IL CINGHIALETTO

2020

Sketches by Erik Flatmo

English translation and text by Jeanna Lucci Canapari

Sketches for an English translation of the Italian short story, "Il Cinghialetto," by Grazia Deledda (b. Nuoro, Sardinia, 1871; d. Rome, 1936). The story was published in 1912 as part of a collection of short stories by Deledda, Chiaroscuro. 

We are working on an illustrated English translation of this story, which follows the life of a young wild boar in Sardinia as he moves from the freedom of his birthplace in the mountains, to captivity among people. During his journey, he meets a young, poor boy, Pascaleddu, in whom he finds a kindred spirit as he finds himself alone in the human world, increasingly walled off from the gentle wilderness into which he was born. The story captures the peril and violence that all of us face -  and that Italy faced - as our attachment to the material world takes us over. 

We first read this story as part of an Italian literature class at the University of Padua in 1996, and it never left us. This gallery is a work in progress -  a storyboard, full of moving parts that we are fitting together as we move toward our finished work. 

Visit our Instagram @ilcinghialetto to follow our progress.