The Review of Contemporary Fiction

Grimm's Last Fairytale by Haydn Middleton
Sally E. Parry

Haydn Middleton. Grimm’s Last Fairytale. St. Martin’s, 2001. 249 pp. $23.95.

Weaving together strands of biography, history, and fairy tale, Middleton creates a novel rich in allusion and mystery. Ostensibly, the book is about the last days of Jacob Grimm, the older of the two German brothers who collected and published their country’s tales and legends. Grimm is being escorted by his niece Auguste and manservant Kummel to many of the places he knew as a child. This journey is not only a literal one, but a trip to his past where he recalls his mother, his beloved brother Willi, and the sacrifices he made to support his family after his father died. One of the most intriguing aspects of the novel is the seamless way that it slips between Jacob’s present and his past, which often seems more real to him. He worked hard throughout his life for Germany, hoping for unification of the country, and saw their collection of fairy tales, as well as a German dictionary that he worked on until the day he died, as ways to bring the country together in spirit. "Story, story, story" is a constant refrain throughout the book, referring to the brothers’ demands for stories when they were young, and then the collecting of tales in their travels. Auguste, too, wants a story, for she suspects that her uncle Jacob is really her father because they seem to be alike in so many ways. Even the mysterious Kummel has a story to tell Jacob, one of the last that he will hear before he dies. Woven into the narrative is a fairy tale about a peasant boy who becomes a prince, wakes a sleeping beauty, unites a kingdom, and then discovers that his mother is an ogre. The tale operates on several levels, commenting on Grimm’s private and public lives, as well as Germany itself. Grimm’s Last Fairytale is an engaging novel with many stories to tell. [Sally E. Parry]