The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood comprises 38 variations on the Red Riding Hood theme. These stories, poems, and plays have been collected by professor and author Jack Zipes to illustrate his contention that the Little Red Riding Hood that we are familiar with as a society is actually a teaching tale used to reinforce our acceptance of the “rape culture” that we live in.
The book is arrayed chronologically, beginning with the Perreault version written in 1697 and concluding with “Roja and Leopold,” an extremely feminist ode to vegetarian lesbian activism written by Sally Miller Gearhart in 1990. The first few tales in the book are quite similar, with only slight variations on Perreault’s story. Of course, these similar tales are necessary in the academic sense in order to establish the progression of the Red Riding Hood myth into our culture, but it does make for some very dull reading in the beginning.
After wading through the first few sections, I found myself enjoying chapter 7, an epic poem by F. W. N. Bayley composed in 1846. The language is old-fashioned, of course, though not as severely so as in the first few chapters, but the poem is humorous and delightful. I loved Pierre Cami’s “Little Green Riding Hood,” in which the little girl is forewarned by the story of Red Riding Hood and refuses to follow the pattern, thus foiling the aggravated wolf.
Angela Carter’s classic “The Company of Wolves” is included in this volume, as is the wonderful James Thurber short story “The Girl and the Wolf,” in which Red Riding Hood realizes that “even in a nightcap a wolf does not look any more like your grandmother than the Metro-Goldwyn lion looks like Calvin Coolidge.”
The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood is extremely uneven reading for those purely interested in a good collection of tales. This book was not compiled based on the quality of the work, but rather on how each piece could be used by the editor to support his arguments. There are some great pieces in this book, but frankly, unless one is obsessed with the Red Riding Hood story, reading it over and over is quite dull. The more modern stories and poems are infused with humor or make use of quirky twists on the tale, and they can be quite enjoyable.
Naturally, for readers who share Zipes’s political views on the subject of feminism, rape, and the male-dominated culture of violence, this book is a jewel. In his prologue and epilogue, Zipes virtually seethes with indignation at the subjugation of women and the use of fairy tales to indoctrinate both men and women into the roles of controller and victim. Fortunately, the tales are published without additional commentary, so readers not interested in his brand of academic feminism can skip the dissection of the work and read only for entertainment. For readers who do share his interests, be sure not to miss his in-depth assessment of the artistic merits and hidden meanings of the included illustrations.
(Routledge, 1993, second edition)
