Telling Tales

The Impact of Germany on English Children's Books 1780-1918

Bibliographic Data

ID5800329
AuthorsDavid Blamires (corresponding author)
Year2009
Publication date2009-10-01
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenueTelling Tales (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOpen Book Publishers (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.11647/obp.0004
OpenAlexW1524472184
ISBN9781906924096
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited5

more extensively translated into other languages than any other German book, so they are known throughout the world.But there are many other German children's books that have been translated into English too, though few have proved as long-lasting as the Grimms.Fairytales are probably the most significant and enduring contribution of German authors and collectors to British children's books, and this goes back to the late eighteenth century with an anonymous translation of some tales by Musäus.The Grimms pioneered the collection of traditional tales and were followed by many other national and regional collectors, among them Ernst Moritz Arndt and Ludwig Bechstein.The fairytale enjoyed immense popularity among the German Romantics, many of whom turned their hand to composing their own.From the children's point of view the most successful of these authors was Wilhelm Hauff, but for sheer inventiveness and a multilayered narrative E. T. A. Hoffmann's Nutcracker surely beats the rest into a cocked hat.These are the highpoints of a tradition that stretches through the whole nineteenth century.Fairytales, however, were far from being the only kind of German children's reading to be translated into English.Educational, moral and religious stories appeared right at the beginning of the process and became particularly prevalent in the Victorian period.In general, these tales have not worn as well as the fairytales, having virtually disappeared from publishers' lists by the time of the First World War, if not earlier.But as 'reward' books, prizes given for Sunday school attendance and the like, they were distributed in enormous quantities in the latter part of the nineteenth century.Of course, the German tales formed only a small proportion of this material, but one of the most widely circulated was Christoph von Schmid's The Basket of Flowers.This archetypal religious tale can usually still be found today in the stock of most second-hand book dealers who keep nineteenthcentury books.More than 120 different editions of this story are known in English.This range of educational, moral and religious material overlaps to a considerable extent with tales of adventure and exploration, since in our period the latter were usually designed to point moral lessons.The deeds of explorers demonstrated heroism, stoic endurance, courage, inventiveness and the need for mutual support in the face of danger.They could also be used to provide lessons in history, geography, botany and zoology, as we find in the various adaptations of Robinson Crusoe, especially The Swiss Family Robinson.by a much larger proportion of the population.The phrase 'translated from the German' on a title-page always needs to be treated with care.In some instances it may, misleadingly, only mean that the original was written in German.In some instances the name of the original author of a story, in addition to that of the translator, may be omitted from the title-page, so it can be difficult to trace the source.The reason for the omission of names may in certain cases relate to matters of copyright, but it may also have to do with the low status accorded to children's authors.Many such writers were credited on title-pages as the author of their best selling book rather than having their own name given.The history of children's books presents all kinds of bibliographical problems, since publishers often failed to date their publications so that potential buyers would always imagine they were up-to-date.It is thus very useful to find copies of books with dated inscriptions or labels inside them.These may in addition provide helpful information about patterns of readership.Prefaces may give indications of target readership or buyers, but that is not the same as actual readers, whose responses are very difficult to trace.Of the many children's books that came from Germany to Britain some have proved to be of enduring value.The fairytales of the Brothers Grimm and of Wilhelm Hauff are still part of children's reading today, and new translations and newly illustrated editions keep appearing on the market.The same is true of Munchausen, The Swiss Family Robinson and Struwwelpeter.These works endure because in some extraordinary way they transcend the particular circumstances of the periods in which they were first put into print.Other works were important in their day, but because social conditions and religious and moral values have changed they have lost their relevance.But even the children's books that endure are subject to adaptation to increase their appeal to new readers.Their texts are never regarded as sacrosanct, and for this reason they exemplify social and cultural changes in a quite fascinating way.Of course, many works are of genuine high literary value in their own right; they need no justification as socio-historical texts.With this variety in subject-matter and treatment the German children's books that made an impact on Britain between 1780 and 1914 provide an appealing area of study.Translations and adaptations of children's books, however, constitute only part, though the major one, of the impact that Germany had on nineteenth-century British children's literature.Many British educators sought to satisfy curiosity about Germany by providing information in school-books about its geography, topography, history and culture.Some of this, especially at the outset of our period, is rudimentary and secondhand, tending to be anecdotal rather than analytic, but as the years go by gradually a more detailed picture of the country and its long history is built up.Textbooks are supplemented by travel books, and towards the end of the nineteenth century we find history presented also in story form.Illustrations naturally play a significant role in presenting this material.Linked with books dealing with German history and culture I have included a chapter on Germany's national epic, the Nibelungenlied, and its central figure Siegfried.Here we find mingled translations of the high literature of adults and its adaptation for children, the latter of which does not begin until the mid nineteenth century.There is, moreover, a striking combination of German and Norse materials, beginning with Fouqué and reaching its apogee with Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (1863).Wagner, however, lies outside the scope of this book, which concentrates on the medieval epic and the works that go with it.While textbooks generally provide historical accounts going back to the Romans, several British authors wrote novels of their own, focussing on key periods of German history such as the Thirty Years War and the Franco-Prussian War.G. A. Henty is best known for his boys' adventure stories placed in the context of Britain's colonial expansion, but three of his boys' books focus on aspects of German history and contemporary events.Hesba Stretton, one of the foremost writers of evangelically motivated fiction at the end of the century, wrote about the Franco-Prussian War as it affected the lives of a family and their neighbours in Strasbourg.She was followed by several other authors, and it is interesting to note differences of approach and attitude over a period of some thirty to forty years.While Britain stood politically on the sidelines as far as the Thirty Years War and the Franco-Prussian War were concerned, British armed forces were directly involved in the First World War.For British children this resulted in a plethora of books on current events, contemporary history, adventure stories and political satires based on children's classics such as Lewis Carroll's Alice books, Hoffmann's Struwwelpeter and nursery rhymes.The First World War marks a fundamental change in British attitudes towards Germany.The positive appreciation of German culture and its signal contribution to British children's books was abruptly shattered.Only classics such as the Grimms' fairytales and Struwwelpeter survived 1

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