Page 15 - The Grotesque Children's Book
P. 15
Exhibit A
Exhibit A. Grotesque children's book. Submitted as evidence in the case of Doctor
Ludovico Valerius in the poisoning of the Duchess de’ Medici on October 19, 1587 at Villa
Medici in Poggio a Caiano.
Translator’s Note. The Folio. There are nine stories in the folio. In the
original publication, they were scattered throughout the book. I’ve indicated
those places in the text, for those of you who’d you’d like the experience of
reading them in their original contexts. Or you might try starting with the novel
and then skipping back to the stories when they come up; that’s what I did when I
first came across it, and I recommend it because there’s a certain cat-and-mouse
game which Roberto Cardano clearly enjoyed playing with his original Italian
readers, prodding them to guess at the meaning of the stories as they make their
appearances in the book. Maybe that’s fun for you.
I don’t mean to confuse you here. Plenty of readers are content to read
just the stories and not bother reading the novel at all. Feel free to do that.
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