Keltische Märchen: Irland, Schottland, Wales, Bretagne

by Frederik Hetmann

Genres: German Literature, Fiction, Fairy Tales

207 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Frederik Hetmann was the pen name of Hans-Christian Kirsch, a German author of children's and young adult literature who also translated and edited numerous fairytales and mythological stories from around the world.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

Now I have always much appreciated Celtic folklore, and by that extension, of course also adored and cherished Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Breton fairy and folk tales (for they tend to present a sense of both the magical and the uncanny, the mysterious that is often rather lacking, and sometimes even quite missing in and from much of the folklore of continental Western Europe, even amongst those tales that do have equivalencies and counterparts). And thus, I eagerly approached Keltische Märchen (a varied collection of Celtic folktales, rendered into German by editor/translator Frederik Hetmann) with much joyful anticipation.

However, and unfortunately, while the individual tales have certainly kept their magic and sense of mystery intact with regard to contents and basic thematics, the translations (or rather the general rhythm and style of the latter) do leave more than a bit to be desired. Because especially if one is familiar with the original tales, Frederik Hetmann's renditions, his German language narratives, while they indeed do portray the basic plot-lines tolerably and well enough, also have a pronounced inclination to flow, to read rather massively choppily and with potential distraction and resulting awkwardness. Still somewhat and grudgingly recommended (especially for the excellent, interpretative afterword and detailed, extensive bibliographical listings on the literary sources of the collected tales), although for simple reading pleasure, in my opinion, these translations are not all that stellar and in many ways just and very barely adequate.

[Maria Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Il libro è suddiviso in fiabe irlandesi, scozzesi, gallesi e bretoni.
Tutte storie a me completamente sconosciute, ad eccezione di una versione un po' particolare della fiaba di Barbablù.
Sono fiabe popolate da principesse bellissime, animali parlanti, giganti, gnomi, folletti, fate, streghe... In una c'è un accenno alla leggenda di Re Artù.
Non tutte le ho trovate gradevoli, forse mi aspettavo qualcosa in più!

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite like the Celtic fairytales!