Week 13: The Brothers Grimm
1. Introduction
The Brothers Grimm (or Die Brüder Grimm), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, lexicographers and authors who together specialized in collecting and publishing folklore during the 19th century. They were among the best-known storytellers of folk tales, and popularized stories such as "Cinderella" , "The Frog Prince" , "Hansel and Gretel" , "Rapunzel", "Rumpelstiltskin" , and "Snow White". Their first collection of folk tales, Children's and Household Tales (Kinder- und Hausmärchen), was published in 1812.
*They recorded these stories during their travel. (采風)
2. Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features European folkloric fantasy characters, such as dwarves, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, mermaids, trolls, or witches, and usually magic or enchantments. Fairy tales may be distinguished from other folk narratives such as legends (which generally involve belief in the veracity of the events described) and explicitly moral tales, including beast fables.
(1) "happy ending"
a. A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the protagonists, their sidekicks, and almost everyone except the villains.
*sidekick--A sidekick is a slang expression for a close companion or colleague (not necessarily in fiction) who is actually, or generally regarded as, subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, Shrek's Donkey and Batman's Robin.
b. A happy ending is epitomized in the standard fairy tale ending phrase, "happily ever after"and they lived happily ever after."
In storylines where the protagonists are in physical danger, a happy ending mainly consists in their surviving and successfully concluding their quest or mission. Where there is no physical danger,a happy ending is often defined as lovers consummating their love despite various factors which may have thwarted it.
*One Thousand and One Nights has the more restrained formula "they lived happily until there came to them the One who Destroys all Happiness" (i.e. Death); likewise, the Russian versions of fairy tales typically end with "they lived long and happily, and died together on the same day")
(2) Unlike legends and epics, fairy tales usually do not contain more than superficial references to religion and actual places, people, and events; they take place once upon a time rather than in actual times.(無固定時間，setting等，如once upon a time)
3. Folklore
Folklore (or lore) consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and customs included in the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It also includes the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called folkloristics, and people who study folklore are sometimes referred to as folklorists. The English antiquarian William Thoms introduced the word "folklore" in a letter published in the London journal The Athenaeum in 1846. In usage, there is a continuum between folklore and mythology. Stith Thompson (1885–1976) made a major attempt to index the motifs of both folklore and mythology, providing an outline for classifying new motifs within which scholars can keep track of all older motifs.
4. Some Points of Story
(1) "Cinderella"
Cinderella first appearedin China and is called Ye Xian (葉限姑娘). This fairy tale is from Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang (<<酉陽雜俎>>)
(2) "Hansel and Gretel"
"Hansel and Gretel" is a well-known fairy tale of German origin, recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister threatened by a cannibalistic witch living deep in the forest in a house constructed of cake and confectionery. The two children save their lives by outwitting her.
(3)"Rapunzel"
"Rapunzel" is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. The Grimm Brothers' story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Rapunzel by Friedrich Schulz published in 1790.
5. 課堂延伸
(1)Stock Character&Round Character
a. A stock character is a stereotypical person whom audiences readily recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. Stock characters are archetypal characters distinguished by their flatness. As a result, they tend to be easy targets for parody and to be criticized as clichés. The presence of a particular array of stock characters is a key component of many genres.
b. E. M. Forster defined two basic types of characters, their qualities, functions, and importance for the development of the novel: flat characters and round characters. Flat characters are two-dimensional, in that they are relatively uncomplicated. By contrast, round characters are complex figures with many different characteristics and undergo development, sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader.
(2) Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. His most famous works are Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
(3) Christmas Play
a. A Christmas Carol is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. A Christmas Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.
b. "The Gift of the Magi" is a short story, written by O. Henry , about a young married couple and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been a popular one for adaptation, especially for presentation at Christmas time. The plot and its "twist ending" are well-known, and the ending is generally considered an example of comic irony. It was allegedly written at Pete's Tavern on Irving Place in New York City.
6.Vocabularies and phrases
(1) enchantment n. 魔力；魔法
魔咒
enchantress n. 女巫
(2) protagonist n. 主角
= in favor of
antagonist n. 反角
(3) bread crumbs 麵包屑
(4) fatten sb up
(5) subordinate n. 下屬
=under
(6) abolition n. 廢除
否定
(7) hero n. 男主角
heroine n. 女主角
(8) throw against the wall
(9) lexicography n. 詞典編寫
lexicographer n. 編寫詞典的人
(10) hood n. 帽子
hooding ceremony 正冠儀式
(11) cannibalistic adj. 吃人行為的
(12) allusion n. 典故
(13) protest n. 抗議(者)
(14) Deutschland 德國
(15) rationale 下意識的解釋
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