Abstract
ABSTRACT Recent English and Italian translations of Giuseppe Pitrè’s Fiabe, novelle e racconti popolari have revived attention to the Sicilian folklorist. In Italy, collecting oral traditions emerged as a practice of regional cultural preservation during the political unification, modernisation, and redefinition of local identities within the new nation. This essay examines Pitrè’s introductory commentaries to his Fiabe in order to contextualise his comparative methodology and transnational approach to Sicilian folk and fairy tales. Pitrè’s ‘Preface’ and preliminary essay ‘Of folk tales’ offer insights into local history, women as storytellers, and Sicilian tales in relation to other regional traditions and transcultural folk repertoires. Mindful of Pitrè’s reinforcement of Sicilian stereotypes, this essay highlights his articulation of cultural difference as intervention and resistance to cultural totalisations. Pitrè’s simile of the sea-tradition best encapsulates his connections with transnational oral narratives and their power to cross national borders and disturb rigid national identity constructs.
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