Preserving the Spell
Basile’s "The Tale of Tales" and Its Afterlife in the Fairy-Tale Tradition
- Contents
- Review Quotes
- Awards

Part One: “Cupid and Psyche,” The Tale of Tales, and the Birth of Western Fairy Tale
1 A Never Ending and Never Told Tale: Basile’s Undoing of “Cupid and Psyche”
2 Orpheus, the King of the Birds, Moves to Sicily with Cupid and Psyche: Laura Gonzenbach’s “King Cardiddu”
3 Melancholy Is the Best Storyteller: Oil, Water, and Blood from Gonzenbach back to Basile
Part Two: The Italian Tales and German Romanticism: The Brothers Grimm, Clemens Brentano, Novalis
4 What We Leave Behind: Fairies, Letters, Rose Petals, and Sprigs of Myrtle
5 The Fairy, the Myrtle, and the Myrtle-Maiden: From Basile to the Grimms and Brentano
6 How to Undo The Tale of Tales: Brentano and the End of Fairy Tales
7 Where Are the Ogresses of Yesteryear? The Neapolitan Cupids and Psyches in the Hands of the Brothers Grimm
8 Beauty, Zulima, and Aline: The Marvel Preceding and Following the World According to Novalis
Part Three: American Postmodernism, Memoirs, and a New Beginning
9 “You Will Never Awaken Because the Story You Were In No Longer Exists”: Coover, Postmodernism, and the End of an Era
10 “Disney World Has Become a Kind of Reverse Lourdes”: From Stanley Elkin back to Basile
11 “A Benign Fairy Tale out of the Brothers Grimm”: Memoirs and the Magic of Reality
12 “Everything Beautiful Is Gone”: Beasts of the Southern Wild and a New Beginning
Appendix: The Grimms’ Adaptations of Basile
Notes
IndexDancing Backward: An Introduction
Part One: “Cupid and Psyche,” The Tale of Tales, and the Birth of Western Fairy Tale
1 A Never Ending and Never Told Tale: Basile’s Undoing of “Cupid and Psyche”
2 Orpheus, the King of the Birds, Moves to Sicily with Cupid and Psyche: Laura Gonzenbach’s “King Cardiddu”
3 Melancholy Is the Best Storyteller: Oil, Water, and Blood from Gonzenbach back to Basile
Part Two: The Italian Tales and German Romanticism: The Brothers Grimm, Clemens Brentano, Novalis
4 What We Leave Behind: Fairies, Letters, Rose Petals, and Sprigs of Myrtle
5 The Fairy, the Myrtle, and the Myrtle-Maiden: From Basile to the Grimms and Brentano
6 How to Undo The Tale of Tales: Brentano and the End of Fairy Tales
7 Where Are the Ogresses of Yesteryear? The Neapolitan Cupids and Psyches in the Hands of the Brothers Grimm
8 Beauty, Zulima, and Aline: The Marvel Preceding and Following the World According to Novalis
Part Three: American Postmodernism, Memoirs, and a New Beginning
9 “You Will Never Awaken Because the Story You Were In No Longer Exists”: Coover, Postmodernism, and the End of an Era
10 “Disney World Has Become a Kind of Reverse Lourdes”: From Stanley Elkin back to Basile
11 “A Benign Fairy Tale out of the Brothers Grimm”: Memoirs and the Magic of Reality
12 “Everything Beautiful Is Gone”: Beasts of the Southern Wild and a New Beginning
Appendix: The Grimms’ Adaptations of Basile
Notes
Index
Ennio Flaiano awards for Italian studies: Golden Pegasus Award
Won
History: History of Ideas
Literature and Literary Criticism: Germanic Languages | Romance Languages
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