\u201cSe lieie la favola\u201d: Apuleian Play in Basile\u2019s Lo cunto de li cunti

Stijn Praet

doi:10.1007/s12138-017-0454-6

Abstract

A literary review of the book Lo cunto de li cunti, ovvere lo trattenemiento de peccerille or The Tale of Tales by Giambattista Basile. It refers to the book the first collection of stories in the history of Western literature consisting of fairy tales. It analyzes the misfortunes of Princess Zoza of Valle Pelosa recounted in the frame tale of Cunto.

Highlights

Between 1634 and 1636, a number of Neapolitan editors and publishers took it upon themselves to publish an extraordinary collection of stories, entitled Lo cunto de li cunti, ovvere lo trattenemiento de peccerille
Basile had been a man of letters, active at several literary academies and courts in Naples, a connoisseur of the classics and a Petrarch enthusiast.[2]
Written in a highly stylized version of the Neapolitan dialect, the Cunto is nowadays mostly remembered for its narrative content

Summary

Thrice Upon a Time

Between 1634 and 1636, a number of Neapolitan editors and publishers took it upon themselves to publish an extraordinary collection of stories, entitled Lo cunto de li cunti, ovvere lo trattenemiento de peccerille As Parmetella makes her way back home, she is greeted by a fairy who endows her with seven spindles, seven figs and a jar of honey and instructs her to roam the world until she has worn out seven pairs of iron shoes Will she come to a house where seven man-eating ogresses, none other than Parmetella’s sisters-in-law, stand spinning with tools made out of human bones. Zephyrus takes the girl to a beautiful meadow with a marvellous palace; she is waited on by ethereal voices She is given control over her husband’s servant Zephyrus to fly in her jealous sisters for visits, provided she say nothing about her husband. The girl finds an underground cave that leads her to a beautiful meadow with a marvellous palace; a black slave asks for her hand in marriage; she is waited on by dressed-up monkeys

She is given a flying diamond coach

If You Have Read the Tale

Conclusion