Reimagining the Italian South : Migration, Translation and Subjectivity in Contemporary Italian Literature and Cinema

Images of Southern Italy as a place of arrival for migrants with different origins and backgrounds are in recent years proliferating on Italian medias, as well as in contemporary Italian literature and cinema. The unprecedented perspective on the mezzogiorno which presents the region as a place where people arrive and not only as a place of departure, represents a major change in the collective imaginary on the Italian South. This perspective is today articulated in new ways with the longstanding representation of the South as the forever “backward” part of the country. This book presents one of the first studies to focus entirely, through in-depth readings of a range of contemporary literary and cinematic texts, on the representation of contemporary migration to the Italian South, and on the concomitant changes in the tradition of representation of the region. Through the analysis, informed by translation theory and by decolonial, queer and feminist critique, of the mutual construction of race, gender and sexuality, and of the translation and hybridization of languages and cultures, in texts which tell multiple stories of mobility to and through the South, this book traces the emergence of a transnational imaginary of the mezzogiorno which offers useful tools for an urgent reconfiguration of collective and individual identities. Images of southern Italy as a place of arrival for migrants with different origins and backgrounds have in recent years proliferated in Italian media as well as in contemporary Italian literature and cinema. The unprecedented perspective which presents the mezzogiorno as a place where people arrive, and not only as a place of departure, constitutes a major change in the collective imaginary on the region and fosters new engagements with its migratory histories. This book presents one of the first studies to focus entirely, through in-depth readings of a range of contemporary literary and cinematic texts, on the representation of contemporary migration to southern Italy, and on the concomitant changes in the tradition of representation of the region. Informed by translation theory, and by decolonial, queer and feminist critique, this innovative study zeroes in on the mutual construction of race, gender and sexuality, and on the translation and hybridization of languages and cultures at the southern border. By giving a rich and compelling account of texts which tell multiple stories of mobility from, to and through the South, this book traces the emergence of a transnational imaginary of the mezzogiorno which offers useful tools for an urgent reconfiguration of collective and individual identities. Cover Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: Transnational Theories and Transnational Histories of the South 1 Transnational Theories of the South 2 Transnational Histories of the Italian South: Emigration, Colonialism and Migration to Italy Part II: Representation of the Italian South in Contemporary Italian Literature Introduction to Part II 3 Languaging, Body and Translation in Giulio Angioni’s Una ignota compagnia (1992) 4 The South as a Heterotopia: Evelina Santangelo’s Senzaterra (2008) 5 Transnational Epistemologies of the South in Christiana de Caldas Brito’s Colpo di mare (2018) Conclusion to Part II Part III: New Representations of the Italian South in Contemporary Italian Transnational Cinema Introduction to Part III 6 Race, Gender and Sexuality in Emanuele Crialese’s Terraferma (2011) 7 Emma Dante’s Via Castellana Bandiera (2013) from the Page to the Screen: Changing Politics of Sexuality 8 Jonas Carpignano’s Mediterranea (2015): Decentring the Hegemonic Gaze on the South Conclusion to Part III Conclusion Bibliography Filmography Index