AdI 2015: the great war and the modernist imagination in Italy.
Somigli, Luca ; Storchi, Simona
In his recent survey of cultural responses to the First World War,
historian Emilio Gentile defined the Great War as the "apocalypse
of modernity," the event considered by general consensus as a
defining moment in Western civilization, caused by the forces of
modernity (in terms of politics, philosophy, economic systems) but also
experienced as a quintessential "modern" phenomenon (in terms
of warfare, apocalyptic imaginary, eschatological philosophy, etc.).
Clearly perceived as a creation of modern man, an event capable of
changing the destiny and future of human beings and nations, the war
challenged received notions about the foundations of European
civilization, the relationship between human beings and technology, and,
in general, the faith in progress that had characterized the development
of industrial society. The attempts made by the various nations involved
to legitimate the conflict produced clashing interpretations and
myths--not least, the "war to end all wars." In Italy in
particular, even before intervention and increasingly so after its end,
the war was seen as a crucial rite of passage in the formation of
national identity, leading to the rise of competing
interpretations--from the "fourth war of Independence" to the
"capitalist war," from the "mutilated victory" to
the conflict that produced the Fascist spirit, to name only a few--that
informed Italian cultural production well into the Fascist ventennio.
2015 marks the centenary of Italy's intervention in the First
World War. This issue of Annali d 'Italianistica aims to reassess
and shed new light on the cultural perceptions of the experience of the
war and its elaborations. Essays that consider the impact of the war on
the literary and visual culture of modernism, for which it constitutes a
watershed moment, are especially welcome. The volume will be divided
into four sections, each addressing one of the following questions: How
did the war impact on the literary and artistic imaginary and become a
catalyst for cultural debates and aesthetic expressions? How were
conceptions of the modern elaborated in relation to the war experience?
How did art and politics collide and clash when confronted with the
reality of the war and its aftermath? How did the experience of the war
affect the perception and self-perception of intellectuals and of their
role in society?
Possible topics to be considered may include: Apocalyptic
aesthetics--war and the literary and artistic imaginary before, during
and after the conflict; the war and Italian identity: redefining
national culture; artists at war: avant-gardes/arriere gardes and the
politics of the modern; the war and technological imagination; gendering
the Great War: rethinking gender roles during the conflict; the Great
War as a historical turning point, e.g., as culmination of the process
of national unification; as ground of formation of Fascism, etc.;
shell-shocked: representing physical and psychological trauma; the war
and the new media (photography, telegraphy, cinema); the war in popular
culture; he Great War between myth and reality; on the battlefield:
writing in the trenches and on the frontlines; guerrafondai and
disfattisti: intellectuals and the legitimation of the war.
Deadline for submission is September 30, 2014; the volume will be
published in the fall of 2015. All contributions will be refereed.
Essays, not to exceed 25 double-spaced pages, can be written in Italian
or English, and should conform to the style-sheet criteria set forth by
Annali d'Italianistica (http://ibiblio.org/annali/norms.html).
Guest-Editors: Luca Somigli (University of Toronto) and Simona
Storchi (University of Leicester)
Prospective contributors should address inquires to both guest
editors:
Luca Somigli: luca.somigli@utoronto.ca
Simona Storchi: ss557@leicester.ac.uk
