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Two centuries ago, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published the first volume of Children's and Household Tales. Now Philip Pullman, one of the most accomplished authors of our time, makes us fall in love all over again with the immortal tales of the Brothers Grimm.
Grimm Tales for Young and Old presents a collection of tales by the Brothers Grimm, creatively reimagined by Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials. Unlike the familiar bedtime stories of our childhood, Pullman takes us back to the darker roots of these tales. This collection is not intended for bedtime reading with children.
The book begins with an insightful introduction discussing the nature and origin of fairy tales, and each story is followed by a brief explanatory summary. Pullman’s easy writing style lends a refreshing twist to these timeless stories captivating the reader with their unique charm and ensuring accessibility for a modern audience.
These stories, however, mirror the values of their time, portraying women fixated on bearing children, cruel stepmothers, and men constantly falling in in love at first sight with beautiful women who are gifted to them by their fathers; hell, in Snow White, the woman doesn’t even need to be breathing for the prince to fall in love with her beauty!
Contrary to the title's implication of tales for the young, these narratives are not suitable for children. Pullman reminds us that the original tales served as cautionary fireside stories, exploring the darker aspects of the human soul, and providing warnings about the perils of the world. For this reason, the tales in this collection are better suited for mature readers, and I urge you to take note of the trigger warnings before embarking on your journey into the depths of these pages. ( )
I am a runner. And when you run a long race, oftentimes you find yourself basically counting down the miles . . .10 to go, 9 to go, etc. I felt similarly while reading this book. 40 fairy tales to go. 39 fairy tales to go. 1 fairy tale to go. Goal!! That's how much I enjoy reading fairy tales. Not. Basically, fairy tales encompass every reading element I don't care for. No character development. Lots of fantastical and supernatural elements. Anti feminist (the women, in the form of princesses, are basically the reward for every good deed and every decent male). Worse yet, a lot of the elements are basically repeated in different tales. This book was basically a retelling of favorites with Pullman's commentary at the end. Pullman's commentary was more like blog entries than a polished analysis. Sometimes he really made me chuckle. Sometimes he brought up some interesting tidbits. And sometimes, I'm like "can't believe they published this drivel". What his commentary was not was academic or erudite. That's fine, but I couldn't really trick myself into feeling like I was learning something by reading these fairy tales. A few of the tales did bring about some nostalgia (Little Red Riding Hood). I also liked a few - - by far my favorite was the one about the insatiable wife who is never satisfied and harangues her husband endlessly. Another one I found enjoyable was about a very lazy man who marries a very lazy wife. But others were just bad or meandering or pointless. At any rate, I'm still giving the book three stars because in the context of the tag, I think the book was a fine effort. I didn't have trouble getting through it. I found some of it mildly entertaining. So on the low end of the three star range, but definitely in there. ( )
I found this collection pretty unedifying really. I think it might be nice for a more casual reader rather than someone who has studied the tales, but lacking either novelty or exegesis its just another collection of fairy tales neither noticably better nor especially worse than any other. ( )
Wonderful book - best overall condensation of Grimm I've encountered. Pullman is not only a wonderful writer, but a very competent scholar as well. ( )
This collection is issued as a "classic", so it is probably right to aim for a style free of the gothic extravagance of Angela Carter or the contemporary ethics of Jane Yolen or any other highly literary or individual interpretation, but for those who already know the stories this results in a collection which is very good, but not very interesting.
Fed Up so long and variously by Our age's fancy narrative concoctions, I yearned for the kind of unseasoned telling found In legends, fairy tales, a tone licked clean Over the centuries by mild old tongues, Grandam to cub, serene, anonymous. ...So my narrative Wanted to be limpid, unfragmented; My characters, conventional stock figures Afflicted to a minimal degree With personality and past experience-- A witch, a hermit, innocent young lovers, The kinds of being we recall from Grimm, Jung, Verdi, and the commedia dell'arte.
Dedication
First words
So writes the American poet James Merrill at the opening of 'The Book of Ephraim', the first part of his extraordinary long poem The Changing Light at Sandover (1982). -- From the INTRODUCTION
In the olden days, when wishing still worked, there lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful; but the youngest daughter was so lovely that even the sun, who has seen many things, was struck with wonder every time he shone on her face. -- From "The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich," first tale in the book
Quotations
But my main interest has always been in how tales worked as stories. All I set out to do in this book was tell the best and most interesting of them, clearing out of the way anything that would prevent them from running freely. I didn't want to put them in modern settings, or produce personal interpretations or compose poetic variations on the originals; I just wanted to produce a version that was clear as water. My guiding question has been: ‘How would I tell this story myself, if I'd heard it told by someone else and wanted to pass it on?' Any changes I've made have been for the purpose of helping the story emerge more naturally in my voice. If, as happened occasionally, I thought an improvement was possible, I've either made a small change or two in the text itself or suggested a larger one in the note that follows the story.
There is no psychology in a fairy tale. The characters have little interior life; their motives are clear and obvious. If people are good, they are good, and if bad, they're bad. Even when the princess in ‘The Three Snake Leaves'…inexplicably and ungratefully turns against her husband, we know about it from the moment it happens. Nothing of that sort is concealed. The tremors and mysteries of human awareness, the whispers of memory, the promptings of half-understood regret or doubt or desire that are so much part of the subject matter of the modern novel are absently entirely. One might almost say that the characters in a fairy tale are not actually conscious.
They seldom have names of their own. More often than not they're known by their occupation or their social position, or by a quirk of their dress: the miller, the princess, the captain, the Bearskin, Little Red Riding Hood. When they do have a name it's usually Hans, just as Jack is the hero of every British fairy tale.
The most fitting pictorial representation of fairy-tale characters seems to me to be found not in any of the beautifully illustrated editions of Grimm that have been published over the years, but in the little cardboard cut-out figures that come with the toy theatre.
The fairy tale is in a perpetual state of becoming and alteration. To keep to one version or one translation alone is to put a robin redbreast in a cage.
‘'White as snow, red as blood, black as ebony! And now dead as a doornail!'' (Snow White)
Last words
Mossy and Tangle are searching for the land whence the shadows fall: 'And by this time I think they must have got there.'
Please distinguish between original publication of Philip Pullman's adapted stories, Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version (Viking; 2012), from its paperback re-issue as a Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition (Penguin; 2013). The paperback re-issue adds three stories that were omitted from Pullman's first collection, specifically: "The Twelve Huntsmen," "The Buffalo-Hide Boots," and "The Golden Key." Thank you.
Two centuries ago, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published the first volume of Children's and Household Tales. Now Philip Pullman, one of the most accomplished authors of our time, makes us fall in love all over again with the immortal tales of the Brothers Grimm.
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Book description
The frog king, or Iron Heinrich -- The cat and the mouse set up house -- The boy who left home to find out about the shivers -- Faithful Johannes -- The twelve brothers -- Little brother and little sister -- Rapunzel -- The three little men in the woods -- Hansel and Gretel -- The three snake leaves -- The fisherman and his wife -- The brave little tailor -- Cinderella -- The riddle -- The mouse, the bird and the sausage -- Little Red Riding Hood -- The musicians of Bremen -- The singing bone -- The devil with the three golden hairs -- The girl with no hands -- The elves -- The robber bridegroom -- Godfather death -- The juniper tree -- Briar Rose -- Snow White -- Rumpelstiltskin -- The golden bird -- Farmerkin -- Thousandfurs -- Jorinda and Joringel -- Six who made their way in the world -- Gambling Hans -- The singing, springing lark -- The goose girl -- Bearskin -- The two travelling companions -- Hans-my-hedgehog -- The little shroud -- The stolen pennies -- The donkey cabbage -- One eye, two eyes and three eyes -- The shoes that were danced to pieces -- Iron Hans -- Mount Simeli -- Lazy Heinz -- Strong Hans -- The moon -- The goose girl at the spring -- The nixie of the millpond
Haiku summary
Splendid retelling Of fifty of Grimms' classic And obscure folk tales. (passion4reading)
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5
The book begins with an insightful introduction discussing the nature and origin of fairy tales, and each story is followed by a brief explanatory summary. Pullman’s easy writing style lends a refreshing twist to these timeless stories captivating the reader with their unique charm and ensuring accessibility for a modern audience.
These stories, however, mirror the values of their time, portraying women fixated on bearing children, cruel stepmothers, and men constantly falling in in love at first sight with beautiful women who are gifted to them by their fathers; hell, in Snow White, the woman doesn’t even need to be breathing for the prince to fall in love with her beauty!
Contrary to the title's implication of tales for the young, these narratives are not suitable for children. Pullman reminds us that the original tales served as cautionary fireside stories, exploring the darker aspects of the human soul, and providing warnings about the perils of the world. For this reason, the tales in this collection are better suited for mature readers, and I urge you to take note of the trigger warnings before embarking on your journey into the depths of these pages. (