Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales

Jacket Description/Back: Fairy tales and their exaggerated characters, from the "evil stepmother" to the "virginal bride", have been a resonant chord throughout Western culture, providing provocative challenges to and mirrors of women's complex sense of themselves - and the expectations of the world around them. In Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Kate Bernheimer brings together twenty-four of our foremost contemporary women writers to discuss, in poetic narratives, evocative personal histories, and penetrating essays, how the fairy tales we all grew up with - from "Cinderella" and "Little Red Riding Hood" to "Bluebeard" and "The Princess and the Pea" - have affected their emotional lives, their work, and the culture they live in. For some of the writers, fairy tales were their first formative experience of literature, and several turned to fairy tales in creating their own fiction as adults. Others rebelled utterly at the cultural stereotypes and the roles assigned to women in these tales, and in their essays explore the impact such fairy tales have had on our mores and thinking. Jacket Description/Flap: New edition (revised and expanded) available 8/13/02. Fairy tales are one of the most enduring forms of literature, their plots retold and characters reimagined for centuries. In this elegant and thought-provoking collection of original essays, Kate Bernheimer brings together twenty-eight leading women writers to discuss how these stories helped shape their imaginations, their craft, and our culture. In poetic narratives, personal histories, and penetrating commentary, the assembled authors bare their soul and challenge received wisdom. Eclectic and wide-ranging, "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall is essential reading for anyone who has ever been bewitched by the strange and fanciful realm of fairy tales. Contributors include: Alice Adams, Julia Alvarez, Margaret Atwood, Ann Beattie, Rosellen Brown, A. S. Byatt, Kathryn Davis, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Deborah Eisenberg, Maria Flook, Patricia Foster, Vivian Gornick, Lucy Grealy, bell hooks, Fanny Howe, Fern Kupfer, Ursula K. Le Guin, Carole Maso, Jane Miller, Lydia Millet, Joyce Carol Oates, Connie Porter, Francine Prose, Linda Gray Sexton, Midori Snyder, Fay Weldon, Joy Williams, Terri Windling. Marc Notes: Twenty-eight leading women writers discuss how their favorite fairy tales shape their imaginations, their craft, and our culture. Publisher Marketing: Fairy tales and their exaggerated characters, from the "evil stepmother" to the "virginal bride, " have been a resonant chord throughout Western culture, providing provocative challenges to and mirrors of women's complex sense of themselves - and the expectations of the world around them. In Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Kate Bernheimer brings together twenty-four of our foremost contemporary women writers to discuss, in poetic narratives, evocative personal histories, and penetrating essays, how the fairy tales we all grew up with - from "Cinderella" and "Little Red Riding Hood" to "Bluebeard" and "The Princess and the Pea" - have affected their emotional lives, their work, and the culture they live in. For some of the writers, fairy tales were their first formative experience of literature, and several turned to fairy tales in creating their own fiction as adults. Others rebelled utterly at the cultural stereotypes and the roles assigned to women in these tales, and in their essays explore the impact such fairy tales have had on our mores and thinking. Publisher Marketing: New edition (revised and expanded) available 8/13/02. Fairy tales are one of the most enduring forms of literature, their plots retold and characters reimagined for centuries. In this elegant and thought-provoking collection of original essays, Kate Bernheimer brings together twenty-eight leading women writers to discuss how these stories helped shape their imaginations, their craft, and our culture. In poetic narratives, personal histories, and penetrating commentary, the assembled authors bare their soul and challenge received wisdom. Eclectic and wide-ranging, "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" is essential reading for anyone who has ever been bewitched by the strange and fanciful realm of fairy tales. Contributors include: Alice Adams, Julia Alvarez, Margaret Atwood, Ann Beattie, Rosellen Brown, A. S. Byatt, Kathryn Davis, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Deborah Eisenberg, Maria Flook, Patricia Foster, Vivian Gornick, Lucy Grealy, bell hooks, Fanny Howe, Fern Kupfer, Ursula K. Le Guin, Carole Maso, Jane Miller, Lydia Millet, Joyce Carol Oates, Connie Porter, Francine Prose, Linda Gray Sexton, Midori Snyder, Fay Weldon, Joy Williams, Terri Windling. Review Citations:

Library Journal 06/15/1998 pg. 80 (EAN 9780385486811, Paperback)

Contributor Bio:  Bernheimer, Kate Kate Bernheimer has written novels for adults, and is the editor of the literary journal Fairy Tale Review. She is an assistant professor of creative writing in the MFA program at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. She lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with her husband and daughter. Nicoletta Cecolli is the illustrator of many acclaimed picture books published around the world, including "The Barefoot Book of Fairy Tales," retold by Malachy Doyle. She lives in San Marino, Italy. "From the Hardcover edition."