The Turnip Princess: And Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales by Franz Xaver von Schonwerth (Penguin Classics)

A rare discovery in the world of fairy tales - now for the first time in English.

With this volume, the holy trinity of fairy tales - the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, and Hans Christian Andersen - becomes a quartet. In the 1850s, Franz Xaver von Schönwerth traversed the forests, lowlands, and mountains of northern Bavaria to record fairy tales, gaining the admiration of even the Brothers Grimm. Most of Schönwerth's work was lost - until a few years ago, when thirty boxes of manu­scripts were uncovered in a German municipal archive.

Now, for the first time, Schönwerth's lost fairy tales are available in English. Violent, dark, and full of action, and upending the relationship between damsels in distress and their dragon-slaying heroes, these more than seventy stories bring us closer than ever to the unadorned oral tradition in which fairy tales are rooted, revolutionizing our understanding of a hallowed genre.

Reviews

One of NPR’s Best Books of the Year

Winner of the Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award

“The tales are fascinating— . . . they have all their original, fiercely oddball appeal.” —NPR, “Best Books of the Year”

“Bawdier, racier and significantly more scatological than the collection the Grimms published.” —Laura Miller, Salon

“This stunning fairy-tale find is grimmer than Grimm. . . . Here is real treasure. Just watch out for the witch.” —The Washington Post

About the Author

Franz Xanver von Schönwerth (1810-1886) was born in Bavaria and had a successful career in law
and the Bavarian royal court before devoting himself to researching the customs of his homeland and preserving its fairy tales and folklore.

Maria Tatar chairs the program in folklore and mythology at Harvard, and has edited and translated many collections of fairy tales.

Eeika Eichenseer is a historian and preservationist working for the Bavarian government and the director of the
Franz Xaver von Schönwerth Society.

Product Details

Format Paperback | 368 pages
Dimensions 129.54 x 195.58 x 17.78mm | 226.8g
Publication date 24 Feb 2015
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Imprint PENGUIN CLASSICS
Publication City/Country London, United Kingdom
Language English
ISBN10 0143107429
ISBN13 9780143107422