Lothar Bluhm is Professor of Modern German Literature and Cultural Studies at the University of Koblenz-Landau.
Preface.- List of illustrations.- 1. Preliminary remarks.- 2. The genre 'fairy tale' and its study.- 3. The children's and household tales as 'palimpsests': forms of the history of origin and transformation.- 4. Fairy tales as literature from literature.- 5. Postscript.- Bibliography.