Die Geschichte vom Rotkäppchen: Ursprünge, Analysen, Parodien eines Märchens, 15th ed. by Hans Ritz (review)

The fifteenth edition of Hans Ritz’s Die Geschichte vom Rotkäppchen(The Tale of Little Red Riding Hood) is a testament to how prolific and diverse the scholarship and retellings of “Little Red Riding Hood” are. More than twice as long as the first edition published in 1981, this invaluable source of both classic versions and their lesser-known contemporary counterparts intersperses primary texts with commentary and a sketch of fairy-tale scholarship in its almost 300 pages. As the subtitle Ursprünge, Analysen, Parodien eines Märchens(Origins, Analyses, Parodies of a Fairy Tale) suggests, Ritz sets out to trace the history of the story of “Little Red Riding Hood” from its obscure origins to the present day while also incorporating an overview of its perception and interpretations. Focused primarily on German versions, the work is nonetheless impressively broad in scope, referencing literary retellings as well as manifestations of “Little Red Riding Hood” in the visual arts and music and even pointing out local culinary dishes named after this female protagonist.

Ritz’s intent in Die Geschichte vom Rotkäppchenis not to arrive at one true or superior version of the tale but rather to showcase its many different variants: “Wir beabsichtigen nicht, das Märchen auf ein einziges reizloses Motiv hinzubiegen,” Ritz writes in the introduction. “Im Gegenteil, wir möchten ihm vielfältige Reize abgewinnen und das Lehrreiche mit dem Vergnüglichen verknüpfen” (7) (We do not intend to mold the fairy tale to fit one single, charmless motif. On the contrary, we want to take pleasure in its manifold charms and combine the instructive with the entertaining; all translations mine). Ranging from “Rotkäppchen in der DDR” (Little Red Riding Hood in the GDR) and “Rotkäppchen im Nationalsozialismus” (Little Red Riding Hood During National Socialism) to humorous retellings by Joachim Ringelnatz and Otto Waalkes, the tales collected here vary significantly in their different target audiences and intended purposes. As Ritz’s discussion of “Little Red Riding Hood” in Nazi Germany illustrates, the tale has been adapted to serve even opposing ideologies, with some texts published in the period spouting Nazi propaganda and others satirizing and explicitly criticizing National Socialism. Particularly noteworthy are also those versions that hybridize the German language, exaggerating for comical effect the incorporation of foreign words that contemporary German is sprinkled with. Three of these—“Rotkäppchen auf Anglodeutsch,” “Rotkäppchen auf Italodeutsch,” and “Das frankophone Rotkäppchen”—are included in this edition, and some other retellings, such as “Rotkäppchen auf Mecklenburgisch,” emphasize not the hybridization of language but rather a return to and privileging of local dialects.

Because Ritz draws connections between different versions and comments on “Little Red Riding Hood” scholarship and interpretations, his tone is typically witty and accessible. “Hans Ritz” is one of the many pseudonyms of author, philosopher, and aphorist Ulrich Erckenbrecht (who is also the founder of the Muriverlag), and his facility with language manifests itself in Die Geschichte vom Rotkäppchenthrough puns, a humorous tone, and easy readability. His commentary demonstrates extensive knowledge of the history and retellings of the tale, but Ritz finds fault with most academic work produced on “Little Red Riding Hood,” and it is when he discusses scholars and literary analyses that his tone can at times verge on the sophomoric and unfairly dismissive. North American fairy-tale scholarship, Ritz maintains, is often particularly “schlampig und oberflächlich” (sloppy and superficial), and he warns his readers not to accept facts, bibliographic entries, or interpretations put forth by North American scholars without doing additional research (241, 244). Ritz remains unimpressed by most fairy-tale scholarship outside the United States and Canada as well, and he derides the more widespread interpretive approaches to “Little Red Riding Hood,” such as feminist, psychoanalytical, and structuralist readings, as “stupide und schablonenhaft” (mindless and cut-and-dried) (121).

Yet Ritz hardly does these readings...