The Feminist Architecture of Postmodern Anti-Tales: Space, Time, and Bodies by Kendra Reynolds (review)

Abstract

Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies, Vol. 36, No. 1, 2022 136 Basile’s “La Gatta Cenerentola,” allows Do Rozario to speculate on the influence of sumptuary laws on these tales, positing that these underdog heroes cannily transgress against social norms of class-permitted dress in order to catch the eye of wealthy suitors, much like early modern sex workers might have done. Chapter 4 focuses on the production of clothing, which lays bare numerous social inequalities: those between the genders, between the ruling class and the working class, and so on. In chapter 5, footwear takes the stage, ranging from the Perrault glass versus fur slipper controversy and Puss in Boots to Andersen’s doomed red dancing shoes. Chapter 6 turns the focus onto fairies themselves, determining that these donor figures may look plain, but the more wicked the fairy, the more outlandish the outfit. Storytellers themselves also come under the lens, with representations of Mother Goose crossing into peasant woman and witch territory, while male storytellers are depicted in ways that are “clearly literary” and paternal (249). Gender is a persistent theme, and for good reason: Do Rozario comments while closing her introduction that “both fashion and fairy tales are viewed as feminine spheres of concern” (37), with both realms being demeaned as trivial even as they display the intense centuries-long debate over women’s sexuality and power. Do Rozario’s clever turns of phrase inject the compelling analysis with sparkle and wit, as when she observes of situations where cannibalistic ogres accidentally eat their own children, lacking golden crowns or chains to tell them apart from regular human children: “Without sartorial markers, the body is only so much meat” (276). This sack of meat concurs, and henceforth recommends Do Rozario’s book as one of the more stimulating contributions to fairy-tale studies in a good long while. Jeana Jorgensen Butler University