land' in Twelve Stories and a Dream (1903).
enchanting; y e t there is an undertone o f sad­ O n e o f his novels, The Sea Lady (1902), in­
ness in these stories. T h o u g h most o f the aris­ v o l v e s a mermaid w h o appears to a family on
tocratic fairies live in idle, frivolous l u x u r y , the E n g l i s h coast and influences their lives. J Z
they are not a l w a y s happy; their affections are
fleeting, and their great dread is b o r e d o m . P e r ­ WENZ-VIËTOR, E L S E (1882-1973), the most
haps, W a r n e r seems to b e suggesting, there is famous G e r m a n illustrator of picture books for
something to be said for a short human life o f children during the 1920s and 1930s. She p r o ­
w o r k and struggle and strong emotions. AL duced m o r e than 100 b o o k s during a career that
Crossley, Robert, ' A Long Day's Dying: The lasted until the early 1960s and provided illus­
Elves of J . R . R. Tolkien and Sylvia Townsend trations for w o r k s written b y popular authors
Warner', in Carl B . Yoke and Donald M. such as A d o l f Hoist, Sophie Reinheimer, and
Hassler (eds.), Death and the Serpent: M a x D i n g i e r . She also w r o t e her o w n texts.
Immortality in Science Fiction and Fantasy (1985). W e n z - V i ë t o r ' s early illustrations with anthro­
pomorphized animals and plants w e r e influ­
WEBER, CARL MARIA FRIEDRICH ERNST VON
enced b y the Jugendstil movement, but later she
(1786—1826), G e r m a n c o m p o s e r and pianist.
d r e w all creatures and flowers in a more natural
A p p o i n t e d director o f the O p e r a at P r a g u e in
style. A m o n g her best fairy-tale books are: Das
1813 and at D r e s d e n in 1816, W e b e r w a s at the
Schlaraffenland {The Land of Milk and Honey,
height o f his career w h e n he c o m p o s e d the
1923), Màrchen-Os tern (An Easter Fairy Tale,
h i g h l y popular Der Freischut^ (1821). Its plot
1927), and Das grosse Màrchenbuch (The Great
derives from the c o m m o n folklore motif o f the
Fairy Tale Book, 1957). In addition, she drew
man w h o sells the devil his soul; W e b e r ' s
illustrations for the classical authors J a c o b and
huntsman protagonist bargains for m a g i c b u l ­
W i l h e l m * G r i m m , W i l h e l m *Hauff, L u d w i g
lets, so that he can w i n a contest o f m a r k s m a n ­
*Bechstein, and Hans Christian *Andersen with
ship, and with it the hand o f the w o m a n he
bright colours and cute characters that empha­
l o v e s . She succeeds in redeeming him with her
sized the cheerful and humorous aspects of the
pure-hearted l o v e , h o w e v e r , and the t w o
tales. JZ
l o v e r s are happily united. T h e high point of the
opera is the casting o f the m a g i c bullets at m i d ­
WERENSKIOLD, ERIK (1855-1938), N o r w e g i a n
night in the ' W o l f s G l e n ' , a scene o f supernat­
illustrator and painter, w h o w a s greatly influ­
ural horror, expressed musically through
enced b y French impressionism. In 1881 he col­
imaginative orchestration and unusual har­
laborated with T h e o d o r Kittelsen to provide
monies. W e b e r ' s serious use o f supernatural
the ink d r a w i n g s for the first illustrated edition
elements, combined with the w i l d natural set­
of Peter Christen *Asbjornsen and J o r g e n
ting, the struggle between forces o f g o o d and
*Moe's Norwegian Folktales. JZ
evil, the theme o f redemption, and the source
o f the story in medieval legend, made Der WHISTLER, REX (REGINALD JOHN WHISTLER,
Freischiiti the w o r k w h i c h defined and estab­ 1905—44), British painter, illustrator, and stage
lished G e r m a n romantic opera. His last opera, designer. Whistler's illustrations for Walter
Oberon, or The Elf King's Oath (1826), has even *de la Mare's The Lord Fish and Other Tales
closer ties to the w o r l d o f fantasy and fairy tale. (1933), *A n d e r s e n ' s Fairy Tales and Legends
T h e E n g l i s h libretto, b y J a m e s R o b i n s o n (1935), and Gulliver's Travels (1935) are par­
*Planché, is based on Oberon, a heroic p o e m b y ticularly noteworthy. His Gulliver, with maps
Christoph Martin *Wieland, and w e a v e s elem­ and pictures in exquisitely detailed pen and ink,
ents from *Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's is considered one of the great illustrated books
Dream, the N e a r East o f The ^Arabian Nights, o f the century. Whistler's first important c o m ­
and the l e g e n d a r y court o f C h a r l e m a g n e into a mission w a s a series of highly imaginative
far from cohesive w h o l e . SR murals for the T a t e G a l l e r y Refreshment
 ^ PAO*******-

WHISTLER, REX 'The Emperor walked under his high canopy in the midst of the Procession.' A plate by
Rex Whistler to illustrate 'The Emperor's New Clothes' in a 1 9 3 5 edition of Fairy Tales and Legends by
Hans Christian Andersen.
WHITE, T. H . 548

R o o m . The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats W I E C H E R T , E R N S T ( p s e u d o n y m of ERNST BARANY

(1927) depicts a hunting party e m b a r k i n g from BJELL, 1887—1950), G e r m a n teacher and author.
an 18th-century palace on horseback, chariot, His popular novels urged the virtues of simpli-
and b i c y c l e . J o u r n e y i n g through mountains city, humility, and ideal love. Despite a three-
and forests, they encounter mythical beasts, month internment in the concentration camp
cross a b r o k e n b r i d g e haunted b y mermaids, B u c h e n w a l d for his openly expressed criticism
and return h o m e bearing caviar, lobsters, of the Nazi regime, he is a controversial figure
scented tea, and other delicacies. T h e romantic w h o s e status as a dissident has been questioned
realism o f Whistler's s t y l e — d e l i b e r a t e l y rem- because o f his enduring popularity and success
iniscent o f r o c o c o p a i n t i n g — a n d his subtle as a published author under the Nazis. N e v e r -
and witty sense o f fantasy w e r e typical o f his theless, all his w o r k bears testimony to his defi-
w o r k . T h e 18m. (58-foot) mural he completed ant defence o f his beliefs, including the
in the late 1930s for the dining r o o m o f Plas immensely successful Das einfache Leben (The
N e w y d d — a trompe-l'œil panorama o f an i m - Simple Life, 1939), which advocated living a
a g i n a r y Italian city b y the s e a — h a s been d e - g o o d life as an answer to the sickness of the
scribed as the finest 20th-century example o f age, a guiding light for humankind lost in the
decorative painting created for a country g l o o m o f despair. His critical writing survived,
house; an adjacent r o o m is n o w a Whistler m u - buried in his garden, to be published after the
seum. Whistler had b e g u n to reveal exception- war: Die Jerominkinder (The Earth is Our Heri-
al talent as a stage designer for p l a y s , ballets, tage, v o l . i, 1945, v o l . ii, 1947) and Der Toten-
and operas w h e n he w a s killed in action in wald (The Forest of the Dead, 1945), a mainly
World War II. SR autobiographical record written expressly as a
Whistler, Laurence, and Fuller, R., The Work of literary chronicle o f Buchenwald and a memor-
Rex Whistler (i960). ial to the dead. Disenchanted with post-war de-
velopments in G e r m a n y and the hostile
WHITE, T. H. (TERENCE H ANBURY, 1906-64), attitude towards his attempts to promote an
E n g l i s h author o f n o v e l s based on Arthurian honest coming-to-terms with the Nazi past, he
legend. T h e earliest, The Sword in the Stone emigrated in 1948 to Switzerland, where he
(1938) w a s published with his o w n illustrations. died in 1950.
Set in a m o c k medieval E n g l a n d , it is a fantastic Wiechert saw himself as a poet in the r o -
and light-hearted account o f the education o f mantic sense, a seer and a translator of the
y o u n g A r t h u r (the W a r t ) . H e is brought up inner w o r l d , with a mission to write in defence
with K a y , his foster-father's son, under the tu- of the p o o r and the oppressed and to uphold
telage o f M e r l y n . M e r l y n ' s lessons include the morals o f his homeland. In w o r k s such as
much m a g i c , and in the forest outside there are Die Majorin (The Baroness, 1934), and Der
witches and outlaws. T h e b o o k ends w h e n the weisse Buffel (The White Buffalo, 1937) he de-
W a r t , totally u n a w a r e o f the significance o f the velops the central idea o f the intrinsic worth of
act, pulls the s w o r d from the stone and to his the natural man, the simple life, and the posses-
d i s m a y becomes king. T h e original text o f the sion o f a pure heart. Missa sine nomine (1950),
b o o k w a s altered so that it could be fitted into his last and h u g e l y successful n o v e l , acknow-
the four-part n o v e l , The Once and Future King ledges the presence o f evil but suggests that it
(1958). T h i s s h o w s A r t h u r as k i n g ; the r o - can be o v e r c o m e b y l o v e and altruistic service
mance o f Lancelot and G u i n e v e r e is a promin- to others. A l l o f Wiechert's extensive output
ent theme. contains elements of transposed autobiog-
Mistress Mas ham's Repose (1947) is a fantasy raphy, but essentially his is a mystical vision
about a c o l o n y o f Lilliputians, descended from w h i c h concentrates on the inner suffering of his
a few brought back to E n g l a n d b y the captain heroes rather than their actions, and ultimately
of G u l l i v e r ' s ship. T h e y live on an island in a fails to analyse contemporary society.
lake b e l o n g i n g to a ducal mansion, w h e r e 1 0 - In 1944, concerned about the effect of the
y e a r - o l d Maria, the last s u r v i v o r o f the family w a r on the y o u n g , Wiechert wrote 40 fairy
w h o o w n e d the place, chances upon them. tales with the express aim o f ' m a k i n g children's
T h o u g h she at first antagonizes them b y her hearts g l o w again'. Published in the t w o - v o l -
attempts to interfere in their lives, they become u m e Màrchen (1946) and in v o l . viii o f Sàmt-
her friends, and through their resourcefulness liche Werke (Complete Works, 1957), they are,
and c o u r a g e she is rescued from the fate the like all his writing, intensely polarized didactic
villainous g o v e r n e s s and the v i c a r plan for her, parables about the fight o f g o o d versus evil,
and for the Lilliputians themselves. GA w h e r e g o o d is identified with nature, simpli-
549 WILDE, OSCAR

city, l o v e , and a desire to help, while evil is Lim, Jeong-Taeg, Don Sylvio und Anselmus:
personified b y the city, mass civilization, g r e e d , Untersuchungen %ur Gestaltung des Wunderbaren
p o w e r , and self-interest. A l t h o u g h there are in­ bei C. M. Wieland und E. T. A. Hoffmann
fluences o f the Brothers * G r i m m — ' D i e arme (1988).
Nobis, Helmut, Phantasie und Moralitdt: Das
M a g d ' ( ' T h e P o o r M a i d ' ) , for example, is
Wunderbare in Wielands, 'Dschinnistan ' und der
a version of 'Aschenputtel' ("''Cinder­
'Geschichte des Prin^en Biribinker' (1976).
e l l a ' ) — W i e c h e r t ' s stories are unlike folk tales Stickney-Bailey, Susan, 'Tieck's Marchen and
in their contemplative and reflexive m o o d , the Enlightenment: The Influence of Wieland
concentrating on the inward quest o f the hero and Musàus' (Diss., University o f
to resist the temptations o f ambition and wealth Massachusetts-Amherst, 1986).
and retain a simple and pure heart. KS
Boag, Hugh-Alexander, Ernst Wiechert: The WILDE, OSCAR (1854-1900), D u b l i n - b o r n poet,
Prose Works in Relation to his Life and Times p l a y w r i g h t and aesthete. T h e child o f t w o par­
(1987). ents w h o had both contributed to the collection
Venzin, Renate-Pia, Ernst Wiecherts Marchen. of Celtic folklore, he w a s the author o f t w o i m ­
Ein Beitrag ^um Kunstmdrchen der Gegenwart portant collections o f literary fairy tales.
(i954)- O s c a r ' s father, Sir W i l l i a m W i l d e , had retold
tales o f the Irish Sidhe in Irish Popular Supersti­
WIELAND, CHRISTOPH MARTIN (1733-1813),
tions (1852), w h i l e his mother, the patriotic
G e r m a n writer and poet, closely associated
poet L a d y J a n e W i l d e or 'Speranza', had used
with the rise of W e i m a r culture. H e studied
materials collected b y her husband and herself
theology in a monastery near M a g d e b u r g , but
to write w h a t * Y e a t s considered one o f the
his interest in writing d r e w him to w o r k with
most important b o o k s on the Celtic fairy faith,
the renowned Swiss critic J o h a n n J a k o b
Ancient Legends, Mystic -Charms, and Supersti­
B o d m e r in Zurich between 1752 and 1754.
tions of Ireland (1887). S h e also w r o t e on An­
Thereafter he gained recognition for his poet­
cient Cures, Charms and Usages in 1890.
ry, novels, and tales, and b y 1772, w h e n he set­
W i l d e ' s t w o v o l u m e s o f fairy tales, The
tled in W e i m a r , he w a s considered the
Happy Prince (1888) and A House of Pomegran­
foremost writer in G e r m a n y . S t r o n g l y influ­
ates (1891) w e r e written, according to a letter
enced b y the French fairy-tale v o g u e o f the
of 1888, 'partly for children and partly for
18th century, W i e l a n d published an important
those w h o h a v e kept the childlike faculties o f
collection o f tales entitled Dschinnistan
w o n d e r and j o y ' . T h e i r creation m a y h a v e
(1786-9), which included adaptations from the
been prompted b y his w i f e , Constance L l o y d ,
French Cabinet des fées (see M A Y E R , C H A R L E S -
w h o published t w o v o l u m e s o f children's fan­
J O S E P H D E ) as well as three original tales, ' D e r
tasies in 1889 and 1892; b y W i l d e ' s desire for
Stein der W e i s e n ' ( ' T h e Philosopher's S t o n e ' ) ,
tales to tell his o w n t w o y o u n g sons; b y his
' T i m a n d e r und Melissa', and ' D e r D r u i d e oder
mother's publications o f collected folklore; and
die Salamanderin und die Bildsàule' ( ' T h e
perhaps b y Y e a t s ' s Fairy and Folk Tales of the
D r u i d or the Salamander and the Painted P i l ­
Irish Peasantry (1889), a collection that W i l d e
lar'). T y p i c a l of all these tales is the triumph o f
admired and f a v o u r a b l y r e v i e w e d . W i l d e ' s first
rationalism o v e r mysticism. A m o n g his other
v o l u m e , illustrated b y W a l t e r *Crane and
w o r k s that incorporated fairy-tale motifs are
J a c o m b H o o d and containing five tales, ' T h e
Der Sieg der Natur iiber die Sckwdrmerei oder die
H a p p y P r i n c e ' , ' T h e Nightingale and the
Abenteuer des Don Sylvio von Rosalva (The Vic­
R o s e ' , ' T h e Selfish G i a n t ' , ' T h e D e v o t e d
tory of Nature over Fanaticism or the Adventures
F r i e n d ' , and ' T h e R e m a r k a b l e R o c k e t ' , w a s a
of Don Sylvio von Rosalva, 1764), Der goldene
great success; most critics still consider ' T h e
Spiegel (The Golden Mirror, 1772), and Oberon
H a p p y P r i n c e ' and ' T h e Selfish G i a n t ' , the fin­
(1780). In addition, he wrote ' P e r v o n t e '
est o f the fairy tales. F o u r m o r e stories, ' T h e
(1778-9), a remarkable verse rendition o f
Y o u n g K i n g ' , ' T h e B i r t h d a y o f the Infanta',
*Basile's 'Peruonto', which concerns a p o o r
' T h e Fisherman and his S o u l ' , and ' T h e Star-
simpleton, w h o s e heart is so g o o d that he is
C h i l d ' , w e r e collected as A House of Pomegran­
blessed b y the fairies and thus rises in society.
ates, this time in an elegant v o l u m e designed
JZ and decorated b y C h a r l e s Ricketts and C h a r l e s
Bauer, Roger, ' "The Fairy Way of Writing":
Shannon in 1891.
Von Shakespeare zu Wieland und Tieck', in
Roger Bauer, Michael de Graat, and Jiirgen W i l d e ' s literary fairy tales are influenced b y
Werheimer (eds.), Das Shakespeare-Bild in the Brothers * G r i m m and especially b y Hans
Europa pvischen Aufkldrung und Romantik (1988). Christian *Andersen, w h o s e moralized and
WILDE, OSCAR 550

WiLDE, OSCAR The swallow, who is the prince's dear friend, arrives to comfort him in Oscar Wilde's The
Happy Prince and Other Tales ( 1 8 8 8 ) , illustrated by Walter *Crane.

sentimentalized versions of Scandinavian folk suous and mannered description ( ' T h e Birth­
tales are sometimes amplified and sometimes d a y of the Infanta' and ' T h e Fisherman and his
subverted b y him. ' T h e Nightingale and the S o u l ' ) , most often prose-poems in feeling. Y e t
R o s e ' is a tough-minded comment on A n d e r ­ this artificial, highly decorated prose is used to
sen's ' T h e N i g h t i n g a l e ' ; ' T h e D e v o t e d F r i e n d ' c o n v e y parables of egoism and altruism, of
an inversion o f ' G r e a t C l a u s and Little C l a u s ' ; Christian self-sacrifice as in ' T h e Happy
and ' T h e Fisherman and his S o u l ' , a reversal of Prince,' ' T h e Selfish Giant', and ' T h e Y o u n g
and complex comment on ' T h e T i t t l e M e r ­ K i n g ' ; or of the Christlike artist, as in ' T h e
maid'. V y v y a n Holland, W i l d e ' s son, remind­ Nightingale'; or to produce cautionary tales of
ed readers that his father spent much time in his selfishness and narcissism as in ' T h e D e v o t e d
childhood in C o n n e m a r a , and Irish materials F r i e n d ' and ' T h e R e m a r k a b l e R o c k e t ' . T h e
also contribute to W i l d e ' s tales. F o r example, protest against social injustice and inequality,
' T h e Y o u n g K i n g ' and ' T h e S t a r - C h i l d ' m a y the sympathy with the poor and oppressed
be read as accounts of changelings, while tales which w a s to figure in W i l d e ' s Soul of Man
of undines and fishermen are particularly popu­ under Socialism (1891), are directly or indirect­
lar in Ireland, though c o m m o n in all I n d o - ly expressed in ' T h e H a p p y Prince', ' T h e D e ­
E u r o p e a n lore. voted F r i e n d ' , and ' T h e Selfish Giant', and
W h a t makes W i l d e ' s tales uniquely c o m p e l ­ later in ' T h e Y o u n g K i n g ' and ' T h e Birthday
ling is the elegance of their l a n g u a g e combined of the Infanta', while W i l d e ' s anti-puritanism
with the strangeness of their content. Stylistic­ and anti-conventionalism are reflected in ' T h e
ally, they are perfectly articulated studies in ar­ Nightingale and the R o s e ' and ' T h e Fisherman
tifice and surface, sometimes biblical in tone and his S o u l ' . T h e artist as martyr and saint
( ' T h e S t a r - C h i l d ' ) , sometimes filled with sen­ figures in several tales, most notably in ' T h e
55 1 W I L D E ' S FAIRY T A L E S , FILM A D A P T A T I O N S

Nightingale', and the impossibility or failure o f absence. H e immediately drives the children
romantic l o v e is explored in that tale as w e l l as a w a y , puts up ' K e e p O u t ' signs, and barricades
in ' T h e Birthday of the Infanta' and ' T h e F i s h ­ himself in. T h e result o f this selfishness is that
erman and his S o u l ' . Spring and S u m m e r n e v e r c o m e to the garden:
W i l d e ' s fairy tales are also notable for their instead there is a l w a y s S n o w and Frost. E v e n ­
unhappy or unresolved endings; some are tually, the children creep b a c k through a hole
simply sad, others ironic, m a n y are deeply c y n ­ in the wall; then the birds and flowers and sun
ical. A House of Pomegranates is even more return. T h e giant, realizing h o w selfish he has
sombre than The Happy Prince; three o f its four been, k n o c k s d o w n the w a l l and w e l c o m e s the
tales conclude with the demise of the s y m p a ­ children back. M a n y y e a r s later, one child he
thetic protagonists as the Dwarf, S t a r - C h i l d , especially l o v e s turns out to be an emissary
Fisherman, and Mermaid die. N o n e of the tales from Christ. T h e giant dies, and is taken to
has a conventional happy ending. Paradise.
W i l d e ' s tales are less designed as w o r k s for T h e R e a d e r ' s D i g e s t version o f W i l d e ' s
children than as attempts to mirror late V i c t o r ­ b e s t - k n o w n story, The Happy Prince (1974),
ian life in a form remote from reality and to g i v e s v o i c e s to the t w o main characters, as w e l l
embody the problems of the era in an ideal as to a narrator. It concerns a bejewelled and
mode. M o r e o v e r , the creation o f a fairy w o r l d gilded statue, the Prince, w h o is befriended b y
enables W i l d e to deal symbolically with social a S w a l l o w on his w a y south for the winter. S e e ­
taboos and to reveal his repressed feelings and ing ugliness and misery all around, the Prince
desires. T h e tales h a v e been read in different persuades the S w a l l o w to peck out his jewels
w a y s at various times. R e c e n t l y they h a v e been and peel off his g o l d leaf to distribute to the
v i e w e d as studies in homoerotic relations (see destitute people o f the t o w n . T h u s d e l a y e d , the
the Prince and the S p a r r o w in ' T h e H a p p y S w a l l o w misses his chance to g o with the other
Prince') or as explorations of the author's birds to E g y p t ; later, though there is still time
masochistic and sadistic i m p u l s e s — s e e , for e x ­ to g o , he chooses to stay with the Prince, till in
ample, the self-inflicted torments of the Giant the depths o f winter he dies o f cold. T h e
and the Star-Child or the notable cruelty of the Prince, w h o n o w l o o k s shabby, is pulled d o w n .
Princess in ' T h e Birthday o f the I n f a n t a ' — a n d G o d summons an angel to b r i n g the t w o
even as totally ironic in intention. N e v e r t h e ­ friends to Paradise.
less, they remain memorable and haunting add­ T h e same story has also been adapted ( U K ,
itions to the genre of the literary fairy tale. 1996) as a mini-opera performed b y animated
CGS models, with the S w a l l o w sung b y J i m m y
Ellmann, Richard, Oscar Wilde ( 1 9 8 7 ) . S o m e r v i l l e and the Prince b y W i l l i a m D a z e l y .
Pine, Richard, The Thief of Reason: Oscar Wilde T h e requirements o f the form and medium re­
(I995)- sult in bits o f W i l d e ' s text b e i n g selected and
Shewan, Rodney, Oscar Wilde: Art and Egotism expanded, w h i l e others are rejected. A drama­
(I977)- tist freezing in a garret is identified as W i l d e
Snider, Clifton, 'Eros and Logos in Some Fairy himself, dreaming o f a first-night success if he
Tales by Oscar Wilde', Victorian Newsletter, 8 4 e v e r gets w a r m enough to finish his play; a lit­
(fall 1 9 9 3 ) . tle starving match-girl imagines vast quantities
Tremper, Ellen, 'Commitment and Escape: The
o f food dancing before her e y e s . A t the end,
Fairy Tales of Thackeray, Dickens, and Wilde',
w h e n the S w a l l o w is dead, a modern reference
The Lion and the Unicorn, 2 . 1 ( 1 9 7 8 ) .
is slipped in: self-important local officials dis­
W I L D E ' S FAIRY T A L E S , FILM A D A P T A T I O N S . T h r e e p a r a g e him as a foreign bird, an immigrant that
of Oscar W i l d e ' s fairy tales h a v e been filmed in lives b y scrounging.
their o w n right, one o f them twice; and one o f T h e last R e a d e r ' s D i g e s t adaptation w a s The
the three is positioned in a biographical film as Remarkable Rocket (1975), narrated b y D a v i d
a commentary on parts o f W i l d e ' s life. N i v e n . In it a g r o u p o f fireworks is c o n v e r s i n g
The Selfish Giant ( C a n a d a / U S A , 1972), w a s w h i l e waiting to be let off as part o f the cele­
the first of a trio to reach the screen in adapta­ brations at a royal w e d d i n g . T h e rocket, v e r y
tions, co-produced b y the R e a d e r ' s Digest A s ­ self-important, does most o f the talking; then,
sociation, which strive, within the parameters because he is so sensitive, w e e p s at the thought
of a 2 5-minute animation, to be faithful to o f the r o y a l couple losing their s o n — n o t e v e n
W i l d e ' s text. A narrator tells the story o f a conceived y e t — a n d in the process m a k e s him­
lovely garden where children play until the self d a m p . A s a result, the other fireworks g i v e
owner, a giant, comes home from a s e v e n - y e a r a g o o d account o f themselves w h e n the m o -
WILLIAMS, JAY 552

ment c o m e s , but the remarkable rocket is w h e n she is imprisoned in a tower, she wakes
discarded as useless. Essentially, this plot is a up a prince w h o is l y i n g there in an enchanted
device to a l l o w W i l d e , as storyteller, to m a k e sleep, and then escapes b y climbing d o w n his
epigrammatic criticisms o f certain types o f l o n g curly beard.
character. W i l l i a m s ' s other best-known genre-dissolv­
C o m m e n t s on his o w n character are implied ing fairy tale, Petronella (1973) declares its in­
in the biopic Wilde ( U K , 1997) b y the incorp­ tention in the first paragraph: 'In the kingdom
oration o f portions o f the text o f ' T h e Selfish of S k y c l e a r Mountain, three princes w e r e al­
G i a n t ' , sometimes as v o i c e o v e r , sometimes in­ w a y s born . . . the y o u n g e s t prince a l w a y s res­
tegrated into the screen action. T h e idea is that cued a princess, brought her home, and in time
aspects o f W i l d e ' s life are reflected in the story. ruled o v e r the k i n g d o m . T h a t w a s the w a y it
W h e n he has just admitted and released his h a d a l w a y s been . . . Until n o w . ' T h i s time the
homosexuality, and consequently is neglecting y o u n g e s t child is a red-headed princess called
his family, he sees himself as selfish, like the Petronella. She w o n ' t stay home and wait for
giant; at the same time, like the children in the suitors, but insists on g o i n g out into the world
story, he faces prosecution if caught trespass­ with her brothers. A s a result of her kindness to
ing. L a t e r , w h i l e his wife is reading a passage an old man, she finds a handsome prince in the
about the beauty o f the giant's garden, he is garden o f an enchanter. T h e prince is lazy, self­
seen w a l k i n g in just such a place with L o r d ish, and somewhat stupid, but since he is the
A l f r e d D o u g l a s . B a c k h o m e , telling his chil­ only prince around, Petronella continues to act
dren h o w the giant w a s 'really v e r y s o r r y for out the standard plot. She manages to fulfil
what he had d o n e ' , W i l d e is wistful. F i n a l l y , in three difficult tasks: calming and taming fer­
R e a d i n g g a o l , after he has been sentenced to ocious d o g s , horses, and h a w k s ; then she and
t w o y e a r s ' hard labour, W i l d e once again sees the prince flee, pursued b y the enchanter. F i ­
himself as the giant, w h o ' g r e w v e r y old and nally, to her amazement, she discovers that the
feeble' and 'could not p l a y about any m o r e ' . enchanter is glad to be rid o f the lazy prince,
TAS w h o came for a visit and just wouldn't leave.
T h e enchanter isn't chasing the prince; he is
WILLIAMS, JAY ( 1 9 1 4 - 7 8 ) , A m e r i c a n writer. chasing Petronella, with w h o m he has fallen in
A l t h o u g h he published nearly 70 b o o k s for l o v e . R e c o g n i z i n g her true destiny, Petronella
children, as well as m a n y adult novels and agrees to m a r r y him, and the lazy prince has to
mysteries, J a y W i l l i a m s is best k n o w n today w a l k h o m e alone.
for his D a n n y D u n n juvenile science-fiction T h o u g h there are n o w m a n y stories like
series (begun with R a y m o n d A b r a s h k i n , w h o these in print, w h e n The Practical Princess and
died after the fifth v o l u m e appeared). T h o u g h Petronella first appeared, they caused a minor
s o m e o f the plot motifs in these popular b o o k s sensation, and as a result both readers and
can b e traced b a c k to folk-tale sources (invisi­ writers n o w approach fairy tales in new and
bility, a monster w h o lives in a s w a m p , etc.), interesting w a y s . AL
the emphasis is on scientific invention and
comedy.
W i l l i a m s w a s also one o f the first and best o f WILLOW (film: U S A , 1988), the counterpart of
the authors w h o responded to the feminist Star Wars (1977). Premissed on magic rather
m o v e m e n t o f the late 1960s and early 1970s b y than technology, Willow is a quest-story born
w r i t i n g a n e w kind o f fairy tale. T h o u g h his from the research G e o r g e L u c a s did into folk­
stories are traditional in their choice o f episode lore and m y t h o l o g y while writing his space
and motif, they also overturn nearly all the trilogy. A m o n g its numerous sources o f inspir­
conventions o f the genre to illustrate n e w ideas ation are " T o l k i e n , The *Wqard of C \ , the
about w o m e n . Bible, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. W i l ­
W i l l i a m s ' s famously funny and v e r y influ­ l o w U f g o o d , a w o u l d - b e magician, rescues a
ential picture b o o k The Practical Princess birthmarked b a b y from a river and sets off to
(1969) r e w o r k e d both *'Rapunzel' and '"'Sleep­ find Raziel, the g o o d witch w h o alone can,
ing B e a u t y ' . Its heroine, Princess Bedelia, has through the b a b y , end the reign of the evil
been promised to a d r a g o n , but instead o f w a i t ­ queen B a v m o r d a . Sometimes helped b y M a d -
ing for a prince to rescue her, she explodes the martigan, a mercenary w h o comes to see the
monster b y arranging for a straw figure filled point o f being compassionate rather than self­
with g u n p o w d e r to be dressed in her court ish, W i l l o w progresses towards an understand­
robes and thrown into its open mouth. L a t e r , ing o f true m a g i c . TAS
553 WIZARD OF O Z ,T H E

WIZARD OF OZ, THE (1900), w i d e l y considered passage in w h i c h she o v e r c o m e s challenges b y

the most popular A m e r i c a n fairy tale, is the learning to use her talents. T h i s individual and
first in a series of 14 O z b o o k s b y L . F r a n k societal maturation is neatly underscored in
*Baum. Hard hit b y the brutal economic d e ­ V i c t o r F l e m i n g ' s O s c a r - w i n n i n g film, w h o s e
pression o f 1890, this actor, journalist, and w i n ­ host o f screenwriters tightened B a u m ' s story­
d o w decorator established himself as an author line. T h e y eliminated sub-plots and introduced
of children's b o o k s with Father Goose: His Book n e w characters to the p r o l o g u e (Miss G u l c h ,
(1899). F r o m rewritten nursery r h y m e s , B a u m Professor M a r v e l , the trio o f farmhands) that
turned to the w o n d e r tales o f *Andersen and are 'ozzified' into the W i c k e d W i t c h (Margaret
the *Grimms. Writing during the v o g u e o f Uto­ Hamilton), Wizard (Frank Morgan), Scare­
pian novels, he wanted a 'modernized fairy crow (Ray Bolger), Tin Woodman (Jack
tale' that w o u l d omit both romance and night­ H a l e y ) , and C o w a r d l y L i o n (Bert L a h r ) . T h e
mare-causing violence yet still p r o v i d e an en­ film also unifies D o r o t h y ' s narrative point o f
tertaining morality for children. H e also v i e w with songs like ' O v e r the R a i n b o w ' (by
modernized the talking beasts o f folklore into H a r o l d A r l e n and E . Y . H a r b u r g ) , and faithful­
sentient machines like the T i n W o o d m a n : in l y exploits the metaphor o f g r e y K a n s a s v s .
this w a y , he could introduce turn-of-the-cen- T e c h n i c o l o r O z . T h e endings o f b o o k and film,
tury industrialization into a fairyland w h e r e no h o w e v e r , d i v e r g e : w h e r e B a u m ' s O z is real,
one is injured (wicked witches notwithstand­ H o l l y w o o d ' s is a dream.
ing). First illustrated b y W . W . * D e n s l o w , The D r e a m s and the collective unconscious fig­
Wonderful Wizard of 0 { (as it w a s first entitled) ure in the film's psychoanalytical interpret­
was a runaway best-seller of the first half o f the ations. J u n g i a n s stress D o r o t h y ' s quest for self
century, although it received scant literary a c ­ in w h i c h she is aided b y personified characters
claim. Indeed, the entire O z series, consisting ( S c a r e c r o w , C o w a r d l y L i o n , etc.). Freudians
of 14 novels published between 1900 and 1920, address ineffectual parent figures and posit a
was essentially blacklisted during the M c C a r ­ 'family romance' that replaces them with g o o d
thy era b y librarians w h o dismissed it as sub­ witches and wizards. T h e y cite numerous i m ­
versive popular culture o f p o o r literary quality. ages o f castration ( O z ' s floating head, the T i n
N o r w a s the 1939 M G M musical a critical suc­ W o o d m a n ' s mutilation), note the phallic i m ­
cess, losing $1 million in its initial run. F i l m e d a g e r y o f the c y c l o n e and witch's broomstick,
during the Depression w h e n A m e r i c a needed and find that D o r o t h y c o m e s to sexual maturity
escapist fare, it only began its rise to cult status w h e n she appropriates the broomstick and
in 1956, with its first annual televised s h o w i n g . g i v e s it to O z . Sexuality is further underscored
T h e public has since re-evaluated both the film b y the colour red (for menstruation) o f the
and book, which boasts 10 million copies in 22 film's r u b y slippers.
languages. Critics analysing the b o o k , h o w e v e r , equate
T h i s is the story o f D o r o t h y G a l e (played D o r o t h y ' s silver shoes with the silver standard
b y J u d y G a r l a n d ) . Ignored b y foster-parents o f 1890s Populist debates. W i l l i a m J e n n i n g s
on a bleak farm in K a n s a s , she is transported b y B r y a n , farmers, and p u b l i c - w a r y presidents are
a cyclone to the Utopia of O z . D o r o t h y , h o w ­ represented b y the C o w a r d l y L i o n , S c a r e c r o w ,
ever, wants to return home, and sets out to find and W i z a r d . Midwestern politics are futher
the Wizard for help. O n her quest, she encoun­ allegorized in the T i n W o o d m a n ' s dehuman-
ters a Scarecrow, T i n W o o d m a n , and C o w a r d ­ ization from flesh to t i n — a metaphorical in­
ly L i o n seeking a brain, a heart, and courage. dustrialization that is vanquished b y the
T h e Wizard refuses to help unless they kill the Jeffersonian agrarianism o f K a n s a s , g e o g r a p h i c
W i c k e d Witch o f the West. D o r o t h y acciden­ and s y m b o l i c centre o f the United States. T h i s
tally does this, but O z cannot keep his promise m o d e l presents K a n s a s as a secular G a r d e n o f
because he is not really a wizard. H e does, E d e n , but O z - a s - U t o p i a is championed in
h o w e v e r , bestow the physical attributes o f the socio-political commentary o f the later O z
intelligence, compassion, and v a l o u r that the b o o k s . Feminists cite the numerous emascu­
trio have demonstrated all along. In the end, it lated males and analyse the suffragette-type
is D o r o t h y w h o takes herself home: she has leaders o f The Land of 0\. Others find in the
learned that her silver shoes (ruby slippers in illness-free Emerald City of 0{ a (socialist)
the film) have a l w a y s held the p o w e r to fulfil paradise w h e r e p o v e r t y and m o n e y need not
her dreams. exist because happy w o r k e r s share their wealth
D o r o t h y ' s journey to O z and back is there­ and talents. Solidarity and pacifism rule O z ,
fore a child's quest of self-discovery, a rite o f w h e r e a giant L o v e Magnet imbues all w h o
THE WIZARD OF OZ 'You ought to be ashamed of yourself!' Dorothy scolds the Cowardly Lion in the first
edition of L. Frank *Baum's The IViiard of 0 { (1900), illustrated by W . W . *Denslow.
555 WIZARD OF O Z , T H E

enter with selflessness. In short, O z is what a p l a y e d the S c a r e c r o w and also directed. O w i n g

disenchanted A m e r i c a is not. rather little to B a u m ' s plot, it starts in a R u r i t a -
B a u m w o u l d probably be amused b y all nian kind o f O z w h e r e P r i m e Minister K r u e l ,
these interpretations, for he stressed that he h a v i n g secretly deposited the b a b y Princess
wrote only for children, at their behest. T o d a y , D o r o t h y o f O z on a K a n s a s farm 18 y e a r s p r e ­
his Utopian tale continues to inspire with its v i o u s l y , schemes to seize the throne for him­
hopeful message of individual g r o w t h and soci­ self. A g e n t s sent to K a n s a s to get rid o f the
al reform. In fact, there are more than 100 se­ evidence that w o u l d support her r o y a l claim
quels, parodies, and pastiches o f O z , with are thwarted b y the S c a r e c r o w , w h o is devoted
notable reinventions from black B r o a d w a y m u ­ to D o r o t h y . W h e n a c y c l o n e transports
sicals (The Wiç, 1975) to parallel w o r l d s (A D o r o t h y and the S c a r e c r o w to O z , the T i n
Barnstormer in 0{, 1982) to metaphors about W o o d m a n joins the party, D o r o t h y meets
A i d s (Was, 1992). Indeed, the recent auction o f Prince K y n d e , and the S c a r e c r o w has an en­
D o r o t h y ' s ruby slippers for $165,000 attests to counter with a den o f a n g r y lions. B y means o f
Oz's continuing mythic relation to the A m e r i ­ a series o f comic stunts, the S c a r e c r o w con­
can collective unconscious. MLE founds all K r u e l ' s machinations, then g e n e r ­
Harmetz, Aljean, The Making of'The Wizard of ously renounces his l o v e for D o r o t h y , w h o
Oz (1977). marries Prince K y n d e and assumes her rightful
Hearn, Michael Patrick, The Annotated Wiiard of place on the throne o f O z .
0{ (1973)- T h e M G M film follows B a u m ' s plotline
Littlefield, Henry, 'The Wvprdof Op Parable on more closely than S e m o n had done, but
Populism', in Hennig Cohen (ed.), American
changes it significantly in tone. B a u m , rejecting
Culture (1968).
the 'blood-curdling incident' and 'fearsome
Nathanson, Paul, Over the Rainbow: The Wizard
of Oias a Secular Myth of America (1991). moral' associated particularly with the
Zipes, Jack, 'Oz as American Myth', in Fairy * G r i m m s ' stories, w r o t e that his intention w a s
Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale (1994). to leave out the 'heartaches and nightmares' o f
fairy tales, w h i l e retaining their ' w o n d e r m e n t
WIZARD OF Oz, T H E (film: U S A , 1939), the most and j o y ' . T h e M G M version could h a v e stuck
celebrated fairy-tale film e v e r made, and the with B a u m and m e r e l y delivered singable
most memorable version o f the story. Initially songs, joyful j o k e s , m e r r y Munchkins, and
a box-office failure, it has o v e r the decades T e c h n i c o l o r c h o r e o g r a p h y , but it does not d o
been g i v e n repeated, well-received television that. I f it had, it w o u l d p r o b a b l y be no more
screenings and thereby achieved iconic status. remembered today than S e m o n ' s film is, e v e n
In public discussion it is taken for granted that though the film's durability has m u c h to d o
absolutely e v e r y o n e k n o w s D o r o t h y (played with the outstanding musical score b y H a r o l d
b y J u d y G a r l a n d ) , the S c a r e c r o w , the T i n A r l e n and E . Y . ' Y i p ' H a r b u r g . Instead it g i v e s
W o o d m a n , and the C o w a r d l y L i o n . F r a g m e n t s full, fearsome force to the W i c k e d W i t c h o f the
of the film's d i a l o g u e — s u c h as ' T o t o , I h a v e a W e s t , and allows her callous minions, the
feeling that w e ' r e not in K a n s a s a n y m o r e ' , ' A r e W i n g e d M o n k e y s , none o f the extenuation that
y o u a g o o d witch or a bad w i t c h ? ' , ' F o l l o w the the b o o k offers. In this w a y it is closer to
y e l l o w brick road', ' L e a v i n g so soon, m y G r i m m and to * D i s n e y ' s *Snow White than it is
pretty?' and ' I ' l l get y o u , and y o u r little d o g to B a u m . In the U K both Snow White and The
t o o ! ' — h a v e b e c o m e part o f conversational Wiiard of 0% w e r e g i v e n an ' A ' certificate at the
currency. O n the internet the film, plus L . time o f first release, the force o f w h i c h w a s that
F r a n k *Baum's original 1900 b o o k , have to­ children on their o w n could not be admitted to
gether spawned o v e r 30 different websites a cinema w h e n either o f these films w a s being
dedicated to O z clubs, quizzes, festivals, and screened.
facsimile D o r o t h y dresses. T h e W i t c h ' s nightmare-causing p o w e r s are
Before this M G M adaptation, there w e r e further strengthened b y g i v i n g her a counter­
various short silent O z films, some produced p a r t — M i s s G u l c h — i n K a n s a s . T h i s idea o f
b y B a u m himself. T h e major silent version, validating a dream or fantasy b y h a v i n g some
made in the 1920s ( U S A , 1925), is k n o w n today of the actors play t w o characters, one in each
mainly for the fact that O l i v e r H a r d y , before w o r l d , is c o m m o n to a range o f films (e.g. The
he teamed up with Stan L a u r e l , took the part o f Five Thousand Fingers of Doctor 7 ) , the con­
the T i n W o o d m a n , but in its day it w a s con­ vention being that, w h e n the child w a k e s up,
ceived and marketed as a vehicle for the acro­ he o r she is holding something tangible from
batic blank-faced c l o w n L a r r y Semon, w h o the dream w o r l d w h i c h p r o v e s that it is as real
WIZARD OF O Z , T H E 556

as h o m e . In addition, a film-child returning D o r o t h y and G l i n d a , before the magic slippers

from another w o r l d usually has s o m e n e w l y a c ­ take D o r o t h y back home to Harlem.
quired self-confidence o r skill w h i c h makes it A m o n g other fantasies that testify to the
possible to s o l v e the problem w h i c h first cre­ position o f The Wiçard of 0 { as a standard ref­
ated the need for escape. In The Wiiard of Oi erence point is Zardoi ( U K , 1973). Set in 2293,
neither o f these things happens. D o r o t h y does it depicts the masses as worshipping a giant fly­
not produce the r u b y slippers to p r o v e — e v e n ing godhead named Zardoz. G r a d u a l l y Z e d ,
to herself—that O z really is 'a place, not a one o f his Exterminators (reminiscent of the
d r e a m ' ; and, m o r e disturbingly for a perceptive W i n g e d M o n k e y s ) , realizes that the g o d w h o m
child in an audience, she does not b r i n g with he serves does not really exist at all, but is
her from O z anything that will help her s o l v e m e r e l y a man-made invention named b y a
the problem o f Miss G u l c h . W h e t h e r o r not j o k e r w h o w a s also a cinéphile. T h e film thus
this w a s the m a k e r s ' intention, part o f the film's assumes that adult audiences in the 1970s w e r e
'heartache' c o m e s from the fact that, though able to unravel the meanings packed into the
the W i c k e d W i t c h has been disposed of, Miss name Z a r d o z , and at the same time prophesies
G u l c h is still alive; and the legal warrant con­ that w h e n The Wiçard of is o v e r 350 years
d e m n i n g T o t o to death, w h i c h w a s w h a t old, and industrial society has collapsed, there
caused D o r o t h y to w i s h to fly a w a y o v e r the will still be some w h o use it as m y t h o l o g y . B y
rainbow, is still in force w h e n she c o m e s back. contrast, Rainbow ( U K / C a n a d a , 1995), set in
T h e film's status in the popular imagination 1990s N e w J e r s e y , invokes D o r o t h y and T o t o
has led to a sequel, Return to C \ , numerous rather than the W i z a r d . W i t h the help of a
television parodies, and a parallel black version computer, four children and a d o g find the end
set in 1970s N e w Y o r k . T h i s w a s The Wii o f a rainbow and are carried along b y it till it
( U S A , 1978), w h i c h derived from a successful drops them in K a n s a s . O n e has taken nuggets
B r o a d w a y musical (see The Wiiard of 0 { , stage o f g o l d from the rainbow, thereby upsetting its
v e r s i o n s ) . T h o u g h the credits a c k n o w l e d g e balance; as a result the temperature rises dras­
B a u m , the storyline is actually based on the tically, colour fades from everything, society
M G M film, and indeed presumes audience begins to break d o w n . W i t h all plants about to
k n o w l e d g e o f it. F o r nearly e v e r y t h i n g in it be destroyed b y the disappearance o f green, the
(except the death warrant on T o t o ' s h e a d ) , The children manage to restore gold to the rain­
Wii finds a N e w Y o r k equivalent. D o r o t h y , an b o w . T h e moral the film illustrates is that ecol­
unadventurous 24-year-old H a r l e m school­ o g y begins at home: like D o r o t h y , w e don't
teacher, chases T o t o w h e n he runs off in the need to l o o k further than our o w n back y a r d .
s n o w , and hits a tornado w h i c h b l o w s them TAS
through an electrical sign advertising a product Harmetz, Aljean, The Making of the Wizard of
called ' O z ' . U p o n landing, D o r o t h y kills witch Oi (1978).
E v e r m e a n , w h o had turned the Munchkins into Rushdie, Salman, The Wi[ard of 0 { (1992).
graffiti; on her death they gratefully unpeel
themselves from walls. En route for the E m e r ­ WIZARD OF O Z , THE, stage versions. A stage
ald C i t y D o r o t h y finds a brainless scarecrow s h o w , adapted b y L . F r a n k *Baum from his
t r y i n g to protect a small patch o f sunflowers o w n story for children, w a s premiered at the
against derisive c r o w s ; a heartless tinman bur­ Majestic Theater, N e w Y o r k , in 1903 and ran
ied under fairground junk at C o n e y Island; and for 293 performances. Much o f the musical
a c o w a r d l y lion lurking inside the stone m o n u ­ score w a s b y A . B a l d w i n *Sloane and Paul
ments o f the N e w Y o r k Public L i b r a r y . O n Tietjens, with lyrics b y L . F r a n k B a u m . N e v e r ­
P o p p y Street, a neon-lit alley populated b y c o ­ theless, a collection o f other composers and
caine pushers, D o r o t h y and the lion succumb lyricists are k n o w n to h a v e collaborated on the
to the d r u g g e d atmosphere, but are r e v i v e d b y work.
the tinman's tears o f grief. A t other points in O n e more version of B a u m ' s story, The
the story the W i c k e d W i t c h o f the W e s t , E v i l - Wii, appeared in 1975, opening at N e w Y o r k ' s
lene, is presented as a sweat shop o w n e r ; her Majestic Theater. T h i s w a s an all-black p r o ­
F l y i n g M o n k e y s as a squad o f motorcyclists; duction with a b o o k b y William F . B r o w n up­
and O z himself as a failed politician and a c o m ­ dated to suit contemporary audiences. With a
plete fraud. Climactically, D o r o t h y ' s three rock score b y Charlie Smalls, it w a s extremely
friends are comforted b y being told that they successful, attaining a run o f 1,672 perform­
h a v e already displayed plenty o f brains, heart, ances and a film version in 1978. The Wii
and c o u r a g e : ' B e l i e v e in Y o u r s e l f , sing reached L o n d o n in 1984. TH
557 WYNNE-JONES, TIM

W O L F , FRIEDRICH (pseudonym of JOHANNES Ul­ w o r d s o f wit. A s the title-page suggests, the

cus, 1817—55), G e r m a n scholar, writer, and drawings h a v e been done ' G r o t e s q u e s l y ' b y
publisher. Influenced b y J a c o b and W i l h e l m A l i c e B . W o o d w a r d ; grotesque in the c o m i c
" G r i m m ' s theories of the folk tale's authenti­ sense, yet lyrical and animated and characteris­
city, he collected traditional oral tales and pub­ tically A r t N o u v e a u in the c u r v i n g free lines
lished them with a scholarly commentary. His and solid black areas relieved b y white. SS
three volumes o f folk tales are aimed at an
adult readership: Niederlàndische Sagen (Dutch
Legends, 1843), Deutsche Màrchen und Sagen W R E D E , PATRICIA C . ( 1 9 5 3 - ) , A m e r i c a n writer
(German Popular Tales and Legends, 1845), o f fantasy novels for children and adults.
Deutsche Hausmàrchen (German Household W r e d e brings E u r o p e a n folklore motifs (en­
Tales, 1851). KS chanted harps, magical rings, dragons, elves,
etc.) into the six b o o k s o f The Lyra Series
( 1 9 8 2 - ) , the four b o o k s o f The Enchanted For­
WOLFF, ALBERT (1884-1970), prominent
est Series (1985— ) ; and short stories such as
French conductor w h o , at various stages in his
' C r u e l Sisters' (1996), based on Scottish b a l ­
long career, w a s associated with the O p é r a -
ladry. Snow White and Rose Red (1989) is a
C o m i q u e , eventually serving as its director-
gentle, romantic retelling o f the tale set in
general in 1945—6. Study at the Paris C o n s e r ­
Elizabethan E n g l a n d , concerning the plight o f
vatoire was followed b y w o r k in cabaret, later
t w o sisters in a w o o d l a n d cottage at the e d g e o f
combined with the post o f organist at the
Faerie. TW
church o f St T h o m a s A q u i n a s . In his mid-20s
he joined the staff o f the O p é r a - C o m i q u e ,
making his conducting debut in 1 9 1 1 . F r o m
1919 to 1920 he conducted the French reper­ WYNNE-JONES, TIM ( 1 9 4 8 - ) , Canadian short-
toire at N e w Y o r k ' s Metropolitan Opera story writer. A multi-talented creator, W y n n e -
where, in 1919, he premiered his o w n opera J o n e s has crafted radio p l a y s , the lyrics for a
L'Oiseau bleu (The *Blue Bird) based on M a u r ­ science-fiction musical, the b o o k and libretto
ice "Maeterlinck's play. TH for an opera, and popular songs. H e made his
children's b o o k debut as a picture-book writer,
w h e n he began chronicling the adventures o f
WOODWARD, ALICE B . (1862-1951), E n g l i s h il­ Z o o m , a cat w h o followed his seafaring uncle.
lustrator w h o s e medium w a s pen and ink. It is His short stories, including those published in
quite likely that she w a s influenced b y Charles The Book of Changes and Some of the Kinder
"Robinson, a decorative b o o k illustrator noted Planets, h a v e w o n numerous awards; they are
for his personal application o f A r t N o u v e a u distinguished b y plotlines pared to essentials,
and particularly for his black-and-white illus­ emotional truth, and quirky, contemporary,
trations o f R o b e r t L o u i s "Stevenson's A Child's characters. A l t h o u g h reflecting e v e r y d a y p r o b ­
Garden of Verse (1896). B o t h w e r e illustrators lems such as bullies, h o c k e y - p l a y i n g , and m a k ­
of the D e n t B a n b u r y C r o s s series. W o o d ­ ing m o n e y , the stories often include fantastical
w a r d ' s black-and-white drawings for Banbury elements, c o r k s c r e w logic, and an off-centre
Cross and Other Nursery Rhymes (1895), Edith point o f v i e w . His version o f ' T h e G o o s e G i r l ' ,
Hall's Adventures in Toy land (1897), and E v e ­ published in D a t l o w and W i n d l i n g ' s Black
lyn "Sharp's Round the World to Nymphland Thorn, White Rose, focuses on the story from
(1902) are reflective o f the A r t N o u v e a u style the v i e w p o i n t o f the prince. H e finds himself
of the time. T h e c o v e r illustration for Sheila E . fatally d r a w n to the voluptuous servant girl,
Braine's Princess of Hearts also bears A r t N o u ­ the false bride and impostor, rather than the
veau motifs, flowers, and embellishments, and, true princess. D e p a r t i n g from the " G r i m m s '
as w a s characteristic o f publishers' bindings version, in which the false bride forces the
after 1832, the design incorporated gold and princess to switch places, W y n n e - J o n e s s h o w s
colour. In 1895 W o o d w a r d w a s included the t w o girls changing places for a lark, the
among the best o f black-and-white artists o f princess herself being quite y o u n g and ill-pre­
the day to illustrate a series of articles in the pared, sexually, to b e c o m e a n y o n e ' s wife. A s
L o n d o n Daily Chronicle intended to support the tale comes to its grisly end, for this particu­
the progressive cause. Illustratively the series lar prince life with a true princess p r o v e s to be
was a success; not so politically. T w o years not such a happily-ever-after reality. AS
later, W o o d w a r d illustrated W a l t e r J e r r o l d ' s Ellis, Sarah, 'News from the North', Horn Book
Bon-Mots of the Nineteenth Century, g o o d Magazine, 71 (1995).
 is an element o f that purpose that Y e a t s ' s the­
matic arrangement and classification of his ma­
terial is so methodical. T h e basic division is
into those stories which feature the 'trooping'
fairies and stories which feature those de­
scribed as 'solitary'. T h e 'troopers' are, in the
main, benevolent, while those in the latter
g r o u p are more inclined to be the agents of
mischief and harm: this category includes the
leprechaun, the p o o k a , and the witch. Many of
the most striking o f these stories, such as ' T h e
Priest's Supper', ' T h e L e g e n d of Knockgraf-
YEATS, W I L L I A M B U T L E R (1865—1939), Irish ton', 'Master and Man', and ' T h e Giant's
poet, dramatist, prose writer and anthologist. Stairs', originated in T h o m a s Crofton b r o k ­
H e w a s born in D u b l i n and spent part o f his er's seminal three-volume collection Fairy Le­
childhood and adolescence there, the remain­ gends and Traditions of the South of Ireland
der being divided between L o n d o n and the ( 1 8 2 5 - 8 ) , the source most often used b y Yeats.
west o f Ireland, particularly C o u n t y S l i g o , ' T h e Confessions o f T o m B o u r k e ' , another
w h e r e his mother's family, the Pollexfens, story originating in C r o k e r , appeared in both
lived. It w a s in S l i g o , a part o f the country es­ Y e a t s ' s Fairy and Folk Tales and in his Repre­
pecially rich in local legend and folklore, that sentative Irish Tales (1891), as did an a n o n y m ­
he w a s first attracted to the w o r l d o f Irish trad­ ous story entitled ' T h e J a c k d a w ' . (Otherwise,
itional story. T h i s interest, w h i l e it remained Representative Irish Tales is an anthology, pub­
with him throughout his life and writings, w a s lished originally in two volumes o f 19th-cen­
to be o f major importance in his earliest w o r k , tury Irish fiction, b y authors such as Carleton,
w h i c h began to be published from 1885 on­ L o v e r , and Griffin.)
w a r d s . T h e success o f this early w o r k , added to Irish Fairy Tales, Y e a t s ' s second compilation
his involvement in the foundation o f the A b b e y o f traditional material, appeared in 1892. A
T h e a t r e , soon ensured for Y e a t s a role as prin­ prefatory note expressed the hope that this v o l ­
cipal figure o f the Irish literary revival. T h i s ume and its Fairy and Folk Tales predecessor
m o v e m e n t had as one o f its main goals the res­ w o u l d comprise 'a fairly representative collec­
toration o f Ireland's cultural heritage, a restor­ tion o f Irish folk tales', a phrase which, in
ation w h i c h i n v o l v e d a r e d i s c o v e r y o f its Y e a t s ' s interpretation, stood in both books for
ancient G a e l i c sagas and a recognition o f the an eclectic mixture o f content, even managing
strength and colour o f its folklore. W h i l e in to encompass poems b y himself and others
m a n y o f its manifestations this vibrant indigen­ which dealt with fairy lore. In Irish Fairy Tales
ous folklore exerted a powerful influence on the 14 stories are grouped into four sections,
Y e a t s , he w a s initially d r a w n most o f all to its which feature land and water fairies, evil
f a i r y - w o r l d dimension. spirits, cats, kings, and warriors. C r o k e r is
N u m e r o u s references to this other-world drawn on for three o f t h e s e — ' T h e Y o u n g
domain are to be found in the poems from his Piper', ' T e i g u e of the L e e ' , and ' T h e L a d y of
first collections, starting with The Wanderings G o l l e r u s ' — b u t perhaps the most impressive is
of Oisin and other Poems (1889). O n e o f the ' T h e Man w h o N e v e r K n e w F e a r ' , a previous­
'other p o e m s ' in this collection, ' T h e Stolen l y unpublished story specially translated for
C h i l d ' , set the note o f wistful l o n g i n g w h i c h Y e a t s b y D o u g l a s H y d e from Irish. T h e intro­
came to be associated with much o f his writing ductions and notes which Y e a t s provided for
on fairy themes; such w o r k , in his o w n phrase, both o f these v o l u m e s are important not only
constituted the c r y o f the heart against neces­ for g i v i n g insights into the methodology and
sity. It w a s , h o w e v e r , in his role as anthologist rationale behind Y e a t s ' s selections, but also for
that Y e a t s brought his fascination with the evincing his sense o f commitment to the task in
Irish supernatural to a w i d e r audience. hand and his gratitude to the individual story­
His first compilation, Fairy and Folk Tales of tellers at w h o s e feet he had sat and listened.
the Irish Peasantry (1888) comprises some 60 T h e s e storytellers' unquestioning belief in the
items, d r a w n from a w i d e diversity o f oral and existence o f the creatures w h o populated their
written sources, frequently re-tailored to suit stories led Y e a t s to share a vision of a land
Y e a t s ' s o w n purpose in p r o v i d i n g evidence o f w h e r e , contrary to what might have happened
his country's rich imaginative store o f story. It elsewhere, the fairies w e r e still extant.
559 YOLEN, JANE

It is v e r y much the same attitude w h i c h ing to a C h i n a t o w n bilingual school shaped the

underpins Y e a t s ' s The Celtic Twilight, first cultural open-mindedness and the attentiveness
published in 1893 and reissued and enlarged in to outsiders w h i c h characterize his w o r k s .
1902. Here he assembled anecdotes and stories Y e p ' s recurring theme is acculturation, and
which he himself had collected, principally in dragons are the m a g i c o r creative embodiment
C o u n t y G a l w a y and often with the help o f o f the fear and w o n d e r that such a challenge
L a d y A u g u s t a G r e g o r y , interspersing the nar­ entails.
ratives with his o w n ruminations and c o m m e n ­ W h i l e Sweetwater (1973) takes u p the e n ­
taries. T h e tone m a y be light and counter with the alien in a science-fiction c o n ­
conversational, but it does not detract from the text, later w o r k s (Dragon of the Lost Sea, 1982,
eloquence o f many o f the tales o r from their Dragon Steel, 1985, and Dragon Cauldron, 1991)
universal application. O n e o f the most endur­ recount Princess S h i m m e r ' s quest for a lost
ing o f these achievements is the story ' D r e a m s h o m e b y m i x i n g fantasy and Chinese m y t h ­
that H a v e N o M o r a l ' , described b y Y e a t s him­ ology. T h e award-winning Dragonwings
self as ' o n e o f those rambling moralless tales, (1976) approaches the questions o f Chinese
which are the delight o f the p o o r and the hard- A m e r i c a n identity more specifically and also
driven, w h e r e v e r life is left in its natural sim­ represents the first o f Y e p ' s efforts to write a
plicity'. T h e most personal o f the anecdotes is 'child's version o f history', a m o r e intimate and
to be found in ' R e g i n a , R e g i n a P i g m e o r u m , concrete history, as he states in the essay
V e n i ' , where Y e a t s recounts a meeting on ' a far ' G r e e n C h o r d ' . L a t e r historical n o v e l s include
western sandy shore' with a fairy troop, pre­ Child of the Owl (1977), set in the C h i n a t o w n o f
sided o v e r b y a queen w h o s e departing w o r d s Y e p ' s youth; The Serpent's Children (1984), r e ­
are a recommendation to the humans not to counting a rebellion in 19th-century C h i n a ;
'seek to k n o w too much about us'. ( T h e inci­ and The Star Fisher (1991), w h i c h retells his
dent which g a v e rise to this retelling w a s first mother's childhood experiences in 1927 W e s t
described in a letter written in October 1892 to V i r g i n i a . Directed specifically at teens, Ameri­
Richard L e Gallienne.) RD can Dragons: Twenty-Five Asian American
Deane, Seamus, Strange Country (1997). Voices (1995) extends Y e p ' s pursuit o f a histor­
Foster, John Wilson, Fictions of the Irish Literary ical tradition to literature; the collection i n ­
Revival (1987). cludes poems, short stories, and essays about
Kelly, John and Domville, Eric (eds.), The diverse A s i a n A m e r i c a n expressions o f the
Collected Letters of IV. B. Yeats, i. 1865—1895
l o n g i n g for h o m e .
(1986).
Kiberd, Declan, Inventing Ireland (1995). Y e p ' s first powerful retelling o f folk tales,
Thuente, Mary Helen, W. B. Yeats and Irish The Rainbow People (1989), gathers 20 stories
Folklore (1980). told b y Chinese A m e r i c a n immigrants in the
1930s. W h i l e in most cases the setting is mythic
' Y E L L O W D W A R F , T H E ' , a tale in d'*Aulnoy's China, the tales help us envision the 'strategies
Contes nouveaux ou les fées à la mode (New for l i v i n g ' o f the men in C h i n a t o w n . A second
Tales, or Fairies in Fashion, 1698) that incorp­ collection o f 17 tales, Tongues of Jade, followed
orates many folkloric motifs, including a prin­ in 1991. A m o n g his other retold folk tales are
cess indifferent to l o v e , a pact with a witty and imaginative picture b o o k s for y o u n g ­
demon-like figure, a quest to free a captive er children such as The Man who Tricked a
lover, as well as a (relatively rare) tragic end­ Ghost (1993), Butterfly Boy (1993), The Shell
ing. A l t h o u g h aspects o f this tale resemble an Woman and the King: A Chinese Folktale
episode o f *Spenser's Faerie Queene (1590—6), (1993), and Tiger Woman (1996). B y p r i v i l e g ­
d ' A u l n o y seems to h a v e created the basic plot ing trickster stories, Y e p breaks a w a y from the
on her o w n , and not from oral o r literary trad­ stereotype o f Chinese passivity. CB
itions. T h i s story w a s particularly popular in
19th-century E n g l a n d , w h e r e it w a s the subject Y O L E N , JANE ( 1 9 3 9 - ) , A m e r i c a n poet, p l a y ­
of chapbooks and saw numerous performances w r i g h t , and writer and editor o f children's
as a pantomime. LCS b o o k s , fantasy, and science fiction, w h o is one
o f the most prolific and experimental writers o f
YEP, LAURENCE (1948- ) , versatile A s i a n fairy tales o n the contemporary scene. After
American author for y o u n g adults and chil­ graduating from Smith C o l l e g e in i960 and
dren. Y e p ' s experience as a third-generation w o r k i n g for different publishing houses, Y o l e n
Chinese A m e r i c a n g r o w i n g up in a Black turned to full-time professional writing in 1965.
neighbourhood o f San Francisco and commut­ H e r first b o o k w a s a delightful comical fairy
YOLEN, JANE 560

tale for children, The Witch who Wasn't (1964), the youngest daughter o f a family of fairies and
and since this first publication, she has g o n e on produces a philosophical critique of decadent
to publish well o v e r 250 titles, including such m o n a r c h y in the name o f democracy. T h o u g h
important non-fiction b o o k s as Touch Magic- not a writer with a strong ideological bent,
Fantasy, Faerie, and Folktale in the Literature of Y o l e n has been influenced b y the feminist
Childhood (1981). She has also produced film m o v e m e n t , and one of her major achievements
scripts and cassettes based on her w o r k . has been to subvert the male discourse that has
O n e o f Y o l e n ' s main goals has been to re­ dominated the fairy tale as genre so that the
capture the flavour and spirit o f the oral trad­ repressed concerns of w o m e n are addressed,
ition in her literary fairy tales. She writes with and the predictable happy endings that signify
grace and painstaking care to create tales that male h e g e m o n y and closure are exploded or
e v o k e the atmosphere o f l o n g a g o and other placed into question. T h u s , in ' T h e White Seal
w o r l d s , and she prefers to use metaphors and Maid' and ' T h e L a d y and the Merman', she has
s y m b o l s in unusual combinations that produce her female protagonists seek refuge in their
n e w associations. A l t h o u g h she has adapted origins, the sea, which represents for Y o l e n the
numerous folk tales and classical fairy tales, her essence o f restlessness, change, tenderness, and
best w o r k can be seen in the fairy tales she her­ humanity.
self has created in such b o o k s as The Girl who T w o o f her fantasy b o o k s , The Devil's Arith­
Loved the Wind (1972), The Girl who Cried metic (1998) and Briar Rose (1992), have the
Flowers and Other Tales (1976), The Moon Rib­ Holocaust as their theme. T h e latter makes use
bon and Other Tales (1976), The Lady and the
o f 'Sleeping B e a u t y ' as the granddaughter of a
Merman (1977), The Hundredth Dove and Other
Holocaust victim tries to make sense out of her
Tales (1977), Dream Weaver (1979), Sleeping
grandmother's strange retelling of 'Sleeping
Ugly (1981), Tales of Wonder (1983), Dragon-
B e a u t y ' and discovers h o w her grandmother
field and Other Stories (1985), The Faery Flag
had been gassed and revived to survive the
(1989), The Dragon's Boy (1990), The Girl in
Nazi destruction o f the J e w s .
the Golden Bower (1995), and Child of Faerie
In some of her other w o r k s , Y o l e n has
(1996).
sought to revise the myths o f Merlin and
G i v e n her comprehensive k n o w l e d g e o f folk
Arthur, and in her science-fiction/fantasy
and fairy tales throughout the w o r l d — s h e has
novels and stories she often experiments with
also edited an important collection o f tales en­
shifting narrative voices and perspectives as
titled Favorite Folktales from Around the World
well as with time slips. F r o m 1990 to 1996 she
( 1 9 8 6 ) — Y o l e n has subtly altered m a n y p o p u ­
developed her o w n imprint at Harcourt Brace
lar tales to undermine and p r o v o k e audience
to publish fairy-tale novels and w o r k s of fan­
expectations in tales that appeal both to adults
tasy b y other authors and continued this series
and y o u n g readers. S u c h stories as ' M o o n R i b ­
at T A R B o o k s . N o t only has Y o l e n made high­
b o n ' , ' B r o t h e r Hart', ' T h e Thirteenth F e y ' ,
ly original contributions to develop the fairy­
' H a p p y D e n s , o r A D a y in the O l d W o l v e s
tale genre, but she has also encouraged and
H o m e ' and ' T h e U n d i n e ' contain startling
supported y o u n g e r writers to produce innova­
metaphors and unusual plots that place trad­
tive w o r k in the field. JZ
itional tales and their meaning in question. F o r
instance, in *'Undine' Y o l e n emphasizes the 'An Interview with Jane Yolen', Mythlore, 13
notion o f male betrayal and female a u t o n o m y (1986).
in an implicit critique o f Hans Christian Russell, David, 'Reading the Shards and
Fragments: Holocaust Literature for Young
*Andersen's ' T h e *Little M e r m a i d ' . H e r e the
Readers', The Lion and the Unicorn, 21 (1997).
mermaid leaves the prince, w h o beckoned her,
Weil, Ellen R., 'The Door to Lilith's Cave:
to return to her sisters in the sea. In ' T h e T h i r ­ Memory and Imagination in Jane Yolen's
teenth F e y ' Y o l e n recalls the story o f ""Sleep­ Holocaust Novels'', Journal of the Fantastic in the
ing B e a u t y ' through a first-person narrative o f Arts, 5 (1983).
Z E L I N S K Y , P A U L O . ( 1 9 5 3 - ) , prizewinning
American illustrator of * G r i m m s ' Tales. His
*Hansel and Gretel (1984, Caldecott Medal o f
Honor, text b y R i k a L e s s e r ) , * Rumpelstiltskin
(1986), and *Rapuniel (1997, Caldecott G o l d
Medal) incorporate an awareness o f historical
change into both text and illustration. ( T h e r e
are explanatory notes following each tale.) A s
in the early G r i m m version, his enraged R u m ­
pelstiltskin simply flies out o f the w i n d o w at
the end, leaving behind a j o y o u s miller's
daughter saved b y her faithful servant w o m a n .
With similar historicity, his Rapunzel g r o w s to developed an interest in the social and political
maturity in a 17th-century tower that reflects questions o f her d a y fostered b y close contacts
the tale's (late) 17th-century origins. RBB with Russian émigrés in G e n e v a (1903). S h e
spent W o r l d W a r I in Switzerland, studied
ZEMACH, MARGOT (1931-89), A m e r i c a n author marxist theory, and « 1 1 9 1 9 m o v e d to Frankfurt
and illustrator of more than 60 children's b o o k s am Main and joined the C o m m u n i s t P a r t y . In
including folklore, rhymes, and songs. O n e o f 1933 she emigrated to V i e n n a and fled from
her first adaptations of a folk tale, The Three there v i a P r a g u e to E n g l a n d in 1938.
Sillies (1963), provided a hint o f the future hu­ Z u r Miihlen w a s prolific as a translator and
mour, deft line, and flat colour that can be writer. She translated approximately 150 novels
found in most o f her w o r k s . Z e m a c h made from A m e r i c a n and British E n g l i s h , F r e n c h ,
hundreds o f studies in preparation for each and Russian, and w r o t e several novels and
book, including Nail Soup: A Swedish Tale Re­ radio p l a y s . Z u r Miihlen is one o f the best-
told (1964), Salt: A Russian Tale (1965), and k n o w n writers o f proletarian fairy tales from
Too Much Noise: An Italian Tale (1967). In less the W e i m a r period. H e r collections include
than a decade beginning in 1967, she illustrated Das Schloss der Wahrheit ( The Castle of Truth,
four books b y Isaac Bashevis *Singer, Ma^el 1924), Es war einmal. . . und es wird sein (Once
and Shlima^el, When Shliemiel went to Warsaw Upon a Time . . . and it Will Be, 1930), and
and Other Stories, Alone in the Wild Forest, and Schmiede der Zukunft (Smiths of the Future,
Naftali the Storyteller and his Horse, Sus, and 1933). T h e s e emancipatory tales, designed to
Other Stories. In 1994 she w a s awarded the C a l ­ socialize w o r k i n g - c l a s s children to embrace
decott Prize for Duffy and the Devil: A Cornish socialism, had a twofold task. T h e y w e r e to
Tale. KH illuminate complex social and economic condi­
tions and processes so that children could
ZINGERLE, IGNAZ VINZENZ (1825-92) and Z l N - understand them and relate to them, and they
GERLE, JOSEPH ( 1 8 3 1 - 9 1 ) , G e r m a n folklorists. w e r e to present models o f a better w o r l d .
Ignaz w a s a literary historian and poet, and G i v e n their intent, these parables, allegories,
Joseph was a priest and professor o f theology. and tales are quite didactic, yet the stories w e r e
T o g e t h e r they collected folk tales and legends told with such force that they could hold the
in southern G e r m a n y and Austria. T h e i r most attention o f their intended audience.
important collections w e r e Kinder- und Haus­ In ' D i e Brillen' ( ' T h e G l a s s e s ' ) , published in
mdrchen aus Tirol (Children and Household the collection Ali der Teppichweber (Ali, the
Tales from Tyrol, 1852) and Kinder- und Haus­ Carpet Weaver, 1923), a y o u n g hero succeeds in
mdrchen aus Siiddeutschland (Children and pulling off his glasses, glasses that present a
Household Tales from Southern Germany, 1852). false and distorted image o f the w o r l d and that
T h e i r emphasis w a s on the mythological as­ e v e r y o n e is obliged to w e a r . N o w seeing the
pects o f folk and fairy tales. JZ w o r l d as it really is, the hero convinces others
to do the same and starts a revolution against
Z U R MiJHLEN, H E R M Y N I A (1883-1951), Austrian the forces o f oppression and exploitation. T h e
translator and author o f novels, mysteries, and most b e l o v e d o f Z u r Miihlen's tales for y o u n g
proletarian fairy tales for children. B o r n a children is Was Peterchens Freunde er^dhlen
member of the A u s t r o - H u n g a r i a n nobility, Z u r (What Little Peter's Friends Tell, 1920). In this
Miihlen led a privileged life in her youth, trav­ tale, e v e r y d a y objects, including a piece o f
elling w i d e l y in E u r o p e , Africa, and the N e a r coal, matches, a bottle, and a b e d c o v e r , come
East. Despite her conservative upbringing, she alive to tell Little Peter about the conditions
ZWERGER, LlSBETH 562

under w h i c h they w e r e produced. D u r i n g the and Gretel (1979), Hans Christian "Andersen,
1920s, Z u r Miihlen's fairy tales appeared in The Swineherd (1982), J a c o b and Wilhelm
communist children's magazines before they G r i m m , *Little Red Riding Hood (1983), Oscar
appeared in b o o k form, m a n y published b y the " W i l d e , The Selfish Child (1984), Hans Chris­
Malik V e r l a g . H e r w o r k w a s rediscovered in tian A n d e r s e n , The Nightingale (1991), W i l ­
W e s t G e r m a n y in the early 1970s, influencing helm "Hauff, Dwarf Nose (1993), Clemens
the anti-authoritarian G e r m a n children's litera­ "Brentano, The Legend of Rosepetal (1995), and
ture o f that decade. EMM L . F r a n k " B a u m , The *Wiiardof 0 { (1996). In­
Dolle, Bernd, Richter, Dieter, and Zipes, Jack fluenced initially b y A r t h u r "Rackham,
(eds.), Es wird einmal. Sonale Mdrchen der Z w e r g e r has developed her o w n inimitable
pvanpger Jahre (1983).
style using pencil-and-ink and watercolour.
Karrenbrock, Helga,
Marchenkinder—Zeitgenossen. Untersuchungen iur H e r illustrations h a v e a delicate ethereal qual­
Kinderliteratur der Weimarer Republik (1995). ity to them and are distinguished b y their gen­
Zipes, Jack (ed.), Fairy Tales and Fables from tle lines and white space. T h o u g h Z w e r g e r has
Weimar Days (1989). focused mainly on the classical tradition of
fairy tales, her illustrations are often interpret­
ZWERGER, LlSBETH (1954— ) , Austrian illustra­ ations o f the w e l l - k n o w n stories that she pre­
tor, w h o has achieved international fame with sents in a n e w light with subtle changes and
her fine i n k - a n d - w a s h d r a w i n g s for classical suggestive commentaries. JZ
fairy tales. A m o n g her notable picturebooks Zwerger, Lisbeth, and Koppe, Susanne, The Art
are: E . T . A . "Hoffmann, The Strange Child of Lisbeth Zwerger (1994).
(1977), J a c o b and W i l h e l m * G r i m m , *Hansel
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CLASSICAL COLLECTIONS

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Ethnologie Française: Revue Trimestrielle de la Société d'Ethnologie Française
Fabula: Zeitschrift fiir Erjàhlforschung/Journal of FolktaleStudies/Revue d'Etudes
sur le Conte Populaire {Fabula)
Folklore and Mythology Studies
Folklore: English Monthly Devoted to the Cause of Indian Folklore Society
Folklore Historian: Journal of the Folklore and History Section of the American
Folklore Society
Germanistische Mitteilungen: Zeitschrift fur Deutsche Sprache, Literatur und Kultur
in Wissenschaft und Praxis
International Folklore Review
Journal of American Folklore
Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts
Journal of the Folklore Institute
Journal of Folklore Research
Journal of Popular Culture
Kentucky Folklore Record: A Regional Journal of Folklore and Folklife
The Lion and the Unicorn: A Critical Journal of Children's Literature
Louisiana Folklore Miscellany
Marvels and Tales
Medieval Folklore
Merveilles et Contes
Mid-America Folklore
Midwestern Folklore
Mythlore: A Journal ofJ. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and the
Genres of Myth and Fantasy
New York Folklore Quarterly
North Carolina Folklore Journal
North Wind: Journal of the George MacDonald Society
Phaedrus: An International Annual of Children's Literature Research
Présence Africaine: Revue Culturelle du Monde Noir/Cultural Review of the Negro
World
Revista de Dialectologia y Tradiciones Populares
Revista Iberoamericana
Schlesien: Arts, Science, Folklore
Sinsear: The Folklore Journal
Southern Folklore
Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin
Western Folklore
Yed'a- 'Am/Yeda-Am: Bamah le-Folklor Yehudi/Journal of the Israel Folklore
Society
 P i c t u r e A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s

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