Permanenze e discontinuità nella letteratura coloniale per l’infanzia durante il Ventennio.

This paper examines a case study in youth colonial literature. The Collezione Marzocco per la Gioventù Araba del Littorio (GAL) included nineteen volumes of African tales collected by Francesco Corò and Ester Panetta. The authors did not limit themselves to telling African tales but added features of a stereotyped representation of Italian colonies to their narratives. This collection helped boost the aims of primary education as they had been set by Gentile’s reform in 1923. Moreover, it reflected the aims of propaganda established at the National Conference of Children’s and Youth Literature in 1938. The declared objective of the books was to help GAL members learn the Italian language and facilitate the understanding of colonial traditions in metropolitan schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]