Forbidden Journeys: Fairy Tales and Fantasies by Victorian Women Writers

Book Overview

As these eleven dark and wild stories demonstrate, fairy tales by Victorian women constitute a distinct literary tradition, one startlingly subversive of the society that fostered it. From Anne Thackeray Ritchie's adaptations of "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" to Christina Rossetti's unsettling antifantasies in Speaking Likenesses, these are breathtaking acts of imaginative freedom, by turns amusing, charming, and disturbing. Besides their social and historical implications, they are extraordinary stories, full of strange delights for readers of any age.

"Forbidden Journeys is not only a darkly entertaining book to read for the fantasies and anti-fantasies told, but also is a significant contribution to nineteenth-century cultural history, and especially feminist studies."-United Press International

"A service to feminists, to Victorian Studies, to children's literature and to children."-Beverly Lyon Clark, Women's Review of Books

"These are stories to laugh over, cheer at, celebrate, and wince at. . . . Forbidden Journeys is a welcome reminder that rebellion was still possible, and the editors' intelligent and fascinating commentary reveals ways in which these stories defied the Victorian patriarchy."-Allyson F. McGill, Belles Lettres

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226032043
• ISBN13: 9780226032047
• Release Date: November 1993
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 380 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Fabulous Fairy Tales

If you're interested in an excellent overview of the literary fairy tale, in particular its use by Victorian Women writers, this book is the best I know. The authors present their argument in logical and readible chapters that highlight the tales that follow. Auerbach and Knoepflmacher are constantly referenced by other scholars for good reason. Their conclusions are insightful and useful, and I highly recommend them.

Fantastic fantasy collection

Auerbach and Knoepflmacher have assembled a fascinating collection of fairy tales by Victorian women writers. The collection offer rarities by well-known writers such as E. Nesbit, Christina Rosetti and Francis Hodgson Burnett and by forgotten, but equally interesting, writers such as Jean Ingelow. Absorbing reads all on their own, the stories also offer interesting contrasts to the better-known Victorian children's fantasies authored by men, such as Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and the Oz books. The editors' discussion of the stories (and one novel) are enlightening without being heavy-handed. An extra pleasure is the inclusion of several illustrations. This is that rare piece of lit. crit. that can be read aloud to children--I particularly recommend E. Nesbit's stories for this purpose.