Traumatic Re-Visionings of Classic Fairy Tales Robin McKinley's Deerskin and Jane Yolen's Briar Rose

Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Van Tuyl, Jocelyn

Keywords

Fairy Tales, Trauma, Revisionings, Reworked, Reader-Response Theory, Disenchantment, Deerskin, Briar Rose

Area of Concentration

Literature

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the representations and implications of trauma in two re-visionary fairy-tale novels written in the early 1990s, Jane Yolen�s Briar Rose and Robin McKinley�s Deerskin�reworkings of the classic tales �Sleeping Beauty in the Wood� and �Donkeyskin,� respectively. Through close readings of the primary texts, the first chapter examines the transformation of the fairy tale into a trauma narrative, illustrating how the text is both integrated with the traumatic and opened to active reader roles. The second chapter focuses on the reading experience, investigating the reader�s multifaceted roles through the application of reader-response theory and Wolfgang Iser�s �structured blank.� Considering the re-visioning of classic tales as trauma narratives as part of a larger trend of disenchantment, the third chapter explores the effect of reader interpretations of Deerskin and Briar Rose on future readings of the classic tales. The thesis concludes by contextualizing the primary text within the contemporary discussions surrounding the definition of trauma.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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