Meo's Fists – Fighting For or Against Fascism? The Subversive Nature of Text and Image in Giovanni Bertinetti's I pugni di Meo

Abstract

During the 1920s and 1930s Italian children's literature was heavily influenced by fascist propaganda. Stories which celebrated patriotism, militarism and obedience appeared in great numbers as did biographies of Mussolini. Children's book illustrations also underwent stylistic changes becoming more statuary and geometric in accordance with the principles behind fascist architecture and propagandist art. Not all of the Italian writers and artists who ostensibly endorsed fascist ideologies, however, were entirely compliant with fascist dictates. Careful reading of some of the key works by writers and artists outwardly supportive of the regime reveals underlying subversive political ideologies, the majority of which have yet to be acknowledged. One of the ways in which writers and artists of the fascist period inscribed subversive ideologies in their works was by manipulating contemporary visual and verbal codes. This paper focuses on the dialectic of text and image in Giovanni Bertinetti's I pugni di Meo [Meo's fists], a children's fantasy, illustrated by the well-known artist, Attilio Mussino. Situating text and illustrations in their socio-political context, it discusses how these artists manipulated words and images to convey an ideology of moderation in the midst of excessive use and abuse of power in Italy in the 1930s.