Fairy Tale

Description

This volume offers a comprehensive critical and theoretical introduction to the genre of the fairy tale. It: - explores the ways in which folklorists have defined the genre; - assesses the various methodologies used in the analysis and interpretation of fairy tale; - provides a detailed account of the historical development of the fairy tale as a literary form; - engages with the major ideological controversies that have shaped critical and creative approaches to fairy tales in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; - demonstrates that the fairy tale is a highly metamorphic genre that has flourished in diverse media, including oral tradition, literature, film, and the visual arts. A clear and illuminating guide, Fairy Tale offers an essential resource for the field. Series editor’s preface viii Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 1. Definitions 10 2. The emergence of a literary genre: Early Modern Italy to the French salon 38 3. The consolidation of a genre: the Brothers Grimm to Hans Christian Andersen 61 4. The emergence of fairy-tale theory: Plato to Propp 83 5. Psychoanalysis, history and ideology: twentieth- and twenty-first-century approaches to fairy tale 109 Conclusion 140 Glossary 144 Bibliography 152 Index 160