With fourteen chapters (plus intro and epilogue), this is a very thorough and detailed biography of Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, the German folklorists that gave us many of our most beloved fairy tales, covering everything from their childhood, the political upheavals of a nascent Germany, the social context of the Grimms' home, their ties to literary movements, their personal life as adults, and their waning years.

It's very dense and dry, however, and not very readable for the general public as Schmiesing writes like your typical academic that overwhelms you with too many facts you're not likely to grasp in full unless you have a background in the topic. And it doesn't really provide anything new about the Grimms, merely updates and packs some more bits and pieces for a newer audience. If you're interested in the Grimms as people as much as in their work, and don't mind the overwhelming dryness and droning fact-dropping, this might be a good source of information.

I was brought up with Grimms’ fairy tales - by far my favourites in that genre, I especially loved the more perverse, bloodthirsty entries. But before reading Ann Schmiesing’s remarkably-comprehensive biography I knew hardly anything about the brothers responsible for their circulation. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm came from a family that wasn’t wealthy but was solidly middle-class. Born in the late 1700s, they were based in Hessen-Kassel a mountainous, German-speaking region in what was then the Holy Roman Empire – neither lived to witness the unified Germany they yearned for. Their early childhood was relatively calm, idyllic even, but their father’s death before they’d reached their teens resulted in a fairly impoverished existence. As the brothers grew up, increasingly closely bonded, they developed an interest in the culture of German-speaking areas and peoples, spurred on by Napoleon’s invasion and the subsequent French occupation. Both Jacob and Wilhelm had an overwhelming desire to ensure aspects of German peoples’ cultures were uncovered and somehow preserved. So, they started to compile a collection of what’s known as Märchen - a broad category of folk tale from fairy to fable.

These kinds of stories rooted in oral traditions were often considered inferior forms, insufficiently literary to be worth exploring. The fairy tales that were in demand tended to be more like Perrault’s French versions, carefully polished, laced with literary flourishes and shored up by appropriate moral frameworks designed to make them more palatable. The Grimms however favoured a stripped-back, unadorned style believing the nature of the stories, their collective cultural significance, should be enough to attract a readership. The popular account of how they did their research depicts the two brothers travelling through surrounding areas, tirelessly tracking down older, rural women – both brothers thought women were the natural keepers and tellers of tales – desperate to record their remembered stories before it was too late. But, as Schmiesing points out, this notion was as much myth as many of the pieces the Grimms later published. The overwhelming majority of contributors to the Grimms' collection were young, middle-class, educated women – older, peasant women were conspicuous by their absence – often part of the Grimms‘ wider social circle so very little actual field work was needed.

However, Jacob and Wilhelm’s research was wide ranging in other ways, they delved into medieval literature, ancient legends, and produced studies of the history and structure of German languages that played a major part in the evolution of linguistics as a discipline. Their first fairy tale collection appeared in two volumes between 1812 and 1815 under the title Children’s and Household Tales (Kinder- und Hausmärchen.) Editions that were later extensively revised, particularly by Wilhelm. These first volumes caused conflict between the brothers and their publisher. Produced in time for Christmas sales, their publisher wanted to reach a broad market. He thought the Grimms' insistence on featuring scholarly notes and appendices might be off-putting and that the lack of illustrations to break up the text was a mistake. He was also worried about how parents might react to some of the more gruesome pieces.

As time passed, Jacob and Wilhelm’s personal fortunes continued to ebb and flow but they retained their commitment to preserving popular oral narratives. However, later editions of Children’s and Household Tales were quite extensively altered. These reflected contemporary gender norms, women featured in the stories became less independent; and the stories themselves were much longer. The 1819 edition was massively revised by Wilhelm, in some places far more moralistic, much less macabre in others. Wilhelm also added or highlighted Christian references; omitted or toned down sexual references from incest to pregnancy before marriage, and generally reinforced contemporary patriarchal attitudes. These changes were justified on the basis that this was a non-static genre by its very nature, so variants, adaptations and revisions simply reinforced that fact. Wilhelm attempted too to find ways of replicating aspects of oral culture in these written forms – incorporating visual imagery, sayings and puns. This and later editions were given a boost by a shorter English translation which appeared in 1820s, complete with illustrations it proved so popular it revived publishers‘ interest in the Grimms' originals.

Alongside her discussion of the Grimms' best-known work, Schmiesing places the brothers within their wider socio-political, historical context – from their ties to an emerging German Romanticism, to the influence of translations of classic German texts on composers like Wagner. Schmiesing’s level of detail is impressive but I found her text a little overwhelming and dense at times, even though she's consciously targeting a general rather than academic readership. Schmiesing also fills in what’s known of the brothers as individuals, their personal attributes, friendships and close relationships, Wilhelm outgoing but physically frail, Jacob reserved and vehemently anti-social. She highlights the ways in which they managed to engineer an existence in which they could be near inseparable: Wilhelm married an old friend, and the couple lived with Jacob until first Wilhelm’s then Jacob’s death. But, I found the sections centred on the Grimms‘ work on Märchen by far the most compelling – the publishing history, the ordering of stories, stories included, stories discarded. I was intrigued too by Schmiesing’s assessment of the brothers’ legacy – I’d have liked more about this. After the brothers‘ deaths, their fairy tale collections gradually grew in popularity, boosted by the growth of German nationalism. Although Schmiesing stresses the brothers' interest in German culture was centred on a shared language rather than ethnicity, their work was reinterpreted from a National Socialist perspective. The stories became so widely celebrated, and circulated during the Nazi era they were briefly banned post WW2 by the Allied administration – in contrast the East German administration insisted the works were ripe for recuperation and recognition as important cultural artefacts that had been exploited and wrongly appropriated by the Nazi regime. Today the book commonly known as Grimms' Fairy Tales has positioned the Grimms in the top fifty most-translated authors worldwide, although this partly tracks back to other forms of appropriation particularly watered-down, Disneyfied adaptations.

A fascinating and well researched history into two icons of literature. This is a long read but it's so engaging.

If you are looking for an informative read of the history of the Brothers Grimm you will find it in this book. While not technically considered academic it felt that it pushed this lay person in that direction. I would recommend this book if you are looking for a literal view inside the world of the Grimm Brothers. Thank you to NetGalley for providing the ARC.

WOW! I loved this book. I loved learning about the actual brothers who brought so many of our childhood fairytales to be. This is fascinating and well researched and written. I highly recommend.

I’ve always been a fan of the Fairytales the Grimm Brothers brought to life but it turns out prior to reading this book I actually knew nothing about them as people.
In this book the author has brought them to life brilliantly and its very clear the extensive research she put into their lives and work. This was a thoroughly interesting read especially for those with an interest or love of folklore & the history/origin of fairytales. But for me what I found particularly interesting was the Brothers work, love for and dedication to linguistics. An exceptionally wonderful read.

The world knows them as storytellers, but they saw themselves as scholars and even scientists. from The Brothers Grimm by Ann Schmiesing

Like most children, I had books of fairy tales and saw Walt Disney movies based on fairy tales. I was ten years old when I saw The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm at a Buffalo movie theater. Mom purchased the LP soundtrack, which I listened to so many times I had it memorized.

When I was in my early twenties my interest in fairy tales continued when I audited a class in which we learned about the morphology of folk tales and Jungian archetypes; later I read Bruno Bettelheim’s The Uses of Enchantment.

What we think we know about the Brothers Grimm and their fairy tales isn’t quite true. The image of the brothers searching for remote cottages in the forest to record stories told by the elderly is a false narrative. In truth, the first informants were educated and middle class. Also, the stories are not mere records but were edited to reflect specific values and lessons.

The brothers Grimm were dedicated scholars and their collecting the tales was a part of their larger purpose.

The brothers lived before Germany was unified and while under the control of Napoleon. The Romantic movement influenced their promotion of Medieval literature. Germans were rediscovering their literary past, including folk stories and epic sagas. Jacob promoted the Nibelungenlied, later adopted by Richard Wagner for his famous operas.

Jacob extolled ancient literatures’ depiction of a deeper truth beyond that recorded in certificates, diploma, and chronicles. from The Brothers Grimm by Ann Schmiesing

The brothers first assisted friends in their research, but with different ideals, separated to do their own work. Orphaned young and responsible for providing for younger siblings, they found work in civil service and in libraries. When the brothers were separated, Jacob especially suffered. When Wilhelm married, Jacob lived with the couple.

They were in their late twenties when their first fairy-tale collection was published. They did not alter the violence in the tales for children. But they did edit and refine the tales to have specific values and lessons.

Jacob wrote about the linguistic evolution of the German language, German grammar, and German law. Wilhelm published more tales and a book on runes. They spent years working on a German dictionary and continued to update their collection of folk tales.

It was surprising to learn that when a new ruler annulled the constitution, the brothers and five other Gottingen professors protested, costing them their jobs.

This is a wonderful dual biography that topples our misconceptions.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and Yale University Press for this ARC.

I'm German and while I know the Grimm's tales well from my childhood, I know next to nothing about the brothers themselves, which is why I downloaded this biography.

The Grimm Brothers are primarily known as fairy tale and legend collectors but they earned money as librarians and civil servants while their passions lay in science and literary scholarship. Their world was marred by wars and short life expectancy - tales of "a shining world of gold and pearls, but also a world of darkness and evil" had to be preserved for future generations. They were deeply bonded and spent their whole lives together under one roof, even when Wilhelm married.

This is the first full-length biography in decades and also covers the brothers’ many other groundbreaking but largely forgotten or overshadowed accomplishments, like the work on a German dictionary, grammar work that led to Grimm's Law (a systematic consonant shift) and contributions to linguistics, mythology and German culture and identity.

It's a warts and all biography, from their struggle with poverty, loss and ill health to their mentorship with Friedrich Karl von Savigny and friendship with Clemens Brentano and Achim and Bettina von Arnim, from their intellectual brilliance to their anti-Semitism and patriotism in the face of political upheaval. For example, as members of the Göttingen Seven, protesting against the king, they lost their university posts which enabled them to start undertaking the massive German dictionary project, which sadly was not completed in their lifetime and only finished in 1961 through a collaboration of German academics.

I learned a lot of new things - Jacob and Wilhelm were rather introverted and didn't go out themselves to collect stories and most
tales came from educated young townswomen and not poor old women or peasants, like they themselves purported. They didn't change too much from the original tales but edits were nevertheless made, for example to keep gender stereotypes in line with the attitudes of the time.

It's a shame that their fairy tale collections weren't commercially successful during the brothers' lifetimes but it speaks for the quality of them that they have endured over time and been made into films, plays and musicals, as well as given psychoanalysts a field day for generations.

This is a thoroughly researched, detailed and accessible account offering a rich historical background and should have broad appeal even though it's written in a scholarly manner.

“And if they have not died, then they are still living today.”

As a child I was fascinated by the Grimm’s fairy tale collection of stories and would read them again and again and devour any animated media from Disney’s Snow White to the Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics tv show. But actually I knew little to nothing about the brothers themselves. So I was excited to read Ann Schmiesing’s The Brother’s Grimm: A Biography.

Detailed yet accessible this biography delves deep into the lives of Jacob and Wilhelm whose lives were inextricably intertwined and the historical and life events that shaped them and their life’s work. It also explores their accomplishments in philology that have been overshadowed by their collection of folklore. Reading about the passionate discourse and scholar drama was also so interesting. I also never realized just how young the brothers were and how many of the stories collected were from young cosmopolitan women rather than the image of an elderly woman in the countryside.

The brothers were complex figures and are thoroughly explored flaws and all. The impact of their life’s work after their passing is also discussed in the conclusion. It really was a fascinating and informative read that made me appreciate those stories I use to love so much even more.

For anyone who loves fairy tales and ever wondered just who exactly were the brothers Grimm this is a must read.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher. I received an advance review copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

An authoritative biography of the Grimms that explores the full breadth of their scholarly achievements through a layered portrayal of their lives in a transforming world. My full review can be found on Open Letters Review.

WoW ...........The Brothers Grimm by Ann Schmiesing was a fantastic book full of so much information about the famous Brothers Grimm and what a wonderful read this was. The Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, were German academics who together collected and published folklore. They are so famous for he best-known tales include “Hansel and Gretel,” “Snow White,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Tom Thumb,” “Rapunzel,” “The Golden Goose,” and “Rumpelstiltskin.” and so many more......Everyones childhood stories we all grew up with.
They also wrote the goriest, creepiest fairy tale in the whole Grimm canon, which was The Juniper Tree is a story of infanticide and revenge and what a scary book this was........Great for Halloween season!

This book was a great read especially as it was full of so much history of these great storytellers. I loved re-reading about them and re living my childhood favourites I used to read to my sisters.

A great book and a must read.

Prior to reading this fascinating biography, I knew nothing of these brothers who have inspired generations with their collections of fairy tales. Though this is definitely an academic text--meticulously researched with such care--it is highly accessible and a must-read for any amateur folklorist!

Ann Schmiesing’s The Brothers Grimm is a masterful and meticulously researched biography that breathes new life into the story of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the German brothers whose names are forever associated with some of the world’s most enduring fairy tales. It’s the first English-language biography in over fifty years to offer a comprehensive exploration of these literary icons, and Schmiesing’s work goes beyond the brothers’ folklore to examine their vast contributions to linguistics, mythology, and cultural preservation.

Through her extensive use of archival research, Schmiesing not only recounts the familiar tale of the Grimms’ fairy-tale collection but also digs into the brothers’ efforts to document German cultural identity during the turbulent Napoleonic Wars. She paints a vivid portrait of their bond, resilience, and unwavering commitment to scholarship amid personal and political upheaval. From their groundbreaking work on mythology to the ambitious but unfinished German dictionary, Schmiesing shows how the Grimms’ scholarship laid the foundation for modern linguistics, especially with Jacob’s significant linguistic discovery, Grimm’s Law.

Set against a historical backdrop filled with conflict and change, the biography is both academically rigorous and emotionally compelling. Schmiesing presents the Grimms not only as scholars but as complex individuals navigating a world rife with loss and hardship, and she brings out the depth of their relationship and shared mission.

With a fresh perspective on the brothers’ enduring legacy, The Brothers Grimm is essential reading for anyone interested in folklore, linguistics, or the cultural history of Germany. Schmiesing’s biography is magisterial yet accessible, offering an intimate and thoughtful account of two men who not only captured the world’s imagination but reshaped scholarly fields in the process.

I always have enjoyed Grimm’s fairy tales and hadn’t really known anything about the brothers in real life. Ann Schmiesing was able to bring the brothers back to life in this, and in a factual way. I thought the research was wonderfully done and was invested what I learned.

Fascinating! I love the Grimm tales and was looking forward to learning more about the brothers through this book. I was absolutely fascinated by their lives and what they lived through. Also, I never knew just how much other writing they had been responsible for. This thorough and interesting account of their lives was a wonderful read!

A wonderfully detailed, academic and accessible biography of Grimm Brothers.
It was insightful to learn more about the brothers’ contributions outside of fairy tales.

I lovedddd this book so much!! Every page was a masterpiece of work. I really recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can because it's really good.

If you've ever wanted to learn more about the brilliant minds behind the fairy tales we grew up with, look no further. This biography of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, better known as the Brothers Grimm, delves into their remarkable accomplishments across various fields and the lasting legacy they've left behind.