Professor Terry Gunnell’s lecture dedicated to Professor Walter Anderson on October 30 at 16.15, Ülikooli 16-212

Professor Terry Gunnell (University of Iceland) will give an online lecture dedicated to the founder of the Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore and the first Professor Walter Anderson on October 30 at 16.15, Ülikooli 16-212

“Grimm Ripples: The Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen and the Collection and Creation of National Folk Narratives in Northern Europe”

When we think of the influence of the Brothers Grimm on the collection of folk narratives, the knee-jerk reaction is to refer to Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812-1815). Much less attention is given to the more obviously political Deutsche Sagen which followed in the wake of the former work in 1816-1818. This lecture, introducing a large international project on the influence of the Grimms in northern Europe in the nineteenth century (entitled Grimm Ripples), will argue that while Kinder- und Hausmärchen clearly received immediate international attention, this was essentially because of its merits as a collection of stories for children. Deutsche Sagen on the other hand was much more obviously associated with the romantic nationalistic movement, something that is clearly apparent from the “Introduction” and the fact that under the heading of “Deutsche”, it placed material from not only Germany, but also Switzerland and Austria and the contested borderland area of Germany and Denmark. Within a year it had set off a cultural tsunami of folk tale collection in not only the Nordic countries (starting for logical reasons in Denmark), but also in Ireland and Scotland, in most places with an initial stress on the collection and publication of folk legends rather than wonder tales. The lecture will examine this development, among other things considering the role that this new material played in terms of the creation of new forms of national literature, art, and music and new national and international cultural networks of people interested in nation building.

Terry Gunnell is Professor of Folkloristics at the University of Iceland. He is author of The Origins of Drama in Scandinavia (1995); editor of Masks and Mumming in the Nordic Area (2007) and Legends and Landscape (2008); and joint editor of The Nordic Apocalypse: Approaches to Völuspá and Nordic Days of Judgement (with Annette Lassen, 2013); and Málarinn og menningarsköpun: Sigurður Guðmundsson og Kvöldfélagið (with Karl Aspelund), which received a nomination for the Icelandic Literature Prize (Íslensku bókmenntaverðlaunin) for 2017. He has also written a wide range of articles on Old Norse religion, Nordic folk belief and legend, folk drama and performance, and is behind the creation of the on-line Sagnagrunnur database of Icelandic folk legends in print (http://sagnagrunnur.com/en/); the national survey into Folk Belief in Iceland (2006-2007); and (with Karl Aspelund) the on-line database dealing with the Icelandic artist Sigurður Guðmundsson and the creation of national culture in Iceland in the mid-19th century (https://sigurdurmalari.hi.is/english).

All are welcome!

Information: Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore, Liilia Laaneman, liilia.laaneman@ut.ee

Video recording of the lecture is available at the UTTV video server.