| Summary: | 碩士 === 靜宜大學 === 英國語文學系研究所 === 93 === The versions of the two popular fairytales, “Rapunzel” and “Rumpelstiltskin,” are often considered as both deriving from the German work Children’s and Household Tales of the Brothers Grimm. But in fact, this is not the truth. There are evidences that these two stories had earlier versions before the Grimms’. Relevant to this issue, just as New Historicists claim that under the transit of language, there is no true history, in the literary field, the original versions for these orally transmitted tales are unknown. It should be more widely recognized that the writers of fairytales interpret the stories according to their own ideologies.
Paul O. Zelinsky, a contemporary writer and illustrator of children’s books, chooses to locate the two stories “Rapunzel” and “Rumpelstiltskin” in the Renaissance period. He presents the Renaissance style and humanity in the depictions of the characters, in the relationship between artists and nature, in the representation of the garden as a site, and in light, shade and color. He even borrows particular poses from the Renaissance masters. Zelinsky deals with the illustrations in detail even in treating the daily objects and clothes. The books show clearly his twentieth century conceptions of the Italian Renaissance. This initiative breaks the rules of conventional fairytales. As Rhrich says, in traditional fairytales, there is no accurate time and setting. However, Zelinsky provides a periodized time and setting in Zelinsky’s Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin. Hence, a new significance of humanity to the fairytales is brought out in his lush illustrations.
This thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter introduces Paul O. Zelinsky, The Brothers Grimm, and the fairytale critic, Jack Zipes. Then, the importance of illustrators in recent picture books is explained. In Chapter Two, the discussion focuses on “Rapunzel” and “Rumpelstiltskin” as located in different historical backgrounds. The Brothers Grimm’s versions are derived from the Romantic period which holds middle class values, while Zelinsky’s version is set in the Renaissance where the characters and concepts are aristocratic. In Chapter Three, the connection between New Historicism and the motivation for Zelinsky to place his works in the Renaissance is discussed. Chapter Four discusses how Zelinsky presents the works in a Renaissance style showing “humanity”. The last Chapter concludes that Zelinsky’s fairy tales by depicting the humanity of the Renaissance values provide children with an alternative choice to the versions derived from the Grimm fairy tales. Besides, Zelinsky also gives stories a periodized historical background, a relatively new undertaking for a fairytale writer to achieve.
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