Postmodern Fairy Tales : Gender and Narrative Strategies

This Book Offers A Historicizing Perspective On The Question Of Gender In Fairy Tales, Focusing On Past And Present Versions Of Four Classic Stories In Order To Analyze Their Varying Representations Of Women.--jacket. Performing Wonders: Postmodern Revisions Of Fairy Tales -- The Framing Of Snow White: Narrative And Gender (re)production -- Not Re(a)d Once And For All: Little Red Riding Hood's Voice In Performance -- In The Eye Of The Beholder: Where Is Beast? -- Be Bold, Be Bold, But Not Too Bold: Double Agents And Bluebeard's Plot -- Epilogue. Peopling The Bloody Chambers: Once Upon Many Times And Once Upon One Time. Cristina Bacchilega. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [191]-203) And Index. Cover 1 Contents 8 Preface 10 1. Performing Wonders: Postmodern Revisions of Fairy Tales 14 2. The Framing of "Snow White": Narrative and Gender (Re)Production 40 3. Not Re(a)d Once and for All: "Little Red Riding Hood"'s Voices in Performance 62 4. In the Eye of the Beholder: "Where Is Beast?" 84 5. "Be Bold, Be Bold, But Not Too Bold": Double Agents and Bluebeard's Plot 116 Epilogue. Peopling the Bloody Chambers: "Once upon Many Times" and "Once upon One Time" 152 Notes 160 Works Cited 204 Index 218 A 218 B 218 C 218 D 219 E 219 F 219 G 220 H 220 I 220 J 220 L 220 M 220 N 220 P 221 R 221 S 221 T 221 V 221 W 221 Z 221 Postmodern Fairy Tales seeks to understand the fairy tale not as children's literature but within the broader context of folklore and literary studies. It focuses on the narrative strategies through which women are portrayed in four classic stories:'Snow White,''Little Red Riding Hood,''Beauty and the Beast,'and'Bluebeard.'Bacchilega traces the oral sources of each tale, offers a provocative interpretation of contemporary versions by Angela Carter, Robert Coover, Donald Barthelme, Margaret Atwood, and Tanith Lee, and explores the ways in which the tales are transformed in film, television, and musicals. Postmodern Fairy Tales seeks to understand the fairy tale not as children's literature but within the broader context of folklore and literary studies. It focuses on the narrative strategies through which women are portrayed in four classic "Snow White," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Beauty and the Beast," and "Bluebeard." Bacchilega traces the oral sources of each tale, offers a provocative interpretation of contemporary versions by Angela Carter, Robert Coover, Donald Barthelme, Margaret Atwood, and Tanith Lee, and explores the ways in which the tales are transformed in film, television, and musicals. "An extraordinary book, and a 'first' on the topic. . . . Bacchilega has a remarkable capacity to reveal the intersections of folklore, literature, and film. Her interpretations of classical folk-tale types and their postmodern revisions . . . are stunning."-Jack Zipes, University of Minnesota ABUNDANCE, RATHER THAN LACK, motivates this study.