Synopses & Reviews
Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall brings together twenty-five of our foremost contemporary women writers to discuss, in poetic narratives, evocative personal histories, and philosophical inquiries, how the tales included here affected their thinking about emotion, self, gender and culture. In these pages, you will find narratives on self-image, spiritual biographical journeys, and wary inspections of fairy tales' influence. Some writers found rapt symmetry in these popular stories; others rebelled and discovered the secrets of subterfuge. A few later used fairy tales in writing their own adult work.
Rather than ask "Why this collection now?", one might more appropriately ask "Why not until now?" The exaggerated characters in many fairy tales, from the "Evil Queen," to the "True Bride," in addition to striking a note heard throughout Western culture, provide interesting challenges to and mirrors of women's complex conceptions of themselves. Fairy tales are full of women looking at themselves: In "Snow White," the stepmother is haunted by her own aging image in the mirror, and speaks to it; and in the lesser known, but particularly haunting "Clever Else," a young woman who awakens with a strange lack of identity runs everywhere looking for her own image. So it is for so many women throughout history.
For everyone who has grown up on, been bewitched or infuriated by, or at some time in their lives fallen in love with fairy tales, this book is an enchanting journey of discovery.
Synopsis
New edition (revised and expanded) available 8/13/02.Fairy tales are one of the most enduring forms of literature, their plots retold and characters reimagined for centuries. In this elegant and thought-provoking collection of original essays, Kate Bernheimer brings together twenty-eight leading women writers to discuss how these stories helped shape their imaginations, their craft, and our culture. In poetic narratives, personal histories, and penetrating commentary, the assembled authors bare their soul and challenge received wisdom. Eclectic and wide-ranging, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall is essential reading for anyone who has ever been bewitched by the strange and fanciful realm of fairy tales.
Contributors include: Alice Adams, Julia Alvarez, Margaret Atwood, Ann Beattie, Rosellen Brown, A. S. Byatt, Kathryn Davis, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Deborah Eisenberg, Maria Flook, Patricia Foster, Vivian Gornick, Lucy Grealy, bell hooks, Fanny Howe, Fern Kupfer, Ursula K. Le Guin, Carole Maso, Jane Miller, Lydia Millet, Joyce Carol Oates, Connie Porter, Francine Prose, Linda Gray Sexton, Midori Snyder, Fay Weldon, Joy Williams, Terri Windling.
Synopsis
Fairy tales and their exaggerated characters, from the "evil stepmother" to the "virginal bride", have been a resonant chord throughout Western culture, providing provocative challenges to and mirrors of women's complex sense of themselves - and the expectations of the world around them. In Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Kate Bernheimer brings together twenty-four of our foremost contemporary women writers to discuss, in poetic narratives, evocative personal histories, and penetrating essays, how the fairy tales we all grew up with - from "Cinderella" and "Little Red Riding Hood" to "Bluebeard" and "The Princess and the Pea" - have affected their emotional lives, their work, and the culture they live in. For some of the writers, fairy tales were their first formative experience of literature, and several turned to fairy tales in creating their own fiction as adults. Others rebelled utterly at the cultural stereotypes and the roles assigned to women in these tales, and in their essays explore the impact such fairy tales have had on our mores and thinking.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Introduction
Alice Adams
The Three Bears and Little Red Riding Hood in the Coffin House
Julia Alvarez
An Autobiography of Scheherazade
Margaret Atwood
Of Souls as Birds
Ann Beattie
John, Whose Disappearance Was Too Bad
Rosellen Brown
It Is You the Fable Is About
A. S. Byatt
Ice, Snow, Glass
Kathryn Davis
Why I Don't Like Reading Fairy Tales
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
The Princess in the Palace of Snakes
Deborah Eisenberg
In a Trance of Self
Maria Flook
The Rope Bridge to Sex
Patricia Foster
Little Red Cap
Vivian Gornick
Taking a Long Hard Look at "The Princess and the Pea"
Lucy Grealy
Girl
bell hooks
To Love Justice
Fanny Howe
Fairies
Fern Kupfer
Trust
Ursula K. Le Guin
The Wilderness Within
Carole Maso
Exquisite Hour
Jane Miller
Midnights
Lydia Millet
The Wife Kller
Joyce Carol Oates
In Olden Times, When Wishing Was Having: Classic and Contemporary Fairy Tales
Connie Porter
Rapunzel Across Time and Space
Francine Prose
Sleeping Beauty
Linda Gray Sexton
Bones and Black Puddings: Revisiting "The Juniper Tree"
Midori Snyder
The Monkey Girl
Fay Weldon
The Journey to Mr. Fox
Joy Williams
Baba Yaga
Terri Windling
Transformations