Little Red Riding Hood and Other Classic French Fairy Tales

by Jack D. Zipes (Translator)

Features such fairy tales as: Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast.

Genres: Fantasy, Classics, Fairy Tales, Short Stories, Magic, Fairy Tale Retellings, Folklore

272 pages, Paperback

First published February 16, 2011

About the author

Jack David Zipes is a retired Professor of German at the University of Minnesota. He has published and lectured extensively on the subject of fairy tales, their linguistic roots, and argued that they have a "socialization function". According to Zipes, fairy tales "serve a meaningful social function, not just for compensation but for revelation: the worlds projected by the best of our fairy tales reveal the gaps between truth and falsehood in our immediate society." His arguments are avowedly based on the neo-Marxist critical theory of the Frankfurt School.

Zipes enjoys using droll titles for his works like Don't Bet on the Prince and The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Ridinghood.

He completed a PhD in comparative literature at Columbia University. Zipes taught at various institutions before heading German language studies at the University of Minnesota. He has retranslation of the complete fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.

Reviews

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was ready to give up on this one after wading through most of the Charles Perrault tales. I'm familiar with his name, of course, but I guess I haven't specifically read his versions of the classic fairy tales, or I'd done so in a different context where I was paying less attention to how horrifically misogynistic his writing was.

In fact, I was initially blaming the translator, Jack Zipes. I'm familiar with his name as well - he's a preeminent fairy tale scholar, and I have a number of books of his in my collection that I haven't gotten around to reading yet. The Perrault stories have so many snide author asides that I mistakenly got the impression that it was Zipes's voice slipping through.

There are ten Perrault stories starting this mini anthology off, and that's at least nine too many. Not only are they profoundly terrible in regards to their treatment of their female characters, but they're simply badly written. The plots don't make sense. The stories are disjointed and end abruptly, leaving me shaking my head, and then the book, in case that would make some logic fall out of the pages.

Fortunately, a few stories from some of the other authors included in this collection saved it for me. Two in particular stand out. Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's "Beauty and the Beast" is fantastic. I like most versions of this well-known, classic tale, but this one stood out, perhaps due to my frustration with many of the stories preceding it. It's refreshing to read something with likable characters and a relationship build that actually makes sense.

My favorite part was that when the Beast was transformed into an exceptionally handsome prince, Beauty's first response wasn't relief, but concern over what had happened to her beloved Beast. Unlike 99% of the tales in this book, the romance actually seemed believable as a result. She didn't love the Beast despite his physical flaws, in anticipation of an eventual reward in the form of a wealthy, attractive member of the nobility. She loved him for his kindness. And he, in turn, respected her. When he asked her to marry him, she was able to say no, then to later tell him that repeating the question made her uncomfortable. The Beast apologized and continued to quietly love her, without demanding anything she did not wish to give.

This type of relationship shouldn't be remarkable, in either a volume of fairy tales or in real life. I suppose that's why Beauty and the Beast has been immensely popular for generations. In most of these tales, the men's "love" for beautiful women shifts into violent outrage when their affection isn't returned in the way they wish. And in many cases, the men end up being redeemed, forgiven by the women they've harmed, or treated as though nothing was really all that wrong with their actions.

There's no wonder Beauty grew to love her kind-hearted Beast.

The other tale I particularly enjoyed was "Beauty with the Golden Hair," by Marie-Catherine D'Aulnoy. It's one I hadn't read before, so I was pleasantly surprised by how the story unfolded. The chemistry between the characters was striking, in a way that isn't true for most fairy tales. Usually, it's simply "the most beautiful woman in the land falls in love with the most beautiful man in the land, and they encounter tragedy and then overcome it and live happily ever after."

The main character in this story earns his fate on the page. That, too, is unfortunately a rarity. D'Aulnoy's writing is lovely; I wish I enjoyed her other two stories in this collection as much, since she has fascinating turns of phrase and a clearly sharp wit.

One thing I kept thinking through this book was: I wish there were introductions to each section, giving the authors' backstories and the historical context. It would add a lot to my appreciation and understanding of the individual stories. I did some searching on my own and discovered some fascinating bits of information about D'Aulnoy, but it would've been nice to have that presented on the page as I was reading, rather than dragging myself out to do quick searches that derailed me for chunks of time.

I think that additional context may be a part of Beauties, Beasts and Enchantments: Classic French Fairy Tales. I hadn't realized when I bought this book on a sale table (years ago; it takes me a while to get around to reading my purchases) that it was a book of "selections" from a larger collection. I hesitate to buy the larger volume in case it has more of the Perrault issues and no additional bits of beauty sprinkled in, but I would like to learn more, and to read additional tales that weren't included in this smaller set.

Perhaps I'll eventually trade this one out for the more complete volume.

[Pollyor]

For someone mostly familiar with fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm, this was refreshing.

[Thea Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

This book was great! I am an enthusiast of fairytales and folktales, especially the old versions. So, when I spotted this gorgeous book on Book Outlet, I had to purchase it. This book includes the classic story of Beauty and the Beast, along with other classics that have been retold by French authors.

Near the end of this book, however, the stories became a little strange and confusing and long. I had a difficult time keeping up with the quirky scenarios and long paragraphs. The stories also seemed to lose their theme of whimsical magic and darkness, and instead came off as plain.

Still, I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in old fairytales.

[Ali Rowan]

The first third or so of the book was pretty good—I recognized most of the stories, and it was interesting to read the originals. The extremely flat storytelling was manageable because the stories were only about 7 pages each. As the book went on, though, they became longer and substantially less inspiring to read... I'll just say that save a few stories I really liked, there's a reason this tiny book took me a month to read.

[Mandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sweet collection of tales. I started reading these French fairy tales while staying at a gorgeous farm in the Lyon countryside, which was the perfect setting.

Reading through the whole thing, I realized that I must really like French fairy tales! As opposed to the tales of Grimm or Anderson, I like these way more. These tales selected by Jack Zipes are charming, playful, colorful, unexpectedly humorous, and primarily take place with princes and princesses in castles or kingdoms. It's my perfect genre 🙌

I particularly loved the tales by Marie-Catherine D'Aulnoy and was inspired to research and learn more about her. Her story is incredible and I'd like to read all of her tales someday soon. I'm on the hunt for a good biography!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed these fairy tales AND their morals 😀

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of known and unknown fairy tales of French original, most of which involve princes, princesses and witches, some of which involve romantic involvement with men in animal form (rams, snakes and the famous Beast), most of which involve some vicious violence (women shaving their fingers down to fit a ring on it springs to mind, as well as the sexually predatory version of Red Riding Hood which does not end well for the girl) the majority of which end happily (The Ram, my favourite, being an exceptions - a manically evil King, a court of animals, a mixture of Greek and Shakespearean imagery and romance, and a truly sad end for the bleating hero) and with some kind of dubiously revealed moral. Fairy tales, in essences, as you know them. Entertaining, intriguing because of their sense of history and the way they open up for us the fantasy and imagination of our past, but, in this case, nothing too new. The style is competent but lacks any real individuality, despite the occasional hint that it might stray into a tone of mocking modern sarcasm, as if the narrator is consciously looking back, slightly cynically, at the fantasies of the past. It is only a hint though - the translator rarely goes off the path and instead tells quick paced, language neutral, universal feeling, out of time fairy tales in a very efficient manner. 4

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading these – those stories that you feel you already know, in a pre-conscious, dreamy sort of way half-remembered from childhood, except they are all slightly more weird, convoluted and horrific than you realized. There are beasts, fairies, step-mothers; there is enchantment, destiny, love and death. There are also many wonderfully odd moments of narration where we are suddenly informed of something really crucial to the plot that the narrator forgot to tell us earlier, and little morals at the end of the stories that seem rather random (e.g. Bluebeard apparently teaches us that women shouldn’t let their curiosity get the better of them… whereas I think that rather lets the murderous psycho off the hook). All in all, a strange and lovely ride.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was lots of fun and I learned some very important lessons: always be super nice to fairies...especially the ugly ones, the best palaces are the gaudiest ones (pearl roof tops and diamond walls), and fairy punishments are always very convoluted and likely involve some kind of animal transformation/underground grotto dwelling.

[Charlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always enjoyed fairy tales, and it was fun to read a compilation that has been modernly translated.

Even though the book says it's suitable for all ages, there were some stories that were gruesome and violent and disturbing, and I wouldn't recommend it for children.

Even so, the fairy tales were interesting, as some were ones I've heard or read before and many were completely new to me.

[J.cuevas · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many fairytales I did not know about :)
It was quite amusing

[Lana Svitankova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Абсолютно не те, до чого ми звикли. Скажімо, у Сплячоі красуні було двоє позашлюбних дітей, а згодом свекруха-людожерка... Загадково

[Neenee · Rating 2 out of 5]

So bad... I chucked it at a restaurant nearby. Maybe somebody will love it better than I do ;)

[MD]

On hold- left off on page 111.