Rodari, Gianni 1920-1980

views updated

RODARI, Gianni 1920-1980

PERSONAL:

Born 1920, in Italy; died April 14, 1980, in Rome; son of a baker. Education: Teaching certificate (Varese, Italy), 1938.

CAREER:

Children's author, poet, short-story writer, journalist, and editor. Il Pioniere (leftist political organization), director; L'Unita, Italy, political columnist.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Premio Prato, 1960, for Nursery Rhymes in Heaven and on Earth; Premio Castello, 1963, for Gip nel televisoze; International Board on Books for Young People Honor List, 1964, 1968; named highly commended author for Hans Christian Andersen Award, 1966; Premio Europa Dralon, 1967, and Premio Castello, 1968, both for La torta in cielo; Premio Rubino, 1968, for Il libro deqli errori; Hans Christian Andersen Award, 1970.

WRITINGS:

Favole al telefone (title means "Telephone Tales"), 1965.

The Befana's Toyshop: A Twelfth Night Story, 1970.

La torta in cielo (title means "A Pie in the Sky"), 1971.

Turista in Cina, Il Rinnovamento (Rome, Italy), 1974.

Tales told by a Machine, Abelard-Schulman (New York, NY), 1976.

C'era due volte it barone Lamberto, ovvero: i misteri dell'isola di San Giulio, Einaudi (Turin, Italy), 1978.

I1 teatro, ragazzi, la citta: la storia di tutte le storie: un'esperienza di incontro tra scuola e teatro, Emme (Milan, Italy), 1978.

Il gioco dei quattro cantoni, Einaudi (Turin, Italy), 1980.

Piccoli vagabondi: romanzo, with commentary by Lucio Lombardo Radice e Marcello Argilli, Editori Riuniti (Rome, Italy), 1981.

Atalanta: una fanciulla nella Grecia degli dei e degli eroi, Editori Riuniti (Rome, Italy), 1982.

I1 cane di Magonza, Editori Riuniti (Rome, Italy), 1982.

Storie di re Mida, Einaudi (Turin, Italy), 1983.

Giochi nell'URSS, appunti di viaggio, Einaudi (Turin, Italy), 1984.

I1 secondo libro delle filastrocche, Einaudi (Turin, Italy), 1985.

Filastrocche per tutto l'anno, illustrated by Emanuele Luzzati, Editori Riuniti (Rome, Italy), 1986.

The Grammar of Fantasy: An Introduction to the Art of Inventing Stories, translated with an introduction by Jack Zips, Teachers & Writers Collaborative (New York, NY), 1996.

SIDELIGHTS:

Winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1970 for his substantial body of work, Gianni Rodari has been recognized as one of Italy's leading children's authors. His numerous books for juvenile readers earned him many of Italy's major prizes and many have been translated into other languages. Rodari, however, was also politically active, working as a columnist for L'Unita and serving as the director of I1 Pioniere, an Italian organization for children of parents who belonged or sympathized with leftist parties.

A Children's Literature Review critic noted that Rodari has been "celebrated as an original, versatile, and especially creative author who is credited with changing the direction of Italian juvenile literature by blending elements of traditional fantasy into the realistic characteristics of modern society, especially those relating to technology." Several of Rodari's books have proven popular in English translation, including The Befana's Toyshop: A Twelfth Niqht Story, A Pie in the Sky, and Tales Told by a Machine. These titles reflect Rodari's belief that children's literature should treat serious social and political issues while simultaneously exercising the child's imagination and verbal skills.

The Befana's Toyshop tells the Christmas story of Francesco, an impoverished little boy who never receives presents on Twelfth Night. The Befana is a female Italian version of Father Christmas, and though ultimately benevolent, she is also a somewhat witchy old woman who rides a broomstick. The toys in the window of the Befana's toyshop see Francesco pressing his nose on the window and feel sympathy for him. As a result, they decide to escape to go cheer him up. Unfortunately, gangsters kidnap Francesco and force him to climb up into the Befana's shop. When Francesco refuses to let them in so they can rob the toyshop, the Befana rewards Francesco. The toys, after an assortment of adventures, find loving homes. Margery Fisher in Growing Point judged The Befana's Toyshop "a rambling tale, fanciful and strange, with the mysterious witch Befana as presiding genius of the Italian Christmas scene" and appreciated the story's "swingeing do-good point in the Pinocchio tradition."

La torta in cielo concerns a bumbling scientist who mistakenly creates a giant dessert instead of an atom-bomb explosion. The adults in the story do not recognize this wonderful error and the authorities believe the cake is an invading spaceship from Mars. Only the children can see the huge cake in the sky for what it is and rejoice at their good fortune. The scientist is at first ashamed of his failure, but then is infected by the children's enthusiasm and vows to make only cakes, turning his knowledge away from weapons research. Again, the social implications are obvious to adults, yet the plot is imaginative, the language colorful enough to hold a young reader's attention. Carla Poesia in Bookbird remarked that the story's "facts and characters are tightly bound to the atmosphere and to the problems of our time. Rodari never tries to evade reality though it may often appear arid and painful. On the contrary, he lets us see how to live in it without losing the charge of humanity which exists in each of us …This does not mean that Rodari wishes to indulge the easygoing taste of children: on the contrary, it means that the writer's poetic invention and creative strength is suited to the topography and the myths of the child's psyche." La torta in cielo, one of Rodari's most popular tales, won him two major Italian literary prizes, the Premio Europa Dralon and the Premio Castello.

Tales Told by a Machine contains seven short stories written in answer to the question, "What would happen if …?" The resulting tales are wildly fantastic, and John Naughton in the Listener described them as "ponderous but strangely effective." In one story the canals of Venice drown the town and its citizens must learn to live under water. In another, a piano-playing cowboy rides and his piano follows him on horseback. "A Tinned World" tells the story of a picnicking family followed to Rome by the empty bottles, discarded cans, and other garbage it left behind. Eventually the bottles and tins are accepted into the household—the parents sleep inside bottles, while the children's room becomes a coffee can. The message of environmental awareness is undeniable. Yet, as Fisher noted, Rodari balances the story so skillfully as to keep "the nightmarish aspect of the story in check." Another story in the collection, "Off with the Cats" concerns a stationmaster named Signor Antonio who joins a sit-in with a bunch of cats who demand to be represented by a "Car Star" in the constellations. Most of the stories in Tales Told by a Machine share the theme of lost or changed identity. They are nonsensical on the surface with more serious undercurrents. Some reviewers have wondered whether Rodari's young audience could understand his complex humor and satirical style. The tales "sound like a kind of science fiction," remarked B. Clark in the Junior Bookshelf, "but as they increase in improbability, so the humour becomes semi-adult in style. All children may not appreciate this, but for those who do, the books will prove a feast of enjoyment."

Treating children with the serious attention they deserve and challenging children through an imaginative use of language and inclusion of "adult" social problems seemed to be a Rodari priority. He invented the disease "televisionitis"—caught by children who wasted too many hours in front of the television. He commented on the flaws of human nature and societal ills by imagining the peaceful planet of Christmas trees whose unnecessary government is named "Government-which-does-not-exist." He wrote nursery rhymes about underpaid workers and used the Italian color-coded grading system to emphasize that adults make more serious mistakes than do children. Yet, as Lucia Binder observed in Bookbird, "Rodari never becomes didactic …his stories are much too fantastic and playful." Rodari earned much praise and many awards, and his stories have been translated into English and Spanish. Tales such as La torta in cielo and "A Tinned World" from Tales Told by a Machine still resonate with young readers.