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Italian Studies Colloquia

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    Laura Goes Burlesque: The Petrarchan Parodies of Francesco Berni
    Tonozzi, Daniel (2006-04-11T18:55:25Z)
    Surely, the critical aspect of Berni's work cannot be ignored. As parody of its poetic predecessors, Berni's poems operate as what Thomas Greene describes as an "engagement of a subtext in a dialectic of affectionate malice." As not only parodic, but burlesque, this malice can at certain times be quite scathing. Berni does in fact himself place his poetic style in direct opposition to highly-stylized standard of Petrarchism: "Io ho un certo stil da muratori," he claims in a capitolo addressed to Ippolito de'Medici. In this work, Berni reflects on his poetic project, claiming eels as his poetic muse and humor as his purpose. He admits to singing the song of a poor shepherd and says he is destined "far versi da boschi e da ville," instead of crafting odes to Achilles. At the same time, however, Berni's poetry does not necessarily operate as an outright usurper of the Petrarchan poetic tradition. Rather than debunk the reigning poetic dowager and replace her with pure innovation, Berni's poetry calls for a reexamination of the Petrarchan original and an appreciation for and engagement of its original interpretive complexity. His jocular work re-identifies a linguistic richness in the original Petrarchan poetry, engages this complexity, and by doing so encourages other poetry to do the same. Thus, contrary to Frantz, Berni's work is in fact as its most fascinating when it utilizes and engages Petrarchan images, not when it deviates from them. Furthermore, that deviation itself is not so much a militant revolution as it is a fundamentalist renewal of faith, causing the reader to return to Petrarch's original words and appreciate their interpretive potential.
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    Italian political cinema: Surveying a once glorious genre in times of anguish
    Testa, Carlo (2006-02-28T20:34:18Z)
    Because in the Entralogos context I will dwell in some detail on the theoretical issues underpinning my interest in literature and culture, in the present pages I shall focus instead on some specific historical aspects of the dialectics between Italian society and Italian cinema. In particular, I shall concentrate on what it has become customary to describe by the term "political cinema," as well as some of its reverberations in a genre not normally associated with it: the "comedy Italian style." The two sections on cinema politico and commedia all'italiana will thus constitute the two main articulations of my argument. However, since I cannot assume a specific familiarity with post-WWII Italy among the interdisciplinary community of my readers, I shall introduce those two mini-chapters by a prologue presenting, in broad strokes, the relevant socio-historical context of the peninsula. At the end, I shall return to considerations of a more general cultural import about the challenges of the times in which we live.
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    Teorie dell'avanguardia tra materialismo e idealismo
    Righi, Andrea (2006-02-16T16:22:00Z)
    The paper's opening paragraph follows: È ormai opinione unanime nella critica mettere in relazione diretta l'avvento della moderna società capitalista con la nascita delle avanguardie. (tra gli altri Asor Rosa 2004: 43; Bürger 1990: XI; Calinescu 1977; 96; Curi 2001: 106; Ferroni 1996: 117-118; Murphy 1999: 6; Mann 1991: 7; Poggioli 1962: 124; Rossi-Landi 1994: 104 Russell 1985: 5) Questo è l'orizzonte discorsivo che prendo in considerazione. In generale, sembra legittimo affermare anche che l'avanguardia coglie e rielabora le contraddizioni del capitale prima elencate. Storicamente tende ad un universalismo che supera le mere connotazioni nazionali. Questo è valido sia per quanto riguarda gli obiettivi pragmatici delle varie poetiche – si veda l'idea di "alfabeto stellare" di Velemir Chlebnikov (1885-1922) – sia per la dimensione transnazionale degli stessi movimenti – il surrealismo, ad esempio, contamina vari sistemi letterari dell'Europa continentale, fino alle isole Canarie e all'America Latina. (Morelli 1998: 183-208) L'avanguardia inoltre si confronta e a volte assimila l'impatto sociale e antropologico dell'innovazione tecnologia. Secondo la prospettiva dei rispettivi movimenti, a volte ne assume in pieno il carattere migliorista – è il caso della "modernolatria marinettiana" (Sanguineti 2001: 36) – a volte, le oppone un rifiuto integrale, denuncia l'alienazione che ha cancellato il sogno di un'epoca più piena – è il caso dell'espressionismo di Georg Trakl (1887-1914). Infine, ma questa è una caratteristica che taglia diagonalmente l'arte moderna, la produzione e il recupero del nuovo passa attraverso una distruzione necessaria della tradizione artistica preesistente – tra i tanti possibili esempi, citerei la veemenza della polemica anti-passatista dei futuristi.