The Economy of Sacrifice in the Grimms’ Der treue Johannes

Abstract

A comparison of the Grimms’ fairy tale Der treue Johannes (KHM 6), its tale type (ATU 516, »Faithful John«), and two further variants (Basile’s Il cuorvo and the Grimms’ alternative version in their 1822 Anmerkungen) allows particular features of the first to emerge that stand in close connection to contemporary philosophy and literature. Sovereignty and paternity are separated with the death of the king at the beginning of the text and then reunited at the end in his son as the result of his servant’s self-sacrifice. This self-sacrifice is the climax of a series of apparent sacrifices, in which figures »die« and are then »resurrected,» until the son disrupts the cycle. The original order is restored, but at the expense of a new subjectivity, which can only be legitimized through fidelity.