Title Italian literature of the Axis War : memories of self-absolution and the quest for responsibility / Guido Bartolini

Published Cham : Palgrave Macmillan, [2021]

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Description 1 online resource (xii, 263 pages) Series Italian and Italian American studies Italian and Italian American studies (Palgrave Macmillan (Firm)) Contents 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 Summary 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. 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. Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject Italian literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism World War, 1939-1945 -- Literature and the war. World War, 1939-1945 -- Italy Collective memory and literature -- Italy Collective memory and literature Italian literature War and literature Italy Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. Form Electronic book ISBN 9783030631819 3030631818

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