In this Book

  • In Search of the Swan Maiden: A Narrative on Folklore and Gender
  • Book
  • Barbara Fass Leavy
  • 1995
  • Published by: NYU Press
    • Viewed
    • View Citation
summary

In her compendious study, [of the folktale of the runaway wife] Leavy argues that the contradictory claims of nature and culture are embodied in the legendary figure of the swan maiden, a woman torn between the human and bestial worlds.
--The New York Times Book Review

This is a study of the meaning of gender as framed by the swan maiden tale, a story found in the folklore of virtually every culture. The swan maiden is a supernatural woman forced to marry, keep house, and bear children for a mortal man who holds the key to her imprisonment. When she manages to regain this key, she escapes to the otherworld, never to return.

These tales have most often been interpreted as depicting exogamous marriages, describing the girl from another tribe trapped in a world where she will always be the outsider. Barbara Fass Leavy believes that, in the societies in which the tale and its variants endured, woman was the other--the outsider trapped in a society that could never be her own. Leavy shows how the tale, though rarely explicitly recognized, is frequently replayed in modern literature.

Beautifully written, this book reveals the myriad ways in which the folktales of a society reflect its cultural values, and particularly how folktales are allegories of gender relations. It will interest anyone involved in literary, gender, and cultural studies.

Table of Contents

Download PDF Download Full Book
  1. Cover
  2. open access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Half-Title Page, Title Page, Copyright, Dedication
  2. open access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Contents
  2. pp. vii-xiii
  3. open access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Preface
  2. pp. 1-10
  3. open access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Chapter 1. Introduction: The Dangerous Adventure
  2. pp. 11-32
  3. open access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Chapter 2. Urvasi and the Swan Maidens: The Runaway Wife
  2. pp. 33-63
  3. open access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Chapter 3. The Devil's Bride
  2. pp. 64-100
  3. open access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Chapter 4. The Animal Groom
  2. pp. 101-155
  3. open access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Chapter 5. Swan Maiden and Incubus
  2. pp. 156-195
  3. open access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Chapter 6. The Animal Bride
  2. pp. 196-244
  3. open access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Chapter 7. Orpheus's Quest
  2. pp. 245-276
  3. open access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Chapter 8. Etain's Two Husbands: The Swan Maiden's Choice
  2. pp. 277-302
  3. open access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Notes
  2. pp. 303-338
  3. open access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Bibliography
  2. pp. 339-368
  3. open access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Index of Selected Names and Titles
  2. pp. 369-374
  3. open access
    • PDF icon Download
  1. Back Cover
  2. open access
    • PDF icon Download
Back To Top