Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2015-09-07T04:00:00+00:00

Krüss, James (1926–97) German author of children’s and picture books, illustrator, poet, dramatist, scriptwriter, translator, and collector of children’s poems and folk songs. First and foremost, Krüss is a storyteller, whose fantastic and whimsical tales are deeply rooted in folk-tale and oral storytelling tradition. Many of his books are actually collections of tales held together by a frame story. Such is the case with Mein Urgrossvater und ich (My Great Grandfather and I, 1959), for which he received the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Prize for Children’s and Youth Literature), with its sequel Mein Urgrossvater, die Helden und ich (My Great Grandfather, the Heroes, and I, 1967), and with Der Leuchtturm auf den Hummerklippen (The Lighthouse on the Lobster Cliffs, 1956).

Storytelling and language itself not only keep the protagonists in these books entertained, but provide them with new insights and at times the means to survive. Stories flatten the differences and shrink the distances between children and adults. By way of stories Krüss can and does address his young readers as equals. With Timm Thaler oder das verkaufte Lachen (Timm Thaler or the Sold Laughter, 1962), a modern version of the pact with the devil, Krüss prepared the ground for social criticism in children’s literature. With Timm, who sells his laughter to the devil, Krüss criticizes the growing materialism and consumerism of Germany’s economic miracle years. Krüss received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his body of work in 1968.

Eva-Marie Metcalf

Doderer, Klaus, Zwischen Trümmern und Wohlstand. Literatur der Jugend 1945–1960 (1988).

Doderer, Klaus, James Krüss: Insulaner und Weltbürger (2009).

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