Beautiful Angiola: The Great Treasury of Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales Collected by Laura Gonzenbach (Hardcover)

by Laur Gonzenbach (Author) "Once upon a time there was a king and queen who had only one son..." (more)
Key Phrases: dear little horse, racconti popolari siciliani, dear purse, Betta Pilusa, Count Piro, Don Giovanni (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
...a treasure...All the magic elements of the folk and fairy tales are in these stories, but with a delightfully Sicilian angle: stories where a mans word is his life, a woman can leave her home and determine her own fate, and working hard reaps reward. When I finished the last page, I knew this book was a labor of love and deserved my respect. -- Kathryn Thurman, Territorial Tattler

[An] extraordinary collection. Extraordinary because it is the only volume of tales in the nineteenth century gathered by an upper-class woman from lower-middle-class and peasant women, straight from their mouths. Extraordinary because Gonzenbach translated them from the Sicilian dialect directly into High German and added here and there her own feminst convictions. Extraordinary because they extolled a set of morals counter to the hypocritical stance of Gonzenbach's own class and exposed unjust practices that were the rule of the land. If it had not been for Gonzenbach, the voices of these tales might never have been recorded. -- Ruminator Review
This is a wonderfully comprehensive collection of forgotten fairy tales told by Sicilian peasant women and painstakingly written down by Laura Gonzenbach. They're stories with a feminist slant, strange, quirky and tart. Sometimes shocking, often superb. -- Jacqueline Wilson, author of Girls in Tears and The Lottie Project
The Sicilian tales in Beautiful Angiola are a revelation; not in their originality, because like all great collected folk and fairy tales they are universal. But they have a uniqueness because the flavor of that island off the toe of the boot of Italy is so concentrated, so lusty, so full of sun, lemons and herbs that when reading them, I could taste them. I see a series of paintings inspired by them forming in my head. What a wonderful collection for any folklorist, Italian and especially Sicilian! Strega Nona (who is Calabrese) approves! -- Tomie dePaola
Zipe's superb notes and documentation greatly enhance the text. Ostensibly collected for younger readers, the anthology is just as appropriate for an adult audience. Literature and folklore collections will be greatly enriched by these lively narratives. -- Richars K. Burns, MSLS, Harboro, PA, Library Journal
A great treasure indeed. Gonzenbach's collection gives powerful new insights into European folktale traditions. -- Jo Radner, Book Notes
These books are the first English translations of a collection of Sicilian folk and fairy tales, published in High German by a Swiss woman who was born in Messina in 1842! -- Applessed Quarterly

Product Description
In one of the most startling literary discoveries of recent years, Jack Zipes has uncovered this neglected treasure trove of Sicilian folk and fairy tales. Like the Grimm brothers before her, Laura Gonzenbach, a talented Swiss-German born in Sicily, set out to gather up the tales told and retold among the peasants. Gonzenbach collected wonderful stories - some on subjects that readers will know from the Grimms or Perrault, some entirely new - and published them in German. Her early death and the destruction of her papers in the Messina earthquake of 1908 only add to the mystery behind her achievement.
Beautiful Angiola, a nineteenth-century collection of stories in the great tradition of fairy and folk tales now translated into English for the first time, is certain to become an instant classic. Gonzenbach delights us with heroines and princes, sorcery and surprise, the deeds of the brave and the treacherous, and the magic of the true storyteller. The Green Bird, The Humiliated Princess, Sorfarina, The Magic Cane, the Golden Donkey, and the Little Stick that Hits are titles destined to become new favorites for readers everywhere. Yet while the stories enchant us, the wry taglines with which they often end ("And so they remained rich and consoled, while we keep sitting here and are getting old") gently bring us back to earth.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 632 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (September 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415968089
• ISBN-13: 978-0415968089
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,065,562 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important addition to your folklore library, November 24, 2003

By	Heidi Anne Heiner (SurLaLune Fairy Tales.com) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Here the inexhaustible Jack Zipes edits and translates a lesser known, but arguably very important, collection of Sicilian folk and fairy tales. Originally collected and recorded by Laura Gonzenbach in mid-19th century Sicily, these tales provide a different perspective on the folklore of the time and ours today. Zipes argues that this collection is perhaps the most important collection from the time period, even more important than the Grimms' collection. The tales are unadulterated, carefully recorded to reflect the voice of the original teller. Since Gonzenbach collected primarily from women tellers and was herself female, the feminine perspective of the tales hearkens back to the French Salons albeit at a different class level. Be warned that these tales have not been softened and at times reflect the violence, cruelty, and unfairness of life with clear language; these stories are not for the nursery. Zipes' comprehensive introduction and endnotes (including Aarne-Thompson classification numbers) enhance the scholarly weight of the text, but the stories can be read strictly for the enjoyment of the armchair folklorist.

This collection is especially recommended for readers interested in 19th century folktale collections, feminist folklore and Sicily.

Highly recommended.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars of questionable value and provenance, July 21, 2007

By	Bruce D. Wilner "Bruce David Wilner" (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I question the value because, while the stories are entertaining and do indeed exhibit a uniquely Sicilian flair, the plot lines are extremely familiar. To be sure, both Gonzenbach/Zipes books are completely subsumed by Italo Calvino's monumental work under Pantheon's colophon. I question the provenance because--some years after Zipes "discovered" Gonzenbach's $35 trove of Sicilian tales--he mysteriously just happened to "discover" a complementary $35 trove. Hmm ... I guess sticking to the ol' two-stage discovery paradigm doubles your revenues.