Gianni Rodari - A Tale of the Sad Child

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As they write in the media, many Italians today recognize Gianni Rodari perhaps as the best national writer of the 20th century. Or at least for the best child writer in the history of Italy. Maybe it is, they know best. In any case, we can not fail to accept that Rodari's worldwide recognition began in the Soviet Union, and the writer's fame is directly related to his support from Marshack. On April 14, 38 years ago, the world left one of the most famous contemporary children's writers - Gianni Rodari. His incredible books The Adventures of the Little Onion(1951), "Tales on the Phone" (1962) and "Grammar of Fantasy" rank among our first favorite stories of our childhood. It is hard to imagine that these cheerful heroes and their funny and instructive stories are born in the imagination of a man with a sad childhood. Gianni Rodari was born on 23 October 1920 in a small Italian town in Ottawa, in northern Italy, in the family of a poor baker who died early. Gianni and his two brothers, Cesare and Mario, were sent to their mother's parents in the village of Vareso. Gianni grows weak and sick. Keep watching other children's games rather than engaging in them. He likes to listen to music, starts violin lessons. As a teenager, in his spare time, instead of adventure novels, he reads the works of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, and is interested in personalities such as Lenin and Trotsky. He graduated from the seminary and received a diploma for a teacher.

He moves constantly through the villages in the area where he grows up and teaches rural children - in the middle he grew up in. Literature has become increasingly excited about him, and he has been recording lectures on literature in Milan. For a brief reason, because World War II began. Because of his poor health, he was released from military service, but not his brothers. Cesar has a heavy fate - he falls into a concentration camp. Gianni Rodari is increasingly attracted to the left idea - he becomes a member of the Resistance and joins the Italian Communist Party. He retains his convictions after the war. He started working as a journalist in the left-hand newspaper L'Unita. This is the period in which he begins to write about children. He becomes editor-in-chief of the weekly Il Pioniere children's magazine, which is published in Rome. In 1951 he published his first book, the poetry book "Book of Funny Poems". The second is "Adventures of Chipolino". He works almost every day in the world of fantasy from his unspent childhood and devotes himself entirely to children's literature. In 1957, he was already a family with a child. As a head of a family, he decides to become a professional journalist, although he is already 37. In 1970, the writer received the most prestigious award for children's literature - the Andersen Prize and became a world-renowned writer of children's literature. His most popular book is "The Adventures of the Little Onion", but no less favorite are "Jessomino in the Land of Lies", "Hope Seller", "Grammar of Fantasy", "Tales by Phone" and many others. others. By the end of his life, Gianni Rodari remains a sad child who wants to cheer up children. Since the true children's writers are always small and everywhere, and in this area are mainly gramophone, the editors themselves have to take the pen. Rodari urgently wrote children's poems, stories, tales. In 1951, from his poems published in Pioneer, a Book of Merry Poems was composed. This was the first complete edition of the author. After that, Gani Rodari's first novel, "The Adventures of the Little Onion)", was released in the same year.

The modern reader will say: "A terrible debut!" And really shocking: the Roman clergy immediately ordered the children of the righteous Catholics to read "The Adventures of the Little Onion," for several years in the courtyards of the churches the book was publicly burned, and by the churches, Rodari was compared to the devil, they have denigrated him as a heretic and perverse. Italy for many years rejected its writer. Rodari himself considered himself a journalist and did not fight for the right to count among the writers. The attitude to his creativity in the Soviet Union was fundamentally different. In 1952, immediately after the release of his new story-telling "The Blue Arrow's Journey". An experienced publisher, Marshack instantly understood how brilliant the Italian was, and he accepted to help promote his work in our country. In 1953, the first Russian edition of "Adventures of the Little Onion" appeared in the literary work of Marshak. The success of the book was deafening. Gianni Rodari became one of our children's most favorite foreign writers. With the enormous interest and even delight, Rodari's other fabulous works were received in our country: the "Jelsomino in the Land of Lies" (1959) and the "Planet of the New Year's Trees" (1962), the "Tales on the Phone" and "Cake in the Sky" (1966). It is from the USSR that the fame of the Italian fairytale has gradually begun to spread all over the world. Rodari's books are now translated into several dozens of world languages and their total circulation is over 20 million. The Italians have probably come to the understanding of the importance of the creativity of their fellow countryman: today Gianni Rodari's works are included in all Italian textbooks in schools, are widely published and promoted.

The storyteller has long had problems with blood circulation and stagnant leg processes. In 1979, he had failed surgery to remove a thrombus in his leg. In the winter of 1980 doctors advised him to undergo a second surgery. On April 10, the operation again failed. Apparently the sick man was very excited about it. On April 14, 1980, Gianni Rodari suddenly died as a result of a heart attack. The fairytale is buried in the Roman cemetery Campo Verano, to the ancient Catholic Church of San Lorenzo Fuori Le Mura.