Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales

By Kate Bernheimer

New edition (revised and expanded) available 8/13/02.

Fairy tales are one of the most enduring forms of literature, their plots retold and characters reimagined for centuries. In this elegant and thought-provoking collection of original essays, Kate Bernheimer brings together twenty-eight leading women writers to discuss how these stories helped shape their imaginations, their craft, and our culture. In poetic narratives, personal histories, and penetrating commentary, the assembled authors bare their soul and challenge received wisdom. Eclectic and wide-ranging, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall is essential reading for anyone who has ever been bewitched by the strange and fanciful realm of fairy tales.

Contributors include: Alice Adams, Julia Alvarez, Margaret Atwood, Ann Beattie, Rosellen Brown, A. S. Byatt, Kathryn Davis, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Deborah Eisenberg, Maria Flook, Patricia Foster, Vivian Gornick, Lucy Grealy, bell hooks, Fanny Howe, Fern Kupfer, Ursula K. Le Guin, Carole Maso, Jane Miller, Lydia Millet, Joyce Carol Oates, Connie Porter, Francine Prose, Linda Gray Sexton, Midori Snyder, Fay Weldon, Joy Williams, Terri Windling.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Apr 21, 2010
• ISBN: 9780307874528

Reviews for Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

[deckla_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I don't know why this book didn't get more attention at the time--it's a treasure. Here, women writers of the highest caliber reflect on their favorite fairy tales and their influence. Such writers as Alice Adams, Margaret Atwood, Bell Hooks, Vivian Gornick and Francine Prose write about how fairy tales affected their childhoods and later became motifs in their lives and writing. A.S. Byatt talks about The Snow Queen and how northern climes conjure an aesthetic of art and beauty. Ursula LeGuin likes the sleeping part in Sleeping Beauty. Linda Sexton ponders cannibalism in fairy tales as she makes dinner for her family. Joyce Carol Oates writes a lucid essay about the female in fairy tales. In addition to the insights and biographical details revealed in the stellar writing, some of the authors relate little-known but fascinating fairy tales: Midori Snyder introduces the Sudanese tale "The Monkey Girl"; Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni tells an Indian story called "The Princess in the Palace of Snakes"; and Ann Beattie tells a curious tale called "John, whose disappearance was too bad." As the writers recall their childhood favorites, the reader can't help but remember which fairy tales provided theme music for her own childhood. One doesn't find such evocative reading in a diversity of voices very often.

[rrainer-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Some of these essays I loved, some less so, and some I think I just didn't get, but overall a really fascinating and valuable collection.

[rosafloral · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

i enjoyed reading the many interpretations of fairy tales in this book it really helped reveal the many complex relationships that are formed in our lives: mother-daughter, stepmother-children,and the many aspirations young girls have when growing up and also what is expected of them, i also liked reading the how the different women writers were influenced or/not by their favourite fairy tales.

[the1butterfly · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a book of essays by women writers about fairy tales- some of which are better than others. I didn't get into a lot of the essays about Hans Christian Andersen tales because I'm not into those stories themselves. My favorite essay was actually about Rapunzel and hair and was by an author I love- Connie Porter.