Talia, The Sleeping Beauty: A European Fairytale
About this ebook
Drawing on the versions by Perrault and Basile, this new retelling of the classic Sleeping Beauty fairytale tells the story of Talia, a Princess, who is cursed by a slighted Fairy to die of a wound from a spindle. However, her destiny is re-imagined by another Fairy to sleep until awoken by the son of a King, who will have to deal with an enchanted wood and an ogre before he can live in peace with Talia, and their two children, Sun and Moon...
In addition, this book contains English translations of the original tales by Perrault and Basile, ‘The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood’ and ‘Sun, Moon and Talia.’
[Folklore Type: ATU-410 (The Sleeping Beauty)]
Ratings and reviews
About the author
Charles Perrault (1628–1703) was a French poet and author who laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales. Though he began his career as a lawyer in charge of royal buildings, by around 1660, Perrault had earned a positive reputation for his poetry. As an influential figure in the 17th century French literary scene, he was elected to the Académie Française in 1671, and played a prominent role in a literary controversy known as the quarrel between the Ancients and Moderns.
The best known of his stories are from his fairy tales for children, Tales of Mother Goose (1697; Contes de ma mère l’oye). These include Little Red Riding Hood (Le Petit Chaperon Rouge), Cinderella (Cendrillon), Puss in Boots (Le Chat Botté), The Sleeping Beauty (La Belle au bois Dormant), and Bluebeard (Barbe Bleue).
Some of Perrault's versions of old folk tales influenced the German versions published by the Brothers Grimm more than a century later. The stories continue to be printed and have been adapted to opera, ballet, theatre, and film.
Born in c. 1575 to a middle-class family in Giugliano, Italy, Giambattista Basile was a soldier, poet, and fairytale collector, whose Lo cunto de li cunti overo lo trattenemiento de peccerille (‘The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones’)—a collection of 50 tales written in Neapolitan—was one of the earliest such collections based on folktales. It was published posthumously by his sister, Adriana, in Naples in 1634 and 1636 under the anagrammatic pseudonym Gian Alesio Abbattutis, and later became known as the Pentamerone.
It served as an important source both for the later fairytale writers, such as the Frenchman Charles Perrault in the 17th century and the German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 19th century, and for the Italian commedia dell’arte dramatist Carlo Gozzi in the 18th century, as it includes many of the oldest know variants in existence as well as the earliest known European versions of ‘Rapunzel’ and ‘Cinderella.’
Rachel Louise Lawrence is a British author who translates and adapts folk and fairy tales from original texts and puts them back into print, particularly the lesser-known British & Celtic variants.
Since writing her first story at the age of six, Rachel has never lost her love of writing and reading. A keen wildlife photographer and gardener, she is currently working on several writing projects.
Why not follow her?
www.facebook.com/Rachel.
www.twitter.com/RLLawrenceBP
www.pinterest.com/RLLawrenceBP
www.goodreads.com/
Or visit her website: www.
