09/07/2024
Happy birthday Pinocchio!
Pinocchio is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel 'The Adventures of Pinocchio' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany.
Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan village. He is created as a wooden puppet, but he dreams of becoming a real boy. He is known for his long nose, which grows when he lies.
The Adventures of Pinocchio was originally published in serial form in the Giornale Per i Bambini, one of the earliest Italian weekly magazines for children, starting from 7th July 1881.
In the original serialised version, Pinocchio dies a gruesome death: hanged for his innumerable faults, at the end of Chapter 15. At the request of his editor, Collodi added chapters 16–36, in which the Fairy with Turquoise Hair rescues Pinocchio and eventually transforms him into a real boy, when he acquires a deeper understanding of himself, making the story more suitable for children. In the second half of the book, the maternal figure of the Blue-haired Fairy is the dominant character, versus the paternal figure of Geppetto in the first part. In February 1883, the story was published in a single book with huge success.
Children's literature was a new idea in Collodi's time, an innovation in the 19th century. Thus in content and style it was new and modern, opening the way to many writers of the following century.
