An Interview With Maria Tatar

05/17/20 • 37 min

Welcome to Extra Grimm, where we delve deeper into the world of the Brothers Grimm for the curious.

In this episode, we chat to fairy tale expert Maria Tatar about all things Grimm. Maria is a Harvard professor specialising in folklore, myth and germanic literature, and she's the author of several books on fairy tales including her new book "The Fairest of Them All: Snow White and 21 Tales of Mothers and Daughters".
Topics covered include such classics as sexism in fairy tales, how to read these stories to children, the monogenesis vs. polygenesis debate, why the Grimms had such a big impact, and much more besides - even Quentin Tarantino pops up at one point.
When lockdown engulfed the world we wanted to try something a little different. Having read her brilliant book "The Hard Facts Of The Brothers Grimm", we thought it would be amazing to hear directly from Maria about the Brothers Grimm and fairy tales. We hope you enjoy this eye-opening chat.
You can find Maria on Twitter @mariamtatar

Welcome to Extra Grimm, where we delve deeper into the world of the Brothers Grimm for the curious.

Previous Episode

48. The Three Languages

In The Three Languages, a Swiss boy narrowly escapes execution at the hands of his father. With nothing but an expanded linguist repertoire, he sets out to make his way in the world. Will he survive an angry pack of spectral dogs? And will he heed the call of a frog’s prophecy?
After the story, things get intellectually rigorous as Adam is presented with three theories as to what’s going on: an historical interpretation of the tale, a Romantic interpretation, and a psychological one.

Finally we pick the next stories we’ll be reading and reveal the result of our Patreon story poll.

This is our first remote recording and unfortunately the quality isn’t super high. We’ve fixed it now and future recordings will be up better quality!

We are also delighted to present our first ever podcast collaboration with the wonderful Pontifacts! They make a special guest appearance and provide fascinating historical information for us to mull on.

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Theme music: Bicycle Waltz by Goodbye Kumiko

Other Music: Chopin's Andante Spianato, Op. 22 performed by Stefano Ligoratti // Chopin's Mazurka in B flat major performed by Christoph Zbinden // Byrd's Mass for Four Voices - I. Kyrie Eleison performed by the Ensemble Morales // Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21 - II. Larghetto performed by Neal O'Doan

Next Episode

49. Thousandfurs

Taboos abound in this week's episode, Thousandfurs, where things take a decidedly dark turn. On her deathbed, a queen makes an ill-judged demand of her husband, and he decides to marry his own daughter. Escaping into the woods, the princess is captured and put to work in a castle kitchen. But she sees the chance of salvation when the king of this castle throws an elaborate festival...
After the story, we look into sparkly dresses and Germanic spinning courtship rituals, before turning our attention to the elephant in the room - incest, and it's place in folklore and myth.

Finally, we hear the jaw-droppingly twisted Italian version of this fairy tale: She-Bear.

This episode is Certified Grimm and may not be suitable for all listeners.

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Theme music: Bicycle Waltz by Goodbye Kumiko

Other Music: Brahms' Symphony No. 4 - Allegro non troppo, Op. 98 performed by New York Philharmonic Orchestra // Brahms' String Sextet No. 1, Op. 18 performed by Musicians From Marlboro // Brahms' String Sextet No. 2, Op. 36 performed by the Borromeo String Quartet with Liz Freivogel (viola) and Daniel McDonough (cello)