The Uses of Enchantment - The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales

Thames and Hudson, 1976, 1st Edition, no dustwrapper with this copy, a few small marks on maroon cloth covers, otherwise very good.

The enchanted world of fairy tales, with its princesses and stepmothers, its magic forests and wise old kings, has been an integral part of childhood for hundreds of years. Bettelheim has written this book to help adults become aware of the irreplaceable importance of fairy tales. By revealing the true content of such stories, he shows how children may make use of them to cope with their baffling emotions, whether they be feelings of smallness and helplessness, or the anxieties the child feels about strangers and the mysteries of the outside world. Taking the best-known stories in turn, he demonstrates how they work, consciously or unconsciously, to support and free the child...