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Not Another Grim(M) Tale: The Rights Of Passage In Marie Von Olfers’ “Little Princess”, Bernadette H. Hyner

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If we accept, as Edward Said suggests, that the terms authorship and authority both emphasize a writer’s capacity to establish an alternative discourse, control, and preserve it, then Marie von Olfers is best remembered as a tale spinner who redrafts conventional gender designations in her fairy tales. Specifically, her narrative “Little Princess,” published in 1862, presents alternative interpretations of female agency and sisterhood, while it also debases traditional concepts of family. Von Olfers’ unusual reading of these topics suggests that she construes family and rites of passage in response, perhaps even in opposition, to her male predecessors’ more traditional approach …