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capri0mniIf “Past is Prologue,” then “Cultural Classics are Foreshadowing.” And as a life-long lover of fairy tales, I’m sad to say that the shine has gone off the Grimm Bros. for me, since realizing that the reason they collected (and marketed) those tales in the first place was to “prove” an ancient heritage, White-Supremacist, National identity.
It’s like one of those favorite scenes from the beginning of a movie or novel -- a little vignette, a dalliance in a story, that makes me smile -- only to have that scene be paid off at the climax in a way that is deeply tragic. When I go back to that story, that little scene will never have the same charm for me, ever again. I may even have to skip that scene entirely.
During my freshman year of college, I took a survey course on fairy tales and fantasy. And the professor for that course (one of my all time favorite teachers, and the teacher I chose as my advisor for the independent study course I designed, my senior year), took the Grimm Fairy Tales at face value as the closest thing to the preserved, pure form of the Ancient, Oral, Tradition. And I followed his lead, treating the stories with care, not daring to change the details, even as I retold them with my own turns of phrase.-- treating them like archeological finds from a distant past.
Then (it was either in grad school, at my university’s library -- or a few years later, at my [new-to-me] local city library), I came across Jack Zipes’ book The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forest to the Modern World (1989). and that was my first introduction to the brothers’ shared political motivations behind their folklore-”collecting” work. And that took the lid off my creative interpretations of the stories. After all, if they retold the stories with a political agenda, then so could I -- I was just continuing in their footsteps.
And since then, thanks to the Internet, and Google Translate, I have access to more versions of the stories than I ever did, in that survey class, back in my freshman year. Not only can I compare different English translations of the original German versions, I can also compare different versions that the Brothers Grimm themselves, put out, between 1812 and 1853. I can reverse engineer their filters, so to speak, and see how their political biases and agendas became refined.
If the 20th Century history that unfolded after they left this mortal realm had turned out differently, my feelings for their stories would also, no doubt, be different than they are. As they no doubt would be if 21st Century History were unfolding differently than it is.
But -- I take comfort in the fact that they did not invent their tales. And their retelling of the stories are only the “Definitive” versions if we let them be.
And even if (when) their interpretation poisoned the roots of the tree from which we’ve been picking apples for 200 years, if I take the seeds from one of those apples, and plant it in fresh ground, and water it from a fresh spring, then something good may grow from it.
Right?
Right?
It’s like one of those favorite scenes from the beginning of a movie or novel -- a little vignette, a dalliance in a story, that makes me smile -- only to have that scene be paid off at the climax in a way that is deeply tragic. When I go back to that story, that little scene will never have the same charm for me, ever again. I may even have to skip that scene entirely.
During my freshman year of college, I took a survey course on fairy tales and fantasy. And the professor for that course (one of my all time favorite teachers, and the teacher I chose as my advisor for the independent study course I designed, my senior year), took the Grimm Fairy Tales at face value as the closest thing to the preserved, pure form of the Ancient, Oral, Tradition. And I followed his lead, treating the stories with care, not daring to change the details, even as I retold them with my own turns of phrase.-- treating them like archeological finds from a distant past.
Then (it was either in grad school, at my university’s library -- or a few years later, at my [new-to-me] local city library), I came across Jack Zipes’ book The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forest to the Modern World (1989). and that was my first introduction to the brothers’ shared political motivations behind their folklore-”collecting” work. And that took the lid off my creative interpretations of the stories. After all, if they retold the stories with a political agenda, then so could I -- I was just continuing in their footsteps.
And since then, thanks to the Internet, and Google Translate, I have access to more versions of the stories than I ever did, in that survey class, back in my freshman year. Not only can I compare different English translations of the original German versions, I can also compare different versions that the Brothers Grimm themselves, put out, between 1812 and 1853. I can reverse engineer their filters, so to speak, and see how their political biases and agendas became refined.
If the 20th Century history that unfolded after they left this mortal realm had turned out differently, my feelings for their stories would also, no doubt, be different than they are. As they no doubt would be if 21st Century History were unfolding differently than it is.
But -- I take comfort in the fact that they did not invent their tales. And their retelling of the stories are only the “Definitive” versions if we let them be.
And even if (when) their interpretation poisoned the roots of the tree from which we’ve been picking apples for 200 years, if I take the seeds from one of those apples, and plant it in fresh ground, and water it from a fresh spring, then something good may grow from it.
Right?
Right?
