The Fairy Tale World ed. by Andrew Teverson

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Fairy Tale World ed. by Andrew Teverson Mary Sellers (bio) The Fairy Tale World. Edited by Andrew Teverson, Routledge, 2019, 484 pp. Drawing on the work of established and emerging scholars, this collection of essays—as the title suggests—negotiates fairy tales around the world but also the world of the fairy tale itself. It begins with a definition of the term and a discussion of Andrew Lang’s work, but it quickly gets to the first of many conflicts in the field. The titular term “fairy tale” is fraught with “Eurocentric and Western associations that threaten to obscure the specificity, variety, and function of oral storytelling genres” (Lewis Seifert 159). In an effort to overcome this limiting terminology “that entail[s] homogenizing the world’s wonder tales according to a Euro-American model” (12), Andrew Teverson set out to reclaim the term and “extend and elaborate the emerging critique of the Euro-American focus of fairy-tale studies” (10). This aim is achieved through exposing the international influence of familiar texts, exploring how Märchen evolved differently across the world, expanding the canon to include marginalized works and analyses, and examining how contemporary writers and artists blend older forms and modern interpretations to create a novel pastiche. [End Page 388] The book is divided into five sections with seven or eight chapters in each. The sections—“The Formation of the Canon,” “Africa and the Caribbean,” “The Americas, Asia and Australia,” and “Europe”—provide an excellent overview of both the specific topic and current scholarship in the area. However, there are threads that weave through all the chapters—particularly the ideas of colonialism, imperialism, and fairy-tale origins—that create a global tapestry of ideas. Other cross-chapter motifs are art, contemporary literature, and a definition of fairy tale. However, for those who wish to focus on a specific geographical area, the book offers a sample of approaches to scholarship to highlight the trends in research. Additionally, the geographical focus enables a study of a wider region, as stories travel heedless of political borders. It also allows cross-cultural comparison. For example, how do contemporary retellings in Australia differ from those in Japan or America? Yet, each section can be used as a stand-alone unit for a class or to delve into a geographical exploration of fairy tales in that region. The first section, “The Formation of the Canon,” opens by posing the question “Where do fairy tales belong?” Donald Haase answers the query and “confirms the resistance of folktales and fairy tales to the constraint of a one-dimensional belonging” (30). These tales exist in their own realm, and those who hear them often do not grapple with paratextual meanings and do not place the tales in their specific geographical and cultural setting. This enables fairy tales to be read through multiple lenses. Questions of interpretation and origin continue in the rest of the section through discussions of the origin of the fairy tale in the Middle East, Italy, France, Germany, and the problems inherent in translation. Nancy L. Canepa discusses the works of Giovan Francesco Straparola and Giambattista Basile in her chapter, “The Formation of the Literary Fairy Tale in Early Modern Italy 1550–1636,” commenting on the “murky moral world of the tales” where “violence and deception may or may not prove to be winning strategies” (65). This chapter contrasts well with the “stylish atmosphere of the court” (68) found in the French tales Christine A. Jones uses as her texts in “Social Change and the Development of the Fairy Tale in France 1690–1799.” Overall, this first section lays the groundwork for continuing themes in the rest of the volume. Although the remaining sections are geographically focused, many of the entries grapple with the same sort of question that Ruth Finnegan posed, “Are there fairy tales in Africa?” (105), which introduces her chapter, “Fairy Tale in Africa: A Contrast of Centuries.” Discussions of wonder tales or tales of magic occur in almost every section, expanding the fixed notion of a “fairy tale” to encompass a wider range of narratives. Emily Zoebel Marshall’s study of Anansi tales in “This Is Not a...