MAXIM GORKY’S STORIES FOR CHILDREN ILLUSTRATED BY THE ITALIAN ARTIST BRUNO ANGOLETTA (FROM THE HISTORY OF THE MAGAZINE PRIMAVERA, 1911–1914)

Abstract

The article examines Maxim Gorky’s contribution to the first Italian children’s monthly magazine Primavera (1911–1914). Founded and directed by the brothers Guido and Vittorio Podrecca, this magazine was characterized by captivating graphics, a refined artistic and literary taste, and an unusual international openness. Translations of numerous foreign literary works appeared within its pages. Among these, Russian literature played a significant role, thanks in part to the direct involvement of Maxim Gorky, who, from his exile in Capri, looked with sympathy at the Podrecca magazine. From 1911 to 1913 four stories by Gorky were published in Italian translation on the pages of Primavera, richly illustrated by the artist Bruno Angoletta: “Music” (Musica, 1911), “Under the Midday Sun” (Al sole del mezzogiorno, 1912), “The Little Sparrow” (Il passerotto, 1913), and “A Tragic Childhood” (Un’infanzia tragica, 1913). Gorky’s collaboration with Primavera serves as an example of cultural transfer accompanying the translation and publication of foreign literature. The article assesses how the socialist orientation of the magazine, the practice of translation, and the visual interpretation by the illustrator engaged in a dialogue with the original text, sometimes enhancing its significance and at other times offering new interpretive possibilities.

Keywords: Maxim Gorky, Bruno Angoletta, Guido Podrecca, Vittorio Podrecca, children’s magazine “Primavera” (1911–1914), Russian literature in translation, periodical illustration, Italian socialist periodicals for children