Basile vs Perrault: fairy tales in renaissance Italy and post-reformation France: naturalism and mysticism.
There clear difference between Basile and Perrault is not their style but their influences. Both tell similar stories but Perrault resorts to mythical creatures while Basile sticks with natural suggestions. Given, the Italian fictional history, Basile’s Renaissance inspiration altered his presentation of stories to a scientific column than supernal oddities.
There is a question whether the original story was embellished with mythical creatures to bring more animation to life. To mythologise the stories to fiction. There is a positive element and a quasi-negative one. The mythical assessment fictionalises the story. Dwarfs and unicorns do not exist. Importing fairies into the plot line is a conductor for the story than an actual precedent. The use of witches in Macbeth retroactively play more a thematic purpose than a realistic precedent. Educating the blasphemous nature of fate. An unsolvable quest. Yet folklore at the same time does feel the same way. Mermaids were probably manatees. Seemingly beautiful women in the starved near death sailors compromised intellect. Though the modern novelist may use the characters of Middle Earth to procure motifs does not negate the acceptance amongst ancient cultures. Fiction is known to be fiction but fables do not always hold these fictional beliefs to be genuine.
Ancient Mesopotamia wrote about dragons and werewolves. Greece introduced cyclops, griffins and sirens. It is possible they were using absurd pictorials to convey a theme or they were presenting a false perception of what they believed they saw. Herodotus mentioned a tribe who transformed into wolves which given the harsh climate and fur for warmth, it is not impossible. It is also possible that many of these creatures are based on fossilised dinosaur bones or hypnotised by real creatures. Whether that be whales or elephants. Myths were originally orally transmitted. Just like a game of telephone, if heard incorrectly deviation is likely. Especially if the story is told by a sage publicly. The sage may incidentally tweak the story adding new supernal elements. Once it was codified by Hesiod and Homer, these myths became the constitution of accurate history. Even sirens passed on to become mermaids. The evidence of original inspiration is neigh. It may have been dinosaurs or dramatic flare. Fear of the unknown embellished tales of organisms with treacherous consequences. Then again europeans thought giraffes were fake until imperialism drowned that myth out.
Human imagination works on both sides of the aisle. Whether it be a ruse after a long journey for a juicy story or over exaggerations of historical landmarks. The human mind seeks to explain everything. Prior to the empirical assessments in society, the intellect was used. In a supernal syllogistic way. The presocratics saw the world and naturalised it. Using their intellects to rationalise. To reduce the possibility of celestial charm. Traditionalists did the opposite. They clung to their exaggerations. Adding mythical elements to explain the difficult phenomena. If imagination is the cause it also harbours a distinct attempt to translate the science of the world. Even if people thoroughly believed in the origin stories. Believed Zeus and Hercules to be historical figures does not take away from the explanation. It may be unscientific from an empiricist point of view but it is not impossible. It is unfalsifiable and attests to a cultural concern than a historical format. The mythological prose captures the concerns and curiosities of the ancients in one fell swoop. Translating the unfathomable into comprehensible with fantastical elements and illustrative beauty.
Thales and his crew out in Ionia began to reshape the vision of mythology. Without erasing the mythic prowess, they transitioned the wisdom to natural conclusions. Using empirical elements to denote a new perspective on reality. While estranged from the modern mechanistic view, the hellenised view worked organismically. Pondering with the intellect over the religious notations. Using their brains for seeking instead of simply listening. Engaging in mathematics to decipher the secrets of the universe. The mythical was sidelined for “secular” thinking. Christianity aided in removing the mythical promises of Greece. With Roman culture spread throughout Gaul, christianity spread to England. Converting many pagans to their beliefs. Removing much of the mythical hold for theological recommendations. Yet these pagan factors never subsided. Halloween and Christmas combined Christian and pagan ideas into a unified religiosity. Enabling more natives to adopt Jesus into their heart by also holding onto their heritage. With the rise of medieval mysticism at the turn of the millennium much of these folklore creatures resurfaced. The demonic became more realised in literature. Long ignored pagan myths were rising to the surface. Like zombies they infected the public. Reinvigorating a spark in their belief. Mysticism bred these revamped relics even through the enlightenment.
Scary monsters just couldn’t be put to bed. No matter how much science and rationality progressed, folklore remained strong. Legacy was through and through. Till today these ideas are still on loop. Yet it is media that has passed these ideas to the public eye. Vampires only became prominent in the eighteenth century and its current popularity is due to cinema. Literature and film brought ancient creatures to the forefront. Supernatural regurgitated ancient demonic creations. Movies about Dracula and Twilight further the dominance of vampires in popular culture. Lord of the Rings made elves and dwarfs canonical in a foreign land. Even science fiction has presupposed futuristic possibilities whether that be aliens or robots. Rolling the tape of constant mythical cinema that includes mermaids or unicorns traces from horror, teen drama, to children’s television. World War Z was horror, The Vampire Diaries was a teen drama, and Hotel Transylvania was a children’s movie. Circulating these ideas around children is only perpetuating the myth. Unlike Santa and Tooth Fairies, these are more popular amongst adults. From the Grimm Brothers to other fable collections popularity has only multiplied in the pursuit of profit. Much of the imaginative fancy has cradled the public. The same recycled for the eagerly bloodthirsty public.
Mystical growth in Europe was idolised in the west and remained there. The renaissance opted for a different layout. The humanistic elements sought for natural focus over the mythical arts. The empirical assessments left the intellectual mind. At least in the mind the fables could still be believed. The rational mind was deciding the course of metaphysics. If the supernal was a highly debated theme so too was the mythical folklore. Mysticism entered the fray and remained a part of celestial conduct. Yet the humanistic conquest differed. Renaissance thought wasn’t entirely empirical. It was more in the later half that led to the British empiricists of Bacon and Hume as opposed to Descartes upholding age old rationalism with a nuance away from scholasticism. His work was aligned with the reformation. Further synching rational thought with traditional religiosity. Cultivating mystical experiences with a logical flow was an ideal. Yet for the humanists of the Renaissance that precedes him. Da Vinci famously argued for empirical findings over authoritarian legitimacy. A realistic style of writing initiated by Machiavelli and experiential music theory prompted by Galilei (Galileo’s father). Running counter to Aristotelian themes sought to end the mystical persona of ancient celestials.
Humanistic empiricism was a start to the scientific revolution. A new mechanistic outlook laid out by Copernicus and eventually realised by Kepler and Galileo. The mechanistic outlook sought modelling and experimentation. Divvying reality into parts and parceling the world in sections to be classified. The mechanistic outlooks stemmed from the revolutionary shift. Empiricism overrode previously held claims. Hume as a part of the group store for an anti-metaphysical stance. Only further leading to pragmatism and the onto-theological critique of Heidegger. Science took a big step in analytical philosophy in the renewed humanism in anglophone countries. Mathematics and linguistics were applied to philosophy. With the latter defending the empiricists from the German idealists. The scientific approach had its ups and downs through the last half millennium but it all dates back to the renaissance. Perceiving the world through experimentation over syllogistic conclusions provided more concrete dedication. The renaissance looked to a new version of thinking. While it was pushed back upon in the subsequent years, it opened the door for a new scientific revolution. The anthropocentric character of conjuring realistic phenomena to produce inventions was a sacrilege but also a semblance of human capability. No longer was man under the whim of divine order but human interventionism.
While the Renaissance did away with much of the mythical arts in favour of a naturist approach, the same cannot be said of western Europe. The presence of mythical fables and mystical education only furthered folklore into the spotlight. Beyond greek mythos was Platonic myths. Plato’s philosophy became more necessary following the Renaissance. Aristotle was more liked by scholastics but even his influence could not erase folk tales. Nor did he wish to. He saw them to be false but useful for philosophical speculation. Thus the case of Maimonidean demythologisation is a clear Aristotelian theme. Yet Maimonides was berated for such an approach. Aristotle was more heavily beloved under Islam than Christianity. Christianity found more mystical relation stronger. While Aquinas meshed Aristotle with Christianity, it did not bear the influence nor reflect the commoner’s perception. Yet Plato’s mythos did affect the societal fabric of reformation Europe. The continued adoption of Islamic metaphysics with the Cambridge Platonists who engaged in christian Kabbalah. Many of whom were reformers. The reformers were rationalists like the ancients. Following the Renaissance’s reverting to the ancients for advice. Yet instead of using it as a bedrock they used it to further their cause. Descartes and Berkeley both produced rational philosophies synthesised with their religiosity.
Metaphysics remained apparent into German idealism. The rational effort, the mind as the source was at times advanced for the average folk. The commoner maintained his mystical relation and the mythical notions that attached to it. The reformation did not cease the myths but instead touted a nuanced outlook with myths united. Informing on their platonism as a correlation to the mystical sides. Whether this included mythical creatures may be nought. Yet it not shocking that Descartes and Berkeley both produced novel rational philosophies predicated on existence. To a point that questioning their own being was on the menu. They took the opposite approach of the empiricists who strove into the jungle to deduce otherness. How many lions are there, what type of minerals complement one another which material is stronger. The reformation sought inward salvation at the expense of the dogmatic church. The empiricists rejected it all and put their mind in the field. Mechanisation over intellectualism. A way of overturning the old pervasive nonsense for articulated conclusions. The early rationalists toward the idealists were not huge fans of mysticism. Meeting their empiricist friends half way. Spinoza and Hobbes led to Kant’s synthesis. Rational thought included mystical elements from Descartes Leibniz and most notably Kabbalah in Spinoza but Kant wished to rid it.
Along with other enlightenment thinkers mythology took a back seat but not for long. The aggressive erasure of metaphysical elements from Protestantism by Locke was one such case. Hume quickly followed suit and Kant brought it to fruition. Yet following Kant was a reactionary movement. The romantics overwhelming Hegel sought a novel style replenishing the mystical. The re-emergence of platonic thought and artistic expression. Spiritual freedom and individual creativity. Literature advanced mystical themes in the writings of Poe and Hawthorne. Themes of this sort prompted the Grimm Brothers to publish their collection of folk tales. In line with the darker gothic elements of its era. The brutality removed in the Disney versions are contextually relevant. Jacob Grimm even wrote an academic work on German mythology. All literature was open and available to be enjoyed. The overjoyed relation to meddle in art and mystical features sentenced an attachment to folklore. Despite its oddity and fictional plot lines, they were metaphorically useful. Fairy tales were necessarily credible in their existential input. It is thus no shock that romanticism led to existentialism. As much as the metaphysical portraits had begun to lose their edge, the mystical style referred to the self. Continental philosophy derided rationalism for experience. Though internal experience rather than empirical experiences. Kierkegaard and Nietzsche found the ancients to be wise with much to say against the Neo-Kantian rationalist industrialisation.
The romantic style was the grandson of the reformation. Luther’s metaphysics were anew. He planned to bring the bible to the people. A real populist in his own right. Literacy followed the biblical word. People would be the heart of the hermeneutical bind. Similar to romanticism, the people found the meditative onslaught as a redemption to their faith. They were the creators, they were the feelers. Textualising God only furthered a pull from the impoverished to be more connected to God. No longer through a priest but through their own engagement. An idea so relevant to democratisation. Combining his theology with platonism inserted mythical power into the everyday man’s guide to life. Alongside Luther with Spinoza in his pantheistic hopes for secularisation brought forward a new order of thought. One that met the political with the spiritual. While some thinkers were over with God, others personified him with biblical references. France entrenched in mystical lore that prevailed in the high Middle Ages antagonised the church but bought the public hope. Rhenish pietists infiltrated French thinking that reinvigorated with the reformation. The church could not quell the mystical input. France though a catholic centre with close ties with the pope, had strong traces of mystical aspects. Esoteric nature clouded the periphery of protestantism.
All this historical context leads us to Basile and Perrault. Perrault was a French catholic and modernist. The impression of mystical elements may have also adorned the additions of mythical features. While he was a staunch aristocrat with monarchial assurances, his folktales could not escape a seemingly transcendental element. France was not fond of fairy tales so despite the mystical influence it didn’t matter much. Yet to more protestant heavy countries it may have had a stronger pull. To some extent his use of magical elements was a way of patronising the poor. These folktales you know so well are as dubious as the poverty to which you reside. Though at the same time the magical elements spoke to children. They were indeed assets the imaginative children would enjoy. It may not have reflected the reformation at all nor any mystical effort. Simply a way to get his stories to his children. Yet Romanticism jumped at his stories added a grim gothic nature for intellectuals. Folktales were for everyone not just children. Germany in its refuelled mystical arts brought the tales to the forefront to be discussed and compiled. To be rewritten with a new angle. One dually appropriate for adult audiences.
Basile was a post-renaissance man. The fairy tales he collected were demythologised. Given that Perrault added the magical items, need not take away from Basile adding aspects. Though Perrault was inspired by Basile, so using his stuff he added magical elements that Basile had either removed or never existed. Given the tendency for folktales to have some magical aspects, it is plausible, that Basile did take them out. He even leaves in a fairy for Cinderella but doesn't with the godmother nor the pumpkin carriage. In Sleeping Beauty, he uses astrology instead of a wicked fairy. In Rapunzel, there is magic among other stories with the gore that is famous amongst the Grimm Brothers. To some degree he is different as the predecessor but he also wrote in a romantic era. The humanist demythologising did not cease the storytelling effort purported by his novella. He was a post-renaissance man but he was not an empiricist. Despite living in Italy, he still held to the useful folklore of old. The renaissance imbued storytelling and he brushed it to the brim. Similar to the Grimm Brothers later, he found violence and magic to be perfect conductors to an adult audience yet quite strongly that Perrault attempted to mete out for his children’s circus. Yet Basile does use scientific means of explaining the stories of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. For the former her son sucks the spindle’s poison out awakening her and for the latter while riding on the horse the poisoned apples is dislodged from her throat awakening her. There his a combination of magic and science or alchemy.
Basile did not do away with magic but he turned down the volume heavily. Alchemy was still a desired form of proto-chemistry in Italy. The great pioneers of modern science were involved in alchemy and astronomy namely Galileo and Newton. It was thus not unassailable to have magic in stories especially in folktales. While the British empiricists downplayed the mythical aspects that was a couple centuries later. Mystical ideas rang through Renaissance Italy. Neoplatonic arts were relevant to the occults that pervaded during the time. Yet there is a switch. The scientific phenomenon did alter the presentation of fairy tales. There are classic wonders and lore but there are also modern mechanisms. He uses automatons and a telescope. Rather than using magical objects he resorts to scientific inventions. Natural magic as an alchemic branch cousin in fairy tales. Basile did not fully give up on magic. Like Aristotle, he saw fiction as a metaphorical lesson. The marvel was for education. In a Maimonidean scheme he demythologised but held onto the edenic story as educational. Basile’s wonders ponder and grow. Fictional but relatable. Mending the bounds between the old world and the new one. Not on Bacon and Galileo’s side but ultimately synthesising the two.
Disney though changed the romance for its childish audience more than Perrault ever did. Removing all the gore they added some charming magical elements for childish persuasion. The prince’s kiss that awakens the princess is a new creation. For Sleeping Beauty nor for Snow White does this occur. For both it’s a natural occurrence. Perrault used this theme for Mother Goose Tales to awaken a princess from a century year slumber and then Grimm Brother’s used for Sleeping Beauty. Now it is used all over. For The Frog Prince and The Little Mermaid and Shrek. The true love’s kiss was added. Quite a frequent theme that was used once in foliates now used all the time. Potentially referring to a Shakespearean line in Richard III it has become the talk of the town. Instead of violence we use love. Undermining the tales of old, childish magic is inserted for positive entertainment. Perrault’s account whether it be supernatural due to the childish mystery or the historical background cannot escape the adolescent interest. The fictional is mind boggling but enjoyable to the imaginative child. Perrault’s words to his children were deeply entertained, despite his contemporaries paying it no heed. The cinematic leap in cartoonish fairy tales. Grimm Brothers along with novel thinkers like Chesterton Dickens and Einstein championed fairy tales for children. Tolkien wrote his own fairy tale drama. The romantic period with the nationalistic efforts brought traditional folklore to the forefront of the nation’s historical legacy.
Perrault’s account, like Disney can be seen with childish favouritism. Peter Pan a magical land far away is the epitome of this theme. The Grimm Brothers did modify their magical thinking but it was reversed by Disney. Disney found more in common with Perrault. The childish tactics may have had a say in them. Yet the blending of pagan myths into Christian society need not be ignored. Augustine wrote that pagan gods became demons. Fairies were a common supernatural superstition in medieval Europe. Werewolves were exiled individuals who transformed. In the medieval metaphysical thought, magic was possible. Jesus was the prime saviour but that didn’t mean that pagan ideals went away. France had been infested with Germanic lore since the high Middle Ages. Esoteric themes were prevalent in intellectual writings. While not entirely forecasted they did leave their mark. Perrault’s writings are ignored by most as relics. France saw a rise in literary recognition. The era of preciosity for the aristocrats for fame. His lack of altering the older fairy tales disenchanted his audience. Yet it was his way of connecting with is children. To some degree as well as hoping to return to his high position in the court. Speaking to traditional ideas for aristocratic enjoyment only fuelled his own aspirations.
Contrary to the initial trend, it doesn’t seem that the magical elements had anything to do with the reformation. Luther may have held some musical elements but that was a part of the historical chain of pagan inclusivity. Like Disney, Perrault was moved to use extensive magic to appeal to his children. A way of giving the children a model of connection and appreciation. On the other hand, Basile does seem to have been affected by the cultural layout of the renaissance. He added scientific and naturalist elements to his stories. He used magic on a simple level without the hyper-mystical orientations of the past. Yet he was not entirely comfortable with the strong rejectionists of Bacon and Galileo. Their absolutist antagonism was overblown. Instead a metaphorical pattern. One that respected the tale for its education more than its actuality. Using parody to endow wisdom through a hydra or ogres. It wasn’t to confuse people but teach people. Romanticists realised this and rebranded it for that purpose. Fantasy writers do not write to teach actuality but plausibility. To teach lessons through the deepest fictional experience. Liberating the value from the obvious simulation.
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