The Literature Book

116

ONCE UPON

A TIME...

CHILDREN’S AND HOUSEHOLD TALES

(1812–1822), BROTHERS GRIMM

F

olklore collections that

synthesize into a single

written text cultural

traditions such as fairy tales, oral

history, and popular beliefs (as told

in homes and at social gatherings)

have been compiled since the

Middle Ages. The term “fairy

tale” was coined by French writer

Madame d’Aulnoy in the late 17th

century, but it is her contemporary

Charles Perrault’s retellings of old

fairy tales that are better known.

English antiquarian William Thoms

first defined “folklore” in a letter to

The Athenaeum magazine in 1846.

Some tales, such as the 14th-

century Welsh Mabinogion, have

a religious or spiritual function—

but folk stories do not usually

contain references to religion.

Real places, people, or events are

not cited. Instead, these stories are

ahistorical, existing “once upon a

time...,” and readers and audiences

expect stock characters, random

magic, reward and revenge, and a

“happily ever after” ending. Poetic

or literary references and realism

are rarely used; fairy tales are

written in a plain style, using

mainly straightforward imagery,

and plot is key: these stories power

along with astonishing swiftness.

Enriching Western culture

The Brothers Grimm, like many

folklorists since, embarked on a

scholarly project to identify and

preserve the spirit of the people

by recording the fairy tales being

told across their culture.

This was an epic romantic

venture: interest in folklore was

inspired by a rise in nationalism

and cultural pride, and the purpose

of the Grimms’ collection was no

different. Nor were they the only

European scholars to undertake

such an enterprise, and their peer

group at their university shared

their enthusiasm for folk traditions.

But the Grimms’ work, as reflected

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Folklore collections

BEFORE

c.1350 –1410 Welsh stories

based on oral tales are collected

in the Mabinogion, the earliest

prose literature of Britain.

1697 French author Charles

Perrault writes Tales of Mother

Goose, a collection of rewritten

and original tales.

1782– 87 German author

Johann Karl August Musäus

publishes a popular collection

of satirical folk stories.

AFTER

1835–49 Finnish folklore is

celebrated in the epic poem

the Kalevala by Elias Lönnrot.

1841 Norwegian Folktales, by

Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and

Jørgen Moe, is published.

1979 The Bloody Chamber, by

English novelist Angela Carter,

challenges traditional folktale

portrayals of women.

In olden days, when

wishing still worked...

Children’s and

Household Tales

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