Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale, by Marina Warner
Review: The fabled roots of fiction
Novalis, the German romantic poet, wrote: “Alles ist ein Märchen” (Everything is a fairy tale). This declaration may come as a surprise to those who believe the opposite. But some of the most convincing interpretations of fairy tales, by great folklorists such as Max Lüthi or Bengt Holbek, demonstrate convincingly that the tales are metaphors for ordinary life. In the coded language of symbol and metaphor they chart the journey from childhood to adulthood. The Russian commentator Eleaser Meletinksji wrote, “It is even possible to say that the fairy tale begins with the break-up of one family and ends with the creation of a new one.”
