Prof. Rubenstein - Eng. 102 - SPRING 2023; Fairy Tales: Books in the Library

The great child psychologist gives us a moving revelation of the enormous and irreplaceable value of fairy tales - how they educate, support and liberate the emotions of children.

Cashdan argues that fairy tales “help children deal with classic psychological conflicts . . . by projecting the child’s own internal struggle between good and evil onto the battles between the characters in the stories. Cinderella, Rumpelstilskin, and Pinocchio vividly dramatize envy, deceit, gluttony, lust, and sloth, giving children a safe stage on which to confront their own ‘deadly sins.’”

What is a fairy tale and what do they try to communicate to us? Based on folklore and myth, their inspiration is built upon nature, the supernatural, imagination, fantasy and psychoanalysis. Warner explores tales from different ages and cultures including classics: Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel and The Little Mermaid.

National Book Award-winning poet and author Robert Bly revisits a selection of fairy tales and examines how these enduring narratives capture the essence of human nature. Bly analyzes six stories that have stood the test of time from "The Six Swans" to "The Frog Prince," bringing new meaning and illumination to these timeless tales.

This collection of 160 tales represents such diverse stories as American Indian legends and others from the Brothers Grimm.

The fairy tale may be one of the most important cultural and social influences on children's lives. But until Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion, little attention had been paid to the ways in which the writers and collectors of tales used traditional forms and genres in order to shape children's lives and their behavior, values, and relationship to society. As Jack Zipes convincingly shows, fairy tales have always been a powerful discourse, capable of being used to shape or destabilize attitudes and behavior within culture.

Scholars from a range of academic disciplines explore the historical origins, cultural dissemination and psychological power of fairy stories, and offer model interpretations of tales from a variety of traditions and sources.

An introductory overview sets the subject in its historical and literary context, and special survey articles explore the development of the fairy-tale tradition, focusing on European and North American traditions. Includes a detailed bibliography to aid in further research.

Using eight classic stories as examples, this book discusses how fairy tales deal with difficult emotions, such as anxiety, fear, and angst.