Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned

A new collection of subversive French fairy tales

The wolf is tricked by Red Riding Hood into strangling her grandmother and is subsequently arrested. Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella do not live happily ever after. And the fairies are saucy, angry, and capricious. Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned collects thirty-six tales, many newly translated, by writers associated with the decadent literary movement, which flourished in France in the late nineteenth century. Written by such creative luminaries as Charles Baudelaire, Anatole France, and Guillaume Apollinaire, these enchanting yet troubling stories reflect the concerns and fascinations of a time of great political, social, and cultural change. Recasting well-known favorites from classic French fairy tales, as well as Arthurian legends and English and German tales, the updated interpretations in this collection allow for more perverse settings and disillusioned perspectives—a trademark style and ethos of the decadent tradition.

In these stories, characters puncture the optimism of the naive, talismans don't work, and the most deserving don’t always get the best rewards. The fairies are commonly victims of modern cynicism and technological advancement, but just as often are dangerous creatures corrupted by contemporary society. The collection underlines such decadent themes as the decline of civilization, the degeneration of magic and the unreal, gender confusion, and the incursion of the industrial. The volume editors provide an informative introduction, biographical notes for each author, and explanatory notes throughout.

Subverting the conventions of the traditional fairy tale, these old tales made new will entertain and startle even the most disenchanted readers.

"Both useful and delightful."---Ephraim Nissan, Fabula

"Besides being a thoroughly engaging read, Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned is an extraordinary contribution to the fairy-tale canon. As with the last fairy and the genie in Veber’s tale, waiting patiently in the last remnant of enchanted forest, by translating many of these stories, and retrieving countless others long out of print, Schultz and Seifert have managed to recover a little bit of the magic so necessary for modern life."---Victoria Leslie, Gramarye Journal

"Schultz and Seifert's volume is both useful and delightful."---Ephraim Nissan, Avocetta

"This is a beautiful book that features a wide range of decadent fairy tales from France that fills a large gap in English readers' access to such texts. Gretchen Schultz and Lewis Seifert have done a wonderful job in bringing these together."---Richard Marshall, 3AM Magazine

"Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned, as a whole, is a powerful and incisive exemplar of the world of the adult fairy tale, in all its historical relevance, and should serve as a worthy introduction to the very best in the subject."---Lois C. Henderson, Bookpleasures.com

"This is a valuable collection of 36 tales, originally written from 1870-1914, by 19 French authors. Most, though not all, were well-known writers associated with the decadent movement. . . . This is a wonderful resource for scholars of fairy tales and decadent literature and a timely, thought-provoking collection for nonspecialists."

"In these deliberately tarnished tales . . . wondrousness mainly shines through in their often beautiful imagery."---Michael Dirda, Washington Post

"It's easy to see why Fairy Tales For the Disillusioned is capturing rave reviews. Our cultural climate is ripe for such a round of stories and, as the series from which it appears states, these are, indeed Oddly Modern Fairy Tales."

"[S]ometimes sardonic, sometimes brutal, often blackly funny and possessed of a peculiarly modern sensibility."---Cameron Woodhead, Sydney Morning Herald

"[F]un and intriguing . . . . [E]xcellent windows into a period in history, especially in France, when politics and world strife . . . made it hard to embrace the [happily ever after] of the popular fairy tales."---Heidi Anne Heiner, SurLaLune Fairy Tales

"Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned brings together fairy tales by canonical and noncanonical nineteenth-century French authors. Many of these works have not been anthologized for an English audience—nor a French one—and these translated texts provide a complex view not only of the decadent tale but also of the possibilities of the fairy tale in general."—Anne E. Duggan, author of Queer Enchantments

"French fairy tales are too often associated only with the emergence of the genre, especially Charles Perrault's influential stories, and then much later with fairy-tale films. Where did all the fairies go in the nineteenth century? Featuring a wide range of translated decadent fairy tales from France, this welcome and entertaining collection fills a large gap in English readers' access to such texts. It will definitely have a place in my library."—Cristina Bacchilega, author of Fairy Tales Transformed?