Ruth B. Bottigheimer is a preeminent historian of European fairy tales. Her work delves into the origins and evolution of modern fairy tale plots, tracing their roots back to Renaissance Venice. She examines gender dynamics within narratives, children's biblical stories, and the socialization of young readers. Her ongoing research investigates the shifting relationships between magic and characters in fantastic tales, authors' prefaces, and the literary foundations of widely recognized fairy tales.
This book examines magic's generally maleficent effect on humans from ancient Egypt through the Middle Ages, including tales from classical mythology, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim cultures. It shows that certain magical motifs lived on from age to age, but that it took until the Italian Renaissance for magic tales to become fairy tales.