Maria Tatar. The Heroine with 1,001 Faces.

 Maria Tatar. The Heroine with 1,001 Faces. (USA: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2021).

Tatar, a fairy tale scholar, produces a study of the representation of female characters in classical literature and folklore. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the various archetypes and representations of women in these narratives and how they have been used to shape cultural attitudes towards women. 


Tatar names Demeter, rightly, as a heroine, along with Psyche, wrongly, since Psyche’s only autonomy is her curiosity, which causes her troubles. Psyche is at the mercy of her sisters and the gods. Her main act of agency is in taking revenge on her sisters. Tatar labels the feminist rewritings as ‘Social Justice’ which positions them as motivated by campaigning for political or social issues. She positions the women rewriting myths as heroines themselves, which seems far-fetched. In reviewing some rewrites, she observes that first person narratives can tend to include some internal monologues that are too chatty. She wants to hear the voices of marginalised women, but not too much.


It is useful to consider how the rewriting of fairy tales might relate to the rewriting of myth. I have made this comparison.


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