The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales

OATES, JOYCE CAROL (1938- ), prolific Ameri- OFFENBACH, JACQUES (1819-80), German- can writer, whose work includes plays, novels, French composer, one of the most important stories, poetry, and literary criticism. H e r first representatives o f the opéra bouffe and the collection of short stories, By the North Gate, French operetta. Born in Cologne, the son of a appeared in 1963, and since then she has pub- Jewish cantor, Offenbach went with his father lished many other collections such as The Land to Paris in 1833 and was admitted to study at of Abyssalia (1980) and Raven's Wing (1986), in the Paris Conservatoire at 14 because of his which she has woven fairy-tale motifs into her extraordinary talent. Once he had completed narratives. Other w o r k s such as Bellefleur his studies, he worked as a cellist and conduct- (1980) and A Bloodsmoor Romance (1982) or. In 1853 he produced his first operetta, and reflect her interest in supernatural and Gothic during the following years he was the head of fiction. H e r collections, Night-Side: Eighteen two theatres and also lived in the United States Tales (1977), Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque for a long time. His greatest successes, how- (1994), and Demon and Other Tales (1996), in- ever, were in Paris, where he was regarded as a clude dark fantasy and w e i r d fiction. In 1988 pioneer of musical comedy of the kind created she published two fairy tales, 'Blue-Bearded by Johann Strauss in Austria and Gilbert and Lover' and 'Secret Observations on the Goat Sullivan in England. What made Offenbach's G i r l ' in The Assignation, and ' T h e C r o s s i n g ' operettas so distinctive was his social critique. (1995) and 'In the Insomniac Night' (1997) ap- He combined satire and irony with an unusual peared in the Ontario Review. A l l her fairy tales compassion and understanding for his charac- have a dreamlike quality to them and develop ters. psychological and surprising twists to trad- itional narrative plots. Thus *'Bluebeard' is re- A m o n g his approximately 90 operettas, visited from the perspective of a woman who Offenbach wrote a parody of the *Bluebeard wins his trust and will bear him children. J Z tale, Barbe-bleue (1866). T h i s fascinating and mysterious fairy-tale character, created by O'CASEY, SEAN (1880-1964), Irish dramatist Charles *Perrault, has been adapted in operas m a n y different times: Raoul Barbe-bleue (King and younger rival of William Butler *Yeats. Bluebeard, 1789) b y A n d r é - E r n e s t - M o d e s t e *Grétry, Ariadne et Barbe-bleue (1907) b y Paul O'Casey's career took off with the Abbey *Dukas, A Kéksiakdllû herceg vara (Duke Blue- beard's Castle, 1918) b y Béla *Bart6k, Ritter Theatre's production of The Shadow of a Blaubart (Knight Bluebeard, 1920) b y E m i l Nikolaus von Reznicek. In Perrault's tale, Gunman (1923), a realistic play about pre- Bluebeard wants to kill his disobedient wife be- cause she has opened the forbidden door be- independence Ireland. W i t h the Silver Tassie hind which the other murdered wives of Bluebeard are concealed. Offenbach collabor- (1929), O'Casey began experimenting with ex- ated closely with his librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy in his adaptation, and he pressionism and allegory, but it was not until set the action in the south of France during the crusades, but he made references through cari- later in his career that he experimented with catures to the conditions in France during the reign of Napoleon III and he depicted the af- fantasy, resulting in Cock-a-Doodle Dandy fable relations between the aristocracy and the common people while also revealing the servil- (1949), in which an enchanted cock, whom the village priest believes to be the incarnation of the devil, represents 'the joyful, active spirit of life'. Figuro in the Night (1961) is a fantasy writ- ten in much the same vein. AD OEHLENSCHLACER, A D A M (1779-1850) tends to be considered the Danish Wordsworth. His writings reveal his fascination with folklore, and in 1816 he translated Mdrchen b y *Musaus, *Fouqué, *Hoffmann, and *Chamisso into Danish, thus stimulating such writers as *Inge- mann and *Andersen. His plays *Aladdin (1806) and Aly og Gulhyndy (Aly and Gul- hyndy, 1813) are romantic adaptations from The ^Arabian Nights, in which, true to the trad- ition of the multi-phased magic tale, Oehlen- schlager takes his protagonists through a process of Bildung. NI

OLE LUKK0JE 360 ity of the nobles. The knight Bluebeard has six OLRIK, AXEL (1864-1917) was professor of folk­ wives killed b y his Alchemist Popolani so that lore at the University of Copenhagen, Den­ he can marry the daughter of the king. How­ mark; his international claim to fame rests ever, Popolani had instead given the wives mainly on the article 'Episke love i folkedigtn- sleeping tablets and eventually brings them ingen' ('Epic Laws of Folk Narrative', in­ alive and well to the king. Bluebeard's mar­ cluded in A l l e n D u n d e s , The Study of Folklore). riage is then nullified, and as 'punishment' he Olrik, whose observations foreshadowed many must live the rest of his life with his sixth of Vladimir Propp's, was thereby one of the cranky and angry wife. initiators of the structural study of folk narra­ Offenbach did not write only operettas. He tives, and his analysis of narrative laws clarifies also composed important operas. One fairy­ the differences between oral tales and literary tale opera, Die Rheinnixen (The Nixies of the imitations. NI Rhine, 1864), commissioned b y the Viennese Dundes, Allen, The Study of Folklore (1965). Court Opera, was not particularly successful. Olrik, Axel, 'Episke love i folkedigtningen', However, during his last years Offenbach was Danske Studier (1908). Thompson, Stith, The Folktale (1946). w o r k i n g o n his opus summum, the great fantas­ tical opera, which he n e v e r completed, Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann, ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, a musical v e r s i o n o f 1880). T h e composer died during the re­ 'The *Princess and the Pea' fairy tale. T h e hearsals on 5 October 1880. T h e opera w a s show's title refers to the attempt b y Princess completed b y Ernest Guiraud and produced in Winnifred to prove that she was born of royal Paris in February 1881. T h e librettists, Jules blood. If she is a real princess, then a pea Barbier and Michel Carré, took episodes from placed under the mattress will rob her of sleep. various tales by the German writer E . T . A . T h e show was premiered at the Phoenix *Hoffmann, whom Offenbach greatly admired, Theatre, N e w Y o r k , in 1959, enjoying a run of and they fused them together in a frame story. 460 performances. O n e interesting feature o f The central figure of the opera is the writer the show's creation was that it had music b y Hoffmann, w h o tells drinking companions Mary Rodgers, daughter of the legendary about three adventures with women whom he Broadway composer Richard Rodgers. The had loved. Olympia, a mechanical doll, whom lyrics were by Marshall Barer. TH Hoffmann views through magical glasses and mistakes for a live woman, is destroyed be­ OPERA A N D FAIRY TALES. Opera is a sung dra­ cause of a mysterious duel between her invent­ matic work designed for theatrical perform­ ance. While opera's broad appeal is expressed ors. T h e fragile and beautiful singer Antonia mainly through music and drama, its complete theatrical experience frequently relies on cos­ dies from consumption. T h e courtesan Giu- tume, scenery, and movement: in France, a bal­ let sequence was long considered a crucial part letta, who has a liaison with a sorcerer, mocks in any opera's construction. After a 400-year history, opera now has a long list of constitu­ and deceives Hoffmann, who is left forlorn and ents, of which the foregoing are among the most significant. F o r at least half that time, alone at the end of the opera. Offenbach com­ fairy tales have provided a rich source of in­ spiration for composers when selecting subjects bined reality, magic, and the grotesque in his for their works. final w o r k , w h i c h is o n e o f the greatest fairy­ Part of opera's continuing fascination lies in its ever-changing complexity, reflecting con­ tale operas ever composed. THH temporary tastes in music and drama, styles of singing, and scale of production. Opera has O L E LUKK0JE, title character of one of the most seldom been free from controversy. While one view maintains that it is an invaluable part of popular fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen civilized society, another holds that it is an ir­ relevance—a diversion which hasno connec­ (1841; translated into English as 'Willie Win- tion with everyday life. What is undeniable, however, is that it has the ability to uplift audi­ kie', 'The Sandman', 'The Dustman', 'Old ences, inspiring in them an almost religious de­ votion. Luke'). T h e name means literally 'Ole, close your eyes', 'Ole' being a boy's name. The ori­ gin o f the figure goes back to the G e r m a n folk­ lore character Sandmànnchen, a little man or dwarf who makes children go to sleep. Ole Lukkoje carries two umbrellas, one with beau­ tiful pictures, giving children interesting dreams, and a plain black one. He may be viewed as one of Andersen's many self-por­ traits as a storyteller. Ole Lukkoje has a brother whose name is Death. MN

36i OPERA AND FAIRY TALES l. HISTORY not only active as a composer but undertook Opera has played a pivotal role in theatrical en- wide-ranging reforms to opera-house prac- tertainment not just for centuries, but for sev- tices. eral millennia, dating back to the ancient Greeks. T h e prototype of its present-day form F r o m the mid-17th until the early 20th cen- began to appear in late Renaissance Italy—the tury, Paris was a significant centre for opera, first surviving acknowledged operatic w o r k reaching its zenith in the 19th century, having being J a c o p i Peri's Euridice in 1600. Peri b e - attracted the Italian composer Gioacchino longed to a select group of musicians and *Rossini and the German Giacomo Meyerbeer learned nobles whose aim was the reinstate- (1791—1864) to settle there. But Paris was rich, ment of clearly declaimed sung text, rather as it too, in native-born talent: Hector Berlioz had been in ancient Greece. Consolidating (1803-68); Charles Gounod (1818-93); Peri's work, Claudio Monteverdi (1567—1643), Georges Bizet (1838-75); and Jules Massenet a far more historically important composer, (1842—1912). That said, one of the most popu- produced La Favola d'Orfeo (The Fable of lar 'Parisian' composers of all time was Ger- Orpheus) in 1607. man-born Jacques *Offenbach. This period was remarkable also for the number of theatres Opera's rapid growth during the 17th cen- presenting opera in Paris. Some sources claim a tury, first in Italy and shortly after throughout figure as high as 30. the rest of Europe, owed much to the encour- agement of the aristocracy, whose taste for As opera grew more international, countries grand festive occasions gave it an important such as Germany, Russia, and Czechoslovakia platform. Italian influence led to early enthusi- became more musically nationalistic in charac- asm for the new art form in France and Ger- ter, as did Hungary and Poland. Czecho- many, although, initially at least, attempts b y slovakia, an important part of the centres such as Paris and Dresden to found an Austro-Hungarian Empire, had a long trad- indigenous school were invariably rooted in ition of importing musical talent and experi- the Italian style. A t first the spread o f opera ence from Germany and Austria. N o w native was greatly assisted by travelling troupes, usu- composers such as Bedrich Smetana (1824—84) ally from Italy. This was later mirrored in and Antonin *Dvofak emerged, followed later America, where early opera was largely a mat- by the highly individual Leos *Janacek. In ter of what was provided by visiting European Russia the national movement was led by Mik- companies. Mid-17th-century French opera hail *Glinka, succeeded by Alexander Borodin and ballet (for a considerable time in France (1833-87), Modest Mussorgsky (1839-81), the two were virtually indivisible), is invari- Piotr Tchaikovsky, and Nikolai *Rimsky- ably remembered today through the Italian- Korsakov. Many of these Slav composers pro- born composer Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-87), duced a conspicuous number of fairy-tale a musician of great influence at the court of operas in an astonishingly short space of oper- Louis X I V . atic history (see below). In the early 18th century, L o n d o n enjoyed Meanwhile, as the 19th century unfolded, the double benefit of German-born George the arrival of Giuseppe Verdi (1813—1901) and Frederic *Handel, who composed and con- Richard *Wagner focused musical attention as ducted operas in the Italian manner, and the never before on Italy and Germany. For a time Royal Academy of Music—a business enter- Verdi was almost certainly the world's most prise which promoted them. Later in the same popular composer, a belief which has changed century both Christoph Willibald von Gluck little in 100 years. His wonderful melodic gifts, (1714-87) and Wolfgang Amadeus *Mozart unerring sense of theatre, and expert know- made Vienna their centre of operations, ledge of the voice make his works instantly ac- although some of their important works re- cessible. Wagner based many of his operas on ceived premières in other leading European Nordic mythology and German legends, and cities. Gluck sought to 'reform' Italian opera as such has more relevance to this article on with a more natural form of expression: it had fairy tales (see below). lapsed into a somewhat stilted form. Mozart, the incomparably superior composer, tapped The pattern of a contemporaneous Italian deeper emotional currents through detailed and German each individually breaking new character development. Dresden flourished in ground was repeated again with Giacomo the early 19th century o w i n g to C a r l Maria v o n *Puccini and Richard *Strauss. Puccini, a sig- *Weber, w h o as R o y a l S a x o n Kapellmeister w a s nificant figure in the ' V e r i s m o ' m o v e m e n t , gave opera a much-needed 'naturalist' impetus, as did Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857—1919), and

OPERA AND FAIRY TALES 362 Pietro Mascagni (1863—1945). Like these com- small and large scale, Britten revitalized British posers, Strauss too dealt frequently in highly opera, giving it a new self-assuredness. Menot- charged emotion which was liable to take a ti's greatest successes have tended to be with violent turn. Indeed, some of his early operas small-scale works, in which stories are often such as Salome and Elektra frequently touched highly focused. They are heavily endowed on extremes of brutality. with powerful drama, made more naturalistic by choosing a contemporary setting. The closest he came to a fairy-tale opera was 2. OPERA STORIES Der Rosenkavalier (The Rose Cavalier, premi- From opera's earliest times its stories or plots have been as varied as storytelling itself. Greek ered 1911), a believable fantasy set in 18th-cen- and Roman myths and legends were early fa- tury Vienna with text by Hugo von vourites, and have continued to be so through *Hofmannsthal. Sophie is doomed to a pre- to the present day. Other operas deal in power arranged marriage with the ageing, licentious and corruption, such as Beethoven's Fidelio Baron Ochs and is rescued by her lover Count (1805), or Puccini's Tosca (1900). L o v e stories, Octavian. Strauss was also a noted conductor usually with unhappy endings, abound. and in 1893 conducted the première of E n g e l - A m o n g the most prominent are V e r d i ' s La bert *Humperdinck's *Hansel and Gretel, a r g u - ably the most famous of all fairy-tale operas Traviata (1853) ^a n Puccini's La Bohème (see below). (1895). Gaetano Donizetti (1797—1848) often T h e 20th century has been characterized b y took historical figures as his subjects (almost the appearance of many more sharply defined invariably female), portraying, among others, styles of composition, including the vogue for Anna Bolena, Lucrezia Borgia, and Mary small-scale w o r k s , such as The Soldier's Tale Stuart. by Igor *Stravinsky. Premiered in 1918, it is without doubt a curiosity—an opera with 3. EARLY 'FANTASTIC' SUBJECTS speech and drama and no singing. Stravinsky's H e n r y *Purcell's The Fairy Queen (1692), an fellow Russians, however, still thought on the adaptation o f *Shakespeare's A Midsummer grand scale. Sergei *Prokofiev's lyrical yet Night's Dream, is an early example o f an exist- rhythmically invigorating manner comple- ing 'fantastic' story set to music. Y e t another is mented Dmitri Shostakovich's (1906-75) rous- his King Arthur (1691). S o m e sources claim a ing and often satirical style. Both at various tally o f around 30 operas on the Arthurian le- times fell foul of Soviet censure. gends. Purcell's b e s t - k n o w n opera is Dido and Aeneas (1689), w h o s e story places great reli- Germany has been well represented by Hans ance on witches and sorcery. W e r n e r Henze (1926— ) . His The Bassarids (premiered 1966) is very much on the grand The 17th century was also a time for the so- scale and continues the long tradition of basing called 'Slumber Scene'. Popular in Italian a work on Greek legend. In contrast to former opera, it was a dramatic device requiring a times, France has not been so fortunate. character to fall asleep. In this state, characters François Poulenc (1899-1963), a brilliant and would receive welcome news or otherwise popular composer, wrote a quantity of songs from an apparition, or impart the same to and was strongly identified with Les Six, a eavesdroppers by talking in their sleep. The group of French composers. His operatic out- vogue for such theatricality continued for some put w a s small, but powerful: Les Mamelles de considerable time, eventually producing a w h o l e opera on the subject, La Sonnambula Tiresias (The Mammaries of Tiresias, 1944) and (The Sleepwalker, 1831) b y Vincenzo Bellini Dialogues des Carmélites (Dialogues of the Car- (1801-35). melites, 1957), for example. T h e most signifi- cant contributions by the so-called Second 4. FAIRY TALES V i e n n e s e S c h o o l led b y the c o m p o s e r o f Moses Fairy tales, with their strong dramatic oppos- und Aron, A r n o l d S c h o e n b e r g ( 1 8 7 4 - 1 9 5 1 ) ites of good/evil, love/hate make appealing came, ironically, from one of Schoenberg's operatic material. * Cinderella (French Cendril- pupils, Alban Berg (1885-1935), who wrote lon, Italian Cenerentola, G e r m a n Aschenhrbdet), Woneck (premiered 1925) and Lulu (premiered was one of the first fairy tales as such to receive staged musical t r e a t m e n t — R o s s i n i ' s Ceneren- 1937). tola o f 1817 being the best k n o w n . It remains W h e n the m i d - to late 20th century is as- sessed, it will be seen that lasting impacts were made by Gian Carlo Menotti (1911— ) and Ben- jamin Britten (1913—76), and to a lesser extent Michael Tippett (1905—98). Writing for both

3*3 OPERA A N D FAIRY TALES popular to the present day. Other versions of the tribulations which can arise when a mor­ from the mid-i8th to late 19th century are b y tal and a fairy fall in love. While Wagner did Laruette (1759); Isourard (1810); Steibelt not turn out to be a setter of fairy tales as such (1810); Garcia (1826); C. T . Wagner (1861); (he invariably wrote his own librettos), magic Cheri (1866); Conradi (1868); Langer (1874); often plays a significant part in many of his Rokosny (1885); Massenet (i899> a rival in plots, which were synthesized from Nordic and popularity to Rossini's). A t the beginning of Teutonic myths and sagas. the 20th century, six appeared in quick succes­ sion: Wolf-Ferrari (1900); Albini (c.1900); For instance, the supernatural runs right Forsyth; Blech (1905); Asafyev (1906); and through the w h o l e o f Der Ring des Nibelungen, Butykay (1912). a cycle of four operas. Thus Alberich (a dwarf), changes his appearance by means of a During the last year of his life, 1791, Mozart magic helmet in Das Rheingold. S i e g m u n d in produced his remarkable Die Zauberflote (The Die Walkiire is the only one w h o can d r a w a Magic Flute). It is a story steeped in allegory sword left embedded in a tree. In the third and Masonic symbolism. Some directors pro­ opera, Siegfried slays a dragon, but burns his duce the work emphasizing its fairy-tale side; finger in the creature's blood. H e nurses the certainly in the right hands it does take on this wound, discovering thereby that he can under­ form with its magic flute which can charm ani­ stand a warning given him by a woodbird. The mals and magic bells that subdue enemies. final opera, Gotterddmmerung, sees a return o f the magic helmet which plays a vital part in Mozart's death coincided with the emer­ Hagen's plot to kill Siegfried. Wagner's awe­ gence of 'romanticism'—a development in lit­ some originality in the use of the orchestra, in­ erature and the arts which found a deep novative harmonic language, and dramatic response among a rising generation of com­ presentation marked a turning-point in opera posers: Beethoven, Berlioz, Schubert, *Men- world-wide. One unfortunate side effect was delssohn, *Schumann, and Chopin. A m o n g its that contemporary German composers found achievements in literature, romanticism helped themselves overlooked. re-examine old fairy tales and ghost stories, thus stimulating composers into creating the Nevertheless, Engelbert Humperdinck did 'romantic opera'. manage to make an impact with one opera in particular, even though his music bears superfi­ In 1821 W e b e r composed Der Freischut{ cial similarity to that of Wagner, for whom, based on a story from a collection, Gespenster- early in life, he worked as a copyist. Based on buch (Ghost Book, 1810), b y J o h a n n A p e l and the * G r i m m brothers' story in ^Kinder- und Friedrich Laun. It tells of a shooting contest, an Hausmdrchen, *Hdnsel und Gretel w a s highly evil spirit, magic bullets, and redemption successful w h e n first produced, and has stayed through confession. Not so well remembered in the repertoire, being greatly popular in Ger­ as Weber, but nevertheless important in the many, Britain, and America. Humperdinck's history of German romantic opera, was Hein­ Kbnigskinder (The Royal Children, 1910), also rich Marschner (1795—1861), whose best- explored the realms of fairy tale, being con­ k n o w n opera, Hans Heiling (1833), is based on cerned with a goose girl who loves a king's a folk tale. It relates how a mortal girl is son. Their love is thwarted by a witch. wooed, unsuccessfully, by a supernatural being. Marschner's contemporary Albert The strong operatic mix of the romantic Tortzing composed one of several operas on with the supernatural in 19th-century Germany the subject o£*Undine (1845)—a water spirit was not matched in France, although Jacques (female), famous in Central European folk Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann (premiered myth, who seeks to marry a mortal. Earlier in posthumously in 1881), is an outstanding ex­ the century E . T . A . *Hoffmann, who like ception. Offenbach based his opera on stories Lortzing was active in several other areas as by E . T . A . Hoffmann, the work's eponymous well as composing, also took Undine as an op­ 'hero', whose quest for love is doomed. He is eratic subject (1816). either ensnared by magic or frustrated by it. It could be argued that one major accom­ Almost all the composers associated with the plishment of Weber, Marschner, Lortzing, and blossoming of Russia's national school wrote Hoffmann was to prepare the way for Richard operas. Some were most prolific in this area. W a g n e r , w h o in 1833—4 produced his first N o doubt because of that country's literature, complete opera, Die Feen (The Fairies). Based fairy tales were often a prominent feature of on *Gozzi's c o m e d y La donna serpente (1762), their w o r k . Mikhail G l i n k a ' s Russian and Lud- Wagner's opera deals with the familiar theme milla (1842), is based on *Pushkin's p o e m o f

OPERETTA AND FAIRY TALES 364 1820. A fairy-tale opera on a grand scale, it is In America, the Italian-born Gian Carlo cast in five acts. L u d m i l l a ' s abduction b y a Menotti wrote an opera with fairy-tale ingredi­ dwarf sets Russian off on a series of fabulous ents, Amahland the Night Visitors (1951). It w a s adventures in which he encounters fairies the first opera written especially for television (good and bad) and acquires a magic sword. and relates the story of a crippled boy who is He finally discovers Ludmilla and awakens her cured on joining the three kings on their way from her trance with the aid of a magic ring. to Bethlehem. A m o n g R i m s k y - K o r s a k o v ' s 14 operas Hans W e r n e r Henze (1926— ) is one of the (some sources claim 15),are several which take 20th century's most prolific G e r m a n com­ fairy tales or folk stories as their theme. In May posers. His Konig Hirsch (The Stag King, 1956), Night (1880) w a t e r n y m p h s ( R u s a l k i ) help narrates the adventures of a king who as a child L e v k o overcome his father's objections in was abandoned in the forest and brought up by marrying Hanna. Other operas that kept Rim- animals as a result of which he has the gift of sky occupied with fairy tales and m a g i c are The moving in and out of human and animal form. *Snow Maiden (1882), Sadko (1898), The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1900), and The Legend of the D u r i n g the second half of the 20th century Invisible City of Kiteih (1907). H i s last opera, composers, directors, and producers creating The Golden Cockerel (premiered posthumously operas to focus on social issues have emerged. in 1909), tells of a miraculous golden cockerel While such operas do not tend to employ the that crows at the sign of impending danger. traditional fairy tale as such, they follow the Tchaikovsky's best-known operas, on the custom o f moralizing through colourful fiction. other hand, are based on characters who be­ have like real people in believable surround­ TH ings, although Iolanta (1892) does h a v e a blind Ardoin, John, The Stages of Menotti (1985). princess w h o recovers her sight through find­ Carpenter, Humphrey, Benjamin Britten: A ing love. Biography (1992). Gammond, Peter, Offenbach: His Life and Times Russian composers did not lose their taste (1981). for fairy tales in the 20th century. P r o k o f i e v ' s Harewood, George Henry Hubert Lascelles, The Love for Three Oranges (1921) is based on Earl of (ed. and rev.), Kobbe's Complete Opera Gozzi's play of 1761. A series of adventures be­ Book (10th edn., 1987). fall a melancholic prince after attempts are Holden, Amanda, Kenyon, Nicholas, and made to induce him to laugh. Walsh, Stephen (eds.), The Viking Opera Guide In Czechoslovakia, too, nationalism had set (l99l)- itself on an unstoppable course, commencing Headington, Christopher, Westbrook, with Smetana. It was Dvorak, however, who in Christopher, and Barfoot, Terry, Opera: A writing his masterpiece Rusalka (1900) also History (1987). gave the world a great fairy-tale opera, perhaps Kloiber, Rudolf, and Konold, Wulf, Handbuch the finest o f all w o r k s on the subject o f l o v e der Oper (1993). between a water sprite and a mortal. Janâcek Landon, H. C. Robbins, 1791: Mozart's Last Year took Czech opera into the 20th century, produ­ (1988). cing in the last decade of his life a highly indi­ Warrack, John, and West, Ewan, The Concise vidual series o f w o r k s . The Cunning Little Oxford Dictionary of Opera (1992). Vixen (1924), has animals and humans i n v a d ­ ing each other's social domain. OPERETTA A N D FAIRY TALES. Operetta is a form Native opera, which had long been dormant of opera in which the style is essentially light- in Britain (with the exception of the phenom­ hearted with tuneful music. The translation enal Gilbert and Sullivan partnership in the late from Italian is 'little opera', indicating that in 19th century) suddenly began a revival with the 18th century short entertainments were fre­ the astonishingly successful The Immortal Hour quently performed in the middle of a serious (1914) by Rutland Boughton. Intended as the work. Apart from 'operetta' various other centrepiece of an 'English R i n g ' , it was a tragic names describing the form, which could be ex­ love tale set in fairyland. Benjamin Britten pro­ tremely varied depending on country of origin, duced no fairy tales as such, but did provide became attached, including 'intermezzo', 'opera another operatic v e r s i o n o f A Midsummer buffa ( I t a l y ) , 'opéra bouffé', 'opéra comique' Night's Dream. H e also set a ghost story, The ( F r a n c e ) , and 'SingspieT ( G e r m a n y ) . Turn of the Screw (1954), based on H e n r y James's story of 1898. In time, operetta separated itself from its parent, turning into a stage genre in its own right and often taking as long as an opera to perform. One main difference to emerge was

365 OPERETTA A N D FAIRY TALES the lighter form's reliance on spoken dialogue. Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde (The Knights Thus while 'singing actors' are to be found only intermittently in opera, their absence in of the Round Table, 1866). A l t h o u g h H e r v é w a s operetta is unimaginable. T h e 'musical' grew an important figure in the e m e r g e n c e o f oper­ out of operetta, gradually, finding its place in etta, it was Jacques *Offenbach, older b y six the 20th century. Its most recognizable ingre­ years, who consolidated its position, partly by dients are tuneful scores, upbeat stories, spoken tapping into the contemporary taste for satire. dialogue, and lavish productions—a scenario His lasting popularity, however, has more to which has often enhanced the fairy tale. do with his brilliance as a composer. The evolution, however, had more inter­ Premiered in 1858, Orphée aux Enfers mediate stages than is often realized. F o r a time there was a vogue for descriptive titles. Desig­ (Orpheus in the Underworld), Offenbach's most nations such as 'a musical play', 'a fantastic enduring work, was a caricature of the musical play', or 'a play with music' were en­ Orpheus story. The demand for Offenbach's countered (at least in Britain), during the years satirical operettas was especially strong during encompassing the 1890s and the early 20th cen­ France's Second Empire. With the Franco- tury. This is not to say that a line may be Prussian W a r (1870—1), and the fall of Napo­ drawn between the end of one species and the leon III, the public lost its appetite for such en­ beginning of another. Indeed, there have been tertainments, as Offenbach soon found out. times when they have co-existed quite happily, The composer's foray into the realms of fairy influencing each other at crucial periods in tale came with Le Roi Carotte (King Carotte, their development. 1872), containing a scene in which a witch turns vegetables into humans. The drama l. OPERETTA IN THE 1 9 ™ CENTURY IN FRANCE, by Victorien Sardou was based on a tale by BRITAIN, AUSTRIA, AND GERMANY E . T . A . *Hoffmann, whose tales Offenbach T h e second half of the 19th century, m o v i n g incorporated later in his great posthumous into the early 20th, marked operetta's h e y d a y . Its antecedents were to be found in the light opera The Tales of Hoffmann (1881). stage w o r k s popular during the 18th century b y Italian composers such as Giovanni Pergolesi After Offenbach, late 19th-century French (1710-36) and Domenico Cimarosa operetta continued to go from strength to (1749-1801). Wolfgang Amadeus *Mozart, strength, resulting in an upsurge of composing and Antonio Salieri (1750—1825) were far more talent, although few could match Offenbach's substantial composers, but w r o t e opera buffa genius and wit. Born in Paris, Robert Plan- too: Mozart's Le none di Figaro (The Marriage quette (1848-1903), w r o t e Les Cloches de Cor- of Figaro) which premiered in 1786, is general­ ly described as 'opera buffa'. neville (The Chimes of Normandy, 1877). It Comedy was still the mainstay of such en­ became his most popular work, with a story tertainments, and was continued into the 19th concerning the marquis de Corneville, a polit­ century by Gioacchino *Rossini, by which time ical exile from his estate in Normandy. A local a vogue for other subjects was emerging. A legend proclaims that a set of ghostly bells will point worth remembering is that Rossini made ring out on the owner's return. his name with opera buffa, but later turned his attention to more serious subjects. His La A later w o r k from Planquette, Rip (1882) Cenerentola of 1817 is a rather darker v e r s i o n o f was based on W a s h i n g t o n * I r v i n g ' s Rip Van the *Cinderella story than is represented by the Winkle. A s realized b y Planquette and the l i ­ familiar pantomime variant. Rossini's popular­ brettists H. Meilhac, Philippe Gille, and H. B . ity in Paris probably helped create a taste for a F a r n i e , R i p , a mortal, finds himself in the c o m ­ lighter form of opera. His energetic, melodious pany of ghostly mariners. Enticed by a water style influenced many contemporaries, so that nymph to drink wine which has a spell upon it, by the time composer, actor, and singer Flori- he falls asleep for 20 years. After w a k i n g , he mund R o n g e r (1825—92) appeared, the time returns home an aged man and succeeds in was ripe for a more individual kind of oper­ righting some old wrongs. etta—France being generally considered as the country which gave it birth. Reminiscent of a popular theme in fairy tales, La Poupée (The Doll, 1896), b y E d m o n d Ronger took the pseudonym Hervé, com­ Audran, takes up the theme of a toymaker who posing over 100 operettas, among which was manufactures a lifelike doll—an exact replica of his own daughter. The craze for operetta, especially works by Offenbach, spread quickly throughout Europe, resulting not only in many imitators but, cru­ cially, stimulating what can best be described as national schools of light opera, not least the

OPERETTA AND FAIRY TALES 366 legendary Gilbert and Sullivan partnership in Luna effectively marked the beginning of what Victorian Britain. Ironically, it was poor box- has been called the Berlin School of Operetta. office receipts for Offenbach's Perichole at L o n ­ don's Royalty Theatre which led the impres­ 2. MUSICAL COMEDY AND COMIC OPERA ario Richard D ' O y l y Carte to invite W. S. Although operetta was the begetter of the mu­ Gilbert (1836—1911) and Arthur Sullivan sical, there was an intermediate stage to be (1842-1900) to collaborate on the one-act Trial gone through. The era c.1890-1939 saw oper­ etta expanding in many directions at once. h Jury (1875)- Generally, such developments may be identi­ fied with the single title, musical c o m e d y . T h a t This operetta was no fairy tale, but plots said, operetta did not die out completely during with magic lozenges, etc., were never far from this time, certainly not the Viennese variety Gilbert's dramas. Hence the partnership's next thanks to Franz Lehar (1870—1948), who re­ collaboration, The Sorcerer (1877), included M r v i v e d it with his phenomenally successful The John Wellington Wells, of J. W. Wells & Co., F a m i l y Sorcerers. *Iolanthe (1882), w a s billed Merry Widow (1905). as ' A n Entirely N e w and Original Fairy Opera in T w o Acts' and reworked the oft-repeated Lehar operettas are peopled with real char­ theme in myth and drama of a fairy who mar­ acters, w h o find themselves in generally believ­ ries a mortal. Five years later, in 1887, the part­ able circumstances. His style and melodic gifts nership produced Ruddigore, containing a set a benchmark for a great number of com­ scene in which portraits of dead ancestors come posers such as Oscar Straus (1870—1954), L e o to life. Fall (1873-1925), Robert Stolz (1880-1975), and Emmerich Kalman (1882—1953), who all The Beauty Stone (premiered in 1898), a c o l ­ produced a considerable number of works, laboration between Sullivan and Arthur W. forming the core of the genre known as 'Vien­ Pinero (1855—1934), lived up to its description nese Operetta'. of a 'romantic musical drama', being the story of a stone which has the power to transform In Britain, during the 20th century's first ugliness into beauty. Sullivan's last work for decade, Edward German (1862—1934), kept the the stage, The Rose of Persia (a collaboration flag of British Operetta flying with works such with Basil Hood), took various themes from The * Arabian Nights. P r e m i e r e d in 1899, it con­ as Merrie England (1902). Set in the 16th cen­ tained a scene in which several persons under sentence of death endeavour to think of a story tury, it was written by Basil Hood and styled a with which to entertain the Sultan, thus hoping 'comic opera', as were all German's collabor­ to spin out their lives. In their ensemble 'It has ations with this dramatist. The following year reached me', they consider various fairy-tale (1903), G e r m a n and H o o d produced A Princess options such as 'Old Mother Hubbard', 'Little of Kensington. O w i n g something to \"\"Shake­ Miss Muffet', and 'The Cat and the Fiddle'. speare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, it de­ The triumphs of French and British operetta found a parallel in Vienna, where Johann scribes the exploits of fairies who occupy Strauss the second (1825-99), ^ r s t came to Kensington Gardens, London, for a d a y — prominence as a composer of waltzes. His first Midsummer Day. A s might be imagined, they take to interfering in the love lives of mortals. operetta, Indigo und die vier^ig Ràuber (Indigo A happy end follows a series of trials and tribu­ and the Forty Thieves), w a s premiered in 1871, lations. Thanks to a collaboration with W. S. Gilbert, German wrote another fairy oper­ to be followed three years later by his most etta—*Fallen Fairies (premiered in 1909). A s famous and enduring w o r k for the stage, Die in Iolanthe, a quarter-century earlier, Gilbert's Fledermaus (The Bat). Strauss's fame ensured a drama dealt with the theme of love between spectacular first night for Indigo w h i c h , in con­ fairies and mortals. Intriguingly, Gilbert ad­ taining the character *'Ali Baba', owed much to vanced the theory (in the drama), that every The Arabian Nights. Indigo w a s revised a n u m ­ mortal has a fairy doppelganger. ber of times. One version appeared in 1906 after Strauss's death, entitled Tausend und eine T h e rise of musical comedy in Britain is often linked to The Shop Girl of 1894. Lionel Nacht (Thousand and One Nights). Monkton (1861—1924), who co-wrote some of its music, also contributed to the highly popu­ A s the old 19th century prepared to b o w lar The Arcadians o f 1909, in which beings from out, P a u l L i n k e ' s Frau Luna (Castles in the Air, an imaginary world (Arcadia) invade London premiered in 1899 in Berlin), took its charac­ with the intention of improving its ways. ters on a trip to the m o o n — i n a balloon. Frau Monkton's contemporaries included Leslie Stuart (1864-1928), composer of The Silver

367 OPERETTA AND FAIRY TALES Slipper of 1901, a version of the Cinderella But now something else was added to the story. *Chu Chin Chow (1916), billed as ' A m u ­ crucible of old-style operetta and the new mu­ sical tale of the East told by Oscar Asche and sical comedies by American composers such as set to music by Frederic Norton', turned out to Jerome Kern (1885-1945; two songs by Kern be a mixture of pantomime, operetta, and mu­ were included in one of many musical adapta­ sical comedy, with a story beholden to 'Ali tions o f Peter Pan), C o l e P o r t e r ( 1 8 9 1 - 1 9 6 4 ) , Baba and the Forty Thieves'. George Gershwin (1898-1937), and Richard Rodgers (1902—79). E m e r g i n g almost simul­ Parallel to what was happening in Britain, taneously in Britain and America, the new de­ around the turn of the century America was velopment was termed variously as either a developing its own operetta/musical comedy show or a revue, and its vitality and extrava­ style. Reginald D e K o v e n (1859—1920), whose gance reflected the new world's growing self- The Begum has been hailed as an ' A m e r i c a n confidence in its own culture, and the old First', wrote Robin Hood in 1891. B a s e d on the world's desire to share in it. Irving Berlin legendary adventures of the Sherwood Forest (1888—1989), perhaps America's most prolific outlaws, Robin Hood had b o o k and lyrics b y writer of songs, was closely associated with Harry B . Smith. De Koven and Smith con­ many such Broadway ventures over several tinued to collaborate, producing in 1894 an­ decades. other folk-hero operetta, Rob Roy. O f interest later w a s D e K o v e n ' s sequel to Robin Hood: One American impresario, Florenz Ziegfeld (1867—1932), refined the medium by devising Maid Marian was premiered in 1902. 'The Ziegfeld Follies', commencing a series of such productions in 1907. Almost invariably, By now, the composer Victor Herbert they were a concoction of celebrated perform­ (1859—1924), n a c l overtaken D e K o v e n in ers, popular music, glamorous women, and popularity. Herbert was an Irish-born, Ger­ lavish staging. In 1930 Ziegfeld also produced man-trained musician who settled in America. Simple Simon w i t h music b y R i c h a r d R o d g e r s A cellist and conductor of symphony orches­ and lyrics by Lorenz Hart (1895-1943). The tras, Herbert gradually turned his attention to book, by the American comedian Ed W y n n operetta in the 1890s, enjoying some success and the British dramatist G u y Bolton, deals with a number of works. His first significant w i t h a n e w s p a p e r v e n d o r w h o finds escapism in triumph came with *Babes in Toy land (1903; a sort of fairyland. book and lyrics by Glen MacDonough). Its music and story—generally a procession of Three years before, in 1927, Rodgers and fairy-tale and nursery-rhyme characters, made Hart, who were already an established team, a spectacular impact on audiences of all ages. w r o t e A Connecticut Yankee, based on M a r k Intriguingly, Babes in Toyland w a s an attempt T w a i n ' s original tale entitled A Connecticut to capitalize on the success in that same year of The *Wi$ard of 0{ (music b y A . B a l d w i n Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Audiences *Sloane, and Paul Tiejens, book and lyrics by L. Frank *Baum, adapted from Baum's novel). warmed to the story of a modern American Among Herbert's highly prolific output is a who dreams he is back in Camelot. variation on the Cinderella story, The *Lady of the Slipper, produced in 1 9 1 2 . Running parallel with Ziegfeld in America, Britain's C . B . Cochran (1872—1951) became 3. THE 20TH CENTURY: THE EMERGENCE OF THE his country's foremost producer of musicals, MUSICAL revues, and operettas. For a time he was associ­ T h e 1920s in Britain and America were typified ated with the multi-talented Noël Coward by a brand of stage work signalling the begin­ (1899-1973). He also produced a number of nings of the modern musical. Romantic oper­ shows by the composer and librettist Vivian etta in America was still able to hold its own, as Ellis, with the exception of Ellis's gender- was proved by composers from the old world reversal musical *Mr Cinders (1929). such as the Czech-born Rudolf Friml (1879—1972), and the Hungarian-born Sig- T h e 'Jazz A g e ' of the 1920s had, b y now, mund R o m b e r g (1887—1951). F r i m l ' s The reached its peak and straightforward treat­ Vagabond King of 1925 w a s based on the p l a y ments of fairy tales were becoming a thing of and novel If I Were King and followed the the past. Indeed the syncopated rhythms of jazz story of François Villon—an outlaw who itself had already made deep inroads into cheats the gallows and succeeds in becoming American musical comedy. King of France for a day. In the years prior to World W a r II, Britain became accustomed to a steady diet of musicals by Noël Coward and composer/actor Ivor Novello (1893—1951), who forged his own kind

ORAL TRADITION AND FAIRY TALES 368 of eye-catching operetta with the accent on ro­ laborated with the lyricist Marshall Barer to mance. In storyline these works had much in common with their contemporary German, produce *Once Upon a Mattress, an enlarged French, and Viennese counterparts. Tales of young lovers divided by rank and station were musical version of the humorous fairy tale popular, as were exotic locations far removed from the country in which the work originated. 'The *Princess and the Pea'. A highly signifi­ 4. POST-1945 DEVELOPMENTS cant musical appeared in 1987, namely Stephen If in the decades following the end of hostilities in 1945 the A m e r i c a n musical seemed to d o m ­ Sondheim's *Into the Woods, in which a series inate audiences world-wide, there were good reasons for this. America's vitality was in stark of fairy-tale characters are involved; they con­ contrast to a Europe tired by war: the energy and escapism which the American musical ra­ front the evil force of a giant with tragic results diated suited the contemporary mood exactly. Almost immediately, as if to aid the desire for but help a baker and his wife have a child. An­ escapism, a number of musicals appeared which concerned themselves with the supernat­ other important musical was created by Tim ural. Rice, who became part of the team which pro­ In 1945 Richard R o d g e r s and Oscar H a m ­ merstein (1895—1960) collaborated on the se­ duced *Beauty and the Beast in 1994. cond o f their m a n y hit s h o w s , Carousel. H e r e the hero, Billy Bigelow, having killed himself Although the foregoing would suggest that to avoid capture for theft, is allowed to leave Purgatory for a day. He returns to Earth, seek­ the musical's immediate past has been domin­ ing to help his daughter, as a result of which he finds Redemption and is finally allowed into ated by America, shows by Britain's Andrew Heaven. T w o years later, in 1947, two musicals steeped in fantasy were premiered in N e w Lloyd Webber, including fantasy subjects such Y o r k . *Finian's Rainbow had a b o o k b y E . Y . Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, as Phantom of the Opera, and Starlight Express, and music by Burton Lane. A crock of gold is taken from Ireland to a mythical part of Amer­ have been just as popular and in many cases ica's deep South and has the power to grant three wishes. more commercially successful world-wide. B y contrast, Brigadoon, b y the lyricist A l a n With a few exceptions, such successes have not J . Lerner (1918—86), and the composer Freder­ ick L o e w e (1904—88), w a s set in Scotland, tak­ been matched by home markets in other Euro­ ing the theme of a mythical village which materializes just for a day once every 100 pean countries, which frequently prefer to im­ y e a r s . *R~ismet (1953), noted for its opulent p r o ­ duction, was a return by the lyricists George port American and British shows. Forrest and R o b e r t W r i g h t to The Arabian Nights. T h e y adapted music b y the R u s s i a n In conclusion, a point worth bearing in mind composer Alexander Borodin (1833-87). is that in the second half of the 20th century it The Faustian story was given a new twist by J e r r y R o s s and R i c h a r d A d l e r with Damn Yan­ is chiefly America, through the medium of the kees in 1955. A senator sells his soul to the devil in exchange for his favourite baseball team musical, which has helped extend the European being allowed to win. Lerner and Loewe con­ tinued their run o f successes with * Camelot fairy-tale tradition. TH (i960), which was based on a fresh approach to the Arthurian legend as contained in T . H. Bailey, Leslie, The Gilbert and Sullivan Book (4th White's story The Once and Future King. edn., 1956). In the previous year the composer Mary Rodgers (daughter of Richard Rodgers), col­ Block, Geoffrey, Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from Showboat to Sondheim (i997)- Gammond, Peter, Offenbach: His Life and Times (1981). Larkin, Colin (ed.), The Guinness Who's Who of Stage Musicals (1994). Lubbock, Mark, The Complete Book of Light Opera (1962). Rees, Brian, A Musical Peacemaker: The Life and Work of Edward German (1986). Traubner, Mark, Operetta: A Theatrical History (1984). ORAL TRADITION A N D FAIRY TALES. Oral tradition refers to the sum of folklore that is verbally communicated as well as to the process of transmission, by which a given item of folklore is learned, recreated, and disseminated. In soci­ eties without writing, oral tradition accounts for much of the cultural transmission from one generation to the next. In societies with writ­ ing, it has been heavily influenced but seldom entirely replaced by print culture as a mode of communication. Anonymous in origin and transmitted through face-to-face communica­ tion, fairy tales deriving from oral tradition exist in multiple, standardized versions and ex-

63 9 O R A L T R A D I T I O N A N D F A I R Y T A L E S hibit patterns of stability and variation over torial practices that shaped the development of time and space. their collection through subsequent editions. The Grimms reconstructed the tales on the Since the *Grimms, scholars have distin- basis of their recorded notes and in comparison guished between oral and literary traditions of with other variants, which they included in the the fairy tale, with the terms reflecting differ- bibliographic information in the third volume. ences in the origin and style of a tale. In identi- They were careful to preserve, sometimes even fying their tales as Volksmarchen (folk tales) in provide, what they perceived to be the authen- contrast to the Kunstmdrchen (literary fairy tic oral style of the folk tale and omitted from tale), Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm not only later editions tales which, in their opinion, did elaborated upon Johann Gottfried von Her- not pass the test of traditionality. der's differentiation between Volkspoesie (folk poetry) and Kunstpoesie (art p o e t r y ) , but Ironically, although their research was claimed an authenticity for their material that fuelled by the desire to preserve the oral trad- ition of folk tales and the custom of storytelling set the *Kinder- und Hausmdrchen (Children s that they feared was on the decline, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were in many ways instru- and Household Tales) apart from the collections mental in blurring the distinctions between the of their contemporaries. Literary fairy tales oral and literary traditions. Over the course of were defined as the conscious creations of a the seven editions published during their life- single author of middle- or upper-class back- time, they refashioned and revised the tales, ground, as opposed to fairy tales from oral creating a uniquely stylized folk tale that has tradition, which were considered to be the nat- been subsequently termed Buchmdrchen ( b o o k ural and spontaneous expression of illiterate or folk tale) because it is not entirely oral or liter- semi-literate peasants. The assumptions under- ary. The popularity and pedagogical value of lying the oppositions of folk versus élite and their collection, the rise of literacy rates in natural versus artful continue to be modified as Europe, and the growing affordability of books research sheds new light on the complex, often combined both to stabilize the oral tradition reciprocal, relationship between oral and liter- and to create an eager readership in the Ger- ary traditions. man middle class for fairy tales from the oral tradition. There has been much debate over whether the Grimms' tales were recorded from oral Until the middle o f the 20th century, the tradition, though they claimed that most of study of the oral tradition and fairy tales was them were collected from 'oral traditions in essentially text-centred. This tended to mini- Hesse and in the Main and Kinzig regions of mize the role of narrators to that of tradition- the duchy of Hanau'. Contrary to popular per- bearers, who were judged according to their ception, the Grimms did not travel the German adherence to tradition, rather than for their ex- countryside collecting tales directly from the pressive artistry or innovation. The stability of mouths of peasants. Some of their best sources tradition was privileged over variation, with were people from the lower and middle class stability viewed as an ideal and variation as the familiar with printed fairy-tale editions, who degeneration from that hypothetical ideal. were invited to the Grimms' home to recite Theories advanced to explain the remarkable their stories. They also received versions of stability of oral tradition include Axel *Olrik's fairy tales mailed to them by friends and col- epic laws of folk literature and Walter Ander- leagues, in response to Jacob's appeal for as- son's law of self-correction. sistance in his 'Circular on the Collection of Folk Poetry'. A n appreciation for expressive creativity within the parameters of oral tradition was ini- Although they were the first systematic tiated through the ground-breaking insights of scholars of folk literature who conscientiously Milman Parry and A . B . Lord into the compos- documented the sources of their material, par- ition of Classical and Serbo-Croatian epics. ticularly printed sources, the annotations to Parry and Lord outlined a theory 'oral-formu- their tales often consisted of no more than the laic' composition, based on their observation word 'mùndlich' (oral), along with the region that formulas, groups of words regularly em- where it was recorded and the identity of the ployed under the same metrical conditions to storyteller. Because they destroyed their ori- express the same idea, constitute the building ginal notes, most of what is known about their blocks of oral composition. These formulas research methods is limited to their own pro- make up the generic knowledge of an individ- grammatic statements in the prefaces to the ual epic singer and reflect the traditional char- editions of the Kinder- und Hausmdrchen or has been deduced by analysing the unwritten edi-

ORIENTAL FAIRY TALES 370 acter of the orally composed epic. With each strong and highly self-conscious empire. When, in the Middle Ages, the European performance the singer creates a new song; centres of power had shifted to the north, not only had Greek antiquity largely been ob­ each performance is both creation and re-cre­ scured, but also the reality of the Orient had been relegated to the realm of fantasy, largely ation. nourished b y fictitious narratives based on the oral tradition of merchants, pilgrims, and Although their research was confined to the travellers. T h e crusades brought parts of the Islamic Orient back into European conscious­ epic, the ideas of Parry and Lord prompted ness, but the fall of the crusader states and the ensuing political development once more pre­ folk-tale scholars to investigate the dynamic vented the free flow of information between the East and the West that alone could have processes of composition in performance. Be­ contributed to creating an unbiased mutual ap­ prehension of both sides. The conquest of ginning in the 1960s, sociolinguistic and ethno­ Constantinople by the Turks (1453) document­ ed the imminent 'oriental' threat to the whole graphic perspectives introduced a shift from of Europe, whereas, on the other hand, the pol­ itical consolidation at the end of the 17th cen­ text-centred to contextual analyses of storytell­ tury engendered an unprecedented enthusiasm for everything oriental, be it food, clothing, ing and oral tradition. T h e focus of perform­ music, architecture, or tales. The introduction o f The ^Arabian Nights to E u r o p e at the begin­ ance-centred folkloristic research was no ning o f the 18th century until the present con­ stitutes the single most important event in the l o n g e r limited to the item o f folklore per se, but inspiration of Western creativity through oriental models and elements. Though Napole­ embraced the storytelling event, the expressive on's expedition to E g y p t (1798—9) is usually interpreted as having inaugurated a more sci­ and aesthetic function of storytelling, and the entific line in creative orientalism, still at the turn of the 20th century exact and reliable first­ role of narrative in the social and cultural life of hand information about the Orient appears to be available to fewer specialists than would be a community. MBS needed to liberate the Orient from being ex­ ploited as a mine of fictitious and often heavily Cocchiara, Giuseppe, The History of Folklore in biased depictions. Europe (1981). Psychologically, the Other has contributed as much to the definition of the Self as the rele­ Dégh, Linda, 'What did the Grimm Brothers vant individual's or culture's own apprehen­ sion of itself. In this respect, the Orient as the Give to and Take from the Folk?', in James M. West's neighbouring Other has always served as a matrix for Western creative projections, McGlathery (ed.), The Brothers Grimm and whether they be purely invented and innocent in an uncompromising and friendly way, or Folktale (1988). whether they be ignorant, malicious, and ag­ gressive. None of these projections was ser­ Kamenetsky, Christa, The Brothers Grimm and iously intended to make available or distribute knowledge about the Other. Rather, as Edward their Critics (1992). Said has argued in his highly influential study Orientalism (1978), in attempting to document ORIENTAL FAIRY TALES. Things oriental since the Orient (the Other, the opposite), the Occi­ dent came to document itself. A t the same time, time immemorial have constituted a source of paradoxically, the West has yet fully to ac­ inspiration for Western imagination and cre­ knowledge the fact that its culture relies on a ativity. Geographically, the East is not only the threefold legacy, constituted by Greek, Latin, direction of sunrise ('ex oriente lux'), and thus and Arab elements, of which the latter is large- the immediate source of life, but also—as has aptly been expressed by George Eliot (1856)—the place where beautiful flowers, strange animals, precious fabrics, and valuable spices originated, besides the great reli­ gions—and the world's internationally re­ nowned collections of tales ('ex oriente fabula'). Historically, the notion of how to define the Orient has been shifting in accordance with the changing centres of power. In antiquity, the encounter between the Greeks and the Persians in the 5th century B C is one o f the starting- points of the ensuing relationship between the East and the West, which until the very present has remained essentially political. While Hero­ dotus still preserves fragmentary testimonies that the early Greeks regarded the Northern barbarians as similarly exotic as, for example, the Egyptians, the Hellenistic era inaugurated by Alexander the Great's conquests to some extent integrated the Orient, shifting its eastern boundaries to the far side of the River Indus. In Roman times, when the whole Mediterranean belonged to a single dominion, the Orient con­ stituted a minor factor on the outskirts of a

37i ORIENTAL FAIRY TALES ly ignored. Since exact knowledge in certain genre and document the fact that even minor ways is counter-productive to imagination, the genres such as jokes and anecdotes formed part lack of knowledge appears as a prerequisite to of the large narrative stock exchange taking imaginative reception. Imagination, on the place between Europe and the Orient. Begin­ other hand, relies on specific preconceived con­ ning with the 16th century, the great period of ditions, which in their turn are outlined by the translation, popular versions of the important accessibility of information as well as the cul­ narrative collections were produced in the re­ tural background of the informant, writer, or gional languages and continued to transmit artist. This implies certain misconceptions and oriental motifs to the Western readership. prejudices, since all parties implied are highly susceptible to the influence of their societies. A case in point here is the collection Peregri- Their presentation of the Orient as well as the naggio di tre giovani figliuoli del re di Seren resulting literary production proved that obvi­ (Voyage of the Three Young Sons of the King of ously, in the Western mind, imagination and Ceylon), published 1557 in V e n i c e and written reality possessed little overlap, or rather that by a certain Christoforo Armeno. This author, imagination overruled reality. whose identity has only recently been con­ firmed, compiled an adaptation o f the Persian These are, in terms of cultural history, the Hasht Behesht (Eight Paradises) b y A m i r K h o s - general outlines one has to consider when re­ rau of Delhi (1253-1325), itself inspired by the searching the reception of oriental narratives in famous Haft Peikar (Seven Portraits), b y Western literature. N e z a m i (d. 1209). T h e Peregrinaggio's frame story is about three princes who prove their ex­ Oriental fiction in the E u r o p e a n literatures treme sensitivity and cleverness to the Persian prior to 1700 had contributed to a more or less emperor Bahram Gur; within this frame, a vague and general imaginative acquaintance number of tales are told, the best known of with the Orient. A s for English literature, as far which probably became the 'tall tale' about the back as the n t h century, fictitious descriptions lucky hunter who shoots the foot and the ear of of the marvels of India are found in Anglo- a deer with one a r r o w . T h e Peregrinaggio w a s Saxon translations of legends concerning Alex­ extremely popular in late 17th- and 18th-cen­ ander the Great; moreover, the romance of tury Europe. Following several Italian editions Alexander itself, so popular all over Europe (1577,1584, etc.), it was translated into German (and the Islamic Orient), to a large extent is (1583, 1599) and French (1610). A French re­ indebted to oriental sources. The Middle Ages working was published by the chevalier de witnessed scholarly (Latin) translations of *Mailly (1719), again inspiring German (1723), some of the great oriental collections of tales, English (1722), and Dutch (1766) translations. such as Sendebar (Syntipas), Kalila and Dimna It was Horace Walpole (1717-97) who after or The Fables of Bidpai (the P e r s i a n / A r a b i c reading what he labelled a 'silly fairy tale' adaptation o f the Indian *Panchatantra). T h e coined the term 'serendipity', defined as 'the Disciplina Clericalis of Petrus A l p h o n s i , a faculty of making happy and unexpected dis­ Spanish J e w converted to Christianity, while coveries b y accident'. In the 17th century one drawing on oriental material, constitutes the of the most influential authors with respect to first European collection o f short novellas, in­ the adaptation of oriental narrative was the augurating a new genre in European literature. French poet Jean de La Fontaine (1621-95). T h e narrative of Barlaam and Josaphat, one o f His Fables, published in 1668-93 in t w e l v e the most popular legends in medieval Europe, books, notably in their latter half draw on the derived largely from an Indo-Persian version oriental collection o f fables Kalila and Dimna. of the legend of Buddha's youth. Medieval ro­ L a Fontaine in the course of the 18th century mances, apologues, legends, and tales of ad­ was translated and adapted into most major venture drew heavily on oriental motifs. European languages. Famous English examples besides Arthurian romance include J o h n Mandeville's Travels or All previous instances of the adaptation of Chaucer's 'Squire's Tale'. Romances of chiv­ oriental narrative in the West are outshone by alry, travel (such as the Navigatio Sancti Bren- the overwhelming success staged by the recep­ dani) and adventure all o v e r E u r o p e , e v e n up tion o f The Arabian Nights in E u r o p e . T h o u g h to the Icelandic saga incorporate oriental single tales from the Nights, as well as its frame motifs. Collections of jocular tales such as the tale, had already been known in Europe at least Facetiae b y P o g g i o Bracciolini (compiled from the 14th century onwards (Giovanni *Ser- around 1450) constitute a precursor to E u r o ­ cambi (1347—1424), Novelle; L u d o v i c o A r i o s t o pean literature of the chapbook and vademecum (1474—1533), Orlandofurioso), a comprehensive

ORIENTAL FAIRY TALES 372 edition was published by the French orientalist e.g. R o b e r t L o u i s *Stevenson, New Arabian scholar Antoine *Galland only at the beginning Nights (1882); (5) Imitations pure and simple, of the 18th century. T w o arguments help to e.g. G e o r g e Meredith (1828—1909), Shaving of understand the extraordinary success Galland's Shagpat: An Arabian Entertainment (1855); (6) publication met with. T h e French interest in Imitations more or less founded on genuine the Orient had been growing throughout the oriental sources, e.g. the Tales of the comte de 17th century in connection with the colonial *Caylus; (7) G e n u i n e oriental tales, e.g. Mille and commercial expansion of France in the et un jours b y Pétis de la C r o i x . reign o f L o u i s X I V ; m o r e o v e r , The Arabian Nights w e r e ' d i s c o v e r e d ' in an atmosphere The literary merit of the European produc­ thoroughly impregnated by the narrative con­ tion inspired by oriental fairy tales has been ventions and fashion o f the conte de fées and evaluated highly divergently over the centur­ their craving for the extravagant. The magic ies. While W. A . Clouston (1843-96) regarded elements in the Nights combined with the expli­ Frances Sheridan's Nourjehad as 'one of the cit and unpretentious representation of sexual­ v e r y best o f the imitations of Eastern fiction', ity created a powerful inspiration for the Robert Irwin (1994) concedes only with a cer­ European imagination. Contrary to the wide­ tain reluctance 'strangeness and originality' to spread depreciation of contemporary oriental this moral tale, a genre he evaluates as boring, people (who were predominantly characterized extremely exasperating, and 'leadenly moral'. as proficient liars and thiefs, at best as cultural­ Irwin, in his chapter on 'Children of the ly degenerate), the Nights represented things Nights', presents a number of European oriental in an attractive garb which was all the authors who alluded to, borrowed from, or more appealing to the European taste since in were influenced in one w a y or another by the Galland's adaptation the tales were European- Nights. T h e list of names he discusses in add­ ized (and, in fact, Frenchified). ition to those already named includes Joseph A d d i s o n ( 1 6 7 2 - 1 7 1 9 ) , Samuel J o h n s o n (Rasse- No serious author of French, English, or las: Prince of Abyssinia (1759)), J o n n H a w k e s - G e r m a n literature o f the 18th and 19th centur­ worth (1715-73), Jean Potocki (1761-1815), ies could a v o i d the challenge o f the Nights, and J a c q u e s *Cazotte (Les Mille et une fadaises, most of them in some w a y have shown that 1742), R o b e r t Southey (Thalaba the Destroyer, they read (and l o v e d ) the Nights. In F r a n c e , the 1800), T h o m a s M o o r e (Lalla Rookh, 1817), Nights first o f all prompted the publication of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772—1834), Wash­ other similar collections, such as the Mille et un ington *Irving, Edgar Allan Poe ('The Thou- jours (Thousand and one days, 1710—12) b y sand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade'), François Pétis de la Croix, and Thomas-Simon James Joyce (1882—1941), Marcel Proust *Gueulette's numerous compilations (Les mille (1871-1922), Jorge Luis *Borges (1899-1986), et un quarts d'heure, 1 7 1 2 ; Aventures merveil­ and Salman *Rushdie (Haroun and the Sea of leuses du mandarin Fum-Hoam, 1723; Sultanes Stories, 1990). M a n y more writers w e r e influ­ de Gu^arate, 1732; Mille et une heures, contes enced b y the Nights, such as the French F l a u b ­ péruviens, 1733). T h e oriental m o d e these ert, Stendhal, Dumas, and Gobineau; the works inaugurated also inspired Montesquieu's English Walter Scott, Thackeray, *Dickens, Lettres persanes (1721), and *V o l taire claimed to Conan Doyle, and Angela *Carter; the Russian h a v e read the Nights 14 t i m e s — t h o u g h he did *Pushkin and T o l s t o y ; the German *Goethe, not necessarily share the sympathetic attitude *Wieland, Mirger, E . T. A. *Hoffmann, Riick- towards the contemporary oriental craze. ert, *Hauff, Grillparzer, and *Chamisso. In­ deed, according to Irwin, it might be easier to W . F . Kirby in his survey of 'Imitations and discuss those writers w h o w e r e not influenced miscellaneous works having more or less con­ b y the Nights. nection with the Nights' (1885) classified the aftermath o f the Nights according to seven cat­ T h e term 'orientalism', in the coinage it has egories, which are not always clearly defined: acquired in recent decades, primarily denotes (1) Satires on the Nights themselves, e.g. the Near East or Middle East. Taken in a wider Anthony *Hamilton; (2) Satires in an oriental sense, a similar attitude of cultural and intellec­ g a r b , e.g. W i l l i a m B e c k f o r d (1760—1844), His­ tual hegemony applies to other areas of the tory of the Caliph Vathek (French original 1787, Orient, and terms such as 'Egyptomaniac', unauthorized English translation 1786); (3) 'Chinoiserie', or 'Japonaiserie' have been Moral tales in an oriental garb, e.g. Frances coined to denote comparable uncritical and Sheridan, Nourjahad (1767); (4) Fantastic tales self-revealing attitudes of exploiting the orien­ with nothing oriental about them but the name, tal Other. One specific aspect that separates

373 OUTHWAITE, IDA RENTOUL oriental fairy tales in Western literature (or Imagination: Lessons from the Rushdie Affair fairy tales à l'orientale) from the literature o f (1990). other regions is that the tales in general are OSSORIO Y BERNARD, MANUEL (1839-1904), evaluated as the Islamic Orient's major contri­ writer and distinguished journalist who collab­ bution to world literature. In the Western orated with several magazines and newspapers, evaluation, they are foreign enough to be ap­ both for adults and for children. He devoted pealing, yet they appear familiar enough not to much attention to improving children's educa­ remain entirely exotic. It might, however, be tion, and for this reason wrote several chil­ useful to keep in mind that the Orient as de­ dren's books full of short stories, tales, picted in its tales portrays a narrative world epigrams, and short poems, all of which had a with a similar degree of fantasy and imagin­ clear moralistic intention. Three collections ation as do its Western adaptations. Especially are: Lecturas de la infancia {Childhood Readings, in the 19th century, m a n y Europeans believed 1880), Cuentos novelescos {Fantastic Tales, the w o r l d of The Arabian Nights to present a 1884), and Cuentos ejemplares {Exemplary faithful reproduction of oriental reality, so they Tales, 1896). T h e fairy tale o f ' T h e F i s h e r m a n confused the real East with the East of the stor­ and his Wife' was revised twice by Ossorio y ies. The decidedly negative response of the Bernard, first in ' U n cuento de viejas' ('An Old Arab-American community to the depiction of Crone's Tale', 1862) and secondly in ' L a mujer oriental reality in * D i s n e y ' s *Aladdin p r o v e d , if del pescador. Balada' ('The Fisherman's Wife. such a proof be needed after the affair (1989) Ballad', 1859). CF initiated b y Salman *Rushdie's Satanic Verses, that towards the end o f the 20th century a dif­ OUTHWAITE, IDA RENTOUL (fl. 1 9 2 0 - 3 5 ) , A u s ­ ferent kind of sensitivity might be required in tralian writer and illustrator who collaborated dealing with the narrative adaptation of orien­ with her husband Grenbry in several picture tal fairy tales. UM books about fairies. These differ from English Caracciolo, Peter L. (ed.), The Arabian Nights in fairy books of the period only by the occasion­ English Literature ( 1 9 8 8 ) . al introduction of kookaburras, koalas, and Conant, Martha P., The Oriental Tale in England gum trees. In The Enchanted Forest (1921) in the Eighteenth Century ( 1 9 0 8 ) . Anne joins in fairy revels and sees 'a ducky lit­ Irwin, Robert, The Arabian Nights: A Companion tle baby-boy', which later turns out to be her (1994). o w n n e w little brother. In The Little Fairy Sis­ Kabbani, Rana, Europe's Myth of Orient: Devise ter (1923) B r i d g e t visits her dead sister N a n c y and Rule ( 1 9 8 6 ) . Meester, Marie E. de, Oriental Influences in the in 'the l o v e l y country o f the F a i r i e s ' . The Little English Literature of the Nineteenth Century Green Road to Fairyland (1922) has a rather more lively story by Outhwaite's sister, Annie Sardar, Z., and Davies, M. W . , Distorted Rentoul. GA

PAGET, FRANCIS (1806-82), English clergyman techniques which, along with Cinerama, he later employed partly in service of the and author o f The Hope of the Kat^ekopfs *Grimms. Born in Hungary, Pal made his first film—an advertisement showing cigarettes (1844), the first published fantasy for children. marching in and out of their packages—in 1934. During the next five years, working in Written under the name 'William Churne of H o l l a n d , he developed a series o f short films which he called Puppetoons. They were car­ Staffordshire', it contains the poem 'Farewell, toon-style stories told by means of three- dimensional animation, in which Pal achieved rewards and fairies' by Bishop Richard Corbet fluency of movement by having a different puppet made for each frame o f film. F o r each (1582—1635). It is a lively burlesque which con­ eight-minute Puppetoon, around 6,000 w o o d ­ en figures had to be individually carved and cludes on a moral note, telling the story of the painted. This system was expensive, but the re­ sults it achieved were popular; Pal moved to spoilt Prince Eigenwillig (Self-willed), who is the U S A in 1939, where his Oscar helped him carry on making Puppetoons for another ten wrenched away from his doting parents by the years. fairy Abracadabra. She rolls him into a rubber All this time he wanted to go beyond the eight-minute format and make a full-length ball and bounces him to Fairyland where he Puppetoon feature, but the enormous cost de­ terred potential backers. In the 1950s in has to submit to the grave old man, Discipline, E n g l a n d , he w a s finally able to direct an adap­ tation of the Grimms' 'Thumbling' (*'Little before he can return home. GA T o m T h u m b ' ) , under the title Tom Thumb ( U K , 1958). It was, however, mainly live-ac­ PAINE, ALBERT BIGELOW (1861-1937), editor tion, with Russ Tamblyn in the title role. Only and author of a biography of Mark *Twain, a small Puppetoon element remained. wrote a number of children's books, including The Arkansaw Bear (1898), an original fantasy The attraction of the story to Pal lay in the about a homeless boy who meets a fiddle-play­ size difference between T o m and the other ing bear. T h e y wander through Arkansas, fid­ characters, not in the original narrative, virtu­ dling and dancing for their keep, the bear's ally all of which he jettisoned. Tom's adven­ music having Orpheus-like powers over listen­ tures inside a cow's stomach, and later inside a ers. Paine's 'Hollow Tree' series consists of wolf, were omitted as being distasteful and short stories about animals, reminiscent of Joel unfilmable. His method of riding a horse—sit­ Chandler *Harris's Uncle Remus tales. G A ting inside its ear and giving instructions from there—is one of the few details retained. PAJON, HENRI (.^-1776), French lawyer who There are also two robbers who, as in the ori­ ginal, use T o m to help them steal from the enjoyed an early career as a successful author town's coffers. T h e rest of the screen time is taken up by a romance between a mortal of fabliaux. He wrote several fairy tales, in­ ( W o o d y the piper) and an immortal (the For­ est Queen); by T o m singing and dancing; by cluding 'Eritzine & Parelin' (1744), 'L'Enchan­ T o m ' s efforts to prove that his parents are not thieves; and by a sequence involving Puppe­ teur, ou la bague de puissance' ('The Sorcerer toon characters—Con-Fu-Shon (an oriental sage), Thumbella (a female counterpart to or the Magical Ring', 1745), a n d 'Histoire des Tom), and a Yawning Man. trois fils d'Hali Bassa' ( T h e Story of Hali B a s - Four years later Pal returned to the Grimms as co-director of a romantic musical which was sa's Three Sons', 1745), which were first pub­ about Wilhelm and Jacob themselves as well as w h a t they collected. Called The Wonderful lished p s e u d o n y m o u s l y in the monthly Mercure World of the Brothers Grimm ( U S A , 1962), it de France. Incorporating the oriental setting had been chosen as a good subject for exploit­ and characters o f A Thousand and One Nights ing the potential of a new three-directional cinematography and projection system called (see ARABIAN NIGHTS), his tales are distin­ guished by their elaborate plots, embedded narratives, and proliferation of magical objects and beings. AZ PAL, GEORGE (1908—80), Oscar-winner in 1943 for the development of new film animation

375 PANZINI, ALFREDO Cinerama, which produced an image up to 10 centuries; the oldest extant version, which is metres (30 feet) high and 30 metres (90 feet) regarded as quite close to the original, is the wide on a curved screen. Within the film are Tantrakhayika ( T a l e s containing a system o f embedded dramatizations, directed by Pal, of wisdom), attributed to a certain Vishnushar- three of the stories the brothers record: ' T h e man. T h e Panchatantra w a s circulated in the Dancing Princess' (reduced to one from the West by a series of adaptations and translations twelve of the original), ' T h e Cobbler and the in various languages: the Persian physician Elves', and 'The Singing Bone'. B u r z o y (6th century) prepared a ( n o w lost) T h e first in particular w a s shaped to m a x i ­ middle-Persian adapted version, which also mize its Cineramic possibilities. F o r one se­ incorported tales derived from the Indian na­ quence the three-in-one Cinerama camera was tional epic Mahabharata ( T h e great [tale about strapped underneath four coach-pulling horses, the war of the] Bharata family); this text in turn in order to capture for viewers the sensation of served as the basis for the Arabic adaptation by being surrounded b y flying h o o v e s ; for another Ibn al-Muqaffa (first half o f the 8th c e n t u r y ) , it was mounted inside a giant drum careering named after t w o jackal protagonists Kabila and down a hillside, to convey the experience of Dimna. T h e most influential text for W e s t e r n falling and rolling. In the second story Pal tradition w a s the Latin version o f Kalila and went back to his Puppetoon technique to bring Dimna, the Directorium vitae humanae (Manual the elves to life; in the last one, to animate the of instructions for human life; compiled mighty dragon, he resorted to a rival, cheaper, 1263—78) b y the converted J e w J o h n o f C a p u a . system which was based on having just one Neither the Panchatantra n o r its later v e r ­ creature-model, with movable parts. D e ­ sions contain fairy tales in the narrow sense, veloped in 1933 for King Kong, it had been r e ­ nor even tales of magic. On the other hand, vived with spectacular success in the 1950s, some of its tales have circulated widely, since under the name D y n a m a t i o n , for The Seventh they offer moral instruction in an attractive Voyage of Sinbad. narrative garb. A m o n g the best-known tales Pal carried on w o r k i n g in films for m o r e are 'Llewelyn and his D o g ' (in which a faithful than another decade, but did not revisit either d o g is killed b y rash action; 5.2) and ' T h e M a n the Grimms or the Puppetoons. TAS who builds air castles' (5.13). UM Benfey, Theodor, Pantschatantra (2 vols., 1859). PALACIO VALDÉS, ARMANDO (1853—1937), Span­ De Blois, François, Bur^oy's Voyage to India and ish novelist who belonged to the school of lit­ erary realism. His works are characterized by the Origin of the Book of Kalilah wa Dimna his profound longing for a simple world, his relish for the idyllic, and his unconditional (1990). defence of traditional virtues. A s well as writ­ ing novels, Palacio Valdés composed a good Edgerton, Franklin, The Panchatantra number o f short stories, 20 o f which w e r e p u b ­ lished in a collection called Aguasfuertes (Etch­ Reconstructed (2 vols., 1881). ings, 1884). N o n e o f his stories can b e said to b e literary renditions of the folk-tale tradition, the Hertel, Johannes, Tantrakhyayika (2 vols., exception being 'El crimen de la calle de la Per- seguida' ('The Crime of La Perseguida Street', 1909). 1884), which is based on a Spanish popular tale. PANCRAZI, PIETRO (1893-1952), Italian literary CF critic, journalist, and writer. Primarily known for his penetrating critical essays, Pancrazi left t w o collections o f tales, L'Esopo moderno (The Modern Aesop, 1930) and Donne e buoi deipaesi tuoi (Women and Oxen of your Home Countries, 1934). Many of Pancrazi's tales, especially the 'Aesopian' ones, are short and amusing, but do not disguise the author's social commentary PANCHATANTRA (Sanskrit: Five Books), famous and ironic intent, as seen in ' L e età dell'uomo' Indian collection of fables and other morally ('The A g e of Man'), 'Politica del pipistrello' instructive tales. T h e Panchatantra belongs to the literary genre of mirror for princes, intend­ ('The Politics of the Overcoat'), and 'Critici' ing to teach w i s d o m to future rulers. Its five books treat the following topics: (1) disunion ('Critics'). MNP of friends, (2) gaining of friends, (3) w a r and peace, (4) loss o f possession, (5) consequence PANZINI, ALFREDO (1863-1939), Italian writer of rash action. T h e author o f the Panchatantra and literary critic. Panzini's conservative idea is unknown. T h e book's original text, n o w lost, of society, as it transpires from La Lanterna di was probably compiled between the 1st and 6th Diogene (The Lantern of Diogenes, 1907) and / / padrone sono me (I Am the Boss, 1922), stands in contrast with his masterful rendering of

PARDO BAZAN, EMILIA 376 women characters in his best works, namely his most notable w e r e E u g e n e Field's Poems of Santippe (1913) and Ilbacio diLesbia {The Kiss Childhood (1904), The ^Arabian Nights (1909), ofLesbia, 1937). Panzini's interest in the fantas- Tanglewood Tales (1910), and The Knave of tic is evident in Le fiabe della Virtu {The Fairy Hearts (1925). F o r Hearst Magazine, Parrish Tales of Virtue, 1 9 1 1 ) and I tre re con Gelsomino created a series of covers based on fairy tales, buffone del re {The Three Kings with Gelsomino, including 'The *Frog Prince', *'Snow White', the King's Clown, 1927). H i s tales, often based and \"\"Sleeping Beauty', now much sought after on classical models, speak of kings and villains, by collectors. Eventually, Parrish grew tired, and of the wisdom of rewarding ingenuity. 'Il as he said, of 'girls on rocks' and devoted the tesoro rubato' ('The Stolen Treasure'), from remainder of his life to landscapes. SR Novelline divertenti per bambini intelligenti Gilbert, Alma, Maxfield Parrish: The {Amusing Stories for Intelligent Children, 1937) Masterworks ( 1 9 9 2 ) . Ludwig, Coy, Maxfield Parrish (1973). is a good example. MNP PARDO BAZAN, EMILIA (1851-1921), Spanish PASOLINI, PIER PAOLO (1922-75), Italian poet, novelist and short-story writer and major pro- ponent of naturalism in her country. She wrote writer, and film director. In 1974 he directed / / several hundred short stories that have been unanimously praised by the critics and con- fiore délie mille e una notte {The Flower of The sidered, in most cases, perfect models of the g e n r e . H e r œuvre includes stories ranging from Thousand and One Nights), part of the 'trilogy the humorous to the historical, from the ro- mantic to the religious. She also wrote fantasy of life' which also included the Decameron tales, some of which may be said to have been influenced by the fairy-tale genre, such as 'El (1971) and Iraccontidi Canterbury (1972). P a s o - principe amado' ('The Beloved Prince', 1884), 'El llanto' ('The Weeping', 1905), and 'El bal- lini does a w a y with The ^Arabian Nights frame con de la princesa' ('The Princess's Balcony', 1907). 'Agravante' ('The Aggravating Circum- tale, and adapts a number of its tales into a stance', 1892) is an example of a literary narra- tion inspired by a traditional story, that of ' L a complexly embedded narrative structure. The matrona de Efeso' ('The Matron of Ephesus'). film is a celebration o f sexual delights, and in CF its polemic mythicizing of a homoerotic, non- PARRISH, MAXFIELD (1870-1966), American painter, muralist, illustrator, and commercial Western, peasant society is one of the most artist. Encouraged by his father, an etcher, and by Howard *Pyle, Parrish began his long and suggestive rewritings o f the Nights. NC phenomenally successful career in 1895 with a c o v e r for Harper's Magazine and a mural o f Old Rumble, Patrick, 'Stylistic Contamination in the King Cole for the M a s k and W i g C l u b in P h i l a - Trilogia della vita: The Case of //fiore délie mille delphia. From the outset, he specialized in fan- e una notte', in Patrick Rumble and Bart Testa tasy—in idyllic landscapes and cloud castles (eds.), Pier Paolo Pasolini: Contemporary peopled with whimsical or idealized figures, Perspectives (1994). controlled by a strong sense of design and ren- dered in a luminous, photo-realistic style en- PATON, JOSEPH NOËL (1821-1901), Scottish il- tirely his own. Often, his pictures are suffused with colour—gold, crimson, or the intense lustrator and painter, whose works have strong ' P a r r i s h blue'. T h e first b o o k Parrish illus- trated w a s L . F r a n k * B a u m ' s first as w e l l , religious features. He achieved fame as an *Mother Goose in Prose (1897), followed b y The Golden Age (1899) and Dream Days (1902) b y illustrator with his drawings for Charles Kenneth *Grahame. These illustrations were executed in black and white, using a stippled * K i n g s l e y ' s Water-Babies (1863). His other pen-and-ink technique; improvements in col- our printing enabled Parrish to illustrate later successful illustrated fairy-tale b o o k s are Com- books with glowing full-colour plates. Among positions from ^Shakespeare's Tempest (1845) and The Princess of Silverland and Other Tales (1874). He frequently mixed motifs from Celtic myths and Arthurian romance in his paintings. His most famous w o r k , The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania, hangs in the National G a l - lery of Scotland. JZ PAULDING, JAMES KIRKE (1778-1860), Ameri- can satirist and writer of realistic stories, pub- lished his only fantasy, A Christmas Gift from Fairyland, a n o n y m o u s l y in 1839, seemingly the first fairy stories in a N e w W o r l d landscape. It contains four tales inside a frame story about a K e n t u c k y trapper w h o finds in his trap 'the queerest little vermint women I ever did see'. T h e stories the fairies leave reflect Paulding's

377 PENTAMERONE views about the value of imagination, and the Antic, Frolic, and Fantastic, become lost in a God-given freedom of the N e w World. 'The forest and are rescued by Old Clunch, who Nameless Old Woman', set in N e w Amster­ takes them to his cottage. After Madge, his dam, introduces such American elements as wife, serves them supper, she regales them with witches and St Nicholas. GA a marvellous fairy tale, and, as she begins speaking, the characters of the tale arrive and PEACOCK, THOMAS LOVE (1785-1866), British act it out. T h e story concerns the evil magician novelist, poet, and satirist, who composed two Sacrapant, who has imprisoned the lovely romances inspired by British and Welsh folk­ maiden Delia in a castle. Other characters in­ lore in which he adeptly combined romanti­ clude her sister who has been driven insane, cism with biting political satire. Maid Marian and her husband transformed into an old man (1822), as the title suggests, is based on the by day and a bear that guards a crossroads by folklore of Robin Hood, Peacock's main night. Not until the virtuous knight Eume- source being J o s e p h R i t s o n ' s Robin Hood: A nides, w h o is assisted b y the ghost of \"\"Jack the Collection of All the Ancient Poems, Songs, and Giant Killer, arrives on the scene can Sacrapant Ballads Now Extant Relative to that Celebrated be defeated. JZ Outlaw (1795). In 1822 Maid Marian w a s made into a comic opera, with libretto b y J . R . \"\"Plan­ PENTAMERONE, secondary title o f Giambattista \"\"Basile's Lo cunto de li cunti overo lo trattene- ché. F o r The Misfortunes of Elfin (1829), P e a ­ miento de peccerille ( The Tale of Tales, or Enter­ tainment for Little Ones, 1634—6). T h e name cock drew heavily from Welsh folklore, the Pentamerone appeared on the dedication p a g e of the first edition, published posthumously. It sources of which his Welsh wife, Jane Gryf- was subsequently included on the title-page in P o m p e o \"\"Sarnelli's 1674 edition o f Lo cunto; fydh, helped him translate. Here Peacock whether Basile had anything to do with this al­ ternative title is uncertain. intertwined traditional Welsh folk ballads with T h e Pentamerone is c o m p o s e d o f 49 fairy ironic parodies of contemporary political dis­ tales contained b y a 50th frame story, also a fairy tale, and is the first such framed collection course, resulting in one of his most acclaimed of literary fairy tales to appear in European lit­ erature. The tales are told in Neapolitan dialect works. AD by ten grotesque old women over five days; the end of the frame tale closes the collection. PEAKE, MERVYN LAURENCE (1911-68), author of D a y s 2—5 are preceded b y a banquet and enter­ tainment, and d a y s 1—4 conclude with eclogues three Gothic fantasy novels, Titus Groan in dialogue form that satirize contemporary so­ cial ills. (1946), Gormenghast (1950), and Titus Alone The frame tells of Princess Zoza, who has (1959), which describe the life of Titus, 77th never laughed. Once she does laugh, a mysteri­ ous old woman tells her that she must rescue a earl of Groan in his decaying ancestral home of certain prince Tadeo from a sleeping spell and then marry him. A s she is completing the task Gormenghast castle, his struggle to escape necessary to wake him, she falls asleep and a black slave, Lucia, finishes the job. Tadeo from it and to find a new identity. Peake in his awakes and marries Lucia. Zoza then moves into a palace facing Tadeo's and tempts Lucia, lifetime was better known as an illustrator. He now pregnant, with three magic objects previ­ ously given to her by fairies. Lucia demands to excelled at the grotesque and macabre, and his have them; the last object instils in her the need to hear tales. Tadeo summons the best story­ drawings for L e w i s \"\"Carroll's The Hunting of tellers of his kingdom, and the first day begins. the Snark (1941) and the t w o \"Alice b o o k s (1946 T h e Pentamerone contains m a n y famous fairy-tale types, such as \"\"'Sleeping Beauty', and 1954) are among his finest w o r k , as are \"\"'Puss-in-Boots', and \"\"Cinderella', and held great interest for later fairy-tale writers (in par­ those for the \"\"Grimm Brothers' Household ticular, the \"\"Grimms) and scholars. It consti- Tales (1946). GA PEELE, GEORGE (ci558-96), English dramatist, regarded as one of the 'university wits' who made a major contribution to the development of English drama during the Elizabethan period. Aside from writing several of the lord mayor's pageants in London, Peele wrote five plays representative o f different genres: The Arraignment of Paris (c.1584), a court pageant; Edward / (1592—3?), a chronicle play; The Bat­ tle of Alcazar (c.1589), a patriotic drama; The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe (c.1589), a biblical piece written in verse; The Old Wives' Tale (1591—4?), a burlesque and p a r o d y o f chivalric romance, which could be considered a fairy-tale play. Three wandering knights,

PEREDA, JOSÉ MARIA DE 378 tuted a culmination of the interest in popular 20 stories, twelve are of a fantastic nature. T h e culture and folk traditions that permeated the latter, recently published in a collection en- Renaissance, and was one of the most signifi- titled Cuentos Fantdsticos {Fantastic Tales, cant expressions of the baroque poetics of the 1996), suggest that Pérez Galdôs was influ- marvellous and its thirst for discovering new enced at least in part by E . T . A . *Hoffmann inspirations for and forms of artistic expres- and Edgar Allan Poe. In particular, his tale ' L a sion. Structurally, Basile's tales are close to the princesa y el granuja' ('The Princess and the oral tradition from which they draw. But Urchin', 1977) bears some resemblance to through the use of Neapolitan as a literary lan- Hoffmann's 'The Sandman' (1817) to the ex- guage, the extravagant metaphor, and the tent that the central male characters in both abundant representations of the rituals of daily stories fall in love with a wax doll. CF life, Basile's versions of these tales become a laboratory of rhetorical experimentation as well as an encyclopaedia of Neapolitan popular culture. In his work Basile also engages in a PERODl, EMMA ( 1 8 5 0 - 1 9 1 8 ) , Italian writer and journalist. She devoted most of her life to chil- playfully polemical dialogue with contempor- dren's literature, serving as editor of the most important children's periodical of her time, ary society—especially courtly culture—and Giornaleper i bambini {Children's Journal), edit- ing scholastic books for use in elementary the canonical literary tradition, above all the schools, and, above all, producing numerous collections of fairy tales. Among these collec- Italian novella tradition, whose most illustrious tions are: Al tempo dei tempi . . . Fiabe e leg- gende del Mare, délie Città e dei Monti di Sicilia exponent was Boccaccio. NC {In Days of Old . . . Fairy Tales and Legends from the Sea, Cities, and Mountains of Sicily), Canepa, Nancy L . , From Court to Forest: Fate e Fiori {Fairies and Flowers), Il Paradiso dei Giambattista Basile s 'Lo cunto de li cunti' and the folletti {The Paradise of Elves), La Bacchetta Birth of the Literary Fairy Tale (1999). Fatata {The Enchanted Wand), Le Fate Belle Croce, Benedetto, Intro, to Giambattista Basile, {The Beautiful Fairies), Le Fate d'Oro {The Il pentamerone (1982). Golden Fairies), Nell'antro dell'orco {In the Guaragnella, Pasquale, Le maschere di Democrito Ogre's Cave), and Le novelle della nonna e Eraclito: Scritture e malinconie tra Cinque e {Grandmother's Tales). A l t h o u g h Perodi w a s Seicento (1990). active in the years when major folkloric collec- Petrini, Mario, / / gran Basile (1989). tions were being assembled in Italy, her tales Rak, Michèle, Intro, to Giambattista Basile, Lo were not the product of scientifically conducted cunto de li cunti (1986). field research, but offered a creative re-elabor- ation of the oral tradition. PEREDA, JOSÉ MARIA DE (1833-1906), Spanish Le novelle della nonna (1892), her most im- realistic novelist who had an idyllic vision of portant w o r k , comprises 45 tales, many of which are fairy tales. The realistic frame tale the rural world which he opposed to the cor- narrates the life of the Marcuccis, a peasant family that lives in the Tuscan countryside. rupt urban world. Pereda's style is character- T h e first tale is told around the family hearth on Christmas E v e by the Marcucci matriarch ized by linguistic archaisms, and his and designated storyteller Regina, and the tales continue into the following November. The descriptions of the northern Spanish landscape Novelle are generally told on Sundays or holi- days, and are punctuated by the 'real' stories of have received much praise. As a writer of short the Marcucci family, which include marriages, new jobs, and food shortages; indeed, Regina stories, Pereda published several collections, often chooses her tales on the basis of the con- solation or instruction that they may offer to such as Escenas montahesas {Mountainous members of the family. T h e conclusion to the frame takes place a year later, on Christmas Scenes, 1864) and Tipos y paisajes {Types and Day, when the birth of a baby brings new hope to the Marcucci family, although we also learn Landscapes, 1871), in w h i c h he included t w o that six months later Regina dies. stories worth mentioning: 'Para ser buen arriero...' ('If Y o u Want T o Be a Good Mule- teer...', 1871), based on the popular Spanish tale 'El zapatero pobre' ('The Poor Cobbler'), and ' A l amor de los tizones' ('By the Fireside', 1871). T h e latter is a story about a gathering of country people who enjoy listening to Uncle Tanasio's famous fairy stories. CF PÉREZ GALDÔS, BENITO (1843-1920), most im- portant Spanish novelist in the 19th century. His contribution to the short-story genre has been traditionally overlooked, and not until re- cently have his tales been published together and regarded as a valuable corpus. Out of his

379 PERRAULT, CHARLES Perodi's tales are distinguished by a vividly great deal in the arts and sciences owing to Colbert's power and influence. In 1671 he was expressive style, by the juxtaposition of cred- elected to the Académie Française and was also placed in charge of the royal buildings. He ible and incredible scenarios and domestic and continued writing poetry and took an active interest in cultural affairs of the court. In 1672 fantastic topographies, by the attraction to the he married Marie Guichon, with whom he had three sons. She died in childbirth in 1678, and dark and the cruel, and by the presence of bi- he never remarried, supervising the education of his children by himself. zarre and macabre figures, as w e see, for e x - When Colbert died in 1683, Perrault was ample, in the tales 'Il morto risuscitato' ('Risen dismissed from government service, but he had a substantial pension and was able to support from the Dead'), 'Il teschio di Amalziabene' his family until his death. Released from gov- ernmental duties, Perrault could concentrate ('Amalziabene's S k u l l ' ) , ' L a fidanzata dello more on literary affairs, and in 1687 he inaug- urated the famous 'Quarrel of the Ancients and scheletro' ('The Skeleton's Fiancée'), 'Mona the Moderns' ('Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes') by reading a poem entitled 'Le Bice e i tre figli storpi' ('Lady Bice and her Siècle de Louis le Grand'. Perrault took the side of modernism and believed that France Three Crippled Sons'), 'Il ragazzo con due and Christianity could progress only if they in- corporated pagan beliefs and folklore and de- teste' ('The Boy with T w o Heads'), 'L'impic- veloped a culture of enlightenment. On the other hand, Nicolas Boileau, the literary critic, cato vivo' (\"Hung Alive'), and 'Il lupo and Jean Racine, the dramatist, took the oppos- ite viewpoint and argued that France had to mannaro' ('The Werewolf). Although within imitate the great empires of Greece and R o m e and maintain stringent classical rules in respect the frame Regina may stress the didactic func- to the arts. This literary quarrel, that had great cultural ramifications, lasted until 1697, at tion of her tales, Perodi's tales are too contra- which time Louis X I V decided to end it in fa- vour of Boileau and Racine. However, this de- dictory and uncanny to be considered as cision did not stop Perrault from trying to incorporate his ideas into his poetry and prose. exempla in the 'literature of acculturation' for Perrault had always frequented the literary children that was being created in this period in salons of his niece Mlle Théritier, Mme d'*Aulnoy, and other women, and he had been Italy and in E u r o p e . Ultimately, the Novelle annoyed by Boileau's satires written against women. Thus, he endeavoured to write three celebrate the pleasures of narration and the de- verse tales 'Grisélidis' (1691), 'Les Souhaits Ridicules' ('The *Foolish Wishes', 1693) and lectable indeterminacy of the fantastic worlds 'Peau d'âne' (*'Donkey-Skin', 1694) along with a long poem, 'Apologie des femmes' that they depict in order to resist any socializ- (1694) in defence of women. Whether these works can be considered pro-women today is ing project, and it is perhaps for this reason that another question. However, Perrault was def- initely more enlightened in regard to this ques- they still hold appeal for us today. NC tion than either Boileau or Racine, and his poems make use of a highly mannered style Faeti, Antonio, Intro, to Emma Perodi, Fiabe and folk motifs to stress the necessity of assum- ing an enlightened moral attitude toward fantastiche: Le novelle della nonna ( 1 9 9 3 ) . women and exercising just authority. PERRAULT, CHARLES (1628-1703), French In 1696 Perrault embarked on a more ambi- writer, poet, and academician. He was born in tious project of transforming several popular Paris into one of the more celebrated bourgeois folk tales with all their superstitious beliefs and families of that time. His father was a lawyer magic into moralistic tales that would appeal to and member of Parliament, and his four brothers—he was the youngest—all went on to become renowned in such fields as architec- ture and law. In 1637 Perrault began studying at the Collège de Beauvais (near the Sor- bonne), and at the age o f 15 he stopped attend- ing school and largely taught himself all he needed to know so he could later take his law examinations. After working three years as a lawyer, he left the profession to become a sec- retary to his brother Pierre, who was the tax receiver of Paris. B y this time Perrault had al- ready written some minor poems, and he began taking more and more of an interest in litera- ture. In 1659 he published t w o important poems, 'Portrait d'Iris' and 'Portrait de la voix d'Iris', and b y 1660 his public career as a poet received a big boost when he produced several poems in honour of Louis X I V . In 1663 Per- rault was appointed secretary to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, controller general of finances, perhaps the most influential minister in Louis X I V ' s government. F o r the next 20 years, until C o l - bert's death, Perrault was able to accomplish a

PERRAULT, CHARLES 380 PERRAULT, CHARLES The cunning cat approaches the ogre in Gustav *Doré's illustration of Charles Perrault's 'Puss in Boots' in Les Contes de Perrault (1867). children and adults and demonstrate a modern Darmancour, Perrault's son, and although approach to literature. He had a prose version some critics have asserted that the book was of *'Sleeping Beauty' ('La Belle au bois dor­ indeed written or at least co-authored by his mant') printed in the journal Mercure Galant in son, recent evidence has shown clearly that this 1696, and in 1697 he published an entire collec­ could not have been the case, especially since tion of tales entitled ^Histoires ou contes du his son had not published anything up to that temps passé, which consisted of new literary point. Perrault was simply using his son's name versions of'Sleeping Beauty', *'Little Red Rid­ to mask his own identity so that he would not ing Hood' ('Le Petit Chaperon Rouge'), be blamed for re-igniting the 'Quarrel of the 'Barbe Bleue' (*' Bluebeard'), 'Cendrillon' Ancients and the Moderns'. Numerous critics (*'Cinderella'), 'Le Petit Poucet' (*'Little Tom have regarded Perrault's tales as written direct­ Thumb'), 'Riquet à la Houppe' (*'Riquet with ly for children, but they overlook the fact that the Tuft'), 'Le Chat botté' (*'Puss-in-Boots'), there was no children's literature per se at that and 'Les Fées' ('The *Fairies'). All of these time and that most writers of fairy tales were fairy tales, which are now considered 'classic­ composing and reciting their tales for their al', were based on oral and literary motifs that peers in the literary salons. Certainly, if Per­ had become popular in France, but Perrault rault intended them to make a final point in the transformed the stories to address social and 'Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns', political issues as well as the manners and then he obviously had an adult audience in mores of the upper classes. Moreover, he added mind that would understand his humour and ironic verse morals to provoke his readers to the subtle manner in which he transformed reflect on the ambivalent meaning of the tales. folklore superstition to convey his position Although Histoires ou contes du temps passé was about the 'modern' development of French published under the name of Pierre Perrault civility.

38i PETER PAN There is no doubt but that, among the who longs for a mother figure. Interestingly, writers of fairy tales during the 1690s, Perrault early versions (written when Freud was defin­ was the greatest stylist, which accounts for the ing adolescent sexuality) have the female char­ fact that his tales have withstood the test of acters rejecting this maternal role. T h e y favour time. Furthermore, Perrault claimed that lit­ a sexual relationship, one to which the boy can­ erature must become modern, and his trans­ not or will not commit emotionally. Avoidance formation of folk motifs and literary themes of responsibility (the 'Peter Pan syndrome'), is into refined and provocative fairy tales still also symbolized by confrontations of youth speak to the modern age, ironically in a w a y and maturity whenever Peter battles Hook. that may compel us to ponder whether the age When each unconsciously mimics the other, of reason has led to the progress and happiness Hook represents Peter's adult self. A t other promised so charmingly in Perrault's tales. J Z times, because the same actor usually plays Hook and the Father (Mr Darling), an Oedipal Barchilon, Jacques, and Flinders, Peter, Charles confrontation arises. Finally, perhaps Hook Perrault (1981). wants Peter to remain a boy, too—for paedo- Burne, Glenn S., 'Charles Perrault 1628—1703', philic reasons. This reading prompts conserva­ in Jane M. Bingham (ed.), Writers for Children: tives to ban the book from schools, and is Critical Studies of Major Authors since the supported by claims that Barrie was abnormal­ Seventeenth Century (1988). ly attracted to the Llewelyn Davies boys. (The Lewis, Philip, Seeing through the Mother Goose brothers, whom Barrie eventually adopted, al­ Tales: Visual Turns in the Writings of Charles ways denied improper behaviour.) Perrault (1996). McGlathery, James M., 'Magic and Desire from Peter Pan w a s a Christmas tradition in L o n ­ Perrault to Musaus: Some Examples', don's W e s t E n d from 1904 to 1990, with only Eighteenth-Century Life, 7 (1981). nine seasons on hiatus. After Hamlet, Peter is Marin, Louis, 'La cuisine des fées: or the the most sought-after role and is usually played Culinary Sign in the Tales of Perrault', Genre, by a woman: female casting is in the tradition of pantomime, and a child star necessitates pro­ 16 (1983). portionately smaller Lost Boys, perhaps too young to act. Nina Boucicault, Maude Adams, Seifert, Lewis C , 'Disguising the Storyteller's and Betty Bronson created the role in London, \"Voice\": Perrault's Recuperation of the Fairy on Broadway, and on film. Other notable Tale', Cincinnati Romance Review, 8 (1989). Peters include Eva Le Gallienne, Eisa Lanches- Soriano, Marc, Les Contes de Perrault. Culture ter (with husband Charles Laughton as Hook), savante et traditions populaires (1968). Dame Maggie Smith, and Cathy Rigby. PETER PAN, eternal youth created by Sir James Barrie's play has undergone many changes Matthew *Barrie. He was first mentioned in an over the years. Leonard Bernstein added music adult novel {The Little White Bird, 1902): Peter (1950), Walt *Disney animated it (1953), and used to be a bird, flew away from his parents Jerome Robbins created a flying ballet (1954). when they were discussing his future, and set­ This Mary Martin—Cyril Ritchard musical tled in Kensington Gardens. Barrie expanded made history when it was televised live and in this idea in the play, Peter Pan, or The Boy who colour in 1955, and remains the definitive ver­ Wouldn't Grow Up (1904), which w a s inspired sion for post-war American Baby Boomers. In by Victorian fairy dramas, Drury Lane panto­ 1982 Miles Anderson broke the 'Peterless Pan' mimes, and five young boys. Here, Peter and tradition with the Royal Shakespeare C o m ­ the fairy Tinkerbell help the Darling children pany, which restored the 1928 stage direction, fly to Neverland where they have adventures added a narrator resembling Barrie, and in­ with Lost Boys, Indians, and Pirates. The play corporated his epilogue in which Wendy was immediately successful. But while Barrie grows up. Steven *Spielberg expanded this idea had Arthur *Rackham illustrate earlier short in Hook (1990), a film about W a l l Street pirate stories for Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens Peter (a father married to Wendy's grand­ (1906), others were already adapting his play. daughter) who fights Hook for their children. Barrie's Peter and Wendy did not appear until Finally, an aged Peter and his wife Alice are 1911; the finalized play, in 1928. In short, 'Peter allegorized in Death Comes for Peter Pan Pan' was a classic fairy tale even before Barrie (1996), a study of America's Neverland/Won­ published it for children! derland of Medicare. N o longer merely the hero of a fairy play, then, Peter Pan has be- Some critics feel that Peter owes his life to the death of Barrie's brother. Because his mother became obsessive over her dead child (who never aged) and ignored the one who matured, Barrie immortalized an ageless youth

PETER PAN 382 come a transcendent myth for all generations interest in the story continued with another of (former) children. MLE production in 1979, which overtook previous Birkin, Andrew, J . M. Barrie & The Lost Boys: versions b y achieving a run o f 551 perform­ The Love Story that Gave Birth to Peter Pan ances. London's West End saw a similar ver­ (1979)- sion in the mid-1980s. Y e t another Peter Pan Brady, Joan, Death Comes for Peter Pan (1996). opened in N e w Y o r k in 1990 for a short six- Hanson, Bruce K., The Peter Pan Chronicles week season, forming part of the show's na­ (1993)- tion-wide tour. TH Kelley-Lainé, Kathleen, Peter Pan: The Story of Lost Childhood (1997). Rose, Jacqueline, The Case of Peter Pan, or The Impossibility of Children's Fiction (1984). PIACEVOLI NOTTI, LE ( 1 5 5 0 - 3 ) , translated b y PETER PAN (film). T h e celebrated British play W . G . Waters in 1894 as The Facetious Nights of 1904 has rarely been tackled b y the cinema. of Giovanni Francesco Straparola. Other pos­ For the major silent version ( U S A , 1924), the sible titles are The Entertaining Nights or The author J . M. *Barrie himself approved the cast­ Pleasant Nights. Little is k n o w n about the ing of boyish 18-year-old newcomer Betty author Giovan Francesco *Straparola. How­ Bronson as Peter. The Chinese-American ac­ ever, his collection of tales was very popular in tress Anna May Wong, playing the redskin the 16th century and went through 20 editions princess Tiger Lily, was only 17 but had ap­ and influenced numerous European writers of peared on screen before, notably in Fairbanks's fairy tales. N o t all the novelle are fairy tales in The *Thief of Bagdad. C o m p l e m e n t i n g these this collection. Similar to Boccaccio's Decame­ ron, the Notti has a framework: thirteen ladies youngsters were veterans such as the eye-roll­ and several gentlemen flee to the island of ing Ernest Torrence as Hook, and George Ali Murano near Venice during the last 13 days of who, inside a dog costume, repeated a per­ Carnival to avoid political persecution. T o formance as Nana the nurse that he had given amuse themselves, they dance and tell 75 stor­ many times on stage. Most other elements of ies. Each one ends with a riddle with multiple the film, including the use o f wires to a c c o m ­ meanings. O f the 75 tales there are 14 fairy plish the flying scenes, also followed the stage tales: 'Cassadrino' ('The Master Thief), 'Pre production closely. The only significant differ­ Scarpafico' ('The Little Farmer'), 'Tebaldo' ence is that whereas on stage Tinker Bell the ('All Fur'), 'Galeotto' ('Hans My Hedgehog'), fairy is represented simply by a darting spot of 'Pietro' ('The Simpleton Hans'), 'Biancabella' light, in the film she is fleshed out b y V i r g i n i a ('The Snake and the Maiden'), 'Fortunio' Brown Faire, who was miniaturized by photo­ ('The Nixie in the Pond'), 'Ricardo' ('Six who graphic multiple-exposure techniques. In the Made their W a y into the World'), 'Aciolotto' U K the film's director w a s praised for not h a v ­ ('The Three Little Birds'), 'Guerrino' ( T r o n ing Americanized the play, but in fact some Hans'), 'I tre fratelli' ('The Four Skillful scenes were shot with alternative versions: for Brothers'), 'Maestro Lattantio' ('The Thief and British audiences the flag the Lost Boys raised his Master'), 'Cesarino' ('The T w o Brothers'), was the Union Jack, while in the U S A it was and 'Soriana' (*'Puss-in-Boots'). These tales the Stars and Stripes. TAS were either European or oriental in origin, and their translations in the 16th, 17th, and 18th PETER PAN (musical), J . M . *Barrie's enduring centuries influenced French and German children's story which has inspired a number of musical adaptations, mostly A m e r i c a n ; the first writers. Straparola's 'Soriana' is the first liter­ appeared in 1905 in N e w Y o r k . A production in 1924 contained two songs by Jerome Kern. ary version of 'Puss-in-Boots'. Straparola was Another version in 1950 was again notable for musical contributions from an important com­ not a great stylist, but his succinct, witty narra­ poser, Leonard Bernstein; it ran for 321 per­ formances. A more lasting version appeared in tives have effective dramatic structures and 1954 opening at the Winter Garden, N e w York, with music by Moose Charlap and Caro­ contain biting social commentary. Indeed, lyn Leigh. Jule Styne, among others, later con­ tributed additional numbers. A German some of the narratives about priests offended translation appeared at the Theater des West- ens, Berlin, in 1984. Meanwhile, American the Church during the Counter-Reformation in the 17th century, and the Notti w a s placed on the Index in 1624. JZ Boscardi, Giorgio, 'Le Novelle di G . F. Straparola', Rassegna Lucchese, 3 (1952). Pozzi, Victoria Smith, 'Straparola's Le piacevoli notti: Narrative Technique and Ideology' (Diss., University of California-Los Angeles, 1981).

PlACEVOLI NOTTI The ladies gather to tell their stories in Giovan Franc Jules Gamier and E. R. Hughes appeared in the English edition The Fac

cesco *Straparola's Le piacevoli Notti (1550—3). This illustration by cetious Nights of Gian Franco Straparola (1894).

PINKNEY, BRIAN 384 Rua, Giuseppe, 'Intorno aile Piacevoli Notti adopted on the relaunching of the serial, the dello Straparola', Giornale Storico della w h o l e eventually reaching 36 short chapters. Letteratura Italiana, 15 (1890). Pinocchio is a fairy story not only because the Waters, W . G . (trans.), The Facetious Nights of 'Fairy with indigo hair' is prominent as a kind Giovanni Francesco Straparola ( 2 vols., 1894). of fairy godmother to the puppet who longs to become a real boy; in addition, many of the PlNKNEY, BRIAN ( 1 9 6 1 - ) , A m e r i c a n illustrator other characters and some narrative devices link it to the age-old web of oral and literary of children's books, who is committed to ex­ storytelling concerning the marvellous, and not just to those strands identified with the ploring African-American culture in his works. complex art of the fairy tale. A m o n g the fairy­ tale features of Collodi's fantasy of picaresque He has collaborated with Robert *San Souci in adventure are the many talking animals and birds which mix with human beings, the mon­ p r o d u c i n g the important a n t h o l o g y Cut from strous creatures and ogre-like humans, the transformations and illogical happenings, the the Same Cloth: American Women of Myth, Le­ showing of bravery in the face of repeated dan­ gers, and the coming of good from evil. Specif­ gend, and Tall Tale (1993) and has also illus­ ically, the rewarding of virtue is part of a rags-to-comfort-if-not-riches theme which trated San S o u c i ' s Sukey and the Mermaid evolves from within the social ambit of the v e r y p o o r . Six y e a r s before writing Pinocchio, (1992). Pinkney uses scratchboard techniques Collodi had translated Charles *Perrault's French fairy tales into Italian, but his wide to sculpt stark black-and-white images, and he reading made his children's story into a pal­ impsest of cultural allusions. If the Fairy en­ also e n d o w s his lines and figures with an un­ courages and protects and sometimes surprises with magic, as the fairy godmother does in usual rhythm. Pinkney has also provided *' Cinderella' (to which there are several refer­ ences), then Collodi's Fox and Cat belong to d r a w i n g s for L y n n J o s e p h ' s A Wave in her the Aesopic tradition of fables with morals, as filtered through the verse versions of Perrault's Pocket: Stories from Trinidad (1991) and Patri­ contemporary and compatriot, La Fontaine. T h o u g h O v i d is not absent from Pinocchio, the cia M c K i s s a c k ' s The Dark Thirty: Southern specific metamorphosis of the puppet into a donkey more closely mirrors the circumstances Tales of the Supernatural (1992). JZ and moral purpose of *A p u l e i u s ' The Golden Ass. C o l l o d i ' s inspiration, while not religious, PINKNEY, JERRY (1939- ) American illustrator, was deeply moral; good and evil are ever-pre­ who has dedicated himself to producing highly sent, sometimes accompanied by Dantesque original multicultural books. Pinkney's major imagery. His sense of fun was regarded as works have led to a rediscovery and celebra­ emulating the 'English humour' of Lewis \"'Car­ tion of the African-American heritage. A m o n g roll and the Nonsense school. The whole story his fairy-tale b o o k s are: The Adventures of is imbued with the theatrical, whether it be dra­ Spider: West African Folk Tales (1964) b y matic use of light and dark or overt reference J o y c e C o o p e r , Folktales and Fairytales of Africa to the Commedia dell'arte. W i t h its apparently (1967) edited b y L i l a G r e e n , The Beautiful Blue direct and natural manner, Pinocchio is a highly Jay and Other Tales of India (1967) edited b y sophisticated tale rendered sparkling by the J o h n Spellman, The King's Ditch: A Hawaiian wordplay and renowned irony. A s in Carroll, Tale (1971) b y Francine J a c o b s , Prince Little- the allusions are not all literary; Collodi was foot (1974) b y Berniece Freschet, Tonweya and prompted by his commitment to political and the Eagles and Other Lakota Indian Tales (1979) social reform. The episodes of the doctors b y R o s e b u d Y e l l o w R o b e , and The Talking called to diagnose Pinocchio's condition and of Eggs (1989) b y R o b e r t San S o u c i . H e has also the judge pronouncing on the theft of his coins collaborated with Julius Lester in reinterpret­ are akin to the fairy tale and the fable (and ing the Uncle Remus tradition in America with *Alice in Wonderland) in the use of talking ani­ The Tales of Uncle Remus (1988), More Tales of mals and in the danger threatening the prot- Uncle Remus (1988), and Further Tales of Uncle Remus (1990). P i n k n e y ' s illustrations are char­ acterized by bold action, extraordinary colours, and compelling interpretations of the texts. J Z PINOCCHIO, THE ADVENTURES OF (LE AWENTURE Dl PINOCCHIO). C a r l o * C o l l o d i first published his vivacious masterpiece as a serial story in a children's w e e k l y paper, / / Giornale per i bam­ bini, between 1881 and 1883. In F e b r u a r y 1883 it was issued as a volume with black-and-white illustrations by Enrico Mazzanti, who had col­ laborated with Collodi in earlier work. T h e serial w a s originally entitled La storia di un burattino (The Story of a Puppet) and ended tra­ gically with chapter 15; the definitive title was

3«5 PIPPI LONGSTOCKING agonist, but at a deeper level these episodes for the frightening and the incomprehensible, pungently criticize professional malpractice and the shortcomings of society. Paradoxically, but always with a bearing upon the real world, Pinocchio has the timelessness and universality of the fairy tale and yet was pertinent to mat­ m a k e s Pinocchio an authentic scion o f the fairy­ ters of moment in Collodi's place and time. tale tradition. ALL Collodi died before producing any strict se­ quel to Pinocchio, but the b o o k ' s best-seller sta­ Citati, Pietro, 'Una fiaba esoterica' and ' L a fata tus in Italy ensured that new editions were constantly available, with illustrations by num­ dai capelli turchini', in / / velo new (1979). bers of different artists; between 1883 and 1983 in Italy alone there were 135 different illus­ Collodi, Carlo, The Adventures of Pinocchio, trated editions, well over one per year. From early days, there were many emulators and trans, and ed. Ann Lawson Lucas (1996). imitators, a distinguished disciple being Collo­ di's nephew. Sons, brothers, friends galore of Goldthwaite, John, The Natural History of Make- the puppet were spawned, as was even a fian­ cee. Pinocchio was subjected to an inexhaust­ Believe (1996). ible sequence of adventures in many named lands, as an explorer, hunter, policeman, Perella, Nicolas J . , 'An Essay on Pinocchio', in mountaineer, magistrate, journalist, diver, spaceman, dancer, soldier, castaway, and in Carlo Collodi, Le avventure di Pinocchio—The 1927—8 as a Fascist. T h e s e exploitative imita­ tions missed the point, namely the universality Adventures of Pinocchio (1986). and comprehensiveness of the puppet's experi­ ence. He was a wooden Everyman. Wunderlich, R., and Morrissey, T. J . , 'Carlo T h e original Pinocchio quickly b e g a n to be Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio: A Classic translated around the world in innumerable editions and adaptations. At any one time there Book of Choices', in Perry Nodelman, are many English versions available, the ma­ jority abridgements. Some are even modifica­ Touchstones: Reflections on the Best in Children's tions of the first English translation of 1892 b y Mary A . Murray, as the 1996 North A m e r i c a n Literature, i (1985). version by E d Y o u n g is. More than 100 years on, Pinocchio also appears in m a n y non-literary PIPPI LONGSTOCKING, title character of three guises: toys, trinkets, publicity, and numerous films. Interesting and faithful film versions are novels b y A s t r i d *Lindgren, Pippi Lângstrump still being made, but the one that dominates w o r l d - w i d e perceptions o f Pinocchio, e v e n after {Pippi Longstocking, 1945) and sequels, the 50 years, is W a l t * D i s n e y ' s 1940 animated in­ terpretation. While countless children have strongest girl in the world, independent and loved it for itself, it bears little resemblance to Collodi's Pinocchio; the story is fundamentally free in confrontation with the world of adults. altered, the mood softened and Hollywoo- dized, and the puppet deprived of his personal­ Pippi lives on her own in a little town with her ity. Disney is sentimental where Collodi is uncompromising, challenging, and exhilarat­ horse and her monkey; she does not go to ing. Whether or not prompted by cinematic or illustrators' images, readers and critics of dif­ school and defies the dictatorship of norms and ferent times and places have understood Pinoc­ chio in a myriad different w a y s , according to conventions, of dull reality, of authority, of the political, religious, or cultural imperatives informing their perception. Interpretations structure and order. Although many critics have been variously Christian, marxist, anti- communist, Freudian, and the product of many have viewed the character as an expression of other 'isms'. This capacity to mean many things to many people, to provide metaphors escape, her spirit is chiefly anti-authoritarian, which signals her strong links with brave and clever fairy-tale heroines, such as Molly Whuppie, or the princesses of contemporary feminist fairy tales. Pippi has no magic powers and no magic objects to assist her, and she uses her wits ra­ ther than her physical strength to win over im­ pertinent adults. Unlike the typical underdog heroine or hero of the fairy tale, Pippi is se­ cure, self-assured, strong and rich from the be­ ginning. Thus her role is not of a hero, but rather that of a magical helper or donor in a fairy tale, bringing colour and joy into ordin­ ary children's lives. She is also the source of unlimited wealth, fulfilling the wildest dreams of any child. Like *Peter Pan, Pippi does not want to grow up, but mainly because she refuses to be socialized. When she offers her friends magical pills which will prevent them from growing up, she acts like a witch enticing them with en­ chanted food into an eternal childhood akin to death. Thus Pippi is a highly ambivalent figure. MN Edstrôm, Vivi, 'Pippi Longstocking: Chaos and Postmodernism', Swedish Book Review, suppl. (1990).

PITRE, GIUSEPPE 386 Hoffeld, Laura, 'Pippi Longstocking: The Paris stage, English pantomime, and burlesque. Comedy of the Natural Girl', The Lion and the Planché suggested the essential elements of a Unicorn, 1 (1977). successful fairy extravaganza were: ' A plot, the Lundqvist, Ulla, Arhundradets barn. Fenomenet interest of which is sustained to the last mo­ Pippi Langstrump och dess fdrutsattningar (1977). ment, and is not in the least complicated, a ser­ Metcalf, Eva-Maria, AstridLindgren (1995). ies of startling and exciting events, the action Moebius, William, 1L'Enfant Terrible Comes of which required no verbal explanation, and nu­ Age', Notebooks on Cultural Analysis, 2 (1985). merous opportunities for scenic display and Reeder, Kik, 'Pippi Longstocking—a Feminist sumptuous decoration—What more could be or Anti-feminist Work?' Racism and Sexism in desired?' Planché produced his first extrava­ Children s Literature (1979). ganza in 1825 using mythological subjects, but turned to French fairy tales for his plots begin­ PITRE, GIUSEPPE (1841-1916), Italian folklorist ning with *Riquet with the Tuft (1836). Other fairy extravaganzas quickly followed including and ethnographer. He was the foremost figure comic adaptations of *Puss in Boots (1837), *Bluebeard (1839), *Sleeping Beauty in the in 19th-century Italian folklore studies, and had Wood (1840), *Beauty and the Beast (1841), and The White Cat (1842). Planché eventually a central role in establishing the study of popu­ w r o t e 44 extravaganzas that combined song, dance, spectacle, and topical allusions. lar traditions as an independent discipline in While pantomime was considered a work­ Italy. He opposed a strictly aesthetic approach ing-class genre, the extravaganza was thought to be middle-class in its appeal, despite the fact to folklore, maintaining that folk traditions that both forms of entertainment relied on transformation scenes, fantastic plots and lav­ offered precious historical information on na­ ish custumes, and numerous changes of scen­ ery. Both became British theatrical institutions tional heritages that often revealed different during the Christmas and Easter seasons, and Planché's extravaganzas in particular were in­ realities from 'officiai' history. His homeland fluential in the creation of Gilbert and Sulli­ van's comic operettas. The fairy extravaganza of Sicily offered him an especially rich corpus is a pantomime with the harlequinade re­ moved, new lyrics written for popular songs, of materials, which he studied and collected extensive use of puns, and an elaborate con­ cluding transformation scene involving spec­ throughout his life. Pitré's major works include tacular changes in scenery and costumes. While the extravaganza was considered re­ the 2 5-volume Biblioteca delle tradi^ionipopolari spectable family entertainment, some of the adult appeal was due to the sometimes reveal­ siciliane (Library of Popular Sicilian Traditions, ing costumes of the actresses. Planché took care to produce historically accurate costumes 1870—1913); Fiabe novelle e racconti popolari and eventually published History of British Cos­ tumes (1834) and An Encyclopaedia of Costume siciliani (Fairy Tales, Novellas, and Popular or Dictionary of Dress (1876—9). Tales of Sicily, 1875); the journal Archivio per lo Planché's theatrical adaptations of fairy tales were published shortly before his death in the studio delle tradi^ioni popolari (Archive for the five-volume The Extravagant of J. R. Planché, Esq. (1879). I n addition to his extravaganzas, Study of Popular Traditions, 1882—1909), w h i c h Planché translated two collections of French fairy tales, The Fairy Tales of the Countess he founded and edited; the 1 6 - v o l u m e Curiosité D'*Aulnoy (1855) and the companion v o l u m e Four and Twenty Fairy Tales (1858), which w a s popolari tradi^ionali (Curiosities of Popular reprinted as Fairy Tales by *Perrault, De Ville­ neuve, De *Caylus, De *Lubert, De Beaumont Traditions, 1885—99); ^a n < Bibliografia delle tra- [*Le Prince de B e a u m o n t ] , and Others. H e also wrote a version of 'Sleeping Beauty' in verse di^ioni popolari d 'Italia (Bibliography of Italian which accompanied Richard *Doyle's illustra- Popular Traditions, 1894). Pitré's principal source for the Fiabe w a s the oral storyteller Agatuzza Messia, whose tales he transcribed with precision, opposing his method to that of more 'creative' scholars like the *Grimms. The Fiabe became a precious document for later anthologists of Italian fairy tales such as Italo *Calvino. NC Cocchiara, Giuseppe, Pitre, la Sicilia e il folklore (i95i)- The History of Folklore in Europe (1981). PLANCHÉ, JAMES ROBINSON (1796-1880), Eng­ lish dramatist and translator of French fairy tales. Planché was a highly productive and popular dramatist of the London stage who created nearly 180 productions from 1818 to 1856, and is best known for his theatrical ex­ travaganzas which were frequently based on French fairy tales. Planché acknowledged his sources for the extravaganzas as the folie féerie (fairy comedy) which he borrowed from the

PLANCHÉ, JAMES ROBINSON The charming prince is about to kiss Sleeping Beauty in James Robinson Planché's unusual adaptation of *Perrault's tale in An Old Fairy Tale Told Anew (1865), illustrated by Richard *Doyle.

Pocci, FRANZ VON 388 tions in An Old Fairy Tale Told Anew (1865). winter are German poets who were intrigued and influenced early by the Grimms' fairy JS tales. From the Anglo-American world Alfred Booth, R. Michael, Prefaces to English Tennyson, Samuel Rogers, Bret Harte, Nineteenth-Century Theatre (1980). Frances Sargent Osgood, Ethel Louise Cox, Planché, James Robinson, The Recollections and John Greenleaf Whittier, James N. Barker, Reflections of J. R. Planché (1872). T o m Hood, and G u y Wetmore Carryl come to Roy, Donald (ed.), Plays by James Robinson mind for such lengthy poetic retellings. For the Planché (1986). most part their poems are nothing more than stylistic variations of the traditional fairy tales, POCCI, FRANZ VON (1807-76), German drama­ and they add little to a deeper or differentiated understanding of the psychological underpin­ tist, poet, painter, and composer, who wrote nings of the tales' messages. numerous fairy-tale plays for the puppet This changed considerably at the turn of the century when authors were no longer satisfied theatre. Aside from drawing illustrations for in mechanically retelling the entire fairy tales in verse. Modern authors recognized early that collections of fairy tales by *Perrault, the although fairy tales depict a supernatural world with miraculous, magical, and numinous as­ * G r i m m s , and *A n d e r s e n , P o c c i w r o t e o v e r 40 pects, they also present in a symbolic fashion common problems and concerns of humanity. plays for the Munich Marionettentheater. Some Fairy tales deal with all aspects of social life and human behaviour: not only such rites of were based on traditional classical plots, and passage as birth, courtship, betrothal, marriage, old age, and death, but also episodes that are some were his own inventions. A m o n g his best typical in most people's lives. The emotional range includes in part love, hate, distrust, joy, fairy-tale p l a y s are Blaubart {*Bluebeard, 1845), persecution, happiness, murder, rivalry, and friendship, and often the same tale deals with Schattenspiel {Shadow Play, 1847), *Hansel und such phenomena in contrasting pairs—good versus evil, success versus failure, benevolence Gretel (1861), Zaubergeige {The Magic Violin, versus malevolence, poverty versus wealth, fortune versus misfortune, victory versus de­ 1868), Eulenschloss {The Castle of Owls, 1869), feat, compassion versus harshness, modesty versus indecency; in short, black versus white. Kasperl wird reich {Punch Becomes Rich, 1872). That is indeed rich material for lyric poets, es­ pecially as they critically confront the basic At his best, Pocci combined comic features of idea of fairy tales that all conflicts can be re­ solved at the end. T h e fairy tales end with hap­ the Punch and J u d y shows with fantastic elem­ piness, joy, contentment, and harmony in a world as it should be, where all good wishes ents of the traditional fairy tales to create social are fulfilled. In the more modern fairy-tale poems this world is regrettably more often than farces aimed at enlightening and amusing not anything but splendid and perfect. The basic message of most 20th-century poems children. JZ based on or at least alluding to fairy tales is one that this is a world of problems and frustra­ Dreyer, A., Frani Pocci, der Dichter, Kunstler tions, where nothing works out and succeeds as und Kinderfruend (1907). in those beautiful stories of ages past. And yet, Lucas, A., Franz Pocci und das Kinderbuch by composing their poems around fairy-tale motifs, these authors if only very indirectly (1929). seem to long for that miraculous transform­ ation to bliss and happiness. POETRY AND FAIRY TALES. It is no secret that lit­ erary authors frequently reach back to classical Realistic reinterpretations of entire fairy and traditional stories and motifs to create their tales or certain motifs have become the rule in own poetic works. The tragic stories of Tristan modern fairy-tale poetry, a sub-genre of lyric and Isolde or Romeo and Juliet have been re­ poetry that has received little attention from told many times, and this is certainly true for the short fairy tales which most authors know extremely well from personal childhood ex­ periences. T h e * G r i m m s ' *Kinder- und Haus­ mdrchen {Children's and Household Tales) are in fact so ubiquitous that it would be surprising if there were no entire literary works in the form of novels, dramas, short stories, and poems based on them. A n d where this is not the case, it will not be difficult to find at least short ver­ bal allusions to traditional fairy tales, especially in lyric poetry with its interest in metaphorical and indirect communication. There existed a tradition of fairy-tale poetry already in the 19th century, with authors pri­ marily being interested in retelling the tale quite literally in poems of numerous stanzas. Ludwig Uhland, August Heinrich Hoffman von Fallersleben, Heinrich *Heine, Eduard *Morike, and Wolfgang Millier von Kônigs-

83 9 P O E T R Y A N D FAIRY T A L E S the scholarly world. Even though some literary deeply felt moral statements, varying from historians have commented on the fairy-tale subjective statements to more general claims. poems by such acclaimed poets as Franz \"'Fiih­ And yet, there are also poems of natural mann, Giinter *Grass, Randall *Jarrell, and beauty, both in language and spirit, as can be Anne *Sexton, the fact that many modern poets seen from Aileen Fisher's 'Cinderella Grass' have written fascinating poems either based on poem: 'Overnight the new green grass | turned fairy tales or at least alluding to them has been to Cinderella glass. | Frozen rain decked twigs overlooked. A t the beginning of the 20th cen­ and weeds | with strings of Cinderella beads. | tury James Whitcomb *Riley composed a num­ Glassy slippers, trim and neat, | covered all the ber of generally traditional fairy-tale poems, clover's feet. . . | just as if there'd been a ball | and his 'Maymie's Story of Red Riding Hood' with a magic wand and all.' was even written in dialect. But contrast such a poem with the recent retelling of several popu­ Modern fairy-tale poems concern them­ lar fairy tales for children and adults by Roald selves with every imaginable human problem. *Dahl. In his lengthy poems the fairy tales are There are poems about love and hate, war and restated in the jargon of the modern world, so politics, marriage and divorce, responsibility that one finds in them such w o r d s as 'discos', and criminality, and also emancipation as well 'pistols', and 'panty hose'. Dahl has brought as sexual politics. Such productive fairy-tale fairy tales up to date, somewhat as James poets as Sara Henderson *Hay, Anne Sexton, \"Thurber did in his short prose texts based on and Olga *Broumas deal specifically with fairy tales and fables. women's concerns and do not shrink from making explicit sexual comments. Their poems A few poems do exist that contain somewhat are never vulgar or promiscuous but rather sin­ positive reactions to the perfect world of fairy­ cere personal expressions. H a y ' s b o o k Story tale endings. A s an example, J o y Davidman's Hour (1982) contains primarily p o e m s alluding \"\"Rapunzel' poem, 'The Princess in the Ivory to such Grimm tales as ' T h e *Frog King', Tower', comes to mind; though even in this \"\"Snow White', \"\"Rumpelstiltskin', and \"\"Han­ poem it is not clear whether the prince will sel and Gretel', where the titles of ' T h e Mar­ reach his beloved or not: 'Let down your hair, riage', 'One of the Seven Has Somewhat to let down your golden hair, | that I may be free Say', 'The Name', and 'Juvenile Court' only . . .'. And the poem 'Reading the Brothers allude to the underlying tale. But other poems Grimm to Jenny' by Lisel \"\"Mueller, clearly are called explicitly 'The Goosegirl' or written by a mother for a child, also does not 'Rapunzel'. Each poem is composed of two remain unproblematic, juxtaposing as it does rhymed stanzas of unequal length, with the se­ the wonderful world of fairy tales and the dan­ cond one presenting a realistic twist to what gerous world of reality: 'Knowing that you appears to be like a fairy tale in the first stanza. must climb, | one day, the ancient tower | Here is the second stanza of Hay's 'Rapunzel' where disenchantment binds | the curls of in­ poem: 'I knew that other girls, in Aprils past, | nocence, I that you must live with power | and Had leaned, like me, from some old tower's honor circumstance, | that choice is what room I And watched him clamber up, hand comes true— | O, Jenny, pure in heart, | w h y o v e r fist... I I k n e w that I w a s not the first to do I lie to you?' twist I Her heartstrings to a rope for him to climb. I I might have known I would not be Only a few poems retain the peace and har­ the last.' mony reached in the conclusions of the original tales. And with the exception of some humor­ Anne Sexton treats numerous fairy tales in ous poems that are in fact ridiculous nonsense much longer poems of free verse, and she does verses, the modern German and Anglo-Ameri­ not shy away from calling them directly 'The can fairy-tale poems are critical reactions to Frog Prince', 'Rapunzel', \"\"Little Red Riding fairy tales that are no longer believed or ac­ Hood', 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs', cepted. Transformed into parodistic, satirical, etc., in her celebrated b o o k Transformations or cynical anti-fairy tales, these poems often (1971). These are indeed transfigured tales in contain serious social criticisms. B y reading which questions of sexuality, sexual politics, these modern renderings the readers are sup­ and emancipation all add up to a feministic posed to re-evaluate societal problems. The statement against gender stereotypes. While unexpressed hope is perhaps that such alienat­ her poems might be shocking and aggressive at ing anti-fairy tales might eventually be trans­ times, Sexton is without doubt a genius at lyr­ formed again to real fairy tales in a better ical reinterpretations of Grimm tales. T h e titles world. Many fairy-tale poems are therefore of several poems in O l g a B r o u m a s ' s b o o k Be-

POETRY AND FAIRY TALES 390 ginning with O (1977) are the same as S e x t o n ' s . world, as can be seen from W. Mieder's anthol­ Clearly inspired by the latter, Broumas looks at o g y Disenchantments: An Anthology of Modern fairy tales from a lesbian point of view in her Fairy Tale Poetry (1985). A m o n g the many long poems of free verse. While her poems poets not yet mentioned but represented in this might be disagreeable to some, she presents book are such distinguished authors as Eliza­ deeply felt emotions and illustrates the psycho- beth Brewster, Hayden Carruth, William sexual meaning of fairy tales to women. Dickey, Robert Gillespie, Louise Gliick, Robert Graves, William Hathaway, Robert But sex is only one major theme of fairy-tale Hillyer, Paul R. Jones, Galway Kinnell, Wal­ poems. Many of them also deal with such prob­ ter *de la Mare, Eli Mandel, Robin Morgan, lems as vanity, deception, lovelessness, materi­ Howard Nemerov, Wilfred Owen, Robert alism, and power. T h e adult world is simply *Pack, Sylvia Plath, David Ray, Dorothy Lee not a perfect fairy tale. The philosophical fairy­ Richardson, Stevie Smith, Phyllis Thompson, tale poems by Randall Jarrell especially capture Louis Untermeyer, Evelyn M. Watson, and the frustrations that modern people experience Elinor Wylie. Many more names could be in a world void of happy endings. But again, added to this list, indicating once and for all many of the pessimistic statements conceal a that the sub-genre of fairy-tale poetry is some­ quiet hope for a better world. A s Jarrell puts it thing to be reckoned with by scholars and at the end of his poem ' T h e Marchen (Grimm's poetry enthusiasts. Tales)': 'It was not power that you lacked, but wishes. I Had you not learned—have we not Hundreds of German and English fairy-tale learned, from tales | Neither of beasts nor poems reveal that they can be grouped accord­ kingdoms nor their Lord, | But of our own ing to the specific tale being discussed or men­ hearts, the realm of death—Neither to rule nor tioned. But there are also those poems which die? to change, to change!' Changes are neces­ deal in general with the sense of fairy tales in sary in an increasingly complex world, and the the modern world. The following four lines transformations depicted in these poems might from Alfred Corn's poem 'Dreambooks' give a just be guideposts for humanity to find positive flavour of this approach: 'Grim fairy tale. solutions to its difficult problems. 'Once upons' are always | Puns, double under­ standings for I The double life, to be read and While Randall Jarrell wrote searching fairy­ dreamed | Until the secret order appears.' A tale poems in America, Franz Fuhmann ap­ second more general group could be termed proached the Grimm tales in a similarly philo­ fairy-tale potpourris in that their authors create sophical way in Germany. Together with Anne tour-de-force combinations of various fairy-tale Sexton, these two authors belong to a group of allusions. Gail White's poem 'Happy Endings' truly outstanding poets whose works contain might serve as an appropriate example: 'Red numerous fairy-tale poems. There are other Riding Hood and her grandmother | made the poets who must be mentioned, though. From wolf I into a big fur coat | and Gretel | shoved the German-speaking countries the following Hansel into the oven | and ate him with the poets are included with more than one poem in witch I and the Beauty enjoyed | her long W o l f g a n g Mieder's a n t h o l o g y Màdchen, pfeif sleep I quite as much | as the awakening kiss j auf den PrinzenJ Màrchengedichte von Giinter and the Prince might take | Cinderella to the Grass bis Sarah Kirsch {Girls, Don't Care about palace | but she would insist | on scrubbing the Prince! Fairy-Tale Poems from Giinter Grass floors I and scouring pots | and getting her to Sarah Kirsch, 1983): F r a n z J o s e f D e g e n h a r d t , good clothes | covered with ashes f after all | Giinter Bruno *Fuchs, Albrecht Goes, Ulla it was what | she was used to.' There are more Hahn, Rolf Kreuzer, Karl Krolow, Helmut serious poems of this type, but clearly their Preissler, Josef Wittmann, etc. But well- authors delight in the montage of various fairy­ known authors like Bertolt Brecht, Paul Celan, tale motifs. Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Gunter Grass, Erich Kâstner, Marie Luise Kaschnitz, Sarah Of the many poems dealing with one specif­ *Kirsch, Elisabeth Langgasser, Eva Strittmat- ic fairy tale it can be stated that the tales 'Briar ter, Martin Walser, Rudolf Otto Wiemerh, to Rose' (usually called \"\"'Sleeping Beauty'), name a few, are represented as well. In fact, *'Cinderella', 'The Frog King', 'Snow White', most modern lyric poets have at least one fairy­ and 'Little Red Riding Hood' have inspired the tale poem or at least a poem or two alluding to greatest number of poets. For the most part, a Grimm tale in passing in their published these poems carry those exact titles, thus indi­ poems. cating from the outset that the poem will oc­ cupy itself with a traditional tale. But often the T h e same is true for the Anglo-American

POGÂNY, WILLY surprise comes immediately after the title, as both languages there are also a few poems for example in Charles Johnson's short poem 'Sleeping Beauty', where only the title is a dir­ about Hans Christian *Andersen's two best- ect allusion to the tale itself: ' A Beautiful Black man | Sleeping in a corner | His mind wander­ known tales of 'The Emperor's N e w Clothes' ing into the deepest of | Darkness | His suffer­ ing eyes closed | His mouth open wide as if he and 'The *Princess and the Pea' by such I Wants to eat up the White world | And spit it out into the hand | of the White man and authors as Rolf Haufs, Maurice Lindsay, Chris­ then I wake up.' T h e harmless title had clearly conjured up the image of the sleeping princess, toph *Meckel, Paul Muldoon, Gerda Penfold, only to be utterly destroyed by this social wake-up call. Another short poem entitled Jane Shore, Carolyn Zonailo, etc. A poem by 'Ella of the Cinders' by Mary Blake French also debunks the passive world of the fairy-tale J o y K o g o w a with the first line being identical character Cinderella: 'I am not physically per­ fect: I I have no spherical symmetry. | I need with its title, may serve as an example: T think no Prince Charming to awaken me. | I am fully conscious of your happily-ever-after! | I am that fabled princess | W h o could not sleep My feet grow large to break your glass slip­ pers; I I shall use the shivered glass for my I Upon layers of soft mattresses | Because of own collage.' These few lines represent numer­ ous poems that address the emancipatory goals that one hard pea beneath | And I am wonder­ of independence for modern women. ing, my love, | If we will discover | That you The poems based on 'The Frog King' centre primarily on transformations with an obvious are that prince | W h o sought me. | For if you emphasis on sexual matters. A few lines out of Anne Sexton's poem 'The Frog Prince' show are not \\ Then I am a silly saint | And you are to what grotesque imagery some of the reinter- pretations might lead: 'Frog has no nerves. | a bed of nails.' What all of the authors of fairy­ Frog is as old as a cockroach. | F r o g is m y father's genitals. | Frog is a malformed door­ tale poetry seem to have taken to heart is an knob. I Frog is a soft bag of green. | The moon will not have him. The sun wants to aphorism by Elias Canetti from the year 1943: shut off I like a light bulb. At the sight of him I the stone washes itself in a tub. | T h e crow 'A closer study of fairy tales would teach us thinks he's an apple | and drops a worm in. | At the feel of frog | the touch-me-nots explode what w e can still expect from the world.' Col­ I like electric slugs. | Slime will have him. | Slime has made him a house.' But Sexton can lectively their poems acknowledge that modern also be much more realistic and less repulsive, as for example in the last few lines of her long life is not a fairy-tale existence and point out poem about Snow White. Her evil stepmother is just dancing herself to death in the red-hot disenchantments everywhere. But by doing so iron shoes, and 'Meanwhile Snow White held court, rolling her china-blue doll eyes open and they offer the hope that people will learn from shut I and sometimes referring to her mirror | as women do.' The question about and wish their experiences and from the fairy tales which for beauty appear to be indestructible. have couched them in such poetic language. Other fairy tales that have found their w a y into modern poetry with somewhat less fre­ The interplay of traditional fairy tales and quency are 'Hansel and Gretel', 'Rapunzel', 'Rumpelstiltskin', and 'Snow White and Rose innovative fairy-tale poems certainly results Red'. Those are also the fairy tales best known in the English-speaking world. While in Ger­ in a meaningful process of effective man poetry a few additional tales appear, the ones mentioned here are dealt with the most. In communication. WM Bechtolsheim, Barbara von, 'Die Briider Grimm neu schreiben: Zeitgenossische Marchengedichte amerikanischer Frauen' (Diss., Stanford University, 1 9 8 7 ) . Horn, Katalin, 'Heilserwartung im Mârchen und ihre Spiegelung in einer Auswahl moderner Lyrik', Neophilologus, 7 3 ( 1 9 8 9 ) . Hôsle, Johannes, 'Volkslied, Marchen und moderne Lyrik', Ak{ente, 7 ( i 9 6 0 ) . Maurer, Georg, 'Das Marchenmotiv bei Franz Fiihmann', Neue deutsche Literatur, 1 2 ( 1 9 6 4 ) . McClatchy, J . D . (éd.), Anne Sexton: The Artist and her Critics ( 1 9 7 8 ) . Mieder, Wolfgang (ed.), Grimms Marchen—modern: Prosa, Gedichte, Karikaturen (!979)- (ed.), Màdchen, pfeif auf den Prin^en! Marchengedichte von Giinter Grass his Sarah Kirsch ( 1 9 8 3 ) . (éd.), Disenchantments: An Anthology of Modern Fairy Tale Poetry ( 1 9 8 5 ) . Tradition and Innovation in Folk Literature (1987). Ostriker, Alicia, 'The Thieves of Language: Women Poets and Revisionist Mythmaking', Signs, 8 ( 1 9 8 2 - 3 ) . POGÂNY, WILLY ( 1 8 8 2 - 1 9 5 5 ) , Hungarian-born artist; distinguished painter, illustrator, mural- ist, architect, stage designer, film art director,

POGODIN, RADI 392 sculptor; naturalized U S citizen, 1921. Pogâny lante' ('Cichita the Talking Monkey') is a illustrated more than 100 books and was noted modern fairy tale originally published in 1979, for his stylistic variety. While living in Lon­ in which Cichita comes to the financial rescue don, he produced—designed and exe­ of the circus she belongs to by becoming a talk­ cuted—what have been regarded as ing sensation. Bandits kidnap her for ransom, masterpieces: C o l e r i d g e ' s , Rime of the Ancient but Cichita manages to escape and have the Mariner (1910) and the W a g n e r i a n trilogy: bandits arrested. Tannhduser ( 1 9 1 1 ) , Parsifal (1912), and Lohen­ Pontiggia edited and prefaced Carlo C o l l o ­ grin (1913). A n anecdote about P o g â n y notes di's Iracconti delle fate (Fairy Tales), with illus­ that when he was preparing for his departure trations b y G u s t a v e *Doré. His novels 77 from London and immigration to America, he giocatore invisibile {The Invisible Player, 1978), illustrated 'Story of Hiawatha' (c.1914), an ex­ and La grande sera (The Great Evening, 1989) ceptional panoramically designed text. He also won the Campiello and Strega prizes, respect­ did singular illustrations of traditional fairy ively. T h e author's fondness for the fantastic is tales such as *'Little Red Riding Hood' and still apparent in his latest w o r k , L'Isola volante *'Cinderella', and provided the artwork for W. (The Flying Island, 1996). GD J e n k y n T h o m a s ' s The Welsh Fairy Book (1907) and N a n d o r P o g â n y ' s Magyar Fairy Tales from P O P U L A R S O N G A N D F A I R Y T A L E S . Popular song is a short vocal item whose melodic line is per- Old Hungarian Legends (1930). SS formable by singers of all standards—from amateur to professional. Thus, an important P O G O D I N , RADI (1925-93), outstanding Russian element in what makes a song popular is the children's writer, author of philosophical and ease with which it can be sung. Closely allied existential fairy tales. Unlike most Soviet fairy to this is the nature of the w o r d s — a successful tales, Pogodin's are totally free from ideology fusing of text and music frequently produces and didacticism. He makes use of the tradition­ the most memorable songs. Yet another ingre­ al Russian fairy-tale patterns and characters, dient is the character of the song's accompani­ blending them with contemporary settings and ment. A s the European art song developed, allowing ordinary children to experience ad­ German romantic composers especially culti­ ventures in fairy-tale countries. He also em­ vated a particularly fluent style in establishing ploys elements from animal tales, both using and maintaining the mood of a song through traditional figures, such as a m o u s e , and in­ the piano accompaniment. venting his own imaginary creatures. The cen­ tral idea in his tales is the tension between the l. HISTORY innocence and creative power of childhood and Singing is the most natural form of all human the burden and corruption of adulthood. M N music-making, with its origins in prehistoric times. Most early surviving music dates from Nikolajeva, Maria, 'On the Edge of Childhood', around the 13 th century, being a variety of Bookbird, 35 ( 1 9 9 7 ) . church music, and secular songs, notated either by clergy, or aristocratic laity educated by P O L i V K A , J l R I (1858—1933), Czech folklorist, clergy. T h e 13th century also saw the rise of the troubadours—singers and poets, who fre­ professor of Slavic studies at Karl University in quently performed their own material at im­ portant court functions, or for the delight of a Prague. He wrote several major studies of favoured lady. Originating in France, the art of the troubadour spread quickly throughout Slavic folk tales such as Slavic Fairy Tales Europe, helped immeasurably, no doubt, by the great mobility of knights and their armies (1932), in which he paid great attention to the en route to the crusades. narrative form of the folk tale. Together with By the late Middle Ages, part-singing (a group of singers with one or more of its num­ his German colleague Johannes Bolte, he edit­ ber assigned to a series of individual parts, which when performed together create a satis­ ed the highly significant, five-volume anno­ fying whole), had developed to the point where it was a fashionable social pastime. This tated study of the *Grimms' fairy tales, is not to overlook the evolving importance of religious choral music, which for many Chris- Anmerkungen ru den 'Kinder- und Hausmdrchen ' (1913-32). MN PONTIGGIA, GIUSEPPE (1934- ), Italian writer and critic who, from the start of his literary career, showed an interest in fairy tales, pub­ lishing ' L a morte in banca' ('The Death in the B a n k ' ) in 1959 (republished in 1979 with six other short stories). 'Cichita la scimmia par­

393 POPULAR SONG AND FAIRY TALES tian denominations was central to their acts of ing an especial vogue in the United States, worship. Meanwhile, stage plays in late Renais­ Britain, and Australia. During World W a r I, in sance Britain often helped individual secular both America and Britain, the practice was a songs achieve popularity through the wide­ popular pastime within the armed services. spread habit of inserting them into the drama. William *Shakespeare made extensive use of The movement went on to gain impetus music in his plays, including a great quantity of with the publication of special song books. In song. Britain it reached a peak of popularity, helping to draw vast crowds to public events such as in 2. APPEARANCE OF SONGS WITH SUPERNATURAL- 1926 when 10,000 people attended London's RELATED TEXTS Royal Albert Hall to inaugurate the Daily E x ­ As the A g e of Reason dawned (18th century), press Community Singing Movement. The the Italian solo art song was already well estab­ repertoire was, by and large, an amorphous lished. Later, during the 19th century, the form collection of traditional airs, interspersed with found its greatest expression in Germany and hymns and carols, sea shanties, and Negro to some extent in Russia also. This was a time spirituals, including songs which had fairy­ when poems dealing in supernatural elements tale-style narratives, such as 'Old King Cole', began to interest composers. Schubert's Erl- 'Who Killed Cock Robin?', or the nursery kônig (The Ed King) o f 1817 is a setting o f rhyme 'Hot Cross Buns'. *Goethe's celebrated ballad, concerning a young boy who is lured to his untimely end by 5. THE 20TH CENTURY an evil goblin. T h e same composer's Der Through the continuing demand for panto­ Alpenjdger (The Alpine Hunter), another mime in the 20th century, m a n y popular songs Goethe setting, invokes the spirit of the moun­ have found themselves allied to fairy tales, tains. while not in themselves dealing with the sub­ ject. Thus a pantomime about \"\"Cinderella' or, 3. NURSERY AND CRADLE SONGS say, \"\"Jack and the Beanstalk', might not con­ A point worth bearing in mind is that many tain a vocal item which relates to the story as leading composers o f the 18th, 19th, and 20th such. A good example of this is the 1937 Walt centuries wrote cradle songs—*Mozart, * D i s n e y film *Snow White and the Seven Schubert, \"\"Schumann, B r a h m s (his Wiegenlied, Dwarfs, although it could b e argued that the O p . 49 N o . 4, being especially famous), and song, 'Some D a y m y Prince Will Come', is Richard *Strauss. T h e Russian composer Mod­ part of the narrative. est M u s s o r g s k y (1839—81), set a cycle o f five nursery songs. (He also composed a setting of Elsewhere, fairy-tale references were to be Goethe's The Flea.) found, including a show with a fairy-tale title, Cinderella on Broadway (1920), and a s o n g , 4. FOLK SONG AND COMMUNITY SONGS 'Cinderella stay in m y arms', written by The folk song tradition is widespread through­ Michael Carr and J i m m y Kennedy in 1938. B e ­ out Europe and Russia, being most often at its fore that, in 1933, Kennedy, in collaboration strongest in rural and industrial communities. with Harry Castling, wrote what became prob­ For centuries it relied for its continuation on ably the most popular of all songs in the fairy­ transmission from parent to child. Many lead­ tale tradition: ' T h e Teddy Bears' Picnic'. T h e ing composers in the 20th century h a v e turned song has long been established as a 'classic', to arranging such material. Manuel de Falla's being a favourite among young and old collection Seven Spanish Folk Songs contains a alike. cradle song, 'Nana', as does Béla *Bartôk's Hungarian collection, Village Scenes. A modern fairy tale created especially for popular song was 'Rudolf the Red-Nosed The arrival of printed collections, as distinct Reindeer'. Based on a story by Robert L . May from the arrangements mentioned above, indi­ written in 1939, Rudolf the Red-Nosed Rein­ cated that countries were becoming more deer was fashioned into a song by Johnny aware of their cultural heritage, including indi­ Marks in 1949. A n enduring favourite, espe­ genous folk or fairy tales. With the absorption cially at Christmas time, it first gained popular­ of traditional airs into the public consciousness, ity with a recording made by the renowned together with a heavy reliance on contempor­ American actor and singer Gene Autry. A ary popular commercial song, community similar tale of an animal disadvantaged b y its singing arose in the early 20th century, attain­ physical appearance, yet who eventually wins acceptance, emerged with a song made famous by the British actor and dancer T o m m y Steele

PORTUGUESE FAIRY TALES 394 in 1959. ' T h e Little White Bull', which he sang his oil paintings of the Grimms' tales trans­ formed into picture postcards. in the film, Tommy the Toreador, became one o f T h r o u g h o u t the 20th century artists in all his greatest hits. Hans Christian *Anderson's countries worked in different modes to pro­ duce fairy tales for postcards. Many French ' T h e *Ugly Duckling' found its w a y into song photographers, especially at the beginning of the 20th century, used posed live characters thanks to the 1952 film based on the life of the and animals in photographs to illustrate *Perrault's tales. Scenes from the Epinal fairy­ Danish writer of fairy tales. With music by tale broadsides were published as postcards. There are art deco cards, black-and-white F r a n k L o e s s e r , the film *Hans Christian Ander­ ink drawings, woodcuts, silhouettes, and comic-strip cards as well as advertisements for sen starred the celebrated A m e r i c a n comedian products and department stores printed as chromolithographs. In the latter half of the and singer, Danny Kaye. 20th century reproductions have been made o f famous illustrated books, and theme parks and The rise and eventual domination by 'pop' films have printed fairy-tale postcards to com­ plement their products. Cards from the begin­ and 'beat' music in the last few decades has not ning o f the 20th century have become valuable collectors' items and are remarkable for their tended to include the traditional fairy tale. originality and exquisite artistic qualities. A m o n g the best artists are: Mabel Lucie *Att- Nevertheless, it continues to have a firm place well ( U K ) , G . L . Barnes ( U K ) , Fritz Baum- garten (Germany), Margret Boris (The in commercial ventures, as can be seen with the Netherlands), Frances Brundage (USA), Oskar Herrfurth (Germany), Paul Hey (Ger­ number of musical shows and films (such as many), Ernst Kutzer (Austria), Jenny *Nys- trôm (Sweden), Heinz Pingerra (Austria), *Beauty and the Beast from W a l t D i s n e y Stu­ Bernhard Tohn (Germany), Louis Wain (UK), and Lisbeth *Zwerger (Austria). J Z dios), based on such stories. TH Cope, Dawn and Peter, Red Riding Hood's Fischer-Dieskau, Dietrich, Book of Lieder (1976). Favorite Fairy Tales (1981). Mashburn, J . L., Fantasy Postcards (1996). Gammond, Peter, The Oxford Companion to Willoughby, Martin, A History of Postcards Popular Music (1991). (1992). Goss, John (ed.), Daily Express Community Song POTTER, BEATRIX (1866-1943), author of the 'Peter R a b b i t ' b o o k s . H e r first b o o k , The Book (1927). Tailor of Gloucester, printed privately in 1902 and published by Warne in 1903, is in effect a Larkin, Colin (ed.), The Guinness Who's Who of fairy story: an old tailor has his incomplete work finished on Christmas E v e , not by the Stage Musicals (1994). traditional b r o w n i e s , but b y grateful mice. The Fairy Caravan, her penultimate b o o k , w a s pub­ Sadie, Stanley, (ed.), The New Grove Dictionary lished in America in 1929, in England in 1952. A long and rambling tale about an animals' of Music and Musicians, xvii (1980). travelling circus, it has two inset fairy tales, 'Fairy Horseshoes' and ' T h e Fairy in the Oak'. PORTUGUESE FAIRY TALES (see opposite) GA POSTCARDS AND FAIRY TALES. Picture postcards were first introduced in Europe and North POURRAT, HENRI (1887-1959), collector-author America during the 1890s. G i v e n the popular­ of French folk and fairy tales. Born in the town ity of fairy tales and the craze for picture post­ of A m b e r t , Pourrat spent 50 years amassing re­ cards at the turn of the century, there were gional tales of his native Auvergne. A s with numerous fairy-tale postcards printed by inter­ *Perrault and the *Grimms, he wanted to re­ national firms such as Birn Bros., Davidson cord and preserve folk heritage. But unlike Bros., MaxEttlinger & Co., C. W. Faulkner, Perrault, who transcribed but a dozen tales for S. Hildesheimer & C o . , W . Mack, Misch & Stock, Raphael Tuck, Uvachrom, Valentine, and others. Cards were mainly sold in envel­ opes or in sets of six or twelve. Some fairy-tale postcards were signed, but most remained an­ onymous. Since payment for postcard illustra­ tion was very low and provided only supplementary income, women were more likely to accept the job. This was certainly the case in England, where the early illustrators were Hilda Miller (1876—1939), Millicent Sowerby (1878—1967), Susan Pearse (1878—1959), Margaret *Tarrant (1881—1959), Lilian G o v e y (1886—1974), and J o y c e Mercer (1896—1965). Both Tarrant and Sowerby, gift­ ed artists, illustrated editions of the *Grimms' fairy tales. Another important illustrator, Charles *Folkard (1878-1963), had his illustra­ tions for Grimms' Fairy Tales (1911) made into picture postcards. In Germany Otto Kubel had

Portuguese fairy tales. N o one has yet written a his- tory, definitive or otherwise, of Portuguese fairy tales ('historias da Carochinha'), and studies of children's lit- erature are a relatively recent development. Y e t there is a wealth of material—incontrovertible evidence of a deep- rooted, vigorous tradition which parallels and frequently interacts with other popular genres such as the proverbial saying or the ballad—that demands commentary and a n - alysis. T h e earliest collection of stories in Portuguese dates b a c k to the late 14th o r e a r l y 15th c e n t u r y : the Horto do Esposo (The Orchard of the Husband), a n e x e m p l u m c o l - lection in which we find some tales of devils, magicians, and spells. Portugal also has its own compilation of A e s o - pian fables in a 15th-century manuscript known as the Fabuldrio Português {Portuguese Fable Book). M a n y o f these tales seem to have taken root in the collective c o n - sciousness—possibly as a direct consequence of the p u l - p i t — a n d reappear later in collections of popular tales. T h e current situation can be summed up as follows. T w o distinct tendencies coexist and occasionally com- pete, at least in terms o f readership. O n the one h a d , we find numerous translations into Portuguese from French, German, and English of the 'canonical' literary fairy tales. A n a de Castro Osôrio (1872—1935), described b y some literary historians as the founder of Portuguese children's literature, collected traditional folklore and was also responsible for numerous translations of foreign authors including the Brothers * G r i m m and H a n s C h r i s - tian *A n d e r s e n . I n fact, translations o f the G r i m m s and Andersen, who himself visited and wrote about Portugal, are still being produced in abundance, either as single tales or in compilations. T h e fairy tales of Charles * P e r - rault are also found in countless editions, one of the most recent b e i n g the l a v i s h l y i l l u s t r a t e d Très contos de Perrault (1997), translated by Luiza Neto Jorge and Manuel Joao Gomes. O f the three tales selected for translation, ' A Pele de Burro' (*'Donkey-Skin') has been rendered in verse, while ' O Barba Azul' (*'Bluebeard') and ' O Polegar- zinho' (\"\"Little T o m T h u m b ' ) are in prose. T h e tales of the comtesse de *Ségur, at one time ex- tremely fashionable, were re-edited up to the mid-1980s, but are now less widely read, having been displaced b y mystery and adventure stories. Lewis *Carroll has also attracted s o m e attention: *Alice's Adventures in Wonder- land w a s first translated i n 1936 u n d e r the title Alice no pais das fadas (Alice in the Country of Fairies), a n a b r i d g e d

PORTUGUESE FAIRY TALES 396 edition intended for young children. Successive transla­ tions of varying quality and length have followed, and the Portuguese fortunes of Alice have recently been the subject of critical essays by Gloria Bastos and José Anto­ nio Gomes. O n the other hand, there exists a substantial corpus of traditional folk tales in Portuguese. Little is really known about Portuguese fairy tales outside P o r t u g a l — s o m e might even argue within the country as well—because of the language barrier and as a result of 'a continuing fail­ ure to archive, catalogue and publicize the available ma­ terial' (Cardigos, 1996). W h e r e tales have been collected, published, and analysed, this has been very much the la­ bour of love of a handful of intellectual pioneers writing at the end o f the 19th century or in the early years of the 20th. Several major collections exist, but these were p u b ­ lished in academic journals or scholarly editions never intended for the lay reader and are now out of print. But four scholars in particular deserve mention. T h e works of A n a de Castro Osôrio continue to be published, even as recently as 1997, making traditional Portuguese stories available to new generations of readers. T h e same holds t r u e o f A d o l f o C o e l h o ( 1 8 4 7 - 1 9 1 9 ) , a u t h o r o f Contos populates portugueses {Popular Portuguese Tales, 1879); Zôfimo Consiglieri Pedroso (1851—1910), compiler of Contos populares portugueses {Popular Portuguese Tales, 1 9 1 0 ) ; a n d T e ô f i l o B r a g a (1842—1924), a u t h o r o f Contos tradicionais do povo portugués ( Traditional Tales of the Por­ tuguese People, first p u b l i s h e d i n t w o v o l u m e s i n 1883). Adolfo Coelho and Consiglieri Pedroso are also not­ able, and their works have been widely disseminated. T h i r t y o f P e d r o s o ' s 500 o r so u n p u b l i s h e d Portuguese Folk-Tales a p p e a r e d i n E n g l i s h b e f o r e t h e y w e r e p u b ­ lished in Portugal, while Coelho's tales appeared in L o n ­ d o n s i x y e a r s later u n d e r the title Tales of Old Lusitania from the Folklore of Portugal. M a n y o f the P o r t u g u e s e stories are variants of internationally known fairy tales. T h e narratives collected b y Pedroso derived from the Aesopian tradition, the Renard Cycle, and L a Fontaine, among other sources. T h e y include a Portuguese variant of *'Beauty and the Beast', ' A menina e o bicho' ('The Maiden and the Beast'), in which first the beast, then the maiden dies. Pedroso's ' O s dois pequenos e a bruxa' ( ' T h e T w o C h i l d r e n and the W i t c h ' ) , also published as ' O s meninos perdidos' in Coelho's collection, is obvious­ ly a version of *'Hansel and Gretel'. Pedroso's ' A rainha orgulhosa' ('The V a i n Queen') and ' A estalajadeira'

397 PORTUGUESE FAIRY TALES ( ' T h e Innkeeper') display a m a r k e d resemblance to - * ' S n o w W h i t e ' . P e d r o s o ' s tale ' A s tias' ( ' T h e A u n t s ' ) , #i k n o w n as ' A s fiandeiras' in B r a g a , has several points o f I• CLji^t^- contact with *'Rumpelstiltskin'. 'Branca Flor' ('White f'fcf j3'*'y%$*.':y 1 F l o w e r ' ) , w h i c h e x i s t s i n a t l e a s t 13 P o r t u g u e s e v e r s i o n s , has b e e n identified as ' T h e Girl as H e l p e r in the H e r o ' s 3 1 3 , 1996).F l i g h t ' ( A T Cardigos, T h e same author's ' A princesa que nao queria casar c o m o pai' ( ' T h e Princess W h o D i d N o t W a n t to M a r r y h e r F a t h e r ' ) is a P o r t u ­ guese example of'Donkey-Skin', w h o becomes 'Pele-de- c a v a l o ' ( ' H o r s e - S k i n ' ) in C o e l h o . ^ ' C i n d e r e l l a ' is k n o w n as ' T h e H e a r t h C a t ' o r ' A g a t a borralheira' in P e d r o s o , and P e d r o s o has his o w n version o f *'Little R e d R i d i n g Hood', ' A menina do chapelinho vermelho'. 'Cara de boi' ( ' O x Face') has strong echoes o f the G r i m m s ' ^ R a p u n ­ zel'. N e v e r t h e l e s s , n o t all o f the f a i r y tales m a t c h the t y p e s classified b y A n t t i * A a r n e a n d Stith T h o m p s o n in The Types of the Folktale. S o m e m a y w e l l b e e x c l u s i v e t o P o r ­ tugal, while others are certainly unusual in their d e g r e e of deviation f r o m the established version. P o r t u g u e s e scholars are n o w beginning to investigate these questions; the last d e c a d e has s e e n a h a n d f u l o f theses o n P o r t u g u e s e fairy tales or related topics, a n d the recently established j o u r n a l Estudos de Literatura Oral, p u b l i s h e d b y t h e U n i ­ versity o f the A l g a r v e , s e e m s set to stimulate fresh inter­ est in P o r t u g u e s e folklore. PAOB B a s t o s , G l o r i a , A escrita para crianças em Portugal no Se'culo XIX (1997). Cardigos, Isabel, 'Stories about T i m e in F o u r Fairytales from Portuguese S p e a k i n g C o u n t r i e s ' , Portuguese Studies, 11 (1995). In and Out of Enchantment: Blood Symbolism and Gender in Portuguese Fairytales (1996). G o m e s , J o s é A n t o n i o , Literatura para crianças—alguns percursos (1991). Towards a History of Portuguese Children's and Youth Literature (1998). Lopes, A n a Cristina Macârio, 'Literatura culta e literatura tradicional de t r a n s m i s s a o o r a l : a b i p a r t i ç a o d a e s f r a l i t e r â r i a ' , Cadernos de Literatura, 15 (1983). aristocrats o f literary salons, Pourrat in his Tré­ writing, with more physical afternoons de­ sor des contes (Treasury of Tales) passed on voted to walking the countryside and 1,009 rustic stories for e v e r y d a y r e a d e r s — a n interviewing storytellers. From them he col­ audience somewhat closer to the bourgeois lected some 30,000 regionalisms, which he re­ public of the Grimms. corded in a succession of notebooks and later used to enrich his numerous essays, folk-tale Ironically, it is to ill health that w e o w e his collections, and historical romances. astounding collection, for tuberculosis at the age of 18 prevented him from pursuing a career Pourrat achieved fame with his first novel, as an agricultural engineer. Thereafter, he Gaspard des montagnes (Gaspardfrom the Moun­ passed his sedentary mornings resting and tains, 1922—32), w h i c h w o n the P r i x F i g a r o

POWELL, MICHAEL AND PRESSBURGER, EMERIC 398 (1922) and the French Academy's Grand Prix demics who scrupulously recorded and pub­ for Best N o v e l (1931). Each of its four volumes lished their sources along with the tales, spans seven nights in which 'Old Marie' tells Pourrat resolutely kept such documentation for numerous tales of courageous country folk his personal records. He hoped this 'anonymity' who outwit Evil. The frame story for this 'folk would impart a timelessness to the tales, instead Scheherazade' is set after the French Revolu­ of reducing them to dry accounts told by a tion, and is based on several versions of the certain person of a certain age at a certain time. folk tales 'Les Yeux rouges' ('Red Eyes') and Secondly, the ethnologists felt he violated the 'La Main coupée' ('The Severed Hand'). Alone sacred rules of 'never omit anything, never add one night during her parents' absence, Anne- anything' when transcribing sources. This is Marie Grange discovers that an intruder has precisely what Pourrat could not bring himself entered her Auvergne farmhouse. She outwits to do. Rather than strictly recording tales told the thief by cutting off his hand, and he swears by, say, ageing lacemakers, Pourrat was faithful vengeance. Seasons later, she is unwittingly to their spirit by inventing an oral, 'rustic style' married to this violent bandit chief, who even­ uniquely his own. He recreated the atmosphere tually steals away their child born of her rape. of storytelling itself in confidential asides to the Throughout a thousand pages of harrowing reader and reproduction of sounds, smells, and and melodramatic adventures, Anne-Marie's tactile sensations: the clicking of needles or the cousin Gaspard is her constant support. ringing of the angelus, the aroma of freshly Chaste, star-crossed lovers of sorts, this mown hay, the humidity of a late-summer couple's strength, spirituality, and folk wisdom evening. He would also combine several ver­ incarnate the ennobling simplicity of rustic life. sions of a folk tale, flesh out psychological portraits, and pepper his stylized narratives A f t e r Gaspard, Pourrat continued to write with colloquialisms and minute details of local extensively about the Auvergne. Recognized as colour. Because of these modifications to ori­ a major French author during World War II, ginal source material, critics regarded him more he w a s awarded the P r i x Goncourt in 1944 for as an author than folklorist, and felt that his Le Vent de mars {March Wind), an essay c o n ­ attention to detail worked against his goal of cerning w a r t i m e A u v e r g n e . But it is The Treas­ rendering the tales timeless. They also crit­ ury of Tales (1948-62) that sealed his reputation as a folklorist. Published at a time icized his censuring of data: the devout Pourrat when post-war France was battling rising fas­ downplayed the bawdy or anticlerical elements cism, its 13 volumes incarnate what Pourrat of fabliaux-inspired tales, and eliminated verses termed 'the original mythology of the French of songs when translating from Occitan (a people'. The tales are divided into categories about fairies, the devil, bandits, village life, the dialect of Provençal) into standard French. mad and the wise, beasts, and love and mar­ riage. A s complete as this thousand-tale collec­ Today, Pourrat's ethno-literary ode to the tion m a y seem, h o w e v e r , the Treasury n e v e r Auvergne is undergoing a long-overdue re­ attained prominence among the 'academic' appraisal. A journal dedicated to Pourrat stud­ folklorists. Indeed, it occasioned a rather v i o ­ ies, as well as new French editions of the lent debate. First, ethnologists who had pub­ Treasury and an E n g l i s h translation, are n o w lished regional folk tales had commented on available to the public. His celebration of 19th- the rarity of those in the Auvergne: they were sceptical that 'new *Mother Goose tales' con­ century peasant life, with its 20th-century post­ tinued to be told. Pourrat, in his comprehen­ sive picture of regional folklore, did indeed war agenda of revitalizing the French national include not only stories, but fables, proverbs, jokes, and songs from oral sources (some 106 spirit, is now universally acclaimed as a mile­ storytellers and 86 singers) as well as printed matter (regional chapbooks, almanacs, texts stone in French folklore studies. MLE from Rabelais to L a Fontaine). Like Perrault and the Grimms, Pourrat thus found himself at Bricout, Bernadette, Le Savoir et la saveur: Henri the crossroads of the existing traditions of the oral folk tale and literary fairy tale. But in try­ Pourrat et Le Trésor des contes (1992). ing to transform these genres through ingeni­ ous methods of translating their orality, he Cahiers Henri Pourrat (1981—present). committed two major 'sins'. Unlike the aca­ Gardes, Roger, Un écrivain au travail: Henri Pourrat (1980). Plessy, Bernard, Au pays de Gaspard des montagnes (1981). Zipes, Jack, 'Henri Pourrat and the Tradition of Perrault and the Brothers Grimm', in The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World (1988). POWELL, MICHAEL (1905-90) and PRESSBUR­ GER, EMERIC (1902—88), film-makers w h o s e

399 PRATCHETT, TERRY company twice turned its attention to produ­ the fantastic irrupts into the everyday modern world, as in his trilogy for young readers, cing cinematic works inspired by literary tales. Truckers (1989), Diggers (1990), and Wings (1991). Amongst his many inventive and en­ F o r The *Red Shoes ( U K , 1948) the idea o f cre­ gaging rereadings of literature, culture, and so­ ciety, Pratchett has presented readers with ating an original ballet that was pure film and playful and at times parodie versions of Homer and D a n t e (Eric, 1989), o f Shakespeare (Wyrd could never be reproduced on stage was the Sisters, 1988, and Lords and Ladies, 1992), o f The Phantom of the Opera (Maskerade, 1995), reason for the whole project. T h e result was and the origins o f pop music in the 1950s (Soul Music, 1994). Specifically fantastic elements are The Ballet of the Red Shoes. D e r i v e d from drawn extensively from myths, legends, and fairy tales, and borrowings or allusions appear *Andersen's story of the girl whose new shoes throughout the novels. Part of the game is to draw attention to the processes of borrowing dance her to death, it compresses numerous and refashioning, as when a character in Guards! Guards! (1989) explains an item o f changes of scene and time into 13 minutes, and knowledge as 'Well known folk myth'. uses special-effects techniques to show her Folk-tale motifs pervade the novels, but their function is usually comic or ironic. dancing in two places at once, or coming down Guards! Guards!, for example, pivots on a le­ gend about the finding of a descendant of a from a leap so slowly that she floats. The story vanished royal line, and this heir to the throne is easily identified by readers because he is an filling the other two hours parallels this central orphan possessing a special sword and a birth­ mark. He himself never realizes the truth, how­ ballet: a young student becomes a great baller­ ever, remaining in his humble station and so exemplifying a point Pratchett made overtly in ina but is driven to suicide when forced to his note to the 1992 revision o f Carpet People (originally 1971): 'the real concerns o f fantasy choose between love of her husband and love ought to be about not having battles, and doing without k i n g s . ' T h e T r u c k e r s trilogy has e l e m ­ of her art. ents of the folk-tale quest narrative, but is largely a parody of Tolkienesque 'high fan­ Three years later Powell and Pressburger tasy', with touches of science fiction. T h e first v o l u m e , Truckers, introduces a w o r l d on the followed up this cine-ballet with a cine-opera, periphery of human society inhabited by nomes, small beings whose various social for­ The Tales of Hoffmann ( U K , 1951), but this mations reflect and parody the familiar human 'real' world (the spelling foregrounds their dif­ time used existing texts. Adapted from *Offen- ference from the 'gnomes' of fairy tale). Through his depiction of the nomes Pratchett bach's operatic version of a play based on the critiques familiar social systems and be­ haviours, especially customs associated with life and stories of E . T . A . *Hoffmann, it starts religion, class, and gender. He does this by means of parodie citation of familiar texts and with a prologue in which Hoffmann, having discourses and by playing with signs and meanings. The nomes have a society, culture, just had old wounds reopened, offers to tell the and religion which is a bricolage of discourses misappropriated from department store signs students in a tavern three tales of the follies he and advertising, mixed with parodie forms of biblical and religious discourse, philosophical has committed in the name of love. In the first, and pseudo-scientific discourse, and clichéd everyday utterances. The parody draws atten­ as a very young man, he is tricked into an in­ tion to the constructedness of the represented world and, through that, to the ways in which fatuation with Olympia, only to find out even­ tually that she is merely a mechanical doll. In the second, now older, he is enslaved by a beautiful courtesan, Giulietta, who gains pos­ session of his soul by capturing his reflection, then goes off with another man. Finally, hav­ ing reached maturity, he falls in love with Antonia, a singer dying of consumption, who promises him she will not sap her strength by performing again; however, she is misled by a quack doctor, breaks her promise, and dies in Hoffmann's arms. The epilogue shows how Hoffmann, seeing his audience spellbound, realizes that his true destiny is to be a poet, not a lover. TAS PRATCHETT, TERRY (1948- ) , English writer of comic fantasy novels. He worked as a journal­ ist and then as a press officer between 1965 and 1987, when he became a full-time writer. Most of his novels are intended primarily for adults, but like much popular fantasy they also have a strong appeal to adolescent readers. Stories, themes, and motifs are drawn from very di­ verse areas of history, literature, popular cul­ ture, and traditional story, whether the novels are set in the Discworld he has invented as the setting for most of his adult novels, or whether

PRÉCHAC, JEAN DE 400 representations of the world outside the text tales addresses large themes: the responsibility are similarly constructed and ascribed with meanings. of authors in shaping stories, the role of readers The novels which make most particular and in challenging the grand cultural narratives extensive use o f folk and fairy tale are Witches Abroad (1991) and Hogfather (1996). Hogfather which inhere in fairy tales, and finally the cen­ can in part be read as a manifesto about the value and functions of fairy tales within cul­ tral importance of creativity and imagination to ture. The Hogfather of the title is a Santa Claus figure in danger of disappearing because of the the humanity of human beings. J AS pervasive failure of belief under the hegemony of rationalism. Against this threat, the novel's Broderick, Kirsten, 'Past and Present: The Uses protagonists assert a kind of ontology of the of History in Children's Fiction', Papers: fantastic whereby belief brings concepts into Explorations into Children's Literature, 6.3 (1996). being. Death, for example, whose character has Stephens, John, 'Gender, Genre and Children's evolved through the Discworld series into the Literature', Signal, 79 (1996). embodiment of a deeply humanistic view of ex­ istence and the imagination, asserts that 'Not Unadjacent to a Play about a 'Humans need fantasy to be human. T o be the Scottish King: Terry Pratchett Retells Macbeth', place where the falling angel meets the rising Papers: Explorations into Children's Literature, 7.2 ape.' T h e point is to be able to imagine a differ­ ent world, other possibilities. Thus elsewhere 0997)- in the novel, Death interrogates and dismisses *Andersen's ' T h e Little Match Girl' because its and McCallum, Robyn, Retelling Stories, recourse to religious consolation constitutes an Framing Culture: Traditional Story and evasion of social justice and responsibility. In a Metanarratives in Children's Literature (1998). more light-hearted way, the novel mocks the rationalizing binary opposites of structural an­ PRÉCHAC, JEAN DE (1676-?), French writer. thropology: if there is a Tooth Fairy who col­ lects there can also be a Verruca Gnome who Author of numerous novels, Préchac published delivers, and all it takes to bring the latter into being is a linguistic formulation of the idea of Contes moins contes que les autres {Tales Less it. Tale-like than the Others, 1698) at the height of Earlier, in Witches Abroad, Pratchett had examined the more negative possibilities of the 'vogue' of fairy tales in late 17th-century fairy tales, their capacity to be implicit purvey­ ors of ideology within powerful teleological France. Reflecting Préchac's excellent court structures. In this novel, Lilith, an evil-minded magic-worker, has set herself up as a fairy god­ connections, his 'Sans Parangon' ('Without mother and compels people to live their lives as if they were fairy-tale characters. The frame Equal') and ' L a Reine des fées' ('Queen of the tale is a version of *'Cinderella', with various other tales incorporated, from classics such as fairies') are panegyrics of Louis X I V ' s court. *'Little Red Riding Hood' to modern tales like The ^Wizard of 0 { . T h r e e ' g o o d ' witches set 'Without Equal' contains an allegory about out to oppose Lilith, striving to bring about endings other than the traditional ones, and many of the high points of Louis's reign, in­ hence striving to avert the ideological implica­ tions of the tales. Fairy-tale schemata have cluding the construction of Versailles, which is their own momentum, however, so on their way to a successful outcome the three witches erected by fairy magic; and 'La Reine des fées' must resist becoming absorbed into Lilith's version of the narrative, whereby she is the describes the banishment of bad fairies and the 'good' one and they are assigned the adversar­ ial function and are hence destined for defeat. praise of good fairies, who are none other than Beyond the comic turns and surface hu­ prominent aristocratic women of Préchac's mour, Pratchett's refashioning of familiar fairy day. These tales are extreme examples of ways the fairy-tale form could be used to promote official propaganda. Préchac is the first French writer of fairy tales to make such explicit and sustained allusions to historical reality, a tech­ nique frequently employed during the 18th century (albeit more often in the satirical mode). LCS PRETTY WOMAN (film: U S A , 1990), frequently described as a modern *Cinderella story, star­ ring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, and dir­ ected by Gary Marshall. Set in Hollywood, the film involves the relationship between a ruth­ less corporate executive and a prostitute, who fantasizes of being rescued like a fairy-tale princess. Although she claims that they have rescued each other through their love, the film's happy ending relies on both characters acting out the stereotypical fairy-tale roles: she the imprisoned princess, he the rescuing knight. Allusions to the illusory nature of Hollywood's commercial dream-making frame

40i 'PRINCESS AND THE PEA, T H E ' the film, but are secondary to the sentimental the name Julna) becomes a skilled thief him­ love story, which has made the film so popular. self, and meets Tina, an acrobatic street entertainer who falls in love with him. He, DH however, has eyes for none but Princess Y a s - min. This leads him to overthrow the ruling PREUSSLER, OTFRIED ( 1 9 2 3 - ) , German author prince, only to discover that the throne is his of children's books. During his years as a by right. Yussef and Tina conspire to show schoolteacher and headmaster in Bavaria, Pre- him that Yasmin is unworthy of his love; in the ussler wrote a series of popular children's end he sees the light and marries Tina. T A S books using traditional fairy-tale characters and motifs, including Der Heine Wassermann 'PRINCESS AND THE PEA, THE' ('Prindsessen paa (The Little Water Sprite, 1956), Die kleine Hexe (The Little Witch, 1957), Der Rauber Hotzen- yErten'), one of Hans Christian * Andersen's ploti (The Robber Hotzenploti, 1962), and Das kleine Gespenst (The Little Ghost, 1966). shortest yet best-known stories, appeared in his Demythified traditional folk-tale and fairy-tale villains are the main protagonists of these stor­ first collection of tales for children, Eventyr, ies. The child-sized, spunky, and zany witches, robbers, and ghosts, who are stripped of the fortalte for Born (Tales, Told for Children, 1835). dark, evil, and threatening side of their charac­ ter, are entertaining rather than threatening. In a Swedish folk-tale analogue, 'Princessa' Ample use of suspense, slapstick, and situation comedy further endeared these books to chil­ som lâ' pâ sju àrter' ('The Princess who L a y on dren so that they remained best-sellers for sev­ eral decades. Seven Peas'), an orphan girl pretends to be a T o a somewhat older audience Preussler is princess on the advice of her pet cat. Subjected perhaps best k n o w n for Krabat (The Satanic Mill, 1971), a fantastic tale of suspense and r o ­ to a series of tests, the last consisting of seven mance about a miller's apprentice who suc­ ceeds in breaking the evil spell surrounding the peas under her mattress, the girl claims to have mill through friendship and love. Preussler re­ ceived the Deutscher Jugendbuchpreis (Ger­ slept poorly, as befits a true princess. man Prize for Children's and Youth Literature) twice; once in 1963 for The Robber In contrast to the folk-tale heroine, who re­ Hotrenploti and again in 1972 for Krabat. lies on deception, Andersen's is genuinely sen­ EMM Baumgartner, Clemens Alfred, and Pleticha, sitive. One stormy night, a bedraggled girl Heinrich, ABC und Abenteuer. Texte und Dokumente zur Geschichte des deutschen Kinder- seeks refuge at the castle. Although the girl undJugendbuches ( 2 vols., 1985). Doderer, Klaus, Zwischen Trummern und claims to be a princess, the sceptical queen tests Wohlstand. Literatur der Jugend 1945—1960 her claim b y placing a single pea under 20 mat­ (1988). tresses and 20 featherbeds. U p o n arising, the Scharioth, Barbara, 'Auch im dritten Jahrtausend: Geister sind \"in\" ', Borsenblatt fiir girl laments her sleeplessness, bemoaning the den Deutschen Buchhandel, 33 (1977). presence of 'something so hard that I am black PRINCE WHO WAS A THIEF, THE (film: U S A , 1951), an 'eastern' (Araby-set western) based and blue all over'. With everyone thus per­ on a book by Theodore Dreiser and, though set in 13th-century Tangiers, flavoured by his suaded that she is 'a real princess', she and the socialist convictions. Directed by Rudolph Mate, it starred T o n y Curtis and Piper Laurie prince are married and the pea enshrined in a in a story which picks up from Fairbanks's * Thief of Bagdad the idea o f the g l a m o r o u s museum. Though suffused with bourgeois do­ felon who redeems himself through either being or becoming a prince. Opening se­ mesticity (the king opens the gate, the queen quences show how Yussef, a thief, saves royal baby Hussein from death and raises him as his makes the bed), the tale is told from the aristo­ own. Ignorant of his lineage, Hussein (under cratic perspective of the young prince seeking a royal bride. It thus reflects Andersen's pre­ occupation with issues of class as well as, by his own direct admission elsewhere, his feelings of personal fragility. T h e tale gained w i d e popularity with *Once Upon a Mattress, a i960 musical burlesque star­ ring Carol Burnett as the irrepressible Princess Winnifred, which has had numerous profes­ sional and amateur revivals. Other dramatic versions abound, for radio, television, and the stage, most addressed to children. There are also several recent ballet versions. JGH Bredsdorff, Elias, Hans Christian Andersen: The Story of his Life and Work 180J—71) (1975). Conroy, Patricia L. and Rossel, Sven H. (trans. and intro.), Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen (1980). Rubov, Paul V., 'Idea and Form in Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales', in A Book on

PRINCESS BRIDE, THE 402 the Danish Writer Hans Christian Andersen: His tion. Obviously didactic stories abound in the Life and Work (1955). use of traditional proverbs to express tradition­ al wisdom handed down from generation to PRINCESS BRIDE, THE ( R o b R e i n e r , 1987), film generation. But proverbs also play a role in hu­ morous tall tales, jokes, riddles, legends, and based on a book of the same title by William fairy tales. *Goldman (1973). Framed by a grandfather In general, fairy tales employ proverbs and proverbial expressions rather sparingly. The reading to his sick grandson, the high-adven­ unreal and imaginary world of fairy tales is perhaps not especially suited to the mundane ture plot includes many fairy-tale characters and didactic proverb. And yet, fairy tales have their lessons to present, and a careful search and motifs, including swashbuckling musket­ through the * G r i m m s ' *Kinder- und Hausmdr­ chen (Children s and Household Tales) reveals a eers, a captive princess, an enchanted forest, a considerable number of proverbial statements used as part of the direct discourse or in the giant, and magic. A cult classic in some circles, narrative prose. While proverbs add wisdom and didacticism to the individual tales, pro­ this film wavers between parodie and serious verbial expressions, comparisons, and exagger­ ations seem to reflect the folk speech of the treatment of fairy-tale conventions and high­ common people from whom the Brothers Grimm claimed to have collected their stories. lights the pleasure storytelling can afford to It has been noted, however, that the tales of the Brothers Grimm contain a higher frequency of children. LCS proverbial language than those folk tales col­ lected and recorded by others in Germany and PROKOFIEV, SERGEI SERGEIEVITCH (1891-1953), other countries. This fact has led scholars to a number of studies regarding the surprisingly Russian composer. Prokofiev studied under large number of proverbial texts in the Grimm versions, and it has been established that both *Rimsky-Korsakov and Liadov, both noted for brothers added proverbial materials to their sources with Wilhelm being the more fervent their use of Russian folklore materials. He proverbialist of the two. spent World W a r I in London, then moved to A study of the role of proverbs in the com­ plete works of the Brothers Grimm has shown the United States, but in 1934 was induced b y that they were very interested in proverbial language. T h e y used them in their letters, they the Soviet government to return permanently cited them as references in their scholarly works, they quoted dozens of them in their v o ­ to R u s s i a . H i s Peter and the Wolf (1936), a luminous dictionary of the German language, and they commented upon them whenever the 'symphonic fairy tale' for which he wrote the occasion arose in lectures and essays. In fact, it was Wilhelm Grimm who gained a special ex­ accompanying text, is designed to teach chil­ pertise in medieval proverbs, commenting in detail on them in his edition of Vridankes Bes- dren the components of an orchestra. Peter (re­ cheidenheit (Vridankes'Modesty, 1834), a medi­ eval collection of gnomic verses by the poet presented by a string quartet) and his friend the Freidank. Wilhelm even put together his very own collection of medieval proverbs which has Bird (flute) cleverly capture the W o l f (French now been published. Jacob Grimm had his spe­ cial interest in proverbs as well, excelling pri­ horns). Beneath its cheery musical surface, the marily in the codification of Germanic law in proverbs. He cited and commented on many of tale weaves a dark pattern of predator—prey re­ them in his invaluable legal treatise Deutsche Rechtsaltertiimer (German Legal Proverbs, 1828). lationships; the Cat (clarinet) stalks the Bird, T h e Brothers also had most of the standard proverb collections in their private library, and hunters (tympani) stalk the Wolf, and the Wolf devours the Duck (oboe), still mournfully quacking inside him as the piece ends. Proko­ fiev's ballet ^Cinderella (1945) also undermines the conventional expectations of the fairy tale. While Cinderella is portrayed as an innocent child of nature, the Prince's court is as corrupt and materialistic as her stepmother's house; she and her Prince will only find their happy end­ ing in a w o r l d y e t to c o m e . The Stone Flower (1954), based on a Russian tale, is the story of a craftsman who yearns to create a perfect stone vase and follows the Mistress of the Copper Mountain into her underground realm to learn her secrets, whence he is rescued by his peasant sweetheart. - SR Prokofiev, Sergei, Autobiography (i960). PROVERBIAL LANGUAGE AND FAIRY TALES. T h e use of folk speech in folk tales should come as no surprise. Tales of any type collected from folk tradition exhibit the use of formulaic lan­ guage in the form of proverbs, proverbial ex­ pressions, proverbial comparisons, proverbial exaggerations, and twin formulas as part of everyday speech and colloquial communica­

PROVERBIAL LANGUAGE AND FAIRY TALES it is known that they made ample use of these pression 'to prick up one's ears' and the treasures of folk wisdom. colloquial interjection 'what in the world' that help to clarify the short statement o f the first There is no doubt that Wilhelm Grimm in edition through popular folk speech. Even particular was cognizant of the proverbial char­ though he may have found the actual proverb acter of some of the fairy tales that he and his already in his source, he changed its subjunct­ brother had assembled. In his own detailed ive form to the normal text and surrounded it notes to his fairy-tale collection he explains with additional proverbial material. These are that the tale ' T h e Sun Will Bring It to Light' conscious stylistic variations in accordance obviously also exemplifies the German proverb with the fairy-tale style that Wilhelm Grimm 'Nothing is so finely spun that it w o n ' t come to felt to be appropriate. light' and even traces it back to medieval docu­ ments. This tale clearly exemplifies a proverb, Wilhelm started primarily with the second and Wilhelm did not 'tinker' with its proverb­ ial language. This, however, is not the case in edition of 1819 to add proverbial materials, and the many instances where he added ever more proverbial language to the tales. It has in fact he made considerable further additions even been shown very convincingly that he enriched the tales in the progression of their seven edi­ for the seventh edition of 1857. Thus the well- tions from 1812/1815 to 1857. He had a definite proverbial style in mind for the Children's and known proverb 'we learn by experience' was Household Tales, and b y m a k i n g his o w n add­ itions he altered some of the traditional tales to incorporated into the fairy tale 'The Golden become fairy tales in language and form as he saw fit. Goose' in 1819; the proverb 'he who has begun A short passage from three different editions a thing must go on with it' was added to \"\"Han­ of the fairy tale ' T h e Magical Tablecloth, the Gold-Ass, and the Cudgel' may serve as an ex­ sel and Gretel' in 1843; a n < ^ the proverb 'well ample of Wilhelm Grimm's work as a proverb­ ial stylist. In this case Wilhelm did not add the begun is half done' found its w a y into ' T h e proverb (unless he did so when he recorded the text originally), but he continued to work on Clever Little Tailor' only in 1857. It should be the proper integration of the proverb until he found the fairy-tale style he wanted. noted that Wilhelm Grimm did not add these 1812: The innkeeper was curious, told proverbs in a manipulative or deceptive fash­ himself that all good things would come in threes, and wanted to fetch this third ion. In the introduction to the sixth edition of treasure that same night. 1819: The innkeeper pricked up his ears the Children's and Household Tales o f 1850, he and thought, what can this be? All good things come in threes, and by rights I states quite openly: 'In the sixth edition, too, should have this one as well. 1857: T h e innkeeper pricked up his ears: new tales have been added and individual im­ 'What in the world can that be?' he thought to himself. 'The sack surely is provements made. I have been ever eager to filled with nothing but jewels. I should have this one, too, for all good things come incorporate folk proverbs and unique proverb­ in threes.' ial expressions, which I am always listening As can be seen, Wilhelm intentionally changed the proverb from its syntactically for.' There is thus no conscious deception as awkward wording 'all good things would come in threes' to the usual statement 'all good far as the proverbial additions to the fairy tales things come in threes'. In the seventh edition he even introduces the proverb with the con­ are concerned. Since proverbs and proverbial junction 'for', which as a short introductory formula emphasizes this bit of proverbial wis­ expressions belong intrinsically to the fairy-tale dom. Furthermore, he adds the proverbial ex­ style, Wilhelm Grimm felt justified in making suitable additions and clearly enriched the Children's and Household Tales with this p r o ­ verbial language. WM Bluhm, Lothar, 'Sprichwôrter und Redensarten bei den Briidern Grimm', in Annette Sabban and Jan Wirrer (eds.), Sprichwôrter und Redensarten im interkulturellen Vergleich (1991). Mieder, Wolfgang, 'Findet, so werdet ihr suchenf Die Briider Grimm und das Sprichwort (1986). 'Wilhelm Grimm's Proverbial Additions in the Fairy Tales', in James McGlathery (ed.), The Brothers Grimm and Folktale (1988). Rôhrich, Lutz, 'Sprichwôrtliche Redensarten aus Volkserzahlungen', in Wolfgang Mieder (ed.), Ergebnisse der Sprichwôrterforschung (1978). and Mieder, Wolfgang, Sprichwort (1977). Rôlleke, Heinz, and Bluhm, Lothar (eds.), Das Sprichwort in den Kinder- und Hausmdrchen der Briider Grimm (1988; 2nd edn. 1997). Wilcke, Karin, and Bluhm, Lothar, 'Wilhelm Grimms Sammlung mittelhochdeutscher Sprichwôrter', in Ludwig Denecke (ed.), Briider Grimm Gedenken, suppl. vol. xix. Kasseler

PROYSEN, ALF 404 Vortrdge in Erinnerung an den 200. Geburtstag der ethnopsychology is exemplified in Wilhelm Briider Grimm, Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm (1987). W u n d t ' s Vblkerpsychologie (Folk Psychology, 1900-9), which maintained that the fairy tale is PR0YSEN, ALF (1914-70), Norwegian writer, the oldest of all narrative forms and reveals fundamental aspects of the primitive mind. internationally renowned for his many collec­ In contrast to ethnopsychology, Sigmund tions of humorous fairy tales about Little Old Freud's psychoanalytic theory attempted to discern the more universal psychology of *Mrs Pepperpot, published in 1956—66. H e also human behaviour and culture. Freud found fairy tales especially useful for illustrating his wrote a number of fairy tales involving trad­ theories of the mind because they seemed so much like dreams. According to Freud, both itional folklore characters like trolls and fairy tales and dreams used symbols to express the conflicts, anxieties, and forbidden desires dwarfs, as well as animal tales, especially about that had been repressed into the unconscious. In writings such as Die Traumdeutung (The In­ mice. Continuing the tradition of Hans Chris­ terpretation of Dreams, 1900), ' D a s Motiv der Kastchenwahl' ('The Theme of the Three Cas­ tian *Andersen, Proysen uses everyday lan­ kets', 1913), and 'Mârchenstoffe in Traumen' ('The Occurrence in Dreams of Material from guage and tone and combines everyday Fairy Tales', 1913), Freud demonstrated that fairy tales used a symbolic language that could settings with folktale elements, for instance be interpreted psychoanalytically to reveal the latent or hidden content of the mind. For when he lets his comic figure Mrs Pepperpot example, in his famous analysis of the W o l f Man—described in the essay 'Aus der meet the most famous Norwegian folktale Geschichte einer infantilen Neurose' ('From the History of an Infantile Neurosis', character Valemon the White Bear (from the 1918)—Freud noted that his patient's dreams used the same symbolism as the Grimms' stor­ Norwegian version of *'Beauty and the ies of ' T h e W o l f and the Seven Y o u n g Kids' and \"\"Little Red Riding Hood' to express sex­ Beast'). MN ual anxiety resulting from traumatic childhood experiences. PSYCHOLOGY AND FAIRY TALES. T h e psycho­ logical significance of fairy tales has been one Freud's earliest followers produced numer­ of the most pervasive topics in the history of ous psychoanalytic studies of fairy tales, in fairy-tale studies. There are many different which they elaborated on different aspects of theories concerning the fairy tale's psycho­ his theories. Franz R i k l i n ' s Wunscherfullung logical meaning and value, but most start with und Symbolik im Mdrchen (Wishfulfilment and the premiss that the stories are symbolic ex­ Symbolism in Fairy Tales, 1908) pursued pressions of the human mind and emotional ex­ Freud's idea that fairy tales are a form of wish perience. According to this view, fairy-tale fulfilment that use dream symbolism to express plots and motifs are not representations of repressed sexual desires. Riklin's work was socio-historical reality, but symbols of inner supported by Herbert Silberer, who similarly experience that provide insight into human be­ argued that fairy tales demonstrate the path­ haviour. Consequently, the psychological ap­ ology of sexual repression. In essays on 'Phan- proach to fairy tales involves symbolic tasie und Mythos' ('Fantasy and Myth', 1910) interpretation, both for psychoanalysts, who and 'Mârchensymbolik' ('Fairy-Tale Symbol­ use fairy tales diagnostically to illustrate psy­ ism', 1912), Silberer analysed 'The *Frog King' chological theories, and for folklorists and lit­ and a female patient's sexual dream of animal erary critics, who use psychological theories to transformation to show that the fairy-tale illuminate fairy tales. pattern of enchantment and disenchantment mirrors the psychological phenomenon of Although the psychological approach to repression followed by the healing release that fairy tales is usually associated with Freudian comes from psychoanalysis. In a 1928 paper on psychoanalysis and other 20th-century theor­ 'Psycho-Analysis and Folklore', Ernest Jones ies, it actually had its beginnings in the previ­ also offered a psychoanalytic reading of 'The ous century, when nationalistic awareness motivated collectors and scholars to study folk tales as expressions of the folk soul or psyche. Focusing on the relationship of folk tales to myth, scholars looked to these stories for evi­ dence of the values, customs, and beliefs that expressed a specific people's cultural identity. O v e r the course of the 19th century and into the 20th, mythic and anthropological ap­ proaches to the fairy tale relied on the notion that the study of folk tales could reveal the 'psychology' of ethnic cultures, especially that of so-called primitive people. This form of

4o5 PSYCHOLOCY AND FAIRY TALES Frog King'. In typical Freudian fashion, ology of the Trickster-Figure', 1954). His ideas Jones's interpretation stressed the female's have not only influenced the literary fairy tales aversion to sexual intimacy, symbolized by the of writers such as Hermann Hesse, they have princess's reluctance to allow the phallic frog also generated a great number of fairy-tale in­ into her bed. terpretations. One of the best-known studies is Hedwig von Beit's three-volume work on the Otto Rank expanded the discussion about Symbolik des Màrchens (The Symbolism of the the psychological origin of fairy tales in his in­ Fairy Tale, 1952—7), w h i c h examines the fluential study Der Mythus von der Geburt des archetypal basis of fairy-tale motifs and the Helden ( The Myth of the Birth of the Hero, 1909) quest for self-realization and redemption. The and in his Psychoanalytische Beitrdge cur Myth- psychological quest for self-realization is also enforschung (Psychoanalytic Contributions to taken up b y J u l i u s Heuscher in The Psychiatric Myth Research, 1919). R a n k proposed that fairy Study of Fairy Tales (1963) and b y J o s e p h tales are adult projections of childhood fanta­ C a m p b e l l in The Hero with a Thousand Faces sies, and he specifically examined mythological (1949). T h e difference between the Freudian and fairy-tale heroes in the light of Freud's the­ and Jungian approaches to symbols is especial­ ories about the Oedipus complex and Family ly well illustrated in Campbell's interpretation Romance. Freud's idea that fairy tales use the o f ' T h e Frog King'. Campbell reads 'The Frog symbolic language of dreams received an intri­ King' not specifically as a story of sexual anx­ guing twist in the prolific research of Géza iety and maturation, as the Freudian Jones had R o h e i m . In w o r k s like The Gates of the Dream done, but as an illustration of the broader (1952) and 'Fairy Tale and Dream' (1953), archetypal theme of the call to adventure—the Roheim did not simply agree that fairy tales individual's awakening to unconscious forces resembled dreams; he asserted that fairy tales and a new stage of life. were dreams that had been retold by the dreamer. Applying the psychoanalytic prin­ The archetypal studies by Marie-Louise von ciples of dream interpretation to variants of Franz have been widely recognized as classic tales from Europe and around the world, works of Jungian fairy-tale analysis. Von Rôheim produced intriguing readings of stor­ Franz, too, has dealt with individual develop­ ies such as *'Hansel and Gretel', *'Mother ment and redemption in Individuation in Fairy­ Holle', and 'Little Red Riding Hood'. tales (1977) and The Psychological Meaning of Redemption Motifs in Fairytales (1980). She il­ Carl Gustav Jung, who had also been a dis­ luminates the classic shadow archetype in ciple of Freud, developed a new branch of ana­ Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales (1974) and e x ­ lytic psychology that has had an enormous plores the basis of the female archetype in impact on fairy-tale scholarship and the popu­ Problems of the Feminine in Fairy Tales. lar reception of fairy tales. While Freudian psychoanalytic theory generally viewed patho­ The Jungian treatment of male and female logical behaviours and symbolic expressions as archetypes has been criticized by feminists, manifestations of the individual's unconscious, who point out that Jung's archetypes are actu­ Jung looked beyond pathology and beyond the ally socio-cultural constructions, not timeless individual mind for the source and meaning of psychological truths. None the less, some femi­ symbols. Jung posited the existence of an im­ nist scholars and psychoanalysts have followed personal and ahistorical collective unconscious the lead of von Franz and used Jungian analy­ that was a reservoir of images and forms uni­ sis to elucidate women's issues in fairy tales. versally shared by all humans. According to This is the case in Sibylle Birkhàuser-Oeri's Jung, the symbolic language of myths, dreams, study o f Die Mutter im Mdrchen (The Mother, and fairy tales was composed of these timeless 1976) and Torborg Lundell's examination of symbolic forms, which he called archetypes. Fairy Tale Mothers (1989). In Leaving my From the Jungian perspective, archetypes were Father's House (1992), Marion W o o d m a n , a universal symbols showing the way to trans­ feminist psychoanalyst, presents a Jungian in­ formation and development. terpretation of Grimms' 'All Fur' and includes commentaries by her patients to show women Jung described the archetypal basis of fairy how to take control of their lives in a male- tales in works like 'Zur Phânomenologie des dominated society. Geistes im Marchen' ('The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairy Tales', 1948), 'Zur Psychol­ Because Jungian psychology stresses uni­ ogie des Kind-Archetypus' ('The Psychology versal myths of higher consciousness and re­ of the Child Archetype', 1941), and 'Zur Psy­ demption, it has quasi-religious or spiritual chologie der Schelmenfigur' ('On the Psych- overtones, which has given it a wide popular

PSYCHOLOGY AND FAIRY TALES 406 appeal. Eugen Drewermann has combined the women develop their personal identities. From perspectives of theology and analytical psych­ another perspective, R o b e r t * B l y ' s *Iron John ology in a popular series of fairy-tale interpret­ (1990) offers Grimms' tale as a story that helps ations called Grimms Mdrchen tiefen- men heal their psychic wounds and realize their psychologisch gedeutet (Grimms' Fairy Tales true masculine personality. Interpreted According to Depth Psychology, Although the psychotherapeutic value of 1981— ) . Drewermann's volumes have been reading fairy tales is speculative, some analysts criticized for relying too much on archetypal have presented case histories as evidence of the associations and too little on literary or folk­ fairy tale's efficacy in treating patients. The loric expertise. Another example of Jungian Jungian analyst Hans Dieckmann, for example, psychology being mixed with religious beliefs advocated in many different publications the is Arland Ussher and Carl von Metzradt's book diagnostic and therapeutic importance of Enter These Enchanted Woods (1954), w h i c h in­ the Lieblingsmdrchen—the favourite fairy terprets selected Grimms' tales from a Jungian- tale—based on his clinical experience with pa­ flavoured Christian perspective. Fairy tales tients. According to Dieckmann, the neuroses have also been interpreted by adherents of an- of adults are exposed in their favourite child­ throposophy, a spiritual movement that grew hood stories. Consistent with his Jungian out of the work of Rudolf Steiner under the orientation, Dieckmann maintained that ther­ influence of psychoanalytic theories. The read­ apy is facilitated when the patient consciously ings that Steiner included in The Interpretation recognizes the identity that exists between the of Fairy Tales (1929) sought to reveal spiritual personal psyche and the cosmos. On the other truths and became a model for his followers, hand, the psychoanalyst Sândor Lorand used a who considered fairy tales a kind of scripture case history in 1935 to point out that fairy tales that could inspire spiritual development. The experienced in childhood can also have adverse unusual nature of anthroposophic fairy-tale in­ effects that cause psychological trauma. He terpretation is evident in Paul Paede's book of cites in particular a patient whose fear of cas­ anthroposophic medicine Krankheit, Heilung tration was traced to the tale of 'Little Red Rid­ und Entwicklung im Spiegel der Mdrchen (Dis­ ing Hood'. ease, Healing and Development in the Mirror of Typically, however, psychologists view the Fairy Tales, 1986). P a e d e ' s interpretation of fairy tale as having a significant and positive *'Cinderella' contends that the story's symbol­ role in the psychological development of chil­ ism deepens our appreciation of feet and their dren. These developmental psychologists con­ role in maintaining spiritual and physiological sider the fairy tale not simply as a useful harmony in the human organism. therapeutic tool in clinical practice, but as chil­ The psycho-spiritual claims of Jungian an­ dren's literature that should be part of every alysis and anthroposophy are echoed in the child's experience. T h e basic premiss is that many self-help books of fairy-tale interpret­ children learn how to overcome psychological ation published for the popular book trade, es­ conflicts and grow into new phases of develop­ pecially since the advent of N e w A g e ment through a symbolic comprehension of the philosophy in the 1980s. F o r example, in the maturation process as expressed in fairy tale. eclectic G e r m a n series Weisheit im Mdrchen A m o n g the earliest studies of this kind was (Wisdom in the Fairy Tale, 1983—8), each v o l ­ Charlotte Biihler's Das Mdrchen und die Phan- ume is written by a different author who inter­ tasie des Kindes (The Fairy Tale and the Child's prets a single tale to show readers how to Imagination, 1918), w h i c h identified p s y c h o ­ achieve better relationships, self-confidence, logical connections between the fairy tale and self-acceptance, and other improvements in the mind of the child. Buhler pointed out that their lives. The Jungian psychotherapist both the formal and the symbolic aspects of the Verena Kast claims to show the way to person­ fairy tale corresponded to the child's imagina­ al autonomy and better interpersonal relation­ tive mode of perception, and that because of ships in her popular books of fairy-tale this correspondence the genre assumed a spe­ interpretation, including one entitled Wege aus cial function in the mental life of the develop­ Angst und Symbiose (Through Emotions to Ma­ ing child. In Der Weg rum Mdrchen (The turity, 1982). F r o m a Christian perspective the Pathway to Understanding the Fairy Tale, 1939), American authors Ronda Chervin and Mary Bruno Jôckel stressed the fairy tale's symbolic Neill published The Woman's Tale (1980), a depiction of the conflicts and sexual maturation self-help book of pop psychology that pro­ that occur during puberty. Josephine Bilz's motes the idea that reading fairy tales can help study of Menschliche Reifung im Sinnbild (Sym-

PSYCHOLOGY AND FAIRY TALES bols of Human Maturation, 1943) emphasized Patricia Guérin T h o m a s ' s 1983 dissertation on the maturation process more generally and 'Children's Responses to Fairy Tales' used showed how \"\"Rumpelstiltskin' symbolically Piaget's theory of cognitive development and enacts the female's development from youth to Erik Erikson's theory of psycho-social devel­ motherhood. Walter Scherf has made the case opment to analyse the responses of children to in numerous essays and in his b o o k Die the Grimms' stories 'Brother and Sister' and Herausforderung des Damons (Challenging the 'The Queen Bee'. Although Thomas found Demon, 1987) that magic tales are dramas o f that children do respond to the stories based on family conflict in which children can identify the inner conflicts and moral understanding their own problems. According to Scherf, these they have at a given stage of development, she magic stories engage the dramatic imagination could find no evidence to support the p s y c h o ­ of children and allow them to overcome their analytic claim that fairy tales aid children in re­ conflicts, separate from the parents, and inte­ solving psychological conflicts. grate themselves into society. Some recent psychological studies of fairy The discussion about the fairy tale's place in tales have attempted to avoid the reductionism child development has been dominated by typical of psychoanalytic fairy-tale interpret­ Bruno Bettelheim's b o o k The Uses of Enchant­ ations, while others have applied new models ment (1976). N o study of fairy tales has been as as alternatives to Freud and Jung. T h e folklor­ popular or as controversial as Bettelheim's. His ist Alan Dundes has argued throughout his re­ Freudian readings are based on the idea that search that psychoanalytic theory in the study fairy tales are existential dramas in which chil­ of a folk tale can be very valuable when ad­ dren subconsciously confront their own prob­ equately informed by a rigorous comparative lems and desires on the path to adulthood. analysis o f the tale's variants. In her b o o k The Oedipal conflicts and sibling rivalry play espe­ Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales (1987), cially important parts in Bettelheim's analyses. the literary scholar Maria Tatar illuminated Bettelheim's critics object that his psychoana­ psychological themes by using Freud's idea of lytic readings are not only reductionist but also the Family Romance within the interpretive blatantly moralistic. Opponents note, too, that constraints demanded by formal aspects, socio- Bettelheim proposes a model of socialization historical factors, and the editorial history of that is repressive and sexist. T h e y also point to the G r i m m s ' collection. In Fairy Tales and the his ignorance of the fairy tale's historical devel­ Art of Subversion (1983), J a c k Zipes used opment and his failure to take into account the Freud's theory of the uncanny in tandem with many variants of the stories that he dis­ ideas from Favat, Piaget, and the philosopher cusses—factors that would complicate his Ernst Bloch to develop a theory of the fairy premiss that the fairy tale communicates time­ tale's liberating potential; and in his book on less truths. While Bettelheim's influential work The Brothers Grimm (1988), he advocated a n e w has been the focus of much criticism, these ob­ psychoanalytic approach to violence in fairy jections are typical of those lodged against the tales that would build on the work of the Swiss psychoanalytic view of fairy tales. psychoanalyst A l i c e Miller. In Du sollst nicht merken (Thou Shalt Not Be Aware, 1981), Miller As an alternative to Bettelheim's psychoana­ challenged the Freudian notion that violence lytic v i e w , F . A n d r é F a v a t ' s study o f Child and inflicted by fairy-tale parents is an inverted Tale (1977) used J e a n Piaget's ideas about the projection of the child's own negative feelings stages of development to consider the affinity towards the parent. Instead, using 'The Virgin between fairy tales and child psychology. Mary's Child' and 'Rumpelstiltskin' as ex­ What draws the child to the fairy tale, accord­ amples, Miller theorized that some fairy tales ing to Favat, is not the opportunity to confront are adults' censored projections of abuse that conflicts symbolically as part of the socializa­ they actually experienced as children, a fantasy tion process. Instead, the fairy tale relaxes the possibly more in tune with socio-historical and tensions brought on by socialization and familial reality than adults can admit. change, and provides a fictional realm w h e r e children can re-experience the pleasure of a Postmodern literary fairy tales for adults magical, egocentric world ordered according have also stimulated new ways of thinking to their desires. Experimental psychologists about fairy tales and psychology. Peter have also worked in various ways with the Straub's revision of ' T h e \"\"Juniper T r e e ' fairy tale to test the theoretical claims and as­ (1990), for example, links fairy-tale violence sertions made about the psychological import­ with child abuse in a w a y that confirms Miller's ance of fairy tales for children. For example, theory. Other writers like Margaret *Atwood,