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May 14, 2013 | ISBN 9781935744764 Buy
Mar 15, 2013 | ISBN 9781935744771 Buy
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May 14, 2013 | ISBN 9781935744764
Mar 15, 2013 | ISBN 9781935744771
This new edition of the beloved tales of the Brothers Grimm – selected, translated and edited by Peter Wortsman – is drawn from the 1857 edition of the German original, the last edition reviewed and approved by the Brothers in their lifetime. Over the years, the Brothers’ enigmatic narratives have been sanitized by Disney and children’s book editors for modern consumption; this indispensable edition restores their sting and vigor to the original prose. In Wortsman’s words, his translation is a return to “a tincture of concentrated man-eating ogre and ground hag tooth, diluted in blood, sweat and tears, as a potent vaccine against the crippling effects of fear and fury.” These fortifying imaginative vaccines are accompanied by twenty-four full-color illustrations by Haitian artists, including Edouard Duval-Carrié, Pascale Monnin, and Frankétienne. Edwidge Danticat observes that many Haitian painters bring “forth another canvas beneath the one we see.” These works’ imaginative scope, vitality, and evocation of the unconscious open deep channels between the two traditions, shedding new light and shadow on the classic tales.
The reason that most people value fairy tales, I would say, is that they do not detain us with hope but simply validate what is. Even people who have never known hunger, let alone a murderous stepmother, still have a sense—from dreams, from books, from news broadcasts—of utter blackness, the erasure of safety and comfort and trust. Fairy tales tell us that such knowledge, or fear, is not fantastic but realistic. … The Grimm tales still invoke nature, more than God, as life’s driving force, and nature is not kind. —Joan Acocella, The New Yorker Everyone should possess and know Grimm’s Fairy Tales–one of the great books of the world. —Richard Adams, The New York Times Book Review …this one book–other than the Bible–that has truly made Western man. —P. L. Travers, The New RepublicFrankétienne¢s work can speak to the most intellectual person in the society as well as the most humble. A very good kind of genius. —Edwidge Danticat Duval-Carrié¢s large-scale paintings burst off The wall . . . bustling with pattern, landscape, sparkle, and mythos rooted in Haitian Voodou . . . [They] have The technical polish and scope to make a splash at any contemporary art fair. —Boston Globe
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