The Grammar of Fantasy

The Grammar of Fantasy: An Introduction to the Art of Inventing Stories was published in 1996 by Teachers and Writers Collaborative, translated by Jack Zipes. This book was the first by Rodari to appear on the American market; the original book was published by Einaudi in 1973 as La grammatica della fantasia: introduzione all’arte di inventare storie.

In order to better understand the nature of The Grammar of Fantasy and how this translation came into being, it is necessary to introduce the book from the standpoint of

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the original text that Gianni Rodari published in 1973 in Italy. La grammatica della fantasia is not a novel or a collection of short stories for children; it was the first book that Rodari wrote for a public of adults dedicated to the art of inventing stories for children. It was conceived over eleven years (from 1962 to 1973) as Rodari drew inspiration from the work of the German philosopher and writer Novalis about the possibility of inventing a grammar of fantasy to discover how the creative instinct is shaped through literature. Boero (2010: 197) discusses Rodari’s inspiration from the work of Novalis in order to describe how stories can be constructed in close collaboration with children, inspired by the everyday reality that they encounter together with their teachers, parents, educators. La grammatica is a talking book (“libro che parla”) because it seems to constantly engage the reader in the discussion of the different ways to create stories suggested by Rodari. Rodari himself in the introduction to La grammatica della fantasia illustrated the origins of the book, and the possibility he had to test the practices he illustrated in La grammatica with a group of teachers from a number of nursery schools in Reggio Emilia in 1972. This book was destined to “a chi crede nella necessità che l’immaginazione abbia il suo posto nell’educazione; a chi ha fiducia nella creatività infantile; a chi sa quale valore di liberazione possa avere la parola.”¹⁷² (Rodari, [1973] 2010: 10)

The Grammar of Fantasy was published following the spirit of the original text by the non-profit association Teachers and Writers Collaborative, founded in 1967, whose purpose was to “educate the imagination by offering innovative creative writing programs for students and teachers, and by providing a variety of publications and resources to support learning through the literary arts.”¹⁷³ According to the translator Jack Zipes, he himself initiated the publishing process starting from the selection of the book, the editing phase, and finally the collaboration with the appropriate publishing

172 “those who believe in the need to introduce imagination into education; those who believe in children’s creativity; those who know the liberating power of words.” (my translation)

173 From the official website of the association, https://www.twc.org/about-us/ (last access 03/09/2015)

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house that could distribute The Grammar of Fantasy in the US.¹⁷⁴ This shows the proactive approach to translation by Zipes, whose academic background led him to find new teaching resources from foreign writers, and at the same time allowed him to propose innovative publishing projects with small associations interested in teaching¹⁷⁵.

The peritextual material in The Grammar of Fantasy presents, after the contents page, a foreword by Herbert Kohl which recontextualises Rodari’s work in the American framework of education, with specific references to “Goals 2000”¹⁷⁶ and the US educational policy that was being developed in the last decade of the 20^th century.

Kohl also mentions the original production context of Rodari’s book, with an emphasis on the word ‘collaboration’ related to the network of collaborative teaching and learning community where children could explore the art of inventing stories. This foreword is followed by a translator’s note and acknowledgments which define the aim of the translation and the reasons why some chapters were omitted for the American public:

I omitted two chapters from this text – “Utilità di Giosuè Carducci” and “Il falso indovinello” – because they are of interest only to Italian readers.

Otherwise, I have tried to render a faithful translation of Rodari’s text in his spirit, which means that I have at times adapted and played with his notions so that they can be more readily grasped and appreciated by an English-speaking audience. (Zipes in Rodari, 1996: xii)

Zipes’s translation was primarily shaped by the intended audience, namely and English-speaking public. In Venuti’s terms, Zipes’s translation is aimed at ‘fluency’, possibly

174 Zipes discussed the origins of The Grammar of Fantasy and his first encounter with Rodari’s books at the ChLA conference in 2015 in Richmond (VA), in a talk entitled “Encounters with Gianni Rodari”. A reference to this talk is also in the interview in the appendices to this research.

175 And also with independent publishing houses such as The Caseroom Press (see Tales to Change the World in 3.1.6)

176 A list of educational aims provided by the US Congress in 1990 in the field of standards-based education reforms, available at: http://www2.ed.gov/legislation/GOALS2000/TheAct/index.html (last access 03/09/2015)

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domesticated to “be more readily grasped and appreciated” by the intended readership of the text.

Considering that the original text by Rodari was deeply rooted in the Italian historical context when it was created, Zipes justified the references to the Italian context retained in the translated text:

Due to the fact that Rodari sought to intervene in the pedagogical debates in Italy during the 1960s and 1970s, some of his remarks are closely tied to the debates about reform education in Italy. Nevertheless, his overall theory and method, influenced by American and European thinkers, are still highly relevant and applicable to present-day debates about education in English-speaking countries. (Zipes in Rodari, 1996: xii)

Rodari’s thought is still relevant “and applicable to present-day debates about education in English-speaking countries” and above all was influenced by American and European thinkers. Zipes brings Rodari closer to the target reader in terms of social impact and critical references, also by including a bibliography at the end of the book that was not present in the original text, in order to create that “originary context”

(Venuti, 2013: 163) needed to show (1) the competence of Rodari as writer and critic (in a short biography for each of the authors cited by Rodari); (2) the importance of Rodari in his home country (with Selected Bibliography of Works by Gianni Rodari);

and finally (3) the presence of Rodari in the English-speaking book market for children (in Books in English¹⁷⁷).

The translator’s note is followed by an introduction by the translator himself. It includes a statement on the popularity of Rodari in Italy that recalls the peritextual material encountered in the translations for the UK (see especially 3.1.2 and 3.1.3, where on the jackets of The Befana’s Toyshop and A Pie in the Sky Rodari is considered

177 In this list of books Mr. Cat in Business was not present.

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the most famous Italian author for children and also the favourite author for children in Italy):

In Italy, Gianni Rodari would need no introduction. A household name among educators and parents, not to mention children, he is already considered by many literary historians to be Italy’s most important writer of children’s literature in the twentieth century. (Zipes in Rodari, 1996: xiii)

Zipes completed his introduction with a detailed biography of Rodari that justifies Zipes’s opening statement on the pivotal role played by this Italian author in his own time, concluding with a remark that seems to echo Boero’s (2010) impression of a

‘talking book’: “In The Grammar of Fantasy, one can almost hear Rodari testing each one of his words, waiting for a response, and trying to incorporate that response into his next provocative suggestion.” (Zipes in Rodari, 1996: xx). Zipes’s approach to the translation of The Grammar of Fantasy appears to have been shaped by his interests as an academic active in the field of teaching practices, with special reference to the field of children’s literature.

To conclude the analysis of the peritextual material, on the back cover of the book there is a brief overview of the content, the rewarding career of Rodari as writer for children in Italy, with explicit reference to translation (emphasis added):

The Italian author Gianni Rodari not only wrote many beloved children’s books and was awarded the prestigious Andersen Prize, he was also an educator and activist who truly understood the power of the imaginative life. In this delightful classic – now translated into English for the first time – Rodari presents numerous and wonderful techniques for creating stories. […]

Translated by Jack Zipes, one of America’s foremost experts on children’s literature, this book will interest teachers of writing and literature at all levels;

parents who want to foster their children’s creativity; and anyone interested in writing and the mysterious joys of fantasy.

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The book is already a “classic”, and the Andersen Prize appears as a prestigious award in the field of children’s literature. The translation is groundbreaking (the first in English) and its uniqueness appeals to the public also because it was done by “one of America’s foremost experts on children’s literature”. The authoritative support given by Zipes can be seen as a further justification for the selection of this foreign author for translation. The presentation on the back cover was followed by a citation from a review in the professional journal Kliatt, which considered The Grammar of Fantasy as a must-read for specialists in the field of education as well as lay readers.

The epitextual material for this book is limited. The Grammar of Fantasy was reviewed in Marvels & Tales (a specialised journal) and in a blog post by James Guida.

The review by Luisa Del Giudice in Marvels & Tales (1997) concentrated on the relevance of Rodari’s book even for the American public at the time she was writing.

She keeps Rodari closer to the American culture to help readers catch a glimpse of his importance in Italy with sentences like: “(he is as well known in Italy, as Dr. Seuss in the U.S.)” (Del Giudice, 1997: 213) or “(one supposes he [Rodari] would have applauded recent works such as Everybody Poops.)” (Del Giudice, 1997: 216). Del Giudice also makes reference to Zipes’s translation, and especially appreciated the glossary of authors cited by Rodari throughout the book, as well as the support of the bibliographical material added by the translator.

James Guida’s review (2012) quotes several passages from The Grammar of Fantasy to account for Rodari’s interest in collaborative writing, and his “ability to stimulate and empower children”. This review intertwines the biography of Rodari (as presented in The Grammar of Fantasy) with his experiences as storyteller and writer for children speaking to a public of teachers and educators. Guida mentions that Rodari was active in Italy “[D]uring a period of educational reform” that led him to contribute to the debate on education with a book on the art of inventing stories. This background information is important to the target reader as it helps to build the social and cultural context where Rodari lived and produced his books.

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To conclude, Gianni Rodari was the first author to be introduced to the American public of adults through a manual on the art of inventing stories for children, 13 years after its first publication in Italy. The initiator was the translator and academic Jack Zipes, who also edited the paratextual material to introduce the figure of Rodari to the American public. The publishing house, a small collaborative association dedicated to the advancement of educational approaches to children, offered a description of Rodari’s The Grammar of Fantasy that revealed the importance of the translator as an authoritative presence behind the original author. Zipes acknowledged this presence in his translation of the book through the translator’s note, a space he used to illustrate to the reading public the structural differences between the translation and its original source.

Gianni Rodari was further translated for the American public, this time through one of his short stories, One and Seven, in the form of a picture book.