Grimms’ Fairy Tales is a familiar name. The brothers
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were born in the
German city of Hanau in 1785 and 1786
respectively. While both of them studied law,
they soon developed an interest in collecting old
folktales. They spent six years travelling from
village to village, talking to people and writing
down fairy tales, which were handed down
through the generations. These were popular
both among children and adults. In 1812, they
published their first collection of tales.
Subsequently, both the brothers became active
in liberal politics, especially the movement
for freedom of the press. In the meantime they
also published a 33-volume dictionary of the
German language.
The Grimm brothers also saw French domination
as a threat to German culture, and believed that
the folktales they had collected were expressions
of a pure and authentic German spirit. They
considered their projects of collecting folktales
and developing the German language as part of
the wider effort to oppose French domination
and create a German national identity.
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