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Our fascination with fairy tales is never ending, and their foundational messages and meanings continue to speak to the human condition. Norton's Second Critical Edition of The Classic Fairy Tales, again edited by Maria Tatar, aims to show the flexibility and adaptability of these tales, their timeless nature, and our continuing wonder in regarding them.
Structuring this second edition in the same helpful format as the first, Tatar provides an introduction at the beginning of each chapter that focuses on a specific tale type, placing the tale in context and providing some background information. Following the introduction, she supplies the traditional version of each story, translating most of them herself from their original languages. Included are fairy tales from Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, Giambattista Basile, and Joseph Jacobs. Although the book mostly focuses on the European fairy tale tradition, some chapters include tales from other world cultures. Also incorporated into each chapter along with the traditional versions are modern revisionings by authors well known for such work. For example, Angela Carter's "Tiger Bride" is included in the chapter on "Beauty and the Beast," Neil Gaiman's "Glass, Snow, and Apples" shows up in the discussion of "Snow White," and the chapter on the Bluebeard tale type contains Margaret Atwood's "Bluebeard's Egg." The fairy tale texts section of the book diverges slightly from that of the first edition in its inclusion of Sleeping Beauty tales. In addition, "Hansel and Gretel," to which the first edition had devoted an entire chapter, has been folded into a new chapter entitled "Tricksters." Also in this edition, as in...