Kids Story Books

The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm All-New Third Edition

Is this new edition necessary? Only scholars are likely to persevere through all 32 of the "previously untranslated" tales found among the 242 entries. A few, rejected by the Grimms as too French or too literary, have merit; most of the others are slight variants of tales already in the canon or are fragments.

There is no analysis or commentary of any individual tales, and though Zipes offers a fine introduction, he himself acknowledges the excellence of Ralph Manheim's translation of the canon (misspelling his name). Since Manheim's work is still in print and available at low cost in paper (Doubleday, 1977), only wealthy scholars, who will appreciate the identification of each tale's human or published source and date of first publication, might insist on Zipes. Patricia Dooley, formerly with English Dept., Drexel Univ., Philadelphia
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Splendid."
--Faith McNulty, The New Yorker

"Clearly the text of choice for any reader...Zipes? edition deserves to become the standard translation.? "
--The German Quarterly