Locating Pinocchio Before 1940: The Italian Allegory Gone Awry in English Translation

If we consider that the very basic element of a children’s story is its appeal to world literature, then a text like Pinocchio exists for and in translation. However, how the extra linguistic material functions and how it is dealt with in translation is the concern of this paper. Because Pinocchio has become an item of world literature by way of its translations, the allegory created by Carlo Collodi about the reality of the Italian situation post-Unification has been lost in English translation and replaced in the target culture by a pedagogical set of moral codes in order to replenish the story’s meaning. Consequently, the value of reading texts comparatively manifests in reconciling what is lost with what is gained. Reading the English translations in light of the original Italian story reveals respective intricacies of both cultures and validates the process of translation as a privileged mediator.