Jacob Grimm (1785–1863)
Author of The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
About the Author
Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm born in 1785, is the older of two brothers known as Brothers Grimm, Wilhelm Karl Grimm is the other. Each author published books separately and these names should not be combined with each other nor with a combined name such as Brothers Grimm or Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Thanks. Individual books can be combined by ISBN if there is one. -- The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales is not at all equivalent to selections and editions intended for children.
(ger) Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm geboren 1785, ist der ältere von zwei Brüdern, die als Brüder Grimm bekannt sind, Wilhelm Karl Grimm ist der andere. Beide veröffentlichten auch eigenständig Bücher, die nicht mit "Brüder Grimm" oder "Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm" kombiniert werden sollten. Danke. Individuelle Ausgaben können mit Hilfe der ISBN - soweit vorhanden - kombiniert werden..
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Die Gesamtausgabe der Grimmschen Märchen ist bei weitem nicht deckungsgleich mit Auswahlausgaben und Bearbeitungen für Kinder.
Series
Works by Jacob Grimm
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Grimm, Jacob
- Legal name
- Grimm, Jacob Ludwig Carl
- Other names
- Grimm, Jacob Ludwig Carl
Grimm, Jacob - Birthdate
- 1785-01-04
- Date of death
- 1863-09-20
- Gender
- male
- Education
- University of Marburg
- Occupations
- mythologist
jurist
philologist
writer
clerk (war office)
folklorist (show all 8)
librarian (to Jerome Bonaparte)
professor - Organizations
- University of Berlin
University of Göttingen - Awards and honors
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Foreign Honorary Member 1857)
American Philosophical Society (1863) - Relationships
- Grimm, Wilhelm (brother)
Diderot, Denis (friend) - Nationality
- Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (
Germany - Birthplace
- Hanau, Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, Holy Roman Empire (now Hesse ∙ Germany)
- Places of residence
- Hanau, Hesse, Germany
Göttingen, Germany
Berlin, Germany - Place of death
- Berlin, Brandenburg, Kingdom of Prussia
- Map Location
- Germany
- Disambiguation notice
- Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm born in 1785, is the older of two brothers known as Brothers Grimm, Wilhelm Karl Grimm is the other. Each author published books separately and these names should not be combined with each other nor with a combined name such as Brothers Grimm or Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Thanks. Individual books can be combined by ISBN if there is one.
--
The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales is not at all equivalent to selections and editions intended for children.
Members
Discussions
Reviews
There are a few major themes throughout the book. Stepmothers show more and stepdaughter are big, they always hate each other. It’s not surprising to see that the animosity associated with those titles is still around today. Each story with step family includes a lot of resentment and dislike. There’s also a lot of changing people into things, flowers, ducks, frogs, etc. to disguise themselves or as a punishment.
Some of the tales are familiar and it’s not a surprise that they made great children’s movies. Others are incredible odd and will probably never make it to the big screen.
For example:
“Once upon a time, a mouse, a bird, and a sausage, entered into partnership and set up house together.”
I’m sorry do you mean a pig or a sausage? Oh, you mean a sausage, okay. So how does this sausage contribute to the household chores you might ask, well he rolls himself around in some vegetables to flavor the soup. Anyone else think that sounds weird? Spoiler alert, the sausage gets eaten.
There are also some interesting differences between the original versions of the stories and the versions that are well-know. It’s actually Ashputtel not Cinderella and it’s Little Red-Cap, not Little Red Riding Hood and it’s not Snow White, it’s Snowdrop. Those are small changes, but interesting ones.
“And so the little girl really did grow up; her skin was as white as snow, her cheeks as rosy as the blood, and her hair as black as ebony; and she was called Snowdrop.”
I liked reading The Robber Bridegroom, a particularly dark tale of a betrothed young girl realizing her fiancé is a cannibal and a murderer. It’s the tale that inspired Margaret Atwood’s novel The Robber Bride and I’ve been curious about it since reading that Atwood novel. Another odd one is called “The Juniper-Tree.” In it a mother cooks her son into a pudding and serves him to her husband. It reminded me a bit of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus.
One of the creepiest tales is “Cat-Skin.” In it a king’s wife dies and when his daughter comes of age he decides she looks just like her mother and so he will marry her. Everyone in the kingdom, daughter included, said a collective “Ewww.” So the daughter tries to come up with ways to postpone the disturbing nuptials.
I loved the story of Snow-White and Rose-Red. I grew up reading about their lives with a local bear and angry dwarf and I’m actually surprised it was never made into a movie.
BOTTOM LINE: So interesting to read and see how these stories have evolved over the years. They are dark and really not great for little kids, but I loved reading them. They reminded me of some of Neil Gaiman’s books (especially Coraline and The Ocean at the End of the Lane). You can see how current authors could be inspired by these earl y creepy stories. Aesop’s Fables were all about morality and teaching lessons, while the Grimm brothers told scary tales disguised them as bedtime stories. show less
Hansel and Gretel is certainly one of my favorite fairy tales, thanks in large part to the influence this book show more had on my imagination as a kid. The text and translation is amusing and quirky, but the real star here is Lisbeth Zwerger's soft, expressive, and at times quite creepy artwork.
I remember having nightmares about Zwerger's witch of the candy cottage. I doubt I'll have nightmares now, but even as an adult there's something unsettling about her glowing red eyes, broad and bony face, and amorphous body. The pluckiness of the children in this tale always appealed to me, and this remains true here.
My favorite thing about Zwerger's style is the way she paints clothes and faces, and especially in this one I loved Gretel's clothes - the patterns on her scarf and skirt, and the movement of the skirt – I can almost feel the fabric and hear the swish and flutter of them.
The only thing that really jumped out at me as an adult that never occurred to me as child was
I can't pretend that this is a terribly objective review, but I truly believe this to be real treasure of children's literature and illustration. It's worth it alone just to look at the pictures. I think that the way it captivated my wee sprouting imagination as a child is part of the magic, rather than something to disregarded with adult retrospection.
If you ever find this, or any of the Zwerger's other books, when poking around a charity shop or 2nd hand bookstore, do yourself a favor and snap it up; I'd be shocked if you regret it. show less
To make matters worse Tatar's translation was underwhelming. To be fair this is hardly the first time I've been frustrated by an artless Grimm translation, but it's always disappointing. One of the things I love best in a good Grimm translation is the poetic repetition. There is a lot of variety in how the verse in Grimm stories in translated, but the versions here lack the grace and focus of more artful translations.
Compare the exchange between the princess and the horse head from Grimm's Fairy Tales: Twenty Stories with Tatar's rendering of the exchange.
'Alas! dear Falada, there thou hangest.'
And the Head answered--
'Alas! Queen's daughter, there thou gangest.
If thy mother only knew thy fate,
Her heart would break with grief so great.'
Tatar's:
'Alas, poor Falada, hanging up there.'
And the horse's head would reply:
'Princess, princess, down and out,
If your mother found this out,
There's no doubt--her heart would break.'
I might not know what 'gangest' means but it's a hell of a lot better than a verse that hinges on rhyming 'out' with 'out'.
And then there's the dire warning in the Robber Bridegroom:
'Turn back, turn back, thou bonnie bride,
Nor in this house of death abide.'
Tatar's:
'Turn back, turn back, my pretty young bride,
In a house of murders you've arrived.'
Yes she's managed a
Mr. Fox's warning:
'Be bold, be bold, but not too bold,
Lest that your heart's blood should run cold.'
Tatar's translations may owe their flatness to accuracy at the expense of art, but clearly I favor flash and rhythm over strict accuracy.
As if this wasn't enough all of the stories except the ones 'for adults' were taken from the Grimm's last edition after the stories had been heavily edited to be more suitable for Christian children. This means that all hints of sexuality were purged (Rapunzel's pregnancy), gratuitous mentions of prayer and piety were inserted (though the stories were of pagan origins) and blame was shifted off of fathers to mothers (Furrypelts) and off of mothers to stepmothers (an awful lot of them) to maintain the sanctity of parenthood. The only reason the 'stories for adults' escaped unedited was because after the first edition they were deemed inappropriate for printing and were purged from the collection. Actually that's not completely true. One of the stories, "Jew in the Brambles" was only deemed inappropriate by later editors. Jacob and Wilhelm printed the anti-Semitic tale in several of their books.
I guess Grimm's Fairy Tales: Twenty Stories is still my favorite. show less
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