The Interpretation of Fairy Tales
Feb. 14th, 2011 08:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reviewthatBook: The Interpretation of Fairy Tales
By: Marie-Louise von Franz
Pages: 208
Release Date: July 9, 1996 (second edition)
Stars: 3
Von Franz uses Jungian psycology to examine the collective unconcious and reoccurant themes within various fairy tales.
I enjoyed this book far more than I did The Heroine's Journey, especially since it was far more of what I was looking for an academic-style book: it actually examined the topic the author was wanting to look at and did it in an academic sort of way. And von Franz went about making approximately the same point that Maureen Murdock did, while making the point in a better and more fulfilling way. Both seemed to want to say that the point of fairy tales (or at least one of the biggest themes in them) was to show how a person can make peace between the male and female aspects of themselves; and by doing so, they can get some sort of peace for themselves inside their own minds.
There were also plenty of examples of various fairy tales from around the world that had the same sort of theme, whenever she was trying to make a point about a particular theme. This was not only very helpful, it also proved that she had done her research, and gave her a great deal of credibility that she knew what she was talking about when it came to psychoanalyzing myths and folklore and fairy tales and the like.
Since the book was originally published in 1970, there was a tendency toward using "he" when the author meant people in general, and that was a bit jarring. And even if this did make my brain come to a bit of a halt (since people don't usually use this terminology anymore), it didn't stop the book from being enjoyable.
If you have a mind that is bent toward analyzing fairy tales, this is a book to at least check out.
By: Marie-Louise von Franz
Pages: 208
Release Date: July 9, 1996 (second edition)
Stars: 3
Von Franz uses Jungian psycology to examine the collective unconcious and reoccurant themes within various fairy tales.
I enjoyed this book far more than I did The Heroine's Journey, especially since it was far more of what I was looking for an academic-style book: it actually examined the topic the author was wanting to look at and did it in an academic sort of way. And von Franz went about making approximately the same point that Maureen Murdock did, while making the point in a better and more fulfilling way. Both seemed to want to say that the point of fairy tales (or at least one of the biggest themes in them) was to show how a person can make peace between the male and female aspects of themselves; and by doing so, they can get some sort of peace for themselves inside their own minds.
There were also plenty of examples of various fairy tales from around the world that had the same sort of theme, whenever she was trying to make a point about a particular theme. This was not only very helpful, it also proved that she had done her research, and gave her a great deal of credibility that she knew what she was talking about when it came to psychoanalyzing myths and folklore and fairy tales and the like.
Since the book was originally published in 1970, there was a tendency toward using "he" when the author meant people in general, and that was a bit jarring. And even if this did make my brain come to a bit of a halt (since people don't usually use this terminology anymore), it didn't stop the book from being enjoyable.
If you have a mind that is bent toward analyzing fairy tales, this is a book to at least check out.
