Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales, and: The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World (review)

It is a pleasure to address the changes and expansions that have been made in the revised editions of two of Jack Zipes's already important works: Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Talesand The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World.

In his 1979 preface to Breaking the Magic Spell,Zipes stated his purpose as investigating the relationship between the historical development of Western fairy tales, on the one hand, and, on the other, the social-psychological dynamics and instrumentalization of fantasy, particularly the "magic spell" of commodity production, which has threatened to "void the liberating magic of all serious tales" (xii). In his 2002 preface Zipes points out that, in the twenty-three years since the first edition, scholars have remained reluctant to critique relationships between fairy tales and social class, ideological conflicts, and the assumptions of various psychological approaches. The persistence of this reluctance is one of the major reasons Zipes has chosen to issue Breaking the Magic Spellin a new edition. In revising the work, he has, in particular, deepened his treatment of the impact of the culture industry and the political nature of economics on fairy-tale production.

As Zipes explains in his new preface, all of the seven essays in the book have been fully revised and updated. Changes have included expanding his interpretations at some points and changing or correcting his opinions at others. As to specific chapters: The essay "On the Use and Abuse of Folk and Fairy Tales with Children: Bruno Bettelheim's Moralistic Magic Wand" contains a new prologue in which Zipes summarizes Bettelheim's personal challenges and professional failings that impinged upon (and helped to create) his controversial study of fairy-tale use with children. The final essay, "The Radical Morality of Rats, Fairies, Wizards and Ogres: Taking Children's Literature Seriously," is completely new and was written expressly for the revised edition. Zipes's major point here concerns the conflict between the functional and critical literacies of children, and it is within this context, Zipes believes, that the role of children's literature (as well as of films and television programs) must be assessed. He writes: "If a text does not somehow stimulate a reader/viewer to reflect creatively and critically about his/her surroundings, to question himself or herself and the world, then it has, in my opinion, very little value for the social, moral and psychological development of young people" (210). In pursuing this opinion, Zipes questions the social and moral value of works such as the Harry Potter books and contrasts them with ones that "demand more attention" (212) from readers/viewers, thereby stimulating the latter's critical faculties. Preferable works include books by Philip Pulman, Francesca Lia Block, Donna Jo Napoli, and William Steig as well as the film Shrek.

In the 1988 edition of The Brothers Grimm,Zipes sought answers to a range of questions concerning the Grimms' revision of their tales, their successful efforts toward the institutionalization of the fairy-tale genre, the Germanic "nature" of the tradition in which they worked, and the form their tales have taken in modern times in various Western countries. Changes to his answers to these questions in the 2002 edition, Zipes points out, owe much to the thinking of Christa Kamenetsky, who, in her study The Brothers Grimm and Their Critics(1993), questioned Zipes's original theses. Reflecting this and other influences, Zipes states, all of the essays in the new edition have been "thoroughly reexamined, expanded, and altered in substantial ways" (xv). In addition, considerable biographical data on the Grimms has been added to the original chapter 1, which has now been divided into two...