Fairy Tale Review Archive
Browse submissions from past editions, web exclusive content, author Q&A, and more.
The practice of retelling fairy tales in the form of literary fiction is, if not quite hallowed, certainly established. The great Angela Carter’s revelatory 1979 story collection, “The Bloody Chamber” — a brocaded work of heady sensuality, intelligence and violence — remains the benchmark, but Kate Bernheimer’s Fairy Tale Review and the several excellent Bernheimer-edited anthologies spun off from it carry the standard forward. Those are just some of the more overt homages; Western literature owes as much to fairy tales as it does to Greek myth and the Bible.
-The New York Times
Homecoming
We were always trying to get her attention. ‘Your mother is busy,’ said our father. ‘She is an important woman.’
Three Enter the Dark Wood
It’s the one about the bears and their blonde:
In their many beds I left many cells,
called my multiple personalities down
‘D’ & ‘G’
D is for dragon and damsel, diamond and diadem. For deciduous woods, their dropping leaves.
Fairy-Tale Files: Woebegotten Walls
In Oscar Wilde’s 1888 tale “The Selfish Giant,” a giant returns to his castle to find children playing in his garden. Angry, he declares, "‘My own...
Special Report: Lean In or Fall Down
The “The Red Shoes,” written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1845, is a story of sin and redemption, as are many of Andersen’s stories. His female...
Fairy-Tale Files: Hybridity
Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors, readers, editorial...
Fairy-Tale Files: Bizarre Homes & Gardens
Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors, readers, editorial...
Fairy-Tale Files: Invocating What You Ask For
Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors, readers, editorial...
Brother and Sister
My poor brother: he was born a rat, a snake, a wolf, a roach.
Special Report: Above the World
In the Grimms’ retelling of Rapunzel, the famous tower that holds her away from the world has a number of features that make its construction seem...
Special Report: The “Dies Irae,” Centuries On
Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors, readers, editorial...
Fairy-Tale Files: The Hirsute Shall Inherit
Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors, readers, editorial...
Fairy-Tale Files: Genus Mattress, Order Rip
Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors, readers, editorial...
Fairy-Tale Files: The UFO Southwest
Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors, readers, editorial...
Fairy-Tale Files: Mermaid Millennium
Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors, readers, editorial...
