Long Ago and Far Away: Eight Traditional Fairy Tales - Softcover

Brand new translations of the earliest versions of best-known and most-loved fairy tales, with an introduction by renowned mythographer Marina Warner Returning to some of the earliest written records of these stories, before the moralizing of the British Victorians and the sugarcoating of Walt Disney, unearths narratives that differ radically from those that children are told to this day. This collection contains brand new translations of "Beauty and the Beast," "Sleeping Beauty" and "Cinderella" in their original Pentamerone versions; the Grimms' "Hansel and Gretel;" Perrault's "Little Red Riding Hood;" and many others. Originally recorded orally and handed down through generations, early fairy tales were receptacles of sexual depravity (including incest, rape, and necrophilia) and murder. Marina Warner, one the finest of contemporary literary minds, explains in her introduction the reasons behind the tales' evolution from their original versions and the appeal they have today.

Marina Warner is a novelist, short story writer, historian, and mythographer known for her many nonfiction books relating to feminism and myth. Her titles include From Beast to Blonde, Monsters of Our Own Making, Phantasmagoria, and Wonder Tales. She has been a recipient of a Mythopoeic Award, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and received the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.