Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English VersionPhilip Pullman
Viking Adult, November 2012
ISBN: 978-0670024971
Two centuries ago, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published the first volume of Children’s and Household Tales. Now Philip Pullman, one of the most accomplished authors of our time, makes us fall in love all over again with the immortal tales of the Brothers Grimm. Suffused with romance and villainy, danger and wit, the Grimms' fairy tales have inspired Pullman's unique creative vision--and his beguiling retellings will draw you back into a world that has long cast a spell on the Western imagination.
The Grimm Brothers’ Kinder-und Hausmärchen (Children’s and Household Tales), which readers know today as Grimm’s Fairy Tales, is a collection of 210 stories first published in 1812. Now, 200 years later, Philip Pullman retells a subset of these--50 fairy tales which he calls "the cream" of the collection.
Pullman starts with an introduction about brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, who were born in Germany in the late 1700s and began collecting and publishing tales in the 1800s. Pullman talks about the popularity of tales at the time, and he paints a picture of what it was like for listeners to hear them. He also makes a case for fairy tales as being meant to be added to and improved upon depending on the teller and the times they are told in.
Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm is a well-curated subset of the Grimm’s stories, and the notes by Pullman at the end of each story adds just the right amount of perspective. This would work equally well as a reference book for someone who collects fairy tales, or as an introduction to folk tales for a young reader. Readers, young and old, will have a wonderful time reading these timeless tales from Brother's Grimm and Mr. Pullman.
PHILIP PULLMAN's His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass) has sold more than fifteen million copies and been has published in more than forty countries. The first volume, The Golden Compass, was made into a major motion picture starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. Pullman is at work on a companion His Dark Materials novel, The Book of Dust. He lives in Oxford, England.
ISBN: 978-0670024971; ISBN10: 067002497X; Imprint: Viking Adult; On Sale: 11/8/2012; Format: Hardcover; Pages: 400; $27.95
