Once upon a Time There Was Truth: or, Why We Need Fairy Tales

Essays on imagining a better world in dark times, from one of our most esteemed scholars of fairy tales

Fairy tales take us to a world where magic is commonplace, where wishing works, where the conflicts in our hearts are literalized in the world around us. The living, vibrant, democratic genre of the fairy tale draws stories from people and places all over the globe, and spreads them just as broadly. Yet in a world exhausted by war, famine, climate devastation, and political strife, are these tales still valid? Are they merely an escape, or are they something more? The eminent folklorist Jack Zipes argues here that fairy tales remain relevant and powerful, that they still speak truth to power. Indeed, he writes, we cannot do without them.

In this collection of essays on such beloved tales as “Hansel and Gretel” and “Puss in Boots”; on the authors L. Frank Baum, E. T. A. Hoffmann, and the Brothers Grimm; and on the dubious influence of Disney, Zipes introduces readers to the history of the fairy tale and explores why the stories retain such a fierce hold on our imagination. He argues vigorously for the fighting utopian spirit the tales uphold—something our world sorely needs.