As interest in the notion of the midlife crisis has grown, so too has attention to how it is symbolically represented in traditional narratives. Fairy tales within the European canon, particularly in the works of the Brothers Grimm, tend to foreground the challenges of early development, coming of age, and youth.
The experiences of middle and later life, by contrast, are more often displaced onto secondary or marginal figures. These differing emphases invite reflection on the cultural shaping of psychological experience across the lifespan. In this lecture, we will consider the distinction between so-called “tales of youth” and narratives that engage more directly with the problems of middle and later life. By drawing on a range of examples, the talk will explore how such stories may be understood not only as cultural artefacts, but also as symbolic reflections of lived psychological realities.
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