“Monasteri neri”: letteratura ungherese e italiana e scrittura popolare nella Prima Guerra Mondiale

Abstract

The paper “Black Monasteries”: Hungarian and Italian Literature and Popular Writing in the First World War analyzes War literature and the directly related literature about internment camps, both relating to the First World War, which had a different development in Hungary and Italy; however, similar features can be found in them. Regarding these aspects, this essay examines some works, starting from the Black Monastery [Fekete kolostor] by Aladár Kuncz and other novels and “reportage novels” (Siberian garrison [Szibériai garnizon], by Rodion Markovits) of the same period. Their characteristic traits are peculiar and common with Italian works (i.e. Un anno sull’altipiano, by Emilio Lussu, Taccuino di Caporetto, by Carlo Emilio Gadda), while the final part of the essay concerns popular writing and its role in the literature, based on the experience in internment camps and war literature through studies and research that focus on the correspondence with families and friends of soldiers and internees from many European countries.