And these are already authentic fairy tales, from the very bowels of medieval Europe. Ten dazzlingly contrasting stories full of physiological metaphors and swearing.
The Neapolitan Basile (1566-1632) is faithful to the Rabelaisian spirit of jokes and passions: Cinderella breaks her stepmother’s neck with the lid of the chest, and the bride is so disgusting to the noble knight Cuosemo that he moves back to the edge of the bed until he falls into the night vase, “so that the matter ended in stench and shame.» The ugly here is touching, the horror turns into a farce, and tragedy suddenly flashes through the comedy dell’arte.
A baroque text with quotations from Ovid, proverbs and jokes completes the ticklish impression. The book has been translated into Russian for the first time.
Translated from Neapolitan by Peter Epifanov. Ivan Limbakh Publishing House, 552 p.