Several people have asked me for the reading list from last semester’s amazing Feminist Fairy Tales class, so here it is!
The First Class
Early Versions: “Bluebeard” (Charles Perrault), “Beauty and the Beast” (Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont).
Revisions: The Bloody Chamber (Angela Carter)
Essays: “Notes from the Frontline” (Angela Carter), and “When We Dead Awaken: Women’s Writing as Re-Vision” (Adrienne Rich).
Cinderella
Early Versions: “Yeh-hsien” (Chinese), “Cat Cinderella” (Giambattista Basile), “Cinderella” (Charles Perrault), “Cinderella” (Brothers Grimm)
Revisions: Disney, “Ashputtle” (Angela Carter), “Ashputtle” (Peter Straub), “Cinderella” (Anne Sexton), “Cinderella” (Broumas).
Essay: “America’s Cinderella” (Jane Yolen).
Snow White
Early Versions: “The Young Slave” (Basile), “Snow White” (Grimm), “Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree” (Jacobs)
Revisions: Disney, White as Snow (Tanith Lee), “Snow, Glass, Apples” (Neil Gaiman), “Snow White” (Broumas), “Snow White” (Sexton), “Snow White to the Prince” (Delia Sherman).
Little Red Riding Hood
“Little Red Riding Hood” (Perrault), “Little Red Cap” (Grimm), The False Grandmother (Italo Calvino), Golden Flower and the Bear (Chiang Mi), “The Story of Grandmother” (Delarue).
Revisions: “Little Red Riding Hood” (James Thurber), Company of Wolves (movie), “Little Red Riding Hood” (Broumas).
Essay: Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood (Zipes).
Sleeping Beauty
Early Versions: “Sun, Moon, and Talia” (Basile), “Sleeping Beauty” (Perrault), Brier Rose (Grimm).
Revisions: “Briar Rose” (Anne Sexton), Thorns (Tanith Lee).
Essay: “Tactics of Revisionary Mythopoesis” (Blau DuPlessis).
Rapunzel
Early Versions: “Petrosinella” (Basile), “Rapunzel” (Schultz), “Rapunzel” (Grimm).
Revisions: “Rapunzel” (Anne Sexton), “Root of the Matter” (Gregory Frost).
The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf
Early Version: “The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf” (Hans Christian Andersen)
Revision: The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf (Kathryn Davis)
Donkeyskin
Early Versions: “The She-Bear” (Basile), “Donkeyskin” (Perrault), “All Fur” (Grimm), “The Princess in a Suit of Leather” (Bushnaq).
Revisions: Deerskin (Robin McKinley), The Armless Maiden introduction (Terri Windling), “Allerleiraugh” (Jane Yolen), “Donkeyskin” (Windling).
Essay: “Donkeyskin, Deerskin, Allerleiraugh: The Reality of the Fairy Tale” (Helen Pilinovsky).
Hansel and Gretel
Early Version: “Hansel and Gretel” (Grimm)
Revisions: The True Story of Hansel and Gretel (Louise Murphy), “Gingerbread” (Buffy episode), “Hansel and Gretel” (Sexton).
Witches Abroad (Terry Pratchett)
Beauty (Sheri S. Tepper)
12 Dancing Princesses and The Snow Queen
Early Versions: “The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes” (Grimm), “The Snow Queen” (Andersen).
Revisions: “Twelve Dancing Princesses” (Sexton), “The Girl Detective” (Kelly Link), “Travels with the Snow Queen” (Kelly Link), The Ice Puzzle (Catherynne Valente).