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7th out of 21 books
—
60 voters
The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales
by
Maria Tatar,
Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont, Jørgen Engebretsen Moe, Charles Perrault, Joseph Jacobs, Phillip Otto Runge, Hans Christian Andersen, Jacob Grimm
,
more…
In this illuminating work, a leading expert in the field of folklore guides readers through 26 fairy tales, exploring their historical origins, their cultural complexities, and their psychological effects on children. 350 full-color photos, paintings & illustrations.
Hardcover, 448 pages
Published
October 17th 2002
by W. W. Norton & Company
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NOT a kids' book! A very interesting look at the origins of many classic fairy tales. Who would have thought Little Red Riding Hood started out as a warning to young girls about the perils of sex?! Her mother warns her about "straying from the path"... And Cinderella turned out to be a spiteful cow in the earlier versions.
I was amazed at the history, psychology and culture behind these stories. Includes simply gorgeous artwork from famous illustrators through the years.
Some time back, I wanted t...more
I was amazed at the history, psychology and culture behind these stories. Includes simply gorgeous artwork from famous illustrators through the years.
Some time back, I wanted t...more
SUCH a freaking treasure. I love this book for the stories, the annotations (1), the critical introductions (2) and THE PLATES; my God, they are amazing. Kay Nielsen and Arthur Rackham are mind-blowing in their style and technique.
1.
"he put on her clothes and her nightcap." Anne Sexton referred to the Grimms' wolf as a "kind of transvestite" in her verse collection Transformations.
AND
Cinderella. Aschenputtel is the name the Grimms used for their Cinderella. The term was originally used to desig...more
1.
"he put on her clothes and her nightcap." Anne Sexton referred to the Grimms' wolf as a "kind of transvestite" in her verse collection Transformations.
AND
Cinderella. Aschenputtel is the name the Grimms used for their Cinderella. The term was originally used to desig...more
I really enjoyed reading these fairy tales that I remember from my childhood... and some new ones to go along with it. Tatar's annotations make these stories even more interesting now that I'm an adult. I only had to read a couple of them for class, but I just decided to read all of them to learn about some new tales and refresh my memory on some old ones. My two favorite from this collection were "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" I thought it was beautifully written, and "The Ugly Duckling...more
I'm a sucker for learning and I love annotated editions of pretty much anything. I'm the dork who reads all of the editor's comments and even sometimes I look up their citations. Obviously I was the annoying child who always asked why. So when I found this annotated edition of classic fairy tales on Amazon I had to buy it.
The editor is Harvard Professor Maria Tatar. She's a historian, author, and an expert on languages and literature.
The best part about this edition is that you get all of the cl...more
The editor is Harvard Professor Maria Tatar. She's a historian, author, and an expert on languages and literature.
The best part about this edition is that you get all of the cl...more
The stories here are classic, of course, it's right there in the title. The annotations are fascinating; Tatar gives tons of illuminating little details. All of this is great. However, the real draw here is the illustrations, taken from classic sources. To call the illustrations beautiful is to understate the situation. I read a lot, and lemme tell you, it's nice to read such a great collection of stories while looking at a bunch of pretty pictures. I think it's about high time that we expanded...more
Sep 20, 2009
Marcia
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
librarians, fairy tale enthusiasts
Shelves:
professional,
grown-up-books
This was a interesting look at the history of the fairy tales we know and love. Originally told between adults, they were often lascivious--in one version Little Red Riding Hood performs a strip tease for the wolf (the common symbol of the predatory male.) As the stories made their way to the nursery, they were cleaned up. and often changed to impart a moral. The psychological reasoning shared in the annotations is fascinating. The book includes many of the original illustrations which are mesme...more
I loved reading fairy tales as a kid - Hans Christian Anderson, The Brothers Grimm, Ruth Manning-Sanders' collection of tales with such titles as "A Book of Charms and Changelings", "A Book of Sorcerors and Spells", "A Book of Trolls and Ogres" etc. A couple of months back, I read an NPR blog post on Maria Tatar's The Annotated Brothers Grimm and thought that a book illuminating the historical and sociological context - and the sometimes darker undertones - of well-known fairy tales would make a...more
As repositories of a collective cultural consciousness and unconscious, fairy tales have attracted the attention of psychologists, more notably the renowned child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim. In his landmark study, The Use of Enchantment, Bettelheim argued that fairy tales have a powerful therapeutic value, teaching children that "a struggle against severe difficulties in life is unavoiable." (introduction, xiii)
Over the past decades child psychologists have mobilized fairy tales as powerful t...more
Over the past decades child psychologists have mobilized fairy tales as powerful t...more
I really adore annotated books. It just calls to the book geek in me. Particularly when it concerns a topic that I love. It helps, as well, when the introduction is by someone that I really enjoy reading, like Maria Tatar who, like Jack Zipes, is amazing when it comes to knowledge about faerytales.
So, what are the classics? Most of us probably know a good many, but perhaps not all that Tatar includes here. But they are, in order:
Little Red Riding Hood - Brothers Grimm
Cinderella - Perrault
Hansel...more
So, what are the classics? Most of us probably know a good many, but perhaps not all that Tatar includes here. But they are, in order:
Little Red Riding Hood - Brothers Grimm
Cinderella - Perrault
Hansel...more
I usually love the Norton Annotated books, but this one was a disappointment. The first let-down was that Tatar also annotated The Annotated Brothers Grimm and The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen, and many of the same fairy tales -- with the same or nearly the same annotations -- are included here. Only about 1/3 of the book is not available elsewhere, mostly Charles Perrault fairy tales. In addition, usually the art reproductions in these books are excellent, but in this case many of them wer...more
I read this anthology for my Fantasy Literature class with professor Frances Bothwell. As it happens, I did enjoy the anthology. It's wildly encompassing and ample. Unsuspecting me was pleasantly shocked at the strange begiinings of what we've come to know today as fairy tales. María Tatar did an awesome job at collecting these strange beginnings, and something that pleased me is that she didn't limit herself to just Western fairy tales. A must read!
Though the title says "... classic fairy tales", this book is not really for children. In fact it is for those (say, adults) who love the classic fairy tales and want to learn about the history of those fairy tales.
Very surprising and eye-opening to read the facts and reasons behind why some of those stories were made/told. Some even so dark and gory that I agree with the editor that such stories were not really for children:)
Very surprising and eye-opening to read the facts and reasons behind why some of those stories were made/told. Some even so dark and gory that I agree with the editor that such stories were not really for children:)
Despite the title and the famous stories contained within, this is not a book for children. It is a scholarly look at some of these classics, with multiple footnotes and explanations sprinkled throughout. It's good for discovering the many interpretations of such tales as The Little Mermaid and Bluebeard, but much less so to lull a child to sleep at night.
Hansel and Gretel:
Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper:
Little Red Riding Hood:
Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper:
Little Red Riding Hood:
The nitty-gritty truth about such "innocent" stories as Little Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast... Not for the faint of heart!
I recommend East of the Sun and West of the Moon, and The Juniper Tree... as long as you're not squeamish!
I recommend East of the Sun and West of the Moon, and The Juniper Tree... as long as you're not squeamish!
Interesting backstory to all our most-beloved fairy tales. I enjoyed reading the stories that I didn't really know but what I really loved about this book was the inclusion of illustrations from all the greatest illustrators of these stories.
This is not a good book to fall asleep cuddling. It is exactly the sort of book that will give you a black eye when you hop back into bed too quickly after hitting the snooze button on your alarm.
But it is exactly the sort of book that has all of your old favorite fairy tales. It is exactly the sort of book that has really interesting and well researched information on each of these stories. It is exactly the sort of book that happens to have a wide assortment of beautiful classic illustrations...more
But it is exactly the sort of book that has all of your old favorite fairy tales. It is exactly the sort of book that has really interesting and well researched information on each of these stories. It is exactly the sort of book that happens to have a wide assortment of beautiful classic illustrations...more
A good collection with excellent annotations. But I don't understand why they included so many classic illustrations -- and had to make them so tiny in order to cram them all in -- rather than offering just a few in a size that they could actually be seen.
Annotated is a bit of an overstatement. More like an anthology with pretty good introductions to each story, including a relatively limited version of the history of each tale.
Mar 19, 2013
Heather Roberts
marked it as to-read
Listened to the most amazing and beautifully wise On Being with Maria Tatar. Really excited for this.
One of my goals for 2012 is to re-read the classics from my youth. I decided to start with fairy tales.
This is a beautiful book with fascinating annotations and an excellent selection of stories.
This version of the book (the large 1'x1' or so) is a great source for mining images.
Jun 11, 2009
Ehbluemle Bluemle
added it
The annotated classic fairy tales by Maria Tatar (2002), 1st ed
I found a gorgeous copy of this (with pristine dust jacket) at a used bookstore called, I think, BookMan BookWoman in Nashville. I was there at Xmas time, with family, on a trip to watch my niece compete in cheerleading nationals at the Opryland Hotel. Sorry (no offence to spirit teams), but horrifying. At the time I was writing my senior thesis on contemporary reworkings of fairy tales (heavy on the Angela Carter) (I have read SO MUCH about Bluebeard) and to find this was divine. It is just a l...more
A wonderful collection of beloved fairy tales we have all grown up hearing. This edition also comes with some beautiful illustrations by artists such as Gustave Dore, Edmund Dulac, and Kay Nielsen. Fairy tales include. Beauty and the Beast, Little Red Riding Hood, The Little Mermaid, The Little Match Girl and Sleeping Beauty. A beautiful book for all fairy tale lovers.
This was my Christmas present from my very best friend and I love it! I read the entire thing through cover to cover. It introduced me to different versions of fairy tales told in different areas, different stories all together, artists, how tales began and then were changed either intentionally or through spreading. Especially the artwork was so touching for me. I am now in love with Edmund Dulac. His illustrations for the Little Mermaid-my all time favorite fairy tale-were simply perfect.
A book all lovers of fairy tales should have on their shelves. Insightful, thought-provoking commentary on classic pieces. A lovely compilation I wish I had discovered much earlier than I did.
A good gift book, and with its greater variety I think overall more appealing than Tatar's Annotated Brothers Grimm, with which it is somewhat redundant -- though like that one, it's meant to appeal to a broader audience. Scholars should instead consider her academic texts, like the Norton Critical Edition of the Classic Fairy Tales. I do love her approach on fairy tales, a cross between anthropological and literary, not too caught up by the limitations of either.
A gorgeous volume. The illustrations are all done by famous, classic children's artists and should be savored. The source notes are wonderful and enlightening, and the annotations are good, but I sometimes wanted more information, maybe on symbolism within and between cultures. I guess sometimes they just seemed obvious to me, but the rest of the information is so good that this is a small point. So glad to have this in my collection!
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Maria Tatar is the John L. Loeb Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures. She chairs the Program in Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University. She is the author of Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood, Off with Their Heads! Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood and many other books on folklore and fairy stories. She is also the editor and translator of The Annotated Ha...more
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Jan 16, 2009 08:41am