Not Another Grim(m) Tale: The Rights of Passage in Marie von Olfers' 'Little Princess'

Bernadette Hyner

doi:10.15173/sj.v1i1.168

Abstract

My analysis of Von Olfer’s depiction of family, sisterhood, and agency is informed by Shawn Jarvis’, Karen Rowe’s, and Jeannine Blackwell’s research on fantasy narratives. 2 These scholars concur that fairy tales originated primarily as parts of a female oral tradition, which, after the Grimm brothers, Hans Christian Andersen, and even Johann Wolfgang von Goethe appropriated it, was then reclaimed in women’s literary circles such as the Kaffeter. An additional cornerstone for my understanding of von Olfers’ subversive tale is Jack Zipes’ research on the metamorphosis of fairy tales as “an enrichment process” that gives birth to something new and unique in its own right. 3 Zipes welcomes counter narratives as “progressive” since they frequently challenge the canonical narrative’s “sexist and conservative [...] approach to [...] gender, justice, and government.” 4 The modus operandi in Speaking Out, Zipes’ urban story-telling project, aims to alert youngsters to the manner in which canonical tales “reveal[] the triumph of the oppressed” while their conclusions often “involve[] a restoration of the status quo with power largely in the hands of men” (115). My study builds on the critical observations made by Jarvis, Rowe, Blackwell, and Zipes in an attempt to delineate von Olfers’ literary recasting of the conventional quest for autonomy.

Highlights

I f we accept, as Edward Said suggests, that the terms authorship and authority both emphasize a writer’s capacity to establish an alternative discourse, control, and preserve it, Marie von Olfers is best remembered as a tale spinner who redrafts conventional gender designations in her fairy tales.1 her narrative “Little Princess,” published in 1862, presents alternative interpretations of female agency and sisterhood, while it debases traditional concepts of family
My analysis of Von Olfer’s depiction of family, sisterhood, and agency is informed by Shawn Jarvis’, Karen Rowe’s, and Jeannine Blackwell’s research on fantasy narratives
My study builds on the critical observations made by Jarvis, Rowe, Blackwell, and Zipes in an attempt to delineate von Olfers’ literary recasting of the conventional quest for autonomy

Summary

Marie von Olfers’ tale “Little Princess” is included in The Queen’s Mirror

Fairy Tales by German Women, 1780-1900, 217-223. Marina Warner’s study titled “Women against Women in the Old Wives’ Tale” (in Cinema and the Realms of Enchantment) follows this notion even further, as the author demonstrates that the conventional fairy tale systematically erases the maternal force (i.e. the biological mother) from its plot to allow for a confrontation between the naïve heroines (in “Snow White,” or “The Juniper Tree”) and their wicked stepmothers. For more on the misogynic nature of Grimm tales, refer to Anne Leblans’ “Kinder- und Hausmärchen: The Creation of Male Wombs as a Means of Protection against the Fear of Engulfment,” in Subversive Sublimities: Undercurrents of the German Enlightenment and Jerilyn Fisher’s and Ellen S. 11 Grimm tales seeking to restore the patriarchal family structure are not limited to “Faithful Johannes,” “The Three Little Gnomes in the Forest,” “Cinderella,” “The Juniper Tree,” “The Six Swans,” and “Snow White.”

12 Maria Tatar shows in “Daughters of Eve

15 In her study titled “In den Kasten gesteckt