Stephen Benson
Author
Description
In this wide-ranging and insightful analysis, the author proposes a poetics of narrative for postmodernism by placing new emphasis on the folktale. He beings by examining the key features of folktales: their emphasis on a chain of events rather than description or consciousness, their emphasis on a self-contained fictional environment rather than realism, the presence of a storyteller as a self-confessed fabricator, their oral and communal status,...
Description
Recent decades have witnessed a renaissance of interest in the fairy tale, not least among writers of fiction. In this work the editor argues that fairy tales are one of the key influences on fiction of the past thirty years and also continue to shape literary trends in the present. Contributors detail the use of fairy tales both as inspiration and blueprint and explore the results of juxtaposing fairy tales and contemporary fiction. At the heart...