Nov. 14 - "Fairy tales are real; they are a catalog of destinies a man or a woman can have, especially in terms of creating those destinies," once said Italo Calvino commenting on his “Fiabe Italiane.” In the mid-1950s, the author collected and re-wrote the most beautiful fairy tales from Italian regions, preserving Italy’s oral tradition. Today, more than 50 years after the collection, we talk about fairy tales, folk tradition of storytelling with literary critic and author Emanuele Trevi. On Monday, November 17 (at 6.30pm) at the Umberto Agnelli Auditorium, the Italian Cultural Institute in Tokyo will host the conference "Italian speech and writing in fairy tales." Sponsored by the ICI, the event highlights the relationship between written and spoken Italian, using fairy tales and the issues they posed in the transition from oral to written narration. The conference will analyze the works of scholars from the 19th century and the "Fiabe Italiane" by Italo Calvino. Trevi, born in Rome in 1964, works with the Corriere della Sera and hosts radio shows on cultural topics. He has edited many Italian and French classics, including the complete works of Giacomo Leopardi. Trevi published his first book, “Istruzioni per l’uso del lupo,” in 1994. Among his recent works, there are: Il libro della gioia perpetua (2010, Premio Napoli), Qualcosa di scritto (2012, finalist at the Premio Strega) and Il viaggio iniziatico (2013). (Gil)

FIABE ITALIANE

Published in 1956 by Einaudi, Fiabe Italiane is the first collection of folk tales from Italy. The anthology, edited by Italo Calvino, gives unity to the Italian folk tradition, gathering and translating fairy-tales first available only in regional publications. In the years Italy rediscovered a passion for folklore, the Einaudi group gave Calvino the role of Italian Grimm, to look through traditional material with the eye of the poet, the philosopher and shadow author.