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Author
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Comment
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WaldorfTeacher
Unregistered User
(10/22/04 8:26 am)
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Fairy Tales used for Modern Situations
I am a Waldorf early childhood educator in Maine and I just came across your
site while researching Samuel Marshak's play Twelve Months. Our faculty is
searching for fairy tales which might approximate the experience of modern
children in distress because of divorce or other breakdowns in the adult
world around them. Hansel and Gretel is a natural, but could you suggest
others - including multicultural? Is there a broad index of themes in the
realm of fairy tales that we could use as a reference? I'm sure we are not
the only teachers with such a question.
Thank you for your help.
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AlisonPegg
Registered User
(10/22/04 12:31 pm)
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Re: Fairy Tales used for Modern Situations
Have you thought of looking at modern fairy tales? It seems to me that there is a great need to write fairy tales that are speaking about the very issues you mention. Here's an example from my own site17 X the Moon
It's calledThe strange Tale of the Boy who swallowed a Wolf
Another story dealing with the problem of being different and not fitting in is The Strange Tale of the Golden Pomegranate
Hope you find them interesting anyway!
All the best
alison
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Veronica Schanoes
Registered User
(10/22/04 2:57 pm)
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Re: Fairy Tales used for Modern Situations
Have you checked out The Armless Maiden edited by Terri Windling? It's a collection of retellings of fairy tales specifically with respect to childhood trauma. It's out of print now, I believe, but you should be able to find it at a library, and if memory serves it contains good discussions of uses of the original fairy tales in such contexts as well.
The Donkeyskin story has great resonance with experiences of incest and other kinds of sexual abuse.
Edited to add that there is a really interesting example of Hansel and Gretel being found and used by abused stepchildren to console themselves in the novel China Boy which seems to be based in memoir by Gus Lee.
Edited by: Veronica Schanoes at: 10/23/04 11:15 am
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