A Cultural History of Fairy Tales in the Long Nineteenth Century

Naomi J. Wood

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781350095366
• eBook ISBN: 9781350287556
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social History
• Index: Social Sciences

How have fairy tales from around the world changed over the centuries? What do they tell us about different cultures and societies? This volume explores the period when the European fairy tales conquered the world and shaped the global imagination in its own image. Examining how collectors, children's writers, poets, and artists seized the form to challenge convention and normative ideas, this book explores the fantastic imagination that belies the nineteenth century's materialist and pedestrian reputation. Looking at writers including E.T.A Hoffman, the Brothers Grim, S.T. Coleridge, Walter Scott, Oscar Wilde, Christina Rosetti, George MacDonald, and E. Nesbit, the volume shows how fairy tales touched every aspect of nineteenth century life and thought. It provides new insights into themes including: forms of the marvelous, adaptation, gender and sexuality, humans and non-humans, monsters and the monstrous, spaces, socialization, and power. With contributions from international scholars across disciplines, this volume is an essential resource for researchers, scholars and students of literature, history, and cultural studies. A Cultural History of Fairy Tales (6-volume set) A Cultural History of Fairy Tales in Antiquity is also available as a part of a 6-volume set, A Cultural History of Fairy Tales, tracing fairy tales from antiquity to the present day, available in print, or within a fully-searchable digital library accessible through institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access (see www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com). Individual volumes for academics and researchers interested in specific historical periods are also available digitally via www.bloomsburycollections.com.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Contents 
• List of Illustrations
• Series Preface
• Introduction: Fairy Tales and the Long Nineteenth Century
• 1 Forms of the Marvelous
• 2 Adaptation
• 3 Gender and Sexuality
• 4 Humans and Non-Humans: Uncanny Encounters in the Grimms’ Tales
• 5 Monsters and the Monstrous
• 6 Space: Physical, Liminal, and Other
• 7 Socialization: Civilizing Child’s Play
• 8 Power
• Notes
• References
• Notes on Contributors
• Index
• Imprint