ITALIAN LITERATURE

the body of written works produced in the Italian language that had its beginnings in the 13th century. Until that time nearly all literary work composed in the Middle Ages was written in Latin. Moreover, it was predominantly practical in nature and produced by writers trained in ecclesiastical schools. Literature in Italian developed later than literature in French and Provenal, the languages of the north and south of France respectively. Only small fragments of Italian vernacular verse before the end of the 12th century have been found (although a number of legal documents contain sections in the vernacular), and surviving 12th- and 13th-century verse reflects French and Provenal influence. the body of written works produced in the Italian language that had its beginnings in the 13th century. A brief account of Italian literature follows. For full treatment, see Italian Literature. Lacking political and administrative cohesion, Italy had a variety of vulgar tongues, ranging from Provenal to Sicilian, that might have replaced Latin as the lingua franca. It was largely due to the genius of Dante Alighieri, author of La divina commedia (c. 131021; The Divine Comedy), that the new literary medium became Tuscan. Thereafter, Giovanni Boccaccio, worldly and traveled, broadened the language's secular appeal, and Francesco Petrarch, with his intellectual gifts, contributed much in refining and elaborating Dante's dolce stil novo (sweet new style). Figures such as the 15th-century humanist Leon Battista Alberti, who insisted that Tuscan was in no way inferior to Latin, helped to sustain Florence's intellectual leadership, while the Venetian Pietro Bembo, credited with producing the first proper Italian grammar, himself championed Tuscan not so much for its intrinsic merits as for the excellence of its literary achievements. With Ludovico Ariosto, Niccol Machiavelli, and Francesco Guicciardini, 16th-century Italian humanistic writings reached a high point. Ariosto is remembered above all for Orlando furioso (1516), the epic poem on which he laboured for 30 years, while Machiavelli and Guicciardini, among many others, reaffirmed the role of Tuscan by employing the vernacular for their celebrated historical and political writings. From the Counter-Reformation, the only major work to have stood the test of time is Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata (1581; Jerusalem Delivered), a narrative poem inspired by the First Crusade. The Age of Enlightenment saw a crisis in the written language, which as the vehicle of a restricted elite had tended over the years to petrify, while the Italian public, using dialect as their first tongue but with an increasing access to education, required an up-to-date literary medium more in tune with the spoken word. The poet Giuseppe Parini and the dramatist Vittorio Alfieri used conventional literary styles, but there were those, such as the 18th-century philosopher and economist Cesare Bonesana Beccaria or the journalist Pietro Giordani, who were giving thought to the creation of a standard vernacular better adapted to modern needs. Yet others, such as the Milanese poet Carlo Porta and, to a lesser degree, the Venetian dramatist Carlo Goldoni, were resorting to regional dialect in the quest for a popular, true-to-life linguistic tool. It was the Romantic Alessandro Manzoni, with his novel I promessi sposi, 3 vol. (182527; The Betrothed), who did more than anyone to forge a new literary idiom, basing it, despite his Milanese birth, on everyday, middle-class Florentine speech. Italian Romanticism inevitably became involved with the patriotic myths of the Risorgimento (Rising Again), and much of the literature produced at this time reflects the political fervour of the age. With the notable exception of Manzoni's poetry and fiction and Giacomo Leopardi's poetry, the bulk of writing is more important for its good intentions and didactic vigour than its literary merit. The sentimental poetry of the Second Romanticism especially helped spark a number of reactive movements. Verismo (realism), for example, was a literary movement inspired by the French naturalists, and it reflected positivist and determinist ideas. The veristi tried to present lifeusually that of the lower classesobjectively and without adornment and to achieve documentary, real-life effects. The greatest exponent of verismo, Giovanni Verga, in his two masterpieces, I malavoglia (1881; The House by the Medlar Tree) and Mastro-don Gesualdo (1889), portrays the victims of social and economic change. Luigi Capuana, the founder of verismo, is best remembered for his dramatic psychological study Il marchese di Roccaverdina (1901; The Marquis of Roccaverdina). In sharp contrast to the veristi stands the flamboyant nationalist and literary virtuoso Gabriele D'Annunzio, who answered his contemporaries' need for a new myth in the prosaic atmosphere of the post-unification era. D'Annunzio is best known for his autobiographical novel Il piacere (1889; The Child of Pleasure), his mature poetry, and his late memoirs. The period marked by the end of World War I witnessed a need to return to traditional stylistic values. However, this understandable need for order not only produced a sterile preoccupation with form but also blended in readily with the stifling of free expression under Fascism. A notable exception to this trend was Luigi Pirandello, who achieved international recognition with his innovative, experimental drama. In his masterworks Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore (1921; Six Characters in Search of an Author) and Enrico IV (1922; Henry IV), Pirandello probes the fluctuating boundaries between reality and appearances, art and life, and sanity and insanity. Italo Svevo in La coscienza di Zeno (1923; The Confessions of Zeno) creates a gem of psychological observation and Jewish humour. Of enduring readability are works by Corrado Alvaro, Dino Buzzati, Carlo Emilio Gadda, and Ignazio Silone. The poets of the earlier part of the 20th century, influenced by the French Symbolists, wrote in an involuted manner, making use of unorthodox structures and a highly subjective language that enabled them to voice their distress obscurely. Known by the name of Ermetismo (Hermeticism), the movement included such names as Eugenio Montale and Giuseppe Ungaretti. Post-World War II literature, which has been imprecisely labeled Neorealist, reflects the influences of verismo, Marxist ideas, and American literature. For their subject matter, writers relied heavily on the unusual experiences of contemporary history. Thus there are Carlo Levi's poetic evocation of Lucania, an impoverished town in the south to which he was exiled by the Fascist regime (Cristo si fermato a Eboli [1945; Christ Stopped at Eboli]); Francesco Jovine's Terre del Sacramento (1950; The Estate in Abruzzi); and Vasco Pratolini's pictures of the Florentine working classes (Il quartiere [1945; The Naked Streets] and Metello ). Because the literary spectrum has become more heterogeneous, it is easiest to view contemporary writers in terms of individual domain. Giorgio Bassani's milieu, for example, is the nostalgic world of Ferrara, with particular emphasis on its Jewish community; Italo Calvino has spun fantastic philosophical tales; Leonardo Sciascia evokes his native Sicily with concerned and scholarly understanding; Natalia Ginzburg's territory is the family, be it her own, an imagined one, or a historical one. This list of authors can readily be lengthened to hold such names as Carlo Cassola, Alberto Moravia, Mario Soldati, Giovanni Arpino, Elsa Morante, and Umberto Eco. 17th-century literature The 17th century in Italian literature was traditionally described as a period of decadence in which writers who were devoid of sentiment resorted to exaggeration and tried to cloak the poverty of their subject matter beneath an exuberance of form. (In this period, it is said, freedom of thought and expression was fettered by the Counter-Reformation, by the political supremacy of Spain, and by the conservatism of the Accademia della Crusca, whose aim it was to ensure the hegemony of Florence by promoting the purity of the Tuscan language. The baroque style of writing was not, however, simply an Italian phenomenon. It was at this time that Gongorism (the ingenious metaphorical style of the poet Luis de Gngora) flourished in Spain and the witty conceits of the Metaphysical poets were popular in England. Far from being exhausted, indeed, this was an extremely vital period, so much so that in the last decades of the 20th century a new and more comprehensive understanding of the literature of the Italian Baroque has been formulated by scholars conversant with the changing attitude toward this phase of civilization in Germany, France, and England. Giovanni Pietro Giorgetti Anthony Oldcorn Poetry and prose The popularity of satire was a reaction against prevailing conditions. Prominent in this genre was the Neapolitan Salvator Rosa, who attacked in seven satires the vices and shortcomings of the age. The Modenese Alessandro Tassoni acquired great fame with La secchia rapita (1622; The Rape of the Bucket), a mock-heroic poem that is both an epic and a personal satire. The most serious poet of the period was Tommaso Campanella, a Dominican friar, who spent most of his adult life in prison as a subversive. Campanella is perhaps less well known for his rough-hewn philosophical verse than for the Citt del sole (1602; Campanella's City of the Sun), a vision of political utopia, in which he advocated the uniting of humanity under a theocracy based on natural religion. The most successful and representative poet during this period was Giambattista Marino, author of a large collection of lyric verse (La lira [160814; The Lyre] and La sampogna [1620; The Syrinx]) and a long mythological poem, Adone (1623), in which the Ovidian myth of the love of Venus and Adonis, told by Shakespeare in 200 stanzas, is inflated by Marino to more than 8,000. Marino derived inspiration from the poetry of the late 16th century, but his aimtypical of the agewas to excite wonder by novelty. His work is characterized by conceits of fantastic ingenuity, far-fetched metaphor, sensuality, extreme facility, and a superb technical skill. His imitators were innumerable, and most 17th-century Italian poets were influenced by his work. Gabriello Chiabrera, soberer in style than Marino, was successful in imitating the metres of classical poetry (especially of the Greek Pindar) and excelled in the composition of musical canzonette (rhymed poems with short lines modeled on the French Pliade's adaptation of the Greek verse form known as the anacreontic). Toward the end of the century a patriotic sonneteer, Vincenzo da Filicaia, and Alessandro Guidi, who wrote exalted odes, were hailed as major poets and reformers of the excesses of the Baroque. Though they retained much of the earlier bombast, their consciousness of the need for rational reform led to the foundation of the Accademia dell'Arcadia. Among prose writers of the period, the satirist Traiano Boccalini stood out with Ragguagli di Parnasso (161213; Advertisements from Parnassus) in the fight against Spanish domination. A history of the Council of Trent (which defined Catholic doctrines in reaction to the Reformation) was written by Paolo Sarpi, an advocate of the liberty of the Venetian state against papal interference, and a history of the rising of the Low Countries against Spain was written by Guido Bentivoglio. The Venetian novels of Girolamo Brusoni are still of interest, as are the travels of Pietro della Valle and the tales of the Neapolitan Giambattista Basile. All the restless energy of this period reached its climax in the work of Galileo, a scientist who laid the foundations of mathematical philosophy and earned a prominent place in the history of Italian literature through the vigour and clarity of his prose. 18th-century developments Reform of the tragic theatre In 1713 Francesco Scipione Maffei, an antiquary of Verona, produced Meropea tragedy that met with great success and pointed the way toward reform of the Italian tragic theatre. Between 1726 and 1747 Antonio Contian admirer of Shakespearewrote four Roman tragedies in blank verse. It was not until 1775 and the success of his Cleopatra, however, that an important Italian tragedian finally emerged in the person of Vittorio Alfieri. In strong contrast with Metastasio's and Paolo Rolli's melodrammilibrettos set to music or sometimes performed as plays in their own rightAlfieri's tragedies are harsh, bitter, and unmelodious. He chose classical and biblical themes, and through his hatred of tyranny and love of liberty he aspired to move his audience with magnanimous sentiments and patriotic fervour. He is at his most profound in Saul (1782) and Mirra (1786). Alfieri's influence in the Romantic period and the Risorgimento was immense, and, like Carlo Goldoni, he wrote an important autobiography, which gives a revealing account of his struggles to provide Italy with a corpus of drama comparable to that of the other European nations. Goldoni's reform of the comedy Metastasio's reform of the operatic libretto was paralleled in the mid-18th century by Goldoni's reform of comedy. Throughout the 17th century the commedia dell'artea colourful pantomime of improvisation, singing, mime, and acrobatics, often performed by actors of great virtuosityhad gradually replaced regular comedy, but by the early 18th century it had degenerated into mere buffoonery and obscenity with stereotyped characters (maschere, masks) and mannerisms. The dialogue was mostly improvised, and the plota complicated series of stage directions, known as the scenariodealt mainly with forced marriages, star-crossed lovers, and the intrigues of servants and masters. Goldoni succeeded in replacing this traditional type of theatre with written works whose wit and vigour are especially evident when the Venetian scene is portrayed in a refined form of the local dialect. Perhaps because of his prolific output his work has sometimes been thought of as lacking in depth. His social observation is acute, however, and his characters are beautifully drawn. La locandiera (1753; The Innkeeper; Eng. trans. Mirandolina), with its heroine Mirandolina, a protofeminist, has things to say about class and the position of women that can still be appreciated today. Goldoni's rival and bitter controversialist, fellow Venetian Carlo Gozzi (the reactionary brother of the more liberal journalist Gasparo), also wrote comedies, satirical verse, and an important autobiography. His Fiabe teatrali (1772; Theatrical Fables) are fantastic and often satirical. Among them are L'amore delle tre melarance (The Love for Three Oranges), later made into an opera by Sergey Prokofiev, and the original Turandot, later set to music by Giacomo Puccini. Additional reading General surveys Histories of Italian literature include Francesco de Sanctis, History of Italian Literature, trans. by Joan Redfern, 2 vol. (1930, reissued 1968; trans. from Italian new ed., 1912), the classic 19th-century interpretation; Robert Anderson Hall, A Short History of Italian Literature (1951); Ernest Hatch Wilkins, A History of Italian Literature, rev. by Thomas G. Bergin (1974); and J.H. Whitfield and J.R. Woodhouse, A Short History of Italian Literature, 2nd ed. (1980). The most reliable guide, however, is Peter Brand and Lino Pertile (eds.), The Cambridge History of Italian Literature, rev. ed. (1999). Hermann W. Haller, The Other Italy: The Literary Canon in Dialect (1999), treats dialect literature. Peter Bondanella, Julia Conaway Bondanella, and Jody Robin Shiffman (eds.), Dictionary of Italian Literature, rev., expanded ed. (1996), is an alphabetically arranged guide to authors, genres, schools, and periods. Also useful is Rinaldina Russell (ed.), Italian Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook (1994). Standard reference works in Italian are Vittore Branca (ed.), Dizionario critico della letteratura italiana, 2nd ed., 4 vol. (1986, reprinted 1992); Enciclopedia della letteratura Garzanti, 3rd ed., updated and enlarged (1997); Marco Drago and Andrea Boroli, L'enciclopedia della letteratura (1997); and Giulio Ferroni, Storia della letteratura italiana, 4 vol. (1991). Poetry anthologies Among the anthologies of Italian poetry in translation, arranged in chronological order of publication, are St. John Lucas (compiler), The Oxford Book of Italian Verse: XIIIth Century - XIXth Century, 2nd ed. rev. (1952, reissued 1968); L.R. Lind (ed.), Lyric Poetry of the Italian Renaissance: An Anthology with Verse Translations (1954, reissued 1976); George R. Kay (ed.), The Penguin Book of Italian Verse (1958, reissued 1972); Thomas G. Bergin (trans.), Italian Sampler: An Anthology of Italian Verse (1964); G. Singh (trans. and compiler), Contemporary Italian Verse (1968); L.R. Lind (ed.), Twentieth Century Italian Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology (1974); Joseph Tusiani (trans. and compiler), From Marino to Marinetti: An Anthology of Forty Italian Poets (1974); Ruth Feldman and Brian Swann (eds.), Italian Poetry Today: Currents and Trends (1979); Alessandro Perosa and John Sparrow (compilers and eds.), Renaissance Latin Verse: An Anthology (1979); Beverly Allen, Muriel Kittel, and Keala Jane Jewell (eds.), Italian Feminist Poems from the Middle Ages to the Present: A Bilingual Anthology (1986); Lawrence R. Smith (ed. and trans.), The New Italian Poetry, 1945 to the Present: A Bilingual Anthology (1981); Adriano Spatola and Paul Vangelisti (eds.), Italian Poetry, 19601980: From Neo to Post Avant-garde (1982); Alessandro Gentili and Catherine O'Brien (eds.), The Green Flame: Contemporary Italian Poetry with English Translations (1987); Hermann W. Haller (compiler and trans.), The Hidden Italy: A Bilingual Edition of Italian Dialect Poetry (1986); Arturo Vivante (compiler and trans.), Italian Poetry: An Anthology from the Beginnings to the Present (1996); and Laura Anna Stortoni (ed. and trans.) and Mary Prentice Lillie (trans.), Women Poets of the Italian Renaissance: Courtly Ladies and Courtesans (1997). Historical periods and authors The 13th century (Duecento): Useful works in English on the 13th century include Dante Gabriel Rossetti (ed. and trans.), Dante and his Circle, with the Italian Poets preceding him (110012001300): A Collection of Lyrics, new ed. (1900, reprinted in 2 vol., 1979); Ezra Pound, The Spirit of Romance (1910, reprinted 1968); C. Dionisotti and C. Grayson (eds.), Early Italian Texts, 2nd ed. (1965); Joseph Tusiani (trans. and compiler), The Age of Dante: An Anthology of Early Italian Poetry (1974); Christopher Kleinhenz, The Early Italian Sonnet: The First Century (12201321) (1986); Frede Jensen (ed. and trans.), The Poetry of the Sicilian School (1986); H. Wayne Storey (Wayne Storey), Transcription and Visual Poetics in the Early Italian Lyric (1993); Frede Jensen (ed. and trans.), Tuscan Poerty of the Duecento: An Anthology (1994); and Peter Dronke, The Medieval Lyric, 3rd ed. (1996). The 14th century (Trecento): The 14th century is the age of three of Italy's greatest writers: Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. Books on these authors will be found in the individual articles devoted to them. Of interest is Louis Green, Chronicle into History: An Essay on the Interpretation of History in Florentine Fourteenth-Century Chronicles (1972); and Aldo S. Bernardo and Anthony L. Pellegrini (eds.), Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio: Studies in the Italian Trecento in Honor of Charles S. Singleton (1983). The 15th century (Quattrocento): Works on the 15th century include David Marsh, The Quattrocento Dialogue: Classical Tradition and Humanist Innovation (1980); Thomas M. Greene, The Light in Troy: Imitation and Discovery in Renaissance Poetry (1982, reprinted 1986); and Martin L. McLaughlin, Literary Imitation in the Renaissance: The Theory and Practice of Literary Imitation in Italy from Dante to Bembo (1995). The 16th century (Cinquecento): Literary studies of the period include Bernard Weinberg, A History of Literary Criticism in the Italian Renaissance, 2 vol. (1961, reprinted 1974); Baxter Hathaway, The Age of Criticism: The Late Renaissance in Italy (1962, reissued 1972); Thomas M. Greene, The Descent from Heaven: A Study in Epic Continuity (1963, reissued 1975); Robert M. Durling, The Figure of the Poet in Renaissance Epic (1965); A. Bartlett Giamatti, The Earthly Paradise and the Renaissance Epic (1966, reissued 1989); Harry Levin, The Myth of the Golden Age in the Renaissance (1969, reissued 1972); Peter V. Marinelli, Pastoral (1971); Renato Poggioli, The Oaten Flute: Essays on Pastoral Poetry and the Pastoral Ideal (1975); Andrew Fichter, Poets Historical: Dynastic Epic in the Renaissance (1982); Peter Hainsworth et al. (eds.), The Languages of Literature in Renaissance Italy (1988); Jon R. Snyder, Writing the Scene of Speaking: Theories of Dialogue in the Late Italian Renaissance (1989).Works on drama, including the commedia dell'arte, are Marvin T. Herrick, Tragicomedy: Its Origin and Development in Italy, France, and England (1955, reissued 1962), Italian Comedy in the Renaissance (1960, reissued 1970), and Italian Tragedy in the Renaissance (1965); K.M. Lea, Italian Popular Comedy: A Study in the Commedia dell'Arte, 15601620, 2 vol. (1934, reissued 1962); Allardyce Nicoll, The World of Harlequin: A Critical Study of the Commedia dell'Arte (1963, reissued 1996); Pierre-Louis Duchartre, The Italian Comedy: The Improvisation, Scenarios, Lives, Attributes, Portraits, and Masks of the Illustrious Characters of the Commedia dell'Arte, trans. by Randolph T. Weaver (1929, reissued with a new pictorial supplement 1966; originally published in French, 1924); Douglas Radcliff-Umstead, The Birth of Modern Comedy in Renaissance Italy (1969); Bruce Penman (ed.), Five Italian Renaissance Comedies (1978); Thomas F. Heck, Commedia dell'Arte: A Guide to the Primary and Secondary Literature (1988); Louise George Clubb, Italian Drama in Shakespeare's Time (1989); Christopher Cairns (ed.), The Commedia dell'Arte from the Renaissance to Dario Fo (1989), and Three Renaissance Comedies (1991), the latter with works by Ariosto, Ruzzante (Beolco), and Aretino; Kenneth Richards and Laura Richards, The Commedia dell'Arte: A Documentary History (1989); and Richard Andrews, Scripts and Scenarios: The Performance of Comedy in Renaissance Italy (1993).The Renaissance in Ferrara, an important centre of literary patronage, is examined in J. Salmons and W. Moretti (eds.), The Renaissance in Ferrara and Its European Horizons (1984), presented in English and Italian; and Edmund G. Gardner, Dukes & Poets in Ferrara: A Study in the Poetry, Religion, and Politics of the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries (1903, reprinted 1972).The impact of printing in Renaissance culture is explored in Paul F. Grendler, The Roman Inquisition and the Venetian Press, 15401605 (1977); Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early Modern Europe, 2 vol. (1979); Brian Richardson, Print Culture in Renaissance Italy: The Editor and the Vernacular Text, 14701600 (1994).Prominent Italian women writers are discussed in Ann Rosalind Jones, The Currency of Eros: Women's Love Lyric in Europe 15401620 (1990); Constance Jordan, Renaissance Feminism: Literary Texts and Political Models (1990); Marilyn Migiel and Juliana Schiesari, Refiguring Woman: Perspectives on Gender and the Italian Renaissance (1991); Juliana Schiesari, The Gendering of Melancholia: Feminism, Psychoanalysis, and the Symbolics of Loss in Renaissance Literature (1992); and Letizia Panizza (ed.), Women in Italian Renaissance Culture and Society (1998). The 17th century (Seicento): Aldo Scaglione and Gianni Eugenio Viola (eds.), The Image of the Baroque (1995), is a collection of essays on the literature of the period. The origins of opera are traced in Robert Donington, The Rise of Opera (1981); Ellen Rosand, Opera in Seventeenth-Century Venice: The Creation of a Genre (1991); David Kimbell, Italian Opera (1991); and F.W. Sternfeld, The Birth of Opera (1993, reissued 1995). Other influential studies in Italian theatre and opera include Glenn Palen Pierce, The Caratterista and Comic Reform from Maggi to Goldoni (1986); Simon Towneley Worsthorne, Venetian Opera in the Seventeenth Century (1954; reprinted 1984); and Andrew Steptoe, The Mozart-Da Ponte Operas: The Cultural and Musical Background to Le nozze de Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Cos fan tutte (1988, reissued 1990). The 18th century (Settecento): A major study of Italian intellectual history in the age of the Enlightenment is Dino Carpanetto and Giuseppe Ricuperati, Italy in the Age of Reason, 16851789 (1987). Sources for further study of the era are Carlo Gozzi, The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi, trans. by John Addington Symonds, 2 vol. (1890); and Giambattista Vico, The Autobiography of Giambattista Vico, trans. from Italian by Max Harold Fisch and Thomas Goddard Bergin (1944, reissued 1975). The subject is also treated in Vernon Lee (pseudonym of Violet Paget), Studies of the Eighteenth Century in Italy, 2nd ed. (1887, reissued 1908). The origins of Romanticism are examined in J.G. Robertson, Studies in the Genesis of Romantic Theory in the Eighteenth Century (1923, reissued 1962). The 19th century (Ottocento): General works include F.W.J. Hemmings (ed.), The Age of Realism (1974, reissued 1978); and Carolyn Springer, The Marble Wilderness: Ruins and Representation in Italian Romanticism, 17751850 (1987). The 20th century (Novecento): General studies include Sergio Pacifici, A Guide to Contemporary Italian Literature: From Futurism to Neorealism (1962, reissued 1972), and The Modern Italian Novel, 3 vol. (196779); Keala Jewell, The Poiesis of History: Experimenting with Genre in Postwar Italy (1992); and Lynn M. Gunzberg, Strangers at Home: Jews in the Italian Literary Imagination (1992).Italian prose fiction of the 20th century is examined in Donald Heiney, Three Italian Novelists: Moravia, Pavese, Vittorini (1968); Sergio Pacifici (ed.), From Verismo to Experimentalism: Essays on the Modern Italian Novel (1969); John Gatt-Rutter, Writers and Politics in Modern Italy (1978); Gregory L. Lucente, The Narrative of Realism and Myth: Verga, Lawrence, Falkner, Pavese (1981), and Beautiful Fables: Self-Consciousness in Italian Narrative from Manzoni to Calvino (1986); Michael Caesar and Peter Hainsworth (eds.), Writers & Society in Contemporary Italy: A Collection of Essays (1984, reissued 1986); Zygmunt G. Baranski and Lino Pertile (eds.), The New Italian Novel (1993, reissued 1997); and Robert S. Dombroski, Properties of Writing: Ideological Discourse in Modern Italian Fiction (1994). The cinematic adaptation of works of prose fiction is treated in Millicent Marcus, Filmmaking by the Book: Italian Cinema and Literary Adaptation (1993). Women's prose is the subject of Bruce Merry, Women in Modern Italian Literature: Four Studies Based on the Work of Grazia Deledda, Alba De Cspedes, Natalia Ginzburg, and Dacia Maraini (1990); Santo L. Aric, Contemporary Women Writers in Italy: A Modern Renaissance (1990); and Sharon Wood, Italian Women's Writing, 18601994 (1995).General studies in 20th-century Italian poetry include Carlo L. Golino (ed.), Contemporary Italian Poetry: An Anthology (1962, reprinted 1976); F.J. Jones, The Modern Italian Lyric (1986); Joseph Cary, Three Modern Italian Poets: Saba, Ungaretti, Montale, 2nd ed. (1993); and Thomas E. Peterson, The Rose in Contemporary Italian Poetry (2000).Books and documents on the Futurist movement are Marianne W. Martin, Futurist Art and Theory, 19091915 (1968, reprinted 1978); Michael Kirby and Victoria Nes Kirby (trans.), Futurist Performance (1971, reissued 1986); Umbro Apollonio (ed. and compiler), Futurist Manifestos (1973; originally published in Italian, 1970); and Felix Stefanile (trans.), The Blue Moustache: Some Futurist Poets (1980). Anthony Oldcorn Literary trends of the 19th century The 19th century was a period of political ferment leading to Italian unification, and many outstanding writers were involved in public affairs. Much of the literature written with a political aim, even when not of intrinsic value, became part of Italy's national heritage and inspired not only those for whom it was written but all who valued freedom. Giovanni Carsaniga Anthony Oldcorn Romanticism Foremost among writers in the early struggles for his country's unity and freedom from foreign domination was Ugo Foscolo, who reconciled passionate feeling with a formal perfection inspired by classical models. His Ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis (1802; The Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis) was an epistolary story, reminiscent of Goethe's Werther, of a young man forced to suicide by frustrated love for both a woman and his fatherland. It was extremely moving and popular, as was a poem, Dei sepolcri (1807; On Sepulchres), in which, in fewer than 300 lines, he wrote lyrically on the theme of the inspiration to be had from contemplating the tombs of the great, exhorting Italians to be worthy of their heritage. This poem influenced the Italian Risorgimento, or national revival, and a passage in which Florence was praised because it preserved in the church of Santa Croce the ashes of Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo is still very popular in Italy. Two odes celebrating the divine quality of beauty, 12 sonnets ranking with the best of Petrarch's and Tasso's, and an unfinished poem, Le grazie (The Graces), also testified to Foscolo's outstanding poetic merit. As an exile in England from 1816 until his death in 1827, he wrote remarkable critical essays on Italian literature for English readers. In Foscolo patriotism and classicism united to form a single fixed passion, but the eclectic Vincenzo Monti was outstanding for mobility of feeling. He saw danger to his country in the French Revolution and wrote Il pellegrino apostolico (1782; The Apostolic Pilgrim) and In morte di Ugo Bassville (1793; The Penance of Hugo), usually known as La bassvilliana; Napoleon's victories aroused his praise in Prometeo (c. 1805; Prometheus), Il bardo della selva nera (1806; The Bard of the Dark Wood), and La spada di Federico II (1806; The Sword of Frederick II); in Il fanatismo and La superstizione (1797) he attacked the papacy; later he extolled the Austrians. Thus every great event made him change his mind, through lack of political conviction, yet he achieved greatness in La bellezza dell'universo (1781; The Beauty of the Universe), in the lyrics inspired by domestic affections, and in a translation of the Iliad, a masterpiece of Neoclassical beauty. The 14th century The literature of 14th-century Italy dominated Europe for centuries to follow and may be regarded as the starting point of the Renaissance. Three names stand out: Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. Sheila Ralphs Anthony Oldcorn Dante Dante Alighieri is one of the most important and influential names in all European literature, but it was only after his exile from his native Florence at age 37 (1302) that he set out to write more ambitious works. Il convivio (c. 130407; The Banquet), revealing his detailed knowledge of scholastic philosophy, though incomplete, was the first great example of a treatise in vernacular prose: its language avoided the ingenuousness of popular writers and the artificiality of the translators from Latin. De vulgari eloquentia (On Vernacular Eloquence), written about the same time, but in Latin, contained the first theoretical discussion and definition of the Italian literary language. Both these works remained unfinished. In a later doctrinal work, also in Latin, De monarchia (written c. 1313; On World Government), Dante expounded his political theories, which demanded the coordination of the two medieval powers, pope and emperor. Dante's genius found its fullest development in his Commedia (written c. 130821; The Divine Comedy), an allegorical poem in terza rima (stanzas of three lines of 11 syllables each, rhyming aba, bcb, cdc, etc.), the literary masterpiece of the Middle Ages and one of the greatest products of any human mind. The central allegory of the poem was essentially medieval, taking the form of a journey through the worlds beyond the grave, with, as guides, the Roman poet Virgil and the lady of the Vita nuova, Beatrice, who symbolize reason and faith, respectively. The poem is divided into three cantiche, or narrative sections: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Each section contains 33 cantos, with the very first canto serving as an overall prologue. Dante, through his experiences and encounters on the journey, gains understanding of the gradations of damnation, expiation, and beatitude, and the climax of the poem is his momentary vision of God. The greatness of the poem lies in its complex imaginative power of construction, inexhaustible wealth of poetry, and continuing significance of spiritual meanings. It is remarkable that Dante's reputation suffered a 400-year eclipse after enjoying immediate popularity. It was revived in the Romantic period, and his work continues to influence modern poets both inside and outside of Italy. The 20th century Gabriele D'Annunzio's nationalism After unification the new Italy was preoccupied with practical problems, and by the early 20th century a great deal of reasonably successful effort had been directed toward raising living standards, promoting social harmony, and healing the split between church and state. It was in this prosaic and pragmatic atmosphere that the middle classesbored with the unheroic and positivist spirit of former decadesbegan to feel the need for a new myth. Thus it is easy to understand how imaginations across the political spectrum came to be fired by the extravagant personality of aesthete Gabriele D'Annunzioman of action, nationalist, literary virtuoso, and (not least) exhibitionistwhose life and art seemed to be a blend of Jacob Burckhardt's complete man and the superman of Friedrich Nietzsche. At a distance from those times, it should be possible to evaluate D'Annunzio more clearly. There is, however, no critical consensus about his writings, although he is generally praised for his autobiographical novel, Il piacere (1889; The Child of Pleasure); for the early books of his poetic Laudi del cielo, del mare della terra e degli eroi (190412; Praises of the Sky, of the Sea, of the Earth and of Heroes), especially the book entitled Alcyone (1903; Halcyon); for the impressionistic prose of Notturno (1921; Nocturne); and for his late memoirs. Benedetto Croce's criticism Although D'Annunzio's fame was worldwide, the function of modernizing intellectual life fell mainly to Benedetto Croce in almost 70 books and in the bimonthly review La Critica (190344). Perhaps his most influential work was his literary criticism, which he expounded and continually revised in articles and books spanning nearly half a century. Croce's beliefs implied condemnation of fascism's ideology, but he was not seriously molested by the fascist regime, and through the darkest days La Critica remained a source of encouragement to at least a restricted circle of freedom-loving intellectuals. Unfortunately, his highly systematized approach to criticism led to a certain rigidity and a refusal to recognize the merits of some obviously important writers, and this was undoubtedly one reason why after World War II his authority waned. His monumental corpus of philosophical, critical, and historical works of great scholarship, humour, and common sense remains, however, the greatest single intellectual feat in the history of modern Italian culture. The Renaissance The age of humanism The European Renaissance (the rebirth of the classical past) really began in 14th-century Italy with Petrarch and Boccaccio. The 15th century, devoid as it was of major poetic works, was nevertheless of very great importance because it was the century in which a new vision of human life, embracing a different conception of man, as well as more modern principles of ethics and politics, gradually found their expression. This was the result, on the one hand, of political conditions quite different from those of previous centuries and, on the other, of the rediscovery of classical antiquity. With regard to the first point, nearly all Italian princes competed with each other in the 15th century to promote culture by patronizing research, offering hospitality and financial support to literary men of the time, and founding libraries. As a consequence, their courts became centres of research and discussion, thus making possible the great cultural revival of the period. The most notable courts were that of Florence, under Lorenzo de' Medici the Magnificent; that of Naples, under the Aragonese kings; that of Milan, first under the Visconti and later the Sforza family; and finally the papal court at Rome, which gave protection and support to a large number of Italian and Byzantine scholars. To return to the second point, the search for lost manuscripts of ancient authors, begun by Petrarch in the previous century, led to an extraordinary revival of interest in classical antiquity: in particular, much research was devoted to ancient philosophy in general and in particular to Plato (Aristotle had been the dominant voice in the Middle Ages), a fact that was to have profound influence on the thinking of the Renaissance as a whole. By and large, the new culture of the 15th century was a revaluation of man. Humanism opposed the medieval view of man as a being with relatively little value and extolled him as the centre of the universe, the power of his soul as linking the temporal and the spiritual, and earthly life as a realm in which the soul applies its powers. These concepts, which mainly resulted from the new interest in Plato, were the subject of many treatises, the most important of which were Giannozzo Manetti's De dignitate et excellentia hominis (completed in 1452; On the Dignity of Man) and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's Oratio de hominis dignitate (written 1486; Oration on the Dignity of Man). The humanist vision evolved during this period condemned many religious opinions of the Middle Ages still widely prevalent: monastic ideals of isolation and noninvolvement in the affairs of the world, for example, were attacked by Leonardo Bruni, Lorenzo Valla, and Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini. Forthright though these attacks were, humanism was not essentially anti-Christian, for it generally remained faithful to Christian beliefs, and the papal court itself regarded humanism as a force to be assimilated rather than defeated. In the first half of the century the humanists, with their enthusiasm for Latin and Greek literature, had a disdain for the Italian vernacular. They wrote for the most part in Latin prose. Their poetic production, inspired by classical models and written mostly in Latin and later Greek, was abundant but at first of little value. Writing in a dead language and closely following a culture to which they had enslaved themselves, they rarely showed originality as poets. Toward the end of the 15th century there were notable exceptions in Giovanni Pontano, Michele Marullo Tarcaniota, Politian (Angelo Ambrogini Poliziano), and Jacopo Sannazzaro. These poets succeeded in creating sincere poetry in which conventional and less conventional themes were expressed with new, original intimacy and fervour. The rise of vernacular literature Toward the middle of the 15th century Italian began to vie with Latin as the literary language. The Certame Coronario, a public poetry competition held in Florence in 1441 with the intention of proving that the spoken Italian language was in no way inferior to Latin, marked a definite change. In the second half of the century there were a number of works of merit written in Italian and inspired either by the chivalric legends of the Middle Ages or by the new humanist culture. The matter of France and the matter of Brittany, which had degenerated into clichs, were given a new lease on life by two poets of very different temperament and education: Matteo Maria Boiardo, whose Orlando innamorato (1483; Orlando in Love) reflected past chivalrous ideals as well as contemporary standards of conduct and popular passions; and Luigi Pulci, whose broadly comic Morgante, published before 1480, was pervaded by a new bourgeois and popular morality. The new ideals of the humanists were most complete in Politian, Jacopo Sannazzaro, and Leon Battista Alberti, three outstanding figures who combined a wid