LITERATURE + LECTURES

Rienzi Center for European Decorative Arts, MFAH presents Rienzi Twilight Talk: Should Fairy Tales be Censored?, Thursday, February 10.

A Weeknight Treat at Twilight! Tour Rienzi’s splendid European decorative arts collection, socialize over wine and bites, and enjoy a provocative talk by Dr. Robert L. Patten.

EVENT SCHEDULE:
6-7 p.m. Stationed docents greet visitors; guests tour the home and enjoy wine
on Rienzi’s terrace
7-7:30 p.m. Twilight Talk: Should Fairy Tales Be Censored?
7:30-8:00 p.m. Informal discussion

More info:
When the Grimm Brothers began transcribing oral fairy tales from their household staff and friends, they were primarily interested in getting at the roots of North German language and culture. Quickly the stories they collected were translated into English and illustrated by the leading graphic artist of the time, George Cruikshank. These “Kinder and Hausmärchen” tales proved a hit in 1820s nurseries and were reprinted, re-edited, and revised many times.

Progressively the tales were sanitized for children. But by mid-century Charles Dickens and John Ruskin, among others, objected to this reframing of the tales, maintaining that the originals did best at inspiring youthful imaginations. Still, is it healthy for children to hear that Hansel and Gretel’s parents abandoned them, or that Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters, after her father’s death, abused her and turned her into their servant? Do young people benefit from being scared by nurse’s stories?

About the speaker: Robert Patten is Lynette S. Autrey Professor in Humanities at Rice University. For nearly fifty years he has specialized in the works of Charles Dickens and his illustrators, including Dickens’s first artistic collaborator, George Cruikshank. Patten’s two-volume biography of Cruikshank was named by the (London) Guardian on World Book Day 1999 as the best biography of the 1990s.

He has given many talks at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, on Artful Thursdays and in conjunction with exhibitions. During the Dickens bi-centenary world celebrations in 2011-12 he will be Scholar in Residence at the Charles Dickens Museum, London, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London.

Photo Credit of Rienzi: Robb Williamson Photography.