| | Rebecca Abrams | | | | tales in 1697, attributed his | | | | and her mother-in-law. |
| | | | | | sources as “old women, grand- | | 6 | | Warner takes an unashamedly |
| | | | | | mothers and governesses”, | | | | feminist perspective on the genre |
| | From the Beast to the | | | | while the German brothers | | | | of fairy tale without resorting to |
| | Blonde: On Fairy Tales | | | | Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, col- | | | | didacticism or polemic. Instead, |
| | and Their Tellers | | | | lected many of their stories from | | | | she makes her point through |
| | by MARINA WARNER | | | | female friends and relations. | | | | sheer weight of evidence. She |
| | 458pp £20 | | | | Women, whose speech has so | | | | shows, for example, how |
| | Chatto & Windus | | | | often in the past been reviled, | | | | aristocratic Frenchwomen in the |
| | | | | | have found in the fairy story a | | | | 17th century used fairy tales as |
| | | | | | voice with which to explore | | | | a political vehicle to protest |
| | | | | | female experience, sometimes | | | | against arranged marriages and |
1 | | “THINK what you would | | | | using that voice to challenge | | | | financial dependency; and how |
| | have been now,” Charles | | | | social convention, sometimes to | | | | vulnerable older women used |
| | Lamb remarked to Cole- | | | | uphold it. | | | | tales to assert the value of their |
| | ridge in 1802,“if instead of being | | 4 | | Warner is at her strongest | | | | experience and knowledge of |
| | fed with tales and old wives’ | | | | when she argues for a historical, | | | | life. |
| | fables in childhood, you had | | | | rather than a psychoanalytical, | | 7 | | But for a book that includes |
| | been crammed with geography | | | | reading of the tales. “The thrust | | | | so much, there are some striking |
| | and natural history!” In fact, as | | | | towards universal significance | | | | omissions. She entirely neglects |
| | Marina Warner makes abundant- | | | | has obscured the genre’s equal | | | | the contribution of the 19th |
| | ly clear in her new book, From | | | | powers to illuminate experiences | | | | century Scottish writer, George |
| | The Beast To The Blonde, many | | | | embedded in social and | | | | MacDonald, creator of powerful |
| | of the tales which had fattened | | | | material conditions,” she writes. | | | | fairy tales often with powerful |
| | the young Coleridge are as | | 5 | | With an unfailing eye for | | | | heroines. OscarWilde is barely |
| | rooted in social and historical | | | | small, quirky details, magpie- | | | | mentioned. Even Hans Chris- |
| | reality as any geography lesson | | | | like, she tracks down these glit- | | | | tian Andersen is passed over |
| | would have been. | | | | tering trinkets and assembles | | | | with frustrating rapidity. An- |
2 | | Following on from earlier | | | | them into a convincing argu- | | | | other striking absence from this |
| | books, such as Alone of All Her | | | | ment for the historical relevance | | | | otherwise comprehensive study |
| | Sex and Monuments and Mai- | | | | of these tales. Stories such as | | | | is the cycle of stories which |
| | dens, in which she explored | | | | Bluebeard and Beauty and the | | | | have boys as their key protago- |
| | myths and symbolism from a | | | | Beast reflect very real, and rea- | | | | nists: Puss in Boots,Tom |
| | feminist perspective,Warner has | | | | listic, fears of the consequences | | | | Thumb,DickWhittington, Jack |
| | now turned her attention to that | | | | of marriage: before the age of | | | | And The Beanstalk. |
| | enduringly intriguing corner of | | | | reliable contraception or mod- | | 8 | | In her otherwise compelling |
| | the fictional world: the fairy | | | | ern obstetrics, love led invar- | | | | analysis of the family relations |
| | tale.The book is divided into | | | | iably to the perils of pregnancy. | | | | portrayed in fairy stories, |
| | two sections; the first half looks | | | | The murdered wives of Blue- | | | | Warner makes scant mention of |
| | at the women and men who | | | | beard may have been the | | | | the brother/sister relationship, |
| | have been responsible over the | | | | victims of childbirth; likewise, | | | | yet this is a central theme in |
| | centuries for the transmission, | | | | the dead mothers of Snow | | | | many classic fairy stories |
| | collection and publication of | | | | White, Cinderella and countless | | | | (Hansel and Gretel, Babes in |
| | fairy tales, while the second half | | | | other fairytale heroines.The | | | | theWood), and highly relevant |
| | examines the tales themselves, | | | | prevalence of unsympathetic | | | | to the rest of Warner’s |
| | their overt and covert meanings, | | | | step-mothers would also have | | | | investigation of the genre. |
| | their relation to social customs | | | | reflected the social reality of a | | 9 | | Paradoxically, the book suf- |
| | and contexts, and their evolution | | | | society in which women died | | | | fers most from an occasional |
| | from the sometimes macabre to | | | | young and widowers quickly | | | | surfeit of information. Unlike |
| | the often saccharine. It is | | | | remarried.Warner is | | | | the fairy tale itself, that exquisite |
| | lusciously illustrated throughout | | | | particularly revealing in her | | | | distillation of history, myth and |
| | with pictures of etchings, wood- | | | | analysis of the term “step- | | | | experience, it seems |
| | cuts, frescos, comic books and | | | | mother”, which she argues | | | | occasionally at risk of buckling |
| | film stills. | | | | could denote a husband’s | | | | under the weight of its own |
3 | | According to Warner, women | | | | mother, as well as a father’s | | | | facts. Nevertheless, From The |
| | have traditionally been the keep- | | | | wife. Seen in this light, fairy | | | | Beast To The Blonde is unques- |
| | ers of these tales, passing them | | | | tales articulate and explore not | | | | tionably a work of immense |
| | on in the enclosed worlds of the | | | | only a young woman’s anxieties | | | | erudition and impressive scope. |
| | bedroom, the kitchen and the | | | | about her new husband, but also | | | | |
| | nursery. Charles Perrault, the | | | | the fraught and often hostile | | | | |
| | Frenchman who published one | | | | relationship between a new wife | | | | Rebecca Abrams is one of the |
| | of the first collections of fairy | | | | | | | | Guardian’s regular reviewers |