From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers

$45.00

Marina Warner

Fary tales are part of our common language.

'Cinderella', 'Beauty and the Beast', and 'The Little Mermaid are among the most popular stories in the world, known to children everywhere, and never completely forgotten or outgrown. Familiar across centuries and continents, they respond to different situations with different stratagems, both fantastic and practical. And the pleasures of fairy tales have always been connected in different ways to women, as both the tellers of the tales and their heroines, as Mother Goose, the Fairy Queen or Little Red Riding Hood.

Marina Warner

Fary tales are part of our common language.

'Cinderella', 'Beauty and the Beast', and 'The Little Mermaid are among the most popular stories in the world, known to children everywhere, and never completely forgotten or outgrown. Familiar across centuries and continents, they respond to different situations with different stratagems, both fantastic and practical. And the pleasures of fairy tales have always been connected in different ways to women, as both the tellers of the tales and their heroines, as Mother Goose, the Fairy Queen or Little Red Riding Hood.

In this landmark study of the history and meaning of fairy tales, the celebrated cultural critic Marina Warner looks at storytelling in art and legend – from the prophesying enchantress who lures men to a false paradise, to jolly Mother Goose with her masqueraders in the real world. Why are storytellers so often women, and how does that affect the status of fairy tales. Are they a source of wisdom or a misleading temptation to indulge romancing.

Warner interprets the history of old wives’ tales from sibyls and the Queen of Sheba to Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Angela Carter. And with fresh new insights she shows us the real-life themes in the famous stories, which, she suggests, are skillful vehicles by which adults have liked to convey advice, warning, and hope – to each other as well as to children.

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