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Valentina Abbatelli
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Between
Italy
From Paper to Film: Historical and Cultural Implications of Italian Illustrated Editions of <em>Little Women</em> (1908-1945)
Text.Serial.Journal
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Essays
2023-05-31
2022-12-30
2023-05-31
2023-06-05
1-23
1
Valentina Abbatelli
2023/05/31
10.13125/2039-6597/5438
1
University of Warwick
2039-6597
25
Italy
en
23
From Paper to Film: Historical and Cultural Implications of Italian Illustrated Editions of <em>Little Women</em> (1908-1945)
https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between/article/download/5438/5611
13
             From Paper to Film:
     Historical and Cultural Implications
        of Italian Illustrated Editions
         of Little Women (1908-1945)

                               Valentina Abbatelli

Abstract
      This article analyses Italian illustrated editions of Little Women published
between 1908 and 1945. After an overview of the publishing history of the
novel in Italy, the paper will examine Italian illustrations as hermeneutic tools
in order to examine their ideological function in the representation of gender.
The belated reception of Alcott’s novel in Italy, caused by its representation
of a nonconformist educational model for girls, is mirrored in the tension
between the nationalistic drive and the influence of foreign models that can be
pinpointed in the illustrated editions. By analyzing adaptations of American
illustrations, original Italian creations, and omissions of iconic illustrations,
this paper will unveil how much the visual element is embedded in the Italian
historical and cultural context, as the choice (or omission) of particular images
impacted the interpretation of the book. By examining the Italian editions of
Little Women published in this time frame, we will also be able to retrace the
links with the American illustrated history of the book and bear testimony to
the powerful impact of the 1934 film version on printed editions.

Keywords
     Little Women; illustrations; publishing; paratext; Italy




Between, vol. XIII, n. 25 (maggio/May 2023)
issn: 2039-6597
doi: 10.13125/2039-6597/5438
Valentina Abbatelli, From Paper to Film




                From paper to film:
        historical and cultural implications
           of Italian illustrated editions
            of Little Women (1908-1945)

                                 Valentina Abbatelli

      Published for the first time in the US in 1868, Louisa May Alcott’s
Little Women1 has a seamless history of illustrations starting with the very
first edition illustrated by Alcott’s sister. The book, set during the Civil
War, recounts the story of the March family. While Mr. March is away
fighting in the war, the four March sisters (Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth) expe-
rience the passage from childhood to adulthood and face the difficulties
of everyday life. They starting a journey towards self-improvement in
which they have to deal with their character flaws (impatience, shyness,
vanity and selfishness) in order to become adults. In 1869 Alcott wrote a
sequel, which came out under the same title in the USA. This second nov-
el continues to narrate the vicissitudes of the March family three years
later which sees Beth dying, the other three sisters marrying happily and
Jo opening a school with her husband.
      The novel arrived in Italy in 1908 where it was translated six times
and 23 editions appeared until the beginning of the 1940s. Up to this point,
most of the Italian editions published displayed illustrations that implied a
transnational circulation of images. The examination of the Italian editions
of LW published in this time frame allows to retrace the links with the
American illustrated history of the book and exemplifies to the powerful
impact of the film version by George Cukor on printed editions. Analysing
adaptations of Anglo-American illustrations, original Italian creations, as
well as omissions of iconic illustrations, this paper will reveal how deep-
ly the visual element of illustrations is influenced by the Italian histori-
cal and cultural context, as the choice (or omission) of particular images


    1
        Hereafter cited as LW in notes and text.


2
                                               Between, vol. XIII, n. 25 (maggio/May 2023)



impacts on the interpretation of the book by readers. The importance of
illustrations acquires special salience within the Italian publishing field
during the Ventennio, when the beginning of mass production ushered in
the development of mass advertising and the enhancement of the paratex-
tual features of books. Publishers were particularly attentive to publishing
strategies and chose volume covers «according to the supposed profile of
the readers» (Bonciarelli 2012: 5).

                  Little Women in Italy (1908-1945)
      Until 1945, the history of publishing of LW in Italy was short and frag-
mented2. LW was not the first of Alcott’s books to be translated into Italian.
While Treves had published earlier titles by Alcott, in 1905, Carabba pub-
lished Little Men ‒ which recounts the vicissitudes of Jo’s sons and neph-
ews as pupils the school founded by her and her husband ‒ translated by
Ciro Trabalza (1871-1936), teacher, literary critic and grammarian, and his
wife Michelina. Forty years after the publication of LW in the USA, the first
Italian edition of LW appear by the same Carabba translated by the Tra-
balzas only as a consequence of the successful reception of Piccoli uomini.
      Two editions of LW came out in the 1910s (a reprint by Carabba and
the first Bemporad edition in 1916) and two in the 1920s (both by Bempo-
rad). The number of editions increased to eight in the 1930s (re-edited by
Bemporad and published for the first time by Aurora and Bietti), reaching
ten in the 1940s (published by Marzocco, Corticelli, Mursia and Fiorini).
Except for Aurora (1934) and Bietti (1935), all these editions were explicitly
illustrated for and targeted at a young audience. While during some years
(1934, 1936, 1942 and 1943) multiple editions came out with different pub-
lishers, from 1937 to 1939 LW disappeared from the market.
      The boom of editions of LW in the 1930s and 1940s coincides with
the so called ‘decennio delle traduzioni’, during which Anglo-Ameri-
can literature became popular in Italy through translation. During this
period, Italy was experiencing a process of great industrialisation of the


    2
       All the six translations which appeared in Italian editions published be-
tween 1908 and 1945 have been analysed (Carabba 1908, Bemporad 1926, Bem-
porad 1934, Aurora 1934, Bietti 1935, Corticelli 1941, Fiorini 1945). In this case the
corpus encompasses integral translations (Carabba and Corticelli) and abridged
versions (Bemporad, Aurora, Bietti and Fiorini) published for a young and an
adult audience.


                                                                                        3
Valentina Abbatelli, From Paper to Film



publishing market, alongside the diffusion of cinema and radio. Trans-
lations were, then, a linchpin of the Italian publishing market. Besides
being successful with readers, translations offered several economic ad-
vantages for publishers; they were cheaper than original Italian works
and safer, since they were already successful in the market. The Fascist
regime could not ban translations, since the Italian literary system need-
ed foreign literature; Italian readers demanded it, and the publishing
market required the income generated from it. Translations were there-
fore «indispensabili alla sopravvivenza della vita culturale italiana» (Bil-
liani 2007: 15).
       Nevertheless, the absence of LW editions between 1937 and 1939
might be due to the regime’s negative attitude towards foreign books for
children, among which LW needs to be situated. In 1938, the education-
alist Nazareno Padellaro openly criticised Alcott’s works and warned
against its representation of promiscuity and excessive freedom (Padel-
laro 1939: 41). Furthermore, the firm that largely published LW, owned
by Enrico Bemporad, who was Jewish, underwent a major change dur-
ing these years. After the racial laws of 1938, Bemporad was removed
from his appointment and the imprint took the name Marzocco. Another
reason for the “eclipse” of LW editions between 1937 and 1939 might be
related to the wartime paper shortage (Forgacs and Gundle 2007: 152). A
new edition of LW appeared in 1940 published by Marzocco followed by
the first Corticelli edition in 1941 (that was reprinted in 1943 and 1944)
and by the Fiorini edition in 1945. Nonetheless, the publishing boom of
LW in Italy happened after WWII: between 1948 and 1989, 51 editions of
Alcott’s novel came out in Italy.
      Italian critics tended to focus on a traditional vision of the March sis-
ters that concentrated on the sisters’ self-improvement reared in a patriar-
chal family (Visentini 1936: 379) and underlined the sentimental character
of the novel. LW was considered to belong to that «sano tipo di letture
per ragazzi che da noi trovò un’espressione singolare e forse insuperabile
col “Cuore” del De Amicis» (Giacobbe 1923: 175)3. Armando Michieli ex-
pressed explicit criticism of the book, as he identified, the main flaw of the
novel for young Italian readers as the realism for Alcott’s representation of
foreign religion, social and family habit (Michieli 1937: 106).


    3
       Palazzolo argues that, in contrast with Cuore, «the non-institutionalised
model of education» promoted in LW this could be one of the reasons for the late
reception of the novel in Italy: cf. Palazzolo 1989: 121.


4
                                                 Between, vol. XIII, n. 25 (maggio/May 2023)



      Very traditional books for children were published at the beginning
of the 20th century. The only exception was Bemporad whose books for
children gave space to psychological descriptions of innovative characters,
including female characters (for instance Il giornalino di Gian Burrasca by
Vamba and La nidiata by Sofia Bisi Albini4). Girls could only access carefully
selected reading materials. The young female audience was mostly advised
to read religious and moralistic books, exempla taken from hagiography or
Italian history and these books were used in schools until the 1940s (Beseghi
1991: 125). Girls were meant to acquire practical advice on how to manage
home and family. Fascist education focused on these specific learning aims
for girls with textbooks that taught them how to become «la donna-massaia
prolifica» (Ulivieri 1992: 40).
      The circulation of this type of texts combined with the high percent-
age of illiteracy among Italian girls (ibid.: 41) seems to explain the late
publication of LW in Italy. Alcott’s novel differs greatly from the nine-
teenth-century Italian literature deemed acceptable for girls. While Italian
women were educated to follow preconstituted models of behaviour, Al-
cott’s protagonists were free to determine their own futures and to strive
for success (Palazzolo 1989: 122). In relation to this, a crucial point in the
difficult reception of LW in Italy can be found in Jo’s emancipation, sym-
bolised by her haircut in exchange for money. Jo’s decision to cut and sell
her hair to cover to her mother’s travel costs to visit Mr March reveals
love for her family, self-sacrifice and independence. In addition, this act
expresses defiance towards feminine fashion rules which prescribed long
hair for women (McCallum 2000: 89). According to Novati, giving away
her hair was

          un rito di iniziazione e scambio che allude alla parità, all’uguaglianza
        educativa, alla crescita comune e condivisa dai due sessi […]: idee
        pericolose per l’Italia-Cuoredipendente che spiegano come il romanzo
        […] suscitasse diffidenza per la pedagogia liberatoria e democratica
        che proponeva (Novati 1990: 300).




    4
         See Blezza Picherle 2004: 122.


                                                                                          5
Valentina Abbatelli, From Paper to Film



                 Anglo-American illustrated editions5
      The long history of American illustrated editions of LW began in 1868
when May Alcott, Louisa’s sister, provided images for the first edition of
the novel. The iconic frontispiece of this edition depicts Mrs March sitting
in her armchair surrounded by her daughters. Then each sister is the pro-
tagonist of one illustration (Amy skating, Meg looking herself in the mir-
ror, Beth running towards her father returning home) except for Jo, who
appears only in the frontispiece.
      The 1880 American edition displays 200 drawings by Frank Merrill,
whose influence can also be found in Italian illustrations. His mostly re-
alistic drawings provided a shift in the publisher’s approach to the novel
that stressed Alcott’s autobiographical references and sought to promote
Alcott as an educational and entertaining author, downplaying the sen-
timentality of the book and choosing to illustrate «moments of absurdity
and unexpected humor» (Gannon 1999: 116).
      In subsequent illustrated editions, certain artistic choices repeat. Usu-
ally, the cover or frontispiece showed a group scene taken from the first
chapter. Subsequently, at least one picture depicted each sister individual-
ly: Amy usually draws, Beth plays the piano, and Meg wears a ballgown.
Jo progressively gained importance in the visualisation of the story, and
was portrayed in more than one scene, mostly cutting her hair, refusing
Laurie, and writing. The growing attention to Jo as a writer is evident from
the 1903 Brown edition illustrated by Alice Stephens, where the title page
includes an illustration of Jo sitting at her desk and, later, writing in the at-
tic and reading her first published story, intent on the newspaper (Gannon
1999: 123-5).
      When George Cukor’s film adaptation of LW was released in the
USA, film stills began to appear in printed editions of LW. The undisputed
star of the film was Katharine Hepburn. Hepburn’s Jo was naturally but
not unwomanly tomboyish (McCallum 2000: 86), as the film capitalized on


    5
       The following editions Anglo-American illustrated editions of LW were
consulted for the comparison with the Italian ones: Boston: Roberts Brothers,
1870; London: Ward, Lock and co., 1878; London: Sampson, Low, Marston &
co., 1907; London, Edinburgh, Dublin, New York: Nelson and Sons, 1911; Lon-
don: RTS, 1913; London: Kelly, 1914; Philadelphia: Winston, 1926; London, Edin-
burgh, New York, Toronto and Paris: Nelson and Sons, 1932; London: Harrap &
co., 1933; London: Juvenile Productions, 1937; London: Pictorial Art LTD, 1947;
London: Dent, 1948.


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                                              Between, vol. XIII, n. 25 (maggio/May 2023)



Hepburn’s attractiveness and presented her as a modern beauty (Kirkham
and Warren 1999: 86).
       For commercial reasons the story of film stills began around 1910-11.
With the growing number of filmgoers, film companies needed to pub-
licise their productions; therefore, stills were used in posters, magazines
and newspapers to advertise films6. When films based on novels appeared
during the 1920s and 1930s, editions of these novels might appear illustrat-
ed by the respective film stills, in so-called photoplay editions. At least two
photoplay editions came out in the USA immediately after the release of
Cukor’s film. The first appeared in 1933 by the publisher of popular novels
and photoplays A. L. Burt in Chicago and New York, which will influence
Italian illustrated editions, and the second in 1934 by the Whitman Pub-
lishing Company, a publisher for children, in Racine, Wisconsin. The title
page of Burt’s edition shows Jo reading a book in an armchair. The second
still depicts Amy’s punishment for bringing pickled limes to school against
the rules. The third image depicts s a group photo of the girls, while the last
one is the iconic image of Beth at the piano, which would become the cover
of the 1934 Bemporad edition.
       The film iconography built around reading can be traced back to the
1918 silent film version of LW7. This film version received positive, but not
enthusiastic, reviews that emphasized its sentimental aspect. More inter-
estingly, however, «many visual images underscore the film’s connection
to the novel, depicting figures reading the book or characters stepping out
of the pages of a book» (Lyon Clark 2014: 92).

                       Italian illustrated editions
      Italian editions of LW published before 1945 were mostly illustrated,
rather than including the phtoplay, and witnessed a transnational circula-
tion of images. Images produced in the Anglophone context, illustrations
and film stills, strongly affected Italian illustrators and the circulation of
film stills, which appeared not only in books, but also in magazines. De-
spite the influence of Anglo-American illustrations on Italian reception,
significant omissions and particular choices in Italian illustrated editions
cast light on the consideration of women in Italy during the period under
examination.


    6
        Cf. Finler 2011.
    7
        A British silent version of LW was released in 1917, but has been lost.


                                                                                       7
Valentina Abbatelli, From Paper to Film




Fig. 1. Bemporad 1926 cover, the four March   Fig. 2. RTS 1913 inside illustration, the
sisters.                                      four March sisters.



      The first Italian illustrated edition was published by Bemporad in 1916
and reprinted for the first time in 1926. Its illustrations were by Fabio Fab-
bi (1861-1945). As usual in Anglo-American editions, the first image was a
group picture. Bemporad’s cover, a delicate watercolour with fuzzy contours,
depicts a bucolic scene (Fig. 1). It represents the four sisters in a forest while
one of them is reading, most likely Jo since she was the one more inclined to
reading and she is the only one with her hair tight in a bun. The non-realistic
atmosphere makes it hard for the reader to understand the identity of the
sisters. Except for Jo and Meg, since she is the only brunette, the other two
sisters are hardly recognisable.8 They all seem to be listening to Jo reading.
The cover shares some similarities, mostly in relation to colour, with the edi-
tion by the RTS Society published in London in 1913 and illustrated by Har-
old Coppings (Fig. 2). Coppings, however, depicted the girls listening to Jo
while doing their favourite activities. Thanks to this similarity, it is possible

    8
       In Alcott’s first description of the sisters Meg has brown hair, Jo has her
hair bundled into a net, Amy has curly yellow hair, while Beth is depicted only
as «smooth-haired».


8
                                          Between, vol. XIII, n. 25 (maggio/May 2023)




Fig. 3. 1880, Mr Laurence was hooking a         Fig. 4. Bemporad 1926, Mr Lau-
big fish                                        rence was hooking a big fish




to distinguish between Amy and Beth. Both girls are blonde on this cover,
but Amy is portrayed drawing, her favourite activity.
      The Bemporad edition contained three additional illustrations. The
first image depicts a minor episode, when old Mr Laurence, the Marches’
neighbour, is at the fishmonger’s shop and looks at a woman leaving the
shop with a big fish. The image refers to the episode, narrated by Beth, in
which Mr Laurence buys a fish for a young woman who was in the shop
asking for fish in exchange for some cleaning (Chap. 4). Frank Merrill il-
lustrated this episode for the first time in 1880, drawing a scene aimed to
produce an ironic effect on the reader by contrasting the rather unsociable
and apparently unpleasant character with the action of holding a fish with
his walking stick (Fig. 3). In the Bemporad illustration Mr Laurence has
already given the fish to the woman, a scene that underlines his generosity,
which is further highlighted in the caption «ed essa si è affrettata ad andar
via, così contenta…» (Fig. 4). This reinterpretation of the scene seemed to
belong exclusively to the Italian reception of LW illustrations, since not
only did it infrequently appear in the English editions; but also when it
was, the scene recalled more directly Merrill’s image as Mr. Laurence was



                                                                                   9
Valentina Abbatelli, From Paper to Film



                                           always portrayed holding a fish
                                           with his walking stick9.
                                                 The second illustration por-
                                           trays the iconic encounter between
                                           Meg and Laurie at the Moffat’s ball,
                                           while the third demonstrates an-
                                           other minor episode when Jo and
                                           Laurie are out rowing (Chap. 11).
                                           As with the image of Mr Laurence
                                           with the fish, Merrill also drew this.
                                           The portrayal of rowing is not wide-
                                           spread in other editions consulted,
                                           and only appears in the set of illus-
                                           trations by Percy Tarrant in the 1926
                                           English edition published by Harrap
                                           & Co. However, Tarrant depicted
                                           Jo and Laurie in a different setting
                                           and surrounded by other people in
                                           chap. 12. It may be that Fabbi chose
                                           to reproduce this scene because of
Fig. 5. Bemporad 1926, Amy praying for
                                           the importance that Merrill gave to
Beth                                       this picture, putting it at the very be-
                                           ginning of the chapter10.
                                                 The last Bemporad illustration
                                           shows Amy praying for her sister
Beth who is suffering from scarlet fever (Fig. 5). This image was unprece-
dented. The episode of Amy praying in front of a picture of the Virgin Mary
is narrated in chap. 19 when Amy is sent to her aunt’s house because of her
sister’s illness. Nevertheless, the image that traditionally mostly represent-
ed Amy in this chapter was of her dressing up in old costumes found in a
room at her aunt’s house and in the company of her aunt’s parrot (Fig. 6).
It is worth noting that Merrill also stressed the religious aspect of the chap-
ter, including a religious picture of the Madonna, that evokes a sense of
maternity, at the end of it. Illustrators interpret the text according «to a spe-


     9
        Alcott, Little Women, illustrated by Inglis (London, Nelsons and Sons, 1932)
and Little Women illustrated by Heade (London, Pictorial Art Ltd, 1947).
     10
        This hypothesis is argued on the basis of the popularity of Merrill’s illustra-
tions. Archival research might offer a different explanation to the illustrator’s choice.


10
                                             Between, vol. XIII, n. 25 (maggio/May 2023)



                                       cific audience, a specific ideology or
                                       a specific artistic trend, according to
                                       the time when the pictures are pro-
                                       duced and the illustrator’s value and
                                       ideology» (Pereira 2008: 114). Bem-
                                       porad’s reworking of the religious
                                       theme might be due to the publish-
                                       er’s will to underline the influence
                                       of religion on the girls’ education,
                                       but could also be affected by the
                                       background of its illustrator. Fab-
                                       bi depicted several religious scenes
                                       during his career and, particularly,
                                       took part in art competitions on the
                                       subject of the Virgin Mary11.
                                             There seems to have been a
                                       transnational circulation of illus-
Fig. 6. 1880, Amy and the parrott.
                                       trations for the Bemporad edition,
                                       since it appears heavily influenced
                                       by Merrill’s illustrations. At the
same time, this publisher does not seem to choose from Merrill’s repertoire
of images following a clear rationale, since minor episodes are illustrated
alongside better-known ones (such as Meg at the ball). Overall, sentiments
such as generosity and religious devotion are stressed, but references to
them are too generic to indicate a necessarily intentional choice. It seems
more plausible to credit them to Fabbi’s reworked version of images and
his professional background.

         Italian illustrations after Cukor’s film release
     Cukor’s film version of LW marked a watershed moment for Italian
editions of the book. Shot in 1933, during the Great Depression ushered in
by the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the film stresses from the beginning the
hardship the Marches were living through during the Civil War and recalls


    11
       In 1899 he participated in the first competition announced by Vittorio Ali-
nari on the theme of the Virgin and Child displaying two pictures “Mammina”
and “Madonna alla Spiga”. In 1902 he also participated in the second edition on
the theme “Alla vita della Madonna”. See Bernucci 1993.


                                                                                    11
Valentina Abbatelli, From Paper to Film



the situation in which many American audience members were living.
Whereas Alcott’s novel starts with the sisters waiting for their mother to
come home, talking about the upcoming Christmas around the fireplace,
the film shows mother Marmee and the girls in their everyday lives. The
opening scenes from the movie stressed «women’s capability and employa-
bility» and «locate[d] the women in a community that sees its young, virile
men, disappear» (Cartmell – Simons 2007: 82). Cukor, however, aimed to
send a positive message to the audience, highlighting a sense of solidarity
between members of the family. Reflecting on the difficulties of Americans
during the 1930s and on the importance of family unity and collaboration
as a way to face hard life situations, Cukor’s version of LW conveyed «his
tenacious belief that, with unity and family, America could become again
what it once was: secure and plentiful» (Kellett 2016: 25).
      In 1934, the film was released in Italy and presented at the second
Biennale del Cinema at Venice where Katharine Hepburn was awarded the
Coppa Volpi as best actress. From 1925, when Istituto Luce was created,
and increasingly throughout the 1930s, cinema had been recognised by the
regime as a powerful, immediate instrument of education and propagan-
da. The regime had also created venues such as the “Biennale del cinema”
at Venice to promote foreign films alongside national films that could again
raise the profile of Italian cinema.
      According to the Italian press, the film capitalized on Hepburn’s per-
sona and her name featured prominently in reviews12. As the undisputed
star of the film whom Cukor considered to be born to play Jo (Kirkham –
Warren 1999: 86), she became a symbol of positive modernity that was to
be counterpoised with images from the nineteenth century. Her angular
beauty contrasted with the canonical model of Italian beauty that the Fas-
cist regime promoted also in fashion magazines13. However, most of the
approval found in the press focused on the ways in which Hepburn’s per-
sona and Alcott’s character overlapped as two strong, independent women.
Hepburn-Jo performed with a «forza scatenata e quasi selvaggia […] un
temperamento ricchissimo e nativo, un’insofferenza di ogni luogo comu-
ne della recitazione, un desiderio di indipendenza a ogni costo» (Gromo
1934: 4). This statement highlights the relationship between Hepburn and


     12
       The analysis of film reviews was made on the most popular Italian daily
newspapers Il Corriere della Sera, La Stampa, Il Messaggero and on the weekly mag-
azine Cinema Illustrazione.
    13
       Cf. Gundle 2007.


12
                                               Between, vol. XIII, n. 25 (maggio/May 2023)




Fig. 7. Bemporad 1934 cover, Beth at the pi-    Fig. 8. Bemporad 1934 inner illustra-
ano.                                            tion, Jo playing Roderigo

Jo. She was described as able to give life, real flesh and blood, to one of the
characters of the movie, that was considered overall static and too idyllic.
      Hepburn seemed to embody the positive values of American dy-
namism and renovation that fascinated Italy during the Ventennio. Her
strength and spirit of independence recalled the image of an America
«pensosa e barbarica, felice e rissosa, dissoluta, feconda (…) e insieme gio-
vane e innocente» (Pavese 1962: 193). Her ability to give life to what was
considered static and anchored to the past corresponded to the role that
American literature had for the Italian state during the Ventennio: «una
nuova linfa da immettere nel corpo malato ed esangue della letteratura
italiana» (Lombardo 1981: 24).
      The 1926 Bemporad edition was reprinted in 1934 and nine stills from
the film version replaced the drawings. The image of Beth playing the pi-
ano became the cover (Fig. 7), following the generic Bemporad tendency of
the 1926 edition. As Fabbi’s drawings stressed wholesome sentiments and
generosity, the choice of Beth playing the piano rather than spotlighting
Jo on the cover underlines the preference for «the perfect little woman»,
in this case. This cover’s subject has no needs or desires other than to take
care of the family unlike Jo, who is «the vital center of Alcott’s book» (Fet-
terley 1979: 379).


                                                                                      13
Valentina Abbatelli, From Paper to Film




Fig. 9. Bemporad 1934 inner illustration,   Fig. 10. Aurora 1934 cover, Jo sitting on
Jo and Laurie.                              an armchair.



     Inside illustrations instead privileged group film stills. The first
group still is taken from the scene of the Christmas breakfast and was
followed by the sisters and Marmee sewing together and telling stories.
The following pictures depicted the girls close to the piano given to Beth
by Mr Laurence, and the girls greeting their mother leaving to visit Mr
March, therefore foregrounding the sense of unity central to Cukor’s film.
The remaining stills mostly focus on Jo. She is depicted as playing the
part of Roderigo in the play staged at the Marches house on Christmas
day (Fig. 8), in Laurie’s company at Mrs Gardiner’s party on New Year’s
Eve (Fig. 9), and with Laurie and his grandfather. Stills from the film, al-
legedly bought by RKO, the American studio that produced Cukor’s film,
were circulating widely at the same time in Italian magazines. Cinema Il-
lustrazione, for instance, used some stills shown in Bemporad (the photos
in which Beth is at the piano and Jo is playing Roderigo) in a review of
Cukor’s film plus a variation on the theme of the scene in which Jo and
Laurie are at Mrs Gardiner’s home (An. 1934: 8).
     Bemporad’s use of film stills affected subsequent Italian editions. The
Aurora edition, also published in 1934, included a cover with a photo of
Jo reading in an armchair, which had already been used as cover in the
photoplay published by Burt Company in the USA in 1933 (Fig. 10). The
back cover photo depicts the sisters’ happy, surprised reaction to the pi-


14
                                                  Between, vol. XIII, n. 25 (maggio/May 2023)




Fig. 11. Bietti 1935 cover, Jo on the stairs.   Fig. 12. Corticelli 1941 inside illustration,
                                                Jo playing Roderigo.



ano gifted to them by Mr Laurence. Bietti, in 1935, chose a still as its cover
representing Mrs March and the servant Hanna checking Jo’s dress before
the New Year’s Eve party (Fig. 11). Bietti stated on the cover that the still
was a photo taken from LUX of Turin, the company that distributed the
film in Italy. Stills continued to appear in the Bietti reprint of 1936 and in
the Marzocco 1940 edition that used the same ones as Bemporad 1936.
     The Corticelli edition of 1941 stands out because its illustrations
referred back to film stills already circulated in previous editions of LW
and magazines. Not only did Corticelli’s portraits of the sisters recall
actresses in Cukor’s film, but also some of the illustrated scenes seem to
allude to the film. The scenes in which Jo acts on the stage (Fig. 12), the
girls and their mother sew and share anecdotes, Jo is with Laurie and
Mr Laurence, derive from film stills used by Bemporad 1934. The first
two group scenes that opened Corticelli’s edition imitated two film stills
reproduced in the review published in Cinema Illustrazione 31 already
mentioned. The influence of the film version seems to stop in 1941, since
the latest edition of LW published by Fiorini in 1945 did not show any
trace of film stills. Bemporad, Bietti and Aurora bought the rights to use
film stills from Lux or RKO Pictures as stated in their editions. The rea-
sons why Corticelli and Fiorini did not use film stills are possibly due to
publishing choices, but it can also be speculated that they did not buy


                                                                                         15
Valentina Abbatelli, From Paper to Film



the rights to use them14. This is not to be linked with the price of the
Corticelli edition at least, as it costed L. 40, much more than the Bietti,
Bemporad and Aurora editions (priced between L. 3 and L. 10). This re-
turn to illustrations is most likely due to the period of hostility towards
American cinema in Italy. As with publishing, the regime increased its
control on foreign products in 1938, when ENIC (“Ente Nazionale In-
dustrie Cinematografiche”) was assigned a monopoly on the distribu-
tion of foreign films. Consequently, American studios, which could no
longer sell their films to the highest bidder, boycotted the Italian market,
and photos and news about Hollywood stars disappeared from cinema
magazines15. Perhaps as a result, stills began to disappear from the pub-
lishing market as affected by such developments.
     Italian photoplay editions of LW aimed to reach different types of au-
dience. Bietti was the only edition situated in the lowest price range, being
sold at L. 3 in 1935. Bemporad and Marzocco were priced between L. 5.50
and L. 6 in the period 1934 and 1940, while Aurora 1934 was sold at L. 10,
which corresponded to the price of a luxury edition at that time (Ferme
2002: 50). The prices of weekly magazines varied according to the quality
of the edition and the number and quality of photographs reproduced.
The average price for magazines published between the mid-1920s and
mid-1930s was around 60 cents16. Specifically, Cinema Illustrazione, which
contained film stills published in volume editions of LW, was priced at 50
cents. De Grazia recalled that at the eve of WWII «an average clerk’s family
disposed of perhaps 40 lire a month for recreation» (De Grazia 1992: 131),
with a rather low budget on books and periodicals. The data suggest that
readers of these magazines were able to afford Bietti’s edition, and could
perhaps buy the Bemporad and Marzocco, while Aurora seems to have
been less affordable. The price of photoplays, therefore, did not entirely
even out against the average price of weekly magazines, but was aimed at
a wider public.
     A transnational circulation of illustrations of LW can be deduced from
the use of the same stills in Italian editions and magazines and American

     14
        This remains only a hypothesis for the Fiorini edition as it did not display
its price. Therefore, it is not possible to argue that its cost did not allow the pur-
chase and consequent use of film stills.
     15
        See Gundle 2013: 29 and De Berti 2012: 39.
     16
        Cine Sorriso Illustrato was sold for 30 cents (1930), Cinema Illustrazione for
50 cents in the 1930s, Cine Cinema for L. 1 in the 1920s and the fortnightly Cineom-
nia for L. 1.50 (1935).


16
                                             Between, vol. XIII, n. 25 (maggio/May 2023)



photoplay editions and from the reworking of drawings already circulat-
ing in the Anglo-American tradition of illustrations. However, while draw-
ings originated from the book, stills derived from a different medium and
were chosen by the studios. They aimed to attract a broad public, both
those who had not seen the film and those who had seen it and wanted a
souvenir of their favourite stars. In both cases, the book ultimately seems to
have become a vehicle for promoting the film. Illustrations and stills could
be reused as they were, but, though illustrations could be reworked, stills
could only be used as inspiration for new drawings. The reproducibility of
photographs occasioned the highest degree of homogenisation. Stills led
the reader to interpret the book in a narrower way than illustrations, name-
ly through the lens of the film’s director17. Furthermore, the choice of stills
was limited to those photos that film studios would sell, while the reper-
toire from which an illustrator could be inspired was theoretically infinite.
      The advent of film stills in the Italian editions reinforced Cukor’s mes-
sage around the sense of togetherness of the March sisters and their moth-
er and marked an emphasis on the character of Jo in Italian editions, which
was most likely due to Katharine Hepburn’s interpretation. The 1926 Be-
mporad edition devoted three out of nine illustrations to Jo. This number
grew in the 1941 Corticelli edition, where five out of the nine drawings de-
picting Jo did so by portraying her with Laurie, thereby underlining their
close relationship. In the last edition of LW published during the Venten-
nio, the 1945 Fiorini edition, Jo was represented in half of the illustrations,
alone or accompanied by different characters. It is worth noticing that
Fiorini’s foreword includes a short digression on Jo. The foreword states
that the novel’s universal popularity is due to the presence of Jo, as the nu-
cleus around which the novel revolves. Jo is depicted as an unforgettable
character and described as an example of self-sacrifice and identified with
all those people who prefer to suffer themselves instead of their loved ones
and which, according to the author’s foreword, constitute the main part of
the audience (G. 1945: 3).
      Already in the USA «popular retellings and visualizations tend to em-
phasise Jo’s personal story, to separate it from her sisters’ stories» (Gannon
1999: 134). While in the USA this tendency could be observed from the
beginning of the twentieth century, the emphasis on Jo and her personal


    17
        As Benjamin put it «photography freed the hand from the most important
artistic tasks in the process of pictorial reproduction – tasks that now devolved
upon the eye alone» (Benjamin 2008: 20).


                                                                                    17
Valentina Abbatelli, From Paper to Film



story in Italy resulted from the influence of the film, since it started with
Bemporad 1934. The most nonconformist, modern character gained im-
portance thanks to the mediation of the modern invention, the cinema.
      Whilst Jo was also represented in Italy in some famous scenes (acting
on stage, at the ball with Laurie, with Mr Laurence), one iconic image is
absent from Italian editions. She is never represented having her hair cut or
with short hair. The scenes of Jo at the barber’s shop and Jo with short hair
have a long tradition in the Anglo-American context, since they were rep-
resented from Merrill onwards. At least one of these images was displayed
in six editions published in the UK and in one case the illustration with a
shorthaired Jo was at the front of the book before the inner title page (Alcott
1948). This episode appears also to be crucial in Cukor’s film version. The
director presented a close up on Jo’s hair and on her making odd faces as
she explained the reasons for her gesture in order to downplay the dramat-
ic reactions of her mother and sisters. However, in contrast with drawings,
I did not find Anglo-American photoplay editions with stills depicting Jo’s
shorter hair. It seems, therefore, that studios did not seek to emphasise this
incident in the story of Jo.
      This only seemingly secondary episode might have represented a
controversial theme in the illustrated editions of LW published under the
Ventennio and entangled with the beauty canon and gender models. The
fashion of short hair arrived in Italy from the USA, where it was born af-
ter WWI, and, where, by the 1920s, «millions of women of all ages were
wearing shorter hair» (Sherrow 2006: 91). On the one hand, the regime pro-
moted beauty that recalled Renaissance painting, and idolised the image
of the young peasant woman who was in vast contrasxt with the so-called
‘donna crisi’, who was thin and well groomed, cosmopolitan and vague-
ly androgynous (Gundle 2007: 88). On the other hand, however, «a wide
variety of non-hegemonic modern female types thrived during the fascist
period – primarily in the artefacts of mass and consumer culture, and par-
ticularly in those whose target audience was women» (Chang 2015: 23). It
has to be noted that a type of modern woman who embodied values such
as competitiveness, vitality and advancement of the national interest was
approved by the regime. This model of woman might incidentally have
short hair and wear a short skirt but «she did so with a sense of moderation
and always in the service of health and hygiene» (Chang 2015: 36), while
the so-called donna-crisi was individualistic and self-absorbed.
      Tensions around the fashion of short hair are however present in liter-
ature. In the 1925 short story Capelli corti, Sibilla Aleramo wrote about her
choice to cut her hair, stating that, at that time, this gesture did not imply


18
                                               Between, vol. XIII, n. 25 (maggio/May 2023)



sacrifice, or rebellion, but just being fashionable and more practical. This
aesthetic choice, however, according to her, on the one hand, stood for an
improvement of femininity since, thanks to short hair that left the neck
uncovered, «la grazia e la nobiltà del viso femineo [sic] risaltano anche più
commoventi come l’arte da una pittura primitiva» (Aleramo 1997: 73). On
the other hand, short hair could help women to show their inner qualities
and therefore help their emancipation:

        Il viso della donna, incorniciato all’incirca come quello dell’uomo,
     farà ancor più palesi i caratteri interni […]: esprimerà con assai maggior
     evidenza le qualità essenziali dell’animo e, […] dello spirito (ibid.: 74).

      Therefore, Aleramo did not associate any sign of rebellion with short
hair in 1925, and she was still linking it in the 1920s to modernity and to
the emancipation that women were experiencing in the aftermath of WWI.
      A different perspective can be found in the comic strip, Il velo paterno
by Giuseppe Novello, published in the 1920s. One of its captions reads «Fi-
nora papà non si è accorto che oggi Franceschina si è tagliata i capelli alla
maschietta» (Boneschi 2001: 136), implying that the father will frown upon
her daughter for cutting her hair.
      It would be difficult to not interpret Jo’s decision as an act of self-sac-
rifice and generosity towards her family and therefore the opposite of indi-
vidualism and self-absorbency. Nonetheless, the absence of the image of Jo
having a haircut in Italian editions might be related to general controver-
sies around female beauty during the Ventennio.

                                 Conclusion
     The late Italian reception of LW can be mostly explained in relation to
the traditional model of girlhood proposed in nineteenth-century Italy by
publishers for young people, but also by the presence of Italian literature
for children centred on the building of a shared national identity through
the scholastic institution. The open criticism directed towards the book un-
der the Fascist regime, due to its depiction of perceived promiscuity and
excessive liberty, did not impede the publication of LW in Twentieth-cen-
tury Italy.
     Influences on the choices of Italian illustrations can be traced back to
Anglo-American originals. Italian illustrated editions tend to offer a more
conservative ideal of women as might be seen in the depiction of Amy as a
pious girl in the 1926 Bemporad edition, the choice of Beth as the protago-


                                                                                      19
Valentina Abbatelli, From Paper to Film



nist of the cover of the 1934 Bemporad edition and the omission of the im-
age of Jo with her short hair. The release of Cukor’s film in 1934 triggered a
‘modernisation’ in subsequent editions that foregrounded a nonconformist
Jo, played by Hepburn. The circulation of Italian photoplays and cinema
magazines where Hepburn was prominently represented increased her
appearance in illustrated editions published after the release of the film. In
the years of the diffusion of cinema in Italy, ‘modern’ photo stills entered
the publishing world of LW alongside the ‘old’ drawings.




20
                                              Between, vol. XIII, n. 25 (maggio/May 2023)



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                                  The author
     Valentina Abbatelli

      Valentina Abbatelli is Assistant Professor and Language Coordinator
in Italian Studies at the University of Warwick (UK) where she teaches Ital-
ian language and cultural modules. In 2017 she completed a PhD in Italian
Studies from the University of Warwick with a thesis entitled ‘Producing
and Marketing Translations in Fascist Italy: Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Little
Women’. The thesis focused on the history of publishing of American liter-
ature translated in Italy under Fascism with particular attention devoted to
paratextual features and illustrations. On the Uncle Tom’s Cabin case study,
she published two academic articles in 2016 (Tropos) and 2018 (Image and
Narrative).

     Email: V.Abbatelli.1@warwick.ac.uk




                                                                                      23
Valentina Abbatelli, From Paper to Film



                                          The Article
      Date sent: 31/10/2022
      Date accepted: 28/02/2023
      Date published: 30/05/2023



                             How to cite this article
      Abbatelli, Valentina, “From paper to film: historical and cultural im-
plications of Italian illustrated editions of Little Women (1908-1945), The Il-
lustrated Fiction between the 19th and 20th Century, Eds. C. Cao – G. Carrara
– B. Seligardi, Between, XIII.25 (2023): 1-24, http://www.betweenjournal.it/




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