The Brothers Grimm

Most of the fairy tales that we grew up with we know thanks to the Brothers Grimm. Jack Zipes, one of our surest guides through the world of fairy tales and their criticism, takes behind the romantics mythology of the wandering brothers. Bringing to bear his own critical expertise, as well as new biographical information, Zipes examines the interaction between the Grimms' lives and their work. He reveals the Grimms' personal struggle to overcome social prejudice and poverty, as well as their political efforts - as scholars and civil servant - toward unifying the German states. By deftly interweaving the social, political, and personal elements of the lives of the Brothers Grimm, Zipes rescues them from sentimental obscurity. No longer figures in fairy tale, the Brothers Grimm emerge as powerful creators, real men who established the fairy tale as one of our great literary institutions. Part biography, part critical assessment, part social history, the Brothers Grimm provides a complex and very real story about fairy tales and the modern world.

Jack Zipes is Professor Emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota, USA. He is the author, translator, and editor of dozens of studies and collections of folk and fairy tales. His recent books include "Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre, "Relentless Progress: The Reconfiguration of Children's Literature, Fairy Tales, and Storytelling," and "The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films."

Preface to the 2002 Edition Preface to the 1988 Edition Once There Were Two Brothers Named Grimm: A Reintroduction Biographical Sketch Origins and Reception of the Tales Dreams of a Better Bourgeois Life: The Psycho-Social Origins of the Tales Exploring Historical Paths From Odysseus to Tom Thumb and Other Cunning Heroes: Speculations about the Entrepreneurial Spirit The German Obsession with Fairy Tales Henri Pourrat and the Tradition of Perrault and the Brothers Grimm Recent Psychological Approaches with Some Questions about the Abuse of Children Semantic Shifts of Power in Folk and Fairy Tales: Cinderella and the Consequences Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale: The Immortality of Sleeping Beauty and Storytelling The Struggle for the Grimms' Throne: The Legacy of the Grimms' Tales in East and West Germany since 1945