Pinocchio

This well-known fairy tale follows the adventures of a mischievous puppet without strings, Pinocchio. Pinocchio is at once a tragicomic character, and a poor, illiterate peasant boy who has few choices in life but usually chooses to shirk his responsibilities. In his compelling introduction, Jack Zipes discusses 'Pinocchio' in the contexts of the folk tale and the literary fairy tale, showing how Collodi subverts these traditions and raising questions about how we 'civilise' children in uncivilised times.

Carlo Collodi (1826-1890) was the pen name of Carlo Lorenzini, a journalist born in Florence. For much of his life, Collodi devoted his writing to the liberation movement to free Italy from Austrian domination. In 1875, he turned his attention from politics to writing for children. Jack Zipes is a professor of German at the University of Minnesota. A specialist in folklore, fairy tales and children's literature, he has written several books of criticism and edited anthologies of literature.