Sleeping a hundred years...

Mar 21, 2007 20:17

....or The Brothers Grimm and the Politics of Sleeping Beauty


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hometurf, fairytales, germany, illustrations

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Comments 17

nutmeg3 March 21 2007, 23:43:42 UTC
Eeee! I need to come back and read this again carefully. There's so much here, and I did tons of work on folklore in grad school, so I'm already interested in learning more. You've see The Annotated Brothers Grimm, which came out a couple of years ago, right?

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baleanoptera March 22 2007, 19:45:42 UTC
Yay! I'm so glad you liked! And I'm intrigued about your work on folklore. Any particular folklore? Most of what I know is European centred, with a Scandinavian twist. Imagine that huh? ;)

You've see The Annotated Brothers Grimm, which came out a couple of years ago, right?

Oh yes! I've borrowed it from the university library and I might never return it!

There is also an Annotated Grimm's Legends which is REALLY good. It deals with all the other bits of folklore that were left out of the fairytales. So it has all these stories about witches, goblins, deep, dark mines and crossroads. Stuff that I love basically. ;D

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nutmeg3 March 22 2007, 19:52:28 UTC
Oooh! Do you have a link or know the official name of the annotated legends book?

I studied a lot of vampire folklore, and Greek and Roman mythology, plus an overview of American folklore, as courses, then did a lot of independent study of (mainly) urban legends.

You know Neil Jordan's In the Company of Wolves, right?

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sunnyskywalker March 22 2007, 20:10:23 UTC
I second that request! The annotated legends book sounds awesome.

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sunnyskywalker March 22 2007, 17:53:26 UTC
Oh, this is fascinating! Those paintings are amazing, and they're even more so when you know the context. It reminds me of Henry VII using the Arthurian myths to boost his image and push the idea that he would revitalize England, and Charles I having himself painted as St. George.

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baleanoptera March 22 2007, 19:36:21 UTC
Ooo! I think I've read about Henry VII, but I've never heard of Charles I and St. george! That is great! tell me more!?

The Emperor Wilhelm I did, in addition to presenting himself as Briar Rose's prince, also establish parallels to the medieval emperor Fredrick Barbarossa. There is a myth called the Kyffhäuser myth which claims that Barbarossa did not die on his way to the Third Crusade, but is in fact sleeping in the mountain Kyffhäuser and will awake when the new, true emperor comes. So Wilhelm I, or basically his Minister of Church and Culture along with Chancellor Bismarck, made every effort to portray Wilhelm as that promised emperor ( ... )

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sunnyskywalker March 22 2007, 20:08:52 UTC
I only know a bit about Charles and St. George (it came up during a paper I just wrote). What I remember is that he encouraged his court poets and painters to use St. George, and he had at least one portrait - I think by Rubens - in which he was the model for St. George and Henrietta Maria was the princess. I think the idea was that the dragon was war and factionalism or something like that, and Charles I destroyed the dragon and brought peace to England. (Particularly important since the Thirty Years War was still going on.)

The peace was also a major propaganda point: Charles also had a bust of himself as Augustus, and the court poets called him a new Augustus and made all sorts of comparisons to the Pax Romana. They got really into pastoral poetry, too. I'm pretty sure Charles II continued the Augustus/pastoral themes, but not positive. But anyway, comparing oneself to past emperors was apparently a popular strategy! Ramble about German history all you like :D (Also, I read that the first time as "Barbossa did not die," which ( ... )

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baleanoptera March 22 2007, 20:23:30 UTC
Ooo! Thank you for the info!
Charles also had a bust of himself as Augustus,

Hee! I think every king of some stature has at one time tried to compare himself with Augustus. Didn't know Charles had jumped that train though, but that is so great!

The Holy Roman Emperor Fredrick II also compared himself with Augustus, called a new Pax Romana and order a sarcophagus in porphyr( the purple-ish stone only used by Roman emperors). Then again Fredrick II was also excommunicated by the Pope, bought Jerusalem (and subsequently regained the Pope's favour), wrote a book on Falconeering and claimed that the world had been duped by three impostors: Moses, Jesus and Muhammed.(and that quote was why he got excommunicated in the first place. ;P)
And all of this is especially cool when you consider that he lived in the 13th Century.

And yes, I'm rambling about German history again.

Barbossa did not die," which cracked me up.

LOL! I can understand that. Well, they both had very long beards.

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