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Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned

Enchanted Stories from the French Decadent Tradition
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( 120 ratings, 34 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned is a collection of thirty-six subversive French fairy tales from the late nineteenth-century decadent literary movement. The stories transform familiar favourites like Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella, revealing darker themes such as the decline of civilisation, the degeneration of magic, gender confusion, and industrial encroachment. With tales featuring truculent fairies and unsettling twists, this volume includes an introduction, biographical notes, and explanatory annotations to enrich readers’ understanding.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers interested in literary fairy tales, decadent literature, and those who appreciate dark, unconventional storytelling. Suitable for scholars, students, and anyone intrigued by the cultural shifts reflected in late nineteenth-century French literature.

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A new collection of subversive French fairy talesThe wolf is tricked by Red Riding Hood into strangling her grandmother and is subsequently arrested. Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella do not live happily ever after. And the fairies are saucy, angry, and capricious. Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned collects thirty-six tales, most newly translated,

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A new collection of subversive French fairy tales. The wolf is tricked by Red Riding Hood into strangling her grandmother and is subsequently arrested. Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella do not live happily ever after. And the fairies are saucy, angry, and capricious.

Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned collects thirty-six tales, most newly translated, by writers associated with the decadent literary movement that flourished in late nineteenth-century France. These enchanting yet troubling stories reflect the concerns and fascinations of a time of great political, social, and cultural change.

Recasting well-known favourites from classic French fairy tales, as well as Arthurian legends and English and German tales, these decadent fairy tales feature perverse settings and disillusioned perspectives, underlining such themes as the decline of civilisation, the degeneration of magic and the unreal, gender confusion, and the incursion of the industrial.

Complete with an informative introduction, biographical notes for each author, and explanatory notes throughout, these subversive tales will entertain and startle even the most disenchanted readers.

Series: Oddly Modern Fairy Tales

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  • Told Again
    Originally published in 1927, Told Again is an enchanting collection of elegant fairy tales, showcasing the formidable talents of a writer who used magical realism before the term had even been invented. Walter de la Mare (1873-1956) was one of the most celebrated writers of children's literature during the first half of the twentieth century β€” so much so that...
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  • Japanese Tales of Lafcadio Hearn
    A collection of twenty-eight brilliant and strange stories, inspired by Japanese folk tales and written by renowned Western expatriate Lafcadio Hearn. Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) was one of the nineteenth century's best-known writers, his name celebrated alongside those of Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson. Born in Greece and raised in Ireland, Hearn was a true prodigy and world traveller. He...
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  • The Dragon Daughter and Other Lin Lan Fairy Tales
    A delightful collection of modern Chinese tales. The Dragon Daughter and Other Lin Lan Fairy Tales brings together forty-two magical Chinese tales, most appearing for the first time in English. These stories have been carefully selected from more than a thousand originally published in the early twentieth century under the pseudonyms Lin Lan and Lady Lin Lanβ€”previously unknown in the...
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  • Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned
    A new collection of subversive French fairy tales. The wolf is tricked by Red Riding Hood into strangling her grandmother and is subsequently arrested. Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella do not live happily ever after. And the fairies are saucy, angry, and capricious. Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned collects thirty-six tales, most newly translated, by writers associated with the decadent literary...
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  • Workers' Tales
    A collection of political tales first published in British workers' magazines, selected and introduced by acclaimed critic and author Michael Rosen. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, unique tales inspired by traditional literary forms appeared frequently in socialist-leaning British periodicals, such as the Clarion, Labour Leader, and Social Democrat. Based on familiar genresβ€”the fairy tale, fable, allegory, parable,...
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised for its beautiful imagery and engaging, thought-provoking content, this collection is noted as an extraordinary addition to the fairy-tale canon. Reviewers highlight its sometimes sardonic, blackly humorous tone and modern sensibility, making it invaluable both for scholars and general readers seeking a fresh take on classic tales.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780691191416

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 18 June 2019

Country: United States

Imprint: Princeton University Press

Illustration: 14 b + w illus.

Contributors:

  • Edited by Gretchen Schultz
  • Edited by Lewis Seifert

Audience: Tertiary education

DIMENSIONS

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 296

About the Author

Gretchen Schultz and Lewis Seifert are professors of French studies at Brown University.

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