This book investigates the representation of the Axis War the wars of aggression that Fascist Italy fought in North Africa, Greece, the Soviet Union, and the Balkans, from 1940 to 1943 in three decades of Italian literature. Building on an innovative and interdisciplinary methodology, which combines memory studies, historiography, thematic criticism, and narratology, this book explores the main topoi, themes, and masterplots of an extensive corpus of novels and memoirs to assess the contribution of literature to the reshaping of Italian memory and identity after the end of Fascism. By exploring the influence that public memory exercises on literary depictions and, in return, the contribution of literary texts to the formation and dissemination of a discourse about the past, the book examines to what extent Italian literature helped readers form an ethical awareness of the crimes committed by members of their national community during World War II.

Represents the first in-depth study of Italian literature about World War II written in the three decades after 1945 Builds on an innovative interdisciplinary methodology, combining memory studies, historiography, thematic criticism, and narratology Explores the influence of public memories of the past on literary depiction, and the contribution of literary texts to the formation of such memory discourses

Autorentext

Guido Bartolini is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University College Cork, Ireland, where he works on the cultural memory of fascism and its representation in Italian literature and cinema.

Klappentext

This book investigates the representation of the Axis War the wars of aggression that Fascist Italy fought in North Africa, Greece, the Soviet Union, and the Balkans, from 1940 to 1943 in three decades of Italian literature. Building on an innovative and interdisciplinary methodology, which combines memory studies, historiography, thematic criticism, and narratology, this book explores the main topoi, themes, and masterplots of an extensive corpus of novels and memoirs to assess the contribution of literature to the reshaping of Italian memory and identity after the end of Fascism. By exploring the influence that public memory exercises on literary depictions and, in return, the contribution of literary texts to the formation and dissemination of a discourse about the past, the book examines to what extent Italian literature helped readers form an ethical awareness of the crimes committed by members of their national community during World War II.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. Memory: Theory, History, and Media.- 3. Topoi of Innocence.- 4. Themes of a Lost War.- 5. Masterplots of Sacrifice and Conversion.- 6. The Quest for Responsibility.- 7. Conclusion.<p