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RESEARCH PAPERS
Angelica Fascella
I. A. KRYLOV'S FAME AS A CHILDREN'S WRITER IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY ITALY
This article investigates the fame of the Russian fabulist Ivan Krylov (17691844) in Italy in the 20th century, with special reference to the collections of fables of that period, which were intended for children. Indeed, the first Krylov's fables in Italian language had been published in Paris in 1825, but in Italy they were unsuccessful: overall there was little interest in Russian literature and language. Only in the beginning of the following century, when Russian literature, language and culture has already become familiar to most Italian scholars and readers, have Krylov's fables gained considerable popularity in Italy. As Krylov's fame in Italy in 20th century is a relatively little-studied topic, this work briefly presents a list of the Italian versions of Krylov's fables published in that period. Afterwards, the article particularly focuses on the role played by the Russian fabulist in Italian Children's literature: the analysis has been carried out with reference to the characteristics identified in some collections for children.
Keywords: Ivan Krylov, fable, translation, Italian language, 20th century, children's literature, Russian literature, reception of Krylov's fables
Ivan Andreevich Krylov (1769-1844) Krylov had already been extremely popular among Russian readers and critics during his lifetime, and he was also named the greatest Russian fabulist. Indeed, at the beginning of his literary career he wrote plays and satirical works, but he gained poetic glory by writing fables; at first Krylov simply imitated or re-elaborated La Fontaine's fables, but soon he started writing original
Angelica Fascella Pavia University, Italy
angelica.fascella01@universitadipavia.it
DOI: 10.31860/2304-5817-2022-1-21-58-85
verses, intimately connected to the Russian culture and to the authentic Russian soul1.
His complete works, which contain 197 fables, were not only fundamental for the development of the fable as a genre, but also were a crucial moment in the evolution of the Russian literary language. The liveness of the rhythm and the abundance of proverbs and popular sayings in his fables, all of these imitating the oral language spoken by the lower classes, have introduced in literature concrete elements of the Russian reality and language.
The moral teachings conveyed by Krylov were the expression of Russian wisdom, which could be helpful not only to the adults who needed to rediscover the moral values and the authentic Russian costumes, but also to the children who still had to learn them. Despite knowing that Krylov's fables were not simply texts for children because of their satirical subtext, the critic V. G. Belinskiy enlightened their key role in children's education, as they could enrich their vocabulary and embrace the national spirit:
Нет нужды говорить о великой важности басен Крылова для воспитания детей: дети бессознательно и непосредственно напитываются из них русским духом, овладевают русским языком и обогащаются прекрасными впечатлениями почти единственно доступной для них поэзии. Но Крылов поэт не для одних детей: с книгою его басен невольно забудется и взрослый и снова перечтет уж читанное им тысячу раз1' [Belinskiy 1976].
In Russia Krylov's fame as children's author consolidated after his death when, in 1845, his illustrated biography was published by Dmitriy Grigorovich under the title Dedushka Krylov ("Grandpa Krylov"). This nickname refers to the Russian fabulist's ability to educate the masses, just like a good-humoured grandfather who shares words of wisdom with his grandchildren [Hellman 2016, e-book Kindle pos. 627; Kryukova 2019, 10].
First Krylov's fables in Italian language appeared in the trilingual collection, Fables russes, tirées du recueil de M. Kriloff et imitées en
1)All the quotations in this article have been translated by me.
"There is no need to talk about the importance of Krylov's fables for children's education: children unconsciously and indirectly absorb the Russian spirit from them, master Russian language and are enriched by the wonderful impressions of almost the only form of poetry which is available to them. But Krylov is not a children's poet only: with one book of his fables even an adult will forget himself and will read again what he has already read a thousand times" [Belinskiy 1976].
vers français et italiens par divers auteur ("Russian fables, based on Mr. Krylov's collected works and imitated2 in French and Italian verses by various authors"), published in Paris in 1825 on the initiative of Count Grigoriy Orlov (1777-1826), who was Krylov's close friend. This collection isn't addressed to children but represents Orlov's endeavour to spread Krylov's fables in Western European cultural panorama, where the fabulist was still not well-known: the book consists of 86 fables, each printed in Russian and then imitated in French and in Italian. As the Italian writers didn't know Russian, their versions were based on French prose literal renderings and not from the Russian source text. The Italian versions of Orlov's volume were then reprinted in a separated volume in Perugia in 18273.
However, those fables didn't succeed and after a short time they were forgotten4. Krylov's fables remained almost unknown in Italy until, at the beginning of the 20th century, the scholar Federigo Verdinois5 translated 53 fables which were published by Sonzogno publishing house6 in 1906 in the collection Favole scelte di Giovanni Krilow, and the scholar Domenico Ciampoli7 discovered Orlov's volume in Saint-Petersburg and decided to republish it in his home country in 1912, adding in the prefaces six texts that he himself translated from Russian [Verdinois 1906, 8; Ciampoli 1912, 6; MaverLo Gatto 1966, 162-163]8.
Only in the 20th century, when Russian literature and language widely became objects of interest in Italy, that Krylov and his fables gained considerable popularity, especially as a Children's writer.
As studies exclusively about the fame of Krylov's fables in Italy during the 20th century apparently have not been published yet, I think it could be useful to provide a list of the Italian publications that appeared in that period9. Moreover, I have decided to include also the only two collections published at the beginning of the 21st century, because, as far as I know, they are the very last which were published in Italy.
The present list is based on the bibliographic data collected by Mazz-itelli, De Florio, Scandura and Vassena, and those I have retrieved from the consultation of the Servizio Bibliotecario Nationale (National Librarian System) catalogue and of the Catalogo Biblioteche Genova Metropolitana (Metropolitan city of Genoa Libraries Catalogue), and the catalogue of the University of Sacred Heart of Milan. Indeed, neither the catalogue of Genova Metropolitana nor the catalogue of the University of Sacred Heart are included in the national librarian system [Mazzitelli 1990, 406; Scandura 2002, 111; Vassena 2015, 293; De Florio 2017, 422-423, 442]. The publications have been ordered chronologically and numbered so that it will be easier to recover the
translations I will mention in the rest of the article. For the same reasons, I have indicated the collections of Krylov's fables specifically for children between brackets: to distinguish the publications addressed to children from those that were published for adults and to identify the main purpose of the different editions; I have established some criteria based on paratextual elements, such as illustrations10 and prefaces, and other criteria such as the translator's profile, the series in which the texts were published and direct information about the publishing house's strategy. Included in the list are the collections of selected texts and translations of individual fables published in journals and anthologies:
1. Krilow G.11 Favole scelte di Giovanni Krilow / trad. di F. Verdinois. Milano: Biblioteca Universale Sonzogno, 1906. 85 p12.
2. Krylov G. Favole russe / traduzione e introduzione di D. Ciampoli. Lanciano: Carabba, 1912. 193 p.
3. Kylov G. Le favole di Giovanni Krylov, versione interlineare dal russo di U. Norsa. Palermo: Sandron, 1919. 276 p.
4. Le favole di Giovanni Krylov, versione interlineare dal russo di U. Norsa (2nd ed.). Palermo, Sandron, 1920 . 276 p.
5. Krylov I. L'asino e l'usignolo, traduzione in versi di E. Damiani // Rivista di Cultura. 1923. Vol. 4 No 6-7. P. 157.
6. Krylov I. L'asino e l'usignolo, traduzione in versi di E. Damiani // Altius. 1925. No. 213
7. Krylov I. Favole / testo, versione e disegni a cura di Canzio Vandelli e Gimmi Bosi. Venezia: Edizioni litografiche S.E.V., 194014. 123 p.
8. Krylov I. 60 favolelli / libera trascrizione di M. Tibaldi Chiesa, il-lustrazioni di V. Nicouline (Nikulin). Milano: Italgeo, 1945 (for children).
9. Krylov I. L'asino e l'usignolo / traduzione di E. Damiani. Roma: Trevisini, 194715.
10. Krylov I. Comare volpe / libera trascrizione di Mary Tibaldi Chiesa, illustrato da Vsevolode Niculin. Milano: Orlando Cibelli, 1950 ca. (for children).
11. Krylov I. Favole della foresta / libera trascrizione di Mary Tibaldi Chiesa, illustrato da Vsevolode Niculin. Milano: Orlando Cibelli, 1950 ca. (for children).
12. Krylov I. Il concerto degli animali / libera trascrizione di Mary Tibaldi Chiesa, illustrato da Vsevolode Niculin. Milano: Orlando Cibelli, 1950 ca. (for children).
13. Krylov I. Messer Lupo / libera trascrizione di Mary Tibaldi Chiesa, illustrato da Vsevolode Niculin. Milano: Orlando Cibelli, 1950 ca. (for children).
14. Krylov I. Papa elefante l'orso e la scimmia / libera trascrizione di Mary Tibaldi Chiesa, illustrato da Vsevolode Niculin. Milano: Orlando Cibelli, 1950 ca. (for children).
15. Krylov I. Sua altezza l'aquila / libera trascrizione di Mary Tibaldi Chiesa, illustrato da Vsevolode Niculin. Milano: Orlando Cibelli, 1950 ca. (for children).
16. Krylov I. Sussurri nell'aria / libera trascrizione di Mary Tibaldi Chiesa, illustrato da Vsevolode Niculin. Milano: Orlando Cibelli, 1950 ca. (for children).
17. Krylov I. Tra bruchi e formiche api e scarabei / libera trascrizione di Mary Tibaldi Chiesa, illustrato da Vsevolode Niculin. Milano: Orlando Cibelli, 1950 ca. (for children).
18. Krylov I. Tra cani e gatti / libera trascrizione di Mary Tibaldi Chiesa, illustrato da Vsevolode Niculin. Milano: Orlando Cibelli, 1950 ca. (for children).
19. Krylov I. Tra ragli e nitriti / libera trascrizione di Mary Tibaldi Chiesa, illustrato da Vsevolode Niculin. Milano: Orlando Cibelli, 1950 ca. (for
children)16.
20. Krylov I. A. L' asino e l'usignolo. Il granchio il luccio e il cigno // Letture scelte da Poeti e Prosatori Russi, da Krylov a Korolenko, testo russo con accentuazione, note e versione italiana / a cura di E. Damiani. Firenze: Valmartina, 1952. P. 67-6817.
21. Krylov. Le favolette dei cani // Krylov, La Fontaine, Vitfal e altri. Gianni Porcospino e altre storie / a cura di Giovanni Falzone Fontanelli, ill. di R. Sgrilli. Bologna: Nettuno Omnia, 1953. Pp. 107-116 (for children).
22. Krylov I. A. Ivan Andreevic Krylov e le «Favole» // Lo Gatto, E. Le piu belle pagine della letteratura russa. Milano: Nuova Accademia. Vol. 1 (dalle origini a Cechov). P. 253-256.
23. Krylov. Raccolta di favole / con testo originale a fronte, a cura di V. Zdrojewska. Firenze, Fussi, 1957. 223 p.
24. Krylov I. Cento favole / trad. di N. Martini Bernardi, litografie di P. Annigoni. Parma: Guanda, 1961. 196 p.
25. Krylov I. La danza dei pesci e altri favolelli / libera trascrizione di M. Tibaldi Chiesa, ill. diM. Ridolfi. Milano: Mondadori, 1966, 185 p. (for children).
26. Ivan A. Krylov // Krylov, Puskin, Tolstoj. Parlano gli animali / a cura
del Monastero russo Uspenskij, illustrazioni di Otello Perazzi. Roma: Edizioni paoline, 1971. Pp. 13-49 (for children).
27. Krylov I. 60 favolelli / trad. di M. Tibaldi Chiesa, ill. di V. Nicouline. Milano: Edizioni Club Degli Editori, 1975. 115 p. (for children).
28. Krylov I. 60 favolelli / libera trascrizione di M. Tibaldi Chiesa, illustrazioni di V. Nicouline. Firenze: Pugliese, 1975 (for children).
29. Krylov I. La saggezza di Krylov / favole in versione ritmica, a cura di Franco Cusmano. Genova: Circolo culturale Autori Autogestiti Associati Liguri & personaledit, 1977. 51 p.
30. Krylov I. Ivan A. Krylov // Krylov, Puskin, Tolstoj. Parlano gli animali (2a ed.) / a cura del Monastero russo Uspenskij, illustrazioni di Otello Perazzi. Roma: Edizioni paoline, 1983 (for children)18.
31. Krylov I. Ivan A. Krylov // Krylov, Puskin, Tolstoj. Parlano gli animali (3a ed.) / a cura del Monastero russo Uspenskij, illustrazioni di Otello Perazzi. Roma: Edizioni paoline, 1989. Pp. 12-48 (for children).
32. Krylov I. La saggezza di Krylov / favole in versione ritmica, a cura di Franco Cusmano (2a ed.). Genova: Circolo culturale Autori Autogestiti Associati Liguri & personaledit, 1998, 51 p.
33. Krylov I. La Saggezza di Krylov / favolette morali in ferrarese e traduzione letterale italiana, liberamente tratte dalla versione dal russo di Franco Cusmano, trad. di Iose Perevati. Portomaggiore: Bando di Argenta, Tipog.-litografia S. Macario Graf, 199819.
34. Krylov I. La saggezza di Krylov / favole in versione ritmica, a cura di Franco Cusmano (3a ed.). Genova: Circolo culturale Autori Autogestiti Associati Liguri & personaledit, 1998. 51 p.
35. Krylov I. Un po de Krylov azzenezou (Un po' di Krylov aggenovesato) da La saggezza di Krylov di Franco Cusmano / a cura di Ottavio Giorgio Ugolotti. Genova: Circolo culturale Autori Autogestiti Associati Liguri & personaledit, 2004.
36. Krylov I. A. Favole / a cura di Alberto Schiavone. Firenze: Barbes, 2009.
It is extremely interesting to notice that out of a total of 36 publications, 50% of them contains verse translations (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)20 and other 50% includes prose versions (8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31).
More precisely, about 28%21 of publications of verse translations contains quite small number of texts, varying from one to four fables, that appeared in journals and anthologies (5, 6, 9, 20, 22), and that verse
collections of Krylov's fables reach about 72% (1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 23, 24, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36).
On the other hand, about 78% of prose publications includes collections entirely dedicated to Krylov's fables (8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 25, 27, 28) and about 22% refers to groups of selected texts published in collections of fables by various authors (21, 26, 30, 31).
What is most striking about this list is that all verse publications are addressed to adults and all prose adaptations were published for children. I will focus on this aspect later on.
The larger amount the Children's prose collections devoted to Krylov's fables suggests that in Italy Krylov is especially known as children's writer. However, before focusing on children's books, it might be useful to shortly present verse publications for adults.
Included in this group are single texts published in literary journals and anthologies to propagate Russian culture and volumes of selected fables printed for entertainment purposes. Moreover, the types of translators can differ: there are famous scholars who contributed to the development of the Slavic Studies in Italy, such as abovementioned Fed-erigo Verdinois22 (1) and Domenico Ciampoli23 (2), but also Ettore Lo Gatto24 (22) and Enrico Damiani25 (5, 6, 20). Damiani, who firstly published the fable L'asino e L'usignolo ("The donkey and the Nightingale") in two literary magazines (5, 6), in 1952 reprinted this fable and added the text Il granchio, il luccio e il cigno ("The Swan, the Pike and the Crab") in the anthology Letture scelte da Poeti e Prosatori Russi, da Krylov a Korolenko ("Selected Readings from Russian Poets and Prose-Writers, from Krylov to Korolenko"). Lo Gatto published 4 fables in the first volume of the anthology Le piu belle pagine della letteratura russa ("The Most Beautiful Pages of Russian Literature"), published in 1957.
Umberto Norsa26 (3,4), although he wasn't a Slavist scholar by trade, but simply a keen amateur translator of Polish and Russian poetry, also translated Krylov's fables with the same intentions. Although Norsa defined his version "una prosa letteralissima" ("very literal prose"), he maintained the verse structure of Krylov's fables, though without rhymes and other poetic devices [Norsa 1919,11-12]. Therefore, I have decided to include his collection in the verse publications group.
Unfortunately, Norsa's work remains largely unknown among scholars, even though his book is the only one collecting the entire production of Krylov's fables. Moreover, his interlinear translation is considered one of the most faithful to the source text [Cazzamini Mussi 1921, 76; Marinelli 1998, 5]. Another collection of Krylov's fables with the same didactic purposes, which is one of the most complete with 46 selected
texts, is by Professor Vera Zdrojewska27 (23). All the above-mentioned translators had as their main objective the proliferation of Russian major authors' works. Indeed, they tried to recreate in Italian the rhythm and the vivacity of Krylov's verses.
It is curious to notice in the list the presence of amateur translators, whose works were edited by local publishing houses. For example, Doctor Franco Cusmano28 printed his version of Krylov's fables in Genoa in 1977 and reprinted it in 1998 (29, 32). Cusmano's collection inspired another amateur writer, Doctor Jose Peverati29, who used Cusmano's translation of Krylov's fables as source text for his version in Ferrarese dialect (33). Peverati's vernacular collection is addressed to Ferrarese readers and lovers of Italian regional dialects and, as I will point out later, it will be imitated in 21st century.
Among verse publications there are even valuable limited editions, decorated with lithographs embellishing the texts: Cento favole ("100 Fables"), a collection of selected fables translated by Nerina Martini Bernardi30 and illustrated by the painter Pietro Annigoni31 (24), and Favole ("Fables"), texts with facing translations from Russian selected by the philologist and translator Canzio Vandelli32 and illustrated by Gimmi Bosi33 (7).
As already noticed, all the verse publications considered above are addressed to adults or, more precisely, to scholars, lovers of Russian literature and fables, rare book and lithographs collectors and amateurs of regional dialects. These publications, even though addressed to a specific group of readers, are clear evidence of Krylov's popularity in the 20th century.
However, as already noticed, even more glaring evidence of Krylov's fame in Italy is the large amount of collections for children. From the mid-20th century, about a century later than in Russia, also in Italy Krylov's fables were published in children's books: from then on Krylov's fables became not just an example of the greatness of Russian literature, available only to scholars and amateurs, but lively narrations, useful for educating and entertaining the youngest readers.
The first collection of Krylov's fables for children was published by the publishing house Italgeo under the title 60 favolelli ("60 fables") in 1945 (8). The volume, dedicated to the publisher's son as a Christmas present, is edited by the writer and translator Mary Tibaldi Chiesa34, who was a prominent figure in Italian children's literature (Fig. 1).
Indeed, Tibaldi Chiesa adapted many of the world's greatest masterpieces of juvenile literature, with special interest in fables, fairy tales and folk tales. For example, in 1942 she rewrote in prose Pushkin's fairy
71 A It I A Tilt AM» I V HIES A W I Ij ■ TTO It IS I S E V O I, O 1» E \ 1 ( O UL1 \ E 111 WO LAIOIIATO PE It <t IJBSTO LIB K O DDUO DAIiJLA "ITALGEO" niLAMO ID45
favolelli
Figure 1. 60 Favolelli cover
tales in the book Il gallo d'oro e altre fiabe (The Take of the Golden Cockerel and Other Fairy Tales), printed by Hoepli publishing house (De Florio 2017, 426)35.
As a matter of fact, Tibaldi Chiesa deliberately chose not to translate faithfully the source texts, as she preferred adapting them to Italian children's taste. Moreover, she believed that modifying those masterpieces to make them known to as many people as possible was preferable to let foreign readers remain in ignorance. This is a typical approach adopted in the 20th century by Italian translators who adapted novels or poems for younger readers. For instance, between the 1930s and 1940s UTET publishing house promoted the publication of the series La scala d'oro ("The Golden Staircase"), which contained the most famous literary works, adapted in Italian for children and teenagers by many Italian authors. Tibaldi Chiesa, who was one of the most prolific Children's writers of the period, took active part in the project: she adapted the fairy tales written by Perrault, Andersen and Brothers Grimm and La Fontaine's fables, Wilde's short stories, Verne's and Swift's novels and
Tolstoy's War and Peace [Tibaldi Chiesa 1945b, 166-167; Rebellato 2016, 43]36.
As she states in the preface to 60 favolelli, Tibaldi Chiesa got to know about Krylov's fables through the mediation of Natalia Bavastro37 and decided to re-elaborate them in prose to adapt these texts to the cultural context and the psychology of Italian children. For this reason, her versions of Krylov's fables are not properly considered translations, rather "libere trascrizioni" ("free transcriptions"). Moreover, in this and many other collections for children Tibaldi Chiesa collaborated with the illustrator Vsevolod Nikulin. According to her, Nikulin's illustrations perfectly represent Krylov's world to the young readers:
Col prezioso aiuto di Natalia Bavastro mi e stato dato a venire a conoscenza delle favole di Krylov e della sua personalita: ed entrambi sono sembrate cosi originali e interessanti, cosi geniali e cosi significative che ho desiderato avvicinarle ai piccoli lettori italiani. Ho preso gli spunti dei favolelli che hanno protagonisti le bestie, tanto care ai bimbi, e li ho trascritti, modifi-candoli nello svolgimento, nella stesura e talora nelle conclusioni la dove questo mi sembrava opportuno per le esigenze della psicología infantile, e in particolare della psicologia del fanciullo italiano.
Vsevolode Nicouline ha illustrato i favolelli con la sua arte squisita e raffi-nata, tutta pervasa di umorismo e di arguzia, e singolarmente consona con lo spirito di Krylov: i suoi disegni in nero e a colori sono l'interpretazione visiva e il commento migliore a questo libro, nel quale vibra la voce di un poeta e di un saggio, una parola eterna di verita e di vita, che non rimarra inascoltata2) [Tibaldi Chiesa 1945 a].
After giving a brief introduction about the history of fable all over the world, Tibaldi Chiesa focuses on Krylov's figure and the importance of his fables, which contain ever valid moral teachings:
2)The pages of this book are not numbered.
«With Natalia Bavastro's precious help I got to know Krylov's fables and his personality: they both seemed so original and interesting to me, so brilliant and meaningful, that I have desired to bring them closer to Italian young readers. I have taken my cues from the fables about animals, which children love so much, and I have transcribed them, modifying the plot, the wording and, sometimes, the resolution, where required, to the needs of the child psychology and especially to the Italian child psychology. Vsevolode Nicouline has illustrated the fables with his exquisite and elegant art, which is full of humour and wit and at the same time it is so appropriate to Krylov's spirit. His black-and-white and colour illustrations are the visual representation and the best comment to this book, in which the voice of a poet and wise man vibrates, an eternal word of truth which won't fall in deaf ears» [Tibaldi Chiesa 1945].
Il linguaggio di cui il poeta si valeva aveva la semplicita e la freschez-za, l'immediatezza e l'efficacia della parlata popolaresca onde egli si era imbevuto e saturato sin dalla fanciullezza; ma nello stesso tempo egli si rivelava maestro nel foggiare artisticamente il verso, nel cesellare finemente la forma e nel distillare elaboratamente l'essenza dei singoli componimenti. Alcuni di essi, di intonazione e di atmosfera tipicamente nazionali, hanno un sapore speciale, inconfondibilmente russo. Altri favolelli sono esempi, scene, quadretti tolti dalla vita quotidiana di ogni tempo e di ogni paese. E sempre, sotto il livello di finzione, traspare una verita di vita, come sot-to la maschera del travestimento del belluino si indovinano tratti umani di realta sempre attuale; e dal simbolo si sprigiona un insegnamento eterno di profonda significazione ideale, morale, sociale3) [TibaldiChiesa 1945a].
Tibaldi Chiesa's collection achieved great success: in the 1950s small groups of texts from 60 favolelli were republished by the publisher Orlando Cibelli in ten volumes. Each book is focused on a specific theme: for example, Comare volpe ("Mrs Fox") contains only the fables whose main character is a fox (10), and the main topic of Sussuri nell'aria ("Whispers in the Air") is the birdsong (16). Vsevolod Nikulin's illustrations were reprinted in these small volumes as well. However, in the colophon the publisher states that some of the original illustrations have been modified, so Nikulin's signature has been removed.
Additional confirmation of the popularity of Tibaldi Chiesa's re-elaboration of Krylov's fables is provided by the republication of all the texts of 60 favolelli in a new edition titled La danza dei pesci e altri favolelli ("The Fish Dance and Other Fables"), published in 1966 by Mondadori publishing house (25) (Fig. 2). This book differs from the 1945 edition in the preface, illustrations and disposition of the texts. Indeed, in the 1945 preface Tibaldi Chiesa states that the fables are addressed exclusively to children, but in the new one she underlines the universality of Krylov's fables, which are beneficial to all readers, without distinction of age: "Col prezioso aiuto di Natalia Kah Bavastro mi e stato dato venire a conoscenza dei favolelli di Krylov e trascriverli per i lettori italiani, certa che piaceranno non solo ai ragazzi, ma a tutti
3)«The poet's language had the simplicity and the freshness, the spontaneity and the effectiveness of popular vernacular, that the poet had grown up with; but at the same time, he proves himself as a master in creating verses, in chiselling the shapes and in conveying the true essence of his poems. Some of them, which have typically Russian intonation and atmosphere, have an unmistakably Russian taste. Other fables are exempla, scenes of daily life of every time and place. And beyond the fiction of Krylov's fables there is always true life, like under the mask of a beast it is possible to recognise ever timely human traits; and from the symbol and eternal ideal, moral and social teaching bursts» [Tibaldi Chiesa 1945].
■ ■■■■■■■■I
Ivan Krylov
La danza dei pesci
e altri favolelli
MONDADORI
Figure 2. La danza dei pesci e altri favolelli cover
quelli che leggeranno, perché vi sentiranno vibrare la voce di un poeta e di un saggio, una parola eterna di veritá e di vita" [Tibaldi Chiesa 1966, 8]4).
Moreover, the illustrations here aren't those by Vsevolod Nikulin, but by Marisa Ridolfi38. Another very small change concerns the order of the texts: the fable that gives its name to the Mondadori edition, La danza dei pesci, which is the 54th text in the 1945 collection, is now the first one.
Mondadori company was fascinated by the artistic value of Tibaldi Chiesa and Nikulin's volume: in the 1975 the original 1945 edition of
4)"With Natalia Bavastro's precious help I got to know Krylov's fables and I have transcribed them for the Italian readers, because I am sure not only will children love them, but anyone will appreciate these fables, because anyone will be able to hear the voice of a poet and wise man vibrates, an eternal word of truth and life" [Tibaldi Chiesa 1966, 8].
60 favolelli was republished by Club Degli Editori39 (27), which is a publishing house included in Mondadori publishing group. It is a faithful reprint of the 1945 volume, and the only change is the illustration on the front cover. Also the same Italgeo edition was republished in the same year by another publishing house, Pugliese, in Florence (28). Pugliese and Club Degli Editori editions are identical.
As I will discuss at the end of this article, the success of Mary Tibaldi Chiesa's versions of Krylov's fables could be associated with the development of children's book market in Italy and the history of the reception of Russian texts for children in the peninsula.
Certainly Tibaldi Chiesa's books play a central role in building Krylov's fame in Italy, but there also are other collections, published in the second half of the 20th century, that include Krylov's fables. These books contain fables written by various authors and folk tales from different parts of the world.
In 1953 publishing house A. & G. Nettuno Omnia in Bologna printed the collection Gianni Porcospino e altre storie ("Gianni the Hedgehog and Other Stories"), edited by Giovanni Falzone Fontanelli40 and illustrated by Roberto Sgrilli41 (21). This volume includes some works of the most famous fabulists, like Brothers Grimm and Christian Andersen, adaptations of legends and myths, a free adaptation of The Arabian Nights42 and one Falzone Fontanelli's fable. What is particularly interesting is that the editors chose to print five of Krylov's fables together with eight Jean De La Fontaine's texts to create the small group of texts entitled Favolette dei cani ("Dogs' fables"). Indeed, this choice seems to highlight Krylov's bond with the Western tradition of fable and especially with La Fontaine. The fables of both authors in this collection are prose adaptations.
This stylistic choice depends on the publishers's desire to provide children and young readers famous fables in the simplest and congenial forms:
Nell'affrontare questa Collana dedicata al mondo dell'infanzia, lo scopo che abbiamo voluto raggiungere non e soltanto quello di una accurata selezione dei migliori frutti della fantasia universale...
Noi invece abbiamo voluto affrontare......la mescolanza della complessiva
materia: cost in ciascuna opera pubblicata, i fanciulli godranno della piu varia selezione che sia stato possibile raggruppare e comporre per la loro gioia. Avranno cioe il modo di leggere in un unico libro fiabe dei piu celebri autori...5) [Gianni Porcospino, 1953, 5-6]43.
5)«Dealing with this series dedicated to the world of childhood, our goal was not
The most recent collection of Krylov's fables for children is Parlano gli animali ("Animals Are Speaking") published by Edizioni Paoline publishing house in Rome for the first time in 1971 (26) and then reprinted in 1983 (30)44 and 1989 (31). This volume, illustrated by Otello Perazzi45, contains fables by Krylov and Tolstoy, Pushkin's fairy tales and folk tales of former USSR countries, translated by Russian nuns of the Uspenskiy ("Dormition")46 Convent in Rome. The nuns translated 31 Krylov's fables, using as a source text the Russian-language edition published in Paris in 1921.
It is important to emphasise that in this publication Krylov's figure is associated with Pushkin and Tolstoy (namely two Russian writers who were at the time among the most known and beloved by Italian readers) because of his role in the development of the fable in Russia and in the world. Moreover, in the unsigned introduction the bond between Krylov and Western literature, especially with La Fontaine's fables, is emphasised:
La favola e fiorita anche in Russia... Le favole costituiscono un patrimonio popolare, spesso anonimo, che si tramanda e si arricchisce di generazione in generazione, pero anche grandi scrittori russi non hanno sdegnato di dare ai racconti di animali una bella veste letteraria, talvolta anche una veste poetica. Cosí fecero il piú grande poeta russo A. Puskin (1799-1837), e il noto favolista I. Krylov (1768-1844), egregio interprete dello spirito del suo popolo ed emulo di La Fontaine. Anche il grande scrittore L. Tolstoj (1828-1910) nei libri da lui scritti per gli scolari diede largo posto alle favole6) [Parlano gli animali 1971, 9-10].
In the introduction of the third edition much more attention is paid to Krylov, whose accurate biography is presented. The reason is as follows: "Ci limitiamo a presentare Krylov, per due evidenti motivi. Primo, perché Krylov, per essendo "il piú grande favolista russo", e
merely creating an accurate selection of the best products of universal fantasy... But we wanted to deal with the overall complexity of the subject: so, in every book of the series children will enjoy the variety of selected texts, which have been grouped to their joy. They
will have the chance to read in one book the most famous fabulists' works...» [Gianni Porcospino, 1953, 5-6].
6) «Fable flourished in Russia too... Fables often represent anonymous folk heritage, which is enriched and passed down from parent to son, but even famous Russian writers didn't despise giving to stories about animals refined literary and sometimes even poetic clothes. So did the greatest Russian poet A. Pushkin (1799-1837) and the famous fabulist I. Krylov (1768-1844), who excellently interprets the spirit of his people and emulates La Fontaine. Even the great writer L. Tolstoy (1828-1910) paid much attention to fables in his textbooks» [Parlano gli animali 1971, 9-11].
poco noto. Secondo perché gli altri due [Puskin e Tolstoj] sono talmente conosciuti da non aver bisogno di biglietto da visita"7) [Parlano gli animali 1989, 7]. So this introduction emphasises that, even though the number of Italian translations of Krylov's fables is rather considerable, in the second half of the 20th century Krylov was still poorly known compared to those Russian writers whose names were familiar even to people who didn't read their works. However, in the preface Krylov's key role in Russian literature is confirmed and it is even stated that Krylov was the first Russian author to be read abroad [Parlano gli animali 1989, 8-9]47. Regarding the content, the third edition is identical to the first.
In contrast to the collections of fables that I examined above, where the texts are highly edited for better adaptation to Italian children's taste and cultural context, in Parlano gli animali, although they translated the fables in prose too, the translators tried to represent the elements that are typical of Russian reality and popular tradition. For example, the original titles of the fables were transliterated in brackets and Russian proper names weren't changed but explained in footnotes.
All the above-mentioned texts and collections for children are written in prose: the adaptation and re-elaboration of foreign texts and the prose re-writing of poetry have always been very common editorial strategies in Italy as far as children's literature is concerned, as I will discuss shortly.
According to my research, the 1989 edition of Parlano gli animali is the last collection of Krylov's fables for children that was published in Italy in the 20th century. Indeed, towards the end of the 20th century publications decreased, and completely disappeared after the first decade of the following century.
At the turn of the 21st century increased attention was paid to amateur editions and translations into regional dialects: in 2001 Franco Cusmano's amateur versions collected in the book La saggezza di Krylov (Krylov's wisdom) were reprinted (34). Moreover, in 2004 the fables translated by Cusmano were reworked in Genoese dialect by Ottavio Giorgio Ugolotti48 (35).
The last verse book of Krylov's collected fables was published in Italy in 2009 by the publishing house Fussi in Florence and edited by Alberto Schiavone49 (36). However, translations in this book there are not new, but are reprints of Vera Zdrojewska's 1957th translations.
7)"We only present Krylov for two obvious reasons: Firstly, because Krylov, even though he is 'the greatest Russian fabulist' is not well known. Secondly, because the other two writers [Pushkin and Tolstoy] are so well-known that they don't need a business card".
Whereas I haven't found any publication for children edited in the 21st century.
As I have already stressed, Krylov's fame in Italy is mostly associated with Italian prose adaptation addressed to children and especially with Tibaldi Chiesa' s texts : to better clarify the correlation between the choice of formal structure and the final addressee and to show the variations in Krylov's fortune, in the following (Fig. 3) I will compare the quantity of the publications of texts translated in prose with those containing verse translations, published between the beginning of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st.
Italian Publications of Krylov's Fables (1900-2010) 11
10
. il id lujtdzt
1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s ■ Verse Translation (for Adults) ■ Prose Translation (for Children)
Figure 3. Table
The editions that include verse translation, addressed to adult readers, whether scholars, collectors or lovers of foreign literature and regional dialects, were constantly published throughout the 20th century, except for the 1930s and the 1980s, until the first decade of the 21st century, even though they were often single texts that randomly appeared in journals, anthologised texts that are supposed to briefly present Krylov's works or merely stylistic exercises by amateur and vernacular writers.
The limited circulation of the Italian verse versions of Krylov's fables might suggest that, even though he has always been regarded as a brilliant poet, he is still not included among the Russian classic authors, whose works are much more famous in Italy. However, as I have already noticed in citing the 1989 edition preface of Parlano gli animali and
as I will say again below, this opinion is shared also by publishers of children's books.
What is clear from the table is that from 1940s until the end of the last decades of the 20th century, and especially in the 50s, when Mary Tibaldi Chiesa's adaptations widely circulated, Krylov's name in Italy is mostly linked to children's literature and Italian collections of his fables for children are all prose adaptations. Publications for children ceased towards the end of the 20th century and never resumed.
There are no definite answers regarding the success and the subsequent decline of Ivan Krylov as children's writer in Italy over the decades. However, I could make assumptions.
Indeed, the ups and downs of Krylov's fables in Italy could be connected to the development of Italian children's book market, the reception of Russian literature and the translation strategies of foreign poetry for children.
As exhaustively described by De Florio, in the first half of the 20th century Russian children's literature was quite unfamiliar in Italy, where a real children's book market was just recently created, except for fables, folk tales and fairy tales [Boero & De Luca 2009, 161-165; Calabrese 2011, 11-12; De Florio 2017,422-423].
After the Second World War Italian publishing houses started giving more and more attention to children's literature, also printing an impressive number of foreign books. Two main tendencies, which would become predominant towards the end of the century, emerged in the Italian book market and influenced the reception of Russian children's literature: on the one hand, adaptations of world-famous writers' novels and poems, which weren't necessarily written for children, were widely published. On the other, the genres that children loved most, such as fairy tales, fantasy novels and adventure stories were promoted by publishers [Boero & De Luca 2009, 471-476; De Florio 2017, 432; Calabrese 2011, 13-19]. In both cases publishing houses got a secure income. Consequently, many world's masterpieces were published or reworked for young readers, as demonstrated by the above-mentioned project La scala d'oro.
Moreover, it is important to emphasize that prose translation of foreign poetry was a widespread practice because of the objective difficulties in translating poetry without radically changing the source texts and in making it enjoyable for children. For this reason, verse translations for young readers of Russian poetry have always been rare [De Florio 2017, 426-427]. The interest in Krylov's fables, the success of
Tibaldi Chiesa's collections and the publication of the other volumes for children examined above seem to be a consequence of this situation.
However, collapse of the Soviet Union and the crisis of the Italian publishing sector in the 90s produced negative effects in the reception of Russian children's literature and marked the decline of Krylov's fortune. Indeed, the publications dramatically decreased and the aforesaid tendencies radicalised: publishing houses chose to print only adaptations of most famous authors' works to sell magical and adventure stories, fables and fairy tales, which children have always appreciated [Boero & De Luca 2009, 564-581; Calabrese 2011, 4-6; De Florio 2017,432-433].
Concerning Russian children's literature, publishing houses therefore preferred to sell adaptations of works written by the authors known even by those who knew nothing about Russian literature, such as Pushkin, Gogol', Tolstoy, Chekhov, Bulgakov and others. Unfortunately, Krylov seems to be not enough famous in Italy to be included in this group.
Moreover, publishers remained conscious of the great popularity of Russian fairy tales and folk tales: even today Afanasyev's folk tales, Pushkin's fairy tales and Russian folklore characters such as Baba Yaga, Ivan the Fool, Vasilisa the Wise are well-known in Italy [Calabrese 2001, 13-22; De Florio 2017, 433-436]50. Russian folk and fairy tales contributed to create a magical and timeless image of Russia, which is detached from the real world and where the entertaining component prevails over the moral ideals and teachings.
Although the main characters are talking animals or inanimate objects, Krylov's fables seem to be anchored to very specific time and place, 19th-century Russia, and even the universal moral teachings that made them famous all over the world now could sound too masterful and sententious to readers.
Despite the efforts, nowadays Krylov is still little known to the Italian mainstream public. But there is no denying that in the second part of the 20th century Krylov had evidently played a significant role in Italian children's literature: the great success of Mary Tibaldi Chiesa's adaptations and the publications of the collections examined in this article clearly reflect his fame, which was unfortunately short-lived.
Notes
1 For further information about Krylov's biography and his role in the development of the fable as a genre and of the Russian literary language see [Stepanov 1963, Vinogradov 1990, Kryukova 2019, Rarenko 2019, Trakht-enberg 2019].
2 The Italian and French versions of Krylov's fables are not faithful translations
of the source texts but the imitations. Indeed, the authors kept the subject of the original fables and then freely modified the texts in the target languages. This approach can be associated to the Neoclassical concept of imitation: the French and the Italian authors who took part in Orlov's project freely interpreted and modified Krylov's fables to adapt them to the Neoclassical aesthetic. Moreover, it would have been impossible to the Italian writers to be faithful to the Russian source text, as they didn't know Russian and, therefore, they re-elaborated the fables from French interlinear translations in prose.
However, it is important to emphasize that when Orlov's collection was published, another concept of translation, the one associated with Roman-tism and based on a more faithful approach to foreign texts, was spreading and igniting an intense discussion about literary translation. Therefore, in that debate Orlov's collection of Krylov's fables represented a standpoint, supporting the Neoclassical ideal of imitation [Smirnov 2007, 22-57; De Luca 1981, 172-174].
3 Orlov's volume and the ups and downs of Krylov's fame in Italy in the 19th
century are examined in detail by Anjuta Maver Lo Gatto [Lo Gatto 1966] and Ignazio De Luca [De Luca 1981, 163-226]. De Luce especially focuses on the famous poet and translator Vicenzo Monti's participation in Orlov's project.
4 There are a few exceptions. Indeed, two authors taking part in Orlov's project, reprint their versions: in 1826 Vincenzo Monti decided to include his imitations of Krylov's fables in Poesie varie del cavaliere Vincenzo Monti ("Various poems by Sir Vincenzo Monti"), which were republished again in the miscellany Versioni poetiche di Vincenzo Monti, con giunta di cose rare o inedite ("Vincenzo Monti's poetic versions, with rare or unpublished works") edited by the poet Giosue Carducci in 1869. Also the Abbot Antonio Cesari reprinted his versions in Favole russe del Kriloff imitate in versi italiani da Antonio Cesari ("Russian fables imitated in Italian verses by Antonio Cesari") in 1828 [Maver Lo Gatto 1966, 160; 240; De Luca 1981, 171].
5 Federigo Verdinois (1844-1927) was a journalist, a translator and one of the first Slavist scholars in Italy. He was appointed to the chair in Slavic literatures in Naples, which was the first established in Italy in 1836. He translated many Russian poems and novels and was the first Italian translator of Nikolay Chernyshevskiy's novel Chto delat'? ("What Is To Be Done?"), published in 1906 [De Caprio 1980, 87-96; Scandura 2002, 17-18].
6 In her article about the reception of Russian Children's literature in Italy De
Florio states that this collection is the first book for children to be published in the 20th century [De Florio 2017, 422]. In fact, the fable has always been one of the most popular genres in children's literature and I cannot deny that Verdinois' version can be easily read by anyone. However, as I
will explain later, in this article I haven't taken into consideration just the genre, but I have looked at several paratextual features and at the translators' profiles to distinguish even more specifically the publications addressed to children from those that were published for adults Therefore, I didn't consider Verdinois' translation of Krylov's fables as strictly addressed to young readers, rather than as the scholar's effort to spread Krylov's works in Italy, as they were very little known at the beginning of the 20th century.
7 Domenico Ciampoli (1852-1929) was one of the first scholars who contributed to the spread of Slavic literatures in Italy. He taught Slavic literatures at the University of Catania. He translated into Italian byliny, folk tales, Slovo o polku Igoreve ("The Tale of Igor's Campaign") and literary works of several Russian authors, such as Pushkin, Lermontov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev and others. Moreover, he was an eminent literary critic and published many works about Slavic literatures, such as Studi Slavi ("Slavic Studies") and Letterature Slave ("Slavic Literatures"), respectively published in 1888 and 1889 [Bronzini 1983; Patrizi 1983, 20-25; Mazzitelli 1980, 208; Scandura 2002, 13-14].
8 As Ciampoli himself translated these texts in the preface, the volume has been included in the list of the 20th century Italian translations of Krylov's fables, which I present in this article.
9 I have no pretentions to draw up a definitive list, especially considering the
difficulties in accessing to libraries due to the current health situation and the rarity of some volumes, which are sold only in antiquarian bookshops or online.
10 As I will point out below, the mere presence of illustrations in a book doesn't
imply that it is addressed to young readers. Therefore, it has always been necessary to take into consideration not just the illustrations, but also the prefaces and the other criteria I have established for my analysis.
11 "G" stands for "Giovanni", which is the Italian form of the name "Ivan".
12 I couldn't find the total number of pages of every item of this list, because in
some volumes the pages are not numbered and I couldn't consult other ones de visu. Therefore, it is signalled only when possible.
131 haven't found this text, which is mentioned by Mazzitelli [Mazzitelli 1990, 81].
14 The volume is not dated. This year is retrievable from Canzio Vandelli's biography in a book presenting the major Italian writers from the town of Ferrara [Roversi 2020, e-book Kindle pos. 85].
151 couldn't consult this text de visu.
16 Even though Vassena cites this book, I haven't been able to find it in the librarian catalogues nor online [Vassena 2015, 293].
17 This anthology is not divided into titled chapters. Therefore, I have simply
reported the titles of the Krylov's fables which are included in it.
181 couldn't consult this book de visu.
191 couldn't consult this book de visu.
20 The number in the brackets refers to the position of the mentioned texts in
the list of the Italian translations of Krylov's fables.
21 The percentages have been approximated.
22 For biographical information about Federigo Verdinois see note 6.
23 For biographical information about Domenico Ciampoli see note 8.
24 Ettore Lo Gatto (1890-1983) was one of the most important Slavist scholars,
translators and critics of Slavic literatures and nowadays he is considered the founder of the modern Slavic Studies in Italy. He devoted his life to promote Russian literature in his country by publishing journals, anthologies and several books about the history of the Russian literature [Picchio 1962, 1-14; Mazzitelli 1980, 203-206; De Michelis 1997, 704-705; D'Antuono 2017, 199-205].
25 Enrico Damiani (1892-1953) was a translator and one of the first Slavist
scholars in Italy. He was especially interested in Polish and Bulgarian literatures. His critic works have been essential for the foundation of the modern Slavic Studies in his country [Mazzitelli 1986, 327-328; Mazzitelli 1990, 401-414].
26 Umberto Norsa (1866-1943) got a law degree but studied Slavic languages
and literatures too. He gained notoriety through his translations of Adam Mickiewicz and Jan Kochanowski's poems from Polish. He was also interested in Russian poetry, but his translations are still little known [Marinelli 1998, 5-18; Marinelli 2003, 113-118].
27 I couldn't find biographical information about her. However, Arturo Cronia's
research showed that in 1947 she taught Russian language at the University of Sacred Heart in Milan [Cronia 1947, 201].
28 Franco Cusmano (1926-2016) was a physician, but he was passionate about
foreign languages and regional dialects [Bellone 2017, 33].
29 Jose Peverati (1926-2021) was a physician and an amateur writer. He was
particularly appreciated for his several works written in Ferrarese dialect [Si e spento a 93 anni Jose Peverati 2021].
30 I couldn't find biographical information about her.
31 Pietro Annigoni (1910-1988) was a portait and fresco painter. He was well
known for his portraits of monarchs and eminent personalities from the world of politics and civil society [Zamboni 2018].
32 Canzio Vandelli (1919-2012) was born in Ferrara and graduated in Foreign
Languages and Literatures at Ca' Foscari University of Venice. He wrote several books of a technical-linguistic nature and translated from different languages, especially from Russian. He also published autobiographical works and original fables [Roversi 2020, e-book Kindle pos. 84-85]. 331 couldn't find biographical information about this illustrator. 34 Mary Tibaldi Chiesa (1896-1968) was a writer, translator, librettist and politician. She was especially interested in children's literature and music. She wrote novels and famous musicians' biographies, composed opera librettos and, first of all, dedicated herself to introducing the greatest masterpieces
of the world literature to young Italian readers. Indeed, she took part in the publishing project, promoting between the 1930s and 1940s the publication of the series La scala d'oro ("The Golden Staircase"), which contained the most famous literary works, adapted in Italian for children and teenagers [Gastaldi-Scano 1957, 191; Berardi 2012; Fava 2013, 337-338; Rebellato 2016, 43].
35 Even though in the frontispiece and in the preface signed by Tibaldi Chiesa
herself the Italian versions of Pushkin's fairy tales are defined "traduzioni" ("translations"), they are prose adaptations. This is the usual practice adopted by Tibaldi Chiesa and Italian translators in general who coped with foreign texts and wanted to publish them for children. As I will see later, the terminology in her collection of Krylov's fables is more accurate.
36 Tibaldi Chiesa applied this translation method to children's novels and poems.
On the other hand, when she translated adult's literature and opera arias and librettos, she was more faithful to the source texts: for example, she kept the verse structure in her translation of Robert Burns' Scottish songs.
37 Natalia Kal' Bavastro (1899-1991) emigrated to Italy in the 1920s. She settled
down in Milan, where she established herself as a painter. Afterwards she began her career as a writer and translator of Russian literary works into Italian and English [Piccolo-Vassena 2013b]. 381 couldn't find biographical information about her.
39 Club Degli Editori is a publishing house which was founded in 1960 as part of the Mondadori publishing group. It is specialized in mail order paperback books.
401 haven't found biographical information about him. However, I could assume that he is a Children's writer from the titles of some of his books, such as La Sacra Bibbia narrata ai ragazzi ("The Sacred Bible told to Children", 1962) and L'orsacchiotto sciatore ("The Skier Teddy Bear", 1966).
41 Roberto Sgrilli (1897-1985) was a cartoonist and a painter. He became famous for his illustrations in children's books and magazines. Moreover, he made animated short films [Bono 2003].
42 Concerning the texts of foreign authors, it is not specified whether Falzone
Fontanelli himself translated them or he selected texts translated by others.
43 The preface is signed with "gli editori" ("the publishers"), but their names
are unknown.
44 I couldn't consult this edition.
451 couldn't find biographical information about this illustrator. 46 The Uspenskiy Convent is an Eastern-Catholic monastery which was founded in 1957 in Rome to house Russian nuns in Italy. The convent is dedicated to the Icon of the Dormition of the Holy Mother of God. The main objective of the monastery is contemplative and spiritual life in silence and solitude. Moreover, in this convent the nuns garden, translate texts from Russian and paint icons.
47 It has been impossible to me to verify the accuracy of this statement. More-
over, in the text there are no bibliographical references. However, it is well known that Krylov's fables were popular also outside Russia even when the fabulist was still alive [Rarenko 2019, 24].
48 Ottavio Giorgio Ugolotti (1933-2020) was a writer and publisher. In Genoa
he founded the private publishing house Circolo culturale Autori Auto-gestiti Associati Liguri & personaledit, which printed several books in Italian and Genoese dialect, among which Cusmano's La saggezza di Krylov [O. G. Ugolotti l'inesauribile 2000].
49 Italian living writer.
50 To give just an example: in 2019 BUR publishing house reprinted a deluxe
edition of Pushkin and Afanasyev's fairy tales, rewritten in Italian prose and enriched by Ivan Bilibin's illustrations, which was published for the first time in 2015.
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Анжелика Фасчелла
Павийский Университет; ORCID: 0000-0002-7621-5230
СУДЬБА И. А. КРЫЛОВА В ИТАЛИИ В XX ВЕКЕ: СБОРНИКИ БАСЕН ДЛЯ ДЕТСКОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ
В статье рассматривается судьба русского баснописца Ивана Крылова (1769-1844) в Италии в XX в. и представляется обзор изданий переводов и переложений его басен на итальянский язык, обращается особое внимание на издания басен, предназначенные для детей. Первые переводы на итальянский язык басен Крылова появились в трёхъязычном сборнике, опубликованном в 1825 г. по инициативе графа Г. В. Орлова, который хотел распространить басенное творчество своего друга в западноевропейском литературном пространстве. Однако уже со второй половины XIX в. крыловские басни в Италии были забыты. С начала XX в., когда знание русского языка и интерес к русской литературе утвердились, стало появляться все больше переводов басен Крылова на итальянский, часть которых появилась в изданиях, особо предназначенных для детей. В данной работе представляются малоисследованные материалы, обращается особое внимание на характер нескольких значимых сборников для детей. Кроме того, в статье анализируются предисловия следующих сборников: 60favolelli (1945 г.) и La danza deipesci e altrifavolelli (1966 г.) под редакцией Мэри Тибаль-ди Кьеза, сборника Gianni Porcospino e altre storie (1953 г.), в который включаются 5 крыловских басен, и Parlano gli animali, включающего 31 басню Крылова и переведенного русскими монахинями Успенского Монастыря в Риме.
Keywords: И. А. Крылов, басня, художественный перевод, детская литература, русская литература, переводы на итальянский, рецепция басен Крылова
