Introduction to Fairy Tales

Evaluation of Maria Tatar’s Introduction to the Classic Fairy Tales Maria Tatar’s introduction to The Classic Fairy Tales explains the impact of fairy tales on human life. Tatar is an author whose work mostly consists of fairy tale comparisons and anthologies. She is also a professor at Harvard University, where she teaches courses on folklore and children’s literature among other things (1). Maria Tatar’s prior knowledge of the fairy tale genre helped provide a strong basis for the insight included in the introduction. Although in certain sections it could be seen as bias. Overall her work and comparisons to others helped the reader observe the significance of fairy tales in society. Fairy Tales are an important facet in the psychological development of youth worldwide. Tatar begins the introduction by explaining that fairy tales are not written by a single author- but instead passed on verbally throughout history from person to person. Those same tales are told in every culture, usually changing names and other characteristics to correlate to that particular culture. For example, Cinderella may be known as “’Aschenputtel in Germany, and Catskin in England’ (1).” Fairy Tale readers will notice that while there is no original origin of the tales- the story structure remains the same, as does the plot. These stories are commonly told to children by the women around them to entertain or scare them. Those women were often older and the stories told by them are referred to as “old wives’ tales (1)”. Maria Tatar argues that fairy tales hold a special place in society not only in appearing in mainstream media for children and adults, but also in how they relate to the real problems faced by the readers. Given this fact, some would still argue that fairy tales are not worth the analytical attention they receive. When reading these tales one must keep a critical eye open to the subliminal messages communicated throughout. Tatar writes, “Trivializing fairy tales

Cited: Tatar, Maria. "Introduction." The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. Print. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales by Bruno Bettelheim Review by: Joseph Nagy MLN  Vol. 91, No. 6, Comparative Literature (Dec., 1976), pp. 1642-1644 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2907161.