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Pity the poor stepmother — the most reviled character in folk literature

25 April 2020

9:00 AM

25 April 2020

9:00 AM

The Fairest of Them All: Snow White and 21 Tales of Mothers and Daughters Maria Tatar

Belknap/Harvard, pp.225, 22.95

Fairy stories were not originally aimed at children, and we do not know what the first audience responses were; but as humans do not change in certain essentials it seems likely that reactions centuries ago were similar to reactions now — when it is adults who often find many of them gruesome and unsuitable for those of single-figure age.

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