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 J. Tiffin, Marvelous Geometry. Narrative and Metafiction in Modern Fairy Tale

J. Tiffin, Marvelous Geometry. Narrative and Metafiction in Modern Fairy Tale

Publié le par Gabriel Marcoux-Chabot (Source : Site web de la maison d'édition)

TIFFIN, Jessica, Marvelous Geometry. Narrative and Metafiction in Modern Fairy Tale, Detroit, Wayne State University Press (Series in Fairy-Tale Studies), 2009, 264 p.

ISBN 9780814332627

RÉSUMÉ

In Marvelous Geometry JessicaTiffin argues that within twentieth- and twenty-first-century Westernliterature there exists a diverse body of fairy-tale texts that displaya common thread of metafictional self-awareness. The narrative patternof these texts is self-conscious, overtly structured, variouslyfantastical, and, Tiffin argues, easily recognized and interpreted bymodern audiences. In this broadly comparative study she explorescontemporary fairy-tale fictions found in modern literature andlive-action and animated film and television to explore fairy tale'sability to endlessly reinvent itself and the cultural implications ofits continued relevance.
Tiffin's skilled analysis draws onthe critical fields of postmodernism, narratological analysis,stucturalism, feminism, and performativity, without relying solely onany one perspective. She considers important fairy-tale retellings suchas the feminist revisions of Angela Carter, the postmodern narrativesof A. S. Byatt, as well as fairy tales written for children by JamesThurber. She also investigates both popular and high-art films,contrasting Cocteau and Neil Jordan to Hollywood romances and Disney,and analyzes the differences between animated features and live-actionproductions. Finally, Tiffin uses a case study of the recent successfulShrek films tosituate the fairy tale in the twenty-first century as an endlesslyadaptable folk narrative that self-consciously and affectionatelyreflects generic structures and significant cultural assumptions.
Marvelous Geometrycovers a wide range of familiar and unfamiliar primary texts from anovel and fruitful perspective. Tiffin's focus on the metafictionalnature of the fairy tale turns readers' attention to the genre'snarrative structure and aesthetic qualities without ever losing sightof the fairy tale's sociocultural impact as powerful marvelousnarrative. Scholars of literary and fairy-tale studies will enjoyTiffin's expansive analysis.

BIOGRAPHIE

Jessica Tiffin is a researcher and lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.