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Author
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Comment
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DividedSelf
Registered User
(8/8/05 1:06 pm)
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Fairy tale collections?
Can anyone recommend a good collection of tales, traditional or modern, in which (a) weak/passive roles are not determined by either gender, (b) weakness/passivity, where they appear, form part of the problem to be resolved AND (c) the spirit and flavour of the traditional tales is preserved - i.e. without irony?
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Veronica Schanoes
Registered User
(8/8/05 5:39 pm)
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Re: Fairy tale collections?
You might try Maid
of the North. The first and last criteria you're looking for
shouldn't be too much of a problem--it's the middle one that I'm
not quite sure about. I can't think of that many folktales that
address passivity as a problem, but I'm sure that others can!
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Rosemary Lake
Registered User
(8/8/05 6:43 pm)
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Fairy tale collections
I don't usually mention my own set here, but I was really struck by your third criterion and your 'send a message' link didn't work for me.
www.rosemarylake.com/#feminist
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DividedSelf
Registered User
(8/12/05 4:36 am)
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Re: Fairy tale collections
Thanks for these. And Rosemary, your site looks really useful, thanks... I didn't know I had a "send a message link" - which may be why it wasn't working!
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darklingthrush
Registered User
(8/15/05 9:07 am)
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Re: Fairy tale collections
It doesn't quite fit your criteria but is a fun little collection
nonetheless that I loved as a child: The
Practical Princess and other Liberating fairy Tales I can't
help but wonder if I wasn't just a bit taken with the silhouette
illustrations that are (now I realize) reminiscent of Arthur Rakham.
At any rate, the book does strive to turn fairy tales on their head
a bit. So in that sense, they aren't quite what you are looking
for.
I picked this up from a reviewer on Amazon of one of the stories included in Practical Princess. I guess it was released originally by itself. But the review gives you a much better idea about what the stories are like. I do love the fact that my mother has kept this collection and loved to share it with us. Here's the review (excuse the length):
Reviewer: Bookwriter (Massachussetts, United States)
- See all my reviews
A classic fairy tale setting is turned inside out in this story of strong-willed princess Petronella, brought back into print after more than 20 years by startup children's publisher Moon Mountain Publishing.
In the kingdom of Skyclear Mountain, three princes are always born to the king and queen--until the day when the youngest prince turns out to be a girl, Petronella. When the time comes for her elder brothers to go off to seek their fortunes, everyone expects Petronella to stay home and wait for a prince to turn up and marry her. But Petronella has other plans. She sets off on her own quest, which brings her to the house of Albion, a sinister enchanter. There she finds a prince, Ferdinand of Firebright, apparently in need of rescue. Ferdinand isn't exactly what Petronella expected--in fact, he's a bit of a boob--but she sets out to save him anyway, with results that delightfully confound the reader's expectations.
Jay Williams, author of more than 80 books for children and adults, didn't set out to write a feminist fairy tale. According to his daughter, he was simply responding to a request from his children to think up a story where the princess, for once, took an active role. But Petronella, first published in 1973, came at just the right moment to be embraced by the women's movement. Its portrayal of an assertive female protagonist and reversal of gender stereotypes--relatively rare in children's fiction at the time--won it wide attention, and it was much-reviewed and extensively anthologized before falling of print (and out of fashion) in the late 1970's.
These days, strong heroines and gender reversals are commonplace,
in children's fiction as elsewhere, and Williams' scenario no longer
seems radical or even particularly surprising. Far from diminishing
Petronella's appeal, however, this shedding of political baggage
makes it possible to see just how charming the book really is, with
its engaging characters, amusing dialogue, clever situations, and
flowing, supple prose.
Edited by: darklingthrush at: 8/15/05 9:17 am
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