A review by katiemoten
Beauty and the Beast: Classic Tales About Animal Brides and Grooms from Around the World by Maria Tatar
4.0
Beauty and the Beast is my favourite fairy tale, and I picked this book up around the time the Disney live action version came out. These stories are more broadly tales of animal brides and grooms (mostly grooms), and they come from all over the world, showing how folklore and fairy tales are universal.
I was really surprised how many countries were represented in this collection, and I don't even think this is an exhaustive list. What's interesting about these stories as well is that there are a few common roots, or a few similar archetypes that groups of stories follow. Many are similar to the Beauty and the Beast tale repopularised by Disney, but we also have versions that are similar to East of the Sun, West of the Moon, which itself follows the archetype of Cupid and Psyche, and still more are closely related to The Frog King, the most famous version of which is probably the Grimm brothers' story.
Tatar comes from a more academic standpoint. She's interested in the evolution of these stories, the meaning of the animal bride or groom in terms of humanity and nature. Her introduction to the collection is really interesting in relation to this meaning, and she wonders what Beauty and the Beast stories might look like in the future.
A really interesting collection. One I'll come back to in future.
I was really surprised how many countries were represented in this collection, and I don't even think this is an exhaustive list. What's interesting about these stories as well is that there are a few common roots, or a few similar archetypes that groups of stories follow. Many are similar to the Beauty and the Beast tale repopularised by Disney, but we also have versions that are similar to East of the Sun, West of the Moon, which itself follows the archetype of Cupid and Psyche, and still more are closely related to The Frog King, the most famous version of which is probably the Grimm brothers' story.
Tatar comes from a more academic standpoint. She's interested in the evolution of these stories, the meaning of the animal bride or groom in terms of humanity and nature. Her introduction to the collection is really interesting in relation to this meaning, and she wonders what Beauty and the Beast stories might look like in the future.
A really interesting collection. One I'll come back to in future.