“The Golden Root”: Cupid, Psyche, and Basile’s Pentamerone

This paper traces the literary genealogy of the Tale of Cupid and Psyche from Apuleius to Disney, with a primary focus on the role that Basile’s Pentamerone played in this transmission. Through an analysis of different versions of fairytales, this paper discusses the literary relationship between Apuleius and Basile, which became a major part of the Western fairytale canon due to Basile’s influence on the tales of Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. The common motifs of these various accounts point towards the influence that the folktale nature of myth had on the later fairytale genre.