Fairy Tales and Fables from Weimar Days - Softcover

Zipes, Jack

Softcover

ISBN 10: 029915744X ISBN 13: 9780299157449

Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997

Synopsis

Political "fairy tales" by progressive Weimar activists

Deliberately transforming traditional German fairy tales and fables into utopian narratives and social commentary, political activists wrote the stories in this collection for  progressive youth groups during the years of the German Weimar Republic, 1919 to 1933. Noted folklore scholar Jack Zipes has edited and translated these thirty-two tales by sixteen Weimar authors, who include such notable writers as Kurt Schwitters, Oskar Maria Graf, and Hermynia Zur Mühlen. Zipes has also provided an introduction, notes and bibliography, period illustrations, and concise biographies of the authors, many of whom were later killed, persecuted, or forced into exile by the Nazis.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This book is a collection of traditional German fairy tales and fables, deliberately transformed into utopian narratives and social commentary by political activists in the Weimar Republic (1919-1933). Against a backdrop of financial and political instability, widespread homelessness, and the reformation of public institutions, numerous gifted writers such as Berta Lask, Kurt Schwitters, Hermynia zur Mühlen, Oskar Maria Graf, Bruno Schönlank, and Joachim Ringelnatz responded to the need for hope among the common people by creating fairy tales and fables that offered a new and critical vision of social conditions. Though many of their tales deal with the grim situation of common people and their apparent helplessness, they are founded on the principle of hope. This revised edition includes over 50 illustrations by contemporary international artists who reveal how similar the Weimar conditions were to the conditions in which we presently live. In this respect, the Weimar fairy tales and fables have not lost their spirit and significance.

About the Author

Jack Zipes is professor of German at the University of Minnesota and the author or editor of some thirty books, including The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World; Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion; Don't Bet on the Prince; and The Fairy Tales of Herman Hesse.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 029915744X
• ISBN 13: 9780299157449
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224