The Fabulous Journeys of Alice and Pinocchio: Exploring Their Parallel Worlds

238 Pages·2018·2.764 MB·English

by  Laura Tosi, Peter Hunt

The Fabulous Journeys
of Alice and Pinocchio
CRITICALEXPLORATIONSINSCIENCEFICTIONANDFANTASY
(aserieseditedbyDonaldE.PalumboandC.W.SullivanIII)
1Worlds Apart? Dualism and Transgression
inContemporaryFemaleDystopias(DunjaM.Mohr,2005)
2Tolkien and Shakespeare: Essays(ed. Janet Brennan Croft, 2007)
3Culture,IdentitiesandTechnologyintheStarWarsFilms:Essays
(ed. Carl Silvio, Tony M. Vinci, 2007)
4The Influence of Star Trekon Television, Film and Culture(ed. Lincoln Geraghty, 2008)
5Hugo Gernsback and the Century of Science Fiction(Gary Westfahl, 2007)
6One Earth, One People: Ursula K. Le Guin, Lloyd Alexander,
Madeleine L’Engle and Orson Scott Card(Marek Oziewicz, 2008)
7The Evolution of Tolkien’s Mythology(Elizabeth A. Whittingham, 2008)
8H. Beam Piper: A Biography(John F. Carr, 2008)
9Dreams and Nightmares: Science and Technology in Myth and Fiction
(Mordecai Roshwald, 2008)
10Lilithin a New Light: Essays (ed. Lucas H. Harriman, 2008)
11Feminist Narrative and the Supernatural: The Function of
Fantastic Devices in Seven Recent Novels(Katherine J. Weese, 2008)
12The Science of Fiction and the Fiction of Science: Essays
(Frank McConnell, ed. Gary Westfahl, 2009)
13Kim Stanley Robinson Maps the Unimaginable: Essays(ed. William J. Burling, 2009)
14The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study
of Children’s and Teens’ Science Fiction(Farah Mendlesohn, 2009)
15Science Fiction from Québec: A Postcolonial Study(Amy J. Ransom, 2009)
16Science Fiction and the Two Cultures: Essays (ed. Gary Westfahl, George Slusser, 2009)
17Stephen R. Donaldson and the Modern Epic Vision: A Critical Study
of the “Chronicles of Thomas Covenant” Novels(Christine Barkley, 2009)
18Ursula K. Le Guin’s Journey to Post-Feminism (Amy M. Clarke, 2010)
19Portals of Power: Magical Agency and Transformation in Literary Fantasy
(Lori M. Campbell, 2010)
20The Animal Fable in Science Fiction and Fantasy(Bruce Shaw, 2010)
21Illuminating Torchwood: Essays (ed. Andrew Ireland, 2010)
22Comics as a Nexus of Cultures: Essays
(ed. Mark Berninger, Jochen Ecke, Gideon Haberkorn, 2010)
23The Anatomy of Utopia: Narration, Estrangement and Ambiguity in
More, Wells, Huxley and Clarke(Károly Pintér, 2010)
24The Anticipation Novelists of 1950s French Science Fiction(Bradford Lyau, 2010)
25The TwilightMystique: Essays (ed. Amy M. Clarke, Marijane Osborn, 2010)
26The Mythic Fantasy of Robert Holdstock: Essays
(ed. Donald E. Morse, Kálmán Matolcsy, 2011)
27Science Fiction and the Prediction of the Future: Essays
(ed. Gary Westfahl, Wong Kin Yuen, Amy Kit-sze Chan, 2011)
28Apocalypse in Australian Fiction and Film(Roslyn Weaver, 2011)
29British Science Fiction Film and Television: Critical Essays
(ed. Tobias Hochscherf, James Leggott, 2011)
30Cult Telefantasy Series: A Critical Analysis of[8 series] (Sue Short, 2011)
31The Postnational Fantasy: Essays
(ed. Masood Ashraf Raja, Jason W. Ellis, Swaralipi Nandi, 2011)
32Heinlein’s Juvenile Novels: A Cultural Dictionary(C.W. Sullivan III, 2011)
33Welsh Mythology and Folklore in Popular Culture: Essays
(ed. Audrey L. Becker, Kristin Noone, 2011)
34I See You: The Shifting Paradigms of James Cameron’s Avatar (Ellen Grabiner, 2012)
35Of Bread, Blood and The Hunger Games: Essays
(ed. Mary F. Pharr, Leisa A. Clark, 2012)
36The Sex Is Out of This World: Essays(ed. Sherry Ginn, Michael G. Cornelius, 2012)
37Lois McMaster Bujold: Essays (ed. Janet Brennan Croft, 2013)
38Girls Transforming: Invisibility and Age-Shifting in
Children’s Fantasy Fiction Since the 1970s(Sanna Lehtonen, 2013)
39Doctor Who in Time and Space: Essays (ed. Gillian I. Leitch, 2013)
40The Worlds ofFarscape: Essays (ed. Sherry Ginn, 2013)
41Orbiting Ray Bradbury’s Mars(ed. Gloria McMillan, 2013)
42The Heritage of Heinlein(Thomas D. Clareson and Joe Sanders, 2014)
43The Past That Might Have Been, the Future That May Come
(Lauren J. Lacey, 2014)
44Environments in Science Fiction: Essays (ed. Susan M. Bernardo, 2014)
45Discworld and the Disciplines: Critical Approaches to the Terry Pratchett Works
(ed. Anne Hiebert Alton, William C. Spruiell, 2014)
46 Nature and the Numinous in Mythopoeic Fantasy Literature
(Christopher Straw Brawley, 2014)
47 J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard and the Birth of Modern Fantasy (Deke Parsons, 2014)
48 The Monomyth in American Science Fiction Films (Donald E. Palumbo, 2014)
49 The Fantastic in Holocaust Literature and Film
(ed. Judith B. Kerman, John Edgar Browning,2014)
50 Star Wars in the Public Square (Derek R. Sweet, 2016)
51 An Asimov Companion (Donald E. Palumbo, 2016)
52 Michael Moorcock (Mark Scroggins, 2016)
53e Last Midnight: Essays (ed. Leisa A. Clark, Amanda Firestone, Mary F. Pharr, 2016)
54e Science Fiction Mythmakers: Religion, Science and Philosophy
in Wells, Clarke, Dick and Herbert (Jennifer Simkins, 2016)
55Gender and the Quest in British Science Fiction Television(Tom Powers, 2016)
56Saving the World rough Science Fiction: James Gunn(Michael R. Page, 2017)
57Wells Meets Deleuze(Michael Starr, 2017)
58Science Fiction and Futurism: eir Terms and Ideas(Ace G. Pilkington, 2017)
59Science Fiction in Classic Rock: Musi cal Explorations of Space,
Technology and the Imagination, 1967–1982(Robert McParland, 2017)
60Patricia A. McKillip and the Art of Fan tasy World-Building(Audrey Isabel Taylor, 2017)
61e Fabulous Journeys of Aliceand Pinocchio: Exploring eir Parallel Worlds
(Laura Tosi with Peter Hunt, 2018)
62A DuneCompanion: Characters, Places and Terms
in Frank Herbert’s Original Six Novels(Donald E. Palumbo, 2018)
63Fantasy Literature and Christianity: A Study of the Mistborn, Coldfire, Fionavar
Tapestry and Chronicles of omas Covenant Series(Weronika Łaszkiewicz, 2018)
64e British Comic Invasion: Alan Moore, Warren Ellis and the Evolution
of the American Style(Jochen Ecke, 2018)
65e Archive Incarnate: e Embodiment and Transmission of Knowledge
in Science Fiction(Joseph Hurtgen, 2018)
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The Fabulous Journeys
of Alice and Pinocchio
Exploring Their Parallel Worlds
Laura Tosi
with Peter Hunt
CRITICALEXPLORATIONSIN
SCIENCEFICTIONANDFANTASY, 61
Series EditorsDonald E. Palumbo andC.W. Sullivan III
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina
ISBN (print) 978-1-4766-6543-6
ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4766-3194-3
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGuINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGuINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
© 2018 Laura Tosi and Peter Hunt. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Front cover imagery adapted from Luisa Simioni & John Tenniel
Printed in the united States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Preface 1
Part One. Theories, Choices and Contexts 7
1. AliceMeets Pinocchio: Parallel Readings, National
Stereotypes and Cultural Associations 9
2. Books, Canons and Characters: Pinocchio in Wonderland
and Alice in Tuscany 25
3. Carlo and Charles: Italy in the Age of Pinocchio, England
in the Age of Alice 37
Part Two. Origins: Folktale, Fairy-Tale and Fantasy
Traditions 59
4. Pinocchioas fiaba, Aliceas Fairy- Tale: Folktale and
Fairy- Tale Traditions 61
5. Fantasy and Form in Aliceand Pinocchio 102
Part Three. New Journeys: Postmodernist
Experiments with Alice and Pinocchio and
Parallel Genre Readings in Empire Fictions 143
6. The Postmodernist Journeys of Aliceand Pinocchio:
Adventures in Transnational and Transtextual
Identities 145
vii
viii Table of Contents
7. Childhood, School and Empire in Italy and the uK:
Hughes and De Amicis, Henty and Salgari 167
Appendix: “Strange Meeting in Wonder- Tuscany” by Peter Hunt 195
Chapter Notes 199
Works Cited 203
Index 223
Acknowledgments
TheideaforthisbookbegantoformwhilePeterHuntwasspending
a term as a visiting professor at the university of Venice in 2013, and dur-
ing the joint writing of the semi- serious book As Fit As a Fish. Some of
the ideas that developed into chapters had their first outing at a conference
on fantasy literature, which we organized in Venice in November 2013,
and in other academic conferences and invited lectures (some of which
were delivered with Peter). I am grateful for the invitations, as well as for
the helpful criticisms and comments that we received from many colleagues
on those occasions, including: Maurizio Ascari, Giorgia Grilli, Zoe Jaques,
Lindsay Myers, Maria Nikolajeva, Francesca Orestano, Keith O’Sullivan,
Fabio Pesaresi, Kimberley Reynolds, Stefania Tondo, and Pádraic Whyte.
And, of course, thanks to Peter Hunt for being there at the beginning of
this “fabulous journey,” for those early brainstorming sessions on Skype,
which helped me immensely to clarify my objectives and critical directions,
and for reading and commenting on the final manuscript.
I wish to acknowledge a huge debt to the scholar who has gone before
me in studying Pinocchio and Alice together and whose work reassured
me that I was not totally insane in trying to compare these books and these
characters: Ann Lawson Lucas, who is no doubt the most quoted critic in
my book.
This book has been written with the support and encouragement of
many friends and colleagues, some of whom have also helped with sup-
plying various bibliographical material: Elena Paruolo, Mariangela Mosca
Bonsignore and Pompeo Vagliani (and the amazing collection of the Fon-
dazione Tancredi di Barolo in Turin), Alessandra Petrina, who brought me
books from various university libraries in Padua, Cristina Cavecchi who
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