By Popularizing The Common German Folklore, These Stories, Told Around The

By popularizing the common German folklore, these stories, told around the world even today, became a source of pride and patriotism. The Brothers Grimm, it must be remembered, lived and worked through the French occupation and remained intensely patriotic to their own people as did many others. This alone sets their work apart from the work of others of this time period.
As stated previously, the Germany of the Brothers Grimm was not the Germany we know today. In the early 1800s, the country we now call 'Germany' was basically a collection of separate entities. There was no central unifying theme to draw the country together, no sense of national identity. The single unifying factor of these separate entities was a shared language; there was not yet a standard literary history.
It is largely due to the work of the Brothers Grimm that Germany has this important legacy. When it comes to fairy tales, their work is both innovative and significant. Everyone has something to say about fairy talesand almost everything has something different to say. As Tatar notes, 'folklorists, cultural anthropologists, historians, sociologists, educators, literary critics, psychologistseven criminologistshave all laid claim to occupying privileged positions as judges and interpreters of those
tales' (Tatar 39).
The Brothers Grimm embraced the notions of Romanticism at a crucial moment in history. During this time, there was no sense of 'Germany'it was merely a collection of principalities with no unifying theme. The turmoil wrought by Napoleonic rule was exacerbated by Jerome's uneven reign. Despite thisand despite their numerous personal obstaclesJacob and Wilhelm were able to draw together the key and major works of the past, and to present them and publish them in a format that would preserve German culture to this day.References

Fohr, Samuel Denis. 1991. Cinderella's Gold Slipper. Wheaton, IL: The Theosophical Publishing House.
Haase, Donald, ed. 1993. The Reception of Grimms' Fairy Tales: Responses, Reactions, Revisions. .Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.
Köhler-Zülch, Ines. 1993. 'Heinrich Pröhle: A Successor to the Brothers Grimm'. Pp. 4158 in Haase, Donald, ed. 1993. The Reception of Grimms' Fairy Tales: Responses, Reactions, Revisions. .Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.
McGlathery, James, et al. 1988. The Brothers Grimm and Folktale. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Michaelis-Jena, Ruth. 1970. The Brothers Grimm. London: Praeger Publishers, Inc.
Neumann, Siegfried. 1993. 'The Brothers Grimm as Collectors ad Editors of German Folktales'. Pp. 2440 in Haase, Donald, ed. 1993. The Reception of Grimms' Fairy Tales: Responses, Reactions, Revisions. .Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.
Perkins, Richard. 1993.