Victorian Fairy Tales: The Revolt of the Fairies and Elves

by Jack D. Zipes (Editor)

First published in 1989. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Genres: Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Classics, Anthologies, 19th Century, Folklore, Fiction

412 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

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

[Marit · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this compilation was misleading. I was expecting fairy tales that somehow turned paradigms on their heads or something that was more of a "revolt." However, this is instead a series of short fairy-tales that were selected to show how this genre was viewed through the Victorian era (e.g., their take on morals, childhood, story-telling, proper behavior for girls and boys, and political/social criticism). It was interesting from a socio-history perspective and some of the tales were vivid and/or amusing. Not what I had anticipated though.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good selection of stories, some by writers you'll know (Kipling, Kenneth Graham, Oscar Wilde) and many by writers you probably won't know (unless you're a Victorianist). Although all the stories are worth reading, Zipes is trying to give a representative sampling of the types of fairy stories current in the period and the uses to which the form was put, so some of the stories are there to give an example of something popular in its time rather than something inherently wonderful as a story; there was a real market for heavily moralised tales of a sort that modern readers probably won't much like, but leaving them out would misrepresent the form, so Zipes includes a few. Enjoy.

[Healing Toolbox Bruce Dickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay. Italo Calvino's Italian FolkTales remains the gem of modern folk and fairy tales, especially useful for K-5 elementary teachers.

[Tori]

Another of the many books that sat on my bookshelf, making me feel guilty about all the awesome I wasn't reading...