19 research outputs found
Italian Adult Comics in Sweden in the 1980s and 1990s
No full textThe object of this paper is to present and analyze the main features of the extensive publication of Italian adult comics in Sweden in the 1980s and 1990s. Bibliographic and quantitative research has been conducted in order to supplement the bibliography of the Italian literature in Sweden compiled by Schwartz (2013). The results allowed for the conclusion that comics constituted a very significant share of translated Italian literature of the period, and the importance of individual publishers was higher in this segment. Making use of key concepts of Bourdieu, it is shown that adult comics in Sweden were assigned low cultural value compared to Italy. After a brief comparison of the situation of adult comics in both countries, regarding the role of mediators and the issue of cultural legitimacy, it is argued that this cultural transfer eventually led to a clash that culminated with the Freedom of the Press trial against Pox magazine. For a number of reasons, adult comics in Sweden have never achieved a sufficient level of cultural legitimacy and have remained on the margins of the cultural scene. The difficulties faced by Italian adult comics in Sweden are illustrated by a brief analysis of the reception of An Author in Search of Six Characters by Milo Manara (1992)
Matilde Serao in Sweden. A Voice of "The New Italy"
No full textThis chapter examines the contemporary reception of Matilde Serao's works in Swedish newspapers from 1885 to the first years of the twentieth century. This analysis provides a historical background for understanding why Serao's masterpiece Il paese di cuccagna (1891) was translated in Swedish as early as 1892. In fact, Serao was already known to the Swedish public through the activity of C.D. af Wirsén, an important conservative critic who reviewed her original work and contributed to establishing Serao's reputation as a major contemporary author. Furthermore, examination of recently digitalized Swedish newspapers shows that Serao's short stories were published on at least twenty occasions from 1888 to 1897. These anonymous translations can be attributed with a high degree of probability to the pen of Ellen Lundberg-Nyblom, the translator of Il paese di cuccagna. Swedish reviewers greeted Serao as a master of vivid description and an insightful painter of human passions. At the same time, the fact that Serao, being a woman, was professionally active as a journalist and a newspaper editor attracted attention of Swedish media, transforming the Neapolitan author into a public figure known to a broader audience.Ce chapitre traite de la réception des œuvres de Matilde Serao dans les journaux suédois, de 1885 aux premières années du xxe siècle. Avant la traduction de son chef-d’œuvre Il paese di Cuccagna (1891) dès 1892, Serao était déjà connue en Suède grâce au critique C.D. af Wirsén, qui l’a présentée comme une autrice contemporaine de premier plan. Les traductions anonymes des nouvelles de Serao, publiées entre 1888 et 1897 et attribuées ici à Ellen Lundberg-Nyblom, ont joué un rôle tout aussi important.</p
Il realismo di Matilde Serao tra la passione del gioco e "l'isola di cuccagna"
No full textThe problem of lottery gambling has been treated continually by Matilde Serao both in her journalistic and narratives works, especially in connection with the Neapolitan identity. In this article I analyze how her major novel, Il paese di cuccagna, depicts the lottery as a locus of interaction between the modernity of a state institution and the archaic Mediterranean identity, or between the reality of a phenomenon governed by laws of probability and the collective imagination dominated by faith in miracle. The narrative representation of this “malady of the spirit”, as it was defined by Serao, can sometimes go beyond the realist conventions and be submitted to didactic purposes. At the same time, the collective imagination staged by the author seems to harbour a mythical substratum, a miraculous land of Cockaigne, that can be read as a realization of the pleasure principle at the expense of the reality principle. This utopian state of abundance represented by Serao, can be identified in one of her short stories, Trenta per cento, in which the whole city of Naples is transformed in “an immense Gargantuan feast” for a short while.Il problema del lotto, centrale nella produzione saggistica e giornalistica di Matilde Serao è stato ugualmente oggetto di rappresentazione narrativa nelle sue opere, particolarmente in relazione all’identità napoletana. In questo articolo si propone una lettura del suo romanzo principale, Il paese di cuccagna, in cui il lotto può essere visto come un punto d’interazione tra la modernità di un’istituzione statale e l’arcaica identità mediterranea, tra la concretezza di un fenomeno gestito dalle leggi di probabilità e l’immaginazione collettiva, dominata dalla fede nel miracolo. La rappresentazione di questa “malattia dello spirito”, come la definisce Serao, può talvolta uscire dai limiti del realismo per essere sottoposta ai fini didattici. Nello stesso tempo, nell’immaginario collettivo messo in scena dalla scrittrice, si può identificare un sottofondo mitico, il miracoloso paese di cuccagna, che può essere letto come una realizzazione del principio di piacere a scapito del principio di realtà. Quest’utopico stato di abbondanza rappresentato da Serao, può essere identificato in un altro racconto, Trenta per cento, in cui la città di Napoli si trasforma momentaneamente in “un immenso banchetto di Gargantua”.</p
Umberto Eco in Svezia. Alcuni aspetti della ricezione
No full textL’intervento analizza la ricezione svedese dell’opera di Umberto Eco dal 1981 al 2010. Prima si traccia un quadro della letteratura italiana in Svezia dal punto di vista quantitativo, il quale rivela un fortissimo interesse per la narrativa e la saggistica dello scrittore nella stampa svedese. Poi, l’analisi delle recensioni si concentra su due “problemi di lettura”: la difficoltà di scegliere il corretto contesto di interpretazione per i romanzi e la loro resistenza ai tentativi di classificazione univoca in vari generi letterari. Infine, si prende in esame la saggistica del semiologo italiano, il cui carattere enciclopedico e “filomoderno” ha trovato ampio consenso presso il pubblico svedese. </p
Il simbolo scomodo. La figura di Caravaggio nella letteratura italiana
No full textIn recent years, the art of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610)has been the subject of growing number of publication, both scientific and narrative. The current article examines a sample of literary texts in order to identify the crucial elements in the construction of the complicated figure of the artist in the Italian contest.The analysis of the texts allows to conclude that the image of Caravaggio and his art have gradually changed, while a number of elements remained the same. Caravaggio’s contemporary poets dedicated lyrics mostly to the paintings belonging to the first half ofhis career, while for later generations, the artist’s name is connectedto the realism and the dramatic use of light of his religious subjects. Caravaggio’s oeuvre was rediscovered during the twentieth century and modern writers like Gadda, Pasolini and Volponi were able to recognize themselves in the realistic, disturbing and carnal art of the early seventeenth century which was also a period of crisis and profound social and cultural change. Later, the writers get more interestedin the dramatic and adventurous life of the artist, discussed vividly by his early biographers. The selection of texts analyzed in a more extensive way include works by Andrea Camilleri, Dario Fo,Ermanno Rea, Francesco Fioretti and Pino Di Silvestro.The modernity of Caravaggio’s art has brought some authors to consider him as our contemporary and to emphasize the parallels between the Italian society of his time and contemporary Italy. The artist is seen as a symbol of civil courage and the decline of a great epoch in the history of Italian culture. The historic and social continuity asserted on the thematic level is reflected on the textual level by recovering of the old Italian sources and stylization of the language. Nonetheless, Caravaggio remains an uncomfortable symbol of the Italian genius, because some elements of his personal life indicate clearly the gap that separates his time from ours.</p
Paolo Volponi e il dilemma della scrittura «carnale»
No full textNella poesia Canzonetta con rime e rimorsi del 1966, Paolo Volponi riflette sulla sentenza “ogni determinazione è negazione” che proviene dalla filosofia di Spinoza. Nella visione artistica di Volponi la massima spinoziana viene elaborata affermando l’unità della realtà circostante, della coscienza e del corpo, per creare la poesia che il poeta stesso definì “carnale”. In questa comunicazione vengono presentate alcune riflessioni sulla poetica di Volponi partendo dal suo romanzo Corporale del 1974. Il rapporto tra la scrittura e il corpo sta al centro dell’indagine visto che la scrittura sperimentale di Volponi ha l’ambizione di rappresentare la totalità delle sensazioni e la pienezza dell’esperienza vissuta. Sul piano testuale, l’idea che “ogni determinazione è negazione” è a base di uno sforzo radicale di inglobare la realtà affidandosi al procedimento di enumerazione.</p
