Giambattista Basile was an Italian poet, courtier, and fairy tale collector who was born in 1575 to a Neapolitan middle-class family. Basile, in his time, had created an original collection of 50 fairy tales titled Lo cunto de li cunti, or “The Tale of Tales”, of which he twisted and critiqued to create more of an adventure including popular culture and folk tradition. Basile has been extremely influential because of this unique assortment of stories as well as his style of work while he brings a new, loved and lively Neapolitan approach.
While Basile was growing in his career, he really became fascinated with the Neapolitan culture. With his intense affection for this style of living; the literature, the customs, music, and dialect, he soon realized the necessity of incorporating this anomalous world that surrounded him into his work.
Basile’s infatuations for folklore and fairy tales were constantly put on hold or interrupted by other events. Throughout his enduring career, Basile had a copious amount of jobs. He even experienced phases in his life of being part of the Neapolitan army as well as a governor of several Italian states for examples. Because Basile had acted on his instincts for a more genuine career of folklore and short stories, he was lead to a more bountiful profession of success and envy.
Basile has been credited for being the source of many fairy tales, like Cinderella, Puss in Boots, Beauty and the Beast, etc. Modern day fairy tale authors like, The Brothers Grim and Perrault for instances, have developed their literary stories with much in part due to this courageous author. Not only did Basile show the world a new tone that could be brought to the short story business, but also modified it as well, giving future authors something to look up to and compete against.
Giambattista Basile created something new and enterprising with the incorporation of his beloved Neapolitan culture. He realized the contingency of joining his two loves (the environment he lived in and short stories), and that he could create a legacy for his present day readers as well as his future disciples. Basile composed something new and revolutionary, leaving him as merely a remnant of the fairy tale and folklore world.
(MLA) Citations:
1. "Giambattista Basile." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/55102/Giambattista-Basile>.
2. Jones, Steven, and Benedetto Croce. "Giambattista Basile." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 31 Jan 2011. Web. 28 Feb 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giambattista_Basile.>
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