Editor’s Note: I love posts that teach us about fairy tales and folklore. Italy as the origin country for fairy tales is not a new bit of information, but not many people know about it. Enjoy this post from 2014!
When we think of countries that are birthplaces of fairy
tales, we automatically think of France and Germany--at least, these are the
first that come to my mind, thanks mainly to Perrault and the Grimm brothers.
We may think of England, too, as the place tales about actual fairies abound.
Next, our minds might travel east to Russia or even farther into the lands of
the Arabian Nights. Or perhaps we go
north to Denmark, remembering Hans Christian Andersen.
One place to which my mind never traveled, until my research
took me there, was Italy. I have since learned that traveling to Italy
(literarily speaking) is a must for fairy tale lovers!
A most extraordinary collection of tales was published in Italy
between 1634 and 1636--written by Giambattista Basile (published posthumously).
The original title was Lo cunto de li
cunti overo lo trattenemiento de peccerille--“The Tale of Tales, or
Entertainment for Little Ones.” The title by which we know the work today,
however, is Il Pentamerone, a phrase
from the dedication page of the first edition that appeared as a subtitle in
the 1674 edition by Pompeo Sarnelli (another Italian writer of fairy tales). (Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales)
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| From "Two Cakes," illustrated by George Cruikshank |
Giambattista Basile was born near Naples in 1575 to a middle
class family. He worked as a soldier, a government official, a courtier in
Mantua, and a governor of various small states in Italy (Encyclopedia Britannica). When he died in 1632, he held the title
of count (OCFT). Basile was well regarded
as a poet while he lived, “and during his career he became fascinated with the
folklore, customs, literature,
music, and dialect of the Neapolitan people. He began serious study of things
Neapolitan and began to collect fairy tales and folktales, setting them down in
a lively Neapolitan style with much local flavour and all the ornament and
flamboyance of his influential contemporary Giambattista Marino” (EB).
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| "The Serpent," illustrated by by Warwick Goble |
Basile’s arguably most famous work, Il Pentamerone, was the first literary compilation of nothing but
fairy tales to be published in Europe, paving the way for later publications by
the Grimms and others that we know and love today. Linguist and historian Nancy
Canepa writes, “Lo cunto constituted
a culmination of the interest in popular culture and folk traditions that
permeated the Renaissance, when isolated fairy tales had started to be included
in novella collections” (OCFT). Il Pentamerone, however, was written in
the complicated Neapolitan dialect and parodied both earlier canonical works by
Italian authors, such as Boccaccio, as well as contemporary Neapolitan culture
(OCFT).
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| "Seven Doves" and more, by Cruikshank |
Like Boccaccio’s Decameron,
Basile’s Il Pentamerone is composed
of a frame narrative with 49 interior tales--the frame narrative is its own
tale, raising the total number to 50. Many stories we readily recognize today
appear in this anthology, some in their earliest known literary forms:
“Cinderella,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Rapunzel,” “Snow White and Rose Red,” “Beauty
and the Beast,” and “Puss in Boots.”
 |
| "The Three Enchanted Princes, illustrated by Goble |
Canepa remarks that Basile’s versions of these stories are
“often bawdier and crueller” than their later, better-known retellings. For
example, the heroine of “La gatta Cennerentola” (“The Cinderella Cat”) actually
kills her stepmother and actively helps orchestrate her own happily-ever-after.
In general, Il Pentamerone’s heroines
are surprisingly active and clever agents in their own fates. (OCFT) Petrosinella (the earliest
incarnation of Rapunzel) coordinates her escape from her tower, essentially
giving orders to the prince.
You can read a selection of stories from The Tale of Tales on the Surlalune
website, as well as view more of the gorgeous illustrations by Warwick Goble
and George Cruikshank here: http://www.
I for one love reading such different versions of tales we
think we know so well! Which Pentamerone
tale is your favorite? Join Enchanted Conversation and let us know!
References:
“Giambattista Basile.” Encyclopedia
Britannica. Accessed 17 August 2014. http://www.britannica.com/
Heidi Anne Heiner, ed. “Il
Pentamerone.” Surlalune Fairy Tales. http://www.
Nancy Canepa. “Giambattista Basile.” The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales: The Western fairy tale tradition
from medieval to modern, 41-43. Edited by Jack Zipes. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2000. [OCFT]
Nancy Canepa. “Pentamerone.”
The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales: The
Western fairy tale tradition from medieval to modern, 377-378. Edited by
Jack Zipes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. [OCFT]
Christina
Ruth Johnson recently received her Masters in Art History with a focus
on the ancient Mediterranean and a side interest in the 18th and 19th
centuries. Her other great love is fantasy literature from ancient times
to present day.