Sleeping Beauties
When We Wake is, among other things, a Sleeping Beauty story, an archetype with a long and not always honourable cultural history.
In this series of essays, released monthly as I approach the launch dates for When We Wake, I talk about some of the many different Sleeping Beauties, and what influence they had upon the writing of my own version.
Sleeping Beauties: Old-Time Styles
Brynhildr, Talia, and Perrault’s unnamed heroine get their turn under the spotlight in this examination of the tale’s European origins. WARNING: Apparently rape is romantic?
Sleeping Beauties: Transformation and Codification
I take a look at the Grimm Brothers and the Tchaikovsky ballet, as the story began to settle into its archetype.
Sleeping Beauties: Disneyfication
Surprisingly gender progressive! Also, go Maleficent.
Sleeping Beauties: Let’s Talk About The Future.
Sheri S. Tepper’s Beauty, and the problems of predicting what might come to pass.
Karen Healey is a young adult novelist. She is the author of the urban fantasies GUARDIAN OF THE DEAD and THE SHATTERING, both set in New Zealand, and the forthcoming sci-fi adventure WHEN WE WAKE. GUARDIAN OF THE DEAD won the 2010 Aurealis Award for Best YA Novel and was a finalist for the William C. Morris Award. Karen can tell you a lot about baking, covers of "Hallelujah" and superhero comics.