Strictly speaking, I’d say that the story of “Beauty And The Beast” goes back at least to the story of “Cupid And Psyche”, told by Lucius Apuleius in his novel The Golden Ass, and researchers think it goes back further, 4000 years ago, but as a fairy tale it was written by a French storyteller called Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot De Villeneuve in the 18th century.
There are many variations, but let’s stick to some modern retellings. There are plenty of those!
One of my favourites is Beauty by Robin McKinley, which I first read many years ago, though it still seems to be in print. It is a retelling of the fairytale and is a delight to read. Her heroine is actually called Honor, but prefers to be called Beauty. Her sisters are sweet, and asking their father for jewels and dresses is just intended as a joke. Beauty is the strongest and smartest of them, so looks after the family. When she goes to live with the Beast, she discovers his library of books that haven’t been written yet. She particularly enjoys Sherlock Holmes, but does wonder about the technology described in many future books. Like…what is a plane?
When the spell is broken and this alarmingly handsome man stands in front of her, she yells, “What have you done with my Beast?”
It’s a sweet, gentle version of the story and is easily available.
Another one I liked was Juliet Marillier’s Heart’s Blood, set in mediaeval Ireland. The Heart’s Blood of the title is actually a kind of ink. The heroine, Caitrin, has run away from home and a very much unwanted marriage and got herself a summer job as a scribe to a lord who has a family curse, but not the one you think. He isn’t a beast as such, he had a childhood illness that did awful things to his face. But there are still fantasy elements. I loved it. And it’s available both in ebook and print.
There is an American YA version by Alex Flinn, Beastly, which was also a film. He is a secondary school student, very proud and cruel to schoolmates, changed to teach him a lesson. Much of it is told through a chat room online, in which he is telling his story to other fairytale characters.
It is available on your favourite web sites!
Tomorrow: C Is For Circe And Cinderella.
13 comments:
The "Cursebreakers" series is another "Beauty and the Best" retelling.
The problem I have with the enduringly popular Beauty and the Beast fairy tale is that its important lesson is one-sided only. Females are taught by it to look beyond the superficial ugliness of a male and fall in love with his inner qualities instead, but there is no correspondingly ubiquitous tale to suggest that men should or need to do likewise. The only traditional myth I know of where a man is ultimately rewarded for taking an ugly bride involves Sir Gawain of the Round Table, an allegory of winter (old, ugly bride) turning into spring (young, beautiful bride). By contrast with Beauty and the Beast, Sir Gawain's tale is hardly well known. It would benefit both sexes to learn to look beyond the superficial when judging worthiness.
As a matter of fact, the story of Gawain and Ragnell is pretty well known. Chaucer had some fun with it in the Wife of Bath’s Tale. The knight is not named and he had been in trouble for rape. So when the woman asks him if he wants her beautiful by day, ugly by night or the other way around, he says meekly that she can be whatever she wants. He has learned his lesson.
There is also a folk song, “King Henry”, sung by Steeleye Span and available on YouTube, in which the hero takes shelter in a hall owned by a scary female monster, who orders him to give her food and drink, then to lie with her. In the morning he finds his partner is now young and beautiful, the spell on her broken.
There was a film, with Malcolm McDowell as Arthur, in which Gawain falls in love with Ragnell when she is ugly and asks permission to marry her. Arthur and Guinevere are very surprised, but agree. She turns back when they have married and he kisses her. But he didn’t know that would happen.
In the original version of B&B, Cupid and Psyche, the “Beast” is actually Cupid and she has only seen him in the dark and is panicking that he might be a monster. She certainly doesn’t learn not to judge!
Hi Jamie! I haven’t heard of that one - is it good? Who wrote it?
I liked the series all right. It's by Brigid Kemmerer
https://www.amazon.com/Cursebreaker-Box-Set-Brigid-Kemmerer/dp/154760915X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1TBESBXWQDD8B&keywords=cursebreakers+series&qid=1680486460&sprefix=cursebreakers%2Caps%2C1945&sr=8-1
The first one sounds lovely! I like a gentle retelling :)
The Multicolored Diary
Hi Zalka! If you like gentle, this book is for you. 🙂
Thanks, Jamie, I’ll check it out.
I'll have to take a look at my disorganised collection of books to see if there's a proper Beauty and the Beast retelling to read... One of my favourite fairy tales :-)
Ronel visiting for B:
My Languishing TBR: B
Birds of Faerie
And where are the mass market Disney animated and live versions of those stories? Where are the blockbuster musicals? That's how myths and their lessons spread these days.
Hi Stuart! Films count here. I do films on this blog. And yes, it is a classic.
I love McKinley's "Beauty," and will have to look up some of the others. This is a great theme and I look forward to all your recommendations!
http://nydamprintsblackandwhite.blogspot.com/2023/03/bewick-atozchallenge.html”>Alphabet of Alphabet’s: Bewick
Hi Anne! Hope you find and enjoy!
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