Fairy Tales as Literature of Literature - The 'Kinder- und Hausmärchen' by the Brothers Grimm

In this study, the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales are consistently examined as literature out of literature. Through the history of their creation and transformation, it becomes apparent how literary models were re-declared and transformed into the well-known fairy tale narratives, in the course of the editing process by the Brothers Grimm, essentially by Wilhelm Grimm. By means of a series of model studies - including Rapunzel, Jorinde und Joringel and Der Jude im Dorn - it is shown that the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales, contrary to their traditional assessment as 'folk tales', are of literary origin and have a literary character themselves.


Lothar Bluhm is Professor of Modern German Literature and Cultural Studies at the University of Koblenz-Landau.