The Fairy Tale: The Magic Mirror of Imagination

By exploring the oral roots, surveying the literary history, reviewing previous scholarship, and identifying salient characteristics, this text offers readers a new comprehensive, theoretical framework for understanding the fairy tale. Evidence of the essential hallmarks of the genre is examined in seven popular fairy tales including Faithful John , Beauty and the Beast , The Wizard of Oz , The Cat in the Hat and Where the Wild Things Are . Combining formal analysis of the structure and motif of fairy tales with interpretation of the rich symbolism, Jones reveals the special artistic magic that fairy tales employ to convey their subliminal meanings. Twayne’s Studies in Literary Themes and Genres investigate continuities and changes within individual themes and genres. Each volume covers both traditional and popular expressions of the theme or genre it treats, and each is authored by a leading scholar.