CFP: The Multimedia Puppet: Illustrations in The Adventures of Pinocchio
International Day of Study
Collodi (Pistoia, Itay), 5 July 2025
Organized by the National Carlo Collodi Foundation in collaboration with the Ferrucci Institute for Italian Experience and Research of Chapman University and The University of Iowa
CALL FOR PAPERS
In the 19th century, technological advancements in the typographical field allowed unprecedented forms of collaboration between illustrators/caricaturists and journalists/writers. This synergy resulted in the emergence of a new multimedia landscape. Carlo Lorenzini alias Collodi was one of the Italian intellectuals who best understood the disruptive potential of this innovation. He recognized its critical importance for the spread of a free press, which was no longer subject to censorship following its abolition in Tuscany in May 1847.
Collodi's contribution to "Lampione" (1848-49), a newspaper which he co-founded, already demonstrates his vision. In this periodical, the illustrations by artists such as Nicola Sanesi (Cabrion) and Assunta Moltini hold as much communicative import as the articles’ text. In many other newspapers of the Risorgimento period, the visual component interacts closely with the literary text and enhances its humor and satire.
A similar relationship between word and image is central throughout Collodi's career and stands out in The Adventures of Pinocchio. The character of Pinocchio himself, that embodies Aristotle’s three degrees of soul (vegetal, animal and human nature), can be viewed as an ideal synthesis of anthropological humanism. For this reason he has given countless illustrators the possibility of drawing inspiration from the corporeal complexity that characterizes the human being. As Daniela Marcheschi wrote: ““Collodi induce a ripensare Pinocchio e quanto più di vero di profondo rappresenta: la meraviglia stupefacente della materia nelle sue varie forme e sostanze, e degli animali e degli uomini Con il patrocinio di:
nei casi della vita e nello scavo analitico dell’anima; la pittura per tocchi stilizzati dei tipi umani e del paesaggio per ricrearli e farli sedimentare in noi; le atmosfere fiabesche e le magie; il nudo accadimento dei fatti, e gli imprevisti, le coincidenze, gli eventi fuori dall’ordinario e i loro dinamici ritmi”.
The Adventures of Pinocchio is a modern novel precisely because it is multimedia. This fact is already demonstrated by its first volume edition in 1883, where the illustrations by Enrico Mazzanti, Collodi's regular collaborator since the publication of I racconti delle fate (1876), interpret and enrich the text. For over 140 years, Collodi’s masterpiece has fascinated dozens and dozens of illustrators all over the world, many of whom have offered an original and creative reading.
The symposium The Multimedia Puppet: Illustrations in The Adventures of Pinocchio intends to relaunch the reflection on the close link between the writing and the illustrations, through the discussion, in particular, of the following themes:
● History and criticism of the illustrations of Pinocchio
● The collaboration between Collodi and Enrico Mazzanti
● Italian and foreign illustrators
● Illustrations of a country/geographical area and/or belonging to a specific historical period
● Borrowings, echoes, influences from/on other media in/of Pinocchio's illustrations
● Pinocchio illustrations for pop-up, interactive and other special editions
● The Adventures of Pinocchio in the history of illustrated books
● The illustrations of Pinocchio between graphic and printing techniques
● The illustrations of Pinocchio as moral education for children and a case study in the history of pedagogy
Interested scholars are invited to send an abstract of about 250 words and a biographical note of about 100 words to fondazione@pinocchio.it by February 28, 2025.
Deadline for submitting titles and abstracts: February 28, 2025
Email to which proposals should be sent: fondazione@pinocchio.it
For information, call the National Carlo Collodi Foundation: 0039 0572 429613