“”Don’t Bet on the Prince: Gay Men and the Fairy Tale Knight” is a book by Jack Zipes, published in 1989. It’s a critical examination of fairy tales and their portrayal of gender roles, particularly focusing on how these stories have traditionally been crafted to reinforce heteronormative expectations and the figure of the knight as a hero.
In this book, Zipes challenges the conventional readings of fairy tales by analyzing them through a lens of gay studies, suggesting that these stories can be interpreted in ways that are inclusive of non-heterosexual identities. He argues that fairy tales are not inherently fixed in their meaning but are flexible and can be reinterpreted to reflect a variety of experiences, including those of gay men.
Zipes looks at the fairy tale from its oral tradition to its literary adaptations, discussing how the stories have evolved and how they have been used to promote certain social and moral values. He encourages a re-examination of these tales to allow for a more diverse and inclusive set of narratives that do not necessarily rely on the traditional “Prince Charming” figure as the ideal hero.
“Don’t Bet on the Prince” is part of a broader movement in literary criticism that seeks to deconstruct traditional narratives and open up space for a more diverse range of voices and interpretations in storytelling.