The maravilhoso between voice and writing: projects of compilation and translation of popular narratives

Abstract

In January 1811, Jacob Grimm, with the agreement of his brother Wilhelm and a poet, Clemens Brentano, wrote a letter to the German people urging them to collect their traditional narratives. The text Aufförderung an die gesamte Freunde deutscher Poesie und Geschichte summarizes the compiling project that would result one year later in an assemblage of wonderful tales entitled Kinder-und Hausmärchen. While the Grimm’s undertaking followed its own path, the eagerness to organize popular narratives found, although later, fertile ground in Brazil. This study aims a comparative study of the guiding conceptions outlined in the letter, linking them to the collection efforts undertaken by Silvio Romero, and, more contemporaneously, by the research project developed in the north of the country.