Dobar ulov, 2. dio

Drugo dobro mjesto iz Times Literary Supplementa.

Fairy tales, although much anatomized, are not usually subjecto either to historical contextualization or to close scrutiny of their verbal expression. They tend to be treated as largely timeless material to which tellers turn when the invisible wand of Id or Zeitgeist inspires symbolic or allegorical expression for suppressed hopes and fears. (...) Such readings depend in no small measure on treating the individual retelling as transparent, or at least translucent, and of no distinct intellectual interest. That is, it is safe to ignore the words in which they are composed, however distinguished.

Bajke, mada često secirane, obično ne bivaju podvrgnute ni povijesnoj kontekstualizaciji ni pomnom razmatranju razine jezičnog izraza. Tendencija je tretirati ih kao načelno bezvremenu građu za kojom kazivači posežu kad ih nevidljivi čarobni štapić Ida ili Zeitgeista nadahne da simbolima ili alegorijama izraze potisnute nade i strahove. (...) Takva čitanja u znatnoj mjeri ovise o stavu da je individualno kazivanje nevidljivo, ili barem prozirno, da samo po sebi nije ni od kakva posebnog interesa. To znači da je posve u redu zanemariti riječi koje to kazivanje čine, ma kako birane one bile.

Ruth Morse, "No fear of fun", rev. of Charles Perrault, The complete fairy tales. Translated by Christopher Betts. Oxford Univ Press. TLS Jan 8 2010, p. 24.