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Quite a number of German authors wrote generally short shories for children during the 18th and 19th centuries. The most famous of course were the Grimm Brothers fairy tales. Other German authors, however, are virtually unknown to English speakers. With the exception of course of the Swiss German authorm Johanna Spyri (1827-1901), who wrote Heidi which was and continues to be enormously popular with girls in America and other countries. Several of our German readers have very strong memories of these authors. Not all of these authors have held up well over the years. Some continue to be published in Germany while others because of the violence in the stories or moral message conveyed have fallen out of fashion. An example here is Heinrich Hoffmann's "Struwwelpeter" which he wrote in 1844. Hopefully our German readers will provide us some information on contemprary German children's authors. Notably in all this literature, none of these authots created a prototypical German boy hero of the same stature of American and British boy heros like Tom Sawyer or Oliver Twist. Strangely in a society that was often aggressively masucline, the strongest child hero was Heidi and she was not even German. Some of the authors here like Gothe are obviously not children's authors, but we have included them if thary have written at least a few well known stories read by children.
Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908) who also illustrated his stories produced several Max and Moritz stiries during the 1860s. I had always thought that the comic strip was an American creation, but it is the German illustrator and humerous poet that apparently is created weith inventing the comic strip. Wilhelm Busch was born in 1832, in the village of Wiedensahl near Hanover, Germany. His goal was to be a master painter, but instead his career took a very different path. His career, however, took a very different course. A popular German satirical magazine Fliegende Blaetter asked him to do some caricatures. The drawings proved popular and Busch began adding his own humorous verses. Gradually his cartoons grew longer and were done in elaborate multiple panes--thus they can be called the frst comic strips. The public loved his lively characters and slap-stick humor. It was for his fanciful verse, however, that he is best known in Germany. His two most famous charcters were two little boys, Max and Moritz.
Gertrud Caspari created a lot of well-known picture books.
Annette von Droste-Hülshoff wrote "Die Judenbuche" ("The Jews' Beech-Tree") in 1842. Von Droste-Hülshoff is one of the few women authors we have noted.
Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857) wrote "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts" ("From the Life of a Good-for-Nothing") in 1826.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) wrote "Das Märchen" ("A Fairy Tale") in 1795 and "Novelle" in 1826). Gothe is perhaps the single most admired author writing in the German language. Some of the authors here like Gothe are obviously not children's authors, but we have included them if thary have written at least a few well known stories read by children.
Jeremias Gotthelf (1797-1854) wrote "Der Besenbinder von Rychiswyl" ("The Broommaker of Rychiswyl") in 1851, "Elsi, die seltsame Magd" ("Elsi, the unusual Farm Maid") in 1843, and "Wie Joggeli eine Frau sucht" (How Joggeli Seeks a Wife) in 1840. Gotthelf was a Swiss author who wrote in German.
The Grimm Brothers (Jakob: 1785-1863 and Wilhem: 1786-1859) wrote "Haus- und Kindermärchen" (Fairy Tales for Home and Nursery) over 1812-1857. These Grimm Brothers tales of course are some to best known stories for children, although some modern authorities question the violence inherent in the stories. Jakob was sent by the Elector of Hesse to Paris after the Restoration to recover art that had been looted by Napoleon's armies. [Mansel] One of the well-known stories is the Pied Pipers of Hamlin.
Wilhelm Hauff in the short 25 years of his life wrote lots of books, including his famous "Maerchen" (Fairy Tales). A reader writes, "I read them when I was a child in the 1940s. Most of them took place in a phantasy land somewhere in the Near East. I liked them better than the Grimm's stories." Hauff was the editor of the Morgenblatt, a newspaper in Stuttgart. He also wrote "Der Mann im Monde" ("The Man in the Moon").
E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) wrote "Das Fräulein von Scuderi" (Mlle de Scuderi) in 1819, "Das Märchen vom harten Nuß", "The Story of the Hard Nut" in 1819, "Rat Krespel" ("Councillor Krespel") in 1819, and "Der Sandmann" ("The Sandman") in 1817. Hoffman was a genius in the true sence of the word. He was a composer, writer, director of a theater, and a ....lawyer. He wrote the famous nutcracker story that Tchaikovsky used for his famous ballet which is a special delight for children every Christmas, Der Nussknacker".
Heinrich Hoffmann (1809-1894) wrote "Struwwelpeter" in 1844. Hoffmann's "Struwwelpeter" was once a very popular book for German children, but less so with the modern generation. Mark Twain took a liking to the book and attempted an English translation. A German reader writes, "Some of the verses in "Struwwelpeter" are very rough. (Mark Twain's for example). It seems that Hoffman was not a good poet. I do not like either the illustrations or the stories ie told. However because my parents gave me the book, I still have many of the verses and pictures as well as variety of details deeply inbedded in my mind. I did not give the book to my girls. I did give them the Pippi Longstockings books because she was such a beautiful, caotic anrachist. I think children need such examples to find their own way. Interestingly one of my daughters became a wonderful caotic artist (potter) and the other a very orderly and careful scientist (psychology). So I consider Pippi much more relaistic than the Struwwels." [Wellershaus]
A reader suggests adding a German composer who wrote an opera for children:
Engelbert Humperdinck (the real one!). That opera is of course "Hansel and Gretel",
after the Grimm fairy tale.
Erich Kästner was a famous German writer of children's stories. He is probably best known for his book Emil and the Detectives. He was popular both in Germany and other countries, mostly within the German speaking world. He was well known in the Scandnavia and the Netherlands, but less so in France and English speaking countries. He was drafted at the age of 17 and was apauled both by the brutality of German military training as well as the War itself. Thus he became a life-long pacifist and as the NAZIs appeared on the political landscape, anti-NAZI. He worked as a journalist and began writing children's books. Most of his best books in terms of popularity were published during the Weimsar era.
Gottfried Keller (1819-1890) wrote "Das Tanzlegendchen" (A Little Legend of the Dance) in 1872. Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) wrote "Anekdote aus dem letzten preußischen Krieg" ("Anecdote from the last Prussian War") in 1810 and "Das Bettelweib von Locarno" ("The Beggar Woman of Locarno") in 1810. Gotthelf was a Swiss author who wrote in German.
Ernst Kreidolf wrote a lot of fairy-tales with humanized flora, dwarfs, and other creatures.
One German reader tells us that Belgian Marcel Marlier books were published and were popular in Germany. A German reader tells that she collected some because they provided nice models for learning how to draw children. The children's images are charming, perhaps our German reader tells us "a litte too cute". One title translated in German to Petra aus der zweiten meaning "Petra from second grade". The original French title of this book is: Martine à l'école. This is a good example of the gowing integratin of Europe after World War II. We wonder how popular Belgian and French authors of children's literature were before the War.
Karl May was one of the most popular German author of children's literarure. Boys loved his books because of all the exciting adventures. He wrote books for boys that were popular all over Europe. A Dutch reader who was a boy in the late 30s and eraly 40s writes, "We all got acquainted with 'Winnetou', 'Old Shatterhand' and 'Kara bin Nemsi' when we were young." May wrote about the American West without ever leaving Germany and his books about Albania, Turkey and the Middle East were just as fascinating. He spent some time in jail for fraud. Our Dutch reader tells us, "For this reason my father's parents did not allowhim to read May's books when he was growing up." Another bit of questionable news, Hitler was reportedly a fan of Karl May. Despite writing about American themes, he does not appear to have been widely read in America.
Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte Foucque was born in Brandenburg. He was of French Huguenot descent. He wrote one of the most charming German fairy tales: " Undine ". It was later set to music and is still performed in the world of ballet and dance. Was friend of Heinrich von Kleist's.
Novalis was the nom de plume of Friedrich von Hardenberg. He wrote "Hyazinth und Rosenblütchen" ("Hyacinth and Roseblossom") in 1798.
Sybille von Olfers created picture-books. Her most popular book was "Etwas von den Wurzelkindern" (????). It has been republished again and again.
Felix Salten wrote the children's book "Bambi" which became a favorite Walt Disney movie. As he was Jewish, his books were burned by the NAZIs. As a small child in the 1940s, I remember being enthralled by Bambi. How anyone could burn that book is incomprehensible. Salten's real name was Siegmund Salzmann. It's a little difficult to settle on a natioanlity for him. He was a Hungarian Jew who grew up in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He moved to Vienna where he wrote Bambi in German. After the Anschlus in 1938 he emmigarted to the United States and lived in Los Angeles.
Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) wrote "Spiel des Schicksals" ("The Sport of Destiny") in 1786 and "Der Verbrecher aus verlorener Ehre" ("The criminal of (the) lost honor") in 1786.
Perhaps the best known children's book in German is actually about a little Swiss girl. Johanna Spyri wrote the book Heidi in 18??. Johanna Spyri was Swiss, but since the
book was written in German for a primarily German market, we can perhapos include it in the list of German children's books. This book became popular throughout Europe and America. Numerous American girls in fact were named Heidi, after that little Swiss girl in the Alps. Heidi is one of the classic girl heros that all little girls should read, along with Mary in Secret Garden, ??? in Little Princess, Ann in House with Red Gables, Jo in Little Women and Laura in Little House on the Prarie. Note that Heidi is the only one not written by an American or British author. Interestingly, bringing poor Austrian and Swiss children down from the mountains to work in Germany was not all that unusual. There were even markets for these children. One institution that seems uniquely German is the Schwabenkinder. The term Schwabenkinder means literally "Swabian children". This practice began before the industrial revolution, but continued into the 20th century. There were markets at Wangen, Ravensburg, Bad Waldsee, Tettnang, and Friedrichshafen in Württemberg, in Baden in Pfullendorf and Überlingen and in Bavarian Allgäu in Kempten. The biggest was in Ravensburg. As in Heidi's case, the boys often worked out of doors caring for animals or on other farm chores. The girls often worked inside the home.
Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853) wrote "Der blonde Eckbert" ("Fair Eckbert") in 1796.
Adalbert von Chamisso was born as Louis Charles Adelaide de Chamisso de Boncourt in the family castle at Boncourt (Champagne), but his family fled to Berlin during the French Revolution. He stayed there until he died. He wrote in 1813 the novel Peter Schlehmil, the story of a boy without a shadow. The word schlemil was later adopted by Yiddish-speaking Jews, meaning a good-for-nothing unlucky fellow He also wrote "Travels around the world, 1815-1818" with descriptions of North and South America.
Heinrich von Kleist was born in Franfurt an der Oder. He wrote " Der Prinz von Homburg " and " Der zerbrochene Krug ". The plays after these novels are still being performed. There also was a German movie about Friedrich, " Der Prinz von Homburg ", some years ago.
Godwin-Jones, Robert. 19th-Century German Stories, 1999. (Web editions for language learning & literary study). This is a very useful site and many 19th century German texts are posted here.
Mansel, Philip. Paris Between Empires: Monarchy and Revolution, 1814-1852 (St. Martin's, 2003), 559p.
Stueck, Rudi. E-mail message, May 25, 2004.
Wellershaus, Stefan. Letter May 14, 2002.
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