The tales that reach inside us

kw: book reviews, fantasy, fairy tales, collections

After reading How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen, it took me a few days to work out just how to review it. I realized that using my usual methods I could not avoid serious spoilers.

Having been primed by the cover of Bitwise, I noticed the odd green hue on this cover. Sure enough, under black light it has quite a different aspect, but although the green ink is fluorescent, it is not phosphorescent.

Stories of giants, monsters and supernatural creatures are more than just children's entertainment. They allow us to think, "What if I was like [insert favorite monster]?" We may identify with the prince or the hero when we're little, but later on, we tend to identify with the giant, the dragon, the vampire, or whatever.

I can't be certain that Ms Yolen consciously obtained her title from the "Fractured Fairy Tales" feature of old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, favorite fodder of my teen years. Actually, only one story in this book partakes of the spirit of the cartoon, for this Snow White gets a jump on the stepmother and brains her with a frying pan when she visits the Dwarves' cottage. A more satisfying ending, don't you think?

The stories partake of numerous cultures, from Japan ("Foxwife", where the wife's name is Kitsune, キツネ) to Scotland ("Sule Skerry"), from China (a few featuring Eastern dragons) to Israel ("Wrestling with Angels"). Prompted by the author's Jewish heritage, two (three?) stories feature time travel to or near the Holocaust in Eastern Europe, one in particular in which a young women is brought by Elijah to rescue a little girl who will become her great-grandmother. Some are more explicit fractures of well-worn sayings ("Cinder Elephant" and "Sleeping Ugly" for example).

The last 35+ pages of the book have musings on the tales, and a poem for each, sometimes following the theme, sometimes in stark contrast. And I really ought to end right there.