Uniformly well researched and well written, and [. . .] seriously engages with the notion of re-orienting, thus producing new insights and directions for fairy-tale studies.
~E. R. Baer, CHOICE Connect
Every single essay in this volume is worth reading if the contemporary critical theory and history of folklore and fairy-tale studies is to continue along a trajectory begun after World War II. This book signals how important it is to plunge forward with multi-theoretical critical and historical approaches to folk and fairy tales.
~Jack Zipes, Journal of Folklore Research: An International Journal of Folklore and Ethnomusicology
It would make a compelling addition to the shelves of scholars of fairy tales and folklore—and the distinction between folklore and fairy tale does blur in many of the storytelling traditions discussed in the volume. It successfully accomplishes both the subtitle and title of the book.
~Raven Johnston, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts
All of the essays are worth reading for their insights on a variety of topics, and Re-Orienting the Fairy Tale as a whole is yet another contribution to the field of folktale studies published by Wayne State University Press.
~Juliette Wood, Folklore
Thus, this collection is highly recommended to those who are interested not only in fairy-tale adaptations, but also in how to rectify our previous framed views of once-unfamiliar cultures in order to understand them better. As members of the global internet community, readers of the collection will gain a valuable opportunity to think about how to engage in the ongoing integration of various cultural arenas today.
~Fumihiko Kobayashi, Journal of American Folklore
Re-Orienting the Fairy Tale as a whole succeeds in its goal, and although there is some overlap in the strategies used, the unique cites (in Bacchilega’s sense) and contexts each scholar explores on their journeys through the margins, edges and borderlands nevertheless reveal enriching insights. It solidifies with its contributions that this is a rich area of enquiry with many possible avenues of exploration, and that it is necessary to disorient and re-orient hierarchical and binaristic perspectives, ultimately underscoring the remarkable ability of the fairy tale to surprise us with new wondrous dimensions.
~Anna Katrina Gutierrez, Barnboken: Journal of Children’s Literature Research
Re-Orienting the Fairy Tale does what any good scholarly publication should do: raises important questions, presents novel ideas and sound research, and provides readers with ample food for thought. Its gaze is turned both outward and inward: on the one hand, it pushes the boundaries of current fairy- tale scholarship, calling for and successfully exemplifying greater (linguistic, cultural, geographical, etc.) scope, while critically re-examining the foundations of that same scholarship, challenging its Western-centrism and questioning the universal applicability of its key concepts.
~Nada Kujundžic, Mythlore
Re-Orienting the Fairy Tale represents a significant contribution to an emerging area of inquiry in which there is a great deal of intellectual interest. Since many of the themes explored are not treated comprehensively elsewhere, it will prove attractive to a readership seeking to understand cutting-edge developments in the field of study. The book is also socially and intellectually important in the challenges it makes to hierarchical and binaristic thinking and in its determination to revalue indigenous storytelling cultures that have been marginalized by neo-imperial global media.
~Andrew Teverson
In its Puckish way, this volume pleasantly disorients scholars who are familiar only with the path of Eurocentric concepts of fairy tales. In so doing, it leads them to robust storytelling traditions from many non-Western cultures. Meanwhile, contributors' postmodern strategies, lucidly developed, offer provocative ways to appreciate familiar Western tales.
~Bill Ellis
