Sunday, June 29, 2025

Books: Brothers Grimm - A Biography By Ann Schmiesing

 


(Drivebycuriosity) - Almost everybody knows "Snow White", "Hänsel and Gretel", "Cinderella" & "Rumpelstilzkin", the fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm. Ann Schmiesing describes in "The Brothers Grimm - A Biography" the life of Jacob (1785–1863) & Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859) ( amazon).

The brothers are famous for collecting & publishing fairy tales, but they saw themselves as scholars and even scientists and they worked all their lives on much larger projects.

 

      1. Strengthening German Identity 

Their main goal was to preserve the German cultural heritage. The Grimms thought it necessary to strengthen Germany´s identity because the state "Germany" did not exist in their lifetimes. Before the unification in 1871 existed a patchwork of about 300 independent German speaking polities - kingdoms, duchies, counties, electorates and independent cities like Hamburg & Frankfurt; and the European continent was shaken by the rise and fall of Napoleon and the related wars & revolutions. 

The Grimm Brothers grew up - and lived many years - in a remote area, named Hessen, that in the early 19th century was occupied by France and ruled by Napoleon, his brothers and other French authorities. Their lives were influenced by the physical and cultural devastation caused by the Napoleonic Wars and their work can be seen as an answer to French cultural dominance and military occupation. 

Jacob & Wilhelm wanted to support the struggle against Napoleon. According to the biographer the brothers focused on uncovering the Germanic past by working on older literature partly as a response to the French occupation and the advent of French cultural and political influence. Jacob believed that the shared German heritage pointed the way to a unified German political stateBut they also appreciated other national traditions and they published studies pertaining to the languages and literature of Scandinavia, Spain, Ireland, and Eastern Europe, among other nations or regions.



            2. Promoting German Culture

The Grimms were also driven "by the desire to preserve something considered valuable before it might be lost". They feared that the German cultural heritage, represented by language, fairy tales and legends, "had been injured by urbanization, industrialization and related factors" and might vanish soon. Therefore they created significant inputs to social sciences like linguistic, literary history, mythography, runology, folklore, medieval studies and lexicography. 

Jacob worked years on a book about "German Grammar" and published 1,100 pages in the year 1822. "Grammar" was groundbreaking because it helped establish linguistic as a science. Jacob´s detection of how sounds in the German languages had in the distant past systematically shifted became famous as Grimm`s law. The significance of this work has been compared to that of Darwin`s "On the Origin of Species". Grimm`s contemporary, the poet & literature critic, Heinrich Heine likened "Grammar" to a colossal Gothic cathedral in which the various Germanic peoples sang together, each in their own dialects.  

Close to the end of their lives the brothers worked together on their grand dictionary project, with the goal providing a dictionary that would be comprehensive not just with respect to words defined, but also in term of cultural heritage. They thought that "High German" was important for the German cultural heritage and therefore to the goal of German unification. Jacob also published works on German law and mythology and a two-volume "History of the German Language". 


3. Fighting For Freedom & Against Censorship

But the brothers didn´t just live on an ivory tower of science. They were political and romantics, skeptical of monarchy, devoted to free speech, opposed to the censorship of literature and the arts. Threatened by burgeoning literacy rates, the rulers of the German kingdoms, duchies and electorates became more zealous in controlling what people could and could not read. Wilhelm wrote in 1815: "The rulers have shown little insights into the lives of their people and little willingness. Nevertheless, I am firmly convinced that a good seed has not only been sown but has also sprouted and can no longer be suppressed. If only it can grow slowly, it will grow that much securely, just as nature manifests itself more nobly in plants that need a longer time to grow but are, as a result, more durable." 

The Grimms were part of a group of professors at  University of Göttingen (Göttingen Seven) who wrote and signed a statement protesting against the annulment of the constitution of the Kingdom of Hanover by its new ruler, King Ernest Augustus, and refused to swear an oath to the king. As a result the Grimms and the other signers got fired and they had to leave the kingdom immediately to avoid arrest. Today they are celebrated for their bold commitment to liberty. 

 

  4. Creating An UNESCO ‘Memory of the World’ Heritage Document 

Almost as a byproduct Jacob & Wilhelm created an UNESCO ‘Memory of the World’ Heritage Document: Their famous "Kinder und Hausmärchen" (Children’s and Household Tales). Their informants were literate, middle-class, young adult townspeople and they did not conform to the prevalent image of the storyteller as an uneducated, older peasant woman from the countryside. 

The Grimms often edited and altered the plots, for instance in an earlier version "Rumpelstiltskin merely run away in rage after the miller´s daughter correctly guesses his name", in a later version "Rumpelstiltskin angrily stomps his right foot into the ground and sinks up to his waist, then pulls his left foot so forcibly that he tears in two and destroys himself". Wilhelm also mixed two or more tales to form the version presented in the second version.

 

                   5. Personal Struggles

Grimm`s work is even more impressive because all their lives both brothers were struggling. Wilhelm had severe health issues, he suffered from asthma and had a troublesome heart ailment. And the Grimms had to deal with stressed finances because their salaries at universities, libraries and other employments were meager and their "Kinder und Hausmärchen" wasn´t a success during their life time. "They often rationed their food, at times sharing portions among themselves, skipping meals, going out without wine, and cutting out evening tea when the price of sugar rose too high".

 

                6. Conclusion 

 The biographer concludes: "Through tens of thousands of painstakingly researched pages of published scholarship and collected texts, the Grimms were among the foremost contributors to the post-Napoleonic German national awakening. Together or individually, they had collected folk songs, fairy tales, legends, myths, customs, legal texts, and related documents attesting to the cultural production of the German-speaking lands."   

Ann Schmiesing, a professor and administrator at the University of Colorado Boulder, did an impressive job. Besides covering the lives of the brothers and their families & friends, she also introduced the reader into a historical epoch of the German speaking lands and describes the fundamental political movements that changed the world of the Grimms. 

This blog post is just a condensate and it might be biased by my own world view as an economist, therefore I really recommend reading this wonderful book. 

PS On top of this post I use a fictional image of Dorothea Viehmann, the woman who allegedly delivered most of the fairy tales. The image represents the Grimms visiting Viehmann at her cottage.  

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Photography: Manhattan`s Billboards 2025


 (Drivebycuriosity) - I am fascinated by New York City, where I have been living since 2012. I am amazed by the hustle & bustle and the sheer size of the metropolis. Part of the fascination are the huge billboards you can spot all over Manhattan.

 



 

The billboards give the streets a cinematic quality.  





 

Ain`t they beautiful? 

 




Stay tuned 



Sunday, June 22, 2025

Books: Eleven By Patricia Highsmith

 


(Drivebycuriosity) - 
Patricia Highsmith belonged to the most important writers of the 20th century, blending art with entertainment. Her murderous tales are deeply influenced by Sigmund Freud and her own secret obsessions. The short story collection "Eleven" gives a perfect introduction into her work ( amazon).

The Highsmith was obsessed by snails. She kept about 300 in her home and took her favorite, Hortense, on travels. It is not surprising that the collection has 2 snail stories. The famous "The Snail Watcher" (10 pages) is about scientific interest that turns into obsession and then into horror. The 2nd snail story, "The Quest for Blank Claveringi" (19 pages), is a fairy tale that reminds of Brother Grimms`and also a bit of Robert Louis Stevenson´s South Sea Tales, set on a remote tropical island. The Highsmith showed that she is also a master in the genre of old fashioned (in a good sense) adventure stories.

"When the Fleet was at Mobile" is a sad story about an unfortunate girl. Highsmith`s tales are usually not friendly to women, but here she was. The story "Mr. Afton, Among the Gree Braes", focuses on a psychological analyst, inspired by her deep interest in psychology and the lectures of Sigmund Freud. In "The Heroine" a family hired a very strange girl as a nurse for their children and trusted her blindly? Really a good idea? In "The Barbarians" rowdy people play noisy ball games and destroy plants in the back yard, making the residents suffer. Reminds me of Manhattan´s Lower East Side and the late nightly open air parties.

Alone the snail stories are already worth reading the book. 

 

 

Friday, June 20, 2025

Books: Exploring The Fascinating World Of Beer

 


 (Drivebycuriosity) - Do you like beer? For me it is an acquired taste. I gave up on barley juice when I lived in Germany, because I found the German brews boring and - having lots of calories - they raised my weight.

I rekindled my interest in beer when I began to live in the US and got introduced into the varieties of American craft beers, especially IPS, and become a connoisseur of artisan fermented grain juices.

The little booklet "Exploring The Fascinating World Of Beer" by Marc Ferrari gives a nice introduction (about 75 pages amazon ). The author describes the history of beer - starting with the Sumerians - and tells how barley - or other grains - are turned into malt and then fermented into beer; he names the importance of the different kinds of yeast & hops and sketches the divergent brewing methods for lager beer ( including Pils ) and ales (including IPAs) and the importance of the mineral content of water. Ferrari also covers the economics of beer brewing, the influence of the industrial revolution & technological progress.

 

                   Health Aspects 

I find especially the health aspects interesting. Beer reduces the risk of heart disease! "Beer contains antioxidants that help prevent to oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, also known as ´bad`cholesterol, which can lead to the formation of plaque in the arteries. Additionally, beer contains flavonoids, which have anti-inflammatory properties that can further reduce the risk of heart disease." 

The book was written in a simple language - with plenty repeats - , but has a lot useful information and it hits the spot

Sunday, June 15, 2025

Economics: Why Did The Unstoppable Rise Of E-Commerce Come To A Halt?

 


 (Drivebycuriosity) - There is much ado about the allegedly unstoppable rise of e-commerce, but data from the UK show that the advance of online shopping came to an halt - at least in percentages of total retail sales. The image on the top displays the trend in the UK over the last 20 years ( ons.gov.uk). Before 2020 e-commerce gained annually on average about 1.3 percentage points and climbed from 2.8% in February 2007 up to 19.1% in February 2020.

 



During Covid the rise suddenly accelerated and peaked in January 2021. The pandemic forced many to stay at home, to avoid crowded shops and to buy online. Therefore internet sales jumped up to 37.8% of the total retail sales. But when the pandemic came to an end, people went out again and restarted visiting shops - and e-commerce dropped relatively.

 


I expected that the pre-Covid trend will restart after a while - just on a lower level. But so far I have been proven wrong. In the recent 12 months the quotient dropped from 26.3% (April 2024) to 25.9% (April 2025). 

What are the reasons? There are no reports that could explain the setback, I can only speculate. I suppose that many people had enough from the Covid curfews and enjoy going out even more. Maybe they prefer to go shops - crowded or not - where they can meet & watch other people? 

But I believe that the advantages of online shopping - like fast & free deliveries to the home door and huge selections - will get even stronger over time and the upwards trend will return. Time will tell.

 

 

Thursday, June 12, 2025

Science Fiction: Valuable Humans In Transit And Other Stories


 (Drivebycuriosity) - Being a connoisseur of science fiction I am always on the quest for new voices, those who turn science into entertaining tales, the heirs of Arthur C. Clarke & Isaac Asimov. A while ago I discovered a writer with the pseudonym qntm, who´s very weird novella "There is no Antimemetics Division" 
fascinated me, even though I did not fully understand it (my review ). The author can write, owns plenty of imagination and seems to be well educated in mathematics, information theory, astrophysics and the like.

I just finished the collection "Valuable Humans in Transit and other Stories" (amazon ). The crisp 9 shorts and essays did not disappoint.

I have 3 favorites:

 "Gorge", a slick space opera. The staff of a space ship discovers a sphere drifting in space that has very strange properties. They begin to explore it, with disconcerting results (this is a spoiler free block). The tale reminds of the best stories of Asimove & Clarke 

"A Powerful Culture" belongs to the best alternate worlds & parallel universes stories I read - and I had read a lot  

"The Frame-by-Frame" is a funny tale where the diverse software threads of a self-driving car are discussing with each other about a suddenly approaching challenging traffic situation, using all available information

The rest includes musings about cutting edge physicists and those who support them, digital brain enhancement, a hostage situation, a meteor disaster and more. 

I indulged into qntm´s dry style. Here a taster: "The town is like fog; so spaced out that you barely notify you`ve entered it. I failed to find anything resemble a center. I couldn´t help but think it must be made entirely of suburbs".    

Highly recommended for readers who are interested into cutting edge science fiction.  

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Books: Act Of Oblivion By Robert Harris

 


(Drivebycuriosity) - The 17th century in England was a bloody mess, full of violence. After the death of Elizabeth I the Stuarts became kings. The son and the grand sons of Elizabeth`s nemesis Maria Stuart intended to turn England`s history back and tried to nullify the Anti-Catholic reforms of the Tudors. Especially the regime of Charles I, an absolutist and tyrannic ruler, ruined England and cost the lives of many. Charles`tyranny lead finally to a revolution and his execution in the year 1649, followed by a republic, led by Oliver Cromwell (very well described in Jonathan Healey`s "The Blazing World - A New History of Revolutionary England" my review ). 

Robert Harris`novel "Act of Oblivion" begins about 20 years after the execution (amazon ). Another Stuart became king, Charles II, the son of the executed, another absolutist ruler & tyrant. It goes without saying that the new king started a bloody revenge and ordered a hunt for those who participated directly or indirectly on the execution, the regicides. The plot follows two of the regicides, who had fled over the ocean and tried to hide in the English colonies, and one (fictional) man, who has just one target, to catch the regicides and to kill them.

It is a sad & sinister plot, maybe about karma - this comes from that - and also about revenge, obsession, fanaticism, bigotry, superstition and politics. The plot is well told. Harris describes 17th century London, the roughness of the English American settlements, the violence of conflicting radicals and more impressively. "It seems that wherever you go, disaster follows". 

But the plot became too depressing and the finale  seems ridiculous & implausible too me. I stick with Healey`s history.