Happily Ever After

First Published in 1997. Happily Ever After is Jack Zipes’s latest work on the fairy tale. Moving from the Renaissance to the present, and between different cultures this book addresses Zipes’s ongoing concern with the fairy tale- its impact on children and adults, its role in the socialisation of children- as well as the future of the fairy tale on the big(and little) screen. Here are Straparola’s sixteenth-century ‘Puss in Boots’ and a 1922 film of the story; Hansel and Gretel and child abuse; the Pinocchio of Colladi and of Walt Disney. AN ardent champion of children’s literature and children’s culture, Zipes writes also about oral tradition and the rise of storytelling throughout the world. But behind each of his essays lies the key question that all fairy tales will what does it tale to bring about happiness? And is happiness only to be found in fairy tales?