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Birthday: 23.10.1920
Date of death: 04.14.1980 (age 59)
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 trade, died when Gianni was only ten years old. Gianni and his two brothers, Cesare and Mario, grew up in their mother's native village, Varezotto. Sick and weak from childhood, the boy was fond of music (he took violin lessons) and books (read Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky). After three years at the seminary, Rodari received his teacher's diploma and at the age of 17 began teaching in the primary classes of local rural schools. In 1939 he attended the Faculty of Philology of the Catholic University of Milan for some time.
During World War II, Rodari was discharged 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 the newly created weekly children's magazine, Il Pioniere, in Rome. In 1951 Rodari published his first collection of poems - "The Book of Funny Poems", as well as his famous work "The Adventures of Cipollino" (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 shot on it in 1961, and then the film-fairy tale "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 then 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 have been made by Irina Konstantinova.
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 Funny Poems" (Il libro delle filastrocche, 1950)
"Guidance to a Pioneer" (Il manuale del Pionere, 1951)
"The Adventures of Cipollino" (Il Romanzo di Cipollino, 1951; released in 1957 under the name 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)
The collection "Poems in the sky 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 New Year Trees (Il pianeta degli alberi di Natale, 1962)
Travel of the Blue Arrow (La freccia azzurra, 1964)
What Errors Can Be (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 Baron Lamberto" (C'era due volte il barone Lamberto, 1978)
"Vagabondi" (Piccoli vagabondi, 1981)
Selected stories
"Accountant and bora"
"Guidoberto and Etruscans"
"Palace of ice cream"
"Ten kilograms of the moon"
"How Giovannino touched the nose of the king"
"Elevator to the stars"
"Magicians at the stadium"
"Miss Universe with 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 twins Marko and Mirko
Filmography
Animation
"Boy from Naples" - animated film (1958)
"Cipollino" - animated film (1961)
Absent-minded Giovanni - animated film (1969)
"The Voyage of the Blue Arrow" - animated film (1996
Fiction cinema
"Cake in the Sky" - feature film (1970)
"Cipollino" - feature film (1973)
"The Magic Voice of Jelsomino" - feature film (1977)
Asteroid 2703 Rodari, discovered in 1979, is named after the writer.
Gianni Rodari (Italian Gianni Rodari, full name - Giovanni Francesco Rodari, ital. Giovanni Francesco Rodari) is a famous Italian children's writer and journalist.
Gianni Rodari was born in the small town of Omegna (Northern Italy). His father, a baker by trade, died when Gianni was only ten years old. Rodari and his two brothers, Cesare and Mario, grew up in their mother's home village, Varesotto. Sick and weak from childhood, the boy was fond of music (took violin lessons) and books (read Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Lenin and Trotsky). After three years at the seminary, Rodari graduated as a teacher and, at the age of 17, began teaching in the elementary grades of local rural schools. In 1939 he attended the Faculty of Philology of the University of Milan for some time.
During World War II, Rodari was discharged 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 the newly created Rome-based weekly children's magazine Pioneer (Il Pioniere "). In 1951, Rodari published his first collection of poems -" The Book of Funny Poems "- and his famous work" The Adventures of Cipollino "(Russian translation was published in 1953). This work was especially popular in the USSR, where a cartoon was shot for him in 1961, and then the film-tale "Cipollino" in 1973, where Gianni Rodari starred in a cameo.
In 1952 he first went to the USSR, where he then visited several times. In 1953 he married Maria Teresa Feretti, who four years later gave birth to his daughter, Paola. In 1957, Rodari passed the exam for the title of professional journalist. In 1966-1969 Rodari 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.
Giani Rodari (1920-1980) - Italian children's poet and writer, journalist and storyteller.
Childhood
Gianni was born on October 23, 1920 in the small town of Omegna, located in northern Italy. The real full name of the writer is Giovanni Francesco Rodari. His dad, Giuseppe Rodari, worked as a baker, he died early when Gianni was only 10 years old. The family was poor, the father's salary was not enough, and his mother, Maddalena Ariocchi, worked as a servant in wealthy houses.
The family had two more sons - Mario and Cesare. After the death of their father, the mother with three children returned to her native village of Varesotto, where the boys spent their childhood.
Gianni from an early age grew up as a sickly and weak child. He liked music very much, he even took several violin lessons. But he loved books even more. True, the boy did not read children's literature: the works of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, the works of Lenin and Trotsky.
Despite poverty, Gianni grew up as a talented and kind boy. He was an incredible visionary, constantly dreamed and believed in the best. Perhaps this is what made him a writer - the best friend of children around the world.
Study, work, war
Gianni went to study at a seminary for the poor, in addition to studying there, they also fed and gave clothes. After studying for three years, the young man received a diploma in an elementary school teacher and took up teaching at a local rural educational institution. At that time he was only 17 years old. Later he said to himself: “I turned out to be no teacher, but the kids didn’t get bored in my lessons”.
When he was 19 years old, Gianni went to Milan, where he attended lectures in the Faculty of Philology at the University of Catalica. Then he became a member of the fascist youth organization "Italian Lictor Youth".
For the second world war, the young man was not called up for health reasons. From 1941 to 1943, he again worked as an elementary school teacher and was a member of the fascist party. But at the end of 1943, after Germany occupied Italy, brother Cesare ended up in a Nazi concentration camp, and two of his best friends were killed by the Germans, Gianni joined the Resistance Movement, and in 1944 he was admitted to the Italian Party of Communists.
Literary and journalistic activities
In 1948, Gianni began working as a journalist in the publishing house of the Italian communists "Unita", at the same time he became interested in writing children's books, which in the future became his main activity.
In 1950, a weekly children's magazine was created in Rome, and Gianni was appointed by the party to the post of editor-in-chief. In 1951, his works "The Book of Merry Poems" and "The Adventures of Cipollino" were published there.
His membership in the Communist Party helped popularize Rodari's books in the Soviet Union. In 1953, Soviet children could already read the Russian translation of "The Adventures of Cipollino", in 1961 they shot a cartoon based on the work, and in 1973 a fairy-tale film "Cipollino" was released, where the author himself, Italian Gianni Rodari, played role of oneself.
In 1952, Gianni visited the Soviet Union for the first time, then he visited this country several times.
In 1957 Rodari passed the exams and received the title of professional journalist. But he did not stop writing for children, one after another his collections of poems and stories are published:
- "Train of Poems";
- "Poems in Heaven and on Earth";
- "Tales on the Phone";
- "Cake in the Sky".
In our country, his works are very popular, which were filmed:
- "Jelsomino in the Land of Liars" (film "The Magic Voice of Jelsomino");
- "The Journey of the Blue Arrow" (the film "Blue Arrow").
And also a poem that every Soviet schoolchild probably knew - "What do the crafts smell like?"
In 1970, the writer was awarded the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Prize, thanks to which Gianni Rodari became known to the whole world. Upon receiving the award, he said: "The fairy tale gives us a key with which we can enter reality in other ways".
With his fairy tales, Rodari taught children not only to learn about the world, but also to transform it: to overcome grief and injustice, in difficult situations still believe in light and good.
Personal life
In 1953, Gianni married, his wife was Maria Teresa Ferretti. After 4 years, the couple had a baby girl, Paola.
Once on a trip to the USSR, Gianni took his little daughter with him, they walked past the windows of Soviet stores and in one of them they recognized Signor Tomato, Cherry, Cipollino, Prince Lemon. He stopped in front of this toy store completely happy, because his childhood dream came true: the heroes of his works became friends of children.
In the late 70s, Gianni Rodari fell seriously ill, he underwent surgery, but it was unsuccessful. The writer died on April 14, 1980 in Rome, he was buried in the Verano cemetery.
Gianni Rodari's works 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, vital, instructive. The years of his childhood cannot be called prosperous, nevertheless, he was not angry with life: there is a lot of light and humorous in his fairy tales, but they are not devoid of sad aspects of social inequality. After all, the book should be truthful, open all aspects of life, even if it is a fairy tale about a boy with an overly 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 remained on the shoulders of one mother. Besides 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 activities, so boring and monotonous! So I ran off to the library afterwards to have some fun. There he was fond of the books of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, completely uncharacteristic for a teenager.
The completion of my studies was a great joy. The young man enters the university, at the same time begins to work as a teacher, because it was necessary to support his mother, who is struggling 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 last long as a member, he joined the Resistance.
After the war Rodari works as a journalist, writes children's books. 1953 brought happiness to the personal life of the writer: he gets married, and four years later he becomes a father. His daughter Paola became an only child. During these years he did not publish works, he was engaged in journalism (in 1957 Rodari was certified as a professional journalist).
The writer received worldwide recognition after being awarded the Andersen Prize, a prestigious literary award.
Rodari died in 1980 from a serious illness.
Formation of creativity
How did Gianni Rodari's works 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, having released a small collection of poems, and then - the fairy tale "The Adventures of Cipollino". Then he was appointed editor-in-chief of a children's magazine - this dictated the direction of his writing.
Especially the tale of 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. S. Marshak himself supervised the translation.
At the end of the 60s, Rodari completely devotes his time to journalism, temporarily abandoning the composing of children's works. He only works with the younger generation.
Many of Gianni Rodari's works are staged in films, and in one of them he starred himself.
The success of Cipollino prompted the writer to create his subsequent tales of Gelsomino and the Blue Arrow. He also writes numerous short tales, stories, instructive poems - these are the works of Gianni Rodari. The list of them 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?" Who of the children was not sad with Pan Pumpkin, was not angry with the oppressor Senor Tomato, did not admire the brave boy Cipollino ?!
The fairy tale fell in love with readers all over the world, has gone through numerous performances on the stage, animation and film versions. The work was especially fond of in the USSR. Probably because the fairy tale raises serious questions of class inequality. This distinguishes many of the children's works by Gianni Rodari.
The tale tells about the poor man Cipollino, whose father is thrown into prison by an absurd accident - he accidentally stepped on the foot of Prince Lemon, the ruler of an imaginary land of vegetables. Promising to rescue his parent, the onion boy sets out on a journey. It should be said that Rodari does not specify the name of the country, which speaks of its universality. At the head - Prince Lemon and Countess Cherry, they have a manager - Senor Tomato. They are all to be punished by Cipollino and his newfound friends.
Thus, in a relaxed game, bright and funny characters, young readers will discover the truth about a world where social injustice and oppression of the poor exist. Rodari tried to draw a parallel with the fairy tale "Pinocchio", but its author Collodi questions of social discord, poverty and injustice, although they sound, are not reflected as clearly as in "Cipollino".
"Jelsomino in the Land of Liars"
Gianni Rodari could not stand a lie. He considered liars and hypocrites to be man's greatest enemies. In his opinion, only truth could break the shackles of untruth. She, like a smashing voice, must break the lie. Such a gift was given to Rodari Gelsomino.
The plot of the tale unfolds in the Land of Liars, where the main character falls - the boy Jelsomino (translated into Russian as "jasmine"), who has an ultra-loud voice. At first, the boy doesn't know if it's 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 is telling a lie: in the store, instead of bread, they sell ink, people instead of compliments say insults to each other, artists paint implausible pictures, and only counterfeit money is used. Even animals must obey this rule: cats - bark, cows, dogs - meow, and horses - moo.
The blame is the dictatorship of King Giacomont. At first, Jelsomino does not understand what is happening around him, but soon he gets used to the new conditions, makes friends, among whom there is even a three-legged cat, which, unlike other relatives, fundamentally does not want to bark. 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 Jelsomino's wonderful voice. The fact that a person speaks like Jelsomino means that he is overly loud. Sometimes the expression "sings like Gelsomino" can be defined as high praise in a solo manner. The same name is used for an exceptionally honest person.
There were several translations of the tale, and the inhabitants of the USSR fell in love with it, like the numerous works of Gianni Rodari for children.
Blue Arrow's Journey
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"
Every day the toys living in the shop window see a boy who sadly looks at the electronic train. The baby's mom doesn't have the money to buy the toy: she hasn't paid for the Christmas gifts of the past two years yet. By the way, in the original we are talking about Christmas gifts, while in translation - about New Year's.
The toys decide to end the injustice and go on a journey to the children who were left without gifts on Christmas. This list was shared with them by the assistant to the owner of the store. At this time, the boy Francesco himself is taken hostage during a robbery of a toy store. The police do not believe in his innocence, and the boy is saved by the shopkeeper, an elderly Fairy, whose seriousness is only a fake mask.
"Tales on the phone"
"Tales on the Telephone" is imbued with special poetism. These works by Gianni Rodari are based on folklore motives. These are the tales of the candied fruit palace, which everyone in the square could taste.
These short stories are full of deep meaning: you need to be attentive (the tale of a boy who was losing things and even body parts all the time), kind, sympathetic. However, you also need to be able to look at the world from an unusual perspective ("Blue Traffic Light").
Fairy tales condemn laziness, rudeness and even gluttony.
"The grammar of fantasy"
Rodari not only wrote himself, but also encouraged others to do so, tried to discover the gift of writing in his young readers, to teach them how to invent their own bright, instructive "toy books". The work "Grammar of Fantasy" is about this.
The writer visits the USSR more than once, he is attracted by the system of education in the Union - he shares his thoughts on this, and also on the development of the creative principle in this book. It is written in the same light, unconstrained language as works of art, therefore it is not difficult for children and adults to read the work.
Some 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, it 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 the Crafts Smell About”. This is a call to acquire a truly important profession.
Rodari, loyal 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.
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, you could already have about 5500 pages. So I wrote much 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 a walk, thought. And think- ego also a useful thing. Perhaps even the most useful of all. In my opinion, each person should think for half an hour a day. This can be done anywhere– sitting at the table, walking in the woods, alone or in company.
I became a writer almost by accident. I wanted to be a violinist and I studied violin for several years. But since 1943 I no longer touch her. The violin has been with me ever since. All the time I’m going to add strings that are missing, fix the broken neck, buy a new bow instead of the old one, which is completely disheveled, and start again from the first position. Maybe I'll do it someday, but I don't have time yet. I would also like to be an artist. True, at school I always had poor grades 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 even a cow could become impatient. In a word, like all the guys, I dreamed about many things, but then I did not do much, but did what I least thought about.
However, without knowing it myself, I spent a long time preparing for my writing career. For example, I became a school teacher. I don't think I was a very good teacher: I was too young and my thoughts were very far from the school desks. Perhaps I was a fun teacher. I told the guys different funny stories– stories without any meaning, and the more absurd they were, the more the children laughed. It already meant something. In schools that I know, in my opinion, there is little laugh. Much that could be learned by laughing is taught with tears– bitter and useless.
But let's not get distracted. Anyway, i should tell you about this book. I hope it will be as fun as a toy. By the way, here's another activity that I would like to devote myself to: making toys. I always wanted toys to be unexpected, with an invention, so that they would suit everyone. Such toys last long and never get bored. Not knowing how to work with either wood or metal, I tried to make toys out of words. Toys, in my opinion, are as important as books: if they were not, the guys would not love 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 the whole family, the whole class, together with the teacher can play in them. I would like my books to be the same. And this– also. She should help parents to get closer to their children, so that one could laugh with her, argue. I am pleased when a boy listens to my stories willingly. I am even more happy 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 Soviet guys– great readers. I met a lot of Soviet guys in libraries, in schools, in the Palaces of Pioneers, in the Houses of Culture– everywhere I've been. And now I’ll tell you where I have been: in 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 great book eaters. How great it is to know that the book, whatever it is– thick or thin – it is printed not in order to lie somewhere in the dust in a shop window or in a closet, but in order to be swallowed, eaten, digested with excellent appetite by hundreds of thousands of children.
Therefore, I thank all those who prepared this book and those who, so to speak, will eat it. I hope you enjoy it.
Enjoy your meal!
Gianni Rodari 1969
Paolette Rodari and her friends of all skin colors
Once upon a time ... Signor Bianchi. He lived in the city of Varese and was an employee of a trading company that sold medicines. His job was very hectic. Every week, six days out of seven, he traveled all over Italy. He traveled west and east, south and north, and again there - and so on Saturday. He spent Sunday at home with his daughter, and on Monday, as soon as the sun rose, he set off again. My daughter accompanied him and always reminded him:
- Do you hear, dad, tonight I'm again waiting for a new fairy tale!
I must tell you that this girl could not sleep until she was told a fairy tale. Mom had already told her everything she knew three times: there were, and fables, and just fairy tales. And everything is not enough for her! My father also had to take up this craft. Wherever he was, wherever he was in Italy, he called home every evening at exactly nine o'clock and told a new tale over the phone. He invented them himself and told them himself. This book contains all these "tales by phone", and you can read them. They are, as you will notice, not very long. Signor Bianchi had to pay for the telephone conversation out of his own pocket, and, you know, he could not talk for too long. Only sometimes, when things were going well for him, did he allow himself to talk a little longer. Of course, if the tale deserved it.
Let me tell you a secret: when Signor Bianchi called Varese, even the telephone operators stopped work and listened to his tales with pleasure. Still - I like some of them myself!
Unlucky hunter
“Take a gun, Giuseppe,” a mother once said to her son, “and go hunting. Your sister is getting married tomorrow, and I need to make a holiday dinner. Hare would be very good for this.
Giuseppe took his gun and went hunting. He just went out onto the road and saw a hare running. I jumped out from under the fence and set off into the field. He raised the gun to Giuseppe, took aim and pulled the trigger. And the gun did not even think to shoot!
- Pum! - It suddenly said in a ringing and cheerful voice and threw a bullet to the ground.
Giuseppe froze in surprise. He picked up a bullet, turned it over in his hands - a bullet is like a bullet! Then he examined the gun - the gun is like a gun! And yet it did not fire, like all normal rifles, but loudly and cheerfully pronounced “Pum!”. Giuseppe even looked into the barrel, but how could anyone hide there ?! No one was there, of course.
"What to do? Mom is waiting for me to bring a hare from the hunt. My sister is having a wedding, we need to prepare a festive dinner ... "
As soon as Giuseppe had time to think this, he suddenly saw the hare again. It only turned out that it was a hare, because on her head she had a wedding veil with flowers and she walked modestly with her eyes downcast, finely touching her paws.
Just like that! - Giuseppe was surprised. - The hare is getting married too! I'll probably have to look for a pheasant.
