[
The Christmas Tale], a fable written by Giovannino Guareschi in 1944 and first produced as a musical in the Sandbostel POW Camp, provides an excellent example of World War II Italian Resistance literature. The author’s preface to the published edition and his introduction to the first staged performance after the war fully elaborate the story’s intended purpose.
The plot begins with a small boy — Guareschi’s son Albertino — who recites a few verses in front of an empty chair. The Poem takes flight to the north as a bird with couplets written on its wings. The Wind helps carry it to the German border where a guard stops it and cancels verse after verse, clipping its wings. Forlornly pondering what to do, the Poem glimpses Father Christmas who picks it up,
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Citation: Perry, Alan. "La favola di Natale". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 June 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=32037, accessed 21 November 2024.]
