Married to Mental Illness, Fairytale Beasts

Married to Mental Illness Guest: Mark Lukach, Author of “My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward” Mark Lukach knew something was very, very wrong with his 27-year-old wife Giulia the morning he woke up to find her pacing the bedroom and insisting that she’d talked to the Devil last night and the Devil told her she’s not worth saving.  It was Giulia’s first descent into psychosis. It came as a complete surprise to the young couple. It landed Giulia in the hospital for several weeks. It upended their lives, almost ended their marriage.  In a deeply personal new memoir called “My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward,” Mark Lukach gives us a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to love someone who has mental illness. Fairytale Beasts Guest: Jill Terry Rudy, PhD, Professor of English and Folklore, BYU; Jennifer Schacker, PhD, Professor of English and Folklore, University of Guelph; Christine A. Jones, PhD, Professor of French Literature and Fairytales, University of Utah There’s the Frog Prince, the Big Bad Wolf, and of course, Belle and her Beast. The fairytale beasts that come most quickly to mind tend to be those in need of conquering, taming or transforming. But if we look back further to the origins of some of our favorite fairytale stories involving animals – like Goldilocks and the Three Bears – we find some surprises. In these vintage tales, beasts were more ambiguous – and occasionally even better than their human counterparts.