Carlo Collodi (1826–1890) was the pen name of Carlo Lorenzini. A
volunteer in the Tuscan army during the 1848 and 1860 Italian wars
of independence, Collodi founded a satirical weekly, Il
Lampione—which was suppressed for a time by the Grand Duke of
Tuscany—and became known as the author of novels, plays, and
political sketches. His translation from the French of Charles
Perrault’s fairy tales came out in 1876, and in 1881 his Storia di
un burratino (Story of a Puppet) was published in installments in
the Giornale per i bambini, appearing two years later in book form
as The Adventures of Pinocchio. Collodi, whose writings include
several readers for schoolchildren, died in 1890, unaware of the
vast international success that his creation Pinocchio would
eventually enjoy.
Fulvio Testa is one of Italy’s most distinguished artists and
illustrators and has had many exhibitions in the United States and
Europe. In addition to his own prizewinning titles, he has
illustrated books by authors such as Anthony Burgess and Gianni
Rodari.
Umberto Eco is a professor of semiotics at the University of
Bologna and the author of numerous works of fiction, literary
criticism, and philosophy. His most recent books are On Ugliness
and the novel The Prague Cemetery.
Geoffrey Brock is the author of the award-wining poetry collection
Weighing Light; the translator of books by Cesare Pavese, Roberto
Calasso, and Umberto Eco; and the editor of The FSG Book of
Twentieth-Century Italian Poetry. He is currently on the faculty of
the Programs in Creative Writing and Translation at the University
of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
Fulvio Testa is an internationally acclaimed painter as well as an
author and illustrator of numerous children’s books including The
Endless Journey, Too Much Garbage, A Long Trip to Z, and The Visit.
He lives and works in New York City and Verona, Italy.
"'Though written in the nineteenth century, the original Pinocchio
remains as readable as if it had been written in the twenty-first,
so limpid and simple is its prose,' writes Umberto Eco in the
introduction. Readers not ready to tackle the story in Italian,
however, will be more than satisfied with Brock’s lovely
translation, which is accompanied by new artwork from Testa. His
gentle, brightly colored cartoons soften some of the darker scenes
in the story...without minimizing Pinocchio’s mischievous nature."
—Publishers Weekly
"This childhood classics has had numerous
interpretations…Translator Brock gives readers Collodi's Pinocchio:
a lazy troublemaker, self-centered and distractible, who remains a
wooden puppet right up until the end of his adventures.…Testa's
pen, ink and watercolor illustrations appear opposite the text,
filling the oversized pages...Parents and libraries should welcome
this edition, appealing and accessible for 21st-century children."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Disney’s sentimental depiction of Pinocchio bears little
resemblance to Collodi’s unscrupulous puppet. This new translation
revives the sardonic wit and black humour of the original."
— London Times
"Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio…is short on Disneyesque
sentimentality (there is a talking cricket, but Pinocchio squashes
him), long on satire and farce. Geoffrey Brock’s superbly crafted
translation and Umberto Eco’s introduction bring to life this tale
of gumption and greed." — O, The Oprah Magazine
"The superiority of the Collodi original to the Disney adaptation
lies in its reluctance to make the inner motivations of the story
explicit….No less than Proust’s novel in search of lost time,
[Collodi’s] story is a search for his lost childhood." — Paul
Auster
"Any [reading] list, I think, must begin with Pinocchio."
— Italo Calvino
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