Fairy tales as ways of knowing

This collection represents the concerns of scholars in psychology, folklore, and literary criticism centering on the many-faceted problems of the fairy tale. The essays deal with the relationship of Märchen to the psyche and creative imagination on several levels, ranging from their constructive socializing function in children (Bruno Bettelheim) through their quasi-mythic cultural roles (Linda Dégh) and special ways of depicting reality (Maria Tatar and Erika A. Metzger) to their manifold influences on the poetic process and varying fortunes in the course of literary history (Hansjörg Schelle, Lawrence O. Frye, Cora Lee Nollendorfs, James M. McGlathery, and Lee B. Jennings).