L'elemento favolistico-fiabesco nella narrativa giovanile scritta da Italo Calvino

Abstract

The main aim of this dissertation is to study the influence of fairy tales and fables in ltalo Calvino's earlier works, namely II sentiero dei nidi di ragno (1947), Ultimo viene ii corvo (1949), the trilogy of I nostri antenati (II visconte dimezzato 1952, II barone rampante 1957 and II cavaliere inesistente 1959) and the collection of short stories entitled Marcovado, owero le stagioni in citta (1963). Moreover the dissertation discusses in detail the collection of Italian folktales, Fiabe italiane (1956), that Calvino was commissioned to prepare for the publishing house Einaudi. All these works are acclaimed by literary critics as major contributions to Children's Literature in the 20th Century Italian literature. In fact they have been listed in one of the most detailed studies so far on Italian Children's Literature, the Dizionario della /etteratura per ragazzi by Teresa Buongiorno (Fabbri 2001). The first part of the dissertation deals with a general overview on the concept of Children's Literature as provided by Italian and other international scholars. It has to be pointed out that his work at the publishing house of Einaudi, brought Calvino in close relationship with the international children books. Moreover he himself directed the publishing of the series of books 'Biblioteca giovani' published by Einaudi in early 1970s. Special focus is given to studies on themes, literary topoi and narrative structure of the fable, which is one of the traditional genres of Children's Literature. These are discussed taking into account the essays on this subject (Sulla fiaba, 1988) that Calvino wrote while he was preparing the anthology of Italian folk-tales (Fiabe italiane). Having set the theoretically basis for the subject of this dissertation, the second part of the thesis studies how Calvino utilises the narrative structure, themes and topoi of the fable/fairy tale in his fiction books listed above. Cesare Pavese and Elio Vittorini were amongst the first critics to note that Calvino's novels turn the traditional general lesson of fable to the purpose of social commentary and satire. Pavese also speaks of an 'Ariostoesque flavour' in II sentiero dei nidi di ragno meaning Calvino's joyful activity as a storyteller that combines and rearranges the fabulous elements to invent fantasy tales that have the moralistic intention of teaching good values. In one of his essays, Tre correnti de/ romanzo italiano d'oggi (published in Una pietra sopra), Calvino praises the ability of Ariosto in representing his contemporary world by making use of humour, irony and satire, thus managing to create fantasy stories that are enjoyable to read and have the objective to teach good ideals. Similarly for Calvino, fables are not governed solely by fantasy, but they can be considered as an encyclopaedic representation of life's necessities and extravagances. In other words Calvino utilises the fabulous as a means for transfiguring reality in a metaphorical and allegorical way. Calvino summarises his predisposition to use the fable narrative in an essay entitled Tre correnti def romanzo italiano d'oggi, where he writes· Mi interessa della fiaba ii disegno lineare della narrazione, ii ritmo, l'essenzialita, ii modo in cui ii senso d'una vita e contenuta in una sintesi di fatti, di prove da superare, di momenti supremi This use of fable-like narrative can been seen is Calvino's first novel, II sentiero dei nidi di ragno where, moving in the context of neorealism, Calvino adopts the topoi of Resistance 1 I.Calvino, Tre correnti dei romanzo italiano d'oggi, in Una pietra sopra, Milano: Mondadori, 2001, pp.67. literature of the contemporary neorealistic fiction, but turns them into a fable of estrangement. The author achieves this by representing the Resistance as seen through the eyes of a nine year old child, and developes the story as a "favola di bosco". The commitment to neorealism also alternates with fantasy in some of the short stories collected in Ultimo viene ii corvo [...]