The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales in Classics and the Western Canon

Jun 29, 2011 Leslie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-fiction, 2011

Pretty much essential reading, the various tales gathered by the Grimm Brothers, an overwhelming treasury of stories and motifs. Some of these stories are, of course, very well known, while some are virtually forgotten. More than fairy tales, these include animal fables, saints' legends, jokes, anecdotes, origin stories. Read them and marvel at how much richer and stranger and harsher are these versions than the bowdlerised ones deemed more suitable for today's fragile children. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Apr 03, 2017 Lauli rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: blooms-canon, german-lit

It was so fresh to revisit these childhood stories, but in the full version now, which means you get to notice the actual violence underlying so many of them (a father who wants to commit incest with his own daughter, people getting crushed to dead or beheaded, etc.) Very interesting indeed.

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 24, 2011 P. rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens, shortstories, classics, booksread2011, ebook, fantasy, german

Much better than the English Fairy Tales I read recently, which were more like folktales really!. Both collections had similar stories in them. Fairy tales can be a bit too predictable in that aspect as most countries have their own versions of classics like Sleeping Beauty. Also nice to see different/ alternate versions of Cinderella (Ashputtel) and Little Red Riding Hood (Little Red Riding Cap). If you decide to read dear 'Ashputtel' out to your children though beware, because the step-mother ...more

Like · see review