Spellbound: The Fairy Tale and the Victorians by Molly Clark Hillard (review)

In Spellbound: The Fairy Tale and the Victorians Molly Clark Hillard counters the common perception that fairy tales are and were for children, focusing on their pervasive occurrence in Victorian literature aimed at an adult audience. She argues that fairy tales, despite the Victorian (and current) tendency to dismiss them as childish or quaint, had a significant influence on Victorian literary genres. Rather than offering a wistful, romantic retreat from modern industrial England, as is commonly theorized, fairy tales were a means by which societal changes and trends were discussed. The popularity of fairy tales in Victorian England occurred at a time when the formation of the novel and new movements in narrative poetry and painting coincided with an increase in mass literacy and popular presses, resulting in considerable crossover between genres. These intersections provided a rich environment in which to consider the sweeping social changes happening at that time, and Hillard argues that fairy tales were a primary metaphor with which Victorians did so. She examines their prevalence in Victorian literature to show that fairy tales were inextricably entwined with Victorian intellectual culture.

Hillard organizes her book according to major Victorian conversations, focusing on time, industrial and imperial progress, and perceptions of labor, showing how fairy-tale treatments of these topics dominate literary representations. Part 1, “Matter,” focuses on the concern of novels about uncontained narratives at a time when the genre itself was still being defined. Part 2, “Spell,” discusses perceptions of time and temporality as they were explored in retellings and visual representations of “Sleeping Beauty.” Part 3, “Produce,” continues with an examination of the use of fairies and goblins in portrayals of industry. Part 4, “Paraphrase,” concludes the book with an analysis of “Little Red Riding Hood” retellings and their connection to fears about urban life and its moral effect on young women.

For the purposes of her book, Hillard makes no distinction between the terms fairy tale, fairy story, and folk narrative. Because the Victorians themselves did not differentiate, Hillard uses the terms as interchangeably as they did to create the most complete picture of the material they were using. In addition, those terms are currently under debate in folkloristics circles and entering into that conversation is not the purpose of this work. Hillard’s concern with this project is not to analyze the origins or fidelity of any particular retelling but to examine how fairy tales shape the literature and culture into which they are adopted. Because this book confines itself to literary and artistic retellings and focuses on how fairy tales are used, rather than considering the tales themselves, it is best suited for literary scholars rather than folklorists. It makes a valuable contribution to Victorian fairy-tale research, broadening the understanding of the Victorian fascination with fairy tales and their significance in Victorian culture.

This book is quite successful at studying the relationship between fairy tales and economic ideologies and concerns. Examining representations of industry in Victorian literature, Hillard finds that the terms fairy and goblin began to take on different meanings as Victorians endeavored to reconcile mixed feelings about the effects of industrialization and consumer culture on Victorian society. Fairies became associated with benevolence, whereas goblins became a dangerous Other, depicted as savage and rapacious. Despite attempts to displace fears onto a goblin Other, goblins remained linked with humanity and domestic production, revealing the negative aspects of Victorian industry. In another strong chapter, Hillard does an interesting analysis of Dickens’s use of “Little Red Riding Hood,” linking the fairy tale not only to sexually vulnerable young women but also to rapacious male characters who blend elements of the Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood. Driven by uncontrolled desires, they are swallowed by the Thames and punished for their hunger. Through these characters, middle-class consumerism and greed were displaced into a working-class environment, allowing Dickens to critique the ill effects and potential outcomes. Hillard effectively shows how fairy tales...