Wilhelm Grimm is one of the famous German brother-storytellers, whose books are relevant at all times. Many are familiar with their "Cinderella", "The Bremen Town Musicians", "The Wolf and the Seven Kids". But not everyone knows that the brothers were not only storytellers, but also great scientists.
Biography: early years
Wilhelm Karl Grimm was born on February 24, 1786 in the small German town of Hanau, which stands on the banks of the Main River. He became the second child in the family. And the firstborn was Jacob, with whom he would later write fairy tales famous all over the planet. Later, three more sons and a daughter were born in the family of the famous lawyer Philip Grimm and Dorothea Zimmer.
When Wilhelm was five years old, his father was appointed to a respectable position in the neighboring town of Steinau. He became the district chief. The whole family moved after him.
Wilhelm, like his older brother Jacob, studied at the Lyceum Fridericianum. It is one of the oldest classical gymnasiums in Germany, located in Kassel. After graduating from it, he became a student at the University of Marburg. Within its walls, Wilhelm studied law. Then he decided to follow in his father's footsteps, who was no longer alive. Later, he realized that jurisprudence did not appeal to him at all. After graduation, Wilhelm returned to Kassel, where his mother lived.
Creation
Wilhelm had asthma and heart problems. Because of these ailments, he could not get a decent position for a long time. To keep himself busy, he decided to help his older brother Jacob in collecting German fairy tales.
At that time, Germany was overwhelmed by the fashion for romanticism. And yet German folklore remained unexplored. The Brothers Grimm were carried away by the mysteries of the past. So Jacob and Wilhelm began to work on compiling a collection of German fairy tales.
In 1814, Wilhelm became secretary of the Hesse Library in Kassel. He later moved to Göttingen. There, Wilhelm first worked in the university library, and then received the position of professor.
The joint works of Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm made an enormous contribution to the development of linguistics. Their books on the history and grammar of the German language served as an incentive for the separation of linguistics into a separate science, led to the beginning of the systematic study of runic writing. Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm began to work on compiling a dictionary of the German language, but their death prevented the completion of this work. Other scholars continued to work on the book.
Personal life
Wilhelm Grimm was married. In 1825 he married Henrietta Dorothea Wild. Three years later, a son, Herman, was born. Later he devoted his life to literature. Hermann was a professor at the University of Berlin and one of the founders of the Goethe Society, which today is an authoritative research institute for the study of problems in the history and theory of German literature.
Wilhelm Grimm died on December 16, 1859 in Berlin. The great storyteller died of paralysis of the lungs, which was caused by a running abscess on his back. The grave of Wilhelm Grimm is in the Berlin Memorial Cemetery.
