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Author
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Comment
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atrayu
Registered User
(2/16/04 12:34 pm)
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The Uses of Enchantment-Meaning in Fairy Tales by Bettelheim
Hello,
I'm reading this book right now. Anyone else read this book? Comments?
Cheers,
Atrayu
Edited by: atrayu at: 2/16/04 12:37 pm
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Jess
Unregistered User
(2/17/04 9:43 am)
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Look through the archives
I know you will find enumerable comments about that book, but perhaps you ought to finish it first. What is your opinion? Are you reading it for fun, or for a class, or both?
Jess
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janeyolen
Registered User
(2/17/04 2:02 pm)
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Re: Look through the archives
Read it with a VERY large grain of salt clutched in your left hand.
It is Freudian and didactic. But it did break open the field for the rest of us.
Jane Yolen
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atrayu
Registered User
(2/17/04 4:21 pm)
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Re: Look through the archives
I'm reading it as much as I can along with school work, but it's extra. I'm finding that it's really Freudian, as mentioned! Perhaps this is a dumb question, but I'm new to this area of study, so, what other ways are there to interpret fairy tales other than with some kind of Freudian perspective?
I'll look through the archives and see what I find...
Thanks!
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Veronica
Schanoes
Registered User
(2/17/04 10:25 pm)
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Re: The Uses of Enchantment-Meaning in Fairy Tales by Bettel
Lots of different ways, I think. Psychoanalytic is one of the most popular, but by no means the only, right? Folklorists and anthropologists often study the social context of the time and place in which a given fairy tale arises or changes as a way to understand what kinds of meanings are encoded in the tale (Jack Zipes is someone to look at). Feminist readers can use a number of different approaches to think about gender roles in the tales. Lit-crit (close reading) can be used to study a given version of a tale. What else?
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catja1
Registered User
(2/17/04 11:07 pm)
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Bettelheim
Here's a discussion about Bettelheim that happened a couple years ago:
www.surlalunefairytales.c...dvice.html
While my comments about Bettelheim still stand, I'd like to add
that I've since reread _Women Who Run With the Wolves_ several times,
and each time have been more impressed: CPE is extremely careful
about versions and variants, and never reductive. She sets up a
good system for using fairy tales "to think with," rather
than treating psychology as the ultimate decoder ring -- the chief
problem with psychoanalytic criticism of anything, but especially
folklore. Folklorists don't much like any theoretical system that
demands that ultimate authority be placed in the theory, rather
than the collected material, if that makes sense.
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Heather
KT
Registered User
(2/18/04 11:55 am)
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Re: Bettelheim
Also, to get a quick read on the various critical treatments of specific stories, you might check out de Vos & Altmann's book "New Tales for Old, Folktales as Literary Fictions for Young Adults." I think they summarize 10-15 different critics analyzing Cinderella, for example, which makes a good jumping-off point for further research.
Heather Tomlinson
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catja1
Registered User
(2/18/04 7:40 pm)
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de Vos and Altmann
Oh yes, that's a terrific resource, as is the sequel, _Tales, Then and Now_.
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atrayu
Registered User
(2/19/04 12:39 am)
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Re: de Vos and Altmann
Hey thanks for the link and suggestions. I am keeping an ongoing list of books to buy and I've written down everything that's been suggested.
-Atrayu
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Rosemary
Lake
Registered User
(2/24/04 10:05 pm)
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von Franz
For a psychoanalytic view that isn't Freudian, see Maria von Franz.
As for Bettelheim, I like some of the patterns he sees within the stories. His 'greatest fear solved by greatest hope' does seem pretty accurate. But I wish he'd read Alice Miller instead of Freud!
I like how both Bettelheim and von Franz see a single archetype sometimes appearing as several different characters within the story. Eg, in Hansel and Gretal, they kill the witch and then go home to find the stepmother has luckily died also. I remember talk about images working the same way: juxtaposition rather than logical connection.
There's a bit of a problem when psychologists seem to generalize about 'the' folktale etc. Their theories are interesting and fit some tales, perhaps even the most popular tales within their cultures. But there are other tales they don't know, that would blow apart the theories as stated. Eg, some theory about Sleeping Beauty as female something or other, ignorant of versions where the sleeper is male and the hero/seeker is female.
R.L.
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