fairy tales remixed

many times upon a time

Lately, I’ve been drawn to fairy tales¹ and their re-inventions. What is it about these classic archetypes that still inspire adaptation and interpretation? Confronting, re-contextualizing and playing with traditional tales to create a radically new thing (while still paying homage to the bones of the original) is exhilarating when cleverly done. Now, I almost never approve of this when its done with classic literature², but because fairy tales are folklore and not attributed to just one author, I’m all about their reinterpretations. What I never want to read is some Pride and Prejudice sequel where Darcy and Elizabeth like solve murders or something.³

To no one’s surprise, I’m primarily interested in reading versions of these stories where the damsel isn’t just sitting around in distress, waiting for the prince to come. There are endless revisionist versions of fairy tales out there so I’m sure this is just the first in a series of posts. Today’s entry concentrates on books that blend the classic fairy tale with modernity and a sense of the meta, allowing our heroines to re-claim and control their own narratives. That’s a happily ever after I’m on board for.

Now, keep away from roses, spindles and breadcrumbs and open one of these books to find yourself in a tale as old, yet as new, as time.

Bryony and Roses by T. Kingfisher

You know the drill: a young woman happens upon an enchanted house and its enchanted occupant and is promptly imprisoned. Roses play a role. Then, there are mysteries to solve, sexual tensions to develop, libraries to lust over and enemies to defeat.

This one takes a few beats from the beginning of the classic Beauty and the Beast tale and upends them to create something truly unique. It’s atmosphere is lively, a bit silly and sweet with some dashes of darkness. I always and forever adore T. Kingfisher⁴; her voice, sassy attitude, modern sensibilities and heroines who are that terrific combination of stubborn, snarky, clever and bold. Bryony is always the main character in her own story and has vital talents that are actually plot significant. Twist!

This is short, exciting and funny with some true suspense at the end and is littered with playful banter⁵. It isn’t one that I’ve come across on any recommendation lists so consider it a hidden gem. I hope it encourages you to pick up more of T. Kingfisher’s work. Weird cover though.

How to be Eaten by Maria Adelmann

This book imagines classic fairy tale heroines (Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard’s Wife, Gretel etc) as modern day women at a support group meeting. Each has lived through immense trauma (gaslighting, captivity, being eaten etc) and are attempting to confront, address and process their histories as danger continues to lurk within and without.

A contemporary remix of well-known characters plugged into our modern world, this uses the well-known framework of fairy tale heroines to explore the commercialization of true crime, media sensationalism, viral videos of tragedy and imposed expectations upon the female body. It explores beyond “happily ever after” as it dissects time-worn tropes; what they represent and how they exploit people then and now. It addresses culture’s fixation on violence and the gender disparity in our formative stories as we witness these women process, contextualize and confront their histories and characterizations within our modern context. It’s an intriguing premise and while it didn’t consistently deliver in its execution, it is a worthy thought experiment nonetheless.

Fractured Fables: A Spindle Splintered and A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow

Two novellas comprise Fractured Fables: A Spindle Splintered and A Mirror Mended. ⁶

A Spindle Splintered begins on Zinnia Gray’s 21st birthday which she was not expected to reach due to her fatal illness. When she finds herself thrust inside many varieties of the Sleeping Beauty narrative with the titular character herself, she attempts to change the fate that Story has created for them.

A Mirror Mended follows Zinnia as well, but I can’t say much more without spoiling the first one. Suffice it to say that its more fairy tale hopping, genre bending and narrative challenging with an “evil” queen as its focus.

Sharp eyed readers of previous posts will recognize Alix E. Harrow’s⁷ name as she has already appeared twice in this newsletter. That I started two months ago. Obviously, I love her way with words. These books are super meta stories within stories ⁸ that confront fate, destiny and archetypal narrative structures with sci-fi/multiversal elements and are full of tropes and anti-tropes. Zinnia is sarcastic, cynical and irritating though full of deep empathy and heart. She isn’t nice but she is well drawn and fun to observe as she confronts myths and prescriptive narrative forms to fight for the chance to choose one’s own story and ending.

These overflow with contemporary pop culture references which can be fun, but may be annoying to some readers so just be warned. These are fast, entertaining, multiversal adventures with some brilliant ways to warp the typical character arcs of female fairy tale figures.

I read these as preview copies so I missed out on the artwork that the actual versions have; look out for grimly beautiful silhouetted illustrations that add to the fairy tale flavor.

“Sleeping Beauty is the worst fairy tale, pretty much any way you slice it.
It’s aimless and amoral and chauvinist as shit. It’s the fairy tale that feminist scholars cite when they want to talk about women’s passivity in historical narratives. (“She literally sleeps through her own climax,” as my favorite gender studies professor used to say. “Double entendre fully intended.”)... Even among the other nerds who majored in folklore, Sleeping Beauty is nobody’s favorite. The romantic girls like Beauty and the Beast; basic girls like Cinderella; goth girls like Snow White. Only the dying girls like Sleeping Beauty.”

Extra Credit #1: The Lost Princess: Women Writers and the History of Classic Fairy Tales by Anne E. Duggan. This wasn’t compellingly written so while I don’t recommend it, its content was fascinating and worthy of learning about. Basically, it details how many classic fairy tales (often attributed to Charles Perrault/the Grimm bros/Hans Christian Andersen) were actually written to great success by women authors first⁹. Also known as conteuses, Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy, Marie-Jeanne L’Héritier and Charlotte-Rose de La Force wrote popular fairy tales for adults that took on their own repressive societies.¹⁰ Their tales often had more bad-ass¹¹ heroines, weird and thrilling escapades and were hugely influential. Fascinating stuff. For a quick overview on this topic, check out the Guardian article: The first fairytales were feminist critiques of patriarchy. We need to revive their legacy by Melissa Ashley.

Extra Credit #2: Angourie Rice¹² hosts The Community Library, “a fortnightly podcast for anyone interested in stories, and how and why we tell them” and has an entire series dedicated to fairy tales. She dives deep into their origins and compares/contrasts them to their film counterparts, concentrating mostly on the Disney adaptations. I’m really inspired by her podcast passion project; she is brainy, motivated and talented. Basically a heroine. Extra Credit to the Extra Credit: I loved her in the shrewdly funny Honor Society.

Got any other fairy tale remixes to add? Share with the class!

1. why are they called fairy tales, when many of them don’t contain fairies?

2. with one very notable exception, maybe i’ll share one day

3. things like this make me crazy

4. recognize her name from the cozy romantasy post?

5. my drug of choice

6. aren’t these fun to say?

7. the author of starling house from retreat to move forward and ten thousand doors of january from escape to another world

8. an alix special

9. -_-

10. more than one was thrown into a convent

11. for lack of a more graspable vibe

12. and her lovely, soothing, Australian voice