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The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales

Jacob Grimm,

Wilhelm Grimm

Start date: April 1, 2021

Finish date: June 30, 2021

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Dec 10, 2022 Manybooks rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: book-reviews, folklore-germany, favourites-read, folklore-europe, superb-translation, very-user-friendly

Now I have noticed that some readers/reviewers who enjoy, who love the 1857 edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen, of the Brothers Grimm's collection of folk and fairy tales, and consider these (in either the original German or in English translation) as suitable reading or reading aloud material for children (and even very young children) are kind of having a few issues with Jack Zipes' translation of the 1812/1813 edition (titled The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm by Zipes), Now I have noticed that some readers/reviewers who enjoy, who love the 1857 edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen, of the Brothers Grimm's collection of folk and fairy tales, and consider these (in either the original German or in English translation) as suitable reading or reading aloud material for children (and even very young children) are kind of having a few issues with Jack Zipes' translation of the 1812/1813 edition (titled The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm by Zipes), finding many of the tales strangely different from what they are used to from the 1857 edition and also considering quite a number of the stories as not really all that appropriate for younger children. And yes, I actually do tend to somewhat even agree with said assessment, as it certainly can be a trifle disconcerting that for example in the 1812/1813 version of Rapunzel Rapunzel is sent into the wilderness by Mrs. Gothel (by the fairy) because she is obviously pregnant, a fact that is certainly no longer present in the 1857 version of the tale, and that in the original Snow White, the heroine was pursued by her jealous mother, and only later was the jealous mother turned into an evil stepmother, but that to be honest, I actually also in no way think that the 1812/1813 edition of the Brothers Grimm folk and fairy tales is what I would ever consider labelling as literature specifically meant for children.

For if one is aware of the background and the history of the Grimms' Kinder- und Hausmärchen, Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm in fact did NOT originally put in writing the folk and fairy tales they collected from their sources, from their contributors (a list of whom is actually provided by Jack Zipes in The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm) for an audience consisting mainly of children, but that originally the tales were considered both an academic experiment and also meant to be read mostly by adults (and that indeed, Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm ended up revising and changing their original edition, that the 1857 Kinder- und Hausmärchen mostly owes its publication and its very existence to the fact that parents were increasingly reading Grimms' stories to their children and were complaining about inappropriate and problematic content, that in particular mothers did not really feel comfortable reading to their children stories of evil biological parents such as had appeared in the already mentioned Snow White of the 1812/1813 edition and equally in Hansel and Gretel but were seemingly not so squeamish about the culprits, about the villains being evil and horrid stepparents, and that definitely, for reading pleasure and in particular for sharing the Grimms' folk and fairy tales with children, for me and in my opinion, the 1857 edition is most definitely the way to go, is much more suitable and not to mention also enjoyable for younger readers and younger listeners).

Now with regard to how Jack Zipes has set up The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm and also considering the quality of his, of Zipes' translation, yes indeed, I am totally and absolutely impressed. Because not only does the table of contents of The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm give both the English language and also in brackets the original German title of each of the stories (and which definitely makes comparative reading much easier and less frustrating), how Jack Zipes has translated the Grimms is wonderful, is spectacular, with Zipes always keeping to the original spirit of Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm's original text but also with there also and happily being no pedantic and frustrating word for word translation from German to English to be encountered in The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. And therefore, totally five stars plus for The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (and yes, with Jack Zipes also providing a wonderful introduction and equally delightful, enlightening endnotes both being the absolute icing on an already majorly delicious textual cake, and also immediately and permanently moving The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm onto my favourites shelf).

And finally, I also need to mention a fun but ultimately also really silly and hugely historically inaccurate movie about the Brothers Grimm I recently watched on Turner Classic Movies. For while the sense of time and place was really nice and looked authentic, the fact that in particular Wilhelm Grimm was shown in said film as wanting to collect folk and fairy tales first and foremost because he wanted stories for German children, well no, that is not accurate at all, as both Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm originally collected their tales not specifically for children. ...more

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Jan 02, 2019 Manybooks rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites-read, folklore-germany, book-reviews, folklore-myth-religion, folklore-europe, compilation

Although I still and absolutely do cherish and treasure my traditional paper book copies of Jakob and Wilhem Grimm's Kinder- und Hausmärchen (of which I own various versions in both hardcover and paperback and in both German and English translation), I do nevertheless consider this here massive e-book compilation of basically the vast majority of the Brothers Grimm's fairy and folklore output both amazing and indeed also and definitely of much potential academic interest and use. Containing not Although I still and absolutely do cherish and treasure my traditional paper book copies of Jakob and Wilhem Grimm's Kinder- und Hausmärchen (of which I own various versions in both hardcover and paperback and in both German and English translation), I do nevertheless consider this here massive e-book compilation of basically the vast majority of the Brothers Grimm's fairy and folklore output both amazing and indeed also and definitely of much potential academic interest and use. Containing not only the 1812, 1815 and 1857 editions of the Brothers Grimm's Kinder- und Hausmärchen, Delphi Saemltliche Werke von Brüder Grimm (Illustrierte) (and yes, the title is indeed a bit badly rendered into German, but the internal contents, they do shine) also features their Deutsche Sagen (German legends), Irische Elfenmärchen (a collection of Irish elf and fairy tales) and last but not least Deutsche Mythologie (Jacob Grimm's take on German/Norse mythology, which I have always wanted to read but which is often really rare and massively expensive to purchase as a paper, as a traditional dead tree tome).

And while this collection, and while Delphi Saemtliche Werke von Brüder Grimm (Illustrierte) does not feature Jacob Grimm's linguistic and philologic work (which would have been nice, but which I also was in no way expecting), that MOST of his and his brother's folklore and mythologic oeuvre has indeed been included is truly not only awesome but personally also very massively appreciated (not to mention that the general set up of Delphi Saemltliche Werke der Brüder Grimm (Illustrierte) and especially the tables of contents are clearly and aesthetically pleasantly organised, and yes, also quite user friendly, which is especially a boon and a godsend if one is for example trying to compare and contrast the 1812 edition of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen with the latest, with the 1857 one).

Highly recommended is Delphi Saemtliche Werke von Brüder Grimm (Illustrierte) and like all of the Delphi Classics e-book tomes also extremely cost effective to purchase and download as a Kindle, but with the necessary caveat that this collection is entirely in German and therefore, a decent level of fluency in the German language is in my opinion an absolute must. And yes indeed, Delphi Classiscs also offers Delphi Complete Fariry Tales of the Brothers Grimm (Illustrated), which contains four separate sets of English language translations from 1826 to 1912, as well as the 1857 final German language edition (but unfortunately, this latter e-book does not feature any of the Grimms' additional folkloristic work, such as the above mentioned Deutsche Legenden etc., as Delphi Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (Illustrated) only focuses on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale collections). ...more

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