A Very Short Introduction
". . . Marina Warner digs into a rich hoard of fairy tales . . . in order to define a genre and evaluate a literary form that keeps shifting through time and history. Drawing on . . . examples, from classics such as 'Red Riding Hood,' 'Cinderella,' and 'The Sleeping Beauty,' the Grimm Brothers' 'Hansel and Gretel,' and Hans Andersen's 'The Little Mermaid,' to modern-day realizations including Walt Disney's 'Snow White,' Warner forms a persuasive case for fairy tale as a crucial repository of human understanding and culture"--Provided by the publisher.