Pervonte oder die Wünsche. Ein neapolitanisches Märchen. Christoph Martin Wielands Neuschreibung von Basiles Märchen, in der Perspektive der Weltliteratur gelesen

Pervonte oder die Wünsche. Ein neapolitanisches Märchen was written by Christoph Martin Wieland between 1778 and 1794 as a rewriting of Giambattista Basile’s baroque fairy tale Peruonto, from the Neapolitan fairy tales collection Lo cunto de li cunti, also known as the Pentamerone. The purpose of this research is to investigate Wieland’s rewriting of this tale by analysing his narrative strategies and the way the plot structure and the characters depiction differ from the original version. The goal is to show that Wieland’s rewriting process can be seen as a literary cultural transfer between the Neapolitan baroque fairy tale and his German philosophical tale in the context of the Enlightenment, based on the concept of cultural transfer developed by Michel Espagne. Aim of this research is also to define the idea of Weltliteratur, coined by Wieland and Goethe in the 18th century. By showing that the definition of Weltliteratur was not a univocal concept back then, this research highlights the importance of Wieland’s role as a cultural mediator, who transformed a Neapolitan fairy tale into a philosophical parable depicting the triumph of reason over foolery and implying a universal dimension.