Overview

Bruno Bettelheim was one of the great child psychologists of the twentieth century and perhaps none of his books has been more influential than this revelatory study of fairy tales and their universal importance in understanding childhood development. Analyzing a wide range of traditional stories, from the tales of Sindbad to The Three Little Pigs, Hansel and Gretel, and The Sleeping Beauty, Bettelheim shows how the fantastical, sometimes cruel, but always deeply significant narrative strands of the classic fairy tales can aid in our greatest human task, that of finding meaning for one's life.

Full Product Details

9781665276702

Table of Contents

Reviews

He won me over. I found him provocative and persuasive.-- Boston Globe Narrator Gerard Doyle delivers this 1976 classic of child psychology with fine clarity and conversational authority. It's less a lecture than a very intelligent fireside chat. It's also one of those audiobooks that may inspire the listener to jot down notes. The audiobook doesn't tell the tales themselves but is an intensely academic and often entertaining Freudian analysis of the important part that fairy stories play in child development. Topics discussed include sibling rivalry, puberty, cannibalism, and the symbolism of the color red. -- AudioFile

Author Information

Bruno Bettelheim was born in Vienna in 1903. He received his doctorate at the University of Vienna and came to America in 1939, after a year in the concentration camps of Dachau and Buchenwald. He was a Distinguished Professor of Education and professor of both psychology and psychiatry at the University of Chicago. He died in 1990. Gerard Doyle, a seasoned audio narrator, he has been awarded dozens of AudioFile Earphones Awards, was named a Best Voice in Young Adult Fiction in 2008, and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. He was born of Irish parents and raised and educated in England. In Great Britain he has enjoyed an extensive career in both television and repertory theater and toured nationally and internationally with the English Shakespeare Company. He has appeared in London's West End in the gritty musical The Hired Man. In America he has appeared on Broadway in The Weir and on television in New York Undercover and Law & Order. He has taught drama at Ross School for the several years.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available