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86th out of 398 books
—
765 voters
The Juniper Tree: And Other Tales from Grimm
Back in Print!
Originally published as a two-volume set forty years ago, The Juniper Tree is distinguished first by the selection of stories. Lore Segal and Maurice Sendak jointly culled 27 from the 210 in the complete collection, and their contents page presents a fascinating critical statement. The translations are another distinguishing quality of the Segal/Sendak editio...more
Originally published as a two-volume set forty years ago, The Juniper Tree is distinguished first by the selection of stories. Lore Segal and Maurice Sendak jointly culled 27 from the 210 in the complete collection, and their contents page presents a fascinating critical statement. The translations are another distinguishing quality of the Segal/Sendak editio...more
Hardcover, 352 pages
Published
October 15th 2003
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
(first published January 1st 1973)
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Best for scholars and completists, not so much for children. Some of the tales were all too familiar, others were brand-new (at least to me, and I've read quite a bit). I did like some little bits, as for example the variation of the chant the fisherman uses to call the flounder, or the revelation that the dwarfs kept their cottage quite tidy and did cook, so didn't need Snow White but took her in out of kindness. It was interesting that some of the translations revealed a graceful and poetic st...more
May 18, 2013
Catherine
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People I don't like.
Shelves:
traditional-fantasy
Published 1973.
So, there is a reason why the modern world needs Disney versions of classic tales - the originals are down right psycho!
In this collection of Grimm translated by Segal and Jarrell, there are a few well known tales (Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, and Snow White) and many obscure ones. Basically, there is much more cutting people up into pieces (Fitcher's Feathered Bird, The Juniper Tree, etc.)than THIS reviewer can stand!
The other major issue I have is that many of the tales end ab...more
So, there is a reason why the modern world needs Disney versions of classic tales - the originals are down right psycho!
In this collection of Grimm translated by Segal and Jarrell, there are a few well known tales (Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, and Snow White) and many obscure ones. Basically, there is much more cutting people up into pieces (Fitcher's Feathered Bird, The Juniper Tree, etc.)than THIS reviewer can stand!
The other major issue I have is that many of the tales end ab...more
The most beautiful illustrations! I had the pleasure some years ago, when out of sheer luck I saw an exhibit of Sendak's pen and ink illustrations for this book at the Goethe House, across from the Metropolitan Museum, NYC. Exquisite, delicate, deep and hilarious.
What German parents (including my 2nd-generation parents) give the kiddies to read for fun. This is for children who display an early distaste for fluff, and looooove seeing the wicked get punished. Some weird moral twists, particularly in some of the lesser-known tales such as "Many-Fur," wherein: a princess who looks like her beautiful dead mother runs away and disguises herself in dead animal skins when her father, the king, decides he wants to marry her (?!?!!), then returns incognita as a k...more
A very funny tale from Germany (yes it's true...)
A moral tale about sudden decapitation, a wise young bird that knows all, and millstones falling onto evil people.
In fact it was "written" by Phillip Otto Runge before the Grimms.
A moral tale about sudden decapitation, a wise young bird that knows all, and millstones falling onto evil people.
In fact it was "written" by Phillip Otto Runge before the Grimms.
A choice selection of Grimm tales, well translated – with all the weird violence intact. Sendak’s illustrations are fascinating. I picked this up for two bucks at a local used bookshop and consider it one of my best finds of the year.
I more than likely just perused through the set of books, only looking at the illustrations by Sendak. The illustrations being the only reason why I bought the edition in the first place :-)
These stories are gory, trippy, and fun, but by modern standards some of them seem more like synopses than stories. Reworking these straight translations would make for a good writing exercise.
Seriously, there's nothing like reading Grimm's tales. Especially when they've been directly translated from German rather than being retold. They certainly have the power to put you in a whole different head space. Enjoyed this book immensely.
loved to read versions that were closer to the originals than we usually read, with a few exceptions, most of the tales are less well known.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Gorgeous illustrations. Masterful.
I only had volume 1.
There are few better combinations than a well-translated and complete Grimm's tale and an illustration by Maurice Sendak. Each Sendak illustration in this collection (there's about one illustration per tale) is a tale in itself, dense with detail but balanced, simultaneously innocent and menacing, and saturated with narrative suggestion.
This is a reissue of a classic collection. The book is well designed too, short and sturdy with clear text and the illustrations look almost like etchings.
This is a reissue of a classic collection. The book is well designed too, short and sturdy with clear text and the illustrations look almost like etchings.
Wow. And I mean, wow. I had to drop all the things I thought about these stories, some of which ("Hansel and Gretel," "Snow White," Rapunzel") I thought were etched into memory. Stark. Eerie. Bloody. Matter-of-fact and bizarre at the same time, a paradox emphasized and reinforced in Sendak's splendid illustrations. Here's what it made me think about successful narrative: A good story is about events that we can never really understand served up in a structure that we do.
Review to come
Some of these classic fairytales are just plain awful and difficult to swallow. Others are enchanting. The pictures drawn by Sendak give a different image to the stories. All the women are very chunky!
This is one of my favorite things to pull off my bookshelf. It's part of a set of two... illustrated and translated by Maurice Sendak.
WELL worth picking up. Includes a lot of rarely found stories.
WELL worth picking up. Includes a lot of rarely found stories.
I enjoyed this book. Some of the tales I knew others I did not. A few were very bleak. The illustrations were well done. I will be looking out for Vol I for this was Vol II.
My mother bought an early edition of this book for me when I was in 2nd grade and I read it at least 50 times. I'm looking forward to revisiting it with my son.
Jan 01, 2009
Elizabeth
marked it as to-read
I read this too may times to count before i was even 10 years old. But now I can't remember the stories, so I will definitely read it again.
Fairy Tales
May 19, 2013
Meredith
marked it as to-read
May 09, 2013
Katrina Carriedo
marked it as to-read
May 06, 2013
Legato Darksummers
added it
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review of another edition
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Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm, German philologist, jurist and mythologist, was born at Hanau, in Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). He is best known as the discoverer of Grimm's Law, the author of the monumental German Dictionary, his Deutsche Mythologie and more popularly, with his brother Wilhelm, as one of the Brothers Grimm, as the editor of Grimm's Fairy Tales.
(From Wikipedia.)
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“My mother, she killed me,
My father, he ate me,
My sister Marlene,
Gathered all my bones,
Tied them in a silken scarf,
Laid them beneath the juniper tree,
Tweet, tweet, what a beautiful bird am I.”
—
23 people liked it
More quotes…
My father, he ate me,
My sister Marlene,
Gathered all my bones,
Tied them in a silken scarf,
Laid them beneath the juniper tree,
Tweet, tweet, what a beautiful bird am I.”
Mar 20, 2012 10:36pm