Brothers Grimm and the Making of German Nationalism

Vividly reconstructing the political ideas of the Brothers Grimm, Jakob Norberg transforms our image of history's most famous folklorists.

List of contents

1. The philologist king: Politics and knowledge in the nationalist era; 2. Folk hatred and folk tales: The nationalist politics of the children- and household tales; 3. The prince of Germany: Wilhelm Grimm and the philologist as redeemer; 4. Love of the fatherland and fatherly love: Jacob Grimm's political thought; 5. The mother tongue at school: Jacob Grimm and the institutions of nation building; 6. The names of the barbarians: The philologist, the tribe, and the empire.

About the author

Jakob Norberg is Associate Professor of German Studies at Duke University. He is the author of Sociability and Its Enemies: German Political Thought After 1945 (2014) and numerous articles in journals such as PMLA, Cultural Critique, Textual Practice, New German Critique, Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, and Sprache und Literatur.

Summary

In this first comprehensive English-language portrait of the Brothers Grimm as political thinkers and actors, Jakob Norberg shows how history's two most famous folklorists aspired to define national identity, delineate national borders, and even counsel regimes. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Product details

• Authors: Jakob Norberg, Jakob (Duke University Norberg
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 27.03.2025
• EAN: 9781009073363
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0907336-3
• No. of pages: 265
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; History of Ideas, HISTORY / Social History, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 19th Century, Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900, Literary studies: general