A fascinating and definitive universe was created by the Grimm brothers through their immortal stories, fairy tales loved by generations and generations, with magical elements, fantastic creatures and moral lessons. The Germans Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm wrote more than 200 stories, most of them being taken from oral sources.
Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb, Rapunzel, The Golden Goose and Rumpelstiltskin are just some of the most famous stories their psychological archetypes and high-value fantasy narratives that have not only been translated into over 170 languages, but have inspired a multitude of print adaptations, theatrical, operatic, ballet and cinematographic.
Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm were great lovers and promoters of German folklore and oral traditions, publishing a collection of stories eventually known as Grimm’s Fairy Tales, which includes tales such as the above. However, although they appear under their names, fairy tales like Snow White and Rapunzel, for example, were not the creations of the two in their own right, the stories existing long before the two men were born in Germany in the mid-1780s. In fact , fairy tales were part of a rich oral tradition—passed down from generation to generation, often by women looking to make their hours of housework more enjoyable. But with the development of industrialization, when local traditions showed signs of being affected and changing, researchers like Jacob and Wilhelm began a thorough search hoping to save the stories from extinction. Their documentation process included discussions with relatives and friends, from which they gathered as much information and stories as possible, sometimes embellishing them with details that bore their mark, despite their insistence that they kept the information authentic. The well-known collection of stories was published by Grimm in 1812, then called Nursery and Household Tales. It would later become Fairy Tales.
An interesting aspect is that the stories were not intended for the youngest readers, considering that among the first editions there were stories that included, without veil, sexual elements, violence, incest and abundant footnotes. Furthermore, they were not even accompanied by illustrations. In its original version, Rapunzel becomes pregnant with the prince after a chance affair, and in Cinderella, the stepsisters cut off their toes and heels to try to fit in. Over time, as the stories became popular with children, they were revised, with inappropriate elements removed or altered.
Grimm’s Fairy Tales, an important cultural document that provides a window into the values and beliefs of a bygone era, remains one of the most influential and recognized literary works in the history of children’s stories, second only to, in the view of some literary critics, Shakespeare and the Bible in terms of its cultural influence.
Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm was born on January 4, 1785, and Wilhelm Carl Grimm on February 24, 1786, in Hanau, Germany, part of a large family of nine children. The father, Philipp Wilhelm Grimm, was a lawyer and municipal clerk, while their mother, Dorothea Zimmer, came from a prominent family in Kassel.
The father’s death in 1796 plunged the family into poverty, forcing Jacob and Wilhelm to assume adult responsibilities at an early age. They excelled academically and attended the University of Marburg, where they developed an interest in folklore and philology. Around 1807, they began collecting folktales in earnest after being encouraged by their friend Clemens Brentano, a German poet and novelist, a major figure in German Romanticism. On December 20, 1812, they published their first collection of fairy tales entitled “Kinder- und Hausmärchen” (Stories for Children and Housewives), and between 1812 and 1857, they published seven different editions of their collection of fairy tales.
In 1830, both brothers refused to swear allegiance to King Ernest Augustus and were dismissed from their university posts along with five other professors, the group called the “Gottingen Seven” being forced to leave the city. Out of work and labeled as political dissidents, the brothers had to borrow money from friends while working on their collection of stories.
Wilhelm Gramm married Dortchen Wild in 1825; Jacob remaining single for the rest of his life, but living with his brother and sister-in-law. Wilhelm died on December 15, 1859, and Jacob on September 20, 1863.
The Grimm brothers, university-trained philologists and librarians, published, in addition to their collection of fairy tales, including books on mythology and scholarly works on linguistics and medieval studies.
Sources:
We also recommend that you read:
Lost works of the Brothers Grimm, rediscovered in the collection of a library in Poland
The lesser-known story of the Brothers Grimm, famous for their fairy tales
The story of the criminal brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez
Hans Christian Andersen, the world’s greatest storyteller, apparently died a virgin. Inventor of paper cuts
Source: www.descopera.ro
