Grimm's Fairy Tales (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

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Grimm's Fairy Tales (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Page 63

by Brothers Grimm


  Jean Cocteau’s classic film La Belle et la Bêete (1946), based on the story of Beauty and the Beast, itself inspired an opera by Philip Glass (La Belle et la Bêete, 1994). Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning musical Into the Woods (1987) weaves together the stories of “Cinderella,” “Little Red-Cap,” and “Rapunzel,” among others, and follows them through to consequences ignored in the original tales.

  Comments & Questions

  In this section, we aim to provide the reader with an array of perspectives on the text, as well as questions that challenge those perspectives. The commentary has been culled from sources as diverse as reviews contemporaneous with the work, letters written by the author, literary criticism of later generations, and appreciations written throughout history. Following the commentary, a series of questions seeks to filter Grimm’s Fairy Tales through a variety of voices and bring about a richer understanding of this enduring work.

  COMMENTS

  NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW

  Of wild and weird stories, such as take hold with intense strength on the imagination of children, and have an indescribable charm for such as have outgrown other childish things, the collection of the Brothers Grimm is probably the richest extant.

  —January 1861

  NEW YORK TIMES

  It was the brothers Jacob Ludwig and Wilhelm Karl Grimm who, in 1812, first published their “Kinder und Hausmaörchen,” after having devoted 13 years to the collecting of these stories. From the lips of people living in Hesse and Hanau, word by word the stories were taken down, the wife of a cowherd in the village of Neiderzwehrn, near Cassel, “who kept a firm hold on all sagas,” being the principal contributor. It is to the brothers Grimm that the study of folk lore owes its origin, and the fidelity of the brothers Grimm in their work is unmistakable. To them it was not the bringing together of stories for the amusement of children, but the “storing up materials for students of folk lore.”

  —June 1, 1885

  OSCAR FAY ADAMS

  There is something very attractive to most people in the thought of literary companionship extending over a long period of years, or for a lifetime even, and the names thus linked together have a double claim upon our remembrance. Who ever thinks of Beaumont without Fletcher, of Erckmann apart from Chaôtrian, of William Howitt and not at the same time of Mary Howitt his wife?

  It is thus we think of Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm and of Wilhelm Karl Grimm his brother. It is not easy, so intimately were they associated in their life-work, to always think of them as two men with separate and distinct individualities; it is rather of one delightful personality that we speak when we name “the brothers Grimm. . . . ”

  Of their own part in [the Kinder- und Hausmärchen], that of putting these tales into permanent form, the brothers tell us:—

  “Our first aim in collecting these stories has been exactness and truth. We have added nothing of our own, have embellished no incident or feature of the story, but have given its substance just as we received it. It will of course be understood that the mode of telling and carrying out particular details is due to us, but we have striven to retain everything that we knew to be characteristic, that in this respect also we might leave the collection the many-sidedness of nature.”

  It is the simple style in which the brothers cast these tales that has invested them with so great a charm, the homely directness which has lost nothing in its translation from the peasant dialects in which they were first heard, to the polished High German tongue.

  But the Grimms had something more in mind than simply the collection of a number of curious peasant nursery tales. They believed that in the study of the history of nations the humbler spheres of life must not be disregarded. Before their day history concerned itself very little with the life of the common people. Their existence was not considered to have any bearing upon the nation’s life and it is for this reason that we search in vain in the histories written previous to this century for any glimpses of the actual life of the people who form the major part of any nation. Modern history in the main is written from a different stand-point and does not disdain to show us something of the life of the yeoman as well as of that of the rulers and nobles. To this change in the manner of writing history the Grimms were most important contributors, since they were practically the first to recognize the importance of considering the humbler walks of life as an aid in the study of history.

  —from Dear Old Story-Tellers (1889)

  W. H. AUDEN

  Many deplorable features of modern life, irrationalism, nationalism, idolization of mass-feeling and mass-opinion, may be traced back to the Romantic reaction against the Enlightenment and its Polite Learning; but that same reaction is also responsible for the work of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm who, with their successors, made the fairy story a part of general education, a deed which few will regret.

  —from his introduction to

  Tales of Grimm and Andersen (1952)

  QUESTIONS

  1. Would you say these tales worked more to socialize, even indoctrinate, the young, or instead to liberate them from the mores of their milieu—at least in their imaginations? Is the tales’ tendency to increase or decrease conformity?

  2. Is the cumulative effect of these tales to “keep women in their place”?

  3. Is there one virtue, or perhaps two, that more than any other help the hero and heroines of these tales to prevail?

  4. Could it be true that some of these tales are disguised parables of incest between parents and children, of matricide, of parricide, and other abysmal longings?

  5. What is it above all about these tales that makes them delight or at least engross children?

  For Further Reading

  BIOGRAPHIES

  Hettinga, Donald R. The Brothers Grimm: Two Lives, One Legacy. New York: Clarion Books, 2001. For young people; readable and well done, with chronology and illustrations.

  Michaelis-Jena, Ruth. The Brothers Grimm. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1970. Somewhat uncritical but readable illustrated biography with details about the Grimm family.

  BIO-CRITICISM

  Zipes, Jack. The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World. New York: Routledge, 1988. Good overview of the brothers’ life and work.

  CRITICISM

  Antonsen, Elmer H., ed. The Grimm Brothers and the Germanic Past. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins, 1990. Articles on their philological and linguistic work.

  Bettelheim, Bruno. 1976. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Vintage Books, 1989. The classic psychoanalytic work on fairy tales.

  Bottigheimer, Ruth B. Grimms’ Bad Girls and Bold Boys: The Moral and Social Vision of the Tales. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1987. Useful criticism on social issues, including presentation of female and Jewish characters.

  Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York: Pan theon, 1949. Classic Jungian interpretation of the Grimms’ tales and other works of legend and fantasy.

  Ellis, John M. One Fairy Story Too Many: The Brothers Grimm and Their Tales. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983. Skep tical analysis of the Grimms’ use of sources.

  Kamenetsky, Christa. The Brothers Grimm and Their Critics: Folktales and the Quest for Meaning. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1992. Rigorous, readable, and comprehensive account of the Grimms, the tales, and the criticism.

  McGlathery, James M., ed. The Brothers Grimm and Folktale. Ur bana: University of Illinois Press, 1988. Articles on current controversies by distinguished critics and scholars.

  ———. Grimms’ Fairy Tales: A History of Criticism on a Popular Classic. Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1993. Useful summaries of critical theories and commentary on famous tales.

  Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie. The Classic Fairy Tales. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1974. Earliest English texts and history of some famous tales, with beautiful illustrations.

  Propp, Vladimir. Morphology of the Folktale. Origina
lly published in Russian, 1928. Translated by Laurence Scott. Second revised edition. Edited by Louis A Wagner. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1968. Important formalist and structuralist classification of narrative patterns.

  Tatar, Maria. The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987. Interesting study of backgrounds and interpretations of tales focusing on sex, violence, monsters, and other “hard facts.”

  Thompson, Stith. Motif-Index of Folk-Literature. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1955-1958. Scholarly study of motifs in six volumes.

  Tolkien, J. R. R. “On Fairy-Stories.” In The Tolkien Reader. New York: Ballantine, 1966. Argument on the significance of fairy tales by a creator of fantasy.

  Warner, Marina. From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers. London: Chatto and Windus, 1994. Interesting study focusing on the treatment and role of the feminine in fairy tales.

  Zipes, Jack. Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion: The Classical Genre for Children and the Process of Civilization. New York: Routledge, 1991. Essays on fairy tales by the Grimms and others as part of the discourse on socialization of children.

  ———. Fairy Tale as Myth, Myth as Fairy Tale. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1994. Consideration of the origins of tales, their ideological function in culture, and some contemporary American versions.

  Alphabetical Listing of the Fairy Tales

  Allerleirauh (Many Furs) 252

  Ball of Crystal, The 497

  Bearskin 337

  Blue Light, The 359

  Boots Made of Buffalo-Leather, The 504

  Briar Rose 167

  Brother Lustig 272

  Catherine and Frederick 215

  Cinderella 86

  Clever Alice 118

  Clever Grethel, The 265

  Donkey Cabbages, The 380

  Dwarfs, The 293

  Evil Spirit and His Grandmother, The 375

  Experienced Huntsman, The 330

  Faithful John 29

  Feather Bird, The 160

  Ferdinand the Faithful and Ferdinand the Unfaithful 366

  Fir-Apple 213

  Fisherman and His Wife, The 73

  Fox and the Geese, The 286

  Frog Prince, The 15

  Giant with the Three Golden Hairs, The 107

  Glass Coffin, The 436

  Godfather Death, The 147

  Godfather, The 146

  Going Out A-Travelling 416

  Gold Children, The 267

  Golden Bird, The 150

  Golden Goose, The 248

  Golden Key, The 508

  Goose Girl, The 350

  Goose-Girl at the Well, The 459

  Handless Maiden, The 113

  Hans in Luck 281

  Hans the Hedgehog 341

  Hansel and Grethel 56

  Hare and the Hedgehog, The 476

  Herr Korbes 144

  How Six Traveled Through the World 239

  Idle Spinner, The 378

  Iron Stove, The 407

  Jew Among Thorns, The 346

  Jorinde and Joringel 210

  Jungfrau Maleen 499

  Juniper Tree, The 198

  King Thrush-Beard 171

  Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn, The 187

  Lazy Harry 441

  Little Ass, The 417

  Little Brother and Sister, The 43

  Little Elves, The 138

  Little Farmer, The 206

  Little Lamb and the Little Fish, The 412

  Little One-Eye, Little Two-Eyes, and Little Three-Eyes 385

  Little Red Riding Hood 101

  Man of Iron, The 400

  Master Cobblersawl 449

  Master-Thief, The 488

  Musicians of Bremen, The 35

  Nix in the Pond, The 452

  Old Griffin, The 420

  Old Hildebrand 309

  Old Mother Frost 96

  Old Rinkrank 495

  Old Woman in the Wood, The 398

  Peasant’s Wise Daughter, The 297

  Pink, The 261

  Poor Boy in the Grave, The 468

  Presents of the Little Folk, The 457

  Professor Know-All 335

  Queen Bee, The 243

  Rapunzel 66

  Raven, The 305

  Riddle, The 93

  Robber and His Sons, The 482

  Robber Bridegroom, The 141

  Roland 195

  Rumpelstiltskin 192

  Seven Crows, The 99

  Shoes Which Were Danced to Pieces, The 370

  Shreds, The 435

  Simeli Mountain 414

  Singing Bone, The 105

  Six Servants, The 392

  Six Swans, The 163

  Snow-White and Rose-Red 425

  Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs 178

  Spindle, the Shuttle, and the Needle, The 479

  Spirit in the Bottle, The 318

  Star Dollars 434

  Straw, the Coal, and the Bean, The 85

  Strong Hans 443

  Table, the Ass, and the Stick, The 121

  Tale of One Who Traveled to Learn 18

  Three Army Surgeons, The 363

  Three Birds, The 300

  Three Brothers, The 373

  Three Feathers, The 245

  Three Little Men in the Wood, The 49

  Three Luck-Children, The 257

  Three Snake-Leaves, The 63

  Three Spinsters, The 54

  Thumbling 131

  Travels of Thumbling, The 156

  True Bride, The 470

  Turnip, The 431

  Twelve Brothers, The 38

  Twelve Hunters, The 175

  Two Brothers, The 221

  Two Wanderers, The 321

  Valiant Little Tailor, The (Seven at One Blow) 78

  Valiant Tailor, The 357

  Water of Life, The 313

  Water-Sprite, The 271

  Wedding of Mrs. Fox, The 136

  White Snake, The 70

  Wolf and the Fox, The 259

  Wolf and the Seven Little Goats, The 26

  Young Giant, The 287

  a All excerpts from the Grimms’ prefaces are from Maria Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987), Appendix B, pp. 203-222; see “For Further Reading”.

  b Official who maintains church property.

  c One who drives a wagon.

  d Bowling.

  e Soup.

  f Part of the membrane enclosing the fetus left over the baby’s head at birth, once thought to bring good luck.

  g Carpenter.

  h One who turns objects on a lathe in order to shape them.

  i Person, fellow.

  j A stolen child secretly put in the place of another.

  k Face.

  l Stiffened strips used in a corset.

  m Representation of notes of birdsong.

  n Deer.

  o Made of all kinds of fur (German).

  p Five-petaled flower, pale red or pink in color.

  q Leftover material from the tree bark—“tanbark”—used in tanning hides for leather.

  r Dark red gems.

  s Bullets.

  t Our Father (Latin)—the Lord’s Prayer.

  u Small mammal with quills, like a porcupine.

  v Coins.

  w One who buys and slaughters worn-out horses and sells the flesh for dog-food, etc.

  x Mythical beast with head, wings, and claws of an eagle and hindquarters of a lion.

  y A cobbler’s awl is a small, pointed tool for making holes in leather; thus the name is appropriate for a cobbler, or shoemaker.

  z Reference to the Bible, Matthew 7:3: “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (King James Version).

  aa Water spirit.

  ab A coin.

  ac Maiden, young girl.

  br />  

  Brothers Grimm, Grimm's Fairy Tales (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

 

 

 


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