Alison Lurie on Rapunzel in The New York Review of Books

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21318

Volume 55, Number 7 · May 1, 2008
"The Girl in the Tower"

She discusses the following versions of Rapunzel:

Petrosinella: A Neapolitan Rapunzel retold and illustrated by Diane
Stanley (out of print)

Golden: A Retelling of "Rapunzel" by Cameron Dokey

Letters from Rapunzel by Sara Lewis Holmes

Rapunzel by Barbara Rogasky, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman (out of
print)

Zel by Donna Jo Napoli

The Tower Room by Adèle Geras

Sugar Cane: A Caribbean Rapunzel by Patricia Storace, illustrated by
Raúl Colón

Rapunzel: A Groovy Fairy Tale by Lynn Roberts, illustrated by David
Roberts

Barbie as Rapunzel by Merry North


First paragraph:

At first glance, most famous fairy tales seem so implausible and
irrelevant to contemporary life that their survival is hard to
understand. The story of "Rapunzel" involves a heroine with hair at
least twenty feet long, and "Hansel and Gretel" asks us to believe
that two children abandoned by their parents in the forest will find a
house made of gingerbread. But these and other tales live on because
they are dramatic metaphors of real life. "Hansel and Gretel," for
instance, represents the two greatest fears of children—that they will
be abandoned and that they will be imprisoned. Many adults, if they
think back, will remember one or both of these fears, though usually
in a less extreme version. We occasionally felt neglected,
disregarded, unsupported—unloved. Or we felt overprotected,
overindulged, intruded upon—loved, but in a very possessive, almost
scary way.

(Pretty long, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it.)

Lenona.

On Fri, 2 May 2008 11:06:25 -0700 (PDT), lenona321.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com wrote:

>At first glance, most famous fairy tales seem so implausible and
>irrelevant to contemporary life that their survival is hard to
>understand. The story of "Rapunzel" involves a heroine with hair at
>least twenty feet long, and "Hansel and Gretel" asks us to believe
>that two children abandoned by their parents in the forest will find a
>house made of gingerbread. But these and other tales live on because
>they are dramatic metaphors of real life. "Hansel and Gretel," for
>instance, represents the two greatest fears of children—that they will
>be abandoned and that they will be imprisoned. Many adults, if they
>think back, will remember one or both of these fears, though usually
>in a less extreme version. We occasionally felt neglected,
>disregarded, unsupported—unloved. Or we felt overprotected,
>overindulged, intruded upon—loved, but in a very possessive, almost
>scary way.

And news stories about a girl imprisoned by her father for 24 years show that
such fears are not always groundless. Many prisoners sentenced to "life" are
let out after 25 years.


--
Steve Hayes
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/litmain.htm
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