The Uses Of Enchantment: The Meaning And Importance Of Fairy Tales
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Yellowed
What if the fairy tales we tell children are not mere entertainment, but the very architecture of a healthy psyche? In The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, renowned child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim presents a landmark argument that classic fairy tales — from Cinderella to Hansel and Gretel — serve a profound psychological purpose, speaking directly to children's inner lives, anxieties, and developmental struggles in ways that sanitised, rational narratives simply cannot. Drawing on Freudian psychoanalytic theory, Bettelheim illustrates how the symbolic language of fairy tales addresses the deepest human conflicts: sibling rivalry, oedipal tensions, the fear of death, and the journey toward individuation. His prose is authoritative yet accessible, weaving clinical insight with genuine reverence for storytelling's ancient power. A work of enduring intellectual force, this volume challenges parents, educators, and literary scholars alike to reconsider what we owe children in the stories we choose to share — and what is lost when we strip them of their darkness.
Author: Bruno Bettelheim
Format: Hardback
Published: 1976, Thames and Hudson
Genre: Psychology
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Yellowed
What if the fairy tales we tell children are not mere entertainment, but the very architecture of a healthy psyche? In The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, renowned child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim presents a landmark argument that classic fairy tales — from Cinderella to Hansel and Gretel — serve a profound psychological purpose, speaking directly to children's inner lives, anxieties, and developmental struggles in ways that sanitised, rational narratives simply cannot. Drawing on Freudian psychoanalytic theory, Bettelheim illustrates how the symbolic language of fairy tales addresses the deepest human conflicts: sibling rivalry, oedipal tensions, the fear of death, and the journey toward individuation. His prose is authoritative yet accessible, weaving clinical insight with genuine reverence for storytelling's ancient power. A work of enduring intellectual force, this volume challenges parents, educators, and literary scholars alike to reconsider what we owe children in the stories we choose to share — and what is lost when we strip them of their darkness.