Tomasz Skocki
University of Warsaw, Italian Studies, Department Member
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The paper explores the dystopian and post-apocalyptic futures created by two Italian writers, Vittorio Curtoni and Laura Pugno. Curtoniʼs works from the 1970s, namely the novel Dove stiamo volando and the short story Ritratto del figlio,... more
The paper explores the dystopian and post-apocalyptic futures created by two
Italian writers, Vittorio Curtoni and Laura Pugno. Curtoniʼs works from the 1970s, namely
the novel Dove stiamo volando and the short story Ritratto del figlio, depict bleak and distressing
scenarios following a nuclear war, while Pugnoʼs far more recent novel Sirene
deals with environmental issues and with the loss of humanity in a dystopian world. The
main purpose of the article is to analyze the ways in which social and familial bonds are
destroyed in the post-apocalyptic reality, as the struggle to survive and to appease manʼs
most primitive and animalistic instincts leads to the disgregation of society and the ultimate
ruin of mankind.
Italian writers, Vittorio Curtoni and Laura Pugno. Curtoniʼs works from the 1970s, namely
the novel Dove stiamo volando and the short story Ritratto del figlio, depict bleak and distressing
scenarios following a nuclear war, while Pugnoʼs far more recent novel Sirene
deals with environmental issues and with the loss of humanity in a dystopian world. The
main purpose of the article is to analyze the ways in which social and familial bonds are
destroyed in the post-apocalyptic reality, as the struggle to survive and to appease manʼs
most primitive and animalistic instincts leads to the disgregation of society and the ultimate
ruin of mankind.
Research Interests:
The paper analyzes the opposition between fiction and reality in Umberto Ecoʼs novel The Prague Cemetery. The purpose is to underline the ways in which works of fiction can be used to build tools of deception and propaganda and influence... more
The paper analyzes the opposition between fiction and reality in Umberto Ecoʼs novel The Prague Cemetery. The purpose is to underline the ways in which works of fiction can be used to build tools of deception and propaganda and influence the very perception of reality: in the case of Ecoʼs novel, 19th century popular literature is used as the main source for the infamous anti-semitic pamphlet known as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The paper then discusses the dangers of conspiracy theories and totalitarian ideologies, both rooted in fiction, by comparing Ecoʼs work to Jorge Luis Borgesʼs short story Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius. In the wrong hands, a fictitious and dogmatic truth can have apocalyptic consequences, destroying reality itself and altering the face of the world. While in Borgesʼs story such an upheaval of reality has metaphysical implications, in The Prague Cemetery it becomes the foundation of two of the greatest horrors of the 20th century, i.e. the Nazi ideology and the Holocaust.
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The article analyzes the short fiction of Syrian-Italian writer Alessandro Spina, dedicated to the Italian colony in Libya in the late 1930s and early 1940s, just before Italy joined World War II. Spina's first collection of short stories... more
The article analyzes the short fiction of Syrian-Italian writer Alessandro Spina, dedicated to the Italian colony in Libya in the late 1930s and early 1940s, just before Italy joined World War II. Spina's first collection of short stories appeared in 1967 and provided a depiction of colonialism which was marked by both a deep fatalism (the inevitability of war) and a sense of artificiality, as though the everyday life of colonists were nothing but a theatrical performance. The idea of the colony as a stage and of its inhabitans as actors is strongly underlined in many of these stories. Spina makes this concept even more evident through frequent references to European plays and classical music, as well as through a series of stylistic choices. The prevalence of direct discourse, marked by long and highly polished dialogues, contributes to the theatrical and often non-mimetic nature of Spina's stories. In the 1980s and 1990s Spina wrote three more collections of short stories, characterized by the same form and themes as the original collection. However, in his latest works he gradually moved from dialogue to narration and from theater to realism. In his final story he ultimately unveils the artificiality of colonial society and its Eurocentrism, marking the return to reality and historical truth while also moving away from the previous short stories' long dialogues and choosing a narrative form more akin to an essay rather than a play.
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Artykuł dotyczy powieści La riva della vita minore włoskiego pisarza syryjskiego pochodzenia, Alessandra Spiny. Powieść przedstawia realia polityczne i społeczne Libii w latach 50. i 60. XX wieku oraz kryzys europejskiej ideologii... more
Artykuł dotyczy powieści La riva della vita minore włoskiego pisarza syryjskiego pochodzenia, Alessandra Spiny. Powieść przedstawia realia polityczne i społeczne Libii w latach
50. i 60. XX wieku oraz kryzys europejskiej ideologii kolonialnej, której uosobieniem jest
postać Pierre’a Dexais’go. Zarazem w książce pojawia się Gérard Conti, młody Francuz,
który odrzuca europocentryzm w celu stania się częścią społeczeństwa libijskiego. Podczas
gdy Dexais postrzega koniec imperiów kolonialnych jako upadek cywilizacji europejskiej,
celem Contiego jest stworzenie dla siebie nowej, hybrydycznej tożsamości. Tekst porusza
kwestię kryzysu idei kolonializmu, a także problematyzację tożsamości europejskiej wobec
owego kryzysu. Wreszcie podane są przykłady dwóch innych powieści, Asmara addio
Erminii Dell’Oro i Ghibli Luciany Capretti, również opisujących zmierzch włoskich kolonii.
50. i 60. XX wieku oraz kryzys europejskiej ideologii kolonialnej, której uosobieniem jest
postać Pierre’a Dexais’go. Zarazem w książce pojawia się Gérard Conti, młody Francuz,
który odrzuca europocentryzm w celu stania się częścią społeczeństwa libijskiego. Podczas
gdy Dexais postrzega koniec imperiów kolonialnych jako upadek cywilizacji europejskiej,
celem Contiego jest stworzenie dla siebie nowej, hybrydycznej tożsamości. Tekst porusza
kwestię kryzysu idei kolonializmu, a także problematyzację tożsamości europejskiej wobec
owego kryzysu. Wreszcie podane są przykłady dwóch innych powieści, Asmara addio
Erminii Dell’Oro i Ghibli Luciany Capretti, również opisujących zmierzch włoskich kolonii.
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[La prima cosa che abbia mai scritto: ero un pischello, siate indulgenti! O, meglio ancora, non leggete proprio. :)] Artykuł dotyczy historii włoskiego kolonializmu w XIX i XX w., w szczególności w okresie faszyzmu, kiedy po podboju... more
[La prima cosa che abbia mai scritto: ero un pischello, siate indulgenti! O, meglio ancora, non leggete proprio. :)]
Artykuł dotyczy historii włoskiego kolonializmu w XIX i XX w., w szczególności
w okresie faszyzmu, kiedy po podboju Etiopii powstało w Afryce włoskie imperium, oraz zbrodni
popełnionych przez władze kolonialne w latach okupacji. Część historyczną dopełnia omówienie
kilku dzieł literackich, w większości należących do nurtu postkolonialnego i opisujących realia Afryki
wschodniej w epoce kolonialnej.
Artykuł dotyczy historii włoskiego kolonializmu w XIX i XX w., w szczególności
w okresie faszyzmu, kiedy po podboju Etiopii powstało w Afryce włoskie imperium, oraz zbrodni
popełnionych przez władze kolonialne w latach okupacji. Część historyczną dopełnia omówienie
kilku dzieł literackich, w większości należących do nurtu postkolonialnego i opisujących realia Afryki
wschodniej w epoce kolonialnej.
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Lʼarticolo analizza il rapporto tra gioventù, vecchiaia e Storia ne Le confessioni dʼun italiano di Ippolito Nievo e in due romanzi contemporanei di ambientazione ottocentesca: Il cimitero di Praga di Umberto Eco e Dumanowski dello... more
Lʼarticolo analizza il rapporto tra gioventù, vecchiaia e Storia ne Le confessioni dʼun italiano di Ippolito Nievo e in due romanzi contemporanei di ambientazione ottocentesca: Il cimitero di Praga di Umberto Eco e Dumanowski dello scrittore polacco Wit Szostak. In tutte le opere in esame la figura del protagonista si fa personificazione di unʼintera epoca, con le sue luci e ombre, e, nel caso di Altoviti e Dumanowski, anche dellʼepopea di unʼintera nazione in un periodo fondamentale come il XIX secolo. Il saggio analizza i diversi modi in cui i temi della giovinezza, della longevità e della vecchiaia si intrecciano nei romanzi dei tre autori, indagando in particolare gli stretti legami tra il romanzo ottocentesco di Nievo e quello contemporaneo di Eco. La vicenda biografica di ognuno dei tre protagonisti giunge a coincidere, in varia misura, con la storia dellʼOttocento, legando indissolubilmente la storia degli individui alla Storia collettiva.
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Da sempre l’umanità è chiamata a fare i conti con lo spettro della propria fine, così come da sempre pensare l’apocalisse ha significato cercare di svelare il senso ultimo e nascosto della nostra esistenza. A partire dal XX secolo, tra le... more
Da sempre l’umanità è chiamata a fare i conti con lo spettro della propria fine, così come da sempre pensare l’apocalisse ha significato cercare di svelare il senso ultimo e nascosto della nostra esistenza. A partire dal XX secolo, tra le devastazioni della Storia e le visioni catastrofiche dell’immaginario collettivo, l’apocalittica ansia del disastro si è fatta, nella nostra cultura, sempre più presente e immanente, assurgendo così a paradigma della condizione umana. Gli articoli raccolti in questo fascicolo di “Nuova corrente” interrogano in che modo l’ottica apocalittica e post-apocalittica segni alcune delle più rilevanti esperienze della letteratura italiana dal primo Novecento a oggi, spaziando da Svevo a Manganelli, da Papini a Morselli, da Malaparte a Volponi, passando per le riflessioni poetiche di Levi e De Angelis, fino alla narrativa (Eco, Arpaia) e al reportage (Gatti) del nuovo millennio.