| The New Yorker, July 26, 1999 |
| In his new psychological study, The Witch Must Die: How Fairy Tales Shape Our Lives (Basic), Sheldon Cashdan analyzes dozens of stories in terms of the seven deadly sins. He explains how children's empathy for a character like Snow White, who embodies Vanity, may be less important than their identification with the evil queen: "As children mature, 'kill thine enemy' needs to evolve into 'know thine enemy'....[They] need opportunities to become conversant with parts of themselves they are going to have to deal with for the rest of their lives." In a lighter vein, Cashdan notes that one early version of "Little Red Riding Hood" featured the heroine doing a striptease for the wolf before jumping into bed with him. |
| Booklist, May 15, 1999 |
| Why do fairy tales hold such power over us that they are retold, generation after generation, despite their apparently fantastic qualities? Because, psychologist Cashdan argues, they allow actual children and inner children to grapple with some of the moral complexities of life. Snow White's story, for example, is a classic "of vanity run amok," for not only does the "fairest of them all" queen obsess about her appearance, but the princess is herself tempted by combs and ribbons. "Jack and the Beanstalk," far from being only a wild tale of fast-growing legumes, encodes a warning against greed, and "Cinderella" is transparently a tale of envy, especially sibling rivalry. Engagingly written, this is an excellent book for teachers, parents, and others interested in exploring the language of the child's searching heart. |
| Publisher's Weekly, June 7, 1999 |
| In a thematic survey of the stories the world tells its children, noted psychologist Cashdan (Abnormal Psychology) explores why fairy tales maintain their enduring power. Despite the elaborate Technicolor animation in which traditional stories often appear, most are watered-down forms of original versions that were devised not for the moral education of children but for the entertainment of adults. According to Cashdan, this partly explains the lifelong attraction of the deeper psychological journeys and moral quandaries that fairy tales address. Focusing on the drama of basic human attachments and temptations (abandonment, vanity, greed, envy, lust, sloth--each of which he examines in individual chapters), Cashdan interprets fairy-tale plot elements in relation to basic psychological development while discounting psychoanalytic interpretations as convoluted and at times illogical. Ultimately, Cashdan contends that fairy tales work their magic by acknowledging our identification with the darker parts of ourselves. In order ``for a fairy tale to have a lasting effect on young readers," he writes, "the hero and heroine must... be tempted by the same temptations [as the witch].'' Though some of his insights are fresher than others, one of the pleasures of his study is the breadth of his examples: Cashdan offers not just familiar Disney, Grimm and Perrault tales but lesser-known variations, some of which have not survived the delicate sensibilities of the modern age, fueled as they are by adultery and aggression. Agent, Linda Chester. (July) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. |
| Library Journal, June 1, 1999 |
| Fairy tales introduce fiction and moral lessons to youngsters, but originally they were written for adult entertainment and were often gruesome and immoral. Cashdan, a noted psychologist, works on three levels, providing an original understanding of these eloquent tales, investigating subtle meanings that were glossed over when we were young, and introducing tales that never found their way into standard children's literature. This rich cultural panorama is an excellent companion to Bruno Bettelheim's classic "The Uses of Enchantment" and should join the standard studies of this beloved literature. |
| Toronto Globe&Mail, August 21, 1999 |
| In the book-publishing world, the dog
days of August signal not so much the waning of another summer as the harbinger
of the fall publishing season. On or about Labour Day, a deluge of new
books will rain down on the parched fields of our summer-fallowed brains.
In anticipation, a little background reading might be in order: Two very
good books -- not children's books, but books about children's books --
Inside Picture Books and Why the Witch Must Die: How Fairy Tales Shape
Our Lives,could be the perfect vade mecums with which to cull the fall
crop of children's books ...
If "interpretations" of the psychoanalytic variety are what Spitz brings to children's books, Sheldon Cashdan eschews them with some vigour in The Witch Must Die: How Fairy Tales Shape Our Lives. In fact, he goes to considerable trouble to distance himself from the late and not always lamented Bruno Bettelheim, whose The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (1976) has informed thinking about fairy tales for some time. Cashdan's treatment of Bettelheim's psychosexual analysis borders on scorn. Bettelheim believed, writes Cashdan, that the "hidden text in fairy tales revolves about such matters as penis envy, castration anxiety and unconscious incestuous longings." So, for instance, Snow White's seven dwarves are "stunted penises" who because of diminished sexual capacity are no threat to Snow White and offer her a refuge from her stepmother, the queen. MORE |
| Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 3, 1999 |
| Author explores fascination with fairy
tales and folklore:
Anyone looking for a reason for the success of the new low-budget film "The Blair Witch Project" ought to turn to Sheldon Cashdan's new book "The Witch Must Die: How Fairy Tales Shape Our Lives" (Basic Books, $25). It's an intriguing, 283-page think piece that explores childhood anxieties, how fairy tales help children deal with them, and why the most potent tales remain important to us as we mature. Cashdan, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, quit teaching a few years ago to write full time. He had hoped to publish a novel first, but when his agent asked if he had anything nonfiction, he mentioned the idea for a book about the psychological function of fairy tales. He knew there would be interest because, as he says in the book, when he taught a class called "The Psychology of Fantasy and Folklore," the classroom atmosphere "was different from that of other courses in which students merely sat back and took notes. Everyone had a favorite tale from childhood that struck an emotional chord." His agent persuaded him to write this book first, and he began his research in earnest. In doing so, he uncovered a few myths, including that the Grimm brothers, Wilhelm and Jacob, wrote lots of fairy tales. Cashdan clarifies: They recorded many old fairy and folk tales, editing them to suit the mores of the day, but they didn't invent the stories. Cashdan notes, too, that fairy tales weren't initially created for children, but as entertainment for adults. "That is why many early fairy tales include exhibitionism, rape and voyeurism," Cashdan writes. "One version of "Little Red Riding Hood' has the heroine do a striptease for the wolf before jumping into bed with him." |
| Henry Biller - author of The Father Factor |
| A dazzling tour de force for anyone interested in the inner world of children and parents. |
| Maria Tatar, Harvard University, author of Off With Their Heads: Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood |
| At last, a sensible and sensitive guide that draws adults into the enchanted realm of fairy tales and brings them back to reality with a renewed respect for these cultural stories. Cashdan's powerful account of how fairy tales give body to nameless fears, engage with moral issues, and work through disabling conflicts reveals the critical importance for children of tales ranging from "Hansel and Gretel" to "The Wizard of Oz." No parent will want to miss out on this journey into the woods and back out again. |
| Jane Yolen, author of Favorite Folk Tales from Around the World and Grey Heroes: Elder Tales from Around the World |
| Sheldon Cashdan offers a clear-headed and fascinating view of fairy tales and psychology, walking the thin red line between the abuses of enchantment (Bettelheim and Freud) and the New Age adoption of faerie (Robert Bly et al). Mixing classic tales, L. Frank Baum, Disney, and even one of my own original fairy stories, he seasons his stew with insight but without jargon, and brings the old tales into the modern reader's life. |
| Amazon reader from North America |
| A Must-Have Reference Book!, August 9,
1999
I would recommend this excellent guide to Fairy tales to everyone: parents who want to share the world of old tales with their children, teachers who want to share this tradition with their students, scholars and arm-chair folklorists alike! Over the last half of the Century, the study of folkore and fairy tales has become a game of censorship and interpretation. Unfortunately, the standards set for these practices are based soley on modern patterns of thought and emotion; it does not enter the mind of the modern commentator to consider that the people who carried these stories through the canturies thought differently than we do and had different concerns. But Sheldon Cashdan makes this the very basis of his book "The Witch Must Die". His terms are clear and logical, his approach pragmatic and realistic. Not only does Cashdan help us to understand the thoughts, feelings and concerns of those who recorded these stories, but he also accepts that the children's story of yesterday is the folklore of tomorrow. He is perhaps the first folklorist to consider L. Frank Baum side by side with the Bros. Grimm - Cashdan understands that they both did the same thing: took many folk traditions and created unfied stories from them. This is an exciting book which could breath life into the study of folklore as literature, a field which has become dead with politcally correct concerns. |
| Amazon reader from Eau Claire, WI |
| I read the book because of the interesting title and found it an excellent choice. It seems that it has been emphasized for it educational purpose, but I took it more entertaining and interesting. Something that just makes one think, sheds a new light on tales that are so familiar to so many of us. Whether or not the author is correct in all his theories (no one really ever is) I thoroughly enjoyed hearing them. I've read several other books on similar topics but none have held my interest like this one. Very well written in my opinion. Regardless of what the reviews say, pop into a bookstore to give it a peek for yourself. It's not necessarily what people are making it seem like. |
| Amazon reader from worldnet.att.net |
| ...Cashdan takes you on a magical journey down the fairy tale path to show that even the simplest good story has a message for each of us. Cashdan holds nothing back and gives the reader a complete look and in most cases also an understanding that what you read isn't always what you read. ... |