A Chorus of Clowns was initially inspired by my research into the Italian Commedia dell' Arte, an improvisational and wonderfully funny Renaissance theater. I thought about not only Commedia's origins in the early Greek and Roman theaters but their descendants in the Marx Brothers -- famous for their "zany" antics (from the Italian "Zanni" referring to the buffoons and clowns of the Commedia).
Sleeping Beauty: Dreaming and Awake offers a brief history of this surprisingly robust folk tale (where it is learned our heroine does a great deal more than sleep and the hero is not exactly that chivalrous man we all remembered), and a summary of a panel on the story held at Madison's WisCon in 1999. The article was originally published in Realms of Fantasy's Folkroots Column and later reprinted on the Endicott Studio website.
* Art "Sleeping Beauty" by Sir Edward Burne-Jones.
Midori Snyder is the author of nine books for children and adults, published in English, French, Dutch, and Italian. She won the Mythopoeic Award for The Innamorati, a novel inspired by early Roman myth and the Italian "Commedia dell'Arte" tradition....more
