violence

Hunger and Horror: How Famine and Violence Shape the Stories of Hansel and Gretel and BluebeardIntroductionStories from the past still haunt us because they don’t only entertain—they translate the raw, bodily realities of life into images we can’t forget. In folk tales like Hansel and Gretel and in macabre legends tied to historical figures such as Gilles de Rais (often associated with Bluebeard), hunger, cold, and fear are not background details: they are active forces…