Sfetcu, Nicolae, “The Adventures of Pinocchio “, MultiMedia (April 15, 2023), DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.15442.63687, https://www.telework.ro/en/the-adventures-of-pinocchio/

 

Abstract

The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio) tells the mischievous adventures of an animated puppet named Pinocchio. The book was written by Carlo Collodi in Pescia, and was originally published in Giornale per i bambini, in an episodic form, beginning on July 7, 1881, under the name La storia di un burattino. After 4 months and 8 episodes, in chapter 15, the main character, Pinocchio, is killed, hanged. At the request of readers and publisher Guido Biagi, the episodes resumed on February 16, 1882. In February 1883, the story was published in a single book by the Felice Paggi Publishing House, with illustrations by Enrico Mazzanti, sprinkled with features of the Florentine dialect, in a simple language, full of life and pleasant, easy to understand, but rich in Tuscan expressions.

Keywords: Carlo Collodi, Carlo Lorenzini, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Pinocchio

 

The Adventures of Pinocchio

Nicolae Sfetcu

nicolae@sfetcu.com

 

The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio) tells the mischievous adventures of an animated puppet named Pinocchio. The book was written by Carlo Collodi in Pescia, and was originally published in Giornale per i bambini, in an episodic form, beginning on July 7, 1881, under the name La storia di un burattino. After 4 months and 8 episodes, in chapter 15, the main character, Pinocchio, is killed, hanged. At the request of readers and publisher Guido Biagi, the episodes resumed on February 16, 1882. In February 1883, the story was published in a single book by the Felice Paggi Publishing House, with illustrations by Enrico Mazzanti, (Biblioteca Marucelliana 2000) sprinkled with features of the Florentine dialect, in a simple language, full of life and pleasant, easy to understand, but rich in Tuscan expressions.

Some sources have stated that Pinocchio’s adventures take place in the north of Florence, especially in Castello, Peretola, Osmannoro and Sesto Fiorentino. (Gagliardi 2008) The part of the story in which Pinocchio is hanged at the Big Oak is in the province of Lucca, near Gragnano. The tree still exists in that area and is also called the Witch’s Oak.

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A carpenter named Master Antonio (also known as Master Cherry), found a piece of wood and decided to carve it for a foot from his table. When the piece of wood starts talking, scared, Master Cherry gives it to his neighbor Geppetto, a poor man.

Geppetto carves a boy named Pinocchio out of wood. Pinocchio turns out to be very naughty and with a mischievous attitude, including towards Geppetto, whom he hits. He leaves home and is caught by a carabinieri, who thinks that Pinocchio has been abused, and locks Geppetto.

Pinocchio returns to Geppetto’s house to eat. There, a Talking-cricket warns him of the dangers of his attitude. Pinocchio threw a hammer at the Cricket and killed him by mistake.

He tries to fry an egg, but a small bird flies out of the egg and flies out the window. Pinocchio leaves home in search of food. Then he knocks on an old man’s door to ask for food. He is mistaken for a hooligan and chased. He returns home and lies on a stove, but burns his feet. Geppetto, meanwhile released from prison, carves a new pair of legs.

He promises to go to school, but on the way to school he meets the Great Puppet Theater and sells his textbook for a ticket to the show. He is about to be set on fire by the puppet master Mangiafuoco, who finally, hearing his story, gives him some money for Geppetto.

On the way home, Pinocchio meets the Fox and the Cat, who trick him and lead him astray. The ghost of the Talking-cricket appears, advising him to go to Gepetoo, but Pinocchio ignores him. When he passes through a forest, the Fox and the Cat, disguised as bandits, try to rob him of the money he has left. Pinocchio escapes and hides in a white house, where he is greeted by the Fairy. But the bandits caught Pinocchio and hanged him from a tree.

The Fairy saves Pinocchio, but he lies to the Fairy when she asks what happened to the gold coins; with every lie he tells, his nose gets longer and longer. The Fairy shrinks her nose again with the help of a flock of birds, and sends word to Geppetto to come and live with them in the woods.

Pinocchio goes to meet his father, but meets again with the Cat and the Fox, who trick him again and take his coins. Pinocchio finds out from a parrot that he was fooled. He claims the theft from a judge, but is sentenced to four months in prison for the crime of idiocy. After being released, he goes through several adventures before reaching the Fairy’s house, but he no longer finds her there and believes that the Fairy died of grief.

In search of Gepetto, Pinocchio arrives on the Island of the Industrious Bees, where he meets the Fairy again and becomes a good boy, going to school. After some altercations at school and a few other adventures, Pinocchio gets another chance at the Fairy. He learns very well and the Fairy promises to turn him into a real boy, but he is lured by another boy to flee to the Land of Boobies, where everyone plays all day and never works.

After five months of playing, Pinocchio grows donkey ears, finding that this is the end of all children who do nothing but play and never learn. It turns into a donkey, and is about to be skinned. He escaped, turning back into a puppet, and swam into the sea to save Gepetto, whom he had learned had been swallowed by a huge fish.

On their way through the woods, Pinocchio and Geppetto, after a new meeting with the Fox and the Cat, they arrive at a small house where the Talking-cricket lived. After several months of working for a farmer and caring for Geppetto, who has fallen ill, Pinocchio goes to town where he finds out that the Fairy is ill and in need of money. Pinocchio sends him all the money he has.

That night, he dreams of being visited by the Fairy, who kisses him. When he wakes up, he discovers that he has been turned into a real boy.

* * *

One of the most widely read books in the world, considered a metaphor for the human condition, suitable for a variety of interpretations, The Adventures of Pinocchio has had a major impact on world culture. The book responds to a prerogative that belongs only to masterpieces: that of being out of time. The philosopher Benedetto Croce considered it one of the greatest works of Italian literature (Croce 1957, 330–33) being translated into over 240 languages worldwide. (Gasparini 1997, 117) 100 years after Pinocchio’s “birth” in 1981, Italo Calvino wrote: “It is natural for us to believe that Pinocchio has always existed, we cannot imagine a world without Pinocchio.” (Calvino 1981)

An important adaptation of The Adventures of Pinocchio was his Russian version: Bouratino (Russian: Буратино), written by Alexis Nikolaevich Tolstoy in 1936. (Tolstoy 1936)

Bibliography

• Biblioteca Marucelliana. 2000. “I Volti Di Pinocchio.” 2000. http://www.maru.firenze.sbn.it/archivioeventi_rgP5a.htm.
• Calvino, Italo. 1981. “Ma Collodi Non Esiste.” La Repubblica, April.
• Croce, Benedetto. 1957. “Pinocchio.” La letteratura della nuova Italia – Laterza, Bari V.
• Gagliardi, Ivo. 2008. “Sulle Tracce Di Pinocchio.” Il Reporter, maggio 2008.
• Gasparini, Giovanni. 1997. La corsa di Pinocchio. Vita e Pensiero.
• Tolstoy, Aleksey Nikolayevich. 1936. “Buratino.” 1936. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23390965-buratino.

 

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