The Grim(m’s) reality of your favourite childhood stories

A look straight into their past:

Authors of the Grimm’s Fairy Tale collections, (the Grimm Brothers) Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are the original creators of most of all your favourite childhood fables and had a major influence on the original Disney movies.

When their father passed away in 1796, both Jacob and Wilhelm were forced to mature at a quick pace due to their family’s poor financial situation. Both brothers were very determined and intelligent people with the firm intention of making a name for themselves. While still in their teenage years, they were top students studying philosophy and English at the University of Marburg in Germany. With the publication of articles and books on medieval literature, the Grimm brothers clearly demonstrated their rightful place as scholars. However, the brothers preferred to see themselves as collectors/ literary historians rather than authors or editors.

The beginning/ how it all started?

In 1808, Clemens Brentano (a romantic poet) wanted to write a book of literary fairy tales, so he reached out to the Grimm brothers requesting they go and collect tons of folk tales of all kinds. The brothers were very focused on old German tales, epics, and literature because they believed that it was the most natural and purest form of culture, and how to share/ spread it. By 1810 they had produced 54 tales. Except Brentano never ended up using their texts, so the Grimm brothers proceeded to find a new publisher for their collection and landed on a different romantic writer, Achim von Arnim. When the first edition was published by Arnim in 1812, there was a total of 86 folk tales inside. 

The difference in book editions?

In total there were 7 different editions of the Grimm’s Fairy Tales made over the span of 40 years. There was a multitude of changes made throughout the years, to the point where the last and first editions are unrecognizably the same stories as each other. The fables in the first edition (1812) consisted of 86 tales and were much more like the original oral stories/ traditions, whereas the seventh edition (1857) contains 210 tales and can be judged more as a literary collection. Contrary to the difference of story amounts in each edition, tales weren’t just added, they were also subtracted, heavily illustrated, extensively edited, and some of the tales were even changed! This is because right after the publication of the very first edition of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, the brothers received a lot of negative critiques. Copious amounts of people misinterpreted the suitable age range for their ‘Fairy Tales’, and quickly realized they were not appropriate for children.

What are Grimm fairy tales?

With the purpose of keeping German oral tradition alive, the Grimm brothers undertook the duty of publishing these tales taken right from their sources before they were gone forever. Fortunately, by the 20^th century, Grimm’s Fairy Tales would become the most well-known collection of fairy and folk tales. The brother’s Fairy Tale collection has been deemed a history-shaping book, aimed towards adults and scholars. Contrary to what most initially think, these stories have never, and will never be rated as children’s books. 

Header image cite: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_Grimm