Teaching Fairy Tales Old and New: Revisiting Andersen via Emma Donoghue

ABSTRACT

Fairy tales have been an essential ingredient in children’s literature. Canonical fairy tales passed down from generation to generation not only enrich children’s imagination but connote significant values typical of the community. However, as time passes, contemporary writers often challenge these traditional values when they work on the same topic. This changing face is evidenced by Emma Donoghue’s rewriting of classical tales. Based on my teaching of Donoghue’s story ‘The Tale of the Bird’ alongside Andersen’s ‘Thumbelina’ at a university in Hong Kong, this paper discusses the ever-evolving cultural values and the benefit of reading Donoghue via Andersen or vice versa in the literature class and beyond.

KEYWORDS:

• Fairy tales
• Andersen
• Emma Donoghue
• teaching children’s literature

Acknowledgement

I am grateful to the editors and the anonymous reviewers who provided insightful feedback on my paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hawk Chang

Hawk Chang is Assistant Professor at the Department of Literature and Cultural Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong. His research has appeared in journals such as Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, Changing English, English Studies, Partial Answers, Children’s Literature in Education, The Explicator, ANQ, Journal of English Studies, Neohelicon, Tamkang Review, Wenshan Review, Journal of Language, Literature and Culture, and CLCWeb, among others.