Giovanni Francesco Straparola

Giovanni Francesco "Gianfrancesco" Straparola, also known as Zoan or Zuan Francesco Straparola da Caravaggio (ca. 1485?-1558) was a writer of poetry, and collector and writer of short stories. Some time during his life, he migrated from Caravaggio to Venice where he published a collection of stories in two volumes called The Facetious Nights or The Pleasant Nights. This collection includes some of the first known printed versions of fairy tales in Europe, as they are known today.

LIFE

Not much is known of Straparola's life save for a few facts regarding his published works. He was likely born some time around 1485 in Caravaggio, Italy (on the Lombard plain east of Milan). However, nothing more is known of his life until 1508 when he is found to be in Venice where he signed his name "Zoan" on the title page of his Opera nova de Zoan Francesco Straparola da Caravaggio novamente stampata (New Works).

Prior to issuing the first volume of The Pleasant Nights, Straparola obtained permission to publish from the Venetian authorities on March 8, 1550, though the name on the permission reads "Zuan Francesco Sstraparola da Caravaggio."

Straparola is said to have died in 1558. But his death may have occurred earlier as after the 1556 or 1557 print run, the woodcut portrait of the author disappeared from the work as well as the words "All’instanza dall’autore" (at the behest of the author), the printer being Comin da Trino, Venice. This possibly could put Straparola's death prior to 1558 (Bottigheimer suggests 1555), and in some city other than Venice as his death is not recorded in the death records of Venice in the 1550s or early 1560s.

As a lettered man not native to Venice, Straparola may have held the position of teacher, private secretary, or a type of ‘ghost writer’ for a patron.

NAME

The name "Straparola" is unlikely to be Giovanni Francesco's real name. Bottigheimer suggests "Straparola" is a nickname derived from the Italian verb straparlare, meaning "to talk too much" or "to talk nonsense". Zipes has the name meaning "loquacious". The use of a nickname is understandable as the publishing of satirical writings in sixteenth-century Venice often held personal danger for the author.

NEW WORKS

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Wikipedia