[This] new book from Penguin ... provides some historical context [to the Disney film] ... Most of the stories about young women and animal grooms follow a predictable pattern ... But the Penguin book also includes plenty of stories in which the genders are flipped, pairing young men with animal brides.
The New Yorker
The tales in Tatar's compilation swing from vicious to romantic, from comedy to horror ... Tatar's book alone contains stories from almost two dozen countries.
NPR.org
A rich, intriguing volume highly recommended for fairy-tale fans.
Booklist
Maria Tatar's new collection for Penguin Classics ... ventur[es] deeper into the rich universe of animal bridegroom stories ... There is also the parallel tradition of animal bride stories-swan maidens and selkies with a much sharper edge than <i>The Little Mermaid ... </i>The source material here is much richer in possibilities than turning Belle into a crusader for women's literacy.
Jezebel
Maria Tatar rounded up stories about animal brides and grooms from around the world in this new Penguin Classics collection, and while I am a certified fairy tale nerd, there was plenty in this book that was new to me.
- Constance Grady, Vox
Superb ... Each story is basically an expression of anxiety about marriage and relationships-about the animalistic nature of sex, and the fundamental strangeness of men and women to each other ... Tatar points out, too, that every generation of monsters speaks to the anxieties of its time.
The Atlantic
Perhaps no fairy tale is as widely known as 'Beauty and the Beast' - and perhaps no fairy tale exists in as many variations. Nearly every culture tells the story in one fashion or another - such cultural phenomena as The Fault in Our Stars and Me Before You are recent examples - and it is impossible to find one version that laid the foundation for the rest. From Cupid and Psyche, India's Snake Bride to South Africa's 'Story of Five Heads', the partnering of beast and beauties has beguiled us for thousands of years.
In this fascinating volume preeminent fairy tale scholar Maria Tatar brings together tales from ancient times to the present and from a wide variety of cultures.
Contents
Model Couples from Ancient Times
- Zeus and Europa (Ancient Greece)
- Cupid and Psyche (Ancient Rome)
- The Girl Who Married a Snake (India)
- Hasan of Basra (Persia)
Charismatic Couples in the Popular Imagination
- Beauty and the Beast (France)
- East of the Sun and West of the Moon (Norway)
- King Pig (Italy)
- The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich (Germany)
- The Swan Maidens (England)
- Princess Frog (Russia)
- The Peri Wife (Hindu-Persian)
Animal Grooms
- The Condor and the Shepherdess (Bolivia)
- The Parrot Prince (Chile)
- Nicholas the Fish (Colombia)
- The Muskrat Husband (Alaska)
- A Boarhog for a Husband (West Indies)
- The Monkey Bridegroom (Japan)
- Tale of the Girl and the Hyena-Man (Ghana)
- The Story of Five Heads (South Africa)
- The Golden Crab (Greece)
- The Girl Who Married a Dog (Native American)
- The Snake Prince (India)
- The Small-Tooth Dog (England)
- The Queen of the Pigeons (South Africa)
Animal Brides
- The Grateful Crane (Japan)
- The Piqued Buffalo-Wife (Native American)
- The Turtle and the Chickpea (Greece)
- The Frog Maiden (Myanmar)
- Chonguita (Phillipines)
- Urashima Taro (Japan)
- Oisin in Tir na n-Og (Ireland)
- The Dog Bride (India)
- The Swan Maiden (Sweden)
- The Hunter and the Tortoise (Ghana)
- The Peasant and Zemyne (Lithuania)
- Puddocky (Germany)
- The Man Who Married a Bear (Native American)