Tag Archives: Classics

The Grimmer Side of the Brothers Grimm

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Happily ever after? This writer’s trip to Germany revealed that even the most well-known fairy tales hold some very dark secrets.

If you grew up reading bedtime stories every night and obsessively watching Disney movies as I did, you probably know who the Grimm Brothers are. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm collected hundreds of German stories, fairy tales and folklore in the 1800s. Because most of these were passed down orally through the generations, and only existed in that format, the brothers published them in books so that the stories could be enjoyed for centuries to come.

Author's photo of a home of in Kassel where a woman affiliated with the Brothers lived!

Author’s photo of a home of in Kassel, Germany where a woman affiliated with the Brothers lived!

I recently participated in a homestay in Kassel, Germany, a beautiful town that the brothers called home for 30 years. Despite studying law at the University of Marburg, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are best known for publishing the book Kinder und Hausmärchen (translated to Children’s and Household Tales) in 1812 and various editions afterwards. Some of the more well-known fairy tales published by the Grimm’s include Cinderella, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Tom Thumb, and Snow White. If you were to look at a list of Grimm fairy tales (in fact, I’ll leave a link here http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimmtales.html) you’d surely recognize a few titles. However, these are not the same heart-warming, happy-ending stories you’re used to hearing.

For example, let’s take a look at Cinderella. We all know and love the Disney version of the beautiful orphan girl and her wicked stepmother and step-sisters. We sympathize with her underdog situation and dogged spirit. We cry with her when her dress is ruined and rejoice when the fairy Godmother appears. We root for Cinderella to beat the odds and end up with her prince to live happily ever after.

However, in the Grimm version there is no fairy Godmother, but two white doves. When Cinderella’s stepsisters try on her golden slipper (another difference), their feet are too big. One sister cuts off a toe and the other cuts off her heel. And at Cinderella’s wedding, they get their eyes pecked out by pigeons.

A little different, right? Many of these original stories are darker than their modern counterparts. Over time, the stories evolved and softened to appeal to a younger audience, children who could still be enraptured by magic and fantasy. But the first tales are downright disturbing; trickery, thievery, and murder are just a few of the themes you might find in the Kinder und Hausmärchen.

Because of the mature content of these fairy tales, I would exercise caution before using one as a bedtime story. For those of us who are a bit older and arguably wiser, Grimm’s fairy tales offer a different perspective from the stories we’ve grown up with. So if you’re ever in the mood for some twisted entertainment, or just feel like ruining your childhood, give these stories a read!

Aerial view of Kassel, Germany from the Herkules Monument that overlooks the city

Author’s photo of an aerial view of Kassel from the Herkules Monument that overlooks the city

References:

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm.html#jointpublications

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/cinderella.html

Written by Jennifer Rohrbach

Ready, Aim, Fire: The Purpose of Literary Ammunition

I’ve often been told by one of my professors that “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know,” and each time those words grace his lips, my gut turns in acknowledgment of my own ignorance. So I thought to myself: the best way to conquer a text is to be prepared with the best literary ammunition.

What do I mean by literary ammo? It’s having writers like Homer, Faulkner, Joyce, and Shakespeare in your back pocket and pulling them out to make connections in a piece of work so that allusions and references don’t fly over your head. It is the big gun in conversations, it steals ground for you in arguments, and gives you literature to love in your spare time. Ammunition is what you become equipped with when you study survey class after survey class, finding all of the best moments in the literary canon.

I can enjoy a movie and laugh at all of the typical punch lines, but I may have missed that hilarious pun on Virginia Woolf, or failed to notice that the Spongebob Movie is really a glorified cartoon version of the Odyssey. The more you learn, the more humor can exceed the common slap-stick comedy. People aren’t aware of the references right before their eyes, and so they miss out on the great moments when our present culture mimics or makes fun of our rich past.

This ammunition extends beyond popular culture; it is also a crucial element in understanding why our authors write the things they do, what interests motivate them, and knowing what they mean when they reference a person, place, or thing. That’s another value of a liberal arts education – for those people in studies separate from the humanities, you’ll be thanking your professors when you’re the only one laughing in a crowded theater, or you understand the hobbies of the people you are studying because you had to take a lit course. These things come together to make you more knowledgeable and complex.

As literate people, we owe it to ourselves to expand our knowledge by diving into huge varieties of many different books and expertise. We have these opportunities to reap the culture and knowledge of our past in ways that make us deeper, more humane individuals. So, expand your literary horizons, increase your ammunition, and as you absorb each page, stanza, or phrase, know that you are creating a better version of yourself.

by Kimberlee Roberts