Notes, Notings, and Common Refrains

Well, I first studied the Grimm tales as part of literature course in college (back in the 1980s), and both the Introduction in our translated anthology, and the professor teaching the course, stressed that these were as close to the "pure," oral, tradition as we could get.

Because that was the propaganda the Grimm fellows themselves were pushing -- and the same strain of propaganda showed up a hundred years later in Germany, with the rise of Nazism, unfortunately (The true nature of pure, German virtues can only be found if you go back to an ancient, "unsullied" source).

I was angered and disappointed, years later, to learn I'd been fed the propaganda by a well-meaning (and beloved, by the time I graduated) teacher. ...And that's part of the reason I take such delight in re-imagining the stories, now, to give their female characters agency and push back against the ableism, etc..