Fairytale in the Ancient World

In this, the first modern study of the ancient fairytale, Graham Anderson asks whether the familiar children's fairytale of today existed in the ancient world. He examines texts from the classical period and finds many stories which resemble those we know today, including:
* a Jewish Egyptian Cinderella
* a Snow White whose enemy is the goddess Artemis
* a Pied Piper at Troy.
He puts forward many previously unsuspected candidates as classical variants of the modern fairytale and argues that the degree of violence and cruelty in the ancient tales means they must have been meant for adults.

List of contents

Preface, List of abbreviations, 1 Introduction, 2 The Cinderella story in antiquity, 3 Snow White and related tales, 4 Cupid and Psyche and Beauty and the Beast, 5 The Obstacle Flight, 6 The ‘innocent slandered maid’, 7 Butchering girls: Red Riding Hood and Bluebeard, 8 Magicians and their allies, 9 Between living and dead, 10 Two Homeric tales: The Cyclops and Ares and Aphrodite, 11 Some moral parables: The Pied Piper, The Three Wishes, Rumpelstiltskin, The Singing Bone, 12 Fairytale into romance, 13 Folktales and society: some reflections on ancient evidence, 14 Conclusions, Appendix 1 Some difficult cases, Appendix 2 Two ancient hero tales, Appendix 3 Thrushbeard and The Starmaidens, Appendix 4 AT Type 552 and the Orestes story, Notes, Bibliography, Index of folktale types, General index

About the author

Graham Anderson

Summary

The first modern study of the ancient fairytale, it bridges a major gap between the study of the ancient world and the wider world of oral culture, and will be of immense value and interest to students of a wide variety of disciplines.

Product details

• Authors: Graham Anderson
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 03.08.2000
• EAN: 9780415237031
• ISBN: 978-0-415-23703-1
• No. of pages: 256
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; HISTORY / Ancient / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Folklore & Mythology, LITERARY CRITICISM / Children's & Young Adult Literature, Ancient History, Classical history / classical civilisation, Literary theory, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, Children’s and teenage literature studies: general, Folklore studies / Study of myth (mythology)