Review: Adriana Trozzi (1992) Fairy-tale Criticism
Within Fiction: The Feminist Elements.
Memoria e interpretazione 4. Marina di
Patti (me): Pungitop

Darias Beautell, Eva Rosa

Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de La Laguna

Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses, No. 29, 1994, págs. 235-236ADRIANA TROZZI (1992) FAIRY-TALE CRITICISMWITHIN FICTION: THE FEMINIST ELEMENTS.MEMORIA E INTERPRETAZIONE 4. MARINA DIPATTI (ME): PUNGITOPOAlthough no clue is given in the title, this is a study of the uses of fairy-talematerial in the works of Audrey Thomas. Trozzi bases on the model established by theGrimm Brothers’ collection (1812), to identify points of convergence and divergencein Thomas’s treatment of well-known tales, such as “Cinderella,” “Snow White,”“Rapunzel,” “The Princess and the Pea,” and “The Little Mermaid.” However, theauthor seems more interested in the object of study at large –fairy-tale history andcriticism– than in the particular subject she chooses: Thomas’s fiction.Thus, the introduction includes a short history of fairy-tale criticism, and a dis-sertation on the most common methods of approach to fairy tales, among which Trozzisingles out three: the psychological approach, based on Jungian and Freudian theo-ries of the collective unconscious and of sexual symbols respectively; the philologi-cal method, derived from the formalist Vladimir Propp and his morphological patternof fairy tales; and the structuralists, conducting texual analysis within a wider cul-tural context, and among whom Trozzi distinguishes the critical work of Max Luthi.Along with these three main trends, there is a short mention to feminist criticism,characterised, according to Trozzi, by a negative view of fairy tales in their perpetua-tion of passive female stereotypes. These different approaches coincide in dividingthe meaning of fairy tales in surface (moral) and hidden meaning.Only at the end of this introduction, are we informed of the subject of the study:the fiction of Audrey Thomas and, more in particular, the uses of fairy-tale elementsin the fiction of this Canadian writer. The three chapters that form the corpus of thebook correspond exactly to Thomas’s three different methods of introducing fairy-tale material in her works. Each chapter starts with an examination of the overt mean-ing and then moves to the covert, more complex, meaning.The first chapter provides an analysis of what Trozzi calls the “evocative/imita-tive” method, consisting of the introduction of fairy-tale elements by way of parallelsor comparisons. The section is divided into Thomas’s use of well-known motifs andallusions (the slipper, the mirror, the figure of the witch, and so forth), and her directreferences to tales or names of characters. Some of Thomas’s short stories, such as“Initram” (Ladies & Escorts) or “Natural History” (Real Mothers), as well as hernovel Intertidal Life, are examined here to show the way Thomas inserts direct orindirect fairy-tale allusions with the only intent, or so it appears, of evocation.The “reinterpretative” method, implying the act of rewriting –and thus possiblysubverting– old themes, occupies the second chapter. Here, a juxtaposition of the tradi-19 (Eva Darias Beautell).pmd 26/02/2013, 8:42235236 EVA DARIAS BEAUTELLtional tales “Rapunzel” and “Cinderella” and Thomas’s stories “Rapunzel” (Ladies &Escorts) and “A Winter’s Tale” (Ten Green Bottles) is enacted, respectively, to reveal thewriter’s manipulation of the old texts. In the first case, the title of the story and the nameof the main character signal the ongoing subversion of the traditional “Rapunzel.” Inthe second, the mention of Cinderella, in the middle of the narration, forces the readerto re-examine the text and to notice the differences between both tales.In the third, and last, chapter, Trozzi focuses on Thomas’s “The Princess and theZucchini” (Goodbye Harold, Good Luck), to illustrate what she calls the “creative”method, this consisting of the writing of an altogether new tale. The first section ofthe chapter offers an analysis of this story in relation to Propp’s morphological pat-tern, to prove how the new text remains loyal to the traditional model. An interpreta-tion of this tale –that both subverts old themes and constructs new meanings– is sug-gested in the second section, where Trozzi centers on the re-version of traditionalsexual symbolism.Trozzi concludes her study by pointing out the importance, for criticism, of con-sidering the two meanings of fairy tales (surface/hidden), along with all possibleadditional meanings they have acquired throughout the times. Although she consid-ers Audrey Thomas as a feminist writer, she validates all different approaches to theformer’s handling of fairy-tale materials except the feminist approach, which is disre-garded as simply destructive and lacking in “objective interpretation” (99). The en-chantment of Audrey Thomas, Trozzi concludes, lies in her ability to enact positivesubversions.As the title suggests, this is a well-informed study from the point of view of fairy-tale criticism.Thomas’s fiction, however, appears somehow forced into the structural-ist, psychological and philological categorical patterns. For that reason, Trozzi’s bookseems perhaps more enriching for those interested in the history and criticism of fairytales than for those concerned with the works of Audrey Thomas.Eva Darias Beautell19 (Eva Darias Beautell).pmd 26/02/2013, 8:42236

Fairy-Tale Cristicism Within Fiction: The Feminist Elements

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Fairy-Tale Cristicism Within Fiction: The Feminist Elements

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