Brothers Grimm and Gaiman: Snow White Variation M Callaway College

The original German fairytale “Snow White” was published in 1857 by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm that features the 7-year-old Snow White, and her evil stepmother who the king marries after the child’s biological mother dies from childbirth. This tale follows the evil queen’s pursuit to kill Snow White so the queen may be the “fairest of them all” in the land, after the queen successfully kills the girl, Snow White is resurrected and marries the prince who found her resting in her glass coffin. Neil Gaiman’s short story “Snow, Glass, Apples” published in 1994 is an adaptation of the popular Brothers Grimm fairytale that describes an unconventional narrative where Snow White is a vampire that murders the king and other humans for their blood and the queen must kill Snow White. What is the significance of Gaiman’s adaptation recontextualizing Grimms’ narrative where Snow White is no longer human and instead a monstrous creature? What is the effect of a nontraditional feminine representation within Gaiman’s tale compared to that of Grimms’ representation? Julie Sanders who theorizes on adapting and appropriating insists that “adaptation is nevertheless frequently involved in offering commentary on a source text. This is achieved most...