Magic Fairy Tales

Book Reviews 235 Despite the emphasis on historical continuity, mative study by Nájera-Ramírez on the newly some of the most interesting pieces here look at created women’s equestrian tradition, la how women have adapted traditions to fit mod- escaramuza charra, provides a fascinating dis- ern life. Cantú describes the recently created cussion of how some women have succeeded, cincuentañera, a new rite of passage created by with difficulty, in overcoming gender-pre- fifty-year-old women using elements of the tra- scribed boundaries by using the “cultural logic” ditional quinceañera, a fifteen-year-old girls’ (p. 220) of the tradition against itself. Deborah coming-of-age party. Helen R. Lucero surveys Vargas examines the politics of musical cross- the work of female artists who create retablos over through the career of Tejana singer Selena, (painted wood panels) and santos (saints), both convincingly arguing that the very concept of of which are typically produced by men. “crossover,” which implies a linear progression Domino Renee Pérez offers traditional and toward North American “success,” is problem- contemporary versions of La Llorona, asserting atic for the description of Selena’s “crossover” that modern-day Chicanas are reinterpreting into the Latin American market from her re- the story to make her “a representation of fe- gional Tejano base. The collection concludes male resistance within a wholly oppressive en- with Tey Marianna Nunn’s description of the vironment” and to “address [the] new strug- work of Albuquerque artist Goldie Garcia and gles” women face in contemporary urban life her use of rasquache, a flashy and uniquely (p. 110). Chicana/o aesthetic based on pastiche. Part 2, “Practicing Traditions,” consists of Although a few of the essays here would have intimate portraits of three extraordinary benefited from greater attention to specific per- women and their individual expressions of formers and performances, and others try too Chicana folklore. Yolanda Broyles-González’s hard to find feminist meaning in the most tenu- account of her Yaqui grandmother’s philosophy ous places, most were effective in offering new and practice of an “Indianized” Catholicism is perspectives on Chicana folklore. The most suc- singularly moving. Cynthia L. Vidaurri’s look at cessful pieces were those that examined the the women of the Fidencistas, a folk religious specifics of particular works, communities, or movement based on the life and work of “El individuals. Chicana Traditions provides an in- Niño Fidencio” (a curandero in early twentieth- formative look at women’s contributions to century Nuevo León), examines ways in which well-known but traditionally masculine genres Chicana healers have challenged male author- such as mariachi music and santos carving, and ity in non-radical, “culturally appropriate” it is a useful introduction to less familiar tradi- ways (p. 141). Leonor Xóchitl Pérez provides a tions that have for too long been ignored or very personal account of the trials faced by overlooked. Through it, the editors have accom- women who wish to be mariachis and the em- plished their goal of making this scholarship powering possibilities offered by participation available to a wider audience and will certainly in this traditionally masculine musical genre. inspire other researchers to follow in their foot- The final section of the book, “Transforming steps. Traditions,” is devoted to analyses of ways in which women have altered and transcended traditional Mexicano/Chicano culture, often The Owl, the Raven, and the Dove: The Reli- inventing new forms of expression along the gious Meaning of the Grimms’ Magic Fairy way. Broyles-González contributes a piece on Tales. By G. Ronald Murphy, S.J. (New York: Lydia Mendoza’s ranchera songs, examining her Oxford University Press, 2002. Pp. xi+183, bib- unique contributions to the genre and to the liography, illustrations, appendices.) Chicano community as a whole as she “deterritorialized ‘Mexicanness’” (p. 198) and Evelyn M. Perry created a diasporic community through the Framingham State College “powerful mythic space” of el rancho (p. 188). This author so excels at describing the nonver- Once upon a cocktail party in Rochester, New bal that one hopes she will someday tackle other York, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Stephen long-neglected genres such as dance. An infor- Knight of the University of Wales. Because it 236 Journal of American Folklore 117 (2004) was shortly after the publication of his study on ality of Wilhelm Grimm,” Murphy describes his the legend of Robin Hood, our conversation research into the Grimms’ original and re- naturally turned in that direction. He told me worked manuscripts and illustrates the particu- that the subtitle of his text, A Complete Study of lar abilities and approaches of Wilhelm Grimm, the English Outlaw, was chosen by the publisher the chief reteller. and that he was somewhat mortified that such In the remainder of the book, Murphy notes a claim should have been made in his name. Wilhelm Grimm’s repeated use of symbols— Perhaps the same may be said of G. Ronald the owl (describing his attention to the threads Murphy’s The Owl, the Raven, and the Dove: of classical antiquity), the raven (demonstrat- The Religious Meaning of the Grimms’ Magic ing his attention to the threads of German Fairy Tales, because the text’s subtitle is both Märchen), and the dove (exemplifying his faith- misleading and limiting. Murphy’s scholarship ful Christian morality). Murphy examines these is all embracing and rigorous. His examination symbols in five of the Grimms’ best-known and includes the insights of fairy tale scholars and much-loved fairy tales: “Hansel and Gretel,” does not disprove alternate readings of the “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Cinderella,” “Snow Grimms’ work in order to support his own White,” and “Sleeping Beauty.” Throughout, he claims; nor is his study directed only at religious is careful and respectful in his discussion of al- symbolism and sentiment in the fairy tales of ternate versions of the tales, especially those the Brothers Grimm. Rather, Murphy uses con- written by Charles Perrault and Giambattista tributions to fairy tale studies as a support for Basile, which, he asserts, informed the work of his comprehensive, well-argued, and painstak- the Brothers Grimm. ingly researched analysis. Though rare, there are moments of analysis Murphy’s descriptions of Wilhelm and Jacob in this book that require a leap of faith (for ex- Grimms’ biographies, their familiarity with the ample, the prophetic frog in “Sleeping Beauty” stories of classical antiquity, their appreciation is actually the prince who awakens the sleeping for Germanic tales as cultural archives, and damsel). But here the reader is both assured and their profound Christian beliefs, strengthen his reassured; we are assured that Wilhelm Grimm ultimate claim: the Grimms, Wilhelm in par- himself took a leap of faith when reworking the ticular, reworked the fairy tales throughout tales and highlighting their particular literary, their lives in order to do them literary, cultural, cultural, and Christian elements, and we are and Christian moral justice. In chapter 1, “The reassured by Murphy’s outstanding scholarship. Roots of Spiritual Stories,” Murphy outlines the His text is lively, careful, insightful, thoughtful, lives and life works of Jacob and Wilhelm and provocative—a significant contribution to Grimm and argues convincingly that they did fairy tale studies. not just record their tales, but that they lovingly refashioned them in order to highlight and cel- ebrate their literary, cultural, and Christian el- Gesture, Gender, Nation: Dance and Social ements. Thus, the Grimms were retellers, shap- Change in Uzbekistan. By Mary Masayo Doi. ing fairy tales as they saw fit, with great acumen, (Westport, Conn.: Bergin & Garvey, 2002. Pp. admirable talent, and according to their aca- xii + 151, bibliography, photographs, index.) demic and personal interests—an approach often celebrated in the works of contemporary Sydney Hutchinson retellers such as Anita Diamant, C. S. Lewis, and New York University Gregory Maguire. Chapter 2, “Scholars and the Religious Spirit In Gesture, Gender, Nation, Mary Masayo Doi of the Tales,” provides an overview of draws from classic anthropological literature, significant contributions to fairy tale studies dance scholarship, and practice theory to ex- and to Murphy’s analysis in particular; he pays plain the role of dance in the formation of a special attention to Bruno Bettelheim, Heinz national identity in Uzbekistan from the early Rölleke, and Ruth Bottigheimer (but does not Soviet period through the present. She argues mention Jack Zipes, Maria Tatar, or Marie- that Soviets used dance as a tool of social Louise Von Franz). In chapter 3, “The Spiritu- change, unifying the republic’s diverse ethnic.

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