The Complete Fairy Tales

Paperback

Main Details

Title The Complete Fairy Tales
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Wilhelm Grimm
By (author) Jacob Grimm
SeriesRoutledge Classics
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback
Pages:800
Dimensions(mm): Height 198,Width 129
Category/GenreFantasy
ISBN/Barcode 9780415285964
ClassificationsDewey:398.20943
Audience
General
Children / Juvenile
Teenage / Young Adult
Further/Higher Education
Professional & Vocational
Edition 2nd Revised edition
Illustrations illustrations

Publishing Details

Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint Routledge
Publication Date 13 June 2002
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

The tale of 'Cinderella' is told wherever stories are still read aloud and everyone is familiar with 'Rapunzel' and 'The Golden Goose', but who has heard all the wonderful stories collected by the Brothers Grimm? Well, here's your chance, for within these covers you will find every one of their 210 tales, in all their enchantment and rapture, terror and wisdom, tragedy and beauty.

Author Biography

Jacob Grimm (1785-1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859). Born in Germany, they both studied law before turning to the collection of fairy tales, an endevour which was to occupy them for the rest of their lives.

Reviews

'Among the few indispensable, common-property books upon which Western culture can be founded ... it is hardly too much to say that these tales rank next to the Bible in importance.' - W.H. Auden
Kirkus Review US:It is startling to re-read the stories in this collection as an adult. So many of them have been re-written in a form deemed suitable for children or made into Disney films that their imagery and language seem completely new and fresh. Take Cinderella: every child knows that her mice became her footmen and her coach was once a pumpkin. But in the original story there is no pumpkin, no coach, no mice and no footmen and, most surprisingly of all, there is no fairy godmother. Instead, a white bird flies down from a hazel bush growing on Cinderella's mother's grave and grants her neglected daughter's wishes. The original stories are much more brutal than the modern versions - Cinderella's sisters have first a toe and then a heel sliced off so that the golden slipper may fit and later, at their step-sister's wedding, their eyes are pecked out by pigeons. Blood flows from wounds and thorns tear at flesh. In his introduction Padraic Colum refers to the punishments meted out to sinners, commenting that the cruelty is never gratuitous. These are folk tales reflecting household words and household deeds but the good receive compensation and the wicked are punished. The reader is also amazed at the number of stories. We learn from Joseph Campbell's folkloristic commentary that the brothers Grimm worked and lived together collecting tales all their lives, preserving traditional stories wherever they came across them. Fortunately for lovers of literature they were careful to keep the rhymes and repetition that characterize the best in the collection. Every child can recite a version of the following: 'Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall,/Who in this land is the fairest of all?' Generations of children of all ages have loved these wonderful fairy tales and many more will appreciate them now, especially enhanced by Josef Scharl's illustrations. Ages 8+ (Kirkus UK)