Customer Reviews

The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm (Norton Critical Editions)

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If I was teaching a course on fairy tales, this book would be the course's primary text. Editor Jack Zipes compiled the book with such a purpose in mind and it's a job well done. The largest section, The Texts of the Great Fairy Tale Tradition, is comprised of fairy tale texts grouped into over 35 themes. Examples of themes include: Love Conquers All, Abandoned Children, Shrewd Cats, and Envious Sisters. Each theme has a minimum of two tales--usually more--with an introduction explaining the history of the theme and its tales. Zipes' introduction includes a definition of the literary fairy tale and its history as a genre. Critical essays by respected scholars are included in the Criticism section. Short biographies of the authors, black and white illustrations, and a selected bibliography add to the resources found inside. My only wish is that an index to aid with finding and cross-referencing tales had been included. This book makes a great reference book or textbook for the armchair scholar at an affordable price.

Jack Zipes has brought together a comprehensive collection of fairy tales that surprises the reader with how insightful and timeless these tales are in regards to the human condition. Many of these tales, which are not found in more polite and juvenile collections, still have the power to enchant the imagination.

Forget all that happy junk you watched in the Disney movies. These are the real deal. Some of these tales are pretty gruesome so I don't recommend reading them to your kids. However, if you're a sick twisted freak like me you'll enjoy the entries collected here. There are over 100 fairy tales in here including many obscure fairy tales that you probably never heard of. Don't let the fact that this was designed for course work scare you away. You don't have to be in college to enjoy this book. It's great to have notes and critiques of the texts on hand.

I had the pleasure of taking a Fairy Tales class taught by Prof. Zipes and this was the book we used for class. I can honestly say that this book is an amazing collection of fairy tales that he tracked back as far as he could find. It is interesting to read the evolution of the fairy tales through time, and he explains the changes as well.

This is not a book for kids, however, so don't read it to your kids. On the other hand, if you are a fairy tale enthusiast, this is an amazing read!

I love fairy tales and always have ever since I was a little girl. I've always been partial to the Grimm's fairy tales and actually had no idea that there was an older tradition of fairy tales from other European cultures until a few years ago. So far I have enjoyed (aside from the Grimm's) Straparola, Basile, and Perrault. I'm not too fond of D'Aulnoy or the other female authors. I haven't finished the book and so I can't comment on the scholarly articles included towards the end of the book. I enjoy Zipes comentary, however, before each section of fairy tales. This is a thick book and so it is taking me a while to finish it. However, I would recommend it.

This book is wonderful. The commentary is well-written and informative, and the grouping of related stories is great for sparking new thoughts. The only downside is that you may not want to read 4 similar stories in a row for fun, so this is more of an occasional indulgence than an all-at-once reading binge for me.

for anyone wanting an insite into the world of the fairy tale,i could not think or a better place to start,each tale takes the reader onto a differant plane altogather,the wording,the moral implications(some of which we could well do with today!),are as captivating as thay are intresting,a wholey fantastic read

In a new text from W. W. Norton and Company (publisher of many of your textbooks) comes the latest compendium of the founding yet moving stories of Europe that are fairy tales. The Great Fairy Tale Tradition, selected and edited by Jack Zipes, has just about every fairy tale you could want. The book has also been published in the Norton tradition, with thin-leaf pages that hold a large number of words, making the book smaller than the thousand pages insinuates, and therefore lowering the price.

Some of the more familiar fairy tales in this anthology include: "Puss in Boots," "Rapunzel," "Rumpelstiltskin," "Sleeping Beauty," "Hansel and Gretel," "Little Red Riding Hood," and "Beauty and the Beast." The difference here is that the fairy tales are in their complete original form (albeit translated), just as the author originally wrote them. This is a book that anyone with an affection for fairy tales could do with.

Originally published on September 4th 2001 ©Alex C. Telander.

Originally published in the Long Beach Union.

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