The Adventures of Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi

NOTE: Click on "Read more" to see the entire meetup description and links.

The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883) is one of the greatest works of Italian literature, translated into over 260 languages with hundreds of adaptations to the stage, page, and screen. But (not surprisingly) the original is much darker than the sanitized Disney version that dominates its modern-day legacy.

The original Pinocchio is a villainous, insolent, weak-willed rogue who is repeatedly punished for his transgressions--including graphic physical torture and psychological abuse. Despite his horrific punishments, Pinocchio never seems to learn his lesson, and the consequences grow increasingly macabre, eventually culminating in his summary execution. (When the serialized story was republished in an extended book form, the ending was amended with a more palatable transformation into a real boy.)

Collodi was a follower of Mazzini--a political activist who advocated duty (to family, country, humanity, and God) as a bulwark against immorality--and Pinocchio is his most enduring contribution to the Risorgimento. Although Italy had been geographically united in 1870, in 1883 it was still divided culturally, and Collodi mobilized children's literature to help instill a "unifying social and national consciousness in the young." The puppet protagonist serves as an allegory for the innate need for parental, educational, moral, and spiritual guidance.

In the words of Colleen Hutt, "The thrill of reading Pinocchio is to realize that our own existential questions are embodied in the puppet... who longs to be real. As is the case for Pinocchio, our trials and temptations unconceal the shallowness of self-indulgence and can serve to introduce us to a fuller sense of freedom, one that is ordered to the good for which we have been created."

The Adventures of Pinocchio:

• Kindle
• Gutenberg
• Google books
• Librivox ~4h41m
• Wiseblood Books text and commentary by Franco Nembrini

Supplemental:

• The Enduring Relevance of Pinocchio discussion by Word On Fire Institute
• Pinocchio is a Story About Art and God video essay
• Maps of Meaning lecture by Jordan Peterson
• Carl Jung, Pinocchio & Self-Realization audio essay by Mahon McCann
• Pinocchio (1940) movie trailer
• Pinocchio (2022) movie trailer
• A.I. (2001) movie trailer

This meetup is part of the series In the Belly of the Whale.