When one thinks of fairy tale writers, Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen come to mind alongside, of course, Walt Disney. However, there were also several women writers from history who, along with their stories, have been forgotten over the past century.
In The Lost Princess, Anne E. Duggan traces the history of women writers and the notion of "classic fairy tales." The first chapter describes the empowering variants of "Cinderella," including those written by women. The second chapter is about two variants of "Beauty and the Beast" and their legacy. Duggan's last two chapters describe maiden in the tower/cat tales and maiden warrior tales.
Duggan mainly touches on tales by Marie-Catherine D'Aulnoy (1650-1705), including "Finette Cendron" (her version of "Cinderella"), "The Ram," "The Green Serpent," "The White Cat," and "Belle-Belle." She also brings up work by other forgotten female writers, such as "Persinette" (from which "Rapunzel" was adapted) by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de la Force (1654-1724). Duggan describes ther' histories and adaptations, including British pantomimes (Disney movies' Victorian equivalent).
While reading The Lost Princess, I wondered why D'Aulnoy's tales aren't popular anymore. Duggan describes how these tales had more empowered female protagonists than many of the stories Disney adapted. In an age when the demand for strong female role models for young girls is high, it's time we find a way to resurrect the tales of D'Aulnoy and other female writers.
There are some illustrations from the fairy tales and adaptations Duggan discussed throughout the book. The middle of the book even has a few pages of colored illustrations.
One problem I have with The Lost Princess is how it perceives Disney; Duggan leans into the stereotype that Disney princesses are merely damsels in distress waiting for princes, ignoring the progress Disney has already made in giving their female characters more agency. Duggan also wrote about "Rapunzel" without even mentioning Tangled (which portrays Rapunzel as an active character).
Duggan clearly wrote from a liberal feminist worldview; she considers a desire for romance or reliance on a husband as a limitation on agency, for example. Christians will find such information hard to read.
Despite this, anyone working at Disney needs to read The Lost Princess for insight into their notion of "classic fairy tales" and how they can change it. This book is also a must-read for fairy tale fans because it challenges many of our common assumptions about the fairy tale genre.
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