Fairy Tales and Fables from Weimar Days: Collected Utopian Tales / New and Revised Edition

Description

This book is a collection of traditional German fairy tales and fables, deliberately transformed into utopian narratives and social commentary by political activists in the Weimar Republic (1919-1933). Against a backdrop of financial and political instability, widespread homelessness, and the reformation of public institutions, numerous gifted writers such as Berta Lask, Kurt Schwitters, Hermynia zur Mühlen, Oskar Maria Graf, Bruno Schönlank, and Joachim Ringelnatz responded to the need for hope among the common people by creating fairy tales and fables that offered a new and critical vision of social conditions. Though many of their tales deal with the grim situation of common people and their apparent helplessness, they are founded on the principle of hope. This revised edition includes over 50 illustrations by contemporary international artists who reveal how similar the Weimar conditions were to the conditions in which we presently live. In this respect, the Weimar fairy tales and fables have not lost their spirit and significance. Front Matter ....Pages i-x Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Recovering the Utopian Spirit of Fairy Tales and Fables from the Weimar Republic (Jack Zipes)....Pages 3-26 Front Matter ....Pages 27-27 Happiness (1925) (Kurt Schwitters)....Pages 29-32 A Fairy Tale About God and Kings (1921) (Carl Ewald)....Pages 33-35 The Giant and His Suit of Armour (1920) (Edwin Hoernle)....Pages 37-40 The Boy Who Wanted to Fight with a Dragon (1921) (Berta Lask)....Pages 41-45 Kuttel Daddeldu Tells His Children the Fairy Tale About Little Red Cap (1923) (Joachim Ringelnatz)....Pages 47-50 The Little King and the Sun (1920) (Edwin Hoernle)....Pages 51-53 The Honest Seaman (1908) (Joachim Ringelnatz)....Pages 55-57 Learn to Grasp the World from Others (1931) (Joachim Ringelnatz)....Pages 59-63 The Fence (1924) (Hermynia zur Mühlen)....Pages 65-69 The Servant (1923) (Hermynia zur Mühlen)....Pages 71-79 The Victor (1922) (Béla Balázs)....Pages 81-83 The Patched Trousers (1928) (Bruno Schönlank)....Pages 85-90 The Fairy Tale about the Wise Man (1923) (Eugen Lewin-Dorsch)....Pages 91-101 Front Matter ....Pages 103-103 The Holy Wetness (1924) (Maria Szucsich)....Pages 105-110 The Enchanted King (1922) (Robert Grötzsch)....Pages 111-117 Burufu the Magician (1922) (Robert Grötzsch)....Pages 119-125 Baberlababb (1927) (Oskar Maria Graf)....Pages 127-131 The Fairy Tale about the King (1927) (Oskar Maria Graf)....Pages 133-138 The Castle with the Three Windows (1924) (Heinrich Schulz)....Pages 139-143 The Giant Spider (1928) (Anna Mosegaard)....Pages 145-152 Front Matter ....Pages 153-153 Felix the Fish (c.1922) (Robert Grötzsch)....Pages 155-160 The Poodle and the Schnauzer (1920) (Edwin Hoernle)....Pages 161-164 The Chameleon (1920) (Edwin Hoernle)....Pages 165-167 The Triumph of the Wolves (c.1925) (Felix Fechenbach)....Pages 169-171 The Chameleon (c.1925) (Felix Fechenbach)....Pages 173-175 The Revolution in the Zoo (c.1920) (Felix Fechenbach)....Pages 177-179 The Fairy Tale about the Bear, the Wolf and the Sly Fox (1925) (Béla Illés)....Pages 181-189 Front Matter ....Pages 191-191 The Glasses (1923) (Hermynia zur Mühlen)....Pages 193-198 Once Upon a Time There Was a Tiny Mouse (c.1943) (Kurt Schwitters)....Pages 199-200 The Silent Engine Room (1924) (Heinrich Schulz)....Pages 201-204 Back Matter ....Pages 205-250