Search results for ""Author Loredana Polezzi""

In Corpore collects essays devoted to the critical exploration of the presence and impact of bodies in recent and contemporary Italian cultural production, in light of current developments in thinking about bodies and their locations within cultures. The prominent position occupied by the body in Italian culture is at once undeniable and problematic. Dominant perspectives continue to inform a large number of representations of Italy and of Italians, and many of these images are deeply dependent on conceptualizations of bodies, of their roles, functions, and relative positions. Whether we are talking of models of masculinity, of gendered roles within the Italian family or of the infamous cliche of the 'bella figura,' the tendency is for such images to produce unified singular interpretations of 'Italian culture' and to assign stable locations to 'Italian bodies' within it. The essays included in the present volume, on the other hand, assume a pluarlity of conceptions of 'culture' and of 'the body.' Part I looks at the way in which images of 'Italy"'and of 'Italians' have been formed and distributed by writers, artists, politicians, and scientists. The second half of the volume concentrates on literary representations of the body produced by authors such as Verga, Pozzi, Cassola, Pasolini, Tabucchi, and Santacroce. Contributors explore national, subnational, and intranational models of culture, while the authors and works examined range from the world of 'canonic' literature to that of marginal subcultures. A variety of media and modes of representation are brought into focus, from the visual arts, to cinema, literature, travel writing, 'scientific' prose, documentary photography, and even X-rays. This collection will be of interest to scholars and students of Italian culture, teachers of Italian, historians, and art historians with interests in contemporary Italy, as well as to scholars and students of gender and cultural studies. Recent years have seen an exponential growth in critical and theore

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The history of Italians and of modern Italian culture stems from multiple experiences of mobility and migration: between the late 19th century and the early 20th century, 27 million Italians migrated and 60 to 80 million people worldwide see their identity as connected with the Italian diaspora. Since the time of Italian unification, a series of narratives about mobility have been produced both inside and outside the boundaries of Italy, by agents such as the Italian state, international organizations or migrant communities themselves.The essays in Transcultural Italies follow the multiple trajectories of this complex history and of its representations. They do so by focusing on the key concepts and practices of mobility, memory and translation. Taken together, they represent a contrapuntal series of case studies that offers a fresh perspective on the study of modern and contemporary Italy. The essays in the volume explore the meanings that ‘transnational’ and ‘transcultural’ assume when applied to the notion of Italian culture.Contributors: Charles Burdett, Jennifer Burns, Derek Duncan, Chiara Giuliani, Viviana Gravano, Giulia Grechi, Margaret Hills de Zárate, Eliana Maestri, Valerie McGuire, Loredana Polezzi, Barbara Spadaro, Ilaria Vanni, Naomi Wells, Rita Wilson

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