Description
Book SynopsisAriosto in the Machine Age reveals how the most influential poet of the Renaissance was conjured or appropriated to shape Magical Realism, avant-garde painting, Fascist cultural propaganda, and cinema in modern Italy between the birth of Futurism and the end of the Second World War.
Based on substantial archival findings, bold iconographic hypotheses, and novel interpretations of literary texts, the book proposes a new account of Italy’s twentieth-century culture through a unique take on Ludovico Ariosto’s early modern poetics and legacy. Starting from the unexpected passéism of Futurists visiting Ferrara on the eve of the First World War, it rereads the development of Giorgio de Chirico’s Metaphysical art and Massimo Bontempelli’s Realismo Magico. The book reconstructs the multimedia archive of the Fascist initiatives for the 1933 centennial anniversary of Ariosto’s death, and then focuses on the passage between Fascist cinema and
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Peeking from Parnassus: Ariosto the Amphibian 1. The Great Metaphysician: Ariosto’s Encounters with Ferrara’s Avant-Garde 2. Ludovico’s Gifts: The Ariostean Spirit of Magical Realism 3. Eternal Renaissance: Ariosto’s Presence in Fascist Ferrara 4. Theatrical Ghosts: Not Adapting the Orlando Furioso in Late Modernity Notes Index
