| Description |
xiii, 213 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-199) and index. |
| Contents |
Uterine legends -- Fairy tales and the facts of life -- Fairies and midwives -- It's a girl! -- Like mother, like daughter -- The chicken and the egg. |
| Summary |
"How male medical authorities and female literary authors struggled to describe the inner workings of the unseen - and competed to shape public understanding of it - is the focus of this engaging work by Holly Tucker. In illuminating the gender politics underlying dramatic changes in reproductive theory and practice, Tucker shows just how tenuous the boundaries of scientific "fact" and marvelous fictions were in early modern France." |
|
"On the literary front, Tucker argues, women used the fairy tale to rethink the biology of childbirth and the sociopolitical uses to which it had been put. She shows that in references to midwives, infertility, sex selection, and embryological theories, fairy-tale writers experimented with alternative ways of understanding pregnancy. In so doing they suggested new ways in which to envision women, knowledge, and power in both the public and the private spheres."--Jacket. |
| Provenance |
Gift of Melissa A. Hofmann. |
| Subject |
Fairy tales -- France -- History and criticism.
|
|
Fairy tales. |
|
France. |
|
Pregnancy -- Folklore.
|
|
Pregnancy. |
| Genre/Form |
Folklore.
|
| Subject |
Childbirth -- Folklore.
|
|
Childbirth -- Folklore. |
|
Pregnancy in literature.
|
|
Pregnancy in literature. |
|
French literature -- 17th century -- History and criticism.
|
|
French literature. |
| Chronological Term |
17th century |
| Subject |
French literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism.
|
| Chronological Term |
18th century |
| Subject |
Childbirth. |
| Chronological Term |
1600-1799 |
| Genre/Form |
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
|
|
Folklore.
|
| ISBN |
0814330428 (alkaline paper) |
|
9780814330425 (alkaline paper) |
|
