The Ever After Life of the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales

By Martha Ann Brueggeman Ph.D and Nathan Ruff

The focus of this book is first to explore the explosion of translations, retellings, recastings, reimaginings, and extensions of Grimm fairy tales. A second focus is to examine the trends and changes found in these stories from the early editions to the present. Is there an underlying message?

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jan 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781543994148

Book preview

The dual existence of Grimm fairy tales began in 1812 and remains in the present and beyond. These stories have remained the same and yet have been changing. Just as conifer trees remain quite similar throughout the seasons, Grimm tales are translated and remain close to the original versions. On the other hand, deciduous trees adapt to change in temperature and sunlight. In the same way, Grimm tales also have and continue to adapt to various audiences in areas such as format, illustrations, length, content, perspective, purpose, and postmodernism. All these tales, traditional and changed, grew from the same root portal and continue to move out through the open portal of the present and beyond.

Illustration Credits

This book would not be complete without the imagination and talent of Nathan Ruff, who created the initial chapter and cover illustrations. He was able to conceptualize each chapter into a meaningful illustration. Please notice on the back of each of these illustrations is a brief explanation of each design.

Special appreciation to Penquin Publishing. They most graciously gave permission to include the following book covers:

Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox #47922

Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm by Philip Pullman #45195

Hansel and Gretel by James Marshall #45068

La Pincesa and the Pea by Susan Middleton Elya #45259

Lon Po Po by Ed Young #41529

Mapping the Bones by Jane Yolen #41528

Red by Liesl Shurlff #40233

The Coyboy and the Black Eyed Pea by Tony Johnston #41569

The Frog Prince, Continued by Jon Scieszka #45602

Thank you also to the following:

Snow White, copyright @2016 by Matt Phelan. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA. Ref: CW1617

Red Riding Hood, Dean and Sons 1910 (reprinted by Laughing Elephant) Permission granted by email letter Nov. 8, 2018.

Rotkäppchen 2010 Petra Probst/Rosemarie Künzler-Behncke: Mini-Bilderspass: Ravensburger Buchverlag Otto Maier GmbH, Ravensburg (Germany). Permission granted by email letter April 29, 2019.

Deutsche Fairy Tale Strasse logo. Permission granted by email on July 23, 2019 by Brigitte Buchholz-Blödow, Landrat Uw e Schmidt, and Benjamin Schäfer from the Deutsche-Maerchenstrasse. Permission granted by email on July 24, 2019.

Photograph of Scholss Philippsruhe in Hanau, Germany and the Hanau Brothers Grimm statue. Permission granted by Martin Hoppe by email letter on November 11, 2018.

Print ISBN: 978-1-54399-413-1

eBook ISBN: 978-1-54399-414-8

© 2020 Martha A. Brueggeman

About the Author

Dr. Martha Ann Brueggeman (Marti) is a Professor Emeritus of Ashland University, where she taught graduate and undergraduate literacy, children’s literature, early childhood, and special education courses. Prior to college teaching she taught both regular and special education in a variety of grade levels and in both public and Lutheran schools. Her Ph.D. is from Akron University with a specialization in literacy and oral language development. Marti earned her M.Ed. from Kent State University in Special Education. Her B.S. in Ed. is from Valparaiso University. In addition, she has completed extensive graduate course work in school psychology at the University of Nebraska and literacy at Virginia Polytechnical Institute. Marti has presented at conferences at the state, national, and international level. She has published in both state and national journals as Literacy Research and Instruction, Journal of Reading, American Secondary Educator, and the Florida Reading Journal. She is one of the authors of Literature for Young Adults: Books and More for Contemporary Readers. Marti and her husband Jim have two grown children and four grandchildrwen. They currently live in Westerville, Ohio.

About the Illustrator

Nathan Alan Ruff graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in sculpture in 1992 and received a teaching certificate from Wilson College in 2006. He worked for stained glass artist and tin smith, Ted Arillanas in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he helped construct chandalliers and wall sconces for La Fonda Hotel in Sante Fe, New Mexico and for Gardunio’s and the University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque. Nathan returned to Pennsylvania to do freelance work with Adventure Art, Exhibit Studios, and Cenyx creating mural, theater sets, and museum exhibits that were primarily installed in Hershey Chocolate World and Hershey Park. He currently lives in Richmond, Virginia with his wife and two children where he teaches second grade at Ginter Park Elementary School.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my dear husband, Jim. He encouraged and supported me year after year as I worked on this labor of love!

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 The Value of Folktales and the Brothers Grimm

The Brothers Grimm

Germany Celebrates the Brothers Grimm

Overview

Chapter 2 Anthologies Old and New

Pullman’s Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm

TASCHEN’s The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm

The Complete First Edition: The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, Translated and Edited by Zipes

Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales

Bicentennial Edition of The Annotated Brothers Grimm, Translated by Tatar

Gris Grimly’s Tales from the Brothers Grimm

Conclusion

Favorites

Chapter 3 Indigenous or Culturally Transplanted?

Original Archetype

Cultural Variants

Indigenous Variant Sources

Recast Grimm Fairy Tales and Variant Authenticity

African Stories

Hispanic Stories

Caribbean Stories

Cajun and New Orleans Stories

Hawaiian Stories

Conclusion

Favorites

Chapter 4 Tales Change Through Pictures, Not Just Words: The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

George Cruikshank (1823)

W. Crane (1893)

The Blue Fairy Book (1889)

Rackham (1900)

Hall (1910)

John B. Gruelle (1914)

M.A. Donahue and Company (1925)

G. Young (1934)

A. Anderson (1935)

Gág (1936)

Gustaf Tenggren (1937)

Leupin (1944–1949)

Brown (1954)

Tudor (1961)

Watts (1968)

Lobel (1971)

Sendak (1973)

Galdone (1974)

Jeffers (1980)

Browne (1981)

Zwerger (1983)

Hyman (1983)

Zelinsky (1986)

Agustí Asensio (1988)

J. Marshall (1990)

Gurney (1991)

Estrada (1993)

Ross (1994)

Ray (1997)

Dusiková (1997)

Conclusion

Favorites

Chapter 5 Tales Change Through Pictures, Not Just Words: The Twenty-First Century

Jan Pieńkowski (2005) and Santore (2010)

Clark (2002)

LaMarche (2003)

Ceccoli (2004)

Duntze (2005)

Leplar (2006)

W. Moses (2006)

J. Pinkney (2007)

Gréban (2009)

Gibb (2010)

Schenker (2011)

Knight (2013)

Mattotti (2014)

Tan (2016)

Conclusion

Favorites

Illustrations and Children’s Viewpoints

Appendix II Interview Sheets

Appendix III The Interview

Chapter 6 Story Grammar and Grimm Tale Picture Books

Setting

Character

Plot

Tone, Mood, Morals

Perspective

Format

Conclusion

Favorites

Chapter 7 Postmodern Grimm Tale Picture Books

Intertextuality

Mash-ups

Self-Reference and Coauthoring

Multiple Perspectives

Satire and Sarcasm

Topographic Experimentation

Contemporary Formats

Multiple Meta-Fictive Devices in One Book

Conclusion

Favorites

Chapter 8 Chapter Books Based on Grimm Fairy Tales

Story Grammar

Plot

Prequels, Sequels, and Expansions

Setting

Character

Perspective

Expanded Story Grammar

Postmodernism and Meta-Fictive Devices

Character Opposites and Growth

Intertextual References and Multiple Formats

Self-Authoring

Multiple Perspectives

Sarcasm and Mockery

Mash-ups

Multiple Meta-Fictive Devices

Recasting for Older Teens

Conclusion

Favorites

Chapter 9 Grimm Tales Living in the Media and Performing Arts

Ballet and Opera

Movies

Movies in Disguise

TV Programs

Games

Conclusion

Favorites

Chapter 10 Forever and Beyond

Grimm Fairy Tales Over Time

Savior Figures

Helper Change: Passive to Autonomous

Happy Endings

Moving Through Life Lessons

Changing Audiences

Applying Grimm Tales to Reality Minus Fantasy

Illustration

Twenty-First-Century Little Red Riding Hood Books

Analysis of Little Red Riding Hood Books

Observations

Artistic Style: Tableau of Interpretations and Depictions

Setting

Character

Moving Beyond the Traditional

Lessons and Truths

Conclusion

References238

List of Tables and Figures

Table 3.1 Cinderella Cultural Variants

Figure 5.1 Which Witch is not scary, a little scary, or very scary?

Table 8.1 Comparison of Grimm and E. Martin Versions

Table 8.2 Character Growth/Change

Table 8:3 Grimm Tale Series Novels

Table 10:1 Traditional Messages to the Reader

Table 10.2: Attribute Matrix: Characteristics of Little Red Riding Hood Books, 2000–2018

Table 10.3 Analysis of Red Riding Hood Books

Table 10.4 Story Lessons

Chapter 1

The Value of Folktales and the Brothers Grimm

How appropriate that the setting for chapter 1’s cover illustration finds the Brothers Grimm working in a forest, where many of their tales take place. The pale yellow light of their home extends into the forest that reveals story symbols such as pebbles and a red cape. Do these Grimm stories leave the forest through a portal to enter the world, or are they entering the forest to be discovered by Wilhelm and Jakob?

What began as an attempt to collect German tales for posterity has become a cultural treasure belonging to all of us, and a potent, ceaseless source of inspiration for generations of writers, artists, and filmmakers around the world.

—Noel Daniel, The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm

How many frogs do you need to kiss before you find a prince? Will Tangled ’s Rapunzel find her excessively long hair an asset or a liability? Will Pretty Woman ’ s prince charming, Richard Gere, find his Cinderella? These references and many more have become part of our culture.

The question of Why have some traditional tales endured generation after generation? resounds. Year after year, publishers continue to present tales that were sometimes told thousands of years ago. The language may be altered and changes to the text may occur, but the DNA of the story is recognizable. On further examination, it becomes evident that these tales are much more than stories to entertain young children; they maintain both historical and contemporary significance. Folklore scholar Tatar (2004, p. 426) states, The ancient myths and modern fairy tales captured existential mysteries and truths higher than those articulated by philosophers and scholars.

My personal experiences in various cultures reiterates the value and continued use of traditional tales. Approximately ten years ago, while on a trip visiting schools in Finland, I discovered that the Finnish national epic The Kalevala was a staple in schools. In the 1800s, Lönnrot traveled throughout Finland and gathered musical folk poetry that was first published as the Kalewala (the English spelling of Kalevala) in 1835. The Kalevala was pivotal in the development of the Finnish national identity when Finland declared its independence from Russia in 1917 (Niemi, Toom, and Kallioniemi, 2012). This same desire for identity through folk literature emerges in Finland’s current school learning objectives and its core contents of education, which say the pupil will come to know and appreciate their respective cultural inheritances, spiritual and material, and to see the Finnish culture identity as an element of indigenous, Nordic, and European cultures (Finnish National Agency for Education 2014, p. 14). The Kalevala is a key to this identity, which emerges in various forms of art, music, drama, and literature.

On another trip, this time to Ireland, I noticed several Irish folklore books written in both English and Gaelic. A bookstore clerk explained that traditional Irish literature and the Gaelic language were school requirements. Due to economic issues, many Irish individuals had left Ireland while people from other countries inhabited the land. This situation resulted in the Irish culture slowly disappearing. It is through traditional literature and the Gaelic language that the rich, beautiful Irish culture is restored with renewed interest. Zipes (1997, p.14) maintains that in the United States, many ethnic minority groups are endeavoring to use storytelling to recover their history and to keep rituals alive in a dynamic way.

Another time, I attended the European Reading Conference in Berlin, Germany. At one of the sessions, researchers compared Russian and American folktales. The people of Russia do, indeed, value their folktales. Knell, Rogacheva, and Rogacheva (2007) reported that 50 percent of Russian reading instruction is based on such material. Parents use the stories as cautionary tales for their children, and Russian fast-food restaurants include folktales on their place mats.

Oral storytelling has been, and still is, a Native American cultural tradition with multiple goals. Tales often are used as a way to teach lessons to children, to entertain, and to pass on history. In some Native American tribes, stories also have spiritual significance.

The use of storytelling is recognized beyond Native American communities. Hodge, Geishirt-Cantrell, Marquez, and Pasqua (2002) published a research article that describes a unique method to promote wellness among Native American communities—storytelling. The National Institute of Nursing Research charged the Center for American Indian Research and Education, through a five-year grant, to create and implement a health care model that was culturally appropriate and would promote a healthy lifestyle. Since storytelling is a traditional Native American pedagogical method, the researchers decided to train Native Americans as both storytellers and leaders of talking circle sessions. The tribal community participated in thirteen well-organized sessions that each featured a specific story and led to discussion about lifestyle changes.

These are just a few examples of the use of traditional folktales among various cultures. A comprehensive review of the world’s traditional literature is most likely an impossible task. Therefore, a more focused, specific review is necessary.

The Brothers Grimm

Certain names evoke specific connections. For example, we connect Albert Einstein to the theory of relativity and Abraham Lincoln to the Emancipation Proclamation. When we think of fairy tales, we often think of the Brothers Grimm. They weren’t the sole collectors of tales by any means, but they do provide us with an organized canon of stories that are retold and recast century after century. Initially, the Grimms set about collecting tales as cultural anthropologists and linguists…to gather evidence of a people’s poetry—what they perceived as a collective consciousness embedded in a vernacular oral tradition of storytelling— to permanently secure it in writing for future generations (Daniel 2011, p. 9). Although some consider the Brothers Grimm’s work as a road to nationalism, Tatar (2004, p. 430) considers it an effort to understand the German culture. The brothers used the comparative approach to identify differences and possible reasons for those differences within traditional literature in various cultures. This book focuses on the work of the Brothers Grimm and how their tales have persisted through time.

Although most people know the brothers for their collection of German fairy tales, their lives were robust. They were involved in public service and political engagements. Quackenbush (1985, p. 9) describes how the boys took long walks in the country to collect things like insects, butterflies, and birds’ eggs, and they would trade those things for something better. This collector’s spirit, or sammlergeist, foreshadowed their collection of songs and fairy tales and their practice of bartering for stories.

According to Zipes (2002), popular thought portrays the Brothers Grimm as going from house to house, roaming the villages in Germany. Such a scenario might be an exaggeration. Their primary method was to invite storytellers to their home and listen to stories while writing down what was said. These storytellers were often educated young women from the middle class or aristocracy, and the stories often were of French origin. They related tales they had heard from nursemaids, governesses, and servants.

Dorothea Wild, Wilhelm’s mother-in-law, shared many of the stories found in the first edition. Wilhelm also gathered a large number of stories from Dorothea Viehmann from Hessia, Germany. It is believed Dorothea traded her stories for rolls and coffee, and a retired soldier, Johann Friedrich Krause, traded his stories for clothes. Dorothea Viehmann’s portrait is found at the beginning of the 1812 Grimms’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen.

The brothers were known for their scholarship. When their father died, Wilhelm was ten and Jacob eleven. Their aunt Henriette Zimmer invited them to live with her in Kassel, Germany, where Wilhelm and Jacob attended the prestigious Lyceum Fridericianum. The Brothers Grimm graduated at the top of their classes—Jacob in 1802 and Wilhelm in 1803—and went on to study law at the University of Marburg. Jacob, especially, felt discrimination. Now that his father was gone, his family was not prestigious, and finances were slim compared with students from more affluent and influential backgrounds. In addition, students from prestigious families received special stipends, whereas the brothers needed to pay for everything without assistance. They even required a special dispensation to be allowed to study law at the university. It is believed that it was here that Jacob began pursing equal rights.

Mondschein’s introduction in Canterbury Classics’ Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales (Grimm & Grimm 2011a, p. xvii) notes, Their unfortunate circumstances are evident in their work: the Grimms favored stories with an absent father and a younger sister to be protected. Jacob, in particular, took care of his mother, brothers, and sister.

Philological studies of how language and words develop and historical research became of interest to the dedicated brothers. It was through their tutor, Friedrich Karl von Savigny, founder of the historical school of law, and von Savigny’s extensive library that Jacob and Wilhelm were exposed to Romantic literature and Middle Ages texts—a valuable experience for later years.

Jacob learned the scientific method of research that he later used to complete his German Grammar through von Savigny’s lectures. The tutor believed that law needed to be understood in its historical context and therefore influenced the brothers’ interest in ancient German literature and folklore. In 1805, von Savigny took Jacob to Paris, France, as a research assistant to study Roman law. At this point, Jacob became interested in politics and culture. Mondschein’s introduction explains that young Germans at this time in history wanted liberalism, which was a belief in constitutional rights, economic freedom, and united countries under the rule of the people rather than kings and queens (Grimm & Grimm 2011a, p. xvi).

In 1806, Jacob went home to Germany but left the university to return to Kassel with the intent of caring for his mother and siblings. He obtained the position of secretary for the Kassel War Commission. As secretary, he could still devote time to his study of literature and customs. Wilhelm continued his studies at Marburg.

Through 1806 to 1810, the brothers began to systemically gather folktales and other materials related to folklore. Zipes (2002, p. xxv) states, From 1809 to 1813 there was a period of relative stability and security for the Grimm family. These years were the most prolific. In addition, Clemens Brentano, von Savigny’s brother-in-law, a writer and friend, influenced the brothers by asking them to help collect folktale poetry for a songbook called Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magical Horn). (However, Brentano never actually used the Brothers Grimm’s contribution.) Jacob and Wilhelm were convinced even more that language rather than law was the ultimate bond that united the German people (Zipes 2014, p. xxiii).

Jacob lost this position with the war commission in 1807 when the French invaded Kassel, and the area became part of the Kingdom of Westphalia under Jérôme Bonaparte. However, Jacob became the king’s private librarian and could continue his own studies. In 1813, the French withdrew from Kassel, and the French armies were defeated. Jacob was then appointed to the Hessian Peace Delegation and did diplomatic work in Paris and Vienna, Austria, while Wilhelm became secretary to the royal librarian in Kassel.

From 1809 to 1813, the brothers began publishing the results of their research: German Grammar, Ancient German Law, and German Heroic Legends. They first published Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children’s Stories and Household Tales) in 1812 for an academic audience. Although others had published folktales that were primarily written for upper-class adults, including royalty, the Brothers Grimm produced a scholarly work that included extensive annotations about the origin of the tale, similarities and differences between the story and that of other countries, and an appendix with notes about children’s beliefs. The 1812 edition was really part one, and another book in 1815 was part two. Together, the books included one hundred and fifty-six tales.

Their efforts were, in part, an attempt to unite Germany during the threat of domination by the French ruler Napoleon Bonaparte and later the fear that Germany would return to small-state government. The Grimms believed their collections were distinctly German, and this view was supported later by Grimm tales being integrated into the educational curriculum in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Much to their surprise, families widely accepted Children’s Stories and Household Tales to read to their children. After the 1815 book, the brothers, primarily Wilhelm, decided to target this audience. The Brothers Grimm recognized that the academic use of their work was much smaller than they had anticipated, but their stories were popular with children. Zipes (2014, xx) describes the tales as not yet vaccinated. The change in audience necessitated content revisions. Particularly violent episodes and sexual inferences were eliminated or softened due to open criticism. The stories were embellished with more detail and evolved from choppy sentence structure to a more literary style. Zipes (2014, p. xx) states that the Grimm brothers gradually made the tales their own.

Wilhelm became the major editor after 1816, but Jacob did not want the tales to be altered. "Wilhelm could not control his desire to make the tales more artistic to appeal to middle-class reading audiences. The result is that the essence of the tales is more vivid in the two volumes of