The Girl without Hands: From Folktale and Fairy Tale to Contemporary Novel By Melissa Jane Ashley Abstract The major component of the thesis is an extract from the manuscript, The Girl without Hands, a novelised interpretation of the folktale and fairy tale, The Maiden without Hands. The novel is composed of three books, with point of view structured as shifting third person; most of the story is narrated by the central character, Marina Fischer. The manuscript deploys a variety of fairy tale and folktale related literary techniques, including magic realism, intertextuality, framing, and fantasy. Events span a period of eight years, the action set in rural and urban parts of Queensland and Victoria. On an unsupervised picnic with friends, fourteen year old Marina Fischer’s twin sister Sonia suffers a fatal head injury. Grief-stricken and self-blaming, Marina reacts to the trauma by losing all feeling and movement in her hands. Six months following the accident, Marina seems on the verge of recovery; she attends regular therapy and is protected by her loyal friends, siblings Amelia and Sammy Jones. However, the patina of stability begins to crack when Marina is confronted at the year ten formal by Sonia’s former associates, Kylie Bates and Jody Cutter, also present at her death. Distraught and upset, Marina flees the dance in Jody’s older brother’s car. Seven years later Marina meets Matt Soverign, a gifted hypnotist, who tries to help her regain movement in her hands. They sleep together and Marina unexpectedly falls pregnant. Their son Tristram is born while Matt attends an interstate conference. Thinking a child would help her hands to heal, Marina becomes depressed when she continues to suffer from paralysis. She begins to dwell on memories of her sexual assault the night of the school dance, slowly losing touch with reality. But a phone call from her estranged friend, Amelia Jones, shakes Marina out of her stasis. Her close mate Sammy, who now lives in Melbourne, has fallen dangerously ill. With her relationship in pieces, Marina purchases train tickets for herself and Tristram and embarks upon a spontaneous—though much delayed—journey to reconcile the past. The critical component of the thesis is an essay entitled “The Maiden without Hands: From Folktale and Fairy Tale to Contemporary Novel”. Chapter one, “The Tale is Not Beautiful if Nothing is Added to It,” is a literary survey of cross-cultural folktale and fairy tale variants of the 1200 year old narrative, The Maiden without Hands. I explore academic debate regarding the literary fairy tale’s indebtedness to the oral folktale, discussing Susan Stewart’s notion of the ‘distressed text’ and Lewis Seifert’s theory of ‘nostalgic recuperation.’ Chapter two, “Then the Devil Will Take Me Away,” undertakes a close reading of the Grimm Brothers’ influential but controversial 1857 re-write of The Maiden without Hands narrative. I suggest that Wilhelm Grimm’s suppression of the ‘unnatural father’ episode, found in the traditional folktale, aided the story’s survival in and beyond the nineteenth century, when such themes became taboo. I explore how the Grimms’ aesthetic revisions of folk material—to make them appeal to a middle class audience, including children—helped proliferate stereotyped representations of females and femininity in classic fairy tales. These depictions, I argue, often cause ambivalence in contemporary female readers, however they also instigate creative revisionary projects (such as my own), which seek to explore the residual energy contained in fairy tale texts, while at the same time destabilising their sexual stereotyping. In the last chapter, “The Only Thing She Doesn’t Have is Arms,” I discuss how extensive research into the many incarnations of The Maiden without Hands altered my understanding of the narrative’s symbols, tropes and metaphors, leading to significant changes to the plot of my novel. Citing examples from my text, The Girl without Hands, and comparing and contrasting them with excerpts from variants of the folktale and fairy tale, I analyse my creative interpretation of The Maiden without Hands’ major themes: loss and lack; sexual assault and violation; creativity and writing; and, finally, healing and wholeness.

The Girl without Hands: From Folktale and Fairy Tale to Contemporary Novel By Melissa Jane Ashley Abstract The major component of the thesis is an extract from the manuscript, The Girl without Hands, a novelised interpretation of the folktale and fairy tale, The Maiden without Hands. The novel is composed of three books, with point of view structured as shifting third person; most of the story is narrated by the central character, Marina Fischer. The manuscript deploys a variety of fairy tale and folktale related literary techniques, including magic realism, intertextuality, framing, and fantasy. Events span a period of eight years, the action set in rural and urban parts of Queensland and Victoria. On an unsupervised picnic with friends, fourteen year old Marina Fischer’s twin sister Sonia suffers a fatal head injury. Grief-stricken and self-blaming, Marina reacts to the trauma by losing all feeling and movement in her hands. Six months following the accident, Marina seems on the verge of recovery; she attends regular therapy and is protected by her loyal friends, siblings Amelia and Sammy Jones. However, the patina of stability begins to crack when Marina is confronted at the year ten formal by Sonia’s former associates, Kylie Bates and Jody Cutter, also present at her death. Distraught and upset, Marina flees the dance in Jody’s older brother’s car. Seven years later Marina meets Matt Soverign, a gifted hypnotist, who tries to help her regain movement in her hands. They sleep together and Marina unexpectedly falls pregnant. Their son Tristram is born while Matt attends an interstate conference. Thinking a child would help her hands to heal, Marina becomes depressed when she continues to suffer from paralysis. She begins to dwell on memories of her sexual assault the night of the school dance, slowly losing touch with reality. But a phone call from her estranged friend, Amelia Jones, shakes Marina out of her stasis. Her close mate Sammy, who now lives in Melbourne, has fallen dangerously ill. With her relationship in pieces, Marina purchases train tickets for herself and Tristram and embarks upon a spontaneous—though much delayed—journey to reconcile the past. The critical component of the thesis is an essay entitled “The Maiden without Hands: From Folktale and Fairy Tale to Contemporary Novel”. Chapter one, “The Tale is Not Beautiful if Nothing is Added to It,” is a literary survey of cross-cultural folktale and fairy tale variants of the 1200 year old narrative, The Maiden without Hands. I explore academic debate regarding the literary fairy tale’s indebtedness to the oral folktale, discussing Susan Stewart’s notion of the ‘distressed text’ and Lewis Seifert’s theory of ‘nostalgic recuperation.’ Chapter two, “Then the Devil Will Take Me Away,” undertakes a close reading of the Grimm Brothers’ influential but controversial 1857 re-write of The Maiden without Hands narrative. I suggest that Wilhelm Grimm’s suppression of the ‘unnatural father’ episode, found in the traditional folktale, aided the story’s survival in and beyond the nineteenth century, when such themes became taboo. I explore how the Grimms’ aesthetic revisions of folk material—to make them appeal to a middle class audience, including children—helped proliferate stereotyped representations of females and femininity in classic fairy tales. These depictions, I argue, often cause ambivalence in contemporary female readers, however they also instigate creative revisionary projects (such as my own), which seek to explore the residual energy contained in fairy tale texts, while at the same time destabilising their sexual stereotyping. In the last chapter, “The Only Thing She Doesn’t Have is Arms,” I discuss how extensive research into the many incarnations of The Maiden without Hands altered my understanding of the narrative’s symbols, tropes and metaphors, leading to significant changes to the plot of my novel. Citing examples from my text, The Girl without Hands, and comparing and contrasting them with excerpts from variants of the folktale and fairy tale, I analyse my creative interpretation of The Maiden without Hands’ major themes: loss and lack; sexual assault and violation; creativity and writing; and, finally, healing and wholeness.

The Girl without Hands: From Folktale and Fairy Tale to Contemporary Novel By Melissa Jane Ashley Abstract The major component of the thesis is an extract from the manuscript, The Girl without Hands, a novelised interpretation of the folktale and fairy tale, The Maiden without Hands. The novel is composed of three books, with point of view structured as shifting third person; most of the story is narrated by the central character, Marina Fischer. The manuscript deploys a variety of fairy tale and folktale related literary techniques, including magic realism, intertextuality, framing, and fantasy. Events span a period of eight years, the action set in rural and urban parts of Queensland and Victoria. On an unsupervised picnic with friends, fourteen year old Marina Fischer’s twin sister Sonia suffers a fatal head injury. Grief-stricken and self-blaming, Marina reacts to the trauma by losing all feeling and movement in her hands. Six months following the accident, Marina seems on the verge of recovery; she attends regular therapy and is protected by her loyal friends, siblings Amelia and Sammy Jones. However, the patina of stability begins to crack when Marina is confronted at the year ten formal by Sonia’s former associates, Kylie Bates and Jody Cutter, also present at her death. Distraught and upset, Marina flees the dance in Jody’s older brother’s car. Seven years later Marina meets Matt Soverign, a gifted hypnotist, who tries to help her regain movement in her hands. They sleep together and Marina unexpectedly falls pregnant. Their son Tristram is born while Matt attends an interstate conference. Thinking a child would help her hands to heal, Marina becomes depressed when she continues to suffer from paralysis. She begins to dwell on memories of her sexual assault the night of the school dance, slowly losing touch with reality. But a phone call from her estranged friend, Amelia Jones, shakes Marina out of her stasis. Her close mate Sammy, who now lives in Melbourne, has fallen dangerously ill. With her relationship in pieces, Marina purchases train tickets for herself and Tristram and embarks upon a spontaneous—though much delayed—journey to reconcile the past. The critical component of the thesis is an essay entitled “The Maiden without Hands: From Folktale and Fairy Tale to Contemporary Novel”. Chapter one, “The Tale is Not Beautiful if Nothing is Added to It,” is a literary survey of cross-cultural folktale and fairy tale variants of the 1200 year old narrative, The Maiden without Hands. I explore academic debate regarding the literary fairy tale’s indebtedness to the oral folktale, discussing Susan Stewart’s notion of the ‘distressed text’ and Lewis Seifert’s theory of ‘nostalgic recuperation.’ Chapter two, “Then the Devil Will Take Me Away,” undertakes a close reading of the Grimm Brothers’ influential but controversial 1857 re-write of The Maiden without Hands narrative. I suggest that Wilhelm Grimm’s suppression of the ‘unnatural father’ episode, found in the traditional folktale, aided the story’s survival in and beyond the nineteenth century, when such themes became taboo. I explore how the Grimms’ aesthetic revisions of folk material—to make them appeal to a middle class audience, including children—helped proliferate stereotyped representations of females and femininity in classic fairy tales. These depictions, I argue, often cause ambivalence in contemporary female readers, however they also instigate creative revisionary projects (such as my own), which seek to explore the residual energy contained in fairy tale texts, while at the same time destabilising their sexual stereotyping. In the last chapter, “The Only Thing She Doesn’t Have is Arms,” I discuss how extensive research into the many incarnations of The Maiden without Hands altered my understanding of the narrative’s symbols, tropes and metaphors, leading to significant changes to the plot of my novel. Citing examples from my text, The Girl without Hands, and comparing and contrasting them with excerpts from variants of the folktale and fairy tale, I analyse my creative interpretation of The Maiden without Hands’ major themes: loss and lack; sexual assault and violation; creativity and writing; and, finally, healing and wholeness.

The thesis focuses on the investigation of selected world fairy-tale analyzing the topics of psychology and cultural anthropology. The subject of the thesis is literarily-theoretical meta-analysis of narrative structures and their relative comparison. Theoretical part of the thesis includes four major chapters, in which there are more specific descriptions of fairy-tale dilemmas and also the analysis of several European fairy-tales. The practical part then specifically analyses Australian, Japanese, Chinese, Gypsy, and Indian fairy-tales.

Submitted by Aline Cristina Sola Orlandi (alineorlandi@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-07-25T17:21:11Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO - Versão Final.pdf: 1205432 bytes, checksum: 16ecc7a478715ff90bd529382059468e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Felipe Augusto Arakaki (arakaki@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-07-28T12:28:58Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 orlandi_acs_me_arafcl.pdf: 1205432 bytes, checksum: 16ecc7a478715ff90bd529382059468e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-28T12:28:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 orlandi_acs_me_arafcl.pdf: 1205432 bytes, checksum: 16ecc7a478715ff90bd529382059468e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-30 / A presente dissertação de mestrado pretende elucidar à luz de teorias feministas e do gênero gótico algumas técnicas de escrita utilizadas por Angela Carter na reescrita do conto de fadas “Chapeuzinho Vermelho”, como forma de subversão de discursos patriarcais e desconstrução de todo um imaginário ocidental de subjugo e vitimização da mulher. Carter revisita os contos de fadas mais populares, na coletânea The Bloody Chamber and other stories, subvertendo padrões estruturais desses contos e também a posição da mulher como vítima passiva recorrente em alguns contos de fadas e na literatura gótica. Através dos contos “The Werewolf” e “The Company of Wolves” presentes na referida coletânea, pretende-se explorar como Carter faz uso de elementos do gótico para construir uma atmosfera de terror, que representa os perigos que a heroína terá que enfrentar para chegar ao final da trajetória e conquistar um prazer total (Jouissance), que ocorrerá através de sua independência econômica, social, sexual e imaginária. E como Carter propõe uma pornografia aliada à mulher, que a empodere e a ajude a descobrir sua identidade, para, assim, retomar seu lugar de igualdade com o homem na sociedade. Além disso, pretende-se elucidar, também, como a autora subverte o Gênero Gótico e os Contos de fadas, bem como a própria Pornografia e os discursos anti-pornografia do movimento feminista. / This master's thesis aims to elucidate through feminist theories and the Gothic genre some writing techniques used by Angela Carter in the rewriting of the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood" as a form of subversion of patriarchal discourses and deconstruction of an entire western imaginary subjugation and victimization of woman. Carter revisits the most popular fairy tales in the collection The Bloody Chamber and other stories, subverting structural patterns of these stories and also woman's position as recurring passive victim in some fairy tales and gothic literature. Through the tales "The Werewolf" and "The Company of Wolves", present in said collection, is intended to explore how Carter makes use of Gothic elements to build an atmosphere of terror, representing the dangers that the heroine will have to face to reach the end of the path and win a total pleasure (Jouissance), through its economic, social, sexual and imaginary independence. And how Carter proposes an ally pornography to woman, that empowers and helps her discover her identity, to thus repossess her place of equality with man in society. In addition, we intend to clarify, also, as the author subverts the Gender Gothic and Fairy tale, and the very Pornography and anti-pornography feminist movement speeches.

Fairy tales are a basic way of mediating social, ethic, and cultural values to children. The form of a story is accessible and understandable to children. By their definiteness fairytale characters enable children to understand and differentiate the good and the evil, the right and the wrong, the positive and the negative more easily. Mental handicap influences the whole personality and proves by a lower level of rational abilities and a different way of perception. Nobody has specified so far to what extent fairytale characters influence the development of mentally handicapped children. The aim of my work was to find out whether mentally handicapped children know and perceive fairytale characters and whether they are influenced by them similarly to healthy children. The examined complex included ten children with a medium-severe mental retardation aged 12 {--} 19. The research was carried out by semi {--} structured dialogues with children, their parents, and school workers. I also used a method of structured observation and anylysis of products. All the ten children meet with fairy tales regularly. All children prefer audiovisual forms of fairy tales. The parents of three children stated that they also read fairy tales to their children. The children were able to name 3 {--} 18 fairy tales. They were able to present their favourite characters together with their characteristcs. In nine cases it was a positive character, one child gave a negative character. Eight children could name both positive and negative characters. A typical fairytale character of a devil is understandable better than a character of a water sprite, which is ambiguous for them. In a free drawing fairytale topics occured only sporadically in figural and technical motives. The occurence of fairytale motives in spontaeous children´s play and their conversation was also sporadic. Understanding a fairy tale and fairytale characters is limited with mentally handicapped children. Although audiovisual forms of fairy tales are criticised in literature, for these children they seem to be more accessible. TV interpretation of a fairy tale is more understandable for them. It mediates information for more senses simultaneously and thus it has a bigger chance to capture them.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This TCF presents a proposal to read the wonderful tales from some of the basic stages and functions of this genre, according to the morphology of Propp (2006), making possible the changes of the roles of the classic protagonists and antagonists. Our objective is to perform a subjective re-reading and later rewriting, with the aid of the identification of some narrative stages of the fairy tales, both in the written text and in its adaptation to the audiovisual language. This research was driven by the observation of the reality of literature teaching in elementary school, in which the deficiency is perceived in relation to strategies of literary reading and multiletration in Portuguese language classes. Methodologically, we explore some concepts proposed by Vladimir Propp's studies of the wonderful tale; as regards the issue of literary reading, we apply some aspects of the receptional and semiological methods proposed by Bordini & Aguiar (1988). From the fusion of these two perspectives, we propose a practice of comparative reading of traditional wonderful stories and the re-reading of them in audiovisual adaptations (cinema). In order to do so, we make use of other theoretical contributions of foundation, with particular emphasis to: Campos (2003), Colomer (2007), Coutinho (2006), Cruz (2012), Estés (2005), Gomes (2014), Rojo & Moura 2012), Rouxel (2013), Silva (2006, 2009), Zilberman (1982). This proposal for intervention results in a pedagogical book, with multimodal literary reading workshops, culminating in the production of retellings of fairy tales. From the analysis of the data collection and the results of this research, we suggest a method of literary reading that allows any teacher to use it in their classes, putting the multissemy of the contemporary world and the narrative corpus of wonderful tales in the service of the formation of readers and producers of literary texts. / Este TCF apresenta uma proposta de leitura dos contos maravilhosos a partir de algumas das etapas e funções básicas desse gênero, conforme a morfologia de Propp (2006), possibilitando mudanças dos papéis dos protagonistas e dos antagonistas clássicos. Nosso objetivo é realizar uma releitura subjetiva e posterior reescrita, com o auxílio da identificação de algumas etapas narrativas dos contos de fadas, tanto no texto escrito quanto em sua adaptação para a linguagem audiovisual. Esta pesquisa foi impulsionada pela observação da realidade do ensino de literatura no ensino fundamental, em que se percebe a deficiência no que diz respeito a estratégias de leitura literária e de multiletramento nas aulas de língua portuguesa. Metodologicamente, exploramos alguns conceitos propostos pelos estudos de Vladimir Propp acerca do conto maravilhoso; quanto à questão da leitura literária, aplicamos alguns aspectos dos métodos recepcional e semiológico, propostos por Bordini & Aguiar (1988). A partir da fusão dessas duas perspectivas, propomos uma prática de leitura comparativa de contos maravilhosos tradicionais e a releitura dos mesmos em adaptações audiovisuais (cinema). Para tanto, fazemos uso de outras contribuições teóricas de fundamentação, com destaque para: Campos (2003), Colomer (2007), Coutinho (2006), Cruz (2012), Estés (2005), Gomes (2014), Rojo & Moura (2012), Rouxel (2013), Silva (2006, 2009), Zilberman (1982). Esta proposta de intervenção resulta num caderno pedagógico, com oficinas de leitura literária multimodal, que culminam na produção de releituras de contos de fadas. A partir da análise da coleta de dados e dos resultados desta pesquisa, sugerimos um método de leitura literária que possibilite a qualquer professor utilizá-lo em suas aulas, pondo a multissemiose do mundo contemporâneo e o corpus narrativo dos contos maravilhosos a serviço da formação de leitores e produtores de textos literários. / Itabaiana, SE

Au début du XIXe siècle s’amorce, en réponse à l’instabilité du monde, une crise de la représentation. Elle se traduit, dans les milieux romantiques, par une écriture de l’ambiguïté que l’on a coutume de désigner sous le nom de fantastique. En marge des visions grotesques ou dissonantes qui caractérisent de nombreux textes hoffmanniens, les récits de Charles Nodier, Joseph von Eichendorff, mais également, en partie du premier Gautier ou de Tieck, mettent en place un fantastique onirique, tirant sur le merveilleux. Touchant à l’intime et révélant les désirs cachés du sujet, cette modalité du fantastique sera appréhendée, à rebours d’une tradition critique qui privilégie l’étude de l’événement, sous l’angle du personnage. L’analyse comparée d’un corpus synchronique composé de contes et nouvelles de l’époque romantique se propose ainsi de contribuer à une poétique du fantastique et d’éclairer la relation qu’entretiennent les romantismes français et allemands .Ce travail fait tout d’abord ressortir la présence de rôles récurrents et de modalités de construction communes. Le récit est centré sur la relation unissant une figure fantastique et un sujet, autour duquel gravitent deux types, l’un donnant corps à l’interprétation surnaturelle, l’autre la rejetant. Le fantastique ne naît cependant pas uniquement de caractéristiques ontologiques, mais résulte d’une manipulation, qui joue sur l’évolution des interactions entre les personnages et sur les liens qui se tissent entre les différents niveaux narratifs. Cette manipulation sert un discours anthropologique et esthétique, qui révèle des points de convergence entre les romantismes français et allemands, esthétiques notamment, mais aussi des divergences profondes, quant à l’évaluation du rêve et de la folie ou des rapports entre littérature et religion. / At the beginning of the 19th century, the instability of the world lead to a crisis of representation and to the development of what Todorv called the fantastic genre. Unlike Hoffmann's grotesque or discordant visions, Charles Nodier's and Joseph von Eichendorff's stories are characterised by a dreamlike fantastic that is close to the supernatural.This kind of fantastic is connected with the intimate life of the subject and reveals their hidden desires. Contrary to traditional criticism, it will not be analysed through the prism of the event, but through the prism of the characters and their relations. By analysing romantic short stories, we aim to contribute to a general fantastic poetry and to shed a new light on the relations between French and German romanticisms. The first part of the study brings out the presence of typical roles and recurrent modalities of character construction: their names, their physical and psychological traits, their idiosyncraties. The fantastic story focuses on the relationship between a fantastic figure and a subject. Two stereotypes evolve around the latter: a character that defends a supernatural interpretation of the facts and a character that questions their reality. The fantastic effect not only results from ontological characteristics, but also from the interactions between the characters and between the various diegetic levels. The study of these interactions reveals a form of manipulation which serves an anthropological and esthetic aim. This is how, it reveals similarities but also differences between French and German romanticisms concerning the relation between literature and religion or the consideration of dreams or madness.

(in English): The diploma thesis deals with the specific conception of body and corporeality in fairy tales, especially with morbid elements which are often reflected as non-fairy tale. The fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben, Hans Christian Andersen and Oscar Wilde are the main focus. The thesis also introduces the theory of the Swiss scholar Max Lüthi formulated in The European Folktale: Form and Nature into the Czech context. The thesis is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical section provides a complex explication of Max Lüthi's theory of the fairy tale. It examines the main terms that Luthi defined for the fairy tale: One-dimensionality, Depthlessness, Abstract Style, Isolation and Universal Interconnection, Sublimation and All-Inclusiveness. Then the frame of this theory is extended into the field of the authorial fairy tale. The diploma thesis then sums up the differences and the points of contact between those two subgenres using The Story of the Eldest Princess as an example. The practical part focuses on relevant strategies of handling the body and corporeality in fairy tales. The last chapter deals with techniques of breaking the surface of the fairy tale characters' bodies, with internal destruction of the body and with the elements in between. All is...

This thesis focuses on the comparison of two short stories by Angela Carter with the fairy tale on which they are based. It attempts to discern to what extent the author preserved the structure of the fairy tale, as viewed from a linguistic point of view, in her short stories. The thesis also suggests an interpretation of the motivation and effect of the divergences of the structure of the short stories from that of the fairy tale. The three texts are analysed from three points of view: thematic progressions, discourse subjects and cohesive chains, and cohesive ties. Attention is payed first to the description of the individual texts, and then to the comparison of the three texts. The comparison puts emphasis on the distinction between the shorts stories on one hand and the fairy tale on the other hand. The comparison shows that the structure of the fairy tale is to a large extent retained in the short stories, as they share characteristics on all the three levels of analysis. The short stories were found to differ from the fairy tale in two main respects, connected to each other, which influence the differences in their structure: the age of the intended reader, and the context and setting of the story.