Italian Popular Tales (Classic Folk and Fairy Tales)

An important reintroduction to this literature this compilation of Thomas Cranes original translations of Italian folk stories includes new critical analysis.For 19th-century folklorist Thomas Crane the value of collecting translating and reproducing folktales lay in their internationalism―their capacity to reveal how the customs of a particular group no matter how unique are linked to many others.In his classic collection edited and updated by contemporary folklorist Jack Zipes Crane traces the roots of Italian folktales to their origins often in the Orient then shows how they diffused in unpredictable and marvelous ways throughout Italy and over the centuries. A contemporary of the brothers Grimm Crane offers a richer more complex selection of oral and literary tales. Unlike the Grimms he doesnt edit or modify the tales which deal openly with surprisingly contemporary subjects: murder adultery incest child abuse and brutal vengeance.The first English translations of Italian folktales now available after more than a century of neglectCritical analysis and notes by the original editor 19th-century folklorist Thomas Crane