The Dark And Weird Inspiration For Some Of Our Most Beloved Fairy Tales

By Here & Now
The Dark And Weird Inspiration For Some Of Our Most Beloved Fairy Tales
Giambattista Basile wrote down the earliest European ‘Cinderella’ story, over 300 years before this Walt Disney illustrated version of the same tale. (Tom Simpson/Flickr)
The Dark And Weird Inspiration For Some Of Our Most Beloved Fairy Tales
Giambattista Basile wrote down the earliest European ‘Cinderella’ story, over 300 years before this Walt Disney illustrated version of the same tale. (Tom Simpson/Flickr)

The Dark And Weird Inspiration For Some Of Our Most Beloved Fairy Tales

By Here & Now
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The just-released film, “Tale of Tales,” is a fairy tale for adults, based on the book of the same name written by a 17th century Neapolitan named Giambattista Basile.

Basile’s writing predates even the Brothers Grimm, and the tales are darker and weirder than the versions we are used to.

A new translation of Basile’s “Tale of Tales” offers English readers the opportunity to read the earliest version of “Cinderella,” along with other classic fairy tales. Here & Now’s Meghna Chakrabarti talked with Nancy Canepa, who translated “Tale of Tales.”

This interview originally aired on WBUR’s Radio Boston.

Guest

  • Nancy Canepa, translator of “Tale of Tales” and an associate professor of French and Italian at Dartmouth College.

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