Where Are you Going, Where Have you Been?

Over the past couple of years, Hollywood and NBC have offered several variations of the works of the Brothers Grimm, in some cases slightly skewing the reasoning behind their work. Don’t get me wrong, I love that these stories continue to be told; and, as I have stated before, a true story is always open to be reinterpreted and altered. If I were to point fingers at someone for changing the Grimm brothers’ work to appease a contemporary audience I would begin with Disney, but I love those films so I will simply hold back. Rather, it is more the shows that depict the Brothers Grimm as Van Helsing type figures in a fanciful universe that I feel do the most to really tarnish the legacy and work of Wilhem and Jacob, so I think it is important to quickly clarify what it was they were up to when they wrote their books of fairy tales. Some of this may be review for you, but bear with me.

First, the stories written by the Grimm Brothers were not of their own creation, rather they were traditional tales that were fairly well known across Europe and what is now modern day Germany. Second, the initial purpose of collecting these stories was actually a study of linguistics, and a way to document the variance of regional dialect within the German language. By using commonly told tales as a control, the distinctions and differences in how the stories were relayed would hold the answers to their linguistic study. Lastly, and what I find most noteworthy, the tales were published because the Grimm brothers sensed an end to the spoken form of retaining a story, as print media was becoming more and more common. Hence, they used the printed form as a means to ensure the stories would not be lost as traditional storytelling began to fall out.

How does this relate to my study in the Harz? When I first began this project I intended to encounter and record the old stories first hand through a traditional spoken source. This has proven very difficult because, as the Grimm brothers predicted, the Harz inhabitants rely entirely on the written form to hold the old stories. Generally, when I have asked to have a story told—particularly one that relates to a specific town or location—I am referred to a book. When I insist on a spoken example, the tale is generally summarized in a 10-15-sentence form. It is not that these stories are forgotten or unknown, rather the art of storytelling has given way to more contemporary means of transfer. This makes one wonder what really is starting to vanish, the subject or the medium. Clearly the stories are safe, and I can access them at any time from print, but has this means of archiving cost us the spoken form of these stories? Are we too reliant on the security of the solid and tangible medium that we are losing an art form as a result?

I have studied storytelling enough to answer this question with a confident “no,” but the spoken form of stories is like the vinyl record to music—or the 8mm film to the home movie. It exists, but it kept alive by only in a small sect of people. In the 1970’s, we experienced the great storytelling revival in the United States, and today thousands of people practice the art—to the extent that across the nation annual festivals are held, bringing these people together to further practice and share the craft.  

(here is an old news report of mine exploring the storytelling community)

I don’t find this to be as pervasive here in Germany, which is likely why it has been so difficult to find anyone who can truly tell me these old stories in a traditional form. Perhaps Germany and Europe will experience their own storytelling revival. It might only be a matter of time before people with interest in the craft find one another and make it happen. Until then, my study will push more towards documenting the human experience of the people living in this region with such rich folk heritage, and try to find parallels between their lives and the tales that define their homelands.

Tourism plays a large roll here. The more popular stories that relate to heavily visited regions, like The Devil's Wall

the Rosstrappe

or the Brocken.

are stories that are readily recited—though they all seem to follow a similar script when the chronicler seeks too retell what they read or were told, rather than fully engaging in the story. Yes, these stories are much more readily told, but only as a result of the tourism that has made the locations so popular. What about the regions that are not as well visited, or the regions in the west that have developed a different sort of tourism not based in regional traditions? These are the sorts of questions I am working on answering as I continue my work within these communities.