New Translation Of Grimm's Fairytales Restores The Gore And Horror

[sparkchaser]

Very, very cool

The first edition of the Brothers Grimms' tales, in 1812, featured such stories as "How the Children Played at Slaughtering." Over the next 50 years, each new printing was edited to make it more child-friendly and include more Christian references. But now, the first edition has finally been translated into English.

"The original edition was not published for children or general readers," Jack Zipes, professor emeritus of German and comparative literature at the University of Minnesota, tells the Guardian. "It was only after the Grimms published two editions primarily for adults that they changed their attitude and decided to produce a shorter edition for middle-class families. This led to [the] editing and censoring many of the tales."

...

"It is time for parents and publishers to stop dumbing down the Grimms' tales for children," Zipes argues. "If there is anything offensive, readers can decide what to read for themselves."

You can buy it here.

 

[WingedWalls]

I've been looking for this for ages! Thanks!

I remember reading my first Grimm translation when I was 10. I was shocked and fascinated.

 

[Melissa Abraham]

I read some of the original Grimm stories for a children's lit class I took, but I never came across "How the Children played at Slaughtering". I'm not surprised to see it there though, the original versions are so much darker than most people realize.

 

[Debbiebee]

Hi, everyone, I hope you don't mind a new member expressing her opinion at once. I know a bit about the Grimms as I'm part German, and it's certainly true the original stories are very dark. However, I couldn't help recalling an anecdote of Bruno Bettelheim's, in his book 'The Uses of Enchantment', that a mother edited out the burning of the witch in Hansel and Gretel and her little girl was actually traumatised because she thought the wicked witch was still alive!!

 

[TJ Shortt]

I read the Grimm stories in a format that was a very poor translation from German to English and they were still fascinating. Would love to read these again!