Critical and Creative Perspectives on Fairy Tales: An Intertextual Dialogue Between Fairy-Tale Scholarship and Postmodern Retellings

by Vanessa Joosen

In Critical and Creative Perspectives on Fairy An Intertextual Dialogue between Fairy-Tale Scholarship and Postmodern Retellings Vanessa Joosen broadens the traditional concept of intertextuality to include academic texts. With three key texts from the 1970s at the center of her discussion-Marcia K. Lieberman's "Some Day My Prince Will Come," Bruno Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment, and Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar's The Madwoman in the Attic-Joosen connects the critical views expressed in these feminist and psychoanalytic interpretations with fictional fairy-tale retellings and illustrations that have been published in Dutch, English, and German since the 1970s.

While readers may not automatically connect fairy-tale retellings and criticism, Joosen argues that they represent a similar conviction to understand, interpret, criticize, and experiment with the original tale. Moving through her three critical focus texts in chronological order, Joosen addresses fairy-tale retellings in prose, poetry, and pictures, including revisions of "Snow White," "Cinderella," "Sleeping Beauty," "Hansel and Gretel," "Little Red Riding Hood," and "Beauty and the Beast." Authors and illustrators whose work is discussed include Paul Biegel, Anthony Browne, Gillian Cross, Emma Donoghue, Iring Fetscher, Adèle Geras, Otto Gmelin, Wim Hofman, Anne Provoost, Anne Sexton, Barbara Walker, and Jane Yolen.

Joosen argues that retellings and criticism participate in a continuous and dynamic dialogue about the traditional fairy tale, but on different terms. Critical and Creative Perspectives on Fairy Tales offers many insights into the workings of fiction and criticism that will appeal to fairy-tale scholars, literature scholars, and general readers interested in intertextuality and fairy tales.

Genres: Fairy Tales, Nonfiction, Childrens

376 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2011

Reviews

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

You might think that if you were going to write a book about the retellings of fairy tales that you might organise the book according to something to do with the fairy tales themselves – motifs, themes, Grimms vs Perrault, that sort of thing. But the author doesn’t do that – instead she does something much more interesting. She takes three key works of fairy tale criticism and then discusses how these have impacted both how we now read fairy tales and also how these critiques impact how we retell the stories.

You might also think that it is a little strange to write a book that focuses upon both literary criticism of fairy tales and on retellings of those tales – except, and this was one of the things I loved the most about this book, she makes it clear that each retelling is, in effect, a critique – it is a highlighting, a downplaying, an adding to and a taking away from previous versions and therefore a comment as much upon them. But more than this, retellings often respond to past criticisms of past versions of the fairy tale. And not just feminist criticism, or Marxist criticism, but there is an entire chapter here on how influential Bettelheim’s The Uses of Enchantment proved to be and how it ended up being responded to in subsequent retellings of these tales. And even better, not just in the retellings, but how the response to his ideas was often contained in the illustrations accompanying these texts, rather than in the ‘words’ of the story. In our often too snobbish ways with literacy, we forget that illustrations don’t merely show a key scene from the story being told, but can comment on it and even contradict the literal story in ways that teach irony in ways words can often struggle to do, given our tendency towards literal reading.

She makes it clear that purely ideological rewritings of tales can come headlong up against ironic readings. This is a problem because, again, due to humanity’s deep aversion to ironic readings in the first place, there is a tendency for subversive readings (whether feminist of Marxist) to overplay their hand in the telling of the story. The evil ruling classes as cruel representatives of the patriarchy… But then these tales can too easily be read in an ironic tone, immediately undermining the deeper (even if too often surface) meaning the author was going for. As the author says, fairy tales are polysemantic – and so the best writers leave space for multiple readings, even if nudging the reader towards their preferred reading. As such, reading and writing ‘retellings’ is done best when it takes these contradictions into consideration – you can push your barrow, but you might want to do it subtly, or you’ll probably only end up convincing the already convinced - both those for and against your perspective.

This is a seriously interesting book and it plays with ideas you’ll be able to use outside of just readings and retellings of fairy tales.

[Katherine Sas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joosen makes a really fascinating and compelling argument for the interplay between fiction and criticism. She isn't necessarily the first writer to posit this notion. I've heard scholars and critics remark that analysis is a form of storytelling. I've often thought that creative fan endeavors (especially fanfiction) has a kind of critical impulse: They are motivated by untold stories or gaps in the "canonical" narrative; they switch the POV in a story to a minor character, reframing the angle of the story; they "fix" aspects of the narrative by correcting things into an alternate universe. And, as I'm becoming increasingly convinced, most -- it not all -- fiction is fanfiction in some way or other. Joosen doesn't use the term fanfiction in her book, because the writers in question are adapting authorless texts from the oral tradition, or at least are so old and established that they're in the public domain. They can make a profit and sell it as their own work. They are, however, adapting established narratives that are well-known and beloved throughout the modern world and therefore the same rules apply. By choosing select influential pieces of fairy tale criticism (ex. Bettelheim's Uses of Enchanment and Gilbert & Gubar's Madwoman in the Attic), Joosen demonstrates how writers of fiction address many of the same concerns as these noted scholars. As Bettelheim elucidated Freudian themes in a scholarly way, so authors encoded these themes into their retellings. Gilbert & Gubar's feminist critique coincided with a boom of consciously feminist versions of the classic stories. It's a great reminder that neither criticism nor fiction happen in a vacuum, but are reinforced and influenced by each other (whether they like it or not).

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative. I do feel like I no longer need to read anything by Gilbert and Gubar, since she quotes them a looot. Nevertheless, super helpful.

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting overview, which made many good points.
Joosen focuses on three main fairy tale scholars: Marcia K. Lieberman,Bruno Bettelheim & Sandra Gilbert. According to the key texts discussed the novel explores feminism, psychoanalysis and retellings in light of recent and past developments within the fairy tale sphere. It truly is an intertextual approach and opens up a dynamic dialogue.