Contents
Editorial Policy
Guidelines for Submissions
From the Editors
ARTICLES
Re-Imagining the Fantastic: E. T. A. Hoffmann’s “The Story of the Lost Reflection”
Cynthia Chalupa
During the nineteenth century, the mirror, revered as an object of fascination for centuries, assumed the distinct role as an icon of bourgeois self-consciousness. Not surprisingly, given its function as a class symbol, the mirror serves as the centerpiece of Hoffmann’s “Story of the Lost Reflection” (1815), which addresses the interplay between the artistic realm and the bourgeois world in aesthetic production. While most interpretations of the story suggest that the liberation of the artist figure’s reflection from the mirror’s surface signifies his surrendered soul and fall from grace, this seemingly uncanny element, in fact, reveals the intricate connection between the fantastic and the everyday that forms the foundation of Hoffmann’s poetics.
Princes, Beasts, or Royal Pains: Men and Masculinity in the Revisionist Fairy Tales of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
James Bucky Carter
It is illustrated that late nineteenth-century and early-twentieth century American author Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s work contains much more than implied by the “regionalist/realism” and “proto-feminist” labels so often applied to them. Freeman’s strong use of fairy tale themes and tropes is examined in selected short stories. Special attention is given to tropes of masculinity and Freeman’s interaction with them in her role as fairy tale revisionist to illustrate that Freeman’s understanding of masculinity matches current critical notions and is much more complex than has been considered to date.
Ice, Glass, Snow: Fairy Tale as Art and Metafiction in the Writing of A. S. Byatt
Jessica Tiffin
A. S. Byatt recurringly employs fairy-tale and folkloric motifs to illustrate her interest in the self-conscious use of narrative. Her work is integrally metafictional in her awareness of the gap between reality and the crafted narratives which reflect it, most strongly in the artificial patterns of the fairy tale. Images of glass and ice are employed metaphorically in her work to explore the nature of narrative as artefact. These images express the paradox of representation as both entrapping and empowering, and enable a feminist exploration of the implications of sexuality for the female artist. Byatt’s characteristic use of embedded narrative particularly highlights the artifice of narrative and the interactions between reality and representation. The presence of fairy tale motif in her work powerfully reflects her self-consciousness about the processes of narrative and art.
This Rapturous Form
Kate Bernheimer
In conjunction with the retrospective exhibit “Kiki Smith: Prints, Books, Things,” New York’s Museum of Modern Art hosted a panel on 24 February 2004 at the Gramercy Theatre dedicated to addressing the fairy-tale themes in Smith’s work. Originally presented as a talk at that event, this illustrated essay by editor and novelist Kate Bernheimer reflects on feminist writers who have been influenced by fairy tales and how their writing, and fairy tales, have influenced her own novels.
TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS
Old Woman Magoun
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
Reviews
Critical Exchanges
Contributors