From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers, by Marina Warner

From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers, by Marina Warner. 1994 softcover. 463 pages, very nice condition.

In this landmark study of the history and meaning of fairy tales, the celebrated cultural critic Marina Warner looks at storytelling in art and legend-from the prophesying enchantress who lures men to a false paradise, to jolly Mother Goose with her masqueraders in the real world. Why are storytellers so often women, and how does that affect the status of fairy tales? Are they a source of wisdom or a misleading temptation to indulge in romancing?

Warner interprets the history of old wives’ tales from sibyls and the Queen of Sheeba to Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Angela Carter. And with fresh new insights she shows us the real-life themes in the famous stpries, which, she suggests, are skillful vehicles by which adults have liked to convey advice, warning, and hope – to each other as well as to children. Marina Warner explores the development of the modern nursery classics, using a wide range of sources, literary and artistic, historic and anthropological, to unfold neglected aspects of the tradition.