Broken Time, Fragmented Space: A Cultural Map of Postwar Italy (Toronto Italian Studies) - Hardcover

Torriglia, Anna Maria

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080203604X ISBN 13: 9780802036049

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2002

Synopsis

Broken Time, Fragmented Space: A Cultural Map for Post-war Italy examines how the artists and intellectuals of post-war Italy dealt with the 'shameful' heritage of their fascist upbringing and education by trying to craft a new cultural identity for themselves and the country. The continuities between the culture of the fascist and post-fascist periods were, however, far greater than what intellectuals were ready to admit, creating an uncomfortable, sometimes schizophrenic relation to time, as a painful urge to erase the past.

Drawing on a variety of critical approaches, Torriglia investigates the efforts to reconstruct a personal as well as a collective self by analyzing both canonical and lesser-known cinematic and literary texts. Organized around four main themes - the use of language, the interaction between personal and public spheres, the perceptual categories of history and memory, and the reconstruction of the female identity - the study also includes historical introductions and sociological commentary that provides an extensive and captivating picture of the cultural production in 1950s Italy, a period that has not yet been extensively studied.

About this title

About the Author

Anna Maria Torriglia teaches at the University of California in Padua.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 080203604X
• ISBN 13: 9780802036049
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272