Pentamerone
Encyclopedia
The Pentamerone is a seventeenth-century fairy tale
collection by Italian
poet
and courtier
Giambattista Basile
.
Gian Alesio Abbatutis.
He recorded and adapted the tales, believed to have been orally transmitted around Crete
and Venice
, several of which were also later adapted by Charles Perrault
and the Brothers Grimm
, the latter making extensive, acknowledged use of Basile's collection. Examples of this are versions of Cinderella
, Rapunzel
, Puss in Boots
, Sleeping Beauty
, and Hansel and Gretel
.
While other collections of stories have included tales that would be termed fairy tales, his work is the first collection in which all the stories fit in that category. Although he did not transcribe them from the oral tradition as a modern collector would, he wrote them in the dialect, and in many respects was the first writer to preserve oral intonations.
Lo cunto is known as the Pentamerone, a title first used in the 1674 edition, because it is constructed roughly upon the model of the Decamerone
of Boccaccio
.
The style of the stories is heavily Baroque, with many metaphorical usages, such as referring to the dawn as
This has been interpreted as a satire on Baroque style, but as Basile praised the style, and used it in his other works, it appears to have no ironic intention.
, in their third edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales
praised it highly as the first national collection of fairy tales, fitting their romantic nationalist views on fairy tales, and as capturing Neapolitan voice. This drew a great deal of attention to the work.
in which fifty stories are related over the course of five days rather than the ten of the Tuscan
compendium. The frame-story is that of a cursed, melancholy princess named Zoza ("mud" or "slime" in Neapolitan, but also used as a term of endearment). She cannot laugh, whatever her father does to amuse her, so he sets up a fountain of oil by the door, thinking people slipping in the oil would make her laugh. An old woman tried to gather oil, a page boy broke her jug, and the old woman grew so angry that she danced about, and Zoza laughed at her. The old woman cursed her to marry only the Prince of Round-Field, whom she could only wake by filling a pitcher with tears in three days. With some aid from fairies, who also give her gifts, Zoza found the prince and the pitcher, and nearly filled the pitcher when she fell asleep. A Moorish slave
steals it, finishes filling it, and claims the prince.
This frame story in itself is a fairy tale, combining motifs that will appear in other stories: the princess who cannot laugh in The Magic Swan
, Golden Goose
, and The Princess Who Never Smiled
; the curse to marry only one person, and that one hard to find, in Snow-White-Fire-Red
and Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa
; the heroine falling asleep because of saving the hero and so losing him to trickery in The Sleeping Prince
and Nourie Hadig
.
The now-pregnant slave-queen demands (at the impetus of Zoza's fairy
gifts) that her husband tell her stories, or else she would crush the unborn child. The husband hires ten female storytellers to keep her amused; disguised among them is Zoza. Each tells five stories — most of which are more suitable to courtly than juvenile audiences. The Moorish woman's treachery is revealed in the final story (related, suitably, by Zoza), and she is buried, pregnant, up to her neck in the ground and left to die. Zoza and the Prince live happily ever after.
Many of these fairy tales are the oldest known variants in existence.
The fairy tales are:
The First Day
The Second Day
The Third Day
The Fourth Day
The Fifth Day
(1846), into English by John Edward Taylor
(1848) and again by Sir Richard Francis Burton (1893) and into Italian by Benedetto Croce
in 1925. A further English translation was made from Croce's version by Norman N. Penzer in 1934. A new, modern translation by Nancy L. Canepa was published in 2007 from Wayne State University Press
.
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
collection by Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and courtier
Courtier
A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
Giambattista Basile
Giambattista Basile
Giambattista Basile was an Italian poet, courtier, and fairy tale collector.- Biography :Born to a Neapolitan middle-class family, Basile was, during his career, a courtier and soldier to various Italian princes, including the doge of Venice. According to Benedetto Croce he was born in 1575, while...
.
Background
The stories in The Pentamerone were collected by Basile and published posthumously in two volumes by his sister Adriana in Naples, Italy in 1634 and 1636 under the pseudonymPseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Gian Alesio Abbatutis.
He recorded and adapted the tales, believed to have been orally transmitted around Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
and Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, several of which were also later adapted by Charles Perrault
Charles Perrault
Charles Perrault was a French author who laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales. The best known include Le Petit Chaperon rouge , Cendrillon , Le Chat Botté and La Barbe bleue...
and the Brothers Grimm
Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...
, the latter making extensive, acknowledged use of Basile's collection. Examples of this are versions of Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
, Rapunzel
Rapunzel
"Rapunzel" is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. The Grimm Brothers' story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force originally published in 1698...
, Puss in Boots
Puss in Boots
'Puss' is a character in the fairy tale "The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots" by Charles Perrault. The tale was published in 1697 in his Histoires ou Contes du temps passé...
, Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault or Little Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm is a classic fairytale involving a beautiful princess, enchantment, and a handsome prince...
, and Hansel and Gretel
Hansel and Gretel
"Hansel and Gretel" is a well-known fairy tale of German origin, recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister threatened by a cannibalistic hag living deep in the forest in a house constructed of cake and confectionery. The two children...
.
While other collections of stories have included tales that would be termed fairy tales, his work is the first collection in which all the stories fit in that category. Although he did not transcribe them from the oral tradition as a modern collector would, he wrote them in the dialect, and in many respects was the first writer to preserve oral intonations.
Lo cunto is known as the Pentamerone, a title first used in the 1674 edition, because it is constructed roughly upon the model of the Decamerone
The Decameron
The Decameron, also called Prince Galehaut is a 14th-century medieval allegory by Giovanni Boccaccio, told as a frame story encompassing 100 tales by ten young people....
of Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...
.
The style of the stories is heavily Baroque, with many metaphorical usages, such as referring to the dawn as
- "the Sun, like a chief physician, went out to visit the flowers that are sick and languid,"
- "The next morning, as soon as the shades of Night, pursued by the constables of the Sun, had fled the country,"
- "as soon as the Sun with his golden broom had swept away the dirt of the Night from the fields watered by the dawn".
- "as the Night, having aided the robbers, is banished from the sky, and goes about collecting the faggots of twilight"
- "as soon as the Sun opened his bank to deliver the deposit of light to the Creditor of the Day,"
This has been interpreted as a satire on Baroque style, but as Basile praised the style, and used it in his other works, it appears to have no ironic intention.
Influence
Although the work fell into some obscurity, as a work in dialect, the Brothers GrimmBrothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...
, in their third edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Children's and Household Tales is a collection of German origin fairy tales first published in 1812 by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the Brothers Grimm. The collection is commonly known today as Grimms' Fairy Tales .-Composition:...
praised it highly as the first national collection of fairy tales, fitting their romantic nationalist views on fairy tales, and as capturing Neapolitan voice. This drew a great deal of attention to the work.
This collection (Basile's Pentamerone) was for a long time the best and richest that had been found by any nation. Not only were the traditions at that time more complete in themselves, but the author had a special talent for collecting them, and besides that an intimate knowledge of the dialect. The stories are told with hardly any break, and the tone, at least in the Neapolitan tales, is perfectly caught . . . . We may therefore look on this collection of fifty tales as the basis of many others; for although it was not so in actual fact, and was indeed not known beyond the country in which it appeared, and was never translated into French, it still has all the importance of a basis, owing to the coherence of its traditions. Two-thirds of them are, so far as their principal incidents are concerned, to be found in Germany, and are current there at this very day. Basile has not allowed himself to make any alteration, scarecely even any addition of importance, and that gives his work a special value
- Wilhelm Grimm
Synopsis
The Pentamerone is structured around a fantastic frame storyFrame story
A frame story is a literary technique that sometimes serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, whereby an introductory or main narrative is presented, at least in part, for the purpose of setting the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories...
in which fifty stories are related over the course of five days rather than the ten of the Tuscan
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
compendium. The frame-story is that of a cursed, melancholy princess named Zoza ("mud" or "slime" in Neapolitan, but also used as a term of endearment). She cannot laugh, whatever her father does to amuse her, so he sets up a fountain of oil by the door, thinking people slipping in the oil would make her laugh. An old woman tried to gather oil, a page boy broke her jug, and the old woman grew so angry that she danced about, and Zoza laughed at her. The old woman cursed her to marry only the Prince of Round-Field, whom she could only wake by filling a pitcher with tears in three days. With some aid from fairies, who also give her gifts, Zoza found the prince and the pitcher, and nearly filled the pitcher when she fell asleep. A Moorish slave
False hero
The false hero is a stock character in fairy tales, and sometimes also in ballads. The character appears near the end of a story in order to claim to be the hero or heroine and is, therefore, always of the same sex as the hero or heroine. The false hero presents some claim to the position. By...
steals it, finishes filling it, and claims the prince.
This frame story in itself is a fairy tale, combining motifs that will appear in other stories: the princess who cannot laugh in The Magic Swan
The Magic Swan
The Magic Swan is a European fairy tale collected by Hermann Kletke. Andrew Lang included it in The Green Fairy Book..-Synopsis:Two older brothers abused the youngest son. An old woman advised him to run away...
, Golden Goose
Golden Goose
The Golden Goose is a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm .-Story:The hero is the youngest of three brothers, given the nickname Dummling. His eldest brother is sent into the forest to chop wood, fortified with a rich cake and a bottle of wine. He meets a little gray man who begs a morsel...
, and The Princess Who Never Smiled
The Princess Who Never Smiled
The Princess Who Never Smiled or The Unsmiling Tsarevna is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki.-Synopsis:...
; the curse to marry only one person, and that one hard to find, in Snow-White-Fire-Red
Snow-White-Fire-Red
Snow-White-Fire-Red is an Italian fairy tale collected by Thomas Frederick Crane in Italian Popular Tales.-Synopsis:A king and queen made a vow that, if they had a child, they would make one fountain run with oil and another with wine. The queen gave birth to a son, and they set up the fountains...
and Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa
Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa
Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa or Anthousa the Fair with Golden Hair is a Greek fairy tale collected by Georgios A. Megas in Folktales of Greece. Other variants were collected by Michalis Meraklis and Anna Angelopoulou....
; the heroine falling asleep because of saving the hero and so losing him to trickery in The Sleeping Prince
The Sleeping Prince (fairy tale)
The Sleeping Prince is a Greek fairy tale collected by Georgios A. Megas in Folktales of Greece.It is Aarne-Thompson 425G: False Bride takes the heroine's place as she tries to stay awake; recognition when heroine tells her story...
and Nourie Hadig
Nourie Hadig
Nourie Hadig is an Armenian fairy tale collected by Susie Hoogasian-Villa in 100 Armenian Tales. Her informant was Mrs. Akabi Mooradian, an Armenian living in Detroit.It is Aarne-Thompson type 709...
.
The now-pregnant slave-queen demands (at the impetus of Zoza's fairy
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
gifts) that her husband tell her stories, or else she would crush the unborn child. The husband hires ten female storytellers to keep her amused; disguised among them is Zoza. Each tells five stories — most of which are more suitable to courtly than juvenile audiences. The Moorish woman's treachery is revealed in the final story (related, suitably, by Zoza), and she is buried, pregnant, up to her neck in the ground and left to die. Zoza and the Prince live happily ever after.
Many of these fairy tales are the oldest known variants in existence.
The fairy tales are:
The First Day
- The Tale of the Ogre
- The MyrtleThe MyrtleThe Myrtle is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.It is Aarne-Thompson type 652A.-Synopsis:...
- PeruontoPeruontoPeruonto is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.It is Aarne-Thompson type 675. Other literary tales of this type are Straparola's "Peter The Fool" and Madame d'Aulnoy's The Dolphin...
- Vardiello
- The FleaThe Flea (fairy tale)The Flea is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.-Synopsis:A king raised a flea until it was the size of a sheep. Then he had it skinned and promised his daughter in marriage to whoever could guess what the skin came from. An ogre...
- Cenerentola — a variant of CinderellaCinderella"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
- The MerchantThe Merchant (fairy tale)The Merchant is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.-Synopsis:A merchant's son, Cienzo, was throwing stones with the son of the king of Naples, and cracked the prince's head. His father, fearing the consequences, threw him out with some...
- Goat-Face
- The Enchanted DoeThe Enchanted DoeThe Enchanted Doe is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.-Synopsis:A king wished for a child; to incline the gods toward him, he was charitable to beggars. When he had spent all his money this way without having a child, he shut himself...
- The Three SistersThe Three Sisters (fairy tale)The Three Sisters is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.-Synopsis:A woman had three daughters; the two older were very unlucky but the youngest, Nella, was very fortunate. A prince married her and hid her from his wicked mother, visiting...
The Second Day
- ParsleyPetrosinellaPetrosinella or Parsley is an Italian literary fairy tale, written by Giambattista Basile in his collection of fairy tales in 1634, Lo cunto de li cunti , or Pentamerone....
— a variant of RapunzelRapunzel"Rapunzel" is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. The Grimm Brothers' story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force originally published in 1698... - Green Meadow
- Violet
- Pippo — a variant of Puss In Boots
- The SnakeThe Enchanted SnakeThe Enchanted Snake or The Snake is an Italian fairy tale. Giambattista Basile wrote a variant in the Pentamerone. Andrew Lang drew upon this variant, for inclusion in The Green Fairy Book....
- The She-BearThe She-Bear"The She-bear" is an Italian literary fairy tale, written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.Ruth Manning-Sanders included it in A Book of Princes and Princesses....
— a variant of AllerleirauhAllerleirauhAllerleirauh is a fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm. Since the second edition published in 1819, it has been recorded as Tale no. 65. Andrew Lang included it in The Green Fairy Book.... - The DoveThe Dove (fairy tale)The Dove is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.Although there is no evidence of direct influence, this tale combines many motifs in a manner similar to the Grimms' The Two Kings' Children....
— a variant of Snow-White-Fire-RedSnow-White-Fire-RedSnow-White-Fire-Red is an Italian fairy tale collected by Thomas Frederick Crane in Italian Popular Tales.-Synopsis:A king and queen made a vow that, if they had a child, they would make one fountain run with oil and another with wine. The queen gave birth to a son, and they set up the fountains... - The Young SlaveThe Young SlaveThe Young Slave is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.It is Aarne-Thompson type 410, Sleeping Beauty; other variants include The Glass Coffin and Sun, Moon, and Talia.-Synopsis:...
-- a variant of Snow WhiteSnow White"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm... - The Padlock
- The Buddy
The Third Day
- CannetellaCannetellaCannetella is an Italian literary fairy tale told by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone. Andrew Lang included it in The Grey Fairy Book, as collected by Hermann Kletke....
- Penta of the Chopped-off HandsPenta of the Chopped-off HandsPenta of the Chopped-off Hands or The Girl With the Maimed Hands is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone....
- a variant of The Girl Without HandsThe Girl Without HandsThe Girl Without Hands or The Handless Maiden or The Girl With Silver Hands or The Armless Maiden is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 31. It is Aarne-Thompson type 706.-Synopsis:... - Face
- Sapia LiccardaSapia LiccardaSapia Liccarda is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone. It is not known whether he had a specific source, either literary or oral, for this tale....
- The Cockroach, the Mouse, and the Cricket
- The Garlic Patch
- CorvettoCorvettoCorvetto is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.It is Aarne-Thompson type 531. Other tales of this type include The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa, Ferdinand the Faithful and Ferdinand the Unfaithful, King Fortunatus's Golden Wig, and The...
- The Booby
- Rosella
- The Three FairiesThe Three FairiesThe Three Fairies is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.It is Aarne-Thompson tale 480, the kind and the unkind girls, and appears to stem from an oral source...
The Fourth Day
- The Stone in the Cock's Head
- The Two Brothers
- The Three Enchanted PrincesThe Three Enchanted PrincesThe Three Enchanted Princes is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.-Synopsis:...
- The Seven Little Pork Rinds
- The Dragon
- The Three CrownsThe Three CrownsThe Three Crowns is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.-Synopsis:A childless king heard a voice asking him whether he would rather have a daughter who would flee him or a son who would destroy him...
- The Two Cakes — a variant of Diamonds and ToadsDiamonds and ToadsDiamonds and Toads or Toads and Diamonds is a French fairy tale by Charles Perrault, and titled by him "Les Fées" or "The Fairies." Andrew Lang included it in The Blue Fairy Book....
- The Seven Doves — a variant of The Seven RavensThe Seven RavensThe Seven Ravens is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.It is tale number 25, and Aarne-Thompson type 451, the brothers who were turned into birds. Georgios A Megas collected another, Greek variant in Folktales of Greece...
- The RavenThe Raven (Italian fairy tale)The Raven is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone. The story is a man winning a bride for his brother the king, and then having to protect the couple from perils that he can not tell anyone about, without being turned to stone.It is...
- Pride Punished — a variant of King ThrushbeardKing ThrushbeardKing Thrushbeard is a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 52.It is Aarne-Thompson type 900.-Synopsis:A beautiful, but spoiled, rude, and shallow princess criticizes all her suitors because she is too proud. She is impressed with the last of her suitors, but her pride will not...
The Fifth Day
- The Goose
- The MonthsThe MonthsThe Months is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.-Synopsis:Cianne and Lise were brothers, and Cianne was rich and Lise poor. Lise set out to wander the world. He met with twelve youths who welcomed him, and asked him about the months...
- PintosmaltoPintosmaltoPintosmalto is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.Italo Calvino included a variant from oral tradition, The Handmade King, based on two tales from Calabria...
- The Golden Root — a variant of Cupid and PsycheCupid and PsycheCupid and Psyche , is a legend that first appeared as a digressionary story told by an old woman in Lucius Apuleius' novel, The Golden Ass, written in the 2nd century CE. Apuleius likely used an earlier tale as the basis for his story, modifying it to suit the thematic needs of his novel.It has...
- Sun, Moon, and TaliaSun, Moon, and TaliaSun, Moon, and Talia is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone...
— a variant of Sleeping BeautySleeping BeautySleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault or Little Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm is a classic fairytale involving a beautiful princess, enchantment, and a handsome prince... - Sapia
- The Five Sons
- Nennillo and Nennella — a variant of Brother and SisterBrother and SisterBrother and Sister is a well-known European fairy tale which was, among others, written down by the Brothers Grimm in their collection of Children's and Household Tales ...
- The Three Citrons — a variant of The Love for Three OrangesThe Love for Three Oranges (fairy tale)The Love for Three Oranges or The Three Citrons is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in the Pentamerone. It is the concluding tale, and the one the heroine of the frame story uses to reveal that an imposter has taken her place.It is Aarne-Thompson type 408, and the...
Translations
The text was translated into German by Felix LiebrechtFelix Liebrecht
Felix Liebrecht was a German folklorist.Liebrecht was born in Namslau, Prussian Silesia. He studied philology at the universities of Breslau, Munich, and Berlin, and in 1849 became professor of the German language at the Athénée Royal at Liège, Belgium. He resigned his chair and retired into...
(1846), into English by John Edward Taylor
John Edward Taylor
John Edward Taylor was the founder of the Manchester Guardian newspaper, later to become The Guardian.-Biography:...
(1848) and again by Sir Richard Francis Burton (1893) and into Italian by Benedetto Croce
Benedetto Croce
Benedetto Croce was an Italian idealist philosopher, and occasionally also politician. He wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, methodology of history writing and aesthetics, and was a prominent liberal, although he opposed laissez-faire free trade...
in 1925. A further English translation was made from Croce's version by Norman N. Penzer in 1934. A new, modern translation by Nancy L. Canepa was published in 2007 from Wayne State University Press
Wayne State University Press
Wayne State University Press , founded in 1941, is a university press that is part of Wayne State University. It publishes under its own name and also the imprints Painted Turtle and Great Lakes Books....
.
External links and resources
- "La vita di Giambattista Basile" (in Italian)
- SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages: Il Pentamerone by Giambattista Basile
- Illustrations by Warwick GobleWarwick GobleWarwick Goble was an illustrator of children's books. He specialized in Japanese and Indian themes.Goble was born in Dalston, north London, the son of a commercial traveller, and educated and trained at the City of London School and the Westminster School of Art...
- Illustrations by George CruikshankGeorge CruikshankGeorge Cruikshank was a British caricaturist and book illustrator, praised as the "modern Hogarth" during his life. His book illustrations for his friend Charles Dickens, and many other authors, reached an international audience.-Early life:Cruikshank was born in London...
- Professor S. Cicciotti's page about G. B. Basile (in Italian)
- Online text of some stories, in English (from Taylor translation)
- From Court to Forest: Giambattista Basile's "Lo cunto de li cunti" and the Birth of the Literary Fairy Tale, Nancy L. Canepa (Wayne State University Press, 1999)
- Giambattista Basile’s “The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones,” Translated by Nancy L. Canepa, Illustrated by Carmelo Lettere, Foreword by Jack Zipes (Wayne State University Press, 2007)