Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:55:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tamar Lindsay <dicconf at yahoo.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Once Upon a Time - fantasy. criticism
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

- On Mon, 7/16/12, mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us> wrote:

> <http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2012/07/23/120723crbo_books_acocella?currentPage=all>

> A very balanced appraisal of literary
> criticism of Grimm's.
>
> Really. The author, and apparently those cited, miss the one
> *other* element: that those on the bottom, knowing they cannot
> revolt, having  seen or heard of recent peasant revolts
> put down, value the cleverness of outwitting the dull
> and evil lords.

It's hard to miss that element, in some of the stories.

> Excerpt:
<snip>
> The Grimms, in the introduction to their
> first edition, assert that almost all
> their material was "collected" from
> oral traditions of their region and is
> "purely German in its origins." This
> suggests that the tales were supplied
> by humble people, and the brothers say
> that their primary source, Dorothea
> Viehmann, was a peasant woman from a
> village near Kassel. They claim that
> they did not change what Viehmann or
> the others said: "No details have been
> added or embellished."
> --- end excerpt ---

Unless the article goes on to clarify that,
it seems they also missed the fact that
the Grimms were lying in their teeth.
They embellished, revised, rewrote, and
generally meddled with their collected
material.  They also "collected" stories
that were written by Perrault.  So saith
the article I read, or maybe it was the
introduction to the most modern edition,
which is still not complete nor original.
 It's very hard for scholars to get access
to the Grimms' original notes, which still
exist.

=Tamar