Description: Fairy tales were never for children only. In recent decades they have reappeared as movies, novels for adults, vehicles for pop psychology, and grist for scholarship. In their various manifestations, fairy tales have been alternately criticized as inherently sexist and celebrated as repositories of feminine wisdom. Postmodern Fairy Tales reveals the complexity of women's representation and demonstrates that only by asking questions about action, perspective, and narration can we acquire a new understanding of women in fairy tales.

Cristina Bacchilega seeks to understand the fairy tale not as children's literature but within the broader context of folklore and literary studies by focusing on the narrative strategies through which women are portrayed in four case studies: Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast, and Bluebeard. She traces the oral sources of each tale, offers provocative interpretations 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.

Postmodern Fairy Tales, now in paperback, advances current methods of cultural analysis as it sheds new light on the intersections of folklore and literature.

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