Grimm, Jacob

(1785-1863), and Grimm, Wilhelm (1786-1859)

   The Brothers Grimm were figures of major importance for folklore studies throughout Europe, but it is only relevant here to speak of their impact in England. Their famous joint collection of *fairytales, the Kinder- und Hausmarchen, appeared in 1812-14, and was first translated into English in 1823. They are now thoroughly absorbed into the part-oral, part-printed traditions of English children; they include such famous stories as 'The Frog Prince', 'Snow White', 'Rapunzel', 'Little Red Riding Hood' (also told by *Perrault), 'Hansel and Gretel', and 'Rumpelstiltskin'.

   The principles set out by the Grimms strongly affected the development of folklore studies. They urged fidelity to the spoken text, without embellishments, and though it has been shown that they did not always practise what they preached, the idealized 'orality' of their style was much closer to reality than the literary retellings previously thought necessary. They believed folklore expressed the true spiritual and moral values of a nation, faithfully preserved by the uneducated rural population, and that it consisted largely of broken-down fragments of ancient myths and religious beliefs. Noticing that the same tale recurs in variants from distant periods and places, they argued that this implies descent from a shared prehistoric culture.

   Another important collection, until recently little known to English-speaking scholars, was their Deutsche Sagen (1816-18; 2nd edn. 1865-6); it covers historical and local legends and those about supernatural beings, which provide many parallels to English legends about fairies, witches, hauntings, treasures, etc. Jacob Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie (1835; final edn. 1875-8) was an erudite discussion covering the folklore and medieval writings of all Germanic countries, encouraging folklorists to interpret supernatural beings (e.g. *water-spirits, or the *Wild Hunt) as former divinities.

   ■ There are many translations of Grimms' Fairy Tales; the best are Jack Zipes, The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (1987); and David Luke, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm: Selected Tales (1982). Deutsche Sagen was edited and translated by Donald Ward (with excellent notes and assessment) as The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm (2 vols., 1981). Deutsche Mythologie was translated by J. S. Stal-lybrass as Teutonic Mythology (3 vols., 1880-3). The only full-length biography in English is that by Ruth Michaelis-Jena, The Brothers Grimm (1970).