Skip to Main Content

Fairy Tales in Italy and France

French and Italian fairy tales written between 1550 and 1750: connections to each other and to contemporary fairy tales literature, film, and the arts

Ask A Librarian

Make an appointment

Chat, Call, Text

Email: libraries@colorado.edu

Romance Languages Librarian

Profile Photo
Kathia Ibacache
Contact:
Norlin
Research Suite
E250E

Welcome

This guide will connect you with resources referring to mainly French and Italian fairy tales from the sixteen-century to the current times. In addition, this guide will be contextualized in terms of connections among fairy tales, film, literature, and other art expressions, helping you find primary and secondary sources that you could use to map relationships among different versions of the same tale.

 

Illustration shows Beauty looking at the dying Beast.

Beauty and the Beast. Smithsonian Library.

Fairy Tales - Retold or Adaptations Picture Books

A retold or adaptation of a fairy tale keeps essential elements of a tale as to be recognized by the audience, but adds twists, time period-related elements, and other artistic, filmographic, or illustrative expressions chosen by different illustrators, authors, film directors, etc.

 

Looking at the Children's shelves of public libraries, you will probably find many fairy tales retold or adaptations of well-known fairy tales. You can find these adaptations in books for children, teen novels, graphic novels, films, theater, and even operas. Examine the contemporary versions of the Cinderella tale type below.

You will also notice that these books' call number (location) starts with PZ. The Library of Congress classification system assigns PZ8 for traditional fairy tales, meaning you can find fairy tales in the same classification letter number in other libraries that follow this classification system.