Selected Tales of the Brothers Grimm - Softcover

Brothers Grimm

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1935744763 ISBN 13: 9781935744764

Publisher: Archipelago, 2013

Synopsis

This new edition of the beloved tales of the Brothers Grimm – selected, translated and edited by Peter Wortsman - is drawn from the 1857 edition of the German original, the last edition reviewed and approved by the Brothers in their lifetime. Over the years, the Brothers' enigmatic narratives have been sanitized by Disney and children's book editors for modern consumption; this indispensable edition restores their sting and vigor to the original prose. In Wortsman’s words, his translation is a return to "a tincture of concentrated man-eating ogre and ground hag tooth, diluted in blood, sweat and tears, as a potent vaccine against the crippling effects of fear and fury." These fortifying imaginative vaccines are accompanied by twenty-four full-color illustrations by Haitian artists, including Edouard Duval-Carrié, Pascale Monnin, and Frankétienne. Edwidge Danticat observes that many Haitian painters bring "forth another canvas beneath the one we see." These works’ imaginative scope, vitality, and evocation of the unconscious open deep channels between the two traditions, shedding new light and shadow on the classic tales.

About this title

About the Author:

Jakob Karl Grimm was born on January 4, 1785, in Hanau, Germany. His brother, Wilhelm Karl Grimm, was born on February 24, 1786. Court librarians, linguists, scholars, translators, and writers, the Brothers Grimm collected stories told by peasants and villagers and published them in written form, forming the foundation of the most beloved fairy tales of our time.

Recipient of the 2012 Gold Grand Prize for Best Travel Story of the Year, Peter Wortsman is the author of A Modern Way to Die: Small Stories and Microtales, the plays The Tattooed Man Tells All and Burning Words, the recent memoir Ghost Dance in Berlin: A Rhapsody in Gray, and the forthcoming novel Cold Earth Wanderers. His translations from the German include Robert Musil's Posthumous Papers of a Living Author, Heinrich Heine's Travel Pictures, Peter Altenberg's Telegrams of the Soul, and Tales of the German Imagination: From The Brothers Grimm to Ingeborg Bachmann, an anthology published by Penguin Classics.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

The Tale of the Juniper Tree

It happened long, long ago, more than two thousand years gone by. There was a rich man who had a beautiful and God-fearing wife, and they loved each other very much. But they had no children, much as they badly wanted them. And the woman prayed so hard day and night, but still she had no children, not a one. Now in the yard, in front of their house, stood a juniper tree. One day in winter the woman stood beneath it, peeling herself an apple, and as she peeled she cut her finger, and the blood dripped into the snow.

About this edition

• Publisher: Archipelago
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1935744763
• ISBN 13: 9781935744764
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 280
• Illustrator: Monnin Pascale, Franketienne, Duval-Carrie Edouard