Fairy Tales and After: From Snow White to E. B. White by Roger Sale (English) Pa

Description: Fairy Tales and After by Roger Sale Serious literary criticism of childrens books is so rare that Roger Sales entry is news; what makes it good news is that Sale has no axe to grind - the books effect on children is incidental for him to their success as books. Rereading childhood favorites to clear away memories and precepts, he succumbed again to Dr. Seuss Five Hundred Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins ("How wonderful, when things just happened to happen, to get not only from one to two. . . but to get back home again"), saw more than he had in de Brunhoffs Babar books, and resisted A.A. Milnes stories of Christopher Robin - to the indignation of his undergraduate students, unreconciled to leaving the Forest. Separate, linked essays follow, at once personal and closely analytical, on fairy tales, oral and written; on the role of talking animals; on nonrealistic latter-day works from the two Alices to Beatrix Potter, Kenneth Grahame, Kiplings Jungle Books and Kim, the Oz books, and, for final contrast, Walter Brooks stories of Freddy the pig and E.B. Whites Charlottes Web. Sale disputes Bettelheims view of fairy tales, in The Uses of Enchantment, as aids to maturation. The task with the two Alices, he contends - challenging the exegetes - "is to stick close to the surface of what is presented and to read that surface hard" (which yields, here, a brilliant interpretation of the White Queen). He looks into Beatrix Potters life, and Kenneth Grahames and Kiplings, to sort out their intentions: Kim "is profligate, a huge mural of all that Kipling has known and cared about India"; The Wind in the Willows is "the work of a man becoming increasingly miserable" - thus Moles delight in discovering Rats river and, in turn, Rats praise of Moles "poor, cold little" home. Sale writes with a sensitivity and acuity that will draw readers back or, with equal validity, draw them on. (Kirkus Reviews) FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description Roger Sale invites us to discover anew some of the great works of childrens literature, works that have been read and loved but seldom given the benefit of serious literary assessment. It takes a critic of special gifts-receptiveness, discrimination, clarity of perception, independence of judgment-to discuss these books as illuminatingly as Sale does.This is not a survey but a very personal book: Sale writes about stories and books with which he feels an imaginative sympathy. As it happens, they include a great many of the classic childrens texts, works as disparate as "Beauty and the Beast" and Alice, The Wind in the Willows and Babar, "The Snow Queen" and Peter Rabbit, the Jungle Book and the Oz books. He conveys a fresh sense of what is special and memorable about each of them.While avoiding conventional literary history, he sketches the circumstances of the authors life when they provide insight into the works. Unlike Bettelheim and others, Sale is not concerned with the "uses" of childrens literature. He writes for adults, with the conviction that adults can find delight in these books. Many already do, and perhaps with his stimulus, many more will. Review Roger Sale has written a most unusual book on the subject of childrens literature; one that refuses to pigeonhole its subject matter as a distinct—and therefore implicitly minor—literary genre… Never has so urbane, so civilized—in sum, so adult—a voice been raised on behalf of childrens books. It is high time. * Inquiry *Sale concentrates on what he calls the classic successes: Lewis Carroll, Beatrix Potter, Kenneth Grahames Wind in the Willows, Kiplings Kim, L. Frank Baums Oz series, Whites Charlottes Web, and the Freddy stories of Walter R. Brooks. About these authors and books he has written essays that are a near-perfect blend of literary criticism and psychological portraiture. * New Yorker *[Sale] is interesting and very engaging; he is a constructive rather than a destructive—or a deconstructive—critic. In this era of self-conscious and abstruse (often obtuse) textual analysis, his air of wondering and grateful appreciation, his concern for the writers intention, and his willingness to use the word I seem most attractive. * New York Review of Books *It is all, as Charlotte, that spidery spinner of words, puts it: TERRIFIC. * Boston Globe * Kirkus US Review Serious literary criticism of childrens books is so rare that Roger Sales entry is news; what makes it good news is that Sale has no axe to grind - the books effect on children is incidental for him to their success as books. Rereading childhood favorites to clear away memories and precepts, he succumbed again to Dr. Seuss Five Hundred Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins ("How wonderful, when things just happened to happen, to get not only from one to two. . . but to get back home again"), saw more than he had in de Brunhoffs Babar books, and resisted A.A. Milnes stories of Christopher Robin - to the indignation of his undergraduate students, unreconciled to leaving the Forest. Separate, linked essays follow, at once personal and closely analytical, on fairy tales, oral and written; on the role of talking animals; on nonrealistic latter-day works from the two Alices to Beatrix Potter, Kenneth Grahame, Kiplings Jungle Books and Kim, the Oz books, and, for final contrast, Walter Brooks stories of Freddy the pig and E.B. Whites Charlottes Web. Sale disputes Bettelheims view of fairy tales, in The Uses of Enchantment, as aids to maturation. The task with the two Alices, he contends - challenging the exegetes - "is to stick close to the surface of what is presented and to read that surface hard" (which yields, here, a brilliant interpretation of the White Queen). He looks into Beatrix Potters life, and Kenneth Grahames and Kiplings, to sort out their intentions: Kim "is profligate, a huge mural of all that Kipling has known and cared about India"; The Wind in the Willows is "the work of a man becoming increasingly miserable" - thus Moles delight in discovering Rats river and, in turn, Rats praise of Moles "poor, cold little" home. Sale writes with a sensitivity and acuity that will draw readers back or, with equal validity, draw them on. (Kirkus Reviews) Review Quote Roger Sale has written a most unusual book on the subject of childrens literature; one that refuses to pigeonhole its subject matter as a distinct--and therefore implicitly minor--literary genre... Never has so urbane, so civilized--in sum, so adult--a voice been raised on behalf of childrens books. It is high time. Details ISBN0674291654 Author Roger Sale Publisher Harvard University Press Series Harvard Paperbacks Language English ISBN-10 0674291654 ISBN-13 9780674291652 Media Book Format Paperback Imprint Harvard University Press Place of Publication Cambridge, Mass Country of Publication United States DEWEY 809 Illustrations Illustrated Pages 286 Short Title FAIRY TALES & AFTER REV/E Edition Description Revised Subtitle From Snow White to E. B. White DOI 10.1604/9780674291652 UK Release Date 1978-06-15 NZ Release Date 1978-06-15 Audience Undergraduate AU Release Date 1979-11-14 Year 1979 Publication Date 1979-11-15 US Release Date 1979-11-15 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:17981942;

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