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Paper short abstract:

The paper explores the role and significance of home as the quintessential human, familiar space, and the consequences of crossing its threshold to venture into the unknown in two narrative genres in Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s Kinder- und Hausmärchen: cautionary tales and fairy tales.

Paper long abstract:

The domestic space is the typical starting point for the generically diverse narratives included in Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812/15-1857; KHM). However, as this paper aims to demonstrate, its portrayal and the imperative to abandon it (or lack thereof) are highly dependent on genre. To illustrate this, the paper will utilize comparative textual analysis in its examination of two genres: a) cautionary tales, which depict home as a safe haven and its abandonment as an act which inevitably leads to disaster, and b) fairy tales, which provide a more ambivalent portrayal of home. Namely, the domestic setting figures as a source of both safety and threat, often undergoing transformations at the onset of the narrative (e.g. the introduction of a malevolent stepparent can turn an idyllic family home into a source of danger). Regardless of their initial portrayal of the space of home, the narrative in both genres is dependent on the protagonist leaving home and venturing into the unknown. However, crossing the domestic threshold plays markedly different roles in the two genres: in cautionary tales it signifies the breaking of an interdiction and is therefore severely punished, while in fairy tales it creates the necessary conditions for the protagonist's encounter with the marvellous and ultimate improvement of his/her material conditions and social status.