Item Details

abstract

Since its publication in 1812, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s Kinder-und Hausmärchen (Children’s and Household Tales) has been the inspiration for countless reimaginings and retellings over the centuries. But with a host of these adaptations relying on the 1857 edition of the text, many have suffered from the edits of an overzealous Wilhelm, who attempted to tone down the violence, sexuality, and existence of subversive women, sanitizing them into instructional stories for female morality rather than entertainment as others have before and after them. In recent decades, women have attempted to reclaim these fairy tales for themselves. Through works such as Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber and Anne Sexton’s Transformations, women’s desires, anxieties and frustrations take center stage, finally giving voice to the many fictional women who were silenced in subsequent editions of these familiar texts. In this thesis, I attempt to join this chorus of women, bringing forth fairy tales in the context of contemporary women’s issues examined through a feminist Marxist lens, following the breadcrumbs to explore the messages that lie beneath the magic.

subject

contributor

Champagne, Jennifer (author)

Ruocco, Joanna (committee chair)

Wilson, Eric G (committee member)

Catanzano, Amy (committee member)

date

2020-05-29T08:35:45Z (accessioned)

2020 (issued)

degree

English (discipline)

2025-06-01 (liftdate)

embargo

2025-06-01 (terms)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/96804 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

title

OLD WIVES’ TALES: MOTHERS & DAUGHTERS, WIVES & WITCHES: STORIES

type

Thesis