Publishers Weekly
06/28/2021
Tatar (Enchanted Hunters), a professor of folklore and mythology, reshapes archetypes of the heroine in this rewarding if scattershot literary history. Expanding on the work of Joseph Campbell, Tatar defines a version of heroism that “is driven... by attentive care, an affect that is triggered by openness to the world.” Ranging from Greek mythology to contemporary literature, she structures her case by theme: “Resistance and Revelation” considers women who refuse to “remain silent,” such as Jane Eyre and Janie Crawford; “Wonder Girls” highlights characters who used the power of writing, among them Carrie Bradshaw and Anne of Green Gables, and were confronted with “challenges that remove them from the domestic arena”; and “Detective Work” features such sleuths as Nancy Drew and Dorothy L. Sayers’s Miss Climpson. What motivates each heroine, Tatar argues, is a pervasive sense of curiosity, which allows them to forge their own paths. The overarching conversational tone and modern-day relevance give the book color, but the pace is uneven: while the arguments are well supported with plenty of examples pulled from all corners of literature, Tatar jumps between subjects in an enthusiastic flurry that can be difficult to follow. Literature buffs who can deal with the sometimes-dizzying effect will find much to consider. (Sept.)
Asa Drake
"More than a rebuttal to Joseph Campbell’s seminal text The Hero with A Thousand Faces, Tatar’s book offers the infinite experiences of women.... Engaging with the works of Margaret Atwood, Angela Carter, Toni Morrison, Anne Sexton, and many others, Tatar explores the historical and textual difficulties of having a voice.... A necessary and compelling read for scholars, activists, and storytellers interested in inclusive revisions to the hero’s canon."
Gal Beckerman
"She is stirring what J.R.R. Tolkien once called the 'cauldron of story' in search of the girls and women, some silenced and some forgotten, some from the Iliad and some from Netflix, who live in Campbell’s blind spot. The reader jumps from Arachne’s battle with Athena to the escape of Bluebeard’s trickster wife to Pippi Longstocking and Nancy Drew and even to Carrie Bradshaw typing away on her laptop."
Library Journal
★ 08/01/2021
Stories secure women's voices against fragmentation, slander, and disbelief and can disrupt and change prevailing discourse, argues folklorist Tatar (Harvard Univ.; The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales). Her feminist literary analysis surveys the craft and traditions that enable stories' longevity, and ties them to contemporary efforts to amplify voices through modern narratives and the Me Too movement. More than a rebuttal to Joseph Campbell's seminal text The Hero with A Thousand Faces, Tatar's book offers the infinite experiences of women; its title recalls Scheherazade's 1001, a number for endless enumeration and feminine resilience. Engaging with the works of Margaret Atwood, Angela Carter, Toni Morrison, Anne Sexton, and many others, Tatar explores the historical and textual difficulties of having a voice. She offers a condensed study in the language of those marginalized by gender and colonialism; although they've been devaluated as gossip and limited to the domestic sphere, women's stories persist. Tatar brings to the surface the overlooked tales of women who endure, spanning Greek myth and box office franchises. Illustrations of fairytales offer insight into their evolution throughout the centuries. VERDICT A necessary and compelling read for scholars, activists, and storytellers interested in inclusive revisions to the hero's canon.—Asa Drake, Marion Cty. P.L., FL
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2021-06-29
From Penelope and Pandora to Katniss Everdeen and Lisbeth Salander, the "hero's journey" gets a much-needed makeover.
In her latest, Tatar—the Harvard professor of folklore and mythology and Germanic languages and literature who has annotated collections of classic fairy tales, Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, among others—begins by pointing out that all of the faces of heroism discussed in Joseph Campbell's influential book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces (1949), are male. To correct this requires a revision of the concept of heroism itself, rooted in numerous foundational texts. Starting with Greek mythology and Scheherezade and moving through the centuries all the way to the Game of Thrones series and The Queen's Gambit, Tatar incisively explores women's reinvention of heroism to embrace empathy, compassion, and care, often to pursue social justice. Among the many high points in this engaging study: an analysis of Little Women and Anne of Green Gables as autofiction, Jurassic Park as a reimagining of “Hansel and Gretel,” Harriet the Spy as an antiheroine, and a deep dive into the backstory of Wonder Woman. Receiving their own chapters are female sleuths such as Nancy Drew, Miss Marple, and the less well known characters of Kate Fansler, an academic, and Blanche White, who is Black. The book really takes off when it gets to contemporary culture, particularly in a section that identifies a female version of the "trickster" archetype in Everdeen and Salander. Of this lineage, among the shared interesting traits not traditionally associated with women characters is a prodigious appetite. "Like Gretel, Pippi Longstocking, and Lisbeth Salander before her,” writes Tatar, “Katniss gorges on rich food yet her hunger never ceases." The text is illustrated with many reproductions of paintings and other artwork—including a postcardworthy panel from the original Wonder Woman—that add much to the text.
As Wonder Woman might say, Suffering Sappho! This book is fascinating, fun, and consistently enlightening.
