The three important authors

AS YOU HAVE SEEN THERE ARE REMARKABLE AUTHORS:

1. CHARLES PERRAULT
2. GRIMM BROTHERS
3. HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

CHARLES PERRAULT

He was born in Paris, France in 1628 and died in 1703. This writer was a leading intellectual of his time. His narratives belonged to a story-telling tradition that has been
shared by countless generations. Not having invented these tales, he gave them literary legitimacy. A slender book of his own creation was published in 1967 containing 8 simple stories called "Stories or Tales from Time Past" which had a clear moral objective.
Charles Perrault wrote these unforgettable titles for children:
The sleeping beauty in the wood.
Little red riding hood.
Blue beard
The master cat or Puss in boots
The fairies
Cinderella or The little glass slipper
Ricky of the tuft
Little thumb
He also wrote three verse narratives: Griselda, The ridiculous wishes, Donkey skin.


GRIMM BROTHERS

Jacob and Wilhelm were born in 1785 and 1786 respectively in Hanau, Germany. They were two of the nine children. In 1791 the family moved to Steinau. Unfortunately, their father died in 1796 and three children had died as well. In 1798 the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm moved to their aunt´s house in Kassel. There they started to study at University of Marburg.
By 1806 they begun to collect folktales. Two years later, their mother and a sister died , thus Jacob started to work as a librarian. In 1812 The Grimm brothers published volume one of "Children and household tales", which contained 86 folktales, later the final version of this book would consist of 200 numbered stories plus 10 children legends. In 1814 the book became the best known and most influential one ever created in the German language.


In 1816 the brothers published a new collection called Deutsche Sagen with 585 German legends. In 1819 They received honorary doctorates from the University of Marburg. In 1829 the Grimms worked as librarians and professors at university. Between 1837 and 1841 they participated in a formal protest and then they decided to work in the university of Berlin. 1842-1852 the brothers gave up their jobs in order to dedicate themselves to their own studies and research. In 1859 Wilhelm Grimm died and four years later his brother having left a great and valued variety of tales for children such as:
Little thumb
Snow white
Rapunzel
Hansel and Gretel
Blue beard
Cinderella and Little red riding hood .

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

He was born on April, 2nd in 1805 in Odense, Denmark and died August , 4th in 1875. Hans´ personal experience was a product of two towns, two social environments, two worlds and two ages. He wrotes many tales,novelas and plays.
In 1816 his father died ill as a soldier during the Napoleonic Wars and his mother remarried in 1818. In 1819 having tried luck at the Royal theatre in Copemhagen as a singer or dancer, he got that influential people worried about his education. In 1822 a theatre manager became his guardian.
In 1826 Hans C. Andersen wrote his famous poem "the dying child". In next year he managed to publish a number of poems in a journal at secondary school. The dying child
book appeared in both Danish and German versions.
In 1828 Andersen passed his leaving examination and he graduated . In 1829 he debuted with his first prose work and first play successfully. Then, in 1831 he wrote a collection of poems and published his first travel account. The following year he got a role in an opera and wrote his first autobiography unknown until 1926.

What´s children´s literature?

1.WHAT´S CHILDREN´S LITERATURE?
Children´s literature includes different literary genres such as riddles, poems, fairy tales and traditional ones which were transmitted from one generation to the other in oral way. At the very beginning, they were destined for an adult public, then they would become the most read books all over the world either by adults or by children. Literature for children as genre has become independent one by 17 th century and it has been developing spectacularly up to now.
Children´s literature can be any book written for children such as comic books, joke books, cartoon books, and nonfiction works; any book written by children like Daisy Ashford with her book called “the young visiters” or “The Juvenilla” of Jane Austen; any book chosen for children can be also “suitable” for them and it can be really determined by various authorities such as teachers, reviewerss, scholars, parents, publishers, librarians, etc., to protect children from the unhappier aspects of life, these characteristics are often found in traditional fairy tales and nursery rhymes. In most cases the whole point of the story is the characters´ transmition into adulthood. Besides, children´s literature takes into account books that children have chosen such as comics, literary classics and great works by modern writers.
According to Nancy Anderson , a profesor at the University of South florida, there are six major categories of children´s literature:
1. picture books
2. traditional books
3. fiction
4. nonfiction
5. biografy
The earliest popular stories amongst children were written in the 15 th century, for example “Robin Hood”. Not until 17 th and 18 th centuries that old fables just forggoten could be read for children in Spain, France and Germany. For instance, Comenio revolutionized children´s literature . He published his book in four languages, in which each word had its corresponding picture. Names such as Charles Perrault, Madame D´Aulnoy( wild boar prince), Madame Leprince de Beaumont are remarkable personalities who benefited to children with their genious works(the beauty and the beast).
At the beginning of 19 th century, romanticism that emphasized the importance of personal feelings and of nature, favoured the heyday of fantasy. Numerous writers recovered ancient legends and thus many classical children´s literature would arise. Writes such as Grimm brothers, Han Christian Andersen, Fernan Caballero(folktales ,legends and popular tales), Lewis Carrol(Alice in the wonderland), Johanna Spyri(Heidi), Oscar Wilde(fairy tales, The happy prince, The selfish giant), etc. caught up with their predecessors.
At the middle of the same century, adventured stories and journeys were usually topics in writers´ works. We can mention authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson(The island of the treasure), Rubyard Kipling(The book of the jungle), Jules Verne, E.T.A. Hoffman(The nutcrakers), Carlo Collodi(Pinochio), amongst others.
By the 20 th century, children´s literature acquired autonomy. In its development writers took into account children´s psychology, their interests and experiences. Unforgatable books were published by James M. Barrie(Peter Pan in 1904), A.A. Milné(Winnie the Pooh in 1927), Kenneth Grahame, Hugh Lofting(Dr. Dolittle), Laura Ingalls Wilder(Little house on the prairie in 1933), Tove Jansson, Pamela Travers(Mary Poppins in 1935), Antoine de Saint -Exupéry, José M. Sanchez Silva, C.S. Lewis(Chronicles of Narnia), Dr. Seuss(The cat in the hat and how the Grinch stole Christmas), J.k.Rowling(Harry Potter series), Eoin Colfer(Artemis Fowl) , etc.