The Victorian Press and the Fairy Tale [Hardcover]

This book offers a new history of the fairy tale, revealing the creative role of periodical publication in shaping this popular genre. Sumpter explores the fairy tale's reinvention for (and by) diverse readerships in unexpected contexts, including debates over evolution, colonialism, socialism, gender and sexuality and decadence.List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Serializing Scheherazade: An Alternative History of the Fairy Tale Myths of Origin: Folktale Scholarship and Fictional Invention in Magazines for Children Science and Superstition, Realism and Romance: Fairy Tale and Fantasy in the Adult Shilling Monthly 'I wonder were the fairies Socialists?': The Politics of the Fairy Tale in the 1890s Labour Press 'All art is once surface and symbol': Fairy Tales and the Fin-de-Si?cle Little Magazines Conclusion: Myth in the Marketplace Notes Bibliography Index

Winner of the Mythopoeic Award for Myth and Fantasy Studies 2011

Short listedfor the Katharine Briggs Award 2009, the Mythopoeic Award for Myth and Fantasy Studies 2010 and2011,and for the ESSE First Book Prize 2010

'The Victorian Press and the Fairy Tale fills a major gap in the study of the literary fairy tale, and it fills the gap extremely well. Sumpter has a profound understanding and comprehensive knowledge of the periodical fairy tales published in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and she provides interesting analyses of the tales as well as the social history behind them and the authors engaged in writing and editing these unusual narratives. Her work is definitely unique and will make a major contribution to our knowledge about the social history of the fairy tale.' - Professor Jack Zipes, University of Minnesota, USA

'The Victorian Press and the Fairy Tale offers an engaging, carefully researched, and lucidly written history of the relationship between the Victorian popular press, the fairy tale, and a range of publications for blC"