Bly, Robert
Bly, Robert (1926– ),American poet, storyteller, and translator. Though he is primarily known for his poetry, Bly achieved international fame by writing two prose books that use fairy tales for social commentary. His first book, Iron John (1991), takes the Grimms' ‘Iron Hans’ as the frame to illustrate an initiation process that would heal the wounds of contemporary men and enable them to become ‘inner warriors’, more in touch with the earth and their desire to love, not kill. In this regard, he transforms ‘Iron Hans’ into a celebration of the positive aspects of the men's movement. His next book, The Sibling Society (1996), incorporates ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, ‘The Adventures of Ganesha’, ‘The Wild Girl and her Sister’, and others to demonstrate how adults have regressed towards adolescence while adolescents refuse...
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