When saying that there are certain folk or fairy tales about herself, Jeanette Winterson could not be more right, because there are indeed several myths surrounding her person. For many people Winterson's sexuality is the golden key to her public persona. Although she correctly states that `[she is] a writer who happens to like women, [and] not a lesbian who happens to write' most critics are only too willing to interpret her writing in an autobiographical way and restrict her to the literary persona of a lesbian writer only. However, this whole obsession about her sexuality is not the only myth surrounding her. Furthermore, critical opinion likes to describe her as a novelist who feels the constant need to defend her writing against the critics. As a result Jeanette Winterson is perceived as (and maybe really is) one of those arrogant writers who want to place their work in the tradition of English literature by pretending that none of her contemporaries will ever be able to be on the same level of writing competence than herself. Although, according to the author herself, these fairy tales surrounding her public and literary persona `are assumed to be worth more than the are', there is no doubt concerning a certain value of fairy tales in her novel The Passion. In the following essay, I would like to examine the `worth' of fairy tales in this piece of work. That is to say, the numerous fairy tale and mythical elements of the novel shall be discussed, as well as their value for the novel as a whole and the effect they have on the reader. First of all, it is justified to claim that no one but Jeanette Winterson herself will ever be able to really answer the question of why she chose to include this vast amount of fairy t... ... middle of paper ... ...im, Bruno, The Use of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (London: Penguin, 1975). Warner, Maria, From the Beast to the Blonde: Fairy Tales and their Tellers (London: Chatto & Windus, 1994). Winterson, Jeanette, The Passion (London: Vintage, 1987). Zipes, Jack, Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tale (London: Heinemann, 1979). Electronic Sources: Jeanette Winterson's Official Website: http://www.jeanettewinterson.com/pages/books/the_passion.htm (26/02/2003) The Jeanette Winterson Reader's Site: http//w1.181.telia.com/~u18114424/main/novels/passion.htm (26/02/2003) The Scriptorium: http://www.themodernworld.com/scriptorium/winterson.html (26/02/2003)
De Beaumont, Jeanne-Marie LePrince. “Beauty and the Beast.” The Classic Fairy Tales. Ed. Maria Tatar. New York: Norton, 1999. 32-42.
There are several events in the play which at one point or the other take a tragic turn which constantly undercut back into the play by speeches. What is set out in the play is a festive mood where people were engaged in activities of ‘Maying’ where people get together to sing and dance in the woods, activities that led to the maids’ belief that the pursuit if true love can be scored only through divination dreams (Barber 18). The fairy’s existence is conceptualized from the act of fusing pageantry together with popular games in a menacing way bring out their actual image of a relaxed
Fairy tales are one of the longest lasting forms of literature. Though now they bring to mind classic movies engendered by Disney, many of these stories were first passed on in an oral manner, meant to convey a message, moral, or lesson. Alison Lurie’s “What Fairy Tales Tell Us” covers a broad range of classic tales, discussing how under the guise of an entertaining story comes life lessons we would all do well to follow. To begin this paper, some of the tales Lurie examines in her article will be looked at and critically examined beyond what she discusses. This will then move the text towards its remaining sections, which will take Lurie’s ideas and have them applied to folk and fairy tales that have not yet been contemplated; for the purpose
Cashdan, Sheldon. The Witch Must Die: The Hidden Meaning of Fairy Tales. New York: Basic Books, 1999.
If children or adults think of the great classical fairy tales today, be it Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or Cinderella, they will think Walt Disney. Their first and perhaps lasting impression of these tales and others will have emanated from Disney film, book, or artefacts (Zipes 72)
The simplicity of fairy tales and non-specific details renders them ideal for manipulation allowing writers to add their own comments often reflecting social convention and ideology. Theref...
...n” is a great example of an old myth or tale reconstructed and adapted for a modern audience in a new medium. It is a progression on one hand in its use of modern language, setting, and style but it is also the product of the old myths in that it is essentially the same on the thematic level. In addition, the level of self-awareness on the part of the narrator and, by extension, the author marks it out as an illustration of the very notion of evolutionary changes of myths and fairy tales. Adaptation is the solution to the fairy tale, and fairy tales have been endlessly changing themselves throughout history and, by some strange transforming or enchanting power endlessly staying the same.”
“The fairy tale, which to this day is the first tutor of children because it was once the first tutor of mankind, secretly lives on in the story. The first true storyteller is, and will continue to be, the teller of fairy tales. Whenever good counsel was at a premium, the fairy tale had it, and where the need was greatest, its aid was nearest. This need was created by myth. The fairy tale tells us of the earliest arrangements that mankind made to shake off the nightmare which myth had placed upon its chest.”(Walter Benjamin). For generations fairy tales have brought happiness to hundreds of people. Through childhood to adults, people still enjoy the mysteries of fairytales. In society, fairytales are a great way of connecting
The fairy tales that we have become so familiar with are embedded with love, imagination and enchantment. In truth, these are just common archetypes; originally fairy tales had a much darker backdrop. They were once symbols of sexualisation and brutality as not everything ended happily ever after. Deriving from promiscuous and overlooked on goings from the 19th century (such as molestation), these ideas were later suppressed when they became children’s tales. John Updike described traditional fairy tales as ‘The pornography of their day’, hence they contained elements of wish-fulfilment and gratification such as rape, pleasure and attainment. This is true to a certain extent but they also consisted of violence, mutiny and injustice. An exploration
Lüthe, Max. Once Upon a Time on the Nature of Fairy Tales. New York: Ungar, 1970.
Andersen, H. C., and Erik Christian Haugaard. The complete fairy tales and stories. [1st ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1974. Print.
Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: the Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. London: Thames and Hudson, 1976. Print.
..., Maria. “An Introduction to Fairy Tales.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Ed. Laurence Behrens, Leonard J. Rosen. Toronto: Longman, 2013. 230-235. Print.
Zipes, Jack. Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.
Fairy Tale Text & Motif. Prod. Distribution Access. Distribution Access, 2001.Discovery Education. Web. 1 December 2001. .