Breaking the Magic Spell of the Feminine Fairy Tales Through Subversion: Angela Carter’s Wolf Trilogy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30827/impossibilia.282024.29718Keywords:
Fairy Tales, Perrault, Grimms, Angela Carter, revisions of fairy tales, subversionAbstract
This study, analyzing Angela Carter’s three fairy tales: “The Werewolf”, “The Company of Wolves”, and “Wolf-Alice” comparatively with Perrault’s and Grimms’ versions of “Little Red Riding Hood”, aims to show Carter’s subversion of Perrault’s and Grimms’ versions. It presents different reasons why fairy tales have been changed and rewritten over years. Afterwards, dwelling on the motives behind the urge of the feminist writers to create revisions of the classical fairy tales, it specifically displays how and why Carter altered the classical fairy tales, interestingly drawing on an earlier version while rewriting her own versions. Thus, it concludes that Carter, with her revisions of the fairy tales, wanted to break up with the norms of the patriarchal society reflected in Perrault’s and Grimms’ versions, and she desired to subvert the idealized and coded gender roles. All these points contribute to the originality of the study.
Key Words: Fairy Tales, Perrault, Grimms, Angela Carter, revisions of fairy tales, subversion
Downloads
References
BARSOTTI, Susanna (2015). The fairy tale: recent interpretations, female characters and contemporary rewriting. Considerations about an “irresistible” genre. Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica – Journal of Theories and Research in Education 10(2), 69-80.
BOTTIGHEIMER, Ruth B. (2000). Fertility Control and the Birth of the Modern European Fairy-Tale Heroine. Marvels & Tales, 4(1), 64-79.
BROWNMILLER, Susan (1993). Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape. Columbine, New York: Ballantine Books.
CARTER, Angela (1987). The Sadeian Woman- An Exercise in Cultural History. London: Virago Press.
CARTER, Angela (1993). “The Company of Wolves”. In The Bloody Chamber. London & New York: Penguin Books.
CARTER, Angela (1993). “The Werewolf”. In The Bloody Chamber, London & New York: Penguin Books.
CARTER, Angela (1993). “Wolf-Alice”. In The Bloody Chamber, London & New York: Penguin Books.
GRIMM, Jacob; & GRIMM, Wilhelm (1984/2019). “Little Red Cap”. In ZIPES, Jack (ed.). The Trials & Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood (123-126). Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey Publishers.
HAASE, Donald (2000). Feminist Fairy-Tale Scholarship: A Critical Survey and Bibliography. Marvels & Tales, 14(1), 15-63.
KOLBENSCHLAG, Madonna (1988). Kiss Sleeping Beauty Good-Bye: Breaking The Spell Of Feminine Myths And Models. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers.
LAU, Kimberly J. (2008). Erotic Infidelities: Angela Carter's Wolf Trilogy. Marvels & Tales, 22(1), 77-94.
PERRAULT, Charles (1984/2019). “Little Red Riding Hood”. In ZIPES, Jack (ed.). The Trials & Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood (69-71). Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey Publishers.
RICH, Adrienne (1972). When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision. College English, 34(1), 18-30.
ROWE, Karen E. (1986/2014). Feminism and Fairy Tales. In ZIPES, Jack (ed.). Don't Bet On The Prince Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North America And England (209-226). New York: Methuen.
WILHELMSSON, Cornelia (2014). Feminist Fairy Tales: Blurred Boundaries in Angela Carter’s Rewritings of Classical Fairy Tales. Linköping: Linköping University, Department of Culture and Communication English.
ZIPES, Jack (1986/2014). A Second Gaze at Little Red Riding Hood's Trials and Tribulations. In ZIPES, Jack (ed.). Don't Bet On The Prince Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North America And England (227-260). New York: Methuen.
ZIPES, Jack (1984/2019). Background: The Tale Prior To Perrault. In ZIPES, Jack (ed.). The Trials & Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood (2-8). Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey Publishers.
ZIPES, Jack (1984/2019). The Grimms’ Modification Of Perrauft’s Version. In ZIPES, Jack (ed.). The Trials & Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood (14-20). Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey Publishers.
ZIPES, Jack (1998). Crossing Boundaries with Wise Girls: Angela Carter's Fairy Tales for Children. Marvels & Tales, 12(1), 147-154.
ZIPES, Jack (2006). Who’s Afraid of the Brothers Grimm? Socialization and Politicization through Fairy Tales. In ZIPES, Jack (ed.). Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion: The Classical Genre for Children and the Process of Civilization (59-79). London: Routledge.
ZIPES, Jack (December 1988). The Changing Function of the Fairy Tales. The Lion and the Unicorn, 12(2), 7-31.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Impossibilia. Revista Internacional de Estudios Literarios
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You are free to share, copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format under the following terms: You must give appropriate credit, you may not use the material for commercial purposes and No Derivatives. Commits to respecting third party intellectual property rights.
Reception and proccesing of papers has no costs for authors.
Author assumes responsibility for the ideas contained in the article.
Papers must be original and must not have been published before and at the moment they are submitted, papers should not be in the process of evaluation by any other electronic or printed media.
The authors are allowed and recommended to publish their published work through the internet. It could produced interesting exchanges and increase the published work citation. (See El efecto del acceso abierto).
