Giovanni (Zoan) Francesco Straparola, who lived from about 1480 to 1557, is best known for his story collection The Pleasant Nights {Le Piacevoli Notti}, originally published in Venice in 1550 (vol. 1) and 1553 (vol. 2). Le Piacevoli Notti included seventy-three tales of various types. It is squarely within the medieval tradition of Boccaccio’s Decameron. Straparola’s Piacevoli Notti was widely read and influential in carrying forward liberal and tolerant medieval storytelling, including stories of men’s sexed protest.
In 16th-century Italy, riddles that Straparola collected and published became well-known. Such women-spoken riddles provide keen insight into gender. … Read the post Straparola’s riddles in tolerant discourse of gender difference
For a year Odysseus and his men lived piggish lives with Circe. Straparola’s pig-king fairy-tale shows that men might prefer to live as pigs. … Read the post piggish men rebel against constraints of men’s lives
Men’s genitals should be regarded as jewels, not junk. While making a rooster or man a capon helps him to gain weight, castration hurts them. … Read the post protect men’s jewels: making capons no way for men to gain weight
Straparola with Malgherita Spolatina & Teodoro in Le Piacevoli Notti gender-reversed the myth of Hero & Leander and provided a shining example. … Read the post true hero Malgherita Spolatina swam sea to Teodoro, her Leander