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Heidi
Anne Heiner
ezOP
(12/19/01 10:00:51 am)
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Scheherazade's Sisters by Marilyn Jurich
Scheherazade's Sisters by Marilyn Jurich
Is anyone familiar with this book? I have a quick opportunity to order it at a deep discount from Greenwood since I was a contributor in another publication with them this year. (Not fairy tale related, but Louisa May Alcott related.) It has been on my Amazon wish list for a while but the cost remained prohibitive. They also publish Ashliman's "Guide to English Folktales" which is a decent substitute for not being able to find and own the Aarne Thompson index.
Here is Amazon's description of the book:
"Scheherazade's sisters" are those female protagonists in folktales who use trickery to save themselves and others, to find new directions for their lives, and to declare their individual autonomies, especially in societies that diminish and oppress women. Through creative strategies that depend on verbal facility, psychological acuity, and diplomatic finesse, these female tricksters--renamed trickstars--uncover the absurdity, hypocrisy, and corruption in the larger patriarchal society. Through the trickstar's efforts, "the system" is circumvented or foiled; often enlightened and usually improved. The book is a multi-cultural, comparative study which reveals universal human traits as well as gender differences in female and male tricksters and realizes the values and attitudes which shape trickstar's character and behavior.
Thanks,
Heidi
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Karen
Unregistered User
(12/19/01 7:17:48 pm)
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I've read the book...
and found the overall thesis interesting and convincing. I also found, however, that the book as a whole was a little repetitive and a bit reductive- I was disappointed with the depth of some of the analyses- the book can, at times, read like a list of stories rather than an argument about those stories.
So I would reccomend it, but my recommendation would also be slightly qualified. AS a reference source, it is excellent- Jurich has done her scholarship.
On the book subject, I wanted to ask if anyone is familiar with Johana Frueh's Monster/Beauty.
Karen.
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