When Dreams Came True: Classical Fairy Tales and Their Tradition - Softcover

Zipes, Jack

3.95

85 ratings by Goodreads

9780415921510: When Dreams Came True: Classical Fairy Tales and Their Tradition

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415921511 ISBN 13: 9780415921510

Publisher: Routledge, 1999

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First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

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About the Author:

Jack Zipes is Professor of German at the University of Minnesota and one of the leading folklorists and critics of children's literature in the U.S. He is the author of many books, including Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion, The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood, Don't Bet on the Prince, Breaking the Magic Spell, Creative Storytelling, and Happily Ever After, all published by Routledge.

From Kirkus Reviews:

paper 0-415-92151-1 Zipes (German/Univ. of Minnesota; Dont Bet on the Prince, 1986, etc.), a childrens literature specialist, here gathers together his introductions and postscripts from various previous fairy tale collections. The result is a concise yet comprehensive picture of the genres development in Western Europe and America since the 1600s. Fairy tales thrived as an oral tradition for centuries before they were transcribed. Zipes argues that early tales didnt target a juvenile audience; instead, their allegorical form often concealed social, moral, ethical, and aesthetic criticism appreciated only by adults. The pioneer of the genre in France was Charles Perrault, who created fairy tales drawing on pagan beliefs and folklore, rather than on antique sources, as the classicist canon of his time preferred. In Germany, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm charged their tales with Protestant ethics, while Hans Christian Andersen negotiated power relations and social domination in Danish society. Due to religious austerity, fairy tales were suppressed in England until the middle of the 19th century. After they entered literature officially during the Victorian Age, they exhibited a strong didactic tendency, and eventually took shape as an implicit critical inquiry into the dominant materialist culture, the oppressive moral code, or, as in the case of Oscar Wilde, normative sexuality. Among American fairy tale writers, Zipes focuses particularly on Frank Baum, whose multivolume work on the utopian land of Oz became a fixture of the cultural landscape, embodying the author's dream of a socialist alternative to American capitalism. Zipes skillfully weaves into his narrative the story of the influence of the Arabian Nights, translations of which began to appear in the West as early as the 1700s. At the close of his study, he also looks briefly at how the 20th-century German novelist Hermann Hesse infused the classical fairy tale with the macabre and romantic realism to reflect his personal journey and European political conflicts. An enticing reexamination of cherished texts. (15 illustrations) (Author tour) -- Copyright �1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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