-Caveat Lector- KA <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The main reason being, the very best of children's literature did not > start out as children's literature...it was turned into such by the > Victorians and the Edwardians, and solidified in that genre by Disney... > > But if one is lucky enough to get one's hand on a very early copy of, > say, Grimm's, one easily can see that what got termed 'fairytales' were > adaptations of earlier folktales, stories told around the fireside for > the whole village, adults included... > > Those original stories contained quite a bit of sex and violence, which > got sanitized in the Victorian era, and all but excised in the 20th > century... > > But they were stories which reflected the psyches of the listeners... > and dealt with matters both sacred and profane, with day-to-day life and > with matters of the spirit...and so it is no wonder that they still > 'resonate' with us, as that is exactly what they were designed to do, no > matter what era they were told...the issues these stories dealt with are > issues we still deal with today...love, politics, day-to-day survival > (and the quest to raise oneself above one's station), seemingly random > events/disasters and the search for meaning in same... > > And yes, these stories were a convenient way to present the moral > precepts of the dominant religion, whether one prayed to Thor or > Yahweh... > > > >I think one can only see this as dangerous or "evil" if one is > >entirely wedded to a religious dogma that considers the ideas > >in these stories heretical. > > The irony is, the Christian church latched on to many of the pre-existing > legends and gave them a Christian veneer...others were developed later, > DURING Christian rule, and presented esoteric Christian precepts in a > guise that was palatable and understandable to the illiterate masses > (including the aristocracy, most of whom were illiterate throughout the > Medeival era...) These are very good points, June. The problem with analyzing children's literature is that it is always written by adults, and thus has to be seen on at least two levels: first, the obvious, "surface" level, where you find the often simplistic plot and one-dimensional characters designed to appeal to and be understood by young minds; and second, the not-so-obvious hidden level, the double meanings, the symbolism and metaphors inserted by the writer often without the conscious intention of doing so. "Fairy tales" are always teaching tales, whether presented that way or not. The Grimms collected the *Hausmaerchen* both to preserve folklore and study the survival of Germanic mythological themes over time, and also to study the evolution of the German language and its dialects, since folk tales and folklore in general tend to preserve archaic speech patterns. What became clear to the Grimms and their successors was that fairy tales are essentially didactic and ritualistc. They teach a lesson, frequently on multiple levels, and they are designed (whether deliberately or incidentally) to reinforce that lesson by being acted out over and over again. When collected into one volume, they become, sometimes, "holy scriptures," and we call them the Bible or the Bhagavad-Gita... ================================= Robert F. Tatman [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Remove "nospam" from the address to reply. NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml POSTING THIS MESSAGE TO THE INTERNET DOES NOT IMPLY PERMISSION TO SEND UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL E-MAIL (SPAM) TO THIS OR ANY OTHER INTERNET ADDRESS. 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