In search of the swan maiden : a narrative on folklore and gender / Barbara Fass Leavy.

By:

Leavy, Barbara Fass, 1936-

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: New York : New York University Press, �1994.Description: 1 online resource (xi, 374 pages)Content type:

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

0585322309
9780585322308
9780814752685
0814752683

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Additional physical formats: Print version:: In search of the swan maiden.DDC classification:

398.21 20

LOC classification:

GR75.S8 L43 1994eb

Online resources:

Click here to access online

Contents:

1. Introduction: The Dangerous Adventure -- 2. Urva�s�i and the Swan Maidens: The Runaway Wife -- 3. The Devil's Bride -- 4. The Animal Groom -- 5. Swan Maiden and Incubus -- 6. The Animal Bride -- 7. Orpheus's Quest -- 8. Etain's Two Husbands: The Swan Maiden's Choice.

Summary: This is a study of the meaning of gender as framed by the swan maiden tale, a story found in the folklore of virtually every culture. The swan maiden is a supernatural woman forced to marry, keep house, and bear children for a mortal man who holds the key to her imprisonment. When she manages to regain this key, she escapes to the otherworld, never to return. These tales have most often been interpreted as depicting exogamous marriages, describing the girl from another tribe trapped in a world where she will always be the outsider. Barbara Fass Leavy believes that, in the societies in which the tale and its variants endured, woman was the other--the outsider trapped in a society that could never be her own. Leavy shows how the tale, though rarely explicitly recognized, is frequently replayed in modern literature. Beautifully written, this book reveals the myriad ways in which the folktales of a society reflect its cultural values, and particularly how folktales are allegories of gender relations. It will interest anyone involved in literary, gender, and cultural studies.

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Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-367) and index.

Print version record.

This is a study of the meaning of gender as framed by the swan maiden tale, a story found in the folklore of virtually every culture. The swan maiden is a supernatural woman forced to marry, keep house, and bear children for a mortal man who holds the key to her imprisonment. When she manages to regain this key, she escapes to the otherworld, never to return. These tales have most often been interpreted as depicting exogamous marriages, describing the girl from another tribe trapped in a world where she will always be the outsider. Barbara Fass Leavy believes that, in the societies in which the tale and its variants endured, woman was the other--the outsider trapped in a society that could never be her own. Leavy shows how the tale, though rarely explicitly recognized, is frequently replayed in modern literature. Beautifully written, this book reveals the myriad ways in which the folktales of a society reflect its cultural values, and particularly how folktales are allegories of gender relations. It will interest anyone involved in literary, gender, and cultural studies.

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