Abstract
I examine four tales in the Grimms’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen in which human characters are described as physiologically black. Against the background of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century conceptions of race, ethnicity, and skin color, the centuries-old pre-Christian and Christian mythologies of color that influence these portrayals of blackness in the Grimms’ fairy tales likely took on new layers of meaning for readers and story- tellers. This is particularly the case in “The Three Black Princesses,” in which black color symbolism appears in an exotic setting that can be read in the context of early nineteenth-century imaginings of the colonial Other.
Recommended Citation
Schmiesing, Ann. "Blackness in the Grimms’ Fairy Tales." Marvels & Tales 30.2 (2017). Web. <https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/marvels/vol30/iss2/4>.
