The Brothers Grimm: A Biography

Schmiesing (Disability, Deformity, and Disease in the Grimms’ Fairy Tales), a German and Scandinavian studies professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, delivers a first-rate biography of Jacob Grimm (1785–1863) and his younger brother Wilhelm (1786–1859). Jacob and Wilhelm grew up in Hessen, a mountainous German-speaking region that they sentimentalized as “relatively untouched by modernizing forces.” The upheavals of the Napoleonic Wars gave the Grimms a “view of modern society as beset by ills on a scale not experienced in medieval times,” a nostalgia that would drive their studies on folk tales as windows into an idealized medieval past. Discussing how the pair composed their famous Children’s and Household Tales, Schmiesing explains that contrary to the preface’s implication that the brothers traveled the countryside collecting traditional stories from illiterate peasant women, most entries were told to them by educated young women in their social and professional circles. Schmiesing expertly weaves together the Grimms’ life stories with broader historical currents, showing how their fascination with fairy tales stemmed from their belief that a united Germany bound together by a shared folk culture was the solution to the near-constant wars of conquest that plagued the region during their lifetimes. Rich in history and insight, this stands as the new authoritative biography on the famed fairy tale collectors. (Oct.)