Meta-fiction in Italian children's book of the 21st century

Abstract

In this essay, we aim at analyzing Italian children's literature published in the 21st Century. In these books, there is a strong meta-literary tendency that brings to the forefront the mechanisms of literary creation. For example references to the book, games with the narrative structure, claims for a more active reader's role, demystification of the narrator, calling into question the story truthfulness, the mirror game within the fictional world, and the metalepsis. Through all these devices and mechanisms, which can be traced in the Italian literary tradition in authors like Gianni Rodari, a new model of children's literature is being promoted. This new literary model tries to encourage critical thinking in children-readers and a more dynamic way of reading so that children become more capable of creating, imagining, transgressing and transforming reality.