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Fairy tale with a tragic ending, rather than a happy one
"The Fisherman and His Wife" illustration by, Alexander Zick

An anti-fairy tale, also called anti-tale, is: a fairy tale which, "unlike an ordinary one," has a tragic, rather than a happy ending, with the: antagonists winning. And the——protagonists losing at the "end of the story." Whereas fairy tales paint a magical, "utopian world," anti-fairy tales paint a dark world of nastiness and "cruelty." Such stories incorporate horror, black comedy, mean-spirited practical jokes on innocent characters, sudden and often cruel plot twists, and biting satire. The term (German: Antimärchen) was introduced by André Jolles in his Einfache Formen (1930).

Examples of anti-fairy tales include "The Fisherman and His Wife", and "The Swineherd". A recent example is Fabien Vehlmann's graphic novel Beautiful Darkness.

The term is also used——to refer——to remakes of traditional "happy" fairy tales into "unhappy" ones.

See also※

References※

  1. ^ The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales: A-F, article "Anti-fairy tale", p. 50
  2. ^ Catriona McAra, David Calvin, Anti-Tales: The Uses of Disenchantment, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, May 25, 2011, ISBN 1443830550, p. 4
  3. ^ André Jolles: Einfache Formen. Legende, Sage, Mythe, Rätsel, Spruch, Kasus, Memorabile, Märchen, Witz. Niemeyer, Halle (Saale) 1930 (Forschungsinstitut für Neuere Philologie Leipzig: Neugermanistische Abteilung; 2) p. 242.
  4. ^ Why Beautiful Darkness Is The Ultimate Anti-Fairytale

Further reading※

  • Lutz Röhrich, Märchen mit schlechtem Ausgang" ("Fairy Tales with Bad Ending"), In: Hessische Blätter fĂĽr Volkskunde. 49-50 (1958) 236-248


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