History of fairy tales

Lecture 1Winter semester 2015

So where do fairy tales come from?

• Well, they began as folk tales as a part of the oral tradition. The purpose of these tales was “communal harmony” that “explain(ed) natural occurrences such as the change of the seasons and shifts in the weather or to

• So where do fairy tales come from? • Well, they began as folk tales as a part of the

oral tradition. • The purpose of these tales was “communal

harmony” that “explain(ed) natural occurrences such as the change of the seasons and shifts in the weather or to

• ….celebrate the rites of harvesting, hunting, marriage, and conquest” (Zipes, 1995).

• Historically, examples of fairy tales have existed all over the world.

• The first known recorded version of “Cinderella” -“Yeh-Shen,” is from China dating around 850 AD (Tatar, 2002).

• With the invention of the printing press in 1440 these tales were altered to fit the mores and values of the literate class.

• Italy and then France played prominent roles in establishing the fairy tale. With the new technology of the printing press, folk tales were then sub categorized into “legends, myths, fables, comical anecdotes, and, of course, fairy tales.” (Zipes, 1995)

So what is included in the fairy tale genre?

• These are the “magic” tales. Generally they begin with, “Once upon a time…” and end in, “…happily ever after.” More particularly they are the group of tales that were revised and published to appeal to court society. Meaning they “reflected” that culture- the tastes, experiences, and concerns.

• Because fairy tales came out of the oral tradition, and as fairy tales were published throughout the 17th and 18th centuries they continued to exist orally there is no documented “original” version. It was in 1812 and 1815 that the brothers Grimm- perhaps the best know compilers of fairy tales- published fairy tales in two volumes in order to “celebrate German culture”. (Zipes, 1995) They had collected many of these stories from the merchant class who probably heard them from their nanny’s and other servants. (Tatar, 2002)

• Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm wrote and re-wrote many versions of each tale in an effort to create a definitive product. The initial version however was not drafted for children. It was in the republication they revised it to make it more suitable for a younger audience; this meant removing images of sex and pregnancy from the tales. On the other hand they still retained strong violent imagery and moral consequence (Tatar, 2002).

• As a consequence of shifting from the oral tradition to the literary, the tales were “privatized”, the central characters were made aristocratic, and one had to read and have money to purchase the texts. Overall this meant that fairy tales became a movement on how to be “civilized”.

• So you may be wondering, during the transition from oral to printed, what occurred artistically with Fairy Tales?

• Although there are several examples of Aesop’s fables being illustrated in the 17th and 18th Century it was not until the 19th century when the illustration of fairy tales and children’s books as a whole really exploded.

•

17th century illustration

17th century Aesop

The monkey and the cat Aesop 1855

The sculptor and the statue of Jupiter 18th century

Aesop’s The fox and the grapes, 1680

18th century fairy tales illustration

19th century

That was it folks for today

• Thank you for attending.