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Th is article analyses the representation of the pandemic in modern and con- temporary literature, according to a thematological perspective. It aims to show the way in which the motives of guilt and destiny are inevitably mixed, through some declinations of the theme proposed by great writers – from Defoe to Camus, from Saramago to Philip Roth.

Recensione del volume Questo è domani. Gioventù, cultura e rabbia nel Regno Unito. 1956-1967 di Silvia Albertazzi.

This essay briefly presents the main issues raised in the “Literature and Visual Culture” section of Lea journal (2019 and 2020). In particular, the main reflections on ékphrasis, iconotexts, iconisms and scopic regimes are discussed again, and a paradigmatic sampling of theories (from W.J.T. Mitchell to G. Boehm, from Cometa to Purgar) is reconsidered in the light of the essays collected

The “Argus Complex” expresses a pathological desire to “see it all”, and to make everything accessible to sight. According to WJT Mitchell, this complex perfectly defines and affects our present-day condition. In the current interview with Federico Fastelli, the father of visual culture studies explains his theorizing about the imagetext and metapicture concepts. He reflects on the contemporary political and social situation as well.

Il saggio ricostruisce il dibattito tra Edoardo Sanguineti e il comitato editoriale di Tel Quel, in occasione della décade di Cerisy La Salle del 1963. Le due posizioni, molto distanti all’epoca, si riavvicineranno molto negli anni immediatamente successivi, anche per le questioni politicamente urgenti poste dal movimento studentesco del 1968. Comuni risulteranno, infine, l’adesione al marxismo-leninismo e la teorizzazione sopra il pensiero di Mao Tse-tung.

L'articolo analizza il celebre romanzo L'Adversaire (2000) di Emmanuel Carrère e ne discute le strategie retoriche, in contrapposizione con il modello per eccellenza del romanzo non-finzionale, ovverosia In Cold Blood di Truman Capote. Tale confronto si apre ad una riflessione più generale sul cosiddetto non-fiction novel, e sul rapporto ambiguo che si intrattiene in esso tra realtà e finzione, nonché tra verità e falsità.

The essay analyses the essential role of photography in Visual Poetry experimentation, with specific reference to the European context. It aims to exemplify the complexity and aesthetic relevance of this kind of works within the twentieth-century phototexts. It also studies the relations between Visual Poetry and the methodological acquisitions of visual culture studies. In this sense, a paradigmatic sampling of authors (L. Pignotti, L. Ori, E. Miccini, L. Marcucci) is proposed. In them, photography represents, through a constant dialectic with verbal language and pictorial sign, a construction that is a sort of interlingua or super-language to be opposed to advertising.

This article analyses some theoretical aspects of so called “concrete poetry”. It aims to exemplify the complexity and aesthetic importance of this kind of work within twentieth-century iconotexts. It also studies the relations between concrete poetry and the methodological acquisitions of Visual Cultural Studies. In this sense, a paradigmatic sampling of authors (Belloli, Mon, Gomringer, Kolár, Pignatari, Rühm, Williams) is proposed, and the main reflections of poetics both of European concrete poets and of the Brazilian “Noigandres” group are discussed.

The essay is inspired by the consideration of the essentially ancipient nature of the screen as an image support: on the one hand the screen is something that hides, protects and separates; on the other hand, especially in recent modernity, it becomes the device par excellence of the opening of vision, and therefore the essential frame of the image. Through some famous twentieth-century examples, taken from W. Woolrich (It Had to be Murder), A. Robbe-Grillet (Le voyeur, La Jalousie), Gombrowicz (Pornografia, Cosmo), A. Moravia (L’uomo che guarda), the essay shows the function and evolution of the literary representation of what V. Stoichita called, referring to figurative art and cinema, “Sherlock effect”.

This essay briefly summarizes the state of art on research about the relationship between Visual Culture and Literary Studies. It aims to exemplify the main critical consequences the methodological acquisitions of visual culture studies could bring on the literary discourse. In this sense, the main reflections on ékphrasis, iconotexts, iconisms and scopic regimes are discussed, and a paradigmatic sampling of theories (from W.J.T. Mitchell to G. Boehm) is proposed.

O ensaio discute a interpretação original de Giorgio Agamben sobre a obra do escritor italiano Antonio Delfini. Em particular, o ensaio analisa a centralidade da reflexão poética de Delfini no sistema estético agambeniano: a intransigência antimoderna de Delfini é, de fato, ligada por Agamben a uma reflexão geral sobre a natureza da palavra poética e relativa às mutações históricas da complexa relação entre obra e biografia na cultura literária ocidental. Nesse sentido, o ensaio reflete sobre o paralelo identificado por Agamben entre o significado profundo do conto Il ricordo della Basca e a ideia de uma “pura língua” pré-babelica falada por Benjamin em seu famoso trabalho na Tarefa do tradutor e em muitas outras ocasiões. Serão examinados também outros textos do escritor de Môdena, principalmente da produção em versos, escolhidos na coletânea Poesie della fine del mondo, del prima e del dopo; mas a reflexão não deixará de lado também os diários e as cartas de Delfini, buscando oferecer um panorama amplo de sua produção.

L’intervento discute l’originale interpretazione avanzata da Giorgio Agamben a proposito dell’opera dello scrittore italiano Antonio Delfini. In particolare il saggio analizza la centralità della riflessione poetica di Delfini nel sistema estetico agambeniano: l’intransigenza antimoderna di Delfini, infatti, è ricollegata da Agamben ad una riflessione generale sulla natura della parola poetica e relativamente alle mutazioni storiche del complesso rapporto tra opera e biografia nella cultura letteraria occidentale. In tal senso, il saggio riflette sul parallelo individuato da Agamben tra il significato profondo del racconto Il ricordo della Basca e l’idea di una “pura lingua” pre-babelica di cui parla Benjamin nel celebre intervento sul Compito del traduttore e in numerose altre occasioni. Saranno presi in esame anche altri testi dello scrittore modenese, principalmente dalla produzione in versi, tratti dalla raccolta Poesie della fine del mondo, del prima e del dopo; ma la riflessione non tralascerà anche i diari e le lettere di Delfini, cercando di offrire un ampio panorama della sua produzione.

This article considers the work of visual-poetry artist and poet Lucia Marcucci. It aims to exemplify the complexity and aesthetic importance of her works. Mischievous irony, political awareness and the unending need for experimentation are but a few of the main qualities of Marcucci’s work identified here. Combined, they entitle this Tuscan artist to be considered one of the masters of her artistic and literary era.

This article presents literature as a vital and irreplaceable form of human culture. It does so by discussing various prominent works by Gruppo 70, which already by 1963 had conceptualized literary conscience as beyond literature per se. Scurati declared that the necessary broadening of the literary field emerged from the conviction that our literary conscience “is, today, largely integrated, if not mostly integrated, by the use of works which are not mediated by written words”. On the other hand, Lamberto Pignotti’s presentation at the “Art and Communication” symposium (May 1963) underlined how “avant-garde after avant-garde” represented the only survival option for literature in a neo-capitalist society. This article starts from this discussion to analyse the clash between a “closed literature” definition – whereby aesthetic differences imply meaning and value – and an “open literature” definition – literature as a vital and irreplaceable form of human culture. It does so by discussing various prominent works by Gruppo 70.