Mr. Cat in Business/Gli affari del signor gatto

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a book it reads aloud exceptionally well” thanks to the translator “who manages to retain the flavour of the Italian speech without any artificiality in the English.” The exception here is given by the fact that the book is recognised as a translation, actually a good one as the translator was able to preserve a supposed “flavour” of the Italian language that the reviewer felt it did not impact on the readability of the English version of the story.

To conclude the analysis of the paratextual material for A Pie in the Sky, the marketing strategy of the publisher Dent aimed at promoting more books by the same author in subsequent years, with a series of advertisements in specialised magazines and newspapers about books in general and books for children in particular. Reviewers constantly ignored the fact that the book was a translation from Italian, all except one in 1972, which mentioned an unnamed translator that was able to communicate some kind of “flavour” of the Italian language through English. The image of Rodari was still linked to the Hans Christian Andersen Prize, and less information was being given on jacket covers about his background as a writer apart from the “untranslatable” rhymes so successful in Italy. The chain of translations from this author published by Dent was to conclude with Mr. Cat in Business published in 1975.

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the story is forced to turn his business from selling mice in tin cans to selling poison for mice.

The peritextual material for this book is limited to an indication inside the book and on the back cover of previous works by Rodari published by Dent (The Befana’s Toyshop and A Pie in the Sky). All illustrations are by Jan Brychta¹⁴⁹ and there is no indication of the translator anywhere in the book. The reason for this might be that this is the first book by Rodari sold in co-production between Germany and the UK. It was first distributed in German translation with the same cover and illustrations in 1974 by Thienemann, translated by Ruth Wright. As discussed in the historical overview in 1.2, the co-production of short stories with shared pictures was already a widespread practice in the 1980s with the primary objective to save money. The cover and illustrations were the same in the German and English version. Mr. Cat in Business does not present any jacket blurb or biographical details about Gianni Rodari, thus giving the impression that this book was less carefully planned in its conception than the previous books published by Dent were.

On the contrary, the epitextual material for this book is varied and spreads into the 21^st century with recent reviews. Mr. Cat in Business was reviewed by Ann Thwaite for the TLS in December 1975 as a book that can be approached by “six and seven-year-olds to read aloud to younger siblings.” (1975: 1446) The magazine Growing Point by Margery Fisher reviewed Rodari’s book in 1976 as “a satire on modern methods, smart in style and clear in its application” (Fisher, 1976: 2786) suitable for eight-year-olds and older children “who like to feel they can see through advertising techniques” and enjoy the “sardonic humour” of the author. The reviewer does not make any reference to the Italian origins of Rodari, or to the fact that the book is a translation, just like the review by M. R. Hewitt in The Junior Bookshelf in 1976. This review concentrates on the characterisation of the protagonist and on the aural effects of the language used, “a story

149 Jan Brychta illustrated 13 books for Dent, for authors such as Margaret Mahy (in 1969 and 1975), Gwen Marsh, Paul Biegel (in 1978) and Hans Bauman (1977). This information was retrieved manually by surveying the British Library online catalogue at http://explore.bl.uk/, last access 4/11/2015.

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which many adults will enjoy reading aloud as much as the young listener will enjoy the hearing” (1976: 29).

Rodari’s production in English translation in the UK was reviewed in 2013 on the website Outside in World¹⁵⁰ which presented selected works by Rodari in translation including Mr. Cat in Business¹⁵¹ with an extended abstract of the plot. From a critical point of view, it is still Rodari’s style that is mentioned (emphasis added): “The story is easy to read and Rodari’s sense of humour shines through”, again focussing on humorous effects but especially on the readability of the text in English. Given that Outside in World is dedicated to foreign authors in translation, in some cases unavailable on the market, Mr. Cat in Business made the reviewer express the hope that a new translation of this story would come out soon:

Sadly, it has been out of print for many years but the original language edition is still selling well in Italy, so maybe a new translated and illustrated edition is now due in the UK, particularly as Rodari is one of the all time favourite children’s authors in his own country and has been translated into many languages all over the world.

According to the reviewer, the reasons why Rodari should be re-translated are because he is still famous in Italy and because his stories in translation reached the four corners of the world. Actually, a new translation of this story was distributed in 2008 by The Caseroom Press based in the UK, written in American English by Jack Zipes¹⁵².

150 This website, together with the project Outside In by Zaghini and Hallford, is presented in the present research in section 1.4 as an innovative project to promote foreign works for children in English translation.

151 The book can be searched on Outside in World website at http://www.outsideinworld.org.uk (last access: 3/07/2015)

152 This aspect is discussed in depth in section 3.1.6.

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