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In this article, I argue that Ennio Flaiano's Tempo di uccidere (A Time to Kill, 1947) is both the first Italian postcolonial novel and a highly complex literary work that should be acknowledged as a major text of twentieth-century literature. I discuss the hermeneutic function of parodic intertextuality in Tempo di uccidere, and its relationship with Dante's Commedia. Tempo di uccidere not only subverts many tenets of neorealism (and may therefore in some respects be compared to Italo Calvino's Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno), but it also exposes the violence inherent in the realist novel as a mode of representation. The article shows how Flaiano highlights hermeneutic issues of misreading, misrepresentation, and the violent erasure of the other, ironically prophesizing its own misreading by critics. Critics and readers have in fact - the article shows - consistently misrepresented, obfuscated, or glossed over the rape and murder of an Ethiopian woman that Flaiano unequivocally places at the centre his text. Tempo di uccidere is a multilevelled, modernist and ultimately postmodernist and allegorical text that - well before Edward Said articulated his own critique - disavows the violence of the realist novel and its complicity with European imperialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is primarily concerned with interconnections between forms of impegno (political engagement) and aesthetic choices, as they were articulated in the literary and cultural journal Officina. In order to reassess the role of Officina within the Italian cultural and political debate of the day, this article considers two main narratives unfolding in the journal: the aesthetic rejection of Novecentismo, understood as the epitome of artistic autonomy, and the articulation of a form of Marxist impegno suitable for a neo-capitalist society and stemming from the class-based idea of the organic intellectual. Using published and unpublished correspondence, we argue that Officina had a pivotal role in producing a theoretical framework for the conceptualisation of a post-neorealist idea of Marxist critical analysis as well as of intellectual, aesthetic and political engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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The article focuses on the Neorealism and avantgarde in view of the socio-politic and cultural transformation brought on by "Economic Boom" in Italy. Roberto Rossellini's film "Open City" and Beppe Fenoglio's autobiographical "I ventitre giorni della città di Alba" epitomizes a new progressive and democratic Italy by producing a unitary and heroic vision of people ravaged by war, yet still dignified in their usual sufferings.

Discusses Carlo Emilio Gadda's second and last novel, "Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana," or "That Awful Mess of Via Merulana," published by Garzanti in 1957. Focus on the novel's ending; Ways in which the novel interlaces with Dante's "Divine Comedy," as well as with Alessandro Manzoni, Roberto Longhi, Virgil and Homer; Nature of Gadda's fascination with Fascism and relationship with Neorealism; Relation between creative and reflective prose; Gender boundaries in the economy of Gadda's literary enterprise.

Melodrama and politics converged in Neorealism, and via melodrama the influence of the movement extended far beyond debates about a more documentary brand of cinematic realism. A comparable convergence held for opera, and in particular for Verdi, a flexible icon of identity politics, whose direct application to the actuality of postwar Italian history was contested by Bertolucci, for one. This article explores Neorealism and opera as identity issues in postwar Italian Cinema, tracing stages of their interrelationship from Roma città aperta via Bertolucci through to La notte di San Lorenzo. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Focuses on the contributions of motion picture director and actor Vittorio De Sica to neorealism, a movement that altered the content and style of motion pictures in Italy. Description of the works of De Sica; Distinction of De Sica from other actor-directors; Family and career background; Career achievements and awards.

The article provides a brief history of neorealism and its underlying principles in Italy. It is noted that neorealism has been described as a trend or movement in Italian art, literature, and cinema. In fact, the term neorealism first appeared in an essay by Arnaldo Bocelli in 1930. The linguistic experimentation of neorealism has reached its zenith after the Second World War. The use and influence of dialectal expressions can be traced back to Emile Zola, Giovanni Pascoli, and Giuseppe Verga. It is noted that neorealist works showed a more or less explicit faith in marxist dialectical conflict, in the inevitability of historical evolution, and in the irresistible power of collective effort.

Provides information on the history of Italian literature. Background on Italian neo-realism; Reputation of Italian literary figure Giovanni Papini; Popularity of literary prizes in Italy.