Fairy Tale Recommendations
Hello All!
Happy December! I thought I'd start out by compiling a list of some of my favorite fairy tales that are a bit off the beaten track.
WARNING: Many of these fairy tales contain very adult themes in their original and adapted forms.
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I recommend the podcast The Singing Bones, which goes into the historical origins of several fairy tales on this list.
-Sapsorrow (or Allerleirauh/Donkeyskin)
This fairytale closely resembles Cinderella, but it has a much darker twist that changes the way one views both the title character and her situation.
-East of the Sun, West of the Moon by Asbjørnsen & Moe
Follows the same scheme as the traditional cupid psyche myth. I love the polar bear and wind imagery though. A very lush, nordic tale.
-The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti
A poem by Christina Rossetti, this tale is miraculous. It focuses on sisterly love and the redeeming power of family. The goblins are fascinating and the description of fruit always makes my mouth water.
-Hades & Persephone/ Beauty & the Beast
I'm cheating a bit here, but these are some of my favorites. The juxtaposition between flowering life and cold death always makes me shiver, as well as a beastly creature tempered by love. I particularly recommend Angela Carter's The Bride of Mr Lyon and The Tiger's Bride.
-Rumplestiltskin by the Grimm Brothers
This one is an old favorite. I've loved the story since I was a little girl and I saw the story performed by Kathleen Turner on Rabbit Ears Books. The mixture of the deal with the devil story and the intrigue of the name drew me in. A very good adaptation of this story is told in Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver, found in The Starlit Wood, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe. Novik's story focuses on the often overlooked anti-semitic elements of the story and is a very good read.
-Sleeping Beauty
To be honest, I prefer the ballet and the Disney film to the original tale but boy oh boy do I love them. The Disney film is incredible, with its frankly unbelievable attention to detail and color scheme. The ballet has recently been adapted into a kind of vampire fantasy by Matthew Bourne-- well worth a watch if you like the tale.
-The Nutcracker by E.T.A Hoffmann
This tale presents the winter season so beautifully while also addressing the hypocrisy of the upper classes in the 19th century. I would recommend the copy illustrated by Maurice Sendak.
