Grimms Märchen: A semi automatic exploration of intertextuality and intratextuality

Emily Franzini and Greta Franzini
Göttingen Centre for Digital Humanities, University of Göttingen

The Grimms Märchen project represents one of eTRAP’s use-cases for the study of the multicultural and multilingual textual influences surrounding the famous fairy tale collection penned by brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. With Göttingen being for many years the home of the Grimm brothers and now of eTRAP, this new project was born out of a symbolical obligation to keep the work of the brothers as alive in the digital age as it is in traditional scholarship. And Tartu, with its strong folklore tradition, provides the ideal setting for eTRAP to formally announce Grimms Märchen and to commemorate the work that notable Grimm scholars, such as Ruth Bottigheimer, presented in this same location some years ago.

This short presentation will introduce the audience to the project as well as the textual collections and original sources under investigation, some of which are newly digitised and thus previously unexplored with digital technologies. It will elaborate on the project’s research questions, methodology and future steps, and on how our international team addresses issues of multilingualism. Finally, it will discuss the collaborations and teaching activities that are being built on and around the project.