The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm: A Norton Critical Edition

by Jack D. Zipes (Editor)

The first edition of its kind, The Great Fairy Tale Tradition is indispensable for students of fairy tales. The tales―116 in all―are thematically grouped. Each grouping is introduced and annotated by Jack Zipes, the genre’s reigning expert. Twenty illustrations accompany the texts.

"Criticism" includes seven important assessments of different aspects of the fairy tale tradition, written by W. G. Waters, Benedetto Croce, Lewis Seifert, Patricia Hannon, Harry Velten, Siegfried Neumann, and Jack Zipes.

Brief biographies of the storytellers and a Selected Bibliography are included.

Genres: Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Folklore, Short Stories, Reference, Fiction, Classics

991 pages, Paperback

First published November 2, 2000

About the author

Jack David Zipes is a retired Professor of German at the University of Minnesota. He has published and lectured extensively on the subject of fairy tales, their linguistic roots, and argued that they have a "socialization function". According to Zipes, fairy tales "serve a meaningful social function, not just for compensation but for revelation: the worlds projected by the best of our fairy tales reveal the gaps between truth and falsehood in our immediate society." His arguments are avowedly based on the neo-Marxist critical theory of the Frankfurt School.

Zipes enjoys using droll titles for his works like Don't Bet on the Prince and The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Ridinghood.

He completed a PhD in comparative literature at Columbia University. Zipes taught at various institutions before heading German language studies at the University of Minnesota. He has retranslation of the complete fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.

Reviews

[Mike Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, along with the anthology by Maria Tatar, was the "textbook" to a fairytale symposium I took a few summers ago while on vacation. It has just about everything one would ask for in a book on folklore with useful commentary throughout.

Of particular use, to my paper at least, was the part on the life of Perrault as well as the background information for the Grimms.

[J.G. Keely · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for a class by the author. There's certainly nothing wrong with the fairy tales themselves, but I learned more from the dust jacket than I did from taking a class from the editor. We spent most of the semester watching 80's made-for-TV films based off of bad feminist re-writes of the fairy tales.

[Kristyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was thoroughly impressed by the sheer number of diverse tales in this volume. I also really appreciate the way in which they're organized as well; tales are grouped together under thematic headings instead of by tale. There's also a good amount of criticism in this volume, but most focuses on fairy tales and the history thereof in general, rather than on specific tales. This text makes for an excellent accompaniment to The Classic Fairy Tales, edited by Maria Tartar.

[Scott Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for fun rather than for a class, which may not have been the best way to experience it. The book is divided into thematic sections which each section made up of 2-5 versions of a fairy tale. There aren't any bad stories in the book but reading so many similar stories back to back had a numbing effect after a while. The book reprints stories from various authors, but the best authors are the ones mentioned in the title of the book, especially Basile. The stories by the French authors are good but I would have enjoyed them more if I had read them on their own as they lacked the brevity and the wit of the other authors. Definitely more of a book to be dipped into than read straight through. (There are also seven critical essays in the back of the book. The 4 stars doesn't apply to them. The three I read were interesting, but the other four looked so dull, I didn't even try reading them.)

[george · Rating 3 out of 5]

too chunky. why are the pages so thin? helpful for my epq though!!!

[Janin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was interesting to read the (believed) origin of so many classic fairy tale types. Jack Zipes has definitely earned his reputation as knowledgeable in the field of fairy tales. One of my favorite parts of reading his insights is that he speaks clearly and plainly in a way that anyone can understand.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this out right for my own personal pleasure because I am a fairy tale nut. The books goes through different iterations of the tales across Italian, French and German retellings. The tales are also grouped according to themes.

If you're interested in fairy tales this is definitely a book for you.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's fascinating to read different iterations (roughly chronologically: Italian, then French, then German) of common fairy tales. This book arranges them thematically with some introductory material, along with a few essays.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection includes some harder to find French tales.

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for a grad class, but rereading all of the Snow White tales in preparation for Snow White & the Huntsman.

[Edward Batres · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the most part, Zipes made beautiful translations from French to English. The Italian fairy tales were fascinating.

[Jessica Jernigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection served as my introduction to literary fairy tales. It's a solid selection and, as one would expect from Jack Zipes, the scholarly apparatus is great.

[Sara]

One of my old text books from college that I just couldn't part with --- Boy! Am I glad about that!