Za tajemstvím pohádek

To this day, the highly acclaimed work of the Austrian-born American psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim is his book Beyond the Mystery of Fairy Tales. In it, the author argues that it is essential for children to be exposed to the world of classic fairy tales at an early age. Fairy tales allow the content of the child's unconscious to materialise in conscious fantasies, through which the child learns to cope with the difficulties of his life and gradually finds meaning in it. The hero, who is usually someone who initially looks foolish or defenceless, symbolises the immature self struggling for its happiness, while the antagonist, who eventually receives his deserved punishment, represents the evil impulses that the child learns to deal with. Therefore, it is okay if classic fairy tales are sometimes cruel, but a story that is beneficial to the child should also end well, and thus give the child hope.
The second part of the book provides analysis and interpretation of many fairy tales, such as Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The author uses classical psychoanalytic terminology in his treatise, but his text is readable and comprehensible.

Czech edition