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War, Myths, and Fairy Tales

  • Book
  • © 2017

Overview

Editors:
  1. Sara Buttsworth

    1. School of Humanities, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

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  2. Maartje Abbenhuis

    1. School of Humanities, University of Auckland School of Humanities, Auckland, New Zealand

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Investigates the connections between war stories and fairy tales through a critical examination of global literature.

  • Transcends the traditional boundaries of war studies through a new trans disciplinary perspective.

  • Offers a literary perspective on war and its cultural representations through multiple media, from fairly tales to film studies.

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
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  2. Introduction: Tales of War and Wonder—Reflecting on War, Myths, and Fairy Tales and the Breadcrumb Trails Between

    • Sara Buttsworth, Maartje Abbenhuis
    Pages 1-23

  3. And They Lived Happily Ever After? The Fable as Search for Meaning in Holocaust Cinema

    • Giacomo Lichtner
    Pages 25-45

  4. “The Boy with the Bread”: Consuming Hansel and Gretel in the Twenty-First Century

    • Sara Buttsworth
    Pages 47-70

  5. Abelardo Díaz Alfaro’s Tales: The Tragicomedy of the Dawn of US Intervention in Puerto Rico

    • Dannelle Gutarra
    Pages 71-91

  6. Once Upon a Nation: Fables and Fairy Tales in Canadian Plays About War

    • Lindsay Thistle
    Pages 93-116

  7. Flying Home: Aestheticizing and Americanizing Experiences of Exile and Migration in the Second World War as Fairy Tales of Return and Restoration

    • JoAnn Conrad
    Pages 117-146

  8. Child Soldiers in Medieval(esque) Cinema

    • Peter Burkholder, David Rosen
    Pages 147-173

  9. “A Trap of Our Own Making”: Mark Twain and the Mechanized Warfare of King Arthur’s Court

    • Paul E. Blom
    Pages 175-193

  10. “Life Was a State in Which a War Was On”: A.S. Byatt’s Portrayal of War and Norse Mythology in Ragnarok: The End of the Gods

    • Charlotte Beyer
    Pages 195-218

  11. War and the Ruby Tree. The Motif of the Unborn Generations in Jewish Women’s Story-Telling

    • Simon Heywood, Shonaleigh Cumbers
    Pages 219-237

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 239-243
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Keywords

About this book

This exciting new collection examines the relationships between warfare, myths, and fairy tales, and explores the connections and contradictions between the narratives of war and magic that dominate the ways in which people live and have lived, survived, considered and described their world. Presenting original contributions and critical reflections that explore fairy tales, fantasy and wars, be they "real" or imagined, past or present, this book looks at creative works in popular culture, stories of resistance, the history and representation of global and local conflicts, the Holocaust, across multiple media. It offers a timely and important overview of the latest research in the field, including contributions from academics, story-tellers and artists, thereby transcending the traditional boundaries of the disciplines, extending the parameters of war studies beyond the battlefield.

Reviews

“This is a finely curated volume and the attention to the presentation and ordering of the essays is evident. Buttsworth and Abbenhuis have taken great care to ensure that these essays dovetail with one another thematically, making the book an enjoyable read. … the essays would—individually, or in many cases, in conjunction—serve as excellent case studies for research or in the classroom and scholars interested in the complex relationship between fairy tale … should take note.” (Derek J. Thiess, Marvels & Tales, Vol.36 (1), 2022)



“This volume provides so many valuable and diverse resources about literature, film, and storytelling, particularly that which responds to World War II, that it will be a significant addition to any academic library. Moreover, the volume suggests possibilities for productive dialogue among scholars of children’s literature, film, and literature from around the world.” (Felicia Jean Steele, Mythlore, Vol. 38 (1), 2019)

Editors and Affiliations

  • School of Humanities, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Sara Buttsworth

  • School of Humanities, University of Auckland School of Humanities, Auckland, New Zealand

    Maartje Abbenhuis

About the editors





Sara Buttsworth is a Senior Tutor in the history department at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is primarily involved in the Tertiary Foundations Certificate programme, where she teaches an introduction to New Zealand history, and an interdisciplinary course on 'Monsters and Moral Panics'. Dr. Buttsworth's research and interests span popular culture, contemporary representations of fairy tales, and representations of war and gender.


Maartje Abbenhuis is Associate Professor in Modern European History at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is historian of neutrality and internationalism, focusing notably on the period 1815 to 1919.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: War, Myths, and Fairy Tales

  • Editors: Sara Buttsworth, Maartje Abbenhuis

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2684-3

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Singapore

  • eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

  • License: CC BY

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-10-2683-6Published: 04 January 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-981-10-9681-5Published: 11 July 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-981-10-2684-3Published: 26 December 2016

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 243

  • Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations, 6 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Literature, general, Cultural Studies, Cultural History

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