Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned

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-five newly translated tales 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, Guillaume Apollinaire, and others, these enchanting yet troubling stories reflect concerns and fascinations at 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 na¯ve, 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, Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned will entertain and startle even the most disenchanted readers with old tales made new.