Gianni Rodari
Enjoy your meal!
This book includes most of my stories written for children over the course of fifteen years. You will say that this is not enough. In 15 years, if I wrote only one page every day, I could already have about 5,500 pages. So I wrote a lot less than I could. And yet I do not consider myself a big lazy person!
The fact is that during these years I still worked as a journalist and did many other things. For example, I wrote articles for newspapers and magazines, dealt with school problems, played with my daughter, listened to music, went for walks, thought. Thinking is good too. Maybe even the most useful of all. In my opinion, every person should think for half an hour a day. This can be done everywhere - sitting at the table, walking in the forest, alone or in company.
I became a writer almost by accident. I wanted to be a violinist, and for several years I learned to play the violin. But since 1943 I no longer touch it. The violin has been with me ever since. I'm always going to add strings that are missing, fix a broken neck, buy a new bow to replace the old one, which was completely disheveled, and start again from the first position. Maybe someday I will, but I don't have time yet. I would also like to be an artist. True, at school I always had bad marks in drawing, and yet I always loved to drive with a pencil and write in oils. Unfortunately, at school we were forced to do such boring things that they could even make a cow out of patience. In a word, like all the guys, I dreamed about a lot, but then I didn’t do much, but did what I least thought about.
However, without suspecting it, I have been preparing for my writing activity for a long time. For example, I became a school teacher. I don't think I was a very good teacher: I was too young and my thoughts hovered very far from school desks. Perhaps I was a fun teacher. I told the kids all sorts of funny stories - stories without any meaning, and the more absurd they were, the more the children laughed. It already meant something. In the schools I know, I don't think they laugh much. Much that could be learned by laughing is taught with tears - bitter and useless.
But let's not digress. Anyway, I have to tell you about this book. I hope she will be as fun as a toy. By the way, here's another thing I would like to dedicate myself to: making toys. I always wanted toys to be unexpected, with fiction, so that they would suit everyone. These toys last a long time and never get bored. Not knowing how to work with wood or metal, I tried to make toys out of words. Toys, in my opinion, are just as important as books: if they weren't, kids wouldn't like them. And since they love them, it means that toys teach them something that cannot be learned otherwise.
I would like the toys to serve both adults and children, so that they can be played by the whole family, the whole class, together with the teacher. I wish my books were the same. And this one too. She should help parents to get closer to their children so that they could laugh and argue together with her. I am pleased when some boy willingly listens to my stories. I rejoice even more when this story makes him want to speak, express his opinion, ask adults questions, demand that they answer.
My book is published in the Soviet Union. I am very pleased with this, because the Soviet guys are excellent readers. I met many Soviet children in libraries, schools, Pioneers' Palaces, Houses of Culture - everywhere I went. And now I'll tell you where I've been: Moscow, Leningrad, Riga, Alma-Ata, Simferopol, Artek, Yalta, Sevastopol, Krasnodar, Nalchik. In Artek, I met guys from the Far North and the Far East. They were all excellent book eaters. How great it is to know that a book, no matter how thick or thin, is printed not to lie somewhere in the dust on a display case or in a closet, but to be swallowed with great appetite, eaten, digested hundreds of thousands of children.
Therefore, I thank all those who prepared this book, and those who, so to speak, will eat it. Hope you enjoy it.
Enjoy your meal!
Gianni Rodari
Journey of the Blue Arrow
CHAPTER I
The fairy was an old lady, very well-bred and noble, almost a baroness.
They call me, - she sometimes muttered to herself, - just Fairy, and I do not protest: after all, one must have indulgence towards the ignorant. But I'm almost a baroness; decent people know this.
Yes, Signora Baroness, the maid agreed.
I'm not a 100% baroness, but I don't miss her that much. And the difference is almost imperceptible. Is not it?
Imperceptible, Signora Baroness. And decent people don't notice it...
It was just the first morning of the new year. All night long, the Fairy and her maid traveled over the rooftops, delivering gifts. Their dresses were covered with snow and icicles.
Light the stove, - said the Fairy, - you need to dry your clothes. And put the broom in its place: now for a whole year you can not think about flying from roof to roof, and even with such a northerly wind.
The maid put the broom back in its place, grumbling:
Pretty little business - to fly on a broomstick! This is in our time, when airplanes were invented! I've already caught a cold because of this.
Prepare me a glass of flower decoction, - the Fairy ordered, putting on her glasses and sitting down in an old leather chair that stood in front of the desk.
Just a minute, baroness, - said the maid.
The fairy eyed her approvingly.
“She is a little lazy,” thought the Fairy, “but she knows the rules of good manners and knows how to behave with the signora of my circle. I will promise her a pay raise. In fact, of course, I will not increase it, and so there is not enough money.
It must be said that the Fairy, for all her nobility, was rather stingy. Twice a year she promised the old maid to increase her wages, but limited herself to promises. The maid had long been tired of hearing only words, she wanted to hear the sound of coins. Once she even had the courage to tell the baroness about it. But the Fairy was very indignant:
Coins and coins! - she said, sighing, - Ignorant people only think about money. And how bad it is that you not only think, but also talk about it! Apparently, teaching you good manners is like feeding a donkey sugar.
The works of Gianni Rodari have won the hearts of children all over the world. According to the writer, books, like toys, should teach the child the basic principles of life in an entertaining way. This is how Gianni Rodari tried to make his works for children: bright, burning, instructive. The years of his childhood cannot be called prosperous, however, he did not get angry at life: in his fairy tales there is a lot of light and humorous, but they are not without sad aspects of social inequality. After all, a book should be truthful, open all aspects of life, even if it is a fairy tale about a boy with an excessively loud voice, or about poor Cipollino, or about the journey of toys before Christmas.
Biography of the writer
The writer comes from a baker's family. Unfortunately, the father of the future writer died of pneumonia when Gianni was a ten-year-old boy. The family was left on the shoulders of one mother. In addition to Gianni, Rodari had two more sons.
For lack of funds for a secular school, the boys go to study at a theological seminary. How Rodari did not like these classes, so boring and monotonous! So I ran after to the library to somehow have some fun. There he was fond of the books of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, completely uncharacteristic for a teenager.
Graduation was a great joy. The young man enters the university, in parallel begins to work as a teacher, because it was necessary to support the mother, who was exhausted in order to feed her sons. Life began to improve, but this period did not last long: the war began.
Rodari was not taken to the front - he was declared unfit for military service due to poor health. Difficult economic conditions, lack of money forced the writer to join the fascist party. Although he did not stay a member for long, joining the Resistance.
After the war, Rodari worked as a journalist, writing children's books. 1953 brought happiness to the personal life of the writer: he marries, and four years later becomes a father. His daughter Paola became an only child. During these years, he does not publish works, he is engaged in journalism (in 1957, Rodari was certified as a professional journalist).
The writer received worldwide recognition after he was awarded the Andersen Prize, a prestigious literary award.
Rodari died in 1980 from a serious illness.
The formation of creativity
How did the works of Gianni Rodari for children begin to appear? The list of them is quite impressive. This includes fairy tales, short stories, and even poems. The writer began his creative activity in 1950, releasing a small collection of poems, and after that - the fairy tale "The Adventures of Cipollino". Then he was appointed editor-in-chief of a children's magazine - this dictated the direction of writing.
Especially the fairy tale about the onion boy, a fighter against social injustice, fell in love with the USSR. Already in 1953, young residents of the Union began to read it with interest. The translation was supervised by S. Marshak himself.
In the late 60s, Rodari devoted his time entirely to journalism, temporarily giving up writing children's works. He only works with the younger generation.
Many of the works of Gianni Rodari are put into films, and in one of them he acts himself.
The success of "Cipollino" prompted the writer to create his subsequent fairy tales about Gelsomino and the Blue Arrow. He also writes numerous short tales, stories, instructive poems - these are the works of Gianni Rodari. Their list is so long that we will focus on the largest and most famous. Let's start with the very first one that brought popularity to the writer - "The Adventures of Cipollino"
Rodari the Storyteller: "The Adventures of Chippolino"
This tale immediately comes to mind as soon as the question is asked: “What works did Gianni Rodari write?” Which of the children did not feel sad with Pan Pumpkin, did not get angry at the oppressor Senor Tomato, did not admire the brave boy Cipollino ?!
The tale has been loved by readers all over the world, has gone through numerous productions on the stage, animation and film versions. Particularly fond of the work in the USSR. Probably because serious questions of class inequality are raised in the fairy tale. This distinguishes many of the children's works of Gianni Rodari.
The tale tells about the poor Cipollino, whose father, by an absurd accident, is thrown into prison - he inadvertently stepped on the foot of Prince Lemon, the ruler of an imaginary country of vegetables. Promising to rescue his parent, the onion boy goes on a journey. It should be said that Rodari does not specify the name of the country, which indicates its universality. At the head - Prince Lemon and Countess Cherry, they have a manager - Senor Tomato. All of them will be punished by Chipollino and his newfound friends.
Thus, in a relaxed game, bright and funny characters, young readers discover the truth about a world where there is social injustice and oppression of the poor. Rodari tried to draw a parallel with the fairy tale "Pinocchio", however, in its author Collodi, the issues of social discord, poverty and injustice, although they sound, are not reflected as clearly as in "Cipollino".
"Gelsomino in the Land of Liars"
Gianni Rodari did not tolerate lies. He considered liars and hypocrites to be the greatest enemies of man. In his opinion, only the truth could break the shackles of untruth. She, like a smashing voice, must break the lie. Such a gift and endowed Rodari Gelsomino.
The plot of the fairy tale unfolds in the Land of Liars, where the main character ends up - the boy Gelsomino (translated into Russian as "jasmine"), who has a super-loud voice. At first, the boy does not understand whether this is a gift or a curse. However, making sure that he has no place among ordinary people, Gelsomino leaves his hometown. Traveling, he finds himself in a magical world - a country where everyone tells a lie: in a store they sell ink instead of bread, people say insults to each other instead of compliments, artists draw implausible pictures, and only fake money is used. Even animals must obey this rule: cats bark, cows neigh, dogs meow, and horses low.
Blame it all - the dictatorship of King Giacomon. At first, Gelsomino does not understand what is happening around, but soon gets used to the new conditions, makes friends, among whom there is even a three-legged cat, which, unlike other relatives, does not want to bark in principle. Friends expose the king, and the country begins to live in an atmosphere of truth.
It is noteworthy that the works of Gianni Rodari gave the world winged sayings. One of them concerns the wonderful voice of Gelsomino. The fact that a person speaks like Gelsomino means that he is excessively loud. Sometimes the expression "sings like Gelsomino" can be defined as high praise in the manner of a solo performance. The same name is used for an exceptionally honest person.
There were several translations of the fairy tale, it was very fond of the inhabitants of the USSR, like the numerous works of Gianni Rodari for children.
"Journey of the Blue Arrow"
Childhood Rodari can hardly be called happy and joyful. All the sadness, the injustice of this state of affairs, when kids from poor families cannot receive gifts because their parents have no money, resulted in the fairy tale “The Journey of the Blue Arrow”.
The toys that live in the shop window see a boy every day who looks sadly at the electronic train. The mother of the child has no money to buy a toy: she has not yet paid for the Christmas gifts of the past two years. By the way, in the original we are talking about Christmas gifts, while in translation - about New Year's.
The toys decide to put an end to injustice and go on a trip to the children who were left without gifts at Christmas. This list was shared with them by the assistant to the owner of the store. The boy himself Francesco at this time is taken hostage during the robbery of a toy store. The police do not believe in his innocence, but the owner of the shop, an elderly Fairy, whose seriousness is only a fake mask, saves the boy.
"Tales on the Phone"
Tales on the Phone are imbued with special poeticism. These works by Gianni Rodari are based on folklore motifs. Such are the tales of the candied fruit palace, which could be tasted by everyone in the square.
These short stories are full of deep meaning: you need to be attentive (a tale about a boy who kept losing things and even parts of his body), kind, sympathetic. However, you also need to be able to look at the world from an unusual side ("Blue traffic light").
Fairy tales condemn laziness, rudeness and even gluttony.
"Grammar of Fantasy"
Rodari not only wrote himself, but also encouraged others to do so, tried to discover in his young readers the gift of writing, to teach them how to invent their own bright, instructive “toy books”. About this is the work "Grammar of Fantasy".
More than once the writer visits the USSR, he is attracted by the education system in the Union - he shares his thoughts about this, as well as about the development of creativity, in this book. It is written in the same easy, relaxed language as works of art, so reading the work is easy for children and adults.
Some of the chapters are devoted to the theoretical foundations of writing: the structure of the work, the correct design - all this is analyzed using examples of specific works. The author conveys a simple idea: the work of a writer is not a talent that comes from nowhere, this can and should be learned.
Rodari the poet
At the very beginning of his creative career, Rodari writes poetry. The most famous in our country is “What do crafts smell like”. This is a call for a truly important profession.
Rodari, true to the principles of communism, believed that the development of the country was in the hands of ordinary workers, people of simple but very significant professions. This is what he is trying to convey to the little reader.
Imagine: once on the main square of the city suddenly appeared ... an ice cream palace! A real palace, whose roof was made of whipped cream, and the chimneys were made of candied fruit. Mmmm... how delicious! All the townspeople - children and even old women! - all day long they ate a delicious palace on both cheeks, and at the same time no one got a stomach ache! This wonderful ice cream palace was “built” in one of his fairy tales by an Italian writer, whose name is Gianni Rodari.
... The parents of the most famous storyteller in the world - Hans Christian Andersen - were a shoemaker and a laundress. And Gianni Rodari grew up in a family of a baker and servants. Both storytellers were not spoiled in childhood with either luxury or satiety. However, it was precisely next to them that a wonderful sorceress and fairy settled from a young age, who chooses very few - Fantasia. More precisely, in childhood she comes to everyone, and then remains only with the most beloved. She leaves the evil, cruel, greedy and unjust, but comes to where kindness and pity live. Little Gianni composed poetry, learned to play the violin and drew with pleasure, dreaming of becoming a famous artist.
When the boy Gianni was only nine years old, his beloved father, who always felt sorry for stray cats, dogs and every living creature in general, saved a small kitten during heavy rain, who almost drowned in a huge puddle. The kitten was saved, but the good baker caught a cold in the cold rain, fell ill with pneumonia and died. Of course, a bad son simply could not grow up with such a noble person!
Gianni Rodari always remembered his father and adopted from him the desire for justice, diligence and a kind, bright soul.
At the age of seventeen, Gianni became a primary school teacher. His pupils built houses from letters, together with the teacher they composed fairy tales and felt completely happy: there was a lot of joy from such activities.
Well, how could the fairy Fantasy leave such a wonderful person? She watched with admiration an unusual adult who did not forget about the world of childhood, and sometimes even helped him write books.
But he also loved her. And even wrote in honor of his fairy one of the most amazing books for children and adults called "Fantasy Grammar" - about how to teach children to compose. Not at all so that they all become writers and poets, but so that "no one is a slave." Because fantasy not only develops the mind. The main thing is that it makes a person kinder, stronger and freer.
Gianni Rodari hated oppression, he always fought for justice - both when he fought the Nazis with weapons in his hands, and when he worked as a correspondent for the Unity newspaper (his sharp pen was a weapon no less powerful than a rifle).
Its heroes also fought against evil: the clever Cipollino, and the honest craftsman Vinogradinka, and the gentle Professor Grusha and many others, thanks to whom the fabulous land of vegetables became free, and the children in it were able to study and play where they wanted.
Gianni Rodari, a cheerful, resilient, inexhaustible storyteller and a very kind storyteller, gave the children a lot of unusual stories that you can play with like with colorful balls. "The Adventures of Cipollino", "Journey of the Blue Arrow", "Gelsomino in the Land of Liars", "Grammar of Fantasy" - these books were loved by children all over the world.
It was he, Gianni Rodari, who brought the brave and kind Cipollino to our homes, he gave us the opportunity to hear the wonderful voice of Gelsomino destroying the walls of prisons, it is in his fairy tale that the devoted toy puppy Button turns into a living dog, and in another fairy tale the boy Marco, traveling in space on a wooden horse, got to the planet of Christmas trees, where there is neither fear nor resentment. However, if we talk about all the heroes of the books of the Italian storyteller, then no pages in the magazine will be enough. So better read the books of Rodari, and their heroes will become your true friends for life!
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Birthday: 23.10.1920
Date of death: 04/14/1980 (59 years old)
Zodiac sign: Monkey, Libra ♎
Gianni Rodari (Italian Gianni Rodari, full name - Giovanni Francesco Rodari, Italian Giovanni Francesco Rodari; October 23, 1920, Omegna, Italy - April 14, 1980, Rome, Italy) is a famous Italian children's writer and journalist.
Gianni Rodari was born on October 23, 1920 in the small town of Omegna (Northern Italy). His father Giuseppe, a baker by profession, died when Gianni was only ten years old. Gianni and his two brothers, Cesare and Mario, grew up in their mother's native village, Varesotto. Sickly and weak since childhood, the boy was fond of music (he took violin lessons) and books (he read Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky). After three years of study at the seminary, Rodari received a teaching diploma and, at the age of 17, began teaching in the elementary grades of local rural schools. In 1939, for some time he attended the philological faculty of the Catholic University in Milan.
During World War II, Rodari was released from service due to poor health. After the death of two close friends and the imprisonment of his brother Cesare in a concentration camp, he became a member of the Resistance Movement and in 1944 joined the Italian Communist Party.
In 1948, Rodari became a journalist for the Communist newspaper L'Unita and began writing books for children. In 1950, the party appointed him editor of a newly created weekly children's magazine, Il Pioniere, in Rome. In 1951, Rodari published the first collection of poems - "The Book of Jolly Poems", as well as his most famous work "The Adventures of Chipollino" (Russian translation by Zlata Potapova, edited by Samuil Marshak, was published in 1953). This work gained especially wide popularity in the USSR, where a cartoon was made based on it in 1961, and then a fairy tale film "Cipollino" in 1973, where Gianni Rodari starred in the role of himself.
In 1952 he went to the USSR for the first time, where he later visited several times. In 1953 he married Maria Teresa Ferretti, who four years later gave birth to his daughter, Paola. In 1957, Rodari passed the exam for the title of professional journalist, and in 1966-1969 he did not publish books and only worked on projects with children.
In 1970, the writer received the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Prize, which helped him gain worldwide fame.
He also wrote poems that have come down to the Russian reader in the translations of Samuil Marshak (for example, “What do crafts smell like?”) And Yakov Akim (for example, “Giovannino Lose”). A large number of translations of books into Russian were made by Irina Konstantinova.
A family
Father - Giuseppe Rodari (Italian Giuseppe Rodari).
Mother - Maddalena Ariocchi (Italian: Maddalena Ariocchi).
The first brother is Mario Rodari (Italian: Mario Rodari).
The second brother is Cesare Rodari (Italian: Cesare Rodari).
Wife - Maria Teresa Ferretti (Italian Maria Teresa Ferretti).
Daughter - Paola Rodari (Italian Paola Rodari).
Selected works
Collection "Book of Jolly Poems" (Il libro delle filastrocche, 1950)
"Instruction to the Pioneer", (Il manuale del Pionere, 1951)
The Adventures of Cipollino (Il Romanzo di Cipollino, 1951; released in 1957 under the title Le avventure di Cipollino)
Collection of poems "Train of poems" (Il treno delle filastrocche, 1952)
"Gelsomino in the Land of Liars" (Gelsomino nel paese dei bugiardi, 1959)
Collection "Poems in Heaven and on Earth" (Filastrocche in cielo e in terra, 1960)
Collection "Tales on the phone" (Favole al telefono, 1960)
Jeep on TV (Gip nel televisore, 1962)
Planet of the Christmas Trees (Il pianeta degli alberi di Natale, 1962)
"Journey of the Blue Arrow" (La freccia azzurra, 1964)
"What are the mistakes" (Il libro degli errori, Torino, Einaudi, 1964)
Collection Cake in the Sky (La Torta in cielo, 1966)
"How Giovannino, nicknamed the Loafer, traveled" (I viaggi di Giovannino Perdigiorno, 1973)
The Grammar of Fantasy (La Grammatica della fantasia, 1973)
“Once upon a time there was twice Baron Lamberto” (C’era due volte il barone Lamberto, 1978)
Tramps (Piccoli vagabondi, 1981)
Selected stories
"Accountant and Bora"
"Guidoberto and the Etruscans"
"Ice Cream Palace"
"Ten Kilograms of the Moon"
"How Giovannino Touched the King's Nose"
"Elevator to the Stars"
"Magicians in the Stadium"
"Miss Universe Dark Green Eyes"
"The Robot Who Wanted to Sleep"
"Sakala, pakala"
"Runaway Nose"
"Sirenida"
"The Man Who Bought Stockholm"
"The Man Who Wanted to Steal the Colosseum"
A cycle of stories about the twins Marco and Mirko
Filmography
Animation
"The Boy from Naples" - animated film (1958)
"Cipollino" - animated film (1961)
"Scattered Giovanni" - animated film (1969)
"Journey of the Blue Arrow" - animated film (1996
Feature Film
"Cake in the Sky" - feature film (1970)
"Cipollino" - feature film (1973)
"The Magical Voice of Gelsomino" - feature film (1977)
The asteroid 2703 Rodari, discovered in 1979, is named after the writer.