num_pages: 256
description: A provocative new theory about fairy tales from one of the world's leading authoritiesIf there is one genre that has captured the imagination of people in all walks of life throughout the world it is the fairy tale. Yet we still have great difficulty understanding how it originated evolved and spreador why so many people cannot resist its appeal no matter how it changes or what form it takes. In this book renowned fairy-tale expert Jack Zipes presents a provocative new theory about why fairy tales were created and retoldand why they became such an indelible and infinitely adaptable part of cultures around the world.Drawing on cognitive science evolutionary theory anthropology psychology literary theory and other fields Zipes presents a nuanced argument about how fairy tales originated in ancient oral cultures how they evolved through the rise of literary culture and print and how in our own time they continue to change through their adaptation in an ever-growing variety of media. In making his case Zipes considers a wide range of fascinating examples including fairy tales told collected and written by women in the nineteenth century; Catherine Breillat's film adaptation of Perrault's Bluebeard; and contemporary fairy-tale drawings paintings sculptures and photographs that critique canonical print versions.While we may never be able to fully explain fairy tales The Irresistible Fairy Tale provides a powerful theory of how and why they evolvedand why we still use them to make meaning of our lives.
language: English
title: The Irresistible Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre
publisher: Princeton University Press