Romanticism as the Motive

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Influences

Some scholars nitpick over the details within the brothers’ publications to find traces of Romantic influences in order to promote their claim that their collections of German tales are a product of that movement and only that movement. Many scholars associate the Brothers Grimm with Romanticism, mostly due to the coincidental time in which the brothers existed. However, a few others, including Jack Zipes, argue that the brothers’ deliberate edits to the tales they collected were inspired by the style of romantic writers such as Philipp Otto Runge (Enchanted Forests to the Modern World 29). The brothers have also been likened to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who is deemed the “Father of Romanticism” as well as a key Enlightenment-era philosopher. M. Schmidt Ihms understands this connection and asserts that the Grimms desired a “turn away from civili[z]ation and a return to nature [that] would restore decadent mankind to new [vigor] and creativity” (46-47). Moreover, according to Zipes, the brothers’ choices were similar to Brentano’s as they remained “more indebted to him than many scholars have assumed” despite the innately different stylistic decisions they made (Enchanted Forests to the Modern World 30). The Journal of the Folklore Institute’s Alfred and Mary David note, “Wilhelm [Grimm]’s prefaces reflect a strain of romantic primitivism that has been attributed to Rousseau” (David and David 186). Further supporting the claim that Romantic characteristics like fascination for nature were present in the brothers’ anthologies, The Journal of the Folklore Institute asserts that the Brothers Grimm “unconsciously modified the stories to conform with their idea of nature” (David and David 193). Thus, even though the brothers may not have intended on conforming to Romantic ideas, it can be argued that their works reflected Romanticism nonetheless.

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Agenda

With Rousseau’s ties to the French Revolution and his connection to the Grimms’ texts, some people deduce that the brothers had at least one political agenda in their works that stemmed from Romanticism. However, dos Santos ventures past this vague assumption. She declares that the brothers did not self-identify as Romantics despite their similarities to Romantic writers:

The Grimms did not consider themselves part of the Romantic Movement. Their preoccupation lay with ancient texts which they sought to preserve for posterity, not with philosophical thought or poetic artistry. Their association with the Romantic Movement can be regarded as almost by chance, due rather to their political opinion and their passion for ancient folklore than to their following the Romantic literary programme. (dos Santos 3)

Dos Santos is adamant that the brothers’ agenda was the only inherently “Romantic” notion they carried into their works; she notes, “[t]he brothers took part in the Romantic Movement insofar as it suited their own cause but they disregarded its prescriptions: inspired by its political programme they followed parts of the philosophical programme but declined the poetic programme” (8). While it may appear paradoxical, the brothers’ aim was fundamentally linked to the Romantic era in the sense that they desired to “appeal to the childlike innocence of the soul” (dos Santos 2). However, it is essential to note that this “innocence” is not geared at children; specifically, the brothers intended on “preserv[ing] the simplicity and innocence that their generation - the first generation of romantic writers - associated with childhood and the family hearth,” (David and David 181) not to have their primary audience be young children. Thus, “their Romantic engagement was more in their attitude than in an outspoken commitment to the movement” (dos Santos 4).