Who really are the Brothers Grimm?

Have you ever watch 2005 Fantasy Adventure Film The Brothers Grimm directed by Terry Gilliam? It is about two travelling con-artist brothers who make bogus ghost and monsters stories and fake exorcism across French occupied Germany in early 19th Century. Watch the Trailer if you are not sure.

There were true brothers behind the film if you do not know yet. Unlike their movie counter part, the real Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, were German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers and authors who together collected and published folklore during the 19th century.

They were among the first and best-known collectors of folk tales, and popularized traditional oral tale types such as "Cinderella" ("Aschenputtel"), "The Frog Prince" ("Der Froschkönig"), "The Goose-Girl" ("Die Gänsemagd"), "Hansel and Gretel" ("Hänsel und Gretel"), "Rapunzel", "Rumpelstiltskin" ("Rumpelstilzchen"), "Sleeping Beauty" ("Dornröschen"), and "Snow White" ("Schneewittchen"). Their classic collection Children's and Household Tales (Kinder- und Hausmärchen), was published in two volumes, in 1812 and in 1815.

The brothers were born in the town of Hanau in Hesse-Cassel (now Germany) . They spend most of their childhood in impoverished family which was cause by their father death in 1796. They attended the University of Marburg where they began a lifelong dedication to researching the early history of German language and literature. The rise of Romanticism during the 18th century had revived interest in traditional folk stories. The Brothers Grimm established a methodology for collecting and recording folk stories that became the basis for folklore studies. In addition to collecting and editing folk tales, the brothers compiled German legends. Individually, they published a large body of linguistic and literary scholarship.

Many of Grimms' folk tales have enjoyed enduring popularity. The tales are available in more than 100 languages and have been adapted by filmmakers including Lotte Reiniger and Walt Disney. Who never heard of the Snow Whiteand Sleeping Beauty ? Even the boy from South East Asian country like Myanmar, I was grown up with their stories.

Grimms' Fairy Tales

Their most famous work is Children's and Household Tales ,which is also known as Grimms' Fairy Tales. The first edition contained 86 stories, but by the seventh edition, in 1857, there were 211 unique fairy tales. The first volumes were much criticized because, although they were called "Children's Tales", they were not regarded as suitable for children, both for the scholarly information included and the subject matter. Many changes through the editions – such as turning the wicked mother of the first edition in Snow White to a stepmother. They removed sexual references but, in many respects, violence, particularly when punishing villains, was increased. In 1825, the Brothers published their Kleine Ausgabe or "small edition", a selection of 50 tales designed for child readers. This children's version went through ten editions between 1825 and 1858.
The brother’s initial intention of their first book, Children’s and Household Tales, was to establish a name for themselves in the world. But the book that started their international success in their time was not any of their tales, but Jacob’s publication of German Grammar in 1819. In 1830, Jacob became a professor at University of Göttingen and shortly after, in 1835, Wilhelm also became a professor. During these years Jacob wrote a third volume of German Grammar and Wilhelm prepared the third revision of the Children’s and Household Tales.

Legacy and Influence

The brothers made a science of the study of folklore, generating a model of research and setting standards for research and analysis of stories and legends that made them pioneers in the field of folklore in the 19th century.
Their tales had increased greatly in popularity to the point that they were added to the teaching curricula around the world. The tales themselves have been put to many uses. Hitler praised them as folkish tales showing children with sound racial instincts seeking racially pure marriage partners, and so strongly that the Allied forces warned against them. The work of the Brothers Grimm also influenced other collectors, inspiring them to collect tales and leading them to similarly believe that the fairy tales of a country were particularly representative of it. The Grimm anthology has been a source of inspiration for other artists and composers, too.

There is a monument to the brothers on the market place in Hanau. (Hessen, Germany)

There was also German 1000 Deutsche Mark showing the Brothers Grimm, before Euro introduced.

Children remain enamored with the Grim fairy tales with the brothers themselves embraced as the creators of the stories and even as part of the stories themselves. That is why our brothers becomes Con-Artists in the movie The Brothers Grimm .

Brothers Grimm give us collection of folklore to read and many interesting mythological creatures. In the TV Series called Grimm, Homicide investigator Nick Burkhardt who discovers he is a Grimm, the latest in a line of guardians who are sworn to keep the balance between humanity and mythological creatures and ,throughout the series, he must battle against an assortment of dangerous creatures.

This is all for now. I hope you remember who are the Grimms, now. I appreciate them for giving us a lot to read and putting some creatures in our imagination.