DD got this as part of her degree course. Very, very different to the 7th edition, on which the first English translation was based and which Disney plundered. Some of the stories are very savage indeed. One thing struck me: a lot of the stepmothers were originally birth mothers, which creeped me out no end. Has anyone else read it?
Sorry no, DDs younger than degree level at the moment. However, as part of a lazy Sunday DD1 (14 nearly 15) and I were watching Nanny McPhee yesterday, not a ‘Disney’ fairytale admittedly but same type of scenario. She, of her own accord, questioned why all the ‘dead’ mothers were wonderful and all the stepmothers were evil. I suggested it was possibly a ‘modern’ ‘marketing’ pitch but didn’t know about this. I guess somewhere along the line it became more palatable somehow to suggest the evil mothers couldnt possibly have been birth mothers. It will be an interesting subject to explore.
