Postmodern Fairy Tales

"An extraordinary book, and a 'first' on the topic... Bacchilega has a remarkable capacity to reveal the intersections of folklore, literature, and film. Her interpretations of classical folk-tale types and their postmodern revisions ... are stunning."-Jack Zipes, University of Minnesota Postmodern Fairy Tales seeks to understand the fairy tale not as children's literature but within the broader context of folklore and literary studies. It focuses on the narrative strategies through which women are portrayed in four classic stories: "Snow White," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Beauty and the Beast," and "Bluebeard." Bacchilega traces the oral sources of each tale, offers a provocative interpretation of contemporary versions by Angela Carter, Robert Coover, Donald Barthelme, Margaret Atwood, and Tanith Lee, and explores the ways in which the tales are transformed in film, television, and musicals.