"Fairy Godfather: Straparola, Venice, and the Fairy Tale Tradition makes the case that the fairy tale, far from rising from the ground as a rural folk tradition, was invented by a city-bound sixteenth-century Italian literary hack, Zoan Francesco Straparola." (Adam Gopnik, New Yorker) "A vivid and compelling picture of life in Venice and the Veneto in the sixteenth century." (Guido Ruggiero, Pennsylvania State University) "Thanks to the initiative and wide-ranging scholarly industry of Ruth Bottigheimer, teachers and students . . . now have available to them a highly readable, at times quite engrossing account of the little that is known, and whatever can be surmised, about the author who launched the genre that was to become the literary folk fairy tale." (The Lion and the Unicorn) "A masterly demonstration. . . . A substantial achievement." (Times Literary Supplement) "Well researched, gracefully written, and beautifully printed. Highly recommended." (Choice)
