FAMOUS FAIRY TALE TELLERS
BROTHERS GRIMM
IN THE EARLY 1800S, BROTHERS JACOB AND WILHELM GRIMM SET OUT TO PRESERVE GERMANIC FOLKTALES, COLLECTING STORIES FROM FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, AND ORDINARY PEOPLE WHO SURROUNDED THEM. IN DOING SO, THEY WERE AMONG THE EARLIEST COLLECTORS OF FOLKTALES, AND PARTICULARLY NOTABLE AS THEY WERE AMONG THE FIRST COLLECTORS TO RECORD WHO TOLD THE STORY TO THEM.
FIRST PUBLISHED FOR ADULTS, THE TALES IN THEIR ORIGINAL FORM WERE OFTEN DARK AND CAPRICIOUS, WITH STREAKS OF CRUELTY. ONCE THEY SAW HOW THE TALES BEWITCHED YOUNG READERS, THE GRIMMS, AND EDITORS APLENTY AFTER THEM, EDITED THE STORIES, WHICH GRADUALLY GOT SOFTER, SWEETER, AND PRIMLY MORAL.
THE GRIMMS ARE NOW READ AND LOVED IN MORE THAN 160 LANGUAGES. SOME OF THE MOST FAMOUS FAIRY TALES THEY COLLECTED AND TRANSCRIBED ARE HANSEL & GRETEL, LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD, CINDERELLA, RAPUNZEL, AND RUMPLESTILTSKIN.
FIRST PUBLISHED FOR ADULTS, THE TALES IN THEIR ORIGINAL FORM WERE OFTEN DARK AND CAPRICIOUS, WITH STREAKS OF CRUELTY. ONCE THEY SAW HOW THE TALES BEWITCHED YOUNG READERS, THE GRIMMS, AND EDITORS APLENTY AFTER THEM, EDITED THE STORIES, WHICH GRADUALLY GOT SOFTER, SWEETER, AND PRIMLY MORAL.
THE GRIMMS ARE NOW READ AND LOVED IN MORE THAN 160 LANGUAGES. SOME OF THE MOST FAMOUS FAIRY TALES THEY COLLECTED AND TRANSCRIBED ARE HANSEL & GRETEL, LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD, CINDERELLA, RAPUNZEL, AND RUMPLESTILTSKIN.
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
UNLIKE THE GRIMMS, WHO RECORDED STORIES COLLECTED FROM OTHER PEOPLE, ANDERSEN INVENTED TALES HIMSELF, THOUGH HE USED TRADITIONAL THEMES AND WROTE THEM NOT IN A GRAND LITERARY STYLE, BUT IN A CASUAL STORY-TELLING ONE.
HIS STORIES WERE SO POPULAR THAT MANY BECAME PART OF THE ORAL TRADITION SOON AFTER THEY WERE PUBLISHED, FIRST IN 1835. HE PRODUCED ABOUT ONE VOLUME A YEAR AND WAS RECOGNIZED AS DENMARK'S GREATEST AUTHOR AND AS A STORYTELLER WITHOUT PEER.
HIS TALES ARE OFTEN TRAGIC OR GRUESOME IN PLOT. HIS SENSE OF FANTASY, POWER OF DESCRIPTION, AND ACUTE SENSITIVITY CONTRIBUTED TO HIS MASTERY OF THE GENRE. AMONG HIS MANY WIDELY BELOVED STORIES ARE THE FIR TREE, THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL, THE UGLY DUCKLING, THE SNOW QUEEN, THE LITTLE MERMAID, AND THE RED SHOES.
HIS STORIES WERE SO POPULAR THAT MANY BECAME PART OF THE ORAL TRADITION SOON AFTER THEY WERE PUBLISHED, FIRST IN 1835. HE PRODUCED ABOUT ONE VOLUME A YEAR AND WAS RECOGNIZED AS DENMARK'S GREATEST AUTHOR AND AS A STORYTELLER WITHOUT PEER.
HIS TALES ARE OFTEN TRAGIC OR GRUESOME IN PLOT. HIS SENSE OF FANTASY, POWER OF DESCRIPTION, AND ACUTE SENSITIVITY CONTRIBUTED TO HIS MASTERY OF THE GENRE. AMONG HIS MANY WIDELY BELOVED STORIES ARE THE FIR TREE, THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL, THE UGLY DUCKLING, THE SNOW QUEEN, THE LITTLE MERMAID, AND THE RED SHOES.
AESOP
AESOP IS A LEGENDARY GREEK FABULIST. ACCORDING TO HERODOTUS, HE WAS A SLAVE WHO LIVED IN SAMOS IN THE 6TH CENTURY BC AND WAS EVENTUALLY FREED BY HIS MASTER. OTHER ACCOUNTS ASSOCIATE HIM WITH MANY WILD ADVENTURE AND CONNECT HIM WITH SUCH RULERS AS SOLON AND CROESUS. AESOP'S FABLES WERE PRESERVED PRINCIPALLY THROUGH BABRIUS, PHAEDRUS, PLANUDES MAXIMUS, AND FONTAINE'S VERSE TRANSLATIONS. THE MOST FAMOUS FABLES INCLUDE THE FOX AND THE GRAPES AND THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE.
CHARLES PERRAULT
A 17TH CENTURY RETIRED FRENCH CIVIL SERVANT, PERRAULT WAS ONE OF THE FIRST TO RECORD FRENCH FAIRY STORIES. HIS BOOK, HISTOIRES OU CONTES DU TEMPS PASSE WAS PUBLISHED IN 1697. HE RECORDED SUCH CLASSIC FAIRY TALES AS BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, SLEEPING BEAUTY, LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD, BLUEBEARD, PUSS IN BOOTS, AND CINDERELLA.
C.S. LEWIS
AN ACADEMIC AS WELL AS A WRITER OF STORIES, C.S. LEWIS WAS NOTED EQUALLY FOR HIS LITERARY SCHOLARSHIP AND HIS INTELLECTUAL AND WITTY EXPOSITIONS OF CHRISTIAN TENETS. HE IS BEST KNOWN FOR THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, A SERIES OF ALLEGORICAL FANTASIES SET IN THE MYTHICAL KINGDOM OF NARNIA, INCLUDING THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE (1950) AND THE SILVER CHAIR (1953). HE IS ALSO THE AUTHOR OF THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS (1942, REV. ED. 1961), AN IRONIC TREATMENT OF THE THEME OF SALVATION; OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET (1938) AND THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH (1945), OUTER PLANETARY FANTASIES WITH DEEP CATHOLIC AND MORAL OVERTONES AND MANY WORKS OF LITERARY CRITICISM.
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