Italian Folktales is a collection of 200 Italian folktales published in 1956 by Italo Calvino. Calvino began the project in 1954. Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the Folktale influenced him. His intention was to emulate the Brothers Grimm in producing a popular collection of Italian fairy tales for the general reader. He did not compile tales from listeners, but made extensive use of the existing work of folklorists; he noted the source of each individual tale, but warned that was merely the version he used.
The story seems to be aimed at children yet the hint at cannibalism seems to make it intended for adults. The story is not educational as the mother gives her no instructions and there is no clear moral at the end of the story. The tale seems to be for amusement or to glorify the rational mind. The intended audience is not a scholar and the tale is not written in a literary style. The style is very simple and told in the way a regular person or a child might tell the story. Giulio Einaudi commissioned the book.
This tale is somewhat different to that of Perrault and the Grimm Brothers. Like in the Grimm version, there is a happy ending for the girl, whereas in Perrault the girl and the grandmother are eaten. The grandmother doesn't survive. The Jordan River and the Rake Gate are included in the tale. This gives the tale a religious feel, which is different from the previous versions. Instead of a wolf, there is a hairy ogress, which is interesting. It gives an element of fantasy to the tale. It takes away the male threat and makes female the threat to children. The story may suggest the threat of the female to the community, the general move towards reason, the threat of famine, and adoption of Marxist ideas.
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I found it very interesting to read that Calvino's version was written as late as it was. I would have guessed it was written much earlier, based on the simplicity of the style in which it was written. Also, I would think that since the story is not educational and there is no moral, that perhaps it was not written for a young audience. Good insight about the ogress being female and how that changes the message of the traditional fairy tale significantly. I did not think about that when I read the story.
ReplyDeleteI found Calvino's version to be lacking the staple elements I look for in a fairytale. Although there was a bit of cannibalism which made the tale a bit twisted and weird, there was no moral that I could deduce by the end of the tale. It is normally rather easy for me to gleam a moral by the end of a tale, however the only possible lesson I could gleam is that the meek and old die, since the grandmother does not survive.
ReplyDeleteYou have identified some very interesting points in your analysis of Calvino's version of the story, particularly pointing out the simplicity of the writing and also the religious undertones. I am also interested in your statement that there is some adoption of Marxism in this story. This interests me because of the interplay with religious elements that in the story. Marx saw that religion creates a false sense of happiness amongst the poorer masses, ("religion is the opiate of the masses") and yet Marxist ideas and religion seem to be at play to create the ending of happiness for the girl (surviving the ogre...perhaps capitalist bourgeois society?)
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