ItalianistPub Date : 2020-05-03DOI: 10.1080/02614340.2020.1737427
A. Sbragia
{"title":"The Spectacular Commodification of Rome in Paolo Sorrentino’s La grande bellezza","authors":"A. Sbragia","doi":"10.1080/02614340.2020.1737427","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02614340.2020.1737427","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This essay explores the postmodern image economy with regard to the depiction of Rome as a global city of the spectacle in Paolo Sorrentino’s La grande bellezza. It argues that an incongruity exists between the director’s auteurist and modernist aspirations to offer a film on Rome that provides depth models of beauty and truth while employing commodifying postmodernist film strategies and techniques of enchantment by spectacle. In other words, how does Sorrentino’s representation of Rome as a beautiful eternal city, a space not just overloaded but purposely overcoded with traces of the past, enter into dialogue with Rome as the seat of the debased and banalised image regime of our contemporary society of the spectacle first delineated by Guy Debord? Fellini is used as a point of comparison to investigate how Sorrentino grapples with similar dilemmas but in a substantially more advanced postmodern image regime of commodification involving advertising aesthetics, heritage filmmaking, and a diminished sense of historical immediacy.","PeriodicalId":42720,"journal":{"name":"Italianist","volume":"40 1","pages":"276 - 295"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/02614340.2020.1737427","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46401792","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ItalianistPub Date : 2020-05-03DOI: 10.1080/02614340.2020.1790276
A. O’leary, Dana Renga
{"title":"Teaching Italian Film and Television and Videographic Criticism","authors":"A. O’leary, Dana Renga","doi":"10.1080/02614340.2020.1790276","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02614340.2020.1790276","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42720,"journal":{"name":"Italianist","volume":"40 1","pages":"296 - 309"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/02614340.2020.1790276","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48523493","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ItalianistPub Date : 2020-05-03DOI: 10.1080/02614340.2020.1747017
Matteo Gilebbi
{"title":"Posthuman/transhuman. An inquiry into Gabriele Salvatores’ Nirvana","authors":"Matteo Gilebbi","doi":"10.1080/02614340.2020.1747017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02614340.2020.1747017","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This essay traces the main differences between transhumanism and posthumanism and brings forward a more coherent definition of both theories by analysing the presence and interplay of transhuman and posthuman elements in Gabriele Salvatores’ 1997 film Nirvana. It argues that the artificial enhancement of the human body represented in the film – which is at the core of the transhuman condition – clashes with a cyberpunk world inhabited by characters who have displaced their superiority and exceptionalism. In other words, Salvatores depicts transhuman bodies in a posthuman condition, which can help us clarify the distinction between the two concepts.","PeriodicalId":42720,"journal":{"name":"Italianist","volume":"40 1","pages":"180 - 189"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/02614340.2020.1747017","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41572465","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ItalianistPub Date : 2020-05-03DOI: 10.1080/02614340.2020.1761109
S. Bondavalli
{"title":"Broadcasting Human–Animal Friendship: RAI Television’s I nostri amici and Early Italian Ecodocumentaries","authors":"S. Bondavalli","doi":"10.1080/02614340.2020.1761109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02614340.2020.1761109","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The article outlines the ambivalent position occupied by documentary cinema in the representation of Italian landscapes, and introduces the role played by television documentaries in popularising nascent environmental discourse in the 1960s. Never fully disentangled from the legacy of the picturesque aesthetic dominating visual representations of Italy since the eighteenth century, and often constrained by the limitations of institutional sponsorship, film documentaries provided both the mainstream and alternative discourses on the country’s modernisation and environmental health. Multi-episode inchieste produced by RAI television in the 1960s renovated the documentary form and contributed to the nation-building discourse that was central to the public television mission, but also provided a space for reflection on the downside of modernisation. The case study focuses on the series I nostri amici: Inchiesta sulla fauna in Italia (Palombelli, Prola, Prosperi 1963). Reconciling the timeless notion of Italy’s sacred beauty and modern utilitarian ideas about natural resources, this documentary encourages viewers to enjoy nature in new ways. Salvaging endangered ecosystems from oblivion, denouncing the most destructive practices, and showing humane ways to relate to animals, I nostri amici educates viewers to an environmentally conscious appreciation of Italian landscapes.","PeriodicalId":42720,"journal":{"name":"Italianist","volume":"40 1","pages":"190 - 202"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/02614340.2020.1761109","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47226965","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ItalianistPub Date : 2020-04-21DOI: 10.1080/02614340.2020.1727719
D. Antolini
{"title":"Italian Cinema(s) Abroad - Conference Report","authors":"D. Antolini","doi":"10.1080/02614340.2020.1727719","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02614340.2020.1727719","url":null,"abstract":"The two-day conference ‘Italian Cinema(s) Abroad’ took place on 22 and 23 March 2019 at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. This conference was organised through a joint effort by The Ohio...","PeriodicalId":42720,"journal":{"name":"Italianist","volume":"40 1","pages":"310 - 315"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/02614340.2020.1727719","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41519508","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ItalianistPub Date : 2020-03-30DOI: 10.1080/02614340.2020.1725732
R. Vignati
{"title":"Tra Pinocchio e Lucignolo: Gian Carlo Fusco e il cinema","authors":"R. Vignati","doi":"10.1080/02614340.2020.1725732","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02614340.2020.1725732","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT From the 50s to the 70s Gian Carlo Fusco was one of the most significant Italian journalists. In recent years, his writings are the subject of a rediscovery, even if the critical examination often does not go beyond the superficiality of his public figure. His cinematographic collaborations, in particular, are almost unknown. They are only considered from an anecdotal point of view. This article examines a part of Fusco's screenplays. It starts with Le avventure di Pinocchio; it examines the collaboration with Tinto Brass (considering also some unrealized projects); and finally the films concerning fascism and the Second World War, one of the most recurring topics of interest for Fusco. Although the film commitments have been very often dictated by random and contingent circumstances, they reveal a tension that is fundamental in the life and work of Fusco. On the one hand, the attraction for “dissipation” (dépense). On the other hand, the feeling of sympathy for the “dark men” (uomini oscuri) and their daily toil.","PeriodicalId":42720,"journal":{"name":"Italianist","volume":"40 1","pages":"256 - 275"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/02614340.2020.1725732","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49614338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ItalianistPub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02614340.2020.1787658
K. Travers
{"title":"‘Sono masochista?’: Patrizia Valduga’s Lezione d’amore and the Poetics of Masochism","authors":"K. Travers","doi":"10.1080/02614340.2020.1787658","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02614340.2020.1787658","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In Lezione d'amore (2004), Patrizia Valduga voices a woman, who suggests she is a masochist, and her male partner as they progress through their sexual encounters. This essay makes three claims: first, reading the collection alongside the work of Jack Halberstam and Kaja Silverman, I argue that Lezione d'amore instrumentalises the voice of the male partner/‘torturer' in telling the masochist's story. Secondly, the collection exposes the power of clichés surrounding masochism, challenging Deleuze's literary aesthetics of sadism and masochism through form and language. Thirdly, Valduga implicitly parallels the masochistic speaker – who paradoxically cedes power in order to gain it – with the position of the poet herself, who claims to speak from a position of lesser authority, only then to insert herself amongst the greats of the Western canon. Lezione d’amore represents a woman subject who submits to the cultural and physical force of masochistic play – and invites us to watch.","PeriodicalId":42720,"journal":{"name":"Italianist","volume":"40 1","pages":"103 - 121"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/02614340.2020.1787658","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42718202","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ItalianistPub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02614340.2020.1736370
Giulia Gaimari
{"title":"Dante’s Notion of ‘discrezione’ in Convivio I. xi","authors":"Giulia Gaimari","doi":"10.1080/02614340.2020.1736370","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02614340.2020.1736370","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This essay explores Dante’s notion of ‘discrezione’ in Convivio I. xi, with the aim of highlighting the syncretic nature of the concept. It argues that Dante’s discretion (from Latin discretio) relies upon both Aristotle and Cicero’s ethical thought, thus reflecting the fluidity and the harmonising potential of the intellectual and civic culture in which Dante was immersed. This reading is thus situated within current discussion of Dante’s intellectual formation within Florence, and beyond. It especially focuses on the mediating role played by Brunetto Latini’s Tresor in relation to Dante’s encounter with Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics alongside Stoic traditions. This study also brings to light the ambivalence, and even rivalry, that seems to characterise Dante’s relationship to his older master, after the poet’s exile from Florence.","PeriodicalId":42720,"journal":{"name":"Italianist","volume":"40 1","pages":"1 - 18"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/02614340.2020.1736370","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44066753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ItalianistPub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02614340.2020.1738122
Cecilia Schwartz
{"title":"Ferrante Feud: The Italian Reception of the Neapolitan Novels before and after their International Success","authors":"Cecilia Schwartz","doi":"10.1080/02614340.2020.1738122","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02614340.2020.1738122","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article analyses the Italian reviews of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, published in the years 2011–2014. The focus of the study is twofold: first of all, it examines how Ferrante’s works have been assessed in the Italian press, and secondly, it investigates whether the Italian reception of the works has been influenced by their international – and especially American – success. Drawing on previous studies of the evaluation of female writing by Anna Williams, Stefania Lucamante, and Tiziana de Rogatis, the analysis emphasises how Italian critics in a selection of reviews published in newspapers, literary magazines, and collective blogs have approached Ferrante’s writing from the perspective of style, content, genre, and literary contextualisation. The analysis shows that the reception of the first two parts of Ferrante’s quartet has striking similarities to the patronising patterns uncovered by Williams, while the reviews after the international success are more appreciative. These results are also discussed with regard to literary consecration and canonisation by highlighting how Ferrante is addressed in recent books on contemporary Italian literature.","PeriodicalId":42720,"journal":{"name":"Italianist","volume":"40 1","pages":"122 - 142"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/02614340.2020.1738122","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48149905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ItalianistPub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02614340.2020.1785705
L. Parisi
{"title":"Maria Venturi e Lorenza Ghinelli: un ottimismo incauto?","authors":"L. Parisi","doi":"10.1080/02614340.2020.1785705","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02614340.2020.1785705","url":null,"abstract":"SOMMARIO Tra il 1987 e il 2017 Maria Venturi e Lorenza Ghinelli, autrici di grande successo commerciale, hanno scritto molte storie sull’abuso sessuale dei minori. In alcuni casi hanno mostrato una seria comprensione degli aspetti dannosi di una simile esperienza, ma in altri casi l’hanno descritta in modi che ne attenuano la traumaticità. Questo articolo riconosce l’aspetto incoraggiante che le storie di eventi dolorosi possono avere; segnala la difficoltà di trovare quell’aspetto nelle storie di abuso sessuale; sostiene che un incoraggiamento efficace non può essere trovato a spese di una rappresentazione realistica; e nota l’insolito valore che la verosimiglianza assume allora come criterio valutativo delle storie di abuso sessuale.","PeriodicalId":42720,"journal":{"name":"Italianist","volume":"40 1","pages":"102 - 84"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/02614340.2020.1785705","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43588615","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}