In this thesis I investigate the extent to which the Brother Grimms’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen (KHM) can be considered as a document of modernity. This gives ground to argue that over the course of more than forty years between 1810- 1857 this collection underwent a series of editorial changes, which might be perceived as a consequence of modernity. This line of inquiry involves investigating the concept of modernity in the socio-cultural context of late eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century Germany. In essence, I understand modernity as a conceptual shift from old Europe to the emergence of the modern era, which occurs at a time during which the KHM were created.Focussing on the concept of modernity may yield new insight into the field on the Grimms’ Märchen and the period in which they were written. In particular, I wish to explore how the Grimms’ Märchenbuch may have functioned as a product of this shift. In the first instance, the story began in 1806 when the Brothers Grimm conceived the KHM under the shadow of the Napoleonic wars (1799-1814). The wars and other events around this period forced many to harbour more flexible views of the world than ever before in order to deal with the growing awareness of contingency, transience, loss of certainty and perpetual change. My thesis therefore aims to validate the claim that modernity may have played a vital role in shaping the Grimms’ views of the world and thus their Märchen.
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The Grimms’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen as a Product of Modernity