Selected Tales (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

Grimm, Brothers

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140444017 ISBN 13: 9780140444018

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 1982

Synopsis

Selected Tales contains some of the most timeless and enchanting folk and fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm, translated with an introduction by David Luke in Penguin Classics.

These folktales collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are among the most memorable stories in European culture - conjuring up a world of spells and bewitchment, outwitted villains and cruel stepmothers, animal bridegrooms and enchanted princesses. Tales such as 'Hansel and Gretel', 'Little Red Cape' and 'The Robber Bridegroom' depict the dangers lurking in dark forests, and others, including 'Briar-Rose' and 'Snow White' show young beauties punished by unforgiving sorceresses. Other tales include 'Thickasathumb', which portrays a childless young couple whose wish for a baby is granted in an unexpected way, while 'The Frog King' tells of a rash promise made by a haughty princess to share her bed with a frog, and a fortune is won in 'The Blue Lamp', when a soldier gains a kingdom with the help of a magic lamp.

David Luke's vibrant translation is accompanied by an introduction discussing the key themes of the tales and the literary background of the Brothers Grimm. This edition also includes new further reading and a chronology, with notes and a glossary.

Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859) are nowadays simply known as 'the brothers Grimm'. Both brothers were state-appointed librarians in Kassel, and later members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Berlin, where Frederick William IV of Prussia had invited them to settle. Two of Germany's greatest scholars, Jacob is regarded as the founder of the scientific study of the German language, and with his brother Wilhelm initiated the Deutsches Wörterbuch, a dictionary of all words in modern High German since 1450.

If you enjoyed the Selected Tales of the Brothers Grimm, you might like Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, also available in Penguin Classics.

About this title

Review:

The book that afforded me deepest pleasure is 'Selected Tales' by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (trans Joyce Crick). What a joy to meet Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel and Ashypet again in these sparkling new versions. (Paul Bailey, The Independent)

terrific new edition...forcefully translated and brilliantly analysed, by Joyce Crick. (The Independent)

Joyce Crick, a fine scholar of German literature, has set out here to rescue Grimm's Tales both from children and folklorists and to help us see it as a major work of literature... she has done a magnificent job, and both she and OUP are to be congratulated. (TLS)

Synopsis:

Sixty-five newly translated selections from Kinder und Hausmarchen provide a representative sample of the folktale motifs that have fascinated children and adults around the world for centuries.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 1982
• ISBN 10: 0140444017
• ISBN 13: 9780140444018
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432
• Editor: Luke David