Artigo Revisado por pares

Fire and Water: A Journey into the Heart of a Story

2000; Wayne State University Press; Volume: 14; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

ISSN

1536-1802

Autores

Kay Stone,

Tópico(s)

Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies

Resumo

The creative tension between these stories has fuelled feminist studies of folktales for the last decades of the twentieth century. They seem diametrically opposed, victim and victor; but it is not so simple given the deliberately enigmatic quality of wonder tales. The mysterious nature of this genre endures, even after long years of attention by a host of writers offering their own particular interpretations. Feminist scholars in particular have criticized the overabundance of passive victims and sought out more active and resourceful women. Each new study and every recreated story opens up new patterns, perspectives, and constant variations on themes. Jane Yolen's stories, for example, always make me look again at my own favored traditional tales. Even with all of this attention, no single outlook or approach offers a final answer to the mystery of this genre, because the wonde rtale at its best is multifaceted in depth and meaning, always open to new breath and breadth.

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