The Voyage: Edited by Chandani Lokuge & David Morley
Page 18
by Silkworms Ink Anthologies
PROLOGUE
People often think of fairy tales as taking place in the woods. However, the literary tradition of the fairy tale more properly began in the cosmopolitan streets of Venice and Naples. Later it flourished in the salons of Paris, where many a rebellious aristocratic woman composed her tales beyond the so-called radiance of the Sun King.
My favourite tales are from Basile and D’Aulnoy, tales in which women speak their minds, happy endings aren’t guaranteed, and you are just as likely to be shipwrecked as lost in the woods.