How to Fracture a Fairy Tale - Jane Yolen

Jane Yolen has been a prolific writer of books and short story collections for all ages since 1969.  She has tackled both fiction and nonfiction, and is well regarded as an authority on literary traditions and archetypal themes.  Her latest collection, How to Fracture a Fairy Tale, contains twenty-eight stories that reimagine classic tales culled from fairy tales, legends, mythology, and folklore from a variety of cultures.  In her introduction, Yolen describes her method of “fracturing” as a creative experiment in reexamining the stories through a modern prism.  Some of Yolen’s reworkings contain subtle changes, while others contain major overhauls in terms of their point-of-view, setting, mood and moral underpinnings.  A couple of her versions also combine tales to create something entirely new.  Yolen includes an appendix to the book with information about the origins of the stories, descriptions of her recreation methodology, and sources of inspiration for the revisions.  These notes are as fascinating to read as the stories themselves, providing a unique view into Yolen’s process and demonstrating her extensive knowledge on the subject.  Some of the tales in the collection are easily recognizable while others are more obscure, but all are delightful and entertaining.  Typical collections of short stories with wide-ranging styles usually have some variation in terms of quality, but it would be difficult in this case to identify any weak entries.  How to Fracture a Fairy Tale honors the stories and their cultural importance while refreshing them and widening their potential audience.  Modern adult readers will enjoy seeing their childhood favorites polished and renewed by Yolen’s skillful hand.