[

], published by Rizzoli in July of 1942, is Giovannino Guareschi’s second novel. It had originally appeared serially in several earlier editions of

, the humorous weekly newspaper that Guareschi edited from 1936 to 1943. Unlike

[

] (1941), Guareschi’s first compilation of stories,

is purely fanciful and contains no autobiographical references. Guareschi wrote it to parody the

(appendix novel) or feuilleton, nineteenth-century adventure tales published serially in newspapers.

In the novel, a former pampas cow rustler named Chico narrates the tale, and through him, readers constantly encounter Guareschi’s voice. The author’s presence, therefore,

1555 words

Citation: Perry, Alan. "Il destino si chiama Clotilde". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 June 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35025, accessed 25 November 2024.]