Giambattista Basile
Giambattista Basile was born right outside of the quaint, yet bustling, coastal city of Naples, Italy. Historians have had some difficulty determining when his exact birth year was. It is known that he passed away on February 23, 1632 in Guigliano, Italy. During his lifetime, he was an Italian poet, courtier to many princesses of Italy, a soldier, and believe it or not, “Basile moved to Naples in 1608 and began a career in government, serving in the court of Ferdinandino Gonzaga and holding the post of governor to a number of small Italian states” (Giambattista Basile eBooks-library). Yet most importantly, Giambattista Basile was a fairy tale collector, which is why he is remembered today.
If it weren’t for Giambattista’s peculiar interest to write down these ancient tales, we would not have the modern day fairy tales we all know and love today, such as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and Rapuzel to name a few. However, Basile is mostly remembered for his outstanding collection of Neapolitan tales titled, Lo cunto de li cunti overo lo trattenemiento de peccerille, which means, “The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones". Even though Basile wrote these tales down, he did not publish them himself, it was actually his sister Adrianna who published his stories. She published his stories in two volumes under the pseudonym Gian Alesio Abbatutis in Naples, Italy in 1634 and 1636. He most likely chose to do this in order keep his interest in fairy tales a secret from society, and maintain his reputation as a tough soldier, and successful governor. An interesting feature about Basile’s writing is that when he transcribed these ancient tales onto paper, typically near Venice and Crete, Italy; he transcribed the tales in the actual dialect, while still adding a bit of his own flare to the tales. By using this technique, Giambattista was successful in preserving the variation of tone used when one told the tales, which most fairy tale collectors chose not to do. This was a main reason why his tales stood out among the rest.
Despite all of his hard work collecting these ancient historical tales, they were almost lost in time. Thankfully, over a century later, German fairy tale publishers known as “The Brothers Grimm” caught a hold onto Basile’s talented work. They praised his work and dubbed it the first national collection of fairy tales, and the oldest variants ever discovered, and gave it much attention in their third edition of Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
Although Giambattista Basile lived during a time we today can only imagine, he is still remembered for a reason. That reason is that he was bold and brave. Basile was a man of many talents, and pursued his life as a soldier, courtier, poet, governor, and took a risky chance to pursue what he loved to do, which was collect fairy tales. If it weren’t for him, and his talent of preserving the tone, pitch, and overall feeling in general of the tale, those ancient tales may have been lost forever. We wouldn’t have most of the fairy tales that we know of today because without Giambattista Basile, they may have never been written down for other people to find, and then add his or her own flare to the tale to continue the everlasting tradition of fairy tales.
Works Cited
"Giambattista Basile - EBooks in PDF Format from EBooks-Library.com." EBooks-Library.com - Your Best Source for EBooks, Historical Documents and Sheet Music - All in PDF Format. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. <http://www.ebooks-library.com/author.cfm/AuthorID/31>.
"Giambattista Basile." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giambattista_Basile>.
"Giambattista Basile: Information from Answers.com." Answers.com: Wiki Q&A Combined with Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Encyclopedias. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. <http://www.answers.com/topic/giambattista-basile-1>.
"He Who Dares Not, Wins Not - Giambattista Basile." Quote Snack. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. <http://quotesnack.com/giambattista-basile/he-who-dares-not-wins-not/>.
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