Description
This is the first modern biography of the Brothers Grimm, first published in 1970. It is a study of them in their background of late eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century Germany, and shows the position they held in their society as founders of Germanic philology, as members of the 'Göttingen Seven', and inside the circle of the German Romantics. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were pioneers in the recording of authentic traditional stories. Gradual revisions gave these tales the form in which they have come down to us. Even if more recently the custom has been to leave stories as they were told, the astonishing currency of the Grimms' collection is due largely to the brothers' editorial work. The Grimms' lasting fame, as Michaelis-Jena points out, may well rest on the fact that by their insistence on 'genuine and true recording' they turned the amateur antiquarian into the professional folklorist. Ruth Michaelis-Jena has worked for many years on the Brothers Grimm, and has had access to little known material at various libraries and museums in Germany.
Table of Contents
1. Childhood in Hanau and Steinau 1785—1798 2. Schooldays in Cassel: Students at Marburg University 1798—1805 3. Settling in Cassel 1805—1810 4. The Nursery and Household Tales 1806—1812 5. Westphalian Friendships: The Fairy-Tale Wife 1812—1815 6. Living in Turbulent Times 1810—1814 7. The Congress of Vienna 1814—1815 8. Growing Fame as Horizons Widen 1816—1820 9. A Storm Gathers 1821—1829 10. The Move to Göttingen 1830—1836 11. The Göttingen Seven 1837—1838 12. Exiles in Cassel 1838—1840 13. Finding New Roots 1841—1843 14. Travels and Homecomings, German Philologists Meet 1843—1847 15. March Revolution, Frankfurt Parliament and After 1848—1859 16. The Declining Years 1859—1863 17. The Nursery and Household Tales, and Their Influence
