The first collection of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm was published in 1812 and was called “Children's and Family Tales.” All works were collected from the German lands and processed to give literary quality and some wonderful magic that children liked. It makes no sense to read all the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm at the same age. The list is long, but not all are good, and not all of them will be useful for small children.
Publication of the first book by the Brothers Grimm
In order to publish their book, the Brothers Grimm had to endure many hardships, events unfolded from a completely unimaginable angle. Having printed the manuscript for the first time, they gave it to their friend. However, it turned out that Clemens Brentano was not their friend at all. Looking at the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm gold mine, he simply disappeared from the sight of his friends and, as they subsequently began to suspect, decided to publish fairy tales in his own name. The manuscript was found many years later, after the death of the authors. It contained 49 fairy tales, unique in their kind, heard from the storyteller of Hesse.
Having survived betrayal best friend, The Brothers Grimm came to their senses and decided to publish the book without any frills or expenses: illustrations and decorations. So on December 20, 1812, the first book of the authors was published, the first volume already contained 86 works - this is the first time simple people read the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. The list of fairy tales has increased after 2 years by another 70 children's fairy tales.
Everyone started reading fairy tales!
Absolutely everyone began to read the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, the stories were passed on from mouth to mouth, and gradually the author-storytellers became widely known people, respect and love for whom grew by leaps and bounds. People came to them, helped in whatever way they could, and thanked them for the piece of joy they brought to their beloved children. Inspired by the idea to collect as much as possible folk works, to add a little magic and educational nuances useful to children, the brothers worked tirelessly until the end of their lives. So, over another 20-odd years, the brothers released no less than 7 editions, with abundant illustrations and high-quality covers for those times.
At all times, both children and adults loved to read the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, although some people did not consider them suitable for young children. Too adult plots and sometimes deep reasoning frightened parents. Therefore, the Brothers Grimm were not lazy and edited some fairy tales, reorienting them towards the youngest children. This is how they came to us. On our website we tried to add fairy tales in the original children's version only in the best translations into Russian.
And it also happens...
The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm seriously influenced attitudes towards fairy-tale creativity, if before them fairy tales were often too simple, then the stories of the brothers can be called a literary innovation, a breakthrough. Subsequently, many people were inspired by the search for wonderful folk tales and their publication. The authors of the site also decided to make their contribution to the development and entertainment of modern children.
Among other things, let's not forget that the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm appear neither more nor less, but in international fund UNESCO in the section dedicated to memorable, great works. And such a recognition says a lot and cost two good storytellers Grimm.
To all of us early childhood There are known fairy tales about Cinderella, the Sleeping Princess, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood and the musicians from Bremen. Who brought all these characters to life? To say that these tales belong to the Brothers Grimm would be a half-truth. After all, he created them all German people. What is the contribution? famous storytellers? Who were Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm? The biography of these writers is very interesting. We suggest you familiarize yourself with it in this article.
Childhood and youth
The brothers saw the light in the city of Hanau. Their father was a wealthy lawyer. He had a practice in the city, and also worked as a legal adviser to the Prince of Hanau. The brothers were lucky to have a family. Their mother was affectionate and caring. In addition to them, the family also raised three brothers and a sister, Lotta. Everyone lived in peace and harmony, but brothers of the same age, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, especially loved each other. The boys thought that they life path has already been determined - a happy childhood, lyceum, university law faculty, practice as a judge or notary. However, a different fate awaited them. Jacob, born on January 4, 1785, was the first-born and eldest in the family. And when their father died in 1796, the eleven-year-old boy took upon himself to take care of his mother, younger brothers and sister. However, if there is no education, there is no decent income. Here one cannot overestimate the contribution of the aunt, the mother's sister, who helped financially to enable the two eldest sons - Jacob and Wilhelm, who was born on February 24, 1786 - to graduate from the lyceum in Kassel.
Studies
At first, the biography of the Brothers Grimm did not promise to be particularly interesting. They graduated from the Lyceum and, as befits the sons of a lawyer, entered the University of Marburg. But jurisprudence did not interest the brothers. At the university, they became friends with the teacher Friedrich Karl von Savigny, who aroused the young people's interest in philology and history. Even before receiving his diploma, Jacob traveled with this professor to Paris to help him research ancient manuscripts. Through F. K. von Savigny, the Grimm brothers met other collectors folk art- C. Brentano and L. von Arnim. In 1805, Jacob graduated from the university and entered the service of Jerome Bonaparte, moving to Wilhelmshöhe. There he worked until 1809 and received the degree of statistical auditor. In 1815, he was even delegated to the Congress in Vienna as a representative of the Electorate of Kassel. Wilhelm, meanwhile, graduated from the university and received a position as secretary of the library in Kassel.
Biography of the Brothers Grimm: 1816-1829
Despite the fact that Jacob was a good lawyer, and his superiors were pleased with him, he himself did not feel joy from his work. He was somewhat jealous of his younger brother Wilhelm, who was surrounded by books. In 1816, Jacob was offered a professorship at the University of Bonn. This would be an unprecedented career rise for his age - after all, he was only thirty-one. However, he rejected tempting offer, resigned from service and took a position as a simple librarian in Kassel, where Wilhelm worked as a secretary. From that moment on, as the biography of the Brothers Grimm shows, they were no longer lawyers. Out of duty - and for their own joy - they took up what they loved. While still at university, they began collecting folk tales and legends. And now they went to all corners of the Electorate of Kassel and the Landgraviate of Hesse to collect interesting stories. Wilhelm's marriage (1825) did not affect working together brothers. They continued to collect stories and publish books. This fruitful period in the brothers' lives lasted until 1829, when the library director died. His place, by all rights, should have gone to Jacob. But as a result, it was taken over by a complete stranger. And the indignant brothers resigned.
Creation
Over the years of work in the library, Jacob and Wilhelm collected a huge number of wonderful examples of German folklore. Thus, the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm are not theirs. own composition. Their author is the German people themselves. And by oral speakers ancient folklore there were simple people, mostly women: nannies, wives of simple burghers, innkeepers. A certain Dorothea Feeman made a special contribution to filling the books of the Brothers Grimm. She served as a housekeeper in the family of a pharmacist from Kassel. Wilhelm Grimm did not choose his wife by chance either. She knew many fairy tales. So, “Table, cover yourself,” “Mistress Blizzard” and “Hansel and Gretel” were recorded from her words. The biography of the Brothers Grimm also mentions the case when the collectors folk epic received some of their stories from retired dragoon Johann Krause in exchange for old clothes.
Editions
Folklore collectors published their first book in 1812. They entitled it “Children's and Family Tales.” It is noteworthy that in this publication the Brothers Grimm provided links to where they heard this or that legend. These notes show the geography of Jacob and Wilhelm's travels: they visited Zweren, Hesse, and the Maine regions. Then the brothers published a second book - “Old German Forests”. And in 1826, the collection “Irish Folk Tales” appeared. Now in Kassel, in the Brothers Grimm Museum, all their fairy tales are collected. They have been translated into one hundred and sixty languages of the world. And in 2005, the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm were included in the UNESCO international register under the heading “Memory of the World”.
Scientific research
In 1830, the brothers entered the service of the University Library of Göttingen. And ten years later, when Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia ascended the throne, the Grimm brothers moved to Berlin. They became members of the Academy of Sciences. Their research concerned Germanic linguistics. Towards the end of their lives, the brothers began compiling an etymological “German Dictionary”. But Wilhelm died on December 16, 1859, while work was underway on words starting with the letter D. His older brother Jacob died four years later (09/20/1863), at the table, describing the meaning of Frucht. Work on this dictionary was completed only in 1961.
Information sheet:
The exciting fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm stand apart in the world of fairy tales. Their content is so fascinating that it will not leave any child indifferent.
Where did your favorite fairy tales come from?
They came from German lands. Folk tales collected and processed by language and folklore experts - siblings. After several years of recording the best oral tales, the authors were able to improve them so interestingly and beautifully that today we perceive these tales as written directly by them.
The heroes of the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm are kinder and better than they were in oral folk art, and this is the wonderful meaning of the work that learned linguists have done. In each work they put the idea of the unconditional victory of good over evil, the superiority of courage and love of life, which is what all stories teach.
How they were published
A man whom the brothers considered a friend tried to steal the fairy tales, but did not have time. In 1812, collectors were able to carry out their first publication. The works were not immediately recognized as children's works. But after professional editing, they were distributed throughout the country in large numbers. Over 20 years, it was reprinted 7 times. The list of works increased. Fairy tales from the category of simple folk art have turned into a new literary genre.
The Brothers Grimm made a genuine breakthrough, which was appreciated throughout the world. Today their work is included in international list great heritage of the past, created by UNESCO.
What is modern about the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm?
Adults remember the names of many fairy tales from childhood. Because the works of the Brothers Grimm, with their magical storytelling style, variety of plots, preaching love of life and perseverance in any life situations delight and attract extraordinarily.
And today we read them with pleasure with our children, remembering which fairy tales we liked best, comparing with interest with those that are popular today.
Hello, my dear readers! In the article “The Brothers Grimm: biography,” Interesting Facts" - life story famous brothers- storytellers. You will learn a lot of interesting things.
Each of us is familiar with the Brothers Grimm and their fairy tales, which go with us throughout life: first in our childhood, then in the childhood of our children and our grandchildren.
The appearance of such a seemingly “frivolous” book - a collection of fairy tales by these brothers - made a revolution in philology. It doesn’t even make sense to list the heroes of fairy tales, just as it is impossible to remember all the films, plays, collections, research papers related to the work of the Brothers Grimm.
They lived long enough for that time. Created before last breath and left a huge creative heritage.
But it is impossible not to say why few of the researchers of their work pay attention to the fantastic, inseparable, sometimes even incomprehensible to ordinary people, fraternal friendship, loyalty to which they remained faithful throughout their lives.
The origins of this friendship, apparently, as always, must be sought in childhood. And it was not very cheerful, although the Grimm family belonged to the so-called middle class. My father was a lawyer in Hanau (Germany). Then he worked as, as they would say today, a legal consultant to the prince.
Biography of the Brothers Grimm
The boys were born one after another. Senior - Jacob - January 4, 1785 (Capricorn), Wilhelm - February 24 (Pisces) next year. The brothers grew up together, loved to walk in nature, watch animals, draw them, and collect herbariums. This is how love for native land.
There have long been discussions about what exactly unites these or other peoples: the similarity of economic structure, a common army, the shape of the skull (as some imagined), or perhaps, after all, language?
It turns out that folk myths, fairy tales, parables, collected under one cover and edited in a new way, but taking into account all the traditional features of German grammar, which did not yet exist, can play a significant role in all this.
Regarding the Brothers Grimm, we are dealing with an amazing phenomenon: fairy tales gave birth to grammar! Germany, strictly speaking, did not yet exist. The principalities scattered across the European expanses had little in common, except perhaps the similarity of orthoepic constructions.
When the brothers were 10 and 11 years old, respectively, their father died. Then for the family it was literally the collapse of hopes that had not even had time to form! In addition to Jacob and Wilhelm, the family also had a younger brother and three very little sisters - children as big as peas!
But they were lucky. A fairly wealthy aunt - maternal relatives - took upon herself both the expenses and the care of the children’s further arrangement in everyday life and education. The boys were first sent to the Kassel Lyceum, and since both turned out to be capable of studying, they entered the University of Marburg without much difficulty.
They chose, of course, following the example of their late father - jurisprudence. What else? By the way, it was here that brotherly relations were tested to their strengths. Jacob entered the university six months earlier than Wilhelm, and they were forced to separate for some time.
It turned out to be too difficult to live separately! So they never parted for a long time again.
But not everyone knows that the Grimms did not at all resemble those folklore hunters who walk in search of grandmothers from village to village, drowning in the mud of washed-out roads. Our heroes preferred not to wander, but to find experts in folklore in the surrounding area.
Among these experts was the family of the pharmacist Wild from Kassel, who lived next door to the brothers, whose daughters and housekeeper Maria turned out to be a real treasure trove of folk tales. Other familiar families turned out to be the same treasure trove - Hassenpflug, Haxthausen, Droste-Hulshoff.
It is interesting that not only friendly, but also personal relationships were established between the families of the narrators and the Grimm family. So the Wilds’ daughter, Dorothea, became Wilhelm’s wife, and the Hassenpflugs’ son married the Grimms’ sister, Lotte.
But not only wealthy families became the source of the Brothers Grimm collection. So several tales were told by the former dragoon sergeant, Johann Friedrich Krause, who was so impoverished that he “exchanged” his tales with his brothers for old clothes.
But the most vivid memory for Grimm was left by an old poor woman named Dorothea Feeman, who was one of the best storytellers with an amazing memory.
Wilhelm Grimm:
“This woman, by the name of Fiman, is still strong, she is a little over fifty, she has a pleasant face, a sharp look of light eyes; in her youth she was apparently beautiful.
She tenaciously holds all the ancient legends in her memory. He talks calmly, confidently and unusually vividly, with great pleasure; The first time she talks completely freely, then, if asked, she slowly repeats it again, so that with some training you can write her down. With this method, much can be written down literally, thanks to which what is written does not raise doubts about its authenticity. Who believes that slight distortions in the transmission of fairy tales are inevitable, that they are carelessly stored in the memory of the storyteller and that therefore, as a rule, it is impossible to long life, he should have listened to how accurate she is when repeating what was told, how carefully she monitors the fidelity of the narrative; when repeated, she does not change anything and, if she notices an error, she immediately interrupts the story herself and corrects it.
People who lead an unchanged way of life from generation to generation have a commitment to accuracy in the transmission of fairy tales and legends that is much stronger than we, people prone to variability, can imagine. That is why, as has been repeatedly verified, these legends are impeccable in their construction and close to us in their content."
Of all the storytellers, it is the portrait of Dorothea Feeman, as the embodiment of the “folk storyteller,” that the brothers will place in their second collection. True, Dorothea herself will not live to see its release for only a few months.
It is worth saying that the brothers did not shy away from using and fairy tales drawn from books, provided that their style satisfied the strict principles of “natural folk”.
In January 1812, a friend of the Grimms, Arnim, discovered that the brothers had already accumulated an impressive collection of fairy tales, and insisted on the imminent publication of the collection.
Wilhelm Grimm:
“It was he, Arnim, who, after spending several weeks with us in Kassel, encouraged us to publish the book! He believed that we should not delay this for long, since in the pursuit of completeness the matter might drag on too long. “After all, everything is written so cleanly and so beautifully,” he said with good-natured irony.”
The publication process was also accelerated by an unpleasant incident involving another friend of the Grimms, Clemens Brentano. In 1810, the brothers sent him their first handwritten collection of 49 fairy tales for review, but he never returned the manuscript. Grimm feared that Brentano would use the material for his own purposes, so they hastened to publish their collection. The fears were never justified, although the manuscript itself was found after the brothers’ death and received the nickname “Elenbergskaya”.
But thanks to the efforts of Arnim, who found a publisher for Grimm - Georg Reimer - the first book of fairy tales was published just before Christmas - December 20, 1812. Since the idea was risky and hasty, the collection was published without illustrations on cheap paper, with a circulation of only 900 copies.
It included 86 tales, but material continued to accumulate, and in 1815 a second volume was published, which included another 70 tales. Another Grimm brother, Ludwig, had a hand in it, and drew it on title page the engraving “Brother and Sister” (the same collection also included a portrait of Dorothea Fiman).
But even after the second volume the brothers did not wake up famous. A third of the circulation was not sold out at all, and the books were destroyed. The criticism was also very unflattering.
Take, for example, an excerpt from a review by August Wilhelm Schlegel: “If someone cleans out a closet full of various kinds nonsense, and at the same time expresses his respect to all junk in the name of “ancient legends”, then for reasonable people this is too much".
The brothers were not embarrassed by such claims and responded to them briefly: “The very fact of their (fairy tales - S.K.) folk existence is already sufficient to prove their value”.
The brothers seemed much more serious about accusing fairy tales of immorality. Here it is worth recalling one story that preceded the release of the first collection and is associated with the brothers’ namesake, Albert Ludwig Grimm. This Grimm, back in 1809, published his collection of fairy tales - as expected, literary processed and purified for children's perception. The collection turned out to be quite successful, so the brothers, in the preface to their book, decided to disown their namesake - they called his collection unsuccessful, and his fairy tales - completely not as authentic as theirs. Albert was offended and, in turn, criticized the brothers’ book, accusing them of being too authentic.
A. L. Grimm:
“...for the literary fixation of fairy tales, you need an ideal narrator, and not the first nanny you come across, and if there is none, then a poet should take his place...
...Every time I saw this book (a collection of the Brothers Grimm - S.K.) in children's hands, it always caused an internal protest in me. Without going into details, I would like to point out at least “Rapunzel”; Fathers and teachers will find here, as in many other places, ample reasons not to call these tales for children.”
At first, the brothers tried to justify themselves.
Wilhelm Grimm, preface to the 2nd volume of fairy tales (1805):
“With our collection, we not only want to provide a service to the history of poetry, we intend to make sure that the poetry itself, living in the book, affects the reader - it pleases whomever it can please, in addition, so that it turns into a real educational book. Some objected to the latter, saying that one thing or another in it conflicts with this purpose, is not suitable or is indecent for children - for example, when we're talking about about certain circumstances or relationships, or even about a trait - and that’s why their parents didn’t want to give them this book. Maybe in in some cases such a concern is justified, but it is very easy to choose another fairy tale to read; in general, this concern is unnecessary.
