Giovanni francesco straparola biography of michael

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This appended riddle mechanism fosters interactivity within the fictional assembly, blending entertainment with puzzle-solving, and underscores Straparola's adaptation of oral performance into printed form.^[21][30]

Key Stories and Motifs

Straparola's Le Piacevoli Notti features approximately fifteen tales identifiable as proto-fairy tales amid its seventy-five narratives, distinguished by supernatural elements such as fairies, transformations, and magical animals that propel protagonists from obscurity to prosperity.^[4] One prominent example is "The Pig King" from the first night, first tale, where a queen, desperate for an heir, invokes a fairy's aid, resulting in the birth of a porcine son cursed to retain animal form by day but humanize partially at night through his wife's secret application of ointment; the prince sires human children, fully transforms after perseverance, and ascends to kingship, emphasizing motifs of endurance, spousal loyalty, and reversal of enchantment.^[30] Another foundational story, "Constantino Fortunato" from the third night, first tale, depicts a destitute miller's son aided by his clever cat, which fabricates tales of his master's wealth—presenting hunted fowl as tribute from illusory estates—to deceive a king, securing marriage to the princess and vast lands, thus originating the archetype of the anthropomorphic animal trickster facilitating social elevation.^[5]The tale of Fortunio, recounted on the eleventh night, illustrates a poor orphan boy granted three magical gifts by a fairy: a never-emptying purse, a cap conferring eloquence, and a ring enabling invisibility, which he employs to outmaneuver rivals, win royal favor, and claim the throne, underscoring themes of innate virtue rewarded by supernatural patronage despite lowly birth.^[31] Additional notable narratives include "Teodoro" (fourth night, third tale), where a shepherd's son prospers via a gold-producing dog, and "Biancabella" (third night, third tale), involving serpentine guardians and enchanted births that affirm familial bonds through trials.

Earlier poetic endeavors, such as minor verse collections published in the 1520s and 1530s, predate his Venetian period and do not indicate a sustained career trajectory there. [Compare Boccaccio 2010 with Straparola 1894.]

One story in the second book of The Pleasant Nights, "The Tailor's Apprentice" or "Maestro Lattantio and His Apprentice Dionigi" (Straparola 1984 vol.

(Compare Basile 2007, 32-41 and d’Aulnoy 1892, 509-535 with Straparola 1894, 1: 102-110.)

Both Basile's "Cagliuso" and Charles Perrault's (1628-1703) "The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots" follow the same plotlines as Straparola's "Costantino Fortunato:" the protagonist inherits a talking cat that gains a royal marriage and wealth for her/his master.

It is not typical of a family name of that time and place, and the literalmeaning of it, "babbler", seems a likelynickname for a writer.

Straparola's main work is two-volume collection Le piacevoli notti, with 75 stories. (Compare Grimm 1972, 612-620 with Straparola 1894 1: 221-236.)

The plot in Straparola's "Ancilotto" is followed closely, with some differing details, in "The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird" as found in Joseph Jacobs's collection of 1916: to prevent a king from meeting with his children, they’re sent on near-impossible quests.

Approximately 14 to 16 of these integrate supernatural motifs, primarily recounted by the female narrators, distinguishing them from the more realistic narratives voiced by others.^[24][21][29]Structurally, each tale concludes with an enigma—a poetic riddle posed by the storyteller and collectively resolved by the group—functioning as an intellectualconclusione that reinforces thematic elements and draws from classical or medieval riddle traditions.

Of a truth I confess they are not mine, and if I said otherwise I should lie, but nevertheless I have faithfully set them down according to the manner in which they were told by the ladies, nobles, learned men and gentlemen who gathered together for recreation." Zipes even mentioned at one time that "Straparola was not an original writer." It was often the case in Renaissance Italy that the use of the "frame tale" allowed an author to dodge some of the criticism for printing stories from other writers by disclaiming original authorship, saying they only wrote down what they heard.

Though this Dedication is signed "From Giovanni Francesco Straparola," Bottigheimer suggests that changes in narrative style between volume 1 and 2, both within the stories themselves and the frame tale, imply that someone other than Straparola could have worked on or finished the second volume, taking some of the stories at random from Morlini's Novellea.

Straparola's Pleasant Nights is the first known work where fairy tales as they are known today appeared in print.

No verified records confirm alternative birth names or familial surnames, rendering these variations the primary attested identifiers from primary printed sources such as the 1551–1555 editions of Le piacevoli notti.^[11][12]

Venetian Career and Death

Straparola spent the latter part of his life in Venice, where he produced and published his seminal collection Le piacevoli notti.

Modelled on Decamerone, it has participants of a 13-night party in the island of Murano, near Venice, tell each otherstories that vary from bawdy to fantastic. The ‘rise’ plot takes a poor person—man or woman, girl or boy—and through the use of magic they obtain a marriage that leads to wealth: "rags-magic-marriage-riches". This presentation is of a gathering of Italian aristocrats, men and women, who entertain themselves by singing songs, dancing, and telling stories, The Pleasant Nights having added enigmas (riddles).

In the Dedication at the front of the second volume, Straparola wrote that the stories ". However, nothing more is known of his life until 1508 when he is found to be in Venice where he signed his name "Zoan" on the title page of his Opera nova de Zoan Francesco Straparola da Caravaggio novamente stampata (New Works).

Prior to issuing the first volume of The Pleasant Nights, Straparola obtained permission to publish from the Venetian authorities on March 8, 1550, though the name on the permission reads "Zuan Francesco Sstraparola da Caravaggio."

Straparola is said to have died in 1558.

The tales, or novelle, are divided into Nights, rather than chapters, and resemble the type of narrative presentation found in Boccaccio'sDecameron (1350–52). Bottigheimer suggests "Straparola" is a nickname derived from the Italian verb straparlare, meaning "to talk too much" or "to talk nonsense". 2 has 50). This setup mirrors the structure of Boccaccio's Decameron but incorporates Carnival's festive, masked atmosphere, with each night commencing with music, songs, and dances before transitioning to tales.^[27][28]The 73 tales—encompassing moral fables, erotic novellas, jests, pseudo-histories, and proto-fairy tales—are unevenly apportioned across the nights, ranging from three to eight per session, for a total spanning two published volumes in 1550 and 1553.

(Compare Basile 2007, 145-150 and Perrault 1969, 45-57 with Straparola 1894 2: 209-214.)

"Iron Hans" ("Iron John"?) in Grimm (1785-1863 & 1786-1859) contains the same basic plot as that of "Guerrino and the Savage Man:" the protagonist is helped in his quest(s) by a wild or savage man he sets free. Each evening typically features multiple stories—totaling around seventy-three to seventy-five short prose narratives—followed by riddles that test the group's ingenuity, with unresolved ones carried over to subsequent gatherings.^[24][25] The tales vary widely in genre, encompassing moral fables, comic jests, pseudo-historical anecdotes, erotic novellas (nine of which contain explicit content), and proto-fairy tales featuring supernatural motifs such as magical transformations and animal helpers.^[24][26]Straparola's vernacular Italian prose incorporates elements from oral traditions, classical sources, and contemporary novellas, often emphasizing themes of fortune's reversals, cleverness overcoming adversity, and social mobility through wit or enchantment.

It was reprinted in 1515.

THE FACETIOUS NIGHTS

In 1551, also in Venice, Straparola published the first volume of his Le Piacevoli Notti Di M. Giovanfrancesco Straparola da Caravaggio, which is often translated as The Pleasant Nights or The Facetious Nights, the second volume of this work appearing in 1553.

The Pleasant Nights is the work for which Straparola is most noted, and which contains a total of seventy-five short stories, fables, and fairy tales (Straparola 1894, vol.1 has 25; vol.