Follow the breadcrumbs: why fairytales are magic for modern fiction

Breaking the conventions of literary and genre storytelling, these narratives have appealed to writers from Angela Carter to Helen Oyeyemi

Everything old is remixed until it’s new again. This seems to be the defining trait of our current culture: our cinemas and books are full of reboots, relaunches, and reinventions. Audiences gobble up endless superhero franchises, devotees recreate Harry Potter and Doctor Who in fan fiction. In such a cultural landscape, it’s not surprising that so many writers are turning to one of the oldest forms of literature for reinvention: the fairytale.

While we all know fairytales from our childhoods, they follow us into our adult reading: Italo Calvino compiled Italian Folktales in the 50s while writing his own fabulist novels; 60s postmodernists like Donald Barthelme played with the form in novels like Snow White; and 70s feminist writers such as Anne Sexton with Transformations and Angela Carter with The Bloody Chamber created subversive works from classic tales. But in recent years, the use of the genre’s techniques and forms in American and British literature has rocketed.

Related: Topography of short stories: Upright Beasts by Lincoln Michel

Related: Helen Simpson on Angela Carter's Bloody Chamber

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