Abstract
Abstract: Forests have a long history in the literary and folktale tradition. In this article, I approach the multifaceted representation of forests in Italo Calvino's Fiabe italiane and its intertextual connections. I highlight several functions of forests through the analysis of one tale type, that is Calvino's "Pulcino" (no.130), known to the wider public through "Hansel and Gretel". Here, forests are both imbued with national identity and are a space outside of civilization. Drawing from material ecocriticism, I argue that they are also a repository of symbiotic relationships between humans and nonhumans and an enchanted site of storied matter.