I picked up this fairy tale collection in Tim’s Books, a tiny off-the-path used bookstore in Provincetown, because it had Angela Carter’s name on it, and I’ve been dedicating my book-buying to hoarding collections by the best fairy tale scholars, especially the feminist ones. It has, as you can see, a delightfully dated cover, but its ideas are very radical and timeless.
The book is a selection of fairy tales and folktales chosen by Carter (author of the brilliant The Bloody Chamber), highlighting some of the most colorful tales told by and about women. But even if you aren’t a huge fan of reading old fairy tales, the introduction by Carter is a must-read. She theorizes that fairy tales form “a vital connection […] with the imaginations of the ordinary men and women whose labour created our world.” She writes a love-letter to our working-class ancestors and the stories they passed on, linking fairy tales to other ill-regarded media like soap operas. She redefines the derogatory saying “old wives’ tales,” honoring the oral tradition of storytelling that was largely carried by women. “Old Wives’ Tales” have been dismissed as nonsense, and yet they form some of our most beloved stories we keep remaking today.
The fairy tales and folktales she picked span the globe. Some of the most delightful ones are from a collection of either Inuit and Yupik tales (alas, using the “E” term, “it was the 90s” when this book came out), several of which feature women changing gender and becoming their own relations lovers. Weird and wonderful. Some of my other favorites include an Egyptian twist on the Donkey-skin/Allerleirauh type of fairy tale (that type is always a favorite), “The Rich Farmer’s Wife,” a Norwegian tale featuring a woman who cleverly gets OUT of being the title character, and an Armenian Snow White that starts with the title character saving a comatose prince. Highly recommended for fairy tale lovers wanting to expand their exposure beyond Grimm. You can read it for free on the Internet Archive.