Servant of Two Masters Series: World Literature for Children Title: Servant of Two Masters Original Author: Carlo Goldoni Retold by:Barbara Kindermann Artist: Claudia Carls Extent: 36 pp, 4/c throughout Format: 220 x 300 mm Pub. price: EUR 15,50 Pub. date: October 2007 German ISBN: 978-3-934029-16-3 Ages: 7 and up Material available: German review copy

THE STORY:

Truffaldino is a funny fellow who tries to make a living as a servant in the city of Venice. His first master is in fact a woman, disguised as a man in search of her lover Florindo. She pays poorly. So Truffaldino secretly takes on a second job, this time as servant of the very same Florindo. And thus begins a series of charming confusions ... - up to the very happy end. Kindermann´s retold version of Goldoni´s masterpiece allowes a welcome introduction to the genre Commedia dell ´arte.

THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR:

Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793) is considered an important reformer of the Italian Commedia dell´arte. In his comedies he took over the traditional characters but turned them into realistic personages, still following the principles of the comedy-genre. He replaced the improvised dialogues with real life and petty bourgeois story lines. Despite of impressive triumphs as playwright in Venice and Paris, he died 86 years old as a poor man. “Servant of Two Masters“ is his most popular piece.

THE ARTIST:

Claudia Carls, born in 1978 in Hamburg, has studied illustration and communications design at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) from 1999–2006. Since then she has been working as a freelance illustrator and artist. Her works have been exhibited several times, for example at the Book Fairs in Leipzig 2006 and Bologna 2007.