{"id":30782,"date":"2024-10-25T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T08:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=30782"},"modified":"2024-10-24T15:42:15","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T15:42:15","slug":"struwwelpeter-in-english-translation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/10\/25\/struwwelpeter-in-english-translation\/","title":{"rendered":"Struwwelpeter – in English Translation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Heinrich Hoffman<\/strong>, translated by (Dover Publications)
\nISBN: 978-0-486-28469-9 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Forever Fearsome and Eternally Disturbing \u20268\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

It might not have occurred to you, but it looks like most of our ancestors were real scary callous bastards. Once upon a time we weren\u2019t afraid to scare the bejeezus out of our kids, and look just how much quieter everything was. It was a philosophy that held hard for decades. In Britain during the 1960s and 1970s, Public Information Films all knew the value of terrorising kids and free-thinking potential troublemakers, presumably with the intention of keeping us silent and quite, quite still until we reached the age of 21. If the films were right, though, I assume many of us never did…<\/p>\n

For horror writers and especially comic creators, Struwwelpeter<\/strong> may well be the most influential book of all time, regardless of what age they first encountered it. Even now, it\u2019s hard to come away from the text and pictures and – remembering that this was bought by millions of parents as an entertainment and\/or instructional gospel – without screaming out loud \u201cwhat was wrong with you people!!!?\u201d<\/p>\n

The be-all-&-end-all of cautionary tales for the instruction and correction of wayward youth was crafted and initially self-published by German physician (and later psychiatrist) Heinrich Hoffman in January 1845. Lustige Geschichten und drollige Bilder mit 15 sch\u00f6n kolorierten Tafeln f\u00fcr Kinder von 3\u20136 Jahren<\/em> or \u201cFunny stories and droll pictures with 15 beautifully coloured panels for children of 3-6 years\u201d offered illustrated rhymes (all snazzy, full-colour lithographic plates) and looked awfully like the comics of a later era. The printed collation, attributed to \u201cHoffmann Kinderslieb\u201d, apparently evolved from family bedtime tales, and only reached proper publishers thanks to the Frankfurt literary club the Tutti Frutti Society (Gesellschaft der Tutti-Frutti<\/em>).<\/p>\n

From there perspicacious go-getter Zacharias L\u00f6wenthal, co-founder of publishing house Literarische Anstalt<\/em>, unleashed a commercial edition that just kept going back to the presses. It was of course, bootlegged across the world by dozens more printers and publishers. Shock-headed Peter<\/strong> was translated into English by the author and just kept on going. Its imagery and concepts struck a perennial chord with the parental public everywhere, eventually permeating stage, books, film, musicals, comics, criticism, and all manner of mass entertainment. The book\u2019s style and content even became propaganda tools in a few Anglo-Germanic wars along the way…<\/p>\n

This Dover edition from 2013 heavily refences the 328th<\/sup> (!) edition and includes in its bonus section, the \u2018Anniversary Page for the Hundredth Edition\u2019<\/em> – as well as the \u2018Original German Text\u2019<\/em> and a biographical \u2018Afterword\u2019<\/em> on the author\u2019s life.
\n\"\"
\nAll jocularity aside, this is a masterpiece and landmark of graphic narrative, one that all cognoscenti don\u2019t have to like but really should be aware of. In deference to changing times and attitudes, and the latterday argument that Hoffman might have been using his book as a therapeutic tool for mental disorders of the young, I\u2019m just going to run a couple of the least spooky\/offensive pages, list the individual yarns in order and simply say no more.<\/p>\n

In a constant mind-bending flow, brace yourselves for titular triumph \u2018Shock-Headed Peter\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Story of Cruel Frederick\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Dreadful Story About Harriet and the Matches\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Story of the Inky Boys\u2019<\/em> (as racist a tale as you\u2019ll ever find in these enlightened days!), \u2018The Story of the Man that Went Out Shooting\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Story of Little Suck-A-Thumb\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Story of Augustus Who Would Not Have Any Soup\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Story of Fidgett Philip\u2019 <\/em>and \u2018The Story of Johnny Head-In-Air\u2019<\/em> before innocuously closing with \u2018The Story of Flying Robert\u2019<\/em>…
\n\"\"
\nShort, surprising and unquestionably unmissable; read with caution, please, children.
\n\u00a9 1995 by Dover Publications, Inc. all rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Heinrich Hoffman, translated by (Dover Publications) ISBN: 978-0-486-28469-9 (TPB\/Digital edition) Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Forever Fearsome and Eternally Disturbing \u20268\/10 This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. It might not have occurred to you, but it looks like most of our ancestors were real scary callous bastards. Once upon a time … <\/p>\n

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