From The Beast to the Blonde

On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers

Marina Warner

In this landmark study of the history and meaning of fairy tales, the celebrated cultural critic Marina Warner looks at storytelling in art and legend-from the prophesying enchantress who lures men to a false paradise, to jolly Mother Goose with her masqueraders in the real world. Why are storytellers so often women, and how does that affect the status of fairy tales? Are they a source of wisdom or a misleading temptation to indulge in romancing?
Warner interprets the history of old wives' tales form sibyls and the Queen of Sheba to Charles Pettault, the Brothers Grimm, and Angele Carter. And with fresh new insights she shows us the real-life themes in the famous stories, which, she suggests, are skillful verhicles by which adults have liked to convey advice, warning, and hope - to each other as well to children.

"It is for all of us, just as fairy tales are, revealing the healing powers of the imagination and showering us with it's delights."
- Michele Roberts, The Independent on Sunday (London)

"As befits its subject, it is something of splendor - marvelous, bizarre, exotic - but at the same time as familiar as porridge. It's crammed full of goodies... dand profusely illustrated ... it is also simply essential reading for anyone concerned, not only with fairy tales, myths and legends, but also with how stories of all kinds get told."
- Margaret Atwood, Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Warner's book has a tremendous sweep of reference from classical and medieval beliefs about women's tale-spinning powers to the case of Salman Rushdie. It reproduces scores of historical artworks and images from modern popupair culture to illustrate the endless migration of symbols and plots from lore to picture and back... Everyone is certain to learn something from such an impressive package of history and cultural observation."
- Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle

Marina Warner is the author of four novels and many works of nonfiction, notably Alone of All Her Sex and Monuments and Maidens. Recently she edited a collection of six seventeenth-century French fairy tales, Wonder Tales. She lives in London.