Twenty-one essays examine the genre of fairy tales, covering their characteristics, their influence on literature, fairy tale analysis, assessment of the genre, and fairy tale writers and collections; also includes a chronology and a bibliography.
Content Note
Foreword -- Introduction -- 1. Characteristics of the genre -- Defining fairy tales / Marcia Lane ; Studying the fairy tale / Alan Dundes ; Central themes of classical fairy tales / Max Luthi ; Meaning of enchantment / Iona & Peter Opie ; Heroes and heroines in Grimms' fairy tales / Maria Tatar -- 2. Writers and collections of fairy tales -- Charles Perrault's Mother Goose tales / Michael Patrick Hearn ; Grimms' household tales / Linda Degh ; Hans Christian Andersen / Sven H. Rossel ; Frank Stockton, American pioneer of fairy tales / Jack Zipes -- 3. Analyzing fairy tales -- Characters and characterization in Beauty and the beast / Betsy Hearne ; Little Red Riding Hood : victim of the revisers / Carole & D.T. Hanks Jr. ; Structure and themes in Snow White / Steven Swann Jones ; America's Cinderella / Jane Yolen -- 4. Influence on literature -- Charles Dickens and the fairy tale as social commentary / Michael Kotzin ; Modern anti-fairy tale poetry / Wolfgang Mieder ; Contemporary feminist fairy tales / Sheldon Cashdan ; Fairy tales are an ideal literary form / C.S. Lewis -- 5. Assessment of the genre -- Fairy tales promote self-discovery / Bruno Bettelheim ; Fairy tales send the wrong message / Robert Moore ; Fairy tales can provide a positive social vision / Marina Warner ; Fairy tales are cathartic / Jane Yolen.