Fairy related books removed from Feminist reading list

[Christine]

http://surlalunefairytales.blogspot.c...

The above is a link to the blog posting about the pulling of Tender Morsels and Sisters Red from a YA femnist reading list. The artcile gives a link to the list page itself. The discussions are rather intersting.

[Leah]

Inspired by the above article and subsequent articles I read on the source's website

Does anyone have recommendations for books or collections classified as feminist fairy tales? If not specific books, perhaps authors? Other than Angela Carter :) Not criticism, essays, non-fiction, etc. like our recent group read Don't Bet on the Prince, but actual stories.

Lastly, what book(s) would you recommend on the history of feminism? Here I'm looking for 5-star, "must read" type books.

[Leah]

Re: feminist fairy tales - I checked these out from the library today

Fearless Girls, Wise Women & Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales from Around the World by Kathleen Ragan (1998)

Not One Damsel in Distress: World Folktales for Strong Girls by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Susan Guevara (2000)

The Serpent Slayer: and Other Stories of Strong Women by Katrin Hyman Tchana, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman (2000)

[Christine]

Leah wrote: "Inspired by the above article and subsequent articles I read on the source's website

Does anyone have recommendations for books or collections classified as feminist fairy tales? If not specific b..."

There is also The Maid of the North: Feminist Folk Tales from Around the World as well as Clever Gretchen and Other Forgotten Folktales. They are geared toward younger readers, but still.

Angela Carter's The Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book

History of Feminism, I'm not sure about. I think there are certain key books. (Hell, you could argue that feminism started long before it did). You might want to check out Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History. Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women is usually cited as a touchstone.

Usually, Feminism: A Very Short Introduction

My feminist shelf is here, if you want to browse:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

[Margaret]

I mentioned this in my review of Don't Bet on the Prince, but The Girl Who Married the Moon: Tales from Native North America is a great collection of NA feminist fairy tales (we read it as a group read, so you may have already read it), and all the fairy tale short story collections by Datlow and Windling contain feminist fairy tales.

I recently finished The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine and loved it. It retells "the twelve dancing sisters," and I would certainly say from a feminist pov. I loved it. This is a novel, though. Are you looking for fairy tales and collections?

Theodora Goss also writes feminist fairy tale short stories and poems.

In college, I read a lot of feminist criticism and classic feminist texts, but no general histories, unfortunately! I feel very ignorant about certain aspects of feminist history--such as the voting rights movements in the US and England.

But some classics: A Vindication of the Rights of Men & A Vindication of the Rights of Woman & An Historical and Moral View of the French Revolution by Mary Wollstonecraft, considered 1st feminist criticism; A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, love it; The Laugh of the Medusa by Hélène Cixous; The Psychic Life of Power: Theories in Subjection by Judith Butler. These are all feminist philosophies and criticisms I've read and found intellectually stimulating. I must admit, many of these I wouldn't have read outside of the classroom, but I'm very glad I did.

I know bell hooks and Roxane Gay are current feminist writers that are supposed to be must-reads, but I haven't read any of their works.

I want to read some history too, so might check out Chris's recs.

[Margaret]

I see that you have read The Girl Who Married the Moon: Tales from Native North America, and enjoyed it!

[Leah]

Chris wrote: "There is also The Maid of the North: Feminist Folk Tales from Around the World as well as Clever Gretchen and Other Forgotten Folktales. They are geared toward younger readers, but still."

Thank you!

Margaret wrote: "I recently finished The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine and loved it. It retells "the twelve dancing sisters," and I would certainly say from a feminist pov. I loved it. This is a novel, though. Are you looking for fairy tales and collections?"

I think I have a good amount of material covering original fairy tales and folklore to keep me going for the next month. Recommendations for short story collections or novels - whether those be retellings or modern originals inspired by fairy tales - are most appreciated. So much of what I've read at first glance seems feminist but then when I really think about the details, it's not. For instance, a lot of the middle grade and YA still centers around romance, marriage, the female having to prove herself, etc.

[Christine]

Some of the stories in the various Datlow and Windling collections is feminist. I a
referring to the short story collections for both children and adults. Some of A. S. Byatt's short stories are feminist and fairy tale related. The same is true of Hines.


Yolen wrote one of the best versions of Cinderella. Cinderelphant. I swear by it.

[Christine]

Some of the stories in the various Datlow and Windling collections is feminist. I a
referring to the short story collections for both children and adults. Some of A. S. Byatt's short stories are feminist and fairy tale related. The same is true of Hines.


Yolen wrote one of the best versions of Cinderella. Cinderelphant. I swear by it.

[Margaret]

Hmm. I wonder what classifies as 'feminist'? I'll go with the definition of fiction that's set in a patriarchy, but the female protagonist finds agency in her own right. So, not just 'strong' women, but women who have to move beyond patriarchy. If the world has complete gender equality, would it be feminist?

Okay, given that definition, Uprooted by Naomi Novik would fit. There is romance, she does 'prove' herself, but it's definitely in her own right and not in the name of the men around her. It's very action-packed. I think you would like it--there's a tinge of horror, and it's adult, but also could be considered YA. And it's the love of her best friend that moves the plot more than anything else.

[Christine]

I forgot to add Tanith Lee.

[Wolf]

Do you also enjoy poetry, Leah? I could recommend a few collections containing at least some feminist fairy tale poems, but I'll have to look up the exact titles.

When it comes to history of feminism, I liked Feminism: A Very Short Introduction and I often turn to the Graphic Guides like Introducing Feminism: A Graphic Guide, but I haven't read that particular one. A person I trust also recommended No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women but I haven't read that yet either.

To the classics I'd add The Second Sex and Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism. Intimidating tomes and not exactly easy reads, but I think they should be mentioned. ;)

[Wolf]

Oh, one more. Just as an example of a feminist book that's not set in a patriarchy. I really had fun reading it, even though it was also quite disturbing: Egalia's Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes

[Leah]

Wolf wrote: "Do you also enjoy poetry, Leah? I could recommend a few collections containing at least some feminist fairy tale poems, but I'll have to look up the exact titles.

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Poetry and I have a love-hate relationship. Most of the poets we were required to read in high school/university (Blake, Donne, Shakespeare) bored me. (Although I do enjoy Shakespeare's plays.) However, I love, LOVE, love Poe; even his prose is poetry to me. :)

I've also enjoyed (what little I've read by) Emily Dickinson, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath. In 2014 I read Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty which was a solid poetry collection of feminist fairy tales.

[Phil]

If you equate feminism with agency, then Ella Enchanted is a middle-grade classic. Personally, I love The Goose Girl, but nobody reads it.

If you equate feminism with explicit discussion of gender roles, then maybe The Mists of Avalon, although the author's reputation has suffered posthumously.

[Margaret]

I love poetry, though I never feel like I read enough. But I mostly read contemporary poetry. For contemporary, feminist, fairytale poetry, I recommend Songs for Ophelia, The Poets' Grimm: 20th Century Poems from Grimm Fairy Tales, and A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects.

[Wolf]

Right... School's really good at spoiling literature for people... I'm still pretty allergic to German literature because of that; so glad we did very little English lit there and that was unspoilt and able to rekindle my love for language in general and good writing in particular.

I had a look at my poetry books and couldn't find what I was looking for. I'm sure Kimiko Hahn struggled with Bluebeard at some point, but apparently I'll have to reread her books to find it again. I thought there were some fairytale motives in Fox, too, but: same problem. And before I reread those books, I'll finally give Dreaming Frankenstein... its due. I keep reading the odd poem now and then, but I want to really read the whole book.

I'll definitely keep an eye out for the other recommendations. Well, not the Mists of Avalon. I own that and haven't read it since it wrecked my belief in knighthood at too tender an age. Never forgave it or its author for that, even if I'd probably see things differently by now.

An anthology I really liked is Disenchantments: An Anthology of Modern Fairy Tale Poetry. Not all of them, of course, as it is with anthologies, and not all of them are feminist, either, but I remember a few you could describe as such.

More of a satire on politcal correctness are the Politcally Correct Bedtime Story volumes by James Finn Garner. I'm still not sure if you should make fun of these things, but it is so well done that I don't care overly much.