The uses of enchantment : the meaning and importance of fairy tales

Summary: "Wicked stepmothers and beautiful princesses ...magic forests and enchanted towers ...little pigs and big bad wolves ...Fairy tales have been an integral part of childhood for hundreds of years. But what do they really mean? In this award-winning work of criticism, renowned psychoanalyst Dr Bruno Bettelheim presents a thought provoking and stimulating exploration of the best-known fairy stories. He reveals the true content of the stories and shows how children can use them to cope with their baffling emotions and anxieties." --Publisher description.

Record details

ISBN: 9780307739636
ISBN: 0307739635
Physical Description: print
328, xi pages ; 21 cm
Edition: Vintage books ed.
Publisher: New York : Vintage Books, 2010.

Content descriptions

General Note:	Originally published: New York : Knopf : Distributed by Random House, 1976.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 325-328) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Part I: A pocketful of magic -- Life Divined from the inside -- "The Fisherman and the Jinny": Fairy Tale compared to fable -- Fairy Tale versus myth: Optimism versus pessimism -- "The Three Little Pigs": Pleasure principle versus reality principle -- The Child's need for magic -- Vicarious Satisfaction versus Conscious Recognition -- The importance of externalization: Fantasy figures and events -- Transformations: The fantasy of the wicked stepmother -- Bringing order into Chaos -- "The Queen Bee" : Achieving integration -- "Brother and Sister" : Unifying our Dual nature -- "Sinbad and the Seaman and Sindbad the Porter" : Fancy versus reality -- The frame story of Thousand and one Nights -- Tales of Two Brothers -- "The three Languages: : -- Building integration -- "The Three Feathers" The youngest child as Simpleton -- Oedipal Conflicts and Resolutions -- The Knight in Shining Armor and the Damsel in Distress -- Fear of Fantasy: Why were fairy tales outlawed? -- Transcending infancy with the help of Fantasy -- "The Goose Girl" : Achieving Autonomy -- Fantasy, Recovery, Escape and Consolation -- On the telling of Fairy Stories -- Part Two: In Fairy Land -- "Hansel and Gretel" -- "Little Red Riding Hood " -- "Jack and the Beanstalk: -- The jealous Queen in "Snow White" and the Myth of Oedipus -- "Snow White" -- Goldilocks and the Three bears" "the Sleeping Beauty" -- "Cinderella" -- The Animal-Groom Cycle of Fairy Tales.