Brothers Grimm

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The brothers spent their formative years in the German town of Hanau. Their father's death in 1796 caused great poverty for the family and affected the brothers for many years after. They both attended the University of Marburg where they developed a curiosity about German folklore, which grew into a lifelong dedication to collecting German folk tales. The rise of romanticism during the 19th century revived interest in traditional folk stories, which to the brothers represented a pure form of national literature and culture. With the goal of researching a scholarly treatise on folk tales, they established a methodology for collecting and recording folk stories that became the basis for folklore studies. Between 1812 and 1857, their first collection was revised and republished many times, growing from 86 stories to more than 200. In addition to writing and modifying folk tales, the brothers wrote collections of well-respected German and Scandinavian mythologies, and in 1838 they began writing a definitive German dictionary (Deutsches Wörterbuch), which they were unable to finish during their lifetimes.

The popularity of the Grimms' best folk tales has endured well. The tales are available in more than 100 languages and have been later adapted by filmmakers including Lotte Reiniger and Walt Disney, with films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty. During the 1930s and 40s, the tales were used as propaganda by the Third Reich; later in the 20th century psychologists such as Bruno Bettelheim reaffirmed the value of the work, in spite of the cruelty and violence in original versions of some of the tales, which the Grimms eventually sanitized.


Early days[edit]


Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm was born on 4 January 1785 and his brother Wilhelm Carl Grimm on 24 February 1786. Both boys were born in Hanau, Germany, to Philipp Wilhelm Grimm, a jurist, and Dorothea Grimm née Zimmer, daughter of a Kassel city councilman.[1] They were the second- and third-eldest surviving siblings in a family of nine children, three of whom died in infancy.[2][3][4] In 1791, the family moved to the countryside town of Steinau, when Philipp was employed there as district magistrate (Amtmann). The family became prominent members of the community, residing in a large home surrounded by fields. Biographer Jack Zipes writes that the brothers were happy in Steinau and "clearly fond of country life".[1] The children were educated at home by private tutors, receiving strict instruction as Lutherans that instilled in both a lifelong religious faith.[5] Later, they attended local schools.[1] Later they met philstippa Grimm nee carldenbergon

In 1796, Philipp Grimm died of pneumonia, which caused sudden and severe financial hardship for the large family, and they were forced to relinquish their servants and large house. Dorothea depended on financial support from her father and sister, first lady-in-waiting at the court of William I, Elector of Hesse. Jacob was the eldest living son, and he was forced at age 11 to assume adult responsibilities (shared with Wilhelm) for the next two years. The two boys adhered to the advice of their grandfather, who continually exhorted them to be industrious.[1]

The brothers left Steinau and their family in 1798 to attend the Friedrichsgymnasium in Kassel, which had been arranged and paid for by their aunt. By then, they were without a male provider (their grandfather died that year), forcing them to rely entirely on each other, and they became exceptionally close. The two brothers differed in temperament; Jacob was introspective and Wilhelm was outgoing (although he often suffered from ill-health). But they shared a strong work ethic and excelled in their studies. In Kassel, they became acutely aware of their inferior social status relative to "high-born" students who received more attention. Each brother graduated at the head of his class: Jacob in 1803 and Wilhelm in 1804 (he missed a year of school due to scarlet fever).[1][6]







During their employment as librarians—which paid little but afforded them ample time for research—the brothers experienced a productive period of scholarship, publishing a number of books between 1812 and 1830.[10] In 1812, they published their first volume of 86 folk tales, Kinder- und Hausmärchen, followed quickly by two volumes of German legends and a volume of early literary history.[2] They went on to publish works about Danish and Irish folk tales and Norse mythology, while continuing to edit the German folk tale collection. These works became so widely recognized that the brothers received honorary doctorates from universities in Marburg, Berlin, and Breslau (now Wrocław).[10]


In 1825, Wilhelm married Henriette Dorothea (Dortchen) Wild, a long-time family friend and one of a group who supplied them with stories. Jacob never married but continued to live in the household with Wilhelm and Dortchen.[11] In 1830, both brothers were overlooked when the post of chief librarian came available, which disappointed them greatly.[10] They moved the household to Göttingen in the Kingdom of Hanover where they took employment at the University of Göttingen, Jacob as a professor and head librarian and Wilhelm as professor.[2]





Berlin and later years[edit]



After the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, the brothers were elected to the civil parliament. Jacob became a prominent member of the National Assembly at Mainz.[11] Their political activities were short-lived, as their hope dwindled for a unified Germany and their disenchantment grew. In the late 1840s, Jacob resigned his university position and saw the publication of The History of the German Language (Geschichte der deutschen Sprache). Wilhelm continued at his university post until 1852. After retiring from teaching, the brothers devoted themselves to the German Dictionary for the rest of their lives.[11] Wilhelm died of an infection in Berlin in 1859,[12] and Jacob became increasingly reclusive, deeply upset at his brother's death. He continued work on the dictionary until his own death in 1863. Zipes writes of the Grimm brothers' dictionary and of their very large body of work: "Symbolically the last word was Frucht (fruit)."[11]


Children's and Household Tales[edit]

Main article: Grimms' Fairy Tales


The rise of romanticism, Romantic nationalism, and trends in valuing popular culture in the early 19th century revived interest in fairy tales, which had declined since their late-17th century peak.[13] Johann Karl August Musäus published a popular collection of tales between 1782 and 1787;[14] the Grimms aided the revival with their folklore collection, built on the conviction that a national identity could be found in popular culture and with the common folk (Volk). They collected and published tales as a reflection of German cultural identity. In the first collection, though, they included Charles Perrault's tales, published in Paris in 1697 and written for the literary salons of an aristocratic French audience. Scholar Lydie Jean explains that a myth was created that Perrault's tales came from the common people and reflected existing folklore in order to justify their inclusion—even though many of them were original.[13]



However, as Tatar explains, the Grimms appropriated stories as being uniquely German, such as "Little Red Riding Hood", which had existed in many versions and regions throughout Europe, because they believed that such stories were reflections of Germanic culture.[15] Furthermore, the brothers saw fragments of old religions and faiths reflected in the stories which they thought continued to exist and survive through the telling of stories.[18]


When Jacob returned to Marburg from Paris in 1806, their friend Brentano sought the brothers' help in adding to his collection of folk tales, at which time the brothers began to gather tales in an organized fashion.[1] By 1810, they had produced a manuscript collection of several dozen tales, written after inviting storytellers to their home and transcribing what they heard. These tales were heavily modified in transcription, and many had roots in previously written sources.[19] At Brentano's request, they printed and sent him copies of the 53 tales that they collected for inclusion in his third volume of Des Knaben Wunderhorn.[2] Brentano either ignored or forgot about the tales, leaving the copies in a church in Alsace where they were found in 1920 and became known as the Ölenberg manuscript. It is the earliest extant version of the Grimms' collection and has become a valuable source to scholars studying the development of the Grimms' collection from the time of its inception. The manuscript was published in 1927 and again in 1975.[20]

The brothers gained a reputation for collecting tales from peasants, although many tales came from middle-class or aristocratic acquaintances. Wilhelm's wife Dortchen Wild and her family, with their nursery maid, told the brothers some of the more well-known tales, such as "Hansel and Gretel" and "Sleeping Beauty".[21] Wilhelm collected a number of tales after befriending August von Haxthausen, whom he visited in 1811 in Westphalia where he heard stories from von Haxthausen's circle of friends.[22] Several of the storytellers were of Huguenot ancestry, telling tales of French origin such as those told to the Grimms by Marie Hassenpflug, an educated woman of French Huguenot ancestry,[19] and it is probable that these informants were familiar with Perrault's Histoires ou contes du temps passé (Stories from Past Times).[13] Other tales were collected from Dorothea Viehmann, the wife of a middle-class tailor and also of French descent. Despite her middle-class background, in the first English translation she was characterized as a peasant and given the name Gammer Gretel.[16]





Over the years, Wilhelm worked extensively on the prose, expanded and added detail to the stories to the point that many grew to be twice the length of those in the earliest published editions.[24] In the later editions, Wilhelm polished the language to make it more enticing to a bourgeois audience, eliminated sexual elements, and added Christian elements. After 1819, he began writing for children (children were not initially considered the primary audience), adding entirely new tales or adding new elements to existing tales, elements that were often strongly didactic.[22]


Themes and analysis[edit]

The Grimms' legacy contains legends, novellas, and folk stories, the vast majority of which were not intended as children's tales. Von Armin was deeply concerned by the content of some of the tales, such as those which showed children being eaten, and suggested that they be removed. Instead, the brothers added an introduction with cautionary advice that parents steer children toward age-appropriate stories. Despite von Armin's unease, none of the tales were eliminated from the collection, in the brothers' belief that all the tales were of value and reflected inherent cultural qualities. Furthermore, the stories were didactic in nature at a time when discipline relied on fear, according to scholar Linda Dégh, who explains that tales such as "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Hansel and Gretel" were written to be "warning tales" for children.[27]




The tales were also criticized for being insufficiently German, which influenced the tales that the brothers included as well as their use of language. Scholars such as Heinz Rölleke say that the stories are an accurate depiction of German culture, showing "rustic simplicity [and] sexual modesty".[12] German culture is deeply rooted in the forest (wald), a dark dangerous place to be avoided, most particularly the old forests with large oak trees and yet a place to which Little Red Riding Hood's mother sent her daughter to deliver food to grandmother's house.[12]






The first volume was published in 1812 with 86 folk tales,[21] and a second volume with 70 additional tales was published late in 1814 (dated 1815 on the title page); together, the two volumes and their 156 tales are considered the first of the Large (annotated) editions.[34][35] A second expanded edition with 170 tales was published in 1819, followed in 1822 by a volume of scholarly commentary and annotations.[2][25] Five more Large editions were published in 1837, 1840, 1843, 1850, and 1857. The seventh and final edition of 1857 contained 211 tales—200 numbered folk tales and eleven legends.[2][25][35]

In Germany, Kinder- und Hausmärchen was also released in a "popular poster-sized Bilderbogen (broadsides)"[35] format and in single story formats for the more popular tales, such as "Hansel and Gretel". The stories were often added to collections by other authors without respect to copyright as the tales became a focus of interest for children's book illustrators,[35] with well-known artists such as Arthur Rackham, Walter Crane, and Edmund Dulac illustrating the tales. A popular edition that sold well was released in the mid-19th century and included elaborate etchings by George Cruikshank.[36] At the deaths of the brothers, the copyright went to Hermann Grimm (Wilhelm's son) who continued the practice of printing the volumes in expensive and complete editions; however, the copyright lapsed after 1893 and the stories began to be published in many formats and editions.[35] In the 21st century, Kinder- und Hausmärchen is a universally recognized text, commonly called Grimms' Fairy Tales in English. Jacob and Wilhelm's collection of stories has been translated to more than 160 languages with 120 different editions of the text available for sale in the US alone.[12]




Frontispiece of 1854 edition of German Dictionary (Deutsches Wörterbuch)

The brothers strongly believed that the dream of national unity and independence relied on a full knowledge of the cultural past that was reflected in folklore.[38] They worked to discover and crystallize a kind of Germanness in the stories that they collected because they believed that folklore contained kernels of ancient mythologies and beliefs which were crucial to understanding the essence of German culture.[16] By examining culture from a philological point of view, they sought to establish connections between German law and culture and local beliefs.[37]

The Grimms considered the tales to have origins in traditional Germanic folklore, which they thought had been "contaminated" by later literary tradition.[16] In the shift from the oral tradition to the printed book, tales were translated from regional dialects to Standard German (Hochdeutsch or High German).[39] Over the course of the many modifications and revisions, however, the Grimms sought to reintroduce regionalisms, dialects, and Low German to the tales—to re-introduce the language of the original form of the oral tale.[40]


Between 1816 and 1818, the brothers published a two-volume work titled Deutsche Sagen (German Legends) consisting of 585 German legends.[34] Jacob undertook most of the work of collecting and editing the legends that he organized according to region and historical (ancient) legends,[42] and which were about real people or events.[41] It was meant to be a scholarly work, yet the historical legends were often taken from secondary sources, interpreted, modified, and rewritten, resulting in works "that were regarded as trademarks".[42] Some scholars criticized the Grimm's methodology in collecting and rewriting the legends, yet conceptually they set an example for legend collections that was to be followed by others throughout Europe. Unlike the collection of folk tales, Deutsche Sagen sold poorly,[42] but Zipes says that the collection is a "vital source for folklorists and critics alike".[43]

Less well known in the English-speaking world is the brothers' monumental scholarly work on a German dictionary, the Deutsches Wörterbuch, which they began in 1838. Not until 1852 did they begin publishing the dictionary in installments.[42] The work on the dictionary could not be finished in their lifetime because in it they gave a history and analysis of each word.[41]

Reception and legacy[edit]

Design of the front of the 1992 1000 Deutsche Mark showing the Brothers Grimm[44]

Kinder- und Hausmärchen was not an immediate bestseller, but its popularity grew with each edition.[45] The early editions attracted lukewarm critical reviews, generally on the basis that the stories were unappealing to children. The brothers responded with modifications and rewrites in order to increase the book's market appeal to that demographic.[16] By the 1870s, the tales had increased greatly in popularity, to the point that they were added to the teaching curriculum in Prussia. In the 20th century, the work has maintained status as second only to the Bible as the most popular book in Germany. Its sales generated a mini-industry of criticism which analyzed the tales' folkloric content in the context of literary history, socialism, and psychological elements often along Freudian and Jungian lines.[45]

In their research, the brothers made a science of the study of folklore (see folkloristics), generating a model of research that "launched general fieldwork in most European countries",[46] and setting standards for research and analysis of stories and legends that made them pioneers in the field of folklore in the 19th century.[47]

During the Third Reich, the Grimms' stories were used to foster nationalism, and the Nazi Party decreed that Kinder- und Hausmärchen was a book which each household should own; later, in Allied-occupied Germany, the book was banned for a period.[48] In the US, the 1937 release of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs shows the triumph of good over evil, innocence over oppression, according to Zipes—a popular theme that Disney repeated in 1959 during the Cold War with the production of Sleeping Beauty.[49] The Grimms' tales have provided much of the early foundation on which the Disney empire was built.[12] In film, the Cinderella motif, the story of a poor girl finding love and success, continues to be repeated in movies such as Pretty Woman, The Princess Diaries, The Princess Diaries II, Ever After, Maid in Manhattan, and Ella Enchanted. In 1962, the lives of both brothers was the subject of the film The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm featuring an all star cast, including Laurence Harvey and Karlheinz Böhm in the title roles.

Twentieth century educators debated the value and influence of teaching stories that include brutality and violence, causing some of the more gruesome details to be sanitized.[45] Dégh writes that some educators believe that children should be shielded from cruelty of any form; that stories with a happy ending are fine to teach, whereas those that are darker, particularly the legends, might pose more harm. On the other hand, some educators and psychologists believe that children easily discern the difference between what is a story and what is not and that the tales continue to have value for children.[50] The publication of Bruno Bettelheim's 1976 The Uses of Enchantment brought a new wave of interest in the stories as children's literature, with an emphasis on the "therapeutic value for children".[51] More popular stories such as "Hansel and Gretel" and "Little Red Riding Hood" have become staples of modern childhood, presented in coloring books, puppet shows, and cartoons. Other stories, however, have been considered too gruesome and have not made a popular transition.[48]

Regardless of the debate, the Grimms' stories have continued to be resilient and popular around the world,[50] although a recent study in England appears to suggest that parents consider the stories to be overly violent and inappropriate for young children, writes Libby Copeland for Slate.[52] Nevertheless, children remain enamored with grim stories as the recent success of The Grimm Series by Adam Gidwitz and The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley illustrates.

The university library at the Humboldt University of Berlin is housed in the Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Center (Jakob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum).[53] Among its collections is a large portion of the Grimm Brothers' private library.[54]

Collaborative works[edit]

  • Deutsches Wörterbuch (German Dictionary)—32 volumes published between 1852 and 1960.[41]

See also[edit]


  4. ^ Michaelis-Jena 1970, p. 9
  5. ^ Herbert Scurla: Die Brüder Grimm, Berlin 1985, p.14-16
  6. ^ a b Zipes 1988, p. 31
  7. ^ a b qtd. in Zipes 1988, p. 35
  8. ^ Zipes 2002, pp. 7–8
  9. ^ qtd. in Zipes 2002, p. 7
  10. ^ a b c d e Zipes 2000, pp. 218–219
  12. ^ a b c d e f g O'Neill, Thomas. "Guardians of the Fairy Tale: The Brothers Grimm". National Geographic. National Geographic Society. Retrieved March 18, 2012. 
  13. ^ a b c d Jean 2007, pp. 280–282
  14. ^ a b Haase 2008, p. 138
  15. ^ a b Tatar 2004, pp. xxxviii
  16. ^ a b c d e f Tatar 2004, pp. xxxiv–xxxviii
  17. ^ Tatar 2004, pp. xxxvi
  18. ^ a b Murphy 2000, pp. 3–4
  19. ^ a b Haase 2008, p. 579
  20. ^ Zipes 2000, p. 62
  21. ^ a b Joosen 2006, pp. 177–179
  22. ^ a b c Zipes 1988, pp. 11–14
  23. ^ Bottigheimer 1982, pp. 175
  24. ^ a b Tatar 2004, pp. xi–xiii
  25. ^ a b c Tatar 1987, pp. 15–17
  26. ^ Tatar 1987, p. 31
  27. ^ a b Dégh 1979, pp. 91–93
  29. ^ a b Bottigheimer 1982, pp. 142–146
  30. ^ Bottigheimer 1982, p. 143
  31. ^ Alister & Hauke 1998, pp. 216–219
  32. ^ Tatar 2004, p. 37
  33. ^ Zipes 1988, pp. 39–42
  34. ^ a b Michaelis-Jena 1970, p. 84
  35. ^ a b c d e Zipes 2000, pp. 276–278
  36. ^ Haase 2008, p. 73
  37. ^ a b c Zipes 1988, pp. 32–35
  38. ^ a b Dégh 1979, pp. 84–85
  39. ^ Zipes 1994, p. 14
  40. ^ Robinson 2004, pp. 47–49
  41. ^ a b c d Hettinga 2001, pp. 154–155
  42. ^ a b c d Haase 2008, pp. 429–431
  43. ^ Zipes 1984, p. 162
  45. ^ a b c Zipes 1988, pp. 15–17
  46. ^ Dégh 1979, p. 87
  47. ^ Zipes 1984, p. 163
  48. ^ a b Dégh 1979, pp. 94–96
  49. ^ Zipes 1988, p. 25
  50. ^ a b Dégh 1979, pp. 99–101
  51. ^ Tatar 2010
  54. ^ "The Grimm Library". Humboldt University of Berlin. Retrieved 2012-12-20. 


  • Alister, Ian; Hauke, Christopher, eds. (1998). Contemporary Jungian Analysis. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-14166-6. 
  • Bottigheimer, Ruth (1982). "Tale Spinners: Submerged Voices in Grimms' Fairy Tales". New German Critique 27 (27): 141–150. doi:10.2307/487989. JSTOR 487989. 
  • Dégh, Linda (1979). "Grimm's Household Tales and its Place in the Household". Western Folklore 38 (2): 85–103. 
  • Haase, Donald (2008). "Literary Fairy Tales". In Donald Haase. The Greenwood encyclopedia of folktales and fairy tales 2. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-33441-2. 
  • Jean, Lydie (2007). "Charles Perrault's Paradox: How Aristocratic Fairy Tales became Synonymous with Folklore Conservation" (PDF). Trames 11 (61): 276–283. 
  • Joosen, Vanessa (2006). The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Children's Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-514656-1. 
  • Michaelis-Jena, Ruth (1970). The Brothers Grimm. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-0-7100-6449-3. 
  • Murphy, Ronald G. (2000). The Owl, the Raven and the Dove. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-515169-5. 
  • Robinson, Orrin W. (2004). "Rhymes and Reasons in the Grimms' Kinder- und Hausmärchen". The German Quarterly 77 (1): 47–58. 
  • Tatar, Maria (2004). The Annotated Brothers Grimm. W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0-393-05848-2. 
  • Tatar, Maria (1987). The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-06722-3. 
  • Tatar, Maria (2010). "Why Fairy Tales Matter: The Performative and the Transformative". Western Folklore 69 (1): 55–64. 
  • Zipes, Jack (1994). Myth as Fairy Tale. Kentucky University Press. ISBN 978-0-8131-1890-1. 
  • Zipes, Jack (1988). The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World (1st ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-90081-2. 
  • Zipes, Jack (2002). The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World (2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-312-29380-2. 
  • Zipes, Jack (1984). "The Grimm German Legends in English". Children's Literature 12: 162–166. doi:10.1353/chl.0.0073. 
  • Zipes, Jack (2000). The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860115-9. 

Further reading[edit]

  • Carpenter, Humphrey; Prichard, Mari (1984). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-211582-0. 
  • Ihms, Schmidt M. (1975). "The Brothers Grimm and their collection of 'Kinder und Hausmärchen". Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory 45: 41–54. 
  • Pullman, Philip (2012). "Introduction". In Pullman, Philip. Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm. New York: Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-02497-1. 
  • Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Steve (2000). A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-210019-1. 

External links[edit]