The Fairy-tale of If on a winter's night a traveler
In the past, fairy-tales have been a major form of writing for the great minds of the imaginative authors of the world. In search of cultural roots, much of Europe focused on its folktale and fairy-tales. However, Early Modern and Contemporary Italy took its tales and changed, manipulated, and combined them, having dissimilar concerns as the other societies of Europe. Influenced by his nation's overall approach to its heritage, Italo Calvino, in his novel If on a winter's night a traveler, is blatantly provided with a fundamental structure, plot, and theme through his use of the fairy-tale.
"You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade." (Calvino 3). Calvino's opening sentences, even the first couple pages, exemplify what the reader would be told by a storyteller, as a young child would hear, cuddling within his or her warm, blanket-covered utopia, while mother's contiguous body not only provides comfort and security, but a fairy-tale incipit; the child's ear drums focus in on a lulling frequency incessantly flowing from the mother's fatigued mouth. The didactic beginning of this novel is a mechanism Calvino utilizes to ensure the reader that a fantastic, adventurous story is about to begin.
The "Once upon a time" cliche that has dominated the first sentence of fairy-tales in the past is replaced with "So, then, you..." where the actual plot then begins (Calvino 4). The Reader takes the first steps on his quest for a final, complete text. Within those few initial steps, he begins his double quest for his princess, the female reader, ...
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...iry-tales are.
"Calvino's collection stands with the best folktale collections anywhere." (Guton 91). Many attributes of the novel If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino bare a striking resemblance to the fairy-tale. The structure, plot, themes, and even characterization of the novel exemplify its similarities to a tale. Regardless of how the book is critically approached, the fact that Calvino, influenced by his national culture, wrote the novel as a fantastic tale will always remain firmly planted in his readers' view.
Works Citied
Calvino, Italo. If on a winter's night a traveler. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1981.
Guton, Sharon and Sline, Jean. Contemporary Literary Criticism.Volume 22. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1982.
Votteler, Thomas. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Volume 73. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1993.
What I am interested in is how the notions of metafiction and neorealism work in Calvino's narratives. Undoubtedly, as I have established earlier, it is not possible to label his work as falling into either one or the other generic category. Rather, I would say that both neorealist tendencies and metafictional elements work to make Calvino's short story. Antithetical as these two notions are in ...
So, in response to the question, `How comic and how serious are Italo Calvino's intentions in, "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller"?', my conclusion is that Calvino's intentions can only be as comic or as serious as the reader makes them out to be. When I was reading the book, it was a mixture of both serious and comic. But the overall message that I think Calvino is trying to get across to the reader, is that life is one big joke and often predictable, and no matter how serious you take things in life, always see the funny side because you will be happier.
Francescone’s paper, “Someday My Prince Will Come: The Impact on Fairytales in Print and Film over Time,” was filled with many clear points and grabbing details on the changes Disney has made to make fairytales more suitable for children and creating strong, female characters. This essay was very interesting to read and was filled with details; however, there were too many quotes and grammatical errors.
It was Marcus Brutus’s sense of honor that ultimately led to his figurative death in the involvement in a murder. His pride in his nobleness played a crucial role from the moment of his introduction in the play, in which
...n” is a great example of an old myth or tale reconstructed and adapted for a modern audience in a new medium. It is a progression on one hand in its use of modern language, setting, and style but it is also the product of the old myths in that it is essentially the same on the thematic level. In addition, the level of self-awareness on the part of the narrator and, by extension, the author marks it out as an illustration of the very notion of evolutionary changes of myths and fairy tales. Adaptation is the solution to the fairy tale, and fairy tales have been endlessly changing themselves throughout history and, by some strange transforming or enchanting power endlessly staying the same.”
...es held by many fairy tales are conventional and represent the basic morality for many societies', which is perhaps why they quickly to gained acceptance by both children and adults throughout the nineteenth century after the Romantic Movement. During this period of time, a highly warlike society was formed by men who attended war and fighting against other countries while women were relegated to subordinate and subservient positions. The social convention formed during nineteenth century is reflected in the gender bias of the children's literature in which men were casted in predetermined and leading roles. Female heroes were portrayed as rather helpless creatures whose futures depended on the kindness of capable men, whom the women must need in order to be saved. Consequently, this pattern is displayed on the quests done by both female and male heroes respectively.
Throughout my childhood, my sister loved to write unique fairytales for me that would make my little mind soar. Although I didn’t read modern fairytales, fairytales played an important role in my childhood as they first helped me to read, gain knowledge about the world and understand myself. According to Bruno Bettelheim’s book, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairytales, fairy tales give children much knowledge about their identity, others emotions and their environment. Children gain knowledge by reading about life experiences similar to their own and use this knowledge they gain through out their development, just as I did. Grimm’s Fairy Tales, written by the Grimm Brothers
Bettelheim, Bruno. “Fantasy, Recovery, Escape, and Consolation. “The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Vintage Books, 1976.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story about a little girl who comes into contact with unpredictable, illogical, basically mad world of Wonderland by following the White Rabbit into a huge rabbit – hole. Everything she experiences there challenges her perception and questions common sense. This extraordinary world is inhabited with peculiar, mystical and anthropomorphic creatures that constantly assault Alice which makes her to question her fundamental beliefs and suffer an identity crisis. Nevertheless, as she woke up from “such a curious dream” she could not help but think “as well she might, what a wonderful dream it had been ”.
Although the novel is notorious for its satire and parodies, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland main theme is the transition between childhood and adulthood. Moreover, Alice’s adventures illustrate the perplexing struggle between child and adult mentalities as she explores the curious world of development know as Wonderland. From the beginning in the hallway of doors, Alice stands at an awkward disposition. The hallway contains dozens of doors that are all locked. Alice’s pre-adolescent stage parallels with her position in the hallway. Alice’s position in the hallway represents that she is at a stage stuck between being a child and a young woman. She posses a small golden key to ...
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Fairytales and folktales have been told around the campfire, in the living room, the class room, and before bedtime for centuries. First told orally, the “… stories had to have remarkable features in order to remain memorable (Nodelman 246).” These stories were passed down from storyteller to audience until they were eventually written down and collected for consumption by the public. Due to the passing of time and fallibility the stories have changed throughout the years and slightly differ from culture to culture, however, “Stories similar to “Cinderella” can be found in historical records from as far back as the seventh century, and from a variety of places around the world (Nodelman 246).” Although the classic tales differ in various ways from their modern counterparts (such as Disney films, etc.), the characters and their journeys are still very much identifiable.
Bottigheimer Ruth B. Fairytales Folk Narrative Research and History “Social History” JSTOR 14, 3 (1989). 343-357, Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
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