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Author
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Comment
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sarah bruton
Unregistered User
(1/16/03 11:16:51 am)
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fairy tale plots/ motifs
I am starting to research an essay about the ways in which fairy tale plots and patterns become intergrated into other literature.
The example that started me off is the cinderella plot in Jane Eyre. Can anyone think of any others?
Particularly in children's literature
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Helen
Registered User
(1/16/03 11:46:45 am)
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Re: fairy tale plots/ motifs
Dear Sarah:
Well, _Jane Eyre_ has actually been compared to both Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast. In children's literature, would you be focusing on conscious retellings (there's a previous thread on a related topic in which someone - Catja? - posted a tremendously detailed bibliography of fairy tale retellings in children's lit. that had resulted from her doctoral work) or rather on books that almost unintentionally follow familiar structures? In other literature, much of Dickens' work contains fairy tale themes and references ... am a bit brain dead today from lack of sleep, but will see what else pops to mind.
Best,
Helen
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swood
Unregistered User
(1/17/03 6:21:11 am)
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fairytale adaptations
I can't find the post, but I do have the list, which I copied down because it has a lot of things I hadn't read. Would it be appropriate for me to repost it?
Sarah
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Kevin
Smith
Registered User
(1/20/03 2:11:36 am)
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Perhaps a narrower focus?
Hi,
I think you may need to narrow your focus. There are literally thousands of stories that are influenced in some way by the fairy tale, from Jane Eyre to Great Expectations to Midnight's Children, Nights at the Circus and The Handmaid's Tale (to name a few of my favourites).
You might find it more useful to focus on one or two fairy tales. I'd also question the focus on children's literature, because its only recently that the re-writing of fairy tales has really taken off (post second wave feminism leading to feminist re-interpretations of patriarchal fairy tales, like for example Cinderella- See Zipes _Don't Bet on the Prince_).
The best version of Cinderella i can think of at the moment is Terry Pratchett's _Witches Abroad_. It's not, strictly speaking, a children's book but I don't put much faith in ghettoising certain books as 'for children'. Definitely worth a look though.
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