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Product Details
Hardcover: 568 pages
Publisher: Princeton University Press; 1st edition (October 19, 2014)
For the first time one is able to read the original editions of the famous tales of the Brothers Grimm in English in an excellent translation by Jack Zipes. Published originally in two volumes in 1812 and 1815, they represent the "raw material" (and it is often raw) that was later edited, polished and bowdlerized to be more acceptable to polite society and children. Almost all of us will be familiar with many of the tales as they were later presented culminating in the 7th edition in 1857, which is often seen as definitive. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were interested in 'recovering the "true" nature of the German people through their so-called natural Poesie, the term that the Grimms often used to describe the formidable ancient Germanic and Nordic literature.' (p. xxiii). Rather than a work of entertainment for children this collection was intended as a scholarly work and included extensive scholarly notes. It was presented with minimal editing with the aim of capturing the original stories as they had been told to the brothers by a variety of sources. Zipes explains, in an interesting introduction, how they wanted to show how the cultivated literature, Kunstpoesie, evolved and eventually replaced Naturpoesie (tales, legends etc.) which survived in oral traditions. There are a total of 156 tales in the two volumes, including nonsense stories, fables, animal and magical stories. All the well-known stories are there - Rapunzel, Snow White, Bluebeard, etc., etc. - but usually in shorter and often more basic forms. For example, in one version of Rapunzel her meetings with the prince are revealed when she gets pregnant and her clothes become too tight.Read more ›
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This is a wonderful volume. As it were, this represents the first version of the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale collection. The author is Professor Emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota. As such, he wondered at the lack of a published version of the original volume put together by the Brothers Grimm. Consequently, Dr. Zipes translated and edited the 1812/15 version and it was published by Princeton University Press.
The Introduction by Zipes places the volume in context; he discusses the goals of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm; he notes the changes in the tone and tenor of the stories over multiple editions of the collected works. If one is familiar with the story of Rapunzel, the changes are rather stark. I(n the original version, she becomes pregnant by her visiting male friend. In later versions, pregnancy did NOT occur.
The Grimm brothers' prefatory comments on Volume 1 and Volume 2 are provided in this collection, adding their own personal observations to the picture. Their desire to bring the collective tales told and retold by people is manifest in the publication of their original version.
But it is the stories that are the highlight here. There are two frog prince stories that I read (# 1 in Volume 1 and # 13 in Volume 2). In each case, the princesses were rather snotty to the frog. An edgier version as compared with subsequent volumes. One of the issues raised by the Brothers is that lessons were often taught in these tales. One is that one is rewarded for good and generous deeds. # 83 in Volume 1, "The Poor Maiden." This is the story of a poor maiden who gave away what little she had--including clothing--to help others. The end?Read more ›
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107 of 111 people found the following review helpful
If you love Grimms and aren't very fluent in German, this is a book to get excited about. Even if you are fluent, it's pretty exciting, too.
Over the years, one of the top questions I've received as SurLaLune is: "Where are the dark, gritty fairy tales I hear about?" Well, that's a complicated question, but one interpretation of what they ask is: "Where are those lesser edited Grimms' tales that I've heard about?"
For some reason, the entirety of the first Grimms' edition has not been translated into English previously. Zipes, in the Acknowledgements of this new book, says that during the Grimms' bicentennial in 2012 he decided, "if nobody was going to undertake this 'task,' I would do it--and do it out of pleasure and to share the unusual tales the Grimms collected as young men when they had not fully realized what a treasure they had uncovered."*
That's a boon since, after all, Zipes has also translated one of the most used and most recommended editions of Grimms. For that conversation see my blog post: Library Essentials: Picking a Grimm Translation. Nice to have Zipes' translations of both the earliest and later versions of the tales to compare and consider.
After all, the Grimms had seven editions of their famous collection and there were considerable changes between that first and seventh edition. And many of those earlier versions were grittier and more adult since the Grimms hadn't intended children to be one of their primary audiences.
From the book's introduction:
"In fact, many of the tales in the first editions are more fabulous and baffling than those refined versions in the final edition, for they retain the pungent and naive flavor of the oral tradition.Read more ›
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This item: The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition
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