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Twice upon a Time: Women Writers and the History of the Fairy Tale
Fairy tales, often said to be ''timeless'' and fundamentally ''oral,'' have a long written history. However, argues Elizabeth Wanning Harries in this provocative book, a vital part of this history has fallen by the wayside. The short, subtly didactic fairy tales of Charles Perrault and the Grimms have determined our notions about what fairy tales should be like. Harries argues that alongside these ''compact'' tales there exists another, ''complex'' tales written in France by the conteuses (storytelling women) in the 1690s and the late-twentieth-century tales by women writers that derive in part from this centuries-old tradition.
Grounded firmly in social history and set in lucid prose, Twice upon a Time refocuses the lens through which we look at fairy tales. The conteuses saw their tales as amusements for sophisticated adults in the salon, not for children. Self-referential, frequently parodic, and set in elaborate frames, their works often criticize the social expectations that determined the lives of women at the court of Louis XIV.
After examining the evolution of the ''Anglo-American'' fairy tale and its place in this variegated history, Harries devotes the rest of her book to recent women writers--A. S. Byatt, Anne Sexton, Angela Carter, and Emma Donoghue among them--who have returned to fairy-tale motifs so as to challenge modern-day gender expectations. Late-twentieth-century tales, like the conteuses', force us to rethink our conception of fairy tales and of their history.
Grounded firmly in social history and set in lucid prose, Twice upon a Time refocuses the lens through which we look at fairy tales. The conteuses saw their tales as amusements for sophisticated adults in the salon, not for children. Self-referential, frequently parodic, and set in elaborate frames, their works often criticize the social expectations that determined the lives of women at the court of Louis XIV.
After examining the evolution of the ''Anglo-American'' fairy tale and its place in this variegated history, Harries devotes the rest of her book to recent women writers--A. S. Byatt, Anne Sexton, Angela Carter, and Emma Donoghue among them--who have returned to fairy-tale motifs so as to challenge modern-day gender expectations. Late-twentieth-century tales, like the conteuses', force us to rethink our conception of fairy tales and of their history.
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 20, 2012
Where do fairy tales come from? Most of us would say that they are folktales that developed in pre-modern times and were latter captured in print by people like the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault in the 18th and early 19th Centuries.
In "Twice Upon a Time; Women Writers and the History of the Fairy Tale," Elizabeth Wanning Harries makes a strong argument to the contrary. She does not find evidence to support the existence of most of the tales that make up the Western canon of fairy tales prior to the 1690s. Rather than rising out of the oral culture of European peasantry, Harries says these tales seem to have come from the vibrant salon culture of pre-Revolutionary France, and was shaped largely by educated female authors. Later, male writers - who were taken more seriously by the literate masses of the time - developed the classic form of the fairy tale as simple moral tales told by the lower classes.
Harries thesis does not come off as a feminist rant. She draws clear and convincing lines between female fairy tale authors and their male contemporaries, shows how the details and themes of the stories differed between genders, and discusses the difficulties in studying the oral cultures, peasant or aristocratic. The final section of the book, which looks at the different methods past and contemporary female authors and artists have used to "frame" fairy tale narratives, was not as interesting to me personally, but could be useful for authors looking for ways to build stories within that genre.
In "Twice Upon a Time; Women Writers and the History of the Fairy Tale," Elizabeth Wanning Harries makes a strong argument to the contrary. She does not find evidence to support the existence of most of the tales that make up the Western canon of fairy tales prior to the 1690s. Rather than rising out of the oral culture of European peasantry, Harries says these tales seem to have come from the vibrant salon culture of pre-Revolutionary France, and was shaped largely by educated female authors. Later, male writers - who were taken more seriously by the literate masses of the time - developed the classic form of the fairy tale as simple moral tales told by the lower classes.
Harries thesis does not come off as a feminist rant. She draws clear and convincing lines between female fairy tale authors and their male contemporaries, shows how the details and themes of the stories differed between genders, and discusses the difficulties in studying the oral cultures, peasant or aristocratic. The final section of the book, which looks at the different methods past and contemporary female authors and artists have used to "frame" fairy tale narratives, was not as interesting to me personally, but could be useful for authors looking for ways to build stories within that genre.
October 2, 2020
I really enjoyed this book, I just wish it was longer.
It's about the history of fairly tales, and by history, I mean, as usual, the official history that's been written by those on power, thus, men; while at the same time demythologizing what's come to be known as fairy tales, this whole notion that they're oral stories, arcane, natural, universal, etc, etc, etc. Which is obviously a construct that serves certain ideology and that, once more as it happens with most canons, excludes even the slightest glimpse of independent, educated, capable, strong women, both in its history (authors) and stories (characters)
The author focuses on the French fairy tale female writers contemporary to Perrault as an alternative to that official romanticized, simple and educative model of the fairy tale we recognize as "original" today, authors that have been systematically erased, ghosted from history –as it's clear from my attempt to find any decent edition of their printed stories– while analyzing some of the most popular writers (and other artists) that worked with fairy tales and their strategies over the last 50 years or so: Carter, Atwood, Sexton and others.
It's about the history of fairly tales, and by history, I mean, as usual, the official history that's been written by those on power, thus, men; while at the same time demythologizing what's come to be known as fairy tales, this whole notion that they're oral stories, arcane, natural, universal, etc, etc, etc. Which is obviously a construct that serves certain ideology and that, once more as it happens with most canons, excludes even the slightest glimpse of independent, educated, capable, strong women, both in its history (authors) and stories (characters)
The author focuses on the French fairy tale female writers contemporary to Perrault as an alternative to that official romanticized, simple and educative model of the fairy tale we recognize as "original" today, authors that have been systematically erased, ghosted from history –as it's clear from my attempt to find any decent edition of their printed stories– while analyzing some of the most popular writers (and other artists) that worked with fairy tales and their strategies over the last 50 years or so: Carter, Atwood, Sexton and others.
October 19, 2008
Twice Upon a Time takes a look at the women writers of fairy tales. The book focuses mostly on the French women writers from the salons and 20th writers such as Sexton and Carter. Harries doesn't not give biographies of the writers; she is looking more at how the women write fairy tales, and, at least with French salon writers, why thier tales have never been as well known or as popular as male writers.
February 13, 2015
While the individual chapters were quite interesting (especially the first two, although I started to read this because of the last two) I felt like the overall argument of this work wasn't entirely clear - the book, if not the chapters, lacked some coherence. It actually seemed as if Harries had a lot more to say but she didn't have the space. Also maybe not the best introduction to folklore/fairy tale studies, but that's my own fault.
February 23, 2015
I need to update this to 5 stars: this book is invaluable for research. So many wonderful references to dig up, and Harries is so good at making a point.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews