The Postmodern Fairytale: Folkloric Intertexts in Contemporary Fiction [Hardcover]

Why is Shrek one of the greatest selling DVDs of all time? Why are shampoo advertisements based on Sleeping Beauty? Why is it that the same simple stories keep being told? This study attempts to explain why fairy tales keep popping up in the most unexpected places and why the best storytellers begin their tales with 'once upon a time'.Acknowledgements Introduction The Eight Elements of Intertextual use of Fairy Tales Architextual/ Chronotopic Intertextuality and Magic Realism in Kate Atkinson's Human Croquet Metafictive Intertextuality: Defining the 'Storyteller' Chronotope Battling the Nightmare of Myth, Terry Pratchett's Fairy Tale Inversions Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

'...Smith's enthusiasm for his subject matter is infectiously evident throughout The Postmodern Fairytale , and his arguments are often both amusing and insightful.' - Lucy Carlyle, Times Literary Supplement

KEVIN PAUL SMITH is an independent scholar.