The Cambridge Companion to the Italian Novel

This study provides a broad-ranging introduction to the major trends in the development of the Italian novel from its early modern origins to the contemporary era. It examines some of the most influential and important novelists of the twentieth century, such as Luigi Pirandello, Primo Levi, Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino. Readers will be exposed to the vitality of the Italian novel throughout its history, in addition to learning about the debates and criticism that have contributed to its development.

The Cambridge Companion to the Italian Novel provides a broad ranging introduction to the major trends in the development of the Italian novel from its early modern origin to the contemporary era. Contributions cover a wide range of topics including the theory of the novel in Italy, the historical novel, realism, modernism, postmodernism, neorealism, and film and the novel. The contributors are distinguished scholars from the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, and Australia. Novelists examined include some of the most influential and important of the twentieth century inside and outside Italy: Luigi Pirandello, Primo Levi, Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino. This is a unique examination of the Italian Novel, and will prove invaluable to students and specialists alike. Readers will gain a keen sense of the vitality of the Italian novel throughout its history and a clear picture of the debates and criticism that have surrounded its development.

Chronology; Introduction; 1. The belated development of a theory of the novel in Italian literary culture Remo Cesarini and Pierluigi Pellini; 2. The forms of long prose fiction in late medieval and early modern Italian literature Albert N. Mancini; 3. Alessandro Manzoni and developments in the historical novel Olga Ragusa; 4. Literary realism in Italy: Verga, Capuana, and verismo Giovanni Carsaniga; 5. Popular fiction between Italian unification and world war I Nicolas J. Perella; 6. The foundations of Italian modernism: Pirandello Svevo, Gadda Robert Dombroski; 7. Neorealist narrative: experience and experiment Lucia Re; 8. Memory and testimony in Primo Levi and Giorgio Bassani JoAnn Cannon; 9. The Italian novel in search of identity: history versus reality - Lampedusa and Pasolini Manuela Bertone; 10. Feminist writing in the twentieth century Sharon Wood; 11. Italo Calvino and Umberto Eco: postmodern masters Peter Bondanella; 12. Literary cineastes: the Italian novel and the cinema Rolando Caputo; 13. Frontier, exile, and migration in the contemporary Italian novel Andrea Ciccarelli; 14. The new Italian novel Rocco Capozzi.

This volume provides a broad ranging introduction to the major trends in the development of the Italian novel from its early modern origin to the contemporary era. Novelists examined include some of the most influential of the twentieth century inside and outside Italy: Primo Levi, Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino.

Peter Bondanella is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and Italian in the Department of French and Italian at Indiana University.
Andrea Ciccarelli is Chair of the Department of French and Italian and Director of the College of Arts and Humanities Institute at Indiana University.