Pinocchio

by Collodi, Carlo; Eco, Umberto; Brock, Geoffrey; West, Rebecca

• ISBN13: 9781590172896
• ISBN10: 1590172892
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-11-18
• Publisher: Random House

Summary

Though one of the best-known books in the world,Pinocchioat the same time remains unknownlinked in many minds to the Walt Disney movie that bears little relation to Carlo Collodi's splendid original. That story is of course about a puppet who, after many trials, succeeds in becoming a "real boy." Yet it is hardly a sentimental or morally improving tale. To the contrary, Pinocchio is one of the great subversives of the written page, a madcap genius hurtled along at the pleasure and mercy of his desires, a renegade who in many ways resembles his near contemporary Huck Finn. Pinocchiothe novel, no less than Pinocchio the character, is one of the great inventions of modern literature. A sublime anomaly, the book merges the traditions of the picaresque, of street theater, and of folk and fairy tales into a work that is at once adventure, satire, and a powerful enchantment that anticipates surrealism and magical realism. Thronged with memorable characters and composed with the fluid but inevitable logic of a dream,Pinocchiois an endlessly fascinating work that is essential equipment for life.

Author Biography

Carlo Collodi (1826—1890) is the pen name of Carlo Lorenzini. He worked as a journalist before publishing The Adventures of Pinocchio in 1883. Translated into more than ninety languages, Pinocchio has never been out of print.

Umberto Eco is an Italian philosopher and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa) and his many essays.

Geoffrey Brock is a poet and translator. His translations have received Poetry’s John Frederick Nims Memorial Prize, the ATA’s Lewis Galantière Award, the PEN Center USA Translation Award, the MLA’s Lois Roth Award, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Translation Prize, the Academy of American Poets’ Raiziss/de Palchi Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He teaches in the University of Arkansas Programs in Creative Writing and Translation in Fayetteville, where he lives with his wife, the writer Padma Viswanathan, and their children.

Table of Contents

How it happened that Master Cherry, a carpenter, found a piece of wood that cried and laughed like a little boy	p. 3
Master Cherry gives the piece of wood to his friend Geppetto, who wants to make it into an amazing puppet that can dance and fence and do flips	p. 6
Back home, Geppetto immediately begins work on his puppet, which he names Pinocchio. The puppet's first pranks	p. 9
The story of Pinocchio and the Talking Cricket, which shows that naughty children can't stand to be corrected by those who know best	p. 13
Pinocchio gets hungry and finds an egg to make an omelet with, but at the last second the omelet flies away, out the window	p. 16
Pinocchio falls asleep with his feet propped on the brazier, and the next morning he finds that his feet have burnt off	p. 19
Poor Geppetto comes home and gives the puppet the breakfast he had brought for himself	p. 21
Geppetto makes Pinocchio a new pair of feet and sells his own coat to buy him a spelling book	p. 24
Pinocchio sells his spelling book in order to go see the Great Puppet Show	p. 27
The puppets recognize Pinocchio as their brother and welcome him raucously; but when the puppet master shows up, Pinocchio is in danger of meeting a tragic end	p. 30
Fire-Eater sneezes and forgives Pinocchio, who then saves his friend Harlequin from death	p. 33
Fire-Eater gives Pinocchio five gold pieces to take to his father, Geppetto. But Pinocchio is duped by the Fox and the Cat and goes off with them instead	p. 36
The Red Crayfish Inn	p. 41
Because he ignored the Talking Cricket's good advice, Pinocchio runs into murderers	p. 45
The murderers chase Pinocchio, and when they catch him they hang him from a branch of the Big Oak	p. 49
The Beautiful Girl with Sky-Blue Hair has the puppet taken down. She puts him to bed, and calls in three doctors to learn if he's alive or dead	p. 52
Pinocchio eats the sugar, but won't take the purgative until he sees the gravediggers coming to carry him away. Then he tells a lie and, as punishment, his nose grows longer	p. 56
Pinocchio again encounters the Fox and the Cat and goes with them to plant his four coins in the Field of Miracles	p. 61
Pinocchio is robbed of his gold coins and, as punishment, gets four months in jail	p. 66
Freed from jail, he tries to return to the Fairy's house, but along the way he encounters a terrible Serpent, and after that he gets caught in a snare	p. 70
Pinocchio is seized by a farmer and made to serve as a watchdog outside a henhouse	p. 73
Pinocchio thwarts the thieves and as a reward for being faithful is granted his liberty	p. 76
Pinocchio mourns the death of the Beautiful Girl with Sky-Blue Hair. Then he meets a Pigeon who carries him to the sea, where he dives into the water to try to rescue Geppetto	p. 79
Pinocchio reaches Busy-Bee Island and finds the Fairy with Sky-Blue Hair again	p. 84
Pinocchio promises the Fairy that he'll be good and to study, because he's tired of being a puppet and wants to become a good boy	p. 90
Pinocchio goes to the seashore with his schoolmates to see the terrible Shark	p. 93
A great fight between Pinocchio and his schoolmates; one gets wounded, and the police arrest Pinocchio	p. 96
Pinocchio is in danger of being fried up in a skillet, like a fish	p. 102
Pinocchio returns to the house of the Fairy, who promises him that the next day he will cease to be a puppet and become a boy, A big breakfast is planned to celebrate this great event	p. 107
Instead of becoming a boy, Pinocchio sneaks off with his friend Lampwick to Toyland	p. 114
After five months of nonstop fun, Pinocchio wakes up one morning to a rather nasty surprise	p. 119
Pinocchio is amazed to discover a fine pair of donkey ears sprouting from his head. He turns into a donkey, tail and all, and begins to bray	p. 125
Now a real donkey, Pinocchio is taken to market and sold to the Ringmaster of a circus, who wants to teach him to dance and jump through hoops. But one evening he becomes lame and so is sold to another man who wants to make a drum out of his hide	p. 131
Thrown into the sea, Pinocchio is eaten by fish and becomes a puppet again. But as he is swimming to safety, he is swallowed up by the terrible Shark	p. 139
Inside the Shark's belly, Pinocchio is reunited with - with whom? Read this chapter to find out	p. 146
At last Pinocchio ceases to be a puppet and becomes a boy	p. 151
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.