ABSTRACT
Fairy tales (or “wonder tales”) continue to play an essential part in the repertoire of many contemporary storytellers, much as they have in historic oral traditions, this despite the fact that personal stories—crafted autobiographical narratives—have superseded traditional folktales as the dominant storytelling genre in many contemporary American performance sites. But the rise of personal storytelling is a relatively recent development. This chapter discusses wonder tale performances in organized storytelling venues as distinct from traditional folkloric storytelling contexts, which have become ever rarer as the world continues to knit itself into a single web of literate, digital communications. The traditional isolation of folkloric communities has been largely erased, replaced by communities of affinity and voluntary association, such as intentional storytelling revivalist, preservationist, and story slam groups. The first two types of group and venue are closely linked and discussed in tandem, including cultural contexts, historical antecedents, revivalism and preservationism, and significant performers, performance-based writers, and popularizers of the form in North America and Europe.
