Catherine Orenstein

Fairy tales and nursery rhymes do more than entertain children. The provide insight into society's mores, the zeitgeist, and the lessons we pass on. Even how we adapt, dilute, bastardize and change these tales shows us so much about ourselves.
Orenstein takes one case in point, the story of a young woman visiting her grandmother and being eaten by a wolf.
I loved reading the entire history of how the story was originally taken down, interpreted, and told. The author did a great job of putting all of the stories in context with the time in history. Should we view it as a cautionary tale about sex, men and women, walking alone, daudling, drinking? All of these evolutions of the story are examined and illustrated.

Now I wonder about the path that other fairy tales have taken through time.… (more)

A great book that has particularly strong chapters on the Perrault and Grimms' versions of the famous fairy tale. It is an excellent introduction to how the tale has changed, and more importantly, why it has changed in response to particular social and cultural conditions. I wish the analysis were a little more in depth at points, but this is an appropriate introduction in many ways. Chapters go on to discuss the sexualization of the fairy tale in popular culture with revisions like that of Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, and there is a short chapter discussing fairy tale porn ("The Punishment of Red Riding Hood") which skirts the feminist porn debate but argues that porn is about archetypes, and fairy tales are all about archetypes.

This is an approachable, easy read that I do recommend to anyone curious about the history of this story.… (more)