Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space

by Amanda Leduc

Overview

A CBC BOOKS BEST NONFICTION OF 2020
AN ENTROPY MAGAZINE BEST NONFICTION 2020/21
A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BOOK OF THE DAY (07/23/2022)

Fairy tales shape how we see the world, so what happens when you identify more with the Beast than Beauty?

If every disabled character is mocked and mistreated, how does the Beast ever imagine a happily-ever-after? Amanda Leduc looks at fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm to Disney, showing us how they influence our expectations and behaviour and linking the quest for disability rights to new kinds of stories that celebrate difference.

"Historically we have associated the disabled body image and disabled life with an unhappy ending” – Sue Carter, Toronto Star

"Leduc persuasively illustrates the power of stories to affect reality in this painstakingly researched and provocative study that invites us to consider our favorite folktales from another angle." – Sara Shreve, Library Journal

"She [Leduc] argues that template is how society continues to treat the disabled: rather than making the world accessible for everyone, the disabled are often asked to adapt to inaccessible environments." – Ryan Porter, Quill & Quire

"Read this smart, tenacious book." – The Washington Post

"A brilliant young critic named Amanda Leduc explores this pernicious power of language in her new book, Disfigured … Leduc follows the bread crumbs back into her original experience with fairy tales – and then explores their residual effects … Read this smart, tenacious book." – The Washington Post

"Leduc investigates the intersection between disability and her beloved fairy tales, questioning the constructs of these stories and where her place is, as a disabled woman, among those narratives." – The Globe and Mail

"It gave me goosebumps as I read, to see so many of my unexpressed, half-formed thoughts in print. My highlighter got a good workout." – BookRiot

"Disfigured is not just an eye-opener when it comes to the Disney princess crew and the Marvel universe – this thin volume provides the tools to change how readers engage with other kinds of popular media, from horror films to fashion magazines to outdated sitcom jokes." – Quill & Quire

“It’s an essential read for anyone who loves fairy tales.” – Buzzfeed Books

"Leduc makes one thing clear and beautifully so – fairy tales are fundamentally fantastic, but that doesn’t mean that they are beyond reproach in their depiction of real issues and identities." – Shrapnel Magazine

"As Leduc takes us through these fairy tales and the space they occupy in the narratives that we construct, she slowly unfolds a call-to-action: the claiming of space for disability in storytelling."  – The Globe and Mail

"A provocative beginning to a thoughtful and wide-ranging book, one which explores some of the most primal stories readers have encountered and prompts them to ponder the subtext situated there all along." – LitHub

"a poignant and informative account of how the stories we tell shape our collective understanding of one another.” – BookMarks 

"What happens when we allow disabled writers to tell stories of disability within fairytales and in magical and supernatural settings? It is a reimagining of the fairytale canon we need. Leduc dares to dream of a world that most stories envision is unattainable." – Bitch Media

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781552453957
Publisher:	Coach House Books
Publication date:	03/03/2020
Series:	Exploded Views
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	189,725
Product dimensions:	4.70(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Amanda Leduc's essays and stories have appeared in publications across Canada, the US, and the UK. She is the author of the novels The Miracles of Ordinary Men and the forthcoming The Centaur's Wife . She has cerebral palsy and lives in Hamilton, Ontario, where she works as the Communications Coordinator for the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD), Canada's first festival for diverse authors and stories.

Amanda Leduc's essays and stories have appeared in publications across Canada, the US, and the UK. She is the author of the novels The Miracles of Ordinary Men and the forthcoming The Centaur's Wife . She has cerebral palsy and lives in Hamilton, Ontario, where she works as the Communications Coordinator for the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD), Canada's first festival for diverse authors and stories.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Leduc peels the flesh from the fairy tales we grew up loving and strips them down to their skeletons to skilfully reveal how they influence the way we think about disability. She contrasts the stories we have with the ones we wish we had, incorporating her own life. Her wisdom lands like a punch in the heart, leaving a sizable dent that reshapes how we see tales we’ve been telling for centuries. She also – and this is the best part – suggests how we might tell new fairy tales, how we can forge new stories.” —Adam Pottle, author of Voice

“Each chapter is a gem, but the kind of gem that turns into a knife, into a mirror, into a portal. Leduc’s real magic? That she transforms her readers as surely as any world.” —Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk

“A unique and dazzling study … a revolutionary approach to understanding why we are drawn to fairy tales and how they shape our lives.” —Jack Zipes, author of Grimm Legacies

Editorial Reviews

"She [Leduc] argues that template is how society continues to treat the disabled: rather than making the world accessible for everyone, the disabled are often asked to adapt to inaccessible environments." —Ryan Porter, Quill & Quire

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2020

Leduc (The Miracles of Ordinary Men), a Canadian writer with cerebral palsy, has penned a remarkable exploration into the ways disability has been portrayed in fairy tales and, consequently, how those portrayals have shaped society's treatment of the disabled. Referencing her own experiences, as well as those of other disabled writers and activists, Leduc shows how disabled children search for positive representation in fairy tales and other media, only to encounter depictions of disability as something to be pitied, feared, or corrected. In popular tales such as "Beauty and the Beast," "The Little Mermaid," and "Snow White," disability is either removed by magic or remains as a punishment for the wicked. Such themes, Leduc argues, have encouraged society to view able-bodiedness as the only acceptable state and conditioned disabled children to view themselves as an aberrant "other." But Leduc further points to the reciprocal nature of the relationship between fairy tales and society: as the tales have influenced society, so, too, can society change the tales to depict better paradigms and, in turn, make for a more accepting world. VERDICT Leduc persuasively illustrates the power of stories to affect reality in this painstakingly researched and provocative study that invites us to consider our favorite folktales from another angle.—Sara Shreve, Newton, KS

Library Journal