German 19th/20th century (children's) fiction

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Laura
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German 19th/20th century (children's) fiction

Post by Laura »

I was wondering whether any of our German members (or anyone else, for that matter :D ) could help me with a query. Basically, I thought that it would be interesting, especially after reading comments here about the updating and PC-inducing of many of Enid Blyton's works, to base my German oral exam on this topic - ie, whether editors should update texts to reflect more modern thinking, or leave them as they are.

However, my tutor has said that I need to include examples of German fiction in my presentation, which is fair enough, as the topic is not really relevant, although I only thought of it after reading a German newspaper article. The only problem is that I am poorly uniformed of most German authors/books - most of the literature that I have read in German has either been the classical stuff that you have to read in class, or else translations of English books.

I was therefore wondering, and sorry if it's too vague, if anyone could point me in the way of German (or Austrian, Swiss etc) books from either the 19th or the 20th century, which contain material that could be deemed racist/sexist today, and which people might say should be changed (equivalents to Blyton's golliwogs, references to the "n" word, the numerous boys making the girls do the washing up and stay out of adventures etc). The books do not have to be children's ones, although I think that people are more likely to leave adults' books as they are.

And yes, I should probably do all the research myself, and I have done some, and have some ideas, but it's a lot harder to just google for titles, when you don't really know what they're about, and so I'm hoping that some members will have read suitable books in the past, and will be able to point me in the right direction. If they are in e-book form/are available in the UK it will be a plus, as I can thenj read them before presenting. :D

Thanks.
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Chrissie777
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Re: German 19th/20th century (children's) fiction

Post by Chrissie777 »

Sorry, my answer comes so late, but I just joined EBS last week.
The Pucki series of books by Magda Trott as well as the Gisel und Ursel series by Margarete Haller are both considered prejudiced and sexist (as in girls cannot do the same things that boys can or as in poor people are not as intelligent or well-educated as the protagonists are).
Here are links to both series, I think Pucki has 12 volumes and Gisel und Ursel four:

http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1 ... ooks%2C221" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1 ... &x=25&y=28" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I can also recommend a non-fiction book on German childrens literature from 1945 until 1960, it's called "Youth Literature between Rubble and Wealth":

http://www.amazon.de/Zwischen-Tr%C3%BCm ... 894&sr=1-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good luck on your exam!

Chrissie
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Soenke Rahn
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Re: German 19th/20th century (children's) fiction

Post by Soenke Rahn »

Did not know the Pucki Series. Interesting. There exits a fairy tale of the Grimms, which it not printed in the common fairy tale boocks: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Jude_im_Dorn But, I don`t think it was really known in the past and other fairy tales of the Grimms also not published in modern collections too. But this fairy tale is nothing for children`s hands.
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Re: German 19th/20th century (children's) fiction

Post by Wolfgang »

By today's standards many fairy tales collected by them are not suitable for children - I happen to own audioplays of four quite popular fairy tales, and I still remember the screams of the burning witch of "Hansel and Gretel" or the comment that the queen was sentenced to death by dancing in hot glowing shoes in "Snowy White", or the sisters who amputated parts of their feet quite unprofessionally to fit into a tiny shoe in "Cinderella" - not that them did do any good. On second thought, people who want to look better by artificially changing their looks should read it more frequently and think twice then. ;-)
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Re: German 19th/20th century (children's) fiction

Post by Katharine »

There are several Fairy stories I've always thought horrible, considering they are for children. There's the one about the tin soldier that ends up in the fire, and I'm not sure if the little match girl is classed as another fairy story, but I couldn't bear that as a child.

A couple of years ago I bought an old book of children's stories and one of the stories in that ended up with a bed full of princesses having their heads chopped off - UGH.
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Re: German 19th/20th century (children's) fiction

Post by Daisy »

Not so much fairy stories to entertain, but to give a strong moral message I suspect!
Regarding "Cinderella" - I hadn't heard of the Ugly Sisters actually cutting toes off to make the shoe fit. I think some of the stories must have been modified for obvious reasons. I guess we might reclassify many of those "Fairy Stories" now as "Horror Stories".
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Re: German 19th/20th century (children's) fiction

Post by Francis »

I seem to remember two splendid characters 'Max' and 'Moritz' who did nasty things and ended up in the mincer! Splendid gothic horror for children!
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Re: German 19th/20th century (children's) fiction

Post by dsr »

It's a long time since I read Heidi, but I'm fairly sure she was brought up to know the obvious truth out-of-date belief that a woman's place is in the home. :twisted:
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Soenke Rahn
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Re: German 19th/20th century (children's) fiction

Post by Soenke Rahn »

Francis wrote:I seem to remember two splendid characters 'Max' and 'Moritz' who did nasty things and ended up in the mincer! Splendid gothic horror for children!
Yes, poor rascals are shred on the end. ;-( Some of the stories are better of Wilhelm Busch, I would say. :-) But Max and Moritz are famous ...
Daisy wrote:Not so much fairy stories to entertain, but to give a strong moral message I suspect!
Regarding "Cinderella" - I hadn't heard of the Ugly Sisters actually cutting toes off to make the shoe fit. I think some of the stories must have been modified for obvious reasons. I guess we might reclassify many of those "Fairy Stories" now as "Horror Stories".
As a kid I read it also but I have forgotten it. This part is changed in the most film versions I suppose. Also in this version http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%99i_o ... ro_Popelku which is aired each year as Christmas classic in TV: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%99i_o ... ro_Popelku
Wolfgang wrote:By today's standards many fairy tales collected by them are not suitable for children - I happen to own audioplays of four quite popular fairy tales, and I still remember the screams of the burning witch of "Hansel and Gretel" or the comment that the queen was sentenced to death by dancing in hot glowing shoes in "Snowy White", or the sisters who amputated parts of their feet quite unprofessionally to fit into a tiny shoe in "Cinderella" - not that them did do any good. On second thought, people who want to look better by artificially changing their looks should read it more frequently and think twice then. ;-)
I have forgotten the screams of the witch. Yes, hard. But the crunch house is really nice.

By the way. do you know also the Wilhelm Busch version? I can not find an English version of it. But I suppose the pictures would show anything:

http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Busch,+ ... und+Gretel

Image
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Soenke Rahn
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Re: German 19th/20th century (children's) fiction

Post by Soenke Rahn »

Beside that, some lines of Wilhelm Busch are also in the criticism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Busch#Antisemitism
But the lines are also printed in new versions I suppose.

And I suppose
Nesthäkchen and the World War by Else Ury
must be named.
http://stevenlehrer.com/nesthaekchen.htm
http://www.altekinderbuecher.de/ury11.htm

I know the question was:
Laura wrote:...

I was therefore wondering, and sorry if it's too vague, if anyone could point me in the way of German (or Austrian, Swiss etc) books from either the 19th or the 20th century, which contain material that could be deemed racist/sexist today, and which people might say should be changed (equivalents to Blyton's golliwogs, references to the "n" word, the numerous boys making the girls do the washing up and stay out of adventures etc). The books do not have to be children's ones, although I think that people are more likely to leave adults' books as they are.

And yes, I should probably do all the research myself, and I have done some, and have some ideas, but it's a lot harder to just google for titles, when you don't really know what they're about, and so I'm hoping that some members will have read suitable books in the past, and will be able to point me in the right direction. If they are in e-book form/are available in the UK it will be a plus, as I can thenj read them before presenting. :D

Thanks.
but maybe it included also this volume.
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